A/N: This story may scare and upset some readers as you get to a certain part, but without giving away the story I can tell you not to worry, nothing horrible or gruesome happens.

A/N: The USS Charlotte is a real submarine and some of this actually happened, I added an event to fit the story I'm trying to tell.

In mid November 2005, the Los Angeles class submarine named 'USS Charlotte' left Pearl Harbor heading for Norfolk, Virginia.

Charlotte was travelling under the Arctic ice cap and after a few days in to their journey they picked up something strange on their sonar, an object that was not a ship nor submarine and appeared to be moving in short circles, on approaching the object it suddenly changed course and headed towards them.

The object appeared to stop momentarily ahead of the submarine, then quickly circled all around them like a spiral moving from the front to the back, its movement was so rapid that it a vortex which caused the submarine to rock and do a 360 degree rotation in the water, the crew on board were thrown around the inside but not seriously injured, then as the submarine turned the right way up, the rocking stopped and the object was gone.

The captain ordered the Charlotte to the surface where it broke through the thick ice of the North Pole, once on the surface they spent almost an entire day checking their systems and outer hull for damage but they couldn't find any problems and eventually continued their journey, when they reached their destination the captain filed a report on the encounter with the mysterious object but no further investigations were made and the event was never made public, eventually it was filed under the classification USO 'Unidentified Submerged Objects'.

Present

Date: December 23rd

Location: Norfolk, Virginia

Time: 7:26 PM

It's late December and millions of people around the world are preparing for the Christmas holidays and to spend time with friends and family.

Stephanie is taking her two children, Tommy age 11 and Chloe age 7 shopping in Downtown Norfolk, it's the perfect Christmas time evening, gentle flakes of snow fall from the sky, the streets are filled with people enjoying the festive season, beautiful multicoloured lights hang over the streets, men dressed as Santa Claus stand next to buckets and ringing their bells cheering as they collect money for charity, hundreds of people walking around and coming out of shops carrying stacks of boxes and gifts for loved ones.

They walk down the street holding hands and carrying their purchased gifts, wearing thick woollen coats, hats, scarves and gloves, they're enjoying the jolly atmosphere.

"Mummy, Mummy...look." says Chloe, pointing at a store window with a sign in it saying "See Santa and his reindeer today.".

"I don't think we have time sweetheart, Daddy will be home soon." says Stephanie.

"Yeah, Santa's for babies anyway." says Tommy.

Chloe stands in front of her holding her hand, she puts her adorable 'puppy-dog' face on, "Pleeease." she says.

Stephanie smiles, she can't say no, "Okay, but if there's a long line we won't be able to wait." she says.

So they head in to the store through the big turning doors, as they enter they see shelves and counters filled with toys as far as the eye can see, action figures, board games, giant teddy bears, bikes, dolls and a toy train drives around a track suspended around the walls, a huge Christmas tree stands in the lobby of the four story toy store, stretching from floor to ceiling and covered in white twinkling lights, festive music is being played through the stores speakers.

Directly in front of them and just before the tree is a small stage with a fence around it, inside the fence are reindeer and to the side, sitting on a big golden chair is Santa Claus with a child on his lap asking what they want for Christmas and being very jolly, "Ho..Ho..Ho" can be heard in the distance.

Chloe's face lights up with joy, "Come on, come on mum come on." she says as she pulls her mum by the arm towards Santa.

Luckily the line isn't too long so they decide to wait, as the last child in front of them finishes telling Santa what he wants and has his picture taken, he jumps of Santa's knee and walks away happy with his mum while Santa waves goodbye.

Santa waves Chloe over, "Go ahead honey." says Stephanie, and Chloe goes over to Santa who picks her up and sits her down on his knee.

"Well hello there, and what is your name?" asks Santa.

"Chloe." she replies.

"Pleased to meet you, Chloe. Have you been a good girl this year?." asks Santa.

Chloe nods, "Yeah." she replies.

"Good girl. What would you like me to bring you for Christmas?." asks Santa.

"A pram for my dolly." replies Chloe.

"A pram for your dolly.." says Santa.

"Yeah..a yellow one with flowers on it." says Chloe.

Santa lets out a jolly laugh, "That sounds like a very special pram." he says, he then presses her cute little nose, "I'll see what I can do." he says.

Chloe hugs Santa, "Thank you Santa." she says as she slides off his knee.

Santa turns to Tommy, "Do you want to tell Santa what you want for Christmas?." he asks.

"No thanks." replies Tommy, lucky a little grumpy.

Chloe pulls on Santa's arm and he leans down to listen, "He doesn't believe in you." she whispers.

"Ooh." says Santa.

"Thank you." says Stephanie as they head passed Santa and walk back towards the store exit.

"Santa's going to get me a pram." says Chloe.

"No he isn't...he's not even real." says Tommy.

"Tommy." says Stephanie in a firm tone.

Later that evening the kids are being put to bed, Chloe is laying under her sheets clutching her dolly.

