Sparklyshimmer2010 - LOL. Yeah, I figured as much. Well, you'll probably like this one. It's a two-parter with hints of Elizabeth/John (could be seen as really good friends, though) in it.
x Varda x - I know, poor John. He's always getting it, huh? Well, this time at least he doesn't get hurt.
Dorothy - You're very welcome. :)
Shadows-of-Realm - Hm, yes. Perhaps...the Enterprise? Nah, taken... Though, I'd have loved to see John exploring space and 'going where no man has gone before'. I was trying to keep the zombie thing from getting too gorey.
Debbie418uk2 - Ah, yes. I know I replied to this already, but I'll reply again. It was difficult. I could have expanded on that chapter, but like you said, it runs the risk of running long. This one, however, I think it made a nice two-parter. You might just enjoy this, and I could see a Rodney's point of view in it, too. Since he's affected. LOL. Hints? Let's just say... Puss-in-boots. LMAO
And yes, it was a Woolsey/Keller episode, I'm pretty sure. It was season five, and not one Carson was in, I don't think.
Jasminesmommy - Hm, yes, I know.
Note : I don't know whether to list Rodney as a brunette or blond, so I might say something different in different chapters.
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(Normal POV)
"Another mission, another battle." John groaned to himself as the team took a breather back in the safety of Atlantis. Seeing Elizabeth looking at him in confusion, he sighed and rolled his eyes. "Wraith showed up."
"Yeah, and before I could finish my scans, too. We got nothing!" Rodney was glaring at the little hand held data pad and looked tempted to toss it away for a moment, but seemed to recover himself and stuck it angrily in his pocket, just in case.
Ronon sauntered off, knowing this was usually the point where the team whined and moaned about their mission. You know, they called it a briefing? He never really took part in those, anyways, so he tended to make himself scarce, and Elizabeth didn't seem to mind.
Teyla, at least, was there and had remained fairly calm, despite another bombed mission. Her hair was filled with soot from the Wraith dart the team downed, but she walked into the briefing room after them with a serene air about her, as usual.
"Well, can you tell me what you did find?" Elizabeth sat at the table and calmly stared at John as he moved to sit across from her, Rodney sitting on one side, and Teyla on the other. "I mean, were there ruins? A city?"
"Ruins." Rodney sighed. "Actually more like remains of ruins. The buildings were more or less destroyed, but there were some interesting artifacts I would have loved to bring back to be studied."
John nodded and pointed to Rodney. "What he said."
Elizabeth frowned a moment and seemed to think about it. "Do you think the Wraith will stay long? Could we return at a later date, if we wanted to?"
"What for? They'll probably have it picked clean by then."
"Rodney..."
"What? I'm serious. If you hadn't dragged me outta there, I might've been able to grab something."
With a loud groan, John rolled his eyes and reached into his pants pocket. Pulling his closed fist back out, he gave Rodney the evil eye. "And here I wanted to surprise everyone." He held his hand out to Rodney, and inside it was a necklace with a deep red ruby-like gem in the center. It was simple, with a golden clasp around the nickel-sized gem, and had smaller emeralds all around the ruby, in the gold clasp. The unusual thing was that the ruby had a black center, oval-shaped center, and it made it strangely look like an eye. "It was on the table, so I just grabbed it and stuffed it in my pocket."
"Well thank you." Rodney seemed a little mollified, but then frowned. "But I don't see what I can do with a necklace."
Shrugging, John grinned and took his hand back. He let the gorgeous pendant dangle from his hand, the long, thick, gold chain swaying a little, and the ruby reflecting off the light in the room. The reflection bounced off John's chest as he moved his hand around, eyeing the necklace, then, as he moved, it worked it's way up to his face, and caught him in the eye.
"Ow!" He winced and rubbed at his eye, dropping the necklace on to the table.
As he rubbed at his eye, Rodney stared at the necklace curiously, and before he knew what he was doing, he reached out and picked it up. "Huh, it is kinda pretty, I guess. Maybe I should run scans on it, just to be certain it's only a necklace?"
"Be my guest." John muttered, blinking his eye. "But if it is just a necklace, can I have it back?" He grinned at Rodney and winked. "I know the perfect person to give it to."
Elizabeth raised an eyebrow but remained quiet as Rodney fiddled with the necklace, and John watched. Teyla smiled a little at the boys, then turned to Elizabeth as the leader of Atlantis cleared her throat.
"Alright. We'll wait a while and see if the Wraith leave. If they do, I want you to go back and see what you can find." She gave Rodney a look. "Dismissed."
