Fic: Lullaby (baby!fic)
Dunno why. I never really know why with this 'verse, it just comes out.
Also Evan and Kate insisted on flirting with each other. Possibly in atonement for "Precipice"?
Nathaniel's head fell against Elizabeth's shoulder and he whimpered.
She knew how he felt.
It was oh-God-hundred hours, smack in the middle of the night, and Nathaniel would not sleep. Every time he seemed to have dozed off, no matter how carefully she put him down, he would wake up and start shrieking like the world was ending. And if she stopped walking back and forth he would start the whining noise that was his way of building up to full fledged hysterical crying.
Elizabeth's nerves were very close to falling apart.
He wasn't hungry and he didn't need his diaper changed. She'd triple-checked. He wasn't in any way sick. After about four hours of this ritual she'd taken him to the infirmary. Jennifer Keller was on duty tonight and she assured Elizabeth that Nathaniel was perfectly healthy, aside from screaming his head off when Elizabeth put him down long enough for Jennifer to scan him.
There was nothing wrong with the baby that she could think of. And she didn't know what to do.
"You had to pull this when your father was away, didn't you?" she muttered at her son. She felt a slightly irrational resentment at John, who was off-world at the moment. And probably asleep. Sure, maybe in a tent with Rodney and Ronon snoring, but it sounded quite peaceful to her at the moment.
She wondered momentarily if that was the reason the baby was so clingy. She dismissed the idea. He was barely six weeks old, far too young to grasp the fact that his father was light-years away.
She dragged herself and Nathaniel to the mess hall. Tea or possibly coffee seemed called for, although strictly speaking she probably shouldn't have the caffeine while nursing. No matter the hour of the night, someone was usually around to help her since she only had one arm free.
As luck would have it, both Kate and Laura were there, wearing flannel pants and sweatshirts and talking. Laura had just returned to Atlantis a few weeks ago, newly promoted to Captain, taking Sizemore's place on Lorne's team. Elizabeth was happy to have her back. She and Lorne worked well together and Laura was an irrepressible presence at girls' poker night. Not that Elizabeth had been able to go to a poker night in several months.
"Elizabeth, what are you doing up?" Kate asked.
Laura grinned. "Somehow I don't think it's her idea, Kate," she said dryly.
"You got that right," Elizabeth retorted. "He just won't go down. I realized if I was going to spend the night pacing I was going to need tea."
Kate promptly got up and headed for the kitchens without Elizabeth even having to ask. Laura was leaning back to look at the baby, so Elizabeth turned, rocking slightly to keep his majesty from screaming.
"Hey, kiddo. What's up?" Nathaniel snuffled and Laura chuckled. She got up and held out her arms. "Here, want me to take him for a bit?"
Part of Elizabeth irrationally resisted, even though not long ago she'd been smothering thoughts of slipping something into a bottle to make Nathaniel sleep. "I'm not sure he'll like that," she hedged.
"Don't worry, my brother's got three kids. I've had tiny people shriek at me before."
With a wry smile, Elizabeth allowed Laura to gather the baby onto her own shoulder. He wriggled a bit but after a moment she let out a breath. Laura started to walk back and forth, rubbing Nathaniel's back, and after making a few noises, he settled down.
Elizabeth sank onto the chair and propped her head on her arms, otherwise she was going to fall asleep on the table.
Kate came back with a large mug of tea and a piece of cherry pie that apparently had been left over from dinner. Elizabeth realized belatedly that she was pretty hungry herself.
Kate leaned a hand on Elizabeth's shoulder as she stood up and she froze. "My God! Elizabeth, you're like a rock." Her fingers pressed against Elizabeth's muscles and Elizabeth winced. She hadn't realized how tense she was.
Without another word, Kate began to massage Elizabeth's shoulders gently. She started to tell Kate she didn't have to, but she was shushed and gave in, nibbling on the pie and trying not to moan as Kate's fingers worked the tension out of her neck and then her upper arms and back.
Behind them, Laura was walking Nathaniel back and forth and singing quietly.
