I wrote this for my friend Kat as a birthday present. It is specifically tailored to her name, her interest in SGA and her liking for the particular pairing. Apparently it made her giggle. I hope other readers might enjoy it too.
Title: Kat
Fandom: SGA
Pairing: Mackay/Zelenka
Wordcount: 3700
Rating: PG13 (That’s where the story ended - your imagination can do the rest)
Warnings/spoilers etc. Set in the early days on Atlantis. Season 1? No spoilers unless you’ve never seen the show. No violence. No sex, really. but yes, there is a story!!
Many thanks to Fledge for the beta. It’s good that we share some fandoms!
Rodney was deep in a paper on Atlantis and the Second Law of Thermodynamics, muttering words like ‘rubbish’ and ‘fool’ at regular intervals. This was work. Hard work. He had to keep his finger on the pulse of foolishness in case it infected his staff but nevertheless he pricked up his ears. Multi-tasking was no problem so long as the tasks were all physics/maths/laboratory oriented. As the matter attracting his attention was in the laboratory it had to be laboratory related. Except that what he could hear was purring.
Rodney’s brain computed ‘purring=cat’ and ‘Atlantis=cats x 0’ before he had really identified the sound. He emerged from the paper (not too sadly - there was only so much time one could devote happily to fools) and looked in the direction of the purring.
The first thing he saw was a black box. It was quite a large rectangular black box, about the size (but not the shape) of an ordinary house cat, and it seemed to be covered in a fuzzy coating, perhaps velvet. From this, from time to time, slim rods slid out, each with a small bauble on the end. Well, perhaps not baubles but they looked very like Christmas tree baubles to Rodney. They came in various shapes: globes, prisms, cubes, fat spirals and eggs with the top chopped off as if someone was about to have breakfast. They were various colours too, all glowing slightly and all were beautiful true shades, nothing murky or hard to define. They appeared and disappeared at odd angles, all over the box. As the rods slid in and out the purring increased and decreased.
The second thing that he noticed was that Zelenka was stroking the box.
The third thing that he noticed and immediately discounted was that he felt a strong desire to go and join him.
“What is that thing and where did you get it and what do you think you’re doing? I’m trying to read here, to do some serious work.” His voice was raised to reach the miscreant and heads turned from various corners of the lab. There was a definite snigger from behind a computer but Rodney ignored it. Better not to get into that kind of playground battle. He looked straight at Zelenka who continued stroking the box.
“Someone brought it in. I thought I would just have a look before I alerted you. It purrs.”
“Yes, Zelenka, it purrs. That is in fact why I noticed it. It disturbed my reading. It alerted me all on its own. Have you any idea what it is and can you stop it purring so that we can all get back to work?”
“I do not think so. There are no switches. Perhaps if I stopped stroking...”
“Yes, yes. Stop stroking the thing and see if that stops it purring by all means. Anything, so long as the noise stops.” The snigger was louder this time. “Then we can all get back to work, I said,” he finished, in what he hoped was a warning tone.
Zelenka took his hand away from the box. A pale blue bauble shot upwards then straight down. As it went, it emitted a tiny sigh. Then the box just sat there, inert.
No-one said anything, and no-one sniggered. Rodney looked down at the paper again but one portion of his mind multi-tasked by wondering what it would have been like to join Zelenka and stroke the box. He pretended not to be aware of it.
The next day, when he came into the lab, Zelenka was stroking the box again. As Rodney walked past the baubles seemed to rise and fall faster and the purring got louder. That, of course, was impossible; therefore it wasn’t happening.
“Dr.Zelenka! Stop whatever you are doing and get on with some work!”
“I am working. I am investigating this item. You will see a note about it on your desk.” The stroking - and the purring - continued.
Rodney couldn’t miss the note on his desk. It was on A4 paper and written in green marker pen. It was headed K.A.T. and signed R. Zelenka. He thought it was Zelenka. It was typical scientist scribble but he thought he recognised this particular scribble. He didn’t read the body of the note. That would keep.
“K.A.T.” he roared, turning it into a word. “What on earth or rather what on Atlantis because of course we are on Atlantis and so is this...this...”
“It is the item’s name,” Zelenka told him, fairly patiently but with an undertone of ‘might as well humour the boss’.
“Name? As in ‘the Ancients left a label telling us what it was called?”
“As in Mackay and Zelenka,” said Zelenka reproachfully.
“You call it Kat? Why?”
“It is an acronym, but it gives a rather apt name, I think. After all, it purrs.”
