Fic: November Showers (a Grandview story) Rated G
Title: November Showers
Series: Grandview
Rating: G
Word count: 4,159
Warnings/spoilers: None, but there is a little nod toward SG-1 ep 1x01 Children of the Gods.
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 canceled.
Nathan (and Oscar) is (are) mine though so take THAT mgm!!
Summary: So John would go out back for a couple of hours in the afternoon. He’d lie on the hammock with War and Peace, or the news paper, or something, with a pair of headphones under his shirt playing Johnny Cash into his belly.
A/N: There are a few people who helped with this chapter; they brought the gifts to the shower. This is my thank you to them. Here they are in the order they replied to the post…
asioleh
,
rellan,
elikiros,
vampyrehunterm,
goddess47,
tomsmum,
johnjoey,
riddicks_girl12
(Fpr whatever reason, LJ only wants to link to one of the above listed people... no idea why. Hope having them vertically will help but incase it doesn;t a list with out the links is...
asioleh, rellan, elikiros, vampyrehunterm, goddess47, tomsmum, johnjoey and riddicks_girl12
riddicks_girl12 sent me the links to the cute tee shirts Sam bought them. Check out the Grandview request post to find the links. Goddess47 also linked to the crib set.
For three and a half months John had been lonely. Rodney would go to work and Nathan would go to daycare, leaving John alone in the house with the shades drawn for six to eight hours a day with nothing but daytime TV for company. Sometimes he’d invite Ronon over, but he was getting serious with Karen and didn’t always come.
He’d watch unbearable talk shows, then he’d cook himself some lunch and eat it all by himself at the dining room table. He played the WII fit from time to time, but mostly went into the basement and took a brisk walk on the treadmill, imagining the rafters of Atlantis. He didn’t usually miss Atlantis too much because he had Rodney and Nathan to keep him happy, but those times when he was all alone, he did miss it. He’d nap to pass some time, sometimes in bed but usually on the couch.
About a month ago Rodney had commissioned Ronon to build a six foot tall privacy fence around their back yard. Something they were not telling Jack about, it wasn’t as if anyone could see him. Theirs was the only two story house in the immediate area so no one could peek out their second story window into the Sheppard backyard and see a pregnant man. So John would go out back for a couple of hours in the afternoon. He’d lie on the hammock with War and Peace, or the news paper, or something, with a pair of headphones under his shirt playing Johnny Cash into his belly.
But for the past week John wasn’t so lonely. Rodney had gone to the daycare the Monday after Halloween and told them that John was taking an extended leave from work and wanted to keep Nathan with him. The director said they would keep Nathan’s place on the roster open. Rodney also took it upon himself to tell her that when Nathan came back, he’d have a baby brother and she said they’d keep an open spot for the baby as well.
So John had a buddy to play with and daytime TV went out the window. John didn’t miss it.
He was too busy keeping up with his very active son, except for the one to two hour nap Nathan would take after lunch, at which time John would also take a much needed nap.
John loved being pregnant, well the part after the morning sickness anyway, but he missed the things that he and Rodney got to do for Nathan.
When Jeanie was pregnant with Nathan, John and Rodney got to go out and buy the things they wanted for him, like the aviation crib set, and the one with the numbers. It just wasn’t the same doing it online.
Of course they had done some of it online. They’d bought the new baby a crib and matching changing table and dresser. John had spent some of his alone time online looking at nurseries to get ideas. He’d decided that since Nathan’s bedroom was mainly aviation he’d let the new one take more after Rodney. So they’d decided to get another numbers crib set, since Nathan had ruined his that time he had diarrhea, and one with geometric shapes. They’d decided the room would be all clean lines and angles, mathematics. Of course he’d have a plane or two hanging somewhere in his room, a kid of John’s couldn’t possibly go through life without an appreciation of air crafts.
They’d also decided that, in the effort to save money on clothes the kid will grow out of in a month, the baby would get some of Nathan’s old clothes, the ones that hadn’t been ruined by slobber, spit up, dinner and the million other things that ruin a baby’s clothes.
John had a whole new appreciation for those LUVs commercials because you did, in fact, live and learn, and John was seriously considering getting LUVs because Jeanie had raved about them.
John and Rodney were on the couch, Rodney leaning back against the arm with John between his legs, and he was rubbing John’s belly. John had started groaning when he would get up, or sit down, or lean forward or back, or walk and it seemed that the only thing that would silence the groaning was Rodney’s hands rubbing John’s belly.
