Author's Note: Well, this chapter got twisted. *ahem* Moving on...

There were hundreds of them, all perfectly aligned, perfectly lit, perfectly covered in snow. It was every child's dream, but she was so small and the trees were too tall, looming, leaving shadows that danced with the breeze and made her nervous.

Movement caught her eye, sending her spinning right. "Mom?" She darted through two of the trees toward the motion. She had to be there – she wouldn't have left her alone. "Mom? Where are you? Mom?"

But there was nothing. Nothing but the wind beginning to whip around her face, harsh as the shadows, and she turned her back to it. Ahead of her, something moved again.

"Mom?" She raced for her, moving fast, but the wind changed again, howling against her. It blew up the snow, only it wasn't – it didn't melt when it hit her skin, but sliced, tiny shards of glass that stuck in her mittens and tore into her cheeks. But it couldn't stop her as the shadow charged ahead without her. "Mom, wait!" she cried, her salty tears stinging the cuts and freezing halfway down her face.

And she was gaining on her, catching up, when suddenly the ground shifted and went vertical as if someone had picked up the world and shaken it and she was falling, screaming-

"Carter!"

Sam snapped into reality with a gasp. The white was gone, replaced by glaring sunlight and two concerned brown eyes. "Bad dream?"

"Yeah." She went to rub her eyes, only to find that Colonel O'Neill had a solid grip on her hand and wasn't letting go.

"You okay?" he asked softly.

"Yes, sir. Sorry." Gently tugging her hand free, she blinked a few times and pushed to sitting. The dream was all new and all old and all too relevant – the girl without a mother on Christmas, lost and alone, and it made her so glad that Cassie had Janet. Still, she wanted to share in that. "Can I go back to work now?"

He checked his watch, waffled a second, then shrugged. "Sure."

"I'd just really like to be home for Christmas, sir." She, too, glanced at her watch.

Six a.m. Christmas Eve Day. Time was running very, very short.