Archive of Our Own

It’s late when John and his team return from a day run to check out a planet before a group of scientists descend on some ruins. Carson’s grave shift team makes sure they’re all okay with a post-mission checkup. And, John makes his way to the personnel quarters after getting the all-clear and rinsing off in the locker room showers.

When he gets in, Elizabeth is still up. She has her back turned to the door and he can hear why she’s still milling about in a sweatshirt and sleep shorts. She half turns as the door opens with a familiar sound.

“Hey,” he greets her as the door closes behind him.

He bends to untie and remove his boots before he shuffles further into the living quarters.

She moves out from pacing the hallway and walks closer to him.

He drops his jacket he hadn’t bothered to put back on after the post-mission shower on the back of the couch as he watches her sway as the baby continues to cry.

It’s dim in their quarters, he realizes. He knows it’s late, or early, but the dim quarters bring it home. Her bedside lamp and the hallway plug-ins are the only sources of light and he understands why since it’s approaching one o’clock in the morning.

“I can take her,” he reaches Elizabeth and she stops swaying so he can take his daughter.

The transfer is seamless and Elizabeth watches as John picks up where she left off.

There’s a moment where she starts crying harder before she must realize who is holding her. Little tears wet his t-shirt and she reaches for her mother before she grows quiet as she rests her forehead against John's t-shirt covered chest.

Elizabeth half listens as John talks nonsensically to his daughter. He did it a lot when she was a newborn and the familiar voice comforted her. Apparently, it still works when the baby is fighting sleep. She watches as he relaxes and her hand moves to the gentle swell of her belly as she watches her daughter get a little more comfortable on her father’s chest.

Elizabeth pauses her musings as she watches John head for the couch. She follows, wincing internally as he sits and Alexandra begins to cry in earnest.

“Has she been like this all day?” He asks as he stands and looks over to find her hiding a yawn.

Alexandra Katherine Sheppard is the first Lantean born of the Earth expedition team members since they found Atlantis almost five years ago. Neither John nor Elizabeth have never been short of volunteers to watch over her.

Chuck had watched her when she was in meetings she couldn’t avoid today. She slept the entire two hours while she went through various upgrades with Zelenka’s team. Even Rodney had tolerated her as she got older and had become a little more captive audience to his breakthroughs. Alexandra likes to listen to Rodney, much to John’s surprise. John was sure she’d take after Elizabeth and be some sort of diplomat if she kept it up.

“She’s tired,” Elizabeth shrugs and looks to her wrist where her watch still sits.

He looks down at the baby in his arms who is slowly but surely losing the battle to keep her eyes open the longer he sways in place.

“We had a message from the SGC today,” Elizabeth begins. She pulls on the frayed ends of the sweatshirt she wears and looks at his chest, watching little fingers make a fist in the black shirt John wears.

“Anything that has you at a loss for words is concerning,” John points out as he turns away from the baby to watch her.

It’s not really a loss for words. More like trying to figure out how to frame it right or when the right time to tell him his dad has died and the funeral is a few days from now. She knows they had a falling out and never made it right and now they’ll never have a chance to do so.

She looks him in the eye and swallows.

“John, your dad died,” she says gently.

She watches him process her words. He pauses in his swaying and the baby whimpers enough to get through the fog to make John start again.

“Your brother contacted Peterson late last night. Sam told me this afternoon during our weekly check-in.”

John nods.

She knows he won’t want to talk about it. Not yet. He’ll want time to process.

“I’ve asked Lorne to keep an eye on Atlantis while we’re gone. I was going to ask Teyla in the morning to help with the more day-to-day stuff. We’ll leave tomorrow. Maybe early afternoon if we can swing it.”

He nods again.

She reaches out a hand, covering his own that pats his daughter’s back in a gentle rhythm and squeezes his fingers before letting go. It’s a silent apology and her reassurance she’ll be here for him for whatever he needs.

“I’ll take her the entire shift,” John finally says.

Sometimes Alexandra will sleep through the night. Sometimes she’ll wake up one more time to be fed or have a diaper change. They usually split shifts depending on John’s mission schedule. Elizabeth often takes the early mornings since she’s the one with morning meetings and has to be up anyway. The bouts of morning sickness have also been a motivator to get her out of bed and her day started early. Elizabeth doubts he’ll get much sleep, so she agrees with a nod.

“Wake me if you need me,” she reminds him.

“We’ll be okay,” he tells her.

She gives him a small, soft smile and slowly turns before making her way back to the sleeping quarters and extinguishes the light.

He moves to the window in the living room part of their quarters. There’s enough light from the city’s reflection in the water and off various buildings that he can see where he’s going if he needs to move around.

A sleepy hum as Alexandra moves to get more comfortable reminds him that he shouldn’t have the lights on anyway.

--

A few hours later, John was already up and Elizabeth woke a little disoriented as she heard the water in the washroom. She moves slowly, orienting herself and looks over at the empty crib in the corner on John’s side of the room. She stretches her limbs and shakes her head with a small smile as she makes her way to the washroom.

Stepping inside and aiming for the toilet, Alexandra sees her and wiggles in John’s arms, blinking away the baby shampoo that drips down her face. She’s already slippery enough without soap, but John holds her still as she greets her mother with a babbling hum.

Elizabeth flushes and washes her hands before turning to the shower and tapping on the glass.

“Looks like someone got some sleep,” she looks at the baby before looking up at him. She can see he got far less sleep than she did.

“She decided to pee while I was changing her diaper,” John tells her. He nods to the little baby towel with the little crab face on the hoodie hanging on the hook next to their grey ones.

Elizabeth tried to hide her laugh, but it was a lost cause.

“I hear he’ll be even more trouble in that department,” she looks down at her belly that’s starting to pop. If they had been on Earth, they wouldn’t know the sex of their baby at 16 weeks. However, the Ancient-designed scanner in the med lab detected the ancient gene and the chromosomes to let them know their baby would be a boy this time around.

John shrugged as she opened the shower door and Elizabeth grabbed Alexandra with the towel. Elizabeth put the towel over her wet curls and the baby hid her face in Elizabeth’s shoulder.

“I’ll get her dressed and see if Teyla will watch her while I pack,” Elizabeth rubbed the towel to dry the baby.

John nods and she lets him shower in peace.

When she comes back from asking Teyla to help Lorne watch over Atlantis for a few days and watch Alexandra while she packs, their quarters are quiet. She could ask where he is over the radio or even ask Chuck to check the life signs detector, but she figures he still needs the space to process.

She’s finishing packing her bag when Teyla returns. She can hear them before they arrive, jagged cries floating past the door from the hallway. Teyla doesn’t bother with formalities to wait for permission to enter and Elizabeth hardly expected her to with the baby.

“She would not settle,” Teyla says with a somewhat guilty expression.

“It’s okay,” Elizabeth tells both Teyla and Alexandra as she grabs the crying baby. “He’s shielding most of it, but I’m sure she can sense his anxiousness and guilt if I can.”

The ancient gene, as it turns out, is also sort of like an empathic connector. Carson can’t really explain it. The Atlantis team members can't sift through the research on the gene fast enough. There is so much research in the database. And, they've only touched the surface of how the ATA gene develops within the mother, who did not previously have the gene.  They've at least found more research on how and what allows for the empathic connection. Granted, before they even got together, John and Elizabeth had a knack for sensing each other’s thoughts, feelings, and recognizing if the other was in trouble. It had only heightened ten-fold since she developed the gene.

“She is unsure what to do with these feelings,” Teyla continues Elizabeth’s train of thought.

Elizabeth nods. At almost one-year-old, Alexandra doesn’t have the coping skills for feelings as heavy as these. She presses her radio and hopes John is wearing his.

“John,” she asks as the radio connects. Alexandra continues to cry. Her eyes are wet and tears make their way down her cheeks. Her little cheeks are pink and she’s arching away from Elizabeth as she tries to hold her close.

“I’ll be right there,” he says without a greeting and clicks the radio off.

Teyla loiters as they wait for John and Elizabeth offers Teyla the corner of their bed that’s free of clothes hangers and go bags. She sits with a nod and watches Elizabeth as she pats her daughter’s back and presses her lips to her little temple even as she continues to cry. At this height and with Elizabeth sans uniform jacket, the rounding swell that is the newest baby Sheppard is evident.

“Has the morning sickness passed?” Teyla asks as Elizabeth turns to her.

“It still comes and goes,” Elizabeth shrugs. “Today was a good morning. I’m now sometimes starving and sometimes queasy.”

With Alexandra, it was month eight before Elizabeth had stopped feeling like she was going through the gate for the very first time, day in and day out. Carson had told her it was probably her body’s reaction to not only pregnancy hormones but changing her DNA and inheriting the ancient gene.

“There are some days when I long to be that size again,” Teyla nods to Elizabeth.

Elizabeth smiles softly as she absently pats the back of Alexandra as she cries out for her father.

“You still glow,” she tells Teyla as the other woman rubs her belly. She’s due in less than a month.

“I feel like, a, how did you put it, a cow,” Teyla sighs.

“Mmh, that feeling doesn’t go away. And it turns into a self-fulfilling prophecy when you nurse or pump. I felt it especially when I pumped.”

The doors to the quarters open and a hiccuping cry is all she gets as John moves from the door to their bedroom. He must have run from the gym. He walks in, a little sweaty, with Ronon carrying Bantos rods behind him. John gently scoops up his daughter as she continues to cry.

It takes a few minutes as Ronon helps Teyla up and they make their escape and leave the small family to finish packing for their trip and calm the baby.

She doesn’t ask him if he’s okay because he isn’t. But she can sense the anxiousness gradually receding as he has a task to focus on.

“Ronon wants to come,” John says as Alexandra finally settles against his chest. “We were comparing funeral rights on Earth and Sateda. I explained how wakes work.”

“He’s her favourite babysitter anyway,” Elizabeth points out.

John tries a smile but it falls a little flat.

“You two are ready,” Elizabeth nods to the bags as John looks down while patting Alexandra’s back. “I’ll finish up here and then we can go.”

“Sorry,” he whispers as he continues to look at the floor.

“John,” Elizabeth starts. She leans her head to the side to catch his eye. “You don’t have to apologize for feeling something because your father died.”

“But she can’t handle it,” he motions to the baby with his chin.

Tired, green eyes blink slowly at her as Elizabeth puts her hand on John’s against Alexandra’s back.

“Well, I guess you’ve got a little bug attached to you the whole trip,” she says.

He knows the reference she’s making and can’t stop the automatic hey that escapes his lips.

“Hey, we’ve figured out the last year by winging it. What’s a couple of days on Earth,” she reminds him.

On the other side of the wormhole, Colonel Samantha Carter meets them at the jumper bay doors. She's holding her hand out for one of the bags John and Ronon carry. John deposits a bag into her arms and turns to make sure Elizabeth is out of the jumper before he starts to follow Colonel Carter.

Elizabeth has an amused smile on her face as Alexandra leans back in her arms, finding her voice echoes in the concrete bunker that makes up the SGC.

“You’re supposed to be napping,” Elizabeth chides half-heartedly. Her fingers move to tame little curls and she tries to get her to lay down against her shoulder. But since it’s a new environment, a squawk of protest sounds. And, if anything, she gets louder.

“I’ll show you to your quarters for the next 24 hours so you can put all this down,” Sam chuckles as she nods to the exit.

They pass only a handful of SGC staff. The VIP quarters are on a different level than the labs and personal quarters or the department head offices.

