Day Two: Who Died and Made Me Santa's Stand-In?

"I feel like I should be annoyed at you for grounding me," Cam said as he sat in Carolyn's office and used her scissors to cut up a sheet of paper containing the names of all the SG team members. His sprained ankle was propped up on her overturned trash can and he was trying very hard not to turn the names into confetti on the floor which would mean having to pick them all up. Or start over.

"I feel like you should be annoyed at yourself for not watching where you were walking and rolling your ankle when you missed that last step." She flashed him a cheery smile when he scowled at her. "Look on the bright side, at least you're not bored."

Cam was not entirely sure that being given the task of organizing the Stargate Command Secret Santa gift exchange counted as not being bored. General Landry had given him the task, explaining that he 'might as well make yourself useful,' and he hadn't been able to pass it off to anyone else. "The actual bright side is getting to hang out in your office."

She rolled her eyes, and smiled, at his flirting. "Having people pick names out of a hat isn't that bad, is it?"

"It's an oversized Santa mug that your father had for reasons I didn't ask, not a hat," he said with a dramatically weary sigh. He swept the pile of names into said mug, congratulating himself for not dropping any, and met her gaze. "And in theory, no, it isn't that bad. In practice, it can be. People keep pulling a name and immediately asking me if I have any suggestions. It's weird."

"On the other hand, everybody trusts you to keep their secrets."

"Even if I don't want to know their secrets."

Carolyn tried to cover a laugh with a cough, but didn't try that hard and didn't cover anything.

Cam stuck his tongue out at her. "Anyway, I'm not the secret keeper, I'm the Secret Santa organizer. If I'm expected to dole out advice, everybody should have to get me something too."

Done with her paperwork and needing to get back into the beds to check on Sergeant Siler's rash, she stood up and patted him on the shoulder. "There's that classic Christmas spirit," she laughed. "Anyway, don't call the SG teams here to pick names. I don't know if Siler's rash is contagious so I don't want everyone trooping through the infirmary."

"You could have led with that," he muttered, leaning across her desk to use her intercom to tell the base that SG team members should go to his office to pick their Secret Santa. He stood up, balancing carefully on his bandaged ankle and grabbing the cup. "Siler didn't get the rash off-world, did he?"

"No, but he was helping Dr. Lee with an experiment involving plants from PS4-238. Ironically," she said, the realization dawning on her suddenly, "the plants are a lot like holly and ivy."

Cam groaned loudly. "Fantastic. What would Christmas at SGC be without holly and ivy rashes?"

She had to laugh at that. "It'll be fine, Colonel Scrooge. I promise."

He blew her an air kiss to live up to the name. "Meet you later for lunch in the commissary?"

"It's a date," she said, following him out of her office. "And remember, take the elevator or pay attention to when the steps end."

Knowing it was a fair bit of advice, because he was annoyed at his stupid clumsiness, he gave her a thumbs up and limped out of the infirmary. He hoped the SG team members wouldn't be quite as annoying while picking their names as the science and technology departments had been, even if only because of his rank, and decided there was nothing wrong with feeling that way.

After all, nobody had mentioned that Air Force commands sometimes meant cosplaying as Santa.