A/N: I have to say, your overwhelming enthusiasm for this story and the party idea have made me write much faster (and more!) than I would have thought under the circumstances. I really appreciate everyone's costume ideas. Many of them were things I seriously considered as well, although I was surprised by how many people wanted to see Jack as a gladiator or wearing a kilt! Everyone was spot on with Teal'c and Daniel, of course. Maybe this story will inspire some of you to write your own costume/Halloween stories - I really do like the 'Wizard of Oz' costumes for our group, but I just couldn't justify it being something Cassie would pick for them in this particular situation - I'm not sure if she would really get the joke, as that's a specifically SG1 thing, plus she's excluding Pete, but I thought that would be a little too obvious, having Sam and Jack in correlating costumes of any sort. The costume I did finally choose for Sam was actually my ten year-old step-son's idea. I liked it and gave what I had planned for Sam to Cassie instead. When I asked him, he picked similar costume ideas for all of them as you all did, but then I asked him if he were dressing them up, what would he do... and this is what he chose for Sam (after poking around for a bit in our costume closet - the husband teaches and occasionally directs Shakespeare.) The child has the biggest crush on Carter, it's so adorable. Anyway... after that long-winded explanation, please enjoy this long (but hopefully not long-winded) chapter!
Also, for those concerned about Pete, I really don't think he's a bad guy either, and completely agree that it's not his fault he isn't Jack. Don't worry. I'll let Cassie get away with a little bit of fun and return him more-or-less unharmed to his original Peteness. After all, he has to appear in 'Threads' so he can meet Dad and all... oh, and sorry, but Kerry couldn't be in this story because Sam doesn't even know who she is when she sees her in Jack's office...
Enough of that. Sorry. Story, now.
Ch 2: Preparing
Cassie and Aileen pulled into the driveway of Jack's house Friday evening around five. Dragging the huge box of costumes they had accumulated, after raiding their stash from various parties over the year, as well as borrowing a few things from friends, they made their way inside, Cassie letting them in with her key.
"Jack! You home?" Cassie called loudly. "We're here!"
When nobody answered, she shrugged. "Guess he's still at work. That's good, we can get started. I need to snoop in his closet a little bit... Let's take this up to my room." They took their bags and the costume box up to her room, which had always just been a guest room, until the (she readily admitted) juvenile tantrum she had thrown at Christmas that had resulted in her 'move' from Sam's house to Jack's.
Cassie looked around and smiled, glad to be back. Her eyes settled on a big bunch of daisies in a vase on the desk, with a note propped up next to it. She smiled at the flowers and picked up the note, read it quickly, and pocketed the money that was tucked inside before turning to Aileen. "Jack's going to be late tonight. He left pizza money."
"That was nice of him."
"Yeah. Okay, I'd better go let the dog in. I'll try to keep her from knocking you over..." Cassie went to the back door and let Maggie, Jack's Golden Retriever, inside. The dog, whom Cassie had taken care of frequently when SG-1 was off-world, had missed her terribly and bounded around her enthusiastically for several minutes, licking whatever part of her she happened to catch and wagging not only her tail, but her whole back half as well.
Eventually she noticed that someone else was in the room as well, and after sniffing Aileen cautiously, she decided she was okay too. "We probably smell similar since we live together," Cassie said absently as Aileen petted Maggie. "Don't worry, Mags, we brought a costume for you too so you won't be left out of the party tomorrow. Okay, let's go. We can bring Maggie with us since she's so excited, I don't want to turn around and leave her all alone right away."
"Where are we going?"
"We have to sneak into Daniel's apartment and get some of his clothes," Cassie said matter-of-factly. "And then stop at Sam's too for a couple of things."
"Oh, of course we do," Aileen said sarcastically, following her back out the door.
An hour later, they returned to Jack's house with the things they had snagged on their little pilfering raid. They ordered pizza, and spent the night going over plans for the following day and watching movies, while Cassie added pictures to Sam and Daniel's photo albums.
When they went to bed, Jack still wasn't home, but he had called around nine to tell them something had come up and he'd be home very late.
"He is busy," Aileen commented as they went to bed.
"Yeah... I'm actually kind of worried about him. I mean, his job's always been really stressful and everything, but since he was put in charge of their entire base, it's just gotten worse."
