Tinsel
Author’s Note: Written For The Ancient Obsessions Advent Challenge – December 12 (Tinsel and Baubles)
The shards were beautiful.
Reds, greens, golds, silvers, and even purples tinkled in the fading light. The afternoon sun that barely managed to filter through the slants of the blinds illuminated the shattered bits of color in a gorgeous cacophony of color that bounced around the room and danced on the walls.
But despite their beauty, the shards were still merely shards.
They were still broken.
Shattered. Only remnants of what they had been.
Just like the man who sat among them.
Daniel hadn’t meant to drop the box of glass Christmas ornaments, but as it slipped from his hand and fell to the floor, time seemed to stand still.
He made no move to catch the falling object.
It flew open as gravity mercilessly pulled it to the floor. The cascade of colored glass balls that was released into the air was truly a sight to behold.
For a moment, perfect spheres of wonder were suspended in the air like motionless globes.
But then they fell.
One by one, they smashed into the unforgiving floor and shattered into pieces barely reminiscent of their original form.
As the baubles broke, Daniel slowly sank to his knees on the floor in front of the mess he’d made. His task of decorating his first Christmas tree since returning from ascension was forgotten.
He’d been back with SG-1 for a few months now, and his memories grew more solid everyday, but still he knew there were things he was missing, and he felt their loss acutely as he stared at the broken glass.
He wondered if he’d ever be whole again.
Or if he’d remain only a shattered skeleton of himself.
Irreparable, like the ornaments on the floor.
Daniel picked up a larger piece of a blue globe and stared into it, hoping to see some sort of answer there. He didn’t expect one, but he felt compelled to look anyway.
At first, he saw only himself.
But as he looked closer, he saw something else.
No, someone else.
Behind him.
Daniel’s head whipped around in a near panic to look over his shoulder just as a rough masculine voice pierced the room.
“You know, that’d be a lot easier to clean up with a broom.”
Daniel’s heart rate slowed as he realized who his unexpected visitor was. “Jack! You scared me!”
O’Neill grinned. “Sorry about that, but I did knock. You seemed a little off today when you left the mountain. Came by to check on you. You didn’t answer. I let myself in.”
Daniel nodded. “Huh. Sorry.”
Jack waved him off. “No biggie. So, what’s up?”
Daniel shrugged. “Nothing.”
“Oh, right,” nodded Jack. “Sitting in the near dark staring at broken glass is normal behavior.”
Daniel chuckled. “Actually, it’s not real crazy for an archeologist.”
Jack sneered. “Smart ass.”
“Yeah, well.. I learned from the best, right?”
“Oh, very funny.”
“Wasn’t trying to be funny.” Daniel stood as he spoke this time, and glass crunched under his shoes, which were thankfully still on after his little trip to the cold garage to retrieve his Christmas decorations.
“Well, whatever,” groused Jack. “What say we clean that up, huh?”
Daniel nodded. “Good idea.”
Ten minutes later, no glass remained on Daniel’s floor. Little was said as Jack and Daniel cleaned up, but when they were done Jack turned to his younger friend again with concern in his eyes as he reached into another box and hung a little brass cutout angel on Daniel’s tree without thought.
“So, you okay?”
Daniel nodded a little reluctantly as he followed suit and hung another ornament on the tree. “Yeah.”
“Bad day?” Jack picked up a plastic Snoopy dressed as Santa and found a branch for it.
Daniel nodded again and placed a delicate gold star on a high branch. “Something like that.”
“Memory?”
Daniel nodded yet again as he frowned into the nearly empty ornament box. “Yeah. It happens sometimes… still.”
“Well, that’s to be expected. You did come back from the dead, after all.” Jack wisely commented as he reached past Daniel to grab a little reindeer. After placing it on the tree, he turned to find Daniel still frowning.
“What?” asked Jack.
Daniel sighed. “I don’t have enough ornaments since I broke all those-the tree will look naked.”
Daniel was nearly pouting, and Jack might’ve laughed if his friend hadn’t looked so earnestly sad. Jack blinked in thought a few times, then smiled.
“Nonsense. We’ll just cover it in tinsel, and it’ll be just fine. Maybe not what it was going to be before, but just fine all the same. Better than fine, in fact.”
Jack’s eyes found Daniel’s as he spoke, and both men knew that Jack wasn’t just talking about a Christmas tree. A tentative smile pulled at Daniel’s lips and Jack nodded slightly.
It was then that Daniel knew.
He’d seen his answer in the broken ornament after all.
He’d seen himself.
And he’d seen Jack.
Together.
Things suddenly didn’t seem so bad to Daniel, and he smiled more broadly.
“Tinsel it is, then.”
Jack clapped Daniel on the back and grinned. “Tinsel it is.”
Both men laughed and grabbed the new boxes of tinsel from the assorted Christmas supplies in front of them.
When they were done with Daniel’s tree, it looked like a shimmering ball of angel hair doused with icicles.
Jack leaned back and framed the tree between his hands. “Yep. Looks great. It’s just right. I’ve always liked tinsel myself.”
Daniel grinned but said nothing.
Jack left shortly after the tree was finished and nothing more was ever said about the evening between the two friends, but when Cassie asked Daniel why his tree was so heavy on the tinsel at a holiday party the following week, the archeologist merely smiled for a moment before answering.
“You should ask Jack.”
Jack’s head popped around the corner from the kitchen at the sound of his name.
“Ask me what?”
Cassie answered. “Why Daniel’s tree has so much tinsel.”
Jack smiled and stepped into the room.
“That’s easy, Cass.”
“And?”
“Well, simply put, you can never have enough tinsel.”
Cassie laughed and Jack pulled her into a one-armed hug. “Now, come on, little lady. I’ve got something to show you.”
Jack left Daniel alone then as he began to explain the finer points of preparing the perfect egg nog to young Cassie.
Daniel laughed to himself. He wasn’t sure if Janet would approve of Jack’s teachings, but he didn’t have the heart to say anything.
For while he was physically alone for a moment, Daniel’s spirit was warmed by the presence of his friends.
He glanced at his little Christmas tree for a moment, then suddenly burst out laughing. He couldn’t help it. There was more tinsel than tree there.
He was still giggling when he joined Sam, Teal’c, and Janet in the living room a moment later.
His memories were still sometimes elusive, and sometimes he grew frustrated with that, but he wasn’t broken.
Not anymore.
A whole lot of tinsel had patched him up as good as new.
The End