I ain't got time to think about money or what it can buy
And I ain't got time to sit down and wonder what makes a birdie fly
And I don't have the time to think about what makes a flower grow
And I've never given a second thought to where the rivers flow
Too busy thinking 'bout my baby
And I ain't got time for nothing else
Elizabeth smiled, then flinched as Kate hit a particularly tender spot on her shoulder.
The doors to the mess opened and Major Lorne came in, dressed in sweatpants and a rather ratty looking Air Force t-shirt. Elizabeth wondered if all the men in Atlantis were having a collective fit of insomnia. He paused for a second, looking at the three of them, and then grinned at Laura. His new second-in-command glared at him and kept singing.
Evan grabbed a glass of milk and a piece of toast before sitting down across from Elizabeth. "Ma'am, ladies."
Elizabeth was just tired enough to snort. "I'm not a lady now?"
Evan's ears turned a little pink. "Of course you are, but it sounded disrespectful to, you know..."
"Lump her in with the rest of us lowly minions?" Kate offered.
"Well, yes," Evan said defensively, biting into his toast.
"You are not minions," Elizabeth said with false severity. "If anything you're lackeys. Only Colonel Sheppard is my minion. And maybe Rodney." In the back of her mind she rolled her eyes at herself that even here and now, with her and John's baby in the room, she still couldn't break herself of the habit of calling him by rank in front of other people.
"Okay, now that hurts, Dr. Weir. I'm perfectly good minion material."
"I'm giving you something to aspire to, Major. Evan," she added, reminding herself that it was the middle of the night, they were all in their pajamas, and she was too tired to care about formalities.
Kate chuckled at Evan. "You know, if you hadn't called her ma'am or Dr. Weir, we'd be making fun of you for being too informal."
Laura, who was passing by and in between songs, chimed in, "I'm pretty sure I'm not a lady in any case."
Evan grunted. "I should've gone to bed hungry."
They sat in quiet for a minute while Laura started another song.
I did you wrong, my heart went out to play
But in the game I lost you, what a price to pay
I'm crying
Ooh, baby baby...
Kate had stopped massaging and was just rubbing her hands up and down Elizabeth's back. For a moment Elizabeth had to fight back tears of her own. John had a tendency to rub her back like that, something he'd started doing when she was pregnant and her lower back had ached from the added weight. He still would do that when they went to bed at night, or when she came back to bed from feeding or changing the baby. She missed him with a sudden fierceness that surprised her. He'd been off-world for nearly three days, and for four days last week, and when he was in the city it still felt like they barely saw each other.
"Um, Elizabeth?" Evan asked hesitantly. She wasn't sure if he was more uncomfortable using her first name or because she was trying not to cry.
She waved a hand, sniffling. Evan reached over and grabbed some napkins from the dispenser and handed them to her. Kate patted her sympathetically and Laura paused next to the table, nodding wisely. "Hormones."
Elizabeth nodded as well. "Still not over the post-partum, apparently," she said, mostly for Evan's benefit.
Nathaniel started to fuss and Laura rocked back and forth. "You really weren't kidding about the pacing thing."
"Nope." Elizabeth balled up the napkins and made to stand. "Here, I can take him now-"
She was cut off by three people all telling her to sit back down. Kate took the baby instead while Laura sat down and grabbed Evan's glass and took a sip of his milk. He shot her a dirty look.
Kate began to sing.
The night we met I knew I needed you so
And if I had the chance I'd never let you go
So won't you say you love me
I'll make you so proud of me
We'll make 'em turn their heads
Every place we go so won't you please
Be my, be my little baby
My one and only baby...
Evan and Laura talked lightly about their last mission, which had ended with a successful trade agreement. Then he raised his eyebrows. "So, Smokey Robinson, Cadman?"
Laura shrugged. She made to grab his milk glass again but Evan moved it out of her reach. "My mom's a big fan of his."
"You're not a Motown fan?" Elizabeth asked him.
"No, I like it. It reminds me of car trips when I was a kid. It was the only radio station my parents would let us listen to in the car."
"Ah, yes, back before iPods and CD players," Laura nodded.
"Yep, and before Walkmans even," Evan said.
"Damn, you're old. Sir."
