This is my first ever McKay Centric fic. I noticed some little boo boos so I went back and fixed them. Enjoy the story!
"You always spoil him, Cedric!" his mother said, her lips pursed in an expression of disapproval that 9 year old Rodney already knew too well. He kept his eyes on his cereal, hoping desperately that it would all be over soon but luck was not with him today.
His father glared at his wife. "His birthday only comes once every year and besides, he's gotten pretty good at the piano so I thought he should have one of his own, Divia. You've never evencome to one of his piano recitals." Cedric replied in a clipped voice.
Rodney took his bowl to the sink and rinsed it, listening to the argument behind him escalate. It was happening more and more these days and the child wondered why. As his father's fist slammed down on the table top, the little boy froze, unable to move from his post at the sink.
Suddenly, a glass hit the floor and Rodney was freed from his temporary stasis. He fled the kitchen, his floppy brown hair bouncing and his sneakered feet echoing on the hardwood floors as he rushed toward the music room. Shutting the door quickly, he sat down at the new baby grand piano his father had just bought him. Running his small hands over ther glimmering keys, Rodney haltingly began to play his favorite song, not noticing a single tear that crept down his cheek and joined the ivory keys as they sang his sorrow to the unhearing house.
The alarm went off, jolting Rodney McKay from his dreams. He moaned, reaching up and scratching his head that had shorter and less hair now. As he sat up, he shook himself mentally, attempting to banish unwanted memories from his head. Looking over at the calendar he had posted on his wall, he allowed himself to heave a mighty groan and flop back down on his pillow.
"Great...it's my birthday." he muttered sarcastically. Finally rolling of bed, he headed into the shower and tried to let the hot water sweep his problems away down the drain. Today was not just any birthday though, oh no. Today was the day that meant Rodney was officially over the hill; the big 4-0.
Dressing hurridly, he looked in the mirror and scowled fiercely at his reflection. Woe betide anyone (except Elizabeth Weir or Teyla perhaps) that wanted something from him before he had his first cup of coffee. Today was going to be a crappy enough day and he was not going to face it without some fortification first!
Dr. Elizabeth Weir looked over her coffee mug at the pacing Scotsman in front of her. "I know that Rodney can be...shall we say, a little difficult..." she began, trying to be tactful.
"Try bloody annoying!" came Carson Beckett's swift retort.
She gave him a speaking glance and he had the grace to look somewhat abashed by his comment. "It's just that sometimes I can't handle the constant sarcasm or continual lording his brains over us. I know there's a good man in there somewhere...it's just getting him to come out that's the trouble!" the doctor finished, sounding more than a little frustrated.
Elizabeth sighed. "I hear you Carson...but what can we do? Rodney's as stubborn as 20 mules and would never admit to being deficient in any way..." she mused quietly.
"But he is...he deficient socially as well as emotionally." Beckett replied, completing another few back and forth circuits of her office. "I don't think he'd know how to handle asking a woman out if his ruddy life depended on it and even if he did succeed there, something tells me that it wouldn't last long."
"Go on..." she said, intrigued. He finally sat down in the chair directly across from her desk and looked her straight in the eye. "I might not be a genius like Rodney, but it bloody well doesn't take the reincarnation of Einstein for me to see that's he's really unhappy...and probably has been for a long time. His problems are much deeper than just being in another galaxy and missing home, Elizabeth...and they're not just going to go away."
Setting her coffee cup down, she closed her eyes for a moment before opening them again. "So that brings us back to our initial problem...what are we going to do to help him?"
Carson rose to his feet and began pacing the floor again. "Maybe I could talk to him..." the doctor said, a distinct fire blazing in his blue eyes.
"Ummm, Carson, I'm not so sure that would really be a good idea..." Elizabeth warned.
"No no, it's just the thing you see! Rodney is a straight shooter and likes to hear things without a lot of sneakin' around or game playing. I'll just pop down to his lab at lunch time and have a nice little chat with him."
Before she could open her mouth to protest, he was out the door and gone. "Yes, Carson, but how's he going to feel about something he's NOT going to want to hear?" she asked the air before shaking her head and going back to her paperwork. They would soon know the fallout at lunch time...
Please...review?
