"Beautiful Day" [drabble, team, K]

Title: Beautiful Day
Author: A. Karswyll
Fandom: Stargate SG-1
Rated: K
Words: 779
Summary: Jack O'Neill always makes an effort to find beautiful things on November 20th and he is helped in that regard by some special off-world phenomena and a smile.
AN: Thank you fems for the lightning fast beta on this one!

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Season 3
20 November 1999

Jack plopped down among the fragrant grasses—the smell made him think sweet grass—on the hillside bathed in sunlight in the midst of his three teammates. He looked out across the valley below with its picturesque collection of thatched roof homes surrounded by fields in summer growth.

Quite a pretty sight and he had to admit that today he was all too ready to look for beautiful things. November 20th was all about beautiful sights, sounds, and smells and today had been that. Really, what was more beautiful than traveling through a giant alien transportation system to a friendly alien world?

In the valley below there were some of the tunic wearing men and skirt clad women moving about, but a fair number of them were spread out on the hillside with him and his team. Some had come with blankets and with baskets of food and the young village children ran about with free abandon between the clutches of people.

"So," Jack looked up into the blue sky with its white wisps of clouds and the sun high on the horizon, "when's this... thing going to start?"

"I'm not sure," Daniel spoke up, "and the village krivs—that is, the priest—didn't say there was an exact time for the phenomenon the natives describe. What he said was that their god Diviriks sends what they call 'messenger clouds' which I am assuming are certain cloud formations as they practice aeromancy which is sky, or cloud, divination. The krivs said that when Diviriks is especially pleased with them the god 'sets the clouds on fire with his blessing.'"

"And we aren't a little bit worried about the 'sets on fire' part?" Jack looked to his left at Daniel and Teal'c.

"Well," Daniel pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose, "it sounds, from the krivs's description, like it is in the sky and they celebrate seeing it when it comes. And look around, do these people look like they are worried about whatever sight we may see today in the sky?"

"Yeah well, we've run into people who get in the festive mood every time they're about to rip out hearts and lop off heads too," Jack pointed out as he waved a hand at the picnicking natives.

Daniel made a face at that.

"And what about the detail of their 'god' sending messengers? We aren't a little concerned about that either? Especially as you can't tell us anything about this Dive-rinks guy. And neither can Teal'c."

Daniel huffed. "Do you have to be so pessimistic about everything?"

"It's my job," Jack said lazily as he stretched out his legs and leaned back and propped himself up on his elbows as he looked straight up into the sky. "Whoa!"

He shot bolt upright again as he stared in amazement at the beautiful sight overhead. The white wisps of clouds had turned into a brilliant canvas of colours and become a huge rainbow that hung like a sheet of ribbons in the sky.

"Afit aat'petch't," Teal'c said, the tone of his voice hushed and reverent.

"That means, uh... 'fire rainbow,'" Daniel translated, his voice as quiet and amazed.

Well, Jack thought, it was a rainbow and it certainly had set the sky on fire with colour! "Carter? What the heck kinda rainbow is it?"

"It uh, isn't a rainbow Sir."

Jack took his eyes off the rainbow and looked to his right to give her an incredulous look. "Not a rainbow? It's got red, orange, yellow, blue, green, and the purples—it certainly looks like one to me!"

"I mean, while yes we are seeing the full visible spectrum of light, it isn't coming from light being refracted while entering a droplet of water," Carter explained.

"You know that we're seeing Sam?" Daniel asked eagerly.

"Actually, I do. It's an atmospheric phenomenon known as a circumhorizontal arc. Circumhorizontal arcs appear when the sun is higher than fifty-eight degrees above the horizon and its light passes through diaphanous, high-altitude cirrus clouds made up of hexagonal plate crystals. Now—"

"Akh, Carter," Jack interrupted as he reached over and pulled on her sleeve. "Enough with the science lesson! Please, just... lie back and enjoy."

"Yes Sir," she gave a smile as she lay back among the fragrant grass to look up at the sky.

Jack followed suit and relaxed back into the grass. He tucked his hands beneath his head and gazed up at the rainbow that was spread all across the clouds, his eyes on the array of colours as his mind dwelled on the light of Carter's smile.

It was a very Beautiful Day.

-FINISHED

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For more information on the phenomena witnessed by SG-1 visit news.nationalgeographic.com news/2006/06/060619-rainbow-fire.html

"Clean Out Your Fridge Day" [drabble, Jack & Sam, K]

Title: Clean Out Your Fridge Day
Author: A. Karswyll
Fandom: Stargate: SG-1
Rated: K
Words: 1,178
Summary: Engaged in of one his least favourite holiday on November 15th, Jack had hoped to get it over and done with before Carter, Teal'c, and Jonas get to his house for team movie night.

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Season 6
15 November 2002

Jack held his breath and peered into the bowels of the beast. Spying another transformed creature he gingerly reaching in and, holding it by the very tips of his fingers, drew it out. Holding the offensive thing at arm's length he deposited it directly into the garbage and not onto the counter cluttered with things already taken from the beast.

He reached into the beast again and—brrriiinnng—he jolted at the sound of his doorbell and knocked his head on the shelf and cursed at the flash of pain. Jack rubbed at his forehead as he pulled his head out of the refrigerator and bellowed in annoyance, "It's open! Come in!"