Stephanie tucks the sheets in, "There we go, snug and warm." she says.

"Is Santa real mummy?." asks Chloe.

"Yes he is, honey. Ignore your brother he's just grumpy." replies Stephanie, "A grumpy, grump, grumpo." she says while laughing and tickling Chloe.

"Night mummy." says Chloe.

Stephanie kisses her and heads for the door, "Night sweetheart." she says as she turns off the light and closes the door half way, she then heads for Tommy's room and knocks on the door and opens it, "Tommy?" she says.

Tommy is laying in his bed playing with an action figure, "Yeah?" he says.

Stephanie goes over and sits on his bed and straightens his sheets, "You know you upset your sister with what you said." she says.

"But it's true..he's not real." says Tommy.

"You don't know that. Besides, is it so bad to let your sister believe in something that makes her happy." says Stephanie, "You don't want to see her sad do you?." she says, "Do you?" she says while poking him under his arms where he's ticklish.

Tommy laughs from the tickles and smiles, he lets out a breath, "No." he says.

"Okay then. You're her big brother, she looks up to you and you're meant to take care of her. No more of this Santa doesn't exist talk okay?." says Stephanie.

"Okay mum." says Tommy, they hug and kiss good night.

Stephanie tucks him back in to bed and stands by the door, "I love you kiddo." she says.

"Love you too mum." replies Tommy.

She turned off the light and quietly closes the door as Tommy rolls over and goes to sleep, she heads down stairs and in to the living room and sits cosily snuggled up on the sofa with her husband James, "Get the kids off alright?." he asks.

"Yes, they're sleeping now." says Stephanie.

They spend the next hour just talking to each other, drinking wine and keeping warm from the heat of the fireplace, eventually they fall asleep.

December 24th 1 AM

The air inside the house begins to get cold, Stephanie is woken up by the erratic glow of the fireplace, a breeze is blowing down the chimney disrupting the flames, she sits up straight and rubs her arms shivering from the cold, she grabs a blanket off the back of the sofa and wraps it around herself then stands up and goes over to the fire, grabbing a poking fork she bends down and attempts to get the fire going again, suddenly she hears a loud bang.

She quickly stands up straight again and looks up the stairs, James is awoken by the noise, "What was that?" he asks, then they hear a loud scream, "Chloe." says Stephanie, she throws the fork on to the floor and runs frantically up the stairs with James, "Chloe." they shout.

As they reach the landing they see Tommy open his bedroom door, "What's going on." he asks.

They reach Chloe's room and swiftly open the door, Stephanie barges passed James and runs over to her bed, pulling back the sheets all they see is an empty bed, James searches the closet while Stephanie ducks down and looks under the bed, as she lifts herself back up she sees Chloe's doll laying on the floor at the end of the bed, she picks it up and gets to her feet.

They they hear the banging of the window shutters and as they look over they see the window is open about 10 inches, they run over and open it and look out, on the slope of the room below the window they see foot prints, "Oh my God." shouts Stephanie and they run back down the stairs and open the front door and head outside.

Looking around at the ground they see nothing, no footprints or trails, the snow hasn't been disturbed, they look up at her window but see nothing there either, standing and looking around in the freezing cold snow they have great concern and worry on their faces, "Chloe" shouts Stephanie so loud it echoes through the night air and wakes the entire street, she drops to her knees and begins to cry, clutching Chloe's doll.

Date: December 23rd

Location: Stargate Command

Time: 8:04 PM

Even though it's Christmas time, life and work at the SGC continues and remains unchanged, the bad guys of the universe won't take a day off, so they can't either.

O'Neill has just returned from Washington where he attended a meeting with the President, world leaders and the IOA to discuss how best to use their newly obtained ship, the Lantis, he's standing in the elevator looking a little tired from the long flight...and boring meeting, he's heading for the gate level, the doors open and he steps out.

He squeezes his eyes and places his fist over his mouth as he yawns while exiting the elevator, he's quickly looks up in shock when something ticklish and soft hits him in the face, he turns around hitting it out of the way with his hand, he turns around again and another hits him in the face, this continues for several feet until it stops.

"Are you okay Sir?" asks Walter, who came to meet him at the elevator.

O'Neill stands in confusion as he stares towards the elevator and sees tinsel draped and dangling around it, "What the hell is this?." he asks.

"Tinsel..Sir." replies Walter.

"Yes, thank you I know what it is...I mean why is it here?." asks O'Neill.

"She said it was alright Sir, she said you gave her permission." says Walter.

O'Neill shakes his head, "Who?" he asks, then he stops Walter before he can reply, "Let me guess...She's around 5 feet tall with blonde hair and goes by the name of Alisana." he says.

"Yep." replies Walter with a smirk.

"Where is she I'm going to..." says O'Neill, he stops talking when he turns around, looking down the hallway he sees fairy lights hanging through all the hallways, "..I'm going to kill her." he says and starts walking towards his office.