"Daniel…Daniel…Yo, Danny!" Jack shouted to get his friend's attention.
Daniel looked up from the book he was reading, pushing his hair out of his eyes, taking off the headphones that had been obscured by the mop of unkempt brown.
"Sorry, didn't hear you," he stammered sheepishly.
"What 'cha listening to?" Jack asked, rocking on his heels. It was a safer question than asking what he was reading.
"The Who."
"The Who," Jack repeated. "You listen to The Who?"
"Yeah, they're my favorite band."
Jack stared at him.
"What?" he asked self-consciously.
"Why do you do this to me?" Jack groaned, annoyed.
"Do what?"
"Get out of your box. I built you a perfectly good box," Jack complained. "Why do you insist on not staying there?"
"What?" Daniel looks around his cluttered office- as if it held a vital clue to what the hell Jack was talking about.
"You are my favorite geek in the enter galaxy," Jack told him. "And when you say things like 'The Who is my favorite band' it makes me think that deep, deep down, underneath all that hair is a cool person." He was visibly distressed by the thought.
"Oh, well, we can't have that can we?" Daniel asked dryly.
"No. No, we cannot. So let's try this again." Jack took a deep breath. "What 'cha listening to?"
"My favorite CD," Daniel answered with forced enthusiasm. "Aboriginal throat singing of the nineteenth century performed by a choir of monks."
Jack sighed and shook his head. "Why can't you listen to anything normal? Like The Who?"
"Gee, Jack. I'm such a geek I've never even heard of them."
"That's why we love you Dannyboy." Jack patted him fondly on the head.
Daniel sighed. "So was there something you wanted or…?"
"Yes, actually." Jack perked up again. "It has come to my attention that there is cause for celebration this weekend."
Daniel frowned. "Oh?"
"BBQ, my place, Saturday. We teach Teal'c all about the Fourth of July."
"Which Fourth of July are we talking about? The historical event or the modern celebration?" Daniel asked, knowing that with Jack it was important to make the distinction.
"Let me make this clear: you are invited. Your brain is not."
"Got it." Daniel nodded. "What should I bring?"
"Chips for SG-1. Team only so keep your trap shut."
He shrugged. "Okay."
Jack nodded, then abruptly turned on his heel and left. He walked straight to Carter's lab.
"Well?" she asked as soon as he walked in.
"He doesn't suspect a thing."
. . . . . . . . . . . . .
"The celebration of the anniversary of one's birth is a Tau'ri tradition?" Teal'c asked.
SG-1, minus Daniel had met up in the gym. It was the safest place to meet. They had very little chance of Daniel accidentally wandering in and overhearing them. Sam and Jack were trying to explain their plan to the Jaffa. Ironically, it would have been going better if Daniel had been there. He had a knack for explaining things in a way Teal'c could understand.
"Yes, every year your friends and family throw you a party and bring you presents," Sam said.
"Will there be a false tree decorated with the approximation of celestial bodies?" Teal'c asked hopefully.
"No Christmas tree," Sam broke the news. Teal'c had a great appreciation for that part of Christmas, the last present giving holiday he had learned about.
"There will be cake," Jack supplied helpfully. "And fireworks."
"Fireworks aren't traditional to a birthday party," Sam was quick to interject. "But because Daniel's birthday is so close to the completely unrelated American Independence Day holiday we're combining the two. Fireworks go with Independence Day."
"The celebration of the formation of your country," Teal'c nodded his understanding. The Tau'ri had a lot of holidays. It was hard to keep them all straight.
"Yup," Jack confirmed before Sam could jump in with a more technical explanation. "Now remember, the birthday party part is a secret. As far as anyone besides us is concerned this is just a good ol' traditional 4th of July BBQ."
"Would it not be prudent to inform Daniel Jackson so that he may prepare gifts to exchange?"
"Teal'c, Christmas is a gift exchange," Sam explained. "For birthdays it's just us giving gifts to Daniel. He's not expected to give us anything."
"And let's remember this is Daniel," Jack added. "He's like a little bunny rabbit. He gets spooked easily and skitters off into the underbrush. So let's keep it low-key, simple."
