Elizabeth was at her desk looking over the latest mission reports when she heard a knock on her door. As she walked to the door she gave her room a quick glance to make sure everything was picked up . She had always been neat, so she wasn't expecting to find anything out of place, but her mother had always told her to make sure the house was presentable before welcoming guests. It wasn't like she had much to make a mess with anyways. While it was true that she had one of the largest rooms, she tried to think of it as a spacious loft, it was a poor comparison to her old house. Here in her 'spacious loft' she had a table, bed, dresser, desk, and two beautiful wood chairs that the Athosians had made for her. Her one guilty pleasure in her room was the balcony that overlooked the ocean. When she had found this room and the view it contained she had fallen in love with the place. She wasn't even sure it was originally used as living quarters; there weren't any other rooms like it in the area. She didn't mind though, it gave her some privacy not to have neighbors, and she liked the quiet while she worked late into the night.
When she opened the door, Rodney was standing outside with his hands behind his back. He had a grin on his face and was vibrating with excitement. "Lizabeth," he said by way of greeting.
"Rodney" she replied, returning his grin with one of her own. She arched her eyebrow and made no move to unblock the entrance to her room. "You're late."
"I am, but you'll forgive me." He replied without a trace of remorse, the grin if anything getting wider. He peered over her shoulder into her room, not oblivious to the fact that she was refusing him entrance.
"Oh I will, will I…. Now why is that?" She had already forgiven him, but was willing to take his bait and play along. Rodney in a good mood was a rare thing these days, and she had missed it.
"Because I have a present for you, that's why." He paused expecting her to react, and when she didn't he became slightly perturbed, both at her lack of reaction and for deflating his mood, "Well are you going to let me in or are you going to keep me out here all night?"
She laughed at his whine and moved out of the doorway so he could enter. He stepped in sideways to conceal the present behind him, but momentarily forgot about it when the ocean breeze brought the smell of stew over to him. He turned his back to her, the present still behind him, as he tried to locate the source of the savory aroma.
Elizabeth, still in a playful mood, saw her opportunity at his inattention and plucked the rectangular silver present out of Rodney's hand. He spun around, ready to snap at her like he would one of the lab techs, but when he met her eyes and saw the mischief and playful victory in them, he softened and grinned at her.
"Soooo, what is it?" she asked fingering the intricate carvings on the top and sides, and noticing the slits on the sides and at one end.
"It's ah… It's your birthday present." Rodney replied a bit hesitantly. This wasn't exactly how he had planned on presenting it to her, but... "Well I mean this is part of it, there's more, this is just the part you need right now."
"But it's not my birth—" she cut herself off as comprehension came to her, "You were the one who told John about my birthday! But how did you know?"
"Last year in Antarctica; you got cookies from that friend of yours and you shared them with everybody, you said it was for your birthday." Rodney was trying to stay jovial to keep in the mood Elizabeth was emanating, but the knowledge that John had beaten him to wishing Elizabeth a happy birthday was sinking his happy feelings. Casually he asked, "So John said Happy Birthday, huh?"
"Hmm, yes." Elizabeth answered distractedly. She was still looking over the present Rodney had given her, trying to figure it out so he wouldn't have to explain it to her. "He gave me a very nice Athosian jar that morning before…" and her face fell slightly remembering the events of that day, "everything got so busy."
Rodney couldn't believe that Sheppard had gone behind his back and given Elizabeth a present! The Major wouldn't have even known about her birthday if he hadn't told him. "I had meant to give this to you on your birthday but then with everything that happened I just didn't have time. Here, I'll show you." He grabbed the box from her and raced across the room. He swung open the balcony doors and disappeared into the darkness outside.
She stifled a scream in her throat as the nightmares, Rodney being enveloped and lost in darkness, suddenly came true. Without thinking and still caught up in her nightmare, she raced after him, no thought in her mind except to find him, to save him from the certain death that darkness meant. Just as she reached the balcony door, a white light enveloped her and she was momentarily blinded.
"Hold on, I just have to adjust…" She heard Rodney say as the light started to dim and focus its beam out towards the ocean.
