accomplishedI wrote this fic for
slashtheimage</lj> below is the image used for prompt #5.
Title: Mason
Rating: R for sexual content
Word count: 21,590-ish (Sorry, I can’t seem to do anything small!)
Pairing: John/Rodney eventually a smidge of Torin/OMC
Warnings: eventual Character death… but it’s not what you think.
Summary: “Rodney and I were checking out this chamber, actually Rodney was checking it out I was just watching his back. Then there was a bright light, some yellow lasers and then when the doors reopened I heard it crying. Guess the light woke him up.”
A/N: Rodney’s quote toward the end comes from “The Giving Tree” by Shel Silverstein. Also, I am not a doctor nor do I have the desire to be. There is some medical stuff in this fic and I did research it, but it may still be somewhat inaccurate. Given the nature of the fic and that it is a work of fiction, I hope you will forgive any mistakes. I got the hormone info from my FTM (female to male) family member.
Disclaimer: Mason is mine, the rest belong to mgm and scifi and all those people who don’t love them as much as I do. The fic was written for love and entertainment purposes, but not for money!
John sat in the infirmary looking through the glass at the tiny infant in the ancient version of an incubator. He and Rodney had been off world when they found the baby. The planet had been culled to extinction not long before so John didn’t know how such a small infant had survived not only being born obviously way too soon, but not being cared for over the last however long.
He turned when he heard Carson’s soft footsteps behind him.
“Everything alright Carson?” John asked.
“Aye lad. Everything is perfect.”
“No, I was talking about the baby.”
“As was I.”
“It can’t be perfect Carson; it was born too soon and hasn’t been fed. How the hell did it live that long?”
“Colonel, the baby in that incubator is a person, he has a gender, please stop saying it.”
“Sorry Doc.”
“Tell me again how you found the wee lad?”
“Rodney and I were checking out this chamber, actually Rodney was checking it out I was just watching his back. Then there was a bright light, some yellow lasers and then when the doors reopened I heard it crying. Guess the light woke him up.”
Carson sighed, “I believe the light did a great deal more than that Colonel.”
“What?”
“Stay here for a moment will you?”
“Carson…”
“One moment Colonel. Please.”
“Fine.”
Ten minutes later, Carson returned with Rodney and Woolsey.
“What’s going on Carson?” John asked.
“Please Rodney, have a seat.”
Rodney gave Carson a funny look but sat down in the chair beside John anyway.
Carson took a deep breath and sighed it out. “I ran every test imaginable on this baby. But since he’s so small and had been without care for several months, I ran some extensive genetics tests as well. I wanted to make sure his organs were developing as they should be, but I had little hope that he would survive. I also ran tests on his DNA to check for any abnormalities.”
“Why’d you bring us all here just to tell us that?” John asked.
“The baby is fully developed Colonel. All of his organs are developed and he’s breathing on his own. The only thing I could come up with as to how that was possible, was that the chamber you found him in was a sort of artificial womb. That it was acting just as a living mother would to insure that her child was born healthy.”
“Why do I feel like you’re about to say but?” Rodney asked.
“Because I am Rodney. I’m not sure what possessed me to run the test but I did.”
“What test?” John and Rodney asked together.
“This child,” Carson said and nodded toward the incubator, “is the biological product of both of you.”
“What!?” John asked loudly.
“Oh my God,” Rodney said.
“How is that even possible?” John asked, lowering his voice.
“He’s a binary clone.” Rodney said in a very matter of fact tone.
“A what?” John asked.
“The lights, the lasers. John, that thing you found him in was connected to that glass box we were in. As soon as we were both inside it, the doors closed the lights got bright and those lasers started scanning us. I don’t know how, but it took our DNA and made a clone using both of our DNA.”
“Why would it do that?”
Rodney shook his head. “It’s possible that whoever lived on that planet had either lost the ability to reproduce naturally, or had lost one entire gender.”
“So, what? Two people walk into the box and come out and collect their baby?”
“That’s the only thing I can think of. Of course I’ll have to go over the information we collected.”
“Why is he so small?” John asked as he looked into the incubator.
“It could be that the race that created the machine were small in stature.” Woolsey said.
“Yeah, or they calibrated it wrong.” Rodney added.
“Either way gentlemen,” Woolsey said, “You have a decision to make.”
“Decision?” Rodney asked.
“That baby is of the human race; biologically he belongs to both of you. Are you going to keep him or give him up for adoption?”
