This wasn't the chapter that I had planned, but I love Halloween (it's my favorite holiday), so I couldn't help but squeeze a festive chapter in. At least this one isn't angsty!
As always, thank you for the reviews and favorites. I appreciate it, especially since I just had two really rough midterms. Writing this chapter has been a fun little reprieve. :)
Disclaimer: I don't own anything.
October, 1999
"Oh good, you're here! And you have your costume on!"
Cassie's small hand gripped the front of Jack's white t-shirt, and she tugged impatiently, trying to drag him into the house. She was chattering a million miles a minute, her words running together in a way that he didn't really understand. So he took the time to observe her Halloween costume, wondering just what he was getting himself into.
Cassie was dressed in a white dress, a long tan vest, and tan fringe boots. Her long, red hair was down and wavy, and she wore a small band of sunflowers across her forehead. It was easy to tell that she was decked out in the style of the 70s—something that she had been obsessed with ever since she had found out about SG-1's little trip back to the past (Janet had told all of SG-1 that Cassie had to be at least 18 before they told Cassie about how she was going to be the one to send them back to the present).
Janet, forever looking for ways to subtly embarrass SG-1 (her targets were mostly Jack and Daniel for being such pains while they were stuck in her infirmary—Sam and Teal'c were just sort of collateral damage at this point), had gotten a picture from the security footage after SG-1 had left to debrief. So Cassie had seen SG-1 in all of their 70s glory, and apparently there had been laughs all around.
In seeing that picture, however, Cassie had decided that she wanted all of SG-1 to dress up in 70s costumes for Halloween with her. The first year or so that Cassie had been on Earth, it had been mostly about slowly introducing her to Earth's holidays and customs, while doing their best to incorporate the ones she had on Hanka. Now Cassie was fully on board, and ready to jump into whatever holiday traditions the members of SG-1 and Janet presented her with.
Of course, SG-1 used this opportunity to introduce Teal'c to as much of Earth's culture as they could. Teal'c was endlessly interested and almost always willing to participate, which made it extra fun for everyone involved. Daniel took a special interest in these holiday celebrations and childhood traditions as well, since he didn't have very many childhood memories of his own. So when Cassie demanded that he dress in a replica of his 1970s outfit from their trip to the past for Halloween, Daniel didn't even pretend to argue.
Jack didn't know much about Janet's childhood, but he could only assume that it was relatively typical. Either way, Janet had gone out of her way to ensure that Cassie had everything she possibly could to make her upbringing as safe and happy as possible, despite her family's busy and often dangerous work. She did an excellent job, and Jack was grateful that he got the chance to be a part of Cassie's life.
Jack had a relatively typical childhood himself—his family was loud and Irish and often obnoxious with their nosiness, as most families tended to be. Still, he couldn't help but take these holiday celebrations, or firsts that children experienced, and relate them back to his own son. His most recent memories of trick-or-treating, or chaperoning field trips, or picking up kids early from school on a snow day, were all attached to Charlie. There was a certain sadness that was like a veil over those memories, especially when Cassie experienced something that Charlie never got the chance to.
And then Jack would look at Cassie's smiling face and her bright eyes, feel her little arms around him as she hugged him, and the pain would lessen. He'd never forget that pain, but he would always feel that he was extremely lucky to get the chance to be a part of Cassie's life, and watch her grow up.
So it left Sam as the one with the most normal childhood. Jack knew that Jacob hadn't been around a whole lot, but before Sam's mother had passed, she had done everything she could to make sure that Sam and her brother experienced autumn hayrides, trips to the apple orchard, pumpkin picking, watching classic Halloween movies, and trick-or-treating.
Jack smiled to himself as he thought about Sam's impressive 4th of July decoration display. He hadn't known that she was so creative—but then again, he imagined that once Samantha Carter put her mind to something, there was nothing that she couldn't accomplish.
She had done the same when Cassie had decided she wanted all of SG-1 to dress up for Halloween with her. Janet's porch had been decked out in the finest of autumn fair, with pumpkins, cornstalks, skeletons, and scarecrows. Spiderwebs were strung up across the posts of Janet's front porch, with sparkly little black spiders placed all throughout. A large bowl in the shape of a witch's cauldron was filled with to the brim with candy. The jack-o-lanterns that Cassie, Janet, and all of SG-1 had carved the weekend before was lit with flickering candles. Teal'c had been meticulous in his pumpkin carving, of course, Jack thought with a grin. Quite the impressive carving of an alien with a flying saucer had taken place, on quite possibly one of the biggest pumpkins Jack had ever seen.
So now, they had been roped into dressing in the clothes they had worn to blend in while they were in the 1970s. As far as Halloween costumes went, it actually wasn't that bad. Jack had a certain fondness for leather jackets, and had no problem digging one of his own up for the costume. Paired with jeans, a white t-shirt, and boots, the only thing that was truly 70s about his outfit was the bandana wrapped around his head and the rounder frames of his sunglasses.
The original clothes they had returned in after their little trip to the past had been swept away to some research facility and deemed classified. What tests the geek squad could possibly be running on those clothes, Jack couldn't begin to guess, and he honestly didn't want to. Even so, they had all done a remarkable job of finding near exact-replicas so they could dress up for Halloween.
