A/N: Hi guys, SerenBunny here. This is the fifth of the Holiday Specials, but it is NOT necessary for you to have read the first one. This one is about the USA and Canadian holiday of 'Thanks Giving.
As the calendar on everyone's computer began to creep closer and closer to the middle of November, those in charge breathed a collective sigh of relief.
'The girls will be too busy with school and holidays to bug us.' John Sheppard thought as the heads of each department collected for their regular meetings.
"Thank you for joining us everyone, we're only waiting on one more person." Col. Samantha Carter nodded gravely to them.
John looked around the room and frowned. "Who are we waiting on?"
One of the gate personnel ran into the room. "She's here, and she's alone. The jumper just landed in the south pier."
"Anything damaged?" Carter winced.
The gate tech shook his head.
"Show her up." Carter ordered, then questioned. "Where is the jumper?"
"Lt. Cadman brought it into the jumper bay."
"She doesn't have the ATA gene." Rodney pointed out.
"Laura doesn't need the ATA gene to run our jumper." A familiar female voice pointed out.
Very slowly John turned his head around and groaned. "Kimberley."
"Hi Col. Sheppard." She waved to him and smiled.
The head of military personnel looked at the interloper and frowned. Her brown hair was down making her look younger. Instead of the dark clothes she wore a pair of dark blue jeans and a long sleeved white top. A long necklace with a black panda with white stones on it hung from her neck. Her cheeks were healthily flushed and she looked unthreatening.
"I'm not take am I?" She asked and stepped into the room.
"No, no, we were just about to begin. You were actually the first order of business." Carter smiled and motioned to the head of the table. "Take the floor when you're ready."
"Can I plug this in?" she waved a red USB in the air and opened her eyes wider. "There's nothing evil on it, brownies promise. If you want you guys can check it out and I'll go last."
"I would prefer it if you went first then left us to get on with things." Sam smiled was strained.
"Oh, okay. Its just a power point." Kimberley explained and Rodney scanned it on a spare data pad and nodded to Sam who nodded back to him.
The presentation came to life in the middle of the tables.
"I was talking with a certain Crazy Captain of mine and she pointed out that in a few days time there is a major event happening." As Kimberley spoke the image of a smiley face was replaced with a turkey and a horn. "So, I guess I came here to offer to throw you guys a Thanks Giving party."
"Uh, no." John replied straight off the bat. "Its okay we don't need-"
"Actually that was something I wanted to bring up." The Head Chef Scott Rotella butted in. "It would be a good idea if we celebrated at least one major holiday. And if you think about it, the vast majority of the population of Atlantis are American and Canadian."
John looked undecided.
"Its Dara's favourite holiday." Kimberley pointed out.
"Dara likes a holiday?" Rodney was shocked.
"I thought that Dara disliked all major holidays, because they are both frivolous in nature and do not hold any real meaning for her?" Teyla pondered.
"Either way, this is the only one that she likes." Kimberley tried to get them back on track.
"We can't allow that much money to go into your economy." Carter shook her head and congratulated herself for thinking of a brilliant excuse to knock back the girls offer of a party.
"I'll pay for it." Kimberley replied.
"You'll pay?" Lorne blinked at her. "There are over 200 personnel on this base. Even if half of them don't attend and you just get turkeys you'd need-"
"147 large ones." Kimberley interrupted. "Look guys, I know I'm annoying, and that my presence has bugged several of you, but please let me do this to make up for some of this?"
John looked to Carter as though to say 'its your city.'
Carted nodded. "With some conditions."
"What?" Kimberley smiled.
"Everything that comes through with you is tested for anything that can cause us to get sick, as the food from your world may be genetically made different and may not sit well with us. Chef cooks everything and you are not putting up any decorations." Carter rambled.
"Okay." Kimberley agreed. "But could someone come with me when I go to get the stuff, so that I don't accidentally get something that most people are allergic to?"
"I would like to volunteer myself." The Italian descended chef offered, nodding towards Col. Carter. "If that is okay with you, ma'am."
"Not a problem." Carter nodded. "If you'll excuse us Kimberley, when we're finished with the meeting you can chat to Scott about when you will be leaving."
"Sure." Kimberley nodded again and left the room, smiling to the military personnel that had been following her since she arrived. "Which way to the mess?"
