Stuck!
Chapter Seven: The Power of Puppy Dog Eyes
Ronon Dex walked up the ramp to the jumper, dropping the last bag of gear next to the pile that already sat on one side of the cargo area.
John looked up at him in surprise. "I thought you were going to stay with Teyla?"
The big man gave him a sheepish grin. "She told me I was annoying her and that she didn't need anybody watching her sleep." He shrugged, his expression turning grim. "There's nothing I can do for her here. Figured I'd be more use on the mission."
"We are ready, Colonel," Radek Zelenka said, interrupting his conversation.
Casting a doubtful look at the large collection of equipment the scientists had loaded, John asked, "You sure all this stuff is necessary?"
Zelenka nodded. "Better too much than not enough."
John chuckled. "Too true, Doc." His smile faded, though, when he thought of Teyla's withered face and the trust that she had placed in him. They simply had to find a way to fix this. There was no other acceptable outcome.
[{O}]
At the Hall of Healing, Radek picked up another damaged crystal, muttering to himself as he tried to determine its purpose. He held it up to the light, frowning at the fracture that disrupted its uniform composition. With a sigh, he made some notes on his laptop and labeled the piece before placing it in gently into a padded container.
It was quiet in the room, Colonel Sheppard having sent the rest of the scientists to study the writings and equipment in the other rooms in the facility. Radek was glad of this, since it afforded him the peace he needed to do a more careful and thorough job.
He was already concentrating on the next piece of the device when a faint sound behind him disrupted the silence. Without looking up, Radek said, "Everything is fine, Colonel."
"Not the Colonel," came a muffled voice he was starting to know all too well.
Whipping his head around, Radek stared with widening eyes as a small, tousled head popped out of a duffel bag. The head was quickly followed by the rest of a four-year-old body. Big blue eyes scanned the area before coming to rest on him.
"What, you've never seen someone hitch a ride in luggage before?" Rodney said smugly. "If I have to be this size, I might as well take advantage of it." He winced and rubbed his backside. "Though you people really need to treat your luggage a little better. I've got bruises everywhere."
Radek closed his mouth and slowly shook his head. "We scanned the jumper with the life signs detectors. How did you avoid them?"
"Oh please," Rodney snorted. "That was child's play." He paused, wrinkling his button nose as he realized what he said. "I simply reprogrammed them to ignore anything with a body mass under fifty pounds."
Radek chuckled, unsurprised at his friend's ingenuity. "You should not be here. Colonel Sheppard will not be happy."
"Piffle," Rodney said, waving a hand dismissively. "Someone has to make sure this gets done right," he said indignantly, reaching for some tools.
Radek hissed a stream of curses in his native language, but didn't attempt to stop Rodney from assisting.
"So, what have you got so far?" Rodney rubbed his hands together eagerly.
Radek had to smile. Rodney looked like a child on Christmas morning, eager to open his presents. His excitement was almost contagious.
"Well?" Rodney attempted his usual irritated finger-snap, but his pudgy little hands wouldn't cooperate. He frowned and glared at them as though he could intimidate them into submission.
"I am still cataloguing the pieces," Radek explained, drawing Rodney's attention away from his hands.
Pulling the laptop closer, Rodney quickly scanned the data, and then moved to the other side of the wreckage. "I'll start on these."
Radek didn't bother to protest. It wouldn't do any good and Rodney's help would get it done that much faster. The two of them worked together quietly for some time, Rodney ducking behind the machinery whenever Sheppard or Ronon poked a head in to check on Zelenka.
"Ow!" Rodney pulled his hand out of the machine and stuck his thumb in his mouth.
"What's wrong?"
"Cuh mah fingah," Rodney said around the digit in his mouth.
Grinning, Radek picked up his camera and snapped several pictures of Rodney sucking his thumb.
"Et tu, Radek?" Rodney threw a baby-glare at his fellow scientist. "A little sympathy wouldn't kill you."
"All you need now is teddy bear," Radek snickered.
"Kiss my ass," Rodney hissed in his four-year-old voice, making Radek laugh even harder.
Rodney turned away. It was hard to be intimidating when you were barely over three feet tall. He stared at his thumb closely, then sighed. "My hands aren't working right. I think this damn machine took away more than years." He kicked at the machine angrily, wincing when his foot made contact with the solid metal frame of one of the hospital beds.
"Shit! Shit, shit, shit!" Rodney hopped around on one foot, his hands wrapped around the other one.