“No,” John said firmly, “Regardless of how he was created he’s ours, we’re keeping him.”
“We?” Rodney asked.
John glared at him, “I’m keeping him.”
“John,” Rodney began, “I’m sure Jeanie would love to have your baby… oh God, that came out wrong…”
“No Rodney, he’s mine, I’m not giving him up.”
“Very well,” Woolsey said, “if that’s your decision, we’ll honor it.”
“It’s my decision.”
~*~
Carson had kept the baby for another week and ran a billion tests to make sure everything was as it should be. John couldn’t help but think that Carson had a sort of connection to the baby because they were both clones.
Woolsey had requested baby formula and supplies on the Daedalus’ return trip, but until then, John was forced to feed the baby the Athosian version of formula which was the milk of some kind of plant that was boiled for several hours and then stirred for another hour.
“Oh baaabyyyyy,” John cooed as he gently bounced the crying baby in his arms.
“I am pleased that Torin has finally gotten past that stage.” Teyla said as she walked into the commissary with Torin in her arms.
“I have no idea how a thing this small could make so much noise.” John said.
“Have you not fed him yet?”
“I just got finished feeding him, he’s certainly got his father’s appetite. When he grows up he’s going to give Rodney a run for his money.”
John turned the baby over, resting his head in the palm of his hand while his body lay on his forearm, and patted him on the back.
“He is certainly small.” Teyla said as she looked at the infant. His head was cradled in John’s palm and his belly was resting just below his father’s wrist. He wasn’t even as long as John’s forearm. “Will he be small forever?”
“Carson said he doesn’t know, and Rodney said he should be able to tell once he finishes all the tests on that machine. I hope not though, I mean we’re talking pigmy here.”
“Pigmy?”
“ Really small person.”
“Ah.”
John sighed when the crying faded to hitched breaths and finally into the slow rhythm of a sleeping infant. “’Bout time.” He looked down at his sleeping son’s back. “Baby, you’re wearing me out.”
“John, you have had your son for three weeks now, have you not named him?”
“I’ve been trying to think of a name, but… what if he’s little his entire life?”
“What has that got to do with anything?”
“Well if he’s going to be little, he needs a big name. A name that says ‘look pal, I may be small but I can mop the floor with your giant ass.’ Something like… I don’t know, bubba, or butch…”
“Like it or not, that kid has my DNA which means he’ll be smart, no genius should ever be named bubba or butch.” Rodney said from behind John.
“Oh no, uh uh you can’t do that.” John complained.
“Do what?”
“Say you’re not going to have anything to do with him and then tell me what to name him.”
“I’m just trying to help.”
“You wanna help; take him so I can get some sleep.”
“Oh no, not that kind of helping. Sorry.”
“No you’re not.”
“You’re right, I’m not. It was your decision to keep him.”
“Hey, he’s ours Rodney, like it or not. He deserves to be raised by his biological parents.”
“There is nothing wrong with adoption.”
“No, there’s not, but I want him.”
“You got him. Just stick him in your pocket and go about your business.”
“Rodney.”
Rodney smiled, shrugged and left to get his lunch.
~*~
John had the handmade diaper bag one of the Athosian women made him, slung over his shoulder as he carried his son through the halls of the city. He stopped outside Rodney’s door and knocked until Rodney answered.
“What are you doing here? I was busy.” Rodney complained.
John pushed past him and walked into the living area.
“Rodney,” John said in a pleading tone, “please Rodney, just a few hours.”
“What?”
“I’m falling asleep on the job here. I haven’t had a good night’s sleep in weeks. I’ll get you whatever you want, chocolate, coffee, both. I will personally see that every drop of citrus is eradicated from this city if you will just please, take him for a few hours.”
Rodney looked at John for a long moment, and then he sighed and slumped. “Oh alright, I hate to see a grown man beg.”
“Thank you Thank you!” John said and grabbed the back of Rodney’s neck and kissed him squarely on the lips.
John sat the diaper bag on the couch and started digging in it with the hand that wasn’t holding the baby. “Here’s his formula,” He handed Rodney a container of milk, “put that in the refrigerator. You have to heat it up before you give it to him, just put four ounces in the bottle and run it under hot water. He’s got plenty of diapers in there too. And his… Damn it. You don’t have anything to put him in when he goes to sleep.”
“I’ll figure it out John, just go lay down.”
“Okay, I’ll be back in…”
“Oh no, you’re not leaving. You go over there and sleep on my bed. I want you close in case something happens that I can’t handle.”
