Possible reader confusion ahead. This one has the order of things shifted around. We get 'current day' first, and then a jump back in time to see what led up to it. I don't want to have it be confusing, but I think it worked out MUCH better this way. The other way around was just not working out.

It would have been really awesome if this chapter had come out around Christmas, but such was not to be. So a bit of Christmas in April!

December 24th, 2009, Alpha Site

Christmas off-planet felt weird.

For one, it was late springtime, almost summer.

Jon sat in the lookout tower and enjoyed the view. He had signed himself up for a double shift to give his men as much time off as he could. The tunnels were covered with tinsel and decorations, and the base was doing its best to celebrate Christmas.

And if the cheer was a bit brittle and overly boisterous, the base heads were turning a blind eye.

Ten days earlier, the entire Gamma Site had been destroyed. Almost everyone except for a few dignitaries and SG1 had been consumed by the damn Prior Bugs. A toxin had been released to kill them, but hundreds had died at Gamma and reports of the things spreading to other planets were coming in.

A month earlier, the Prometheus had been destroyed by the ass-backwards Rand-something or other people. Jon had managed to get into a system he shouldn't have been reading to try to figure out what had happened, and after reading the mission briefing decided that it served 'em right to blow each other to bits, but they'd taken the Prometheus and a lot of good people with it.

Since then, military personnel had been flooding out of the Alpha site, to be replaced with contractors. He guessed he should mind too much, he was one of the contractors, and it was freeing up hundreds of brilliant military staff to work directly in the war effort.

Still, it was pulling the base apart. Contractors to do research was great, but it seemed an awful lot of their attention was in figuring out how to benefit their company with the research. Energy sources, energy storage, biochemical discoveries, new materials - they were almost drooling at the possibilities.

It was all good stuff, but Jon was ready to start smacking heads together to remind them that there is a freaking war going on against ascended beings who might just wipe out or enslave the entire galaxy!

It was almost enough to get him to go back to the military. Join up. Get into the fight directly.

He saw something moving a hundred yards down the hill and straightened up, coming to alert, fingers hovering over his radio to call in an alarm. A dark green shape moved through the trees, its thick shape setting Jon at ease.

Stinker.

It was the planet's bear analog to Jon, though the scientists had explained that it was closer in function to a moose. Almost the size of a moose, but shaped more like a bear, and with a dark green fur. They seemed to eat just about everything - leaves, grass, branches, insects, and even the odd carcass. Generally not aggressive, though Jon had nearly lost a someone when a scientist convinced the base powers to capture one, but the tranquilizers hadn't worked. Fortunately Jon and another team member had traditional weapons and had killed it before it had seriously mangled the scientist.

This bear was their resident pet as most of the creatures didn't seem to be particularly skittish around humans. Bigger than any others they had seen, it was seven feet tall at the shoulders and had been named and declared a male when it had let loose a particularly loud fart a few weeks back.

Jon watched it ramble by, chewing on a small bush it had picked up somewhere.

He had seen Daniel once when he had come out for a few days to examine a ruined tel'tak discovered fifty miles away. Jon and Tex had insisted on a series of ground-based explorations of the wider area. The tel'tak turned out to be close to seven thousand years old, had served some proto-Sumerian sort of Goa'uld, and Jackson had been excited about the development, or lack thereof, of goa'uld technology.

That had been a nice couple days, even with Daniel's jabbering, and Jon had even gotten a few details out of the man. It looked like the team was examining potential Ancient treasures. It had been something about King Arthur that had pulled Jackson away from the ancient tel'tak.

Jon had felt excited when he had first arrived at the Alpha site, and he knew it was valuable work, but he was getting bored. There was a continual high tension, but nothing which anyone one the base could really do. Or at least that's how Jon felt. The corporate researchers certainly didn't seem to be worried about anything beyond how they might be able to monetize their research.

"Sheesh, Jon. Don't be so blue."

He said it out loud, as much to break his mood as anything else. It was a beautiful spring day. Some of the bushes had some flowers with the brightest purple he had ever seen. It was a lovely day! 'Stop moping!'

Stinker finally disappeared down the hill and Jon settled back.

He grabbed his notepad and started a letter. Communications were allowed back and forth through the Gate, and he had been working on several. Out of boredom. Not loneliness. Just boredom.

Most personnel did emails, but he wasn't in a hurry and preferred writing things down physically.

