Everyone was covered in a sticky layer of marshmallow. That was the natural consequence of giving s'mores to toddlers. Drew, Lexi, and Luke run around the campfire with the hands outstretched, enjoying the way that the adults flinch and pull away from their reach.
"Why don't you tell a story?" Cassie asks her dad, by way of distracting the little kids and keeping her hair bun (she'd learned to put her hair in a bun when the SG-1 group was getting together) free of the sticky mess.
"Right, a story," Daniel says. He knows that everyone here wants some funny thing that happened once to SG-1, a favorite at such gatherings. However, he can't tell something like that in the presence of Amy. She's been around the SG crowd long enough that she knows all is not as it seems, but she doesn't quite know what makes them so different from other people.
Rya'c picks up on the reason for the pause, and stands up, offering Amy his hand, "Would you like to accompany me on a walk?"
"Behave with honor, son," Teal'c says in passing. He's beyond the point of giving his son more than reminders. In his view, his son is done. He is unfailingly proud of Rya'c in his studies, in his relationships, and in the way he helps keep the family afloat. Both he and Shelby started to treat Rya'c like an adult, slowly, over the last couple of years, until it was almost complete.
"Indeed," his son replies, completely unaware that this, as well as many other thing he said and did, were imitations of his father.
As soon as the two are out of earshot, a rowdy re-telling of SG-1's favorite hits begins.
"I didn't meant to do this tonight," Amy says.
"What?" Rya'c asks turning toward her.
"I applied for something a while back. I didn't think I'd get it in a million years, but I did."
"Good for you, what is it?" Rya'c asks, genuinely excited for her, which just makes what she had to say a whole lot harder.
"It's a year overseas."
"Over what sea?" Rya'c asked. He may be used to most parts of the culture, but he still gets confused ever know and again, by a turn of phrase.
"I mean in another country. I won't actually have to cross any sea to get there, just fly in a plane for a really long time. It's in Argentina."
Rya'c tries to hide his sadness, he knows that he's supposed to be happy for her. A good boyfriend would be happy for her. "I'm going to miss you very much," he says, letting the sorrow get into his voice more than he meant to.
She sighs, "I think we should break up."
"Why? You're coming back. I will wait your return; it will only be a year."
"That's not the problem, not really. I'm an anthropology major. Now, I know that some of them end up holed up in some college or doing studies on urban youth or something. I don't want to be one of those people, though. I want to go out and see the world; the whole world. I want to stay in a culture just long enough for the culture shock to wear off, and then I want to go to a whole new culture. You are this stable, upstanding citizen. Which is great, don't get me wrong. I just can't picture you following me around the world. You're going to want to stay close to your folks, and you're going to expect me to have kids someday. I don't want those things. I don't think you could ever want the things that I do. I just don't see any future in store for us."
"I think that you are wrong. Dr. Jackson is an anthropologist."
"Well, not really. He has a degree in anthropology, and he's smart," Amy knew, because she'd had many conversations with him, "But he works for the military. It's not like he goes out there, and actually does anthropology. It would be worse than being trapped in some academic library."
"I don't think you can even begin to imagine all the things that he has seen and explored. They travel farther than you ever will," Rya'c says.
"They aren't gone long enough for that," Amy says.
"You only think that because you don't understand how they travel," he replies.
Amy shakes her head, thinking to herself that this was by far the most desperate way to stave off a break-up that she had ever seen.
"Come with me," he says, grabbing her hand, and she allows herself to be dragged one more time by the man that was her first love.
In the darkness, the people around the campfire don't see them approach. They hear Jack is saying, "This planet had these little green guys…"
"They were green because they contained chlorophyll," Sam puts in.
"Right, so they were like these walking plants, or whatever. Only, they didn't look like plants, they look like the Great Gazoo, you know, from the Flintstones, complete with the helmet."
Daniel catches the chuckle then, "So Jack here goes around calling them Gazoo, all of them. They just keep turning to him, and saying, 'Bless you'. They think he's sneezing!"
Everyone burst into laughter, including, unfortunately, the two that are hiding in the bushes. The group turns to them in shock.
"Rya'c," his father reproaches, and the kid is afraid that he has not 'behaved with honor', as his father told him to a couple of minutes ago.
"How much did she hear?" Jack asks, standing up and looking like a general, as he rarely does during team nights.
"She needed to understand the benefits of working for the Stargate program," Rya'c says, looking them full in the face without a trace of remorse.
"Oh, really, and why would that be?" Jack challenges.
"If she does not understand these things, she is going to leave me," Rya'c says with enough emotion that he feels shamed in front of both his family, and the girl that he loves.
"Rya'c… I'm sorry. I didn't want to hurt you, I just wanted to see the world," she says, not understanding what the strange science fiction tale that she just witnessed being told would have to do with the reality of her break-up.
"What if you could see a lot more than just the world?" Daniel asks with a sparkle in his eye.
"Classified," Jack warns.
"Come on, honey, she's as good as family," Sam says, "Ok, you've got to keep this quiet, but…" she begins, and for the next two hours the whole secret of the Stargate program is told with colorful embellishments provided by the children of the god slayers.
