Ties
by
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Disclaimers:Stargate SG-1 and its characters are properties of Showtime/Viacom, MGM/UA, Double Secret Productions and Gekko Productions. Much to my sorrow, I think that precludes me claiming any of the characters. Original characters, situations and story are the property of the author and are not to be appropriated without the permission of the author. This story is intended for entertainment purposes only; no money will be made with it. Trust me. No money.
Ties
Brionhet
Something had to be done. Someone had to put a stop to this.
The miasma of humbuggery was threatening to sink the good ship SG-1. This couldn't go on.
Having accepted that it was her job to do the bailing, Sam stood staring at the firmly closed door of her C.O.'s office, hand raised to knock. She imagined that she could feel the waves of grump oozing through the door.
She drew a deep breath and rapped sharply. Something had to be done.
Liberally interpreting the snarl from the other side of the barrier as permission to enter, she turned the handle and crisply swung the door inward.
The colonel's face did not display any welcoming invitation. His mouth was tight, his brow beetled over glinting, needle sharp brown eyes.
"Yeah?"
Taking a deep breath, she implemented The Plan, Stage One.
"Sir, I wanted to talk to you about the party." It took every nerve she had to keep the smile pasted on her mouth in defiance of the scowl that battered her.
"Carter, I thought I'd made my opinion clear on this matter."
"But, Sir…"
"Major, these holidays have become a bad joke—all greed, no actual holiday left. I'm not about to contribute to the stupidity."
"Just a little party, Sir—just the four of us, Cassie and Janet!"
"No party, and especially no party at my place."
"You're the only one of us with a real house, Sir. You wouldn't even have to do the decorating—Janet, Cassie and I will take care of all of that. You'd…"
"Decorating! Are you suggesting that I let you two junk up my place?"
"Just a few bits—just for the party. We'd…"
"Carter! No! Party!"
"…take it all down after."
For a moment, they just looked at each other—implacable glare locked on to pleading sincerity.
Time for the big guns—trump card, O'Neill version. Sam let her body slump slightly, putting all the sorrowful entreaty she could dredge up into her expression.
"Sir… It's just… Well, Daniel."
Gotcha.
"He's so unhappy—just sinking into all that grief."
Definite softening happening here.
"He doesn't talk about it…"
Biting of lower lip. Good… good.
"… just sits alone in the dark."
Bullseye. The scowl had mellowed, the mouth pursed in concern. She'd wondered about that ‘in the dark' bit—seemed a bit over the top. But it looked like Janet had the colonel's number after all.
"Well…"
"Please, Sir?" She put every ounce of innocence she had into the plea, nailing the last spike into his coffin by reaching one hand out to him.
"You promise I don't have to live in a wad of tinsel and jingle bells, right?
"Promise! Up for the party, gone when we leave!"
"And you won't make me do stupid stuff like sing or anything?"
"Absolutely! You don't even have to promise to enjoy yourself. Just clear out for the day and let us play in your house; come for the party, endure a couple of hours of us having a good time, then everything vanishes by the time you go to bed. Thank, you, Colonel O'Neill!"
"OK, you can do it. Just don't expect me to go along with the ‘Ho ho ho' part."
"Yessir! No ho ho ho, Sir!"
She ducked back out the door before he could realize how she'd manipulated him. Yes! Phase One successfully completed. On to Phase Two.
***
This one was going to be simultaneously easier, and more painful. Where the colonel had expressed his unhappiness with bad temper and snappish irritability, Daniel's sorrow manifested in quiet, introspective depression.
His office door was open, the brilliance from his working lights spilling into the corridor. She took a moment to watch him—he looked like he was working, eyes directed down at a crumbling manuscript, its scraps protected in a sandwich of glass plates. But his body was motionless, his eyes unfocussed. She suspected he'd been staring at the same bit of text for much longer than it should have taken him to interpret it. His soft, full-lipped mouth drooped at the corners.
Oh, definitely sunk into the sloughs of despair. This couldn't be allowed to continue.
Sam tapped softly against the doorjamb. After a moment, Daniel's sad blue eyes lifted, and he straightened his back.
"Hi, Sam." Even his voice was flattened and mournful.
"Hey, Daniel. Got a minute?"
"Sure, Sam. Always."
She carefully moved the stack of books off a chair, sat, and gazed at him for a moment. For an instant, she contemplated leaving him to the solitude he thought he wanted. Then she metaphorically stiffened her backbone; this was no time to lose sight of the long term objective.
"Just wanted to talk to you about the party next month."
"Sam…"
"We've decided to do it on the 23 rd—looks like we're going to be stood down for that weekend, and Janet's arranged her schedule so she's free."
