My apologies for any mistakes, I procrastinated writing this fic quite a bit and so didn't have time to get a beta before I had to post it. If you spot one and are so inclined, pointing it out in a comment would be lovely :)

This fic is kind of an AU, not just in the sense that this is Sam and Jack's first meeting in this verse, but also in the sense that most of the characters have rather been shoved into slightly more mundane day jobs than usual. Technically, this was meant to be a Halloween AU ("we wore matching halloween costumes to this party" au", although it turned out a little light on the actual Halloween aspect.

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"I know I tell you this every year, Daniel - but way more people would understand your costume if you went as Indiana Jones." Jack called from the bathroom as he adjusted the belt around his waist. Predictably, his statement was followed by a vague "harrumph" noise from the entryway. It wasn't hard to get Daniel riled up and it was downright amusing watching - or hearing him - frown in consternation.

"Like I tell you every year for Halloween, and every time you try and make an Indiana Jones joke at my expense, Jack - Indiana Jones was a terrible archaeologist. He has little respect for the cultures of the people whose artefacts he was examining, and he constantly destroys sacred temples and burial grounds to obtain his objects of study. An archaeologist has a duty to preserve. Indiana Jones is nothing more than a glorified bull driver."

"Bull driver?" Jack inquired, sticking his head around the open bathroom door. Daniel stopped and looked for him for a moment.

"He had a whip." It came out as a mutter, accompanied by a vague hand gesture. Jack suspected that Daniel's unwillingness to engage with what had to be the most famous fictional archaeologist there was may have had something to with the fact that it was the first thing people had to say every time he mentioned his profession, and the fact that he was tired of having to explain that his job was much more sedentary than that, and then having to witness people rapidly lose interest when he offered to talk about his actual work. Jack squinted slightly.

"And just what are you supposed to be?" Daniel had put some kind of product in his hair to make it all fluffy and frizzy, and he'd put what looked like baby powder in parts of his hair to make him look greying. His eyebrows looked far bushier than usual and he was also sporting a comically wild moustache and beard combo. For his actual costume, he was wearing quite an unusual looking neck scarf tied into a bow over a white dress shirt and an almost tweed-like blazer.

"I can't just tell you, you're supposed to guess!" Bemoaned Daniel. He was busy adjusting his eyebrows, which seemed to be stuck on.

"Daniel, the day I understand your costume is the day I understand even a quarter of what you talk about on a daily basis." Having adjusted the triangle pieces at the hem of his shirt to his satisfaction, Jack grabbed his keys and wallet from the counter and stuffed them into the small satchel bag at his hip. "Are you ready to go now... old guy?" Daniel retrieved an old looking book from his hall side table, then headed towards the door.

"At least I'm not wearing the same Halloween costume as last year." He grouched. Daniel figured that since Jack would at least have time to buy a new costume since he retired from the Air Force and was no longer working long hours on bases or at the Academy. Then again, since Jack spent most of his time working on his boat at the docks, that probably didn't leave much time to visit costume stores – and Jack could be such a grump sometimes that he probably wouldn't want to be seen dead at one of those stores.

"Hey! The whole point of Peter Pan is that he never grows up!"

Pulling up the block to Janet's house, Jack was unsurprised to see she'd gone all out again. Janet's holiday parties were legendary for many reasons, one of them being her house always looks like there's a few party stores in Colorado that got good business that week. Tonight was no different, and from the end of the road the jack-o-lanterns are lining the path to her porch are visible. It looks like the lights are off in the house but there's a glow from inside, and he can definitely see movement through the windows as he pulls up outside. There's still a space left to park and he skilfully manoeuvres his jeep between Janet's Honda and a tiny little Beetle. Trotting up the drive to her porch, he re-adjusted his cap on his head, giving the feather a little tap to make sure it was still in place. Daniel jogged up behind him, stroking his fingers through his beard and gently pressing his eyebrows against his face. Coming to a stop in front of the door, Jack cocked his head and scrutinises the skeleton hanging from the knocker before turning to Daniel.

"You gonna tell me what the hell you're supposed to be before we go in?" Jack reached out to press the doorbell.

"Of course not. The whole point is that you're supposed to guess." He sounded exasperated. Jack thought he knew how he felt.

"Well you'll have to give me a clue! All I can tell is that you're really old. Are you a politician?" He was sure all the pictures of the founding fathers and old presidents he'd seen had them with similar beards and eclectic formalwear.

"Nope." Daniel shook his head.

"Scientist?" Jack heard the scampering of excited feet behind the door.

"Guess ag-" The door was flung open to reveal Janet in her Halloween costume. She had gone the cute route this year it seemed. Last year she'd been a zombie, her makeup giving her the pallor of dead flesh and contacts making her eyes look bloodshot. This year she was in a little pair of black shorts and black tee, her cheeks streaked with drawn on whiskers and a pair of felt cat ears perched atop her head.

"Hey, guys! You get here alright?"

"Yeah. People tend to just be on foot tonight, I guess. You can't exactly drive through to collect candy, I suppose."

"Hah! You wish." Jack turned to give Daniel the evil eye in response to his outburst.

"Janet. You've met Daniel?" He was sure she had, but the way she was looking at them in amusement would indicate a first time viewer of their antagonism.

