Authors Note: Big thanks to Steph7085, Emily, Kuroima, 44hilla44 and Ealasaid Una for their reviews on the last chapter.

Chapter 3

Jack hadn't wanted to wait until the weekend, he'd wanted to figure out where he and Sam stood with each other so they could either continue as the freinds they had been over the last year or move toward being something else. Sam had agreed that they needed to know what was going on between them and so the two of them had decided to head into town for a late dinner and talk about it. Jack had picked a restaurant they hadn't eaten at before, it was upscale and classy, just a touch romantic but not enough that there would be any pressure on them.

They'd made casual conversation as they'd ordered their food and made it through their starters, Jack was suprised at how easy it was to talk to her so casually when they both knew the big issue still needed to be addressed. When their meals arrived they lapsed into a mostly confortable silence as they ate, occasionally one of them attempting conversation or glancing at the other awkwardly. It wasn't until they had both finished eating their meals that Jack finally approached the subject they'd come here to talk about.

"So," he said conversationally. The ease of the night had almost had him fooled into believing this was going to be an easy conversation, the words abandoned him now though. Sam's smile was both amused and sympathetic.

"I guess this is the part where we get all awkward," she said. She took a deep breath, letting it back out in a determined sigh as though she was stealing herself for her next move. "I like you Jack, more than just as a friend. There I've said it, that's my bold and awkward move of the night."

Jack smiled, "Well that makes this a whole lot easier on me, almost doesn't seem fair. I like you too, as more than a friend."

She looked imensely relieved that she hadn't just made a fool out of herself and he realised the risk she'd taken by admitting to her feelings first so that he wouldn't have to. She smiled then and he couldn't help but smile back as he cursed himself inwardly for feeling like he was thirtteen years old again and the prettiest girl in the class had just told him she'd go to the dance with him.

"Now that we have that part over with," Sam began, her smile fading from her eyes just slighly, replaced once more by nerves. "What do we do about it?"

He figured this time it was only fair that he be the one to put himself out there and really, if anyone ever asked, he wanted to say that he was the one to make this move, not her. "I guess this is the part where I ask you on a date."

"Isn't that what this is?" she questioned, gesturing to the restaurant.

"This is more like a fact finding dinner," he told her. "A pre-date date."

"A pre-date date?" she questioned in amusement and he nodded his head.

"So, how about it, will you go on a date with me?" he asked her.

"Yes I will," she told him laughing and he congratulated himself on a job well done, that went far better than when he'd asked Marie Johnson to the dance when he was thirteen. "Do you think John and Elizabeth's date will go this well?"

"I hope so, they've been dancing around the issue all week, I'm starting to think that stopping Teyla from locking them in a small, confined space last year was a mistake," Jack told her. "I guess we'll just have to wait until Friday to find out."

"Saturday actually," Sam told him and he raised an eyebrow at her questioningly. "They're not going out until Friday night and unless you and John have late night gossip sessions you haven't told me about then my guess is you won't find out until Saturday."

Jack glared at her for a moment. "We do not have gossip sessions and if we did talk it would be manly conversations."

"Of course it would."

The tower was still fairly quiet even though classes started in less than an hour. A lot of students were still snoozing through their alarm clocks and would be waking up shortly and rushing to get ready. John made his way out of the building along with Jack, he'd learn early on last year that if he didn't get up in time for breakfast he wouldn't be able to concentrate in classes. It wouldn't have bothered him before but since coming here it hadn't been as easy to coast through school, he had to work for his education here.

"So how did it go with Sam last night?" John asked as they passed a half asleep student who couldn't be moving any slower if he tried.

"Great actually, I thought the whole thing was going to be awkward but it wasn't, it was just... really easy," Jack told him, smiling slightly at the memory.

"Does that mean you guys are official now?" John questioned.

"I guess so, we both admitted there was something there, I asked her on a date," Jack explained and John frowned.

"I thought you were on a date?" he said.

"It was more like a pre-date date," Jack stated and John laughed. The two of them finally reached the bottom of the stairs, John was glad his room wasn't higher up the tower, he felt sorry for those who had to walk down all those stairs.

