Puppy - Raw
Jan. 23rd, 2006 11:02 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
zanOkay, this is my SGA fanfic. Tentatively Rodney/Carson...if it works. This is for everyone at Fandomtropolis.
Where Rodney was involved, Carson had grown adept at smelling trouble. It was with a growing unease, then, and an itching nose, that he followed the team into town. They hadn’t told him why he’d been requested. Something about a “checkup”. On who, though, he had yet to see. Apparently none of the people that were standing in their doorways whispering and pointing.
Finally, after a few minutes, they reached a large house that seemed to be the center of activity. Colonel Sheppard knocked briefly and waited for a response.
“Colonel,” Carson said, looking expectantly at the man. “What am I doing here?”
“Well, you’d have to ask Rodney that. It was his idea.” Carson’s nose itched again, and he resisted the urge to scratch it. Turning towards his friend, he gave the man a severe look.
“Rodney…”
Before the other man could respond, the door opened and they were invited inside. Greeting and introductions were exchanged, but Carson only paid the most cursory attention. He was more focused on the health of the people he was being introduced to and searching for his patient. Finally, when no one new seemed to be coming, he turned to Rodney. He was about to ask Rodney again when a sharp pain on his leg interrupted him.
“Oww, bloody—” He bit back the curse and jumped back away from the source of his pain. Looking down and expecting to see some horrible monster, he was mildly disappointed. In place of a monster was a small puppy. It had a white coat with streaks of black and what looked like blue. Its features were similar to that of a Husky, though its paws were definitely bigger than the average Husky puppy. Bending down to introduce himself to the puppy (and getting his fingers chewed on for his trouble), his nose started twitching. Soon enough, it was itching uncontrollably and he stood up fast. His movement caused the puppy to jump back a few paces and yip at him.
“Rodney…” The man stepped a pace back and started waving his hands around.
“It’s not what you think, Carson.”
“Don’t be daft, it’s exactly what I think. None of the people are my patient. The dog is. You want to bring a pet back to Atlantis. And you want me to give it its shots!”
The dog’s people were obviously lost, but one of the men picked the puppy up and stepped forward.
“This one would be honored to grow with you.”
Carson just shook his head, closed his eyes, and pinched his nose.
“It’s not for me, Carson. It’s for Elizabeth.” At that, Carson opened his eyes and gave Rodney a questioning glance. Rodney wasn’t usually known for selfless acts. Taking Carson’s lack of reply as encouragement, Rodney continued. “Her dog died while we were in Pegasus.”
Carson nodded, though Colonel Sheppard and Teyla still looked confused. Rodney had always been more of an animal person than a people person.
Sighing heavily, he finally nodded again, conveying his agreement. Rodney lighted up at this. Carson stepped forward, took the dog and started to examine it.
“I’m not a bloody vet, though. You should have asked Dr. Monroe.”
The rebuke didn’t dim Rodney’s enthusiasm at all. Instead, he replied, “Why settle for less than the best?”
The praise was hardly warranted, considering he was a human doctor, but still, Carson smiled.
After a brief check for the more obvious signs of puppy disease and a check for gender, Carson took the puppy in his arms and stood. Addressing the man who had offered the puppy, Carson asked after diet.
“She will eat red meat, of course, and fish. There are some grains that she should eat that will help her digestion. We can give you a location and description of these.”
“Well, fish won’t be a problem,” Carson said. “We live near the water and there is abundant fish. Red meat, though…” He trailed off. They’d had enough, barely, to feed themselves. With the arrival of the Daedalus, there was more food, but most of the ship’s space was taken for technology and personnel.
The man looked at him in surprise. “Oh, then we will add those locations to the list, as well. We know of many planets that are, for one reason or another, unsuitable for human habitation, but that are filled with game. When humans are not there to take what is offered, there is more to be found.”
Finally, there was one last question. “What is her name?”
His question was met with confusion. “Why would we give her a name? You will be her people. You and she will discover her name.”
A rather cryptic form of ‘you name her’, Carson supposed.
A few minutes later they had the dog on some kind of leash setup and were walking back to the Gate. Carson, of course, had the other end of the leash. It was a fact for which he'd be most happy to cause Rodney some pain during his next exam. The puppy was running back and forth, examining each new thing they came across. Here, it was some kind of native form of butterfly. There, it was a large tree. Here, a flower bed. There, an herbivore munching on the grass.
By the time they'd gotten to the Gate, Carson was sure that he'd walked twice as far as any of the others, trying to chase after the puppy. She was quite oblivious to the people she was being led by, other than the occasional gnawing of shoes, pants, or leg. She was enthralled when Rodney activated the Gate, stilling as she hadn't since Carson had met her. Sniffing carefully at the event horizon, she gave Carson a questioning stare.
"Fine, then, love," he said, picking her up. "We'll go through together."
Coming through on the Atlantis side of the Gate, Carson tensed. Elizabeth was there to meet them. And, by the look on her face, Rodney had decided to give her the puppy as a surprise gift.
"Carson, what in the hell do you think you're doing with--"
"Don't blame me,” he said, raising the hand not holding the puppy up in defense. “It's all Rodney's fault."
Her glare turned towards Rodney, but the man just ignored it and took the puppy from Carson's arms.
"You said that you missed Sedge. When we got to the planet, we saw these," he said, jostling the puppy in his arms. "They appear pretty intelligent, for dogs, and Carson says that she's harmless."
At this, Carson almost interrupted, saying that he hadn't said any such thing and hadn't done anything more than a cursory exam. Then he saw Elizabeth's face. A dramatic change had taken place in her. Instead of the scowl she'd had on her face when they first came through the Gate, she had a wistful smile. She'd stepped close to Rodney and the puppy and had started petting her. Her smile widened when the puppy started licking and then chewing her hand.
"What's her name?" Elizabeth asked, still entranced.
"She doesn't have one, yet," Rodney said. "Something about the two of you choosing her name, or something."
"May I?" Elizabeth asked, gently taking hold of the puppy. Rodney released his hold and turned and gave Carson a pleased grin. A silent I told you so passed between them and Carson nodded, accepting the fact that Rodney had been right. This was a good idea. They were all so focused on Elizabeth and her new companion that most of the group was startled when a low growl of a voice interrupted the moment.
"Colonel Sheppard." Carson jumped and he was pleased to see Rodney and Elizabeth do the same. Sheppard and Teyla, of course, didn't so much as twitch. The puppy, on the other hand, jumped out of Elizabeth's arms and ran toward the direction of one of the doors. With a quick glance back at the group and a burst of yaps at Ronon, she turned back and ran out of the room.
"C'mere, girl," Elizabeth called, following the puppy.
"Nice going," Rodney said.
"What did I do?" Ronon asked, looking toward where the puppy and Elizabeth had gone.
"Ahh, don't worry, lad," Carson said. "Elizabeth is bound to find her. If not someone else. How many puppies are on Atlantis, anyway? She'll come back when she gets hungry."
Sheppard and Ronon left. Carson headed in the direction of his lab, Rodney following and chattering away.
"Did you see that? She liked it. She really liked it. I thought it would be a good idea. I mean, I'd love to have my cat here. But I wasn't sure she'd actually want another dog once she was faced with the possibility."
"Yes, Rodney," Carson said, humoring him. Stepping into his office, he wasn't surprised to see Rodney follow. Sighing, Carson maneuvered Rodney into one of the chairs.
"You don't think she'll get into too much trouble, do you?"
"Not likely. I'm sure a few things will be chewed on when she's through, but if it's anything important, your people will find out almost immediately and then we'll know where she is."
"Right. Like you said earlier, once she gets hungry, she'll come back, right?"
"Yes, Rodney," Carson said again. Rodney always worried about the smallest things. "Dogs are generally pretty smart. Once they determine their territory, they explore that territory and then pretty much stay inside it. Or so I hear. She's likely to do some exploring and learn where things are in the city and then come back and find civilization. Not to mention food and fresh water."
"Good, good."
They spent a few minutes in silence, Carson puttering around taking care of some busy work that had appeared during his absence off-world and Rodney just sitting and grinning. Finally, Carson couldn't stand the silence coming from his normally talkative friend.
"What?"
"What, what?" Rodney replied, his grin growing wider.
"You have something to say, Rodney. Despite your quiet appearance, you have some comment that's just brimming in your head. Get it out already and quit bothering me."
"I couldn't help but notice that she spent a lot of time with you."
"She was on a leash, Rodney."
"No, I mean, straight from the start. She never spent as much time with anyone else."
