chapter 10 of Grandview...
I just realized that I hadn't ever posted the actual chapters here after the cole of the comm for the first round of stories over at
casa_mcshep so here it is, chapter ten here on my LJ.
Title: One Month
Rating: G
Series: Grandview
Spoilers: None
Warnings: excessive exhaustion
Word count: 1,448
Disclaimer: Sadly, neither Stargate Atlantis nor her characters belong to me. If they did, the show would never have been nor would it ever be cancelled. We may have to move it to Cinemax though.
Summary: Nathan was just over a month old now and a few days ago out of the blue he started crying a new cry.
John was standing in the center of Nathan’s room, he had Nathan on his shoulder and he was bouncing on the balls of his feet and patting his back. Nathan was screaming in his ear and John was making soft, rhythmic shushing sounds in time with his bouncing and patting.
“Shu-shu-shu-shu-shush… shu-shu-shu-shu-shush… shu-shu-shu-shu-shush… shu-shu-shu-shu-shush…”
“Still bothering him huh?” Rodney asked when he walked into the room.
John nodded and kept shushing Nathan and bouncing. He pointed to the dresser where a small folded piece of paper laid and then resumed the patting.
Rodney picked up the paper and looked at it. “This what the doctor said he needed?” he asked.
John nodded again, Nathan’s crying was finally starting to quiet a bit.
“We’re just supposed to give him a teaspoon of this stuff?”
“In his milk…” John said quickly and went straight back to shushing.
Almost as quickly as it started an hour before, Nathan’s crying stopped and he was left with hitched breathing.
John stopped bouncing and changed the patting to rubbing. A minute later Nathan’s breathing calmed and John laid him gently in the bed. He rubbed his head softly and then left the room.
John flopped back onto the bed and threw his arm over his eyes. Rodney got on the bed beside him and started rubbing circles on John’s stomach.
“This colic is going to kill me Rodney. My calf muscles are on fire,” John grumbled.
“Karo syrup is supposed to help?” Rodney asked.
“Doctor said it would. Teaspoon in his milk, I don’t know why or how, but he said it’s worked for years.”
Nathan was just over a month old now and a few days ago, out of the blue, he started crying a new cry. John and Rodney had pretty much gotten a handle on the hungry cry and the burp me cry and the pick me up because I’m bored of looking at that spinning thing cry, and the dirty diaper cry; the poopy cry was more intense than the wet cry. The new cry was loud and shrill and made Nathan turn all kinds of colors from red to purple. He flailed his arms and drew his knees up tight. After a full hour of the constant screaming cry, John and Rodney packed him in the car and rushing him to the doctor’s office. Rodney had said a few less than appropriate things and John had threatened to call in the military if the doctor didn’t look at Nathan right then.
Twenty minutes later they left with the diagnosis of colic, and the assurance that he would grow out of it in a couple of months.
“Just do what you can to comfort him,” the doctor had said, “sing to him, bounce him gently, use white noise. Make sure you’re burping him after meals even if he falls asleep during. A warm bath may help.”
Rodney smiled when John started snoring softly. He removed John’s shoes and socks, then he managed to get John’s jeans off and then he covered him with the comforter.
John pulled his arm off his face and sighed as he turned onto his side and snuggled deeper under the blanket. Rodney brushed his hair away from his face and kissed his temple.
“Sleep tight,” he whispered, turned off the light and lay down beside him.
~*~
They had moved the bassinette into the dining room because they were tired of running up the stairs whenever Nathan started crying. The colic wasn’t as bad during the day, it got bad in the early evening and John and Rodney had to take shifts bouncing and rocking because the early evening bout with the belly ache lasted no less than three hours, and it continued off and on late into the night.
They were sleep deprived and had eventually started sleeping in shifts, except for the hours between 5pm and 11pm when they were both awake and tag teaming Nathan.
