Ch 7: Risky Business (without Tom Cruise)

Jack had never played a board game like the Carter family played board games. Her brothers played dirty, trying to influence other players' decisions and form illegal alliances that would be turned on whenever they felt like it. It made the game much more interesting and funny, especially to Jack, who would never have guessed grown men and women, especially Carter, could get that into a game.

Then again, it was a game of world domination. And Carter was so good at it he briefly entertained the thought of warning General Hammond Carter might be secretly harboring a plan to take over Earth once she got the chance.

Then again, this game was practically made for them. One of the funniest parts of the game was watching her brothers argue with their own team members over which country they should attack, and from where, and where they should put their armies. Jack and Carter, of course, could easily see the best strategy in each circumstance, and had no trouble agreeing on tactics without even discussing them.

Nigel and Anne were the first team completely knocked out. Anne looked relieved, and got up with a muffled yawn, stating she was going to check on the kids and then go to bed. Karen got up gratefully and said, "I'm going to do the same. Nigel, why don't you take over on Mark's team for me."

"Excellent. The world will not stand a chance," Mark said, scooting over to make room for his brother. As the two women started to leave, Mark elbowed his brother lightly and called to Karen, "Oh, darling..."

They both stopped, turned around, and Karen said, "What?"

"Look up."

Rolling her eyes because she knew what she'd find, she looked up at the mistletoe. Anne did the same. Rolling their eyes, they pecked each other on the cheek. Anne grabbed the mistletoe and they disappeared.

Everyone went back to the game, but Anne soon rejoined the group, leading Sydney by the hand. "Look what I found in our room," she said, putting her hand on the little girl's head.

Jack recognized the sheepish look on the little girl's face at once: it was the same one he always received when he caught Carter in her lab early in the morning after she pulled an unauthorized all-nighter.

"Sydney, what on earth are you still doing up?" Emily demanded.

She shrugged, put on an adorably innocent face, and said, "Nobody came to get me for bed."

Emily and John looked at each other in surprise. "I thought you were getting her," they said at the same time. They smiled sheepishly and turned to their daughter.

"We're sorry, Syd, but you had to know you were staying up way past your bedtime," Emily said reasonably. "Come on."

"What are you guys playing?" she asked curiously, coming over to stand next to Carter.

"Have fun?" Carter asked her quietly.

Sydney beamed up at her and nodded. "I found the busted part. Sound card is fried," she told her proudly.

Emily groaned while Carter pulled her into a big hug, clearly proud of her little minion.

"Okay, okay, time to go to bed," Emily told her firmly.

"But I'm really hungry," Sydney objected.

"We're not falling for that one tonight, Syd," her dad said.

"But I really am," she insisted.

"Um, she didn't eat hardly anything at dinner," Jack put in.

She grinned at him and said, "See? Told you."

"All right. I'll fix you a sandwich, and then you're going to bed," her mother said firmly, shaking her head to herself as she got up and went into the kitchen.

Chris went back to his battle for China against Nigel and Mark.

"Thanks, Uncle Jack," Sydney said, hugging Carter's arm and leaning into her side.

"Anytime."

"Auntie, how do you play this game?" she asked.

"Well, it's complicated," Carter said, pulling her onto her lap so she could explain it quietly and the game could continue as normal.

Jack listened to the explanation of the game, not sure how a six year-old, no matter how smart she obviously was, was going to be able to understand the game. His mind was quickly changed when their turn came round and Carter said, "So, Syddo Kiddo, what do you think we should do?"

Sydney studied the board and pointed out the right move, looking up at them both to see if it was right. Carter grinned at her and nodded.

"Smart girl," she said, passing the white dice to John.

He took them and said solemnly, "You've poisoned my own daughter's mind against me." Sydney giggled and handed the red dice to Jack.

"You give it a try," Jack insisted, handing them back to her. She rolled them one at a time since three dice wouldn't fit in her little hands. It made their turn take much longer, but he didn't really care. He liked watching Carter interact with all of her nieces and nephews, but she and Sydney especially seemed to be on the same wavelength.

Jack thought Sydney looked like a different person than when he had met her. She had been dressed like a typical tomboy earlier. Her long, curly light blond hair had been pulled up into a ponytail and she had been wearing jeans and a big sweatshirt all day. Now that she was ready for bed, she looked like a little doll. Her hair was down and loose, she was barefoot, and wearing a white nightgown with little pink flowers on it. Her expression was still very serious as she thought about the game, but she looked so girly that he had to wonder about Carter too, not only when she was a kid but now as well.

He knew she dressed girly sometimes but he hadn't really seen it much; when she went out with the rest of SG-1 she always looked great, but she always wore pants. He had a vague memory of her in a skirt at Daniel's "wake," but he had been so out of it at the time he wasn't entirely sure that was accurate. And she'd probably have the Doc do a bunch of painful tests on him if he ever asked her about it.

His wandering mind was stopped by Emily reaching across him to hand Sydney her sandwich. "That smells awful, what is that?" he demanded.

Sydney laughed and said, "Creamy peanut butter, pickles, and Cheetos, want to try it?"

"No, thank you," he said quickly, turning his attention back to the game.

Sydney sure was taking her time with her sandwich, he noticed some time later. One glance at Carter and he knew she was intentionally ignoring that fact. Emily ignored it for a while as well, but finally said, "Okay, Syddo, five more minutes."

"Ten," Sydney pleaded.

"Seven," her mom conceded. "And you can't be bragging to the other kids tomorrow that you stayed up so late."

