When they were out of earshot, Jack turned back to his youngest brother and embraced him. "It's good to see you, Luke."
"You too, Jack. It's been way too long."
"Yeah, let's not do that again. Hey, did you meet Murray?"
Luke hesitated a little, still intimidated by the Jaffa's height and size, "Umm, only briefly."
Jack grinned as he saw his brother's look, "Don't worry. Murray's harmless unless someone does something to endanger someone Murray cares about."
The younger man's eyebrows shot up in a very Jack like expression, "Ah."
"Murray!" Jack called Teal'c over, "I want you to properly meet my youngest brother: Luke. Luke, this is one of my best friends, T. Murray."
Teal'c bowed his head again, "Indeed, it is again an honor to meet you, Luke O'Neill."
"And you too, T. Murray."
"Please, you may refer to me as Teal'c. It is my given name."
"Teal'c? That's an interesting name, where are you from."
"A small tribe in eastern Africa."
"And your name means…?"
He raised an eyebrow, unused to being asked so many questions from an O'Neill, "It means 'strength'."
Jack winced as the raised eyebrow turned on him, "Sorry, T. I forgot to warn you that my brother here has a Ph.D. in Ancient Egypt. Danny would just love to meet him."
"Indeed."
Luke (who was warming up quite nicely to this giant of a man named Teal'c. Or was it Murray? Oh well, he'd just call him Teal'c) turned back to his oldest brother, "Danny who?"
"Daniel Jackson."
The young man's eyes grew wide, "You mean the one who theorized that the Great Pyramids were built by aliens."
Jack winced again, "That's the one."
"You know him?"
Jack smirked, he could tell where this conversation was going, "Yep. He's one of my best friends, in fact."
Luke turned his very confused gaze to Teal'c, "My brother is friends with scientists?"
Teal'c nodded, "Indeed, both Daniel Jackson and Colonel Carter are scientists."
"What does Sam study?"
"She is, in fact, a theoretical astrophysicist."
Luke's eyes bulged, "A-a the-theoretical astrophysicist?"
Before Jack could respond, the doorbell rang again. Oh, great, more early family, he thought gloomily.
"Yeah, yeah, I'm coming, I'm coming!"
When he opened the door, he was pleasantly surprised to be pushed back by the collective force of two eleven-year-old girls with the trademark O'Neill brown hair. "Uncle Jack!" they cried in unison.
Jack smiled warmly as he disentangled himself from his two nieces. "Hey, Zip, Cilla. How's life?"
The twins giggled at their uncle's word choice. It seemed to Teal'c that the giggle was an O'Neill family trait.
"We're doing great," one of the twins replied. The one who answered her uncle first was dressed in a pair of blue jeans and a black sweater (obviously Ziporah or Zip as she was affectionately called by her uncle). Cilla was in complete contrast to her sister as she was dressed in a long pastel pink skirt that went to her ankles and hid the pink boots she was wearing, not to mention her long sleeved pink shirt bore the phrase, "Yes I AM a princess! My father is the King of Kings."
"Come on in," Jack said, ushering the small family into his living room where Teal'c and Luke were sitting down, talking in quiet voices about Star Wars. Nathan rolled his eyes as he plopped down on the sofa beside his brother and said in a loud voice, "You know, Chewbacca is the best character in all those movies?"
Teal'c shook his head slightly, "You are mistaken. Yoda is the best character. This is very evident by his superior intellect and fighting capabilities."
Tris rolled her eyes at the discussion and gave her brother-in-law a hug, "How are you, Jack? Life treating you okay?"
"Eh…the back's bothering me again, and the knees aren't what they used to be. Other than that I seem to be okay. Except there's this one little problem I can't seem to get rid of: I'm old."
Zip hit her uncle softly on his arm, "You're not that old, Uncle Jack! Just remember Methuselah!"
"Oy! I would have hated to be him!"
As the four walked into the living room, Teal'c looked at Jack and questioned, "O'Neill, how much larger is your family?"
"Well, T, I still have four more siblings and their families that need to arrive. The rest should be here tomorrow or the day after."
Tris looked at Jack confused, "Hanukkah started tomorrow night, why would the rest of the family be arriving on the first day?"
"No, no, Hanukkah starts the night after tomorrow." Tris shook her head, pulling her day timer out of her purse she showed December to Jack. Hanukkah did, indeed, start the next night – a day earlier than Jack had anticipated.
"CARTER!" he cried at the top of his lungs. Seconds later Sam came bounding up the steps carrying a very excited Phebe in her arms.
"Sir?" she said after she had caught her breath.
"What day does Hanukkah start?"
"The day after tomorrow."
"Then why does this, say it starts tomorrow night!" He shoved the day timer into her face, gauging her reaction carefully.
Sam looked her boss in the eyes and said calmly and clearly, "Because you asked me what day Hanukkah started, not what night."
"You're such a pain in the mik'ta," Jack mumbled as he handed Tris back her day timer.
Teal'c looked at Jack pointedly, "I do not believe your mik'ta can be in any pain at the moment, O'Neill. But if you wish it to be…"
"NO!" Sam and Jack told Teal'c in unison.
Cilla and Zip watched this exchange take place with their mother. The three shared a conniving look that spoke volumes about the mission they were taking upon themselves. Uncle Jack would be happily involved in a serious relationship with Sam by the end of the week.
A/N: Okay, for those of you who might want to know: Yes, the shirt I described Cilla wearing is VERY real. I have one that's based in green with pink wording. It's a tee-shirt, but my sister owns the one described here.
www cbd com is the web site our mom got them at. It's a Christian web site but these people do believe in Jesus so I don't think there'd be a big issue with that. Review please!