A/N: Thanks for the reviews, everyone, I really appreciate all the thoughts and input. Gateseeker2: We're on the same page, I usually pretend Pete does not exist but I am quite eager to get to writing the party and requisite kiss dilemma for year 7, possibly for year 8 as well even.

This chapter is a bit... odd. This whole fic is odd, to me. I mean, the whole premise is that they're not supposed to talk about this tradition thing they have going on. The basic point of this fic is to make them realize that things are still getting complicated despite their rules. Actually, now that I think of it, this whole fic is basically a set-up for year 4's party. Anyway, on with this one. One more chapter to go after this.

Ch 4: Caught

When everybody had finished eating and ordered more drinks, the waitress brought out the cakes Jack had supplied, lit with sparklers as usual. She and the waiters helping her carry them started singing "Happy Birthday" and everyone at their table, as well as several other restaurant patrons, joined in. Teal'c was loudest of all.

Cake was a wonderful thing, Jack though happily as he took a huge bite of the chocolatey-goodness. Cake makes people happy. "Cake is good," he mumbled. Cassie and Janet looked at him funny, then both burst out laughing.

"That was profound," Janet said.

"You've got cake on your nose," Jack pointed out. Embarrassed, Janet wiped at her nose quickly. Cassie laughed even harder. Janet pulled away a clean napkin and narrowed her eyes at him.

"Gotcha."

"Really mature, Colonel," Janet said, crumpling up her napkin and throwing it at him.

After the cake and presents, everyone wanted to play pool. Teal'c, Daniel, Janet, and Cassie all preferred to watch, so General Hammond suggested teaming up with his buddy Jacob and 'teaching the kids a lesson.'

"Kids?" Daniel called as Jack grabbed the triangle. "What kids? Jack's closer to your age than Sam's!"

"Thanks for that, Daniel," Jack said grumpily as everyone laughed.

They played three games of pool, which would have been great fun under normal circumstances, because Carter was wicked at pool, and clearly enjoyed beating her dad at a game Jack could only imagine Jacob had spent years and years winning. Somehow Jacob Carter didn't seem like the kind of dad who thought letting his kids win anything was important.

These weren't really normal circumstances, however. Jacob and George had a great comradery going with their team. Carter was being painfully formal and polite, telling him, "Good shot" after every ball he sank and "Nice try," whenever he missed. They didn't even gloat properly when they won, and Jack would have loved the opportunity to rub their victory in the Generals' faces a bit. Jack doubted anybody else noticed Carter wasn't too happy with him. Well, anybody but Teal'c that is. Teal'c knew everything. As soon as they had finished their third game, Carter excused herself to go to the ladies'.

Jack watched her go and took a deep breath, suddenly deciding to change the rest of his plans and go try to clear the air between them once and for all. It was probably a decision heavily influenced by all the beer, but he wasn't going to stop and second-guess it now. He discreetly excused himself as well, but instead of going into the men's toilet he took a deep breath and let himself into the ladies'.

Carter was washing her hands. She caught sight of him in the mirror and jumped slightly, then turned around quickly and demanded, "Sir, what are you doing in here?"

He passed her a few paper towels to dry her hands. "I don't know," he admitted. "I just... I want to talk to you."

"It couldn't wait?" she asked, lobbing the wad of wet paper past him and into the trash can.

"Nice shot. And no. I mean... I didn't want to wait until the party was over."

She nodded quietly and leaned back against the counter, waiting for him to start talking. When several moments passed in silence she said, "Sir, please, if you're not going to say anything, I'd like to get back to everyone."

"I haven't done much this year I'm proud of," he blurted out. Her eyes widened in surprise at the sudden confession. He ran a hand through his hair and continued unsteadily. "I screwed everything up between the whole team. Daniel's forgiven me already, for some reason, I don't know, sometime between today at work and tonight, but I can't... I never know what you're thinking. Especially tonight. Half the time you seem like everything's back to normal, but then... I just want to know. I'm... I'm sorry I screwed everything up. Edora, then not telling you guys about the undercover op..."

"You couldn't, you were..." she started automatically.

"I wasn't supposed to. I should have done it anyway. I... I'm crap at this. I don't know what to say. I'm sorry." He took a deep breath and went ahead bravely. "I just... can I kiss you now? Your birthday kiss?"

Her eyes got even bigger and she opened her mouth in surprise and nodded finally, almost imperceptibly. Taking a deep breath, he stepped closer to her, forcing himself to leave a bit of space between their bodies. He was taking a big risk here, he knew. He didn't have a clue what to say, that was for sure, and the alternate reality Carter had said sometimes he didn't need to, and who better to take advice from about herself...

He cupped her cheeks in his hands and leaned in, unable, he realized as he made contact with her lips, to keep how nervous and worried he was from being projected to her. She didn't respond, but didn't pull away either, and that was exactly what he needed. He thought about how scared he had been feeling that he'd done irreparable damage not only to the team but to their personal relationship as well.