They were about halfway through Back to the Future part two when someone knocked on the door.
Rodney sighed (gratefully) and got up when John leaned forward.
“What’s this?” Rodney asked when he saw Sam, Jack, Daniel, Vala, Teal’c, Ronon, Teyla, Torren and Kanaan, and Jeanie, Kaleb, Maddie and Oscar, among others standing at the door with various sized packages wrapped in baby themed paper.
“It’s a baby shower,” Sam announced happily as she pushed past Rodney and carried a stack of deli trays toward the dining room.
John groaned loudly and got off the couch, passing the guests and gifts and headed straight toward Kaleb who was holding Oscar. He was now six months old and besides pictures that Jeanie sent them once a month, this was the first time John and Rodney had laid eyes on him. John reached out and gently plucked his nephew from his father’s arms and settled him in his own arms, awkwardly, over his large belly. He looked down at the baby and made little goofy cooing noises.
Rodney had followed Sam into the dining room and watched her uncover a fruit tray, a veggie tray and a meat tray. Then he caught Jeanie out of the corner of his eye and followed her into the kitchen where she sat a full sheet cake that read: Congratulations John and Rodney, on the island.
After Rodney stole Oscar from him, John spent the next half hour with his shirt raised to his chest with less than warm hands rubbing his belly. He got plenty of advice like “cocoa butter works miracles on stretch marks” and “putting a pillow under your belly when you lay on your side will help you sleep better”. But all the commotion woke the baby, that Rodney’s rubbing hands had put to sleep, and he decided that John’s bladder looked like a soccer ball.
“So,” Vala said when John came out of the bathroom for the fifteenth time in an hour. “What name have you decided on?”
“Owen,” John said proudly. “Owen McKay Sheppard.” John and Rodney had decided that no one would care if both their sons had the same middle name.
“And if it’s a girl?” Vala asked.
“Um-” John said dumbly.
“You haven’t chosen a name for a girl?” Sam asked, astonished.
“It’s a boy,” Rodney defended.
“Did Carolyn tell you that?” Sam sounded a little smug.
“No,” John replied. “We just have a feeling based on Nath’s behavior.”
“Does this have to do with the conversation Rodney and I had a few months ago?”
“Somewhat,” Rodney returned, “but it’s also based on John’s feeling…” He looked at John’s stunned look and added, “and mine too.”
“So, you’ve been telling us it’s a boy without any actual proof.” Sam said.
“Um- yeah?” John replied.
“Great,” Sam exhaled sharply. “I hope it is a boy then, otherwise, your daughter will be wearing a lot of blue.”
“It’s a boy,” Rodney said confidently.
After a beat of total silence, Daniel stepped forward and said, “Well, what say we get this show on the road?” He handed John a light blue gift bag that had a big yellow baby rattle on the front.
“Okay,” John said and thanked Daniel, “here we go.”
He started pulling out the pale green tissue paper and followed that with a hand carved wooden box. The box wasn’t shined or glossy, but it had been sanded to near perfection, the patterns weaving across the top looked almost like lace.
“I’ve been working with the people of R9S-239, teaching them some trades,” Daniel stated proudly. “Now that they aren’t ruled by Goa’uld or fearing for their lives from the Ori, their civilization, like all the others, has a chance to grow.”
John lifted the hinged lid and the soft notes of Beethoven’s Moonlight Sonata filled the room.
“You taught them how to make music boxes?” Rodney asked.
“Well, when I said I’ve been working with them, I actually meant me and some others.”
“Daniel more than likely taught them how to make moonshine,” Jack said slyly.
Daniel glared and everyone else laughed, although some of them more than likely didn’t get the joke, John got the ‘I’ll explain later’ look from Rodney.
“Well thank you, Daniel, its lovely,” John said.
“Mine now!” Vala said happily as she handed John a long thin box.
“You know, Vala, we still haven’t used the first gift you got us,” Rodney said through a smirk.
“Well, if this baby turns out to be a girl you can use it,” she returned.
“He’s not a girl,” Rodney said firmly.
Alright, alright,” John mediated and tore the yellow paper off the package. He opened the box and lifted a yarn… blanket?
“Oh, Vala…” he said awkwardly.
“I made it myself,” Vala announced.
“I can see that,” John tried to keep a polite tone.
