The wind from the out-of-control snowstorm howled outside as if demanding some attention from the merry band of friends inside the O'Neill house. But with the warmth of the fire in the fireplace and the laughter that pealed periodically, neither Sam nor Jack noticed it while Daniel and Vala ignored it easily.

Sam sat on the couch, snuggled beside Jack while Daniel and Vala sat in chairs opposing the couch.

"You should hear about some of Danny's early adventures with the program." Jack laughed.

"Don't you dare..." Daniel said, glaring at his friend.

"I don't think anyone has ever had worse allergies than Daniel had at that time." Sam laughed.

"Not my fault..."

"Yes, but we had to explain on more than one occasion that your sneezes were not the unveiling of some sort of ill will." Jack said, seriously.

Vala laughed fully delighted by the story. "Tell me more."

"No." Daniel said, looking at her. He looked at his friends. "No. No more."

"What about the time when you were all playing musical chairs with your bodies?" Sam asked with a wicked grin.

"D'oh." Jack said, grimacing as Daniel shuddered.

"That one sounds interesting..." Vala said, looking at Sam.

"It was." She laughed. "I had to figure out how to get their personalites back into their own bodies. Jack spent some time with Junior."

"Junior?" She asked, curiously.

"His name for Teal'c's symbiote while he still carried one." Sam supplied.

"You mean..."

"Yes, he inhabited Teal'c's body for a few days."

"And got quite sick, I might add." Jack said, pointedly.

"Not as sick as me." Daniel said, waving a hand of reminder.

"True." Sam and Jack said, nodding.

"What do you mean?" Vala asked, curiously.

"Well, Jack's never been good at communing with things...inside himself..." Sam said, looking at him for correct phrasing.

He shrugged as he nodded in agreement.

"Meditation is painful for him."

He nodded eagerly. "It's true."

"So, not performing the Kel'noreem ritual was detrimental to his health."

"Jaffa 101." Jack quipped.

Vala's brow furrowed, and Sam shook her head. "Anyway, Daniel had the misfortune of switching with a rather elderly man, Ma'chello, who was dying at the time of an illness that Dr. Fraiser had never seen before."

"By the way, Jack," Daniel said, looking over at the gray-haired man. "The sister thing...not funny..."

Sam chuckled. "We finally managed to convince him that taking Daniel's body by force was no better than the goa'uld whom he was trying to fight."

"You met Ma'chello?" Vala asked, surprised.

"Yes." Sam said, nodding.

"I didn't realize he was real...Que'tesh had heard the legend, but I suppose he was before her time..."

"It's possible." Sam said, nodding seriously. "He was a really old man."

"Sam figured out how to get us all back in our bodies." Jack said, squeezing her shoulder affectionately.

"She's pulled our asses out of the fire more than once." Daniel acknowledged.

"Like you two haven't done your fair share over the years." She said, shaking her head.

"Well, that's true..." Jack said, nodding. "I distinctly remember rescuing you from...what were your words again? Oh, right..."that masogenistic chauvinist of a pig"."

Vala's brow furrowed as Sam's face fell.

"Yeah, by the way, Sam," Daniel continued. "I have a friend who wore a dress almost exactly like the one you had to wear on that planet. She was studying the Mongolian culture."

"Got a headdress to eat?" Jack grinned, feeling quite proud of himself.

"You guys..." Sam said, rolling her eyes.

"What are you talking about?" Vala asked, looking at them curiously.

"There's something you don't know about Sam, here." Daniel said with a laugh.

"She used to be quite a man-hater in her day."

"I never hated men." Sam said, pointedly.

"I'm sorry...I think the term you prefer is "feminist"..." Jack said, amused.

"Must you hold that over my head for the rest of my life? Being assertive about my place on the team was NOT a bad thing..."

"Oh, no..." He said, shaking his head. "I never said it was. But you have to admit that when some of the first words you hear out of a woman's lips are "just because my reproductive organs are on the inside instead of the outside"...you get the feeling that she hates men."

"Ouch." Vala said, seriously.

"I was young and...I didn't know my audience as well as I thought I did." Sam defended, loftily.

Jack laughed. "Yeah..."

They lapsed into silence for a moment before Vala looked over at Jack. "What is File 30185?" She asked, innocently.

He had just taken a sip of his hot chocolate. His surprise caused him to spit it out involuntarily.

Sam and Daniel couldn't help but laugh.

"That...is a file that was sealed upon the request of, uh..."

"Jack, actually." Sam finished.

"Though Sam was right behind him on that request." Daniel laughed.

"How do you know?" She and Jack asked, looking at him, curiously. "You were clueless about what that meant, just like you always have been."

