"Rodney," when the other man didn't answer Radek repeated his name louder, "Rodney."
"What?" Rodney finally looked up from his laptop, "I'm busy."
"It is getting late," Radek took off his glasses to rub his eyes, "Perhaps we should pick this up again in the morning."
"It's not that late," Rodney scowled at the man across the table.
"It is 2600," Radek replaced his glasses, "That is late. You have barely left this lab the last four days. You must rest."
"I slept last night," Rodney insisted, "And the night before that."
"Spending three hours passed out at your computer," Radek frowned, "does not count as sleep. And it will not help you figure out the device any faster."
"I have the device basically figured out," Rodney claimed, "I'm just working on some final details."
"If you do not rest," Radek stood and came around the table to stand next to Rodney, "you will start making mistakes.
"This could be a huge deal, Radek," Rodney hunched over his laptop, "If we can figure out how this healing device works, we could help a lot of people. It could save lives."
"I know, Rodney," Radek sighed, "But we have barely been able to figure out how to initialize it, much less how to use it. We need a break. You need a break. Things will look different after a good night's sleep."
"That's a myth," Rodney huffed, "Besides, I'm not tired."
"That is a lie," Radek snorted, "You yawn every five minutes. It is very distracting."
"If you're so distracted," Rodney glared at him, "then maybe you should just leave."
"I am leaving," Radek rolled his eyes, "I am trying to convince you to leave as well. To sleep in your bed so your back does not hurt tomorrow. You have been very irritable last two days."
"I have not," Rodney protested.
"Have too," Radek argued, "You yelled at Miko when she brought you dinner this evening."
"I yelled at Miko?" Rodney's scowl deepened.
"You were even ruder than normal," Radek nodded, "She cried."
"Miko cries all the time," Rodney flapped a hand at Radek, "At least three times a week. Everyone knows that."
"Rodney," Radek admonished, "That is not the point."
"All right, look," Rodney pointed to the screen in front of him, "I'm almost done with the translation for this section. As soon as I'm finished, I'll be done for the night."
"And you will go to bed?" Radek asked warily.
"Yes, I will go to bed," Rodney rolled his eyes, "I thought you were leaving. Why are you still here?"
"Jednoho dne konečně stratím nervy a zavraždím tě," Radek grumbled under his breath, "Žádny soud ve vesmíru by mě za to neodsoudi." [Czech: One day I will finally snap and murder you.] [Czech: No jury in the universe would convict me.]
"What are you muttering about?" Rodney questioned.
"Nothing," Radek turned to leave, "Good night, Dr. McKay."
Radek left the lab quietly, saying a polite farewell to the two guards at the door as he disappeared through the doorway.
Rodney kept working, silently reading through the translated sections of text. He made a quick adjustment to the translation program and went to pour himself another cup of coffee while he waited for it to update. He sat back down in his chair, setting the cup in an empty space on the desk before he started scrolling through the text again. He lost track of time as he read and when he felt a slight pressure on his thigh, he reached down absently to scratch a furry head. He picked up the coffee again, freezing with the cup halfway to his lips. He looked down to see Nemesis sitting next to him, her head resting on his thigh, happy purring coming from her throat as she looked up at him.
"Uh, nice kitty," Rodney slowly withdrew his hand, "Good kitty."
Nemesis made an unhappy noise and huffed out a hot breath against his leg.
"You're not going to try to eat me today, are you?" Rodney questioned nervously.
Nemesis blinked her icy blue eyes at him, seeming to consider his question seriously before she growled lightly and butted her head against his thigh.
"You won't eat me if I keep petting you?" Rodney asked warily.
Nemesis chirruped and bumped Rodney's thigh again.
"I'm pretty sure this is considered extortion," Rodney resumed scratching her head as he sipped his coffee, "How did you even get in here anyway?"
Nemesis answered with a series of chirrups and growls.
"I have no idea what you just said," Rodney stared down at the giant cat skeptically, "But I'm pretty sure that was an answer to my question."
Nemesis rubbed her chin on Rodney's leg.
"Shouldn't you be asleep in Ronon's room?" Rodney wondered, "Or sneaking into the infirmary?"
Nemesis let out an unhappy whine and looked up at Rodney sadly.
Rodney snorted, "Carson kicked you out, didn't he?"
Nemesis huffed out another hot breath and pushed her head further up into Rodney's hand.
"I suppose you couldn't find anyone to pet you besides me," Rodney sighed and set the coffee cup down, "Everyone else is probably sleeping. Which I will be too, as soon as I can figure this stupid device out."