Rodney latched onto the first part of this. “An acronym? What does it stand for and why wasn’t I consulted?”
“Co-dependent ambience transmitter. Because it purrs when...”
“That would be co-dependent with a ‘c’,” Rodney pointed out almost automatically, “making it C.A.T. or Cat.” Zelenka couldn’t possibly have said ‘whatever’ under his breath because Zelenka never used American idioms or at least not correctly.
“And I know it purrs. What’s its problem? What’s your problem? Why can’t you stop stroking it and stop it purring?” He remembered the little sigh and suddenly felt mean but wasn’t prepared to back down in front of the whole lab, even if half of the staff hadn’t arrived yet.
“This is part of the investigation. I told you.” Zelenka was trying really hard at the patience thing. The K.A.T. must be getting to him. “It purrs in reaction to my behaviour. The harder I stroke it the louder it purrs and the more little lights flicker in and out. And the more it does that the more I find myself wanting to continue with the investigation.” He looked defiant and Zelenka in defiant mode was rare and preferably avoided. Rodney huffed and puffed and went to the back of the lab, busying himself with something very essential and guaranteed to keep him away from the lights and the purring. And Zelenka with those long delicate fingers, stroking.
Eventually he had to come out because if he didn’t he might die of hunger right there and then.
Zelenka was writing furiously in a notebook and the box was quiescent. Except that as Rodney passed a small rod with an emerald green spiral on top sneaked out and purred inquiringly. Rodney slammed the door on his way to the canteen.
Zelenka joined him at lunch, looking a little nervous but determined. Fortunately he was not accompanied by the box so Rodney accepted his company as grudgingly as he could manage given a mouthful of sponge and custard.
“Why do you dislike the purring so much? I thought you liked cats. I thought you said that on earth you had...”
“Yes!” Rodney banged the table with the handle of his spoon. “I had a cat! I like cats! I no longer have a cat! We’re on Atlantis! There are no cats on Atlantis! Or hadn’t you noticed?” He got up, leaving at least three spoonfuls of pudding uneaten in his agitation, and headed back to the lab. Of course he liked cats. It had never occurred to him that he might be asked to work anywhere you couldn’t take cats. Then he was so deeply into the job that it was too late, but he was so sure that it would be a brief absence; and once he found out otherwise he was foolish enough to think treasured pets would be regarded as essential baggage. And then it really was too late.
The box lay on a bench just inside the lab door. Tempting him. There was no-one else around. Lunch time was sacred to the Atlantis scientists.
Rodney stopped by the box and immediately a rod with a purple cube came out and blinked at him. There was a tentative purr. He put out an equally tentative finger and stroked the velvet surface. When Zelenka came back Rodney and Kat were happily interacting, lights going on and off, purring well-established. As soon as it sensed Zelenka the box put out a pink heart on a particularly long rod and purred a question. Rodney jumped and walked quickly away.
“I don’t have time for games,” he said. Especially games that might involve another scientist with beautiful hands, and eyes that might be beautiful behind the glasses, and a box that was the nearest thing you were going to get to a cat on Atlantis, and purring. Especially purring. He got a great deal of work done that afternoon, including dealing with a lot of memos that he’d been putting off for weeks.
The next day there were three boxes in the lab and most of the staff were clustered around them.
“We can’t call it Kat2,” someone was saying. “It barks.” As if in agreement the slightly larger brown box with a white patch over one corner gave a gentle ‘woof’ and put out a rod with an orange capped egg. A pretty woman in a lab coat patted it and at the same time a tall man who was known to be extremely shy did the same. Their fingers met and they looked at each other, possibly for the first time ever. Rodney couldn’t remember their names but he would never forget that glance, or the satisfied bark that the box made, putting up a rod with a bright yellow bauble that went in and out for all the world as if the thing was wagging its tail.
“D.O.G.” he muttered. “Deliverer of glee.” Then in a normal voice, “Yes, very interesting but we have work to do. You two, whoever you are, carry on investigating the D.O.G. Everyone else, back to work.” He chose not to look too closely at the third box. It was small and grey and squeaked as two young women touched it with the tips of their fingers. Its rods and baubles were whiskery and fragile-looking, all silvers and beiges and pale creams.
“Where did these things come from, anyway?” He glared at Zelenka as if it was all his fault. Some of it was, anyway, like the stroking, and the way his hands stopped Rodney working and...
