Christmas cheer had invaded the SGC.

A tiny, artificial tree, complete with tiny red balls and tiny blinking lights had found its way into the Control Room; the rec room sported its own larger version with decorations donated by some of the more holiday-inspired members of SGC, along with some strategically-placed sprigs of mistletoe; and even in the hallways deep underground could be found the occasional strand of tinsel and brightly colored Christmas banner.

The hallways were quiet this Christmas Eve as Jack O'Neill, dressed in comfortable civvies, made his way toward his objective. There were no teams off-world at this time and SG-1, along with the other SG teams, was on stand-down.

For the last two years, the team had gathered at Jack's house for Christmas dinner. That first year Jack had invited everyone over more out of a sense of obligation as team leader than any real desire to share the holiday with anyone. Teal'c's family was on another planet; Sam's father was out of the country at the time; and Daniel... well, Daniel had no family except Sha're. And getting everyone together for Christmas dinner seemed a good way to try to keep their linguist's ever-active mind occupied with something other than their so-far futile search for his wife.

The second year SG-1 had been together Jack invited everyone over not out of a sense of obligation, but because he wanted to be with them. These people had become an integral part of his life, and during the year he had come close to losing each of them at one point or another. It seemed like a good time to celebrate the fact they were still alive and still together. Besides, Teal'c's family was still on another planet; Sam's father was with the Tok'Ra; and Daniel's wife was... still a Goa'uld host. Again, it seemed like a good opportunity to circle the wagons around the civilian member of their team and conspire to get his mind off anything Stargate-related, at least for the day.

This year his holiday plans had proved to be a little trickier. Daniel had lost -- really lost -- Sha're only recently and, while he seemed to be coping fairly well, he was still prone to bouts of depression. No one was surprised at that, of course; after all, Daniel had been harboring his hope of rescuing Sha're for three long years. Jack had held that same hope himself in the beginning. But as the years passed, he accepted the odds were getting longer on that score, and privately worried his how his friend would cope should that hope be crushed, as it had been in the space of time it took to fire a staff weapon.

This year, when Jack began making noises about Christmas dinner, Daniel began making noises about having 'other plans'. Jack didn't have to be a PhD to figure out that those 'plans' most likely meant Daniel would either be here at the SGC buried in some translation project, or holed up in his apartment alone, brooding, where Jack had found him too often in the last few weeks. Whether Daniel knew it or not, the best thing for Daniel right now was to be in the company of people who cared about him. And no one cared about him more than his team mates on SG-1. And no one cared and worried about him more than Jack.

Jack O'Neill had not reached the rank of Colonel in the Air Force without knowing something about tactics: if a frontal assault proved unsuccessful, try a flanking maneuver. He grinned to himself as he remembered Janet bringing Cassandra to the base last week, and the little girl inviting Daniel and the rest of SG-1 over to spend Christmas Eve with her and her adopted mom. There was absolutely no way Daniel could say no to her (as all the conspirators had known), so tonight everyone was going to Janet's for dinner and some Christmas tree decorating.

That would keep Daniel occupied tonight, and since Jack was driving them both to Janet's, he'd already decided Daniel was spending the night and Christmas day at his place. Daniel had sprained his ankle badly the day before yesterday when the crumbling steps of a temple he'd been exploring on PCR339 had given way, and he was proving to be extraordinarily inept on crutches. Jack didn't even want to think about him being left to his own devices in his apartment.

Reaching Daniel's lab, Jack gave a quick, perfunctory rap on the half-closed door, then entered without waiting for an invitation. As he expected, Daniel was behind his desk, open books covering every spare inch of the top, scribbling furiously on a lined pad. He looked like he was in full research mode. At least, Jack noted, he'd remembered to change into his civvies.

When the linguist didn't look up, Jack moved to stand in front of the desk, hands in his jacket pockets. Daniel's single-minded pursuit of knowledge was only one of the things that made him such a valuable asset to the SGC, but sometimes it could be downright annoying.

"Daniel."

"Hmm?"

When the pen didn't stop its progress across the page, Jack took things into his own hands and deftly plucked it from Daniel's grasp. "Hey!" The younger man looked up, startled, then blinked when he saw his commanding officer standing in front of him waggling the pen. "Jack?"

Jack smiled brightly. "Hello."

The linguist eyed him warily. "Hello." Then his face cleared. "Oh. What time is it?"

"Time to hit the road," Jack answered, and retrieved Daniel's crutches from where they were propped against the desk. "We don't want to be late."

Daniel didn't take the crutches, instead letting his eyes slide back to the paper in front of him. "Jack, I was really just starting to make some headway with this tablet..."

"The tablet can wait, Daniel." When his friend didn't respond, Jack continued, "You don't want to disappoint Cassie, do you?"

At that, Daniel did look up sharply, and after a moment accepted the crutches. As he struggled to his feet, he muttered, "And you wouldn't have had anything do to with that, would you, Jack?"

"Who me?" Turning to hide his grin, Jack grabbed Daniel's jacket and switched off the lights as the other man hobbled unsteadily past him into the hallway.

As they slowly made their way to the elevator, Daniel said hesitantly, "Jack... I'm not sure I'm going to be very good company tonight. I don't want to ruin the evening for everyone just because --"

Stopping, Jack lightly grasped his friend's arm to halt his progress. "Daniel, the only way you could ruin this evening would be if you didn't come. We all want you there, okay?" Slipping an arm around the younger man's shoulders, he gently nudged him forward. "Wouldn't be the same without you."

