Of Jellyfish and Space Travelers

Nelson

Carson met a lizard. He loved this lizard as his own, cuddling it every minute. The lizard loved Carson back, sitting peacefully in his hands. The doctor carried the lizard into the buffet. Rodney blinked at it, pointing. "Uh…Carson? What the hell is that?"

"Oh, Rodney. Quit yer gabbin'."

"Don't tell me to quit my gabbing, you highland shepherd!"

"What?" asked John, thoroughly discombobulated.

"Not you!"

"But, you said…"

Rodney heaved a sigh. "I know what I said, SHEPPARD."

"Mm." Sheppard decided to ignore the incident and went back to picking apart his bowl of Lucky Charms for the marshmallows. Carson sat the lizard down by his own plate and gave it a crumb.

"Hey, there's a lizard near your plate, doc. Don't worry, I'll get it." muttered Ronon, shifting a steak knife in his hand. He leaned over the table, the knife clenched in his fist.

"Ahh, Ronon! No!" Carson scooped up the lizard just as the knife sank into the wood, vibrating precariously. Everyone blanched, eyeing the swaying piece of cutlery. The lizard squeaked, clinging to Carson's shirt.

Ronon slowly took the knife back, shrugging. A few marshmallows fell out of Sheppard's gaping mouth. Rodney, though still pale, glared at him dangerously. Sheppard grinned apologetically.

"So, anyway…what is that lizard doing here?" asked Elizabeth, leaning forward to get a good look at the small reptile.

"Yes, is it polite here to bring an animal to the table?" inquired Teyla.

"Oh, don't worry, lass. I'm sure…" Carson trailed off, gaze darting around the table. The lizard was gone. All eyes at the table shifted around. Rodney looked quickly at his plate, Sheppard looked under his sandal, Teyla glanced at her hands, and Elizabeth looked at Carson. Ronon just looked mad.

However, the lizard was nowhere to be found. Carson got up right away, shuffling over to the buffet table. He opened each food…thing and looked inside. He shifted through fruit, spooned porridge, shook cereal, and manhandled bacon. "I cannae find Nelson!"

"Nelson?" asked Rodney, who had come up to get more food. "Don't tell me you named the thing."

"Yes, Rodney, I named Nelson. Wee Nelson the lizard."

Rodney just stared at him. At that moment, the little girl from a previous chapter happened to walk by. "Stupid baby!" she cooed, pointing at Rodney. The physicist paled and began sputtering.

"That little…every time…I'll get her!" Rodney stalked back to the table, but not before getting a bagel from the basket. Nelson crept along the side of said bagel, knowing full well that he was about to be discovered. Rodney froze, looking down at his hand. The lizard stopped, staring back at Rodney.

As usual, McKay's first, instinctive reaction was to scream like a little girl and start waving his hands hysterically. Nelson hung on for dear life as Rodney screeched and waved his arms around. Sheppard, who had leapt out of his seat at the first scream, saw that it was only Rodney being an idiot and sat back down. By the time Carson had run over and snatched Nelson back, the entire restaurant was staring at the strange man making a scene.

Elizabeth ducked her head. "Oh my god…so embarrassing."

"It's only a wee lizard, Rodney." muttered Carson, placing Nelson on his hair (his own hair, not Rodney's).

"I don't think it would've killed you."

"Wow, McKay. Wow."

"I..." Teyla couldn't think of anything to say.

At that moment, Mitchell walked by, followed by an exasperated Daniel. As Cameron rushed off to search the buffet table, Daniel heaved a sigh and turned to the Atlantis people. "Have any of you seen a little tree frog around here?" he paused and looked back at Mitchell, who was asking a random two year old if he'd seen the thing. Daniel turned back to the blank looks of the Atlantis group, wishing he hadn't agreed to help Mitchell in the first place.

"Is there anything else we can use to identify it?" asked Carson, innocently enough.

Daniel winced. He was hoping it wouldn't come to that. He sighed. "According to…Mitchell, she answers to the name of…'Yvette'."

"Found her?" called Mitchell from across the room.

"No, colonel, I have not found Yvette yet!"

Haha, I liked this one. Anyway, I'm sure you've noticed that I'm sort of merging the Atlantis and SG-1 stories together a lot. I hope you don't mind, but I'm getting a lot of good ideas using both of them together. I'll try to use some of your suggestions, and I thank you very much for them. Next update coming soon! YAY!