Alexandra has her fingers in her mouth. She babbles and laughs as her voice echoes down the corridor. Elizabeth watches John’s shoulders tense every once in a while.

“Eleanor did the same thing,” Sam said as she looked back at Elizabeth with a chuckle. Eleanor Carter-O’Neill is two and half years old with the ancient gene and a protein marker. So, a regular pediatrician isn’t as versed or as read-in as an SGC doctor. So, she gets to be brought here for her well-child checkups. “At least you’re not encouraging her to be even louder like General O’Neill.”

Sam stops at two doors that are across the hall from one another. Ronon takes the right as Elizabeth and John head to the left.

Elizabeth deposits the diaper bag on the bed before freeing Alexandra from the baby carrier. She sits on the bedspread as Elizabeth digs out a diaper, wipes, and a little octopus toy Halling had carefully stitched. Alexandra loves to play with said octopus and uses it as a soft weapon when she wants attention and someone is within her short range.

In the early days, when Alexandra was asleep more than she was awake and curled into John or Elizabeth, she would grasp a little tentacle and hold it tight. One day, when she was due for a checkup,  Elizabeth had laid her out on the blanket Carson had folded on a medical bay bed. Stepping away to let Carson near, they watched as she curled herself into a little ball with her little octopus in hand. It had reminded Elizabeth of the sonogram photos where Alexandra was curled into herself as her space slowly reached capacity the longer the weeks dragged to full term.

Now, the little tentacled creature is her security blanket of sorts. And, it's a welcome distraction as she’s prone to trying to escape without a diaper or testing her newfound strength as she tries to flip from her back to her side or stomach as she’s being changed.

“I can take her,” Ronon looks over Elizabeth’s shoulder as she finishes changing Alexandra’s diaper at the edge of the bed.

Elizabeth buttons up the onesie and puts her baby-sized leggings on so Alexandra looks a little more put together. She tugs a wayward sock back on Alexandra's foot before stepping back and letting Ronon pick her up.

She looks tiny in Ronon’s arms as she laughs carefree and unaware of why the adults are more sombre. Elizabeth disposes of the diaper in the bin near the door and uses a wipe to sanitize her hands and gives Alexandra’s leg a shake.

“Be good for Ronon,” she tells the baby.

Mischievous, tired green eyes look back at her. She holds tighter to a lock of Ronon’s dreads with one hand and her octopus with another.

Sam nods to Ronon as he escapes to the commissary with his charge. Sam then leads John and Elizabeth to the briefing room outside General Landry’s office.

“Jack made all the arrangements.” Sam slides over a few pieces of paper with their names and confirmation numbers of airline tickets, rental car, and hotel check-in times as they sit around the head of the table.

John nods as he looks at the airline tickets. A little over three days which was more than enough time with family he hadn’t spoken to in well over a decade.

“If it had been closer to the Pentagon, he would have let you stay at our place there,” Sam notes as she looks between the two expedition team members. “He’ll have his aide put a bunch of necessities in the car. Uh, car seat, stroller, pack n’ play that doubles as a sleeper.”

“Thank you,” Elizabeth tells her with a soft smile.

Sam gives John a sad smile and dips her chin.

“We’re sorry for your loss,” she says quietly.

“Thanks,” John looks up to her and then back to the tabletop.

“If you need anything while on base, let me know.”

Elizabeth nods and they’re unofficially dismissed as the phone rings in Landry’s office. Sam apologizes before moving away. After all, she was playing double duty for a few more days as an acting base commander while General Landry was on a special assignment.

John continues to stare at the tabletop as Elizabeth gathers all the paperwork Sam had pushed across the table.

Elizabeth stands and John follows suit automatically.

“I could use a nap,” she says as they clear the briefing room table and head for the door. “You think we should check on Ronon and Alexandra?”

He’s quiet for a moment as they move to the elevators. She presses the up button.

“She’s okay,” he tells her.

She nods. He’s most likely basing it on their ancient gene connection. The connection John and Alexandra have runs deeper than Elizabeth’s and Alexandra’s connection or John and Elizabeth’s own.

When the elevator finally arrives, they move into the empty space and Elizabeth leans against the wall. She rubs her free hand against her forehead, feeling the beginnings of a headache.

“You okay?” John asks as he tilts his head to look over at her.

“Shouldn’t I be asking you that?” She smiles a little as she answers his question with a question. Before she can answer truthfully, the elevator doors open and she’s making her way out of the space with him following behind her.

Making their way inside their quarters for the night, Elizabeth puts the papers on the desk near the door. She sits on the end of the bed to undo her boots so she can take them off. John is doing the same at the door as Elizabeth looks up. She flings her boots off with her toes, standing again as she unbuttons her jeans. She removes her jacket, discarding her jeans and jacket. Elizabeth pulls aside the bedspread to find the sheets all tucked with military precision.

She hops in first. Her eyes close as she listens to John putter around. He moves to her side of the bed and folds her discarded clothing. He sets them atop her bag in the corner and then heads to the washroom.

It’s not long before he returns to the room, shucking his pants, and he slips into bed beside her. He scoots closer when she opens her arm up and wordlessly invites him to get closer. He rests his head on her arm in a way that’s sure to make it lose feeling eventually, but she doesn’t mind. Instead, she bends her elbow and her hand seeks refuge in his hair, her fingers brushing through unruly locks. She doesn’t have to look at his face to know he’s relaxing into her touch.

“You okay?” He asks again as his hand slips under her shirt and traces a palm from her hip to her sternum, resting his hand at the start of her belly before he moves his hand following the same pattern.

He did this the first time, too. Hands touching her growing belly whenever he could. He liked touching her. Likes to hold her hand or touch her back or her hip. He prefers to be tactile rather than express what he’s feeling through words. Words are her forte.

“I think so. Little headache, though. You okay?”

He shrugs and his fingers trace patterns on her skin that tickle as he moves to her sides.

She hums.

“Carson reminded me he might be able to hear us now.”

“Maybe this time around, we’ll get a kid who finds Rodney’s scientific breakthroughs boring.”

With Alexandra, they amused themselves with determining what the baby thought was boring or interesting depending on whether or not she fell asleep or kicked up a storm in the department meetings Elizabeth held. John thought for sure she’d fall asleep to anything Rodney's team would have to say in their meetings. Unfortunately, for Elizabeth, the opposite was the case and sometimes she had to pause the meeting to escape to the washroom after a particularly well-placed kick that made her need to pee or catch her breath. John still thinks the particularly swift movements were Alexandra’s way of telling her mother to seek out Colonel Carter’s advice before letting Rodney go out on a science experiment kick.

She falls asleep to his hand tracing patterns on her belly and wakes up to find Ronon had deposited Alexandra between them. John still faces her with one palm on her belly and one of his fingers gripped by a sleeping Alexandra. He’s passed out. Exhaustion finally catching up to him. And she briefly wonders how they’re going to handle the change from a 28 hour day or Atlantis to a 24 hour day on Earth with Alexandra’s schedule.

She blinks away the sleepy feeling and turns her wrist to check the time, finding it’s only just past 2 pm. She escapes their bed without waking the other occupants and she finds herself hungry. Putting her jeans and boots back on before slipping into her jacket, Elizabeth makes her way to the mess.

--

The morning of the wake, John isn’t all that eager to get on with the day. His daughter is asleep beside him with pillows propped around her where Elizabeth had been sleeping.

Alexandra is sleeping on her back next to him. She’s escaped the blanket Elizabeth had most likely laid on top of her before moving to the shower, one hand above her head as she suckles the air.

John shifts to his side and sighs. He knows that Elizabeth has been up long enough to at least change their daughter’s diaper all without him waking. It was her intention, of course, since he’s gotten little sleep in the past few days minus a few naps.

He brushes a hand against Alexandra’s sleeper-covered belly and watches her face and her little lips curl into a smile unconsciously.

He closes his eyes and listens to the water run while Elizabeth showers. He only wakes again when Elizabeth sits on his side of the bed, touching his arm as she leans over to check on their sleeping daughter.

“Hey,” she gives him a brief smile.

He turns from his side to his back and one hand aims for her belly hidden behind a button-up she’d stolen a while ago.

“Are you doing okay this morning?” He asks. Her skin is warm and a little pink from her shower.

She hums with a shrug of her shoulder. She had been queasy this morning but hadn’t thrown up.

“Ronon and I went for a walk. Well, I walked and Ronon ran. Lapped me a few times. He’s checking out breakfast options.”

She’s developed a routine on Atlantis taking a walk before she starts work, one during lunch, and one as they get Alexandra to bed after dinner. It extends to Earth, obviously.

“A mile?”

“I only did half. Had to pee,” she smirks as he chuckles.

His fingers pause in tracing random patterns as there’s movement at his side.

“There wasn’t any way to get hot water for her bottle unless you want her to have shower or sink water. I asked Ronon if he finds any breakfast, that he gets some hot water.”

They watch as Alexandra wakes. It reminds John a little of when Elizabeth started spending the night in his quarters when they first got together and she’d look around to orient herself before looking over at him. Alexandra hums as she turns her head and finds her mother and father looking at her. She rolls, sleepy, uncoordinated efforts land her away from her intended target and she squawks in protest.

John withdraws a hand from Elizabeth and pulls at Alexandra’s leg and drags her back towards him. She curls into his chest and hums, her little feet kicking up every so often to see if she could maneuver over him.

Elizabeth hides a smile and pats John's arm before standing up and moving back to the washroom to do something with her hair before it dries.

Ronon eventually knocks and Elizabeth gets the door before John can move from the bed to get it. He walks in as Elizabeth opens the door and finds the little office table near the television, setting a bag and a drink tray down.

He looks to the bed and nods at John who nods back as Alexandra babbles in his lap as he leans against the headboard. He turns back to Elizabeth at his side.

“Hot water, coffee, and tea bags,” he points out the coffee cup versus the hot water cups.

“Fruit cups, muffins, and breakfast sandwiches,” he nods to the bag. He pulls out the little creamers they have on Atlantis from his pants pocket. “And his creamer stuff.”

“Thank you,” Elizabeth says as she grasps his arm and squeezes a silent thanks before moving to the diaper bag on the floor next to her go-bag.

She mixes the formula with one of the cups of hot water and makes a face as she shakes the bottle, walking over to the bed where John sits against the headboard and Alexandra gnaws on her fingers.

After dropping off the bottle, Elizabeth makes John’s coffee and brews the non-caffeinated peppermint tea Ronon found. Handing the coffee to John, she watches as Alexandra watches him take the cup and drink it. She drops her bottle and holds out a hand, making a grabbing motion for his cup.

“Mine,” John says with a tilt of his head.

“Yours,” he sticks her bottle back in her mouth with one hand.

She pouts and Elizabeth shakes her head and grabs her tea and heads into the washroom again.

Ronon takes the two breakfast sandwiches and fruit cups from the bag before he tossed a sandwich and the fruit cup at John before he settles on the second bed in the room with his own breakfast.

John meets her in the washroom as she zips up her dress. The black scoop neck A-line dress that hits past her knees is loose enough to hide the small but growing bump.

“Didn’t that have a belt thing?” John asks with a furrowed brow as he glances at her.

She’s worn the dress a few times since she bought it at one of the off-world bazaars she had gone to with Teyla, a few Athosians, and some Atlantis team anthropologists.

“I’d rather not have people trying to touch me,” she points out. She also has a blazer to put on to help with the chill and hiding the swell of their growing child.

He gives her half a smile as he turns on the shower.

“I don’t think many people will come around,” he tells her. “Better safe than sorry, though.”

