With some difficulty, Jack managed to catch the dangling end of the pizza slice with his mouth and munch it before the cheese dripped to the floor.  Across from him, adjusting his hair, Daniel shook his head in disgust.  “You are really revolting sometimes.”
Jack’s eyebrows lifted in a questioning, innocent expression, and he cocked his head to one side in a manner Daniel thought of as ‘hurt and wounded’.  He sighed, smiling.  “Yes, I still love you.”

Jack’s face split into a grin just as Sam came into the living room.  She reached for the pizza and stopped.  The long fingernails didn’t make the usually simple operation of eating very easy.  She glanced at Jack, saw that he was having the same problem because of his gloves, and settled her gaze on Daniel.  She batted her eyelids, wondering if it would still have the same effect.  He signed and leaned down to take a slice of the gooey pizza into his fingers.  Sam leaned forward and allowed him to feed her.  “Jack, why did you have to order the slimiest pizza they do?”
The colonel smiled innocently.  “It seemed apt.  Be thankful I left off the anchovies.”  He watched Sam take the pizza from Daniel’s fingers and felt a stab of heat at his groin.  The memory of eating melting ice-cream from those very same fingers only three nights ago as they lounged naked together on the couch….  Letting out a deep breath he was relieved when he heard the fourth member of their team cross the hall.

Teal’c paused in the doorway of the large living room and gazed at his three companions. “This is a strange human ritual, O’Neill,” he told his CO in no uncertain terms.  Dramatically, Jack sighed and turned.  It had taken them the best part of the week to persuade Teal’c to join them tonight, and a three-pronged assault kept up throughout the day to coax him into dressing for the occasion.  But what Jack saw when he turned took the words from his mouth.

“Teal’c!”
Sam turned, now balancing the rest of her pizza slice on the back of her hand.  “Wow!”
Daniel’s face finally broke into a smile.  “You look fantastic, Teal’c!”
The Jaffa looked unconvinced.  “I feel like a fool, DanielJackson.”
But Jack was approaching him, patting him heartily on the arm.  “Way to get in the mood, Teal’c!”  He turned to the other two members of his team and grinned.  “Everyone got their twinkies?”  The three nodded.  “So are we ready, children?”
“Ready, Uncle Jack,” Sam mimicked.
“Good.  Then let’s hit the town.”

*

Jack had always wondered at what they must look like, the four of them, to a new people upon first contact.  They were an odd bunch on the surface.  Sam, beautiful, intelligent and practically deadly.  Daniel, also beautiful, those big eyes dancing behind his glasses, but unaware of the effect he had on people, more interested on ruins and history.  Teal’c who frightened the life out of most people even when they didn’t know what he was but was the one of them capable of the utmost gentility.  And finally Jack himself, leading this team from the front yet usually several miles behind the others in grasping an idea or seeing the obvious.

Tonight, though, they looked for once like they often felt inside.  Strange.  And detached.  Yet somehow at one with the town in which they only sometimes lived.

The bar was packed, but a cheer went up as they walked in.  They were surprised at first, but behind them another group made their entrance to the same ovation.  Obviously that was the way of things tonight.  Catching the attention of the busty barmaid (whose beard spoilt the effect rather but who was going to point that out?), Jack ordered four large beers and handed them out.  Standing in a close circle, they chinked their thick glasses and tipped them up.  Sam was the first to notice the eyeball floating to the top through the froth on her drink.

“Dah!”  She pulled her head back, holding her glass out to Daniel.  “Eyeball!”
Daniel looked at her.  “And?”
“Get it out!”
“Why me?”
“’Cause you’re not wearing fingernails.”
“I am… oh, I see what you mean.”  He reached into her beer and snagged the eyeball between his fingers, dropping it back almost immediately.  “Slimey!”
“Everything’s slimey to you, Danny.”  Jack reached for his lover’s fingers and took them between his lips, sucking luxuriously.
Sam shook her head.  “Get a room, you two.”  Jack winked and let the fingers go, holding Daniel’s gaze for another moment before looking away.  Then he frowned.  “You hear that?”
“What?”

Above the noise of the crowd there was definitely a quiet bleeping.  Quiet, but on a pitch guaranteed to work its way eventually into a person’s consciousness.  Jack swore and pulled his bleeper out of his pocket.  Not an easy pocket to get at either.  He read the illuminated readout and shook his head.  “I don’t believe it.  Tonight of all nights.”  Sliding the small gadget into his pocket and looked at his team.  “I’m afraid we’re up, people.”
Sam groaned louder than the rest of them and downed her beer in an impressive show of rebellion.  Then she looked from one to the next.  “Do we go home first?”
A twinkle came into Jack’s eye that made her regret the very thought.  “No,” he stated, a command decision if ever there was one.  “They call us on our night off, they get us as we are.”

*

The looks they got, the stifled laughter outside the main compound was nothing compared to the expression of the guards on duty.
“Colonel O’Neill.”  He was greeted by Officer Cardman as he signed in and waited for the others to do the same.  Sam winked at the desk guard and dropped a twinkie in front of him.
He grinned up at her.  “Thank you, Captain.”

They took the elevator down deep into the Earth to be greeted when they stepped out by several open mouths.  Jack picked on one uniformed gawker in particular.  “What?  Never seen four people dressed up for a night out before?”  The poor man just shook his head and held on to the butt of his gun.

General Hammond looked up as his primary team stepped into the conference room and bade him a good evening.  “Colonel.”  They were impressed.  He hardly batted an eyelid.  “Take your seats, SG-1.  I apologise for calling you in on your night off.”
Daniel shrugged.  “We didn’t have any plans.”
Jack hide his giggle behind his hand.  “What’s the problem, General?” he asked to rescue his team from the terrible, laughter-drawing silence that would otherwise have prevailed.
“SG-7 have run into a few problems on PX4873, we need a quick rescue mission and as you four know that planet better than any other team….”
“We’re just the people to go in,” Jack nodded.  “Understood, General.  We’ll get right out there.”  He stood, followed by his team.

Hammond pushed his chair back.  “Colonel.”
The four stopped and turned.  “Yes, Sir.”
“I suggest you change first.  I doubt Captain Jenkins and his team would care, but I don’t think the enemy would be persuaded to give up their hostages if faced off by Dracula, Pumpkin-Head, the Candyman and Lizzy Borden.  Even if they are carrying weapons.”
Jack grinned.  “Certainly, Sir.  Wouldn’t want to freak out the aliens.”  With a second thought, he reached into a deep pocket and tossed a twinkie at his boss.  “Happy Halloween, Sir.”
 

elfin
Halloween 2000