It was a yellow and blue crocheted blanket, but it wasn’t any definable shape, the top was wider than the bottom by several inches and the sides were sort of wavy. It was obvious that some lines were longer than others, and the right corner was higher than the left. John wasn’t sure how someone could screw up straight lines so badly, but he supposed it was a gift from the heart.
“Thank you, Vala,” he said, “its lovely.”
“Are you kidding?” Rodney asked.
“Rodney,” John warned.
“Alright, I guess I’ll get this out of the way,” Jack said and handed John a thick soft package.
John removed the paper and held up a blanket with a cross stitched Stargate on it, but not just any Stargate, a Pegasus ‘gate. The blanket itself was black and there were little stitched specks all over it, meant to be stars. The Stargate had the symbols for dialing Earth from Atlantis stitched in the correct places and in the center of the ‘gate was a stitched event horizon.
“Oh damn,” John whispered and every eye in the room moved from the blanket to Jack.
“What?” Jack said as he looked at each person in turn. “It helps me relax.”
“Jack, this is amazing.” John said as he carefully folded the blanket and sat it on the couch beside him. “I had no idea you could do this.”
“Not many people do actually, I don’t advertise. People would be lining up around the block to have me stitch them something and I just don’t have the time. I’m busy doing- you know- general-y stuff.”
“Well thank you, Jack. It’s an honor that you’d put off your general-y stuff to stitch me a Stargate blanket.” John said.
“It’s not for you, John. It’s for the baby.”
“Oh, right.”
“You may open mine next, Colonel Sheppard,” Teal’c spoke flatly.
“Okay,” John said and took the bag from him. “Whoa, kinda heavy,” he said as the bag thumped onto the coffee table.
“There are several gifts in one package,” Teal’c told him.
John sat the bag on the floor between his feet and began pulling out the gifts. First, he pulled out two sleepers, one was light green with a dark green frogs face on the belly and another on the butt and the other was white with tiny frogs all over it. Next he pulled out a fuzzy yellow blanket, also with frogs on it and attached to that was a smaller blanket that was sewn to a frogs head. Beneath the blanket was a package of diapers, size one. Beneath the diapers was a bib that read: spit happens.
John laughed entirely too hard at the bib, not only because of the play on words, but because it came from Teal’c.
“What about you Teyla?” Rodney asked. “What’d you bring?”
Teyla stepped forward and handed John a small paper bag. “Gift wrap is not readily available in the Pegasus galaxy. I apologize for the dull packaging.”
“It’s not the wrapper that matters,” John said.
“Yeah, Ronon wrapped his in newspaper,” Rodney said then added “again.”
John opened the bag and pulled out a fabric… thing. All he knew for sure was that it was blue and beautiful.
“What’s that?” Rodney asked as he eyed the thing.
“It is an Athosian carry sling. It will allow you to be close to your baby while freeing your arms to go about your duties,” Teyla explained.
“Cool,” John said, “how does it work?”
Teyla took the sling from John and moved over to Rodney. She placed the strap over Rodney head and beneath one arm. That placed the ‘pouch’ at Rodney’s midsection. She then turned toward Jeanie. “May I borrow your son for the sake of explanation?” She asked.
“Of course,” Jeanie said and handed Oscar to Teyla. “Rodney, if you drop him, I’ll drop you,” she warned.
Teyla placed Oscar in the pouch and tightened the strap, she took the two straps that were hanging from the sides of the pouch and tied them around Rodney’s back. Oscar was held snugly against Rodney’s chest.
“Ugh… ugh…” Rodney said disgustedly. “Jeanie, I think he’s hungry.”
“How’s it feel, Rodney?” John asked.
“Very gross.”
“Not that, the sling.”
“Oh.”
Rodney turned toward him; he took a few steps forward then turned and walked back. He bent forward, stood back up and twisted at the waist. “Surprisingly enough, it’s very comfortable, even with the knot in my back.” He made the disgusted noise again. “Well, and except for the fact that I have my nephew sucking on my shirt in a very inappropriate place.” He lifted Oscar out and handed him to Jeanie.
“Jean, if you want to feed him you can use Nathan’s room or the nursery.” John told her. “I won’t open your gift until you get back.”
“Or,” Rodney said in the tone he used when he’s just had a brilliant idea. “We could take a break from the gift opening and take a lesson from Oscar and have a bite ourselves. Of… you know… regular food, because having what he’ll be having would just be-”
“Rodney,” John interrupted firmly, “cool it.”
“Right, sorry.”
Jeanie went upstairs while the rest of the guests went into the dining room.