"Sam, I don't…"
"The colonel has finally given in about letting us use his house."
"I'm not…"
"I wanted to talk to you about gifts."
"I… I'm not really interested in a party, Sam.
"Come on, Daniel. It'll be fun. Just a nice evening of good food and good friends."
His mouth quivered a bit. He shifted his eyes to gaze at the shelved artifacts along the wall.
"I… I just… Sam, you guys go ahead and have a good time, OK? I c… can't…"
"Daniel…"
"Please, Sam."
She let the silence hang between them for a beat, then delivered her coup d'grace. Trump card, Jackson version.
Sam touched the small statuette on the corner of Daniel's desk, watching her finger as it stroked over the ugly little head, down over the pot belly.
"Well, if you're sure…"
Relief colored Daniel's voice. "Thanks, Sam."
"But, it's just that… well… I'm kind of worried about the colonel."
"J… jack?"
"Mmm hmm."
"Wh… what's wrong with Jack?"
"Well, you know, this time of year's pretty tough on someone who's lost a child."
She lifted her gaze from the little icon, meeting his wide blue eyes. Oh, yeah. Right on target.
"Charlie."
"Yes. Christmas, you know… well, it's a kid's holiday. Surely you've noticed how withdrawn and grouchy he's been."
"Ah, yeah. I did notice that." He scratched his head, face rueful.
"Got you, did he? Anyway, I figured maybe we could get him to cheer up a bit—have a little fun. Maybe he could enjoy the holiday, at least a little bit."
His expression turned speculative. "That actually seems like a pretty good idea. You actually got him to agree to this?"
Okay! She'd known that the trick with Daniel would be to get his big heart engaged; redirect his concern to someone else's problem. She knew she'd just acquired another conspirator.
She grinned at him. "It wasn't easy; he's prickly as an underwatered Yucca plant right now. But a bit of skillful pressure, and he caved."
His eyebrows arched above the frames of his glasses. "Caved? Jack?"
"Yup. You have no idea how devious I can be if I put my mind to it." Right. No idea. "So, about this present thing… Janet and I figured that we should collaborate on gifts—you know, all of us decide what to get the colonel, everyone but Teal'c choose for him, and so on. So we try to get one really nice thing for each of us. What do you think?"
He sat for a moment, eyes unfocussed. "Hmmm. Nice idea. And I've got a couple of suggestions we could start with."
"Oh? Tell me, kind sir!"
"Well… I've got this friend I met in graduate school… Tell me, Sam. Just how sneaky can you be?"
*****
Happily, Sam stroked the soft black leather of her Christmas present. The guys had done her proud. A full set of biker's leathers, and a pair of matching saddlebags.
Jack was laughing at her. "You didn't really think you could keep that thing a secret from us, did you?"
She grinned up at him from her position on the floor. Just as she'd expected, he'd loosened up and allowed himself to enjoy the evening. Had complimented the three women—well, two women and a girl--on their decorating job; had eaten more than he should; had even joined in on a Christmas carol or two without complaining about being forced to do something ‘stupid.'
Of course, Cassie'd had more to do with that triumph than Sam had. Jack was absolutely defenseless against her persuasive techniques; he'd folded like a wet Kleenex as soon as she'd turned those big, soulful eyes his way.
He'd actually unbent enough in the weeks before the party to make a real contribution to the conference over Daniel's gift. She'd been a bit surprised, both by his willingness to participate, and by the unusual suggestion he'd contributed.
Daniel, also on the floor, leaning back against the couch beside Jack's legs, appeared to be having a pretty good time as well, though he was still too subdued for her taste. Just as she'd expected, once he'd agreed to the party, he had entered into the gift discussions whole heartedly. In fact, two of the final choices had been his suggestions.
Teal'c's relaxed, contented expression attested to the quality of one of those choices. He was sitting across the room, gently handling and examining the small, shallow bowls and containers they'd given him. They'd had to shop and search for nearly the entire month to find them all. Each was different, each beautiful in its own way. Daniel had suggested finding vessels for the 42 candles that created the atmosphere Teal'c enjoyed during his periods of meditation, and from Teal'c's pleasure as he unwrapped them, it was obvious that they'd been an excellent choice.
Janet's long, brown leather coat had been a hit as well. Of course, that had been a sure thing. Janet had been pining for the beautiful thing ever since seeing it back in September. She was cuddling into its folds now, as she helped Cassie examine all of the bits and pieces of the computer that they'd gotten her.
Of course, none of them had been content to leave Cassie's take at one gift. Sam grinned at the stack of clothes, toys and oddities that had rained down on the girl's delighted head. They'd persuaded her to open her gifts first, and she had wallowed in their excess for half an hour.