(The Next Day, John's POV)
Waking to the nice warm sun shining through my window, I sighed and stretched in my bed. Then I frowned. My eyes were still closed, but something clearly wasn't right. For one thing, my body wasn't laying on an even surface. For another, when I tried to scratch an itch on my arm, everything felt off.
Opening my eyes, I hissed and blinked out the bright sun. Then I blinked again in confusion, as what came out of my mouth sounded…well…not like me. Actually, it didn't even sound human. It sounded more...animalistic...? ...Cat-like, maybe...? Looking up, over my head, I felt my legs bend in a way that wasn't normal and ignored it to stare in horror at my arms. Instead of the long, lean arms I was used to, I was staring at two black, fur-covered paws. I couldn't even scream. My mind wasn't fully awake yet, and I was half wondering if maybe this was some sort of bad dream.
Then I noticed something out of my peripheral, and felt my eyes narrow.
Are those…whiskers…??
Finally my mind seemed to catch up to me, and I flipped over in my bed with a smoothness that left me even more stunned. I looked down at myself, and instead of my pajama-clad body, I was staring at the long, lean, black haired body of an animal. I tried to stand up, but I couldn't get upright, and it threw off my balance. I wasn't used to walking with four legs, and wobbled as I tried to get my balance so I could get to my mirror and see what the hell was going on. Luckily I was on my bed, so every time I fell, it didn't hurt.
This is too weird! This is too weird! My mind was chanting as I slowly learned to get my balance. Getting up, I jumped down off my bed, which seemed four times higher than it was supposed to be. I landed on the floor easily, and barely felt it as I bolted unsteadily for the bathroom. Once there, I jumped up onto the sink and looked into the mirror. HOLY HELL! I'M A FREAKING CAT!!!
If the situation wasn't so worrying, I probably would've been amused at the image of a cat staring back at me with impossibly wide green eyes and its jaw hanging open. I could only stand there, staring at myself in shock. My mind didn't want to register what I was seeing, and it ran from believing I was dreaming to wondering if I'd lost my mind, to debating the hundreds of ways to kill McKay for dragging us to that last planet.
I'm a freaking cat, I can claw his eyes out and run away and no one would ever know! I thought darkly, even as my door chimed. I opened my mouth to yell come in, forgetting my current situation, but instead of a human voice, all that came out was a loud 'Meow'. The door chimed again, and I frowned, wondering how to get their attention. Well, first I wondered who the hell was so insistent on seeing me, then I wondered why they were so insistent. I heard a voice, probably more clearly than I should have, and it was Teyla.
"John? Are you there?"
No, I suddenly got a pet cat. I thought dryly as I hopped down off the sink and landed with surprising ease on the floor. Damn! Cats have it good! Sauntering out into the main room, my stomach grumbled and I frowned suddenly, as I eyed the door. Oh, crap. How exactly am I supposed to get that open? Staring at the door a moment, I looked to the control panel and it was so high! Still, as a cat... I reared back, not really knowing or caring at the moment how I probably looked, and jumped up. Damn! Not quite. As I landed, I crouched down again and jumped a little harder. Almost.... I landed and glared at the door, accidentally forgetting myself and growling in irritation. Then I crouched even lower and jumped again. BINGO!
Luckily Atlantis seemed to read the hand in front of the door, instead of the ATA gene, only this time it was reading my currently furry head instead of my hand. The door slid open silently as I landed on the ground, and Teyla frowned at me in confusion.
Teyla! I opened my mouth to say her name and ended up growling when it seemed I couldn't get my mouth to form her name.
I wasn't sure what to expect, since we'd never had a chance to introduce a cat into Atlantis, or Ronon and Teyla to cats, other than in movies. What I didn't expect, however, was for Teyla to bend down and pick me up with a frown. I felt my eyes widen and jaw drop as I stared at her and she tilted her head to the side before grinning a little.
"Dr. McKay did not show up at breakfast this morning, and Dr. Zelenka reported him in the lab. They were working..." She looked like she was reciting. "And there was a bright flash of light. Then Dr. McKay was no where to be found, but a brown cat was in his place." She grinned. "It is....amusing, watching Rodney trying to type with his paws, and the glowers he gives everyone when they laugh."
What do you expect? I thought dryly. It's McKay.
"We assumed that whatever caused it was from the mission yesterday, and since neither Ronon nor myself have been affected..." She trailed off and elegantly raised an eyebrow. "Currently, Major Lorne is working with Elizabeth, Dr. Zelenka and Ronon to try and figure out what has caused this." She turned and began walking away from my room, shifting her hold on me until she could swipe her hand over the door control, closing the door.