Rodney realized that by the shift sleeping, one of them was always missing something, he learned this one day when he woke up at 4:30 and John told him that Nathan smiled at him. Rodney had gone out the next morning and bought cameras, he set up several in each room and several more focused on the places Nathan spent a lot of time, the bassinette, the swing and bouncy seat and the crib. John drew the line at daddy-cams.
“Gimme gimme gimme,” Sam sing-songed as she bounced into the kitchen where John was multi tasking at bottle heating and baby bouncing. John turned and handed Nathan to her.
“John, you look awful,” Sam said as she tucked Nathan in the crook of her arm. “Doesn’t he?” she asked Nathan in baby talk, “you’re tiring your daddies out aren’t you? Yes you are. Yes you are.”
“Yes he is,” John returned in the same baby talk voice.
“Go to bed John,” Sam offered. “I’ve got plenty of time and nowhere to be. I’ll keep an eye on him for a few hours, and don’t worry, I know the rules, I won’t take him anywhere.”
“Okay,” John said all too quickly. He tested the bottle on the stove and handed it to her. “Make absolutely sure you burp him when he’s done with that.”
“Yes sir,” Sam said and mock saluted then she moved Nathan’s arm and made him do a fisted salute.
“You’re very funny.” He said, he rubbed Nathan’s fuzzy head then kissed his forehead. He kissed Sam’s cheek. “Giving you a key to the house may have been the smartest thing Rodney has ever done in his entire life,” he said and went off to the bedroom.
“John!”
“What?” John spat and jumped off the bed, eyes still half closed.
“Where is Nathan!? Why are you sleeping!? He’s not in his crib!” Rodney shouted at him.
“Sam’s got him Rodney.” John drawled and sat back down on the bed. He covered his eyes with one hand and rested his elbow on his knee. He focused on trying to get his breathing and heart rate under control; his muscles were quivering from being yanked from a deep sleep.
“I’m sorry John,” Rodney said as he walked around the bed. “I shouldn’t have woken you like that.” He wrapped his arms around John’s shoulders and held his head against his chest. After a moment John’s arms were loosely wrapped around Rodney’s hips.
There was a light knock at the door.
“Come in,” Rodney called.
“Hey… whoa, didn’t mean to interrupt anything.” Sam flushed slightly.
“No no, you’re fine,” Rodney said, “come on in.” He patted John’s back and released him.
“Wow John, doesn’t look like those hours did you any good, you’re pale as a ghost,” Sam said when John leaned against the headboard.
“That would probably be my fault. What did you want?” Rodney spoke.
“Huh? Oh, just to say its five thirty and I have to get out of here. Nathan and I had a wonderful day together though.” She looked down at him as he lay in her arms, “Didn’t we? Yes we did.” She looked back up at Rodney and John. “We took the car for a spin, Nathan is an amazing driver, then I thought I’d test his piloting skills and he took one of the F-302’s up. Wow, talk about skill. Oh, then we went to Disney World and he beat the crap out of Mickey Mouse.”
“Busy day,” Rodney said and took his son from the crazy woman that had replaced Samantha Carter almost two months ago.
Sam lifted her head and pointed with her chin and Rodney turned around. John was still leaning against the head board but his chin was on his chest. He handed Nathan back to Sam and went over.
“John,” he whispered and gently tapped his leg.
“Mm,” John grunted and jerked awake.
“Go back to sleep,” Rodney said and pulled John down to lie on his back.
“Okay,” John mumbled.
Rodney was halfway back to Sam when John shot up as if he had a spring in his middle. “No,” he said, “it’s five thirty…”
“I’ll handle him tonight; you’ve been doing more than your fair share anyway. You need to rest John, Nathan and I will be fine.”
“Okay,” John said, already drifting again, “maybe just another hour. Wake me before then if you need me.”
“Alright.” Rodney went back over to the bed and kissed John’s forehead.
