This is set pretty much any time after "The Long Goodbye".

THE LAST OF THE POPCORN

Sea Breeze (Part 1/1)

John Sheppard, Lieutenant Colonel in the United States Air Force, pushed out every molecule of air in his lungs before sweeping his hand across a wall panel to announce his presence. He brought it back so that the laptop he held was in two hands, and then he stared at the floor, shaking his head. In all likelihood he was throwing himself into a situation where he was going to be thoroughly laughed at.

But damn if he hadn't tried to avoid the situation. It had been two days and the thought, hell the image wouldn't go away. Every time he saw her – BAM – there it was, playing out right before his eyes.

So he had to do something about it, he couldn't just ignore it. Well, he could, but honestly? He didn't want to.

The way his mind played it, it was like an old black and white film. Classy and peaceful, where the only sound was a soft tune on piano, and everything seemed right.

It was during a meeting in the morning when he'd decided he needed to see it happen. He'd stopped hearing anything being said, and in hindsight, he was surprised they hadn't called him on his daydreaming earlier. He had spent practically ten minutes just watching her. Trying to keep a smile off his face as he imagined her hands on him, her head against his shoulder…

Then Rodney and his fingers had suddenly appeared in John's sight, snapping insistently, saying "Earth to Colonel Sheppard…" John must have looked at him oddly, because Rodney reconsidered his statement, "…or, uh, well, you know what I mean."

That had been it; he needed to get this out of his system, out of his head.

The door finally slid open and Teyla smiled up at him.

"John."

"Teyla." He glanced down the hall, and she followed his movement.

"Is everything all right?"

"Can I come in?" he asked. She stepped aside and let him in. He took up his earlier stance in the middle of her room, only this time the floor didn't fill his vision. The door closed behind her, as Teyla took a few cautious steps toward him.

"I uh…I'm not interrupting, am I?" he shifted the laptop in his hands. He'd spent the better part of his day neglecting paper work in favor of creating the list this computer stored. And it hadn't been easy.

"I am not busy. What did you need?"

He sat the laptop on her desk, and booted it up.

He turned back to her and ducked his head sheepishly, "Do you want to dance?"

Her smile was instant. It was the kind of smile people had when they were asked something that surprised the hell out of them. Usually it was accompanied by a little huff silent laughter.

She wore the smile still, subtler now, as she asked, "You are serious?"

"Yeah." It was all he could say, because unless he got the answer he was hoping for, he wanted to minimize the humiliation.

She looked him over, turning the idea in her mind. John got the distinct impression that she had her own questions first. "For what reason?"

"I've, uh…" how was he supposed to explain this? I was walking around the other night, caught a few scenes of some god-awful-sappy-lovey-dovey chick flick, and now…well, he really just wanted to dance. Just one dance, slow and wrapped up in the arms of someone he cared about. And that meant Teyla.

She raised an eyebrow at him and tilted her head and still that smile was there.

"I just want to dance with you." He said. He turned back to the computer, clicked a few buttons and readied the music. He didn't just turn back to her this time, he went to her, and when he was only inches away and they locked eyes, he said, "I've been thinking about it for days."

Dreaming it too, but that was another story all together.

Then the music came, soft and gentle. He'd spent most of the day tracking down slow songs that would fit the image in his head. He hadn't turned up much, only a hand full of classical composers and some contemporary instrumental bluegrass. And the only people who had had it were female. Talk about embarrassing. But he'd sworn them all to secrecy so he wasn't worried.

So it wasn't exactly a piano playing – more of a mandolin, fiddle kind of thing, but it worked. He took her hand, raising it slowly to his shoulder. He wanted to give her plenty of time to tell him no, if that's what she wanted. He just hoped that if she didn't want to dance that she'd actually said "No." instead of throwing a punch his way.

She didn't move, but he could see in her eyes that when she did, it wouldn't be to pull away.

When he reached for her other hand, she grabbed on his. She had watched only a few Earth movies, mostly "action packed" ones, as they had been advertised, but she had managed to attend the few and far between ladies nights.

She did not need anyone to instruct her in the dance that John was asking her to participate in. So she took his hand, and guided it to her waist as she took a step closer to him. What embarrassment he had felt earlier fled his body with visible affects. His muscles loosened and he smiled – it lit up his entire being, and she could feel the energy and happiness roll off him.

She brought her other hand up, clasping her hands together behind his neck. Her fingers brushed against his skin and she felt him shiver just slightly.

"This is correct?" even though she did not need the reassurance, she like having him tell her of Earth customs and they way the were performed.

"Perfect." He whispered. She felt his other hand on her waist, and one of them slipped to the small of her back to pull her closer still. And she allowed it. He started moving his feet, slowly, and then his entire body began to sway with the gentle tones coming from his computer. She let him lead her; choose the motion and the direction of their dance. She was utterly content to just be with him, this close to him.

In the beginning, when they had first begun to work together, she had wondered if the feelings she had been experiencing were gratitude, or something more. John Sheppard had saved her and her people, and offered them a way to strike back at the Wraith.

She had been certain it was gratitude.

But then a year had passed and she was less certain.

By the end of the second year she knew she had been mistaken.

If she were honest with herself, she had known before that, but had not wanted to speak of it. It was not until after Thalen had told her that John cared for her – more than she knew – and though she thought him to be a liar, she began to entertain the idea that she and John could truly be something more.

When John had avoided her for a day after the incident, she believed Thalen's words to be true.

Such work to get to this moment. It should have been simpler.

She stepped closer, careful to avoid stepping on his feet (she may be graceful, but this was still something she was unaccustomed to, she did not want to look foolish). She rearranged her arms, so that she had access to John's shoulder, and there she laid her head.

She could hear the steady thumpthump of his heart, and she closed her eyes. It was a sound she could easily fall asleep to, if she allowed herself. She felt the pressure of his cheek against the top of her head, and his arms tightened around her.

They stayed like that, swaying in time with the music, for a long time. It took her a few minutes to realize that the music had stopped playing, but she did not let go of John.

He stopped moving, but he did not let go either. In that position they stood, but Teyla did not mind, she could still hear his heart, still smell him.

"Teyla?" he finally whispered, he must have thought she had fallen asleep.

"Yes John?" she whispered back. She could swear the beating of his heart had just changed. She opened her eyes, surprised to see that her room had grown dim. The sun had set.

John was looking down at her, and she thought she saw something in his eyes – a mischievous idea, perhaps?

She straightened and looked at him through the inches of haze that separated them.

"John?"

He brought a finger to his lips, a motion she had learned long ago, that called for silence.

When he leaned down to her, she felt her own heart begin to beat out a new pattern. She watched him the entire time, right up until his lips had pressed against hers. Then her eyes snapped shut, and she found she was responding to his kiss without thought. And what's more her arms had tightened around his neck, dragging him down to her.

She knew his arms were doing the same thing, she felt them press against her ribs and back.

When he pulled back he was smiling. She had heard others label this smile 'charming', she thought it was beautiful and brilliant because it reached his eyes, and John Sheppard in a state of true happiness was a sight to behold. One that she would like to see much more.

"We should do this more often." He said, a fingers gently caressing Teyla's back.

Her only response was to tangle her fingers in his hair and bring him back down to her.

Weeeee!!

It's been forever since I posted anything, and I have all these Sheyla moments I want to do, I just don't ever write them out. So I was doing Sudoku tonight and thinking about how I wanted to write something and how I wanted to see John and Teyla slow dance – and then the image of him asking her with this shy little look on his face came to me. So I had to do it.

R and R! Thanks.