General Jack O'Neill pinched the bridge of his nose and closed his eyes. The sound of Christmas carols drifted in through his open office door, taunting him. He sighed deeply. It was Christmas Eve and the prospect of spending Christmas Day all alone wasn't inviting in the least. He'd toyed with the idea of inviting Carter, Daniel and Teal'c over to his place but something - cowardice? - had stopped him. Somehow, the thought of being turned down had been more depressing than being alone.
A light tap on the door brought him back to reality. He opened his eyes to see Daniel standing the doorway, absent-mindedly waving a sprig of mistletoe in the air. Jack frowned. "No, Daniel. I will not kiss you. even if it is Christmas."
Daniel opened and closed his mouth a couple of times, glaring at Jack. The General grinned. It was difficult to render their archaeologist speechless, but immensely satisfying when it occurred.
Deciding to put Daniel out of his misery, he smiled and asked, "So what's with the mistletoe?"
The other man shrugged. "I just found it hanging in my office. I thought it would be a good idea to remove it."
Jack raised an eyebrow. "Someone paying you unwanted attention?"
Daniel shrugged. "Guess so, though I've no idea who." Apparently coming to a decision, he threw the mistletoe in Jack's waste bin. "Never mind about that. I actually came to ask if you were going to lunch."
Jack looked at his in tray, then at the three teetering piles of papers arranged haphazardly around his desk. He nodded firmly. "Lunch is good," he said as he stood up. "Do you think they'll have meatloaf?"
====
Sam Carter's stomach rumbled loudly, disturbing the quiet of her lab. She sat up straight and stretched. Perhaps she ought to go and get some lunch, it was getting late. As she stood up, her eyes were caught by a sprig of mistletoe hanging from the door frame. She frowned. Where had that come from? Surely she would have heard someone put it up. After all, the door had been wide open all morning. Shaking her head, she walked across to the doorway and pulled it down, throwing onto her bench before she left the room.
When she reached the commissary, the General and Daniel were already eating their lunch. She selected a salad and fruit juice and walked over to their table. "Mind if I join you?" she asked.
The two men shook their heads, too occupied with their food to actually speak. Frowning, she sat down next to O'Neill and began toying with her salad. Spearing a lettuce leaf with her fork, her mind drifted back to the mistletoe. Could the General have put it there? She glanced up at him under her lashes. Probably not, she decided. But it was a nice idea.
"Sam, do you have any idea where Teal'c is?" asked Daniel.
She looked round the commissary and frowned. "No, and it's not like him to miss a meal."
"Yeah, he's a growing guy," mumbled O'Neill, with a mouthful of. was that meatloaf? Sam shuddered. The whole idea of healthy eating seemed to have completely passed the General by.
At that moment, Daniel's question was answered by the third member of SG1 arriving in the commissary. When she saw the look on the Jaffa's face, Sam winced. He was not a happy camper, in fact, she wondered just who was in line for dismemberment this time.
"O'Neill, Daniel Jackson, Colonel Carter," he boomed, as he approached their table.
"What's up, T? You look like you lost a dollar and found a cent."
Teal'c arched an eyebrow. "I have not found any money, only this." He produced a sprig of mistletoe from the inner pocket of his uniform. "I wish to know who placed it in the locker room. above my locker. I have just had a close encounter with Lieutenant Baker."
Sam stifled a giggle. Knowing Sally Baker, she could guess what form the 'close encounter' may have taken. Sally was not the shy, retiring type.
"Poor man," muttered Daniel, sympathetically.
Finding it very difficult to keep a straight face, Sam turned away from her colleagues and found herself looking straight at a couple at the next table engaged in a very heated kiss. Meaning to reprimand them, she was alarmed to find out that in her embarrassment, all that came out was a strangled squeak. They immediately broke apart, looking very red-faced. The young airman, whom she didn't recognise, pointed up at the ceiling where a sprig of mistletoe hung above them. He shrugged apologetically. "It's Christmas, Colonel," he said quietly. Then he smirked and pointed over her head. "You've got one too."
