Happy Belated Birthday, Jack!
They were off-world on October 20, so it was really no surprise that nobody remembered it was his birthday. In fact, he himself gave it only a passing thought, in between trying to keep Daniel out of trouble, and then rescuing Carter from the over-amorous son of the local headman, who wanted to marry her then and there. Luckily Teal'c avoided getting into any difficulty, and between the two of them they'd managed to drag Carter and Daniel back through the gate before any real harm was done. Daniel had a mildly sprained ankle and Carter was still recovering from the large amount of local brew that the swain had urged upon her in an attempt to bend her to his will. Janet had decided to keep Sam in the infirmary until she slept it off, and insisted that Daniel sleep on base instead of going home. That made sense, as it was very early in the morning local time when they'd made their unscheduled emergency return home.
Jack glanced at his watch once his post-mission checkup was done, and was dismayed to see that it was 0148 hours. He decided to spend what was left of the night in his base quarters as well, since the debriefing would be at 0800. This way he could get almost five and a half hours of sleep without having to subtract the forty minute drive (each way) to his house and back. He looked in on Carter for a few minutes. She was muttering drunkenly in her sleep and he didn't envy her the headache she was likely to have in the morning. Teal'c had already helped Daniel off to his room, so Jack waved good night to Janet and started to leave.
"Just a minute, Colonel," Janet called to him from her office door.
He about-faced and headed her way. "Eeee... what's up, Doc?"
She actually smiled at the hackneyed joke, despite the fact that he hauled it out at least once a week. "I just wanted to give you this." She picked up an envelope from her desk and handed it to him.
"What's this?" he asked. The envelope was white, with three red diamonds in the lower right corner.
"Open it," she said.
It was a card of course. On the front was a picture of a very foolish-looking brown and white bulldog, wearing a bright red argyle patterned sweater-vest. Jack stared at the words printed below the picture. "I was really worried that you wouldn't receive a birthday card with a dog wearing a sweater on it." Bemused, he read it twice, then looked up at Janet, who was doing her best to suppress a grin. His eyebrows climbed toward his hairline.
He opened the card. "So here," he read. Then he looked back at her. "So here?!" he repeated in an incredulous voice.
Her laughter burst loose. "Lt. Callahan picked it out," she defended herself once she could talk.
Jack thought of the goofy, good-natured nurse, whose competence was unrivaled by anyone in the infirmary. Patients vied for her attention. He smiled.
The card was signed by nearly all of the infirmary staff, with Callahan's name front and center. He was chuckling as he read the names. Most were accompanied by short notes. 'Try to stay out of trouble, Colonel.' 'Best wishes.' 'Hope to NOT see you soon in here.' Above Callahan's name was written, 'Nothing says Happy Birthday like a dog in a sweater.'
He was amused as well as very touched. "This is really nice of you guys, Janet," he said when he was finished reading. "Thank you. And thank the others, too, in case I don't see them all soon."
"You're welcome, Jack," she said, smiling. The smile morphed into a yawn, and she covered her mouth.
"Shouldn't you be outta here?" he asked.
"I'm on until 0600. SG-3 is due back at 0330. I think I'd better go get some coffee to keep me awake." She stretched and grinned. "Happy birthday, Jack. Go get some sleep."
"I'm gonna do just that. Thanks again and see you tomorrow." And he headed for the door, grinning and inordinately pleased that the folks in the infirmary—of all people!—had remembered his birthday.
Even though the card was beyond strange!
~finis~
I got that same card on my birthday and just couldn't resist putting it in the story.