Title: VI. Posterum (Future)
Author:![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif)
miriel
Series: Impossible Things - Set October-December, 2011 in the Memoirs Universe
Previous Installments: I. Tempus Fugit II. Cogito III. Videmur IV. Fidelis V. Tres V.2 Married Life
Pairing:Lorne/Novak
Rating: PG
Author's Note: OMG It's done. This is the last installment in a set of glipses into Lorne & Novak's evolving relationship over the course of a year - December, 2010 to December, 2011. It coincides with Blurred. I feel the need to mention thatmklutz came up with the diagnosis of "Space Mono" first. Standard Memoirs Caveats apply.
Summary: Out of sight, out of mind is a wonderful theory. It’s also an affliction that most of the population of Atlantis suffers under regarding anything short of a space-travel capable enemy.
Major Nick Lorne knew something was up when he walked into his quarters and found Lindsey preparing a pot of tea. He tossed his jacket onto the couch and came up behind her, pressing a kiss to the side of her neck. The silence attested to Tom’s current state of unconsciousness, so this was their time. “Everything all right?”
“Mm-hmm.” She shrugged him off, and he frowned as she went about her preparations.
Nick moved and took one of the seats at the table by the window. “You want to talk about it?”
“In a minute.” She finished with the tea, and set it in front of him, returning to gather mugs before sitting across from him. She poured the tea, concentrating intently on the actions, and his concern increased. When she passed him a mug, he caught her hand before she could withdraw and she finally met his eyes. “I, uh… I think we should talk.”
Nick nodded slowly. “Okay…” He waited, because he had absolutely no clue what this was about (And he had a slightly higher self-preservation instinct than Colonel Sheppard).
Lindsey took a sip of her tea, obviously marshalling her thoughts. When she finally spoke, the words came out in a rush, and were directed into her mug. “What do you think about kids?”
He blinked; that was definitely not what he had been expecting. “Um, is this rhetorical?” She shook her head, and he revised his original answer. “I have one, Lindsey. I certainly don’t mind them. What is this about?”
She sighed and visibly relaxed. “One of Tom’s new friends has a younger brother, and he asked about it today. It got me thinking, about a lot of things. You don’t talk about your past; although no one here really does, I guess. Did you have siblings?”
Nick stared morosely into his mug; he took a long sip before answering. “Yeah.” As the silence stretched, he realized that she was waiting for him to continue. He cleared his throat. “Two. Sam, my brother, is five years older; Kim, my sister, is another four years younger. I haven’t seen them since I went to the Academy, except for the funerals.”
“Your parents, right?”
“Yeah.”
“I, uh, have an older sister Jane. I’ve mentioned her before. We’re not exactly close, but you know…” Lindsey shrugged. “She’s family.”
“Right. Not that I mind the sharing, exactly, because I’m all for painful family histories. But does this actually have anything to do with what you needed to talk about?” Lindsey worked best when you got straight to the point, and they both knew it at this point. Otherwise she tended to ramble, and he was tired.
“Oh. Um, siblings. Generally a good thing. I was talking to Kate, and she said that any more than six years between kids and they don’t develop like siblings, more like 2 only children. So I was wondering what you thought about maybe having another child.”
Nick choked on his tea.
“I know; it’s not really a good time what with the break from Earth, and we’ve only been married a few months. But I thought we should talk about it while it’s still an option for Tom, you know? I, uh, understand if you don’t think it’s a good idea.” She was blushing, and had that acutely embarrassed look on her face that was simultaneously cute and painful to see. Any minute, he expected her to start hiccupping. He tried desperately to pull his brain out of the dead stop he’d hit somewhere around ‘another child’.
“Um… Wait. Wait.” Okay. That wasn’t quite coherent, but it was something. He took a deep breath and tried again. “This is, um –“ He was saved from a potentially disastrous off-the-cuff and divorce-inducing response by Tom wandering in from his bedroom.
“Daddy?”
* * *
When she brought the topic up again the next week, he gave her a rather well-reasoned yes and promptly forgot all about it.
After all, she’d been making noises about six year gaps. Tom was all of three; six years was a long way off.
