SquidgeWorld Archive

"Oh, Danny, I'm ho-oo..." Jack trailed off as he came through the front door of what he thought was his house, but had, sometime in the last five days, been transformed into a Christmas village. Daniel had had a particularly nasty cold, so Fraiser had vetoed him going back with the rest of team to study the technology on P2X-425. Daniel had stayed at his house since they wanted to spend their first Christmas together together, and it seemed that while Jack and the rest of SG-1 were off-world, his little Spacemonkey had apparently been busy. "Danny, what the hell?" Jack murmured. "I thought you were supposed to be resting!" he called out. Daniel padded through the kitchen archway, which was decorated with red velvet and gold bows, strings of white lights, and real evergreen boughs, and wrapped his arms around his lover. "Hey, Jack, I'm glad you're back. And I did rest, my cold just got better two days ago." "So you spent those two days buying up all the Christmas decorations in Colorado Springs and putting them up in here?" Jack exclaimed. Daniel blushed. "Well, I guess I did go a little overboard. It's just...I never had a real Christmas before. You couldn't get an evergreen in Egypt, there were none on Abydos, and when I was in school, I was too busy to get a Christmas tree." Jack softened. "Aw, Danny, it's okay. I kinda like it, it's just a bit much. Maybe if we spread the stuff out a little it wouldn't be so overwhelming." Daniel perked up as he saw that Jack wasn't really upset. "That should be easy; I didn't put the tree up yet, I actually wanted to wait until you were home before we bought it, -cause I wanted to decorate it with you." Jack smiled. "Well, let me get my stuff put up, take a little nap, and we'll go out, buy us a tree, and pick up some takeout on the way back. I know the Boy Scouts always have some good ones left over, because they're a little pricey. But it's for a good cause." There was a certain tone to the Colonel's voice that Daniel knew was important. "Ja-ack? You wouldn't happen to have been a Boy Scout, would you?" the linguist teased his lover. Now it was Jack's turn to blush. "Hey, I'll have you know I was an Eagle Scout, best of the best," he defended himself. Daniel smirked. "Eagles, Air Force pilot, I think I see a trend here. Anyway, you go put your stuff up and lie down for a while, and when it's time to go get dinner, I'll wake you. In the meantime," he said, taking Jack by the arm and steering him down the hallway to their bedroom, "I'll rearrange some of the decorations." "All right," Jack agreed, yawning as he opened the door. "Sleep tight, Jack," Daniel said, closing the bedroom door behind his lover. He headed off down the hall, wondering what he could move around. He decided to start with the lights - he'd used them all up on the walls, and unless he took some down, there would be none for the tree.

Three hours later, Jack blinked the sleep from his eyes and looked blearily at the clock. 4:44, he thought. I should be ready to go by five, and we can pick up the tree before they close at six, and then swing by the Chinese place on the way back. Plan made, Jack climbed out of bed and stretched, wincing as he heard his back pop. "I'm gettin' old," he complained. Then he grinned. "But not too old to nail Danny to the mattress." He dressed quickly, grabbed his wallet, and headed out to the living room, finding Danny placing some fir branches on the mantle. "Hey, Danny," he purred, sneaking a kiss onto Daniel's turned cheek. "Ready to go get our tree?" Daniel smiled. "Sure, Jack." He threw his arm out to the side, gesturing to the evergreen-adorned mantle. "What do you think?" Jack grinned. "Very nice, Spacemonkey." He glanced around the living room. "And you did a real nice job in here, rearranging stuff. But where did all the lights go? I kinda liked them." Daniel blushed. "Ah, well, I used all the lights I bought for the tree on the walls, so I took them all down. There'll probably be a strand or two left after we get through with the tree, and I thought I'd put them up in the bedroom, but I didn't want to disturb you, so I decided to wait." Jack grinned slowly. "Well, let's go get the tree and dinner and hurry back. I've never made love by Christmas lights before; should be fun." He waggled his eyebrows. Daniel returned his lover's smile.

"Whoa, back up a bit, Danny." The Colonel maneuvered the Douglas Fir up, seeing the bottom of the skirt brush the floor. "You want me to lift my end higher, Jack?" Daniel grunted. "Yeah, see if you can raise it another seven or eight inches." "Okay," Daniel ground out, shifting his grip on the thick trunk to raise it higher. "Ah! Got it." The two men shuffled forward, finally wedging the bottom branches through the doorway. Daniel sighed in relief, dropping the trunk of the tree on the floor and kicking the door shut. "Man! I thought we'd never get inside with that thing. We should have paid the extra ten bucks to get it delivered." "Nah, the thirty-five we paid for the tree itself is enough to help the boys buy new uniforms." Jack propped the tree up against the wall, flexing his fingers to get the cramps out. Daniel shook his head, laughing. "I'm trying to picture you in a Boy Scout uniform, and I gotta tell you, Jack, you look silly." Jack scowled at his lover. "Yeah, well, it was a long time ago, a really long time ago. Now, Spacemonkey, you wanna help me decorate this monstrosity or not?" Fifteen minutes later the tree was set up in its stand and boxes of ornaments surrounded them, as well as the strings of lights Daniel had taken down that afternoon. Jack turned to his lover. "Ready to get decorating?" Daniel gave a sharp nod. "Ready." Less than an hour later the tree was bedecked and bejeweled with ornaments in a blue and silver motif. Aside from the requisite balls (in four different sizes) there were brushed silver stars and a set of Egyptian hieroglyph characters, plus blue spun glass spirals and other shapes. Topped by a silver star that Jack had put blue light bulbs in, replacing the white ones, it was a very pretty tree. Daniel sat back on his heels, admiring his and Jack's very first joint Christmas tree. "It's beautiful," he breathed. "Yeah," Jack agreed, his eyes on his lover. "Beautiful." Leaning against Jack, Daniel sighed. "Yeah," he said softly.

Two hours later the detritus of empty ornament boxes and wrappings had been cleared away. The Chinese food had been heated and devoured, and the Colonel and his archaeologist were cuddled on the couch in front of a roaring fire, drinking spiced apple cider. "This is nice," Jack murmured into Daniel's hair. "Mm-hmm," Daniel mumbled in agreement, half-sleep. Jack sighed in contentment, snuggling his lover closer to his chest. Removing Daniel's glasses, which were sliding down his nose, he placed them on the end table. Settling deeper into the couch, he was content just to revel in the closeness. Outside their cozy nest, snow was swirling down to the ground. But inside they were warm, and, for the moment, safe. Jack intended to enjoy every moment of it. Somewhere battles were being fought and wars were being waged. Somewhere cities tumbled, lives ended, planets quaked and heavens trembled...but that night, in at least one small corner of it, all was right with the universe.