It was their turn to smile fifteen minutes later when Sam walked out of the locker room. The Mrs. Clause suit looked a lot better on her than it did on Teal'c, even though it was a little – okay, a lot – baggy on her. The robe actually looked like a dress on her, and her much gentler features – and lack of a scowl – pulled off the whole Mrs. Clause thing a lot better than Teal'c's had.

O'Neill's smile was warm, and Sam found herself posing slightly as she walked out the door.

"You look great, Major."

She blushed a little, and smiled.

"Thanks, Sir."

Daniel had to agree, but he looked at his watch and realized that the change of costumes had thrown them just a little behind the schedule he had in his mind – they weren't late, but they weren't as ahead as he wanted them to be.

"We'd better get going."

The others nodded, and they headed for the elevator.

They received a lot of odd looks and smiles as they walked through the SGC corridors, but no one had the nerve to actually laugh at them or say any of the comments that were undoubtedly on the tips of their tongues. Even in an elf suit Teal'c was intimidating, and the moment someone looked like they planned on saying something smart the Jaffa would give them a look that would immediately make them change their minds. Getting beat up by an elf on Christmas Eve was no one's idea of a good time.

The personnel carrier was stuffed with toys and candy, and ready to go at the main gate, complete with a couple of Marines – one to drive it and one to ride shotgun, because Marines never did anything alone if they could do it in a group. Jack had Daniel give them directions to the orphanage, and then he had the others pile into his truck and they headed out, the day already fast turning into evening, and a group of eager youngsters waiting for Santa and his elves to bring them treats and presents.

OOOOOOOOOO

"How are you doing?"

Jack looked over at Mrs. Clause, who had stopped beside him just long enough to take a quick break from the screaming, shouting and hyper children that had been running around her, shouting for her attention and begging her to tell Santa that he absolutely had to bring them what they asked for.

Jack smiled at her as Teal'c pulled yet another child off his lap, and replaced him with a squirming little girl who couldn't have been more than five.

"Doing great, Carter," he said, before wrapping his arms around the little girl to keep her from tumbling off his lap. "Ho! Ho! Ho!" Sam smiled as he turned his attention from her to the little girl, and stayed beside him, taking advantage of his distraction to watch him interact with the little girl. "What do you want for Christmas?"

"A pony!"

"A pony?" Jack pretended to sound amazed – although this was about the twentieth pony he'd had requested that night. Little girls always wanted ponies for some reason. "What color?"

"Blue!"

"A blue pony…" Jack pretended to think about it, and looked over at Sam, who was smiling broadly now. "Mrs. Clause? Do we have any more blue ponies at the North Pole?"

Sam shook her head.

"No, Santa. We're all out."

Jack turned his attention back to the girl, giving her a hug.

"Well… it might be hard to find you a blue pony, but I promise I'll try. If I don't find you one, what else would you like instead?"

"A Barbie with the doctor's outfit and the long blonde hair that you can cut and style and the four different outfits – I want the blue outfit with the short dress, and the jacket, and I want the red outfit that has…"

As the little girl recited her list of the various outfits that the Barbie was supposed to have, Sam couldn't help but be impressed by Jack's patience with her. Gone was the man who couldn't sit through a five minute meeting. In his place was a guy who was more than willing to discuss the difference between the blonde hair Barbie and her dark haired cousin for what seemed to be at least fifteen minutes. When he finally motioned for Teal'c to take the little girl – with a promise that he'd do his best to get her exactly what she wanted – Sam was grinning ear to ear. And Jack noticed.

"What?"

"Nothing."

He scowled, which only made her smile grow. He didn't look all that imposing in a Santa suit, after all, and she couldn't be intimidated.

"Carter…" His voice wasn't nearly as annoyed as he was trying to sound, though, and she handed the little girl a candy cane and sent her off to find a present under the tree. With the help of Daniel, who knew from the color-coding of the packaging what present would be perfect for a five-year-old girl.

"That's Mrs. Clause, Santa," she corrected him, watching as Teal'c plopped another kid onto Jack's lap. A little boy with huge blue eyes and a face smeared with chocolate. "I'd better go help with the refreshments."

"You do that."

He watched her go, though; his brown eyes smiling as she walked away, and even the little boy in his lap was distracted from running his sticky fingers along Jack's red and white jacket as he tried to figure out what Santa Clause found so interesting about Mrs. Cause.

He had to admit that even though he hadn't wanted to do it, Jack was having a good time. He liked kids, loved watching them run around and have a good time, and was thoroughly enjoying hearing their wish lists. While most of the things on the lists were impossible – there was no way he was giving a ten year old a rocket launcher or a space shuttle – many of them were completely doable, and many were already under the tree, so he'd known there were going to be a lot of happy kids. Add in the bright and festive decorations and the cheerful Christmas music playing in the background, and he was having a much better Christmas Eve than he'd planned on having.

"That is the last of them, O'Neill," Teal'c told him as he pulled the boy off Jack's lap and handed him a candy cane and sent him on his way to Daniel and the Christmas tree with a less than gentle shove – which for Teal'c actually was a gentle shove.

"Thanks, Teal'c." Jack said, standing up and stretching his legs. He looked at his watch, surprised by how late it was. At this rate, the kids were never going to go to sleep, since he was pretty certain there was more sugar in their little bodies than blood at that moment. "This wasn't so bad, huh?"

The look Teal'c gave Jack plainly said that it wasn't so great, but the Jaffa didn't argue with him. Not with kids within earshot.

Sam came over to them, holding a couple cups of kool-aid and handed one to each of them.

"Are we about ready to call it a night?" she asked as Jack quaffed his cup of juice. Talking to kids non-stop definitely made him thirsty.

"I think so," Jack answered as Daniel came over, grinning hugely and carrying the bags that had once held all the presents but were now hanging empty over his forearm. "About ready to go, Skippy?" Jack asked.

"We'd better," Daniel answered. "Otherwise the kids will want to start through the line a second or third time… telling Santa what they want, and hanging out with all the elves…"

"We should depart, then." Teal'c said, surprising no one.

"I'm ready to go," Sam agreed. "My feet are killing me."

"But it was fun, right?" Daniel asked, as they started to gather up the last of their equipment. "I mean, you guy had a good time, didn't you?"

"It was great, Daniel," Sam assured him. "Wasn't it Colonel?"

"Yup." Nothing like sticky fingers and faces, and he wasn't even going to mention the four 'accidents' that had definitely made cleaning his costume before returning it a necessity. "Wouldn't have missed it for the world."

"Let's go say our goodbyes, then, and get going…" Daniel was just glad that things had gone so well. With the group of people he spent most of his time with, you just never could be sure that things would turn out the way they were planned – and he had really hoped that they would this time, at least.

OOOOOOOOO

Once more they all piled into Jack's truck, but he didn't take them to the base. He dropped Teal'c and Daniel off at Daniel's place since Daniel had caught a ride with him that morning so Jack wouldn't have to drive all the way back to the base and Teal'c was going to spend the night at Daniel's. They watched until the two elves had disappeared into the apartment building, and then Jack turned to Sam, who was now sitting in the passenger seat beside him instead of the jump seat behind him.

"Do you need to go home right away?"

That wasn't a question she was expecting. Sam shook her head.

"Not really." It wasn't like she had anyone waiting for her, after all. And wasn't that a depressing thought?

"Want to grab a bite to eat?"

"Sounds good."

He started the truck.