He opened up to his letter to Cassie. It had been an off-and-on letter, half journal, half letter.

Seeing all sorts of interesting wildlife here. We have a friendly "bear" in the area that just wandered by. We named him 'Stinker' after he let out a massive fart one day. Yeah, I admit it. I'm only twelve. Don't tell Sam, though. I bargained with her that I would pretend to be at least fourteen while I'm deployed.

He wondered how everyone was doing back on Earth. Militarily he had at least a decent picture of how things were going, and it wasn't great. Other things, like … well, he wanted to know how other things were going.

He had spent five years pushing his old life back, and seeing Sam had reopened longings he had mostly built scar tissue over. It was taking a bit to push those feelings back down.

'It was the right thing to do and it was the best thing to do,' he told himself for the hundredth time.

The radio crackled to life.

"This is base. Sound off, ladies and gentlemen."

"Romeo thirty one, all clear."

"Whiskey thirty five, all clear."

"Bravo fourteen, all clear."

"Mike seven, all clear."

"Uniform ninety two, all clear."

Jon and the other bases sounded off with the day's number series all coming in clear. No trouble signaled. While the base had become less rigid in security, Jon knew their security was tighter than it had been before. I had a great deal of pride in that.

"Base acknowledges. Romeo, Whiskey, Bravo, Mike, Uniform, all clear.

"And peoples, we got a personal shipment from home. They're unpacking it all and it should be waiting for you when your shifts end."

Jon smiled. Care packages from home were always good for morale. Especially around Christmas.

He didn't have anything coming, but most of the people here had families back on Earth who would be sending stuff. Good. Maybe that's what the base needed to help cheer up a little.

Three hours later Jon arrived at his door to see a note pinned on letting him know he had a package waiting for him.

'Really? Who?'

No one was coming to mind as likely culprits, and when he got to the mail depot, he was even more puzzled to receive two boxes and a letter. The letter had exactly zero outside markings on it except for his name. The larger box also had zero markings on it except for multiple 'fragile', 'perishable', and 'this side up' notes plastered all over.

'What the hell?'

He decided to return to his room to open them and still hadn't guessed at who they were from by the time he arrived.

First the letter.

He groaned as soon as he opened it up. The writing was familiar. Really familiar.

Asshole,

You are lucky you aren't in the military because I would bust you to private and station you in Siberia. Poke your nose into my business again and there won't be enough left of you for a sarcophagus.

Thanks,

Jack

Jon laughed out loud. That answered how that had gone.

'That was so … me.'

He carefully opened the larger box and squealed at the sight before clamping his hand over his own mouth in embarrassment.

A cake!

He stared at the little cake, mouth already watering as he considered it. He eventually dragged his eyes off of it to the other item in the box - a small card in an envelope.

He ripped it open and pulled out the card.

He froze.

Merry Christmas, Jon.

Teal'c, Daniel, Sam, Jack

Jon stared at the note. All four of them had separately signed it. Tears began to build in his eyes and he rubbed them away fiercely.

'They were thinking of me. They … sent me cake. They ...'

He could feel tears begin to roll down his face and he couldn't bring himself to care.

'They were thinking of me.'

His fingers trembled as they picked up the simple note. He couldn't do anything more than stare at it, the words blurring in his vision.

'They were thinking of me.'

He clenched his eyes, pushing out fresh tears to join the others.

For as long as he had been alive, he had been reaching out to his past, trying to connect with it while trying to build a future.

The past had just reached out and connected with him.

His throat began to hurt as he swallowed back his tears, trying to pull himself back together.

He carefully set down the card on his bed and lifted the cake out of its box. He sniffed and smiled - straight from the SGC mess!

He sprinted out of his room, bouncing off corners and sending people diving out of his way as he reached the mess hall in record time. He grabbed a plate, knife, and fork, ignored the queries from the bemused staff and made his way back to his room at only a slightly more sedate pace.

He locked his door behind him and set down the plate carefully on his desk.

He carefully sliced out a quarter of the cake and set it down on the plate. The white, fluffy cake was still moist and its perfume filled his nose.

He reverently pushed the fork through the cake, watching the soft compression and smearing of the thin icing.

Jon closed his eyes as he put the fork in his mouth, and moaned as the sweetness and soft textures caressed his tongue.

"Unhhhhhh. Mmmmmm."

