A.N.1: Hi guys! This little fluffy bit of a story was inspired by a comment on the Gateworld Forum Sparky thread . Enjoy!

Of Rolling Pins and Chocolate

"You know, these cookies are pretty darn good," said John Sheppard, picking up another one from the nearly empty plate on Elizabeth's desk. It was late, the control room was deserted except for the technician on night duty, and the two of them were relaxing and sharing a sample of the city chef's latest culinary creation.

"I'll second that," she said, setting down her half eaten cookie and taking a swig from her water bottle. "It's that spice we got from the Athosians... what was it called again?"

John's chewing slowed as he thought for a minute. He swallowed. "Can't remember," he admitted. "Seems like it started with a 'c'..."

Elizabeth pondered for a moment as well before shrugging and taking another bite of the dessert. "Oh well. I can't remember either," she said, causing them both to smile. Her elbows propped on her desk, she casually began to examine the remnant of cookie left in her hand. "Still," she said a few moments later, "As good as these are, they still don't beat mine."

John looked at her in surprise. "You can cook?"

She gave an amused smile at his astonishment. "Mmmhmm. At least as good as my mother. And that is saying something."

He leaned back in his chair. "Huh. I never knew that."

"You never asked," she said playfully.

Suddenly a mischievous look spread across John's face. "So..." he began innocently, "these cookies of yours..."

"An old family recipe."

"Right. See, I'm not quite prepared to take your word that they're better than these." He gestured towards the plate on the desk.

Elizabeth raised an eyebrow and smiled, crossing her arms on the desk and leaning forward. "Oh really?"

John nodded. "Really. I think I'd need some convincing."

"Is that a challenge?"

He grinned at her. "Maybe."

~*~

John waved his hand over the light switch, illuminating the shining surfaces in the dark mess hall kitchen. It was completely empty at this time of night. Elizabeth walked over to the Ancient equivalent of a stove and pressed a few buttons, then began to gather all of the necessary baking equipment together. John hung back contently and watched her bustle around the large room, selecting two stainless steel mixing bowls and two medium sized baking sheets. She set them on the counter, then looked up and saw him just standing there.

"Butter and milk," she ordered with a smile. "Might as well make yourself useful."

"Yes ma'am," he grinned, moving to get the requested items. He set them in front of her and waited for a few seconds.

"Vanilla and eggs," she said, filling a measuring cup with sugar out of the container next to the refrigerator unit. He smiled again and went to get the next set of ingredients. They fell into their own sort of rhythm- he fetched and she mixed.

"Alright, here," she said a few minutes later. She threw a handful of flour onto the counter in front of John and tilted the mixing bowl, using a spatula to scrape out the dough onto the white dusted surface. "Roll that out flat."

John snapped her a mock salute and picked up a rolling pin, spinning it in his hands before pounding it into the mound of dough and pushing forward. The concoction stuck to the pin and bunched up hopelessly as it slid along the counter. He frowned and tried again with the same result. Elizabeth giggled, earning herself an irritated glare. "Have you never done this before?" she laughed. "Not even when you were a kid?" A continuous glare. She laughed again and moved to the other side of the island to stand next to him. "Here, I'll show you." She took the rolling pin out of his hands and demonstrated the proper way to flatten the dough. "See, like that." She handed him back the pin. "Your turn."

He took it from her and ran it over the top of the dough. "Like this?" She laughed and shook her head.

"You really are hopeless. No." She inched closer, took his hands, and positioned them the right way. "Like this." She placed her hands over his and guided him through the motions. "Short strokes." The clump of cookie dough began to grow flatter and flatter as the rolling pin moved steadily back and forth at different angles. She was sure by now that John could probably handle the task on his own, but he didn't say anything and neither did she. They moved perfectly in sync, standing close enough that she could feel his warm breath gently blowing her hair.

Eventually the dough was flat enough that she couldn't justify rolling it any longer. "There. I think it's ready now." They stopped and she, somewhat reluctantly, let John have his hands back.

"Well, you're the chef," he said, with- was that disappointment in his voice? She gave a small smile and moved back to her side of the table. They began cutting the pale mix into more recognizable cookie shapes using the rim of an overturned glass, cookie cutters not being considered a necessary item by the committee that approved Atlantis's supply requests.

Eventually the first batch was ready. Elizabeth slid the full baking sheet into the oven, closed the door, and turned back to the now cluttered kitchen island to start on the second batch. She picked up the bag of flour and started to pour some into the bowl when something made her look up. She glanced up and found John grinning at her, his hands resting in the pile of flour. Unconsciously, she began smiling in return. "What?"