"Watch it, Marine."
Kate shifted the baby in her arms, apparently debating with herself, and then shifted to something slower.
If you ever change your mind
About leaving, leaving me behind
Baby, bring it to me
Bring your sweet lovin
Bring it on home to me...
Elizabeth propped herself up on her elbows again and noticed, not for the first time, the way Evan's eyes were following Kate as she walked around the room. She smothered a grin.
Laura stood up. "Elizabeth, do you want more tea?"
She frowned for a moment, looking at Evan's glass. "Actually I kind of want milk now too."
Laura smiled. "Two glasses of milk, coming up."
"Make that three," Evan said, waggling his empty glass at her. "While you're up."
Laura rolled her eyes but went. Kate drew up next to Evan and Elizabeth prayed desperately that the sleepiness in Nathaniel's face was for real this time. Silently she begged Kate not to stop moving.
"What was that from?" Evan asked, keeping his voice low. He reached out and put a hand on Nathaniel's back carefully.
"The Commitments," Kate said. "You know the movie?"
"I love that movie," Evan said. "I was in college when it came out and we kept going back to the theater over and over to see it. I even have the soundtrack somewhere. On cassette," he added, shooting a glance at Laura to dare her to make another crack about his age.
"I have both the soundtrack albums on my computer," Kate told him. "I can burn them to a disc for you if you want."
Elizabeth just caught herself from making a joke about giving someone a mixed tape.
"Thanks, that'd be great."
Elizabeth noticed Laura looking at her and they shared a conspiratorial grin. Elizabeth yawned, sipping her milk. She slouched a little lower.
Kate hefted the baby again and then gestured for Evan to take him. "Here, your turn."
Evan got up and took Nathaniel with more ease than Elizabeth would've expected. To be fair, the baby hadn't been alive that long so there were a limited number of people who'd gotten to hold the little guy so far, so she had no idea about Evan's familiarity with babies.
And thanks be to God, Nathaniel gave a baby yawn and cuddled onto Evan's shoulder. Hopefully she could get him down once they got back to her quarters. She'd just give it a few more minutes.
Kate sat down and Evan rocked the baby. He looked at her ruefully. "Do I have to sing?"
"Yes," Kate and Laura said in unison.
He sighed and began to pace towards the windows.
Well it's been building up inside of me for oh I don't know how long
I don't know why but I keep thinking something's bound to go wrong
Kate and Laura smiled at each other, and Laura took a large drink of her milk when Evan glanced at Kate when he got to the lines,
But she looks in my eyes
and makes me realize
When she says
Don't worry baby,
everything will turn out all right...
Elizabeth's head slipped down onto her arm and she didn't even realize it as she fell asleep to the lullaby even before her son did.
***
Strictly speaking John wasn't supposed to split his people up, but Teyla and Ronon could handle pretty much anything, and he just couldn't settle down. He'd been away from Atlantis so much in the last few weeks, he felt like he hadn't seen Elizabeth in months. And every time he came home, Nathaniel seemed like a different kid than the one he left. The planet they were visiting was observing a holy day tomorrow, so no business could be conducted. When the first minister found out John had a new son at home, he graciously urged John to go back to Atlantis until the following day to see his child.
But their quarters were empty, even though it was the middle of the night. That was really odd, since Elizabeth basically didn't go anywhere but to her office if she wasn't at "home" with Nathaniel. He poked his head into the infirmary, and Keller told him Elizabeth had been having trouble getting the baby to sleep. John's guilt doubled.
He checked the hallways but there was no sign of them. He decided to go to the control room to cheat and use the life signs readings, after he checked the mess hall.
For a moment he stood in the door to the mess. Elizabeth was asleep at a table, her head on her arms, wearing her bathrobe and slippers. Major Lorne was walking the baby back and forth on the far side of the room and talking to Kate and Laura.
John managed to rouse Elizabeth enough to walk back to their room. Cadman took Nathaniel, who was totally zonked and didn't even squawk when he was moved, and followed them. Lorne and Kate wandered off down the hall in a different direction and John didn't even want to know what was going on there.