* * *
Out of sight, out of mind is a wonderful theory. It’s also an affliction that most of the population of Atlantis suffers regarding anything short of a space-travel capable enemy. Nick Lorne wasn’t immune, especially when the city kept trying to blow itself up (So, possibly the city had help on attempts 1, 3, 4, and 6. Attempts 2 and 5 were totally a screwball AI in cahoots with the physics department).
There were weeks where Nick and Lindsey barely even saw each other in passing, never mind anything more interesting. They managed to wrangle two days of leave at the end of October (It involved begging, pleading, and some serious favors cashed in with Teyla to secure Athosian baby-sitting for the duration); after Tom was settled on the mainland they locked the doors, turned off their radios, and didn’t leave their quarters for two days. It was the closest they’d managed to come to a honeymoon in three months of marriage.
Then Sheppard and McKay decanted their daughter, and Nick found himself on-call for four weeks solid. He could sympathize, his life had certainly changed when Tom had been born, but by the time day 22 rolled around he was about ready to move to the mainland. Lindsey wasn’t helping, either. She’d managed to come down with what she jokingly called Space Mono, but refused to bother the infirmary staff. She wasn’t missing her shifts, but she was spending all of her down-time sleeping. Of course, Nick couldn’t exactly complain – Whenever he managed to make it back to their rooms he was doing the same thing.
When he came home one evening and found her being violently ill, he decided that it had gone on long enough. He dropped an anxious Tom off at the drop-in, and dragged a grumbling Lindsey down to the infirmary. Either this was cafeteria food-poisoning (It wasn’t at all inconceivable; they’d had six marines down with a bad reaction to the new grain they’d started using a week ago), or it was another symptom from whatever was wiping her out. Either way, he wasn’t letting it stew. Not reporting mostly-harmless symptoms had cost him David; he wasn’t going to risk losing Lindsey too.
* * *
Three hours, two blood tests, and one stern lecture on dietary considerations later, Nick and Lindsey were back in their quarters. Nick was beginning to wonder if there was some kind of memo he’d missed back in his first year in the city Six Simple Ways To See Fatherhood Coming. He was sure Sheppard never had this problem (Although it was very possible Sheppard was currently cursing his very conscious decision to pro-create. Or at least to pro-create with McKay).
They eventually ended up on the couch, Lindsey’s head in his lap while he ran his fingers through her hair and tried to make sense of this new revelation. He had vague memories of agreeing that another child might not be a bad thing, but he was relatively certain they hadn’t talked about timeframes. At all.
“I didn’t think it would happen this quickly.” Lindsey’s voice was so soft, he wasn’t sure he’d actually heard her until she shifted to look up at him.
“What?”
She shrugged the shoulder not currently resting against his thigh. “The, um, the baby.” He blinked down at her. “I thought it would take a year or two, that’s why I didn’t mention going off the patch. Although I, um, assumed you’d noticed.”
He leaned back, propping his feet up on the coffee table. “Not so much, no. I had other things on my mind that ‘weekend’.”
She smiled in memory. “Mmm. Yeah, I guess you did.” Her expression grew serious again. “Jane, my sister, she got married right after her bachelor’s; and decided she wanted kids after the masters. It was four years before my niece was born; I kind of assumed it would be like that for me, too.”
He let his hand slip down to rest over hers, cradling their as of yet unseen child. “We’re in Atlantis, right? City of Myth and Legend. Anything can happen here.”
“Hmm.” She nodded, closing her eyes and wriggling around until she was comfortable.
“Lindsey.” She opened her eyes inquisitively, and he paused before continuing. “I, uh, I am happy about this. It’s just a surprise, you know? Just give me a little time.”
“Mmm-kay.” She closed her eyes again, and was asleep in moments.
While she slept, Nick pondered the changes in his life over the past year. They had lost Earth, lost men and women both in the city and in the field,; fully half of their trading partners had threatened to pull out of their agreed upon treaties. For all that, Nick couldn’t imagine thing any differently. There was something to be said for living in a city filled with impossible dreams.
~ Finis ~
This Concludes the Impossible Things Series.