"And your point is?"
"I think she's found her security blanket. Or chewing toy, I'm sure sure which."
Carson just sighed and shook his head.
***
She was walking on a deserted planet. She called out, but only her echo responded. She kept walking. Eventually, she came upon a dense forest. Noticing a path through the darkness, she followed it, calling out to anyone who might answer. Finally, she reached a clearing. In the clearing was a swingset with a small girl on one of the two seats.
"Hello," she said to the girl.
"Hello," the girl replied, smiling up at her cheerfully.
"What's your name?" she asked, sitting down on the other seat and gently starting to swing.
"Noa."
"Well, I'm pleased to meet you, Noa," she said, introducing herself.
"Me, too," Noa said. After a minute, Noa jumped off of the swing and ran down another path. She followed.
"Noa!" she called. "It might not be safe, here."
"Of course it's safe," was the reply. Turning around, she saw Noa behind her.
"How can you be sure?"
"This is my place. Nothing can hurt me here."
"How'd I get here, then? I don't remember. Did I come through the Stargate?"
"Of course not. That would be silly. You can't get here through the Ring. I brought you here."
"Why?"
"To have you help me with my name."
"But you already have a name."
"I didn't before you came here." And then Noa was off again, running off of the path into the woods.
It took a while, but eventually she found Noa at the edge of a lake. Kneeling down, she cupped her hands and filled them with water. Sipping from her hands, she turned to Noa.
"Who are you?"
"A friend. I hope. They told me I'd be safe here."
"Who are they?"
"They were my friends, my family. You're my family now." Noa paused a moment, cocking her head as if listening to something. "Oh, time to wake up now."
"What?" she asked, but it was futile. Already, the world was disappearing around her.
***
Grumbling to himself about early morning briefings, Carson toweled himself off. Fumbling around for his clothes, he put them on an article at a time until he got to his shoes. He reached for the pair he had worn the previous day.
"Bloody hell," he shouted, when he’d retrieved the shoes. They'd been chewed within an inch of their lives. Obviously, the puppy had struck in the middle of the night. The question was, how? The doors had to be opened either by someone with the gene or with by swiping a hand in front of the sensors next to each door. Grumbling now about the eating habits of puppies, Carson picked out another set of shoes and finished getting ready.
It was when he got to the briefing that Carson realized he hadn't been the only nocturnal victim.
"This is unnaceptable, Dr. Weir," Colonel Caldwell was saying. "This is a military base and we can't have animals running around."
"This is as much a city as it is a military base. Are you going to say that we can't have the Athosians running around, either?"
"That's not what I mean."
Elizabeth was glaring at Caldwell, her hands on her hips. Caldwell, for his part, was glaring back. Sneaking a quick look at the man's shoes, Carson snorted. They were covered in bite marks.
"I take it you received a late-night visit from our newest inhabitant?"
"Yes. How did you survive?" Caldwell asked, taking his own look at Carson's shoes.
"Oh, I didn't," Carson said, chuckling. "Apparently she was only fond of one of my pairs of shoes."
"Lucky for you. She apparently has a taste for dress shoes." Caldwell scowled and left.
"I'm sorry, Carson," Elizabeth said.
"Don’t worry about it. I'll just make sure to keep the rest of my shoes on high ground. What'd I'd like to know is how she got into my room."
“She doesn’t have the gene, does she?” Rodney’s voice said from behind him. He turned around to see Rodney and Colonel Sheppard grinning at each other.
“Unless she’s a werewolf, Rodney, I highly doubt it. I want to run a more complete workup on her, though. If we know where she’s gotten to?” This last question was directed at Elizabeth, who nodded her head.
“Noa’s was in my room, the last I checked. And before you ask,” she said, seeing Carson start to speak, “I don’t know how she got in. Or, for that matter, how she knew where my room was.”
“You named her,” Rodney said, bouncing happily.
“Maybe she named herself. There was this dream….” She trailed off, apparently lost in thought. Shaking her head, after a moment, she continued. “But, yes, she has a name.”
“Good, good,” Rodney said, bouncing again.
“Now,” Elizabeth said, seeing Teyla and Ronon walk in, “there’s a mission I’d like to propose. You remember P5X-449?”
“The planet with the people who’d been screwed over by the Genii?” Colonel Sheppard asked.
“Yes, well, it seems that they’ve acquired refugees from another planet who’ve also had ‘dealings’ with the Genii. The refugees have indicated to one of the off-world teams that their home planet could use some medical assistance. In return,” she said, slight distaste in her voice, “they’ve offered the location of what they think might be another Ancient outpost.”
“What kind of injuries are we looking at?” Carson asked.
“Mostly bruises and abrasions, from what I’ve heard,” Elizabeth said. “Some gunshot wounds. Nothing critical, but far too many for the local healer to deal with on his own.”
Carson nodded, mentally preparing a list of supplies and personel they’d need to take with them.
“How many people were injured?”
Elizabeth paused for a moment, looking at the report in from of her. “About forty,” she said finally, and Carson finished his calculations. Four doctors and maybe five or six nurses should be enough, especially since the planet’s healer was likely to help.
“How long do we have?” Colonel Sheppard put in.
“About four hours. I’m sorry for the late notice, but Major Lorne’s team just brought back the news.”
“It’s fine, Elizabeth,” John said, looking around the table at the nods of the rest of the team.
“All right then, gentlemen, Teyla. I think you have work to do.” Elizabeth stood up and motioned for Carson to stay behind.
“Do you think you can manage to give Noa an exam before you leave?”
Crossing his fingers behind his back, Carson nodded. “It’s going to be tight, but I can leave most of the preparation for what we’ll need to bring with the rest of the doctors and nurses that will come off-world. We’ll probably have to do some of the longer tests when we come back.”
“That’s fine,” Elizabeth said. “I just want to make sure she doesn’t have the Pegasus version of worms or something.”
“I still don’t see why everyone insists that I do the exam instead of one of the actual vets.”
Elizabeth smiled and patted his arm. “Because you’re the best.”
“Aye, that’s what Rodney said, too. I don’t believe it from him, either.” Shaking his head and giving a resigned sigh, Carson chuckled slightly and took Elizabeth’s arm in his own.
“Shall we try to find the pup, then, lass?”
“Sounds good to me,” Elizabeth said and the pair of them walked through the halls to her room.
“Stay here,” Carson said, gesturing to the door. “She may not feel like coming along. If you stand in front of the door, she won’t be able to escape.” Elizabeth nodded her agreement and Carson swiped his hand in front of the sensor. Preparing himself for several sweeps of Elizabeth’s rooms, in search of the rambunctious puppy, he was rather surprised to see her sitting right at the entrance. A moment later, she was sniffing at Elizabeth’s feet.
“Well, that was easy,” she said.
“Too easy,” Carson muttered and glared darkly at the puppy, who had progressed from sniffing Elizabeth’s feet to chewing on Carson’s feet. Damn Rodney was right. She had picked him as her chewtoy. Keeping his scowl firmly in place, he bent down and picked her up. Her tongue was wet, he noticed a minute later. So was his face. His glare kept threatening to turn into a grin. It was like she knew the best way to make him happy!happy!happy!
Groaning, Carson said, “I’m in trouble, aren’t I?”
“Not from where I’m standing,” Elizabeth replied. “Though I’m not sure whether I’m jealous or relieved that you’re getting all of the attention.”
“Relieved. You got a warm animal to cuddle and I get chewed shoes. No competition. And,” he said, seeing her start to laugh, “I will personally make sure she decides you make a better chewtoy than I do if you don’t stop laughing right this minute.”
Elizabeth schooled her features into the pleasant diplomat. Carson snorted. “Thank you. I think we’ll be fine from here. Do you want me to bring her back or—?”
“No, let her run around. I think we’ve already proven she can get through the doors if she wants to. And—“ she said, hesitantly, “as absurd as it sounds, check her out for the ATA gene?”
Carson nodded, ruffling Noa’s fur. “I’ll do that, then. Now I have to go. Preparations to make. Vet duties to take care of.”
“Good luck,” she said, kissing Noa on her head.
A few minutes later, Carson had reached Dr. Monroe’s office.
“Dr. Beckett,” the man said, taking in the Carson and the squirming puppy. “What can I do for you?”
Sighing heavily, Carson put Noa on the floor with a firm warning to stay in the area. Dr. Monroe chuckled at the order.
“She’s a puppy. She’s not going to pay attention to you, even if she could understand.”
