Getting near to the end now, and I'm happy to know you are all enjoying this story. Even if I do let the odd goof through! Doh! Thanks for all your reviews as always! I'd be lost without your comments to keep me going.

Christmas Spirit.

By Lingren.

Previously:-

Max sat down quietly, turning away from the strangers to gaze out of the window at the softly falling snow. It seemed to mesmerise him, luring him into a sleepy calm. If he hadn't been so wound up over Jack's fate, he could quite easily have fallen asleep right now. It had been a long, and tiring day, and it was now way past his bedtime.

Chapter 7 – Surprises All Round

Max leaned into his Mom and sighed heavily, everything was taking so long. Chrissie smiled and moved her arm round his small frame, drawing him closer. If she knew him as well as she did, then any minute now, he would be asleep. She looked up and caught Patrick's eye, and they shared a smile before watching Max's eyes close.

Max woke with a start when the door opened, and he scrunched up his face in confusion. With another sigh, he soon realised that the stocky man who'd entered was no doctor, so he let his eyelids drift down until he was almost asleep again.

The stocky man who had caused Max to wake was General Hammond who had come back into the room. Ignoring the strangers over by the window, he turned towards Sam, Daniel, and Dave Dixon who had practically pounced on him, wanting to hear the latest news.

"Sir? How is he?" Sam asked, beating the others to the draw.

Hammond sighed. There hadn't been much of a change, but the staff had assured him that Jack was comfortable now.

"The doctors' say he's improving gradually. We won't know much more until he wakes, but they're keeping him sedated for the time being." He turned towards Dixon. "Colonel, there's nothing more for you to do here. You can have a few minutes with the General, but afterwards, I suggest you get back to your command post."

"Yes sir. Thank you. I won't be more than a few minutes General."

"I know son." Hammond sat down next to Sam, not unaware of her misery.

"Sir? Permission to stay?" Sam asked, almost pleading. She needed to spend some time with Jack too. At least, as much as she was permitted.

"Of course Colonel. Well, it's late, so I'm off home. I promised the girls I'd be there to tuck them in if I could. Keep me posted Colonel. You have my number,"

"Yes sir. Good-night sir."

"Good-night people."

General Hammond left the room, albeit rather reluctantly. He would have liked to have stayed, but his daughter would be worried; and he really wanted to be there for his grand-daughters. Jack was going to be okay, and now his 'family' were round him, he could in all conscience, leave him in their hands.

Over-hearing the conversation, Chrissie was absolutely agog at the possibility that these people were Jack's work colleagues. For some reason she hadn't expected anyone to be that interested in a General. Her impression of the military, was of strict, well disciplined, and defined protocol. That old adage of...'it's lonely at the top' was usually true, and which is what Jack had appeared to be – a very isolated and friendless. These people though seemed to care a great deal about him. She was never, if ever, backward in coming forward, so making sure Max was okay, she stood up and directly approached Sam.

"Excuse me dear, but did I hear yous correctly that you're all military folk here?" she asked tentatively.

For the first time since the strangers had entered the room, Sam took in the shortish stranger and wondered why it was any concern of hers.

"Yes, we're USAF," she replied a little cautiously.

"And you're here because of what happened to General O'Neill?"

Stunned, Sam turned to share a surprised look with Daniel before focussing on Chrissie again.

"Yes, we are," Sam confirmed reluctantly.

"I'm so very sorry that this happened to him. From what we ourselves can gather, he was shot on his way home from our house," she explained, though completely unaware of shocking the three team-mates in the process.

All three set of ears had pricked up at her casual statement; and all faces turned towards her to gape in surprise. Sam had to mentally remind herself to close her mouth and not stare.

"Your house? I'm sorry…? You know the General personally?" Sam gasped in surprise. This was news to her. What else had Jack been hiding from them?

"Well, sort of. You see, he was going home to get changed into something decent before he returned to dine with us. He wasn't fit to stay for Christmas Dinner in his old sweats..." Chrissie prattled on, regardless if she was making any sense to the strangers or not.

Sam just couldn't believe her ears. Neither could Daniel or Teal'c for that matter.

"He was going to have dinner at your place?" Daniel gasped, "With you?"

"That's right, like I jus' said. Jack said he'd be back before I knew it, but he didn't show up and Max and I got really worried about him."