“Okay, I’m in no position or mood to argue. Thanks again Rodney.”
Rodney nodded, “well, I suppose he is as much my son as he is yours. Not saying that I want to raise him or anything, but I guess it’s only fair for me to give you a break from time to time.
John looked at his watch after he lay down and had time to see a three and two zeros before the world went black.
~*~
Rodney watched as John all but passed out on his bed, then he looked down at the tiny person in his arms.
“Man, John’ll kill me if I break you. That said, I propose we do each other a favor, I’ll feed you and not drop you as long as you don’t squirm around and cry a lot. Deal?”
The baby chose that moment to burp and Rodney took that as baby talk for deal.
John wasn’t asleep fifteen minutes when the baby started crying. Rodney wasn’t sure how to get the formula out of the container and into the bottle with only one hand. Give him a sophisticated piece of technology and he was fine, give him a baby and he was completely lost. He laid the baby on the couch but didn’t know if he’d fall off, so he picked him back up. Then he laid him on the floor and thought it would be too cold down there, and picked him back up again. Then he laid him on the bed with John and made it half way across the room before the image of John rolling over onto the tiny kid popped into his head and he rushed back over and picked him up again, he glared at John’s sleeping body as if the thought of him crushing and suffocating the baby was his fault.
Rodney looked at the baby and at the bed wishing he could put him somewhere while he got the formula. His face lit up when John rolled over and pulled the blanket up to his chin.
Rodney went to the closet and pulled out a bed sheet, he folded it a couple of times before tying it behind his neck (he’d decided that the baby would be fine on the floor for the ten seconds it took him to do that). Then he slipped the baby into the pocket and went to get the formula.
The kid was all but screaming by the time the formula was warm enough, and Rodney was grateful that he was so small; his screaming cry was no louder than a normal baby’s regular cry.
Rodney sat on the couch and touched the nipple of the bottle to the baby’s lips and the kid latched onto it and started sucking like there was no tomorrow.
“Whoa, whoa kid, you’ll get indigestion eating that fast.” Rodney said.
He looked over at John who hadn’t moved a muscle through all the screaming, and realized that he must have really been exhausted. John hadn’t had the baby out of his sight for more than a few hours over the past month, and every time the kid took a deep breath John went running.
Before long Rodney heard the sound of sucking air beneath him and he looked down to see an empty bottle. He gently popped the bottle out of the kid’s mouth even though he really didn’t want to give it up.
“Ok kid, here’s the thing.” Rodney said as he sat the baby up on his knee. He’d seen women burp babies like this before and he liked it a lot better because it lessened the chance that the puke would land on him. He put his hand on the baby’s little chest and held his head steady by putting his fore finger and thumb on either side of his head. “I really don’t like cleaning up puke, even if it did come out of… my kid. Yeah, yeah, people say spit up but it’s really all the same thing. The milk was in your stomach and now it’s on the floor… or worse, on me, that’s puking in my book. So, I’m going to do this burping thing, but you have to promise to keep the milk where it belongs.” He started tapping the baby’s back, not sure how hard to do it. He was so little, too much force could break him, and then John would kill him.
The thought made Rodney look up at John who still hadn’t moved. He felt something in him begin to melt when he thought of how much John trusted him. Over the past month the baby had been John’s entire life. He’d let Teyla hold him, but not without him there. John had handed the baby to Rodney and went to bed. Rodney smiled; he stopped tapping the baby and brought the fingers of the tapping hand up to his mouth. He ran one finger over his lips as his mind replayed the moment where John’s lips pressed against his.
Rodney was forced out of his moment of blissful remembering when he heard a loud rumble and felt a vibration against his palm. He looked down at the baby, preparing himself for a puddle of baby puke, and smiled when there was nothing more than a little drool with the slightest tint of white to it.
“My God boy!” Rodney said as he settled the baby into the crook of his arm. “If Ronon had been on that planet I would swear that the machine stole a little of his DNA too!”
The baby’s blue eyes met Rodney’s and his little mouth curved up in the tiniest hint of a smile and Rodney felt a little piece of his heart chip off.
“I guess you’re not so bad.” He said softly and watched as the tiny blue eyes drifted shut.
~*~
John opened his eyes and almost panicked before he recognized Rodney’s room and remembered that he had the baby.