Elizabeth’s brows furrow as he steps into the shower. She certainly hopes it’s more his pessimistic view of the world he grew up in than reality.

--

It’s a ten-minute drive from their hotel to the Sheppard estate. It gives Alexandra enough time to babble and calls out to John as she grabs the soft shoes and tries to remove them. She strains against the restraints and Elizabeth sighs before removing the soft shoes, leaving her in the socks. Alexandra gives her a tired, toothy grin and it reminds Elizabeth of John when he finally wears her down and gets his way.

It allows John enough of a distraction to not think too hard about what they’re about to endure for the next few hours.

He pulls the SUV into the driveway and parks behind the last of the cars and sighs before he turns it off.

John and Ronon get out first. The latter observes all the cars when he steps out onto the gravel driveway.

Elizabeth reaches over and unbuckles Alexandra’s straps on the car seat but lets John open the door and get her out. Meanwhile, she grabs the black backpack that acts as a diaper bag and exits out her door before reaching in for the baby carrier she knows they’ll need eventually.

“Lots of people,” Ronon notes as they group together on the lawn and John leads the way to the house.

“Yeah, well, my old man was pretty well connected like that,” John tries to sound normal but he’s still trying to process it all.

A man meets them halfway to the house.

“John,” the man sticks his hand out.

“Dave,” John shakes the hand of his brother.

There’s an awkward pause before John remembers there are others in his party.

“Oh, right. Dave, this is Elizabeth and Ronon. This is my brother, Dave.”

Dave shakes hands with Elizabeth and Ronon. He turns back to John with a look at the baby in his arms but John doesn’t say anything else.

“I wasn't sure you were going to make it. It's good to see you. I contacted your unit commander at Peterson, but, um, sometimes those messages don't seem to reach you.”

Elizabeth and John share a look.

Ronon looks away. Sheppard rarely mentions his family. Ronon kind of understands why now.

Alexandra hides her face in his father’s neck as Dave tries again to glance at the baby in his brother’s arms. He looks to Elizabeth and then settles his gaze on Ronon.

“So you all work together.”

“Yep,” John nods.

Dave raises a brow. Disbelief all over his face.

“Ronon’s a contractor for my unit.”

Dave looks over at Elizabeth.

“Expedition commander,” Elizabeth tells him.

Dave shoots his brother a look.

“You don’t look military,” he points out, turning back to Elizabeth.

He doesn’t put much stock in this tale. He takes another look at the group before turning back to John.

“We should talk.”

“Yeah,” John nods. “Sure.”

“We’ll catch up later,” Dave nods.

They all watch as John's brother heads back to the gathering crowd.

Elizabeth watches John's jaw clench but doesn’t say anything as he follows his brother. She and Ronon follow at a more sedate pace, observing their surroundings.

--

Elizabeth lets John head into the pool house, where his father’s casket sits, without her. She asks as they loiter if he wants her or Ronon to take Alexandra or if he wants her to go with him. He shakes his head and once he steps inside, Ronon gestures to the buffet table. Elizabeth pauses for a moment, watching John before following the Satedan.

“Did you know about all of this?” Ronon asks curiously as he hands her a plate as he takes one of his own and then grabs a few tea sandwiches.

Elizabeth sticks fruits and vegetables on her plate as she watches Ronon gesture to the house and the acreage.

“I’ve read John’s file and looked him up when I first tried to convince him to join the expedition. I had an overall picture but didn’t picture it exactly like this,” Elizabeth tells him honestly. She grabs a few of the tea sandwiches for John.

Ronon looks at her as he leans in and looks at the sandwiches.

“You okay? You look a little pale,” he points out.

She’s going through some gate-lag as well as general tiredness of being pregnant and parenting a very active, almost one-year-old. And, John hadn’t slept well which meant neither of them did. Their daughter slept her typical night. And, she caught a few hours on the plane. But John is exhausted and wrung out and it showed to anyone that knew him well.

“Just tired,” she shrugs as she moves down the line. “A little worried about him, though.”

“I can handle her if you need some alone time,” Ronon says nonchalantly as he picks up a sandwich and eats it rather than put it on his plate.

Elizabeth looks up and gives him a tired smile with a nod.

“Thanks,” she says out loud.

Once they clear the food table, Elizabeth looks up at the pool house and around at the various groups of mourners.

“Looks safe over there,” Ronon nods to the paddock where the horses roam. “No chairs, though.”

“Less chance of random strangers asking if I’m pregnant that way,” she notes with a sigh.

Ronon gives her a look of ‘you people from Earth are weird ’ but leads the way.

“You are.”

“People here like to ask, even if you aren’t. And then, if you are, the next question or thing they do is touch you.”

Ronon gives her a look that tells her exactly what he would do to someone who tried to touch him without asking.

“Standing helps reduce the asks from strangers,” she shrugs.

“You people are weird,” he finally says out loud.

Elizabeth chuckles in agreement.

--

John doesn’t have to look for long to spot Elizabeth and Ronon in the crowd of mourners. They’re off to the side by the paddock rather than gathered with the rest of the guests that mingle between the main house, the pool house, and the poolside. After all, they have no fond memories of Patrick Sheppard to retell.

He spots his brother near the house, chatting with a few older folks. He doesn’t recognize them and his brother makes no motion to indicate that he needs any assistance. He turns and follows a relatively clear path to make it to Elizabeth’s side.

“Hey,” she greets him as he stands beside her.

He lifts his chin in greeting.

She can’t help but smile softly as she watches him shift Alexandra to a more comfortable position in his arms. She leans against his chest and her little fingers grip the black suit jacket he wears.

“You should eat,” Elizabeth holds up her plate and John turns to look over at Ronon who has a plate with three times as much food as Elizabeth.

“Sandwiches are good,” Ronon tells him through a mouthful.

He rests his chin on Alexandra’s head, her curls tickling him as he looks Elizabeth over.

“Is she asleep yet?” John ignores her statement and turns a little as Elizabeth tilts her head. She shakes it when familiar green eyes meet her own and a soft hum of mama reaches her ears. She’s surprised, having fed her before their car ride over here, that she didn’t fall asleep on the way over like she does when they take jumper rides to the mainland or they go for walks around their section of the personnel wing and push her in the stroller.

John nods and gives her a once over.

“You know, I’m usually the one saying that to you,” he points out with a quirk of a smile appearing on his lips.

She hums her agreement and holds out her plate to Ronon as she unhooks the baby carrier from the diaper bag. They learned quickly she’s dead weight when she sleeps in their arms.

She moves around him as she straps Alexandra against him in the baby carrier with only minimal fussing. With both his arms free, he rubs one hand against her back and starts to sway a little on his feet. Enough to where Alexandra’s eyes begin to blink slowly as she stares at Elizabeth. John watches as Elizabeth takes her plate back from Ronon and raises her plate to John again.

This time she can take care of him and his basic needs he might otherwise disregard.

She counts it as a success when he leans into her space and reaches out for a sandwich.

--

John returns from the washroom and watches as Elizabeth moves her hands to her back for a moment. When he reaches her, he stands behind her. His hands move to hold her hip, thumbs digging into the muscle in her back he knew was often plagued by knots during her first pregnancy. She leans against him as he hits a particularly deep knot that has been building up. He looks over her shoulder as they stand and watch Ronon as he plays horse whisperer to one of the foals. He squats next to Alexandra as they stand at the fence. One of her hands securely in his grip and her other little hand reaches out as the horse moves closer. She wobbles, still getting used to standing, but Ronon doesn’t let her fall. Instead, he adjusts his stance and lets her lean against his knee as she leans away as the foal gets closer.

“A half-hour nap isn’t enough,” Elizabeth says out loud even though she didn’t have to say anything.

“And she wasn't hungry,” he points out.

He had tried to feed her a few blueberries, carrots, banana, and the little mandarin oranges from Elizabeth’s plate. She had fussed until Ronon had taken her and shown her the horses they were standing beside. Having never seen one, it had quickly gained her full attention.

“You think we can find a Pegasus for her?” John mumbles through a laugh as they watch Alexandra’s entire body wiggle in excitement as she touches the nose of the black horse in front of her.

“Mmh, we’ll have Ronon break it in,” Elizabeth leans a little further into his embrace. Her feet are tired. But all the chairs are occupied by the older generation and a little too close to mourners who have yet to approach John to offer condolences. The mourners stick to their groups and band around Dave and the woman directing caterers around that Elizabeth assumes is Dave’s wife.

She moves one of her hands around to her belly underneath her blazer.

“Feeling queasy?” He asks. His hands shift to the middle of her back and he puts a little pressure on her spine. Twice he had massaged knots out of her back only to have her puke five minutes later.

“Not really anymore. Just tired.”

They watch Ronon play with Alexandra and the foal in quiet contemplation.

“So, are the horses for decoration or do you know how to ride?” Elizabeth wonders as she tilts her head back against his shoulder.

“We took lessons at my boarding school. I prefer things that go faster than 200 miles an hour.”

“So, a Pegasus should be in your wheelhouse, then.”

He feels her laugh more than he hears it.

He hums.

“Should we name him Bellerophon, then?” She asks as she moves her hand along her belly.

“A lot of pressure to put on a kid,” John half chuckles.

A familiar belly laugh echoes and they return to watching Alexandra and Ronon. Instead of the fence, Alexandra now sits on Ronon’s thigh and the Satedan’s leg is propped up on a fence post as he bounces his foot up and down like a horse would if it was trotting.

“It’s all Ronon’s fault if the first sentence she says is I want a horse,” John points out.

He hears footsteps approach and angles his head to see Nancy approaching.

“My ex-wife is incoming,” he sighs. He holds her hip for a moment and then turns to greet the familiar face.

Elizabeth turns a little slower, putting on her diplomatic face.

There was no photo of Nancy in his official or unofficial file. Of course, she had been listed with her full name and a quick web search might have brought her up, but Elizabeth hadn’t been curious about that during the go-ahead for the expedition.

“Hi, John,” Nancy approaches cautiously as if John was a spooked horse.

“Nancy, uh, hi. I didn't expect to see you here,” John rubs a hand over the back of his neck.

“I'm very sorry,” Nancy dips her chin. She looks over from John to Elizabeth and gives her a slightly awkward smile.

“Uh…Nancy, Elizabeth. Elizabeth, Nancy.”

Elizabeth gives John a little indulgent smile as she raises a brow and turns back to Nancy.

“Hi,” she greets the woman.

“Pleased to meet you.”

“Likewise.”

John clears his throat. Elizabeth is so much better at the talking thing and the diplomatic thing. He is out of his depth.

“Still with Homeland Security?” He winces at how cliche their conversation repertoire has gotten since he last saw her five years ago.

“Yeah. I just got promoted. I'm a director now.”

“Congratulations.” John nods with a sincere smile.

“Are you still with the Air Force?” Nancy asks.

John nods.

“Made lieutenant colonel a couple of years ago.”

“Congratulations,” Nancy tells him with an aborted hand to his arm. It flounders in the space between them and she clasps her hands in front of her.

“How's…how's Greg?” John can’t remember the wedding invitation other than he thought it started with a G. He didn’t go thanks to his orders that had put him in Afghanistan on the day in question.

“Grant,” Nancy corrects with a visible wince.

“Grant,” John parrots.

“Umm…he-he would've come, but he's, uh, trying a case in Phoenix.”

“Oh. Sounds like he's doing well. And you’re doing well.”

“Yeah, he is. He's uh…yeah, we’re both doing well.”

“Good,” John looks behind her and watches the crowd milling around. He’s out of topics.