"Oh, nothing."

"Come on, what?" she insisted.

He shook his head, laughing. "Nothing! Just seeing you baking... it's not something I'd ever pictured you doing."

"What, making cookies not diplomatic enough?" she teased, meeting his eyes for a few seconds before picking up where she had left off pouring the flour. That done, she set down the bag on the counter, causing a cloud of the fine white powder to puff into the air. "Chocolate, please." John didn't move. All she saw out of the corner of her eye were his hands, frozen in exactly the same spot as a minute before. She looked up, perplexed as to why he wasn't doing as she'd asked.

Elizabeth burst out laughing.

From the waist up, her colonel was coated in a thick layer of chalky white flour. It was all over him- on his face, in his hair, and his black t-shirt looked like it had been through a snow-storm. He was staring straight ahead, perfectly still, a blank expression on his face.

Elizabeth clapped her hand over her mouth, her whole body shaking with laughter so hard that she had to grab the counter to stay upright. "S... sorry..." she choked out. Their eyes met and John's carefully composed mask of an expression cracked and he started laughing too.

"You know what?" he said in between bouts of merriment, "Just for that, I'm keeping the chocolate."

"Hey! Oh no you don't!" she laughed, making a grab for the bag of baking chocolate as he hid it behind his back.

"Oh, I think I will." He sidestepped out of the way as she came around the island and lunged for the bag.

"John, I want that chocolate!" She abruptly stopped in the middle of the floor, bent double laughing.

"I can't possibly look that funny," he complained.

"You do! You have no idea how ridiculous you..." She was suddenly hit in the face with a fistful of white dust. She coughed and wiped the flour out of her eyes, straightening up to glare at where it had come from. John was standing next to the bag of flour, trying unsuccessfully not to laugh.

"You're right, I do look absolutely ridiculous!"

Elizabeth calmly brushed the majority of the flour off of her face, a dangerous glint entering her eyes and a decidedly evil grin spreading across her face. "Oh, that is it!" She grabbed the rolling pin off of the counter and brandished it at him. He backed away, a gleam in his eyes.

"You wouldn't..."

"Oh, I think I would. Hand over the chocolate."

"No way. You're going to have to come and get it."

A shrug. "Fine." She darted forward and began chasing him around the kitchen. The dignified part of her brain told her that she looked like an idiot waving that rolling pin around, but the part that was in control now really didn't care. They were laughing like kids as they weaved in and out of the row of tables that ran down the middle of the room. She chased him until they reached their island again. John, still ahead of her, jumped over the stray flour covering the floor, stopped and spun around. She was going to fast to stop, and when she hit the flour she slid. A collision was unavoidable.

Luckily, he was prepared. He caught her in his arms and spun her a bit to kill the momentum, both of them laughing so hard they could hardly breathe. Elizabeth laid her forehead against his chest, gasping for air, yet unable to stop laughing. A few seconds later, still not quite recovered, she felt some invisible pull causing her to look up, and she met John's eyes. Still smiling, he bent his head and kissed her.

It took her by surprise, but the alarm bells that Elizabeth would normally have expected to feel never went off. Whether or not it was the late hour, the sugar rush, or the suddenly realized knowledge that this was exactly what she wanted, she simply allowed herself to enjoy it.

When they broke apart, John looked slightly less care-free and more concerned until he saw how she was smiling. "You taste like flour," they said at the same time, causing them to laugh softly.

"Ow," John said suddenly, raising a floury hand to the side of his head and giving a small chuckle. "I think you actually hit me with that thing." He nodded at the forgotten rolling pin still clutched in her hand, making Elizabeth smile in embarrassment.

At that moment the oven timer went off, letting them know that the cookies were finally done. Elizabeth looked at the oven, then back at John. "I should probably take those out."

"Uh-uh. I'll give you the chocolate if you don't," he promised.

She smiled. "Ah, bribery! But what about that challenge of yours?"

"I've decided I'm willing take your word on it." He tilted his head forward, and she happily obliged his request for another kiss. "Besides..." he continued, "they can't be any better than this."

A.N.2: Thanks for reading and hope you liked it! Please please review and tell me what you think! I love getting reviews!

A.N.3: And I haven't given up on Light in the Dark, I promise! I'll try and get the next chapter up as soon as I can. : )