The turkey was nothing more than a dessicated corpse, the sides all but demolished. Another successful SG-1 mission, with no man left behind. Granted, there was no man left standing, or with his trousers still done up all the way either.
Janet had outdone herself this year.
The general hadn't been able to find time away to go stay with his daughter and her family, so of course Janet had invited him to spend the holiday with her and Sam and Cassie. Now, of course, he was sacked out on the couch with Daniel and Jack, Teal'c occupying the arm chair, all wearing matching expressions indicating satiety to the point of physical discomfort.
"I still say we should make the guys do this," Sam commented half-heartedly, arms up to her elbows in steaming, sudsy water. "They're not even watching the game. I think Teal'c is snoring. The general, too."
"Food coma," Cassie said sagely, drying a dinner plate. "It's tradition. Besides, these are mom's good dishes, and you know Jack would start horsing around with Daniel and something would get broken."
"Like the colonel's nose, if he dropped a piece of Janet's china," Sam agreed. "Good point."
The grande dame herself breezed into the kitchen, a wide grin on her face. "And how are my girls doing?" she asked, eyes still dancing with the joy of a well-received holiday meal.
"Relax, Mom. We haven't broken anything yet," Cassie assured her. "Go sit down. You've been on your feet all morning."
Janet smiled and gave her daughter a kiss on the cheek. "You're sweet," she told her, before setting about putting what leftovers did exist into tupperware for later. "I don't suppose any of you boys saved room for pie, did you?"
After a momentary grown, Daniel and Jack picked themselves up off the sofa. "There's always room for pie," Jack reminded her.
"Teal'c is, um, 'meditating,'" Daniel apologized. "And I think General Hammond is--"
"Inspecting his eyelids for holes," Jack interrupted, pulling up a stool at the kitchen counter. "Did someone say pie, or what?"
Janet snorted, setting slices of pumpkin pie with healthy dollops of whipped cream in front of them. Sam groaned. "Okay, they're washing those plates themselves," she announced, pulling the plug in the sink.
Cassie, drying the last of the dinner dishes, agreed wholeheartedly. "We're done. It's time for pie now."
When his plate was empty, if not clean, Daniel piped up, "When I was in the group home as a teenager, we'd go around the table and, um, list the things we were thankful for."
Sam and Janet exchanged that look they had, the one Jack interpreted as wishing they had a time machine so they could go back and adopt Danny out of foster care. "That's a great idea, Daniel," Sam encouraged. "Sir, do you want to go first?"
Jack scowled. "Not really," he replied. "I dunno. I guess I'm thankful Daniel hasn't managed to get his fool self killed recently. I'm thankful I'm not sitting home alone drinking Wild Turkey instead of having actual turkey with my family."
Daniel reached over and took Jack's hand, squeezing it. "I'm thankful for those things, too," he agreed. "I'm thankful for having a real family to spend holidays with. And I'm thankful that we could all be together -- with the exception of Jacob and Selmak."
Sam grinned. "They'll be home for Christmas. It was a compromise -- the Tok'ra weren't keen on letting them have two furloughs so close together, and Christmas has always been the biggie in our family. I'm thankful that my dad's still around, and I'm thankful that I have all the things I thought I couldn't have: an equal partner, a daughter. The world's most understanding and forgiving General."
"Ease up on the brown-nosing, Carter," Jack teased. "The man's dead to the world out there."
A voice from the living room advised, "I heard that, Colonel. You'd better be saving me a piece of pie, or I might not be so forgiving in future."
"Yes sir," Jack said, sticking his tongue out in the direction of the sofa and revising his decision to reach for a second slice.
"I'm thankful that Mom and Sam are happy," Cassie said, slipping an arm around each of her moms. "And I'm thankful that everyone is healthy. And I'm thankful that Jessica Wilcox finally broke up with Justin Eiderdown." At their looks, she defended, "What, I can't be a little shallow? Justin was way too good for her."
"He's not good enough for you," Jack and Daniel said at exactly the same time, and Janet and Sam both snorted as they tried not to laugh; they'd been thinking the same thing, but knew enough about teenage girls to keep their mouths shut.
After Cassie's muttered protest, Janet smiled, kissing her daughter's forehead and then leaning in front of her to give Sam a kiss as well. "I'm just thankful that I have so very much to be thankful for," she said decisively.
"Hear, hear," Hammond agreed.
"Indeed," Teal'c intoned as he and the general joined them in the kitchen. "We are most lucky to have each other, and our health. I am thankful that Doctor Fraiser has provided us with this bountiful feast in celebration of all we have to be thankful for."
"I told you," Jack smirked, watching as Janet passed pie along to Teal'c and General Hammond. "Didn't I tell you? Five minutes ago these guys were about to bust a gut, and now here they are gorging themselves with the rest of us. There's always room for pie."