The Twelve Days of Christmas (5/12) – Jenny L- rating G

For disclaimers etc see part 0:

12 Days of Christmas pt 5; You Make it Feel Like Christmas

Day 5 – Friday 17th December

***
Look at us now, part of it all
In spite of it all, we're still around
Lovers in love, just like we were
Being apart's a lonely sound
When people ask how we stay together
I say you never let me down
***

Sam was a woman on a mission. After her decision last night she had
tossed and turned and not gotten any sleep, finally retreating to
the couch after Pete had become totally fed up with her keeping him
awake. In some ways Sam was actually looking forward to this
conversation with Jack, her feelings had been kept in the room for
*way* too long.

The corridor leading to the General's office was empty and ominously
quiet, Sam entered the outer office to find Jack's secretary looking
very stressed about the phone call she was making.

`No, no I understand, thank you.' Clare replaced the receiver of the
telephone. `How can I help you Colonel?'

`Does the General have five minutes?' Sam asked, one of the down
sides of Jack's new job was that he was so busy that even SG1 had to
book time to see him.

`He's not here at the moment but I'm expecting him back any minute,
you can see him then.' The secretary rubbed her temples.

`Is everything alright?' Sam knew that the general's idiosyncratic
ways often frustrated his very organized civilian secretary and
caused her the odd migraine.

`Not for me to speak ill of my boss' Clare continued anyway knowing
that Sam was a friend and wouldn't mind her venting. `But he wants
to send his ex-wife white orchids, in this week, the week before
Christmas. Do you have any idea how hard that is to organize this
close to Christmas especially when I have so much other work to do?
I don't know what he did this time but he must have really screwed
up.'

Sam had paled at this untimely reminder of Jack's relationship with
his ex-wife but Clare hadn't noticed. `Again? You send his ex-wife
flowers a lot?' Sam tried to keep her voice normal.

`About once a month. It's been more frequent recently' The sound of
footsteps coming down the corridor could be heard. `Sounds like he's
back, you want to wait in his office?'

`No.' Sam stopped. `It doesn't matter, it wasn't important. I'll
catch him later.' Sam escaped from the office as quickly as possible
barely nodding to Jack as he entered.

`What did Carter want?' Jack asked his secretary.

`I don't know sir, she didn't say.' Clare replied

`That's not like Carter.' Then Jack changed thought patterns. `Did
you manage to sort out the flowers?'

`Not yet, but I'm working on it.' Jack nodded and went into his
office. Sending flowers to Sara had become a bit of a routine since
Sam had started going out with Pete. Every time Pete did something
new Jack got drunk and invariably ended up calling Sara, then felt
guilty the morning after and had to send Sara flowers or chocolate.

***
And you make it feel like Christmas
Even when things go wrong
I hear the sound of Christmas in your song
All year long
***

Sam walked quickly down the corridor heading for her office where
she could be alone with her thoughts for a few minutes. How could
she have contemplated telling Jack what she really felt? She had
known he was still seeing his ex-wife, if the phone call didn't
prove it then the flowers certainly did. And it wasn't as if he was
just sending an unspecific arrangement of flowers, he had actually
picked a type of flower which showed he had really thought about it.

It was just a good thing Clare had given her that reminder before
Sam made a total fool of herself. It could have been so embarrassing
to bare her soul and have him say `well actually, I'm still in love
with my wife.'

It was definitely a good thing that she hadn't said anything Sam
determined. And maybe it was a blessing in disguise that Jack
wouldn't be at the wedding, if she couldn't see him then she was
less likely to think about him, and less likely to feel guilty about
thinking about a man who wasn't the groom on her wedding day.

***
Look at the sun shining on me
Nowhere could be a better place
Lovers in love, that's what we are
I reach for that star out there in space
***

Felger put his hands around his newest invention and looked to Chloe
with baited breath, waiting for her response. This invention was
designed specifically with Colonel Carter in mind, it was a
refrigerated coffee cup that was designed so you would never burn
your hands.

`Do you like cold coffee Jay?' Chloe asked

`No. It's disgusting.'

`Well what do you think will happen to the temperature of the coffee
when you put it in that cup?' Chloe looked at her boss with
sympathetic eyes, she knew, unlike most of the others on base, that
Jay was brilliant and just had problems showing it. One day he would
come up with something that revolutionized the world and she would
be right there by his side, and hopefully by then he would have
recognized that she could be so much more than just his assistant.