-0-
"Are you alright?" Shelby asks as she drives Amy home. Her step-son still hasn't learned to drive.
Amy nods her head. She sighs, "He understands why I'm still going, right?"
Shelby's eyes sparkle, "Yes, I think he gets it. He just wanted you to know that the two of you could still be together, if you wanted it. It could be just a temporary separation, if that's what you wanted it to be."
"I have no idea what I want," Amy admits.
"Well, that's ok too, you're young yet."
A Few Days Later
A three-year-old, at two in the morning two nights before Christmas, and a pile of presents under the tree. I bet you think you know how this story is going to end. Nope, sorry, you're wrong. Little Lexi Dunn is not about to open any presents. She's got other ideas in her mind.
With a sharpie, she looks carefully for all the "L"s. She knows that this is how her name starts. She doesn't know that this is also the way that her brother's name starts. So when she tries to mark all of her presents with a giant "X", his get caught up in the mix as well.
Teal'c may have started sleeping when he lost his symbiote, but he still doesn't sleep all the way through the night. He's prone to three or four hour bouts with a half hour or more of wakefulness in between. Maybe it's a side effect of the tretonin, or maybe it's a habit left over from when he's a Jaffa, or maybe it's just the way that his body is set up.
He walks into the living room, and catches Lexi in the act. She has almost as much sharpie on her face and hands as she managed to get on the boxes, he feels lucky that none got on the floor or her pajamas. At least skin cells fall off after a while.
"What are you doing?" he asks in the booming voice she knows means she's in trouble.
She hangs her head, and whispers, "Fixing."
"Fixing what?"
"Wrong name!" she says stubbornly.
He takes the package from her hand. It happens to be one of her brother's. "Are you trying to take all of your brother's presents?"
Lexi is confused and frustrated by this conversation. "Wrong name, I Allie," she says pointing to herself. This action is done, unfortunately, by the hand which is holding the sharpie.
So much for her pajamas being unaffected.
The Next Day
Last Christmas was the worst Christmas that any of the Jackson's had ever had. Well, the boys had not noticed as much. If Santa brought the presents, and they got cookies; they were quite content. Christmas had been long enough after Janet's death that Daniel had been back in the world of the living, back in the world of trying. He had made Christmas dinner exactly like she used to, except everything tasted just a little bit different. He had carried on all of her family traditions, only there hadn't been any family to carry them on with.
Of course, they'd gone to the SG-1 events like they always had, but they hadn't flown to Janet's sister's house (whose turn it was to host the holiday dinner). They'd gotten the invite, but Daniel just hadn't felt like the belonged. They were HER parents, and she wasn't alive anymore.
To his daughters, it felt like they had not only lost a mother, but aunts, uncles, grandparents, cousins, and all sorts of other relatives that are not close enough to have a name of their own.
This Christmas promised to be a no less distressing affair.
Then suddenly, on Christmas Eve, the doorbell rings. When Olivia goes to open it, she sees her Grandmother.
"I'm so sorry dear, I know it's unbelievably rude to come on Christmas Eve without an invitation. Only, we couldn't be sure of you showing up at anyone's house, so we decided that we would bring Christmas to you." Behind her Grandmother, Olivia can see all the family members that usually attend these gatherings.
She puts a hand over her mouth in absolute shock.
Daniel comes in from the kitchen at the sound of coats being shed in the entry way. He sees the crowd, and knows what is going on without any explanation. "I appreciate it, I just don't know what we're going to feed you all."
"Oh, we've got the menu looked after," his mother-in-law says, just as two uncles bring the turkey through the door.
"How on Earth did you cook a turkey?" Olivia asks, knowing that no-one else in the family lived within three states.
"One of us got a hotel with stove. To be honest, we weren't quite sure how welcome we were going to be. We didn't want to end up not getting Christmas dinner at all," an aunt explains bashfully.
"Well, of course you're welcome," Daniel says.
"You didn't come to Christmas," his mother-in-law says with what can only be described as a quiver of the lip.
"I didn't know that you wanted me, not really," Daniel says softly, realizing, a year to late, how stupid that was.
"Not want you? You think we go sending invitations to people we don't like? Trust me, dear, we are not that polite. You're family. So you come to Christmas," Janet's grandmother says with a firm nod of her head.
"I wasn't sure that you would still think of me as family," he says softly.
"What? You're crazy! When you married my daughter, you became my son. That hasn't stopped, and these children," Janet's mother says, picking up Drew, "Have certainly not stopped being my grandchildren. "He's grown so much," she says, and can't quite stop the tears.
Drew has no idea what is going on, but he understands that the woman holding him is sad, so he wraps his baby arms around her, and gives her a giant hug.
"Thank you, love," she says kissing him on his cheek.
It's still a sad Christmas, for everyone. Whenever you lose someone, there is always a choke in the back of your throat, and holidays, especially the first few, make it come more to the forefront. It's easier though, when you start to get the choke in your throat, if you can look around the room and see other people who are just as choked up as you are.
It hurts a whole lot less.