The Twelve Days of Christmas (1/12) – Jenny L- rating G

For disclaimers etc see part 0:


12 Days of Christmas pt 1; It's Only Just Begun.

Day 1 – Monday December 13th 2004

***
Are you hanging up your stockings on a wall?
It's the time that every centre has a ball
Does he ride a red nosed reindeer?
Do a 'ton up' on a sleigh
Do the fairies keep him sober for a day?
***

`Pete has ….. A bullet in the bum. The marines were doing target
practice and got it right for once.' Siler paused in front of the
monitor and turned to Johnson, the newest gate tech on base. The
O'Neill/Carter betting pools had tailed off with the arrival of Pete
and so the lower members of the SGC staff had had to find something
else to fill the gaps in conversation. At first they had tried
Pete/Sam pools but the enthusiasm had always been absent, no one
ever wanted anything good to happen.

Then, on one drunken night out, Siler had hit upon the answer.
Everyday, a different nominated member of staff, had to come up with
a story about what would happen to Pete on his wedding day.
Nicknamed the `Pete has....' game it had quickly become a favorite.

***
So here it is merry Christmas
Everybody's having fun
Look to the future now
It's only just begun
***

Brigadier General Jack O'Neill was bored. Absolutely, totally and
completely bored. He had been sitting at his desk contemplating the
paperwork that was starting to resemble the Himalayas and doodling
pictures of the day's `Pete has' competition which his aide had
quickly clued him in on. The novelty of using the SGC issue pen as a
bullet on his little sketch had soon worn off however, especially
when he realised that the paper he was doodling on was a directive
from the president. Setting the paper aside, briefly checking that
it was nothing planet (or Carter) threatening, he decided that
checking on the status of the latest science projects would be a
good idea. Luckily he didn't hear his civilian aide commenting to
the secretary at the next desk that it would be a good idea if
somebody found his yo-yo before the Lieutenant Colonel strangled him.

Carter's lab was unusually quiet except for the steady hum of
various machines that Jack couldn't even pretend to understand even
though the flicky lights did look cool. He stood and fidgeted with
his hands in his pockets for a few moments before sitting at the
stool Carter had helpfully placed to one side of her desk so he
could stay and not be in her way.

There were a number of objects on Sam's desk, the shiniest captured
Jack's attention first but it turned out to be nothing more than a
discarded piece of wire. The second object he picked up was a small,
round purple stone that weighed the same as a baseball and had
symbols on it that were easily identifiable as Asguard script. He
put that one down quickly remembering the entire Asguard fleet that
had been deployed the last time he played with one of Thor's toys.
Thor had not been pleased and had decided to entrust any further of
his gifts to Sam's safe keeping.

As Jack returned the item to the table, avoiding the tinsel that was
sticky taped around the edge of the desk, he dislodged a small
yellow piece of paper which fluttered to the ground. Although a man
who would never normally pry into someone's personal life Jack's
eyes were drawn to the scrawled words.

`Wedding invite for Jack??????'

She had even underlined the question marks. Immediately Jack's
military mask slid into place and he stood up, hoping to give Carter
space. He had always assumed that she enjoyed his company but they
had obviously grown apart since she took command of SG1, he just
hadn't realised by how much.

`Sir, can I help you?' Sam interrupted. `I'm sorry I wasn't here, I
was just preparing quarters for my dad.'

`It was nothing Carter.' Jack gave her half a smile and made to
leave. `I had forgotten Jacob was arriving today. See ya in the
gateroom.'

***
Are you waiting for your family to arrive ?
Are you sure you got the room to spare inside ?
Does your granny always tell ya that the old songs are the best ?
She'll be up and rock 'n' rollin' with the rest
***

There was something special about meeting the man your only daughter
was going to marry and therefore Jacob was trying to throw himself
into the upcoming visit to Earth with as much enthusiasm as
possible. The only problem was the mixed feelings about the upcoming
wedding. His first emotion had been relief because he had long been
expecting his daughter to announce her engagement to someone else;
his second was worry because he had long been expecting his daughter
to announce her engagement to someone else.

`He's a good man. Mark likes him and he's a cop. That's a steady job
with less risk of getting killed than working at the SGC.' Jacob
talked himself through the reasons why Sam's marriage was a good
idea, trying in vain to convince himself.

There were many good things about having a symbiote who could read
everything in your mind, for instance he never had to worry about
forgetting anyone's birthday because he knew Selmak would remind him
and he always had someone in his head to talk to, or rather bitch
to, when he got irritated with the other Tok'ra. The down side was
that Selmak had an annoying habit of pointing out the things that
Jacob was trying to deny to himself and she was about to do it again.

`But she loves someone else Jacob.'

***
So here it is merry Christmas
Everybody's having fun
Look to the future now
It's only just begun
***

He was a good man. He knew he was a good man, for a start it had
been written on many of his evaluations. He was just never going to
be an outstanding man like the men who worked at the SGC, the men he
admired, respected and was currently visiting until his resignation
had been cleared through the system.

Major Paul Davis' request to resign had come as a shock to many. He
was someone who they said `had great potential' and was expected `to
get a long way up the ladder.' The problem was that he had little
interest in politics and a steadily declining interest in prolonged
fighting. His brother had just given him a third niece and Paul had
decided it was time to start looking for a family of his own. With a
lot of soul searching he had also come to the conclusion that the
military life wasn't much to offer to a woman and so the first stage
in his quest was to get a nice stable job that would keep him
comfortable. After eight years as SGC liaison officer he didn't
think that he really needed a job with any more excitement, knowing
Armageddon had nearly happened countless times tended to make a
person appreciate the quiet life.