“She’s better bloody well pay attention,” Carson muttered quietly. Returning his attention to Monroe, he said, “I need a favor. For some reason, everybody’s decided that I’m qualified to do examinations on the pup. I’m certainly not. Especially when I have a mission to prepare for. Would you mind doing her initial exam?”
Carson saw Monroe’s face light up.
“Examine a new species of canine? You have to be joking. I’d love to.”
It was with a slightly guilty conscience that Carson left Noa in Monroe’s care, but he told himself that it was for the best and that Noa was in the care of someone who had been trained in the correct field.
***
“Zdravíčko.” Radek hadn’t turned around at the sound at the sound of the sneeze, but after a moment without a “thanks” of any sort, he looked behind him for the source of the sound. Not noticing anyone, he shrugged it off and went on with his work. A few minutes later, there was another sneeze. He blessed the person again and half-listened for a response. Hearing nothing again, he turned and took another glance around the room. There was no one there.
Grumbling about pranksters, he returned to the console in front of him, but kept an ear out for the mysterious sneezer. A few more minutes and he was rewarded by another sneeze. This time, he honed in on the sound and followed it back to its source. Which appeared to be, surprisingly enough, a dog.
“Vypadni!” he said, attempting to shoo the dog out of the room. She rolled her eyes up to him, gave a small snort, and then put her head back on the ground. “Fine,” he said, scowling at the puppy. “But if you chew anything, you’re going to have to deal with McKay.”
Twenty minutes later, the dog hadn’t moved and Radek felt confident enough to leave for a few minutes to go get some equipment from one of the other labs. He ran into Elizabeth on the way back and they talked about what he was working on. He mentioned his newest visitor and her expressioned softened from her normal work demeanor.
“Has Noa been getting into trouble?” she asked as they reached the area Radek had been working on.
“No. She’s behaved perfectly,” he said, activating the sensor in front of the door. Whatever he would have said next got lost as he took in the disaster that had been his pet project. Cables were strewn everywhere. The coffee cup that he had carefully placed away from the electronics was now next to the door Radek had just opened and the cup’s contents were mostly on his laptop. He heard a small choked sound behind him and he looked reprovingly at Elizabeth.
“This is not funny. Days of work ruined.” Her choked laughter grew louder and she just pointed back into the room. Bracing himself for the horror he knew was behind him, he turned around and saw the puppy. She was in exactly the same position he had left her in with one exception. She had a pillow. Radek’s jacket. Pinching his nose, he glared at the puppy and pointed at the door. “Ven!”
Noa got to her feet slowly and slunk out between Elizabeth and Radek, her tail between her legs. Radek could tell she was very sorry and almost called her back, but there had to be rules and she couldn’t teethe on the computer cables.
“I’m sorry,” Elizabeth said, still chuckling.
“Oh well,” Radek said, shaking his head at the mess. “Nothing to do about it now. Next time, she’ll just have Rodney to deal with.”
“C’mon,” Elizabeth said, gesturing at the mess. “Let’s clean up.”
***
The next morning, Carson stumbled out of bed. It had been a long day. There’d been more people than Elizabeth had thought. People from other planets had trickled in. More people that the Genii had attacked. After showering and getting dressed, he hesitating. Bracing himself, he reached for the pair of shoes he had worn the day before. Breathing a sigh of relief at their intact condition, he put them on and headed to the control room.
“This has got to stop, Elizabeth,” he heard as neared his destination.
“I believe you said that Noa was your idea, Rodney,” she replied. He raised his eyebrows at her as he walked into the room.
“Is there a problem?”
Elizabeth gave him a small smile as Rodney turned around and glared.
“This is all your fault.”
Carson narrowed his eyes. “What, exactly, is my fault?”
“Noa. She ruined weeks of work yesterday.”
“And how is that my fault? If I recall, you all but begged me to bring her back with us. In fact, that was the only reason I went to that damn planet in the first place. So don’t you go placing the blame on me.” The last few words were punctuated by pokes to Rodney’s chest.
“But, but…”
The sad little expression on Rodney’s face was almost enough to make Carson just forgive him, but one look into Rodney’s eyes, and the calculating look therein, and Carson’s resolve hardened.
“No, lad. This is all your fault. In fact, I’m now playing puppy-doctor thanks to you.” He took a step in towards Rodney and hid a grin as Rodney took a step back. “If anyone should be irritable, I should. And I am, Rodney. Irritable.”
Carson didn’t move, but Rodney took another step back and started looking around the room for help. Elizabeth just shook her head and the other people in the room had made a concerted effort to look busy. Rodney turned back to Carson and his eyes widened and he took another step back.
“Now, Carson…. Be reasonable.”
“No, I don’t think I will. All I did was go to that damn planet to help you and you’re here blaming me for what was your idea—“ He was cut off by a short bark. Turning, he saw Noa sitting by the stairs leading into the gateroom. He sighed and bent down, calling her over. She headed in his direction, but at the last minute, swerved and headed to Rodney. Shoving her head under his hand, she sat down.
A look of surprise flickered across Rodney’s face before it twisted into one of its normal, smug expressions. The hand on top of Noa was moving, scratching behind her ears. As Carson’s gaze led to Noa, he started. It was impossible, but she almost looked as if she were glaring at him. A moment after their eyes met, she snorted, shook herself off and left, giving Rodney’s hand a quick lick.
“That is the oddest dog,” he mused. Turning his attention back to the conversation that had started without him, he promptly forgot about Noa’s odd behavior.
***
After more reports of Noa-sightings in places she couldn’t have gotten to on her own, Rodney set out to find Carson to check on the results of her exams. She wasn’t small enough to sneak in behind a person entering a closed room without that person knowing about it. He’d checked the usual places: the lab, Carson’s office, Carson’s room..even that spot he liked out by the west pier. Eventually, he headed back to the control room.
“Elizabeth?”
She looked up from the monitor she was examining.
“Something I can help you with, Rodney?”
“I’m looking for Carson. Have you seen him?”
Shaking her head, she said, “Not for a while. He’s not in his lab?”
“I’ve looked everwhere.” A yip at his feet caused him to look down. Once she had his attention, Noa ran for the nearest exit.
Looking up to Elizabeth and shrugging, Rodney said, “I’ll suppose I’ll see if Lassie can find him. It’ll keep her away from my computers, if nothing else.”
He heard laughter behind him and smiled in spite of himself. She’d actually been getting better about chewing on computer equipment. She was still chewing on Caldwell’s shoes every time he was on Atlantis, but that was Caldwell.
About ten minutes later, he was standing in front of the recently-dubbed “Entertainment Room”. Game consoles and a DVD/VCR combo had been hooked up to one of the city’s monitors and various chairs and couches were strewn across the room. Noa walked quietly up to one of the couches and looked up at Rodney. Following, Rodney looked down and saw Carson. Snoring softly, the man looked perfectly content. Afraid to wake him, Rodney carefully sat down, leaning his back against the edge of the couch and shifting slightly to get comfortable. Noa took this as her cue to lie down as well, head on top of Rodney’s stomach. Taking the remote that had fallen on the floor, he restarted the movie.
Two hours later, he started to get up, but a hand on his shoulder stopped him.
“We could watch another if you want.”
Rodney turned his head and gave a mock glare. “How long have you been awake?”
“Long enough,” Carson said, pointedly looking down at Noa and the hand absently scratching her head. Rodney followed the look down and flushed guiltily, glad for the dark room.
“Fine, I’m a softie at heart. Happy?” He didn’t dare look back, but he heard the laughter behind Carson’s reply.
“Just put on another movie, Rodney. We’ll go get dinner when it’s done.”
“Ooh, dinner and a movie, Carson. You’ll give me the wrong idea.”
“Rodney,” Carson said, a warning in his voice. Wearing a self-satisfied smile, Rodney hit the disk changer to put on another movie and settled back down into his seat, warm hand still on his shoulder and warm head on his stomach.
***
Most people had fallen instantly for Noa’s charms. Cute dog, intelligent, didn’t make much of a mess of herself. Of course, there were always exceptions. Ronon, most notably, hadn’t fallen head over heels for her. He didn’t neccesarily dislike her, but he certainly didn’t fawn over her like everyone else in Atlantis. Of course, that could be because every time he went into a room she was in, she ran out.
Like today. He’d gone in for an exam with Dr. Beckett and half of his nurses were crowded over Noa. The minute she’d seen him, she’d gone running under the nurses’ legs and headed for the door. Ronon growled as his gaze followed her exit. Instantly, she stopped, skidding a bit on the floor. Turning, she started yapping at him. He just crossed his arms across his chest and narrowed his eyes. She moved back toward him and yapped even harder.
