Still don't own it…damn it.
To the few of you keeping up with this- and you know who you are- sorry for the wait. Real life and my muse have been conspiring against me. Hopefully they'll both ease up on me for a while.
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It had been a long time since Rodney had truly feared for his life. Four months as a matter of fact, and while four months wasn't really a long time in the grand scheme of things, it was certainly a long time when talking about mortal fear and the Pegasus Galaxy.
It had been four months since he, along with Teyla, Ronon and Sheppard, had had a far too close encounter with a particularly nasty and spiteful Wraith Queen. The scars on Ronon's chest still hadn't so much as faded a little bit.
He'd thought they were going to die that day, or the day after, or as soon as the Queen became hungry again. At least, that was where his thoughts had been after the usual hysteria brought on by the realization that doom was around the corner had eased enough for rational thought. It hadn't been until the hive had been attacked while they were being moved from one cell to another that they'd gotten their chance to escape. A ride for him, Teyla and Ronon as energy patterns in a Dart's storage system and they were free.
At any rate, that was the last time he'd felt mortal fear.
At least it had been until a few moments ago when his beautiful little girl, all of three and a half years old, looked at him after he'd stubbed his toe and said aloud with a crystal clear voice what he'd been saying in his mind.
"CRAP!"
Rodney stopped hopping around on his uninjured foot and stared in disbelief at his little angel. Her blue eyes were narrowed as though she had been the one to sustain the injury; her lips were pressed into a thin line that turned downward at the edges into a typical McKay scowl; and her tiny arms were crossed across her chest. In fact, the only feature of his daughter that remained of the angel he knew her to be was her shoulder length golden hair that, despite the scowl, twisted lips and crossed arms, still framed her head and face and managed to give her an angelic glow.
Jennifer was going to kill him.
Rodney gingerly lowered his foot to the floor and, sparing the slightest of thoughts to the throb in his toe and one more internal curse towards the chair that had hurt him, he knelt down in front of little Teylanna and tried to quell the fear that had taken up residence in his chest.
"Teylanna, honey," he said softly, taking a page from Jennifer's book whenever she tried to gently discipline their daughter. "That's a bit of a bad word, and you're not allowed to say it."
The little girl's nostrils flared. "But you say it all the time, Daddy."
Rodney swallowed before he spoke. "Not all the time," he said, and it was an instant after the words had faded from his ears that he realized he'd said it childishly. He shook his head and tried to stare down his defiant daughter. "You're right. I do say it, but I'm a grownup and grownups are allowed to say things that little girls aren't, and that word is one of them. Okay?"
"Why?"
Startled by the simple and innocent question Rodney could only blurt out, "What?"
Teylanna's eyebrows lifted questioningly as she repeated, "Why?"
"Ah, well," Rodney cleared his throat and finally said more meekly than he'd wanted, "it's just the way it is."
"Why?"
"Because grownups are older and allowed to do more things than kids are allowed to do," Rodney said, hoping that his answer would be enough.
"Why?"
"Because grownups are older," he repeated.
"Why?"
Crap! he thought to himself. This could go on for a while, and Jennifer will be back soon! To his daughter he said, "It's just the way it is." Teylanna took in a quick breath and opened her mouth and Rodney knew that another interrogative was coming. He held up his hand to stop her and, in keeping with another of Jennifer's preferred actions in talking to their daughter, he reached over and placed his hands on the little girl's shoulders and looked her in the eyes. "Listen, Mommy would be very upset- maybe even really sad- if she heard you say that word." He waited a second for that to sink in, and he cursed himself when his daughter's face fell into sadness and worry. "We don't want that, do we?"
Teylanna shook her head in a slow left to right motion, and Rodney knew that he'd made his point. Still, the way he'd hoodwinked his daughter and the sad look on her normally bright face tugged at his usually well shielded heart. "Come on," he said as he stood up. He motioned to the door with his head and added, "Let's head to the Mess and see if there's any Jello left."
Teylanna's smile was as big and bright as he'd ever seen it, and his chest filled with the usual rush of warmth that he felt whenever he knew with absolute certainty that he'd made her happy. He was about to reach out to take her hand when the door opened and he could here Jennifer's voice drift through it. He pointed to the couch and whispered, "Hurry!" to Teylanna, who took off like a shot to hide behind the couch.
He turned towards the door just as Jennifer walked through, though 'ran through' might have been closer to the truth. The door closed and she leaned back against it heavily, as though she was immensely relieved to be home.
"Hey there," Rodney said after sending a surreptitious glance towards the couch. "Rough day?"
"You could say that," replied Jennifer with a tired voice. She pushed herself away from the door and started towards him. "Dr. Nichols is driving me nuts with his requests to join off-world teams." When she reached Rodney she gave him a quick kiss and then veered off towards the bedroom. Just as she passed through the doorway she said, "I swear that guy is so full of crap…"
Rodney never had time to turn and try to stop Teylanna before she jumped up with a wide grin on her lips and a resounding, "CRAP!" reached his ears.
His head snapped towards the bedroom and he watched, horrified, as Jennifer slowly reappeared at the door with a look of surprise, embarrassment and anger on her face.
Jennifer walked towards the couch as Rodney began formulating an escape plan. He was just getting around to thinking about disrupting the internal sensors when Jennifer said to their daughter, "Come here please, Teylanna."
Rodney watched, his hands nervously clasping at each other in front of him as Jennifer sat down and pulled Teylanna up into her lap.
"Teylanna, honey, I'm sorry for saying that word," Jennifer said softly, "and I'm sorry that you heard it. I really shouldn't have said it."
"That's right," declared Rodney, relieved beyond common sense that Jennifer was blaming herself and not him. "All is forgiven, no harm done, everyone's happy." He looked at Jennifer and said, "We were just heading to the Mess for some Jello and you should come with us." He turned and started towards the door, saying over his shoulder, "Let's go before it's all gone. My treat!"
He stopped at the door and looked back to see Jennifer whispering in Teylanna's ear, and when she'd finished the little girl nodded and said, "That's what Daddy said when he said it."
Rodney's stomach dropped somewhere into his socks as Jennifer's head slowly turned towards him. When he could finally see her face, all he could say to answer the accusatory anger in her eyes was, "Crap."
"CRAP!!!!!!!!"
Rodney groaned as Jennifer's intense gaze remained fixed upon him, and for the first time in since arriving in the Pegasus Galaxy, he wished for the days when the only thing he had to worry about was a nasty and spiteful Wraith Queen.
