[Rodney - March 1]

[jill_langston]

She had to tell him. It had only been a few days since Jennifer had delivered the news of her pregnancy, but Jill knew she had to tell Rodney. Eventually, he'd figure it out on his own one way or another and she didn't want to deal with the fight that would inevitably occur if he had to find out like that. Their options on the island were limited

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[scientificsnark]

Rodney, meanwhile, was busy trying not not to think about the fact that in just a couple days, it would be two years since he'd arrived on the island. And in just a couple months, it would be two years since he'd started going out with Jill. A year since they'd both gone crazy and almost gotten married. And just a couple of weeks ago, Ronon of all people had gotten married.

He wasn't sure which was more daunting - having spent so much time on the island, or having spent so much time in a relationship. One that actually seemed to be going okay.

Well, he thought so anyway.

Although, Jill had been pretty quiet lately, he'd noticed. And when Jill got quiet she usually got drunk, only he hadn't noticed her doing that recently. Which was good. For the most part he never said anything when she drank, but he knew she knew he didn't like it. He chalked it up to Ronon and Jennifer's wedding and decided to leave it at that

[jill_langston]

It was cruel, but she almost told him that she was busy and asked if maybe he could come back later. But in all the time they'd been together, Jill had never once told Rodney she was too busy to see him. Even if she was, even if she'd been in the middle of something for the lab, she always put her work aside, at least for a few moments.

So she took a deep breath, forced a smile and said, "No, I'm not busy. And you're not bothering me."

Terrifying her might have been more accurate, but that wasn't his fault.

"C'mon up," she invited, closing the notebook and putting it aside. The two chairs had followed her to every single hut she'd lived in on this island now she wondered if they'd have to follow her over to Rodney's. Would she have to abandon John's hut just as soon as she'd moved in? That didn't sit well with her, she was strangely possessive of the place now that he was gone.

[scientificsnark]

"Oh good," Rodney said. He folded himself into the chair next to Jill, jiggling his leg a little. He wasn't really sure why he was so on edge, but then again, with Rodney being Rodney he was on edge pretty much all of the time. Could anyone blame him? After spending, what, four years getting shot at, blown up, threatened, traumatized and generally harassed, and now living on a tropical island that was wont to change people's bodies and personalities at a whim, it was understandable.

It was a wonder he was still so together, really.

[jill_langston]

It was obvious that Rodney already sensed something was wrong. Between her own behavior and now the way he was jiggling his leg nervously, she knew there was really no hope of her saving this news for a later date. If she continued to put it off, he'd just end up thinking something was really wrong.

"We have to talk about something," she started reluctantly, looking down at her knees instead of looking at him. There was really no easy to go about doing this, no matter what she wanted. "It's... sort of serious. I went to see Jennifer in the clinic the other day."

Oh, God. She was going to throw up. This was the worst thing she'd ever had to do.

[scientificsnark]

Rodney whipped his head around to stare at her. Of all the awful things he could have expected ("I want to break up", "There's someone else", "I'm actually a man") this wasn't one of them. Whatever this was. It sounded pretty horrible, anyway.

"Is it skin cancer? Oh god, it's skin cancer, isn't it? I told you to use my specially formulated extra-strength sunscreen! Wait - it isn't cirrhosis, is it?"

[jill_langston]

She almost laughed at that; she couldn't help it. Even so, the laugh died before it really began and she shook her head, lifting her hands to push her hair back from her face. There was something both hilarious and horribly telling in the idea that Rodney thought it might be cirrhosis.

"No, it isn't anything like that," she started, feeling her chest tighten again. For days now, she'd felt constantly on edge, almost always on the brink of a panic attack and now it was worse. "I'm healthy, Rodney, I'm just... I'm pregnant."

[scientificsnark]

Rodney looked at her for about five seconds. Then: "Oh, very funny," he snorted. He relaxed back into his chair. "And by that I mean no, that's not funny at all. Who put you up to this? Was it Samantha? It was Samantha, wasn't it, she was going on at Ronon's wedding about how we should get married. She wanted to officiate." He snorted again. "How's that for irony?"

[jill_langston]

How she wished it could be that easy. If there was any way it would work, Jill would laugh it off as well, agree that it was a joke and go on with her life, but eventually Rodney would notice. He'd see how sick she was feeling and he'd notice the weight gain and that wasn't going to go away, no matter how hard she tried to laugh it off.

"I'm not joking," she said, her voice strangled. "This isn't something I would joke about. Jennifer did the test twice."

[scientificsnark]

It was her tone that made his stomach feel like he'd just drank a can of antifreeze. Rodney opened his mouth to say something, probably another sarcastic jibe or a sneer, but nothing came out and he just stared at Jill, obviously in shock or disbelief or a whole lot of both.

"You're not joking," he repeated, swallowing past the lump in his throat.

[jill_langston]

"No," Jill answered. "I'm not joking."

It was a very different thing to have finally said it. She'd heard the words from Jennifer and she'd turned them over in her mind a thousand different times in a thousand different ways, but nothing measured up to having said them out loud.

"As far as I can tell, I'm due sometime in October," she continued, needing to fill the silence somehow. "Mid-October, I guess. I'm probably about three weeks along now."

[scientificsnark]

Rodney passed a hand over his face, as if trying to wipe away the whole situation that had suddenly sprung up. He looked over at Jill.

"Is it mine?" Then he realized how that sounded, and relented: "I mean, it's just, we're usually so good about using protection that...and it's not like..." He trailed off helplessly, obviously at a loss as to what to do. Or say.

[jill_langston]

"Of course it's yours," Jill answered incredulously, almost unable to believe that he'd really asked that. "Jesus Christ, Rodney, it's not like I make a habit of fucking other men."

As upsetting as that question was, she almost couldn't blame him. She'd felt like asking Jennifer over and over again if she was sure the test was positive.

With a sigh, Jill pushed her hair back again nervously and said, "Condoms aren't one hundred percent effective. You know that."

[scientificsnark]

"But," Rodney said, and he was whining now, "It's not like I've got super-sperm or something! If anything, I should be sterile after spending the last four years in another galaxy getting irradiated by alien planets and suns and things! Not to mention the water, who even knows what was in the water? Who knows what's in the water here? I should be dead by now! Not...making babies!"

He'd gotten up and started to pace, waving his hands about.

[jill_langston]

"Well, guess what? You're not sterile and neither am I, as it turns out," Jill snapped, feeling pretty annoyed now. It wasn't entirely fair, because she was just as freaked out about this as he was. It wasn't something she'd been planning and it sure as hell wasn't something she wanted, but here it was, happening anyway.

It didn't help that she was starting to feel sick again. She hadn't thrown up yet, but the discomfort of an upset stomach had been following her for the past day or so now.

[scientificsnark]

"I realize that," Rodney replied irritably. He stopped pacing, and turned to her abruptly.

"Well? What are you going to do about it?" There was a pause before he amended it to, "We. What are we going to do about it, I mean."

[jill_langston]

"What the hell do you think we're going to do about it?" Jill asked, but her voice was more tired that irritated now. She leaned back in her chair, pressing her hand to her stomach before she sighed again and shrugged.

"There aren't exactly many options here," she pointed out. "You get pregnant, you have a baby."