The rest of them had drawn straws for order. After Sam, there were just two left. Daniel and Jack.
Giving her new leathers one final pat, Sam crawled back over to the tree they'd erected in Jack's living room, reaching under for a flat, smallish package.
"OK, Daniel. Your turn." She stood up and walked over to him, dropping a little kiss on his forehead as she placed the gift into his hands.
He looked up at her, rewarding her with a smile as he accepted the package. The general nature of the gift was obvious from its shape and feel.
"We really figured that all you needed in the world was another book, Dannyboy." Jack was grinning with anticipation. Finding this little gem had been the first part of his Christmas achievement.
Daniel glanced at Jack, favoring him with a raised eyebrow, then turned his attention to the careful unwrapping of the book.
"Jeez, Daniel. Just open it, f'r god's sake!"
Daniel's grin widened. "Jack, you'll just never learn how to treat artifacts, will you?"
As laughter filled the room, the paper fell away from the book. Daniel sat motionless, gazing at the cover in astonishment. And growing delight.
A Winter in Egypt, by Carolyn Jenner.
He looked up at them, his eyes brilliant with joy.
"I… I… My god, where did you find this?"
Cassie snuggled in beside him. "What's it about?"
"It's about… one of my p… parents' digs. Oh god, I remember this woman! She was a journalist—she… she spent one season with us when I was about five or so." He ducked his head. "I thought she was pretty wonderful."
Sam gently slipped the book out of his hands. "No wonder." She held the book up, showing the back jacket image of a beautiful blond.
"Whoa! No wonder is right. No red blooded American boy could resist that!"
Daniel smiled up at him. "Well, I don't think I was very American at the time. I think I spoke a mix of three or four languages, but English wasn't the best of them."
Sam caught his eye and winked at him, then opened the book to the section of color photos in the center.
"You guys can drool over Miss Blond and Buxom if you want; this is the one I want!"
She held the book up to show Daniel her chosen image. "Oh, god!" he exclaimed, then bent over to hide his flaming face in his lap.
Grinning happily, Sam rotated the book around so the rest of the room could see a photo of a small boy. Despite the childish curve of the cheek and the long, flyaway straw-colored hair, there was no question about the child's identity. He had Daniel's soft, full mouth, wide blue eyes and shy, solemn expression.
Amid their delighted laughter, Sam closed the book and pressed it back into Daniel's hands. He reached out and wrapped his arm around her waist, pulling her close for a hug.
Hugging him back, she whispered, "We're not quite through with you, Daniel. Hang on just a minute, OK?"
They'd agreed that she could be the one to do this, so the others waited quietly while she went into Jack's den and fetched a battered, dusty box—Jack's real miracle for the season. She brought it back and set it gently in front of Daniel's crossed legs.
"The book is your Christmas present. This is something that you should have had a long time ago, so it's not a gift; it's just coming home where it belongs."
He sat and stared at the box, puzzled. It was obviously quite a few years old; on the top, someone had scrawled "NYMA" and what looked like an acquisition number.
Cautiously, he pulled the flaps free and folded them back—and froze.
The box contained a motley of objects—small boxes of old fashioned home movie film, picture albums, a worn, cloth covered box, a tapestry fabric drawstring bag that clanked when moved, a chipped ceramic mug, what appeared to be diaries…
Sam held her breath. This was either going to be very good, or terrible. Oh, please. Make him happy about this…
Jack leaned down, putting one hand on Daniel's shoulder. His other hand held a CD case.
"I thought maybe that museum might have some of your folks' belongings sitting around somewhere—figured it probably never occurred to anyone to look you up once you were old enough to want that sort of stuff."
Daniel was still staring into the box, mouth hanging open, hands tightly clutching the flaps.
"Daniel?" Jack shook his shoulder slightly.
Daniel jerked his gaze away from the jumble of objects and twisted to look up into Jack's face. Jack showed him the CD case.
"We had the tech people transfer the stuff on the film to a CD ROM for you; the film is pretty old, and already deteriorating; figured you wouldn't mind.
Dazedly, Daniel released one flap of the box to accept the CD. Then he turned his eyes back to the box. Slowly, carefully, he reached in to touch and gently shift around the objects in the box. As he moved the tapestry bag aside, his breath caught in a gasp, and once again he froze.
After a moment of stillness, he set the CD on top of the Jenner book, slowly reached both hands into the box and removed a cloth wrapped object. He fumbled the cloth away to reveal an obviously Egyptian statue, about ten inches tall, shaped a bit like the stiff, mummy-like figures that featured in so much Egyptian style art. This one was carved and painted to look like a fair haired child.
