Parings: None

A/N: Just came to me. I'm not quite sure about the ending, but hey...R&R!

Sometimes being stuck in Washington DC sucked.

Jack sighed as he climbed the stairs to his apartment. Like now, for instance. It was his birthday…and he was in Washington, while Sam, Daniel, and Teal'c were thousands of miles away.

It was funny, really. O'Neill had never really been one of those who made that big a deal about his birthday, or who expected anyone else to. He'd had parties when he was a kid, naturally, and Sara had certainly always commemorated the day during the years they'd been married. But otherwise in his adult life, he hadn't really cared a whole lot about how much notice people took of the day. His current situation wouldn't have bothered him then.

But that, of course, was a decade ago, before three people-who-shall-remain-nameless barreled headfirst into his life, along with aliens, wormholes, spaceships, and life-threatening situations every week. Before an archeologist so candidly turned him away from his suicidal path of action, an officer/scientist challenged him to an arm-wrestling contest, and an alien Jaffa turned and fired on his fellow guards to help him and his team escape. Before he'd suddenly found himself with a new, albeit unconventional, family. A family that was among the handful of people in his adult life that O'Neill had actually allowed to know the date of his birthday, unless you counted commanding officers having it on file.

Since then, the team had never forgotten each other's birthdays. Jack had come to look forward to the day with a celebration and cake in his honor, the time with his friends. It made him miss the three of them all the more to realize that it wouldn't happen this year.

They hadn't forgotten about it, of course. They'd all called him individually this morning to wish him an enthusiastic happy birthday, and the three of them together had put a phone on speaker and proceeded to regale him with an SG-1 version of "Happy Birthday to You". Carter had also informed him that his presents would be waiting for him next time they saw him, and they'd promised to talk to him later. But it just wasn't the same.

What was wrong with him? O'Neill scolded himself. He was doing his job, just like he had been his entire life. It had never been a problem before. It had never exceptionally bothered him if he happened to miss his birthday by being on a mission when he was married. He had hated and fought like hell against missing Sara's or Charlie's, but his own he hadn't minded so much. Sara had, but he hadn't. He'd just made a mental note of it for the sake of knowing how old he was and kept going. So why was he wishing so much to be back in Colorado Spring, with his team? Hell, he'd even take being General over the whole SGC at this point. At least it would put him in the same town, on the same base.

He must be getting soft. Much too sentimental. It was Daniel rubbing off, Jack decided firmly. Stupid archeologists and their humanitarian ways. Stupid kids who'd grown up in foster care and therefore had never had a decent birthday since they were orphaned, forcing the team to start making a big deal out of birthdays. See, Jack thought almost smugly, it can all be blamed on Daniel.

Wait…hadn't it been Jack's idea to make a big deal out of Daniel's birthday that first year, when he'd discovered Daniel's past and the sorry state of his birthdays thus far in his life? Which meant Jack was starting to get soft even then. But that was only a few months after Daniel had come back from Abydos, and surely even Daniel could rub off that fast. Could he?

Nope. Not by himself, anyway. Which meant that it was a combined effort.

Figures. His team always did work as a unit. O'Neill should have known he was going to end up fighting a losing battle the moment he let his military side down enough to allow a civilian who had never fired a gun before on his team. All because the guy wanted to find his wife, and Jack could emphasis at the time as to how he'd feel if it was Sara.

See? Back to it being Daniel's fault.

Stupid men whose wives were kidnapped and made O'Neill feel sorry for them. Stupid linguists who didn't have anywhere to go or know anyone else besides Jack, forcing the colonel to let him stay at his house. It was all Daniel's fault.

Of course, the fact that these events gave even more evidence to O'Neill being sentimental even before Daniel started rubbing off was irrelevant. He had decided it was Daniel's fault, dammit, and it was going to stay Daniel's fault. Besides, he didn't want to think about it anymore. All this thinking about Daniel was making him miss his best friend.

Jack climbed the last couple of stairs to his floor, and started walking down the hall. Maybe he'd call Daniel. He might as well, seeing as he wouldn't be able to stop thinking about the three of them now.

He inserted his keys, unlocked the door, opened it, and started to walk in before he stopped dead in his tracks.

There, in his living room, was his team. Carter, Daniel, and Teal'c. Along with what had to be the most birthday decorations Jack had ever seen fit in one room. Streamers, confetti, balloons, the works. Along with a cake and presents. His friends just smiled as they waited for him to take it all in.

Jack stood stock-still for what seemed forever, but what was probably only a few seconds, before he forced past the lump that was suddenly in his throat, "What, no jumping out and yelling 'surprise'?"

Carter and Daniel laughed while Teal'c got a smile. Carter replied, "Well, we thought about that but…"

Daniel finished, "We didn't feel like getting shot today. Do we look stupid? Jumping out and surprising a Black-Ops trained General?"

Teal'c inclined his head. "Congratulations on the day of your birth, O'Neill. I trust you are the liking your surprise?"

Jack chuckled. They never had been able to break Teal'c of his particular way of saying happy birthday. "Yes, very much, Teal'c." He stepped in, closed the door, and looked at the three of them. For a moment, he wasn't sure what to say. Then he managed, "Thanks, guys. Really."

"You're welcome." Carter replied, answering the grin that was beginning to grow on Jack's face.

Daniel shrugged. "You didn't really think we were going to leave you all alone in Washington on your birthday if we we're offworld, did you?" Then he seemed to think of something, disappeared into the kitchen, and returned with a Guiness beer, which he handed to Jack.

"We brought beer, as well as Chinese food." Teal'c informed him.

Jack popped open his beer. "Great! But first...is that cake?"