“I’ve seen scarier than you.”
His rumble this time was trying to hide laughter. She looked indignant, like he should have been scared of her and she couldn’t believe he wasn’t. She emitted a high-pitched growl and attacked his pant leg. Sighing, he grabbed her by the scruff of the neck and picked her up. Glaring at her, he growled again.
“You pick now to decide you like me?”
“Ronon, put her down.” Beckett had come in and was looking at the two of them with amusement clear in his face.
“Not until she decides to continue avoiding me. I’m much scarier than she is. And I bite.”
A sudden wet spot on his face caused him to drop Noa. She yipped happily and ran out of the room. Wiping dog slobber off of his face, Ronon turned his glare to Beckett. “Not a word, Doc.”
“My lips are sealed, lad.”
***
***
Three weeks later, Noa had made herself a home on Atlantis. They still had no idea how she was able to enter doors in Atlantis. The general consensus was that she jumped up to reach the sensors, though no one had caught her doing it. They didn’t know how she’d figured out the sensors, either, though everyone had pretty much accepted that she was exceptionally intelligent for a dog.
Most people had fallen instantly for Noa’s charms. Cute dog, intelligent, didn’t make much of a mess of herself. Of course, there were always exceptions. Ronon, most notably, hadn’t fallen head over heels for her. He didn’t neccesarily dislike her, but he certainly didn’t fawn over her like everyone else in Atlantis.
It was early morning and he was making his normal rounds. He trusted the marines, of course, but it never hurt to be cautious. It was halfway through his final circuit that he heard it. A soft whispering voice. He tried to track the sound, but it sounded like it was coming from nowhere and everywhere at once. He continued on the circuit, but ten minutes later, he stopped again. The voice was following him and it was getting louder. He tried searching again and found nothing. Growling to himself, he continued on. So lost in thought, he didn’t notice Noa was following him until he almost tripped on her.
He almost yelled at her, but all of a sudden the voice came back clearer than ever.
“Unca! Unca! C’mon, Unca!”
He whirled around, trying to find the source of the voice. All he saw was Noa.
“Unca Scary! C’mon, Unca, let’s go!”
His eyes narrowed at his apparent description. “Scary. I’ll show you scary. Come out and face me and I’ll show you how scary I can be.”
“Don’t be silly, Unca Scary. C’mon. Don’t stop.”
Keeping a close watch on things around him, he headed to the control room. Upon entering, he turned his glare on Dr. Weir.
“There’s a voice following me.”
She exchanged a glance with the tech she’d been talking to and then started looking around.
“I don’t see anything.”
“Of course not. If something had been following me, I would have said that. It’s nothing but a voice. A voice that called me Uncle Scary.”
Elizabeth tried to stifle her laughter and Ronon just glared at her.
“Mama,” a voice said, and Ronon smirked when he saw Elizabeth whirl around in confusion. “Mama, I wanna play!”
“Who’s there?” Elizabeth asked, continuing to look around her. Noa came up to her and Elizabeth bent down and started absently petting Noa’s head.
“C’mon Mama! Unca Scary won’t play and Unca Poppa yells when I try to play with him. Unca Radek’s not gonna play and no one else is here.”
Elizabeth still looked confused until a brief jerk on her hand caused her to notice that Noa had taken Elizabeth’s hand in her jaws and was trying to drag Elizabeth somewhere.
“Noa?”
“Yes, Mama?” And she let go of Elizabeth’s hand and sat down.
Elizabeth looked like she needed a seat herself and the tech she’d been talking to stood up and let her have his chair. She sat down heavily and looked at Ronon.
“Does thing happen offten in the Pegasus Galaxy?”
“Thing?”
“Sentient animals.”
“Never.”
“Oh, good, you’re here,” Rodney said, bounding up the stairs, his arms full of papers. “I have something to show you.”
“Unca Poppa!” The voice was more a yell, now, than it had been before and it was obvious that it was coming from Noa. She had stood up and ran to Rodney, jumping on his stomach and causing him to lose control of his papers. He screamed, short and high, and fell on his butt. Noa took advantage of the fact and started to lick his face.
“Off, Noa,” he said and tried pushing her away. That only caused her to change positions. Instead of strattling him, she sat on his chest. “Oh, very funny. Get off”
“No.”
The answer shut him up completely for a moment and he moved his head enough to look in Elizabeth’s direction.
“Nice. Who’s the ventriloquist?”
“What’s that, Unca Poppa?” Noa asked before Elizabeth had a chance to answer.
“What’s what?” he asked, distractedly.
“A ventrilo-something.”
“Ventriloquist. Someone who can make a voice sound like it’s coming from someone or something that it’s not. And I can’t believe I’m talking to you like you’re actually the one talking,” he said, frowning in Noa’s direction. The two had a silent stare-off for a minute before Rodney groaned. “Fine, fine, you’re talking. Now will you please let me up. You made me drop the research I was going to show Elizabeth.”
“But I wanna play!”
“I’ll make you a deal. You let me show this stuff to Elizabeth,” he said, shrugging his shoulders like he was trying to point to the paperwork, “and I’ll fly a Jumper out to the mainland and you can go play with Jinto and his friends.”
Noa cocked her head for a moment, thinking about it, before jerking her head down once in a makeshift nod and moving off of Rodney. He groaned again when her paws dug into his stomach and then sat up and started gathering his papers together.
“You seem remarkably unphased about this whole thing, Rodney,” Elizabeth said.
”Need I remind you about the alien vampires? And that’s nothing compared with some of the stuff I’ve read about in the reports from the SGC. Talking dogs are new, I suppose, but not exactly unprecedented. And besides,” he said, pausing. “If I think about it too much, I’m going to start panicking for a good hour or two and I really need to show you this.”
“All right, then,” she said, as Rodney got to his feet. “Come show me.”
The pair walked into the office, leaving Ronon and Noa alone in the control room. Ronon started to leave, but was interrupted by Noa.
“Where are you going, Unca Scary?”
“Food.” He looked behind him and saw her ears perk up. Sighing, he motioned for her to follow him.
Twenty minutes later, Ronon had two large plates full of food. One for himseld and one for Noa. The entire trip, she’d been asking him questions. “Why can you hear me now?” and “Where’d Unca John and Auntie go?” Questions like that, Ronon could answer, or at least claim ignorance for. Then, there were questions like “Who’s that?” and “What’s that?” and “How’s that work?”
By the time they’d reached the Commisary and gotten fod, Ronon was ready to banish her to Rodney’s lab, damn the consequences. He was only saved the trouble by Rodney’s squawking voice.
“Colonel, she talked.”
“You aren’t still taking those stimulants, Rodney, are you? Enough of them and you’re likely to hallucinate.”
“This wasn’t a dream, Colonel, or a hallucination. You can ask Elizabeth or Ronon. They heard her too. In fact, Ronon was the first person that heard her at all.”
“You’re daft, lad.”
“Don’t ‘lad’ me, Carson. I’m older than you are. And I’m not daft. You’ll see.”
They’d entered the Commisary and Ronon felt Noa’s tail start to thump eagerly. Sheppard, Rodney, and Beckett were huddled closely together, glaring at each other. Teyla was off to once side, look on with clear amusement.
Ronon felt Noa tense under tha table and moved his legs to give her room to get out. Suddenly, he felt her shift and Noa was running towards the group.
“Poppa!” she shouted and jumped on Carson. Ronon had the pleasure of seeing the shocked faces of Teyla and Colonel Sheppard. He couldn’t see Beckett’s, but that was because Beckett was on the floor with Noa’s tongue covering his face.
“Noa!” Beckett shouted and tried pushing her off of him, but she didn’t move and kept licking. Finally, when the man’s face was drenched in drool, Noa got off and gave Beckett a doggy grin. Beckett gave a put-upon sigh and got to his feet.
“Can we play, Poppa?”
“Let me eat, first,” he said, “and I’ll think about it.” He stopped for a moment, taking in what he’d just said and then turned back to Rodney. “Fine. I suppose I believe you.”
Rodney’s lips quirked into a grin. “I suppose now’s the time to say ‘I told you so’, huh?”
“Don’t push it, Rodney,” Carson said, heading to get a tray of his own. After he’d filled it and had sat down at the table, he addressed Ronon.
“When did she start…talking, for lack of a better word?”