Author:
mirielSeries: Impossible Things - Set October-December, 2011 in the Memoirs Universe
Previous Installments: I. Tempus Fugit II. Cogito III. Videmur IV. Fidelis V. Tres V.2 Married Life
Pairing:Lorne/Novak
Rating: PG
Author's Note: OMG It's done. This is the last installment in a set of glipses into Lorne & Novak's evolving relationship over the course of a year - December, 2010 to December, 2011. It coincides with Blurred. I feel the need to mention that
mklutz came up with the diagnosis of "Space Mono" first. Standard Memoirs Caveats apply.Summary: Out of sight, out of mind is a wonderful theory. It’s also an affliction that most of the population of Atlantis suffers under regarding anything short of a space-travel capable enemy.
Major Nick Lorne knew something was up when he walked into his quarters and found Lindsey preparing a pot of tea. He tossed his jacket onto the couch and came up behind her, pressing a kiss to the side of her neck. The silence attested to Tom’s current state of unconsciousness, so this was their time. “Everything all right?”
“Mm-hmm.” She shrugged him off, and he frowned as she went about her preparations.
Nick moved and took one of the seats at the table by the window. “You want to talk about it?”
“In a minute.” She finished with the tea, and set it in front of him, returning to gather mugs before sitting across from him. She poured the tea, concentrating intently on the actions, and his concern increased. When she passed him a mug, he caught her hand before she could withdraw and she finally met his eyes. “I, uh… I think we should talk.”
Nick nodded slowly. “Okay…” He waited, because he had absolutely no clue what this was about (And he had a slightly higher self-preservation instinct than Colonel Sheppard).
Lindsey took a sip of her tea, obviously marshalling her thoughts. When she finally spoke, the words came out in a rush, and were directed into her mug. “What do you think about kids?”
He blinked; that was definitely not what he had been expecting. “Um, is this rhetorical?” She shook her head, and he revised his original answer. “I have one, Lindsey. I certainly don’t mind them. What is this about?”
She sighed and visibly relaxed. “One of Tom’s new friends has a younger brother, and he asked about it today. It got me thinking, about a lot of things. You don’t talk about your past; although no one here really does, I guess. Did you have siblings?”
Nick stared morosely into his mug; he took a long sip before answering. “Yeah.” As the silence stretched, he realized that she was waiting for him to continue. He cleared his throat. “Two. Sam, my brother, is five years older; Kim, my sister, is another four years younger. I haven’t seen them since I went to the Academy, except for the funerals.”
“Your parents, right?”
“Yeah.”
“I, uh, have an older sister Jane. I’ve mentioned her before. We’re not exactly close, but you know…” Lindsey shrugged. “She’s family.”
“Right. Not that I mind the sharing, exactly, because I’m all for painful family histories. But does this actually have anything to do with what you needed to talk about?” Lindsey worked best when you got straight to the point, and they both knew it at this point. Otherwise she tended to ramble, and he was tired.
“Oh. Um, siblings. Generally a good thing. I was talking to Kate, and she said that any more than six years between kids and they don’t develop like siblings, more like 2 only children. So I was wondering what you thought about maybe having another child.”
Nick choked on his tea.
“I know; it’s not really a good time what with the break from Earth, and we’ve only been married a few months. But I thought we should talk about it while it’s still an option for Tom, you know? I, uh, understand if you don’t think it’s a good idea.” She was blushing, and had that acutely embarrassed look on her face that was simultaneously cute and painful to see. Any minute, he expected her to start hiccupping. He tried desperately to pull his brain out of the dead stop he’d hit somewhere around ‘another child’.
“Um… Wait. Wait.” Okay. That wasn’t quite coherent, but it was something. He took a deep breath and tried again. “This is, um –“ He was saved from a potentially disastrous off-the-cuff and divorce-inducing response by Tom wandering in from his bedroom.
“Daddy?”
* * *
When she brought the topic up again the next week, he gave her a rather well-reasoned yes and promptly forgot all about it.
After all, she’d been making noises about six year gaps. Tom was all of three; six years was a long way off.