"So you think maybe if his personal life was less stressful he'd be happier?" Aileen asked.
"I think we all would be happier," Cassie said firmly as she turned off the bedside lamp.
vvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvv
Jack let himself sleep fairly late on Saturday morning, but when he got up around nine he was still the only one moving about his house, aside from Maggie. He had just finished mixing chocolate chip pancakes (something Cassie had quickly discovered she loved about Earth,) when Cassie stumbled sleepily into the kitchen in her pajamas, followed by another girl that Jack knew had to be Cassie's age but really looked like she couldn't be more than fourteen, at least in the huge t-shirt and sleeping pants she was wearing.
She was cute, with really dark auburn hair that was almost as messy as Cassie's 'just out of bed' hairstyle. Jack knew, from conversations with Cassie, that Aileen was a part-time bartender. He tried to picture the tiny girl in front of him handling herself (and rowdy, drunk college students and other patrons) in a bar and very nearly laughed.
"Hi, Jack!" Cassie said enthusiastically when she spotted him, coming over to give him a hug. He hugged her back and ruffled her hair, figuring she couldn't object since it was already pretty messy anyway.
"Morning, kids. Sleep okay?"
"Yup. Jack, this is Aileen. Aileen, this is my sort-of kind-of adopted Dad, General Jack O'Neill."
"Nice to meet you, General O'Neill. Thanks for inviting me."
"Sure. Nice to meet you too. Just call me Jack. Do you like pancakes?"
"Absolutely."
"Good. So, Cassie, you've got me mildly scared to death that you've brought reinforcements for the party this year... what exactly are you planning?"
"Nothing bad, Jack," Cassie said mildly, getting coffee for herself and a soda for Aileen, who didn't drink coffee but hardly ever could be found without a can of soda in her hand. The two girls exchanged significant looks - they had already decided that while Jack would surely tell Aileen to address him informally, when Pete was around, it couldn't hurt to remind everyone that he was a General.
"Right," Jack said. "And I'm supposed to just go along with whatever insane costume you've brought for me?"
"Well, actually, we've got a few choices for you. We couldn't really decide on anything definite for you. I mean, Sam and Daniel were a piece of cake, and Teal'c is taking care of his own..."
"God help us all," Jack said dryly, flipping a pancake up in the air.
"Was that..." Aileen started to ask.
"A bunny," Cassie supplied, nodding. "Jack's always been rather creative in the breakfast department. One time he spelled out my name in pancake batter... I think I was sick by the time I was done."
"Yeah, you were. You threw up in my truck when I was driving you home. As I recall, your mother was less than amused."
"Oh, yeah," Cassie remembered.
Aileen laughed. "Yes, I'm fully acquainted with Cassie's oversensitive stomach," she put in, then suddenly clammed up, glancing at Jack nervously.
"It's okay, Jack knows I'm having fun at school, don't you, Jack?"
"Yeah, yeah," he grumbled. "And I'm perfectly okay with it," he said in a complete monotone.
Cassie laughed and started getting plates and silverware out of the cupboard.
"So, what do you have planned for the birthday boy and girl? Something geeky?" Jack asked. "You gonna make one of them a proton, one a neutron, bind them together with a hula hoop and make them walk around as Hydrogen all night?" he guessed, making both girls laugh.
"Not exactly," Cassie and Aileen said at the same time, glancing at each other.
"Let me guess, I get to be surprised along with everyone else?"
"Yup," Cassie said.
While they ate breakfast they divided up everything that needed to be done that day to get ready for the party. For the decorations, they were attempting to turn Jack's house into Oz. It took a lot of creative thinking from everybody involved.
All three of them spent a long time blowing up tons of balloons with helium, using the leftover helium to make themselves sound like chipmunks of course.
Jack went out to pick up the cake, and when he came back he glanced out his kitchen window and did a double-take. Cassie was rolling around in his backyard, on the ground, wearing a big once-white shirt over her clothes, while Aileen supervised this strange procedure and Maggie jumped around Cassie excitedly.
When they came back inside, laughing and examining the now dirty shirt critically, they froze as they saw Jack staring at them. "Oh, um, this is..." Cassie started.
