Debbie418uk2 - That was an adorable line, with the 'cat litter' comment. LOL. I'm glad you liked it. I can only hope to keep your story on track, but do my own POV differently enough that I'm hoping no one is thinking I am just copying. I think I was supposed to do this chapter as the last update, but forgot, so here it is.

Jasminesmommy - Oh, wow, I forgot she named a plant after him. I don't know, you'd have to ask Debbie418uk2 who originally used the idea in her fiction, 'Rodney's Really Bad Days'. Wouldn't that be nasty though, to have a plant named after you, only to be nearly killed by it.

Puddle-Jumper38 - Thank you :) Well, I try to update about twice a week, depending on how much I get written and what spare time I have. I hope you continue to enjoy this.

OMG! There's a petition to sign to help save SGA! Check out the Gateworld site, under news, in the comments, or send me a message and I'll send you the link!! I'd post the link here, but they won't let me post links :( (No guarantees, but I seriously hope it works!!)

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(John's POV)

"Oh, come on. You owe me, remember?!"

"You kinda blew that when you lost the cat. Err...rat. Uh... The cub!"

"It doesn't matter, you already agreed to owing me one. Look, if you wanna go back on your word-"

"Hey! I'm just not into plant-sitting, ok?"

Rodney rushed ahead of me and stepped in my way, effectively stopping me cold in the hallway. "You owe me." He was glaring but I could see the sense of pleading. "Come on, what have you got against Katie?"

Frowning, I raised an eyebrow and folded my arms over my chest. Oh, no. I'm not... "This has nothing to do with her. I'm not plant-sitting for you to have a date. That's it."

"But then she'll be stuck in the lab. She hasn't had time off in ages. Look, how about this. You baby-err-plant-sit, and I'll owe you one." He clearly winced, already regretting those words. "Although if it comes to babysitting some alien cub again, I claim exception. No way. Not a chance!"

Thinking about it for a moment, I sighed. I could use a nap, and with how quiet things usually are in the botany lab... "Alright, fine." Gesturing for him to lead the way, I followed him resignedly, trying to work out how this was going to go wrong.

And trust me, I knew something was going to go wrong.

"So, what am I plant-sitting, anyways? A new variety of petunia? Some new kind of daffodil? Oh, maybe some nice roses? I know a girl who'd love-"

"No, no. Nothing like that." Rodney shook his head and raised a hand. "It's some new plant, that's all I know. But I did see it, and it looked like it had a really big bud on the end, ready to open at any time. It'll probably be..." He shrugged after a moment. "Pretty."

Clearly, Rodney wasn't a botanist, and he wasn't interested in the work, either. "Oh." Was I disappointed or relieved? That was a hard one to answer. "So watch a plant and record when it starts to bloom?"

"Yeah, I guess." He shrugged again as we entered the room. Looking around, his eyes lit up as he saw Katie tending to a large green plant with a single thick stem and large leaves.

Just as Rodney had stated, it did have a large bulb on the end of it, like an unbloomed flower, and I immediately began to feel a little better. It seemed harmless enough, right? Just a plant, and not even an open one at that.

"Katie! Look who I found!" Walking over, he stood next to her and gave her a bright grin. "The kind Colonel agreed to watch your, uh...new specimen for you."

Her face lit up and she nodded with a smile. "Good after noon, sir. Are you sure about this?"

Hesitating for a second, I looked at the flower, then to Rodney's face, and saw the pleading glare he was giving me. Sighing, I nodded and forced a grin to my face. "Oh, yeah. I'm sure. Go on, I'll, uh, plant-sit."

"You just have to record if it starts to bloom, ok?"

"Got it." I saw her open her mouth and raised an eyebrow. "Oh relax. Go enjoy your date." I tried not to grin as both Katie and Rodney began to blush. "I'll be fine and if worse comes to worse, I can always call you." I tapped my radio pointedly.

Nodding, Rodney grabbed Katie's hand and grinned at her. "Come on, there's something I want you to see." Waving at me as he rushed past, I could hear how distracted he was. "Thanks, John! I owe you one!"

