"Seriously, John, did you have to get out the baby pictures?" Rodney asked as they headed back toward the Gate.
John looked over at the other man and shrugged. "It helped, didn't it? The people here are big into families, so I showed them mine. They liked that we had similar values."
"Yeah, but then we had to sit through all those re-enactments of all the aldermen's special family moments because they don't have cameras or video recorders!"
"I think it was a brilliant move on John's part," Teyla remarked.
"Of course, trying to explain the baby swing was interesting. Sounds like one of the younger men was going to try building one." John shook his head, seeing the top of the planet's Gate appear just over the hill. "All right, guys. Almost home. I'm starving, and I want to see my girls."
"Do you think Fred will mind me and Jennifer watching Alex tonight?" Ronon asked.
"I wouldn't think so. Alex loves you guys," John said. He adored their daughter, but he and Fred hadn't really had an alone night since their daughter's birth, so it would be nice to spend some time with her without having to keep an ear out.
"So do you think Carson and Sam are actually going to set a wedding date?" Rodney asked as they walked up to the Gate dialer.
"Says the man who said that living together was enough for now," John said with a snort.
"Oh haha."
Once they had arrived back at Atlantis, they stowed their gear and headed down to the dining hall, knowing that everyone would be there already - their meeting with the village aldermen had taken a lot longer than they had anticipated. As they walked in, John smiled when he saw Alex look his way and start pointing and bouncing.
"Hey there, pumpkin," he said, leaning down and kissing her forehead. He then gave Fred as kiss as everyone else greeted their respective SOs. Daniel and Teyla, John noticed, were fairly discreet in their greeting. "Sorry we're late. The aldermen were a bit...verbose."
"And over the top," Rodney added. "That one guy sounded like William Shatner."
After they got their food, they explained what had happened during the mission, including a rather detailed description of the re-enactments. By the end of it, most everyone was laughing with amusement.
"Well, at least they're talking to us," Carter pointed out just before she received a call over her headset. Reaching up, she touched it to open the channel. "This is Carter. Go."