“Major Sheppard found them in a cupboard. He brought one for us to see and when I said we were investigating it he brought the other two.” Zelenka’s fingers were mesmerising. Kat purred. Rodney sighed. He was not going to get any meaningful work done until these things had been thoroughly turned inside out (he winced as he thought that) and battered into submission (another wince) and laid bare in all their devilish... What was wrong with him? Why was he getting so worked up about some boxes? (About someone stroking one of the boxes, his conscience amended in a whisper.) He’d done every menial task he had outstanding and there was nothing in his in-tray. It would clearly be impossible to concentrate on serious science with Zelenka acting as masseur to a black velvet cat replacement in the same room. There was only one thing to do. He joined him.
“I might as well help you and we’ll get this finished all the sooner,” he said.
They stroked the K.A.T. together. Sometimes their fingers brushed. Rodney’s fingers tingled. Other parts of him tingled too but he pretended very hard that that wasn’t happening. Kat purred. When a lemon bauble in the shape of a miniature lemon appeared Rodney winced and drew back.
Zelenka raised his eyebrows. “It is not a real lemon. You cannot have an allergic reaction to it.”
“Just an instinctive one.”
Kat withdrew the lemon hurriedly with a sort of ‘meep’. Hurriedly? Assigning motives to the hardware? Rodney touched the box again and this time was rewarded with a glowing strawberry.
The lab technicians with the small grey box were hovering. They had a lot of things to complete but when their shift was over they wanted to take their box - sorry, the box they were working on - away for out-of-hours investigation. If they had Dr. Mackay’s permission they could shelve their - sorry - the - mouse - sorry - box - for the time being and get on with some work. The basic request was phrased to please but the references to the box were not quite what Rodney had expected. However, he gave his permission, alternating between being gracious and growling so that it came out a bit gruffer than he’d intended.
He turned back to his box - there, he was doing it too - and was rewarded with a green globe and a purr that definitely went up at the end.
“It’s all right.” Since when did he talk to boxes? “I was just...” Zelenka was staring at him, a half-grin forming. Rodney scowled and got on with stroking Kat.
He felt almost sad when they left Kat in the lab and went for lunch. He shared a table with Zelenka automatically. They kept looking up at each other surreptitiously. When either one realised he’d been caught it was eyes down, immediately. On the way back Zelenka spoke.
“Do you think we have enough movements and colours recorded to start making intelligent theories about it?”
“I have no idea. We can run the data we have through a computer and see what it comes up with. The box seems almost intuitive, which is hard to quantify.”
“That’s how I named it. Co-dependent.” He lowered his voice and muttered,” C or K, either way.”
“I want to try something. Let Dr.Kusanagi work with you for a while. See if the output alters with a different partner.”
Miko wasn’t immediately available. Kat purred loudly as soon as they came to the bench so Rodney continued stroking and recording the results. He wasn’t sure he wanted anyone to take his place at all. Someone else to work opposite Zelenka. Someone else to catch his fingers. Someone else to see those eyes. But in the interests of science he had to see if the thing was in some crazy way semi-sentient or artificially intelligent. And he truly did have other work to do.
As Miko released him to return to his desk he almost changed his mind and dismissed her. But he caught sight of his in-tray and told the other scientists to keep him informed.
The afternoon wore on but he was aware that the purring was less frequent and quieter. And occasionally he saw Zelenka looking at him. Of course, that was because he was looking at Zelenka, but that was a dangerous path to tread. He missed the purring. He missed his real cat’s purring. He missed - oh how stupid - the transitory contact with Zelenka.
The shy man whose name he couldn’t remember was talking to him. Could he take D.O.G. for a walk? Rodney thought this might be an aural hallucination and asked the guy to repeat his request. Yes, a walk. He heard himself saying,
“Make sure you get him and yourself back here before the end of your shift,” and buried his face in his hands, groaning. When he looked up both the dog’s - D.O.G.’s - investigators were heading out of the door and the yellow bauble was wagging like mad.
Without the background squeaks and barks the absence of purring was more obvious. Rodney finished his paperwork and went to see what was going on. Miko looked bemused and Zelenka looked distressed. The box was black and silent. Zelenka took off his glasses and rubbed his hand across his eyes. Before he put the glasses on Rodney had time to be certain the eyes were as beautiful as he’d imagined. Then he was listening to Zelenka who said in a quiet, depressed sort of voice,
“Dr. Mackay, I think the KAT is broken.”
Fortunately for everyone’s state of mind the box chose that moment to send out an enquiring and rather tentative tiny green bud shape with an accompanying purr. Zelenka’s face lit up. Miko looked relieved. Rodney gulped.
