Name Game ~ SGA
Title: Name Game
Author: icantfollow
Characters: Rodney McKay/John Sheppard
Prompt: #085 She
Spoilers: Echoes
Word Count:
Rating: G
Summary: 'What do you mean she?'
A/N: Follows Mother's Intuition in the Superior Genetics series.
It takes the better part of three months, but John and Rodney finally agree on a name.
'Max Douglas Sheppard,' John tells Elizabeth proudly, Rodney beaming behind him. 'And that's it this time. We agreed. A little science, a little football, and it sounds good too.'
'It's about time,' she says, smiling. 'But what happened to Nikolas Rex?'
'Makes the kid sound like a dinosaur,' Rodney says, rolling his eyes even as John grimaces. The name battle went on for far too long; the air in their room was starting to become unbreathable. 'No son of mine is going to be named "Rex," I don't care how great a football player he is.'
A call comes in over the radio.
'John? Rodney?'
John taps his earpiece. 'Hey, guess what, Teyla? We finally agreed on a name. Max Douglas Sheppard, what do you think?'
There's a brief pause. 'I think that you might have to think again.'
Ten minutes later they're standing in the infirmary, and Rodney shouts, 'What do you mean she?'
'The baby is a girl,' explains Dr. Cole, the doctor in charge of their 'project'. 'Female. As in: not male.'
'You told us it was a boy,' John says, like pointing this out is going to make her change her mind.
'Everything we have is blue!' Rodney cries, throwing up his hands. 'Not to mention we don't know the first thing about girls!'
'That's not surprising,' Dr. Cole mutters, her back to them as she checks the monitors. John forgives her because she's been on the receiving end of Rodney's ire more than she deserves in the last six months. It can't be easy to have Rodney constantly breathing down your neck - unless you're John, of course.
Rodney looks at Teyla as if she somehow planned this, but she looks just as surprised as they do.
'She's still perfectly healthy, and on schedule developmentally,' Dr. Cole continues. 'There's nothing to worry about.'
'Nothing to worry about,' Rodney mutters under his breath as they walk to the mess hall. 'What kind of two-bit obstetrician can't read an ultrasound?'
'She's a cardiothoracic surgeon,' John points out, coming to the doctor's defense. She's been over-worked and sleep-deprived, struggling to keep this 'project' under wraps as much as possible. It's not exactly a secret, but the inhabitants of the city chose to keep it in the family, so to speak. With Rodney hovering every time he has a spare moment, frantic that something is going to go wrong, it's a wonder Dr. Cole hasn't snapped and gone on a shooting spree.
'That's no excuse! There's a big difference between a boy and a girl!'
John avoids the obvious joke because he can tell that Rodney's really upset about this. Though he's suddenly struck with a bout of nerves, mostly due to the fact that despite six months of development it's only now suddenly real, John agrees with Dr. Cole. A baby, period, is going to change their lives. Whether its a boy or a girl doesn't really matter to him.
'So,' says Teyla, breaking her respectful silence, 'what are you going to name her now?'
'Oh, God,' says Rodney, stopping and staring at John. 'We've got to go through that hell all over again.'
*
'We are not naming her Samantha!'
Rodney pouts. 'Why not?'
'Where should I start?' John scowls. 'With the fact that you want to name our daughter after the woman you've been half in love with for ten years, or the fact that she would also be named after a whale?'
'But Samantha Sheppard has such a nice ring to it.'
'No.'
'Oh, fine. What about Agatha?'
'Agatha?' John can't believe his ears.
'What's wrong with Agatha?'
'It's hideous, that's what's wrong with it.'
'It's my grandmother's name!'
'And she was born in what decade?'
Dr. Zelenka chooses that moment to enter the science lab. Well used to interrupting John/Rodney arguments by now, he pulls up a chair without acknowledging either of them, and starts tinkering with something resembling a television remote control.
'Help me out here, Doc,' John says. 'Tell Rodney why Agatha is a terrible name.'
'I dated a woman named Agatha once,' Zelenka says. 'Lovely girl.'
'Hopeless.' John shakes his head. 'What about Kylie?'