He heard a gentle whispering sound and sat up a bit. He saw Rodney sitting on the couch, his butt was on the edge of the cushion and he was leaned back, the baby was resting on his chest and Rodney was softly patting his back with one hand as he held his book up with the other. John’s heart fluttered at the sight of his son and his son’s father bonding, and it almost burst when Rodney dipped his head and kissed the baby softly on the head. The first time Rodney had laid a finger on the baby was when he had taken him from John’s arms before he went to bed. John furrowed his brow at the thought and looked at his watch, nine thirty.
He sat up and rubbed his eyes, “Damn Rodney, why didn’t you wake me up?”
“Shh,” Rodney said, “he’s sleeping.”
“Oh, sorry.” John whispered.
“There were no problems.” Rodney said as John walked toward him. “Well, except that I ran out of formula and had to go to your quarters to get more, do you realize that this kid eats like a horse? Don’t worry, I took him with me.”
“I wasn’t worried.” John noticed that Rodney still hadn’t handed their son back to him.
The baby gurgled and wiggled his head a bit and Rodney put the book down. He sat up and scooped the baby off his chest. “Eww, baby drool.” He said and wiped at the wet spot on his shirt.
John couldn’t stop the smile. He reached out and gently plucked his son from Rodney’s arm.
He put his feet on the coffee table, bent his legs and brought his knees together. “There we go,” John said sweetly as he settled the baby on his legs, “You have a good time with daddy Mason?”
“Hey I nev… Mason?”
“Yeah, it sounds strong.” John looked at Rodney and noticed him wrinkling his forehead.
“What’s the rest of his name?”
“Julian. Mason Julian Sheppard.”
“Well, I guess it’s not that bad. It’s certainly better than bubba or butch.”
“I was never going to name him either of those names Rodney.” John looked down into Mason’s blue eyes and smiled at him. “Isn’t that right Mason?” He put his pinky to the baby’s tiny hand and he grabbed it instinctively.
“You better watch it; he’s got a hell of a grip.”
“Of course he does.” John looked at Rodney. “You know, he’s the perfect combination of the two of us Rodney. He’s got my hair, ears, and complexion and your eyes, mouth and appetite.”
The baby did that smile thing again, the kind of thing the parent of the baby would see as a smile but the rest of the world would see as gas.
John’s face practically split in two, “he smiled.” He said proudly through the wide smile on his own face.
“Yeah, he’s been doing that all day.” Rodney said before realizing that John said that because this had been the first time he’d seen it.
“He smiled for you before he smiled for me?” John asked, a tinge of hurt in his voice.
“It’s not my fault.” Rodney said.
John smiled again and patted Rodney’s thigh. “I know, at least it was one of us who saw it first. I’d be mad if he smiled at Carson first.”
Rodney chuckled
They were all three quiet for a few moments before John spoke. “Thanks for the nap Rodney. I really needed it; I’m good for another month now.”
“No John. I don’t want you staying up that long anymore.”
“I have a newborn Rodney; lack of sleep comes with the job.”
“He’s not your ordinary run of the mill newborn.”
“I know, he runs on your schedule.”
“That’s not what I meant. I mean he’s so small and he eats a lot, and he takes a lot more care than a normal baby does.”
John looked down at Mason whose eyes were beginning to droop again. “Don’t you listen to him, you’re normal.” John said sweetly.
“Uh, that is so not what I meant John.”
“I know. Look Rodney, all newborns take a lot of care. I’ll be fine.”
“No, I’m not backing down on this John.”
“So, what? You want me to come here every day at three and take a six hour nap? Rodney, he’s your son too. If you want time with him you got it, you don’t need to play any games.”
“That’s not…. Well…. What I mean is…”
“Yeah?”
Rodney sighed, “I think we should live together.”
John smiled, “What?” He said through a small laugh.
“We have a baby together John.”
“A baby you said you wanted no part of.”
“Maybe I changed my mind. Maybe spending these last six hours with him… I don’t know… softened me. I kinda like him.”
John smiled again, “yeah, me too.”
“That way, you could get as much rest as you needed, and so could I. We’d share the…”
“Burden?” John asked with a slight warning in his tone.
“Load.” Rodney corrected.
“Okay, I guess it’d be good for Mason to have both his parents around.”
“I’ll find some bigger quarters. I mean, Ancients had to have families right? We’ve been living in the bachelor pads; it’s time to look for the family rooms.”