Daniel ducked his head, but not before Jack saw his cheeks darken. "It's not that I don't want to come," he said in a whisper. "It's just..."

Jack tightened his arm around the bowed shoulders. "I know," he said quietly. "But it'll be okay, I promise. We'll get through this." Then, in a brisk tone he continued, "Now, come on, we've got a little girl waiting to decorate a Christmas tree, and she won't start without us."

***

After some initial confusion as to everyone's role in decorating the tree -- rather surprising considering four of the five adults present were military-trained -- Cassie took charge and soon everyone was hard at work. Teal'c was attempting to locate the one bulb that was keeping the strand of lights from lighting, Sam and Janet were sorting through the boxes of ornaments, Jack was in charge of the tinsel, and Cassie had placed herself next to Daniel, who was balanced on his crutches, placing the decorations Cassie handed him on the higher branches.

Jack smiled to himself as he watched the two of them. Cassie knew about Sha're, of course, and understood loss as well as any adult. She also had a curiosity that matched Daniel's when it came to learning about her adopted planet, and had often turned to Daniel with questions regarding the various cultures and traditions of Earth. Today was no exception.

This wasn't Cassie's first Christmas on Earth, and although Jack was pretty sure she'd researched it before now, she plied Daniel with questions regarding the holiday. So, Jack, along with the others, listened with exchanged grins to stories about mid-winter European festivals, Yuletide, something called Saturnalia, Saint Nicholas, Father Christmas, Santa Claus, and an old German custom that became the rage of Victorian Christmases and resulted in the Christmas tree becoming an integral part of the holiday. When Daniel explained something, he really explained. But this was one time Jack didn't mind; it was just too good to hear Daniel being Daniel.

"So families all over Earth are decorating Christmas trees tonight?" Cassie concluded, handing Daniel another red ball.

"Well...no. Not everyone celebrates Christmas, Cassie. It's a Christian holiday -- remember, we talked about how Christianity started -- and there are many different religions on earth. And some cultures that observe Christmas celebrate it in different ways."

That started another barrage of questions -- some of them by Teal'c this time -- regarding Christmas customs around the world, and by the time Daniel finished that lesson, the tree was complete, except for the star on the top.

"And that," Jack told Cassie, "is your job." Handing her the star, he held her up so she could place it on the very top of the tree.

When that was in place, the lights in the room were dimmed and Teal'c plugged in the lights on the tree. As they blazed to life, Cassie exclaimed with awe, "It's beautiful!"

Daniel met Jack's eyes over her head and he nodded agreement. "Yeah, it sure is."

"All right," Janet announced, "I could use a little help in the kitchen from every able-bodied adult in the room." Giving Daniel a stern look, she pointed to the sofa, "And you, Doctor Jackson, off that leg."

Rolling his eyes, Daniel threw her a sloppy salute, which sent Cassie into a fit of giggles. "Yes, ma'am!"

As he passed the linguist, now settled on the sofa with Cassie snuggled up beside him, Jack leaned over and whispered, "You're in trouble now."

"What's new?" Daniel retorted with a grimace.

***

With dinner finally on the table, Jack headed back to the living room to collect Cassie and Daniel, but stopped in the doorway when he heard Cassie ask, "Did you always celebrate Christmas this way with your family?"

From were he was standing, off to Daniel's left, Jack could see an odd look cross his friend's face. "No, actually, I didn't. You remember, I told you my parents were archaeologists?"

The little girl nodded. "Like you."

"Mm hm. Well, I lost my parents when I was quite young. Up to that point, we had spent nearly all our time on different digs in countries where either Christmas wasn't observed, or wasn't celebrated the way we are now." A small, wistful smile touched Daniel's face. "But no matter where we were, my parents always found some way to celebrate Christmas with me."

Cassie was looking at him with solemn eyes. "Were you younger than me," she asked in a whisper, "when you lost your parents?" This was obviously something she hadn't known about Daniel, but something she could relate to in a very personal way.

"Yes, quite a bit younger than you."

"And then you found someone, like I found Janet, to be your family and take care of you?"

Jack almost stepped into the room then. During several cold, dark nights off-world when Daniel had been suffering through yet another bout of insomnia, and a few nights on Earth when his friend had had one too many beers, Jack had learned more than a little about Daniel's childhood. And he didn't think it was a good idea for those memories to be brought up tonight. But before he could take action, he heard Daniel laugh softly.

"Yes, I did, sweetheart. I found Jack, and Sam, and Teal'c --"

Cassie rolled her eyes. "I'm serious, Uncle Daniel."

Daniel looked up then, turning his head just enough so his eyes met Jack's, and Jack could see that his friend wasn't at all surprised to see him standing there. "So am I, Cassie," he said softly. "So am I."

**finis**

© December 23,1999 The characters mentioned in this story are the property of Showtime and Gekko Film Corp. The Stargate, SG-I, the Goa’uld and all other characters who have appeared in the series STARGATE SG-1 together with the names, titles and backstory are the sole copyright property of MGM-UA Worldwide Television, Gekko Film Corp, Glassner/Wright Double Secret Productions and Stargate SG-I Prod. Ltd. Partnership. This fanfic is not intended as an infringement upon those rights and solely meant for entertainment. All other characters, the story idea and the story itself are the sole property of the author.