If she knew all this, why didn't she just come in?? I thought in slight irritation, not really like having to be carried. Even if it was by a beautiful woman, although there was another woman I'd have preferred carry me. I wonder how she's taking this?
(Normal POV)
As Elizabeth sat in the conference room, she struggled not to laugh as a brown haired feline sat in front of Rodney's computer, his bright blue eyes scrutinizing the information scrolling across the screen. Every once in a while, he'd reach out with his paw and tap the enter button and watch the screen some more. Rolling his paw across the mouse pad now, he leaned over the computer and began typing away, and she lost it.
Of course, her laughter made him stop and look up in confusion, right before an indignant glare crossed his features. He leaned back and probably would have folded his arms if he could have.
She could just imagine the indignant thoughts, and tried to control her laughter. "I'm sorry, Rodney, but that's just…." She shook her head, knowing 'cute' would only offend him more. Then again, 'adorable', 'sweet' and 'funny' didn't seem like good choices either, and those were about the only words crossing her mind whenever she saw his paws moving away on the keyboard.
Shaking her head, Katie laughed, having been invited, since besides being a botanist, she knew quite a bit about cats. "It's cute."
"Only you, Rodney, could turn into a cat and would still want your computer, or find a way to type on it with paws." Elizabeth added ruefully. Just then the door opened and she looked up, watching as Teyla and Ronon walked in, a small black cat with green eyes in Teyla's arms. Immediately, she frowned. "So John's changed, too?" Of course she knew it was him. Rodney turned into a brown haired, blue eyed cat and was found in the lab by Radek. Teyla and Ronon were alright, so she was hopeful John would still be human to shed some light on what happened. Apparently, whatever caused the change, caused it in both John and Rodney.
Watching as John jumped unsteadily from Teyla's arms to land on the desk, rather ungracefully, she raised an eyebrow. He staggered a little, but seemed to quickly catch his balance, and walked forward, seemingly still learning to walk. Remembering this with Rodney, Elizabeth relaxed, realizing he was just getting used to four legs, instead of two.
"He had already changed, though I am not certain how he managed to open his door in this form." Teyla frowned in confusion before looking to Elizabeth as she sat down across from her.
Elizabeth tried to imagine how he managed that, and then mentally questioned why Teyla hadn't just gone in. Her mind flashed to John jumping up on something and across the panel, so it would read his body, but then she recalled a movie night he held there, and that there was nothing by the door. All the furniture was too big for a cat to move, so that wouldn't work either. Did he just jump? She could imagine him jumping over and over, reaching in vain for the door control, and glaring at it when he didn't make it. She couldn't help but grin at the image.
Rodney was typing away at his computer, and everyone turned to stare at him, including John. The room went deadly quiet for a moment, the only sound filling the air was his typing. Then he seemed to realize how quiet it was, and his ears went back as he slowly raised his head, an almost fearful look on his face, and his eyes impossibly wide. Right at that moment, practically the entire room began laughing, or chuckling quietly, everyone trying to stifle their amusement at the situation. Even John's shoulders shook at the situation, his eyes closed and a cute little kitty grin on his features.
Of course, noticing this, Elizabeth began laughing even harder, and clasped her hands to her sides as she struggled to breathe. It took a while before anyone stopped, and by this point, Rodney was laying on his stomach, not even bothering with the computer, and John was following his example, only laying on the table next to Elizabeth, where he would have been sitting if he were still human.
"I'm sorry, guys. Maybe it would be better if we met…alone." Elizabeth looked hesitant to say anything. She heard a 'meow' of protest from both boys, before John growled a little and laid his head down on his paws. She grinned and fought off the urge to reach out and run her hands over his silky-looking black fur. "Oh come on, don't get your fur in a bundle." She grinned cheekily at the glares she got.
"Yeah, we really don't need any cat fights." Ronon put in with clear amusement.
John glared at Ronon and briefly bared his fangs, then turned to Elizabeth, giving her an almost pleading look. If the big green eyes were daunting on John as a human, she had no hope in hell of resisting him as a cat. "Ok, fine. Let's just continue. Everyone's here, anyways." She looked to Radek, who had set up his own laptop next to Rodney and was currently looking at Rodney's. "Any ideas as to what caused this?"
