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"There's a baby in my office."
Addison looked up to see a half-bemused, half-confused expression on the face of newly returned Chief of Medicine, Jennifer Keller. She put down her pen and stood up. "Hey, Jenn," she said brightly, "welcome back."
Jennifer blinked, then repeated, "There's a baby. In my office."
Addison winced. "Yeah, about that-"
"We don't do babies in Atlantis," Jennifer cut her off. "We do chaos and mayhem. Not babies."
It was Addison's turn to blink in surprise. "Babies have been known to cause chaos and mayhem," she pointed out, patting her superior comfortingly on her shoulder. "And it's only temporary."
"Doesn't explain why there's a baby in my office." Already there were stress lines creasing the chief of medicine's brow and Addison had been specifically told not to stress her out any more than she needed to be. Having covered Jennifer's role while she'd been back on Earth, Addison understood exactly how she must have been feeling, stepping back into the role.
Launching into the story of how baby Ella - named by Dr. Cole, Major Lorne, and herself - Addison filled Jennifer in on exactly what was going on. Her parents had been picked up by a Wraith dart when their village was attacked. Lorne's team, who'd been on the planet negotiating a trading agreement, had evacuated as many survivors as possible, including the baby girl. That had been four days ago, and Samantha Carter and Teyla were trying to find surrogate parents for the orphaned child. "We're just waiting a few more days to make sure she's as healthy as her test results claim and then she'll live with the Athosians," she finished up.
Sympathy had crept into Jennifer's face as she accepted the story. "And you chose my room for a nursery?"
All Addison could do was shrug. "No one was using your office," she said simply. "We thought it was a better room to use, because she was near the infirmary, but she wouldn't be disturbed. She's been sleeping a lot of the time. I'll have one of the nurses move the cot into here so you can settle back in."
She offered Jennifer another smile. "It really is good to see you back here."
* * * * *
"How's it feel to play mom for a while?"
It was lunchtime in the mess, and Kate Heightmeyer and Laura Cadman were seated opposite Addison and Major Lorne, with the day's lunch special in front of all of them. Laura had asked the question, directed to Addison after swallowing a mouthful of meatloaf.
"Firstly," Addison replied, poking the air with her fork for emphasis, "it would be mum. And secondly, I'm not playing mum."
Kate smiled, and it was a teasing smile that only a friend would use. "Is that why you've hidden her away?"
"You hid her away?" Lorne asked, turning to look at her sideways.
Addison shook her head. "She's in the infirmary. We moved her into my office just before lunchtime, so that Jenn has space to settle back in."
Lorne looked over at Kate. "She was always in the infirmary."
Fork still poking the air, this time at Lorne, Addison added, "If you want to call anyone a parent, I'd start looking at him. He's spent more time with Ella than I have."
Laura smirked, and glanced at Kate. "Aren't mom and dad cute?" she teased.
Kate choked on her meatloaf, while Lorne smirked in amusement. Addison just smiled blandly and corrected, "Mum."
One day she would discover what it was, exactly, that the Americans had against the letter, 'u.'
* * * * *
The 'mum and dad' jokes had continued throughout the remainder of their lunch break, with Laura and Kate dragging Teyla and Ronon into it - even if the two Pegasus natives were passive observers to the good-natured jokes.
It hadn't helped that Lorne had offered to walk Addison back to the infirmary when they dispersed. All their gently teasings had, unfortunately a basis in fact: she had been spending an awful lot of time with the Major over the last week. They both had a mutual interest in the welfare of the orphaned child, and had fallen into a comfortable friendship.
"So, I was thinking," he started, and she groaned. She couldn't help it. That phrase was one of the few that elicited such a response. It was perhaps, the most common pick-up line that people tried to use on her.
She apologised straight away, only to receive a laugh in response.
"Maybe I'll save my thoughts for later then?"
"I said I was sorry," she told him. "What were you thinking?" He shook his head and she poked his arm. "Come on, tell me."
He opened his mouth to reply, but never got the chance. Colonel Samantha Carter, recently appointed Head of the Atlantis expedition walked up behind them.
Sam looked like she hadn't had much sleep recently, and the doctor in Addison made a mental note to speak to her about it later. "Addison, you're just the woman I was looking for."
Addison turned to Lorne and grinned. "Oh, isn't that sweet. It's always nice to be wanted." She turned back to Sam and smiled again. "What can I do for you, Colonel?"
"I just thought you should know that all the arrangements for Ella have been made," Sam told them both. "Teyla found an Athosian family who are willing to take her in."
Lorne nodded his head. "She mentioned that at lunch."
Sam nodded her head, "I thought she might have. We're just waiting for Addison to give Ella a clean bill of health and we're all set." Then, changing the subject, she added, "Dr. Keller arrived back here early-"
"I know," Addison replied, cutting her off. "I saw her this morning. I think she said she was going to catch up on everything she's missed out on while she was back home. I also told her if I caught her in the infirmary after two o'clock this afternoon I'd drag her out so she doesn't just jump into the deep end." She took a deep breath. "As for Ella... tomorrow afternoon at the earliest."
"Good." Sam gave another short nod of her head. "Okay then. Keep me posted."
"Of course," Addison replied, nodding her head. Sam was already moving in the opposite direction, calling out for one of the gateroom's technicians. They resumed walking, and Addison spoke first. "What were you going to say before?"
Lorne didn't meet her gaze. "I was going to ask if you would join me for dinner tomorrow night." She didn't respond immediately, and the silence seemed to stretch out in the space between them, before he added, "Unless you've already got plans. I know everyone eagerly plans out what they do on Sundays, so if you're busy just-"
Between the shock at being asked in such an upfront manner, and sympathy for Lorne because she hadn't answered straight away and left him to feel... well, embarrassed, she interrupted him. "I'd love to."
He stopped speaking and a look of relief crossed his face. "Really? Uh, great. Good."
She smiled, amused at the butterflies that had woken up in the bottom of her stomach. "Sounds good to me."
He rubbed the back of his head with one hand. "I'll, uh, have to get back to you on the details later on," he admitted.
"You know where to find me."