Shifting her gaze to Elizabeth, Nancy smiles politely.

“What do you do?”

“I’m, ah, a civilian contractor with the Air Force.”

Thanks to Nancy’s experience with John and the fact she works at Homeland Security, she doesn’t ask any more questions. A nod of understanding suffices and John’s tense posture relaxes a little.

His arm brushes against Elizabeth’s as he shifts a little closer, his palm meeting hers and fingers clasping. Nancy watches the motion and she puts it all together.

“How long have you two been together?” Nancy asks. She doesn’t see a ring on either finger and doesn’t want to make assumptions they’re married, but she knows that look John had given Elizabeth. Once upon a time, he gave a version of that look to her.

“Four years,” Elizabeth pipes up.

John is looking over Nancy’s shoulder to his brother as his brother points him out to an older couple as they stand on the back porch.

She was officially John’s longest relationship. He had told her that last year with a proud grin on his face.

“Is the little one yours then?” Nancy asks as she looks over their shoulders at the unfamiliar face. It doesn’t take a genius to figure he’s with John. Nor does it take one to figure out the baby isn’t his own. The bright green eyes, auburn hair, little nose, high cheekbones, and fair skin are all Elizabeth. But Alexandra has the little elfin ears, little plump lips, and a rounder face that’s all John. She’s also got his charm and ability to fall asleep anywhere despite the noise level.

The guy holding the baby doesn’t fit in with Patrick Sheppard or Dave Sheppard’s typical associates. Naturally, there weren’t many children here. Usually, it's just the immediate family’s kids at the wake. Dave’s kids were a little older and running around in the front yard away from the sombre mood of the backyard. And maybe a few of their cousins had their kids playing with Dave’s kids.

“Mmh,” Elizabeth nods. “Little one is Alexandra. The big dude is Ronon. He’s on John’s team.”

“Civilian contractor,” John says as Nancy gives Ronon a once over.

“Ah,” Nancy gives him a small smile with a look he can’t interpret moving across her face. “You’re a dad.”

Once upon a time, Patrick Sheppard thought the smartest thing John did was marry Nancy. And the second dumbest thing he did was divorce her. First, of course, was joining the Air Force.

John looks over to Ronon and Alexandra. The baby is tilting her upper body in Ronon’s arms, giggling as she shows off her little teeth as she grins as she tries to get Ronon to grin back at her. It’s one of her favourite games to play with him.

“Yeah,” he nods. He captures Elizabeth’s gaze as he looks over at her.

John’s apt to counter his father and say joining the Air Force was the best idea he had as a rebellious kid. Without the Air Force, he would have never flown General O’Neill down to Antarctica and sat in that chair and been privy to Elizabeth’s dogged pursuit for him to join the mission.

“How old is she?” Nancy asks as she looks a little closer at the baby, trying to get a look at her features as Ronon clicks his tongue to try and call the horses over again.

“Almost one,” Elizabeth turns and faces Ronon and Alexandra before looking back at Nancy.

“Patrick would have liked her,” Nancy nods and tilts her head a little, trying to get John’s attention back to the conversation in front of him rather than subtly watching his brother.

At his dad’s name, John looks back to Nancy.

He hums an answer that could be taken either way.

“Well,” Nancy flounders for another topic and can’t find any. “It was good to see you. I’m sorry about your dad.”

“Thanks,” John nods.

Elizabeth smiles politely as Nancy dips her chin before breaking away and making her way to Dave Sheppard to pay her respects.

--

John catches sight of him first. It’s hard to miss a three-star general in an Air Force Blue service dress uniform heading towards the paddock with an obvious guard of Marines. By the time Jack reaches them, Alexandra is in Elizabeth’s arms and John stops just short of saluting General Jack O’Neill as the general looks a little abashed at bombarding John at his father’s funeral.

“Sheppard,” Jack nods. He looks over and nods a greeting to Ronon and Elizabeth.

“Sir.”

“I, eh. I hate to do this today, but we intercepted a woman who was planning to ambush you here. She has information on a few rogue Henry Wallace experiments.”

Ronon and John share a look. They thought this was over and done with a few months ago.

“She was searching for you two, McKay, and Sam. Naturally, we flag and review any searches for any high-ranking SG members. Instead, she found Patrick Sheppard’s obituary and used Whitepages to find your brother’s and father’s addresses.”

Elizabeth nods.

“The Apollo is standing by to assist in the search. We have her in one of the holding rooms. My guys can show you where it’s okay to beam out.”

John looks to his brother, standing a modest stone's throw away, who has finally noticed the new faces.

He looks to Elizabeth, silently conversing with her.

“Go,” Elizabeth sighs due to the timing rather than the task at hand and John escaping. “I’ll make excuses.”

“I’ll stay with the good doctor,” Jack notes as John hesitates. “Take two of my guys with you and you’ll be able to get into the Pentagon.”

John puts his hands in his suit pants and hands Elizabeth the keys to their SVU. He moves behind her and digs the octopus out from the diaper bag and hands it to Alexandra. They sometimes use that as her source of comfort when she watches one or both of them go somewhere without her. After all, her separation anxiety when there’s an unfamiliar crowd isn’t a tested one since she knows everyone on Atlantis and pretty much everyone at the SGC.

“Sir,” John nods.

Jack looks away, busies himself with watching the horses as John kisses his daughter and Elizabeth before leaving with Ronon.

Elizabeth watches them go and tilts her head, watching as Alexandra watches her father leave. There’s a confusion that usually appears when John and his team go through the stargate if she’s up in the control room or Elizabeth’s office. So far, no tears, which Elizabeth counts as a win.

“Dada?” She questions, repeating the title again when Elizabeth just smiles at her.

“We needed your dad’s help to save Earth again,” Jack whispers and he tugs on Alexandra’s sock-covered foot.

She turns to face the man who touches her foot and almost gives Elizabeth a bloody nose with how her little hard head whipped Elizabeth’s nose. She looks to her mother.

“This is General Jack O’Neill. You’ve seen him on the screens before.”

She hums a lengthy 'jah' before leaning against Elizabeth. She knows his voice from the meetings Elizabeth sometimes takes in their quarters or Alexandra interrupts when she can’t be settled and John is elsewhere in Atlantis or off-world.

Jack smiles back and Alexandra kicks her feet, jabbering as she tries to scramble over her mother’s shoulder to the horses again.

“Careful. Please don’t kick me,” Elizabeth sighs as she holds one little foot away from her stomach. She wiggles it as Alexandra laughs and forgets about the new face for a moment.

Jack watches Elizabeth’s movements and chuckles.

“Weren’t you pregnant the last time you were recalled to Earth?” Jack smirks.

They’d been back to Earth twice. Once for a recall. Once because the Ancients had come back to the city. The latter would be more displaced than recalled, in her mind.

The last time she had been truly recalled to Earth, she had faced the IOA because a few Wraith hive ships were heading to Earth and the committee demanded an in-person briefing. She had almost refused because she didn’t have time for an inquisition. And, for all she knew, she had just lost John, Rodney, and Ronon.

Before that, they had found out two weeks before her abrupt return to Earth that they were expecting. Since she had come to Earth with nothing more than her tablet, Sam Cater had come to her VIP guest quarters with an offer to get her off the base and lend her some clothes that aren’t a spare pair of BDUs. Sam had figured out pretty quickly what was up the next morning when she’d found Elizabeth in the washroom sitting on the floor.

Elizabeth raises a brow.

“I was farther along when we saved you and Woolsey from the Replicators and you didn’t notice until I hugged you,” she reminds him.

“Ah,” Jack nods. “Well.”

Elizabeth raises a brow.

“No judgment. Carter added a few things up and wanted to know my thoughts if I saw you guys. Girl? Boy?”

“Boy,” she nods with a little smile. “Not that we’d know here just yet.”

“Ancients were good at a few things.”

Elizabeth chuckles.

“Set pair,” Jack pats her on the shoulder not taken up by Alexandra. “Congratulations.”

“Mmh, thanks.”

Their conversation trails off, watching as Dave watches them before he gathers his wife and children.

--

Dave had gathered the mourners in a group around the pool house.

Elizabeth and Jack hadn’t moved from their position over by the paddock. It was close enough to blend in but far enough away she didn’t have to mingle.

Dave begins with a memory of his father cementing his legacy. He talks about how his mother and father have now united again. There’s a moment before he states how Patrick is survived by his sons and that Patrick Sheppard had high hopes his grandchildren would follow in his footsteps. At the last statement, Dave meets Elizabeth’s eyes before looking at his own wife and children and raising a glass to the crowd. A few in the crowd followed Dave’s gaze and gave her looks, curious as to who the woman with the baby, decorated officer, and guards were, but they didn’t ask. They didn’t even approach them when John was here. But she’s sure the gossip is all over the gathered crowd is all about her.

“He’s good,” Jack leans over a little and his shoulder hits hers as she nods. “Not as good as your little expedition speech a few years ago.”

Elizabeth leans down and presses her lips to her daughter’s head to hide the smile. She’s sure Jack catches it.

The crowd toasts him back and moments later, congregates into groups again, perhaps to have a final chat before everyone disperses, and Elizabeth watches as Dave moves into the pool house.

“How long do you think we have to stay?” Jack wonders as he follows Elizabeth’s gaze.

“If we’re going to the Pentagon, I’d like to feed her before we leave. An hour of her crying would drive even these guys crazy,” Elizabeth motions to the Marines.

One gives her a smirk and she thinks he’s had experience with crying babies.

“I need to,” Elizabeth trails off.

Jack motions he’ll take Alexandra.

“You sure?”

Jack nods.

Alexandra frowns as she’s passed to Jack.

“I’ll be right back, okay?” She says as she runs her fingers through Alexandra’s hair. “Stay with Jack just for a second and then I’ll feed you.”

Alexandra looks a little hesitant but she no doubt can sense Jack also has the ancient gene and seems friendly enough. Elizabeth steps away and Alexandra watches her before Jack distracts her with her favourite toy octopus.

Jack nods and as she moves to the house, she smirks a little as her unofficial Marine guard trails just behind her as curious people turn and watch.

She comes back from the washroom and watches as Jack sits in a chair with Alexandra in his lap at the edge of the pool. By the way his hands are moving, he is no doubt telling her about the benefits of fishing and ponds in Minnesota where fish grow this big. Alexandra, for her part, seems to be listening as she sticks fingers in her mouth and starts to gnaw on them. She glances at her watch. She has the formula and rice cereal in the backpack Jack has on the ground. While not conventional by Earth standards, they still give Alexandra formula for now thanks to the lack of milk available in the Pegasus galaxy.

She makes her way over and little green eyes light up as they find her.

“Hi,” she greets her daughter and her hand reaches out to tame her hair. She gets a smile in response. “I told you I’d be back.”

Alexandra hums the beginnings of what sounds like mama but never gets past the mmm part.

“I can take the bag,” Elizabeth tells Jack as he grabs the fabric of the backpack. “Or Alexandra.”

He deposits the diaper bag in her arms. “I can hold her until you’re ready for her. Eleanor’s in her fiercely independent streak where she doesn’t want to be picked up or held. So, this is nice.”

“Thank you,” she nods and shoulders the bag with her needed supplies. Looking around, she spots the face she needs and nods at Jack before heading to the main house where Dave lingers near the deck.

“Elizabeth,” Dave greets her. Her name is slow and elongated as if questioning his memory of her name. She doesn’t take offence.

She nods. She doesn’t miss that he’s looking beyond her shoulder to the Marine who is no doubt a respectable distance away but an obvious figure behind her.

