A/N: Ok a quick note I know in the last chapter I said it was three days to the wedding but that was a typo that I'm too lazy to go back and fix at the moment (plus the fact that I don't have the chapter saved on the computer I'm writing this one on). It was supposed to be four days 'til the wedding other wise the timing of the next few chapters would be off.
Also I have no idea if there's really a place called 'The Dragon's Lair' in Colorado I just made it up.
The next day John and Elizabeth were kept busy running to and from the airport picking up the various members of Elizabeth's family as well as a few old friends of theirs, making sure they all got to the hotel they'd be staying at for the next few days. By the time all the flights were in and everybody was were they were supposed to be John realized he only had an hour before Aiden, Carson, and Rodney would be showing up at the house to "kidnap" him for his bachelor party.
While the guys were off doing their guys night and the ladies doing their ladies night Marcis and Hillary along with Kendra and Mark had all volunteered to look after the kids, much to Alexis, Ryan, and Seth's protests that they didn't need babysitters – alcohol was liable to be present at the two parties (especially the bachelor party) so the three being underage unfortunately weren't being allowed to attend.
Making his way into the bedroom John stopped in the doorway and couldn't help but grin at the sight in front of him. The bed was buried under a mountain of women's clothing: blouses, skirts, jeans, and dresses of all styles could be seen as well as a good amount of lingerie scattered in with them. More pairs of shoes than John cared to count were scattered across the floor next to the bed. John decided that one of two things had happened, either Elizabeth's ever-increasing wardrobe had grown to the point that her half of the closet had finally exploded or she was having trouble deciding what to wear for her party tonight. Watching as several articles of clothing were tossed out of the bathroom door, landing on the bed John took a few cautious steps into the room.
"Let me guess the closet finally exploded." John called out as he carefully cleared off a corner of the bed so he could sit down. John was always joking about how many clothes Elizabeth had, to this day he still had no idea how she'd managed to fit so many clothes into the bag she'd brought to Atlantis with her.
"Hey a woman can never have too many clothes." Elizabeth poked her head out the bathroom door, giving John a playful smile.
"So, what do you and the ladies have planed for tonight?" John decided to move on to safer topics, before Elizabeth moved onto the merits of a good day's shopping being good for a person.
"A Girls' Night Out, of course." Elizabeth responded disappearing back into the bathroom.
"Meaning…?" John was a guy he couldn't be expected to know just what exactly a 'Girls Night Out' entailed.
"It's a tradition of sorts that some of my old friends and I started back in college. We'd get together one night every month and go either bar-hopping or club-hopping. Dressed up in our sexiest outfits, we'd hit the dance floors, dancing and flirting outrageously. The only rule we had was that it was strictly a 'no guys' night. It didn't matter what the offer was or who made it, you turned it down. Even if it was your current boyfriend asking for a dance, you blew him off in favor of the girls. You could arrange to meet or talk later with whomever, but that night was strictly off limits."
"So basically you're telling me that for fun you ladies dressed provocatively, with the intention of going out to deliberately attract the attention of poor innocent unsuspecting young men, only to shoot down any poor sap brave enough to make an offer?" John had no idea Elizabeth could be so evil.
"Basically, yes." There was no hint of shame in Elizabeth's voice.
"Ok first off you are an evil sadistic woman Elizabeth Weir, and two that is not a night out, it's an execution." John shuttered in sympathy for all the past victims of this ritual. "A horrifyingly horrific and bloody execution of the male population."
"It was a hobby, something to pass the time." Elizabeth noted nostalgically. "We even kept score." Yup Elizabeth Weir was one evil sadistic woman in John's book and he loved every bit of her.
"So who else besides you, Teyla, Andrea, and Rachel is going to be participating in tonight's bloodbath?" John asked with a sigh of resignation from where he sat on the edge of the bed.
"I'm sorry, I didn't quite catch that," Elizabeth moved to stand in the open doorway of the bathroom, putting her earrings in.
"I uh…I wanted…" John trailed off his attention captured by the way the straps of Elizabeth's dress sandals wrapped around her slender ankles. His eyes slowly traveled up the shapely length of her bare legs, taking in the red strapless dress Elizabeth was wearing that ended just above the knees and clung to all the right places. Her hair fell in soft curls, framing the slight blush of her cheeks and the flutter of her suspiciously-dark lashes and rose-petal colored lips.
"You were asking me something?" A small smile played at Elizabeth's lips as she mentally placed the first mark on her score-card for the night. John's astonishment was written plainly on his face. She had seen the way his eyes had widen as his jaw dropped when she'd stepped out of the bathroom.
"Um…uh…never mind it wasn't important." John managed to choke out as he quickly stood up headed for the door. He knew that if he didn't get out of that room ASAP neither he nor Elizabeth would be going anywhere that night.
John had to hand it to the kid Aiden had his connections. Aiden had some how managed to book a private party room at an up scale local night club called 'The Dragon's Lair' and not just anybody was allowed into the place. When questioned about how he got the room Aiden would just reply that it paid to have friends in high places – not all of them necessarily military.