"Right, sir," Sam agreed, and Teal'c nodded.
"Good, so 17:30 at my place. I told Daniel 18:30 so he'll show up sometime after 19:00. Sam, you're in charge of the cake. I'll man the grill. T- you will be the distraction. Ask him history questions to your little Jaffa heart's content. Letting him jabber on about boring things will be the best present he ever got."
. . . . . . . . . . . . .
Everyone was in the backyard when Daniel arrived. His old clunker of a deathtrap that he insisted on calling a car rumbled into Jack's driveway alerting the team to the guest of honor's arrival. Sam jogged up the side yard to grab him before he let himself into the house where his cake and presents weren't exactly well hidden.
"How is it that even when I'm early I'm still the last one here?" Daniel mused checking his watch as he followed her to the picnic table where Jack and Teal'c were discussing hockey.
"Because if you were ever the first to show up it'd be a sure sign we were in a parallel universe."
"Hardy-har-har," he grumbled good-naturedly.
"Grab a beer, sit down, you better have brought the good chips," Jack greeted him.
"Hey, Jack, how you doing?" Daniel asked, ignoring the jab.
"Good, you?"
"Good."
Daniel took the offered beer and took his spot at the table next to Sam and across from Jack. He opened the chips, the good ones as Jack had requested, and offered some to everyone before putting them on the far end of the table. Jack had to get up from his seat and stretch to reach the bag. He made sure to encroach into Daniel's personal space as much as possible.
"You little weasel," he grumbled.
Daniel smirked, proud of himself.
"O'Neill, I am confused," Teal'c said. "Did you not say Daniel Jackson had the temperament of a bunny rabbit? Now you say he is a weasel. To my understanding, these animals are quite dissimilar."
Sam snorted into her beer. Daniel looked at Jack expectantly.
"It's a figure of speech," Jack tried to recover, red-faced.
"The weasel thing, sure," Daniel agreed. "But, um, bunny rabbit?"
"Also a figure of speech," Jack insisted.
"Not a figure of speech."
"Yes, it is."
"No, it's not."
"Yeah-huh."
"Nuh-uh."
"Carter, back me up here," Jack looked at his 2IC. "That's an order," he added for good measure.
"Should we start the burgers?" Sam chose to change the subject, a wise move on her part. "I saw brats in the kitchen."
"Soon to be beer brats," Jack jumped on the topic.
"What is beer brat?" Teal'c asked.
"It's a style of bratwurst, which is a German sausage," Daniel explained.
"Is this holiday not a celebration of America? Why will we dine on the cuisine of another country?"
"Hamburgers are American," Jack cut in.
"As a sandwich, yes," Daniel allowed. "But it is named after the style of meat which was popularized in Hamburg, Germany…"
"Danny-hush," Jack cut him off. "I told you, your brain was not invited."
"I was just-"
"Shut it."
"But, I-"
"Nah!" Jack put up a warning finger.
Daniel sighed, looking at Teal'c. He took a deep breath and went for it. "America doesn't really have any original food- it's all borrowed and adapted from the cultures our ancestors immigrated from. With the exception, of course, of Native American recipes." He looked at Jack. "Was that okay?"
"Did you use your not-invited brain?"
"Beer brats?" Sam interrupted.
"Yes, brats prepared in the traditional style of beer," Jack agreed. "Carter, you help me in the kitchen. Danny, T, you guys get the grill going."
They set about making dinner, careful to keep Daniel busy outside. He was more than happy to assume control of the grill- Jack didn't have the best reputation when it came to not turning perfectly good meat into barely eatable chunks of charcoal.
Jack peeked out the kitchen window. He, Sam, and Teal'c were inside getting condiments and toppings.
"Everyone clear on the plan?" he asked.
"Got it, sir," Sam nodded.
Teal'c raised an affirmative eyebrow.
"Carter, get out there before he gets suspicious."
"Sure." She grabbed the platter of toppings and headed out to the table. The sun was starting to set; people would begin setting off fireworks, soon. "How's it going?" she asked, moving into stand next to Daniel, blocking his view of the kitchen.
"I think we're just about ready." He started moving the burgers off the heat and giving the brats one last poke in their beer bath.