Rodney stopped petting Nemesis to reach across the table to pick up a wand-like object, a little less than the length of his forearm and the width of his thumb. It was a powder blue crystal, Rodney's hand not quite fully covering the end wrapped in smooth, dark silver naquadah.
"You see this?" Rodney held the wand down for Nemesis to sniff, "It's supposed to be for healing. I found it in the Ancient database. I can turn it on," the wand started glowing faintly in Rodney's hand, "but I don't know how to use it yet. Carson won't let me try it on anyone until I can tell him exactly how it functions. And as you may or may not know, the Ancients weren't exactly good at leaving instruction manuals around. Or I suppose they were, but the directions are all in Ancient and they're more than a little obscure. I'd be able to figure out faster if I had real people to test it on. Theoretical work will only get me so far."
Nemesis sniffed the glowing wand again before she looked towards the guards at the door. She looked back to Rodney, then lifted a paw and extended her claws, pointing at the door.
"Did you just…?" Rodney's jaw dropped, "No! I don't want you to claw one of the guards so I can test the device on him."
Nemesis put the paw down and bared her teeth, snapping her jaw together once.
"I don't want you to bite anyone either," Rodney gaped at her, "What the hell has Red been teaching you?"
Nemesis chirped and touched her nose to the device.
"Yes, I know I said it needed to be tested," Rodney scolded as he set the wand back down on the desk, "But I definitely didn't mean it like that."
Nemesis gave Rodney another considering look before she stood, tilting her head down to tug gently on his pants leg by his ankle.
"What now?" Rodney eyed her carefully, "You want me to go with you?"
Nemesis chirruped in agreement and tugged on his pants again.
"Carson won't let me test it on Red," Rodney confessed quietly, "He's worried that the device could make her injury worse if it's used improperly."
Nemesis blinked at Rodney several times then stood on her hind legs, placing her front paws in Rodney's lap to press her nose against his laptop screen.
"Carson's asleep," Rodney shoved at Nemesis ineffectually, "And you weigh a ton. Get off me. You're getting nose prints on my screen."
Nemesis thumped one paw down on Rodney's leg and pressed her nose against his laptop again before she turned to stare at Rodney seriously. Rodney's eyes crossed as Nemesis blinked at him from less than an inch away from his nose.
"You don't think Red's sleeping too?" Rodney leaned back to put some distance between their faces and uncrossed his eyes, "I suppose she's pretty good at translating this crap. She might be able to make sense of it. All right, fine. Get down and we'll go see if she's awake."
Nemesis leaned closer to lick Rodney's cheek and hopped down from his lap as he started spluttering.
"Gah, gross! No kisses," Rodney wiped the saliva off his face, "Bad kitty."
Nemesis whapped Rodney's ankle with her tail as she turned around, walking over to stand by the door and wait for him.
"You have terrible breath," Rodney grumbled as he transferred all the relevant data to one of his tablets, "I don't know what they're feeding you, but you might want to consider a toothbrush…or whatever the oversized mutant feline version of a toothbrush equivalent is," Rodney picked up the tablet and the slim wand and headed for the door, "If she's sleeping, we're not waking her up. Injured people need their rest. And don't think you're staying in my room tonight if she is sleeping."
Rodney ignored the guards as he walked past, still talking to Nemesis as she padded along quietly at his side, both of them making their way to the nearest transporter.
"You may be able to intimidate me into petting you, but if you think you're sharing my bed, you've got another thing coming," Rodney warned, "And don't think I don't know that the whole 'Red helping with the translation idea' was so I'd help sneak you into the infirmary. I'm on to you."
Nemesis stepped into the transporter ahead of Rodney, turning around to look up at him as she chirruped smugly.
"Nobody likes a smartass," Rodney scowled down at her as the door slid shut behind them.
*AM*AM*AM*AM*AM*AM*AM*
Rodney peeked around the corner of the infirmary, keeping one hand on top of Nemesis to keep her in place behind him. He saw D resting in her hospital bed at a gentle incline, the bulky bandage covering most of her right shoulder and chest visible underneath the fabric of her white scrubs. Her right arm was held in place by a large black sling with a cushion attached to the underside, keeping the arm at straight angle away from her body. Her other hand had an IV attached to the back of it, the clear tubing stringing back up to a stand with a small gray machine and a bag of fluid draining into it. There was an obviously hand-made blanket thrown over her legs, the colors and fabric making Rodney think of the Athosians. D's hair was fixed into a messy pile on top of her head and when she shifted positions uncomfortably, several of the burgundy strands came loose to fall around her face.