"Well, if it isn't Sheppard and O'Neill, you two girls go anywhere without each other?" a voice asked them as they exited the building. Kolya walked over to them, Laden on his heels but there was no sign of his other lackey, Sora must not have come out to play yet.

"Could ask you the same thing," Jack replied

"Stay out of my way this year," Kolya ordered. "And, let's try to stay off the drugs."

Jack made a move toward Kolya but John quickly put a hand to his chest to stop him. Kolya smirked, seemingly proud of himself as he walked away.

"He's really not worth it," John stated.

Even though the dorm buildings were relatively quiet the cafeteria was the exact opposite. It was already packed full of students trying to get their breakfast before classes started and eager first years talking about their first week of school. The excitement would probably last through next week when they really got into the courses but after that it would quickly die down and they'd be dragging themselves into their early morning classes. They were almost the last of their group to arrive, only Rodney and Radek were still missing and after getting their breakfast they joined the others at the table.

John watched as Jack sat next to Sam, the two of them sharing a smile before Vala started digging her elbow into Sam's ribs with a wink. He kind of envied Jack that he had sorted out his relationship with Sam, John and Elizabeth were still in some wierd limbo where they'd acknowledged they needed to talk but had decided to put it to one side until the end of the week. He looked down the table to where she was sitting with Teyla and Janet, the three of them in a deep discussion about something. A few more days and they would both have answers, hopefully they would be the answers that he wanted.

"Tell me again why I'm here," Elizabeth said with a sigh as Teyla grabbed her arm and dragged her into yet another store. This was the fifth store they'd been in and Teyla had yet to decide on a dress for the weekend. Vala was no better, even if she was carrying three bags full of new clothes, none of it was, apparently, the right dress.

"Because we like shopping," Teyla told her.

"I did before I met you," Elizabeth muttered as Teyla held a short blue dress up over her, eyeing it to see if looked good on her friend. This, she was pretty sure, was the real reason she'd been dragged along on this trip, so Teyla could shop for her again. "I'm not buying anything."

"What if we find the perfect dress for you?" Teyla questioned shaking her head and putting the dress back on the rail only to pick out the same one again in a different shade of blue.

"Sometimes the dress chooses you Elizabeth," Vala called from another rack of clothes where she already had several items of clothing draped over her arm.

"Exactly," Teyla smiled.

"I'm still not buying anything," Elizabeth stated. "I have plenty of clothes already, a lot of which you made me buy last year, I'm sure I'll have something."

"Fine," Teyla sulked and put the dress back on the rack. Elizabeth looked up as she heard the sound of the door to the store opening and saw Carlie walking in. Her sister was with another girl that she didn't recognise and she debated for a moment whether to go and say hello or duck and hide amongst the clothes. The decision was made for her when Carlie spotted her, a small smile appearing on her sister's face as she made her way over.

"Hello Elizabeth, I didn't think I'd see you here," Carlie greeted gaining Teyla's attention. Her friend stopped shopping and came to stand by her side and Elizabeth almost had to laugh at the protective move. "And you're with... your friend. This is Sasha Channing, her father is on the Alteran Council, she's in a lot of my classes."

"It's nice to meet you," Elizabeth said and the girl gave her a smile that was as fake as the leather jacket Vala was carrying over.

"A plesure, Carlie has told me all about you," Sasha replied.

"So, what are you guys shopping for, anything in particular?" Carlie questioned conversationally.

"We're looking for new clothes to wear on Saturday night," Vala offered. Elizabeth was fairly certain that this was the first time Vala had met Carlie but she seemed to have taken an instant dislike to her.

"What's happening on Saturday?" Carlie asked as though she thought there might be some big event that she hadn't been invited to.

"Nothing big, we're hitting the clubs on Saturday night, first time since we got back so we have to look our best," Vala smiled.

"You go to the night clubs?" Carlie questioned looking at her sister with a disbelieving expression.

"Sometimes, it's a good night out," Elizabeth replied. She could see Teyla grin next to her as though sensing an opportunity and Elizabeth groaned inwardly as her roomate picked the blue dress back up.