"And I won't mention anything bout Santa not being real either," Sydney said around a mouthful of sandwich.

"Good," John said.

Promptly seven minutes later, Emily took the empty plate from her daughter and waited for her to say goodnight to everyone. She certainly took her time about it, hugging and kissing everyone on the cheek, starting with Carter and Jack and then moving around the table at the pace of a three-toed sloth. "All right, all right, all right," John finally scolded mildly, shooing her away.

Jack watched Carter smiling after the little girl as she disappeared. Chris nudged his arm, holding out the dice to him impatiently. "I'm attacking you."

"Oh, right," he said, taking the dice he was offered and rolling them mechanically.

"Wait, you can't do that," Carter objected as Jack started taking off two of their armies.

"What are you talking about?" Chris asked, starting to roll the dice again.

She grabbed his hand to stop him and said, "You've got three armies. You can only roll two dice."

"You've got more armies than me," Chris argued.

"So?"

"So, when you're attacking from a disadvantage, you get three dice when you have three armies."

"Since when?"

"Since always, Sam..."

"That is so not the rule. We've never done that before..."

"Well it's not exactly every day you attack someone at a distinct disadvantage," Chris countered.

"Maybe not for you," Jack said quietly, hoping it would amuse Carter and stop the budding argument. She flashed him a smile for the remark, but quickly returned her attention to her brother.

"Chris, that is not the rule and you know it. Look it up."

"We lost the rules years ago," Jamie said. "But I think Sam's right, Chris."

"There, see?" Carter said, crossing her arms.

"I don't know, it makes sense," Mark put in. "I think Chris's right."

"Me too," Nigel agreed.

"I'm with Sam, I don't remember this ever coming up before but it doesn't make sense," Emily said.

After that, Jack had trouble deciphering who was saying what, as everyone started talking at once, all trying to talk over each other. Carter and Chris got to their feet, squaring off across the table. Carter told Chris she'd go look up the rules on the Internet right then and there, and picked up her coffee cup angrily to take a sip. Chris pretended to think she was about to throw it at him and ducked dramatically behind Emily and John. Jack tugged Carter back to a sitting position, trying hard not to laugh.

As the argument continued, Emily said, "I was under the impression all the children were in bed already. Come on, guys, it's Christmas. AND we have a guest. We don't want him witnessing the insanity firsthand, do we?"

"Oh, he's been here long enough to see it all," Jamie said dismissively.

"Okay, everyone, it's getting late and we do still need to bring all the presents down here and everything," Emily reasoned. "Let's come up with some sort of compromise you can both be happy with."

Carter and Chris grumbled unintelligibly. Amused, Jack said, "Carter, why don't we let him use three this time, but from now on that rule doesn't apply."

"Fine. As long as everyone realizes Chris is cheating, and therefore if by some miracle he should manage to win, it won't really count."

"Oh whatever, Sam..." Chris started.

"Chris," Emily said evenly in her mom-voice. Jack had the suspicion, as the large college student lowered his eyes and nodded his assent quietly, that she had perfected that mom-voice long before actually having children of her own. Then again, as the oldest of the Carter family, he figured it had probably been necessary.

After the game finally ended (he and Carter were now co-rulers of the world,) Jack helped everyone bring down all the kids' gifts and put them under and around the tree. He thought about the gift he had for Carter in his truck, riding in the backseat next to Daniel's, Teal'c's, Cassie's, and Janet's gifts.

They were supposed to go over to Janet's house on New Year's Eve and exchange gifts, but he could always get her something else to give to her then. A glance out the window put that train of thought on hold, at least for the time being, as he saw that it was still snowing, and he didn't really feel like going out in a semi-blizzard at the moment.

Once all the gifts were arranged and accounted for, everyone said goodnight and headed off to bed. Jack, still unsure of where he was supposed to be sleeping, waited in the middle of the living room while Carter hugged everybody goodnight. She turned to him, seemed puzzled for a moment, and then said, "Oh, right. Sorry, Colonel, you need a place to sleep, don't you."

"Yeah. What about you?"

"Oh, I'll probably grab a sleeping bag with Chris and the kids," she said dismissively, going over to a hall closet, rummaging in it for a few seconds, and producing a heavy, soft looking blanket and a pillow.

"You got kicked out of your own bedroom?" he asked curiously.

"Not kicked out... I gave it to Emily and John, because they have the twins with them and it's the biggest bed."

"That was nice of you."

She shrugged and looked at him as if trying to decide something important. He had no idea what she was thinking about but was getting decidedly uncomfortable the longer she looked at him. Finally, she said, "Get your coat."

"You're kicking me out after I backed you in the Risk debate?" he asked teasingly.

She rolled her eyes and said, "I have something to show you. Get your coat," she repeated, going over to the coat closet and grabbing her own. She pulled it on, stuck her feet in a pair of shoes, and looked at him impatiently.

He realized he was still standing there, probably doing a pretty decent "Daniel is confused" imitation with his mouth hanging open, so he followed her to the closet and obediently put on his coat.

He followed her outside and they waded through knee-deep snow. Jack shivered uncontrollably, wondering if she had finally cracked for good. She led him around the far side of her garage and he was surprised to see a spiral staircase he'd never spotted before. "It's a little cold for stargazing, Carter," he called as she headed up the stairs.

"Funny, sir. And don't touch the rail, your hand might get stuck," she called over her shoulder.

He shrugged and followed her up the stairs. She opened the door at the top, stepped inside, and flicked on a light. Jack looked around him and smiled appreciatively. "Now that's more like it."