So I said I was going to post this for Christmas, but that obviously didn't happen, for various reasons that I won't bore you with. Anyway here it is. I'm hoping to get back to writing Promotions and Surprises but no promises for anything any time soon.
"You ready to go Carter?" Jack asked as he walked into the lab.
"Almost," Sam replied, pulling herself up off the stool.
"We should really get you a chair with a back," Jack said conversationally as he lent against the door frame.
"Maybe," Sam agreed, glancing between her husband and the stool.
"Do you want a hand?" Jack asked, pushing himself off of the wall and walking over to her.
"Please," Sam accepted, "I just need to put all this away properly since we're going to be off for a few days."
"Ok," Jack said with a smile, "Now tell me what needs to go where."
It didn't take long for the two of them to get everything put away to Sam's specification and once it was all done they headed out of the door and towards the locker rooms.
"So are you all read to go?" Sam asked as they walked, "Everything sorted for the next few days?"
"Yep," Jack replied, "Everyone's back for the holiday's and no one's off world again until the 27th. Skeleton crew has been sorted and assigned, and they all know what they're doing. I'm not expecting any problems."
"So just us for the next few days?"
"Provided there's no emergencies then it's just us," Jack agreed with a smile.
Sam beamed at him.
"And the bump of course," Jack added, reaching out and briefly touching Sam's swollen belly.
"And the bump," Sam agreed with a laugh.
They reached the locker room and separated. He room was empty when Sam entered and changed but as she got ready to go, slipping her shoes on rather than trying to bend down and tie the laces, Janet came in.
They spoke briefly before Sam decided it was time to leave.
"Well I hope you have a great day tomorrow," Sam said.
"Should be fairly quiet," Janet replied, "Although not as quiet as yours and then General's will be."
Sam smiled. "Well we need to make the most of it before the twins arrive."
Janet smiled back at her. "Have a good Christmas Sam."
"You too Janet, say Happy Christmas to Cassie and Daniel for me."
"I will."
Sam headed out and found Jack waiting for her. "Shall we?" he asked, offering her his arm.
"We shall," Sam responded with a smile, linking her arm through his.
They headed for the surface, wishing those they passed a happy Christmas. Once they made it to the car park they headed for Jack's truck.
"I think," Jack said as he helped Sam into the cab, "That it might be time to stop using the truck, for you at least anyway."
"Maybe," Sam agreed. She paused as Jack shut her door and then walked round to the drivers said. He got in and Sam continued. "It is a little awkward for me to get in and out of at the moment."
Jack started the engine and they pulled out of the parking spot. They headed through security, wishing the guards a happy Christmas, before heading home.
They drove in near silence, the only sound the background noise of the radio. Once they got to the house Jack got out and quickly walked round to help Sam down.
"What do you want to do tonight then?" Jack asked as they headed into the house.
"Well it's Christmas eve so how about we find some Christmas movies on telly and watch them?"
"I like the sound of that," Jack replied with a smile.
Sam settled on the sofa and Jack moved to pull her shoes off. "Thanks Jack."
Jack smiled again. "No worries. Do you want anything to eat?"
"Is there still ice cream in the freezer?"
"Yes," Jack replied, "Would you like the pickles too?"
Sam nodded.
"I'll do that while you find us something to watch then," Jack suggested.
Sam nodded again as she grabbed the remote from the coffee table and started flicking through the channels.
Jack headed for the kitchen, turning on the Christmas tree lights as he went.
They spent the evening lying on the sofa watching TV and eating Chinese, well Jack ate Chinese, Sam just picked at hers. They headed up to bed a little earlier than usual, both exhausted and wanting to be able to make the most of Christmas day itself, even if they were going to be spending Christmas day on their own.
Jack woke up first the next morning and lay staring at Sam for a few minutes, studying the way the sun coming through the gap on the curtains played on her face. She looked so happy, relaxed, and content. Jack continued staring at her as she started to wake up.
First she rubbed her nose and breathed deeply before slowly opening her eyes, which she quickly shut again as she was blinded by the sun. Jack sat up, blocking the light with his body, and Sam opened her eyes again.
"Morning," she said sleepily.
"Morning," Jack replied, leaning in and kissing her, "Happy Christmas."
"Happy Christmas," Sam parroted with a smile.
They stayed quiet for a moment before Jack spoke. "Presents?" he asked.
Sam studied him for a moment before she smiled. "You're going to make an amazing dad Jack O'Neill."
"Thank you," Jack relied, "But what brought that on?"