"It looks like Rodney was working on analyzing the necklace Colonel Sheppard brought back yesterday." Radek reached over to type something on Rodney's computer, and Rodney spat at him and swiped at his hand angrily, causing Elizabeth to snort back a laugh, and Radek to yelp and pull away. "I only want to see what you found."
Rodney glared at him before pointedly turning to his computer, leaning forward and typing again, ignoring the laughter he got as he pulled back and looked smugly at Radek.
"Hmm… It seems the necklace was giving off faint energy readings that were undetectable without use of a computer." He frowned. "The energy matches things that were found P4M-669."
"I remember that he mentioned not getting anything because of the Wraith attack. Was it the necklace in particular that caused this?" Elizabeth frowned, her fingers twitching as she resisted the urge to pet the pretty relaxed-looking John next to her.
Radek typed on his own computer for a moment before shaking his head. "No, I do not think so. The energy is faint, not harmful to us in the least."
"But you think whatever caused it is back on the planet?"
"The planet's covered in Wraith." Ronon put in gruffly.
Teyla nodded and frowned. "And they destroy everything."
Sitting up straight, abruptly, Elizabeth frowned deeply. "We can't allow that. We need to find what caused this so we can tell if it's permanent, dangerous or what." Pursing her lips, she began thinking. "If the Wraith are still there, we'll need to be extra careful. The last thing we need is to lose more people." She felt something stir under her hand, and startled out of her thoughts, noticing everyone was watching her hand. Turning, she noticed she was petting John's back, and he looked quite relaxed.
Hell, he was purring.
"Sorry." She muttered, pulling her hand away and getting a small whine as John's green eyes opened a crack and turned to her. She hesitated a moment before putting her hand back, mentally forcing herself to pay attention as she stroked his warm back. "Alright, Ronon, Teyla, I want you two to put together a team of marines and go back to that planet. I want you to save what you can of the ruins, by any means necessary. Also, try not to touch anything, we don't know what caused this, or if it'll affect you too."
"If they go back now, we risk letting the cat out of the bag." Radek blushed at the grins he got from the humans, and the glare Rodney shot him. John was too relaxed to notice, it seemed. "Oh, uhm, excuse me. I meant that they will know we are after something."
"I understand, but we need to know what's going on. Teyla. Ronon. You have a go. Dismissed."
Everyone got up and began clearing out of the room. Rodney typed on his computer, shooting a black look at anyone who dared to laugh, and leaned back after hitting the enter key. Katie walked over to him and looked at the computer a moment before carefully picking it up and slinging it under her arm. Next, she picked up Rodney and cuddled him close to her chest, ignoring or not noticing the wide-eyed nearly panicked look on his face as he was pressed right against her chest.
Elizabeth hiccupped a giggle and covered her mouth, trying to make it look like a cough. When she looked around, she realized only her and John were left and she was still petting him. She allowed herself a moment to stroke the black fur along his back, marveling at it's warmth and softness. John's eyes were closed, and his head was down on his paws again. He wasn't even purring now, and when she pulled her hand away, he didn't protest.
Probably asleep.
Standing up quietly, she leaned over and carefully picked him up, trying not to disturb him too much. She felt him shift and tuck his little black head against her neck, and they were off.
(John's POV, Some time later)
Ok, so being a cat had it's down sides. I couldn't reach the food in the lunch room, unless I jumped up on the counter. And the staff forbade me from going in there, because they didn't want 'cat hair' on the food, since some people were allergic. Even after Ronon put in that he didn't think I was 'shedding', they insisted it was unsanitary, so I was banned.
Rodney, too, after he knocked over the third coffee pot to get to the coffee inside. I still think it was better than sticking his head in a glass mug, or drinking out of the coffee pot itself -both of which he'd tried already- but they didn't seem to notice that.
Luckily, we did have water dishes that were kept fresh and clean by our friends. Our meals were brought to us by our team, Katie, Radek or Elizabeth, since not everyone knew about Rodney's allergy to citrus. Katie took to looking after Rodney, even if he was constantly in a black mood for having to wear a flea collar, and be brushed, all the time. She adored what was going on, and doted on him, which he did enjoy, even if it made him look pretty awkward.
Elizabeth looked after me, and it was nice to have the freedom not to have to wear a flea collar, or be brushed ten times a day. It was awkward when she'd give in to the urge to pet me, or stare at me with such an affectionate look, but it was nice.