“She’s going to be hungry,” Elizabeth gestures to Alexandra who right now is engaged in a deep belly laugh as Jack entertains her. “Would you mind if I used your kitchen?”

“The caterers are in there packing up,” Dave says absently as he turns his gaze back to Elizabeth. “I’ll take you to the bar.”

Elizabeth catches Jack's eye and he nods. The single guard follows at a sedate pace behind Elizabeth as she steps beside Dave.

“Should I be worried the world is about to end?” Dave quips.

Elizabeth forces a smile and a laugh.

“My brother and the contractor left pretty quickly. I would think the expedition commander would be needed.”

“I’m a civilian contractor, too,” Elizabeth points out. She’s not sure she or John ever confirmed or denied Dave’s first crack in the driveway. “I’m usually only on ops if they need a negotiator or a representative.”

“I see,” Dave nods and watches as Elizabeth gives him half a smile.

“Here we are,” Dave opens the door and gestures inside.

Elizabeth steps to the side without a word and lets the sergeant conduct a sweep before going inside after she gets an all-clear.

“Protocol,” Elizabeth shrugs.

Dave shows her inside and there’s a small stovetop with a kettle.

“Sorry, there’s no hot water to this line,” Dave gestures to the kettle. “Water isn’t really a big draw with this part of the house.”

Elizabeth busies herself by filling the kettle. Knowing her daughter’s eating habits, she shrugs out of the blazer and folds it, setting it on the counter. She digs into the diaper bag for formula, a bottle, and one of the blankets she had packed as Alexandra’s burp rag.

She let Dave assess her and pretended she was oblivious to the scrutiny.

“Washroom?” Elizabeth asks.

Dave points to the hallway behind her.

She makes her escape for a moment.

When she returns, Jack has made his way inside and she can see the heads of the Marines outside the door.

“Figured it would be easiest if we came to you,” Jack points to the chair near the dormant fireplace. “Sit. You’ve been standing all day.”

Elizabeth gives him a look that was familiar to the one Sam often gave him when he was being overly protective.

Elizabeth grabs the blanket from the counter and throws it over her shoulder before grabbing Alexandra from Jack and sitting down in the chair Jack had pointed out.

Dave loiters between the two parties. Eventually, he decides the three-star general making a bottle isn’t likely to steal the top shelf alcohol and moves to the chair opposite Elizabeth. He gestures and she nods before turning back to the baby in her lap.

She looks over at Dave and finds him drawn to her naked wrist that had been previously covered by her blazer.

“Where we are stationed for the expedition, there’s a group of natives who asked us to participate in one of their ceremonies,” Elizabeth says as Dave looks up at her before being drawn back in to study the inked design.

The design had been a mix of Ronon’s, Teyla’s, and John’s (with Rodney’s assistance) ideas to mix all the cultures based on Atlantis and New Lantea. It looked almost Polynesian in design if she had to think of an Earthly equivalent.

After Halling had blessed them and asked for the Ancestors to watch over their souls and that they be joined in this life and the next, Ronon had completed the design with the traditional stick-and-poke. It had hurt like hell but he was efficient and quite the artist. The tattoo shimmered in the light thanks to the ink available in the Pegasus galaxy. Every year, they get a new layer added. She got her annual additions when it had been safe as per Carson. Which means she has three to John’s four.

“The native group believes it to be a little more binding than a regular wedding ceremony here in the States.”

Dave tilts his head, curious. He spins the band of his wedding ring absently.

“We’re bound in this life, the next, and any other,” Elizabeth notes. The ceremony reminded her of a traditional ceremony of a few tribes here in the States.

The smell of warmed formula alerts her to Jack despite his silent footsteps and she sees him just off to the side of her chair holding out the bottle. Like this morning, the formula made her a little queasy. But she wasn’t sure Alexandra would take a bottle from anyone else.

As if she can tell it’s for her, Alexandra curls into Elizabeth and she eagerly assists and Elizabeth guides the bottle to her mouth.

Jack moves in front of her for a moment to take the chair beside her. She moves her knuckle and brushes it against the little cheek as she begins to drink her formula.

“I’m sorry, but who are you?” Dave finally asks as Jack sits with an exaggerated sigh next to Elizabeth.

“Me?” Jack asks as he points to himself.

Elizabeth forces her chuckle to stay inside her mind.

“Yes,” Dave notes with a hint of ‘ you idiot .’

“General Jack O’Neill,” Jack gestures to his uniform and name badge.

“Are you my brother's unit commander?”

Jack purses his lips and looks over at Elizabeth.

“No,” Jack says as he looks back to Dave. “I’m Sheppard’s boss’ boss’ boss.”

Jack says slowly counting the layers. The Atlantis military command reports to John. John reports, militarily, to Sam. Sam reports to Landry and the IOA, and Landry reports to him. It’s bureaucracy at its finest.

Thankfully, Jack steers the conversation to sports and mundane topics. But she can still feel Dave watching Elizabeth as she focuses on the baby in her arms.

Eventually, Alexandra becomes disinterested in finishing the bottle and more interested in testing out her language skills. Naturally, she repeats dada and Elizabeth answers by running her fingers through her curls.

Elizabeth sits Alexandra up on her lap facing out as she pats her back to help expel any air she may have taken in.

Dave thinks the kid looks a lot like John. It’s the first time he’s really been able to take a look at the baby. He hasn’t gotten around to asking how old she is. The eyes are more green than hazel and there’s a touch of auburn in her hair, but he recognizes the Sheppard ears and John’s face shape.

“We should probably go soon,” Elizabeth continues to pat Alexandra’s back as she leans down to gnaw on Elizabeth’s knuckle as she does with John after a good burp. “We’re due for a nap soon.”

Jack nods knowing the real reason for her departure is less to do with Alexandra’s schedule and more to check in with the Apollo and figure out how John and Ronon are doing.

“Will you tell John I’d like to talk still,” Dave says as he stands.

Elizabeth nods to his statement before she stands and shifts so Alexandra is at her shoulder.

“I should change her,” Elizabeth says as she looks at Jack as he stands, too.

“I got it,” Jack says before she can protest he really doesn’t have to do it. He plucks Alexandra out of Elizabeth’s arms and little wet fingers touch his cheek.

“Sorry. She’s always a little drooly after being fed,” Elizabeth says as she hides a chuckle.

Jack changes Alexandra's diaper as she packs up and cleans up their little tornado of activity and says thanks to Dave, telling him she’s sorry for his loss.

Dave lingers in the doorway, watching as the woman who, for all intents and purposes, is his sister in law, leaves with a three-star general and two Marine escorts as if it’s an everyday occurrence in her world. And, he thinks, maybe it’s closer to reality than he’d assume. He only wishes his brother had given him her full name when they were introduced.

Elizabeth and John sit on opposite sides of a large picnic/camping blanket, John’s finger being held tightly as Alexandra stands and makes her way to Elizabeth who sits cross-legged as she encourages the feat. Alexandra lets go of John’s finger and sways before she steps again. She’s off-kilter and begins to fall forward but Elizabeth catches her and brings her down to the ground gently. There’s a moment where Alexandra gets her bearings before she starts to crawl into Elizabeth's lap. She has a goal in mind, the bottle Elizabeth made as John tried to get Alexandra to play on the grass. Like sand, she’s not a fan.

John hasn’t given up, though. Monthly trips out to the mainland seem to be his routine to get her to like the beach. Fresh air does wonders for kids, he claims, as he blocks out half of Elizabeth’s day on Saturdays and makes Lorne and Chuck be in charge for a few hours.

There’s a photo in their quarters of Elizabeth and Alexandra with matching one-piece swimsuits and large hats. Elizabeth’s is a tasteful straw hat that shades her fair skin while Alexandra sports a bucket hat. He had been in the surf and Elizabeth had been standing with Alexandra at the shore, pointing him out to the baby. He still wasn’t sure who pointed the camera at them. His money is on Carson while Elizabeth thought it was Teyla’s handiwork.

Nancy approaches and sits on the bench above where they sit. She looks at the baby who lays in Elizabeth’s lap. She’s letting Elizabeth hold the bottle as she has one hand in her hair and one hand attempting to take her sock off.

John nods his greeting.

“This is surprising,” Nancy greets. “Two John Sheppard encounters in as many days. So, what can I do for you?”

While John and Ronon had been tracking Poole and the human-form replicator Poole and his assistant built, Elizabeth was coordinating background information with Jack and Bill Lee from the comfort of Jack O’Neill’s townhouse after spending a couple of hours at the Pentagon. Unfortunately, they had run into a snag and the project was housed at the Department of Homeland Security rather than the Department of Defense. When Alexandra was finally asleep that night, and Jack O’Neill promised to radio her if the baby woke, Elizabeth had beamed up to the Apollo and convinced John to ask Nancy for help. She knew it’d be awkward for him. She knows it’s going to be a feat to convince Nancy not only to help them but not ask questions while researching if she does decide to help. Knowing it's not his strong suit to ask for help, it's why she’s here rather than letting John go alone.

“Uhh… I need a favour.”

Nancy leans back on the bench as John looks over at Elizabeth before he scratches his temple and then looks up at Nancy.

“Err… I need as much information as possible about a project, possibly code-named ‘Archetype .’”

John at least gives her a sheepish look as he finishes his request.

Nancy scoffs, leaning forward as she crosses her arms and her lips narrow into a thin line.

“You want me to use my security clearance to get you classified information?”

“Well, I didn't say it was a small favour.”

Elizabeth tilts her head and gives him a look she often gives him when he puts his foot in his mouth. It’s one of the reasons why she brings Lorne and his team as her security detail when she goes off-world to negotiate on behalf of Atlantis.

“Do you know how hard I've worked to get to where I am? If I get caught doing something like this, I could lose everything!”

Nancy unfolds her arms to throw them up in outrage and John knows he needs help.

“Well, I know! I-I wouldn't ask you if it wasn't important.”

Nancy and Elizabeth sigh at the same time.

“John, I think she’s done,” Elizabeth interrupts.

John looks over. Elizabeth has a half-eaten bottle resting against her knee and her fingers gently move up and down Alexandra’s belly as she blinks slowly. A sure sign she’s ready for her morning nap. He moves around the blanket and scoops up the half-asleep baby from Elizabeth’s lap. He gives her a look of thanks as he stands and begins to pat Alexandra’s back as he walks away to let the diplomat in their family handle the negotiation.

“It was my idea to ask you,” Elizabeth begins.

She shifts, attempting to straighten her legs after sitting criss-cross for the past twenty minutes, but she’s sort of stuck thanks to tingling limbs and her balance is a little off-center. She unconsciously moves her hand over her belly as she shifts and feels Nancy watching her.

“He got pulled into a side mission while we’re here. I had been doing background research for him and I saw a DHS codeword file. We don’t have a Department of Homeland Security clearance and official channels would take too long.”

Elizabeth looks up at Nancy, seeing the indecision on her face.

Nancy considers Elizabeth.

“All right, what's it about?”

Elizabeth pauses long enough for Nancy to know all she needs.

“I take it you actually work with John a lot where you’re stationed?”

Elizabeth nods.

All Nancy knows is that Elizabeth is a civilian contractor and is in a relationship with John.

“He was gone more than he was home when we were married,” Nancy rubs her temple and looks over at Elizabeth. “He would pick up the phone and a few hours later he’s gone. I never knew where or for how long. He would never talk about it because he couldn’t talk about it. I don’t know if it’s easier or harder knowing what he does.”

Elizabeth gives her a half-smile.