She beamed at him. "Because you're so happy about the idea of presents. Sometimes you act like a child, but you're such a kind and caring man that any child would be lucky to have as a father."
Jack leant in close again and kissed Sam. "I love you Sam," he whispered.
"I love you too," Sam replied, "Now I do believe you said something about presents?"
Jack laughed and got out of the bed and headed for the bathroom. Sam got up and slowly got out of bed too before following him.
The two swapped places as Jack came out of the bathroom and Sam went in.
"What do you want for breakfast?" Jack called through the door.
"Don't mind," Sam replied.
Jack nodded to himself and left her to it as he went downstairs to start on breakfast. By the time Sam joined him he was almost done.
There was a mountain of toast sat on the table surrounded by every sort of spread they had in the house. "I wasn't sure if you fancied something sweet or plain so I thought with this you'd be able to pick."
"Thank you Jack," Sam accepted as she sat down.
Jack handed her a glass of fruit juice before he sat down opposite her.
As they ate they mostly stayed quiet, speaking every so often to ask each other to pass something. Once they finished they quickly washed the dishes they'd used by hand, Jack taking charge of washing while Sam did the drying. As soon as the last dish was out of the way Jack took hold of Sam's hand and led the way into the lounge.
They'd opted for a small Christmas tree, about three foot, and it was surrounded by presents. The presents had been there for a few days, some a little longer than others, but the both of them had managed to resist any temptation they had to go and fiddle. Well Sam had, she'd caught Jack squeezing a few of them at times.
"You know," Jack said conversationally, "Once the twins are born we're going to have to get a bigger tree."
"Maybe," Sam answered, "But are they really going to be old enough to understand what's going on? I doubt it, not next Christmas."
"Well you're due in March, "Jack said as he began to move the presents from under the tree to the open floor, "That'll make them nine months this time next year, maybe they will understand what's going on."
Sam rolled her eyes. "You just want a bigger tree," she teased, "No one at work would ever believe me if I told them that." Jack smirked at her. "We'll just have to wait and see won't we," she continued.
Jack laughed and got up from where he had been kneeling by the tree and moved to sit beside Sam on the sofa.
"Where do you want to start?" Sam asked, gesturing to the two pills that Jack had made.
All their friends and family had known that the two of them wanted to spend a quiet Christmas as just the two of them so they'd dropped off the presents early. Sam and Jack had both wanted to open them when they'd been dropped off but everyone had said to wait for Christmas proper, just like they were going to do.
They'd also taken to opportunity to give Pauline the presents for all of Jack's family, who were spending Christmas day with Bill and Pauline. They were all going to have Christmas dinner together. Sam and Jack had been invited but had been quick to decline.
"How about those ones?" Jack suggested, pointing to two identically wrapped parcels, one in each pile.
Sam nodded and they both picked up the right parcels.
They made quick work of their piles and were both very happy with what they'd gotten. They'd gotten mostly food from Jack's family, all of which looked very nice, and Sam had gotten a scarf from Bill and Pauline which she loved. Nana had sent them a joint present and when they'd opened it they'd found two boxes.
They'd opened one each and found that they were velvet lined with two small silver boxes and a silver rattle resting inside.
"Babies first tooth," Sam said with a smile as she studied one of the silver boxes, "And the other one says babies first curl."
"Same here," Jack said, "But I've got a note too."
"What does it say?"
"Happy Christmas Sam and Jack," Jack read, "I wasn't sure what to get the two people who seem to have everything they need to be happy and then I saw these. I know it's a little early, you're not due for another few months, but I thought you might appreciate having something for keepsakes for the children once they're born. Love Nana."
Sam was smiling softly as Jack read and as he finished the picked up the rattle and gave it a few shakes. "I love your Nana Jack," she stated.
Jack reached across and wrapped his arms around her shoulders before leaning in and kissing her temple. "Me too," he whispered, "She's a pretty amazing woman."
"That she is," Sam agreed, "How about we put these somewhere safe and eat? We've been at this for a while."
"Ok," Jack accepted, kissing her temple again before standing and starting to sort everything out, binning all the wrapping paper and other rubbish.
Sam got up too and picked up the boxes from Nana. She then carried them up the stairs and into the study where she then put them safely on a shelf, looking at each piece in the box once more while gently stroking her stomach.
"I can't wait for you to get here," she whispered. She then turned and left the room, heading back downstairs to help Jack.
