"Christmas breakfast was always chocolate chip pancakes and hot cocoa."
Colonel O'Neill raised an eyebrow. "Not energy bars and tea? Really? 'Cause that's what we got."
Laughing a little, she pulled her little metal cup from the embers around the fire and took a sip before handing it to the man next to her. "I bet you'll never make fun of me for carrying tea bags again."
"Clearly, you don't know me at all," he shot back, feigning emotional injury. "I'll make fun of anyone for anything. But this is really good."
As they were sitting huddled together beneath her open sleeping bag, she had to pull away a little in order for her disbelieving stare to have full effect.
"Because it's hot," he clarified quickly. "And only because it's hot. Not because I, y'know, like... tea."
"Are you saying real men don't drink tea?"
"I'm saying this man drinks coffee and beer, Carter, and that's just about-"
"Colonel O'Neill, Major Carter, come in."
The look they shared was but a millisecond long before the Colonel dove for his radio. "Yeah. We're here."
"It's good to hear your voice, Colonel," General Hammond said. "What's your status?"
"Uh... it's gotten cold, sir. We've taken shelter due west of the gate, sir, and there's several inches of snow on the ground."
"It's likely deeper by the gate," Sam said. She opened her mouth to explain exactly why that would happen, but he waved her off and merely repeated her words to the General.
"Understood. We'll investigate the situation further from this end," their CO promised.
"Sir?" Jack asked. "Daniel and Teal'c?"
"They're here, Colonel. And concerned about you."
Because she knew it was geeky and Colonel O'Neill couldn't care less about the answer, Sam leaned over and pressed his thumb to engage the talk button. "What happened to the gate, sir?"
"As far as we can tell, Major, there was some sort of system-wide outage," he said. "We're documenting everything, and I assume you'll want to look at it upon your return."
"Yes, sir. Thank you."
The Colonel shot her a dirty look and reclaimed the radio. "About that return, sir..."
The snowmobiles arrived a little under two hours later, manned by a worried Daniel and an ever-stoic Teal'c. And as grateful as she was to see them – and the weather-appropriate clothing they brought – she couldn't help but frown a little as the machines left tracks in the perfect white snow.