"No!" Ella howled the word fiercely with indignation. John sighed and looked to Ronon for any kind of help. Ronon simply shrugged. Teyla had left a few minutes ago, and John suspected she'd seen this coming. Rodney had waited until the last minute to get ready, and John thought it was to avoid this entirely. He held out the elegant silver heels one more time, hoping she would cave.

"Oh, come on. Jennifer was nice enough to let you borrow the stuff, don't you think you should wear it?"

Ella placed her hand on her hips. She had been willing to put on the dress. It wasn't horrible, really. It was flowy and pink and had a sash around her ribcage that she could slip her gun into, and she had. But the shoes were where she drew the line. "I will not wear those."

John threw up his hands in exasperation, shaking the heels around with the motion. "The president should be arriving within the hour. Why not?"

"Because you can't properly kick someone while wearing open-toed shoes."

John rolled his eyes and plopped down on the edge of her bed, tired from pacing back and forth. "This is a formal event!"

Ella shrugged. "So?"

John stood and crossed his arms. "You know what, I didn't want to have to do this. Wear the shoes. That's an order."

Ella narrowed her eyes at him and took the shoes, slipping them on one by one without ever taking her eyes off John's. Then she turned and walked out of the room. John breathed a sigh of relief and flopped onto the bed. He laid there until he remembered he had to get into his dress blues. He bolted through the door at top speed, but slow enough to hear Ronon's chuckle.

Sam put the finishing touches on her hair and hurried to the gateroom. It was only right that she be the first one there. When she arrived there was a pair of high heels laying in the middle of the floor, close, but far enough apart to give Sam the impression that they'd been thrown. When she turned to the staircase and saw Ella sitting there barefoot, she assumed she'd been correct. She walked over to her and sat down, looking out at the shoes.
"So, why did you throw those poor heels into the middle of the gateroom?"

"Colonel Sheppard said I had to wear them, but he did not say how long."

Sam laughed. Ella looked over at her like she was crazy, but she didn't notice because her head was thrown back and her eyes were squeezed shut. After she had been laughing for a minute a very bewildered looking Daniel strode into the gateroom in a suit and red tie. He scooped up the heels and sat on the other side of Ella.

"Can't properly kick someone with those on?"

Ella smiled at him and nodded.

"You should probably wear them."

Ella stared at him, but he stared back. She sighed and slipped the heels back on. Daniel patted her on the shoulder, then nudged Sam to point out that Expedition members were beginning to fill the gateroom. Sam stood and took her place by the gate and Ella rushed off to find her team, leaving Daniel at a loss on where to go. That is, until Ella ran back over, grabbed his hand, and pulled him to her team. They reached their spot just in time to see the gate begin to activate. Earth had found a ZPM just for the occasion. Caldwell had felt a bit flustered, but he got over it.

Sam straightened her position of attention, attempting to look even sharper. Her mouth involuntarily dropped open when Jack stepped through the gate.

Todd say patiently on the floor. Chairs, they were for humans and wraith queens. He was a scientist, a warrior, and did not need a chair. Or these humans. He thought hard, slipping thoughts in the human's minds. He did slowly, tactfully, building off of what he'd been doing since he'd been captured. He finally saw the benefits of his work when one of the Marines came over and opened his cell. The other one said nothing, and was his first meal. He saw no use in wasting food, so he took the communication devices and locked the living in his cell.

He strutted out into the hallway with a P-90 in his hand and a comlink in his ear. He couldn't hear any chatter, but he assumed that it was because all the humans were gathered to welcome their president. The fools wouldn't know he was gone until it was too late. Todd smiled to himself as he headed down the hallway.

The wormhole shut down behind Jack as he smiled at Sam and cleared his throat, trying to get her attention. She snapped out of it and saluted.

"Welcome to Atlantis, Sir. May I ask where the president is?"

"He had duties he couldn't leave. I am here to do the inspection in his stead."

Sam smiled and nodded. They were headed for the mess hall when Sam realized she hadn't double-checked to see if it had been cleaned properly. She tried to hide her wince, but after ten years together there wasn't much she could hide from Jack.

"What?"

Sam tried to smile. "Well, Sir, we had a little...commotion in the mess hall, and I just realized I haven't checked on it."

Jack dismissed it with a wave of his hand. "I'm sure it's fine."

As they entered, Sam looked around quickly, checking for mashed potatoes or ketchup, but she saw none. She breathed a sigh of relief and headed towards her seat. She smiled when Jack pulled her chair out for her, then looked around to see where everyone else was. Sheppard was across from her, next to Jack who was the head of the table. Daniel sat down beside her and smiled, nodding a hello to Jack. Sheppard's team filed in beside him, Ella, Ronon, Teyla, then McKay. After everyone sat down, the meal was served.

A/N: Oh, lookie, O'Neill! Had to bring him over, Sam said she was lonely. ;)