NOTES: And we reach the weekend! The events of Friday are going to take a few chapters to detail, but the coming week will pass very fast, I assure you! Thank you to the people who commented to let me know they're reading. It is nice to know that a few people are still checking this out.

The Barista - Part Five

On Friday, John was at the Athos Bean well in advance of closing time.

He hesitated outside the open door of the shop, only too aware that he looked a far cry from the coffee shop's usual customers, even with his tie loosened and his collar unbuttoned, his suit jacket flung over one arm and his briefcase in the other.

Then Teyla glanced up from the coffee machine, flashing her broad, delighted smile at him, and he stepped into the coffee shop and up to the counter without further hesitation.

"You look very professional this afternoon," she said as came up to the counter.

"Yeah, well... I had a business meeting this morning. Which is also why I wasn't in yesterday." Except he had been here yesterday, he just didn't want her to know that he'd watched her dancing and never let on that he was there.

"Ah." She poured a cappucino and slid it across the counter to another customer. "So, what would you like today, Mr. Sheppard?"

He eyed her at the formality. "Something's wrong with my name?"

"It does not match your attire," she explained. One hand reached out and flipped the tie around to show the label. "One does not call a man wearing Italian silk ties by his first name unless invited."

"Well, consider yourself invited," said John pointedly. "Because you're not going to call me 'Mr. Sheppard' all night."

In the silence that followed, his skin took on a shade that resembled sunburn, his brain threw its hands up in disgust, and his internal censors tendered their immediate resignation in shame and disgrace.

"Uh," he fumbled for something to say that might get him out of this situation. "Look, I was going to ask if you were free tonight, but...I seem to have gotten ahead of myself."

"Yes, I believe the gun is well and truly jumped," came her dry observation as a car revved by and she turned to watch it go. Then a thoughtful look appeared on her face, mitigated by the laughter in her eyes. "And if I was free tonight?"

Her amusement was heartening - weirdly so, perhaps, but at least it meant she wasn't totally disgusted with him. "I was going to ask you out."

"To a club?"

John thought about sliding an arm around her waist as they danced, hip to hip, in one of the expensive, downtown clubs, and felt his nape warm.

He kept his voice even and easy. "I was just thinking of dinner," he said. "There's a Japanese restaurant downtown - House of Cherry Blossom - that's supposed to be good. They make great tea - both hot and iced," he added ingenuously and was rewarded with the flash of her smile before her eyes narrowed.

"Are they not usually booked out on Friday nights?"

"Yeah," he agreed. "But I have a reservation for six-thirty." That reservation would cost him a month of grovelling before Miko, but John figured it would be worth it.

Teyla glanced at the clock and grimaced. "I would like to. But I do not finish here until five. By the time I clear up, it will be five-thirty, and I would still have to get home and change--"

"Go as you are," he said immediately and weathered her look of disbelief. "Seriously, you look great."

"You are wearing Armani," Teyla replied seriously. "I am wearing Gap. John, there is a disparity here that you do not appreciate."

Women! "There's something here that I think you're not appreciating. Teyla, I want to go out with you, not your clothing."

She stared at him for what seemed like an age, before a slow smile grew on her lips. "That does not change the fact that I am not dressed..."

"You've got clothing on," John said, keeping his voice level in spite of his exasperation. "That's dressed." To say nothing of the fact that Teyla would still be classy whether she was wearing silk or scraps. "Come on," he wheedled. "Dinner at Cherry Blossom! I'll drive us both there and get you back here to your car when we're done."

A few tense seconds passed, during which John imagined her saying, 'No,' and turning him down, just like that, and all because she didn't think she was dressed nicely enough. The next step would probably be taking her into one of the shops in the area and buying her an outfit that she thought was good enough to wear to a restaurant.

On the roadtrip of John's personal state of mind, he figured they'd just passed the outskirts of Crazy and were well on their way towards the city limits of Desperate.

Her sigh was resigned. "I imagine you have been called stubborn before?"

"They usually go for pigheaded," John said, unable to hold back his smile. "So, it's a date?"

Teyla rolled her eyes. "It is a date."

"Good." He straightened up, all business again. "And I'll have two more things, please. An irish creme cappucino to get me through the rest of the afternoon."

"And?"

"Your name." At her questioning look, John clarified. "I still don't know your surname."

She laughed as she began prepping the machine for his cappucino - and the arriving flood of afternoon students. "I never told you, did I?"

"Nope."

"Emmagen. Teyla Emmagen."

And with one sidelong, smiling glance, Teyla went back to work.

- TBC -