***
What will your daddy do
If he catches mama kissin' Santa?
Ah ah
Are you hanging up your stockings on a wall?
Are you hoping that the snow will start to fall?
***

`But she loves someone else.'

The thought kept drifting around inside Pete's head; the more he
tried to forget it the more it kept coming back. She had reassured
him that everything was fine, that it was just cheap air force
gossip to explain why she had been promoted so quickly, but he
didn't buy it. There was just something in her eyes when she looked
at her CO, something that shouldn't have been. Still if she really
wanted Jack Pete guessed she could have gone after him years ago and
if there was one thing he was certain of it was that she wasn't
lying to him when she said that her and Jack had never made love. He
knew her integrity would never let her lie or deceive him, she
hadn't even kept the stargate from him and god knew she had every
reason to. It was that thought that convinced him to stop worrying
and start thinking of the future with Mrs Shanahan.

Pete smiled as he flicked through the Christmas cards sent to their
new house. Although Sam hadn't been happy about the house to start
with she had moved in with good grace and with the Christmas
decorations up it finally seemed like a home. Secretly Pete hoped
that by this time next year there would be a little Shanahan/Carter
running around the living room but he hadn't dared share that
thought with Sam yet. The Christmas cards were mostly addressed to
one or other of them but there were a few to `Sam and Pete', a
people who had decided that they were close enough to share one
card. He opened the cards and left the bills for later so they
couldn't ruin the good mood he was enjoying.

`Bugger, now we'll have to invite him to the wedding.' Pete muttered.

One of the people who had sent a card was Pete's colleague Jack.
There had already been an argument about the numbers that were being
invited to the wedding when after Sam said she wanted to keep it
small he had admitted that he didn't know Jack's surname. Hopefully
Sam would have forgotten all about it by the time she came home.

***
Do you ride on down the hillside in a buggy you have made?
When you land upon your ass then you've been slayed
***

`I've done it Chloe!' Jay Felger ran into the office clutching a
long metal pole with various bits attached.

`What have you done now?' Chloe replied, well used to her
bosses' `inventions'. His current idea was to design something so
revolutionary that he could patent it and make millions of dollars
for the SGC so everybody would notice him. The problem was that in
the heat of the moment Jay often got carried away with the technical
and forgot that somebody actually had to use his `products'.

`I've invented an aerodynamic umbrella that you can use in up to
60mph of wind. I've even had it in the wind tunnel and it performed
brilliantly.'

The blonde lab assistant watched Jay's eyes light up and sighed; she
hated being the one to let him down.

`Show me?'

Jay carefully held the long black stick out and ran the runner up
it. Umbrella spokes shot out at perfect angles. `You want to know
how I did it, don't you?' Jay went on to answer his own question. `I
put an ordinary umbrella in the wind tunnel and measured where the
greatest air resistance was. Then I took the obstructions out so the
wind could flow freely around it.'

`That's great Jay. Basically what you did was to take all the fabric
off and just leave the metal parts?'

`The best inventions are simple' he pouted. `And it really does stay
up in high winds.'

`I don't doubt it does' Chloe replied. `But how does it stop the
rain?'

***
So here it is merry Christmas
Everybody's having fun
Look to the future now
It's only just begun
***

Teal'c sat at the table and looked around the commissary at everyone
present. Daniel was next to him and Ryac and Karyn opposite them.
The first year that Teal'c had been with the Tauri their festival of
Christmas had seemed bizarre, but he had tried to learn about it.
This would be his ninth Christmas on earth and even he had to admit
(to himself, never aloud) that the spirit was catching. There was
something vaguely comforting in the fact that a people who regularly
fought for their planet chose a festival that celebrated peace on
earth as their biggest holiday of the year.

When O'Neill had told him that the President had ordered that he
could have guests stay on earth for Christmas Teal'c could think of
no one other than his son Ryac with whom he would like to spend
Christmas. Of course where Ryac went Karyn went to which was how
they came to be sitting opposite him attempting to eat a seasonal
earth delicacy called Christmas pudding.

`This time next year Sam will be married to Pete.' Daniel talked,
oblivious to the fact that he was getting no response. `Unless of
course she wakes up.' He pushed his glasses off his head in a
subconscious expression of his worry.

`I do not believe that Colonel Carter is sleeping' replied Ryac,
sounding more like his father every day.

`It's an earth expression Ryac' Daniel returned. `It means to come
to your senses, to see something obvious.'

`What is obvious about Colonel Carter not marrying Pete Shanahan?'
Karyn queried gently.

`Nothing, nothing at all.' The archaeologist readjusted his glasses
and turned to Teal'c. `Maybe it's time we did something, I mean we
could at least try and speak to Jack?'

Teal'c watched as someone hung the first sprig of mistletoe in the
doorframe, the mechanical Santa that pulled its pants down while
singing jingle bells was returned to pride of place on the top of
the jello counter and his son reached for turkey flavoured ice
cream. The thought ran through his head that it was going to be a
very interesting holiday season and it had only just begun.


I'd love feedback if you feel so inclined…......... Jenny L
bray_4_amber@...