“I’m the expedition commander,” Elizabeth looks down and traces the tattoo on her forearm with her eyes. Her hands clasp in her lap and she sighs. We’re a bunch of scientists and John’s my military commander. Sometimes I have to order him to do things I’d rather not have anyone on my teams do, let alone him. We’ve been through a lot together.”

Nancy watches Elizabeth reminisce on something before she looks at John as he stands just out of earshot and paces. He started with Alexandra propped up on his chest, her head settling on his shoulder. He now holds her in his arms and she looks up at him as she begins to fall asleep. Once upon a time, he’d leave at the sound of a ringing phone. Now, Nancy’s sure they probably have little arguments of how John should do his work or join his team on a mission. He would never shirk his duties, but he’d hesitate a little more now. Even looking a little worn down, he has a small smile on his face as he looks down at his daughter. There’s a contentedness in him that she had never seen in all the years she’s known him.

“You think the information is essential to John doing whatever it is he has to do?” Nancy asks as she moves her gaze back to Elizabeth.

“I wouldn’t have asked him to ask you if we could do the mission without the information or even going through proper channels,” Elizabeth nods briefly.

“If I do it, I’m not doing it for him. Cliché as that sounds.”

Elizabeth nods in understanding.

Nancy gets up from the bench and looks down at Elizabeth who still sits on the blanket.

“Congratulations,” Nancy whispers, chin tilting to Elizabeth’s midsection. “I always thought he’d make a good dad, you know, practically being a big kid himself.”

Elizabeth doesn’t say anything to agree or counter the remark. She just watches the other woman leave and hopes there’s enough understanding in what wasn’t said aloud that Nancy will help them out.

--

Jack recommends a diner for breakfast because the only things he has at the house are Fruit Loops and oatmeal, neither of which appeal much to Elizabeth or Alexandra today, it turns out. He promised as he walked to the door that morning, that he’d have his aide go shopping that afternoon since Sam and Eleanor were arriving tomorrow.

John sets the car seat down on his side of the booth, Alexandra facing him as she wakes from her catnap and attempts to look around while Elizabeth takes the other side of the booth and sits in the middle of the bench.

John retracts the car seat shade and Alexandra meets Elizabeth’s gaze across the table, her mouth curling into a grin as her green eyes light up, her feet kick up the edge of her blanket as she babbles.

Elizabeth shakes her head. Turns out Earth is screwing with her sleep schedule where she likes to nap in half-hour segments or ten-minute car rides.

Two menus are placed on the table and the hostess escapes with a smile and head tilt at the car seat.

Alexandra continues to kick to a rhythm only she can hear as John takes the blanket from atop her. She pauses and continues a moment later as John throws the blanket over her and waits for a second before moving it away from her face in a drawn-out game of peek-a-boo.

“She’s supposed to be napping,” Elizabeth points out with a little bite. Perhaps exhausting her in a game of peek-a-boo is just the thing she needs.

Yesterday, John had left after the meeting with Nancy to help Bates and Ronon track Ava who had escaped her semi-detention. That evening, Elizabeth had crashed with Alexandra next to her in the bed and by the time she had awoken the next morning, John had joined her with his arm around her middle and fingers tucked innocently into the waistband of her pajama shorts as his forehead rested near her shoulder blade. Alexandra had been placed in the pack n’ play on his side of the room. When Elizabeth had escaped without waking John, she found the baby quietly attempting to escape the velcro swaddle blanket John had put her in, thinking it might be best since Elizabeth had done it the night before the wake and she had woken up once as opposed to the other night when she had been awake every two to three hours.

Elizabeth opens the menu and half listens to the game going on across the table as she looks between the breakfast potatoes and the waffles. She only looks up when she feels she can no longer ignore John, who is hiding a chuckle.

“What two options?” He asks as he folds up his menu he’d been too occupied to really look at and she sets hers on the table.

“The potatoes with scrambled eggs or the waffles,” she trails off.

“With the mixed berry syrup on the side,” John finishes.

It’s code for he’ll order whatever else she wants because she can’t decide but she might want both. They don’t get a ton of variety on Atlantis unless one counts Athosian meals or off-world feasts. So, Earth is the one place where they can eat their old favourites. Luckily, John is easy and can get a turkey sandwich in both places. She often couldn’t decide between two things at the commissary or when the Athosians made their large feasts. And, he had done the same thing there and would put his tray in the middle of the table for her to pick at.

Eventually, they order food and Alexandra begins to signal she wants out of the car seat. John unbuckles the straps and releases her, sitting her on his lap to face the table. She finds Elizabeth across from her and hums mama, her fingers finding the surface with a little slap as she grins.

“You’re big,” Elizabeth nods with an amused glance between the two sitting opposite her. “And, you two are twins.”

John looks down at the baby and furrows his brows as he reviews their clothing choices. He’d gone for his black shirt and black pants ensemble. Elizabeth had stuck Alexandra in a baby blue sweater with little fish and whales paired with little black leggings. She had forgone shoes but put a pair of socks on her since it was colder here than on Atlantis.

“The hair,” Elizabeth notes with a hand moving from her lap to motion around her head.

“Oh,” John grins and flattens a hand on Alexandra’s head. She squawks, leaning back against him and lifts her hands from the table to meet his hands. He rubs her hair and lifts his hand, making it worse.

Elizabeth shakes her head and sighs, moving her hand over her belly. She kind of hopes this next one will lean more towards John’s messy look over her ‘frizzy in the humidity’ hair.

Their food is served somewhere between her thoughts on the ATA gene and keeping Rodney from kidnapping her children to use in his ATA experiments, and John entertaining Alexandra with the spoon and napkin that had been sitting within Alexandra’s reach.

“This is harder than you make it look,” John says distractedly as he tries to keep Alexandra from knocking his plate off the table with one arm as he cuts the waffles. He abandons his task to hold her back with both hands.

Elizabeth reaches over and shifts both plates to the middle of the table so they can trade and she can keep the waffles from toppling over. There’s a piece of waffle that isn’t sticky with syrup and she cuts it into a little strip, nodding at it.

“She’s probably hungry. She didn’t have much of her bottle this morning,” Elizabeth looks at her watch.

John ordered fruit with the waffles for this moment. There were melons and berries and grapes in the bowl. It was currently cast off to the side with a little appetizer plate Elizabeth asked for when she wanted the syrup on the breakfast potatoes.

“Doesn’t change the fact she’s squirmy,” John reminds her as he lets her stand in his lap.

Elizabeth picked out some of the fruits, turning her nose up at the cantaloupe as she put it on the plate. She slides the plate over and digs through the backpack to find a bib and tosses it in his direction.

As he attempts to help Alexandra eat the piece of waffle and the fruit with her fingers without spilling it everywhere or dropping it, Elizabeth switches out her fork for his own when she tries the waffle and ends up only tasting the cantaloupe she had grabbed with her fork.

Alexandra begins to eat, so John tries to balance watching her and eating at the same time. He shot a grateful look over to Elizabeth who had cut up the waffles into squares so it made his task easier.

Nancy can pick out John Sheppard in a crowd thanks to his hair and heads to the table in the back corner of the diner where he’s facing the wall and Elizabeth Weir faces the door. She wouldn’t have expected that with the John Sheppard she had been married to. He always faced the entrance. Always slept closest to the door when he had been home long enough to share a bed. He has changed.

She walks over and meets Elizabeth’s gaze about halfway there as the diplomat talks to her table partner.

“Hi,” Nancy nods when she finally makes it to the table.

“Hey,” John looks around for a moment. There’s a spoon, shredded napkin, and a toy on the bench next to him and he’s pretty sure Alexandra tried the gnawed on a piece of watermelon that sits on a little plate at the edge of the table. The baby in question is in his lap, standing on his legs with his support, done with her fruit and waffle pieces. Her little hands grip her father’s fingers and she bounces with a drooling smile. The movements pause as she catches a new person, but she resumes bouncing a moment later.

Elizabeth scoots over and Nancy sits, her coat brushing Elizabeth’s hand on the bench as it flares before she apologizes and pulls it back.

“Do you want anything?” John asks as he gestures to the table to signal she’s welcome to order food or drink since they’re still eating.

“No, thank you,” Nancy shakes her head. I actually ate at home.

The brush pass is very covert and professional as Nancy uses her purse to sit between herself and Elizabeth where the USB drive dangles like a keychain. Elizabeth takes the offered information for John and puts it in one of the zippered parts of the diaper bag.

With the baby closer than her observations at the funeral, Nancy can clearly see John Sheppard in the little smile and gleaming eyes even though the colour matches her mother’s shade of green. The bouncing stops and she sits abruptly. John letting out a wince more out of the unexpected change than an injury.

Little fingers reach for the table as John holds her to his chest. She strains and squawks, babbling dada twice before he loosens his hold on her.

As Nancy talks in a roundabout way of what she’s found, John moves Alexandra’s plate a little further to the middle and his hand moves to cover the edge of the table just as Alexandra moves and her open mouth meets two of John’s fingers.

“Teething,” John shrugs his shoulders as Nancy gives him a look of surprise. “She, uh, likes to gnaw on things.”

Elizabeth roots through the diaper bag at her side and dips one of the teething rings in her ice water and hands it over.

Rather than taking it, Alexandra makes John hold it between his fingers and she leans in, humming it while looking at the visitor.

Nancy looks over to Elizabeth and then back to John.

“Umm, that’s everything I could find on ‘Archetype’. It's not much. But, whatever it is, no one will touch it with a ten-foot pole.”

Nancy shrugs and watches as Elizabeth and John look at one another and have a wordless conversation.

“Yeah. We, I, owe you one,” John looks over at Nancy.

Alexandra grabs at the fruit as she gnaws on the teething ring and drops the piece of watermelon down her front and it splats onto John’s lap before rolling to the floor. She pauses and looks up at John before starting to cry, her cheeks turning pink but no tears falling.

Nancy laughs openly as John looks over at Elizabeth who is already zipping up the diaper bag so he can take it and change the baby and clean himself up.

John stands and mumbles that he’ll be right back as he takes the bag as Elizabeth lifts it up so he can reach it.

“You know, when I was snooping around, I took the liberty of asking a few questions.”

“Oh. Uh, that's probably not such a good idea,” Elizabeth gives Nancy ‘a sorry we should have warned you’ look.

“Yeah, I got that impression. I've seen walls go up quickly before, but never like this. And, whatever you both are into, it's obviously big, and my guess is, very dangerous.”

Elizabeth can’t really counterattack much of Nancy’s impression so she forks a few potatoes and eggs, shrugging her shoulder before chewing. After all, she’s still hungry and needs to eat unless she wants to have a headache in a few hours.

“How’d you two meet?” Nancy wonders, filling the gap of silence. Maybe it would have been better to excuse herself as John moved to change the baby considering she’s done all he asked for when she handed over the information, but her own curiosity made her stay. “I’m guessing that’s not as classified as whatever it is you guys do.”

“He had flown a general out to the camp for a meeting and touched something he wasn’t supposed to touch,” Elizabeth smiles unconsciously at the memory of years ago in Antarctica.

“Sounds like John,” Nancy nods. “Never a dull moment.”

“Mmh, no,” Elizabeth agrees.

“Was he still stationed in McMurdo?”

Although they hadn’t been together for some time before that, she had been with the Department of Homeland Security by then and kept up with John’s career because Patrick Sheppard sometimes reached out and asked about him knowing she’d have more opportunity to see or hear about John more than him.

“Yes,” Elizabeth nods. “He flew my team back and forth from the base to the camp a few times.”