And maybe if Elizabeth got some sleep she could fill him in tomorrow.
Also Evan and Kate insisted on flirting with each other. Possibly in atonement for "Precipice"?
Nathaniel's head fell against Elizabeth's shoulder and he whimpered.
She knew how he felt.
It was oh-God-hundred hours, smack in the middle of the night, and Nathaniel would not sleep. Every time he seemed to have dozed off, no matter how carefully she put him down, he would wake up and start shrieking like the world was ending. And if she stopped walking back and forth he would start the whining noise that was his way of building up to full fledged hysterical crying.
Elizabeth's nerves were very close to falling apart.
He wasn't hungry and he didn't need his diaper changed. She'd triple-checked. He wasn't in any way sick. After about four hours of this ritual she'd taken him to the infirmary. Jennifer Keller was on duty tonight and she assured Elizabeth that Nathaniel was perfectly healthy, aside from screaming his head off when Elizabeth put him down long enough for Jennifer to scan him.
There was nothing wrong with the baby that she could think of. And she didn't know what to do.
"You had to pull this when your father was away, didn't you?" she muttered at her son. She felt a slightly irrational resentment at John, who was off-world at the moment. And probably asleep. Sure, maybe in a tent with Rodney and Ronon snoring, but it sounded quite peaceful to her at the moment.
She wondered momentarily if that was the reason the baby was so clingy. She dismissed the idea. He was barely six weeks old, far too young to grasp the fact that his father was light-years away.
She dragged herself and Nathaniel to the mess hall. Tea or possibly coffee seemed called for, although strictly speaking she probably shouldn't have the caffeine while nursing. No matter the hour of the night, someone was usually around to help her since she only had one arm free.
As luck would have it, both Kate and Laura were there, wearing flannel pants and sweatshirts and talking. Laura had just returned to Atlantis a few weeks ago, newly promoted to Captain, taking Sizemore's place on Lorne's team. Elizabeth was happy to have her back. She and Lorne worked well together and Laura was an irrepressible presence at girls' poker night. Not that Elizabeth had been able to go to a poker night in several months.
"Elizabeth, what are you doing up?" Kate asked.
Laura grinned. "Somehow I don't think it's her idea, Kate," she said dryly.
"You got that right," Elizabeth retorted. "He just won't go down. I realized if I was going to spend the night pacing I was going to need tea."
Kate promptly got up and headed for the kitchens without Elizabeth even having to ask. Laura was leaning back to look at the baby, so Elizabeth turned, rocking slightly to keep his majesty from screaming.
"Hey, kiddo. What's up?" Nathaniel snuffled and Laura chuckled. She got up and held out her arms. "Here, want me to take him for a bit?"
Part of Elizabeth irrationally resisted, even though not long ago she'd been smothering thoughts of slipping something into a bottle to make Nathaniel sleep. "I'm not sure he'll like that," she hedged.
"Don't worry, my brother's got three kids. I've had tiny people shriek at me before."
With a wry smile, Elizabeth allowed Laura to gather the baby onto her own shoulder. He wriggled a bit but after a moment she let out a breath. Laura started to walk back and forth, rubbing Nathaniel's back, and after making a few noises, he settled down.
Elizabeth sank onto the chair and propped her head on her arms, otherwise she was going to fall asleep on the table.
Kate came back with a large mug of tea and a piece of cherry pie that apparently had been left over from dinner. Elizabeth realized belatedly that she was pretty hungry herself.
Kate leaned a hand on Elizabeth's shoulder as she stood up and she froze. "My God! Elizabeth, you're like a rock." Her fingers pressed against Elizabeth's muscles and Elizabeth winced. She hadn't realized how tense she was.
Without another word, Kate began to massage Elizabeth's shoulders gently. She started to tell Kate she didn't have to, but she was shushed and gave in, nibbling on the pie and trying not to moan as Kate's fingers worked the tension out of her neck and then her upper arms and back.
Behind them, Laura was walking Nathaniel back and forth and singing quietly.
