Greeting those she met in passing with a nod, Elizabeth Weir quickly made her way through the hallways of Atlantis. If she didn't hurry, she was going to be late for her meeting.

Since travel between the Ancient city and earth became possible again, Elizabeth had orders to report back to the SGC monthly to brief the General and the Pentagon liaison of the happenings in the Pegasus galaxy. The meetings were usually lengthy and tiresome, but necessary. And she enjoyed being able to spend a few hours on earth during her visits.

Coming to the door she had been headed towards, she raised her hand and rapped her knuckles against the doorframe.

"Come in." Came the muffled reply.

Entering the room, Elizabeth found one Rodney McKay lying in bed, his clothes were rumpled and he looked miserable.

"Elizabeth. What are you doing here?" he asked, his voice raspier than normal.

"I'm getting ready to leave. Is there anything I can bring back for you, Rodney?" She asked as she approached his bedside.

He looked up at her and moaned slightly. "Yeah, how about a guillotine?"

"Hmm, I don't think I could carry one of those by myself." She said with a small laugh.

"Glad to see my misery amuses you."

"Are you sure you can't take anything for it?"

"Trust me, all that stuff has some form of citrus in it." Rodney replied indignantly. "What part of 'mortally allergic' do you not understand?"

Elizabeth crossed her arms and raised an eyebrow at him.

That was a look Rodney knew well. He let out an apologetic sigh. "Sorry," he mumbled. "I just…hate being sick."

"Well, it's only a cold, I think you'll survive."

"I'm not too sure…" he mumbled.

"What was that?" Elizabeth asked, not catching his words.

"I said…I wish I had my cat. Whenever I was sick she'd curl up beside me. It always made me feel better."

Elizabeth smiled. "Oh, yeah, my dog Sedge would always help me feel better too. Well…that and a good dose of Nyquil."

"That stuff's full of citric acid. Although…my mother used to give me this awful stuff called Buckley's. Actually, I didn't think it was half bad, but everyone else I knew hated it…they said it tasted like they were eating a pine tree…a burning pine tree…must've been the menthol in it or something…but at least I wasn't allergic to it, and it did seem to work…"

"Rodney?" Elizabeth said, hoping to snap him out of his ramblings.

"…and…hmmm?"

"I have to go or I'll be late for my meeting. I'll check in on you when I get back. In the mean time, get some sleep."

Rodney rolled his eyes as she turned to leave. "Yes, Mother."

Elizabeth stretched out on the cot in her temporary quarters at the SGC and tried to take her mind off the four hours she had just spent in the Briefing Room. The debriefing sessions always seemed to go on forever. And they weren't even finished yet. As if fighting the Wraith wasn't bad enough, the military then insisted they relive everything by writing it all down in mission reports, and then she still had to dictate it all over again.

As she stared at the ceiling, Elizabeth's thoughts began to wander. She took a quick glance at her watch; it was about dinnertime on Atlantis. 'Poor Rodney' Elizabeth mused. He had been so sick the past couple days that even food had lost much of its appeal to him. That in itself was worrisome. She suspected that if she and Dr. Beckett had not been after him to eat, he would probably be in worse condition than he was now.

Elizabeth sighed; her attempt at winding down just wasn't working. That thought had barely registered when the SGC klaxons started blaring. She involuntarily jumped with surprise at the sudden alarm.

"Off-world activation," came the announcement.

'Probably just some SG team returning from a mission.' Elizabeth thought as she sat up and reached for the telephone that was on the stand next to her bed. She needed some peace and quiet, and Cheyenne Mountain was certainly not the place for that.

Elizabeth took a deep breath, enjoying the feel of the wind whipping through her hair. Of all the things she missed most while on Atlantis, driving was definitely one of them. She loved the feeling of being alone with her thoughts and of being in complete control of her destination. The feeling was of absolute freedom. Finally she was able to unwind, allowing the feel of the road to massage away the tension in her muscles.

After driving around aimlessly for a while, Elizabeth felt much more relaxed. Glancing at the time, she figured she should start heading back in the direction of Cheyenne Mountain. Taking the next left that she came to, Elizabeth found herself just outside a local pharmacy. Fleetingly Elizabeth wondered if they had that medicine Rodney had been going on about. Without so much as a second though, Elizabeth wheeled her way into the pharmacy parking lot and hopped out of the car.

Walking down several aisles of medication, Elizabeth tried to remember the name of the stuff Rodney had mentioned.

"May I help you?" came a voice from beside her.

Elizabeth looked up to see an older woman wearing a nametag that said 'Faye'. She gave the woman an appreciative smile. "Yes, I have a friend who has a cold, but he's allergic to citrus. He mentioned some kind of awful tasting medicine, but I don't remember the name of it."

Faye grinned as she scanned the aisle of products. "I know just what he was talking about, my husband Hugh is allergic to citrus too…ah! Here it is." With that, Faye handed Elizabeth a box labeled "Buckley's".

It was Elizabeth's turn to grin. "Yes, this is it. Thank you so much."

As Elizabeth got back into her car, her thoughts turned towards that of her dog, Sedge. No doubt she was still with Simon. Elizabeth sighed, as much as she missed the both of them, she kept herself from visiting. Sadly, she realized that she missed Sedge's companionship more than she missed Simon's. Not that he wasn't a wonderful person, he was. He was caring and dependable, but…he'd become something of a long lost friend to her, someone whose face and name occasionally came to mind, but the feelings for whom were no longer there.