"Isn't that Daniel's shirt?" Jack asked, recognizing it.
"Yes," Cassie said. "And he's going to wear it tonight."
"He's going to kill you too," Jack commented. "What, is he supposed to be a guy who's never showered or something?"
"Just wait," Cassie said. "We're going to go get dressed now, then we'll be ready to show you your costume choices. By the time you're ready, Teal'c should be here. Sam and Daniel are showing up in their regular clothes after that, and then we can get started."
"Great."
While Cassie and Aileen went off to get themselves dressed, Jack finished up the things for the party. He had been exaggerating to Daniel, Teal'c, and Cassie, of course, but not completely lying. He wouldn't have had time this year to do this all by himself. He wondered if Carter was as nervous about the different ways the night could go as he was.
Actually, he decided as he started setting up the serving chafers he had made Walter track down, he wasn't really nervous... he had a pretty good idea what tonight was going to be like (probably similar to a trip to the dentist), and while he did sincerely hope that Carter had fun on her birthday, he knew he wouldn't be able to say the same for himself this year.
It had been hard, but he could honestly say that he had treated the entire Pete Shanahan situation (so far at least) with incredible patience and maturity that he would never have believed himself capable of. He had done nothing, which was the exact opposite of every natural impulse he had ever had about anything, in his life.
He couldn't stand doing nothing, whether in the field or when he was stuck in his office on the base while his team was out being shot at on other planets... his first instinct was always to do something, even if it seemed rash, stupid, or unlikely to work. Which it usually was.
The fact that following those instincts had kept him and his team alive for eight years didn't change the fact that when it came to whatever it was he and Carter had, or had begun to have, between them over the years, he was determined to keep rash, stupid, and unlikely to work completely out of the equation.
So... why in the hell had he agreed to this party idea in the first place?
"Jack, we're ready!" Cassie called from the top of the stairs.
Oh, yeah. That was why.
Jack took a deep breath. This party was important to Cassie too, and he decided then and there that he was going to put everything he had into making it successful. Apart from being important to Cassie, he knew, with a sad feeling of finality as the thought occurred to him, that if Sam married Pete Shanahan, this was going to be the last birthday party he'd ever throw for his science twins.
"Jack, come on! Maggie, go get your dad."
Jack's dog came bounding down the stairs, in that nearly-out-of-control way that most large dogs descended staircases. It was always a marvel to Jack that she never just tripped and rolled all the way down to the bottom.
Jack laughed when she jumped at him, wagging her tail and smiling (yes, his dog smiled all the time.) "So, you got dressed up too, Mags!" he said, petting her carefully without disturbing the glittery angel wings strapped to her back, or the halo firmly secured underneath her chin. His dog, surprisingly, didn't seem to mind wearing either.
Jack followed Maggie back upstairs, where Cassie and Aileen were waiting. He looked at their costumes, which seemed rather elaborate to him for a party whose guest list was six people and a dog. Cassie was dressed as a hippie, in long powder blue boots, a short, shiny white skirt that made Jack want to go find a huge pair of overalls and force her into them, (or maybe snowpants... that could work...) and a shirt with so many colors and patterns it made him dizzy to look at. Her long hair was flatter and straighter than usual, she had on a weird headband and a lot of big clunky jewelry, and the typical makeup to go along with the whole getup.
"Please tell me that is just a costume," he said. "That you didn't have that skirt and those boots just lying in your closet."
"Okay, Jack," Cassie said easily, neither confirming or denying his suspicions.
He sighed. "What, you couldn't find another one like that?" he asked, pointing at Aileen, who was wearing a poodle skirt, white shirt, and Keds, with her hair up in a really high ponytail.
"Jack," Cassie sighed. "You're such a... a Dad!" She smiled when she said it though, which Jack hated to admit, made him feel pretty good.
Then he realized this person was about to be putting him into a costume he still had never laid eyes on, and the feeling passed.
She grabbed his arm and steered him into his bedroom. "Okay, we have two ideas for you. Actually, we went through a looooong search for a good idea for you..."
"You didn't have to do that... I've got tons of great ideas myself!" Jack said quickly. Maybe there was a way out of this after all... he hurried to his closet and pulled out a hockey jersey. "Look, instant hockey player!"
"No," Cassie said.