I ain't got time to think about money or what it can buy
And I ain't got time to sit down and wonder what makes a birdie fly
And I don't have the time to think about what makes a flower grow
And I've never given a second thought to where the rivers flow
Too busy thinking 'bout my baby
And I ain't got time for nothing else
Elizabeth smiled, then flinched as Kate hit a particularly tender spot on her shoulder.
The doors to the mess opened and Major Lorne came in, dressed in sweatpants and a rather ratty looking Air Force t-shirt. Elizabeth wondered if all the men in Atlantis were having a collective fit of insomnia. He paused for a second, looking at the three of them, and then grinned at Laura. His new second-in-command glared at him and kept singing.
Evan grabbed a glass of milk and a piece of toast before sitting down across from Elizabeth. "Ma'am, ladies."
Elizabeth was just tired enough to snort. "I'm not a lady now?"
Evan's ears turned a little pink. "Of course you are, but it sounded disrespectful to, you know..."
"Lump her in with the rest of us lowly minions?" Kate offered.
"Well, yes," Evan said defensively, biting into his toast.
"You are not minions," Elizabeth said with false severity. "If anything you're lackeys. Only Colonel Sheppard is my minion. And maybe Rodney." In the back of her mind she rolled her eyes at herself that even here and now, with her and John's baby in the room, she still couldn't break herself of the habit of calling him by rank in front of other people.
"Okay, now that hurts, Dr. Weir. I'm perfectly good minion material."
"I'm giving you something to aspire to, Major. Evan," she added, reminding herself that it was the middle of the night, they were all in their pajamas, and she was too tired to care about formalities.
Kate chuckled at Evan. "You know, if you hadn't called her ma'am or Dr. Weir, we'd be making fun of you for being too informal."
Laura, who was passing by and in between songs, chimed in, "I'm pretty sure I'm not a lady in any case."
Evan grunted. "I should've gone to bed hungry."
They sat in quiet for a minute while Laura started another song.
I did you wrong, my heart went out to play
But in the game I lost you, what a price to pay
I'm crying
Ooh, baby baby...
Kate had stopped massaging and was just rubbing her hands up and down Elizabeth's back. For a moment Elizabeth had to fight back tears of her own. John had a tendency to rub her back like that, something he'd started doing when she was pregnant and her lower back had ached from the added weight. He still would do that when they went to bed at night, or when she came back to bed from feeding or changing the baby. She missed him with a sudden fierceness that surprised her. He'd been off-world for nearly three days, and for four days last week, and when he was in the city it still felt like they barely saw each other.
"Um, Elizabeth?" Evan asked hesitantly. She wasn't sure if he was more uncomfortable using her first name or because she was trying not to cry.
She waved a hand, sniffling. Evan reached over and grabbed some napkins from the dispenser and handed them to her. Kate patted her sympathetically and Laura paused next to the table, nodding wisely. "Hormones."
Elizabeth nodded as well. "Still not over the post-partum, apparently," she said, mostly for Evan's benefit.
Nathaniel started to fuss and Laura rocked back and forth. "You really weren't kidding about the pacing thing."
"Nope." Elizabeth balled up the napkins and made to stand. "Here, I can take him now-"
She was cut off by three people all telling her to sit back down. Kate took the baby instead while Laura sat down and grabbed Evan's glass and took a sip of his milk. He shot her a dirty look.
Kate began to sing.
The night we met I knew I needed you so
And if I had the chance I'd never let you go
So won't you say you love me
I'll make you so proud of me
We'll make 'em turn their heads
Every place we go so won't you please
Be my, be my little baby
My one and only baby...
Evan and Laura talked lightly about their last mission, which had ended with a successful trade agreement. Then he raised his eyebrows. "So, Smokey Robinson, Cadman?"
Laura shrugged. She made to grab his milk glass again but Evan moved it out of her reach. "My mom's a big fan of his."
"You're not a Motown fan?" Elizabeth asked him.
"No, I like it. It reminds me of car trips when I was a kid. It was the only radio station my parents would let us listen to in the car."
"Ah, yes, back before iPods and CD players," Laura nodded.
"Yep, and before Walkmans even," Evan said.
"Damn, you're old. Sir."
"Watch it, Marine."