The room had the appearance of an old Gentlemen's club with the walls covered in a dark wood paneling accented with deep burgundy drapes and carpeting. The heavy mahogany furniture was upholstered in rich leather. There was a table set up for poker and three old-style billiard/pool tables, as well as a few regular tables set up randomly around the room. And to top it all off a few very talented bartenders stood behind the long, fully stocked bar that stretched the length of one entire wall.
As John mingled with the guests, reminiscing with friends he hadn't seen in sometime as well as with the ones he saw practically every day, he found he was really enjoying himself. Since Elizabeth, as her one stipulation on the party, had banned anything even remotely resembling strippers – not that John minded there was only one woman he wanted to look at that way, plus he got to make the same stipulation for her party – the majority of the night had been spent playing pool and poker, catching up on old times, and of course drinking.
By midnight pretty much everyone except for John, Mike, Aiden, Brian, Carson, and Rodney had staggered out of the club headed back to the hotel to try and sleep off the hangovers they knew were coming. Sitting around one of the tables closest to the bar the six men had long since moved onto the heavier alcohol.
"I knew the lad couldn't hold his liquor." Carson spoke up, talking to no one specifically, pointing to the nearly passed out Rodney.
"I cawn to holds my liquor," Rodney slurred, pulling his head up off the table. "Its juss been awhile since my lass drinking binge thas all."
"Oh that sounds like a challenge to me." Aiden piped up already starting to pour the next round of drinks.
"Ok reminds me again why we's got no women here." Mike questioned taking a large gulp of his drink.
"Cause Eliz…Eliza… Lizzie said we couldn't." John already quite drunk answered. "And she's the boss, thas why."
A loud thud kept anyone from replying to John's statement. Turning in the direction of the thud they all spotted a passed out Rodney, who had fallen off his chair onto the floor.
"Thas gonna leave a mark." Brian winced.
"Like I said the lad can't hold his liquor." Carson smirked, downing the last of his drink and pouring himself another one.
"I'll drink to that." Mike raised his glass before downing its contents.
After another half hour or so Mike and Brian, like Rodney, were passed out leaving only John, Carson, and Aiden standing, so to speak. Although Aiden wasn't far off from joining the already passed out guys.
"And another one bites the dust." John stated as Aiden finally gave into the liquor and passed out on a near by couch.
"Well lad it looks like you and me be the winners of this drinking contest." Carson lifted his glass, John lifted his as well. After giving a silent salute to the fallen drinkers with their glasses the two downed the last of their drinks.
"Me thinks we should be calling it a night." John spoke after their last bottle of liquor was finished.
"Aye, you round up these light weights and I'll see to getting us a cab." Carson rose from his seat and staggered out of the room.
With some quick thinking – or as quick as they could be while being piss ass drunk – and a little creativity Carson and John managed to stuff themselves and the other guys into one cab – the thought of using two cabs never crossing their minds. After dumping Brian and Mike off at the hotel the group headed for the apartment complex where Carson, Aiden, and Rodney each had their own apartments.
"Damn it Aiden I swear you need to go on weight watchers or Jenny Craig or something, you're a hell of a lot heavier than you look." John stated as he hauled the semi-coherent Aiden out of the cab and half carried half dragged him to his apartment which thankfully was on ground level, John seriously doubted he'd have been able to handle stairs in his state.
After dumping Aiden on the couch John hurried back outside to help Carson with Rodney. Supporting Rodney between them John and Carson staggered to the scientist's apartment.
"I gots engaged tonight." Rodney slurred before frowning slightly. "I thinks."
"Really to who?" Carson questioned absently as he struggled to get the door open.
"The bartender, you know that pretty one with the medium length blond hair."
"Hate to break it to ya Rod, but that wasn't a chick it was a dude." John chuckled as Rodney was dropped on the couch.
"Noooo…… really?" Rodney lifted his head up staring at John disbelievingly. Both John and Carson nodded their heads. "Well then it's a good thing I didn't leave my number then eh."
"You're drunk go to sleep." John ordered as he staggered out the door. After making sure Carson got home alright John staggered his way back to the cab and headed home himself.
Feeling John flop down on the bed Elizabeth stirred rolling over to snuggle closer to him and glance at the clock on the night stand. It was well after two in the morning, which meant that John must've had a good time if he was only just dragging himself to bed now. Drifting off back to sleep Elizabeth smiled when she heard John mumble something about evil, sadistic women, causing her to think back to the conversation they'd had earlier that night.
Elizabeth had to admit she'd had a fun time hanging out with just the girls for a night with no interruptions, no life or death situations, and best of all no childish men. It'd been a long time since she'd last gone out just for the fun of it, too long in fact. Snuggling deeper into John's side Elizabeth knew that he was going to have one hell of a hangover in the morning, glad that her being pregnant meant no alcohol for her, which meant no pesky hangovers, not that, that had stopped any of the other women from indulging. A lot of people were going to be hurting in the morning and oddly enough Elizabeth didn't feel one bit sorry for any of them.