Disclaimer & A/N: I still own nothing in the stargate universe except my OCs, but considering the ride they are taking me on, it's probably just as well. In my AU this story comes somewhere… ah, not sure, go look in my profile at the timeline if you actually care! Also, if you're curious, it is the first in a trilogy of three relatively short stories. Hey, a trilogy that has three stories in it! How original is that! But anyway. This is the only one typed up so far!

SenseOfTime -- my muse-monkey and I were thinking of you when we wrote this... no, hang on. What I mean is, I think you'll get a smile out of it even if no-one else does!! (Hi! to everyone else out there who has made friendly comments about Megs!)

Toodles, humour me, and review!

Palimpsest

Doctor Meaghan Monahan leant over Rodney's shoulder and said with the cheeky voice that she knew irritated the hell out of him, 'Ah. A palimpsest.'

He glanced up, 'A what?'

She grinned, walked around his chair and perched herself on the edge of his desk, feet swinging like a seven-year-old. It was late, she was wearing comfy clothes, she'd just washed her hair, and she was in a fantastically good mood because she'd found out that she was getting 'shore-leave' back on Earth over the Christmas period. And there is nothing more enjoyable for a girl in a good mood than Rodney-baiting. She gotten so accustomed to him by now, that she almost caught herself thinking that he was cute when he was cranky. Only almost though. You couldn't admit that sort of thing even in your head.

'A palimpsest.' She repeated, as though it were the most obvious thing in the world.

He put down the text he had been holding, and crossed his arms over his chest. She was wearing a loudly-coloured singlet with the words, 'I'm not opinionated… I'm just always right' plastered across the front, a slogan which he secretly wouldn't have minded having on a shirt himself, though he would never have admitted it. He rolled his eyes at her, 'If I ask you to explain what you're blabbering about, you'll crow about it for days, won't you?'

She swung her sneakers a little faster and feigned insult, 'Me? Crow? I've got two doctorates, I'll have you know, Rodney, and I'm quite certain that someone with two doctorates would never crow.' Then she grinned at him, 'Of course, being asked for information by Doctor McKay is worth two free beers from Ingrid, so it would be definitely appreciated. Naturally, I'd need to you to give me written proof that you actually had asked for said information, else she'd never believe me, shrew of a friend that she is.'

McKay groaned, picked up the text again, and decided that he'd try ignoring her.

Meaghan didn't fancy being ignored. She'd already been to all her friends, and they'd looked at her with not-now-Megs-we're-busy expressions on their faces. Annoying Rodney was quite simply the only option left.

'A palimpsest,' she whispered.

'Oh, for crying out loud!' he shouted in exasperation, and threw the text down, eyes glaring as he yelled at her. 'What the hell is a palimpsest? Go on, get it off your chest, I can see that you won't leave me in peace until you do.'

She grinned. He knew her too well. 'Greek word,' she said succinctly, 'Also the title of a novella by an American poet called H.D. I happened to study her at uni, though God only knows why when I think about it now. She defined a palimpsest as 'a parchment from which one lot of writing has been erased to make room for another.'' She grinned slighlty, 'Though I suppose you could also use it metaphorically, you know, the whole replacement of the old with the new.'

He was still glaring at her; now he raised his eyes to the ceiling in supplication to the universe-at-large that she'd be happy and leave. 'Thank you so much for my daily dose of useless information, Ms Wikipedia. My life has been enriched.'

She pointed at the text he had so brutally thrown down and said, 'That happens to be one. Look,' she picked it up and held it to the light, 'You can see that the grain on the lower half has been altered. The ink is also subtly different. Whatever was originally written on that section, somebody has removed, and then added new stuff in its place.'

He shook his head grudgingly, 'Since when were you the parchment expert?'

She shrugged, handed it back to him, and crossed her legs, 'I dunno. Since when did you read them? And – my God, Rodney, is that a pencil? Did your laptop blow up or something? I swear I haven't been near it since I downloaded those pictures from Ingrid's camera.'

He looked sour, 'Which, I might remind you, I am still fishing out from the oddest places amongst my files.'

She patted him consolingly on the head, and then dodged as he swatted her hand away.

'Honestly, Monahan. Which is it – have you forgotten to take your pills today, or have you been popping illegal ones on the side?'

She laughed, 'Neither. Seriously, though – what are you doing?'

He scowled slightly, 'Stupidity for Elizabeth. She wants it translated – not the Ancient so much because it's so simple that even Sheppard could read it, but the science content. She's curious. So I get lumped with it.' He glanced at her again, 'Satisfied now?'

She looked inwardly for a moment, then shot him a mischievous, appraising look, and said, 'Not even remotely, Rodney duckling, but if you're going to take that tone I'll go and find someone else to chirp at.'

He looked relieved. 'Thank you.'

She slid back off his desk, then said, as an afterthought, 'Of course, if Elizabeth wants to know the original meaning of that text, you'll have to work out what the erased part said.'

He shook his head, 'If it's erased, that will be a little hard don't you think?' Then he stopped suddenly and stared at her hard, 'Just now, did you call me Rodney duckling?'

She grinned sweetly and mock curtsied, despite the fact that she was wearing ancient jeans, and said, 'McKay, I have discovered that the only way to deal with your acerbic nature is to mock you mercilessly. And no, parchments aren't bottomless black holes. There are plenty of people on Earth who could find out what had been written there. There might even be some in Atlantis, what would I know? But either way, it's a good excuse to get you out of doing it if it's boring you.' She gave him a three-fingered wave and swanned off, grinning like the cat that got the cream. Okay, so maybe just a little cute when he was cranky...

Rodney stared at her, wondered why she always looked like she didn't know what a hairbrush was for, and then dropped the text onto his 'somebody else's problem' pile.

One job less.

He almost smiled. So she did have some uses after all.

And to his own surprise he found himself enjoying the view as she walked away. Scrappy jeans did have a sort of charm when she was wearing them.