Everything was going perfectly.
The lights had been dimmed, flower petals scattered throughout the room and across the bed, champagne chilling in the bucket next to the table loaded with every kind of food that Teyla had just happened to like.
John Sheppard had pulled out all the stops.
Torren Emmagen gurgled happily from his play pen in the corner of the room, and John's eyes widened.
He'd actually forgotten about the toddler!
If Teyla knew, there went his chances for a special evening with her. Quickly depressing his radio, he arranged for Kavanaugh to pick up the two and a half year old, promising the scientist anything he wanted in the next three lifetimes if he would only take Torren for the evening.
"Yell at me later, just take him! She'll be here any second!" Sheppard hissed, hurriedly shoving the scientist out the door.
Thirty seconds later, Teyla was there. Sheppard was under no delusions she could do so, but her eyes were positively spitting fire. Ronon grinned as he passed his friend's door.
Damn that man!
"You gave my son to Kavanaugh for the night, because you forgot about him?" Teyla asked, eyes zeroing in on his.
"I can explain?" Sheppard asked with a sheepish grin.
"Yes, I believe you can. On the way to the science labs!" she ordered. Sheppard jumped to obey, terrified that she might actually do him some major harm.
*******
"So, Torren, let's just recap for the record, shall we? A quark is what?" Kavanaugh asked, carefully shifting the toddler on his lap with his left arm as he tapped out his latest dissertation with his right. Torren sighed heavily and almost rolled his eyes.
"Any of a group of six elementary particles having electric charges of a magnitude one-third or two-thirds that of the electron, regarded as constituents of all hadrons." Kavanaugh continued.
"In what book? This dictionary clearly states that a quark is: 'a soft creamy acid-cured cheese of central Europe made from whole milk.'" Cadman countered, her twisted grin obvious even from where Kavanaugh was sitting with his back to her.
"You're hopeless. Did you find Ronon and give him the lowdown on Sheppard's predicament?" The scientist asked with a matching grin.
"Absolutely. What's the deal, anyway?" Cadman asked. Before he could answer, Teyla dragged Sheppard into the lab and released him, then lifted her slightly fussy son away from Kavanaugh.
"I apologize for the intrusion to your office, Dr. Kavanaugh. I will see to it that Colonel Sheppard doesn't let it happen again." Teyla said firmly, again leveling a harsh stare on Sheppard. Kavanaugh nodded, for once a gentleman. When Teyla had gone, he turned to Sheppard with a shit-eating grin.
"Let that be a lesson to you, the next time you swipe the absolute last of the coffee and blame it on me." He announced solemnly, before breaking into hysterical laughter with Cadman.