Chapter Text
"It's a great costume, Cassie!" Sam said. "Are you a Chinese empress?"
Cassandra had insisted on putting on the costume she was going to wear for Halloween, when Sam visited her and Janet.
"No, I am Queen Amidala! Can't you tell?" Cassandra looked unhappy. "We spent weeks making this costume!"
"You look exactly like her, sweetie." Janet tried reassuring her.
"Ah, yes. Actually, you do. Sorry, I had forgotten about the movie." Sam said, having a vague memory of watching "Star Wars: The Phantom Menace" with her team. Cassandra really did look like the 14 year old queen Padme Amidala, her costume did, anyway. Sam could well guess why the girl thought it was a great character to dress up as.
"Hm." Cassandra sounded somewhat mollified. "What are you going to dress as, Aunt Sam?"
"Um, I hadn't really thought of it." Sam confessed. "Halloween is some time off yet, so there's no hurry."
In a weak moment, she had promised to go trick-or-treating with Cassandra and Janet - not something she had done since she was 12.
"Sam, it's less than a week left! You need to think of something!" Cassandra exclaimed.
"Relax, honey. I'm sure Sam will find a nice costume." Janet said, soothingly.
"Mom, you need to show Sam your costume! Maybe you can make matching costumes!"
"Ah, no. I don't feel like playing dress-up right now." Janet looked tired. "It's been a long day."
"What are you going to be?" Sam wondered, grinning, seeing the opportunity to tease her friend.
"A witch - a nice witch." Janet grinned. "I always wanted to be that as a kid, but my parents didn't like the whole scary thing with Halloween, so I only ever got to go as princess or angel." She grimaced.
"My poor Janet." Sam smiled. "Maybe I should dress up as a witch too?"
"No! Don't go as the same!" Cassandra insisted. "You could maybe be a cute fairy, or a vampire, or maybe a devil!"
Sam laughed. "So that's how you see me! I'll think about it, but it depends on what the store has."
"You should make a costume yourself!"
"I don't think I have the time to do that, Cassie." Sam admitted. "Maybe next year."
"Please don't wait until the last day to go to the store - then there'll be nothing left!"
The next day Sam again burrowed herself under her work, and the days passed, and soon it was the morning of Halloween.
"Are you coming to the party at Jack's place, Sam?" Daniel asked.
"Party?" Sam looked up from her computer, where she was running a simulation of a wormhole. She was trying to better understand the background of the Stargates, in the hope of making their dialing device better.
"Halloween! Please don't tell me you forgot!" Daniel exclaimed. "All the guys are gonna be there, including Teal'c and me - and Janet's going to be there with Cassandra for a little while, too!"
"Halloween! Gods! I forgot!" Sam looked horrified. "I'm going trick-or-treating with Janet and Cassie this afternoon, and I haven't found a costume yet - and not for the party either."
"Sam! How could you forget!"
"I know, but I've been concentrating on this." She turned the computer screen. "See? If I change the variables for..."
"Oh, no, I don't want to know! Just keep me out of that!"
Sam sighed. "Sorry. I promise, I'll get a costume and I'll be at the party!"
"Okay - well, it's still early morning, you have time to come up with something. Come with me and have a cup of coffee?" Daniel asked.
"Sure." Sam got up and followed him out into the corridor. They had not walked long before she saw the first pieces of decoration, and when they reached the mess hall, the whole place was decorated - fake cobwebs, fake spiders, fake skeletons...and so on. Everywhere. Sam groaned. "I can't believe I missed all that!"
"You need to pull your head out of your books and computers - and I can't believe I am the one to say so. Jack's complained about the same thing to me often enough!"
"Yeah, I must be really bad." Sam grinned sheepishly. "I'll try be a bit more, ah, present. Okay?"
They had finished the coffee and chatted for a while, and then Sam had returned to her lab. She had worked for a couple hours, when the 'unscheduled off-world activation' alert was heard. She looked up, wondering who it might be.
It was only a short while later, when her phone rang. It was Hammond.
"Major Carter here."