Jack picked up the BDUs he had come home in late last night, when he had finally been able to leave the base. "GI Joe?"
"No."
"Don't suppose you'd go for Major Matt Mason then?" he tried.
"Oh, my brother used to have all of his things!" Aileen said. "But... it's not really the type of costume we had in mind, General."
"Dare I ask..."
Cassie tossed him a white shirt and a pair of black pants and said, "Try those on."
He held up the shirt and eyed it skeptically. "This shirt... is... puffy." He glared at the girls and picked up the pants, which, as he held them up, he couldn't help but notice were several inches too short. "These are short pants."
"They go with this stuff," Cassie explained, dumping out a small bag of items on his bed. He glanced down. Red scarves, a cummerbund looking-thing, an eye-patch... "No," he said firmly. "I'm not being a pirate."
Cassie sighed and turned to Aileen. "Told you he wouldn't go for it."
"Okay, Plan B," Aileen said, gathering up the pirate stuff.
"Okay, Jack, this is your last option then. Go put on your tux, everything but the jacket."
"What am I gonna be a waiter or something?"
"Not exactly."
"James Bond?" he guessed. That wouldn't be so bad... "Bond. James Bond." he said in his Sean Connery imitation. Cassie groaned. Aileen giggled. "I like my martinis shaken, not stirred," he tried.
"Jack, that just sounds like a speech impediment," Cassie complained. "And no, you're not being James Bond. Just get dressed and then we'll explain it to you."
She and Aileen left him alone in the room before he could ask any more questions. Grumbling to himself, he went into his closet and fought his way through a bunch of stuff to the back of it, where his seldom-used tux was, lying safely dormant in its garment bag. He pulled it out, laid it on his bed, and stripped down to his boxers and undershirt. As he pulled on the black pants, he realized he should probably put on an undershirt with sleeves. Might as well do this properly, he figured. He stopped as he caught sight of himself in the mirror. One last try...
Wiggling his toes against the carpet, he went to the door and opened it, unsurprised to find Cassie and Aileen waiting right there. They eyed him up and down. Bare feet, black pants, white 'wife-beater...' He waited for them to get it.
"Come on!" he finally exclaimed. "John McClane!"
Cassie finally got it. She rolled her eyes. "Jack, come on..."
"John McClane?" Aileen asked.
Jack gaped at her. "What do they teach you at that school? Die Hard? Hello? Have you never heard the sacred words 'yippee-ki-yay mutha..."
"Oh!" Aileen said, turning slightly pink as she finally got the reference.
"Jack, you still have to order the food and everything," Cassie reminded him.
"Fine, fine. You know, at work nobody orders me around," he grumped, closing the door between them before Cassie could get in a retort.
He pulled on dress shoes, a fresh undershirt, his stiff tux shirt, all those damn little onyx things... at least his tux didn't have a cummerbund. He remembered the great debate when he had bought the thing. He was pretty fond of the satiny, subtly patterned black vest that went with it instead, but a tux was a tux when it came right down to it. He left the top button open and draped the bow-tie around his neck, under the open collar, but refused to do that part up so early.
"There, happy?" he asked grumpily as he opened the door again.
"Thrilled," Cassie said dryly. "Now, you just need to add this..." Before he could jerk away she had thrown a huge black cape around his shoulders and was tying it in the front. He pulled at the sides of it awkwardly; the lining was bright red and very shiny.
"There," Cassie said when she had finished tying the thin strings in a bow. "Instant vampire. I won't even make you wear the teeth. Most vampires weren't thought to actually have them anyway, you know. Historically speaking, of course."
"Well, of course," Jack muttered, pulling at the strings. Damn. She had double-knotted them. "Okay, fine, I'm a vampire. I suppose I should be thankful you didn't make me go as something completely ridiculous, shouldn't I?"
"Yes. You look good, Jack," she assured him, patting him on the arm.
"You really do, General," Aileen agreed.
"Now, if only you'd do something about your hair..." Cassie tried. He scowled at her. "But it's fine like that," she said with a quick smile, patting his arm again. The doorbell rang and Maggie headed towards it, barking loudly. "That must be Teal'c!" Cassie said excitedly, hurrying after Maggie. Jack made a dramatic sweeping gesture with his cape for Aileen to go first. Laughing, she went down the stairs after Cassie. Jack followed them and shook his head with a smile when he reached the living room.