They all returned to the living room several minutes later with full bellies and one sleeping baby, which Kaleb held while Jeanie held a plate of fruits and veggies.
“Alright, my turn,” Sam said.
John opened the box that he could barely see over when it was sitting on the coffee table. He had to stand up to get the gifts out.
“Isn’t that a little excessive?” Rodney asked.
“Shut up, Rodney,” Sam returned with the ease of several years of friendship.
The first thing John pulled out was a package of newborn diapers, then a three pack of sleepers, one blue, one yellow and one white with a blue collar and cuffs. Then there was a pack of four receiving blankets, a pack of burp cloths, and baby wash cloths. Full size bottles of shampoo, lotion and baby powder. A tube of what was literally called “butt paste”, a blue diaper bag with a dinosaur on the front, and a tiny pair of corduroy overalls.”
“Oh, tell me you didn’t,” Rodney pleaded when John held up the overalls.
“I did,” Sam chuckled.
“Um- Sam, no offence, but our kids don’t do overalls,” John said.
Sam smiled at him. “I know, John, I got them just to see Rodney’s reaction.”
“Okay, good,” John said and returned to the box. There was a smaller box in the bottom of the box.
“I’d like Rodney to open that, John, if you don’t mind,” Sam said.
“Not at all,” John said as he handed the box to Rodney.
“Why? Is something going to pop out of here when I take the lid off? Is it something gross and slimy? Is it going to insult my intelligence?”
“Rodney, none of the above. I just bought them with you in mind. Please, open the box.”
Rodney hesitated a moment longer before taking the lid off the box.
“Oh, that is just…” Rodney didn’t finish, instead he held up a bib and turned it toward John.
The bib read: I love formula and inside a bottle that was lying on its side was the formula ‘a squared plus b squared equals c squared’
“That’s so you,” John said.
Rodney looked at Sam and smiled, “thank you, Sam.”
“Not done yet,” she replied.
Rodney took out a piece of tissue paper and held up a white onsie that read: When I grow up I want to be an evil genius.
John all but cackled at that one.
The next one had what looked like a test tube with blue smoke coming out of it and it read: Future Mad Scientist.
Rodney glared at Sam, but John could tell that Rodney secretly adored the little shirts.
The third was a light blue tee shirt with a rocket on it that read: future rocket scientist.
“Thank you, Sam,” John said and hugged her as tightly as his belly would allow.
“Here,” Ronon said unceremoniously, “Karen helped pick it out. She said every baby needs something like it.”
The newspaper covered a thin rectangular object and when John peeled it away he revealed a large framed picture of Winnie the Pooh and all his friends sitting around a table having cake.
“And this too,” Ronon said and handed John an unwrapped teddy bear. It was light brown and so soft it almost felt like velvet, there was a big red ribbon around its neck and an envelope tied to its paw.
John removed the envelope and pulled out the card.
“Congratulation on your new baby girl-”
“What the…” Rodney growled, “What’s the matter with everyone? This baby is a boy. B-O-Y boy! Just like Nathan! Boy!”
“It’s a gift card for Babies ‘R’ Us,” John said and held up a small plastic card with rubber ducks on it.
They finally made it around to Jeanie.
“Me first,” Maddie said and rushed toward John with a little pink bag clutched in her fist. “I picked it out myself,” she told John as she handed over the bag.
“Well thank you, Maddie,” John replied and opened the little bag. He pulled out a pack of socks, since they were from Maddie, they were pink, purple and yellow, the yellow pair had frills on the top.
Since Kaleb still had his sleeping son and Jeanie was still stuffing broccoli and carrots in her mouth, that left Rodney to drag the heavy packages over to the coffee table.
John opened a baby swing, it was sea creature themed, and the swing moved side to side rather than back and forth. The second of the McKay/Miller packages had a bunch of outfits, all yellow and green, a pack of LUVs diapers, a mobile with dogs hanging from parachutes, and a knitted blanket made with yellow yarn.
“Wow, Jeanie. Thank you,” John said.
“Wait,” Rodney said. “There’s one more and finally, it’s not that heavy.”
John ripped off the yellow paper and found a plastic bag zipped around a crib set.
There were dogs flying airplanes, dogs handling luggage and dogs floating on parachutes.
“No no, we said-”
“Relax, Rodney, John soothed. “Nathan had the numbers as a backup; this one can have aviation as a back up.”
“Oh, okay, that’s fair.”