Rodney makes a face. 'You have to be joking. Williamina.'
'Pass.'
'She was an astronomer!'
'I said pass. You know, for a guy named Meredith Rodney, you seem awfully determined to punish our kid.'
'Alzbeta,' mutters Radek.
'Bless you,' John says irritably, ready to launch himself back into the argument.
'No, Alzbeta is Czech for "Elizabeth". You know, if you wanted to go in that direction.'
John and Rodney look at each other.
'We could name her after someone we know,' says Rodney hesitantly.
'But if we're going to do that, we should name her after Teyla,' John points out. 'I mean, without her, the kid wouldn't exist.'
'Teyla Sheppard,' muses Rodney. 'Sorry, that just sort of...rubs me the wrong way.'
'Okay, so let's go back to original names.' John's privately relieved. He loves Teyla and everything, but her name in conjunction with his...Rodney's right, it just sounds strange. Not to mention it could get confusing. 'What about Courtney?'
Rodney just looks disgusted. 'Are you trying to turn our daughter into a bimbo?'
'Bimbo?' John starts laughing, though he suspects it's just the first stage of hysterics. 'The name Courtney does not automatically equal bimbo. Bimbo. Honestly, what decade are you from?'
'I told you,' hisses Rodney, pushing back his chair and standing so that he looms over them. The situation is suddenly not funny. 'I don't know anything about raising a girl! If you'd seen me with my niece, maybe you'd understand. Children - well, it's bad enough, but a little girl? I'm going to scar her for life!'
And before John can even open his mouth, Rodney has stormed out of the lab. Zelenka looks up, removing his glasses.
'I've always been partial to the name Krasava myself,' he tells a dumbfounded John.
*
'Okay, we seriously need to talk about this,' John says, cornering Rodney in his room. They live in John's quarters now, but Rodney keeps his as a sort of pseudo-office. John knows that whenever something's really bugging him, that's where he hides; Rodney's not exactly a creature of mystery. 'Three months from the due date is not the time to be getting cold feet!'
'You think the fact that I am going to make a horrible father is just occurring to me now?' Rodney doesn't bother to say anything about the fact that John found him; he intended to be found.
'What are you talking about?' John's never seen Rodney quite like this, and it terrifies him. He's used to Rodney's panicking and his paranoia, but this is something entirely different.
'This may come as a surprise to you, John, but I don't actually know the first thing about children!'
Instead of retorting with something clever like, well, duh, or what do you mean, surprise?, John snaps:
'What makes you think I do?'
Rodney starts making those ineffective gestures he's so famous for. 'But - this was your idea!'
'That doesn't automatically mean I know what I'm doing.' Now that Rodney's calmed down somewhat, John approaches and tugs on his arm so that they're sitting side by side on the bed. 'For crying out loud, Rodney, I'm an only child who's never had any experience with kids before. Why would you assume I have all the answers?'
Rodney sighs and leans his head on John's shoulder. 'I don't know. You just seem so confident about everything. I mean, we were planning for a boy! When we found out it's a girl, it didn't even seem to phase you.'
'So she'll sleep on blue blankets and wear blue onesies for a few months. It won't scar her. Rodney, we can't panic over every little thing; we're going to be parents.'
Rodney's quiet. 'Yeah, but still, a girl.'
John rolls his eyes. 'Rodney, how old were you when Jeannie was born?'
'Uh, eight.'
'And you handled that, so you're a step up on me.'
John can feel that Rodney still isn't entirely comforted.
'I am completely crazy for agreeing to this in the first place,' Rodney moans. 'I'm terrible with children. I mean, between the ages of two and ten I think they're essentially pointless. And babies, babies are cute, I suppose, from a distance, but I still have nightmares about Jeannie screeching at the top of her lungs all night long.'
John laughs quietly, brushing his lips across Rodney's cheek. 'I know this is a cliche, but somehow I think when it's yours, you feel different. Look, of course it's going to be hard, but it's also going to be the best thing that's ever happened to us - aside from coming to Atlantis, of course.'
'I guess you're right.'
'But we still have to actually name her.'
Rodney groans. 'If you suggest another name like Fifi, or Candie, or Sophie, or anything ending in 'ie', I'll leave you for Katie Brown.'