“This morning. She was following me around on my circuit of the city. She wanted to play,” Ronon said, grimacing.
Where Rodney was involved, Carson had grown adept at smelling trouble. It was with a growing unease, then, and an itching nose, that he followed the team into town. They hadn’t told him why he’d been requested. Something about a “checkup”. On who, though, he had yet to see. Apparently none of the people that were standing in their doorways whispering and pointing.
Finally, after a few minutes, they reached a large house that seemed to be the center of activity. Colonel Sheppard knocked briefly and waited for a response.
“Colonel,” Carson said, looking expectantly at the man. “What am I doing here?”
“Well, you’d have to ask Rodney that. It was his idea.” Carson’s nose itched again, and he resisted the urge to scratch it. Turning towards his friend, he gave the man a severe look.
“Rodney…”
Before the other man could respond, the door opened and they were invited inside. Greeting and introductions were exchanged, but Carson only paid the most cursory attention. He was more focused on the health of the people he was being introduced to and searching for his patient. Finally, when no one new seemed to be coming, he turned to Rodney. He was about to ask Rodney again when a sharp pain on his leg interrupted him.
“Oww, bloody—” He bit back the curse and jumped back away from the source of his pain. Looking down and expecting to see some horrible monster, he was mildly disappointed. In place of a monster was a small puppy. It had a white coat with streaks of black and what looked like blue. Its features were similar to that of a Husky, though its paws were definitely bigger than the average Husky puppy. Bending down to introduce himself to the puppy (and getting his fingers chewed on for his trouble), his nose started twitching. Soon enough, it was itching uncontrollably and he stood up fast. His movement caused the puppy to jump back a few paces and yip at him.
“Rodney…” The man stepped a pace back and started waving his hands around.
“It’s not what you think, Carson.”
“Don’t be daft, it’s exactly what I think. None of the people are my patient. The dog is. You want to bring a pet back to Atlantis. And you want me to give it its shots!”
The dog’s people were obviously lost, but one of the men picked the puppy up and stepped forward.
“This one would be honored to grow with you.”
Carson just shook his head, closed his eyes, and pinched his nose.
“It’s not for me, Carson. It’s for Elizabeth.” At that, Carson opened his eyes and gave Rodney a questioning glance. Rodney wasn’t usually known for selfless acts. Taking Carson’s lack of reply as encouragement, Rodney continued. “Her dog died while we were in Pegasus.”
Carson nodded, though Colonel Sheppard and Teyla still looked confused. Rodney had always been more of an animal person than a people person.
Sighing heavily, he finally nodded again, conveying his agreement. Rodney lighted up at this. Carson stepped forward, took the dog and started to examine it.
“I’m not a bloody vet, though. You should have asked Dr. Monroe.”
The rebuke didn’t dim Rodney’s enthusiasm at all. Instead, he replied, “Why settle for less than the best?”
The praise was hardly warranted, considering he was a human doctor, but still, Carson smiled.
After a brief check for the more obvious signs of puppy disease and a check for gender, Carson took the puppy in his arms and stood. Addressing the man who had offered the puppy, Carson asked after diet.
“She will eat red meat, of course, and fish. There are some grains that she should eat that will help her digestion. We can give you a location and description of these.”
“Well, fish won’t be a problem,” Carson said. “We live near the water and there is abundant fish. Red meat, though…” He trailed off. They’d had enough, barely, to feed themselves. With the arrival of the Daedalus, there was more food, but most of the ship’s space was taken for technology and personnel.
The man looked at him in surprise. “Oh, then we will add those locations to the list, as well. We know of many planets that are, for one reason or another, unsuitable for human habitation, but that are filled with game. When humans are not there to take what is offered, there is more to be found.”
Finally, there was one last question. “What is her name?”
His question was met with confusion. “Why would we give her a name? You will be her people. You and she will discover her name.”
A rather cryptic form of ‘you name her’, Carson supposed.
A few minutes later they had the dog on some kind of leash setup and were walking back to the Gate. Carson, of course, had the other end of the leash. It was a fact for which he'd be most happy to cause Rodney some pain during his next exam. The puppy was running back and forth, examining each new thing they came across. Here, it was some kind of native form of butterfly. There, it was a large tree. Here, a flower bed. There, an herbivore munching on the grass.
By the time they'd gotten to the Gate, Carson was sure that he'd walked twice as far as any of the others, trying to chase after the puppy. She was quite oblivious to the people she was being led by, other than the occasional gnawing of shoes, pants, or leg. She was enthralled when Rodney activated the Gate, stilling as she hadn't since Carson had met her. Sniffing carefully at the event horizon, she gave Carson a questioning stare.
"Fine, then, love," he said, picking her up. "We'll go through together."
Coming through on the Atlantis side of the Gate, Carson tensed. Elizabeth was there to meet them. And, by the look on her face, Rodney had decided to give her the puppy as a surprise gift.
"Carson, what in the hell do you think you're doing with--"
"Don't blame me,” he said, raising the hand not holding the puppy up in defense. “It's all Rodney's fault."
Her glare turned towards Rodney, but the man just ignored it and took the puppy from Carson's arms.
"You said that you missed Sedge. When we got to the planet, we saw these," he said, jostling the puppy in his arms. "They appear pretty intelligent, for dogs, and Carson says that she's harmless."
At this, Carson almost interrupted, saying that he hadn't said any such thing and hadn't done anything more than a cursory exam. Then he saw Elizabeth's face. A dramatic change had taken place in her. Instead of the scowl she'd had on her face when they first came through the Gate, she had a wistful smile. She'd stepped close to Rodney and the puppy and had started petting her. Her smile widened when the puppy started licking and then chewing her hand.
"What's her name?" Elizabeth asked, still entranced.
"She doesn't have one, yet," Rodney said. "Something about the two of you choosing her name, or something."
"May I?" Elizabeth asked, gently taking hold of the puppy. Rodney released his hold and turned and gave Carson a pleased grin. A silent I told you so passed between them and Carson nodded, accepting the fact that Rodney had been right. This was a good idea. They were all so focused on Elizabeth and her new companion that most of the group was startled when a low growl of a voice interrupted the moment.
"Colonel Sheppard." Carson jumped and he was pleased to see Rodney and Elizabeth do the same. Sheppard and Teyla, of course, didn't so much as twitch. The puppy, on the other hand, jumped out of Elizabeth's arms and ran toward the direction of one of the doors. With a quick glance back at the group and a burst of yaps at Ronon, she turned back and ran out of the room.
"C'mere, girl," Elizabeth called, following the puppy.
"Nice going," Rodney said.
"What did I do?" Ronon asked, looking toward where the puppy and Elizabeth had gone.
"Ahh, don't worry, lad," Carson said. "Elizabeth is bound to find her. If not someone else. How many puppies are on Atlantis, anyway? She'll come back when she gets hungry."
Sheppard and Ronon left. Carson headed in the direction of his lab, Rodney following and chattering away.
"Did you see that? She liked it. She really liked it. I thought it would be a good idea. I mean, I'd love to have my cat here. But I wasn't sure she'd actually want another dog once she was faced with the possibility."
"Yes, Rodney," Carson said, humoring him. Stepping into his office, he wasn't surprised to see Rodney follow. Sighing, Carson maneuvered Rodney into one of the chairs.
"You don't think she'll get into too much trouble, do you?"
"Not likely. I'm sure a few things will be chewed on when she's through, but if it's anything important, your people will find out almost immediately and then we'll know where she is."
"Right. Like you said earlier, once she gets hungry, she'll come back, right?"
"Yes, Rodney," Carson said again. Rodney always worried about the smallest things. "Dogs are generally pretty smart. Once they determine their territory, they explore that territory and then pretty much stay inside it. Or so I hear. She's likely to do some exploring and learn where things are in the city and then come back and find civilization. Not to mention food and fresh water."
"Good, good."
They spent a few minutes in silence, Carson puttering around taking care of some busy work that had appeared during his absence off-world and Rodney just sitting and grinning. Finally, Carson couldn't stand the silence coming from his normally talkative friend.
"What?"
"What, what?" Rodney replied, his grin growing wider.
"You have something to say, Rodney. Despite your quiet appearance, you have some comment that's just brimming in your head. Get it out already and quit bothering me."
"I couldn't help but notice that she spent a lot of time with you."
"She was on a leash, Rodney."
"No, I mean, straight from the start. She never spent as much time with anyone else."
"And your point is?"
"I think she's found her security blanket. Or chewing toy, I'm sure sure which."