I couldn't go to the gun range, however, since two marines came in to watch me struggling to hold a gun upright -though the butt was against the table for support- and aiming at the target. I had the back of the gun pressed against my chest, and both paws wrapped around the part where the trigger was, and hey, the gun was empty. Did you really expect me to work with a loaded gun?? I guess Elizabeth didn't tell them the situation, because one promptly pulled a gun on me, and the other dropped to the ground in a dead faint. The fainting was kind of funny, though. Then, of course, Ronon walked in and explained it to them after laughing his ass off at the explanation he got from the one conscious marine.
He told Elizabeth about that, and it was her who forbade me going on missions, or trying to train at all.
It didn't help Lorne came in after a light training session, sporting a number of scratches and bites and whining about me jumping at him for no reason. I'd thought we were sparring. So I couldn't throw him over my shoulder, I could still kick his ass!
And Teyla still hasn't stopped laughing about me trying to grab a bantos stick with my mouth. I'd tried my paws, but they wouldn't grip the stick right. And don't even bother to ask why I picked it up in my mouth, I just felt this overwhelming urge to do so. Maybe not surprisingly, it didn' taste very good.
On the upside, when I ran with Ronon, I beat him easily. One of the advantages of having four legs, I guess. Not to mention, I also figured out my balance issues, so that was no problem, either. I could run faster and jump higher. Ok, so you're probably wondering why I'm trying all this stuff. I'm a soldier. Plain and simple. I'm a fighter. Cat body or not, I'm not about to give up on my training so easily. Besides, this was all done on an alien world, so who knew what I was capable of.
Oh, and this all took place after they returned from their scout mission last night. They Wraith had thinned out a great deal, but there were still a couple of guards, and it didn't look like they were going to destroy the place, but Elizabeth ordered a watch of the gate and ruins, just in case. I still don't get how they didn't hear the gate dialing in, or it didn't register on their equipment. Then again, Rodney had mentioned a radiation field that was harmless to us over a short period of time, but it would block our sensors from reading anything beyond the ruins. It was only because the Wraith came into the ruins that we were notified about their arrival.
"Hey, John." Elizabeth walked into the room and sighed as she flopped down onto her bed, laying back a moment before sitting up and looking at me.
"Meow"
Ok, I didn't like this. Sure, I loved the attention, and I could imagine how hilarious some of this was, but not being able to talk to people, or communicate… Elizabeth smiled, and I wished I could talk to her.
"How're you feeling?"
I could only cock my head. I couldn't even raise an eyebrow!
Laughing a little, she shook her head and sat down on her bed. We were in her room, where she'd been taking care of me. "Sorry. I can't seem to get used to the idea that you can't talk." She reached over and patted my back lightly. Then a look of curiosity came over her face and she reached up to my cheek. Gently she brushed her hand along the length of my whiskers, and smiled at my response.
I couldn't help it. The sensation was the cross between a caress and a tickle, and my lip pulled up and back of it's own accord, baring a couple of my teeth. Right about now is where I'd be raising an eyebrow, but since I couldn't, I settled for just looking at her curiously, despite the fact she was still dragging her fingers through my whiskers.
"You've always had whiskers." She grinned as she leaned back on her bed, sporting her upper body against the headboard. "But now you've got whiskers."
I would have probably given her a funny look, if I could. Then again, I think it worked, anyways, because she began laughing lightly and shook her head.
"Sorry. Look, I know it all looks like we're having fun at your situation, but we really are trying to help. It doesn't help you're being absolutely adorable." She reached out and ran a single finger down my back, and I couldn't help the tiny shiver than ran through me.
The door chimed, and Elizabeth startled. Sitting up straight, she adjusted her jacket. "Come in."
The door opened and Ronon walked in. Looking at me, he grinned. "You look like the cat that just ate the canary." Then he frowned and turned to Elizabeth. "What's a canary?"
I dropped my head on the bed, ignoring her laughter as she explained it to him, and covering my ears with my paws.
"Oh. Huh, I came in to let you know, Zelenka's found something." With that, he turned and left, still chuckling away.
"Well, that's news." Elizabeth stood up. Turning to me, she seemed to hesitate. "I don't know if it's a good idea to invite Rodney or not. I don't think I'd be able to help but laugh at him if he's still insisting on doing Rodney things." She paused for a moment and pursed her lips. "Did he ever stop trying to drink the coffee straight out of the pot?"
I grinned and nodded.
Grinning back, Elizabeth shook her head. "Alright. Come on, then. We'd better go see what Radek figured out."
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Ok, I'm not sure how this turned out. It came out a lot longer than anticipated. O.o Hope you like it...? (And yes, there is more)
Written November 21, 2008
R+R please
Thank you
Tenshi