Chapter 69

The next morning had Dr. Weir joining Felix for breakfast with her customary cup of tea while he had toast, scrambled eggs and juice; she barely managed to keep a big smile off her face in her anticipation.

After a few minutes of light banter Felix finally asked, "Would you like to have a lasagne dinner with me tonight, ma'am?" with his heart racing while hoping she would say yes.

Elizabeth deliberately paused a long moment to let him sweat, and then answered, "Sure – I'd like that. You look after the food, I will look after the setting and cutlery – all right?"

Felix nodded his agreement and then asked, "Works for me – what time would you like to dine, ma'am?"

Again the boss lady paused but replied, "How does 1830 sound to you? I'll be hungry by then."

Felix asked further, "How about the where?"

Elizabeth told him, "The upper observation deck is where we can dine without being interrupted. I'm sure you'll figure out where that is anyways."

Felix rebutted happily, "Sounds good to me – bring an empty stomach."

She stood up, and then in parting she remembered clothing and told him, "Dress casual tonight – no uniforms. We are supposed to relax," to which she received a thumb up in return.

For Felix and Elizabeth the day flew by surprisingly quick – Felix spent most of the afternoon in the kitchen making cinnamon twists first, then the garlic bread, and finally the lasagne. The combination of the smells were making the chief cook Andrea hungry along with most of her staff.

There was one last thing that Felix wanted to do: get flowers, and he knew exactly what planet had them right near the Star Gate. He grabbed his Diablo from his room, had the Gate technician dial the coordinates, went through, picked what he wanted, and came back – without Dr. Weir seeing what he had in his hands.

Next he went down to Agro-Sciences and found a vase for the flowers from Katie Brown; she already knew about the dinner date as well. Felix walked out of that area shaking his head and wondering if there was anybody who didn't know about the dinner.

He went scrounging and managed to come up with a pair of scented tapered candles, which cost him a couple of twists, then took them and the flowers up top to the observation deck. He placed them on the table in what he thought would be good placement along with the flowers.

Then he looked at his watch, saw that he barely had enough time to shave and shower, change and be back at the table with the food. Felix ran as fast as he could down to his room, shaved rapidly without nicking himself, showered real quick and dried off. He changed into tan Dockers, a royal blue polo shirt with dark brown dress casual shoes and tried to stop sweating.

Next he grabbed his dark blue fleece, placed the Diablo inside of it rolled to hide the weapon – for the just in case happened, and then headed to the kitchen for the food pick up. He went in the back way to the kitchen so that he got only a couple of catcalls sent his way. Once everything was loaded onto the cart he was shown to a different transporter that put him on the same level as the observation deck, and he pushed the cart to the table.

Elizabeth Weir wasn't there just yet thankfully, so he lit the candles, checked the flowers, arranged the food cart next to the table, and then waited apprehensively for date to arrive. She showed up a couple of minutes later and her appearance was so beautiful to Felix that he ached with desire; she looked stunning, beautiful, and breath taking.

All that emerged from his astonished mouth was, "Wow – you look ... my god ... beautiful," and then remembered that he shouldn't stare like that at his boss. She had on a full-length red dress with a white sweater shawl over her shoulders, low 1inch heels; her hair shone, her earrings were shiny and she had a light application of make-up.

She blushed at his compliment and then returned her own; "You look nice yourself, Felix," then to cover up her nervousness she added, "Shall we dine? The smell is delicious and I brought an empty stomach."

Felix scooted around the table, pulled out the chair for her to sit down, then pushing it in to seat her comfortably. Next was placing the lasagne and garlic bread on the table along with the wine she had brought. He had her show what sized piece she wished for dinner, placed it on her plate followed by a piece of garlic bread.

Then he opened the wine bottle with a corkscrew he had borrowed from the kitchen, poured her a taster of the white wine and waited to see the opinion – at the nod more was poured in her glass, but only about half for him.

After loading his plate and just before he dug into the food, Elizabeth raised her wine glass and asked, "What shall we toast?"

Without hesitation Felix replied, "To Atlantis – may she continue to thrive and prosper for a very long time," as he clinked wine glasses with Elizabeth's.

She nodded in agreement and echoed, "To Atlantis," and took a sip of the Athosian wine she had picked for dinner. She also noticed how little Felix had poured in his glass and commented, "We're off tonight Felix – relax. And call me Elizabeth tonight – okay?"

