The Fertility Fields

by Bethany

URL: http://www.stargateslash.com/asb/bethany6/fertilit.php
Summary: John and Rodney are discreetly a couple, but then Rodney's supplies run out after a Mission is prolonged

"Come on, Rodney..!" John said, cradling Rodney's prone body on his knees, and crumbling up some of the sugar plant they'd scanned earlier. He was on the edge of the field now, with Rodney's barely conscious form resting across his knees. He held Rodney up at an angle he hoped the sugar wouldn't choke him, "Please, take some of this, so that I can get you back home..!" He wiped Rodney's sweat slicked face with his palms, quelling his own panic as much as he possibly could. The pink sky of this planet left a rosy glint on everything but Rodney's pale face. "I've got to get you home somehow; let's hope you did a good job of fixing the puddle jumper, eh?? What am I saying?" He asked Rodney. "I bet you did!"

***

"John, listen to me..." Dr Beckett instructed him. "He'll be fine now, John, I promise ye..."

"Are you sure?" John asked.

"I wouldn't say it, if I weren't..." Carson smiled gently.

"But I had to feed him that stuff... We don't know , do we? It was alien!" John paced a little, his hands on his hips.

"Yes, you had to feed him the sugar product from that field, but it worked, John!" Carson stated. "It's not your fault, or Rodney's that you got stuck on that planet; or that your supplies ran out..." Carson put his hand on John's shoulder. "You did your best!"

"Can I go see him yet?" John queried.

"He's still asleep, but yeah..." Carson assured John.

"The sweat, that film on his skin?" John asked, as he turned to enter the Infirmary.

"It's gone..." Carson assured John again.

****

"What are the candles in aid of, John..?" Rodney asked.

"To welcome you home from the Infirmary..." John said, as he sat with his lover on the sofa, in his lover's quarters.

"You want something from me, don't you..?" Rodney smirked.

"You're only just out of the hospital, Rodney... I just wanted to give you a warm welcome home, I swear..."

"I know..." Rodney stroked John's bicep through his black v-neck. "We'll see how things go, shall we?"

"I don't want sex, Rodney, I promise..." John said genuinely.

"Not even if I want to give it to you, or take it from you..?!" Rodney's eyes reflected the gloriously warm candle-light.

"We'll see how things go, shall we?" John echoed what Rodney had said. "I don't want to be the reason you get sent back to the Infirmary, not ever again..."

"Hey, you saved my life, you idiot!" Rodney chastised John affectionately.

"So, that offer, are you sure that's not just gratitude speaking..?" John stroked the back of Rodney's hand, which rested on the back of the sofa.

"Absolutely sure..!" Rodney promised, leaning forward and kissing John's lips.

****

"Hang on a minute!" Rodney panicked. "It can only be traced back to that damned mission? What I ingested??"

"To save your life, Rodney, yes..." Carson said.

"But how can what I gave him change his body that much??" John pondered out loud.

"From the samples brought back by the teams in hazmat suits a few days ago, we're hypothesising that the plants are like some kind of fertility aid..." Carson explained.

"But I'm a man!!" Rodney shouted.

"It rejuvenates, we believe, or facilitates by adding..." Carson stated.

"Oh, great! So now, I'm a woman!!" Rodney yelled.

"No. You're not, Rodney!" Carson said.

"How do you know that!??" Rodney asked.

Carson pointed Rodney to look over at the mirror. "Look at yeself, Rodney!"

"How do you know the transformation ends here??" Rodney continued to question.

"The plant has an active lifespan... It's done its job." Carson stated.

"What will its death-throws do to me, for Heaven's sake..?" Rodney worried.

"Rodney, it's gone..." Carson told him calmly.

"Yeah, but not before it made it possible for this guy..." Rodney pointed to John. "To make me..." Rodney paused again, heaving a moment...

Carson kept an eye on Rodney instantly, deciding Rodney wasn't actually going to be ill right now.

"... To make me pregnant..." Rodney whispered.

***

"Rodney, don't worry about me..." John said, looking back to Rodney who sat on the sofa.

"I still can't believe you did this to me! Twice!" Rodney's voice cracked.

"I'm sorry, Rodney... But I didn't know! How could I? You were dying – I gave you the sugar you needed because I love you... I made love to you because I love you!" John insisted on the truth.

"I know! I know!" Rodney replied. "But your Air Force isn't going to be very happy with you, or with me..! And, what happens if the baby's an alien freak!??" Rodney paused. "What if all the other Air Men on this Base won't take orders from you anymore... What if we both get shipped home, or I don't get any say in what happens to me, or the baby..? This is a disaster, John!!"

"You don't have to go through it, if you don't want to..." John sat beside Rodney, hoping Rodney wouldn't move away.

"I know I don't! I was never meant to! I've been redesigned by unknown forces and chance!!" Rodney turned to John. "I'm a lot of things, John, but I don't ever want to be a killer!"