Nope, you owe me ten. I thought as I gave a brief wave back and sat down at the table. Relaxing in the chair, I barely even noticed that only one other botanist was working, and I faintly heard her mumbling to herself about being off in a few moments. When I looked back at the plant, I took a few minutes to regard it closely. It stood in a large pot, a stem about two inches thick and six feet tall was adorned with the occasional huge leaf, which was trimmed in red. There were no other shoots, or buds, only the one on the end, and it was about the size of a watermelon.

"Excuse me, sir?"

Blinking out of my thoughts, I turned to the female botanist, a pretty girl, and smiled.

Smiling back shyly, she ducked her head. "I'm off now, and I was wondering if I should call a replacement in, so you're not alone?"

Raising an eyebrow, I looked around and grinned. "Afraid some plants are gonna eat me?"

Now she blushed. "No, sir! I just meant, I mean... I figured you'd want some company." She was really bad at covering up.

I couldn't help but laugh. "Thanks, but I'm good. I'm only plant-sitting this, uh...thing for a few hours." Gesturing to the flower, I watched as her face screwed up in confusion before she shrugged. Funnily, the plant didn't seem to fascinate her the same way it did Katie. "I'll be fine."

With a nod, she turned and left, leaving me to my thoughts.

I'm not sure how long she was gone and I was alone, but I did notice that besides being boring, the room seemed to get hotter. At first, I thought it was just me. Then it became too noticeable for me to ignore. Checking out the small computer pad in front of me, I saw that the temperature had increased by about ten degrees since I entered. It must have started before she left, and no one noticed. As I checked back logs, I noticed no other signs of this happening and frowned as I logged it into the pad.

It's probably nothing, but the last thing I need is Rodney chewing my ass out for not logging it in. I thought as I grit my teeth and sighed. Watching the pad, I noticed the temperature go up another degree, and felt my eyes narrow. I set a simple logging procedure to watch the temperature as I returned to watching the plant.

I mean, after all, this could be normal for the botany lab. With so many alien plants, for all I knew, they increased the temperature like this now and then to see what best suited the plants. Nothing to interrupt McKay's date about. If I did, I'd never hear the end of it.

It must have been about an hour or so when I snapped back from drifting off. I must have been dozing for a while, but the heat had grown to uncomfortable levels. I could feel the sweat beading across my forehead and upper lip, and my body was too hot to get comfortable. Sitting up straight, I made to look at the pad when I accidentally glanced at the flower.

The bulb was open a little. Just a tiny bit, but I cursed as I realized I had no idea when it happened.

I checked the time quickly and realized I'd been out for about an hour. Mopping the sweat off my forehead, I entered the log and set it for about half an hour earlier, then I checked the heat levels.

About another ten degrees.

"This is too weird." Tapping my radio, I sighed quietly realizing there was only one botanist I knew by name, that I could ask what was going on. "Dr. Brown, this is Colonel Sheppard. Do you read?" Rodney was going to have my ass, but something didn't seem right about this. "Dr. Brown?"

Nothing. Now I knew something wasn't right.

Getting up, I took a step back, and fell flat on my ass. "Hey! What the hell?!" There were vines all over the ground, and digging into a small vent on the floor. Following them, I found they had burst out of the bottom of the table, from the said plant I'd been baby sitting.

Speaking of the plant. I heard a rustling, and looked up. The bud had opened a little more, and I could make out a pale yellowed white between the green covers. I thought it was the flower peeking out, but watching as it opened more, I felt my blood run cold and eyes widen when I realized I couldn't have been farther from the truth.

(Katie and Rodney, Normal POV)

"This is lovely." Smiling, Katie blushed as Rodney looked at her with his bright blue eyes and gave a big grin. She found it odd when people said he was so cold and mean. She'd never seen him like that. At least, he'd never been like that around her. "Thank you so much."

Nodding a little, Rodney ducked his head, blushing as well. "Ah, yes, well..." He rubbed the back of his neck nervously. "You deserve the best." Realizing what he'd just said, he felt his eyes widen and watched as her smile and blush grew. "That is to say.. I mean..."

"Rodney." Shaking her head, she leaned over and kissed his cheek. Leaning back, she looked out over the balcony they sat on as she picked up a grape from her plate. "This is really amazing. You are so wonderful to me."