“A diplomat in Antarctica, though?”

Nancy had clearly read a little about her before she began asking around.

“Antarctica is a neutral zone. It, uh, takes a lot of work to keep it that way with all the expeditions and numerous countries and their military expeditions there.”

John came back with their daughter in an entirely different outfit with suspiciously wet hair like he’d given her a quick rinse in the sink.

“You realize those are her pajamas, right?” Elizabeth asks with a quiet laugh.

“Uh, yeah,” he nods but it’s clear he had no idea.

Elizabeth looks at her watch and nods to the backpack on his shoulder.

“Can you ask the waitress to use the hot water for a bottle? Maybe she’ll take the rest of it now.”

John looked a little helpless and Elizabeth put down her fork.

“Can you pass her?” John asked as he looked at Nancy.

Nancy nods and awkwardly takes Alexandra from John and brings her in a little close to avoid the table as she turns and hands the baby to her mother.

Meanwhile, John sets the backpack on the bench and dug out the bottle.

“Babies are heavier than I expected,” Nancy looks at Alexandra as she settles into her mother’s arms. Her green eyes are wide and Nancy feels like the baby is winning a staring contest as she meets her eyes.

“They’re light for a few weeks,” Elizabeth says as she combs her fingers through Alexandra’s damp curls. “Then they start eating constantly and they turn into little bowling balls.”

Nancy chuckles as John returns.

“You want me to take her?” He makes the bottle without reading the directions and he thinks he sees Nancy smirk.

The smell of formula hits Elizabeth and she frowns but reaches for it.

“You can eat now,” Elizabeth smirks at him before she helps Alexandra guide the bottle to her mouth.

Nancy stays only long enough to remind John to be careful and tell him to take care of his family.

“She figured it out, didn’t she?” John says more than asks as he nods his chin to her.

“Mmh,” Elizabeth hums. “It’s her job to be observant. And, she noticed the other day in the park. Wasn’t hard to spot when I can’t really move from the ground without assistance because he’s throwing off my balance.”

He laughs as he reaches over and eats her potatoes and eggs.

“You want to head to the Pentagon after this?”

She shrugs her shoulders. As long as Jack has room and a quiet place for Alexandra to nap, she can assist from anywhere with the information.

“You think Emerson would allow a baby on board?” John wonders as he continues to eat.

“I think Steven’s the only one not afraid to bring her aboard.”

Elizabeth watches familiar green eyes droop as the pulls on the bottle get fewer and far between.

After paying, John cleans up the mess as much as he can and leaves a hefty tip in apology. He takes the diaper bag and puts it on his shoulder and moves the car seat to the end of the bench so Elizabeth doesn’t have to do much but put the sleeping baby in and buckle her up. Her eyes open a few times, little fingers moving to shield her face before she returns to sleep. Elizabeth moves away and lets him take the car seat in his arms and she holds the door before they walk back to the SUV and begin their day.

Elizabeth is in the guest room, asleep in one of his shirts, by the time Bill Lee beams him down to the O’Neill townhouse after leaving Ava in her virtual environment. He undresses as quietly as he can. He rids himself of his BDUs until he’s just in his boxer briefs and his undershirt and slips under the covers. He scoots closer to Elizabeth, moving an arm around her middle and curling up to her so that her back is to his front.

She smells like mint, baby shampoo, and baby lotion. Her hair is a little damp and he sighs against her shoulder.

“Spectacular blowout,” she mumbles to him as one of her hands moves to tuck his arm a little lower around her waist. “And then I puked. We made quite the pair for greeting Colonel Carter.”

He imagines she’s only lightly slumbering because she’s got a load of wash going somewhere if that happened.

“You smell good now,” he whispers against her and feels her laugh more than hears it.

“Sam’s taking Alexandra and Eleanor to the Air and Space Museum while they wait for Jack to end his workday.”

He hums against her.

“She was helping Doctor Lee out with the virtual environment and let me know where you were. She said the kids were enjoying the park with Sergeant Harriman in the meantime.”

“Everything is in the dryer now,” she tells him. “We have a few hours of peace and quiet.”

John holds her a little tighter and closes his eyes. He doesn’t even last five minutes before his breathing evens out and his hold loosens around her.

By the time Sam, Jack, Eleanor, and Alexandra arrive, it’s dinner time and John is still asleep. Elizabeth is watching Aerial America on the Smithsonian Channel as she sits in the corner of the couch. She has a throw blanket over her lap and is absently running her fingers up and down her sweatshirt-covered bump when she hears footsteps.

Jack sets Alexandra down on the blanket in front of the couch that he laid out three days ago when he had offered his space rather than a hotel and Eleanor begins to toddle over, following her new friend.

“Oh, no, little miss. We’ve got to change your diaper,” Sam says as she scoops up Eleanor and moves down the hallway to Eleanor’s room. Sam nods her chin to Alexandra. “We changed her earlier.”

Elizabeth watches as Alexandra crawls over to the couch and pulls herself up with the help of the edge of the couch and looks at her mother from her position. Her unruly hair is charged with static as she keeps trying to scoot herself closer to Elizabeth. Elizabeth uses the loop in Alexandra’s pants to carefully hike her up from her odd angle into her lap.

Alexandra leans into her and gives her a slobbery kiss. She’s learned the greeting from watching her father. Whenever she hasn’t seen her mother in a few hours, she greets her like this.

“Did you have fun?” She asks as she turns Alexandra gently to sit in her lap.

Alexandra hums and leans against her.

Elizabeth sees Jack take a seat in the recliner out of the corner of her eye.

“Dada?” She asks but rubs her cheek against Elizabeth’s sweatshirt as she gets more comfortable in Elizabeth's arms.

“He’s taking a nap,” Elizabeth tells her as she presses a kiss to her head. “He should be up soon.”

Sam and Eleanor make their way back into the living room. Sam is trying to quiet Eleanor, knowing John is still sleeping in the guest room further down the hallway.

“Any thoughts on dinner?” Jack asks as he looks at the other adults. He looks over at Elizabeth. “Craving anything?”

“Thai?” Elizabeth asks quietly. They don’t get much variety in Atlantis and some of the best Thai she’s had here in the United States isn’t that far a drive from here.

“You know what John would want?” Sam asks as pulls up the menu on her phone and passes it to Elizabeth.

“Chicken pad see ew and pineapple fried rice,” Elizabeth nods her thanks to Sam and passes her phone back to the blonde.

Sam already knows Jack’s order as he heads to the door to grab his keys. It’ll be ready by the time he arrives thanks to DC traffic.

--

Elizabeth checks the time before she lays on the bed next to him and her hand makes its way into his hair.

John wakes slowly, an arm wrapping around her as he buries his face in her chest.

“Careful,” she says as she scratches his scalp a little. “They’re a little sore.”

“Sorry,” he murmurs against her skin and presses his lips against her neck instead. “How long was I out?”

“Almost six hours,” she tells him.

He sighs and finally opens his eyes and leans away from her for a moment to look at her.

She’s still tired but looks better than when this trip started. He’s sure he looks the same.

“Thank you for coming,” he says even though he knows he doesn’t have to. She’d follow him anywhere, just like he’d follow her anywhere.

Her hand moves from the nape of his neck to his temple as she smiles softly at him before leaning in and kissing him.

He returns the kiss and cups the back of her head as he continues, deepening the kiss. It feels like it’s been forever since he last kissed her properly or even simply made out with her without an interruption. They pause when they hear a little muffled sound from the living room. Hearing it again, they realize it’s a laugh and not a cry, and Elizabeth laughs.

He rests his forehead against hers before he releases his hold on her and moves a hand under her sweatshirt to move his fingers against her belly.

“Jack went out to get Thai food,” Elizabeth tells him. Her fingers continue exploring his hair.

“Cravings,” John says more than asks.

Elizabeth hums and her hand moves to brush through John's hair.

“You think he’s going to inherit your hair?”

Their daughter has Elizabeth’s curls but they have their moments of messiness like his own.

“Kinda hope he looks more like you,” he tells her. “They’re already both apparently stuck with my ears.”

Elizabeth’s fingers move to touch his ears.

“I like your ears,” she points out.

“At least they won’t have to deal with mean Earth kids teasing them about them,” he shrugs.

Elizabeth hums. They’ll have to figure out the whole education thing. Daniel Jackson has already volunteered to come to Atlantis and tutor if they want to stay in the Pegasus. After all, they started to think of Atlantis as ‘home’ only a few months into the expedition.

Sam knocks on the door and tells them Jack arrived at the Thai place and it’ll be another 20 minutes before he’s back.

John thanks Sam and he closes his eyes once again. He should check on Alexandra, but he’s loath to leave Elizabeth and their little bubble of kid-free time. And, she must sense it because her hand reaches out and her fingers entwine with his own under her sweatshirt against her warm skin.

She occasionally moves their hands even though it’s too early to feel the movement from the outside.

“You want to stay an extra day and go see your mom?” He asks as he focuses on her hand rather than her face.

The last time she had seen her mother was during the six weeks they had all returned to Earth after the Ancients they had rescued had taken back Atlantis. Landry had given them all a week off before reporting up the SG. They had come to see her mother and let her know she would be a grandmother in a couple of months.

As of now, Katherine Weir had only seen Alexandra through a video and then regular photo updates sent with the data bursts to the SGC. Sam would parse the video out and ship it to Jack who would ensure it got to Katherine. They had even managed to go to the mainland and John had taken some carefully framed photos for Alexandra’s sole remaining grandparent.

“I think she’d like that,” Elizabeth nods against his shoulder. “Jack and Sam have a meeting tomorrow morning, but we could do lunch? I can check in with her.”

“Okay,” John confirms.

Almost twenty minutes later, Elizabeth sits and watches from her spot on the bed as he changes his shirt before putting a sweatshirt and some jeans on.

“Ready?” John asks.

Elizabeth triple checked she was appropriately dressed after using the washroom.

Elizabeth nods and he grabs her hands, pulling her up, and opens the guest bedroom door to hear a familiar deep belly laugh as they walk down the hall and find Eleanor Carter-O’Neill and Alexandra Sheppard playing peek-a-boo with Sam as she hides and peeks out from behind the couch.

--

Dave Sheppard finds the O’Neill townhouse on the outskirts of Georgetown. He was supposed to go to work, considering it was a workday morning and he didn’t feel the need to use the bereavement leave. But something had steered him to the house where he hoped his brother was still visiting.

When he knocked on the door, he didn’t really know what to expect but his brother in a black shirt and Homer Simpson sleep pants with a little blonde attached to his leg and his daughter in his arms wasn’t it.

“Hi,” John says as he gives Dave a once over to cover the surprise at his brother’s appearance.

John doesn’t ask how Dave found the address. Instead, he opens the door a little wider and shuffles the little blonde to the side with him as the silent invitation to come in is given.

Dave steps in and half-smiles at the little blonde who won’t stop staring. Her big, brown eyes are curious and when he gives her half a wave, she looks up to John and then goes back to staring at Dave.

“We were getting a snack,” John says as he closes the door. It’s approaching 8:00 in the morning and as he was getting up with Alexandra to allow Elizabeth some time to sleep in. Eleanor had popped out of her bed and followed him down the hallway, ready to start her day. He had known Jack and Sam were at the Pentagon, a not-so-secret meeting with Landry on the books, and they had asked last night if John and Elizabeth would watch Eleanor until they were done. Jack had assured him Eleanor would probably be up early and he had been correct.