"I'll do that." Sam reached for the spatula. "You light the torches. The mosquitos will be out soon."
"Sure." He started to turn away.
"Hey, uh, before everyone else gets out here," Sam pulled his attention back to her. Jack and Teal'c were moving the cake and presents around in the kitchen. "I know your birthday is in a couple days."
Daniel frowned. "You do?"
"Yeah," she admitted. "I figured since you weren't saying anything you didn't want to make a big deal of it."
"Um, yeah. I'm not really…" he fished for the right words that didn't make him sound like a loser.
"I thought you and I could do dinner, just you and me. You pick, I'm buying."
"Sam, you don't have to."
"I can't let you not celebrate," she insisted. "It's your birthday."
Daniel smiled. He wasn't used to the attention. "I'd like that."
"We'll sort it out later," she said as the back door opened. Daniel grabbed the matches and went around lighting the citronella torches strategically placed around the yard. Sam smiled to herself. If Daniel had any suspicions, the offer of a birthday dinner surely threw him off the scent. He seemed genuinely surprised that she knew when his birthday was. It made her a little sad to think he didn't expect people to care. Or, maybe she was reading too much into it. Maybe he just wasn't big on birthdays. He wasn't big on attention in general. Jack was right, he was like a skittish rabbit sometimes- not that she'd ever tell him that.
"All ready, sir," Sam said, putting a heaping plate of burger patties and brats on the table.
There was a flurry of motion as everyone grabbed for food at the same time. The organized chaos of SG-1 getting ready to eat was a legend around the SGC. They were such a tight-knit group that in the middle of the mess they routinely and casually took food off each other's plates, knowing that extra had been ordered in anticipation of Jack taking your fries, Daniel stealing pickle spears, Sam swiping your jello and Teal'c batting clean-up for the team ate all the leftovers. But, anything served family style became an instant game of everyone trying to help everyone else. So, no one ever prepared their own plate so much as they prepared the plate for the person sitting next to them. The working theory was they had all switched minds, bodies, lives, and deaths so much they were just four distinct pieces of one collective person. Almost simultaneously they all settled down, plates full, fresh drinks in front of them, ready to eat.
"Many Tau'ri holidays center on the style of food served," Teal'c observed.
"Basically," Sam agreed. "I can't really think of one that isn't."
Jack shrugged.
"Halloween?" Daniel offered.
"Candy," Jack countered.
"That's not really a meal," Sam pointed out.
"It is if you do it right," Jack insisted. Daniel agreed, nodding his head as he bit into the burger Teal'c had put together for him.
Teal'c tried the brat Sam had assembled for him. "Daniel Jackson, you prepared this meal with great skill."
"Thanks. It's mostly just a matter of not burning everything like Jack does."
"It's a style, a choice," Jack defended.
"You should stop making that choice."
Jack looked at Daniel in mock horror. "The cheek on this one."
Daniel took another pull from his beer and smiled. That was twice in one night he'd managed to get the upper hand on Jack. It was almost too easy.
Before the sun had fully set, the neighbors had started setting off their fireworks. The sky above the pond sporadically let up with colors and mini explosions.
"We should go up on your roof," Daniel said suddenly. "The view would be great. There's enough room for all of us isn't there?"
"But then how, pray tell, do we set off our fireworks?" Jack asked.
"We have fireworks?"
"Indeed. O'Neill escorted me to purchase many explosives for our amusement," Teal'c said.
"There's a whole box of them in the garage," Sam confirmed. "They got the good ones."
"Then why are we just sitting here?" Daniel demanded, suddenly eleven years old. Whether it was the beer or the promise of pyrotechnics influencing his behavior was anyone's guess. "Let's blow stuff up!"
Jack made a big show of rolling his eyes and sighing. "Some people."
Daniel was already on his feet heading to the garage to get the stash. Jack gestured Teal'c to go with him and stall while he and Sam got the surprise set up.
"Woah," Daniel said as he spotted the rather large box overflowing with fireworks of all types and sizes. "You guys really went all out. You want me to chip in?"
"I must decline, Daniel Jackson."