"I was just telling her how good this dress looked on her, what do you think Carlie?" Teyla asked and Carlie eyed the dress for a moment.

"It's a little shorter than what you would usually wear isn't it?" Carlie questioned and Elizabeth smiled and shrugged, it was shorter than Carlie was used to seeing Elizabeth wear but that had been before Teyla had selected half of her wardrobe. She'd never been big on the social side of teenage life, or any kind of teenage life, she'd always been focused entirely on her school work and duties as a governors child. She was still just as focused on those things now but she fit more of a social life in now.

"It's perfect for a night out, I know it's a lot like the red one you got last year but I think the colour is great on you. I think you should try it on," Teyla said picking up a nearby dress. "And I'm going to try this one on."

She grabbed Elizabeth's arm and dragged her in the direction of the changing rooms, saying a quick goodbye to Carlie and shouting for Vala along the way. As soon as they were behind the curtain Elizabeth glared at her freind who merely shrugged.

"No one ever said I wasn't an opportunist, now try the dress on."

Elizabeth took a deep breath as she looked at herself in the mirror, she was almost as nervous about this date as she had been about their first date before the summer. She had decided to wear her black dress, she'd also planned to wear her shoes with the small heals but Teyla had hidden them and insisted she should wear the silver stilletos to match the silver accessories, it was a good thing she'd gotten a lot of practice walking in them last year.

"You look great," Teyla told her appearing in the reflection behind her. "You don't need to be so nervous, you already know he likes you and you've had dinner with him before, just make conversation, be yourself."

Elizabeth nodded just as there was a knock at the door and Teyla ran over to answer it. Ronon walked in, dropping a quick kiss on her lips as he passed her. "You look nice," he told Elizabeth who smiled and took another breath.

"She's nervous," Teyla told him coming back over to her.

"Thanks Teyla," Elizabeth said straigtening her dress and putting her thin black jacket on. She picked up her purse from the bed and there was another knock on the door. Teyla ran to answer it again and let John into the room, he looked almost as nervous as she did, that made her feel a little better.

"You look beautiful," he told her. "Are you ready to go?"

Elizabeth nodded and followed him to the door, Teyla on her heals. "Don't hurry back," she said closing the door when Elizabeth was barely through it.

"I don't wanna know," John said with a glance at the now closed door. He offered her his arm and they made their way out of the building and off the campus. The road to town was pretty busy, it was Friday night and a lot of students were heading into town. Elizabeth was glad for their distracting presence, it meant they couldn't really talk about anything significant until they got to the restaurant. They'd decided to go somewhere they'd eaten before with the rest of the group so ordering the food was easy, they both knew what they wanted before they even got there.

"So," John said once the waiter had left.

"So," Elizabeth repeated, neither of them knowing where to start this conversation.

"This is kind of rediculous," John stated. "I mean we've both already admitted we like each other, surely that should make this easier."

Elizabeth smiled and shook her head. "Apparently not."

"Alright, I'll go first, I like you Elizabeth, a lot, I missed you over the summer, more than I thought I would. I want to see where this thing goes... but no pressure," he rambled quickly probably fearing he wouldn't get it all out if he stopped anywhere in the middle. Their starters arrived then and Elizabeth thanked the waitress.

"I don't have a great track record with relationships, of any kind," Elizabeth stated, the fear that had been eating away at her since John had first addmitted to having feelings for her. He was a close friend, she didn't want to jepordise that by starting a different kind of relationship and having it blow up in their faces.

"Me either, maybe we just figure it out as we go," John replied and Elizabeth gave him a disbelieving look.

"Maybe," she said and he smiled, the expression so hopeful she couldn't help but smile back and shake her head. "So what does this mean?"

"I think it mean's we're... dating?" John said a questioning tone to his voice.

"I guess it does," she answered, her tone also questioning and they both started laughing.

"I'm glad we have that settled," John said and picked up his drink. "So what do you think Ronon and Teyla are up to?"

Elizabeth glared at him.

TBC