'Her name ends in 'ie',' John points out, and Rodney scowls. 'Okay, okay, point taken. Look, I have an idea. Why don't we let Teyla name her.'
'What if she wants to name her Bula or something equally weird?' asks Rodney.
'Then we try and talk her out of it. But I honestly think that if we have to keep arguing about this, I'm going to end up killing you.'
'Okay then, we'll let Teya decide.'
*
For the next several weeks, John keeps hearing over his radio, 'No, Rodney, I have not chosen a name. Please stop asking. When I have decided, you will be the first to know.'
Then, at lunch one afternoon, Ronon asks, 'So, Teyla, what's the baby's name going to be?'
She glares at Rodney who raises his hands in defense. 'You only said I couldn't ask, you didn't say he couldn't.'
'Fine,' says Teyla, raising her eyes towards the ceiling as if asking the Ancestors for strength. 'I believe I have made my decision anyway.'
'We're all ears,' says John sweetly.
'I wish her name to be...' she pauses for dramatic effect and John thinks she's really spent too much time watching movies with them, '...Meredith.'
'Meredith,' repeats John, grinning. 'I like it.'
Rodney cringes. 'Wouldn't you rather name her Bula?'
'Oh, come on, Rodney, this kid has to have some part of you, and besides, Meredith's a perfectly nice name for a girl.' John looks across the table. 'I have an idea for her middle name: Emma, for the woman who made this possible.'
Teyla doesn't respond, but her eyes glisten, and John can tell she's pleased. Rodney, as usual, is still talking.
'Meredith Emma Sheppard,' he says. 'You know what, I like it. I do.'
'Meredith Emma McKay Sheppard,' corrects John, and Rodney flushes slightly so John knows he's pleased too.
*
John celebrates finally having a name for the baby by gifting Rodney a DVD he specially requisitioned from Earth.
'Because I know you're still nervous, I thought we could learn from the best.'
'Three Men and a Baby,' says Rodney. He rolls his eyes. 'Sometimes, I hate you.'
'I know.'
Author: icantfollow
Characters: Rodney McKay/John Sheppard
Prompt: #085 She
Spoilers: Echoes
Word Count:
Rating: G
Summary: 'What do you mean she?'
A/N: Follows Mother's Intuition in the Superior Genetics series.
It takes the better part of three months, but John and Rodney finally agree on a name.
'Max Douglas Sheppard,' John tells Elizabeth proudly, Rodney beaming behind him. 'And that's it this time. We agreed. A little science, a little football, and it sounds good too.'
'It's about time,' she says, smiling. 'But what happened to Nikolas Rex?'
'Makes the kid sound like a dinosaur,' Rodney says, rolling his eyes even as John grimaces. The name battle went on for far too long; the air in their room was starting to become unbreathable. 'No son of mine is going to be named "Rex," I don't care how great a football player he is.'
A call comes in over the radio.
'John? Rodney?'
John taps his earpiece. 'Hey, guess what, Teyla? We finally agreed on a name. Max Douglas Sheppard, what do you think?'
There's a brief pause. 'I think that you might have to think again.'
Ten minutes later they're standing in the infirmary, and Rodney shouts, 'What do you mean she?'
'The baby is a girl,' explains Dr. Cole, the doctor in charge of their 'project'. 'Female. As in: not male.'
'You told us it was a boy,' John says, like pointing this out is going to make her change her mind.
'Everything we have is blue!' Rodney cries, throwing up his hands. 'Not to mention we don't know the first thing about girls!'
'That's not surprising,' Dr. Cole mutters, her back to them as she checks the monitors. John forgives her because she's been on the receiving end of Rodney's ire more than she deserves in the last six months. It can't be easy to have Rodney constantly breathing down your neck - unless you're John, of course.
Rodney looks at Teyla as if she somehow planned this, but she looks just as surprised as they do.
'She's still perfectly healthy, and on schedule developmentally,' Dr. Cole continues. 'There's nothing to worry about.'
'Nothing to worry about,' Rodney mutters under his breath as they walk to the mess hall. 'What kind of two-bit obstetrician can't read an ultrasound?'