"It's rude to stare," D spoke without opening her eyes, dark circles underneath a stark contrast to her paled skin.
"I wasn't staring," Rodney came around the corner cautiously.
"I'm really not in the mood for any sympathy," a brief flicker of pain crossed D's expression but it was quickly wiped away, "So if that's why you're here – go away."
"That's not…I wasn't…" Rodney blinked down at Nemesis as she leaned against his leg, looking back up at D before he continued, "Your hell-beast broke into the new lab I found. She extorted me into petting her."
"Smart girl," D snorted as she finally opened her eyes to look at Rodney, "You look like shit."
"You're one to talk," Rodney frowned at her, "You look terrible."
"I'm injured," D scowled, "What's your excuse?"
"Seriously," Rodney moved forward to stand next to her bed, "When's the last time you slept?"
"I don't sleep in public places," D lifted her left arm and patted the mattress next to her, "Hinauf." [German: Up.]
Nemesis jumped up onto the bed, stretching out to lay against D's legs. She touched her nose to D's right hand gently, letting out a short whine before she rested her head over D's stomach.
"The nurses on duty tonight kicked her out earlier," D started stroking her left hand over Nemesis' head, "Ronon said she could sleep in his room but she must've snuck out after he fell asleep."
"How could she sneak out?" Rodney wondered curiously.
"She figured out how to work the door sensors," D explained, "By watching other people do it I would assume. She swipes a paw over the crystals like non-ATA people do with their hands."
"Right," Rodney rolled his eyes, "Of course the hell-beast knows how to open doors like a person."
"Told you the mphakas were highly intelligent," D looked down at the items Rodney held tucked under his arm, "So are you here to sneak Nem in or did you actually need something else?"
"Oh right," Rodney moved around to the left side of the bed and held out the wand for D to take, "I found this in the Ancient database. It's supposed to be some sort of healing device."
"Yeah," the wand lit up a brilliant sky blue in D's hand, "Carson told me about it."
"So he probably also told you he won't use it on you until I can figure it out," Rodney looked down to Nemesis, "Nemesis offered to claw up the guards outside the lab so I could test it, but I told her no. Which is probably something you should discuss with her at a later date because that type of behavior will definitely lead to trouble. I don't know what you've been teaching her, but going around mauling people is not okay. Then she suggested that I have you look at the section of the database that has the instructions – getting nose prints on my laptop screen that I fully intend to have you clean off, by the way – and see if you had any insights instead. And you seriously need to get her some kind of toothbrush or some mouthwash or something because she licked my face and I thought I was going to pass out from the smell."
D blinked up at Rodney several times, mouth hanging open slightly as she stared at him.
"What?" Rodney asked warily.
"Setting aside the fact that you apparently had an entire conversation with an animal you called a hell-beast less than a minute ago," D looked up at Rodney oddly, "You do realize it's the middle of the night, right?"
"Yeah," Rodney shrugged, "But I told her we weren't waking you up if you were asleep."
"That wasn't really my point, Rodney," D shook her head with an amused smile, "I'll take a look, but I have two conditions."
"Conditions?" Rodney questioned.
"First," D handed him the wand back, "I need you to help me either take my IV out or override the timer on the morphine pump. Carson was being a jerk today and he made it so the machine automatically doses me every couple hours. I can't really move my right hand yet or I'd do it myself."
"Are you sure that's a good idea?" Rodney shifted on his feet, "I've never been shot in the chest before, but I can imagine it hurts."
"I'll be fine until the day shift starts or until someone comes to check on me," D assured him, "I won't be able to think straight if I'm doped up on painkillers."
"The second condition?" Rodney narrowed his eyes at her.
"Second," D smiled softly at him, "Help me adjust these pillows so you can lay here with me. If you're not going to sleep, at least lay down and be comfortable for a while. I can tell you slept at a desk last night."
"The three of us won't fit in one bed," Rodney insisted.
"Nemesis is going to move to the bed next to us," D tapped the cat on the head.
Nemesis hopped down from the bed with an annoyed huff, slapping Rodney on the ankle with her tail as she moved past him to jump onto another gurney.
"I don't want to accidently bump your arm or something," Rodney replied quietly, "I'll be fine in the chair."
"Those are my conditions, Rodney," D raised an eyebrow at him, "Take it or leave it."
"Fine," Rodney set the tablet and wand down in the chair next to the bed and reached for her IV, "But I'm telling Carson this was your idea. I'm not taking any of the blame."
"Deal," D agreed.