The meeting had ended not long ago and Sheppard found himself walking with Carter towards her office, speaking softly about the main problem he had with the meeting. "Is it really such a good idea to have them running about Atlantis?"
"Think of it as we're keeping her out of our hair just now." Carter responded slowly.
"Are you sure about letting Scott going to Earth?" He asked as they looked down to where the head Chef was counting off mini freezers.
"Yes." Carter nodded. "Especially since your going too."
"What?" He yelped.
"Welcome about my puddle jumper." Kimberley spread her arms wide, grinning insanely to them. "Please keep all limbs connected to your body and what ever you do, don't speak to me."
"Your puddle jumper?" John raised an eyebrow.
"For the holidays." Kimberley kept the grin on her face.
John kept his 'I am not falling for this' look on his face.
"Okay, so I stole it from Dara for the holiday." Kimberley replied sheepishly.
"Why?" Scott asked, beginning to think this girl was a few herbs short of a spice rack.
"Because I've damaged the puddle jumper enough." Kimberley shrugged.
'Why do I get the feeling this is a bad idea?' John thought and was tempted to turn and run, the only thing stopping him was that Kimberley had closed and locked the door. He watched her and frowned. "Why are you putting headphones in your ears?"
"So I can listen to my music." She answered as she sat down, quickly moving though what she had been secretly practicing, hoping she got it right this time. "Buckle up boys, it could be a bumpy ride."
When they arrived on the girls Earth Scott ran from the jumper once it landed, bending over at the middle looking a shade away from dead.
"You okay?" John asked him, trying to steady his legs as he checked on his work mate.
"Y-yeah, fine." Scott replied, slowly bringing his head and body back up. "Can you drive next time?"
"Not unless he suddenly grows an extra X." Kimberley shook her head.
John filed the information away for future use, then looked at Scott who was beginning to return to his normal color. "So, where are we going to pick up the stuff we need?"
Kimberley just grinned.
Dara sighed as she prepared the raw ingredients. 'I'm beginning to wish I hadn't told Kimberley about my impending promotion - I so wish I was at Atlantis."
Turning to look at the counter for any customers she blinked as someone that looked like Kimberley walked by. Resisting the urge to rub her eyes she washed them and grabbed her phone.
"Should you have that back there?" A familiar voice called out and she jumped, grasping in the air to grab her cell before it fell into a mixing bowl of goo.
'It can't be.' She thought and turned around slowly, staring at the man. "Joe Flannigan?"
"Guess again 'Crazy Dara'." John Sheppard grinned, stepping back as she stalked towards him.
"What the frack are you doing here?" She glared, looking behind him to see Kimberley and someone from Atlantis arguing about putting mini edible turkey decorations in the cart, frowning as her strong willed friend seemed to give up, grinning as she wait till the man turned away and she threw the goodies into the cart.
"Apparently someone told Kimberley about thanks giving." John voice brought her back to her deli. "And now Atlantis is holding a party. And I'm babysitting."
Dara rolled her eyes and caught the clock. "I finish in ten minutes. Are you nearly finished?"
The military man shook his head. "You kidding me? We've been here an hour and they're still fighting over the stuff in Lawn and Gardening!"
Her lips twitched to a smile and she giggled. "Take her to the next section over."
"Why?" He asked slowly.
"It's the Seasonal section; it'll keep her occupied for a while." Dara laughed as he sped off, practically dragging the female to the red, white and green aisle.
Twenty minutes later Dara stepped onto the floor of Wal*Mart and wondered where the friend, her babysitter and the other guy were at.
Quickly she walked to the seasonal section beside Lawn and Gardening and paused at the lip, scanning down the aisle.
"Dara? What are you doing down her?" One of her work mates, Nathan, asked as he replaced the candy canes. His face paled. "Oh crap-she's snapped!"
"Wait, what? No I'm looking for some friends of mine." Dara shook her head. "They where supposed to meet me here."
"You tried calling them?" Nathan pointed out.
"Doi!" Dara nodded her thanks and rooted through her pockets, bringing her cell phone out and started to scroll down the contacts list, pressing the dial button when her friends name appeared. "Where are you?"
Dara tapped her foot as her friend tried to explain where she was, closing her eyes in annoyance as John took the phone and spoke to her.
"I'm at the Christmas section next to Lawn and Gardening." Dara responded, stepping away from the overly cheery out of season crap. "Come and meet me here."
Several minutes later Dara glared at the trio.