'She's a cardiothoracic surgeon,' John points out, coming to the doctor's defense. She's been over-worked and sleep-deprived, struggling to keep this 'project' under wraps as much as possible. It's not exactly a secret, but the inhabitants of the city chose to keep it in the family, so to speak. With Rodney hovering every time he has a spare moment, frantic that something is going to go wrong, it's a wonder Dr. Cole hasn't snapped and gone on a shooting spree.
'That's no excuse! There's a big difference between a boy and a girl!'
John avoids the obvious joke because he can tell that Rodney's really upset about this. Though he's suddenly struck with a bout of nerves, mostly due to the fact that despite six months of development it's only now suddenly real, John agrees with Dr. Cole. A baby, period, is going to change their lives. Whether its a boy or a girl doesn't really matter to him.
'So,' says Teyla, breaking her respectful silence, 'what are you going to name her now?'
'Oh, God,' says Rodney, stopping and staring at John. 'We've got to go through that hell all over again.'
*
'We are not naming her Samantha!'
Rodney pouts. 'Why not?'
'Where should I start?' John scowls. 'With the fact that you want to name our daughter after the woman you've been half in love with for ten years, or the fact that she would also be named after a whale?'
'But Samantha Sheppard has such a nice ring to it.'
'No.'
'Oh, fine. What about Agatha?'
'Agatha?' John can't believe his ears.
'What's wrong with Agatha?'
'It's hideous, that's what's wrong with it.'
'It's my grandmother's name!'
'And she was born in what decade?'
Dr. Zelenka chooses that moment to enter the science lab. Well used to interrupting John/Rodney arguments by now, he pulls up a chair without acknowledging either of them, and starts tinkering with something resembling a television remote control.
'Help me out here, Doc,' John says. 'Tell Rodney why Agatha is a terrible name.'
'I dated a woman named Agatha once,' Zelenka says. 'Lovely girl.'
'Hopeless.' John shakes his head. 'What about Kylie?'
Rodney makes a face. 'You have to be joking. Williamina.'
'Pass.'
'She was an astronomer!'
'I said pass. You know, for a guy named Meredith Rodney, you seem awfully determined to punish our kid.'
'Alzbeta,' mutters Radek.
'Bless you,' John says irritably, ready to launch himself back into the argument.
'No, Alzbeta is Czech for "Elizabeth". You know, if you wanted to go in that direction.'
John and Rodney look at each other.
'We could name her after someone we know,' says Rodney hesitantly.
'But if we're going to do that, we should name her after Teyla,' John points out. 'I mean, without her, the kid wouldn't exist.'
'Teyla Sheppard,' muses Rodney. 'Sorry, that just sort of...rubs me the wrong way.'
'Okay, so let's go back to original names.' John's privately relieved. He loves Teyla and everything, but her name in conjunction with his...Rodney's right, it just sounds strange. Not to mention it could get confusing. 'What about Courtney?'
Rodney just looks disgusted. 'Are you trying to turn our daughter into a bimbo?'
'Bimbo?' John starts laughing, though he suspects it's just the first stage of hysterics. 'The name Courtney does not automatically equal bimbo. Bimbo. Honestly, what decade are you from?'
'I told you,' hisses Rodney, pushing back his chair and standing so that he looms over them. The situation is suddenly not funny. 'I don't know anything about raising a girl! If you'd seen me with my niece, maybe you'd understand. Children - well, it's bad enough, but a little girl? I'm going to scar her for life!'
And before John can even open his mouth, Rodney has stormed out of the lab. Zelenka looks up, removing his glasses.
'I've always been partial to the name Krasava myself,' he tells a dumbfounded John.
*
'Okay, we seriously need to talk about this,' John says, cornering Rodney in his room. They live in John's quarters now, but Rodney keeps his as a sort of pseudo-office. John knows that whenever something's really bugging him, that's where he hides; Rodney's not exactly a creature of mystery. 'Three months from the due date is not the time to be getting cold feet!'
'You think the fact that I am going to make a horrible father is just occurring to me now?' Rodney doesn't bother to say anything about the fact that John found him; he intended to be found.