He laughed. "Teal'c has a big mouth for someone who doesn't talk much..."

"What are you talking about?" Vala demanded.

"We can't tell you." Daniel said, looking at her apologetically.

"I thought you couldn't tell Mitchell about it, but that I was fair game..."

"Well...that was when we were trying to mess with his head." Daniel said with a chuckle.

"Still...I want to know..."

Sam looked at Jack before she looked back at Vala. "File 30185 was, uh...well, it had something to do with the fact that, uh..."

"There was a fertility ritual." Daniel said, looking at Sam and Jack with an amused smile flirting with his lips.

They turned red.

"A what?" She asked, her eyebrows shooting up.

"We stumbled on a planet that was praying for a bountiful harvest." Daniel continued. "I wanted to check it out..."

"He said it was for "purely anthropological reasons"." Jack said, using air quotes.

"I did!"

"We didn't think it was wise." Sam said with a shrug. "But it was more because we didn't want to disturb their culture anymore than we already had."

"Well, they were chosen out of the crowd," Daniel continued. "And they had to drink this...stuff..."

"It was...neon green...we should have been worried..." Sam said, shuddering at the memory of it.

"Yep." Jack said in perfect agreement.

"And?"

"And...we woke up the next morning draped in nothing by some sheets, chained to separate trees..." Sam said, blushing. "With...no knowledge...about what had - or hadn't - happened the night before..."

Vala raised her eyebrow high. "You mean, you...?"

"Nope. Teal'c caught them before the act itself..." Daniel said, seriously. "But the villagers were LESS than happy. That address has been since locked out of our dialing computer."

"What did they try to do?"

"Kill Teal'c for, uh, interfering..."

"I had a rash for like...a year...because of that stuff..." Jack said, scratching his neck at the memory of the alien drink.

"Me too." Sam admitted.

"And I thought my adventures were interesting..." Vala said, shaking her head in absolute wonder.

Sam chuckled before she looked over at Jack. "Come on, my alien companion...let's watch "It's a Wonderful Life" before I fall asleep..."

"I haven't seen that movie!" Vala cried, suddenly.

Daniel shook his head, and Jack chuckled. "It's one of Sam's traditions. She never goes a Christmas Eve without watching it."

"One time, we nearly didn't - we were off world until something like 11:45." Daniel began. "She skipped her shower, went to her quarters and started the movie just so that she could say that she'd seen it on Christmas Eve..."

"That was the Christmas that I thought my dad was dying, and I needed a little stability in my life..." She pointed out.

"I didn't say it was a crazy thing to do. I just said it was a little...out of character for you."

"If you two don't mind, the movie's going to be in our bedroom because otherwise, Sam would have to maneuver the stairs down to the rec room..." Jack said, looking over at the other two.

"Oh, no, that's fine." Vala said, eagerly.

Daniel sighed. "Yeah...no big...it's fine..."

Sam grimaced as she stretched gently. "If you want, we can do it later...just the two of us..."

"No, Sam, it's okay." Daniel said, shaking his head.

Jack looked out the window. "Snow's coming down pretty badly. Maybe you two should spend the night..."

Daniel sighed as he nodded. "Yeah, I was afraid of that."

"You're always welcome, Daniel. You know that." Sam said, seriously.

"Thanks, and I do appreciate that." He said, nodding.

"He just doesn't want to be stuck with me." Vala said, trying to appear nonchalant.

"It's not that, Vala..." Daniel tried to argue.

"Oh?"

"Well...maybe it is that..." He admitted, uncomfortably. "But...it's not because I don't like you...I just don't like your...facade..."

"Facade?" She asked, looking at him curiously.

Sam looked at Jack before she looked at them. "Um...I'm going to go start the movie...come in if you, uh, want to watch it..."

They didn't hear her.

"Yes, Vala...that...flirty...sexy...'everybody wants me' act that you have..." Daniel continued, imitating her flamboyance.

Jack gently helped Sam out of the living room. "Maybe we should give them some space..."

She nodded as Vala's retort could be heard.

"Maybe that 'act' as you call it, isn't an act!"

"Yes, Vala, it is." He continued. "Because you're afraid of something more...committed than causal sex."

"Do you even know the meaning of casual sex?" She demanded as Jack closed the door.

"Can you believe how much electricity those two have?" Jack asked, shaking his head.

"About as much as you and I have..." Sam laughed. "We just hid it better...when we were living our lives separately..."

"To some - namely Daniel - I agree. To others - namely Teal'c - not so much..."

She laughed as she sat on the bed.

Jack turned the movie on before he joined her on the bed.

"I love this movie." Sam said, contentedly, as she snuggled up to him.

"I know." He said with an affectionate smile.