"I can't believe you got banned from Wal*Mart!" Dara threw her hands into the air. "Did you never read the things to do in Wal*Mart thing?"
"Its not my fault Nutella over here can't take a suggestion!" Kimberley replied.
"You both got kicked out for arguing, ARGUING, over some stupid machine in Lawn and Gardening." Dara snapped.
"Not my fault." Kimberley replied petulantly.
"And c'mon Scott, did you have to argue with her about it?" Dara turned on the American-Italian. "You could have just as easily put it back on the shelves when walked around the store."
"They are the main cause for fires in home during this season!" Scott defended.
Kimberley rolled her eyes and leaned on the puddle jumper. "Aw, c'mon, you can come to Tesco with us!"
"Er, no thanks." Dara shook her head. "I'll hang with Sheppard here, while you and Rotella get the last of the supplies."
Rotella looked slightly scared at the thought of being alone with Kimberley, and John didn't look to happy with the thought. "Dara, can I speak with you for a minute?"
Dara nodded and went to the side with the military man.
"How safe is it to let Rotella and Kimberley got to another continent unsupervised?" He asked, throwing cautious glances over his shoulder as Kimberley explained something animatedly to the meal maker, who nodded with the look on his face of 'who did I give food poising to?'.
"How much trouble can she-erm." Dara paused. "If she goes there then comes back straight away, probably not too much trouble."
"Think Scott and handle her?" John asked.
Dara looked to the muscle built man and nodded her head.
"Okay." Sheppard responded and walked back over to the two. "We're going to hang here, while you two go to this 'Tesco'. Be back by five kids."
Rotella rolled his eyes at the kids comment but nodded, accepting what the head of the mission had said.
Dara watched as Kimberley and Rotella got into the puddle jumper, although the seasoned retired marine did try and suggest any other transportation, bus, car, untested nitro's fuelled rockets - anything!
'Wait a minute!' Dara suddenly turned and poked Kimberley in the shoulder. "Stop stealing my puddle jumper!" 'I can't believe she took it, again!'
An hour later John and Dara kept glancing between Rotella and Kimberley, who would look at each other and giggled mercilessly.
'Do we even want to know?' Johns eyebrow asked.
'I don't think so.' Daras head shook.
"We already to head back to 'Lantis?" John asked and the two dissolved into giggling once more. "What? What did I say?"
Twenty minutes late the puddle jumper exited the Stargate on the Pegasus galaxy, slowing down as it cloaked to hide from a idling dart.
Not long after that Dara put the thrusters on full and sped towards the direction of Atlantis.
"Sooo, how long will it take you to cook all these turkeys?" Kimberley asked, nodding her head (the only part of her that was allowed to move) in the direction of the frozen birds.
"Don't worry about that." Dara butted in, turning her head to look at her friend. "Leave the cooking to the professionals."
"I thought this was your idea?" Rodney asked as they began to se the tables, Ronon and Teyla starting at the other end of the mess hall.
"It was, why?" Kimberley replied.
"Why are you out here and not, erm, cooking?" Rodney said.
Kimberley smiled. "Because the only things I can cook are cookers."
Rodney waited for her to start laughing, but frowned as she remained silent. 'Oh.' "Oh!"
'Knew he'd get it eventually.' Kimberley rolled her eyes.
John and Dara walked in, the latter in kitchen whites, glaring at John. "I can't believe you got my kicked out the kitchen! Did you see the size of that island? I could fit my station in there three times over!"
The older man simply grinned.
"How did you get kicked out of the kitchen?" Rodney asked.
"Don't ask." Dara muttered, continuing to glare at the overgrown child.
John just grinned.
"So…whose carving the pumpkin?" Kimberley asked, trying to break the tension.
"Don't you mean turkey?" John corrected.
Kimberley's flushed. "Uh, yeah, you knew what I meant!"
"We'd be better of waiting till everyone gets here." Rodney stated as he glanced at the clock. "Its weird though."
"What's weird?" Kimberley asked the scientist.
"That we're having Thanks Giving in November." The Canadian replied.
"Ohh, your Canadian, ain't cha?" Kimberley asked.
Dara walked over to him and placed a hand on his confused shoulder. "I'm sorry."
"For what?" Rodney replied.
Then the penny dropped.
"HEY!"
