Title: The Recital
Author: La
Rating: Kid-friendly
Pairing: John/Elizabeth
Summary: A trip to the mainland provides the perfect excuse to get John into his dress uniform. :)
Spoilers: One specific for Hide and Seek, and that's about it.
Author's Note: Many thanks to Sally for the beta and Athena for the title. And I apologize for the summary - too early in the morning for me to be more creative than that. Also, not my best stuff, but since I haven't written anything in a few months let's just be glad I'm writing, hmm:)

Disclaimer: Atlantis and characters aren't mine - I'm just playing.

"Why do I have to be dressed like this again?" John complained, appearing at Elizabeth's side.

She shot him an appraising look out of the corner of her eye, admiring the way the blue of his dress uniform complemented his eyes. "What's wrong with how you're dressed?"

He tugged on a cuff. "I hate these clothes."

Elizabeth gave a good humored sigh. "You look fine. Did you just get here? You're cutting it a bit close."

"Yeah, well, Rodney took his sweet time getting ready," John said, slumping down on the rough log seat beside her.

"I'm glad I had Lorne fly me over here early, then," Elizabeth replied, turning her gaze to the clearing in front of her. They were not far from the Athosian village on the mainland, although the woods were thick enough around them to make her feel slightly isolated. It didn't help that they'd had to leave the jumpers rather far away – nearly a fifteen minute walk. She'd insisted on arriving at least thirty minutes early; she didn't want to risk missing anything.

"Who's bright idea was it to have the kids put on a play, anyway?" John grumbled, but Elizabeth could tell he didn't really mean it. He had a soft spot for the Athosian kids, especially Jinto. He was more disgruntled that she'd made him – well, all of them – dress up.

"It was Teyla's, actually," Elizabeth answered innocently, knowing that she was as much to blame for the play as the other woman. It was she who'd brought up theater in the first place...

"Unfortunately, Dr. McKay was not very convincing," Teyla said as she set her tray of food down on one of the tables in the mess. "He stumbled into a tree, fell down, and then proceeded to twitch every few seconds. No one watching thought he was dead."

"And why did he think that pretending to die would get you out of the mess?" Elizabeth asked curiously. She placed her tray across the table from Teyla and took a seat, glad the Athosian had talked her into leaving her office and eating lunch together.

"I believe he thought they would leave him behind as they forced the rest of us to keep marching. Perhaps he hoped he could return to the gate and get help."

"And instead you all wound up chained in a cabin until Lorne and his team rescued you. You know, sometimes I think it's a miracle any of you are still alive." Elizabeth laughed. She could laugh about it, now that the hours of worry were over and her team was safe and sound back home.

"Yes, and no thanks to Dr. McKay," Teyla added with a fond smile.

"No, Rodney isn't a very good actor," Elizabeth replied. "He's a bit like my college roommate in that respect, although it never stopped her from trying out for the theater department's productions."

They ate in comfortable silence for a few minutes until Elizabeth suddenly said, "I miss the theater."

"Movies?" Teyla inquired. Elizabeth was struck for a moment by how foreign the word still seemed coming from Teyla's mouth, even after two and a half years of living with people from Earth.

"Well, yes, I miss movies. But more than that, I miss the theater. Dressing up to go to performances, seeing the sets, meeting the actors afterwards. It's strange. I hadn't been for nearly three years before I came to Atlantis. I didn't think I'd miss it."

They talked about the different types of performances and spent the rest of their lunch discussing various types of theater. Elizabeth was surprised by how much she could remember, even though she'd never been more than an audience member. Teyla spoke of her own people's traditions, passing down stories through narrated performances, and they spent an enjoyable half hour noting the differences and similarities before Teyla left to head to the mainland and meet with Halling, and Elizabeth left for her office.

Nearly three weeks later, as Elizabeth was walking back to the control room from the armory, Teyla stopped her in the hallway and asked to speak to her.

"Is something the matter?" Elizabeth asked.

"Oh, not at all!" Teyla seemed surprised. "No. But I did want to ask you something."

Elizabeth raised an inquiring eyebrow.

"Do you recall a few weeks ago, when we spoke about the theater?" Teyla tilted her head inquiringly. At Elizabeth's nod, she continued, "I mentioned it to Halling, and Jinto overheard. He has been somewhat bored lately with life in the village, so he offered to bring some of the other children together and perform a play for you."

