"Come on, Carter!" Mitchell prodded, "It'll be fun! You know you want to."
Sam sighed, wondering for at least the hundredth time how she had managed to let Cam talk her into this. "I look like a slut, Cameron!"
"You're supposed to, silly! Those dads need something to keep themselves occupied while their kids tell Santa what they want for Christmas."
Sam demurely walked out of the dressing room – clothed in the sparse clothing of one of Santa's 'little helpers'. "You so owe me, Cam."
Mitchell (dressed in the more conservative clothes of a male elf) just winked at her, "You look hot, Carter. Give it up! Let's go, they're starting in a few minutes."
It had been three years since her last encounter with Jack O'Neill, and yet he was always on her mind. She only allowed Cameron and her other friends to drag her to events like this on the fleeting hope that maybe she could forget about Jack – even if it was just for one second.
Cam saw her far away expression, "Thinking about O'Neill?"
Sam nodded, "It's so strange. I've only ever really seen him three times and yet I feel so…I don't know – attached to him. Like he's my other half."
"You're soul mate."
Sam glared at him, "I wouldn't go that far, but yeah. Something like that."
"Come on, dreamer. We've got candy to give away!"
About half way through her shift, Sam spotted someone she had hoped (and dreaded) to never see again. Plastering on a very fake smile, she walked up to the father as Cam led the eight-year-old boy to Santa.
"It's been a while, Sam," Jack said in a low voice so as not to arouse the suspicion of his son.
"Yes, it has, Jack. That's Charlie? He seems like a good kid." She looked him in the eyes for the first time in three years; "You and Sarah are doing good with him, Jack – really good."
Jack sighed, "Sarah and I are separated, Sam. The divorce will go through sometime within the next six months."
Sam looked back to Charlie, "So? What's that got to do with me? We hardly know each other, Jack! Sure, I've read some of the mission reports and there's our two conversations – but we hardly know each other. I bet you don't even know how I take my coffee."
"Black, one sugar. You like to taste it the way it was meant to be."
Sam's eyes flickered back to Jack's hopeful face, "You have a very good memory, Jack O'Neill with two 'L's."
He smirked, "That I do." As Charlie finished telling Santa his long list of things he wanted, Jack got a piece of paper out of his wallet, writing something down on it. "Here, if you ever want to get to know me better. Just call."
Sam took the piece of paper willingly, "Where are you stationed at?"
"Colorado Springs. You?"
"I wouldn't be here if I wasn't." Charlie joined the two and as they left, Sam whispered, "See you around, fly boy."
When Sam got back to the base, she was surprised beyond belief that there was a note from General Kerigen to go to his office as soon as she got in.
"General?" Sam asked as she saluted her CO.
"Captain, at ease. Sit down. There's a matter of great importance General West wants to discuss with you. General?"
It was only then that Sam noticed the presence of the other General in the room. General West seemed like a good commander. "Captain, I hear that you are a physicist. Is that true?"
"Theoretical astrophysicist, sir."
Kerigen smirked at Sam's handling of West. The two General's had never gotten along and West wanting to take Sam from Kerigen's base was just mean. There! He thought it; West asking for Samantha Carter to be transferred to the Pentagon was mean!
West leaned up against Kerigen's desk, "Yes, well, anyway, Captain, there is a matter of utmost importance taking place at the Pentagon right now. It's more of a scientific experiment than anything else, and we had hoped that you would be able to solve the puzzle."
"I'm not going to order you, Sam," Kerigen said, looking at the woman he respected as a daughter and a friend. "This could be a riddle with no answer. In a sense what we're asking you to do is tell us what the picture is with only half the pieces of the puzzle. You're a very valuable asset to the Academy, so I'm not going to order you to do this one way or another."
"What do you say, Carter? Do you like puzzles?"
Sam looked between the faces of both men. The Pentagon? How long would it take? What about Jack? She just found him again, could she give him up that easily? Scientific puzzle, he said. It could put her down in history books for all generations to see hereafter.
After a few minutes of strained silence, she spoke, "How long would I have before we had to leave if I say yes?"
"One week."
She looked down at her hands – the woman battling with the scientist. Sam looked up with a new determination in her face, "I'll do it."
A/N: Reviews? Anyone? Anyone at all?