Once again I wrote this after finishing an exam, but this time it was a Math exam and I had thirty minutes left, so the subject of Maths was my inspiration for this story. Who knows Maths better than the great Doctor Rodney McKay? Note: the formula mentioned in the story is actually one of the formula's I used for the test. I think I went pretty well. Yay! It also bothers me that you never find out how Rodney and Teyla actually become friends in the first season, because she seems like the kind of person who can't handle arrogance well. I think there should have been something like this to solidify their strenuous friendship. Set in season one before the Athosians go to the mainland.
Teaching Teyla A Lesson
Something Teyla never expected to hear was Rodney McKay speaking softly. Yet, as she passed by his quarters on her way to her own after training, his soft voice floated through his door that was slightly ajar. Teyla was curious as to why he would speak so gently and laid her bantos sticks down before sneaking over to peer through his door. A strange sight met her eyes.
She had been expecting to see Rodney wooing an Athosian female. What she didn't expect was Rodney standing in front of a whiteboard with symbols on it; a dozen Athosian children sitting around him holding paper and pens. As she watched, Rodney drew another symbol on the board. She noted that there were eleven symbols on the board now and two were the same.
"This is the number 10," Rodney explained gently to the Athosian children. "It has two numbers in it because it's the beginning of a whole new sequence of numbers. Every ten numbers are a new sequence and I've just taught you the first sequence. Remember the previous nine numbers we learnt last week? This is the last number of the first sequence and the first number of the second sequence."
"Doctor?" a young boy called Jinto asked, raising his hand. "How many sequences are there?"
"There are endless sequences," Rodney replied. "They go on forever and there are too many for the human mind to fathom."
"What else do you do with numbers?" Jinto asked.
"A lot of things." Rodney turned to the whiteboard and wrote down 8×cos-1(0.4338×tan0). "This is used to find out how many minutes there are in a day."
"Woah," the children chorused. "Can you teach us that?"
"It'll take a few years," Rodney chuckled. "Now, back to the first sequence. You've all got paper and pen so copy these numbers down and get to work on learning the shapes."
There was a rustle of paper and Teyla stepped away from the door, smiling.
Later that afternoon Teyla entered Rodney's lab and, seeing him alone, grinned devilishly. "So," she said conversationally, "how long have you been teaching the children Maths?"
Rodney looked up and blanced, glancing around his lab, but they were alone. "You learned that term off Sheppard, huh? Um, have you told anyone?"
"No. So how long?"
"Only a week or so. The kids came across me when I was doing Maths and they really wanted to learn, so..."
"From what I saw they were enjoying it very much."
"They are, and that's saying something since I'm no good with kids. Hey, please don't tell anyone," he begged. "It'll give Sheppard and Ford a reason to torment me for forever."
"Do not worry Rodney. Your secret is safe with me." Her eyes twinkled and she moved closer. "Just as long as I am allowed to join in the next session. When is it?"
Rodney blinked. "You want to learn too? Uh, in two days."
"I look forward to it." Teyla smiled, grasping his hands, and Rodney simply beamed.