John paused for the slightest moment in the act of breading chicken tenders. Rodney and the kids were with him in the big kitchen, sitting at the banquette and making plans for the summer. This somehow involved a spreadsheet, a digital calendar, and the big white board calendar mounted on the wall.
The fate of Mrs. McKay was still a mystery to John.
“You’ve heard that story a hundred times,” Rodney said dismissively. “Swimming or gymnastics this year?”
“Swimming,” Eleanor replied promptly. “Please?”
Rodney sighed. “Fine. Jaxon, where’s the schedule Mr. Chao gave you?”
“I’ll get it after the story,” Jaxon replied.
“I met your mother in the hospital,” Rodney said. “After I got in that fender-bender with the idiot who couldn’t tell green from red on a stoplight.”
John bit back a grin, lining up the breaded chicken on a cookie sheet. As soon as the oven preheated, he’d slip them in. Cooking wasn’t technically part of his job, but he liked to pitch in. He didn’t have a huge culinary repertoire, but chicken tenders were pretty simple.
“You hurted your neck?” Eleanor asked.
“Whiplash, it’s called. It was very painful.” Rodney rubbed the back of his neck like he was still feeling the phantom pain of it. “Your mom was working in the emergency room that day, but only because someone else had called in sick. She wasn’t supposed to be there.”
“Mommy was a doctor like you.”
“I’m well aware of that, thank you. If you know the story so well, why am I telling it?”
Eleanor didn’t need any more encouragement than that.
“Mommy was the prettiest woman you ever saw and you had nerves, but you asked her to eat dinner.”
Jaxon took up the story. “You had dinner, but the restaurant made a mistake and you got sick and Mommy had to take you back to the hospital. Even though you got suited up and everything.”
“Suited up?” John couldn’t help asking.
“I had one decent suit,” Rodney explained. “And I ruined it by laying on that dirty restaurant floor. I sued their asses off, after.”
John could well imagine that. One of the first things he’d learned when he became the nanny was Rodney’s allergy to citrus. Not that there weren’t reminders tacked up all over the kitchen.
“Mommy took care of you,” Eleanor said dreamily. “Like a doctor princess. And when you were all better, you gotted married.”
“We did have a few more dates first,” Rodney said.
John tried to picture Rodney in a suit. He probably looked amazing. Something tailored to enhance those broad shoulders.
“That’s how I met your mother. Now go get washed up for dinner.”
The kids scattered and Rodney got up to join John at the kitchen counter.
“Very meet-cute,” John said.
It was weird, hearing that story. Thinking about Rodney so instantly smitten that he asked Mrs. McKay out on a date the moment they met. If he was being honest, John might’ve said he was a little bit jealous.
Rodney snorted. “Yes, very romantic to go into anaphylactic shock on the first date. It’s a wonder she didn’t run screaming.”
“Lucky guy.”
“It wasn’t the world-ending romance the kids like to think it is. Jennifer was a difficult woman to be married to. She had a lot of ambition, and a lot of expectations.”
“So what happened?”
Rodney shrugged. “We were talking about getting divorced when she got sick. It happened so fast. Cancer. Six months after she got diagnosed, she was gone.”
“I’m sorry,” John said.
It must’ve been hard, suddenly being a single dad. The kids must’ve been devastated to lose their mother. And Rodney must’ve been at the end of his rope when he mistook John for a nanny from the agency and put him to work without knowing a single thing about him.
“You ever been married?” Rodney asked.
John nodded. “Long time ago. Didn’t work out.”
The kids came running back in, hands still damp. Jaxon gave Rodney the judo schedule from Mr. Chao, and Rodney put him and Eleanor to work setting the table.
Indulging in a momentary flight of fancy, John wondered if Rodney would suit up if he ever went out on a date with John.
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Fill: Stargate Atlantis, John Sheppard + Rodney McKay + OC kids (Nanny 'verse)
Date: 2020-08-03 05:30 pm (UTC)John paused for the slightest moment in the act of breading chicken tenders. Rodney and the kids were with him in the big kitchen, sitting at the banquette and making plans for the summer. This somehow involved a spreadsheet, a digital calendar, and the big white board calendar mounted on the wall.
The fate of Mrs. McKay was still a mystery to John.
“You’ve heard that story a hundred times,” Rodney said dismissively. “Swimming or gymnastics this year?”
“Swimming,” Eleanor replied promptly. “Please?”
Rodney sighed. “Fine. Jaxon, where’s the schedule Mr. Chao gave you?”
“I’ll get it after the story,” Jaxon replied.
“I met your mother in the hospital,” Rodney said. “After I got in that fender-bender with the idiot who couldn’t tell green from red on a stoplight.”
John bit back a grin, lining up the breaded chicken on a cookie sheet. As soon as the oven preheated, he’d slip them in. Cooking wasn’t technically part of his job, but he liked to pitch in. He didn’t have a huge culinary repertoire, but chicken tenders were pretty simple.
“You hurted your neck?” Eleanor asked.
“Whiplash, it’s called. It was very painful.” Rodney rubbed the back of his neck like he was still feeling the phantom pain of it. “Your mom was working in the emergency room that day, but only because someone else had called in sick. She wasn’t supposed to be there.”
“Mommy was a doctor like you.”
“I’m well aware of that, thank you. If you know the story so well, why am I telling it?”
Eleanor didn’t need any more encouragement than that.
“Mommy was the prettiest woman you ever saw and you had nerves, but you asked her to eat dinner.”
Jaxon took up the story. “You had dinner, but the restaurant made a mistake and you got sick and Mommy had to take you back to the hospital. Even though you got suited up and everything.”
“Suited up?” John couldn’t help asking.
“I had one decent suit,” Rodney explained. “And I ruined it by laying on that dirty restaurant floor. I sued their asses off, after.”
John could well imagine that. One of the first things he’d learned when he became the nanny was Rodney’s allergy to citrus. Not that there weren’t reminders tacked up all over the kitchen.
“Mommy took care of you,” Eleanor said dreamily. “Like a doctor princess. And when you were all better, you gotted married.”
“We did have a few more dates first,” Rodney said.
John tried to picture Rodney in a suit. He probably looked amazing. Something tailored to enhance those broad shoulders.
“That’s how I met your mother. Now go get washed up for dinner.”
The kids scattered and Rodney got up to join John at the kitchen counter.
“Very meet-cute,” John said.
It was weird, hearing that story. Thinking about Rodney so instantly smitten that he asked Mrs. McKay out on a date the moment they met. If he was being honest, John might’ve said he was a little bit jealous.
Rodney snorted. “Yes, very romantic to go into anaphylactic shock on the first date. It’s a wonder she didn’t run screaming.”
“Lucky guy.”
“It wasn’t the world-ending romance the kids like to think it is. Jennifer was a difficult woman to be married to. She had a lot of ambition, and a lot of expectations.”
“So what happened?”
Rodney shrugged. “We were talking about getting divorced when she got sick. It happened so fast. Cancer. Six months after she got diagnosed, she was gone.”
“I’m sorry,” John said.
It must’ve been hard, suddenly being a single dad. The kids must’ve been devastated to lose their mother. And Rodney must’ve been at the end of his rope when he mistook John for a nanny from the agency and put him to work without knowing a single thing about him.
“You ever been married?” Rodney asked.
John nodded. “Long time ago. Didn’t work out.”
The kids came running back in, hands still damp. Jaxon gave Rodney the judo schedule from Mr. Chao, and Rodney put him and Eleanor to work setting the table.
Indulging in a momentary flight of fancy, John wondered if Rodney would suit up if he ever went out on a date with John.