He took Nathan from Sam and saw her to the door. He waved as she drove away, then he went back inside to play with his son. He had no intentions on waking John tonight.
casa_mcshep so here it is, chapter ten here on my LJ.
Title: One Month
Rating: G
Series: Grandview
Spoilers: None
Warnings: excessive exhaustion
Word count: 1,448
Disclaimer: Sadly, neither Stargate Atlantis nor her characters belong to me. If they did, the show would never have been nor would it ever be cancelled. We may have to move it to Cinemax though.
Summary: Nathan was just over a month old now and a few days ago out of the blue he started crying a new cry.
John was standing in the center of Nathan’s room, he had Nathan on his shoulder and he was bouncing on the balls of his feet and patting his back. Nathan was screaming in his ear and John was making soft, rhythmic shushing sounds in time with his bouncing and patting.
“Shu-shu-shu-shu-shush… shu-shu-shu-shu-shush… shu-shu-shu-shu-shush… shu-shu-shu-shu-shush…”
“Still bothering him huh?” Rodney asked when he walked into the room.
John nodded and kept shushing Nathan and bouncing. He pointed to the dresser where a small folded piece of paper laid and then resumed the patting.
Rodney picked up the paper and looked at it. “This what the doctor said he needed?” he asked.
John nodded again, Nathan’s crying was finally starting to quiet a bit.
“We’re just supposed to give him a teaspoon of this stuff?”
“In his milk…” John said quickly and went straight back to shushing.
Almost as quickly as it started an hour before, Nathan’s crying stopped and he was left with hitched breathing.
John stopped bouncing and changed the patting to rubbing. A minute later Nathan’s breathing calmed and John laid him gently in the bed. He rubbed his head softly and then left the room.
John flopped back onto the bed and threw his arm over his eyes. Rodney got on the bed beside him and started rubbing circles on John’s stomach.
“This colic is going to kill me Rodney. My calf muscles are on fire,” John grumbled.
“Karo syrup is supposed to help?” Rodney asked.
“Doctor said it would. Teaspoon in his milk, I don’t know why or how, but he said it’s worked for years.”
Nathan was just over a month old now and a few days ago, out of the blue, he started crying a new cry. John and Rodney had pretty much gotten a handle on the hungry cry and the burp me cry and the pick me up because I’m bored of looking at that spinning thing cry, and the dirty diaper cry; the poopy cry was more intense than the wet cry. The new cry was loud and shrill and made Nathan turn all kinds of colors from red to purple. He flailed his arms and drew his knees up tight. After a full hour of the constant screaming cry, John and Rodney packed him in the car and rushing him to the doctor’s office. Rodney had said a few less than appropriate things and John had threatened to call in the military if the doctor didn’t look at Nathan right then.
Twenty minutes later they left with the diagnosis of colic, and the assurance that he would grow out of it in a couple of months.
“Just do what you can to comfort him,” the doctor had said, “sing to him, bounce him gently, use white noise. Make sure you’re burping him after meals even if he falls asleep during. A warm bath may help.”
Rodney smiled when John started snoring softly. He removed John’s shoes and socks, then he managed to get John’s jeans off and then he covered him with the comforter.
John pulled his arm off his face and sighed as he turned onto his side and snuggled deeper under the blanket. Rodney brushed his hair away from his face and kissed his temple.
“Sleep tight,” he whispered, turned off the light and lay down beside him.
~*~
They had moved the bassinette into the dining room because they were tired of running up the stairs whenever Nathan started crying. The colic wasn’t as bad during the day, it got bad in the early evening and John and Rodney had to take shifts bouncing and rocking because the early evening bout with the belly ache lasted no less than three hours, and it continued off and on late into the night.
They were sleep deprived and had eventually started sleeping in shifts, except for the hours between 5pm and 11pm when they were both awake and tag teaming Nathan.
