Eureka/Stargate Atlantis
Boys Will be Boys
McRaider
Summary: This story has been bothering me since I originally thought it up in (yet again) Chemistry class while my professor regaled of things he'd done as a mere boy. Takes place in Eureka back in about 1980, which would put Rodney and Nathan close to the ages of 10-11. Nathan is about three months older than Rodney (as is Ed vs. David). Henry is their legal guardian (if you want more back story on that wait for it, I'll get there eventually).
Author's Note: Obviously some of the history isn't right because Henry was brought to Eureka by Nathan after Nathan began working there, however I played with the idea a little differently, that maybe he left for more unorthodoxed reasons. Anyway, thought this up way back first semester in Sophomore year of college and decided to post it! Probably more where this comes from.
Boys will be boys: That was Henry's motto since taking in the two boys of the young and innocent age of ten. He'd been caring for Nathan since the boy was six, after the death of both parents. Rodney had fallen into their lap a year ago after building a non-working version of an atomic bomb. Since combining the two over the course of the past thirteen months, Henry had visited the hospital more times than he could count; luckily the boys tended to trade off on who was injured, Henry was sure this time was no different.
He'd been called from Global Dynamics by the paramedics to come pick up his two boys at the hospital, based on the calm tone of the man's voice, he easily guessed that everything would be just fine. He arrived at the hospital to hear the voices of his two surrogate sons and shook his head, "You should have seen it!" he heard Rodney exclaim. "It was like a hand grenade!"
"Too bad we couldn't find any Cesium!" he heard Nathan's voice.
At the sound of those two voices, Henry knew that everything would indeed be fine, if they could brag about it, then they were going to live to tell the tale. He got some smiles from the familiar nurses as he wandered back into the exam rooms, sitting on the bed Nathan's left arm was wrapped up in bandages. Rodney had a bandage on his temple and crutches leaning against his bed, but aside from that they looked fine. A nurse was chuckling as she wrote in their charts.
"Henry!" cheered Nathan as he nearly bound of his gurney, only to be grabbed by the nurse and steadied. "You should have seen it Henry!"
The scientist nodded as he moved over, taking quick stock of both boys, "How big of a hole do we have in front of our house?"
"Well--we blew up that old bathtub!" Rodney affirmed.
"Oh good, I wasn't getting anyone to buy it anyway," Henry ruffled the boy's hair fondly and smiled at the nurse, "Are they okay?"
"Rodney sprained his ankle and has a nice goose egg on his head, but he'll be just fine. Nathan got a few burns on his wrist and hand but he'll also be right as rain. Although I'd strongly discourage you from allowing them to play with Rubidium ever again--they seem to have discovered the dangerous side of the periodic table."
"Yes well, we'll have to discuss at a later time how they got they're hands on anything more than Potassium, until then--come on boys," he helped Rodney off the gurney and steady himself on the crutches.
The nurse watched as the two children: who had stolen most of the nurse's hearts away, hobbled off with the man who understood their urges to blow things up better than anyone. It was obvious to everyone how dearly Henry cared for those two boys.
"Hey Henry? What would Cesium have done?" she heard Nathan question.
She watched the black man just laugh as he wrapped an arm around both boy's shoulders, "Think four or five hand grenades."
"Cool!" cheered Rodney.
Shaking her head, the nurse chuckled, yes boys would be boys, even the big boys.
The End