Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.
Written for the prompt contest over at mwexplosion. Non-beta'd, so all mistakes are mine.
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It had become routine whenever Elizabeth and Rodney were on Earth; check in with the SGC, visit with family, go to the pet store. They tried to shop hard and fast, trying to find a balance between what was needed and what they could bring back, but time after time it seemed they always were too long or bought too much. They'd spent so many hours in the tiny store that Elizabeth was sure she knew where everything was.
"Sure Rodney, get that one." Elizabeth sighed and rubbed her eyes. The bright lights of the store were beginning to hurt them, just as they did every time.
"No, cat Elizabeth doesn't like the one you wanna get, and trust me because I spend more time with her then you do... wait what?" Rodney paused, mid-rant. "You're agreeing with me?"
"Yes Rodney, I'm agreeing with you. Anything to get us out of here faster."
Rodney moaned. "But that's not fair!"
"What?" Elizabeth laughed.
"We always come here, and we always argue about what to buy, and it always makes us late for our meeting, inevitabley cutting them short. If we don't argue I'll have to sit through the whole thing." Rodney pouted.
"Oh Rodney." Elizabeth chuckled slightly, trying to stop herself from laughing. He had a point, the pre-flight meetings at the SGC were long and boring, often with no real point but to remind the Atlantis senior staff that they were not the ones really in charge of the mission.
Plus Rodney had a bad experience with one of these not too long ago, back when they got their first cat.
Cat Elizabeth, they'd come to call her. Not to be confused with Human Elizabeth. When Ronon asked Rodney why he got a cat named after their leader, Rodney just blushed and mumbled under his breath. That was years ago, before they both came clean about their feelings for each other.
And now they shared a room on Atlantis.
With their cats.
It started out with the one cat, Elizabeth, and then one day Rodney burst into her office, demanding she allow him to bring another cat to Atlantis or he was quitting. Elizabeth played it cool, pretending that she didn't care if he left; a joke that soon ended when Rodneys face fell and he gasped "you really don't care if I leave?".
"Oh no Rodney! Of course I would care. I care very much." Elizabeth blurted out.
"You... care? Very much?" Rodney had smiled the shyest smile she had ever seen on that day, and Elizabeth couldn't keep her feelings to herself after that.
Their trip to Earth had been quite hurried after that, with only a short amount of time spent actually trying to find a feline friend for cat Elizabeth. The one they found came from a small family whose cat accidentally became pregnant to the neighbours cat. The parents were both well behaved and came from good family lines. Rodney and Elizabeth didn't even have time to name the little guy before they arrived back at Atlantis. But soon enough they had a name.
Devil Spawn.
They didn't know if it was the new planet, 'gate travel, or just that he was born that way, but as soon as he was welcomed to the city of the ancestors the newest arrival could not be contained.
"These... cats," Ronon said, "never acted this way on Sateda." They decided to hold the briefing that morning in Elizabeth and Rodneys quarters, not wanting to leave the cats alone for too long.
"Why don't you just give him back? Or leave him on some forrest planet." Sheppard mumbled under his breath as he watched the little guy fight with his shoe.
Ronon growled menecingly, and picked Devil Sprawn up and moved him to the other side of the room.
Soon enough though, they had become too busy to look after their cats every minute of the day, which would explain why, some months later, cat Elizabeth gave birth to three boys and one girl.
"I still don't understand how this happened." Rodney whispered, not wanting to wake the new babies.
"Well McKay, when a mummy cat and a daddy cat..." Sheppard began
"Oh har har very funny. Yes I know all about that." Rodney growled.
"All about that?" Sheppard questioned.
Rodney then proceeded to blush bright red and had to leave the room, Elizabeth and Sheppards laughter following.
In the end, they decided to only keep one of the kittens, who they named Runt. Not because she was the smallest of the litter, but because she was so brutal that she wouldn't let her brothers suckle.
"Elizabeth! Elizabeth!" Rodney called, waving a toy mouse on a stick in front of her eyes.
"Oh, I'm sorry Rodney. My mind was elsewhere." Elizabeth shook her head and glanced once more around the pet store.
"I was wondering if we should get the pink scratch pole or the blue one? 'Cause I don't want Devil Spawn to feel oppressed by the gender issues related to the pink." Rodney smiled. "Oh well never mind, we'll just get the both of them."
"Rodney please." Elizabeth laughed. "I think you're spoiling them."
"What? Oh no I'm not." Rodney denied. "I just want the best for them."
"And what's best for them is three different coloured scratch poles and engraved water bowls?"
"Yes!" Rodney said, in the tone that implied he was glad she was learning something.
"Ok. I'm just wondering what you're going to be like when the kids come along."