First Date
Ariel stood in her room, looking at herself in the mirror. She was wearing her best pair of jeans and a blue blouse that matched her eyes. Nervously she ran her sweaty palms down her pant legs and took a deep breath, this was as good as it was going to get.
She had a date tonight, a date with Chuck, one of the gate technicians. He had finally worked up the courage to ask her and she had said yes. After canceling many times on account of Ariel getting kidnapped or trapped off world and Atlantis being attacked by the Wraith, they finally had decided that tonight they were going to have their date, no matter what.
Ariel looked at her watch, she still had a hour before she had to meet Chuck. Suddenly her radio crackled,
"Ariel, this is McKay, please come in."
"Yes Rodney, what is it?"
" Can you come down to my lab? There's something I need you to look at."
Ariel sighed and looked at her watch again, one hour. "Alright, I'll be there in a few."
A few minutes later, Ariel walked into McKay's lab, "What is it Rodney? I have things to do."
"I need a second opinion on this picture. Tell me, does this say what I think it does? Your Ancient is almost as good as mine."
Ariel gave him a look.
"Alright fine, as good as mine."
Ariel kept looking at him.
"Fine, your Ancient is better than mine! You happy?!"
"Yes" Ariel replied, smiling as she leaned over to see what the picture said.
Ariel read silently for a moment and then said in a serious voice, "Where was this taken?"
"M21-543."
" That's the planet John and those new recruits that he's training are on."
"Yep"
"We need to get them off now."
"Good that's what I was thinking."
Ariel hit her radio, "Elizabeth, this is Ariel, come in please."
"Yes Ariel what is it?"
"You need to dial M21-543 and tell John to come back here immediately."
"Why?"
"The whole planet is mined."
"How do you know this?"
"Rodney has a picture here taken of a wall on the planet. The writing in Ancient is a warning to all travelers not to go any farther then the wall."
"You and Rodney come to the gate room while I have Chuck dial."
"Yes ma'am"
Ariel and Rodney walked to the nearest transporter. While they were walking, Rodney sort of did a double take and looked at Ariel,
"What is that you're wearing?"
"Ummm clothes?"
" I know that, but why aren't you wearing your uniform?"
"I, uh, have a date."
"A DATE?! With who?"
" That is none of your business."
"I think it is my business not only as your boss but as your friend too."
"Fine, it's Chuck."
"Who's Chuck?"
"You really need to get better at names. You know, Chuck? One of the gate technicians?"
"Oh him...wait you have a date with HIM?"
"Yes, I do, gotta problem with that?"
"No! I just, I mean I guess I've never really seen you guys together."
"We like to keep things private."
"Oh makes sense I guess."
They finally reached the transporter. They stepped inside and Rodney hit the area right by the gate room. They walked into the gate room just as Elizabeth was saying,
"...I know you just got there John, but Ariel and Rodney say its not safe."
"That's right, the whole planet is mined except for a small area around the gate."
"McKay, is that you?"
"Yes John."
"What the heck is going on?!"
"I translated the wall that's by the gate and it's a warning to al-"
"Yes, I know, Elizabeth told me that. I'm just wondering why you're telling me this now, when I'm on the planet, when you could have told me sooner and saved me the trip!"
"I'm very busy John and our linguist is taking a holiday back on Earth. I didn't get to it until an hour ago."
John sighed, "Alright, close the gate and we'll come back."
"You know, Ariel is pretty good at Ancient, why wasn't she translating it?"
"I was umm busy"
"Busy doing what?"
Rodney cut Ariel off, "She was getting ready for her date."
"Rodney!" Ariel looked at him in shock.
"What?!"
"You don't just go announcing that to the whole gate room!"
"Oops, sorry" Rodney said sheepishly.
"Wait you have a date?" John asked, "With who?"
"Him!" Rodney said, pointing at Chuck.
"RODNEY!" Ariel said, exasperated. "Sorry"
Everyone was either looking at Ariel or Chuck, both whose faces were bright red.
"Uh Chuck? I think we can handle everything while you two go have your date." Elizabeth said.
"Uh, thank you ma'am." Chuck said, face still red.
"In fact why don't both of you have the rest of the night off? We won't call you unless absolutely necessary." Elizabeth said, glaring at Rodney while she was talking.
"What?" he asked innocently.
"Whatever it is, you can wait until tomorrow for Ariel to help you."
"Fine."
Elizabeth turned to face Ariel and Chuck, "Have fun you two."
"Thanks Elizabeth." Ariel said, smiling.
Ariel wiped her hands on a napkin, "This is nice." She said, looking over at Chuck, who was nervously picking at his food.
He jumped slightly when she spoke, "You think so?"
"Yes, I think it's a great first date. I love the spot you picked out too."
They were sitting on a balcony on one of the towers.
"Well a picnic on a balcony is always a good idea." Chuck said smiling.
"If only we had some music, I love dancing." Ariel sighed.
"Oh that reminds me!" Chuck jumped up and grabbed a CD player from behind a corner.
"You thought of everything." Ariel said as Chuck hit play.
A slow love song started playing.
"May I have this dance Miss Ariel?" Chuck said, reaching out his hand and bowing.
"I'd be delighted." Ariel said, laughing.
Chuck slipped one arm around her waist and took her hand in his. Ariel rested her head on Chuck's shoulder. Chuck pulled her in closer. He tilted her chin up towards his.
"Chuck?" Ariel asked.
"Yeah?"
"I'm so glad we got our first date."
"Me too."
They both leaned in and shared their first kiss.
The End