~*~
John sat across the table from Teyla, who had herself covered as she nursed Torin. John on the other hand was happy to use a bottle, and had gotten rather good at holding the bottle with his chin so he could write, or eat or do whatever needed to be done with the hand that wasn’t holding Mason.
“I am finding it hard to believe that Rodney actually asked you and the baby to move in with him.” Teyla said.
“I know, I was kind of floored myself.”
“This is good though, he is taking an interest in his child. Is that not what you want?”
“Oh, of course it is. I mean Mason is as much Rodney’s kid as he is mine.”
“You have chosen a name for him.” The smile across Teyla’s face was huge.
John smiled in return. “Yeah, Mason Julian Sheppard, it sounded strong and manly.”
“It is a wonderful name John.”
“Thanks. Yeah, Rodney’s out now looking for a bigger place.”
“How did this come to pass? Rodney has had nothing to do with Mason, why suddenly does he want you and him to live with him?”
“The other day I was about to die of total exhaustion and I stooped to the lowest low and begged Rodney to take him while I got a couple hours sleep.”
“You begged him? John I could have taken Mason while you slept. We parents must stick together.”
“Well Mason is a handful right now and I didn’t want to bother you with you having Torin and all. Besides, it worked out for the best. I got to sleep, Mason got to spend some quality time with his dad, and Rodney got to fall in love.”
The look on Teyla’s face was comical and John nearly spit out the bite of food he’d just taken,
“With Mason.” He said, completing the sentence.
“I see. Well John, please remember the next time you need some time. I would be more than happy to care for your son while you do whatever you need to do.”
“Thanks Teyla, I’ll remember that.”
~*~
Rodney walked to their new quarters at three am. He’d been spending all of his time with the machine. They’d disconnected the chamber Mason had been created in and brought it back to Atlantis. Everyone had decided that seeing that Mason had been created correctly was more important than finding out how he was created at all. Rodney had found a database in the crystals of the chamber that not only gave the coding for every child ever created using the machine, but a sort of instruction manual. He was still working on the translation and it was giving him a hard road to travel. He’d just come from the lab where he’d spent the better part of three hours staring at the computer screen trying to translate the language which was even harder to understand than Wraith had been, and he’d thought Wraith was the hardest thing he’d come up against.
The door slid open and he stepped into the larger quarters that he and John had been sharing, along with their son, for the past three days. He found John lying on the bed on his side, propped up on one elbow. Mason was laying on his stomach beside John in nothing more than a diaper and John was running his fingers lightly across his tiny back.
John apparently hadn’t heard Rodney come in. Rodney stood there watching John and the baby for a long moment. He felt himself getting warm inside, like his heart had started pumping heat instead of blood, he could feel it coursing through his veins.
He must have made some kind of noise because John looked up at him. He pulled the little blanket over Mason and got off the bed.
“Everything okay?” Rodney asked.
“I don’t think he feels well tonight. He’s been crying since you left earlier.”
“You call Carson?”
“Of course I did. He said he’s probably just got a belly ache or something.”
“A belly ache or something isn’t a satisfactory answer to a baby like him crying all day. What if there’s something wrong?”
“Rodney, he did come by and listen to him. He said he couldn’t hear, see or feel anything wrong.”
“Maybe we should take him to Keller then.” Rodney said as he walked toward the bed.
“You touch him Rodney, and I’ll knock you on your ass so fast you won’t know what happened.”
“What?”
“I just got him to sleep.” Just then Mason decided to wake up and start crying. “Damn it Rodney.”
“Here.” Rodney put a hand on John’s arm as he started to walk past him. “I’ll get him.”
Rodney gently scooped Mason off the bed and rested him against his chest. He started lightly bouncing on the balls of his feet, something he’d seen John do to calm their crying son, and tapping him on his back.
A moment later Mason belched loudly and Rodney felt warmth spread across his shirt.
“John…” Rodney whined and made a ‘help me’ face.
John laughed and got Rodney a clean shirt out of the closet, then took Mason from him.
Rodney picked up a pair of scissors off the desk.
“Rodney, what are you doing?”
“I am not pulling this over my head John.”
“Wait, I’ll help you.” John put Mason on the bed and went over to Rodney.
John took the collar of Rodney’s shirt and pulled it up. Rodney lifted his arms and John pulled the wet spot of the shirt away from Rodney’s skin and pulled the shirt off and tossed in the pile of his shirts that Mason had soiled.
“There,” John said and put his hands on Rodney’s shoulders, making Rodney’s skin tingle. John ran his hands down Rodney’s arms to his elbows before letting him go.
