Title: Sick!
Author:
kuonjiFandom: Stargate Atlantis
Characters: Rodney McKay, Teyla Emmagan, a child
Pairings: none
Category: preschool kid!fic, fluff
Rating: G
Spoilers: none
Words: ~650
Summary: Where's Carson when you need him most?
A/N: I was toying with the idea of writing a sequel to my series, Best Freinds Forever, when I realized today (one day before the deadline) that the first part would fit the Sickness challenge! Panicked speed-writing ensued... Hope you enjoy!
Link to prequel:
Best Freinds Forever(You don't have to read it to understand this story, but it might help.)
Sick!
by kuonji
"I'm sick!"
Rodney looked down with horror at the small, human-shaped leech attached to his knees. "No, you're not!" he denied, thinking fiercely of the adage 'mind over matter'.
The dark mess of hair shook back and forth. "I am!" A round face with swimmy blue eyes looked up at Rodney. "You're the doctor. You have to make me better."
"I'm not the doctor, just one of them. Look, there's another perfectly good doctor over there that you can go to." He waved one hand at Dr. Morrison, across the room. "And also," he added, "I'm an astrophysicist. I'm not a medical doctor."
"Yes, you are," the little person replied. "I have a fever!" he sang out.
Rodney whimpered. "Really?" He looked around, but Dr. Morrison was busy with another group of... miniature people, and no one else was in sight.
"Dammit, where's Carson when you need him?" Rodney muttered. The little boy before him canted his head and looked at Rodney with his disgustingly same innocent eyes. Rodney rolled his own. "I wasn't asking you," he grumbled.
Just like Carson anyway, to be absent when Rodney needed him.
He knelt down and put one palm to the kid's forehead. It did feel a little hot. Or maybe that was just Rodney himself. Wait, was it the front of the hand or the back of the hand? Fingers or just the palm part? Did kids have higher body temperatures than adults? He thought he'd read that somewhere.
"I have a sore throat, too," the child continued. He coughed, just, Rodney was sure, for effect. He backed hastily away in case it wasn't.
"Um, why don't you go get a glass of water?"
"I can't." The small creature shook his head.
"Why not?"
"I'm dying."
This time, Rodney didn't even try to respond. He hit his radio. "Teyla!"
Her voice came back in a moment, slightly out of breath and projecting STRESS. "Rodney? What's the matter?"
"He's dying!"
"Who?"
"You only left one of them with me."
"Ancestors... What happened?"
"He's sick. He has a fever, and he's coughing, and he's dying! You have to help me!"
"I'll be right there."
The relief at that was short-lived, as the child suddenly cried out and fell to the floor. There was a sound like a scream following that did not emit from him. Rodney would later deny with extreme vehemence that it might have come from himself.
"Oh my god, don't die. Please." He got down and patted his hands over the small head and tiny limbs, the movement seeming familiar to him though he wasn't sure why. "Teyla, where the hell are you?"
"Rodney!" Speak of the devil and thank you, god!
Teyla rushed to them and knelt down with barely an acknowledging look at Rodney. She put the back of her fingers to the small forehead. "He feels all right. Breathing and heartbeat are strong. You said he was coughing?"
"Uh... He said he was."
Teyla looked confused.
"I mean, yes."
"What made you think he was dying?" Teyla was looking suspicious.
"He told me so!" Rodney felt his face heating up at Teyla's answering look. "He's... He's a doctor!" he exclaimed. "He should know."
"He is four years old!"
"I was dying. Now I'm dead," the prone boy added.
Teyla raised an eyebrow, which was close enough to an eyeroll on anyone else. "No, you are not. You may get up now, Carson."
He rolled to his feet obediently. "You're a horrible doctor," he accused, pointing at Rodney.
"Uh...?"
"My turn now," he declared. He put a hand on Rodney's thigh and affected a look of severe sympathy. "Tell Dr. Beckett what's wrong with you. I'll fix you right up."
Rodney groaned and put his face in his hands. "I have a headache," he proclaimed, with the utmost sincerity.
.