He should have known Teal'c would pick something from 'Star Wars.' Although, Jack would have probably guessed he'd go with Darth Vader... but Jack supposed the Jedi get-up Teal'c was wearing probably reminded him of the Chulak attire a little bit. He looked oddly comfortable dressed as a Jedi.
"Teal'c, my man! Where's your light saber!" Jack called as he crossed the living room.
On cue, Teal'c pulled a concealed, retracted child's light saber from inside his robes and flicked it so that it was suddenly over three feet long. "It is here, O'Neill. Are you a bullfighter?"
"No! Ohfercryinoutloud, Cassie..." Jack complained. Cassie and Aileen were laughing.
"He's a vampire," Cassie explained. "Like on Buffy."
"I see," Teal'c said. "And Cassandra, you are dressed like the people of..."
"T! Have you met Cassie's friend!" Jack said pointedly, worried that Teal'c was about to bring up their 'trip' to 1969.
"I have O'Neill," Teal'c said patiently. "Cassandra just introduced us to each other. As I was saying, you are dressed as the people of this country several decades ago. And if I am not mistaken, your friend Aileen is from an even earlier decade."
"That's right," Aileen said. "I really like your Jedi costume... Episode I and II, right?"
"You are correct."
"Are you a specific Jedi, like Obi Wan, or just a Jedi in general?"
"I am not a specific character from the films. However, I discovered an amusing website recently that will generate a Jedi name based on your given name. According to this site, my Jedi name is 'Owicial Illiloc.'" Teal'c stated this so seriously that Jack had to turn a laugh into a cough rather quickly.
"Bit of a mouthful, don't you think?" Jack asked.
"Indeed," Teal'c agreed. "The site was most amusing. O'Neill, in case you were wondering, your Jedi name is Calon-Qwa Illiloc."
"Bless you," Cassie joked.
"So, wait, does that mean you're my long-lost Jedi brother, Owwy-shale?" Jack asked, pretending to be overwhelmed with emotions as he grasped Teal'c firmly by the shoulders.
"'Owicial,'" Teal'c corrected. "And I do not know how the names are generated, O'Neill. Perhaps it does," Teal'c said.
Cassie and Aileen were still laughing when someone knocked on the door. "That's Sam and Daniel!" Cassie said excitedly.
Jack looked at everyone in their costumes once more as he opened the door. "Hopp-eee Birrrth-daaaay," he said in an exaggerated 'Dracula voice.'
Sam and Daniel looked at him for several seconds, then looked at each other. "Any chance we're at the wrong house?" Daniel joked.
"Werr-eee funneee," Jack continued, pulling them both inside.
"Jack you sound like the Count from Sesame Street," Daniel told him, smiling around at everyone in their costumes.
Sam was smiling too. "So, a costume party this year?" she asked unnecessarily.
"Yup," Jack replied, stepping closer to her as Daniel went to hug Cassie and meet Aileen. "Everything okay at the base?" he asked quietly.
"Yes, sir, Colonel Reynolds is in charge until six am tomorrow."
"Oy," Jack said, wincing at the early hour. Still, it was the most they could do. For Jack to be away all day getting ready for the party, it had meant that Carter, as his 2IC, had to be there in his shoes. Colonel Reynolds, who lead SG3, was now in charge until then, but both Jack and Sam were planning on having their cell phones close at hand all night long, just in case.
"Where's the cop?" Jack asked, congratulating himself on sounding casual.
"Cassie told us we had to be here early, now I assume it's because she's putting us in costumes too?"
"Yeah, and before you ask I have no idea what they are."
"Hmm. Well, anyway, Pete's been with friends of his at the Colorado Springs PD all day, I think. He's coming later."
"Oh..." Jack tried to stick his hands in his pockets, but the damn cape got in the way. "Good. Um, come meet Cassie's friend..." He steered her over to the group, where everyone was chatting.
"Sam, wow, I like your hair like that," Cassie said by way of greeting, hugging her.
"Thanks, Cassie... nice costume. It's great to see you."
"You too. This is my roomie, Aileen. Aileen, this is my godmother, Sam Carter."
