Sam picked up the throw from the back of the couch and wrapping it around her shoulders, stepped out onto the back deck into the brisk cold of the Minnesota night and closed out behind her the warmth and happy sounds of the thankful people in the cabin.

She leaned against the deck rail and tucked her hands beneath her arms to keep her fingers warm to stave off the shivers. Her gaze rose over the pristine white field of snow that covered the pond, reflective glow bright from the moonlight over head, up past the dark horizon of the pines that enclosed their retreat, to the black night sky with its white twinkling stars.

Her mind on nothing in particular, just enjoying the quiet of the moment after the busy day of a Thanksgiving overflowing with family, she used the crescent moon as a signpost and shifted her gaze down to the right to find the glowing light that was Mars.

Happy to have found the little planet among the stars, she turned to finding other sights in the night sky. Her eyes searched for any meteors from Leonid streaking through the darkness. It was not yet the best time to view the shower, that time was in the hours before dawn of tomorrow morning, but there were still meteors to see if you were lucky enough to catch sight of them.

She had seen great wonders and space phenomenon beyond imagine, but there was a simple, uncomplicated joy in watching shooting stars.

The door opened behind her, spilling the warm sounds from inside out into the cold, before the door was shut and heavy footsteps come up behind her.

"Cripes it's cold," Jack complained as he stepped up behind her, wrapping his arms around her waist and tucking his hands beneath the fleece throw as well. "Sam, what are you doing out here without a jacket? It's winter. W-i-n-t-e-r. Not your cozy climate controlled ship."

"Muhum," Sam agreed as she snuggled back into him and took advantage of the blissful heat his body was generating. "Don't need a jacket now."

His chuckle was a rumbling vibration against her back as his lips nuzzled her temple. "So, what'cha doing out here and not back inside?"

"Nothing really. Just... looking at the stars."

"See any shooting stars from the lion tonight?"

Sam gave her head a slight shake. "Nothing yet. Just satellites."

Jack gave her waist a squeeze with his arms as he rested his cheek against her head and the silence of the winter night settled comfortably around them.

Sam was aware of the stars above and her husband behind her as his chest rose and fell with his breath. The stars and Jack were intertwined in her life and love and she was blessed, and entirely thankful, that now she had them both to the fullest.

The door opened a second time and once again spilled light and the happy sounds from inside the cabin into the cold night.

"Jack? Sam?" Daniel called out, "What are you doing out here?"

"Nothin'," Jack answered back.

"Um, okay. Well they're looking for you. They want to know where you hid the pies."

"Yeah, okay Daniel, we'll be in shortly. Get them to make up the whipped cream or something," Jack answered shortly.

"I thought whipped cream came already made?"

Sam couldn't help but chuckle at the confusion she heard in their friend's voice. "Jack says that only real whipped cream will do for Thanksgiving pumpkin pie—talk with Cassie, she should know how to make it."

"Alright, see you in a bit," Daniel said.

"Yeah, see you in a bit," Jack agreed and the cabin door closed and the quiet of the night returned.

Breaths rising and falling and their heartbeats beating in unison Sam savoured the moment of simple togetherness.

There!

A brilliant streak of white across the starry night sky.

"Star light, star bright, the first star I see tonight. I wish I may, I wish I might," Jack whispered the child's rhyme into her ear, "have the wish I wish tonight... Make a wish Sam."

Sam smiled and, adjusting her arms, turned around in his and linked her hands around his neck, gazing up onto his beloved face and into the brown depths of his eyes. She smiled up at him as she thought of wishes and the joy of spending Thanksgiving with her husband and family in a place that meant so much to them.

"I don't need to make a wish. They've already all come true."

-FINISHED