Suddenly, there was a beep in their radios, and Elizabeth's voice came over.

"Rodney, it's Elizabeth."

Frowning at the interruption, as well as confusion as to why she'd be contacting him, Rodney held up a finger to Katie and tapped his radio. "I'm here. What's going on?"

"Sorry to interrupt..."

He blushed and watched as Katie did the same. For a moment he wondered if Elizabeth knew he was on a date, and then if she knew, how many others knew.

"But I was wondering if you knew where John was. I haven't been able to contact him."

Katie's eyes widened. "Oh! The plant! I completely forgot he was watching it for me!" She hissed out, not wanting to interrupt the conversation. "We should head back." Clearly, she was upset about leaving so soon, but she had already began to get up, picking up a strawberry and smiling as she ate it.

A citrus-free picnic on one of the more quiet balconies, looking out over the vast blue ocean. It really was a nice idea.

"Um, right." Rodney was flustered and more than a little disappointed that the date had to come to a close. Thinking for a moment, he realized Elizabeth was waiting for an answer. "Uh, John was watching a plant for Katie in the botany lab." He informed her. "He should still be there." He never contacted either of us to say he was leaving.

"Rodney, I've tried all kinds of frequencies to get a hold of him, and he's not answering his radio." Elizabeth sounded overly worried. "And to top it all off, we've got reports of climate control alterations all over Atlantis. The temperature's gone up about twenty three degrees in the botany lab, in the last two hours. Down in the jumper bay by fourteen degrees in the last hour. The lunchroom is almost cold enough to leave frozen goods out and keep them frozen." There was an audible sigh.

"Wait, it went up in the botany lab? That's weird. That's very weird." Getting up, Rodney exchanged a concerned look with Katie as he threw a large napkin on to the table. "And you can't get a hold of John? Ok, we're on our way to the lab now."

"We?"

"Um, right. Me and Katie. Erm, Katie Brown, the head botanist."

Katie smiled as Rodney got noticeably flustered and shook her head fondly as she picked up the last strawberry on her plate and held it.

"Alright. I'm sending Ronon and Teyla, just in case anything is wrong. Keep me informed."

"Understood. McKay out." Tapping his radio, he opened his mouth to say something to Katie, when she pushed the strawberry into his mouth and kissed his cheek again.

"We need to do this again." She stated with a brief smile. Turning, she walked briskly into the nearby door and waited for Rodney to collect his thoughts and follow her. "And thank you again. It was so amazing."

Swallowing the strawberry, Rodney smiled a little and nodded. They walked in relative silence as they made their way to the nearest transporter. Taking that to near the botany lab, Rodney almost jumped out of his skin when he rounded the corner and found Ronon and Teyla standing outside the closed doorway, both looking concerned. As they drew nearer, Rodney stopped and turned to Katie.

"Better let us go in. When Ronon looks like that..." He gestured to the glare across the said Satedan's face. "It can't be good."

Katie bit her lip to keep from laughing at the statement and nodded, turning and heading off down the hall. She didn't like leaving him alone to this, who knew what was going on, on the other side of that door? But Rodney was Rodney. He had Ronon and Teyla, and usually John to protect him. Not to mention he wasn't the head of the science department for no reason. She trusted him to know what he was doing.

Once she was out of sight, Rodney turned and rushed over to the others, stopping and staring blankly as Teyla held out his computer tablet.

"We cannot get into the door. Radek traced the errors in the climate controls to this lab. It seems some alien plant roots have gotten through the ventilation system, and is using the controls for it's benefit."

"And no CCTV so we can't see inside." Ronon ground out.

"Oh, great." Rolling his eyes, Rodney sighed and took the tablet. Is it me, or is John always getting himself into trouble?

(John's POV)

"You've got to be kidding me!" Rolling out of the way, I hissed in pain as I rolled over the welt that was growing on my upper arm. Looking at it, I frowned at the swollen redness and turned to glare at the raised vines. "So much for a harmless little plant."