"You've... Have you known the General for long?" Sam felt compelled to ask, wondering why Jack had never mentioned having any friends outside of work. In all the years she had known him, not once did he mention any friends living nearby, and wondered about Jack O'Neill. She knew the ex-Colonel, now General, well enough, but did she really know the man behind the uniform?

"Oh, gracious no! We only met this morning, but I feel like I've known him for years."

Daniel couldn't help but gasp again at Chrissie's statement, spoken so casually as if it was a normal everyday occurrence.

"Really?" he asked, now full of curiosity after second guessing how good his and Jack's friendship had actually been.

"Oh yes. He saved my boy, Max, from some of they nasty bullies who wanted to steal his new bike. He'd only had it as a Christmas present today, and already they wanted to take it from him. According to my Max, that's when Jack came along and sent them all packing. Max told me all about it you see, because Jack was kinda reluctant to go into any details."

"Ah...Mrs...em..." Daniel hadn't got a clue who the woman was.

"O'Brien, but, please, call me Chrissie," she pleaded with a huge smile.

"Ah yeah...um... Mrs. O'Brien, did Max, get a good look at the guys who were trying to take his bicycle?" Daniel asked, hope dawning in his mind.

Chrissie turned to Max who had woken up and had been watching them talk, he jumped up from the chair and made his way over to his mom, where he stood partly hidden behind her, hanging on to her hand.

"Hello. You must be Max. Pleased to meet you. Do you think you could describe the bullies at all Max?" Sam asked, knowing exactly where Daniel was going with his chain of thought.

Max nodded silently, and Sam beamed at him encouragingly.

"Uh huh! I think so."

Patrick who had stayed back and let Chrissie do the talking, now took a sudden interest in the conversation. He stood up and joined the others.

"Hi. I'm Patrick, Max's step-father. What exactly are you two driving at?"

"I was thinking that perhaps Jack wasn't shot by just anyone," Daniel explained, hoping he was correct in his assumption. "I think Jack was shot out of retaliation. For defending Max and for beating off the bullies on Max's behalf. Jack would do anything to protect a child, and that simple gesture of his could quite easily have turned them into enemies. Having been thwarted by him, they took out their revenge when they caught up with him later."

The light in Patrick's mind flashed bright and he turned to his son.

"Max. Could you really tell me what they looked like, son?"

"Uh huh!" he said, looking into his Dad's eyes.

Patrick whipped a notebook out of his pocket and jotted down all the details that Max was telling him.

"Are you sure that's all you can remember about them?" Patrick asked, knowing Max wouldn't have kept anything back if it would help catch those thugs that shot his friend Jack. He stood up and patted the boy's head and after a quick word with the adults, he disappeared down the hallway heading for the nearest telephone. He needed to get hold of Chuck.

A few minutes later, Dave Dixon poked his head round the door.

"He's all yours Sam. I have to get back to the...mountain," he had to amend his words when he noticed that there were others in the room. "Call me if you need anything, okay?"

"Yes sir, I will. Thanks for staying, Colonel," she said, smiling.

"No problem, Colonel," he grinned. "You can go in now. The nurse said it was okay."

"Thanks!"

Sam excused herself and disappeared, eager to get to Jack's room to see how he was. Daniel was happy to chat with Chrissie and Max. Teal'c joined in with the odd raised eyebrow thing he did, actually saying very little. He was content to let Daniel and Chrissie do most of the talking.

After 15 minutes, which was all they were allowed at this point, Sam reappeared and Daniel took his place at his friend's bedside. Thus leaving Sam to converse with Chrissie, Max and Teal'c.

However, after Chrissie had been completely assured that Jack was going to be okay, they arranged to meet at a future date. She left after Sam allowed her to pop her head round Jack's door; just for moment to see him for herself. Satisfied he was okay, the O'Brien family went home, feeling like they were part of an extended family.

Patrick too felt that the evening had been well spent. He had informed Chuck and his fellow officers, of Max's description of the men they needed to find. He was even more pleased when it turned out, that they exactly matched the descriptions given by the eye witnesses to the shooting.

It wasn't long before the driver was arrested, and it was only a matter of time that he would reveal who his friends were, and who it was, that actually fired the near fatal shot.

TBC