Fic: 'Storytime' (Stargate Atlantis, gen, G, 1/1) Title: Storytime Fandom: Stargate Atlantis Characters: Rodney, Jeannie & Madison Miller Word Count: 537 Rating: G Spoilers: slight ones for 4x09, 'Miller's Crossing' Disclaimer: No one mentioned belongs to me. Summary: Everyone in Rodney's family is out to get him.
Storytime
"Mom said you had to read me three stories," Madison declared, looking up at Rodney with a nagging sort of expression that was so disturbingly reminiscent of Jeannie.
"Yes, yes, I know." Rodney approached the whole 'story hour' idea with considerable reluctance. Over time, he'd grown inexplicably fond of spending time with his family. The distance helped. And as little kids went, Madison wasn't so bad. It was just that the books she liked were so unbelievably inane and intelligence-insulting. Rodney hated anthropomorphic animals, a long-standing feud prompted by a bad experience with Rocky & Bullwinkle. Besides, Madison always insisted that he 'do the voices.' Rodney didn't do voices. "Are you sure you wouldn't rather have Ronon do it? You could probably read faster than him. It'd be a real ego boost."
Madison just sort of blinked at him. "What?"
"Oh, never mind. So what did you want to read this time? The Olivia books again?"
"No, I got something different." Madison smiled. "You'll like it, he's like you."
"Who's like me?"
"The squirrel." Madison passed a thin hardcover book his way.
"Scaredy Squirrel?" Rodney read the title. "Oh, are you kidding me?"
"It's a squirrel, he gets scared of stuff."
"Yes, that much is evident in the highly evocative title. Where exactly lies the comparison between me and a rodent?"
"He talks all high and squeaky like you."
"I do not talk 'all high and squeaky.'"
"And he gets scared of stuff."
"Who said I got scared of stuff?"
"Mom."
Of course she did. "Your mother doesn't know the first thing about anything that's actually scary. And, you know, I'm not exactly incompetent. I've killed my fair share of Wra—"
"Mer!" And there was Jeannie in the doorway, arms folded, looking righteously indignant, even though all of this was her fault in the first place.
"What sort of lies have you been spreading about me?" demanded Rodney.
"I don't think Madison is exactly qualified to sign the non-disclosure agreement that allows you to talk about your 'friends.' Or," she glared, "killing."
"What's killing?" Madison piped up.
"It's when bad things happen. Mer, just read her the book?"
"I have my doubts I can do it in good conscience. She seems to want to draw a comparison between her charming uncle and an agoraphobic squirrel."
"Well of course she does. She's smart. She's got her mom's genes. And where are you getting 'charming' from?"
Even Rodney was willing to admit that was a stretch. Even so, he didn't appreciate the unfavorable comparisons to woodland creatures. Or, let's be honest, any comparisons to woodland creatures. "You sure you don't want a different book?" he asked Madison as Jeannie retreated smugly. "We could read the one about the mouse and the cookie again..."
He thought he heard Jeannie laughing, but he ignored it. One McKay/Miller female (Madison was a McKay whether she realized it or not), no matter how pint-sized, was more than enough. But even so, as he started in on that stupid book about the mouse and the cookie, Madison occasionally helping out, he was filled with a palpable sense of relief. His family might have been out to get him, but maybe it wasn't so bad.