His stomach clenched as he swallowed and a chill ran over his body.

It had been a long, long time.

The cake was half-eaten, Jon had pulled out his special stash of Guinness, and was leaning back in his chair and gazing blankly at the ceiling. Warm memories and happiness filled him as he relaxed, the cares of the world far distant.

He found himself gazing happily at the unopened box, reveling in the box - evidence that he had friends who cared for him. He realized that he hadn't even figured out who had sent the smaller box, and sat up. It had gone though the regular military postal service, coming from California.

He sliced through the tape and opened the little box to see a small framed picture of he and Cassie during their trip around DC for her spring break. It was in front of the statue of Einstein Memorial. He remembered them all taking each others' pictures in front of it. Both girls had been thrilled to see the statue and had one-upped each other with obscure Einstein trivia, much to Jon's amusement.

He smiled at the picture. Cassie had a huge smile on her face as they stood with an arm around each other in front of the memorial.

A yo-yo, a very nice one, was under the picture and several sheets of paper folded at the bottom.

He began setting the string's tension as he read the letter, smiling at the excitement in the letter. She had known something funky was going on with the recent disease that had broken out and hadn't bothered following the path of the other researchers at Stanford. The disease had mysteriously disappeared, but before it had, she had made several significant discoveries about it and had submitted her work to Sam.

Sam had allowed her to 'publish' her findings and she was the primary author of a paper accepted in the New England Journal of Medicine! The horde of exclamation marks and underlines there had Jon laughing out loud.

The letter rolled happily along for several pages, mostly about her excitement to be accepted into a graduate research program at Stanford based on her Prior disease research.

He was so damn proud of her! Not even finished with her undergraduate degree and already blowing away the old fuddy-duddies!

'That. That is what we're fighting for - bright young people like that who are gonna go on to live amazing lives.'

The cloud of worry and depression that had hung over him had vanished.

Maybe there was some hope this Christmas Eve.

November 27th, Colorado Springs, Colorado (one month earlier)

Jack leaned back on his couch, happier than he could ever remember. The lights were off, an early snow was falling outside, and the fire was radiating warmth with soft crackles onto the two people entwined together on the couch. The fire's shifting light made Sam's blond hair shimmer and he couldn't help but press a soft kiss into the sparkling curls.

"Mmmm," was Sam's only response.

Jack's stomach tingled at the sound. It was the day after Thanksgiving, now, and this was only the second time they'd had any time together since that August day he had showed up at the SGC almost unannounced. He had planned to take her out to dinner to officially start a relationship, but she had beaten him to the punch. She had scheduled a meeting with him in his office, closed the door, and walked up to him, face to face.

He smirked a little at the memory of his own puzzlement at her actions, and the feeling that had welled up inside - having her so close and knowing in a few hours he would be breaking that topic.

And then …. Jack fully smiled at the memory of the shock that had rolled through him as Sam had stood there and said, "I'm tired of waiting," and then kissed him.

"Mmmm? Wha's you thinkin'?"

Sam's mumbled question made Jack grin.

"Remembering the office."

"MmmmmmMmmmm."

Jack smiled again - there were a lot of things Sam could communicate with those hums.

"You certainly surprised me in the best way."

Sam laughed softly and pulled back a little to look into his eyes. Damn, but those big blue eyes were beautiful!

"Direct action. Jon sa-"

Sam cut off, suddenly looking away.

The warm fuzzies in Jack's stomach suddenly turned into a coiling snake.

"Jon?" The word was soft and careful. "What did he say?"

'If that little photocopy ...'

"Oh, um," Sam straightened a little and Jack let his arm loosen.

"Well, Cassie and I ran into him before he left for the Alpha site."

After a moment's pause made it evident she wasn't going to continue, Jack push back a little, shifting to face her directly. He wasn't sure he wanted to hear, but now that it was out he had to know.

"What did he say?"

Had he declared his love for her? Asked her to be with him?

'I'm too old for her. She should be with him. I don't have anything to offer a beautiful, young woman like Carter. As soon as Jon's back on Earth she'll see - '

"He said that if I wanted you, I'd need to be direct. That," her voice got softer, embarrassed. "That you wanted to, but just didn't know how to break out of the rut we'd spent so many years building."

Jack blinked. 'What?'

"But he told me tha-"

He snapped his mouth shut, but Carter's eyes were no longer looking down, but instead latched onto his own, filled with inquiry.