Carson just sighed and shook his head.
***
She was walking on a deserted planet. She called out, but only her echo responded. She kept walking. Eventually, she came upon a dense forest. Noticing a path through the darkness, she followed it, calling out to anyone who might answer. Finally, she reached a clearing. In the clearing was a swingset with a small girl on one of the two seats.
"Hello," she said to the girl.
"Hello," the girl replied, smiling up at her cheerfully.
"What's your name?" she asked, sitting down on the other seat and gently starting to swing.
"Noa."
"Well, I'm pleased to meet you, Noa," she said, introducing herself.
"Me, too," Noa said. After a minute, Noa jumped off of the swing and ran down another path. She followed.
"Noa!" she called. "It might not be safe, here."
"Of course it's safe," was the reply. Turning around, she saw Noa behind her.
"How can you be sure?"
"This is my place. Nothing can hurt me here."
"How'd I get here, then? I don't remember. Did I come through the Stargate?"
"Of course not. That would be silly. You can't get here through the Ring. I brought you here."
"Why?"
"To have you help me with my name."
"But you already have a name."
"I didn't before you came here." And then Noa was off again, running off of the path into the woods.
It took a while, but eventually she found Noa at the edge of a lake. Kneeling down, she cupped her hands and filled them with water. Sipping from her hands, she turned to Noa.
"Who are you?"
"A friend. I hope. They told me I'd be safe here."
"Who are they?"
"They were my friends, my family. You're my family now." Noa paused a moment, cocking her head as if listening to something. "Oh, time to wake up now."
"What?" she asked, but it was futile. Already, the world was disappearing around her.
***
Grumbling to himself about early morning briefings, Carson toweled himself off. Fumbling around for his clothes, he put them on an article at a time until he got to his shoes. He reached for the pair he had worn the previous day.
"Bloody hell," he shouted, when he’d retrieved the shoes. They'd been chewed within an inch of their lives. Obviously, the puppy had struck in the middle of the night. The question was, how? The doors had to be opened either by someone with the gene or with by swiping a hand in front of the sensors next to each door. Grumbling now about the eating habits of puppies, Carson picked out another set of shoes and finished getting ready.
It was when he got to the briefing that Carson realized he hadn't been the only nocturnal victim.
"This is unnaceptable, Dr. Weir," Colonel Caldwell was saying. "This is a military base and we can't have animals running around."
"This is as much a city as it is a military base. Are you going to say that we can't have the Athosians running around, either?"
"That's not what I mean."
Elizabeth was glaring at Caldwell, her hands on her hips. Caldwell, for his part, was glaring back. Sneaking a quick look at the man's shoes, Carson snorted. They were covered in bite marks.
"I take it you received a late-night visit from our newest inhabitant?"
"Yes. How did you survive?" Caldwell asked, taking his own look at Carson's shoes.
"Oh, I didn't," Carson said, chuckling. "Apparently she was only fond of one of my pairs of shoes."
"Lucky for you. She apparently has a taste for dress shoes." Caldwell scowled and left.
"I'm sorry, Carson," Elizabeth said.
"Don’t worry about it. I'll just make sure to keep the rest of my shoes on high ground. What'd I'd like to know is how she got into my room."
“She doesn’t have the gene, does she?” Rodney’s voice said from behind him. He turned around to see Rodney and Colonel Sheppard grinning at each other.
“Unless she’s a werewolf, Rodney, I highly doubt it. I want to run a more complete workup on her, though. If we know where she’s gotten to?” This last question was directed at Elizabeth, who nodded her head.
“Noa’s was in my room, the last I checked. And before you ask,” she said, seeing Carson start to speak, “I don’t know how she got in. Or, for that matter, how she knew where my room was.”
“You named her,” Rodney said, bouncing happily.
“Maybe she named herself. There was this dream….” She trailed off, apparently lost in thought. Shaking her head, after a moment, she continued. “But, yes, she has a name.”
“Good, good,” Rodney said, bouncing again.
“Now,” Elizabeth said, seeing Teyla and Ronon walk in, “there’s a mission I’d like to propose. You remember P5X-449?”
“The planet with the people who’d been screwed over by the Genii?” Colonel Sheppard asked.
“Yes, well, it seems that they’ve acquired refugees from another planet who’ve also had ‘dealings’ with the Genii. The refugees have indicated to one of the off-world teams that their home planet could use some medical assistance. In return,” she said, slight distaste in her voice, “they’ve offered the location of what they think might be another Ancient outpost.”
“What kind of injuries are we looking at?” Carson asked.
“Mostly bruises and abrasions, from what I’ve heard,” Elizabeth said. “Some gunshot wounds. Nothing critical, but far too many for the local healer to deal with on his own.”
Carson nodded, mentally preparing a list of supplies and personel they’d need to take with them.
“How many people were injured?”
Elizabeth paused for a moment, looking at the report in from of her. “About forty,” she said finally, and Carson finished his calculations. Four doctors and maybe five or six nurses should be enough, especially since the planet’s healer was likely to help.
“How long do we have?” Colonel Sheppard put in.
“About four hours. I’m sorry for the late notice, but Major Lorne’s team just brought back the news.”
“It’s fine, Elizabeth,” John said, looking around the table at the nods of the rest of the team.
“All right then, gentlemen, Teyla. I think you have work to do.” Elizabeth stood up and motioned for Carson to stay behind.
“Do you think you can manage to give Noa an exam before you leave?”
Crossing his fingers behind his back, Carson nodded. “It’s going to be tight, but I can leave most of the preparation for what we’ll need to bring with the rest of the doctors and nurses that will come off-world. We’ll probably have to do some of the longer tests when we come back.”
“That’s fine,” Elizabeth said. “I just want to make sure she doesn’t have the Pegasus version of worms or something.”
“I still don’t see why everyone insists that I do the exam instead of one of the actual vets.”
Elizabeth smiled and patted his arm. “Because you’re the best.”
“Aye, that’s what Rodney said, too. I don’t believe it from him, either.” Shaking his head and giving a resigned sigh, Carson chuckled slightly and took Elizabeth’s arm in his own.
“Shall we try to find the pup, then, lass?”
“Sounds good to me,” Elizabeth said and the pair of them walked through the halls to her room.
“Stay here,” Carson said, gesturing to the door. “She may not feel like coming along. If you stand in front of the door, she won’t be able to escape.” Elizabeth nodded her agreement and Carson swiped his hand in front of the sensor. Preparing himself for several sweeps of Elizabeth’s rooms, in search of the rambunctious puppy, he was rather surprised to see her sitting right at the entrance. A moment later, she was sniffing at Elizabeth’s feet.
“Well, that was easy,” she said.
“Too easy,” Carson muttered and glared darkly at the puppy, who had progressed from sniffing Elizabeth’s feet to chewing on Carson’s feet. Damn Rodney was right. She had picked him as her chewtoy. Keeping his scowl firmly in place, he bent down and picked her up. Her tongue was wet, he noticed a minute later. So was his face. His glare kept threatening to turn into a grin. It was like she knew the best way to make him happy!happy!happy!
Groaning, Carson said, “I’m in trouble, aren’t I?”
“Not from where I’m standing,” Elizabeth replied. “Though I’m not sure whether I’m jealous or relieved that you’re getting all of the attention.”
“Relieved. You got a warm animal to cuddle and I get chewed shoes. No competition. And,” he said, seeing her start to laugh, “I will personally make sure she decides you make a better chewtoy than I do if you don’t stop laughing right this minute.”
Elizabeth schooled her features into the pleasant diplomat. Carson snorted. “Thank you. I think we’ll be fine from here. Do you want me to bring her back or—?”
“No, let her run around. I think we’ve already proven she can get through the doors if she wants to. And—“ she said, hesitantly, “as absurd as it sounds, check her out for the ATA gene?”
Carson nodded, ruffling Noa’s fur. “I’ll do that, then. Now I have to go. Preparations to make. Vet duties to take care of.”
“Good luck,” she said, kissing Noa on her head.
A few minutes later, Carson had reached Dr. Monroe’s office.
“Dr. Beckett,” the man said, taking in the Carson and the squirming puppy. “What can I do for you?”
Sighing heavily, Carson put Noa on the floor with a firm warning to stay in the area. Dr. Monroe chuckled at the order.
“She’s a puppy. She’s not going to pay attention to you, even if she could understand.”