* * *
Out of sight, out of mind is a wonderful theory. It’s also an affliction that most of the population of Atlantis suffers regarding anything short of a space-travel capable enemy. Nick Lorne wasn’t immune, especially when the city kept trying to blow itself up (So, possibly the city had help on attempts 1, 3, 4, and 6. Attempts 2 and 5 were totally a screwball AI in cahoots with the physics department).
There were weeks where Nick and Lindsey barely even saw each other in passing, never mind anything more interesting. They managed to wrangle two days of leave at the end of October (It involved begging, pleading, and some serious favors cashed in with Teyla to secure Athosian baby-sitting for the duration); after Tom was settled on the mainland they locked the doors, turned off their radios, and didn’t leave their quarters for two days. It was the closest they’d managed to come to a honeymoon in three months of marriage.
Then Sheppard and McKay decanted their daughter, and Nick found himself on-call for four weeks solid. He could sympathize, his life had certainly changed when Tom had been born, but by the time day 22 rolled around he was about ready to move to the mainland. Lindsey wasn’t helping, either. She’d managed to come down with what she jokingly called Space Mono, but refused to bother the infirmary staff. She wasn’t missing her shifts, but she was spending all of her down-time sleeping. Of course, Nick couldn’t exactly complain – Whenever he managed to make it back to their rooms he was doing the same thing.
When he came home one evening and found her being violently ill, he decided that it had gone on long enough. He dropped an anxious Tom off at the drop-in, and dragged a grumbling Lindsey down to the infirmary. Either this was cafeteria food-poisoning (It wasn’t at all inconceivable; they’d had six marines down with a bad reaction to the new grain they’d started using a week ago), or it was another symptom from whatever was wiping her out. Either way, he wasn’t letting it stew. Not reporting mostly-harmless symptoms had cost him David; he wasn’t going to risk losing Lindsey too.
* * *
Three hours, two blood tests, and one stern lecture on dietary considerations later, Nick and Lindsey were back in their quarters. Nick was beginning to wonder if there was some kind of memo he’d missed back in his first year in the city Six Simple Ways To See Fatherhood Coming. He was sure Sheppard never had this problem (Although it was very possible Sheppard was currently cursing his very conscious decision to pro-create. Or at least to pro-create with McKay).
They eventually ended up on the couch, Lindsey’s head in his lap while he ran his fingers through her hair and tried to make sense of this new revelation. He had vague memories of agreeing that another child might not be a bad thing, but he was relatively certain they hadn’t talked about timeframes. At all.
“I didn’t think it would happen this quickly.” Lindsey’s voice was so soft, he wasn’t sure he’d actually heard her until she shifted to look up at him.
“What?”
She shrugged the shoulder not currently resting against his thigh. “The, um, the baby.” He blinked down at her. “I thought it would take a year or two, that’s why I didn’t mention going off the patch. Although I, um, assumed you’d noticed.”
He leaned back, propping his feet up on the coffee table. “Not so much, no. I had other things on my mind that ‘weekend’.”
She smiled in memory. “Mmm. Yeah, I guess you did.” Her expression grew serious again. “Jane, my sister, she got married right after her bachelor’s; and decided she wanted kids after the masters. It was four years before my niece was born; I kind of assumed it would be like that for me, too.”
He let his hand slip down to rest over hers, cradling their as of yet unseen child. “We’re in Atlantis, right? City of Myth and Legend. Anything can happen here.”
“Hmm.” She nodded, closing her eyes and wriggling around until she was comfortable.
“Lindsey.” She opened her eyes inquisitively, and he paused before continuing. “I, uh, I am happy about this. It’s just a surprise, you know? Just give me a little time.”
“Mmm-kay.” She closed her eyes again, and was asleep in moments.
While she slept, Nick pondered the changes in his life over the past year. They had lost Earth, lost men and women both in the city and in the field,; fully half of their trading partners had threatened to pull out of their agreed upon treaties. For all that, Nick couldn’t imagine thing any differently. There was something to be said for living in a city filled with impossible dreams.
~ Finis ~
This Concludes the Impossible Things Series.
Almost, but not quite: 
accomplished
accomplished30 have journeyed | Venture Forth