Later on the entire expedition that was hungry (the vast majority), American or Canadian (again, the vast majority) and their alien visitors (the girls, Athosians and remaining Sedatan) sat on the many tables, chatting amongst themselves as they waited for John to carve the first turkey.
John Sheppard stared at the mass of people who were slowly beginning to glare at him like Albus Dumbledore after the last sorting. 'I never should have agreed to this!'
"Uh, hey everyone. I'd like to start the festivities for thanking Boy-er, Kimberley for throwing us this little shindig." He began and raised his glass towards the female hiding in the back.
Kimberley slunk lower, hiding something under the table as the room chanted 'hear, hear!'
"So before I mutilate this fine bird, that Chef Rotella has so kindly made for us, I want to start the round of thanks." John paused, looked round the room at the people who had became his family, from pseudo brother and sisters (Ronon, Rodney and Teyla) to distant cousins (Lorne, Zelenka, Miko) and even parental figures that were not longer with them in body, but there in spirit (Elizabeth and Carson). "I'm thankful for everyone in this room, and for everyone that has passed through these halls, who has shared their brilliance and ingenuity with us."
"I am thankful for my friends who are well and with us at this moment in time, safe from the Wraith." Teyla stood and spoke clearly to the group before sitting down.
"I'm thankful for the technology that the ancients forgot to take with them when they vacated the city." Rodney added.
"I'm thankful that I am able to keep my family safe." Sam piped up.
'I'm thankful for the puddle jumper.' Kimberley texted Dara, who looked over to her friend and grinned.
"I'm thankful for the food." Ronon brought them back to the top table, and everyone looked at John.
"On that note; dig in!"
Dara picked up a little bit of everything, munching her way through her plate before glancing around the tables.
Instead of looking like a greedy gut she piled another plate high and stood up. "I'm going to take this to Chuck."
The rest of the table nodded and waved her off.
Dara walked past Kimberley and repeated where she was going, smiling softly as her friend was drawn back into a conversation with doctor Baxter, the green psychologist. "Nope, sorry doctor B, I disagree with that, if you really think about it, if the guys were really stressed working here, Doctor Keller would need to stock up on Movicol a lot more."
'Movi-whatta?' Dara thought to herself, then shook her head. Sometimes she just did not want to know.
As she stood at the lip of the room her pocket buzzed.
'What are you thankful for?' the text read.
'True friends.' Dara replied back, smiling as she saw her friend look at her device, frown then grin.
Walking around the wall she spotted a low wall and sat down, digging into her meal with a gusto. 'Scratch that, I'm thankful for the food!'
Someone exited the mess hall and Dara looked up, eyes narrowing slightly at the sight of John Sheppard walking towards her.
John nodded to Dara and sat down beside her, handing her a piece of pumpkin pie, extra whipped cream.
The two resumed eating, glancing at each other every so often.
Dara jumped slightly as John brought his hand up to her cheek.
'What is he doing!' she silent demanded, watching as he retracted his hand and noticed something white was on it. Slowly he reached into his pocket and brought out a tissue, handing it to her and pointing to her cheek once more.
Dara brought the tissue to her check and wiped away the whipped cream, smiling in thanks to him.
John opened his mouth, then frowned, pressing a hand to his earpiece and jumping up, striding towards the mess hall.
'Did we just have a moment?' Dara thought to herself, hand slowly rising to her cheek, a faint heat still radiating from her touch.
Glancing backwards she watched John walk back into the mess hall, then shook her head. 'Naaa.'
John entered the mess hall and jumped back, narrowly missing a slice of pie as it sailed towards him, embedding itself on the wall.
"What the?" He demanded, looking around at the nice, quite, calm room he had left only minutes previously.
Tables and chairs were upturned, everyone was grouped together except for a select few who were being bombarded with food.
"What the hell is going on here?" John shouted, trying to get someone, anyone's, attention.
"FOOD FIGHT!" Ronon yelled and threw a full pie at John who barely had time to blink nevermind duck.
Kimberley sat in the puddle jumper, picking bits of food off of her hair as Dara tried to calm the masses.
"We won't be back for a month!" Dara promised and slammed her hand on the hatch button, closing it with a hiss. Turning round she stared at her friend. "I left you alone for five freaking minutes! How the hell did you start a food fight in that little amount of time?"
Kimberley opened her mouth to defend herself - technically it was Lorne's fault.
"Think of all the food you wasted!" Dara lamented.
But ended up giggling instead.