For what seemed like a long time, Daniel stared at the little statuette, while the others in the room held their breaths.
Then he clutched it to his chest, folded his body around it, and began to rock forward and back.
Dismayed, Sam crouched down beside him.
"Daniel?''
He just rocked.
The colonel slid down to join them on the floor. "Danny? Daniel! You're freakin' us out, here!"
With a small, choked cry, Daniel raised his head to show cheeks stained with tears.
"Daniel! I'm so sorry—I thought you'd…"
"Oh, S… Sam! Oh, Sam!"
His eyes met hers, and she saw incredulous joy.
"I th… thought it was g… g… gone f… forever! Oh, god, oh god." He dropped his head again, continuing to rock.
Cassie crowded closer to his side, beginning to be frightened by his weeping.
"D… Daniel?"
Gradually, Daniel's body relaxed and he let go of the little statue with one hand so he could wrap that arm around the girl's body.
"It's OK, Cass. It's g… good."
Sam brushed the tears from his cheek.
"You want to explain to us, Daniel? You're scaring us a bit. What is that little guy?"
He favored her with a brilliant, if watery, smile.
"H… he's a shabti."
Jack's eyebrows rose. "And what's a… a shopti when it's at home? And there weren't supposed to be any artifacts in there, just personal stuff."
"It appears to be a burial offering." Teal'c's voice came from across the room.
"It… It's a f… fake—not real. A shabti is a funerary statue; a s… sort of honorary to the departed. My d… dad hired an old artifact f… forger to make it, and gave it to me for my fourth birthday. It… he made it to look like me. See? It was my most p… precious possession—I don't think it was ever more than two feet away from me until…" He stalled over the obvious completion of the sentence, head dropping again.
"They… the social worker, she… she thought it was too g… gruesome for a little boy, s… so she took it away. I thought it was gone."
He lifted his head again, looking a long moment into each of their eyes.
"How can I… Th… thank you so much. Thank you."
Jack reached around Daniel's shoulders, giving him an affectionate one armed hug. Cassie cuddled close and hugged him around the chest. And Sam leaned forward to plant another kiss on the top of his head. His watery chuckle acknowledged their affection.
Janet dropped down beside her adopted daughter, gathering the girl close to her side.
"Well, I'd say this has been some Christmas! And it's getting pretty late for some teenagers."
"Mo—om!"
Janet kissed the top of her head. "Surely you're ready to slow down a bit!"
"No! No. What about Colonel Jack?"
Daniel turned to look at Jack. "Yeah. Your turn." His teeth closed over his lower lip, happiness and mischief battling with a shade of doubt in his eyes.
"Hey, I think we've created enough strange memories tonight!" Jack was laughing, lounging back against the edges of the cushions of the couch. "I don't really think you want to embarrass your old commanding officer, now do you? Think of the possible consequences… "
Sam, back on her feet, grinned down at him. "You don't escape. Wait right here."
She reached behind the tree to pull out a large, rectangular package that had been leaning against the wall. The last package under the tree.
As she set the gift into Jack's hands, she took a deep breath. Again, a risky choice.
Jack was still laughing as he ripped the paper from the present. Then it was his turn to freeze, staring at the face that laughed back at him.
Daniel's friend had come through—more wonderfully than Sam could ever have hoped. All the creeping, fraught forays into Jack's belongings, searching for pictures to scan, as Daniel focused his formidable abilities on keeping the colonel otherwise occupied, had paid off overwhelmingly.
Jack, dramatically sobered, stood slowly and moved to the mantle. Carefully, gently, he set the painting to lean against the wall over the fireplace, then stepped back. The others stood and moved to stand behind him, gazing at the vital, happy face of the child in the picture. Silky hair swept by wind, lovely eyes brilliant and joyful—the boy looked ready to leap off the canvas and into the arms of the man whose eyes hungrily devoured his image.
"Charlie." Jack's voice was a whisper.
Daniel touched his arm. "OK, Jack?"
Jack glanced briefly into Daniel's face, then Sam's. "Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. How the hell…"
Sam hugged him quickly, then stepped back. "No fair asking. Gifts should just be accepted as they come."
"Yeah, I guess you're right. This… this is incredible."
He turned to look at them, eyes suspiciously bright. Then he slowly looked around the room—at the tinseled tree, the bows tied around the bases of his lamps, the beaded scallops framing the arch to the front hall, the sparkling stars hanging from every projection Sam and Janet had been able to get to hold them. And then back at his friends.
Sam held her breath.
"Place looks kind of nice like this."
She felt her mouth stretch into a grin of triumph.
"You know, Sir. There's really nothing better than Christmas with your family."