"Did he say something to you too?"

"Not really."

Her raised eyebrow showed a distinct Jaffa influence.

"We talked briefly."

"Ja-a-a-ack?"

It suddenly dawned on Jack exactly what had happened. He could see it happen as clearly as if he had done it himself. Which, he guessed, he sort of had. The maneuver. The setup. The bait. The snapping of the trap as Jon had maneuvered them.

"Jack, if you don't tell me, I'm going to ask Jon, and I'm going to do it in front of Daniel."

He cringed. If Daniel ever heard of this, Jack would never live it down.

"Well, he called and said you were floundering about the Ori. That you were…"

'Oh God. Kill me now.'

Jack said the words as quickly as he could.

'You were distracted thinking about me all the time and if I didn't act, he was going to."

Sam suddenly pealed out laughter and fell back, holding her sides.

Frustration and hurt filled Jack and he stood up. Fine! He had been manipulated, but she didn't have to make fun of him! He should have known she wasn't pining away after him.

That damn little kid! Jon had pushed his buttons just the right way to make his anger cloud his judgement. He should have known better! He'd kill that kid!

"Jack! Jack!"

He was stomping into the kitchen, flipping on the light as Sam chased after him.

"I'm sorry Jack, I wasn't laughing at you, or, well, I mean."

"I should have known. You weren't floundering or anything. That little bastard just - "

Sam punched him the shoulder. Hard. He stumbled to the side, catching himself on the counter.

"Ow! What was that for?"

"Jon was right. About two things. First, that to deal with you I need to be direct."

"Punching me is direct?"

"Yes."

Jack rubbed his shoulder. Ow.

"And the second thing?"

"That I was thinking about you constantly."

Jack dropped his hand from his shoulder as her words hit him.

"You really were on my mind all the time."

Jack swallowed and reached out for her hands, leaning forward to rest his forehead against hers. He suddenly felt like the biggest ass in the world.

"I was thinking about you all the time, too. I was pretty miserable."

Sam leaned her head up and pecked him on the lips.

"I'm pretty happy now."

Jack returned the kiss.

"Me too."

They met in the middle for the next kiss and it deepened, pulling them into each other.

"I'm still gonna beat the little snot into a pulp next time I see him," Jack muttered when they came up for air. The grin on his face belied the words, though, and Sam smiled at him.

'Maybe not. It got me this, I guess,' Jack thought.

Sam seemed to voice his own thoughts, "Maybe a Christmas present would be more appropriate. I'm feeling pretty thankful about what he did."

Jack shivered as she traced a finger down his chest.

"Hmmmm," Jack agreed, but was having trouble keeping his thoughts on anything but the beautiful woman who was sending such wonderful feelings through his body.

That first day being together had been spent first at dinner and then all night on her couch, asleep together after having talked late into the night. Their next opportunity had been more emergency than anything - the Prometheus's destruction had triggered a dozen emergency meetings for SG1 and others in DC. She had stayed at his house, but they'd been exhausted.

Now, though, they had a whole weekend together with nothing work-related to do.

Jack's fingers ran up and down the side of her body, brushing her breasts with his thumbs as her fingers traced lower and lower down his stomach.

"I'm sorry for laughing," Sam said softly, between kisses.

Jack just smiled and shook his head.

"No, I really am," she insisted. "I feel horrible. In fact I really, really want to make it up to you."

Jack swallowed.

Sam grinned.

Three hours later Jack lay exhausted on his bed with the most beautiful woman in the world curled up against him. He had pulled a comforter over their naked bodies, but they weren't asleep. He could feel her lips and tongue idly licking his chest. His own fingers were tracing Stargate symbols on her hip, though he didn't realize it.

He didn't care how they had gotten here, he was just eternally thankful that they were.

'Cake. I'll send the brat a cake.'

"Mmmm?"

He smiled.

"I'll let t' kid live. For this I'll let him live. Might even send a cake."

"Mmmmmmm."

A/N: I know there are some people who are rooting for Jon/Sam, and I was tempted - I really was. But I'm trying to keep this pretty close to the show. For those who worry about Jon being all alone for the rest of his life - I wouldn't be that mean to him. I might torture and kill him off seconds after finding love, but I wouldn't be so mean as to never let him find love at all.

Yeah, I'm big-hearted like that.