Elizabeth felt herself breaking into a smile. "A play for us?"

Teyla smiled in response. "Yes. He wanted me to invite you and the rest of the team to see it performed three days from now. He seemed quite exicted about being asked for his autograph."

"We'd be glad to go!" Elizabeth said. "This is very thoughtful of him."

When she'd informed those who were planning to attend the play that formal dress was expected – she didn't want to disappoint Jinto and the others by treating this as anything less than an authentic theatrical performance – she'd been met with varying degrees of dismay. Lorne had simply shrugged and agreed, but John and Rodney had been vehemently opposed.

"I hate dress blues!" John burst out.

"I don't have anything fancy!" Rodney whined.

In the end she had prevailed, though, and formal dress was the order of the day.

It was a good decision, Elizabeth thought, glancing again at the man beside her. His hair was still wildly out of control, but John Sheppard cleaned up nicely. So did most of the members of her team. Rodney had managed to find a nice black, button down shirt somewhere, Lorne looked striking in his uniform, and Kate Heightmeyer had even managed to find a floor length dress. Elizabeth had opted for black pants and a green top that an old friend had told her went well with her eyes.

On the opposite side of the clearing, she could see Teyla speaking with the young actors. Their excitement was almost palpable, and Elizabeth was glad she'd made a real occasion out of this.

As she watched, Teyla left the group at the treeline and moved into the center of the clearing.

"Ladies and gentlemen," she intoned. "Thank you all for coming. Please allow me to introduce the man behind this performance." She gestured for Jinto to join her.

"Perhaps you would like to tell us what story you will be performing today?" she asked.

Jinto nodded proudly. "We decided to tell you a story that Colonel Sheppard told us when we first arrived at Atlantis. I hope you like our performance of 'Friday the 13th.'" Without further ado, he hurried back to the treeline to join his fellow cast members.

Elizabeth exchanged a look with John. Well. This should be interesting.

"I don't really remember the story going like that," John said as they walked back to the puddle jumper.

"It was very thoughtful of them to present a story they knew you liked," Elizabeth pointed out.

"I thought Lorne was going to bust a blood vessel trying not to laugh." John grinned at her, and she couldn't help but grin back.

"There were times when I thought I wasn't going to make it myself," she admitted. "But they had fun, and they were happy to do something for us."

"Yeah." John ran a hand through his hair. "They really liked having you 'meet' them afterwards, too."

Elizabeth smiled. She remembered what she'd told Teyla about her theater memories, and she was determined to live up to every one of them. So when the play had ended and the "cast" had gathered in front of the seats, she'd made a point of talking with each of them. She recognized some of them from their stay on Atlantis, but others were less well known to her. She'd never been particularly comfortable around children, but she didn't want to disappoint them so she'd stopped and listened to them tell her a little about themselves.

Most of the others didn't have the time to stay. Kate Heightmeyer had a meeting waiting for her, Carson was supposed to be doing a follow up on a marine with a broken leg, and Rodney was, well, impatient to get back to testing a theory of his. When Lorne had offered to take them back, John had said he'd be glad to stay with Elizabeth until she was finished.

Now as they walked, they fell into a companionable silence. Elizabeth couldn't help but sneak glances at John, noticing once again how nice he looked in his uniform. No, not nice. It went beyond nice somehow.

He caught her staring, and tugged at his collar self consciously. "I hate this thing, you know. It just feels weird to wear it."

"It looks good on you, John," she said consolingly.

He gave her an odd look, but he stopped tugging at the collar. "Just promise me that if they do another play I won't have to wear it again."

Elizabeth stopped walking and turned to fully face him. She eyed him speculatively, and John started to fidget under her scrutiny.

"No," she said thoughtfully. "I don't think I can promise that. In fact, if they do another play I think I can promise that you'll definitely have to wear it again."

As she started toward the jumper again, leaving a flabbergasted John behind her, she couldn't help but think that she'd never seen her military commander blush before.

Author's Note 2: I have to say, I was sorely tempted by Athena's other title suggestion: Freddie v. Jinto. Should I have gone with that? ;)

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