The cake had come out quite well, much to Carson's relief and the others. Sheppard had taken over the banner hanging committee and the mess hall was looking quite festive. Dr. Zelenka and Dr. Weir had disappeared about an hour ago to make sure that the cd was burned and all the songs were playing properly, but John was sure that burning a few songs onto a disc didn't take THAT long…

Teyla came in and informed them that Rodney was out on the balcony and would probably be coming in soon. Everyone rushed to get the last minute fiddly bits done and the two truant cd makers finally came in. Dr. Zelenka's hair was somewhat disheveled and Dr. Weir's cheeks were quite flushed. John decided he REALLY didn't want to think about any of this and turned his attention to helping Carson get the cake safely to the table.

Once everything was pronounced ready, the lights were turned off and they all crammed themselves into various hiding places. Teyla was about to fall over until Carson grasped her around the waist and pulled her against his side. She thought to herself that this was not at all a bad thing…

Rodney dropped off his jacket in his room and looked around for someone to go eat dinner with. He couldn't find Carson, John, Elizabeth, Radek, or even Teyla. Shrugging his shoulder, he strode off down the hallway, not paying much attention to what was going on around him.

Suddenly, he collided with someone and a loud "OOF!" could be heard from his right. Looking over to his side as he got to his feet, he found Dr. Kate Heightmeyer.

"Sorry!" he said as he helped her to her feet. "Guess I was off in space somewhere."

She smiled at him. "Not a problem. I was just going to drop off some files, then go to dinner."

Before he even knew what he was doing. Rodney asked suddenly, "Would you like to go with me? I'll wait here while you get your files put away…"

Kate considered for what seemed like forever to the nervous scientist. "Sure! I'd like that. I'll be back in just a minute."

Breathing a sigh of relief, Rodney allowed himself a broad smile as she turned around and walked away briskly. Maybe today wasn't such a total waste after all…