Title: Suited
Summary: John wondered when he'd changed his mind.
Characters: John, Lorne & Baby
Pairing: I'm doing a PTB move and letting you see any you want to see.
Rating: K
Notes: Tag fic with Wedjatqi. Bear in mind, folks, I am tired and running low on fanfic-fuel. Spoilers for Search & Rescue

"It suits you."

Sheppard looked up sleepily from his place on the infirmary bed and frowned tiredly at Evan Lorne as he strode into the infirmary, crutches in hand and plaster cast in place around his fractured leg. The younger man smiled over to Sheppard and nodded in the direction of the tiny cot pulled up to the side of his bed and he smiled back.

"Teyla's in seeing the doc," Sheppard told him as justification, looking back to the slumbering bundle as Lorne hobbled over to him. "I offered to look after him so they wouldn't be interrupted," he continued. He looked back to Lorne and shrugged slightly, waving his hands around the room. "Not like I'm doing anything anyway."

"Yeah," Lorne replied lightly, hovering at the edge of Sheppard's bed before sitting delicately when Sheppard motioned for him to do so. The Major was watching the baby as he shifted, his hands fisting in the air, mouth preparing for a yawn. Sheppard couldn't help but copy the smile on Lorne's face. "Keller wouldn't let me out of here for days."

John frowned as he shifted on the bed, wincing as he pulled at his stitches. Damn surgery.

"How come I didn't see you?" Sheppard asked as he sat further up in the bed, his hand wandering over to the cot, coming to rest over Torren's stomach. Lorne shrugged. "I suppose I have been a little out of it these past few days."

"Yes, sir," Lorne replied lightly, a smile tinting his tone. "How's Teyla doing? I haven't had the chance to see her."

Sheppard looked over to the Major, to the concerned frown on his face and noted the genuine care there. He stored it away as he continued.

"She's fine." He looked towards the doors she had disappeared through a half hour before wondering what it was they were talking about for so long. As far as John was concerned, she was fine. Tired, but fine. They'd been in beds next to one another for two days before Keller had released her, but she had spent many hours of the day by his bedside, continually thanking him for saving her and her son. From what he could remember, at least.

And he was thankful too. Thankful that they'd found her on time before Michael did whatever it was he wanted to do with the baby at his side. He was thankful that she was unharmed. He was thankful that she, unlike so many of her people, was okay.

"What about the Athosians we rescued? I hear they're being given temporary accommodation on base," Lorne stated, as though reading Sheppard's mind.

He nodded. He didn't know much about it. After rescuing her people, he'd quickly been plunged forty eight thousand years into the future, then trapped under a building so any decisions made on the future of the Athosians hadn't been made by him.

"That's what I heard." He smiled as he watched Torren wiggle in the cot. "Do me a favour, would you?" Lorne looked over to the Colonel and nodded. "Give me him over," he continued as he indicated Torren. Lorne stared at him frozen, his eyes wide, mouth open and John let out an airy laugh. "He's not going to bite."

Lorne shook himself and turned back to Torren uncertainly, worry etched across his features.

"But he might break," Lorne said quietly, trepidation clear in his voice.

"I might break if I've to lean over and get him," Sheppard replied, amused.

Tentatively, Lorne stood and hovered over the small cot, his hands floating somewhere over Torren's tiny body, his face scrunching up as he slowly lowered his hands into the cot.

"I can't do it," he said suddenly, withdrawing his hands and Sheppard laughed.

"I thought your sister had kids?"

Lorne looked at him again, frowning before he nodded.

"Yeah but... they're her kids... this is Teyla's." He looked back to Torren and shifted on his leg, wincing. "She could actually kick my ass from her to next year if I dropped him."

John smiled at Lorne's discomfort but only raised a challenging eyebrow he knew Lorne could not resist. Lorne huffed a moment, switching his gaze between John and Torren and back again before he took a breath and prepared himself for what could possibly be the last time he ever did anything, if this all went disastrously wrong. John watched as Lorne carefully extracted Torren from the cot, holding him at arm's length for a moment before drawing the tiny body to his chest. John smiled at the look of awe on the Major's face as he slowly lowered himself into the edge of the bed again.

John couldn't keep his own smile off his face as he watched his namesake blink curiously up at the Major's face, reaching up with tiny hands in an attempt to touch the skin there. Lorne, for his part, looked thrilled; the smile teasing the corner of his lips was one John knew had been on his when he'd cradled him to his chest on the Dart. John watched as Lorne stroked the tiny face with his finger, rubbing the smattering of hair on his head in wonderment.

"I forgot how tiny babies are," Lorne said quietly, his eyes not wavering from the bundle in his arms.

John tried to fight down the warmth that gushed through his chest at thought of others finding joy in the child; he couldn't explain the burst of pride he felt every time someone looked upon the wondrous face of little Torren John as he peered keenly back at them.

"Yeah," he said quietly, his voice betraying none of his thoughts. Lorne held him for a few long minutes, gazing silently down on the wonder and John knew from the look on his face exactly what the younger man was thinking; they'd lost so much in the past few years – Torren's presence was a new life in the City that had seen none for millennia. It was a sad thought that the thrum of the City that John had felt as soon as Torren had been brought to Atlantis had lain dormant for so long; the 

City seemed warmer, homier – more alive with the presence of a single child that John could only wonder what it must have felt like when whole families lived there. If they ever had. He shook himself from his thoughts as he watched Lorne again, his smile becoming melancholy. "Stop hogging him like he's your name sake, Major," Sheppard teased and Lorne started, turning towards his commanding officer again, sheepish.

"Sorry, sir," he murmured but John shook his head. He carefully transferred Torren into John's arms and John felt that warmth spread further through his body and he couldn't shift it. Lorne cleared his throat and John looked up at him, startled. "I best get going," he said as he indicated one of the nurses on the far side of the room beckoning him over and John nodded, silent.

John watched as Lorne stood, grabbing hold of his crutch as he went, and walked away. He looked back to Torren, unconsciously patting his tiny back in a way he'd seen Teyla doing numerous times before. He looked up when he heard Lorne's voice call him and he frowned over to the Major.

"I wonder what you'll be like with your own."

John waved him off with a flick of his fingers and smiled, looking down at Torren John, feeling the warmth recede a little. He'd never wanted kids – it had been a sticking point between himself and Nancy – but holding Torren in his arms, it made John wonder if maybe he'd been wrong all this time.

It made him wonder when he'd changed his mind.

As Torren settled into his chest, the city thrummed with contentment and for a moment, John forgot he wasn't his.