*insert pointless disclaimer here*
Jack O'Neill walked through the halls of the SGC, he was heading toward Carter's lab. He always found something to play with there, plus the company wasn't too bad either. He thought about the beautiful blonde astrophyscist and smiled, yeah... definitely not to bad. As he entered the hallway he heard hushed voices and that made him stop. He recognized those voices, Daniel and Sam... er Carter.
"Daniel, just promise you won't tell anyone about this," Carter said in an anxious whisper. His interest was piqued, what would they want to keep a secret?
"But Sam, shouldn't we at least tell Teal'c and..." Daniel asked quietly but was interupted.
"No!" She practically shouted, "No one, especially not the Colonel," His mind was whirring, what were they talking about and why wouldn't she want him to know.
Daniel sighed, "Fine I won't tell anyone, it'll be our little secret." Carter let out a breath of relief.
"Thank you," she breathed. Jack decided it was time to interupt their little pow-wow.
He walked up to her lab just in time to see Carter kiss Daniel on the cheek, and realization dawned on him. A horrible, horrible realization. Sam and Daniel were dating, Sam had chosen the doctor over himself.
"Mornin' campers," he said once he recovered, they both looked up, shocked to see him but he put on his best innocent face and pretended he hadn't heard a thing and that his heart wasn't breaking.
"Hi Jack," Daniel said, first to recover from the shock.
"I was just going to grab some lunch, you two wanna join?"
"Uh... actually I was just heading back to my office, I need to translate some writing on the artefacts that SG-9 brought back P3X-587."
Jack rolled his eyes, putting on an act of his normal self while he tried to control the caos inside. "Carter?" he said turning to her, trying to hide the pain in his eyes.
"Sorry Sir, I'm working on this," she said indicating her latest doohickey.
"Fine. Guess I'm on my own," he said, not sure if he was just talking about lunch anymore. "See you kids later," he turned tail and left, not sure if he could hold his composure for much longer.
*Flashback*
Daniel had been translating something on Sam's latest doohickey. He had just finsihed, "Alright, I better get back to my lab, more translating to do."
"Sure, thanks Daniel," Sam said, his translation had helped a lot.
He began walking out and then stopped, "Hey, Sam?" he asked.
"Yeah?" she said tearing her eyes away from the piece of technology and looking at the curious archeologist.
"What's the big red X on your calender two days from now?" he questioned.
"Oh, um..." she had been hoping no one would ask, that's why she hadn't labeled the day, it would have made it too obvious.
"Sam," he said sternly hoping to get it out of her.
"It's my birthday," she said quietly.
"Oh! Why didn't you tell us? We'll throw you a party," he said already making plans.
"No! I don't want anyone to know," she said as the archeologists eyebrows rose.
"Why?" he asked thoroughly confused.
"Because I don't like celebrating my birthday," she replied simply.
"Okay but..." he began only to be interupted by Sam.
"Daniel, just promise you won't tell anyone about this," she said, hoping he would just agree and let this go, she really didn't want everyone to make a fuss over her birthday, she liked to be just left alone.
"But Sam, shouldn't we at least tell Teal'c and..." Shouldn't the team at least know?
"No!" She practically shouted, "No one, especially not the Colonel,"
Sighing heavily Daniel gave in seeing the pleading look on his friends face, "Fine I won't tell anyone, it'll be our little secret."
"Thank you," she said sighing in relief. She got up and kissed him on the cheek throwing her arms around his neck in a sort of friendly hug.
"Mornin' campers," came a voice from behind them, she froze in shock really hoping he hadn't heard any part of that last conversation and pulled away from Daniel meeting the eyes of her CO.
Jack pressed his palms against his eyes, resting his elbows on the table in the commisary. He tried to forget why this was bothering him so much, that even though it was clearly forbidden he had always had some hope that she was as in love with him as he was with her.
He supposed it made sense, they were both young and good-looking and God knows they were both smarter than him, but he had always some small shred of hope that if there were ever a time when they could be together that she would choose him, that she would want him. That she would've have waited for him, like he would have waited for her.
He removed his hands from his face and ran them through his hair, he needed to get a handle on himself before their briefing in half an hour. He picked up his fork and began to eat his cake. He didn't even notice the tall blonde standing over him until she cleared her throat and said, "Sir?"
He looked up and raised his eyebrows, not sure if his voice would give him away yet. "Mind if I join you?" she asked indicating the open seat in front of him with her blue Jell-o. He shrugged and she sat down. After a few moments of tense silence she asked, "Are you okay Sir?"
He cleared his throat, "Yeah, I'm fine Carter. Why do you ask?" Was he being obvious? He slid his mask further into place, hoping to betray no emotion.
She shrugged, "I don't know, you just look... upset about something."
Upset! Try heart-broken, completely and totally depressed, tortured, in agony, "I'm fine," he said forcing a smile.
She narrowed her eyes, she didn't believe him but she let it drop. Clearly he didn't want to talk about it now, she would force it out of him later.
They continued to eat in silence until she finished her Jell-o and he his cake, then the both got up to go to the briefing.
A/N: okay so it's late, i'm done for tonight but i wanted to post it, see if anyone wants to see how it ends.
sorry it's so short. please review to let me know what you think and if you have any ideas!