Title: An Evening Break
Author: La
Rating: K
Pairing: John/Elizabeth, of course
Category: Fluff
Spoilers: Grace Under Pressure
Summary: Elizabeth's had a long week, and John has the perfect idea for a break.
Disclaimer: Just playin'. Not mine. :)

Note: This is pointless. Truly pointless. :)

Elizabeth rubbed the back of her neck with one hand, drew in a deep breath, and closed her eyes.

"Tired?" John asked, leaning against the doorframe at the entrance to her office.

Startled, she dropped her arm and opened her eyes. "I am, a bit," she said.

He came into the office, stopping in front of her desk and fiddling with the Athosian jar he'd given her last year. "Have you eaten yet?"

Elizabeth nodded, standing and stretching slightly. "Yes. Major Lorne came by to talk to me about his trip to Tarinta tomorrow and brought some food with him."

"Oh." John lifted his hand from the jar, glancing briefly through the glass walls of the office and fighting down a brief surge of jealousy. "Well, you just looked like you could use a break."

He watched as she rolled her neck from side to side, closing her eyes again. "Well, it was a working dinner. I was just thinking of getting a game of solitaire and calling it a night."

"Long day?"

"Long week. Do you have any idea how many requests from the biologists I've had to turn down?"

John frowned. "What's got the biologists so worked up?"

She smiled slightly. "Rodney's whale."

At that he had to laugh. "They want to study it, I guess?"

"Oh, definitely. I can't seem to convince them that I'm not going to let them take a puddle jumper down into the ocean on the off chance that they'll find it, and that it won't try to eat them or something. Not any time soon, anyway, and certainly not before we're able to use them as submersibles without worrying about the pressure tearing them apart."

"Sounds fun," John said, raising an eyebrow.

"No. Not really," and he was finally graced with a full smile.

They stood in comfortable silence for a moment longer before John reached out and touched her arm to get her attention.

"You really want to take a break?" At her nod, he grinned. "C'mon."

She raised an eyebrow but followed him all the same.

Despite the comfortable temperature of the recreation room, Elizabeth still drew a blanket around her shoulders as she settled onto the sofa in front of the screen.

"Cold?" he asked as he flipped through the DVDs looking for the ones he wanted.

She shook her head. "Just getting comfortable."

Finding the two he'd been looking for, John stood up and held them out for her inspection. "Pick one."

Elizabeth leaned forward to take a closer look. "Oh, you're a real riot, you know that?" she said in an exasperated tone.

"What?" he responded innocently.

"John... Free Willy or Whale Rider? You have a strange sense of humor."

"You don't want to pick?"

In the end she decided on Whale Rider because it offered some insight into the "plight of native cultures in a colonized world," as she said. "And the little girl is adorable," she added as an afterthought.

John wasn't particularly interested in seeing it – not enough action sequences – but he had offered it to her and he wasn't going to back out now. He settled on the couch beside her, and soon found himself paying more attention to Elizabeth than the movie.

She was rubbing the back of her neck again, and before he realized it, he'd reached up and replaced her hand with his own. She stiffened slightly at first, and John opened his mouth to apologize. Before he could so much as move his hand, however, she relaxed completely, head dropping forward and shoulders slumping.

The movie continued unnoticed as John continued to massage her neck and shoulders. He couldn't help but wonder what they were going to do when the movie ended, how awkward things would seem when they didn't have something else to pretend to occupy themselves with.

But it turned out to be a pointless worry as Elizabeth's breathing developed a steadier pattern and he eventually heard a gentle snore escape. He couldn't help but smile – he'd love to tease her about that sometime.

He stood up and carefully tilted her down to a reclining position, drawing the blanket up over her shoulders. He turned off the movie and walked to the door, turning to look back at her.

He would have liked to be there when she woke up and realized she'd fallen asleep on him, but he knew she would be uncomfortable and he didn't want to push things. Better to leave now and leave it up to her to talk about things if she wanted.

Smiling slightly, he left the room, closing the door behind him. He was tired, too, and should probably be heading to bed... after he checked the schedule for the next few days to make sure that Marcus Lorne didn't have any more meetings with Elizabeth that happened to coincide with mealtimes.