“I think,” he said, “that we need more data about this phenomenon. I think we need to observe the Kat for longer than is possible in the laboratory. I think maybe we need to copy the other investigators and make ongoing records outside work time.” Had he really said that? What was he suggesting?
Zelenka’s face lit up further. “After hours?”
“Yes. After hours.”
“Do you wish us to stay in the laboratory?”
“No!” emphatically, then, “No, we can... work... elsewhere. I’ll think about it.” He gave the box a firm stroke and walked back to his desk then looked round to meet Zelenka’s eyes. This time neither of them looked down. Rodney thought he might be melting and wondered if the heating had been turned up. Of course it hadn’t. He knew perfectly well what was happening to him. But was it happening to Zelenka too? Could it possibly be?
At what he still thought of as home time, even after so long away from Earth and any real home, he noticed that Zelenka had already departed, with Kat. So maybe he meant to do some research on his own. Maybe he didn't want to wait for the results of Rodney’s deliberations. Maybe... Rodney tidied his pens, paper clips and post-it notes and left the lab.
At dinner, Zelenka, mercifully without Kat under his arm, was chatting to Major Sheppard. They both turned as Rodney came in.
“Dr. Zelenka tells me you’re getting a lot of interesting reactions from those pets I found.” Pets? What gave him the idea they were pets? Had they been purring or barking at him before they left the cupboard? On the way to the lab? Did he know something they didn’t? Something he wasn’t sharing?
“Dr. Mackay, the major was suggesting showing the boxes films or playing music to them. What do you think?” Rodney wasn’t sure what he thought. He thought watching a film or listening to music with Dr. Zelenka was a frighteningly good idea but he had no idea how to say so without sounding like an idiot. So he frowned and nodded and hoped. Apparently the other two were just leaving the canteen and he was hungry so he moved to pick up a tray and some food. He would need sustenance for the evening ahead. Whatever happened.
When he got to his room it seemed suddenly very boring and bare. It needed little lights, and some kind of sound. Maybe a purr. And most of all it needed another human being to talk to, to look at, perhaps to touch. But Dr. Zelenka hadn’t said anything about plans for tonight. He probably wouldn’t assume... Rodney should have said...
He sighed and opened his laptop, immersing himself in equations difficult enough to drown out the needy noises his brain was making.
The knock on the door was very quiet and muffled. When he had processed it as a knock and wondered who it could be and thought ‘Zelenka’ and then dismissed the thought as a product of wishful thinking, the knock came again. So, determined. Whoever it was. And he got up and went to the door.
It was Zelenka, Kat under one arm and the other hand holding a DVD case. The muffled nature of the knock was probably, no, definitely, because he’d used his elbow to knock with and was just returning it to his side. He didn’t even wait for an invitation, just shouldered Rodney aside and walked in. He set Kat on the bed. On the bed! Though admittedly it was the only place not covered in papers and books. Then he turned and waved the DVD at Rodney, his eyes glowing behind his glasses.
“I thought hard about what to show. This should be ideal. Colourful, happy - it seems to like happy - and it has music as well.”
Rodney took the DVD and stared. The Wizard of Oz. Not quite what he would have chosen left to himself but now he came to think about it, it might do.
“You don’t think the non-humans will confuse it? And the dog?”
Zelenka’s face fell. “I thought... they are so human in their characters. The tin man without a heart. The cowardly lion. Our Kat will not notice their physical differences. And she will not be afraid of the dog.” She? Where was this going? When had Rodney lost control of the situation? And did he want it back?
He busied himself closing the programs he had open on the laptop and readying it for the film. Zelenka dug in capacious pockets and produced some kind of canned drinks, and chocolate. Chocolate!
They sat side by side on the bed, Kat between them like a mechanical chaperone, and Rodney told the laptop to play. Over the opening credits their fingers met and Kat purred happily. By the time Dorothy was leaving Kansas their fingers had strayed further. Their breathing was drowning out the purring and the little rods had to fight for space between them. Kat sent up a brilliant pink heart and made the question purr. Dorothy was dealing with the witch when one of them, maybe Rodney and maybe Zelenka said,
“Let’s put this thing on a table or something.” Kat and the laptop ended up on the floor because that was the nearest safe place.
Then they were sharing the bed, oblivious to the film. Clothes were discarded. There were moans of delight and little murmurs of ‘Rodney’ and ‘Radek’.
Kat watched the film. She identified strongly with the tin man. Outwardly she was a black velvet box but inwardly, somewhere among all the wires and circuits she smiled.
Two compatible humans. Skin on skin. Kissing? There was definitely kissing. And purring? Kat purred. Mission accomplished.