"You sure? This stuff isn't cheap."
"I am certain."
"If you change your mind, let me know." Daniel shrugged it off. "Let's crack these suckers open." He bent down to pick up the box. "Give me hand."
"Tell me, Daniel Jackson, for what reason did your country choose to sever ties with their rulers?"
Daniel looked up, putting the box down again. "That's a complicated question," he started.
. . . . . . . . . . . . .
"He's still talking," Sam whispered, her ear pressed up against the door from the house to the garage.
"Why?" Jack whispered back.
"Teal'c keeps asking him questions."
"Oh, for the love of…." He groaned. "Come on." He marched back into the kitchen, grabbed the cake off the counter and headed outside.
Once they had set out the cake, ice cream and presents Sam lit the candles and Jack shouted out a warning that the ice cream was melting. Predictably, the threat of missing dessert brought Daniel and Teal'c around the corner, carrying the box of fireworks between them. At first, Daniel was so caught up on his lecture about how Paul Revere never completed his famous midnight ride like the popular poem implied, he didn't even notice the display set out for him. Or, maybe, with his glasses sliding down his nose he couldn't make out exactly what was on fire on the picnic table. When it all finally registered he stopped dead in his tracks, Teal'c's firm grip on the other side of the box the only thing keeping him from dropping it.
"What the hell?" he finally asked.
"HAPPY BIRTHDAY," his team yelled in unison.
He glanced from beaming face to beaming face, confused, embarrassed, and delighted all at the same time.
"What the hell?" he repeated, for once at a loss for words.
"Make a wish, Dannyboy," Jack ordered him.
Daniel approached the cake after he and Teal'c put the fireworks down. He laughed when he saw it had been decorated to look like an archeological dig in Egypt, complete with pup ten for the tiny Indiana Jones figurine to hide in when the mummy at the far corner got too close.
"If these are trick candles, I'm not sharing my cake," he warned before taking a deep breath. Luckily the prank gods took mercy on him and he got all of the candles out on the first go. "You guys didn't have to do this," he said as he plucked the candles out, eager to dig in.
"How else would we justify cake?" Jack shrugged.
"Were you surprised, Daniel Jackson?"
"Uh, yeah, I'd say I was surprised. Shocked even- Sam lied to me not two hours ago," he looked at her accusingly as she started to cut the cake.
"I'm still taking you to dinner," she told him.
"Thank you, guys. This was really nice of you."
"We're not done, yet," Sam handed the birthday boy the first slice of cake. "You have to open our presents."
"Guys," he started to turn red, and his eyes darted about unsure of where to focus. The bunny rabbit instincts were kicking in. Jack shared a knowing look with Sam. A nice, subtle told ya.
"Nothing flashy," Jack promised. "Just something to mark the day. But first, ice cream."
They resumed their seats at the table and ate half a sheet cake and an entire half gallon of ice cream. Twilight was fading and more and more people were setting off fireworks. Daniel kept glancing at their contribution to the community display, still safely in their box. He was either anxious to blow things up or anxious to get out of the spotlight.
"Let's get the torture over with and then show these amateurs a thing or two about fireworks," Jack said, handing Daniel another beer.
Grinning, Sam pushed a gift bag across the table. "It's nothing fancy. I thought of you when I saw it."
Daniel reached through the tissue paper. His hand closed around a familiar shape and texture. On visual inspection, it wasn't what he was expecting. What he had assumed as an old leather bound book, an always appreciated if not common gift, was a leather-bound journal with his initials stamped on the front cover.
"Sam, this is handmade," he said, running his fingers over the rough cut edges of the pages.
"There's a lady that sells them at the farmer's market."
"She knows her stuff. This is classic early colonial-"
"Ack!" Jack cut him off. "No brains allowed."
Daniel pulled a face at Jack and then smiled at Sam. "Thank you. It's beautiful."
With raised eyebrows and a nod of the head, Teal'c handed him the other bag. This one was heavier than Sam's. Bracing himself, as Teal'c hadn't quite grasped gift giving, Daniel reached in.
"A candle," Sam oohed appropriately.