He stopped trying to hold back his feelings and instead let them pour themselves into the kiss. When she finally let him in, relief and hope washed over him and he pulled her in closer, stroking her cheeks with his thumbs slowly and smiling the tiniest bit against her mouth. Her hands settled on his chest lightly and she started to kiss him back, but he wasn't done apologizing, not by a long shot. She got the message and let him continue.

He was amazed at what they were doing. It was like having a silent dialogue neither would have ever been able or willing to have out loud. Most of his half was a repeating mantra of "I'm so, so, so sorry." She was listening, patiently letting him get it all out.

He wasn't sure if the thoughts were really coming from her or if it was his own guilt surfacing, but he kept thinking of very specific moments, like the hurt in her eyes when he'd dismissed her in the hallway with a sharp, "No, Carter. I haven't been acting like myself since I met you." He tried to remove the sting from that remark with gentle caresses of his tongue.

As soon as he got the feeling that moment had been erased, he moved on to the next one. He had no idea how long they held that silent conversation, but when he could finally think of nothing else to say he broke the kiss after lingering only a few seconds more.

She looked at him with impossibly huge eyes sparkling with tears and he gave a small, nervous, hopeful smile. She smiled back slowly and stepped closer to him, glancing down at his lips and looking suddenly shy. She met his eyes again and said quietly, "You're wrong, Colonel."

"I am? Not that it's a first but... huh?" His hands slid off her face, down her neck and across her shoulders where they came to a gentle stop.

"You have done a lot to be proud of this year, sir," she said in a quiet but firm voice. "A lot more to be proud of than not. We... and I specifically... should have remembered that sooner, instead of focusing so much on... those two things. I just... grew used to things being a certain way between us - all of us - that were... unfair expectations."

"No they aren't," he insisted.

She smiled. "Okay, maybe" she agreed. "But I guess what I mean is... you're... you're an amazing man, Colonel." She leaned in towards him and he leaned back in surprise.

"What are you doing?" he croaked.

"Responding to your argument."

"We... you...I... one kiss. That's the rule, I don't know if..."

"You kissed me. I didn't get to kiss you back yet. That was only half of the tradition," she said quietly.

"Oh, God, Sam, you're..." he started.

She cut him off, pressing her lips firmly to his. His hands slid down her arms and curled around her waist automatically. She slid her hands up to his face exactly as he'd done to her, pulling him closer, bringing their bodies into full contact with each other.

She had just started nibbling his bottom lip when the bathroom door opened and a familiar thirteen year-old voice called, "Sam, you okay, you've... WOA!"

They jumped apart, but not quickly enough, Jack was positive.

Cassie was frozen, gaping at them both. He had no idea where to start explaining why he was even in the ladies' toilet, let alone in an intimate lip-lock with his 2IC. He realized his hands were still on her waist and pulled them back quickly.

Carter, thankfully, recovered the power of speech faster than he did. "Cassie, this isn't what it looks like," she said quickly.

"Yes it is!" Cassie countered bluntly, her eyes wandering over their flushed and ruffled appearances.

"Okay," Sam corrected. "It... was... what it looked like, but it's not what you think. Look, Cassie, you can't tell anyone about this, okay."

"So you're saying it was just a one-time thing or something?"

"More of an... annual thing," Jack supplied.

"You guys do that every year!"

"It's a tradition," Sam supplied somewhat lamely.

Cassie was still looking at them in shock when the door started to open again. She slammed it shut quickly, calling, "Just a minute!"

"Cassandra! Open this door!" her mother called.

Jack froze. He was dead now. Cassie could be persuaded to keep quiet, but there was no way the doc... "Get in here!" Sam hissed, grabbing fistfuls of his shirt and dragging him into the nearest stall. She shoved him unceremoniously inside and pulled the door shut.

He locked it dutifully as he heard Cassie and Sam muttering, "You good?"

"Yeah, you?"

"Yeah."

Cassie let her mom in, saying, "Hey, Mom!" in a loud, too-cheerful voice.

"What the hell is going on in here?" Janet demanded, in the same tone of voice she used when she caught Jack and Daniel building log cabins out of tongue depressors that one time in the infirmary.

"Uh, well, I was... on my phone, Mom. I'm sorry, I know I told you I'd leave it alone during the party, but a very good friend of mine had a... situation with a guy she's crazy about and I had to hear all about it."

Crazy about, huh? Jack grinned at the closed stall door. There was a silence that seemed to drag on forever.

Finally, Janet said, "All right, hand over your phone and let's go back to the party. Have either of you seen Colonel O'Neill? It's getting pretty late, and General Hammond needs to get back to the base soon."

"I haven't seen him," Sam said quickly. Damn, that sounded suspicious.

"I did," Cassie said. "He went outside to check on the base since General Hammond's having such a good time. He wanted to make sure things were under control. Come on, let's go, I want to play pool one more time, Sam!"

Jack heard them all leave and breathed a sigh of relief. He owed Cassie big time.