Ch 2: Cake

Somehow, the fact that Daniel was nervous calmed Sam down considerably. She figured it was because she knew, mostly, what the night had in store for her. Plus, Daniel couldn't drink worth crap, so he was probably concerned about the combination of being drunk and around Janet. Whatever the reason, she was perfectly calm as she rang her CO's doorbell.

Jack O'Neill opened the door, but Cassie was bouncing around in front of him, super-excited. "Sam, happy birthday!" she shrieked, throwing herself at Sam. Sam caught her awkwardly in a hug, setting her down and smiling at her.

"Thanks, Cassie. You look pretty."

Cassie looked down at her purple dress and frowned. "I hate this dress, it's so babyish. Mom made me wear it. I told her any twelve year old would rather die than be seen in it. She said it was a good thing there wouldn't be any more twelve years olds here tonight. Hi, Daniel, happy birthday!" she gave him a quick hug and continued talking to Sam at about a hundred miles per hour. "You look really pretty too, Sam. I like your sweater. Jack, she looks pretty, don't you think?"

Hoping it was too dark on the porch to see her blush, she avoided his eyes as he said, "Um, yeah. A bit frozen though, Cass. Move out of the way and let them in already." He steered her out of the doorway and Sam and Daniel stepped inside.

Cassie ran off to go find her mom. As Sam and Daniel took off their coats, Daniel asked, "What did you give that kid, Jack? Is she drunk?"

"I bet she could handle more than you, Danny-boy. But no. She's just excited. And she's had a lot of soda."

"Ah, that explains it," Sam commented as Cassie met them in the living room, dragging Teal'c behind her. Aside from the comical sight of the largest, toughest man Sam knew allowing himself to be led around by a little girl, Teal'c made her burst into laughter as she took in his outfit: the man was wearing a huge lime-green sweater with Bart Simpson on. It was the most hideous thing she had ever seen, and she had no doubt as to who had given it to him.

Apparently he'd been following her blatant stare, because her CO leaned in and quietly said, "Don't worry, yours has Lisa on it." She looked at him, horrified, and he winked. She rolled her eyes and had to fight back a laugh and a punch to his arm.

"Major Carter, Daniel Jackson, happy birthday," Teal'c said, smiling at them both.

"Thanks, Teal'c," they both said.

"Now that they are here, O'Neill, may we begin eating?"

"Yeah, go on in." Teal'c nodded to all of them and headed to the kitchen. "He's ah, hungry," Jack explained. "Wait, you can't go in yet, you're not ready. You forgot your hats!" he insisted as both Sam and Daniel started to follow Teal'c and Cassie into the kitchen.

He quickly handed them both the hats he had made them wear last year. Well, Daniel's was a hat. A bright blue, sequined, glittery top hat. And Sam's was a tiara.

"You're not wearing a hat," she pointed out as she reluctantly set the thing on her head. He immediately frowned and stepped closer to her and began adjusting the tiara, which apparently wasn't straight. She hoped he didn't notice her sharp intake of breath. For a crazy half-second, she had thought, when he had stepped so close to her, he had been about to give her her birthday kiss right in front of Daniel.

"Teal'c and Janet wouldn't put them on," he was explaining. Huh? Oh, yeah, the party hats. "They will for the cake and presents though, or else. Besides, this isn't a kids' party anyway, it's a regular party."

"Aww, no musical chairs?" Daniel pretended to whine.

"As I recall, Spacemonkey, you were defeated in that game by a chair itself. You ended up on the floor."

And as I recall, Sam thought, I ended up in your lap.

She was grateful when Cassie called, "Come on, hurry up!"

"Such a nice, calm child," Jack said sarcastically, herding them to the kitchen.

He hadn't ordered pizza this time. He'd cooked a wide variety of food outside on his grill. Sam spotted Janet's crock-pot and knew it contained her friend's famous queso. Speaking of Janet, she was still nowhere to be found.

"Where's your mom?" Sam asked Cassie as she followed Daniel to grab a plate and start grabbing food.

"She's in Jack's office on her phone. Something about work."

"Sergeant Siler has injured himself again," Teal'c explained.

"Is he okay?" Sam asked in concern.

"Yes, he is," Janet answered as she entered the room pocketing her phone.

She hugged Sam and said, "Happy birthday."

"Thanks, Janet."

She turned to Daniel and hugged him as well, oblivious to the fact that he immediately tensed up and blushed. "Happy birthday, Daniel."

"Uh, thanks," he finally managed.

Sam gave him a sympathetic smile and whispered, "Breathe," after Janet had gone to check if Cassie had washed her hands.

As they ate, Jack took delight in filling in Janet and Cassie on some of the highlights from last year's party. The Fraiser girls were both laughing hysterically, especially when Jack described their "terribly off-key and out of sync interpretation of 'I'm a Little Teapot.'"

"Oh, man," Janet said, wiping her eyes with her napkin. "I wish I could see that!"

"That can be arranged, Dr. Fraiser," Teal'c said calmly. "I documented the evening on film, for posterity."

Janet and Cassie immediately began a campaign to watch the tape, and Sam and Daniel immediately began demanding the opposite.

They all had such a good time during dinner that Sam had forgotten all about the thing that was making her nervous, until Jack and Teal'c began clearing away the table for cake, waving off offers of assistance. Jack made everyone put the paper cone hats on, turned off the lights, lit a bunch of sparklers on each cake, and he and Teal'c set the two cakes down in front of Sam and Daniel.

Like last year, hers said 'Happy Birthday Sam" while Daniel's read "Happy Birthday Danny," but this time they were decorated identically, both done as the solar system. Everyone sang, Jack and Cassie adding loud choruses of "Happy Birthday to you, you live in a zoo, you smell like a monkey, and you look like one too!"

They blew out their candles, and in the few seconds of dark it took Jack to find the light switch, Sam thought about the childish wish she had just made: That her dad was there. By the time the lights came back on, she was grinning again, and promising Cassie she could eat Mars.

Aside from the design, the cakes were exactly the same as they year before, which was wonderful, as it was the best cake any of them had ever tasted, but was also a dangerous thing because as she bit into it, she couldn't help but remember that the last time she'd tasted it had been on her Commanding Officer's tongue. Not an unpleasant memory, by any means, but a bit inappropriate to be thinking about in front of the CO in question, as well as her friends and her goddaughter.

"It's the same as last year!" Daniel exclaimed happily next to her.

Jack nodded and said, "I have fond memories of this cake."

Sam's eyes instantly shot to his and he smiled at her and took a huge bite of cake. Blushing like mad, she mumbled something about needing another soda and hurried into the kitchen.

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