“She’s better bloody well pay attention,” Carson muttered quietly. Returning his attention to Monroe, he said, “I need a favor. For some reason, everybody’s decided that I’m qualified to do examinations on the pup. I’m certainly not. Especially when I have a mission to prepare for. Would you mind doing her initial exam?”
Carson saw Monroe’s face light up.
“Examine a new species of canine? You have to be joking. I’d love to.”
It was with a slightly guilty conscience that Carson left Noa in Monroe’s care, but he told himself that it was for the best and that Noa was in the care of someone who had been trained in the correct field.
***
“Zdravíčko.” Radek hadn’t turned around at the sound at the sound of the sneeze, but after a moment without a “thanks” of any sort, he looked behind him for the source of the sound. Not noticing anyone, he shrugged it off and went on with his work. A few minutes later, there was another sneeze. He blessed the person again and half-listened for a response. Hearing nothing again, he turned and took another glance around the room. There was no one there.
Grumbling about pranksters, he returned to the console in front of him, but kept an ear out for the mysterious sneezer. A few more minutes and he was rewarded by another sneeze. This time, he honed in on the sound and followed it back to its source. Which appeared to be, surprisingly enough, a dog.
“Vypadni!” he said, attempting to shoo the dog out of the room. She rolled her eyes up to him, gave a small snort, and then put her head back on the ground. “Fine,” he said, scowling at the puppy. “But if you chew anything, you’re going to have to deal with McKay.”
Twenty minutes later, the dog hadn’t moved and Radek felt confident enough to leave for a few minutes to go get some equipment from one of the other labs. He ran into Elizabeth on the way back and they talked about what he was working on. He mentioned his newest visitor and her expressioned softened from her normal work demeanor.
“Has Noa been getting into trouble?” she asked as they reached the area Radek had been working on.
“No. She’s behaved perfectly,” he said, activating the sensor in front of the door. Whatever he would have said next got lost as he took in the disaster that had been his pet project. Cables were strewn everywhere. The coffee cup that he had carefully placed away from the electronics was now next to the door Radek had just opened and the cup’s contents were mostly on his laptop. He heard a small choked sound behind him and he looked reprovingly at Elizabeth.
“This is not funny. Days of work ruined.” Her choked laughter grew louder and she just pointed back into the room. Bracing himself for the horror he knew was behind him, he turned around and saw the puppy. She was in exactly the same position he had left her in with one exception. She had a pillow. Radek’s jacket. Pinching his nose, he glared at the puppy and pointed at the door. “Ven!”
Noa got to her feet slowly and slunk out between Elizabeth and Radek, her tail between her legs. Radek could tell she was very sorry and almost called her back, but there had to be rules and she couldn’t teethe on the computer cables.
“I’m sorry,” Elizabeth said, still chuckling.
“Oh well,” Radek said, shaking his head at the mess. “Nothing to do about it now. Next time, she’ll just have Rodney to deal with.”
“C’mon,” Elizabeth said, gesturing at the mess. “Let’s clean up.”
***
The next morning, Carson stumbled out of bed. It had been a long day. There’d been more people than Elizabeth had thought. People from other planets had trickled in. More people that the Genii had attacked. After showering and getting dressed, he hesitating. Bracing himself, he reached for the pair of shoes he had worn the day before. Breathing a sigh of relief at their intact condition, he put them on and headed to the control room.
“This has got to stop, Elizabeth,” he heard as neared his destination.
“I believe you said that Noa was your idea, Rodney,” she replied. He raised his eyebrows at her as he walked into the room.
“Is there a problem?”
Elizabeth gave him a small smile as Rodney turned around and glared.
“This is all your fault.”
Carson narrowed his eyes. “What, exactly, is my fault?”
“Noa. She ruined weeks of work yesterday.”
“And how is that my fault? If I recall, you all but begged me to bring her back with us. In fact, that was the only reason I went to that damn planet in the first place. So don’t you go placing the blame on me.” The last few words were punctuated by pokes to Rodney’s chest.
“But, but…”
The sad little expression on Rodney’s face was almost enough to make Carson just forgive him, but one look into Rodney’s eyes, and the calculating look therein, and Carson’s resolve hardened.
“No, lad. This is all your fault. In fact, I’m now playing puppy-doctor thanks to you.” He took a step in towards Rodney and hid a grin as Rodney took a step back. “If anyone should be irritable, I should. And I am, Rodney. Irritable.”
Carson didn’t move, but Rodney took another step back and started looking around the room for help. Elizabeth just shook her head and the other people in the room had made a concerted effort to look busy. Rodney turned back to Carson and his eyes widened and he took another step back.
“Now, Carson…. Be reasonable.”
“No, I don’t think I will. All I did was go to that damn planet to help you and you’re here blaming me for what was your idea—“ He was cut off by a short bark. Turning, he saw Noa sitting by the stairs leading into the gateroom. He sighed and bent down, calling her over. She headed in his direction, but at the last minute, swerved and headed to Rodney. Shoving her head under his hand, she sat down.
A look of surprise flickered across Rodney’s face before it twisted into one of its normal, smug expressions. The hand on top of Noa was moving, scratching behind her ears. As Carson’s gaze led to Noa, he started. It was impossible, but she almost looked as if she were glaring at him. A moment after their eyes met, she snorted, shook herself off and left, giving Rodney’s hand a quick lick.
“That is the oddest dog,” he mused. Turning his attention back to the conversation that had started without him, he promptly forgot about Noa’s odd behavior.
***
After more reports of Noa-sightings in places she couldn’t have gotten to on her own, Rodney set out to find Carson to check on the results of her exams. She wasn’t small enough to sneak in behind a person entering a closed room without that person knowing about it. He’d checked the usual places: the lab, Carson’s office, Carson’s room..even that spot he liked out by the west pier. Eventually, he headed back to the control room.
“Elizabeth?”
She looked up from the monitor she was examining.
“Something I can help you with, Rodney?”
“I’m looking for Carson. Have you seen him?”
Shaking her head, she said, “Not for a while. He’s not in his lab?”
“I’ve looked everwhere.” A yip at his feet caused him to look down. Once she had his attention, Noa ran for the nearest exit.
Looking up to Elizabeth and shrugging, Rodney said, “I’ll suppose I’ll see if Lassie can find him. It’ll keep her away from my computers, if nothing else.”
He heard laughter behind him and smiled in spite of himself. She’d actually been getting better about chewing on computer equipment. She was still chewing on Caldwell’s shoes every time he was on Atlantis, but that was Caldwell.
About ten minutes later, he was standing in front of the recently-dubbed “Entertainment Room”. Game consoles and a DVD/VCR combo had been hooked up to one of the city’s monitors and various chairs and couches were strewn across the room. Noa walked quietly up to one of the couches and looked up at Rodney. Following, Rodney looked down and saw Carson. Snoring softly, the man looked perfectly content. Afraid to wake him, Rodney carefully sat down, leaning his back against the edge of the couch and shifting slightly to get comfortable. Noa took this as her cue to lie down as well, head on top of Rodney’s stomach. Taking the remote that had fallen on the floor, he restarted the movie.
Two hours later, he started to get up, but a hand on his shoulder stopped him.
“We could watch another if you want.”
Rodney turned his head and gave a mock glare. “How long have you been awake?”
“Long enough,” Carson said, pointedly looking down at Noa and the hand absently scratching her head. Rodney followed the look down and flushed guiltily, glad for the dark room.
“Fine, I’m a softie at heart. Happy?” He didn’t dare look back, but he heard the laughter behind Carson’s reply.
“Just put on another movie, Rodney. We’ll go get dinner when it’s done.”
“Ooh, dinner and a movie, Carson. You’ll give me the wrong idea.”
“Rodney,” Carson said, a warning in his voice. Wearing a self-satisfied smile, Rodney hit the disk changer to put on another movie and settled back down into his seat, warm hand still on his shoulder and warm head on his stomach.
***
Most people had fallen instantly for Noa’s charms. Cute dog, intelligent, didn’t make much of a mess of herself. Of course, there were always exceptions. Ronon, most notably, hadn’t fallen head over heels for her. He didn’t neccesarily dislike her, but he certainly didn’t fawn over her like everyone else in Atlantis. Of course, that could be because every time he went into a room she was in, she ran out.
Like today. He’d gone in for an exam with Dr. Beckett and half of his nurses were crowded over Noa. The minute she’d seen him, she’d gone running under the nurses’ legs and headed for the door. Ronon growled as his gaze followed her exit. Instantly, she stopped, skidding a bit on the floor. Turning, she started yapping at him. He just crossed his arms across his chest and narrowed his eyes. She moved back toward him and yapped even harder.
