A/N: This is a sequel to another story called -gasp, shock!- Birthday Traditions. I've decided to do one per year. If you haven't read that one, you might be a little confused. I've got plans for each year, they're all going to be quite different from each other.

Birthday Traditions 2

Ch. 1: Twin Nerves

Sam Carter had to admit, she hadn't looked forward to her birthday this much since she was a little kid. The rational part of her brain (which she imagined never stepped out of uniform) insisted the reasons for this were simple: she loved her job, the people she worked with were family, one of the best friends she could ever imagine having shared her birthday with her, and over the past year she and the rest of SG1 had done some pretty important planet-saving things.

The other part of her brain, the part that got far too much pleasure out of watching Harrison Ford movies in her pajamas with Cassie and Janet, kept reminding her that the person single-handedly responsible for renewing her interest in birthdays was none other than her CO, Colonel Jack O'Neill, who, one year ago today, had thrown an extravagant party for Daniel and her, that had culminated on the roof in a pretty spectacular "birthday kiss" that she'd had recurring dreams about for the rest of the year.

On top of that, they had all-but signed a contract that this birthday, and any and all to follow, were going to end exactly the same way. This information was very comforting and exciting, of course, but at the moment she was wishing she could go back a year, when she hadn't been expecting anything and had been taken completely by surprise. Because now she had been standing in her closet for half an hour, trying to figure out what on earth to wear.

There were going to be more people around to help distract her from thinking solely about the end of the party (she hoped). Cassie and Janet were coming, and the Colonel had invited General Hammond as well, saying he was welcome to bring his granddaughters so Cassie would have someone to play with. Nobody knew if the General would be able to come or not, but Carter and Daniel had figured out how he'd been invited in the first place: it had happened while her CO had been trying to contact her father through the Tok'ra, to see if he could be there or not.

It had been almost two months since he and his new symbiote had said goodbye, and neither had been heard from since, although as Daniel kept telling her, no news was good news. Still, it would be nice to hear from her dad on her birthday.

She sighed and got back to the task at hand: picking out something to wear. The problem was, she didn't spend a lot of time off-base, so when she did, her clothes generally fell into one of two categories: super-casual bumming around the house clothes she felt slightly awkward running to the grocery store in, and clothes that might come off as too girly, like she was trying to impress her CO. And whether she was or wasn't was irrelevant: it was only important that she not appear to be doing so.

She debated calling Janet to find out what she was wearing but decided that would open the door to too much interrogation/teasing as to why she couldn't seem to get dressed by herself tonight. Getting frustrated as she realized she would soon be late to her own birthday party, she grabbed a pair of black slacks decisively. Those were always okay, right? There, halfway done, she congratulated herself as she pulled them on.

She quickly scanned various blouses, tops, and sweaters for the seventeenth time and finally decided to just go with her favorite. The night was probably going to be uncomfortable enough without her minding what she was wearing, maybe the super-soft cashmere v-neck she had had forever would put her somewhat at ease. She pulled it on, checked herself in the mirror, and frowned. Black bra, baby blue top. Well, that wouldn't do. Janet would never let her live that down. She quickly changed her bra, smoothed her hair back down, and started searching for her shoes.

She had agreed to pick up Daniel for a number of reasons. First, it would mean fewer cars parked outside her CO's. Second, if Daniel had about half a beer he would most certainly need a ride home, if they all didn't end up staying at the Colonel's as they had last year. Third, for some reason, it had been very important to Colonel O'Neill that "the birthday boy and girl arrive together."

She was regretting all of these reasons at the moment, because she had been waiting in Daniel's living room for him for fifteen minutes.

"Daniel, you better have pants on because I'm coming in there to get you!" She finally called, one second before barging into his bedroom.

He was apparently having a similar problem getting dressed, as his open closet was nearly empty and its entire contents were spread out on his bed. "Sorry, Sam, I'm almost ready. I just - do you think wearing a tie is too much?"

He had on khaki slacks and an undershirt and was holding up a button-down shirt to himself with a hideous tie draped over his shoulder. "Well, whatever you do, I wouldn't wear that one," she said honestly, pulling it off of him and adding it to the pile on his bed. "Daniel, last year you ended up in jeans and a gray undershirt with two bows stuck to your chest as breasts. I don't think a tie is necessary."

"No, I know, I just thought..."

"You know Teal'c and the Colonel won't be all dressed up... why don't you just wear that shirt?"

He frowned at it. "It 's so... boring, don't you think? I don't want to look boring..."

Something in his eyes clicked in Sam's brain. "It's Janet," she said quietly.

Daniel froze and stared at her blankly. "What? What are you talking about?"

"Oh come on - who else would you be dressing up for? Certainly not me, or Teal'c, or the Colonel, or Cassie... that leaves only our dear Dr. Fraiser."

"Sam, it's not what you think. I just think she's really nice and..."

"Don't worry, Daniel, you can wipe that look of blind panic off your face. I'm not going to say anything, I just - never noticed before. Now I feel like I should have."

"Now you know how I felt," Daniel muttered, fussing with the shirt he had pulled on.

"What do you mean?" Sam asked, moving behind him to smooth out the shoulders for him.

"You and Jack," Daniel said casually, as if it was something they discussed every day. "It never occurred to me there was - anything - between you guys until I went to that alternate reality where you were engaged - and that Jack was an even bigger stubborn ass than ours is, by the way, but once the idea had been suggested to me I felt like an idiot for not seeing it before."

"Maybe," Sam said slowly after she had convinced her brain and mouth to work together again. "You should wear a tie, so I'll have something handy to strangle you with."

"What?" Daniel asked defensively. "It's not like I'm going to say anything. I didn't mean to make you uncomfortable, I just -was surprised when you brought up Janet, is all."

"I know. Can we go now? The shirt is right. You're ready."

"Are you sure?"

She smiled at him affectionately. It was impossible to describe how almost instantly Daniel had felt like he'd been her brother her whole life. "I'm sure," she assured him. "You look great."

"So do you," he said suddenly, flashing her a grin as he sat down to put his shoes on. "Sorry I didn't say anything when you got here."

"You were preoccupied," she said with a shrug.

"Yeah. Well, let's go, birthday girl," he said, standing up with a big grin on his face.

She returned the smile and said, "After you, birthday boy."

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More to come, once I get time to transfer from my handy-dandy notebook to Marshall (my computer's name.)