She stared up, to see another sprig of mistletoe hanging immediately above her head. and she was sitting next to the General. Her heart gave a little flutter. She glanced round. O'Neill, Daniel and Teal'c seemed oblivious, deep in a discussion about hockey. Then she risked a glance round the room. There was mistletoe all over the ceiling. Why hadn't she noticed when she came in? And who on earth had approved it? She shot a look at the General. Sometimes he could be a little. unpredictable. Or perhaps he was just a romantic at heart.
Taking a deep breath, she decided to ask. "Sir, did you approve all this?" She waved her hand upwards.
Jack dragged his attention from the hockey and his meatloaf, and looked round. He frowned. "All what?"
"The mistletoe. There is rather a lot of it."
She saw the General look up and take in his surroundings. Several couples were enthusiastically getting into the Christmas spirit. His mouth dropped open, then he turned to Sam and looked up. He smiled mischievously, leant in and quickly kissed her on the lips.
"Sir!" she squeaked. She had dreamed for years about being kissed by Jack O'Neill. Her fantasies had usually included candlelight, romantic music and privacy. A quick peck in the middle of a crowded commissary was *not* what she'd had in mind.
Sam was still in a state of shock when a harassed-looking Sergeant Harriman hurried up to them. "We have a problem, General," he announced breathlessly.
"We do?"
"Yes, sir. Mistletoe is growing out of control on the base."
Sam looked round again. There did seem to be more mistletoe on the ceiling than the last time she'd looked a couple of minutes before. And there was now some on the walls and the floor.
"How can it grow?" she asked, peering upward suspiciously. "It can't live on metal and plastic."
"Don't know, ma'am. But it's all over the gate and is threatening to jam the mechanism. It's growing back faster than Siler can pull it off." He wrung his hands together. "And it's starting to get into the computer system."
O'Neill stood up quickly, and with a quick longing glance at the remains of his meatloaf, headed for the gateroom with Sam, Daniel and Teal'c trailing behind.
~~~~~~~
"You're telling me it's like the time the base was infested with that alien plant?" O'Neill was getting a headache, something he put down to one too many scientific explanations.
Sam nodded. "In a nutshell, yes, sir."
"We got rid of that, so you can do the same to this?" asked the General hopefully.
"No, sir. What we did that time isn't having any effect. But we're working on it. I would recommend quarantining the base until we have it under control."
"I agree. Can't have the whole world overrun with mistletoe, can we?" He raised an eyebrow. "Everyone kissing one another would be a fate too dire to contemplate." He let out a long breath and asked, "I'm sorry about this, Carter. Did you have plans for tomorrow?"
"Not any more, sir." She smiled ruefully and turned to go.
As he watched Sam leave his office, he allowed himself a small smile. So he was going to spend Christmas with her, though not quite in the way he hoped. He wasn't quite sure what had come over him in the commissary earlier, kissing her like that. Perhaps the mistletoe was producing some mind-altering substance that reduced inhibitions. Perhaps he it had just been too long since he'd.
Or perhaps it was just because it was Christmas.
He shook his head and tried to pull himself together. Whatever the cause, Jack knew that all he wanted for Christmas was to kiss Carter again, but next time he wanted to do it properly.
~~~~~
Sam glanced at her watch. 23.59. Almost Christmas Day. She rubbed her hand across her face wearily. They were no nearer to finding a solution to the mistletoe problem. They'd tried flame-throwers, turning off the power, turning up the power, radiation, bright lights, no lights, weed killer (the General had suggested that one, but all it did was make the base smell unpleasant) and, in a fit of desperation, fertiliser. Nothing had worked. Every visible surface was covered in a verdant growth of mistletoe, its shiny white berries catching the light.
A tap on the door made her look up. General O'Neill stood in the doorway, absent-mindedly tugging at some of the mistletoe growing there. "Tell me you have good news," he said.
She shook her head. "Sorry. I'm running out of ideas, sir." She honestly couldn't ever remember feeling at such a loss. Irrationally, she felt tears pricking at her eyes. Get a grip, Carter, she admonished herself. Getting upset is not going to help. She looked back down at her bench and irritably brushed away the mistletoe starting to creep over her laptop. Then she felt a hand on her shoulder. She looked up to find herself staring into a pair of sympathetic brown eyes.
