briarwood | FIC: One Perfect Night

Title: One Perfect Night
Rating: All Ages
Fandom: Stargate: Atlantis
Pairing: Elizabeth/John
Summary: A gift for trinity1986 who asked for a Elizabeth/John story, with the prompt "Elizabeth and a girlcrush". Honey, I have no idea how a "girlcrush" is supposed to differ from a regular crush, unless you meant a crush on a girl which I figured you didn't, as you'd requested a het pairing. So I hope this comes close to what you wanted.

ONE PERFECT NIGHT

The movie was a mistake.

Everything else about the night was wonderful, perhaps even perfect.

There was a view of the golden sunset over the ocean and soft lighting after the sun disappeared beneath the waves. There were roses (a dozen, red) and a small box of exquisite handmade chocolates which John had somehow obtained from Earth (he must have called in a career's worth of favours for that). There was the delicious knowledge that they were alone, and a solemn promise that they wouldn't be disturbed for anything less than an imminent attack. Best of all, there was John.

He wore civvies: charcoal grey pants and a rich cream coloured shirt. Elizabeth so rarely saw him out of uniform that this alone felt like a special treat, just for her. When he kissed her cheek she could smell his hair gel and the deep musk of his aftershave.

Elizabeth wore dark green: a loose-fitting satin dress that swirled around her long legs as if she were dancing. Her hair was carefully styled to look like it wasn't, and she wore no make-up because John thought lipstick tasted awful…and so did she. She wasn't wearing perfume, exactly, but she'd used oil of jasmine and roses on her skin.

Everything was perfect.

They were going to watch a movie together, just because they so rarely had time to relax and do normal-couple-things like that. They would share a bottle of wine with the movie and then – unless there really was a Wraith attack – spend the night together. The whole night. Tomorrow would be business as usual, but tonight…tonight was theirs.

But the movie was a mistake.

John refused to consider a "chick flick" (whatever that was supposed to be) and Elizabeth vetoed a horror movie. They compromised with King Kong: the new version which Elizabeth hadn't seen. John was a fan of the 1930's original. Elizabeth, though she would be embarrassed to admit it to John, had a huge crush on Jack Black and would have watched the film for him alone. Nothing wrong with Jack Black. He's smart and genuine and funny. Those are the things that matter. Her love for Jack dated back to long before King Kong: to 2001 when Simon sent her tapes of Tenacious D to keep her spirits up during an especially tough negotiation. Those tapes saved her sanity.

So Elizabeth was happy cuddling up to John's side while they watched the movie. At first, it was all good. John threw popcorn at the screen and complained good-naturedly that the story was slow to start. She laughed at him and at Jack and enjoyed the warmth of his arm around her shoulder.

But neither of them realised how terribly long the movie was. By the time Adrien Brody rescued Naomi Watts from the giant gorilla (the first time), it was pretty clear that John was bored with sitting still. He ran his fingers lightly down her bare arm, raising gooseflesh and making her shiver, though not with cold. He leaned over and kissed her neck like a teenager in the back row of a movie theatre.

Elizabeth laughed. "Don't you want to watch the movie?"

"Sure I do," John agreed, caressing her cheek with the backs of his fingers. "In the morning."

Elizabeth set down her wine glass and moved into his arms.

Also posted at AO3: http://archiveofourown.org/works/5644