“I’ve seen scarier than you.”
His rumble this time was trying to hide laughter. She looked indignant, like he should have been scared of her and she couldn’t believe he wasn’t. She emitted a high-pitched growl and attacked his pant leg. Sighing, he grabbed her by the scruff of the neck and picked her up. Glaring at her, he growled again.
“You pick now to decide you like me?”
“Ronon, put her down.” Beckett had come in and was looking at the two of them with amusement clear in his face.
“Not until she decides to continue avoiding me. I’m much scarier than she is. And I bite.”
A sudden wet spot on his face caused him to drop Noa. She yipped happily and ran out of the room. Wiping dog slobber off of his face, Ronon turned his glare to Beckett. “Not a word, Doc.”
“My lips are sealed, lad.”
***
***
Three weeks later, Noa had made herself a home on Atlantis. They still had no idea how she was able to enter doors in Atlantis. The general consensus was that she jumped up to reach the sensors, though no one had caught her doing it. They didn’t know how she’d figured out the sensors, either, though everyone had pretty much accepted that she was exceptionally intelligent for a dog.
Most people had fallen instantly for Noa’s charms. Cute dog, intelligent, didn’t make much of a mess of herself. Of course, there were always exceptions. Ronon, most notably, hadn’t fallen head over heels for her. He didn’t neccesarily dislike her, but he certainly didn’t fawn over her like everyone else in Atlantis.
It was early morning and he was making his normal rounds. He trusted the marines, of course, but it never hurt to be cautious. It was halfway through his final circuit that he heard it. A soft whispering voice. He tried to track the sound, but it sounded like it was coming from nowhere and everywhere at once. He continued on the circuit, but ten minutes later, he stopped again. The voice was following him and it was getting louder. He tried searching again and found nothing. Growling to himself, he continued on. So lost in thought, he didn’t notice Noa was following him until he almost tripped on her.
He almost yelled at her, but all of a sudden the voice came back clearer than ever.
“Unca! Unca! C’mon, Unca!”
He whirled around, trying to find the source of the voice. All he saw was Noa.
“Unca Scary! C’mon, Unca, let’s go!”
His eyes narrowed at his apparent description. “Scary. I’ll show you scary. Come out and face me and I’ll show you how scary I can be.”
“Don’t be silly, Unca Scary. C’mon. Don’t stop.”
Keeping a close watch on things around him, he headed to the control room. Upon entering, he turned his glare on Dr. Weir.
“There’s a voice following me.”
She exchanged a glance with the tech she’d been talking to and then started looking around.
“I don’t see anything.”
“Of course not. If something had been following me, I would have said that. It’s nothing but a voice. A voice that called me Uncle Scary.”
Elizabeth tried to stifle her laughter and Ronon just glared at her.
“Mama,” a voice said, and Ronon smirked when he saw Elizabeth whirl around in confusion. “Mama, I wanna play!”
“Who’s there?” Elizabeth asked, continuing to look around her. Noa came up to her and Elizabeth bent down and started absently petting Noa’s head.
“C’mon Mama! Unca Scary won’t play and Unca Poppa yells when I try to play with him. Unca Radek’s not gonna play and no one else is here.”
Elizabeth still looked confused until a brief jerk on her hand caused her to notice that Noa had taken Elizabeth’s hand in her jaws and was trying to drag Elizabeth somewhere.
“Noa?”
“Yes, Mama?” And she let go of Elizabeth’s hand and sat down.
Elizabeth looked like she needed a seat herself and the tech she’d been talking to stood up and let her have his chair. She sat down heavily and looked at Ronon.
“Does thing happen offten in the Pegasus Galaxy?”
“Thing?”
“Sentient animals.”
“Never.”
“Oh, good, you’re here,” Rodney said, bounding up the stairs, his arms full of papers. “I have something to show you.”
“Unca Poppa!” The voice was more a yell, now, than it had been before and it was obvious that it was coming from Noa. She had stood up and ran to Rodney, jumping on his stomach and causing him to lose control of his papers. He screamed, short and high, and fell on his butt. Noa took advantage of the fact and started to lick his face.
“Off, Noa,” he said and tried pushing her away. That only caused her to change positions. Instead of strattling him, she sat on his chest. “Oh, very funny. Get off”
“No.”
The answer shut him up completely for a moment and he moved his head enough to look in Elizabeth’s direction.
“Nice. Who’s the ventriloquist?”
“What’s that, Unca Poppa?” Noa asked before Elizabeth had a chance to answer.
“What’s what?” he asked, distractedly.
“A ventrilo-something.”
“Ventriloquist. Someone who can make a voice sound like it’s coming from someone or something that it’s not. And I can’t believe I’m talking to you like you’re actually the one talking,” he said, frowning in Noa’s direction. The two had a silent stare-off for a minute before Rodney groaned. “Fine, fine, you’re talking. Now will you please let me up. You made me drop the research I was going to show Elizabeth.”
“But I wanna play!”
“I’ll make you a deal. You let me show this stuff to Elizabeth,” he said, shrugging his shoulders like he was trying to point to the paperwork, “and I’ll fly a Jumper out to the mainland and you can go play with Jinto and his friends.”
Noa cocked her head for a moment, thinking about it, before jerking her head down once in a makeshift nod and moving off of Rodney. He groaned again when her paws dug into his stomach and then sat up and started gathering his papers together.
“You seem remarkably unphased about this whole thing, Rodney,” Elizabeth said.
”Need I remind you about the alien vampires? And that’s nothing compared with some of the stuff I’ve read about in the reports from the SGC. Talking dogs are new, I suppose, but not exactly unprecedented. And besides,” he said, pausing. “If I think about it too much, I’m going to start panicking for a good hour or two and I really need to show you this.”
“All right, then,” she said, as Rodney got to his feet. “Come show me.”
The pair walked into the office, leaving Ronon and Noa alone in the control room. Ronon started to leave, but was interrupted by Noa.
“Where are you going, Unca Scary?”
“Food.” He looked behind him and saw her ears perk up. Sighing, he motioned for her to follow him.
Twenty minutes later, Ronon had two large plates full of food. One for himseld and one for Noa. The entire trip, she’d been asking him questions. “Why can you hear me now?” and “Where’d Unca John and Auntie go?” Questions like that, Ronon could answer, or at least claim ignorance for. Then, there were questions like “Who’s that?” and “What’s that?” and “How’s that work?”
By the time they’d reached the Commisary and gotten fod, Ronon was ready to banish her to Rodney’s lab, damn the consequences. He was only saved the trouble by Rodney’s squawking voice.
“Colonel, she talked.”
“You aren’t still taking those stimulants, Rodney, are you? Enough of them and you’re likely to hallucinate.”
“This wasn’t a dream, Colonel, or a hallucination. You can ask Elizabeth or Ronon. They heard her too. In fact, Ronon was the first person that heard her at all.”
“You’re daft, lad.”
“Don’t ‘lad’ me, Carson. I’m older than you are. And I’m not daft. You’ll see.”
They’d entered the Commisary and Ronon felt Noa’s tail start to thump eagerly. Sheppard, Rodney, and Beckett were huddled closely together, glaring at each other. Teyla was off to once side, look on with clear amusement.
Ronon felt Noa tense under tha table and moved his legs to give her room to get out. Suddenly, he felt her shift and Noa was running towards the group.
“Poppa!” she shouted and jumped on Carson. Ronon had the pleasure of seeing the shocked faces of Teyla and Colonel Sheppard. He couldn’t see Beckett’s, but that was because Beckett was on the floor with Noa’s tongue covering his face.
“Noa!” Beckett shouted and tried pushing her off of him, but she didn’t move and kept licking. Finally, when the man’s face was drenched in drool, Noa got off and gave Beckett a doggy grin. Beckett gave a put-upon sigh and got to his feet.
“Can we play, Poppa?”
“Let me eat, first,” he said, “and I’ll think about it.” He stopped for a moment, taking in what he’d just said and then turned back to Rodney. “Fine. I suppose I believe you.”
Rodney’s lips quirked into a grin. “I suppose now’s the time to say ‘I told you so’, huh?”
“Don’t push it, Rodney,” Carson said, heading to get a tray of his own. After he’d filled it and had sat down at the table, he addressed Ronon.
“When did she start…talking, for lack of a better word?”
“This morning. She was following me around on my circuit of the city. She wanted to play,” Ronon said, grimacing.