“See,” John said as he went to pick up Mason, “no harm done.”
Rodney sighed when he looked at the pile of shirts, his only made three, but it was still a pile. He put his clean shirt on the end of the bed and went into the bathroom for a shower.
As he stood under the water he felt the memory of John’s warm hands on his shoulders. Had John always touched him like that? Had Rodney just become aware of it since John kissed him that night? Or was something else going on? Had the addition of Mason done something to them? Did his touch affect John the same way? With that, Rodney realized that he hadn’t touched John except for brushing his fingers against his arm and chest when he took Mason from him.
Their son was almost two months old and Rodney hadn’t touched John once since they’d brought Mason home, and even less, if that was possible, since they’d moved in together.
Rodney decided that he was going to have to have to experiment with the whole touching thing, see if John reacted when he touched him.
Rodney stepped out of the shower only to realize that he’d left his pants and boxers in the dresser. ‘Damn it.’ He cursed silently. He dried himself, ran the towel over his hair and wrapped it around his waist, then stepped out into the room. John looked up from putting Mason in his crib and Rodney thought he heard John’s breath catch and maybe his eyes widened the tiniest bit, and perhaps his ears pricked just a little, but he couldn’t be sure.
John had cleaned Mason up, changed his diaper and put clean clothes on him. He hadn’t cried at all since he threw up on Rodney, so maybe that was the last bit in him. “Feel better?” He asked as Rodney discreetly pulled his boxers on under the towel.
“Much, thank you. How’s he doing?”
“Well he hasn’t cried anymore, and he didn’t throw up so maybe he’s done.”
“Did you tell Carson about his throwing up?” Rodney asked. He pulled the towel off his waist and got some pants out of the dresser.
“Yes. Carson said it was probably because of the change in formula. The Athosian formula was a little thicker and had a sweeter taste than the formula powder from Earth. He said it was like going from whole milk to 2%. But the change hasn’t dampened his appetite any, he is so your son in that department.”
“Is that an insult?”
“No, it’s an observation.”
“Good, cause if he has my appetite and you insult me because of it, then you insult him. What kind of parent insults their child?”
“I’d never insult the father of my baby Rodney.” John said with a smile. “Especially when he’s standing there in his boxers.”
Rodney looked down and realized that his pants were still in his hand, and flushed.
John lay on his bed quietly watching the movie that was playing on the laptop as it rested on his stomach. He looked over at Rodney who was asleep on his bed, and envied him. John had been awake with Mason so long that he’d moved past the point of being tired and hadn’t made it back around yet.
John thought their room looked like something out of I love Lucy or something. There were two beds, although both were bigger than the beds in their old quarters, they each had the equivalent of a full size bed now. Each had a nightstand on the outer side of the bed, and Mason’s crib fit perfectly on the wall, long ways, between their beds.
John turned his head a little more and looked at his son. The human being that had, beyond all possibility, been created from two men. Mason was one of a kind, unique, special; he was the only human that had two biological parents of the same sex. John wondered for some reason, if that was why Mason was a boy. If a male and a female walked into the machine, would their baby have a 50/50 chance of being either gender? Was Mason a boy because both samples the machine got were male samples? The tiny human was a bottomless pit of unanswered questions.
John eventually closed the laptop and went to sleep.
Rodney sat on the edge of John’s bed and watched him sleep. John was so comfortable in everything he did; he always looked at ease, as if nothing was bothering him. Even when he was shooting people, he made it look like he could do it with his eyes closed while running backwards. And Rodney lost his breath with the thought that those hands, the same hands that had taken life, were so gentle when holding their child. Mason had grown during the past two months, but he was still much smaller than a baby his age should be.
Rodney was still shocked that he cared. He had never wanted kids, he remembered Jeanie as a baby, all the crying and pooping and puking, he remembered her as a toddler, all the crying and pooping and mess making. He remembered her childhood and how she had been so mean to him even though he was older than she was. Jeanie McKay had single handedly killed any desire Rodney may have ever had to have children. But the moment he held Mason in his arms he knew that he was exactly what he wanted, and somehow, moving in with John had seemed the natural thing to do, and now that they did live together, Rodney realized that John had been what was missing in his life. Rodney McKay was not only a father, he had a son with another man, and that didn’t freak him out nearly as much as it should. But above all that, Rodney was coming to the realization that he may very well be gay, and in love with John Sheppard.
TBC...