"I think we'll be back by New Year, but I'll call you, ok? Thanks T… ok, speak soon. Tell Shauna I said 'hi'. Bye."
Sam disconnected her mobile as she sat in the passenger seat of Daniel's car, on the long drive from Colorado to New York to spend Christmas with his family. He looked across at her briefly, asking,
"What's up?"
She said with a little smile, "T's trying to win us for New Year."
He smiled, remarking, "Are we commodities to be bartered, sold and won?"
"Apparently. I suppose we could see Mark after New Year's at T and Shauna's."
Putting her phone away, she asked, looking a little worried, "Your parents aren't going to object to us two… sharing a bed… are they?"
Smiling as he focussed on keeping the car on the road, his cheeks reddening ever so slightly, he patted her knee and said, "Don't worry. They… uh… Just think 'John Denver'. They'll be fine about it."
She snuggled into her seat as she watched him, and she said, "I'm nervous about meeting your family but I can't wait to meet Isis."
He remarked with a chuckle, "Sizing up the competition?"
She laughed, and he said softly, gazing at her briefly, "You're going to love Mom in particular. Every Christmas she sings Silent Night in Dutch."
"You've already told me."
He smiled sheepishly, replying, "I did? Sorry, I get so carried away…"
"Don't worry about it – it's cute. Ooh, will there be piano playing?"
He replied, amused, "Yep… what is with you and piano playing?"
"Well… I happen to know this Psychologist, Archaeologist, Linguist, Anthropologist, and Philologist… who plays like a dream."
--------------------
Daniel pulled up outside of a modest country house in a leafy suburb. They got out, and Sam gazed up at the house, asking as he put an arm around her, looking up with her,
"You grew up here in between trips to Egypt?"
He replied with a smile, kissing her gently, "Oh yeah. You're going to love this place, Captain-Doctor."
They smiled at each other and held hands, and he asked, "Ready?"
"Ready as I'll ever be."
"You'll be fine. They'll love you."
They approached the front door, and right before they could reach it, the door flew open, and a small winsome bespectacled middle-aged woman with greying dark blonde hair in a ponytail screamed, engulfing a surprised and then embarrassed Daniel in a big hug.
"Ohhh, my Danny! I've missed you so much."
Sam smiled politely, surmising who it was as she spotted the semblance to her boyfriend, and the woman continued, kissing Daniel's cheeks, "This is the best Christmas present I could have hoped for. I haven't seen you for ages."
"Mom!"
"… I've told you before – calls aren't enough… you should visit more."
"Mom!"
"I know you have a big job now, but you're never too old or too big to come home to your mother."
"Mom…!"
A tall bespectacled middle-aged man appeared behind Claire, his floppy chestnut hair greying, his face resembling Daniel in other ways, and he said, bemused, "Claire, you'll asphyxiate the poor boy."
Claire finally released her son, saying with a grin, looking back at the man, "Danny's come home, Mel. What else did you think I'd do?"
She turned around to look at her son again, and Melburn stepped forward to hug Daniel in a more reserved manner than his wife, and he said, his face lit up with happiness as he patted the younger Jackson on the shoulder,
"Great to see you home, son."
Daniel smiled, replying, "Thanks Dad."
Claire's eyes finally moved to Daniel's left and she asked with a curious smile, "And who is this?"
Daniel slipped an arm around Sam's waist as Melburn and Claire exchanged a little knowing look, and he said with a proud smile, "Mom, Dad, this... is Captain-Doctor Samantha Carter."
He turned to Sam with a carefree smile, saying, "And these are my parents, Sam."
Sam shook their hands with a smile, and said politely, "Nice to meet you both."
Claire remarked as she looked even happier, "Ah, so this is who you mentioned!"
As Melburn mouthed an apology to Sam, Claire hugged her and said, "You make Daniel so happy."