"Major Carter. Could you come down to my office? We have some guests from the Tok'ra."
"Of course, sir. I'll be there in a moment."
Sam saved her work on the computer, locked the machine, and hurried off, hoping it would be her father who had decided to drop in for Halloween.
Or, maybe...what if Martouf was visiting? Her heart beat faster at the thought. The recent trip to Netu had made her think much more about Jolinar and the feelings and memories she had from the symbiote - and which feelings that might be her own. She had had lots of dreams caused by the memories from Jolinar, having been stirred up by the memory recall device and the drug 'Blood of Sokar'.
Lots of very very hot dreams. About a certain Tok'ra.
On the return-trip from Netu, she had only talked a little with Martouf and Lantash. She had wanted to talk to them more, about Jolinar, but also other things. However, she and they had been exhausted, both physically and emotionally, and she had decided to wait. They had, however, spent time just sitting close together - and sleeping close for a little while, holding each other when the nightmares of both Martouf and Lantash, and herself, would not quieten otherwise.
She had felt so terribly sorry for Martouf and Lantash, seeing the pain in their eyes at the thought of what their beloved Jolinar had had to endure. She really wished she had not had to tell them, but they had suspected, of course. Her heart hurt now too, thinking of their pain. She wanted to hold them, comfort them, like she had tried to do on the teltac.
Sam sighed, pushing the dark thoughts aside, as she knocked on the door to Hammond's office.
"Come in!" A voice said from inside.
She stepped inside. "General, hello."
"Ah, Major Carter. As you can see, we have some guests. Jacob here says he wanted to let a few of the Tok'ra experience some of our holidays, starting with Halloween." Hammond said.
Sam smiled, as she saw her dad, Martouf/Lantash, and two other Tok'ra, whom she almost recognized from Jolinar's memories. "Yes, sir."
"I talked to George, and he told us there's a party tonight, at Jack's place. We thought we'd join you." Jacob said.
"Do you mind being responsible for making sure our guests learn a little about Halloween, and have a good time?" Hammond asked.
"No, sir, of course not. I'd be happy to." She walked up to her dad, giving him a hug. "Hi, dad."
"Hi, Sammie. I hope you don't mind us just dropping in like this."
"Not at all." She turned to Martouf. "Welcome. I'm happy to see you."
"Thank you, Samantha. Lantash and I look forward to spending this Tau'ri holiday with you, and learning more about our allies." Martouf smiled his charming smile.
"My name is Anise." Anise said, greeting Sam.
"Hello, Anise." Sam tried to remember the name of the host, she had almost found it, when Anise made the long blink Sam suddenly remembered she and her host used when switching.
"And I am Freya. We are pleased you will allow us to visit at this time."
Sam nodded at her. "Welcome, both of you." She looked to the male Tok'ra beside Anise. "Your name...it's Malek, right?"
He smiled, looking pleased. "Yes, you remember this from Jolinar? Martouf has mentioned that you carry her memories."
"That's right. I can usually recognize a lot of you guys, but the names aren't always easy to fish out of my mind, you know? My recent use of a memory recall device has made me remember many things, though." She frowned. "You were a good friend of Jolinar's - and are a good friend of Martouf and Lantash."
"I am." He nodded.
"And you're a scientist - a historian, aren't you?" She asked Freya.
"Anise is the scientist - I am the historian." Freya smiled. "But otherwise correct. Interesting. Anise would like to talk to you about your memories. Would you agree to be scanned?"
"Ah, maybe later." Sam said.
"So, when is this party, Sam?" Jacob asked.
"Tonight. I'm going to go trick-or-treating with Cassandra and Janet first. Oh, and I need a costume, but so do you guys. Maybe you would like to come?"
"Why not? Sounds fun." Jacob smiled. "Though I think I'm a bit old for trick-or-treating, and Selmak definitely is - though she tells me to shut up. She's going through my memories of what it is, and is already looking forward to it!"
"Great, then are you coming? I thought we could eat lunch in the mess hall, and then go get costumes?"
"That is a good idea, Major, then I will make sure to have ID made for our guests while you eat." Hammond told them.