Rodney realized that by the shift sleeping, one of them was always missing something, he learned this one day when he woke up at 4:30 and John told him that Nathan smiled at him. Rodney had gone out the next morning and bought cameras, he set up several in each room and several more focused on the places Nathan spent a lot of time, the bassinette, the swing and bouncy seat and the crib. John drew the line at daddy-cams.
“Gimme gimme gimme,” Sam sing-songed as she bounced into the kitchen where John was multi tasking at bottle heating and baby bouncing. John turned and handed Nathan to her.
“John, you look awful,” Sam said as she tucked Nathan in the crook of her arm. “Doesn’t he?” she asked Nathan in baby talk, “you’re tiring your daddies out aren’t you? Yes you are. Yes you are.”
“Yes he is,” John returned in the same baby talk voice.
“Go to bed John,” Sam offered. “I’ve got plenty of time and nowhere to be. I’ll keep an eye on him for a few hours, and don’t worry, I know the rules, I won’t take him anywhere.”
“Okay,” John said all too quickly. He tested the bottle on the stove and handed it to her. “Make absolutely sure you burp him when he’s done with that.”
“Yes sir,” Sam said and mock saluted then she moved Nathan’s arm and made him do a fisted salute.
“You’re very funny.” He said, he rubbed Nathan’s fuzzy head then kissed his forehead. He kissed Sam’s cheek. “Giving you a key to the house may have been the smartest thing Rodney has ever done in his entire life,” he said and went off to the bedroom.
“John!”
“What?” John spat and jumped off the bed, eyes still half closed.
“Where is Nathan!? Why are you sleeping!? He’s not in his crib!” Rodney shouted at him.
“Sam’s got him Rodney.” John drawled and sat back down on the bed. He covered his eyes with one hand and rested his elbow on his knee. He focused on trying to get his breathing and heart rate under control; his muscles were quivering from being yanked from a deep sleep.
“I’m sorry John,” Rodney said as he walked around the bed. “I shouldn’t have woken you like that.” He wrapped his arms around John’s shoulders and held his head against his chest. After a moment John’s arms were loosely wrapped around Rodney’s hips.
There was a light knock at the door.
“Come in,” Rodney called.
“Hey… whoa, didn’t mean to interrupt anything.” Sam flushed slightly.
“No no, you’re fine,” Rodney said, “come on in.” He patted John’s back and released him.
“Wow John, doesn’t look like those hours did you any good, you’re pale as a ghost,” Sam said when John leaned against the headboard.
“That would probably be my fault. What did you want?” Rodney spoke.
“Huh? Oh, just to say its five thirty and I have to get out of here. Nathan and I had a wonderful day together though.” She looked down at him as he lay in her arms, “Didn’t we? Yes we did.” She looked back up at Rodney and John. “We took the car for a spin, Nathan is an amazing driver, then I thought I’d test his piloting skills and he took one of the F-302’s up. Wow, talk about skill. Oh, then we went to Disney World and he beat the crap out of Mickey Mouse.”
“Busy day,” Rodney said and took his son from the crazy woman that had replaced Samantha Carter almost two months ago.
Sam lifted her head and pointed with her chin and Rodney turned around. John was still leaning against the head board but his chin was on his chest. He handed Nathan back to Sam and went over.
“John,” he whispered and gently tapped his leg.
“Mm,” John grunted and jerked awake.
“Go back to sleep,” Rodney said and pulled John down to lie on his back.
“Okay,” John mumbled.
Rodney was halfway back to Sam when John shot up as if he had a spring in his middle. “No,” he said, “it’s five thirty…”
“I’ll handle him tonight; you’ve been doing more than your fair share anyway. You need to rest John, Nathan and I will be fine.”
“Okay,” John said, already drifting again, “maybe just another hour. Wake me before then if you need me.”
“Alright.” Rodney went back over to the bed and kissed John’s forehead.
He took Nathan from Sam and saw her to the door. He waved as she drove away, then he went back inside to play with his son. He had no intentions on waking John tonight.