Sam, amused and touched, looked over Claire's head at a slightly embarrassed Daniel, who nodded slightly. She smiled at him and Melburn said with a clap of his hands, "Come on Claire, don't leave them in the hallway."
--------------------
In the lounge, where Sam noticed much to her delight a piano similar to the one at their apartment, as Claire and Melburn went to greet the other guests, Daniel held her by the hand and led her to an armchair on the far side, where an elderly man sat hunchbacked. The man regarded them with curious yet harsh eyes, and Daniel knelt next to the chair with Sam, and said to her with a little smile,
"This is my Grandpa, Doctor Nick Ballard. He's Mom's Dad, and he used to be an Archaeologist… he's, uh, retired now."
Noticing the hesitation, she nodded slowly, knowing that he would explain later, and he said, touching the papery skin of the old man's hand, "Grandpa, this is Sam."
Nick smiled slightly, taking Sam's hand and kissing it as she looked at Daniel, who shrugged, and Nick said in a raspy voice with a light Dutch accent, "It is an honour to meet you, my lady."
Sam smiled back at him, a little nervous, and Nick said to Daniel, his voice taking on an accusing tone, "Back home, if I didn't visit my mother regularly, my father would have hunted me down and skinned me. America is such an uncultured place without a conscience."
Daniel glanced down for a moment, forcing a harsh rebuke down, and he patted his grandfather on the shoulder and got up, Sam following as she looked at him worried. He looked back at her with a brief smile to tell her not to worry and she rolled her eyes, telling him that she didn't buy his nonchalance for a second.
They were about to join the other guests slowly coming through from the hall when Daniel spotted someone. He suddenly grinned and said quietly,
"Tessa."
Sam looked on in bemusement as he stepped forward and a younger woman with long light brown hair, her countenance greatly resembling Daniel's ran into his arms as he said with a laugh, kissing her cheek, "Tess!"
Tessa replied with a grin, "Danny! Oh God, I haven't seen you in forever! How are you doing? God, please tell me you're not still seeing that witch. She put me off visiting high Colorado forever."
"Tess…"
"No, don't tell me that I'm being impolite, because I don't give an Akhenaten's."
"Tess..."
"She was evil."
"Tess!"
Tessa smiled at him innocently, asking, "What?"
Smirking, he replied as he guided her face to look in Sam's direction, "Guess who that is."
Tessa stared at Sam wide-eyed, and then at Nick, saying with a mischievous smile, "You replaced that witch with Grandpa Nick? Oh Danny, I think that's incest as well as gross."
Daniel rolled his eyes and then hoisted her over his shoulder as she shrieked with laughter, demanding to be put down, and he said to a now laughing Sam, "Sam, this crazy woman is my sister, Tessa, an Archaeologist and a Linguist… and…"
He let his giggling sister down, who promptly punched him in the arm, he said, still smiling as he rubbed his arm, "This, Tess, is Sam. She's a fire-fighter, an ex-Air Force officer; an Astrophysicist, Software Engineer, Mathematician, Physicist, Electronic Engineer, Mechanic..."
Sam blushed, embarrassed as she said quietly, "Daniel…"
Tessa stared at her wide-eyed and remarked, "Oh… my… God… that is…"
She turned to Daniel and continued, "You actually found someone who has any chance of competing with you."
Daniel grinned, slipping an arm around Sam's waist as the two women shook hands, replying, "Oh yeah… Sam even beat me at chess."
Tessa looked behind the now bemused Captain, joking, "Sorry, just checking you're not plugged into a computer. Yikes, if you can beat my hyper intelligent brother at chess, Danny Jackson… also known as the Jackson heartbreaker, the Jackson family champion… you're too good for him."
She slipped in between them, putting her arms around them both and she said with a smile that reminded Sam so much of Daniel, "Come on, I want you guys to meet Milton."
Daniel remarked, bemused, "Wasn't it Craig?"
"Try to keep up, Danny… I dumped his ass months back."
"I thought you liked animals."
"Don't… push it, Danny."