Kate shifted the baby in her arms, apparently debating with herself, and then shifted to something slower.
If you ever change your mind
About leaving, leaving me behind
Baby, bring it to me
Bring your sweet lovin
Bring it on home to me...
Elizabeth propped herself up on her elbows again and noticed, not for the first time, the way Evan's eyes were following Kate as she walked around the room. She smothered a grin.
Laura stood up. "Elizabeth, do you want more tea?"
She frowned for a moment, looking at Evan's glass. "Actually I kind of want milk now too."
Laura smiled. "Two glasses of milk, coming up."
"Make that three," Evan said, waggling his empty glass at her. "While you're up."
Laura rolled her eyes but went. Kate drew up next to Evan and Elizabeth prayed desperately that the sleepiness in Nathaniel's face was for real this time. Silently she begged Kate not to stop moving.
"What was that from?" Evan asked, keeping his voice low. He reached out and put a hand on Nathaniel's back carefully.
"The Commitments," Kate said. "You know the movie?"
"I love that movie," Evan said. "I was in college when it came out and we kept going back to the theater over and over to see it. I even have the soundtrack somewhere. On cassette," he added, shooting a glance at Laura to dare her to make another crack about his age.
"I have both the soundtrack albums on my computer," Kate told him. "I can burn them to a disc for you if you want."
Elizabeth just caught herself from making a joke about giving someone a mixed tape.
"Thanks, that'd be great."
Elizabeth noticed Laura looking at her and they shared a conspiratorial grin. Elizabeth yawned, sipping her milk. She slouched a little lower.
Kate hefted the baby again and then gestured for Evan to take him. "Here, your turn."
Evan got up and took Nathaniel with more ease than Elizabeth would've expected. To be fair, the baby hadn't been alive that long so there were a limited number of people who'd gotten to hold the little guy so far, so she had no idea about Evan's familiarity with babies.
And thanks be to God, Nathaniel gave a baby yawn and cuddled onto Evan's shoulder. Hopefully she could get him down once they got back to her quarters. She'd just give it a few more minutes.
Kate sat down and Evan rocked the baby. He looked at her ruefully. "Do I have to sing?"
"Yes," Kate and Laura said in unison.
He sighed and began to pace towards the windows.
Well it's been building up inside of me for oh I don't know how long
I don't know why but I keep thinking something's bound to go wrong
Kate and Laura smiled at each other, and Laura took a large drink of her milk when Evan glanced at Kate when he got to the lines,
But she looks in my eyes
and makes me realize
When she says
Don't worry baby,
everything will turn out all right...
Elizabeth's head slipped down onto her arm and she didn't even realize it as she fell asleep to the lullaby even before her son did.
***
Strictly speaking John wasn't supposed to split his people up, but Teyla and Ronon could handle pretty much anything, and he just couldn't settle down. He'd been away from Atlantis so much in the last few weeks, he felt like he hadn't seen Elizabeth in months. And every time he came home, Nathaniel seemed like a different kid than the one he left. The planet they were visiting was observing a holy day tomorrow, so no business could be conducted. When the first minister found out John had a new son at home, he graciously urged John to go back to Atlantis until the following day to see his child.
But their quarters were empty, even though it was the middle of the night. That was really odd, since Elizabeth basically didn't go anywhere but to her office if she wasn't at "home" with Nathaniel. He poked his head into the infirmary, and Keller told him Elizabeth had been having trouble getting the baby to sleep. John's guilt doubled.
He checked the hallways but there was no sign of them. He decided to go to the control room to cheat and use the life signs readings, after he checked the mess hall.
For a moment he stood in the door to the mess. Elizabeth was asleep at a table, her head on her arms, wearing her bathrobe and slippers. Major Lorne was walking the baby back and forth on the far side of the room and talking to Kate and Laura.
John managed to rouse Elizabeth enough to walk back to their room. Cadman took Nathaniel, who was totally zonked and didn't even squawk when he was moved, and followed them. Lorne and Kate wandered off down the hall in a different direction and John didn't even want to know what was going on there.
And maybe if Elizabeth got some sleep she could fill him in tomorrow.