'What are you talking about?' John's never seen Rodney quite like this, and it terrifies him. He's used to Rodney's panicking and his paranoia, but this is something entirely different.
'This may come as a surprise to you, John, but I don't actually know the first thing about children!'
Instead of retorting with something clever like, well, duh, or what do you mean, surprise?, John snaps:
'What makes you think I do?'
Rodney starts making those ineffective gestures he's so famous for. 'But - this was your idea!'
'That doesn't automatically mean I know what I'm doing.' Now that Rodney's calmed down somewhat, John approaches and tugs on his arm so that they're sitting side by side on the bed. 'For crying out loud, Rodney, I'm an only child who's never had any experience with kids before. Why would you assume I have all the answers?'
Rodney sighs and leans his head on John's shoulder. 'I don't know. You just seem so confident about everything. I mean, we were planning for a boy! When we found out it's a girl, it didn't even seem to phase you.'
'So she'll sleep on blue blankets and wear blue onesies for a few months. It won't scar her. Rodney, we can't panic over every little thing; we're going to be parents.'
Rodney's quiet. 'Yeah, but still, a girl.'
John rolls his eyes. 'Rodney, how old were you when Jeannie was born?'
'Uh, eight.'
'And you handled that, so you're a step up on me.'
John can feel that Rodney still isn't entirely comforted.
'I am completely crazy for agreeing to this in the first place,' Rodney moans. 'I'm terrible with children. I mean, between the ages of two and ten I think they're essentially pointless. And babies, babies are cute, I suppose, from a distance, but I still have nightmares about Jeannie screeching at the top of her lungs all night long.'
John laughs quietly, brushing his lips across Rodney's cheek. 'I know this is a cliche, but somehow I think when it's yours, you feel different. Look, of course it's going to be hard, but it's also going to be the best thing that's ever happened to us - aside from coming to Atlantis, of course.'
'I guess you're right.'
'But we still have to actually name her.'
Rodney groans. 'If you suggest another name like Fifi, or Candie, or Sophie, or anything ending in 'ie', I'll leave you for Katie Brown.'
'Her name ends in 'ie',' John points out, and Rodney scowls. 'Okay, okay, point taken. Look, I have an idea. Why don't we let Teyla name her.'
'What if she wants to name her Bula or something equally weird?' asks Rodney.
'Then we try and talk her out of it. But I honestly think that if we have to keep arguing about this, I'm going to end up killing you.'
'Okay then, we'll let Teya decide.'
*
For the next several weeks, John keeps hearing over his radio, 'No, Rodney, I have not chosen a name. Please stop asking. When I have decided, you will be the first to know.'
Then, at lunch one afternoon, Ronon asks, 'So, Teyla, what's the baby's name going to be?'
She glares at Rodney who raises his hands in defense. 'You only said I couldn't ask, you didn't say he couldn't.'
'Fine,' says Teyla, raising her eyes towards the ceiling as if asking the Ancestors for strength. 'I believe I have made my decision anyway.'
'We're all ears,' says John sweetly.
'I wish her name to be...' she pauses for dramatic effect and John thinks she's really spent too much time watching movies with them, '...Meredith.'
'Meredith,' repeats John, grinning. 'I like it.'
Rodney cringes. 'Wouldn't you rather name her Bula?'
'Oh, come on, Rodney, this kid has to have some part of you, and besides, Meredith's a perfectly nice name for a girl.' John looks across the table. 'I have an idea for her middle name: Emma, for the woman who made this possible.'
Teyla doesn't respond, but her eyes glisten, and John can tell she's pleased. Rodney, as usual, is still talking.
'Meredith Emma Sheppard,' he says. 'You know what, I like it. I do.'
'Meredith Emma McKay Sheppard,' corrects John, and Rodney flushes slightly so John knows he's pleased too.
*
John celebrates finally having a name for the baby by gifting Rodney a DVD he specially requisitioned from Earth.
'Because I know you're still nervous, I thought we could learn from the best.'
'Three Men and a Baby,' says Rodney. He rolls his eyes. 'Sometimes, I hate you.'
'I know.'