"I've met Daniel, yes. At your barbeque last month. This guy, however?" She had a point, Daniel was almost unrecognisable under his costume.

"Ah yes, the great mystery of tonight: just who is Daniel Jackson?" He mocked, and was rewarded by a long sigh.

"If you're not going to get it, at least give other people a chance to enjoy a guess." He smiled at Janet in apology, as if she was otherwise going to have been able to magically know what 300 year old dead guy he was dressed up as. Sometimes Jack wondered if Daniel remembered he was the only one who actually cared about all this useless trivia and historical hoohah.

"Sorry Daniel, I haven't a clue. Why don't you two come inside? Those tights do not look warm, Jack." Even on Halloween, Janet was ever the concerned physician. Jack could tell that in her short glance down at the green leggings he wore she had quickly tried to ascertain whether she favouring one of his legs. He figured it was a doctor's habit, particularly as she was the medical officer assigned to supervise his case when he was in physical therapy.

"One must suffer for eternal youth…" Jack sighed wistfully, stepping over the entryway. The ground floor of her house was scattered with about twenty guests at his estimation. As Fraiser's gatherings went, this was relatively small. She seemed to go for the bigger parties around Christmas and New Year, he remembered.

"Oh, Peter Pan?" Janet seemed to pause after she closed the door behind them.

"Of course."

"Remind me to introduce you to someone later." He met her eyes, and there was definitely a glint. This could not be good. Fraiser outside work was a matchmaking menace.

"Uh… OK." Jack was about to ask what Peter Pan had to do with Janet's friends, when he caught sight of Jonas and T in the living room. Pointing at them to indicate he was going to go over and say hi, he left Janet with Daniel.

T was listening intently to something Jonas was rambling animatedly about. As Jack got closer, it became abundantly clear that their conversation was entirely informative. He veered sharply to the right, winking at T who just nodded, smiling back. Poor guy. T was always someone who honestly tried to look interested in what people were saying, always listening and nodding along. Unfortunately that only doomed him to have to listen to more of Jonas or Daniel's long monologues about culture and society. If he was going to have to hang out with those two this evening, he needed a drink.

Fraiser had set up a drinks table in the corner of the main room, the contents of her liquor cabinet lined up alongside a salad bowl filled with some festively coloured punch. The punch was a lurid green colour, and he gave it a sniff before deciding that it was just plain old regular punch rather than some medical waste made in some lab.

"If you're worried about the punch, don't be. It's just a fishbowl with food colouring in it." He spun around quickly, nearly knocking over the punchbowl to see-

"Tinkerbell." He blurted out before clamping his mouth shut. Way to go, O'Neill. What a great greeting. His eyes took in her costume, a little strapless green dress with a skirt that flared out a little around her thighs, the edges with torn fabric a little like the hem of his tunic shirt. She had little grey ankle boots on and fairy wings held in place by elastic around her arms, but the first thing he noticed was her face. The bangs of her short, blonde pixie cut fell onto her forehead, just out of the way of bright blue eyes that smiled at him kindly. She had painted on a little glitter around her eyes and cheeks, but her eyes shone in their own right beneath fluttery lashes and carefully shaped eyebrows.

Oh, hell. He was never going to be able to look at Tinkerbell the same way again.

She must have been one of Janet's friends, Jack thought. He'd never met her before at gatherings of base personnel so he figured she worked at the academy hospital. Jack wondered if this was who Janet was going to introduce him to. He had been worried at first given that Janet was much younger than him and anyone she could be planning to introduce to him would therefore also be a few years his junior at least, but now that he'd seen her he figured she had only suggested it after she had noticed that they were wearing matching costumes. Not that she wasn't stunningly beautiful – he just thought it was a bit creepy when older guys went out with younger women. Although, she didn't look that young. She was fresh faced and bright, but held herself carefully. Jack put her in her early thirties.

"That's me." She replied, picking up a plastic cup and pouring him a ladleful of punch. "Here. Apple flavour. Want some?"

"Sure, thanks." He took the cup greatfully, taking a sip. It was sour but after he swallowed his mouth was filled with sweetness.

"So, you're…" She gestured to him vaguely.

"Jack." He held out his hand to greet her, and she shook her head and chuckled, taking his hand and shaking it firmly.

"Actually I was just going to ask if you were meant to be Peter Pan, but your name's good too." D'oh. He was 45 years old, he should not be having conversations reminiscent of the first time he ever talked to a girl in high school.

"Oh. Right. Yeah, Peter Pan." He pointed to his cap, checking the feather was still in place. He didn't think he's ever felt more unbelievably lame.

"Well then, this is a coincidence." She reached to pour herself a cup of punch, her nose wrinkling a little when she saw the lurid green up close but she threw some of it back anyway. She winked and then she was off again, heading off into the adjoining living room and striking up a conversation with Janet.

Jack just stayed leaned against the drinks table, trying not to think about whether her mouth would taste of the sour apple, or just as sweet as his.

He didn't see much of her after that, catching up with T for a bit to hear about how his basketball coaching business was going. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Daniel making conversation with Janet and Tinkerbell, who was laughing at something Daniel had said. He smiled a little at the sound of her laugh, a little giggle that she stifled by covering her mouth, and he wished she'd laugh louder.

Shaking his head, he resolutely focused on what T was saying. He felt bad creepily staring at strangers, no matter how cute they may be.