They ate a lunch of veg, roasties, and turkey, Jack having a much bigger portion than Sam. Once they'd finished that and put everything into the dishwasher they dished up some ice cream and headed back into the lounge to watch some TV.
They ate, chatted, and napped for the rest of the afternoon. Around two they turned the TV down and rang everyone to wish them a happy Christmas before returning to chatting and napping in front of the TV.
They had some leftovers for dinner along with a few other cold bits and pieces like crackers.
Neither of them really fancied doing much for the evening so they did much the same as they'd done for the afternoon, watching movie after movie.
In a break between two movies Jack shifted his weight and Sam sat up to look at him. Jack took the opportunity to get to his feet. Sam frowned at him but Jack smiled in response. "I'm not going anywhere but I haven't given you your present yet."
Sam smiled at him. "Yours is under the tree."
"I got everything out earlier and you haven't been near the tree, how did you get it under there?" Jack asked as he went to the tree and found the wrapped gift.
Sam winked but otherwise didn't respond. Jack stuck his tongue out at her before heading for the bookshelf, leaving his gift on the chair, and reaching up and pulling out a small parcel.
He sat back down, Sam grabbing the present he'd left on the seat, and the two of them swapped.
Jack sat and watched as Sam carefully picked at the tape and peeled open the wrapping paper. Jack waited with baited breath as she put the wrapping paper to one side and held a jewellery box in her hands.
Sam opened the box and her mouth dropped open. "Thank you," she whispered, leaning across and kissing Jack, "It's beautiful."
"I'm glad you like it," Jack replied with a smile.
"Put it on for me," Sam ordered, holding out the box and her wrist.
"Yes ma'am," Jack said with a smile.
He took the bracelet out of its box and put it around Sam's wrist. It took him a moment to get the clasp done up but when he did Sam held her wrist up and admired it.
The bracelet itself was made up of silver links and there were a few charms hanging off of it. Gently Sam studied each charm.
The first one she looked at was a star, the one beside it a planet.
"I couldn't put a Stargate on it," Jack said in a low voice, "Given that it's a secret and all, but a star and a planet can mean the same thing, and you do love stargazing."
Sam nodded and smiled. The next charm was a clover and then the fourth and final charm was a little version of her bike. "Where on earth did you find this?" Sam asked.
"I didn't," Jack admitted, "Syler helped me make it. He may be the most accident prone man in the mountain but he is very good with his hands."
"It's beautiful Jack, I love it."
"I'm glad. I had no idea what to get you but then I heard some of the nurses talking. One of them was wearing a charm bracelet and was explaining what all the different charms meant," Jack explained.
Sam moved closer to Jack and awkwardly wrapped her arms around his neck to give him a hug. Jack hugged her back and then pulled away. "Can I open mine now?" he asked.
Sam nodded and Jack ripped the paper off, not patient enough to do it delicately like Sam had. He balled up the paper and threw it to one side and looked at the box resting on his lap.
The box was plain black, no writing or pictures of any sort to give away what was inside; all Jack knew was that it was heavy. He found where the box was sealed and opened it.
He lifted out what was inside, nestling in amongst a bunch of tissue paper, and held it up to look at it.
Sam watched him carefully, waiting to see his reaction, as Jack studied it. When his face split into a smile Sam smiled back.
"I thought you could keep it on your desk at work," Sam said.
"Well I don't really have a stash of pens anywhere but at work," Jack teased in response.
Sam laughed. Jack laughed too as he studied his present. "It's made of stainless steel," Sam explained, "So it won't rust and will be able to withstand living on your desk without getting too badly scratched and dented."
Jack nodded. He was holding a model of a Spitfire which has holes through its wings at even spacing's to hold pens.
"I'm glad, I was struggling but I saw this online and thought you might like it."
Jack nodded and kissed her softly.
They stayed in the sitting room for a few more hours before calling it a night and heading to their room.
"Happy Christmas," Jack whispered into Sam's hair once they were settled in bed, Sam's back up against Jack's chest and his arm around her middle with a hand resting on the bump.
"Happy Christmas," Sam replied sleepily, "I love my present."
"I love mine too," Jack replied as he kissed the top of her head.
"Night Jack, love you."
"Love you too."
The two feel asleep quickly. Sam woke up a few times to go to the toilet but other than that the two slept peacefully.
When they woke up the following morning, they lounged in bed for a while before getting up and ringing various friends and family to see how their Christmas' had been.
Once they were done they carried on taking it easy and relaxing.
When they went back to work they were both happily refreshed and ready to get back to it.