***
`Cause you make it feel like Christmas
Even when things go wrong
I hear the sound of Christmas in your song
All year long
***

`Pete has….. pregnancy.' Clare looked at the stunned techs and
explained. `When Sam found out she would know that he had been
having an affair and she would dump him.'

`I hate to point out the obvious Clare but Pete is lacking some
vital equipment to get pregnant.' Even Walter couldn't quite see how
this one would work.

`So he has a sex change, I bet he wants to really. Plus think about
all the pain he would go through giving birth, he deserves it.'
Walter nodded and made a mental note never to get on the wrong side
of the General's secretary. He had been surprised by how involved
the women had got in this game and how nasty they had been, coming
up with far more inventive ways to end Pete's wedding than the men.

***
Sleepy we are, but happy together
Sounds of forever greet the day
So wake up the kids, put on some tea
Light up the tree. It's Christmas day
***

The day dream Paul Davis was currently enjoying had him finishing up
putting a star on the top of a Christmas tree in his living room
while supervising two young boys, his sons. He could hear the sounds
of his wife from the room next door but he couldn't see her,
couldn't picture the woman of his dreams until she walked through
the door.

She looked older, and her hair was shorter, but she was still
beautiful and she was still Jennifer Hailey. Suddenly the `dream
Hailey' was speaking but it wasn't what Paul had been expecting to
hear.

`Major Davis, Major Davis, Sir!' Was the final loud word that
penetrated Paul's dream and brought him back to reality. Jennifer
Hailey was standing in front of him waiting for some sort of
response, a response that Davis was unable to give because of his
dream revelation. Yes, he knew he liked Hailey and he definitely
liked kissing her but he had never considered any sort of future
with her, until now.

`What do you want?' He asked in the tone he normally reserved for
annoying junior officers who were asking stupid questions.

`I bought the reports you requested on the science projects.' Hailey
replied, taken aback at his tone. She guessed that he was treating
her differently because they were in public, a situation that she
had engineered so that there could be no chance of any more kissing,
something that she couldn't cope with.

`Science projects, SIR. Don't forget that Hailey.'

`No sir!' she emphasized and mentally swore at the man who had kept
her awake half the night with visions of kisses, dates and most
terrifyingly of all wedding dresses. Jennifer Hailey was not someone
who planned to get married any time soon and especially not to a man
like this. He was too old, and he was stupid, he kept kissing her
when she didn't want it and she hated him. Sort of.

***
Yeah, you make it feel like Christmas
Even when things go wrong
I hear the sound of Christmas in your song
All year long
Light up the tree; it's Christmas time
***

Ah good thought Jack. They were here. This year, with the help of
Sam and his new secretary Jack had done almost all of his Christmas
shopping online, on e-bay to be exact. This year there would be no
fighting through the stores for him. Jack ripped open the box and
laid out the items on his desk ready to be wrapped and left so that
they could be opened on Christmas day, even if he wasn't there.

The first gift out of the box was Jack's personal favorite, he had
actually found a dancing space monkey that started
singing `spaceman' every time someone pressed the button on it's
base. Daniel was going to hate it but it made a great present. The
next item in the box was for Teal'c, Jack took the elastic band off
and unrolled it to reveal a life size cut out of Luke Skywalker.
Jack had been going to get Teal'c the Star Wars box set on DVD but
it turned out that he already had it, having queued from midnight on
the morning it came out to purchase it. The final e-bay present was
for General Hammond, a selection of games for the play station two
that SG1 had bought for his birthday. Now he was in Washington he
claimed he had too much time on his hands and had actually become
quite an expert at the computer games.

Jack had bought the obligatory book on astronomy that he gave Sam
every year at Christmas from the local book store. The box under his
bed contained the real gifts that he would like to give her but had
never been able to. Most of them were standard jewelry, although
there was the star he had had named after her and the engagement
ring he had bought five years ago hoping someday to be able to use.
Still they could stay hidden with the boxes of Sara and Charlie
stuff.

Sitting at the desk Jack opened the front cover of Sam's book to
make an inscription, something he wouldn't be there to see her read.

~ Best wishes on your wedding. I hope he always makes you as happy
as you deserve to be. Have a great Christmas. Jack. ~

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