Author's notes: thanks for reviewing! Glad you enjoy this little piece of Jack and Cassie :-) Here's some more. Final chapter will be here before X-mas.


Snow flakes slowly whirled, making little white dots on the windshield before the wiper shoved them to the sides. Jack O'Neill drove slowly over the white slippery roads, the tires crunching through the fresh layer of snow. The heater of his truck was blowing warm air into the cab, but it was still cold.

Cassandra Fraiser sat beside him, shivering from the cold despite the woolen sweater and winter parka she was wearing. She was blowing some warm air on her frozen fingers, keeping an eye out on the road. "Are we there yet?"

"Almost," Jack answered, glancing at her. "You're not having second thought, are you?"

"No!" she called out. "Of course not!"

"Good. I'm pulling over... Hopefully the supermarket has some food left for fools who haven't got their Christmas dinner planned yet." O'Neill parked the car, jumped out and together they rushed inside.

A quick scan through the store told them there wasn't much left to prepare a cozy Christmas dinner.

"I'm sorry, sir," the lady behind the counter told them. "You'll have to settle for canned food. We've got soup, meat and vegetables... it's not as good as fresh, but it is late already."

"We know," Jack looked at Cassie. "How about a deep frying pizza?"

The girl was lost in thoughts. She looked over her shoulder, then back at the woman behind the counter. "You've got apples, right?" The woman nodded. "Potatoes?" Cassie wanted to know. Another nod. She turned to Jack, her face thrilled with enthusiasm. "You know, I could try to make some Panladad."

Jack frowned. "Panladad? Sure! Knock yourself out. What is it?"

"It's something my mother used to make," a somber expression replaced the happiness for a brief moment. "I think I remember how she did that. It's not difficult. You'll love it!" Cassandra now turned back to the lady. "Do you have some pork that I can cook?"

"Cook?" the woman shook her head. "I only have some packages of sealed bacon. You'll have to bake that."

Cassie looked disappointed.

"Hey, we'll take the bacon," Jack said. He walked off toward the right aisle and came back with two packages of bacon, holding them up high in the air. "When Plan A doesn't work you'll have to go to Plan B. It will work out great, Cass," he encouraged her.

Cassandra nodded. "Okay. Let's take the deep frying pizza for tonight then and we'll have Panladad tomorrow night."

They stuffed everything in paper bags, Jack paid the bill and they carried it all back to the truck.

---oo---ooo---

Ten minutes later, Jack parked the truck in front of his mountain cabin. After carrying all their stuff inside, Jack worked to get a fire going. Soon after, the flames were slowly spreading warm air through the cold wooden den and the pair sat close to the fire, gulping hot steaming coffee.

"You wanna tell me what was so bad about visiting your uncle?" Jack asked, breaking the silence.

"I..." Cassie hesitated. "I don't really know. We didn't have Christmas on Hanka. Something similar to it, though, but... "

"But?"

"I guess I don't really like Christmas. It just doesn't feel right, celebrating this with Janet and her family. I mean... "Cassie stopped in mid-sentence, a silent sob making her shiver.

"You think it's not fair to your own family. Is that it?" Jack guessed, moving closer to the younger girl to wrap an arm around her shoulder for comfort.

A single tear rolled down her cheeks. "Yes. I can't betray my own parents, sister and brothers, can I?"

Jack shook her slightly. "Hey... come on. It's okay to miss your family. It's okay to feel sad. You've lost a lot, Cass."

Cassie sobbed, more tears following the first now. Jack pulled her closer, hugging her and gently rubbed her back. "There's nothing in the world that can bring them back, Cass. Believe me, I know. I also know that there's not a day that you won't be thinking about them, whisking you could embrace them one last time, longing for one last kiss goodnight. You'll just have to live with that. But remember that the family you've got now loves you, too. You're not alone, okay?"

"I know," the girl wiped her tears away. "It's just hard. Especially around this time of year."

"Loving this family and this life doesn't make you love your biological parents and family less, Cass. It's okay to make the best out of the situation. That's surviving. I don't think you parents would have wanted you to give up, now do you?" Jack took out a tissue and handed it to Cassandra before running one hand tenderly through her long blond hair.

Cassie shook her head. "No, they would have wanted me to move on. You're right."

"Have you talked to Janet about this?"

"No. Would she understand? Or would she think I'm being ungrateful?"

"Why don't you try? You'll be surprised, Cass. You have a great new mom, who loves you very much. You should have seen her..." Jack's mind wandered off to the situation a couple of months ago, when Cassie had nearly died because of the retrovirus.

"What? When?" Cassie demanded, pulling herself away to look the Colonel in the eye.

He shrugged his shoulders. "When Nirrti was back, remember? Janet stood there, pointing a loaded gun at the bitch. She came damn close to actually shooting her. That's why Nirrti finally agreed to heal you..."

Cassandra's mouth fell open from surprise. "She did that? Cool!"

"Yeah," Jack sighed. "She risked everything, her career, her life... Got a pretty fair reprimand for it as well. All for you..."

Cassie fell silent. She wiped her face again then looked down. "She's great, isn't she?"

"Yes, she is," Jack said, then moved to place more wood on the fire. "And so are you. Don't ever forget that."

Cassandra, slowly relaxing after their conversation, looked around the place. She had been here before, but only during summertime. "We need a Christmas tree, Jack," she said.

"We do?" he pulled a face. "In that case, young lady, you better put something warm back on, because we'll have to go outside and cut one down."

Cassie's eyes started glowing. "Cool!"

All dressed up, Jack opened the little shed behind the cabin, taking out a sled and a huge axe.

"Don't you think I'm a little bit too old to go sledding?" Cassie commented jokingly.

"You are?" Jack feigned surprise. "In that case: don't you think I'm a little bit too old to carry a Christmas tree all the way back home?"

"Oh," Cassie nodded in understanding, took the ropes and started pulling. "Let's go."

---oo---oo---