Elizabeth shook herself out of her reverie and returned to happier thoughts. She smiled at the thought of taking her dog back to Atlantis with her. Sedge would probably have a great time investigating the different smells of Atlantis and bugging Rodney to death. But unfortunately, the city of the Ancients was no place for a big dog, especially since Sedge liked the outdoors way too much to be kept cooped up all the time. Indoor animals probably wouldn't be so bad…

A strange thought occurred to Elizabeth. What if… 'Hmmm… well, it's not without precedent, really.' she reasoned. Taking out her cell phone she quickly dialed the phone number of the SGC.

She brought her car to a stop in front of a four-story building. Elizabeth double-checked the address that the lieutenant had given her, 'Yep, this is the place.'

She opened the front door and climbed up the stairs to the right floor, and looked down the hallway. There were only two apartments on each side. 'That should make things easier.' Elizabeth thought as she approached one of the doors.

After finding no one home at the first apartment she tried, Elizabeth walked down to the next. She knocked on a door marked '302' and waited a few seconds. Inside she could hear someone walking around. "Just a minute!" a female voice called.

A moment later the door opened, revealing a dark-haired woman in her late twenties. "May I help you?"

"Yes, my name is Elizabeth Weir. I'm a friend of one of your neighbors, Rodney McKay. Do you know him?"

The woman rolled her eyes. "Yeah, I know him. No offense, but he can be a real jerk."

Elizabeth shrugged. "He's not really, you just have to get to know him. I've seen him do things that…might surprise you."

"Yeah, well, anyways, he's been out of town for a long time, I've been taking care of his cat for him."

"Oh, well, that's actually why I'm here…"

"Rodney?" Elizabeth called in loud whisper as she tapped softly on his bedroom door.

Getting no reply, she eased his door open and peeked inside. Rodney had drifted off to sleep, but even so she could still tell that he was still miserable.

She set the carrier and the bag of things she'd brought with her down on the floor. She reached into the bag and quietly placed the cold medicine, a bottle of water, and a spoon on the nightstand next to Rodney. Next, she scribbled a quick note for him and put it on his chest, careful not to wake him.

Finally, she picked the carrier up off the floor and carefully set it down on the bed. She opened the door up and waited. A few minutes later, a small face peeked out. Soon Rodney's cat had completely come out of the carrier it had been in.

Elizabeth petted the cat briefly as she removed the carrier from the bed. Seeing that everything was in place, she took a seat in the corner of the room and waited for Rodney to wake up.

The tiger-stripped cat sniffed the air and purred softly as she recognized her owner. She quickly made her way up to his chest and curled itself into a ball to sleep.

Elizabeth watched, amazed. She could actually see Rodney's body relax as the cat settled itself in. She smiled, for the first time since he had been sick, Rodney was finally getting some much-needed rest.

Settling in herself, Elizabeth delved into the paperwork she had brought along to do while she waited for Rodney to wake up. She had just finished signing her fourth mission report when she heard Rodney stirring.

Looking up, she watched as he slowly opened his eyes. Noticing the weight on his chest, he looked down to see his cat lying on top of him. He sighed peacefully a split-second before reality set in. He looked back at his cat and blinked, confusion obviously setting in.

"Woobie?" Rodney muttered as he stroked the cat's back. "Oh, God, I'm losing my mind." That's when he noticed the paper his cat was sleeping on. Sliding it out from under her, he read the note aloud.

"Couldn't find any guillotines, but I thought this might work instead. Feel better. Elizabeth."

Rodney looked around, still quite confused, and that's when he caught sight of Elizabeth sitting in the corner. "Elizabeth?" He said, sitting up slowly, trying not to disturb the sleeping animal.

Elizabeth smiled as she stood up and walked over to him. "Woobie?" she asked incredulously.

"Oh, uh, it's her nickname."

"I see…" Elizabeth trailed off.

"I just…I …uh…huh, for the first time in…well…ever…I'm practically speechless. I just…I can't believe you did this for me. How did you get the General to agree?"

"Wasn't a hard sell really, besides, Colonel Carter's cat has seen other worlds, why not yours too? Besides, I don't think it'll be a problem as long as you keep her in your quarters at all times, and…don't let her go jumping up on any Ancient devices."

Rodney smiled as he scratched the sleeping cat behind her ears. "I've missed you so much." He whispered.

"Oh, one more thing," Elizabeth said. "Don't forget to take your cold medicine."

"I already told you that I can't…" Rodney trailed off when he saw Elizabeth nod towards the spot beside him. Following the direction she was indicating he saw the bottle of Buckley's sitting on his nightstand. "Oh my god, you didn't!" Rodney shook his head in disbelief. "How did you even find that stuff?"

"Wasn't too hard, the lady at the pharmacy was very helpful." Elizabeth noticed his almost blank expression. "Are you okay?"

"What? Oh, me? Yeah, I'm just…" Rodney took a deep breath. "I guess I've just never really known anyone who would do this…go out of their way for me."

"I didn't mind at all."

Rodney nodded and broke into a smile. "You know what's funny?"

"What?"

"For being as miserably sick as I am, this is the best day I've had in a long time."

Fini