"Aromatherapy for relaxation," Daniel read. "To help with my attempts at meditation," he hoped he had put the pieces together correctly. "I'll try it out this weekend," he promised, with a forced smile.
"I would like to offer my continued assistance in your practice."
"Yeah, that'd be great. We can do it tomorrow."
Teal'c bowed his head and Daniel kicked Jack under the table to stop him from laughing. Teal'c was trying. It was the thought that counted.
"This was really nice of you guys," Daniel carefully put his gifts back in their bags. "Thank you."
"I'm starting to think the neighbors are mocking us," Jack said looking out at the display going on over the pond. "Someone shot that bottle rocket a little too deliberately in our direction. Let's show these kids how it's done."
Beer in hand he went for the box and started formulating a plan of attack.
"I'll get the matches," Daniel hopped up, his beer still firmly in hand as well.
Sam looked at Teal'c. "I'll get the garden hose ready, just in case."
"That would be wise, Captain Carter."
. . . . . . . . . . . . .
The fireworks went off well into the night. There was only one small misfire, easily stamped out, and SG-1's carefully planned out finale got a resounding round of applause from the neighbors and guests around the pond. Smug and satisfied with their superior display they started their clean up, using flashlights to find the debris around the yard. Once the hard part was handled, Jack tried to force everyone out.
"I'll finish myself. Go home, Carter." He took the dirty grill utensils from her and dropped them in the sink.
"Sir, we can…"
"Home, Carter. Now."
"O'Neill is it not customary for…."
"You, too, T. That's an order." Jack tried to push the Jaffa toward the door, but Teal'c didn't move.
Daniel gave Sam a nod, he'd stay and help. She nodded back.
"Come on, Teal'c. I'll give you a ride." Sam grabbed her purse.
After promising to schedule dinner with Sam and a meditation lesson with Teal'c, Daniel shut the door behind his teammates and, without a word or glance at Jack, went back to cleaning the kitchen.
"Did I not just order you to go?" Jack frowned at him.
"Yeah." Daniel started collecting beer bottles for recycling.
"Yet you remain. Here. In my kitchen. Not gone in the slightest."
"Yeah."
Jack shoved him out of his way half-heartedly and went back to the dirty dishes in the sink. "You're a pain in the ass, you know."
"Yeah," Daniel answered, still not looking at Jack. At this point, he was just annoying him to see what would happen.
"Did you have a good time?" Jack asked after a several minute silent standoff.
"Yeah," Daniel admitted. "I assume you're the one behind all this."
Jack shrugged. "It's your first birthday back on Earth. I doubt you even knew when your birthday was on Abydos. You had one to make up for."
Daniel smiled. "This is one of the best birthdays I've had. Thank you, Jack."
"It's not over yet," Jack told him, drying his hands on a dishtowel. Daniel looked at him. "You haven't gotten my present, yet."
"I thought the party…"
"Nope. Stay here." Jack disappeared down the hall. Daniel was still staring at where he had been standing when he returned. "I figured I owed you after giving you so much crap about it," Jack said, handing Daniel a cardboard tube.
"You'll have to be more specific than that," Daniel mumbled smirking.
"You'll know it when you see it," Jack assured him.
Daniel took the stopper off the tube and extracted a slightly yellowed poster. Curious, he unrolled it and read the print. "Jack…."
"It's not an original," Jack admitted.
"My dad took me to this show when we were in the Netherlands."
It was a reprint of The Who's 1975 concert tour poster, it was even in Dutch.
"I remember," Jack told him. "You were six and your grandmother died. While you were there for Nick and your mom to close the estate your dad took you to the show. It was your first concert and you're pretty sure your dad smoked a doobie, which must be where you get that tiny kernel of not nerd."
"You actually listen to me." Daniel wasn't sure what he was more in awe of. The fact that Jack listened to him or that Jack O'Neill was capable of choosing such a thoughtful gift.
"Of course I listen, when you're not jabbering on about boring stuff."
Daniel smiled. "Thank you, Jack. This is the coolest… It's awesome."
"You're welcome," Jack smiled back. "Just remember how awesome it is on October 20."
"What's October 20?"
"My birthday."
Daniel rolled his eyes. "Of course it is."