A little grunt of a protest reminded him he’d been in the middle of making sure all the little people were quiet and he had maybe seconds before a meltdown. He began swaying in place instinctually.

“Ellie, let’s get your snack finished,” he said aloud.

He nodded for Dave to follow as they made their way back to the kitchen.

“Is, uh, she yours?” Dave asks as Eleanor heads for the kitchen and rummages in her little cabinet to find a bowl and a fork. Eleanor takes the one with the flying saucers that Jack thought was cool when he saw it on the clearance rack that one time he and Sam had been shopping for a baby gift for Alexandra Sheppard.

“Can you help get one for Ali, too?” John asks as he sets Alexandra down on wobbly feet. She quickly plops to her diaper covered bottom and reaches for John’s pajama pants to try and stand again.

Eleanor nods and picks the green one and holds it up and looks up at John Sheppard and then over to Alexandra.

“G’een,” Eleanor notes as John nods as he cuts the last of the fruit.

“Yep, that’s green. Just like Alexandra’s eyes,” John tells her.

Sam and Jack have been working on colours and 'green' is one of a handful of words she’s picked up on and uses often.

“General O’Neill’s kid,” John answers his brother’s question from before as he pops the cut fruit into the two bowls.

“Thank you,” Ellie says in the way toddlers skip a few hard consonants as she carries her bowl carefully to the living room where John had turned on the Science Channel. He watches from the kitchen as she plops on to a corner of the blanket and seems to be listening intently to the manufacturing process of the Boeing C-17 transporter. John watches her spear a piece of strawberry without looking down at her bowl.

Dave watches as his brother moves to put the knife and cutting board in the sink and washes his hands before putting back some of the bowls Eleanor had cleared out to get the green bowl. John takes the smaller bowl in his hands and walks a few steps towards the living room and turns back to the kitchen floor.

“You coming?” John asks and Dave notices he’s not talking to him.

Dave leans over the counter and finds Alexandra Sheppard standing on her own but wobbling a little as she takes a step or two before falling into a sitting position again. She reaches up for John and Dave watches his brother come back and leans down to pick up his daughter.

“We’ll try the whole walking thing later,” he says mostly to himself, Dave thinks, as Alexandra buries her face in John’s shoulder as she spots Dave again.

“You can sit wherever,” John nods to the couch and recliner as they enter the living room.

Dave watches his brother sit on the floor next to Eleanor on the large blanket, remembering the days when his kids were this young. He has a bowl of easy to chew fruits in front of Alexandra who's more interested in hiding from him as she sits in John’s lap. The baby will open her mouth to eat if John picks something up and puts it to her lips but doesn’t grab it on her own.

“How old?” Dave asks as he sits on the couch, his curiosity finally getting the better of him.

“Almost a year. I think Ellie is two and a half,” John mentally counts and looks up at his brother and then back down to his daughter.

“I hear your mom,” John says in a staged whisper and knows Elizabeth presumably sensed his anxiousness at his brother being here knowing the two still needed to talk and leaving mid-wake hadn’t helped his favour.

Sure enough, Elizabeth makes her way down the hallway and when Dave turns to see her, John shoots her a look of thanks. She had gotten about twenty extra minutes of sleep which isn’t a lot but he’ll make it up to her. She has her hair in a ponytail and she wears her running tights and a tank top with an unzipped sweatshirt that looks suspiciously like his own that she relegated to the drawers of her workout outfits back in their quarters. It has a missing Atlantis patch and he wonders if his brother is going to comment. At least the patch looks enough like a tactical patch the Air Force hands out if he does run his mouth.

“Morning,” she greets them as she moves further into the living room.

Eleanor offers her a piece of fruit as a greeting and she declines, telling her she should eat it all. John looks up at her and leans back against her legs as she comes up to stand behind him.

“Hey,” she greets him and then looks over at Dave on the couch and dips her chin in greeting before looking down at John again.

“Sam’s note says she has some peppermint tea and some kind of fruity tea,” he tells her.

Alexandra’s abandoned sitting on her father’s lap and uses Elizabeth’s legs to steady herself to stand. She hums and reaches for Elizabeth, falling over back onto her diaper covered bottom as she’s not used to the whole balancing thing. She hums mama and reaches out her hands and John takes pity on her, scooping her up before standing and depositing her in Elizabeth’s arms.

“Hi,” Elizabeth greets Alexandra as her green eyes light up and she curls into Elizabeth.

“Peppermint,” Elizabeth answers John’s question.

He nods and watches as Elizabeth sits in his abandoned spot. He can hear glimpses of chatter, Elizabeth no doubt turning on the diplomatic face to Dave.

--

Dave loiters in the living room while John helps Elizabeth get Eleanor and Alexandra ready to head around the block a few times. He hears little hands smacking the ground and turns his head and finds Elizabeth walking behind Alexandra as she walks a few steps on her own only to fall over and get back up to try again. She catches his eye for a brief moment and smiles at him but then turns her attention back to her daughter.

John follows, now dressed, with Eleanor and buckles her into the awaiting stroller.

“You good? I can help you. Maybe make a break for it,” John whispers as he looks up and finds her buckling the baby carrier into place.

“Lifting her would help me,” she nods her chin to Alexandra who is currently taking apart the neatly packed diaper bag at the bottom of the stroller.

He nods and stands to move from the front to the back and sighs, attracting Alexandra’s attention.

He squats and looks at her as she waves a diaper at him, little fingers gripping her prize as he tries to take it. She squawks and he lets go, picking her up and placing her in Elizabeth’s arms before he drops down to clean up the mess.

“Here, I’ll trade you the octopus for the diaper,” John bargained as he stuffed the last of the mess away.

He rises again and dangles the octopus just outside her reach.

Elizabeth raises a brow.

“Bargaining with a baby never works,” she points out. She’s tried.

He shrugs and deposits the octopus into her little outstretched hand, pressing a kiss to her temple.

Alexandra’s face pinches as she laughs.

“Sure you don’t need help?”

“Talk to your brother,” Elizabeth shakes her head. She moves her fingers down his arm and squeezes his hand for a brief moment.

He pulls her close, covering Alexandra’s head with one of his hands as he presses his lips to Elizabeth’s in a brief kiss.

“Be good for your mom, squirt,” John notes with a ruffle of Alexandra’s hair before he drops his hand and puts on a half-smile.

John opens the door and waved to Eleanor who he’s sure will end up taking a nap by the end of their walk.

“Oh, John. My mom might call about lunch,” Elizabeth reminds him before she steps out. “Remind her we'll have a baby with us, so none of the fancy places she took us last time we were here.”

John nods with a chuckle.

He closes the door slowly, delaying the inevitable.

“She didn’t have to leave,” Dave tries as an icebreaker to the silence.

“We walk every morning. And, Georgetown isn’t far from here,” John shrugs as he walks back into the living room.

Dave’s brows furrow.

“She used to teach political science there. Before, uh, before getting command. She likes taking Alexandra there while we can.”

Dave nods slowly.

“You don’t return home often then?”

“In almost five years, I’ve come back maybe five times? This is Elizabeth’s third time.”

Dave notices as he looks at his brother that he has four bands of ink around his left arm while he remembers seeing only three around Elizabeth’s the day of the funeral.

“You have four,” Dave says as he finds something to bridge the gap of continuing awkward silence.

“What?” John asks, face set in confusion.

Dave gestures to his arm.

“You have four. Elizabeth has three.”

“Oh,” John nods. Their anniversary and the inking ceremony was two months ago. “She couldn’t do it last time.”

Dave frowns in confusion.

“She’s pregnant,” John concludes for him. “Our chief medical officer didn’t want her to take the risk.”

“Oh. Congratulations, I guess. You know what you’re having?”

Technically, they do. But they have to use Earth standards here and it’s still too early for Earth’s machinery and medical advances to tell.

“She’s four months along,” he shrugs. His brother has kids. So, he’ll make assumptions that John doesn’t need to correct. He finds it weird that Nancy noticed but his brother hadn’t. Maybe women really did have a better eye for details.

“Dad had this on him,” Dave reaches into his suit jacket pocket and holds out a photo for John to take.

It was a 4”x6” photo of him, Elizabeth, and Alexandra. It depicted one of their mandatory days off where they had made it to the mainland for the Athosian autumn harvest festival. He was sure Carson had the camera and had been taking more than just pictures of his catch of the day. In the photo, Alexandra was on the beach towel with Elizabeth as John built a little sandcastle at the border of the towel to try and entice Alexandra to touch it. It hadn’t worked, of course, the sand is a new texture that she wasn’t fond of or curious of enough to investigate beyond sitting on the beach towel with either of them within her eyesight.

“He, uh, wanted you at the reading,” Dave recalls as John hands him back the photo. After all, John doesn’t need it since he had plenty of photos of Alexandra and Elizabeth.

John frowned in confusion.

“The reading of the will.”

“Oh.”

“I just need to know you’re not going to contest it,” Dave postures. “Whatever it says.”

John rubs the back of his neck and looks at his brother.

“You think we’re, that I’m here to contest a will? I…” he trails off.

“What else am I supposed to think? You have a falling out with Dad. You don’t speak to any of us for a decade. I don’t even have your cell phone number. I have to call an Air Force switchboard to get a hold of you.”

“We don’t have cell phones,” John shrugs. “There’s no signal where we are stationed and we’re rarely here long enough in the states to need one.”

Dave frowns, sure John is pulling his leg.

“How the hell do you communicate on your base then?”

“Radios.”

Dave frowns and raises his brows in question. He had seen the General use one, but neither John nor Elizabeth had one during the funeral. Well, that he could see. And he had kept an eye on his brother as much as he could that day. He hadn’t wanted anything to disrupt that day, after all.

“Look, whatever dad wanted is fine, if that’s all you need to hear. I’ll go with whatever he has written down.”

They don’t have a need for currency in the Pegasus galaxy. And they have years of pay going untouched. They’re set if they ever need to come back to Earth.

Dave nods slowly. He’s still a little skeptical.

“When is it? The reading,” John asks as he runs a hand through his hair.

“Tonight.”

“We’re having lunch with Elizabeth’s mom so she can meet our kid,” John tells him as he looks at his watch. “We try to make her nap between noon and three.”

“The lawyer should be around at 5:30,” Dave points out with a shrug.

John opens his mouth to answer but Dave continues.

“Maybe we can do over the other day and properly introduce your kid to the horses?”

John knew he was being watched by his brother. Elizabeth and Ronon could no doubt sense it that day, too. But they had ignored it in favour of making peace and not causing a scene. The horses hadn’t complained about the company.

“I’ll have to ask Elizabeth, but I don’t think we have plans after lunch,” John shrugs.

“You should probably check on her. If she’s anything like my wife when our kids were young, she has her hands full and cursing you for leaving her with two under two.”

He could tell his brother that Elizabeth has an entire science department of whining two-year-olds on a daily basis, but he refrains. John would prefer to be out with Elizabeth, so he doesn’t turn his brother down.

“The kid is a Sheppard,” John points out.

At boarding school, they each had their moments of fun and rebellion. John’s simply lasted longer than Dave’s stint.

Dave laughs as they head to the front door. He loiters as John puts on his shoes and holds out a hand as John prepares to leave behind him.

“I’ll see you later,” Dave nods once.

“Yeah, thanks,” John grasps his brother's hand and shakes once before they release their tenuous hold.

John watches his brother get in his car and pull out of the parking spot near the sidewalk before he ambles in the direction of Georgetown, figuring he’ll catch up to Elizabeth.

His relationship with Dave has a long way to go, but maybe it’s a start.