Here I thought it would be a huge, gorgeous, harmless flower, and that I'd be out of here soon, because it was opening. Never would I have imagined it was an alien version of a Venus fricken fly trap! Instead of the large pale, yellow-white flower I'd been expecting, I got large, pale, yellow-white, razor sharp teeth! Not to mention, some of the roots in the floor turned out not to be roots, but vines and they weren't all that happy to see me.

Not that I was happy to see them, either.

Getting up quickly, I dodged to the side as one of the vines shot out at me, and rolled across the floor, trying to ignore the uncomfortable sensation of rolling over thick vines. Feeling my hand land on something that moved, I looked down and felt my eyes widen as I grabbed my previously fallen handgun. "Never leave home without one." I sighed out as I quickly checked it.

Suddenly, there was a sharp pain in my shoulder, and I couldn't help but cry out as my head whipped around. White teeth gleamed in the faint light of the lab, and I watched as the head of the plant dug in, the blood flowing freely down my shoulder. It began to pull back, and I cried out again, trying to move with it so it wouldn't pull.

Raising my gun, I fired, but a vine grabbed my arm just before I could pull the trigger, pulling my aim off and instead of hitting the head, I hit the pot the stem was in. The pot didn't shatter, but the bullet did manage to go through and into the body of the plant. The plant squealed and shook violently, letting go of my shoulder and arm as it thrashed around. Staggering back against the wall, I tried to remain standing and ignore the burning sensation running down my neck and arm.

Raising my gun, I tried to keep my aim steady as the plant trembled and shook wildly. "Would you hold still?!" I hissed as I had to jump out of the way of another attack. Sliding into a corner, I edged to one side, not wanting to get trapped. Tapping my radio again, I winced and shook my head, already noticing a weird heat radiating from the bite wound. "McKay! Ronon! Teyla! Damn it, would somebody answer?!"

"John!"

Jumping in surprise, I spun around and watched as the door to the lab slid open. Well, that was fast. Rodney, Teyla and Ronon all rushed in and stopped cold, staring in shock at the mess that was once the lab, me, the giant man-eating plant, and how it squealed as it was hit by the light.

"What the hell is that thing?!" Rodney demanded loudly, almost hiding behind Ronon.

"It's the plant you wanted me to baby sit!" I hissed back. Frowning, I shook my head as I was over come with a dizzy spell and stepped back, feeling my body press up against the wall.

"John?"

"Sheppard!"

Opening my eyes, I wondered why everyone was suddenly so tall. Then it hit me I must have slid down. I was kneeling on the floor, and the plant was staring at me. At least, I think it was. It was hard to tell since it didn't have any eyes. Struggling to stand up, I felt my chest tighten and took a deep breath, confused and worried when my legs didn't want to work.

Hearing a blaster, I looked up and focused on the battle at hand. Rodney was at the door, his computer tablet plugged into the wall sensor. Wait. Wasn't the door open a moment ago? It was shut now. The room was again dark. He was typing away, and Teyla stood between him and the plant, aiming at the vines that came after them, taking them down with her P90.

Unfortunately, as quickly as she could take them down, more were coming in. Seeing a faint movement in the corner behind them, I felt my eyes widen.

"Teyla! Look out!"

She spun, but it was too late. The vine that had snuck up on them clipped her across the chest and sent her flying, leaving Rodney exposed, as Ronon was going for the main plant itself. He spun around, his blue eyes wide with horror as the vine bared down on him.

"Rodney!" Raising my gun, I watched too late as the vine pierced his side and he screamed. "Crap!" Aiming higher, I shot the vine and watched as it fell to the ground, taking Rodney with it.

He collapsed, screaming in agony as the vine twitched a little more. Crawling, as my legs were still numb, I made my way to his side and grabbed his arm, carefully turning him over.

"Crap!" I repeated, seeing the vine still in his side. I reached for one of Ronon's knives, that he'd dropped earlier, and was about to cut it out of Rodney when I swore I could hear Carson's voice.

"If you remove it, he could bleed to death."

Cursing quietly, I looked farther up the vine and cut it off about two inches from his body. "Look, I can't remove it. I risk you bleeding to death." Pausing for a moment, my mind recalled something. "Rodney..."

"Oh god, it hurts!" He panted, his eyes unbelievably wide. "Oh my god!"

