I. The First Christmas

"Something wrong, Captain?" O'Neill asked with a hint of annoyance as he watched Carter frown down at the mission report they'd just gone over. The rest of their team had just departed the briefing room behind General Hammond, and O'Neill had been about to follow, but Carter's lack of enthusiasm about a scientific survey demanded his attention.

"No, sir," she replied immediately and looked up at him. "No problem at all, sir."

He narrowed his eyes at her. "Carter, don't lie to your commanding officer."

"Yes, sir. I mean, no, sir. Of course not, sir." She hesitated. "I just thought we'd be home for Christmas, that's all."

He blinked and looked down at his own copy of the mission report. Sure enough, the three-day mission would have them off-world on December 25.

"It's really not a problem, sir," Carter insisted. "I've missed them before, and this won't be the last time. I would never presume to complain—"

He waved her off. "Carter, it's fine. You're allowed to be disappointed over missing a holiday." The words sounded strange to his own ears. He'd never said that to one of his officers before. Then again, there was a lot that was unusual about the stargate program.

With a respectful nod to her CO, Carter picked up her report and left. O'Neill stayed behind and retook his seat at the table, wondering if Carter would be the only one on his team who would miss Christmas due to the mission. Given Daniel's situation, he thought she might be. After all, the geeky scientist hadn't left anything behind on Earth a year ago when he decided to stay on Abydos. But O'Neill had also learned not to make assumptions when it came to Daniel Jackson.

As for himself, he had done his best to ignore holidays the last few years. He hadn't celebrated a Christmas since his son died. The thought of celebrating it without him, without Sara, made him feel like he couldn't catch a breath. He hadn't even noticed before Carter pointed it out that the mission would take place over Christmas.

Being a good leader, he knew, was as much about the little things as the big ones. He'd seen the flash of sadness on Carter's face before she'd had the chance to cover it. And there was Teal'c to think about—the big guy wouldn't even know what Christmas was, and he wouldn't realize they were missing something. The Jaffa needed a little Earth culture, even if it was only acknowledging a holiday in some small, tiny, insignificant way.

O'Neill had less than a week to think of what that way would be.

Planet PX9-491's stargate was in the middle of an expansive forest. The mission was an astrological survey that had Carter frothing at the mouth. To Daniel's disappointment, though, they hadn't found any signs of human or alien life, just your typical insects and birds, and some sort of astrological anomaly O'Neill hadn't tried to understand.

"Maybe the human civilization moved away from the Stargate when their goa'uld god left," he theorized as O'Neill stood guard over their camp. "They could be living wherever this forest ends."

"Which direction is that?" O'Neill questioned, bored. He rolled his eyes when Daniel didn't get the hint and kept talking.

The second day of the mission was Christmas Eve. Carter was nearly done with the survey, and Daniel had found an ancient ruin a few miles east of the camp with some carvings. Between the two of them talking over their discoveries, O'Neill found himself with a headache, worrying that they'd never stop.

"Enough," he interrupted finally over dinner as they all sat around a campfire in a small clearing. "We can go over it tomorrow. Tonight is Christmas Eve."

Carter and Daniel both fell silent, the first peaceful moment of the day.

"I do not understand," Teal'c commented.

"Christmas is a holiday," Carter answered. "It's like an annual ritual, where you give gifts to everyone in your life that you love."

"Well, actually," Daniel added," Christmas is more of a religious ritual, and has roots in both Christianity and paganism, and goes back centuries—"

"Ah ah!" O'Neill interrupted again, holding his hand up at Daniel. "Before you start to talk even faster, just… don't."

Daniel pouted for a minute, then turned to Tea'c. "Do the Jaffa have any gift-giving rituals?"

"We have several rituals," Teal'c replied with a nod. "Though most of them are Jaffa sacrifices to the Goa'uld."

"… Oh."

"Did you have plans for Christmas before we got this mission?" Carter asked Daniel.

"No," he admitted, looking up at the sky. "I haven't celebrated Christmas since… Since I was a kid." He looked back at Carter. "What about you?"

"I was supposed to fly to California to see my brother and his kids." She sighed. "After I told my family I couldn't go, my father made up an excuse about why he couldn't go, either. Then my brother said he was going to have to cancel anyway."

His own thoughts on Charlie, O'Neill wondered briefly if he'd made a mistake. Before he could dwell on it, he leaned over to grab his pack. The others watched as he pulled out three wrapped Christmas gifts. He felt sentimental as he handed the gift out. A perk of growing old, he guessed.

Daniel looked stunned as he took the gift. Teal'c raised an eyebrow but gave a nod of acceptance. Carter's eyes were wide, unsure if she should accept. O'Neill came prepared for that reaction.

"I know technically as your CO I'm not supposed to give you a gift, but this isn't exactly a normal team." He held the box out for her. "I can always order you to take it."

She smiled and snatched the gift. "That won't be necessary, sir."

Teal'c watched as Daniel tore into his paper, getting to the gift as quickly as possible, while Carter took her time, carefully sliding her finger under every piece of tape and taking care not to rip the paper.

"Allergy medicine," Daniel announced, looking at his gift. "Uh, thanks. I... don't know what to say."

"It was a last minute idea," O'Neill said defensively. "But I made sure to get the right brand!" He looked over at the captain, who still hadn't gotten to her gift. "Oh, for cryin' out loud, Carter!"

She just smiled. "You sure used a lot of tape." She lifted the wrapping paper, in one whole piece, off of the box and stared at it. "A compass. That's very... practical, sir."

"Hmmmmph."

"No, really! I could use another one."

Having observed his two teammates, Teal'c ripped his wrapping paper slowly. If possible, his eyebrow lifted even higher as he examined the small case in his hand.

"It's called a CD. It plays music," Jack explained.

Daniel leaned forward to read the front. "Meditation music, to be specific."

"I thought you could use it for you, you know, when you... kel'no'rim."

"This is a very strange ritual," Teal'c observed.

A pregnant pause passed between the four.

Daniel burst out laughing. O'Neill stared, disconcerted at first, until he realized he'd never heard the other man laugh so genuinely, or so loudly, in the entire time O'Neill had known him.

Soon Carter joined in, clutching her ribs. Teal'c eyed them both and then lowered his eyebrow, looking back to O'Neill with a small smile. They nodded at each other as a grin tugged on O'Neill's lips, and he knew he'd done the right thing.