"Hi, it was so nice of you to come and help Cassie and everything, I love your costume..."
"Oh, thanks, it's been fun. Happy birthday, Colonel Carter."
"Just call me Sam, please. Wow! These decorations are unbelievable!"
Jack smiled happily as she surveyed the room. They had a 'yellow brick road' on the floor, that wound around all the furniture. One corner of the room, where the gift table had been started, was a 'corn field,' complete with a Scarecrow stuck to the wall and lots of huge, real sunflowers.
The food was set up against one wall on a long table, the serving chafers and trays empty except for those that contained snacks. That was 'munchkinland,' with huge fake lollipops and all. Balloons hovered in clusters all over the house. "Check out the dining room," Jack said, steering her into the room where they were going to eat dinner. Cassie started some music playing quietly in the background. Since there were only six people, Jack had figured they might as well sit at the table. The tablecloth was green, with green candles and green apples and green floral arrangements. He hit the lights and Sam laughed; the light bulbs in the chandelier were green too.
"Emerald city?" she guessed.
"Got it in one. The patio is the poppy field..." Jack continued to explain.
Sam slid the sliding glass door open and caught a quick eyeful of the poppies that were everywhere, along with a bunch of fairy lights and one discreetly placed heater before Maggie demanded her full and undivided attention. "Maggie, you're an adorable angel!" she exclaimed, crouching down to pet the excited dog.
"Sam, come on, we need to get you and Daniel in your costumes!" Cassie called from inside.
Jack gave her a hand up. "So, too weird?"
"Well, I don't remember there being too many vampires in Oz... or Jedi for that matter," Sam said with a laugh. "But I love it."
"I just hope you're still saying that when you find out whatever Cassie's got planned for you," he quipped.
"Yeah, me too," she agreed as they went back inside.
Cassie and Aileen promptly whisked Daniel and Sam away to be properly attired. While they were gone, Jack ordered the food. Rather than cooking, which he really didn't have time to do, he had decided to order from both Sam and Daniel's favorite places. The combination of Daniel's Mexican food and Sam's Chinese food was definitely a bit strange, but after so many years they were all used to it.
vvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvv
Sam smiled as Cassie and Aileen started fussing with a bunch of stuff in a big box. She had to admit, she was more than a little bit nervous about how this party was going to go, what with Cassie never agreeing to be in the same house with Pete before tonight, and Pete and her CO, together for an entire night in a social setting... not to mention the fact that Daniel turned almost as juvenile as Cassie about Pete... and Teal'c would just probably spend the night sending her silent waves of disapproval from across the room.
But surprisingly, Cassie seemed to be in an excellent mood, and she had clearly put a lot of effort into this party herself. Maybe it would be okay after all. Sam's eyes sparkled as she surveyed the stack of clothing Aileen was pressing into Daniel's arms as she steered him towards the bathroom. No doubt as to what that costume was.
Two seconds after Daniel had disappeared into the bathroom, he called loudly, "Hey! These are my clothes! What the hell did you do to my shirt!"
"Nothing!" Cassie called back.
Aileen, who was near Sam, added quietly to her, "Nothing except roll around the backyard in it."
Sam laughed. They were taking their jobs as party planners quite seriously, it appeared.
"Okay, Sam," Cassie said, handing her a pair of nude, shimmery pantyhose, a deep wine-colored scoop-neck leotard, and a gauzy green and purple tiered scarf-skirt.
"What is this supposed to be?" Sam asked, looking down at the things in her hands.
"You'll see, put all that on and then we'll go from there. Come on, it's going to be really great. And you don't have to wear the pantyhose, but I thought you might be cold without them. They're yours," Cassie added.
Sam sighed and started to get dressed. She had just pulled on the leotard over the pantyhose when Daniel came out of the bathroom dressed as Indiana Jones, from fedora to boots. The costume was so complete that the overall effect was quite impressive.
"What are you supposed to be, a mime or something?" he asked as he studied what Sam was wearing.
"This isn't her whole costume, Daniel," Cassie explained. "But my God, you look good."
"Best costume of the night," Aileen quickly agreed.