"Hey, it ain't that bad, Carter. We aren't locked in some weird self-destruct cycle, we don't have any teams trapped off-world and no-one is in immediate danger. We're just stuck here. I'd like to get this solved, but there's no life-threatening urgency to do it *now*. Get some rest. Try again in the morning." He smiled at her encouragingly and something inside her melted. At that moment, she realised that all she wanted for Christmas was another kiss from Jack O'Neill.
Sam smiled back weakly and found her eyes drawn inexorably to his lips, remembering what had happened at lunchtime. He moved slowly towards her, at first the touch of his lips a mere whisper, before capturing her mouth fully with his. It felt completely different to their first kiss; it was passionate, tender, and full of promise. Almost of its own volition, her arm snaked around his neck and pulled him tightly to her, pressing their bodies together. Feeling his desire and the heat of his body, Sam's knees went weak and her head began to spin. It was everything she'd ever dreamed of and more. and she had a very vivid imagination.
Caught in the moment, she almost missed the sound of sleigh bells and a distant "ho-ho-ho".
They finally broke apart, desperate for air and smiled shyly at each other, a little unsure how to deal with the sudden change in their relationship. Without warning, a sprig of mistletoe fell from the ceiling and bounced off Sam's head. She laughed and looked up. All over the room, the mistletoe was falling to the ground, landing with a soft rustling sound. She looked at Jack, puzzled. He shrugged and strode over to the door. "It's falling out here too," he said as he looked up and down the corridor.
Sam glanced at her watch. 12.03. "It's Christmas Day. You don't think." Her voice trailed off, the whole idea too preposterous for words.
O'Neill looked uncomfortable. "When we were kissing, I thought I heard bells. and." He glanced at her nervously.
"Ho-ho-ho?" suggested Sam.
He nodded. They both looked round suspiciously. Then a rustling noise drew their attention. Harriman was coming down the corridor, ploughing his way through the fallen mistletoe, a confused look on his face.
"Sergeant?" asked O'Neill.
"The mistletoe seems to be dying, sir." Walter Harriman came to a stop in front of Sam and Jack. He chewed his lip nervously.
Sam sensed there was something he wasn't saying. "And?"
"Exactly at midnight, we tracked a small flying object."
"Not unusual, Sergeant," said Jack.
"This one was, sir. We got an audio signal from it." He looked at them, his eyes wide as saucers. "It made a jingling noise, and then we heard a voice say 'ho-ho-ho'."
Sam wondered briefly if the tooth fairy was real too, before murmuring, "He gave me what I wanted for Christmas," almost to herself.
Jack smiled at her. "Me too."
"But there's no such thing as Santa Claus, is there, sir?" asked Harriman.
"Considering some of the stuff we've seen over the years, I'm prepared to keep an open mind, Sergeant."
Harriman nodded thoughtfully. "Merry Christmas, sir. ma'am," he said, and headed back through the piles of mistletoe, towards the control room, leaving Sam and Jack alone.
She turned to face him and he smiled, his eyes twinkling as he whispered, "Merry Christmas, Sam," and leant down to kiss her again. As their lips met, she knew this was going to be her best Christmas ever.
~end~
Story Notes: Email: wendyparkinson@hotmail.com
Category: S/J, Christmas Challenge
Spoilers: Minor one for Zero Hour
Season/Sequel info: Set Season Eight, after Zero Hour, but before Affinity
Rating: Pg
Archive: "Heliopolis" and "Sam and Jack"
Date: 20/12/2004
Author's Notes : My response to the samandjack list Christmas challenge.
Thanks to Sue for the beta at short notice.
Merry Christmas everyone!
All feedback and constructive criticism will be greatly appreciated. No flames please.
Copyright Wendy Parkinson December 2004
Category: S/J, Christmas Challenge
Spoilers: Minor one for Zero Hour
Season/Sequel info: Set Season Eight, after Zero Hour, but before Affinity
Rating: Pg
Archive: "Heliopolis" and "Sam and Jack"
Date: 20/12/2004
Author's Notes : My response to the samandjack list Christmas challenge.
Thanks to Sue for the beta at short notice.
Merry Christmas everyone!
All feedback and constructive criticism will be greatly appreciated. No flames please.
Copyright Wendy Parkinson December 2004
DISCLAIMER: All publicly recognisable characters, settings, etc, are the property of their respective owners. Any original characters and plots are the property of the author. No money is being made from this work. No copyright infringement is intended. ... [ read more ]