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Ch 3: The final asking...

Jack poked his head into the archeologist office. "Daniel?" He looked around. "Yoohoo… Daniel… You in here?"

"Just a minute!"

Jack stepped into the room, looking around at the several boxes on the floor. "You movin'?"

Daniel stepped out of the shadows. He pushed his glasses up as he walked over to his friend. "Hey Jack," he greeted absently. "Area 51 couldn't translate all this, so they sent it back."

"Ahh." Jack turned to eye his desk, covered with various tablets and scrolls. He picked up the smallest. Daniel took it away.

"Do you need something, Jack?"

"What do you mean?" Jack questioned, turning to face Daniel. "I need a reason to come by?"

"You generally have one."

The General picked up a crystal covered with strange looking symbols. "I do?"

"Jack, please don't mess with that."

He returned it to its wooden box. "Daniel… has Carter been acting strangely?"

"What do you mean?" the archeologist questioned.

"I mean, not her normal self, acting like someone else, um… take your pick."

Daniel hesitated. "She asked you out too?"

So it was true. She had asked him out.

"It's not like her," he evaded. "Asking guys out."

"Guys?" Daniel raised an eyebrow. "She wanted to know if I had plans and if not, if I'd like to come to her brother's house."

The General absorbed the new information. "You said no?"

"I already had plans."

"Oh…" Jack raised an eyebrow. "Who with?"

"It's really none of your business, Jack."

Jack stacked the tablets, despite Daniel's halfhearted attempt to stop him, and perched on the edge of the desk. "Since when is it none of my business who my friend dates, Daniel?"

"Since now."

"Hmm…" Jack grinned. "The archeologist on SG-12?"

"Jack-"

"The new nurse?"

"You said Sam was asking out other people?" Daniel tried to bring the conversation to safer ground. "Who else?" He grabbed a scroll that had started to roll off the desk.

"According to Walter, she's asked you, Teal'c, Siler and himself out."

The archeologist looked up at that. "She didn't invite you?"

Jack grimaced. He hadn't meant to let Daniel know that little fact. "No, Daniel, she hasn't."

"Though you are her commanding officer," Daniel mused. "Maybe she thought that it would be improper to invite you. Or that you have other plans."

"What's wrong with us spending Christmas together?" Jack demanded. "We're coworkers and, I like to think, friends."

"Why don't you talk to Sam about it?"

Jack didn't say anything; he merely rapped his knuckles a few times on the desk and left.

----

"3:30?" Sam hastily scrawled the time down on the pad of paper. She had called to confirm her travel arrangements; something that she had been trying to do for the past hour. "Yes, thank you. Yes, I'll hold."

General O'Neill strolled into her lab; she looked up to see what he wanted, but his face remained expressionless.

"Sir?" she mouthed. He shook his head and gestured to the phone.

"Flight 827 at 1550 hours…" she dropped her pencil. "All right. Merry Christmas to you too." Sam closed her phone. "General, can I help you?"

Jack hesitated. Though he would have never admitted it, he had been secretly hoping that she would ask him. After all, it was perfectly logical. They had been friends for years. Maybe even more then-

Whoa, Jack. That's a no-no subject.

"Ahh, just came to check up on you." He was about to mention the rumors he had heard but decided against it. "See how you're doing…"

"I'm fine. Thank you, sir." There was a preoccupied air on her face. She was frantically running through all the people she knew that she could bring. She was reminding herself of her best friend growing up. Her friend did anything and everything to get a date.

Too bad Martouf wasn't around anymore…

"You sure?" He asked again. "I mean, I know you're quite capable of knowing your state of mind, but-"

"Sir?"

"Whatcha doin' for Christmas?"

Sam sucked in her breath. "I'm going to my brother's house this year. Dad was supposed to have come with me, but then, you know, things happen, and he can't right now, so…" She gave him a small smile.

"Yeah..."

Jacob was on some top secret Tok'ra mission again; he had contacted them a week ago, telling Carter he wouldn't be able to show up this year. "You taking someone with you?" He knew it was blatant but the words had already slipped out. "I heard you on the phone outside the briefing room telling someone you'd find someone…"

"Oh! That? Uh- it was… wasn't-" She was rambling again, what was wrong with her today? "That wasn't important, about something else."

"Oh…"

"Yeah." She swallowed. "So, what are you doing for Christmas?"

Was she going to ask him? Should he come up with a really pathetic excuse? "Me? The usual, put up my Charlie Brown Christmas tree, roast hotdogs, drink cold beer." More like drown my sorrows of loneliness in beer…

"Sounds like fun," she said cheerfully.

Was she serious? Who could ever have fun alone on Christmas day? "Oh yeah, a blast." He put as much sarcasm in his voice as he possibly could.

Sam smiled. "Well…" he still hadn't told her the real reason he was here. "I should probably be getting-"

Jack wasn't going to leave that easily. He was desperate now. It was turning into a game for him, he wanted, needed to go with her. Why wasn't she asking him? She asked Siler! "You driving there?" Was she driving there? How stupid was that! Course she wasn't! He'd just heard her on the phone talking about her flight plans!

"No, no, I'm flying this time." She glanced around her lab awkwardly.

Okay. She obviously wasn't going to invite him. "Okay, well, you have fun with your family... I guess I'll see you when you get back." He turned to leave. "Bye."

"Good bye, sir," she said automatically, her mind wandering everywhere. After several moments, it finally hit her. "General!"

Jack, nearly at the elevator, stopped in his tracks. Spinning on his heels, he turned to her. "Yeah?"

"Since you're not spending Christmas with anyone…" The words seemed stuck in her mouth. "I mean, since you don't have any other plans, would you like to join me?" She quickly continued, "I told my brother I was bringing a friend and-"

"Carter!" He waited until she quieted before saying, "I would love to."

"Really? I mean- that'd be great!" She smiled nervously. "I'll be leaving the twenty-third."

"Okie dokes."

She gave him another smile. "See you later, sir."

He nodded. The elevator opened and he stepped in. It wasn't until the doors closed that he allowed himself to grin widely.

He was going to San Diego (with Carter) for Christmas!

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