Shine a little light

[ardvari]

Title: Shine a little light
Author: ardvari
Rating: NC-17
Pairing: Sam/Jack
Disclaimer: Not mine.
A/N: Sequel to Riding in Cars with Generals. Christmas party with some gratuitous smut thrown in for good measure. :)

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Wrapping It All Up - Part III of IV

[thothmes]

It was easy to tell who wrapped what. Cam's had a distinct drop-a-coin-on-it-and-it'll-bounce, hospital corner look to them. Teal'c's came wrapped in G.I. Joe and Santa!Yoda paper ("Merry Your Christmas Must Be!"). Sam's were professionally wrapped at the stores she'd made the purchases at, and Vala's had enormous gittery bows, in a particularly agressive shade of purple. Daniel favored gift bags which left more time for studying artifacts and translating. Vala and Cam, who hadn't seen a Jack-wrapped gift before were surprised to find that his packages were not the five year old's paper-mangling, tape-wasting extravaganza that they had imagined. While not as neat as Cam's, the ribbons and bows did a good job of hiding this. The secret, his old team knew, was Jack's restless hands. He'd gotten pretty good at briefing-paper origami, and the skills carried over pretty well.

The opening was characteristic too. Jack tore into his gifts, with the greed of a kindergartener, and the ferocity of a Visigoth. Vala's face was a kaleidoscope of shifting emotions. Sam was amused by the predictability of Vala's reaction to her own present. The quickly-banished speculation and mild disappointment that it was Sam who gave the red satin teddy instead of Daniel, was quickly followed by a wide grin of gratitude. Vala might like to use outrageous behavior as a distractor, but her application of the Golden Rule was very good. Cam grabbed the nearest package at hand, opened it, but didn't go through them any faster than the the middle of the pack. His grandma had taught him not to be greedy, and to take time to appreciate what the Lord had provided. Sam gathered all her presents, and put them in an orderly stack, looked it over, changed a few around, and then began at the top. Daniel opened slowly, because he needed to thoroughly investigate each gift before moving on to the next. When everyone else was done, Teal'c gave a oh-so-subtly superior smile, and began to open his, with great care and attention. The wrapping paper (and gift bag) were as wondrous and treasured as the gift, and had to be carefully preserved.

There was laughter (the hockey jersey Daniel had made for Jack, where the seamstress had used the right half of a Minnesota Wild jersey and combined it with the left half of a Colorado Avalanche jersey to satisfy Jack's divided loyalties), quiet appreciation (Cam's gift of the Star Wars saga on blu-ray for Teal'c earned an especially deep head nod), loud appreciation (the gift card for a local leather goods shop from Jack to Vala - he'd been stymied for what to get her that could not possibly be construed as suggestively personal, and she had seen a dress there just last week that was to die for!), boyish delight (Sam had actually found a Macaroon of the Month club online for Cam's gift, and he'd be starting in January with chocolate dipped ones), startled wonder (Jack had used some of his old D.C. connections to find and hire a researcher that tracked down some old photographs of Clare and Melburn's last dig, and had copies of them mounted in an album for Daniel, with a shot of young Daniel intently bent over a rough shard of pottery he was gently freeing from the sand, with his parents beaming indulgently and proudly in the background on its cover), and outright hilarity (Cam gave Sam, the only person on base with more speeding tickets than he had, a motorcycle helmet, which had something written all over it in tiny letters, proving on close inspection to be the speed of light in scientific notation, over and over).

When Teal'c had finally opened his last gift, and bowed his head magisterially to Jack in appreciation, the cooking began. Over the objections of Jack and Cam ("Turkey or ham! Anything else is sacrilege!" "Or roast beef. My Grandma did a mean roast, with potatoes roasted in the drippings, and sweet potato pie!") they had the lamb that Daniel preferred, plenty of vegetables for Sam, vast mounds of mashed potatoes to sustain Teal'c, and three kinds of pie for the sweet tooth contingent.