"What is it?" Elizabeth asked confused, her eyes starting to adjust again. So much light coming out of such a little box, she had no idea what it could possibly be for. She was just glad that Rodney was okay, and chided herself for her loss of control and irrational fear.
Rodney took a step back standing next to Elizabeth, the box still in his hands since there was no place to set it on, and grinned like a school boy declaring, "May I present to you, your own personal home theater system!"
"My what?" Elizabeth exclaimed, not understanding what he meant.
"Look," Rodney said pointing out into the air past the balcony. He pushed one of the carvings and an image appeared out in the air. It was numbered one, two, three, and four. "It projects whatever is programmed into it into the air; you can adjust the size too." He demonstrated by shrinking the image to mere inches from her to expanding it where it filled most of the sky in front of her. "It's got great surround sound too." He added excitedly.
Elizabeth was trying to take it all in, what he was showing her was amazing. Those numbers were crystal clear and looked like she could touch them if she wanted, even when they were enlarged to ten feet tall. She was wondering what she could do with something like that when Rodney said, "Um, I took the liberty of programming a few movies into it for you. I didn't have much of a selection, but I remembered you liked old movies so you've got Roman Holiday on number one, The Sound of Music on number two, It Happened One Night on number three, and Bringing Up Baby on number four." He counted them off on his fingers, pleased with himself for remembering all the names since he had never heard of any of them besides The Sound of Music. He had been assured by Jenkins that they were all great movies.
"Oh!" Elizabeth exclaimed, suddenly realizing just what Rodney had done for her, "You've made me my own personal drive in theater!" She clapped her hands excitedly, remembering back to her childhood and all the fun times she had had with her family at the local drive in complex.
Momentarily confused by the 'drive in theater' Rodney remembered what she was talking about, picturing a large screen out in the middle of nowhere where cars drove up and people put these speakers in their doors so they could watch the movie while making out. He'd never actually been to a drive in theater, he'd gone occasionally to the indoor theater, but he father wasn't one to waste money on the kids so he most often got to see his movies on the television. "Well, actually, I was thinking more like a big screen TV, but yeah, drive in theater works too." Whatever made Elizabeth happy worked for Rodney, he was just glad she liked it; he had been so worried she would think it stupid.
She reached for the box, brushing her fingers against his while taking a hold of it. She didn't seem to notice the contact, so eager to play with her new toy, but Rodney noticed; he noticed how soft her skin was, and when he looked up into her face saw her cheeks flushed with excitement and her eyes shining with delight. With her hair blowing in the light breeze he decided that she had never looked more beautiful and he was more than happy to give up the box just so he could have another second to look at her.
"What?" She asked, her voice giddy as she realized he was watching her. She looked back down at the box and starting pushing the carvings, watching as different images came up from the movies; all crystal clear, even the older ones that should have been grainy, what wonderful Ancient technology!
"Oh, nothing, I was just wondering if you liked your birthday present?" he said, fumbling for an explanation. "I mean, it's better than a jar right?"
Elizabeth laughed, and went to give Rodney a quick hug, "It's the best birthday present, thank you so much Rodney!"
As she embraced him she felt his body tense slightly, then relax as he wrapped his arms around her. It felt nice to be in his arms she realized, his body warm and comforting, and she found herself wanting to stay there for what was quickly becoming an inappropriately long time for a friendly hug. She pulled back, his arms neither tightening around her to keep her nor pushing her away to end the contact. He was simply there, waiting for her to decide the course of action.
"Are you hungry?" she asked stepping away towards the door, hoping that some space would clear her head.
"Famished!" was Rodney's instant response as he headed back into Elizabeth's room towards the covered pot of stew on her table.
Elizabeth looked down at the movie box still in her hand and had an idea. Walking over to Rodney she lightly placed her hand on his, stopping him from removing the pot cover. When he looked over at her she asked, her eyes gleaming, "Would you help me with the bed first?"
Thanks to Porthos and Purpleyin for the betas!
One more chapter to go!