He made a point of being polite with how he said her name as he replied, "All right – Elizabeth," and then paused to add, "I just feel I shouldn't drink much in case there is a scramble call."

She looked him right in the eyes and told him bluntly, "Felix – you are not on duty tonight – period. You put a lot of work into this meal and wished this, so let's enjoy it." With that said, they dug into the food; Elizabeth moaned her approval of the taste, "Mmm this is good – you made this, right?"

Felix gave her a simple nod in return as he tried not to shovel the lasagne down the hatch. At Elizabeth's prompting he explained the recipe breakdown at each stage – she was suitably impressed with his knowledge of how to cook. It was apparent that she was enjoying the meal as it was disappearing at a steady rate; Felix gave a silent prayer of thanks to Teyla for making this happen.

Felix asked all sorts of questions about Elizabeth's past and listened intently as she explained a couple of big international deals she had brokered or helped get going. He felt a surge of pride for this attractive woman who was almost the exact same age as him – she had accomplished a lot in her life and had been recognized for doing her job very well.

By that time in the conversation they were eating seconds of lasagne when she observed, "I don't normally have seconds but this tastes so good."

Felix's reply was a casual, "Glad you like it," and then he continued asking questions about her likes, dislikes, passions, hobbies – anything he could learn about this woman he soaked up like a sponge. Again it was apparent she felt at ease around Felix, as she suddenly clued in that the main dinner was finished, and that she had been doing most of the talking – which was not her original plan.

Felix had been quite attentive all through dinner and had also been admiring Elizabeth, wondering what if they had met under different circumstances. His looking into her eyes had left her a bit unsettled, as she was normally the one in control – so then she decided to go on the offence. "So why don't we talk about Felix Grey for a change, as you've had me talking for quite a while now."

He sat back from the table, placing his hands folded across his stomach and with an impish smile asked, "What would you like to know that isn't in my file?"

Elizabeth stared at him with her own smile as she asked, "Why did you go AWOL so many times over the previous 5 years on Earth? That doesn't seem like you."

His smile lessened a bit then he replied, "It was a team decision to avoid all those stupid medal ceremonies, where you see some REMF officer getting a bravery medal and they had never left the base. Besides, we had missions galore all over the place to do."

She raised her eyebrows at that, then asked, "Yes, but you managed to pull this off over a couple of years – how?"

Felix chuckled and replied, "Easy – blend in with the rest of the troops at a base. Other times we'd give false names as we rarely carried ID: I was Grey, Manny was Green, Pete was Brown, and RePete was Black. Worked like a charm every time."

Elizabeth started laughing as she said, "People actually bought that line? Oh, that is priceless!" Once she was done laughing she went asked one question that a number of people wanted to know the answer to, "Tell me honestly Felix – what drives you so much to do your job?"

That question removed the smile from his face entirely and replaced it with a deep sadness mixed with frustration as he thought about how best to phrase his answer. Finally he softly spoke, "Years ago we were taking casualties on an extraction and we were ordered by higher to leave our wounded behind." He swallowed as the tears flowed freely down his face as he remembered that fateful day.

He continued, "The higher ups denied the mission ever happened, so no death benefits were paid to the families. From that day forward I swore that I would do anything in my power to make sure everyone came home. When 22nd Long Range Rescue Patrols was formed I was lucky enough to be selected but only 40 of us made it all the way, and now it seems I'm one of the few left."

He looked at Elizabeth as he wiped his eyes – she reached for his hand and squeezed it affectionately, and not letting it go.

Felix nodded, squeezed back affectionately and said, "I could use some dessert to feel better – how about you?"

Elizabeth released his hand and stood up then asked, "Cinnamon twists I believe I can smell? Just one ... for now." He reached down to the tray and pulled out a fresh twist for both of them; again she moaned her approval at the delicious taste. "I should put you in the kitchen Felix – you are spoiling me with this food."

He looked her right in the eyes and replied softly, "Why not? I feel you are worth it," then casually took another bite of his twist.

Elizabeth on the other hand, stopped part way to her mouth as she looked at Felix in astonishment and asked, "What did you just say?"

He returned her gaze with eyes filled with admiration – and a lot more, and then replied, "I feel you are worth spoiling, I said."