December 23rd - Music Box by Cleo the Muse
All Ages
Gen, Drabble, Holiday (Christmas)
Warnings: None
Episodes: None
Synopsis: The AO Happy Place Advent Calendar challenge, in which each day of December (until Christmas), a new door is opened on the Advent calendar, and a picture prompt revealed.
Word count: 400
Status: Completed as of December 25, 2007
December 23rd - Music Box
The Penombri were excellent craftsmen, but after three days of smiling and nodding at the many wares passed by him for inspection, Daniel was sick of all the jewelry, pottery, and other knick-knacks. The mission was supposed to have lasted only two days, ending the day before Christmas Eve, but a mud slide had covered the valley where the Stargate lay, leaving Daniel and SG-12 trapped until the local workmen could clear a safe path to the 'Gate and DHD. Now it was Christmas Eve, and Daniel--who had pitched in to help SG-12 because their own linguist came down with the flu--was missing his friends.
Every Christmas Eve for the last few years, the members of SG-1 had gathered at Jack's house to celebrate, and certain parts of their holiday routine were as regular as the clockwork pieces some of the local artisans had offered. He figured that by now, Sam had put in a Christmas CD, Teal'c was starting on his third helping of the honey-baked ham, and Jack was slipping whiskey into the eggnog and trying to convince Daniel to...
Only Daniel wasn't there, so Jack would have to miss out on trying to get him drunk--not that that ever took much effort or alcohol to accomplish. He wondered if his friends were missing him just as much as he was them.
"Faracur Jackson?" began yet another Penombri craftsman, calling him by the title for which the nearest translation Daniel could determine was "spokesperson". It, like the strangely wispy figures of the locals, was yet another remnant of the humanoid race which had mixed with the Penombri after freeing them from the Goa'uld.
His wandering mind had caused him to miss whatever it was the craftsman said after calling his name, but the first tinny notes from the wind-up music box the Penombri man held caught his attention. Daniel was more surprised than the artist was when his eyes prickled hotly with tears.
The craftsman jabbered at him worriedly, and Daniel waved off his concerns. "I'm fine," he answered thickly. "Where did you hear that song?" He only half heard the explanation about Major Elmore having hummed the tune so the man could carve it onto the metal cylinder that rotated and struck the notes in sequence. Instead, Daniel quietly sang the familiar final line.
"...For the holidays, you can't beat home, sweet home."
Author's Notes:
Since I'm such a sucker for happy endings, we'll just say that SG-12 showed up shortly to tell Daniel the path to the 'Gate was clear and they could all go home in time for Christmas.