Sticking his head back into his fridge he could hear his front door open and close, and approaching footsteps, even though sound was muffled by the barrier of the open fridge door.

"Um..." his unexpected visitor trailed off, "um, Sir?"

Jack leaned back, to look around the open fridge door, with a Chinese takeout carton in his hand and looked up at Carter. She looked rather surprised and unsure as she stood in the entrance to his kitchen holding four boxes of pizza and two shopping bags hanging from her hands.

Surprised at seeing her himself, Jack twisted his wrist around to look at his watch. It was time for movie night already? Crap, it was. A touch sheepish he got up off the floor in front of his fridge. "Sorry, Carter, I thought I'd have this done before you guys got here."

Eyeing him, and the countertop cluttered with things from his fridge, Carter cautiously pushed things around to make room for the pizza boxes and drinks and snacks on the counter. "What are you doing?"

"Cleaning out my fridge of course." Jack checked the interior of the takeout carton, and finding it empty except for a few noodles clinging to the sides, tossed the carton.

"I can see that, but... why now?"

"'Cause it's the 15th."

"What does the 15th have to do with anything?"

"It's Clean Out Your Refrigerator Day," Jack pointed at his calendar pinned to his kitchen wall.

"Ah, one of your days is it Sir?" Carter said with a twinkle in her blue eyes.

"They aren't my days," Jack said indignant, "they're real holidays."

"Yes Sir," she agreed dutifully.

"Watch your tone Carter," he waggled a finger at her.

"Sir, yes Sir," Carter said in the perfect respectful subordinate voice of hers.

Jack rolled his eyes and didn't even know why he bothered. He'd yet to meet anyone who could beat Carter at playing the innocent-subordinate-who-was-really-mocking-you card. It was those blue eyes, and that smile, you could never believe she could be that devious.

She poked at some of the items on the counter. "So, any ideas why today is the day you clean out your fridge?"

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, why now, in November? Why not in the spring or something with spring cleaning?"

He shrugged and turned his attention back to his refrigerator. "No idea. I always thought it had to do with Thanksgiving, you know? Making room for all the leftovers you have afterwards."

Carter made a sound that could be agreement—or it was just a sound to say she was listening—as she shuffled the items on his countertop around with clinking noises. "Ugh, is this a piece of cake from your birthday last month?"

"What? No, of course not," he pulled his head out of the fridge again and glanced over his shoulder at her. "The cake didn't even make into the fridge."

"Ah, that sounds more likely," she agreed cheekily as more countertop items moved. "Don't know why I'd think cake would last that long around you."

Jack shook his head and turned back to his task. The tomatoes were still good but the lettuce had gone all limp and slimy so he tossed the package.

Ah, there's where it had gone, he thought with satisfaction as from behind the nearly empty pickle jar he pulled out the ceramic figurine, tucked against the back of the fridge. Juggling the tomatoes, figurine, and jar he moved to the counter and set them down with the other items that were to go back in the fridge.

Carter cocked her head at him and pointed to the ceramic figurine. "I've been meaning to ask. Why do you keep a ceramic frog in your fridge? We never know what to do with it when we've, ah, had to clean out your fridge for you."

"You mean you don't have one in your fridge?"

"A ceramic frog?" Carter gave him a strange look. "No Sir."

"I don't mean a frog, but something with baking soda in it?"

"Is that what that stuff is?" she asked as she poked at the white mass visible in the frog's wide open mouth.

"Yes, that 'stuff' is baking soda."

"Seems a rather, er... strange way to store baking soda. Doesn't it go bad exposed in the fridge like that?"

Jack shook his head. "It isn't for storage Carter. You mean your mom didn't keep baking soda in the fridge to help keep the fridge smelling clean?"

Carter looked a bit surprised, and after a moment, shook her head. "No."

"Ah well, mine did," Jack said with a shrug as tapped the ceramic head of the frog. "Lots of people just used the open boxes I think, but we always used stuff like this frog."

"Huh."

"Huh what?"

"Actually Sir, I never gave it much thought, but your fridge always did smell... better than one would expect considering what was spoiled when we had to clean it out."

Jack couldn't help but quirking a grin at her at that. He could well imagine what his leftovers, and just the regular food, had mutated into when stranded off-world, having a bit of experience in seeing what happened when the whole team got stranded off-world for a bit and no one was around to clean out their fridges.

Brrriiinnng!

Well, Jack thought as he looked around his still disorderly kitchen, sounded like the rest of the team was here. "Door's open! Come in!"

His front door opened and closed again and shortly two aliens were standing in the entrance to his kitchen. Both raised their eyebrows at the clutter though it was, typically, Jonas who openly looked surprised and not Teal'c.

"Hi guys, go ahead and put movies by the TV and then come help Carter with the pizza," he waved them towards the living room. As the wide-eyed Jones trailed after Teal'c, he was struck by an idea. Leaning towards Carter he said quietly, "Pst, Carter? When I was stuck with Maybourne a couple weeks back, who cleaned out my fridge?"

"Um," Carter flushed a bit, "I did."

"Jonas didn't help?"

"Ah, no Sir," she said warily. "It was just me."

"Excellent," Jack grinned deviously and rubbed his hands together. Raising his voice he called out, "Hey, Jonas! You want to partake in a traditional Earth activity?"

-FINISHED