"Rodney! Listen, can you get the door open?" My vision was beginning to swim, and I was starting to feel hot all over. "I think..." Swallowing heavily, I took a deep breath and forced myself to focus. "I think the plant is...weak...against the light."

I heard Ronon grunt and more blaster fire. Feeling something on my good shoulder, I spun and raised my gun, only to black out and feel a hand support my back.

"John! It's alright. It's me, Teyla." Her voice was soothing, and it was hard to open my eyes. "You must stay with us."

I heard more movement, and opened my eyes to find the form of Rodney moving. It had to be Rodney, it was too big and bulky to be Teyla, and she was holding me upright, so it had to be Rodney. Even if I couldn't see straight...

"Oh, god!" I heard him groan in pain and hiss as he moved. "Gotta...get the door. Right. The door."

Closing my eyes again, I felt strangely distant, but could hear P90 fire, and Teyla's voice. Still, I felt like I was floating. I was hot, but cold at the same time. As I drifted off, I heard shouts.

(Later, Normal POV)

"Will they be alright?"

"The Colonel had a severe infection from a fast-acting toxin the plant produced. It's a good thing you were able to destroy it and get him here in time." Carson frowned for a moment. "Though it's a better thing you didn't destroy it completely, since I needed that sample to produce an anti-toxin. Rodney has a pierced lung, and had to have surgery. It'll be touch and go for a while, so I will need to keep a close eye on him, but barring complications, he should be fine."

Everyone heard a low groan and turned to find John waking up. Elizabeth sighed in relief, worried sick when he was reported to have stopped breathing on the way to the infirmary. Teyla smiled a little, just thankful that for the moment, both boys were alright. And Ronon... He was wondering how the hell they could have so much trouble against a plant.

"Wow, did anyone get the number of the hive ship that hit me?"

Frowning a moment, Teyla cocked her head to the side. "Number? Hive ships do not have numbers, I believe. Colonel, you were not hit by a hive."

Elizabeth patted her shoulder and smirked. "It's a saying of sorts." Turning to John, she watched as he opened his eyes, and bit back the wince at how abnormally bright the greens were. "John?"

"Hey 'Liz'beth." He mumbled before yawning a little and stretching, wincing as it pulled at his shoulder. Opening his eyes again, he stared at everyone. "What's up?" His voice was clearer and more alert now. Slowly, his eyes widened. "Oh, crap! The plant! Rodney!" Bolting upright, he groaned and his eyes clamped shut as he teetered sideways.

Luckily, Carson had seen this coming and was at his side, grabbing his good shoulder and helping to steady him. "That's enough of that now. Take it easy, Colonel. Rodney is in bad shape, but stable for the moment. Given time, I'm fairly confident he'll be fine."

Nodding slowly, John didn't look too reassured, but turned to the others. "What happened?"

"Well, shortly after you fainted-"

"Passed out." John corrected Ronon with a warning look.

Grinning and not at all phased by the look, Ronon nodded. "After you passed out, Lorne and his team arrived, giving us the man power we needed to blow the hell out of that plant."

Staring for a moment, John nodded. "Right. So it's gone." He saw the others nod. "And everyone else is ok?" More nods. "Good. Ok, then." Looking around, he spotted Rodney on a ventilator, some distance away.

"I have him in a medically induced coma for the time being, to give him a bit more of a chance to heal."

"Yes, Rodney just managed to get the door open, weakening the plant and giving us the time needed to get you and him out of the room before Major Lorne's team arrived." Teyla put in with a smile.

Looking at the others, John nodded again before turning to look at Rodney again. He heard the others wishing him well and answered them, despite being distracted. He was aware of them leaving, though. Once they were gone, he slid down in the bed, glad for morphine, and relaxed. "You better survive." He mumbled quietly as Carson went to check on him. "You owe me big time, buddy!"

Praying Rodney would be alright, John settled down and closed his eyes, giving in to the overwhelming urge to sleep.

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Hmm, slightly longer? There, a little Rodney bashing, along with John bashing.

Tag, Debbie418uk2, you're it. Think you can do anything with this one? LOL.

Hope you like it.

R+R please

Thank you.

Tenshi.