After the gifts had been opened, Sam insisted they play some baby shower games, which they learned from Jeanie, was out of order. She had said the games were supposed to come before the gifts, to which John replied, “Well, we’re pretty much breaking all the baby shower rules, but then we’ve broken all the pregnancy rules too, so it evens out.”
The guests had to guess how many pink and blue plastic pins were in a baby bottle. There were fifty and Vala won that one, claiming her years as a con-woman had given her a quick eye for estimation. Then they had to guess how many times a piece of streamer would go around John’s middle. Jack guessed an insultingly low number and Vala guessed a flatteringly high number, although John had to admit that she probably didn’t fully understand the game. In the end, Daniel won with five and a half; it was a big piece of streamer after all. Then two of the guests, Sam decided to pick on Teal’c and Ronon for this one, had to drink four ounces of juice out of a baby bottle without taking the nipple off. Teal’c won. Rodney had his camera out, and had snapped pictures from every angle of Ronon and Teal’c sucking juice out of baby bottles. They were going to play guess the due date, but since John was scheduled for cesarean and everyone there knew the date, that game was out.
After the games they served the cake, and after everyone had at least one piece, Ronon had three and Jack had four, there was still half the cake left. Eventually the guests started trickling out the door, passing hugs and handshakes to John and Rodney as they went, congratulating them again on their new bundle of joy. Sam stayed long enough to play with Nathan and help Rodney and Jeanie with the dishes.
Rodney and John offered Jeanie and her family the guest room. Rodney put Nathan to bed, then stacked the heavy gifts in the corner by the fireplace and helped John carry the lighter things to the nursery. At some point in the evening, Jeanie had disappeared through the front door and returned with a couple of bean bag chairs, both black.
“You know, Rodney,” John said as he looked at the freshly painted light blue walls of the nursery, “maybe we should paint the room white, just in case it isn’t a boy.”
“We just painted them blue,” Rodney protested.
“Yes, but what if it is a girl?”
“It’s not.”
“But we don’t know that for sure.”
“You’re the pregnant one, you should know.”
“What? The baby doesn’t talk to me, Rodney.”
“No, but you should have a feeling or something.”
“This is my first pregnancy; I wouldn’t know the feeling even if I did have it.”
“So, you want me to go out, buy primer to cover the blue paint that we just covered over that hideous lavender, and white paint to cover the primer?”
“I do.”
“And that will make you happy?”
“It will.”
“And what if it is a boy?”
“Boy’s can have white rooms too.”
Rodney sighed and pulled John to him. “Okay, John. If you want the room white, I’ll go out tomorrow and buy white paint.”
John smiled at him. “Thank you.”
Rodney kissed him sweetly. “You’re welcome.”
“We should also think of a name.”
Rodney smiled and gently shook his head before kissing John deeply.
~*~
“April,” John said as he and Rodney lay in bed. They were both on their backs, John’s head on Rodney’s shoulder, Rodney’s hand kneading John’s shoulder.
“No,” Rodney said firmly, “I hate month names. How about Rebecca?”
“We’re not naming our baby, whether it’s a girl or a boy, after either of our ex’s,” John said.
“Okay, fair enough, but with you, that cuts out half the good names for both sexes.”
“Uh, I haven’t had that many ex’s, Rodney.”
“Sure.”
“Okay, what about Jessica?”
“Nathan and Jessica? We have to think of them as a set, you know. The girl name has to sound as good following Nathan as Owen does. These are our sons, Nathan and Owen. See, that just rolls off your tongue. These are our children, Nathan and Jessica. Too much work.”
John chuckled, “Okay, you suggest something that sounds good with Nathan.”
“Okay, um- Silvia?”
John wrinkled his nose.
“Okay, guess not.”
“Madelyn, Marion, Marley, Mary, Mars-”
“Mars? That’s a planet or a… a dog’s name. If we get a dog we’ll name it Mars but we aren’t naming a kid that.”
“I know, it just kind of slipped out.”
Two hours later when John started falling asleep, they still weren’t any closer to choosing a name for a girl.
“Girl names are harder to choose than boy names,” Rodney said and John grunted sleepily.
“Of course we could always go with Meredith.”
John opened his eyes and looked at Rodney. “I thought you hated that name.”
“For me… for a boy.”
“We’ll add it to the maybe list,” John said and closed his eyes again.
Rodney reached over to the night stand and pulled out the familiar legal pad and wrote Meredith in the maybe column.
TBC…