"Nice scarf, Danny Boy," Jack said with a smirk as he followed Cassie into the kitchen. Daniel glared at him as he unwrapped a Snickers bar, but didn't say anything in response.
"You guys look amazing," Cassie said with wide eyes.
Truthfully, Jack would have dressed in any costume that Cassie had wanted him to, just to see her this happy. It kind of made him afraid of what Cassie would want them to dress as in the years to come, but Jack figured he should just focus on this year.
Cassie shoved a sheet of paper into Jack's chest and then ran across the kitchen to Janet, who was wearing a pair of bell bottom jeans and a floral shirt with a flower crown that matched Cassie's. She reached for the pillow case she was going to use for her candy haul and then ran over to Teal'c to show him.
"How much candy have you given her already?" Jack asked with a laugh as he opened the piece of paper Cassie had given him.
"None, if you can believe it," Sam told him. Her eyes were bright, and she had one of those Carter smiles on her lips that seemed permanently in place. "She's just… high on the spirit of Halloween, I guess."
Jack blinked at her, pleasantly surprised that he just heard that come out of Samantha Carter's mouth. "I can't believe you just said that with a straight face. Do you realize how that sounded?"
Sam tried to grimace, but she was still smiling that Carter-smile. "Yeah, I know. But look at her!" Sam gestured to Cassie, who was currently spinning in a circle and watching the skirt of her white dress float up around her. "She's having so much fun."
Jack was having one of those moments that he tried his hardest not to have around his second-in-command. She was all big, bright blue eyes, soft smile, with a maternal tenderness in her voice that tugged at Jack's heart in a way he hadn't allowed himself to acknowledge since he met her.
When they spent time together outside of the base, the lines became a little bit blurred—she became more Sam than Carter, and Jack spent a fair amount of time wondering if that was why Sam insisted on calling him "Sir", no matter what setting they were in. Jack tried to return that respect by continuing to refer to her as "Carter", even if they were in the middle of a pumpkin patch while Daniel and Teal'c competed to find the pumpkin that weighed the most.
Maybe one day, they could relax the stringent boundaries that surrounded their rather unique relationship. Maybe…
Jack blinked when he realized that Sam had caught him staring at her. She was looking at him without any walls, her blue eyes open and full of expression—they often found themselves like this, with one of them catching the other trying to sneak a look. Jack sent her a smile and shrugged his shoulders, and Sam pressed her lips together in a poor attempt to hide the way her own smile broadened.
In an effort to change the subject, Jack held up the piece of paper Cassie had shoved into his hands. He scanned it and immediately recognized the Frasier's neighborhood. What appeared to be a map had been color-coded, and it didn't take a genius to figure out what it was for. Still, Jack couldn't help but ask, because he was pretty sure he knew who had helped create this map (who else could make such meticulous, precise lines, and then let a thirteen year old color all over it?).
"Cass, is this a… map of your neighborhood?"
"Duh," Cassie said immediately, in a voice that suggested Jack was a little dense for even asking the question. "Of course it is! Sam helped me make it!" The captain in question was now blushing and trying to edge away, across the kitchen to her best friend. "She said we had to strategize to get the most candy!"
"She did, did she?" Jack grinned and followed Sam across the kitchen. Daniel joined him, likely to provide backup for Sam. It was clear to see that he had taken a sort of big brother role with Sam—it had become even more apparent after what had happened with Jolinar. Sam, of course, recognized it and allowed it to happen, which only spoke to how much she cared for Daniel and didn't mind it.
"Carter, care to share what the color-coded houses mean?" Jack asked as he smoothed the map out for her on the counter.
Sam looked like she very badly wanted to roll her eyes, but managed to hold back just in time. She settled for narrowing her eyes into an expression that wasn't quite a glare, but was close enough for Jack to get the general idea. "I just drew the map. Cassie was the one who color-coded the houses."
Cassie appeared at Jack's elbow, hoping from one foot to the other in her excitement. "The green houses are the ones who give out the full-sized candy bars. The blue houses have my favorite candies in miniature sizes. The orange houses have candy that is still good, even though their not my favorites. The red houses have miniature-sized candies that don't suck, and that I can probably pass off to you guys if I don't want them." She wrinkled her nose then, and added, "The purple houses are the ones that give out raisins."
Jack was trying his very hardest not to laugh, because even though the system was rather intense, it was actually pretty good. Jack was all about a good tactical plan, after all. "Hey, now," he finally managed without laughing outright. "Teal'c loves raisins. They're nature's candy, after all."
Teal'c, God bless him, backed Jack up by inclining his head. "Indeed."
Cassie stared at them both for a long moment before she wrinkled her nose and declared, "Great, then Teal'c can have my raisins!" Then she snatched up her pillow case and ran off, declaring that she was finally ready to go trick-or-treating.
"We're in for a long night, aren't we?" Sam asked with a laugh.
Jack chuckled. "Oh yeah." He knew that not a single member of SG-1 would trade this night, for any other, though.
Thanks for reading! I wanted to get this up on Halloween, but November 1st isn't that bad. I'll count that as a win!