"You want the baby then?" John asked calmly.

"God knows!" Rodney looked to the ceiling, tears in his eyes. "Why wasn't there anyone on that planet? God! It could be like a scene from Alien when I have this baby!!"

John braved carefully pulling Rodney into his embrace. "It won't be, Rodney! I'll make sure of it!"

Rodney laughed. "What, you mean like you've made sure of everything else??"

John pulled back a minute. "I didn't do it on purpose!"

"I'm sorry... Really!" Rodney pulled John back. "Is Carson not telling me something about this transformation!?"

"What do you mean?" John asked as he hugged Rodney, concerned.

"Why else am I crying like a girl!!?" Rodney queried.

"So am I!" John said, "And I wasn't infected – This is just damn big news, Rodney!!"

"What do I tell my sister, for Chrissake?" Rodney fretted. "My sister's opinion of me may be low, but I don't think the beer belly explanation will work; I really don't..! I'll have to give up the vid-letters! She's bound to wonder why!"

"Your sister does NOT think lowly of you, Rodney!" John put his forefinger gently to Rodney's lips, as Rodney was about to say something more... "And she never will; even if she learns about me and you, and the arrival of the baby..."

"I'm crap being around kids!" Rodney stated. "What am I thinking..!?" He laughed. "I can't even ask my sister for advice, unless I do suddenly turn into a woman, that is!"

John cuddled Rodney to him. "We'll work it out! We're a Galaxy or ten away from the Air Force or anyone else, and from Carson's calculations, we have time to work this out!"

"What if they do separate us!?" Rodney looked panic-stricken.

"We won't let them..." John wiped away a tear of Rodney's softly. "And, Rodney, I assure you, don't ask, don't tell is more common amongst the ranks than you think... I think most of them will just let us be, all of them, hopefully. You won't be alone. Between us, Carson and I will make sure you get all the support you need..."

***

Rodney looked down at the baby girl in his arms, all these months after the sugar like plant that had saved his life, made it possible for John to make him pregnant. He laughed gently.

"What's that about?" John asked quietly, his eyes glistening with tears of happiness.

"She's got your hair!" Rodney replied.

"Dark and smooth, nothing wrong with that!" John answered.

"Smooth?" Rodney smiled down at his daughter. "I think you'll find it's spiky!" He touched his baby's mop of hair gently.

"What will we name her?" John pondered, as he felt the baby's little fingers curl around one of his own fingers.

Rodney looked to John, looking away from the baby for half a second. "Do you think she and Carson will forgive us if we name her Karsen..?" Rodney asked. "We'd have to find a girly way of spelling it..!" Rodney's throat tightened with uncried tears.

"What's to forgive??" John wondered.

"Well, I should know better; maybe, I really was meant to be a woman! – My real name being what it is, after all..!" Rodney stated.

"Perhaps, Meredith, perhaps..." John grinned.

"I'd slap you if I didn't have our baby in my arms right now..!" Rodney playfully warned.

"I knew she'd come to my rescue!" John smiled down at his baby girl in Rodney's arms. John looked up into Rodney's eyes. "I think Carson would be honoured, and so will she be," John looked down at the baby again, "when she hears about the great man, and great friend, who would have been at her birth if only he could have been..."

"It's my fault he died!" Rodney let a tear slide down his face. "And not just him... If I hadn't been so insistent on taking the weight off my feet, and handing my work over to youngsters who weren't qualified, they wouldn't have died, and neither would Carson have, or any of the other casualties!"

"It's not your fault, Rodney, please, believe me..." John replied. "Our little girl, Karsen, is in the world now, and she'd tell you the same thing... None of this was your fault. It wasn't anyone's. It was just one of those things... Carson would tell you so, too, and he would also be sure to tell you, you have to give yourself a break, regain your strength..." John informed Rodney, thinking of the op Rodney had just been through to give birth to their baby, as well as thinking back to that awful day of Carson's funeral, when John had held Rodney up all day long...

"I hope to God we did right bringing her into such a bloody, cruel universe, John..." Rodney pondered.

"We'll look after her..." John smiled down at the baby with his hair, and Rodney's blue eyes. "Our daughter, Karsen Meredith..."

"Oh, great!" Rodney exclaimed. "Now, she truly will be ever more confused!"

"You don't like the name?" John asked.

"I didn't say that..." Rodney smiled down at baby Karsen. "As we both know, Meredith is a girl's name, and it really suits her... If my parents couldn't give the name to a baby of the correct gender, we will..!" He laughed quietly.

"Welcome to Atlantis, Karsen Meredith..!" John carefully held his baby's hands.

"McKay-Sheppard..!" Rodney interjected, grinning up at his lover.

The End

Author's Note: I make no money, and mean to step on no one's toes at all,by writing my stories... Feedback welcome as long as it is always polite.