Radek sighed, feeling s sudden urge to introduce Rodney's mouth to a bar of soap. "Rodney, your hands are four years old, like the rest of your body. Children do not have the same motor skills as adults."
Rodney sat down heavily, his head hanging low. "What if I'm stuck this way?"
The sad blue eyes and lost expression would have melted even the hardest of hearts. Radek almost reached over to hug him, but quickly remembered that this was Rodney, a prickly astrophysicist and not an innocent child. He was thankful Rodney had not noticed the slip. God help them all if he ever figured out the power of that doe-eyed expression.
Rodney shook his head at Radek's lack of response and crawled back into the pile of wreckage.
Watching him go, Radek prayed fervently to any deity he could think of that they would find a way to fix this.
[{O}]
"Hey, I think I found the main control module!" Rodney shouted. Cradling it gently in his small hands, he wiggled his way back out of the tangled circuits. "It looks intact." He set it gently on the floor next to the other scientist. "Meaning we just need to find a way to replace the crystals that differentiate the..." He looked up finally, belatedly noticing the look of warning on Radek's face. "What?"
Radek didn't get a chance to answer before Rodney found himself suddenly airborne.
[{O}]
Sheppard breathed deeply of the fresh air. It really was one of the more pleasant planets they had visited, despite the recent mishap. He was really hoping Zelenka could figure out how to fix that, since the thought of dealing with a four-year-old McKay for any length of time was enough to make a grown man run away screaming. And speaking of screaming...
The piercing shriek made the hairs on the back of John's neck stand on end. He spun in place and sprinted toward the source of the sound. Barreling into the facility, he skidded to a stop beside Dr. Zelenka. "What the hell?"
John gaped. The scene before him was something he never expected-or wanted-to see outside of a drug-induced hallucination. Ronon Dex was standing calmly beside the wreckage of the Ancient device. Dangling from his outstretched arm was Rodney McKay in the midst of a full-blown hissy fit.
"Put me down put me down put me down put me down!" Rodney hollered, his tiny arms and legs flailing as he tried to escape.
John winced as the high-pitched wails stabbed straight into his brain. Ronon seemed amused by the situation, as did Zelenka, who was trying vainly to stifle his laughter. Rubbing a hand over his weary face, John muttered, "Why me?" before putting on a stern expression.
"McKay!" he yelled in his command voice.
Silence immediately descended.
Moving closer, John glared at the red-faced imp who, thanks to Ronon, was now at eye level. "You want to tell me what the hell you're doing here?"
There was a flicker of fear in Rodney's eyes before the familiar McKay arrogance too over. "If I have to tell you, then you're a lot dumber than I thought."
John restrained the urge to strangle the little brat, deciding that McKay's parents must have been saints to put up with him.
"You were expressly forbidden from going off-world, Rodney," John said. "Remember what happened last time you ignored everyone else's opinions?"
Rodney's expression immediately fell and he went limp in Ronon's grasp.
Looking at Rodney's sad little face, John felt as though he'd just kicked a puppy. He forced himself to look away. "Dammit, Rodney. Can't you just do as we ask, for once?"
"I can't leave this to anyone else," Rodney said quietly.
"Look, I know how you feel, but..."
"You can't know how I feel!" Rodney yelled, renewing his efforts to free himself from Ronon's grasp. "You don't have people talking to you like you don't have a brain in your head, refusing to look at you in the eye. And nobody's making you wear stupid clothes." He waved a foot in John's face. "I'm wearing pink shoes, for God's sake."
Zelenka finally lost it and started laughing.
Rodney's attempt at a threatening glare fell flat on his chubby, pink-cheeked face.
John tried to stifle a laugh, but failed, joining Zelenka and Ronon in laughing at Rodney's new wardrobe.
"Oh shut up," Rodney said, scrunching his face up in an attempt at a scowl that only made him look more adorable.
Once their laughter had abated, John said, "Let's get packed up and get back to Atlantis."
"Wait, Colonel," Radek said. "Rodney is here now, so let us just make use of his skills."
"Doc..."
"It is taking much less time with his help," Radek added.
John shared a look with Ronon, who merely smirked and flipped Rodney over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes.
Rodney gave an indignant squawk. "Put me down, you hairy behemoth!"
At John's nod, Ronon relented and lowered Rodney to the ground. "There you go, little man."
Rodney glowered at him. "You're going to pay for that. All of you are going to pay."
John pinched the bridge of his nose, feeling a headache starting to brew. He looked over at Ronon. "How can someone so small be such a big pain in the ass?"
[{O}]
A/N: That is all you will read today. I need to go milk my cow.