The first tremor made McKay pause, fork hovering just short of his lips, as he tried to identify the source. The second tremor followed only seconds later. He dropped his fork and tapped his radio as he rose from his seat, leaving his half-finished lunch behind him.

"Zelenka? Simpson?"

Rodney picked up the pace, jogging for the transporter. "Somebody tell me what in the hell just shook the city?"

There was a crackle in his ear and he winced as a steady stream of Czech curses came across the wire. "...and I am never having children!" was the only part of the tirade he understood.

McKay stopped dead in the middle of the hallway.

"Zelenka," he asked carefully, "are you telling me that Max had something to do with whatever just happened?"

It wasn't often that Radek actually yelled, but he was doing it now."Rodney, if you do not come and collect your progeny in the next 30 seconds I will not be held responsible for what happens to him! I am not above defenestration at this point, and there is a lovely view of the ocean just across the hall!" he finished with a snarl.

McKay's whole body was a study in defeat, shoulders slumped, his head hung forward.

"Please don't kill him. I'll be right there."

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-

The lab looked as though it had been hit by an earthquake. Tables were overturned, equipment was lying all over the place, and McKay could see from the door that the Ancient display screen was cracked beyond repair and would have to be replaced. Despite himself, Rodney was somewhat in awe of that; those screens had withstood Wraith attacks and a Genii invasion. It just figured that his son would destroy one. Speaking of whom...

"I don't WANNA! You can't MAKE ME! Lantis listens to me, and she's gonna let me go! Where's my DADDY?!"

The recalcitrant 4-year old was hemmed into a corner of the room by Choi and Danvers. The boy kept trying to dart by them, but they blocked every attempt.

"Max!" he bellowed as headed across the lab. "What do you think you're doing?"

The two scientists made the mistake of looking at McKay when he yelled. Choi got a child-sized punch in the stomach for his inattention, and Danvers let out an ungodly screech as he got kicked full force in the shins.

"Daddy!"

Max tore across the room and tackle hugged his father, knocking him off balance.

"What are you doing here, young man?" McKay demanded. "You are supposed to be in the preschool with Miss Santos!"

Max sniffed dismissively. "Daddy, that's so boring! Those kids are stupid! They don't even know how to do algebra!"

McKay cringed. It was painful, and humbling, to see his own dismissive attitude modeled so blatantly by his son.

"Max, people aren't stupid just because they're not as smart as you." McKay pointedly ignored the opened-mouthed stares that comment garnered from his staff. "You're super smart. It's not fair and it's not kind."

Max screwed up his face in confusion. "But daddy, that doesn't make sense! If they're not as smart, that means they're stupider than me."

Rodney sighed. They obviously needed to talk about this again. Somewhere other than in the lab. But for right now, damage control. "Max. You need to apologize to Dr. Choi and Dr. Danvers. It's not okay to hit people."

"But Unca Ronon and Unca John hits people!"

"That's different," Rodney ground out through clenched teeth. "You need to say you're sorry Max. Now."

Max sighed dramatically, then turned to face the two men. "Sorry," he muttered in a tone which indicated that he was anything but.

"And Dr. Zelenka! He was in charge of the lab and you own him a huge apology."

This time Max at least had the good grace to look somewhat abashed, "I'm sorry Dr. Z, I didn't mean to make the 'speriment blow up, I just wanted to see, and the numbers were wrong and if you'd just let me fix 'em it would have been okay-"

"Max! Apology, not excuses!"

Max sighed again. "Sorry Dr, Z. I shouldn'ta touched it less you said so."

Zelenka stood glowering at them both for 30 seconds before finally rolling his eyes. "Just get out of my lab! It will take days to set this up again!" He stalked away, once again muttering dire imprecations under his breath in Czech.

McKay steered Max out of the lab and down the hall toward the transporter. A little hand tugged on his and he looked down into the pixie-like and deceptively innocent face of his son.

"I'm sorry daddy. I didn't mean to cause trouble."

"I know Max, but you really have to listen to the grown-ups when they say don't touch. Especially Dr. Zelenka, because he is just as smart as you."

"But the 'quation-"

"Max!"

As they walked toward the preschool, McKay watched his son's face cloud over with a very familiar stubborn expression, and he marveled that his parents had not gone completely crazy raising him.

McKay chuckled quietly as he wondered, not for the first time, what Max was going to build for his grade 6 science project. Whatever it was, he had a feeling it would be a working model - and was likely to require a force field to protect the city.

God help them all.