Jennifer lost herself in the moment, barely believing what was happening. As she felt John pull away she opened her eyes and looked at the Colonel.

"You okay?" John asked as water ran down his face. In response Jennifer silently nodded. Taking her silence as a bad sign he asked. "You sure? Because if I've got this wrong I-" He was cut off by Jennifer snaking a hand round the back of is head and kissing him.

This time the kiss was broken by Dr Tanaka's voice.

"Go ahead." John said into his radio, barely concealing his annoyance.

"We're at the Jumper. Where are you?"

"Sheltering about a mile away." John replied.

"How long until you get back?" Tanaka asked.

"You have somewhere to be?" John questioned sarcastically.

"Yes, we found some interesting specimens. I want to get them back to the lab as soon as possible."

"Specimens?" John asked. "You know the rule. No specimens unless we know they're safe."

"Or unless they are put in quarantine. Which these are. So when are you going to be here to take us back?" The botanist asked, sounding agitated. "The rain has stopped here." He added, hoping to hurry John up.

John looked around and realised the rain was easing with them to, causing him to sigh and say. "We're on our way." Killing the connection he looked at Jennifer.

"Sorry. Duty calls."

"It's okay." Jennifer said, still trying to understand what had just happened between her and John. "So we need to go?" She guessed.

"Yeah, sorry." John said as he pulled away. Noticing Jennifer was shivering he pulled off his jacket and gave it to the doctor.

"You going to ask for this one back?" Jennifer asked, recalling his other jacket she still had.

"We'll worry about that later. Let's get you warm first." He said as he guided her back towards the Jumper. "You okay running?" He asked, wanting to get her to the dry as quickly as possible. When Jennifer nodded he picked up the pace.

After a few minutes John said. "What just happened, didn't happen the way I planned."

"It didn't? You had something planned?"

"Yeah. I'd planned on talking more. Telling you how I felt."

"You demonstrated how you felt." Jennifer pointed out.

"I know, but I want you to know that I don't know where we're going but I want us to go somewhere."

"I want that too." Jennifer smiled as they saw the Jumper.

"Good you're here." Tanaka greeted, seemingly oblivious to John's and Jennifer's soggy state. "Perhaps we can go before the samples degrade."

"That's far more important than stopping hypothermia." John said sarcastically.

"I'm glad you understand." Tanaka responded, not picking up on the sarcasm.

"Shaking his head John grabbed a blanket from the side and handed it to Jennifer.

"Try to warm up." He suggested as he walked to the cockpit.

-00-

"John?" Teyla greeted, clearly surprised.

"Why do you look surprised?" John asked, looking round the table suspiciously.

"We weren't sure if you'd be coming for lunch." Teyla replied.

"Why?"

"Thought you'd be with the doc." Ronon said. His comment caused John to look long and hard at the former runner, searching for signs of animosity.

"We heard you took her to the main land." Teyla explained.

"Does the fact you're here mean you blew it?" Rodney asked.

"No, I didn't blow it." John replied scowling at Rodney.

"Then why are you here?" Ronon asked.

"To eat."

"Without the doc?" Ronon pressed.

"She's working." John said, not appreciating the attention he was getting.

"Ouch." Rodney sympathised.

"What do you mean ouch?"

"She blew you off. Sorry."

"No she didn't. We're meeting later."

"So you explained how you felt?" Teyla probed, enjoying seeing John squirm.

"Not exactly."

"So you're both in denial still?" Rodney asked.

"No." John said, wishing the conversation would move onto something less personal.

"So what happened?" Teyla asked.

Sighing John put down his turkey sandwich and said.

"We walked, we were about to talk, it rained. We took shelter under a tree and kissed."

"Let me get this straight, you got stuck in a storm and rather than seeking shelter in a cave you decided to find a tree, also known as a lightning rod and make out? For a mensa potential you can be really dumb at times." Rodney pointed out.

"Relax, we were surrounded by trees, reducing the probability of our one getting hit." John countered.

"Our one? You now have a joint tree?" Rodney asked as Ronon said.

"But it's the doc, she attracts trouble."

"Not that much trouble." John countered.

"If you say so." Ronon shrugged standing. "See you later." With that the Satedan walked off leaving John to ask the others.

"Did I cause his abrupt departure?"

"No." Teyla assured him.

"So he's okay with Jennifer and I being more than friends?" He pressed.

Teyla smiled a knowing smile and explained. "Ronon's interests now lie elsewhere."

"They do? Where?" John asked.

"Seriously? Even I know this one." Rodney said looking smug.

"You do?" John asked, wondering how he'd missed so much.

"Why do you think he's been spending all his free time 'sparring' with Banks?" Rodney questioned.

"He does?" John asked before smiling. "Good for him."

-00-

John walked into the infirmary and headed straight to Jennifer who sat at her desk studying something on her screen.

"Hey." He greeted as he approached.

"Hey." Jennifer responded. Despite her smile John was sure she seemed nervous.

"You dried off then?" He asked.

"Yes thanks. You?"

"Yeah, then I was sparring with Teyla most of the afternoon, which warmed me up."

"I bet." Jennifer said before a slightly uncomfortable silence descended. A silence that was eventually broken by John asking.

"So have you eaten?"

"No."

"Good."

"Good?" Jennifer questioned, used to getting the opposite response from John over skipping meals.

"Yes good. It means you can join me."

"Now?"

"That's the plan." John smiled, pulling Jennifer's chair away from the workbench allowing the doctor to stand.

As they left the infirmary Jennifer noticed John was heading in the wrong direction.

"Mess hall is the other way." Jennifer pointed out.

"Not going to the mess hall." John smiled as he took hold of Jennifer's hand.

"Where are we going then?"

"I've prepared a moonlit dinner on the balcony."

"You have?"

"Well, actually seeing it's a new moon, technically it's a starlit dinner on the balcony." John explained as he led Jennifer to a more secluded part of the city.

"I didn't know you could cook." Jennifer mused.

"Well, whilst I'm not a gourmet chef, living on bases for years has honed my culinary skills. In the same way I'm sure you've developed yours."

"Um, not really." Jennifer said sheepishly. "I can't cook."

"You can perform complex operations and develop vaccines, but you can't cook?" John asked.

"No." Jennifer agreed.

"Only one thing for it then, I'll have to teach you."

"That's a lost cause."

"You said that about self defence. Have faith in yourself." John said as he led Jennifer onto the balcony. As they stepped out into the cooler air Jennifer stopped in her tracks.

"Wow." She managed to say as she saw the table decorated with flowers and a candle. Sitting on the table were two covered plates. Although she couldn't see the contents she could smell a delicious aroma. "When did you have time to do this?"

"After sparring with Teyla." John shrugged. "As this is kind of our first date I wanted it to be special."

"Thank you." Jennifer whispered before tugging on John's hand making him turn towards her.

When he faced her she raised a hand to his cheek before raising herself onto her toes and kissing him.

-The End

A/N: Thanks for reading and reviewing. I hope you enjoyed it.