Disclaimer: Unfortunately I don't own them

Spoilers: General

A/N: This story is really a part of my 25 stories iPod collection. My friend challenged me to whump Zelenka, and in her honour I made this story long. The title comes from the song "Home and Dry" performed by the Pet Shop Boys.

Part 1

The lights were still on in one room in Atlantis, and that room was Rodney McKay's lab. Rodney pushed the lid of his laptop down, put his hands behind his head and stretched his back out. It was nearing morning and he was sitting in his lab. Again. Rodney had always been a bit of a workaholic. No, not just a bit. He lived for his work. It was difficult for him to put his research away when he was on the brink of a discovery. And now he was closer than ever. Although new discoveries never were far away here on Atlantis and in the Pegasus galaxy, he still felt like a child at Christmas every time he made a breakthrough. What he had been working on now was a new power source, one that could replace the ZPM they relied so much upon. Zelenka had been working alongside him for some of the time, but he had gone to bed a couple of hours ago.

Rodney yawned and decided it was time to call it a nigh and head back to his quarters. As he rose from his chair he could see the first sun beams rise over the horizon. It looked to be a beautiful day. Rodney stretched his sore muscles, and it was first when he walked past the locker rooms that he remembered that he was supposed to go off-world with the rest of his team that morning. He really didn't want to go on an off-world mission now. He wanted to stay on Atlantis, in the comfort of his own bed. Rodney had been on enough off-world missions over the past years to know that they very rarely gave him the opportunity to rest. On the contrary, they most often resulted in him saving the rest from imminent death.

In stead of turning right at the corner, Rodney decided to turn left and make a stop at the infirmary. He knew that Carson was there, pulling the nightshift. When he entered the room,

Rodney found Carson fast asleep at his desk. He moved nearer and put his hand on the Scot's shoulder.

Carson suddenly jumped up, startled and dazed. "I was just resting me eyes!" he exclaimed.

Rodney grinned. "Yeah, sure you were."

Carson looked at him. "Rodney, what do you want?"

Rodney's grin quickly disappeared as he tried to look feebler than he really was.

"I don't feel too good."

Carson rolled his eyes. "Is it another splinter?"

"No! It's not a splinter!" Rodney exclaimed, a bit too quick.

Carson looked at him with a suspicious glare. "Then what is it?"

"It's my head. It doesn't feel good."

Carson bit back a sarcastic comment. It was too easy, he thought. Instead he gestured towards the examination bench.

"Have a seat."

Rodney sat down. As the doctor examined him, he tried to look as weak as he could. Some way or another he had to get out of going on this mission. Zelenka could go instead, he thought. At least he had had a couple of hours of sleep by now. Rodney looked up at Carson with a miserable look on his face.

***

Ten minutes later, after having done his best to convince Carson to let him stay on Atlantis, Rodney was headed for John Sheppard's quarters. He figured he would have better luck trying to persuade the Lieutenant Colonel. As he came to a halt, Rodney knocked loudly at the door.

"John!"

There was no answer.

Rodney knocked again, harder this time. "John!" he yelled.

He could hear someone moving inside and finally the door opened. John Sheppard stood in the doorway. He looked tired. His eyes were red and his hair was flat. It was a sight Rodney had never seen before.

John stared at the Canadian. "What?!"

"I don't think I can go with you on the mission today," Rodney said. "I don't feel so…"

John stared wildly at him. "You woke me up just to say that?!"

"Yes, I…" Rodney started to say, but stopped when he saw the look in John's eyes. Then he straightened his back. "I just wanted to say that I think Zelenka should go instead of me. He… needs the experience."

"Fine!" John exclaimed. "Just get the hell out of here and let me sleep!"

As Rodney made his way back to his quarters, a smile crossed his lips. He was going to get his much-needed hours of sleep and when he woke later that day he would be able to continue his research.

***

Radek was just finishing up and ready to leave his quarters when he heard a knock at the door. He opened it and saw John Sheppard standing there.

"Gear up," John said. "You're coming with us."

Radek stared at him. "Wh… What?"

"On the mission. Rodney chickened out, and we need a brilliant scientist. That would be you. Hurry. We have to go soon."

"But…" Radek began, but John was already on his way down the corridor.

"What mission?" he finished.

Radek sighed and walked back into his quarters. He sat down on his bed for a while, resting his head in his hands. When he realised that he had no other choice than to do as the Colonel said, he grabbed his jacket and headed towards the cafeteria. At least he had to get some decent food before he had to leave the city. As he made his way down the hallway, he mumbled some hushed words about a certain Canadian scientist, glad that no Czech-speaking were around to understand them. Radek had never liked to leave Atlantis, except for going back to Earth of course. Ever since his first off-world mission when he had been forced to come along to rescue Rodney and Lieutenant Cadman who had been trapped inside a Wraith dart, he had been uncomfortable off-world. Radek felt most at home in his own lab and that's where he preferred to stay.

***

In the locker room 30 minutes later John looked up as Radek entered. Teyla and Ronon were already there, ready and eager to leave. As he geared up, Radek turned to look at John.

"Where exactly are we going?" he asked.

"To M3P-432."

M3P-432 was one of the planets not too far away from where Atlantis currently was located. John had been there a couple of times with his team, trading with the locals. They were friendly people, very interested in maintaining their alliances with the neighbouring worlds. He liked them. They always welcomed him and whoever he brought along with open arms, and best of all was that they had no boring ceremonies he had to endure. Their leader, Logaian, was a fair and intelligent man. It was obvious that his people looked up to him and trusted him.

John's thoughts were interrupted by the nervous voice of the Czech scientist.

"And what are we going to do there?" Radek asked.

"We have to see what happened to the people living there, " John answered.

Radek looked puzzled at him. "What do you mean?"

"We received a distress call from them yesterday," John said. "Major Lorne and some of the Marines went over to the planet to check it out. It turns out that 6 of the locals have gone missing. No one knows where they are and there's no trace of them. They simply don't know what has happened to them."

"Could it be the Wraith?" Radek suggested. "They take people all the time."

Ronon shook his head. "No."

Teyla nodded. "Ronon is right. The Wraith does not to come sneaking in the middle of the night. They have no need to hide. Besides they like to see the fear in their victims' faces. This has to be something else."

Radek cleared his throat. This mission started to sound a lot more dangerous than he liked.

"And you need me because…?"

John patted him on the back. "I'm gonna be honest with you, Doc. We don't know what we're facing out there. We might need muscles, and that's why we have Ronon. We might need someone with persuasive powers, and that's why we have Teyla. We also might need intellect, and that's where you come in," he said as he pushed a P90 into Radek's arms.

John felt a bit sorry for the scientist when he saw the terrified look on his face.

"I need this?!" he exclaimed.

"Of course," John said. "But we have your back. Don't worry."

With that John passed him on his way to the Jumper Bay.

***

Radek stayed behind in the locker room, standing completely still as he took it all in.

Teyla smiled mildly at him. "Do not worry, Radek. I am sure everything will be all right," she said.

"Yes…" Radek sighed and slowly started to walk.

He and Teyla joined the other two in the Jumper Bay.

As they were taking their places inside the Puddle Jumper, Radek sighed and pushed his glasses further up his nose. If he survived this he was going to kill Rodney.

TBC