Summary: It's Christmas again, but SG1 have a few problems to sort out before they can have their perfect Christmas day

Pairings: S/J

Spoilers: Heroes, Affinity

Warnings: It was written 1AM…so please forgive for any mistakes :P

Disclaimer: SG-1 is not mine…yet…mwahahahaha…coughs

A/N: Hey guys, was staring at the Christmas tree in my living room and felt the need to write this…here's the beginning

Christmas Flame

Part One

Lt Colonel Samantha Carter stared into the jewellery store window. The colored lights of the small Christmas tree reflecting in the glass, doubling their effect brightness. The cold Colorado Springs weather was just beginning to set in, it had snowed lightly all day. She shivered as a cold wind blew, and quickly made her way around the corner and into the shop.

A bell rang above the door as she entered, prompting her to look up. As she did so she slammed directly into someone else.

"Ooh I'm so so…sir?"

Brigadier General Jack O'Neill was too busy rubbing his arm to notice who it was, but after hearing the familiar 'sir' he looked up.

"Carter…what're you doing here?" he asked, shoving his hands, and whatever he held in them, into his jacket pockets.

"Just looking," she said. "Thought I might buy Cassie something nice for Christmas this year…you know…first one without Janet…"

"Ah," Jack replied. "You going to the Christmas party tonight?"

Tonight? That was tonight?

"Oh…I guess so," she replied. "Are you?"

"I have to," he replied, smiling, but the smile didn't quite reach his eyes.

Sam looked at him suspiciously for a moment, something was up. "Everything OK, sir?"

"Dandy," he replied.

"Can you two either move outside or inside? You're making the shop cold," the shop keeper spoke up.

The two of them immediately moved further into the store, letting the door shut behind Sam.

"You sure?" she asked.

He was distant, that much she could tell. Why was he even in a jewellery store? The thought suddenly struck her. How many females did Jack know? Unless he was buying jewellery for Teal'c or Daniel…it was either Cassie, or Sam.

"No Carter I'm not sure, that's why I answered with it," Jack replied, then he winced. "Sorry…I didn't mean to sound like an old narky man…"

Sam was more taken aback by his apology than his reply to her question. It was very un-Jack O'Neill like of him.

"You didn't," she replied. "So…why are you here?"

"Looking," he mumbled, staring at the Christmas tree.

"I see," she replied.

"No you didn't," he smiled at her. "I'm gonna go…get ready for tonight. Good luck finding Cassie something."

"Yes, sir," she replied.

"You make it sound like that was an order, Carter, it wasn't, we're offduty," he replied.

Again a strange thing for him to say.

He shrugged. "I'll see you tonight."

"Bye, sir," she said.

"Au revior," he said, opening the door and entering the world of cold wind and snow.

Sam stared after him for a long moment. She had two options, she could chase after him, or she could stand there and wonder what was wrong.

She knew it would have to be the second option. Not only did she know that there was no way to get information out of Jack, but by helping when he was upset she risked crossing the barrier they had spent so long building between them.

She sighed, that barrier was something that shouldn't be broken down, especially not at this time of year. It was already unsafe territory. She turned around and walked to the counter.

"Have you got anything good for a 19-year-old girl?" Sam asked.

"Well I would normally suggest this," he said, pointing to a silver necklace, dotted at equal intervals with small diamonds, on the shelf next to the counter. "But I see you seemed to know the man who just left, and he just bought this necklace for a 19 year old girl…"

"Damn," Sam said.

"I take it you only know one?"

Sam nodded. "He buy anything else?"

A small grin spread over the old man's face. "Possibly…"

"I guess you're not gonna tell me what," Sam said.

"Probably not," the man replied.

"Ok…so present for a 19 year old," Sam said, changing the topic back rather quickly.

He had bought something else from here. Sam scanned under the glass counter, there was a blank spot, where something had obviously been removed from. It was in the middle of a bunch of extremely expensive necklaces.

There was no way he had bought her an expensive necklace, right? I mean he'd gotten her Christmas presents before, but they were just small, meaningless things. The missing necklace was something a bit more than meaningless, a lot more in fact. Not that anything else he'd ever given her had been meaningless, all his gifts meant a lot more to her than they should, but this would be so much more.

What the hell could possibly have possessed him to buy her the necklace?

Pete.

This year he had competition, that's what made this Christmas different to all the others…

"Try this bracelet, matches the necklace," the man said.

"Huh?" Sam looked up. "The neck…Oh! Right, yes…looks good."

She smiled at him.

"$30," the man said.

Sam handed over the money and took the bag from him. "Thanks," she said, turning and heading towards the door.

"Oh…Miss…"

Sam stopped and turned around, looking at the old man. He had a small smile on his face.

"He's been here every day this week looking at the necklace…"

Sam opened her mouth to ask if he meant Cassie's, but he cut her off.

"I think you mean a lot more to him than you're both letting on," the old man winked at her.

Sam felt her cheeks begin to burn red. She turned around and quickly made her way out of the shop. She put the small paper bag into her pocket and walked back towards her car. That was everybody's Christmas presents bought, except one.

Jack.

She got into her car and started the engine. She sat there for a moment, staring at the Christmas lights. It was just beginning to become dark. She had a Christmas party to get ready for.

She still didn't have a present for Jack.

A/N: There's more coming soon, promise :D, but i'll be away the next three days, so u might have to wait just a tiny little bit! But when I come back I promise I'll update ALL my fan fics :D