Even Sam, who had always thought of Daniel as a brother, had to admit that he looked really, really, really good. "Where did you get that jacket?" Sam asked. The brown, older style leather jacket was perfectly worn in all the right places.
Cassie threw a satchel over Daniel's shoulder as Aileen handed him a coiled whip. "Please don't tell me where you got the whip," Daniel added, looking uncomfortable at being the center of so much attention as everyone started fussing with little details of his costume.
"Oh, Daniel, don't be ridiculous, we borrowed the hat and whip from a guy in our dorm who went to a party as Indiana Jones," Cassie explained.
"Although he didn't pull it off quite as well as you," Aileen added.
Sam could tell Daniel was embarrassed at the way the much younger girls were so obviously taken by their own clever costuming choice.
"And, Sam, the jacket is Jack's," Cassie added.
"So... what are you supposed to be?" Daniel repeated, a mocking glint in his eye.
"I don't know yet," Sam said defensively, quickly pulling the skirt on. It was sort of translucent so it probably didn't really cover up all that much more, but at least she felt less naked.
"Go downstairs with the vampire and the Jedi and just wait and see," Cassie said, standing up on her tiptoes to make a few adjustments to the rim of his fedora before pointing him at the door.
"Yes, ma'am," Daniel muttered, leaving.
"Cassie, you should have let him stay," Aileen said solemnly.
Sam had to hide a laugh. Poor Daniel. So oblivious to the effect he had on the ladies. It was cute.
vvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvv
Daniel went downstairs, announcing his arrival by humming his 'own' theme music. "Dummm dundumduuuuuuuuuh dum duh duhhhhhh..."
He smiled somewhat self-consciously as he entered the living room, where Jack and Teal'c were standing around talking, looking for all the world just like they always did, as though they had completely forgotten that they were wearing costumes at all.
Both Jack and Teal'c stared at him for several seconds. Teal'c tilted his head and said, "You make a fine Indiana Jones, Daniel Jackson. An excellent choice."
"Thanks, Teal'c," Daniel said.
"That's my jacket," Jack muttered.
"Hey, you try saying no to Cassie when she's got that 'don't mess with me' look on her face."
"I did," Jack said, plucking at his cape pointedly. "How come you get to be Indiana Jones and I'm just a vampire?"
"Was that a whine?" Daniel asked, blinking innocently.
"No," Jack said stubbornly. "Besides, as soon as she turns her back, I'm losing the cape."
"We'll see," Daniel said with a knowing smile. Like Cassie would let that happen anytime soon.
"So, what are they doing to Carter?" Jack asked.
"I'm not sure... I only saw her halfway dressed."
Jack's eyebrows shot up right along with Teal'c's. Daniel cleared his throat. "That's... not what I meant. She was dressed when I left, just not... finished."
"She's finished now!" Aileen announced as she entered the room.
"Yes, she is," Cassie called. "Allow me to present the birthday girl... my fairy godmother!"
Jack, Teal'c, and Daniel had not stared at Sam quite so long or in such a way since many, many years ago, when Jack had made her play anthropologist with the Shavadi (in what had turned out to be one of his stupidest mistakes of all time. Yeesh! Thank God his 2IC could kick ass.)
In addition to the leotard/flowy skirt thing, her skin was all... shiny. Not quite glittery, but... shimmery. And she was wearing a large set of wings, not quite like Maggie's angel wings though. These looked more insect-like. Dragonfly or butterfly or something, Jack wasn't sure. They were all gauzy and sparkly and delicate looking. She also had her birthday tiara on.
"Colonel Carter, you look most enchanting," Teal'c said, the first of the men to speak. Her cheeks glowed pink; she was clearly uncomfortable with the costume but was humoring Cassie and Aileen.
Jack decided that was the best part of the whole costume: how she was managing to look lovely and feminine and pretty, but also managing to look ridiculously made-up at the same time. And slightly pissed off and slightly amused at her own predicament as well. This was clearly not Sam Carter, and was not the type of costume she would ever have picked out for herself in a million years. But, that had probably been Cassie's intention all along.
"Thanks, Teal'c."
"You look great, Sam. Very 'Midsummer Night's Dream,'" Daniel said.
Jack said the only thing he could think to verbalize, and ironically, it seemed to put her instantly at ease. "Impressive wingspan, Carter."