A/N: I can't believe I actually did this. My convenient manipulation of the characters' ages for the purposes of this obviously fictitious story was questioned so much that I finally am going to address it. (I won't go into too much detail over the awkward 'Why are you rummaging around in the closet in the middle of the night?' 'I have to see if I can pause my Stargate DVD on Carter and Daniel's birthday of course...' conversation I had with my fiance...) Okay, the general consensus from reviewers seems to be that Daniel is too old and Carter is too young in my story. One brilliant reviewer (jess, I believe, sorry if I'm mistaken...) who got closest to the truth actually, said that you can see Carter's birthday on "Entity." Sooo... after swearing I wasn't going to do this (because the simple fact that I give them the same birthdate shows that I'm making this up,) I did it. If you pause when the entity is scanning everybody, you can read the top half of Carter's b-day, and it's 29/12/69. The last 9 could possibly be an 8, but it looks exactly like the top of a 9 from a higher line that I believe is her ID #. Okay, so in Season 1, that would make her 28. Now for Danny boy. His is very clearly visible, but you have to pause quickly because a black box appears over the birthdate after a split second, but I finally got it. HisDOB is listed as 04/01/65. Therefore in Season 1, he would be 32. SO, while I did manipulate their ages a bit, turns out I apparently aged them up a bit rather than down. Seriously, guys, try not to spend too much time thinking about this kind of stuff. Writers change their own characters' b-days frequently, especially when the series has been running for a while. Scully's changed by three years at some point during "The X-Files," and I know Orlin gives Carter a 'birthstone' for another month, because my birthday is in December and the stone is light blue, not an emerald. So anyway, sorry for the long note, but since everyone seemed concerned about the dates, I thought I'd address it (when writing the story, I just guessed how old they looked to me in Season 1.) I realize Amanda Tapping is actually older than Michael Shanks, but apparently Daniel Jackson actually is almost five years older than Sam Carter, as his b-day is January '65 and hers is late late December '69. So at least I got that part close. Oh yeah, in case anyone's curious, Jack's is listed as 20/10/52.

Now, on with the shippiness, please!

Ch 5: Traditions

Half an hour later, Daniel had been forced to call General Hammond and profess his undying love for all bald men. Then Teal'c had had to call General Hammond for 'help,' as Daniel Jackson was stalking him. General Hammond, at that point, had connected the odd calls with the even odder noises in the background, figured out loosely what was going on, and informed them that the next person to call him would be scrubbing the toilets for a month.

Sam had told them all about the time she was arrested when she was fifteen for helping her brother and his football friends pull a prank on the principal that involved dismantling his car and putting it back together on the roof of the school.

Jack, who had looked at her after that with newfound respect, had been forced to teach Teal'c the chicken dance. Teal'c had been forced to hop around the room with his symbiote pouch exposed like a kangaroo, making kangaroo noises. As none of them knew exactly what noise a kangaroo made, he had made a variety of animal sounds to compensate.

Daniel had admitted under duress that he had first started studying other languages to help tutor a girl he had a crush on in high school.

Teal'c insisted he needed to go perform Kel-no-reem after this, and Jack was left with a slightly drunk astrophysicist and a very drunk archaeologist.

He had had about as much to drink as Carter, but the combination of his extra pounds, heavy training in this matter, and Irish heritage was keeping him much more sober than she was, although he had to admit he was finding himself impressed with her ability to use remarkably large words while growing steadily more intoxicated.

Neither of the doctors in his company seemed to have realized this though, because as soon as Teal'c was gone, they seemed to feel they were only in the company of other intoxicated people, and therefore didn't need to be too worried about their behavior.

"Truth or dare, sir?" Carter asked.

"Dare," he said bravely, wanting to see what she would come up with.

"All right... Monday you have to wear my new shirt to work."

"It's going to be a little snug..."

"It's big enough. And you have to say hi to Hammond in it BEFORE you go put on your uniform."

"Okay," he said with a grin. George already knew he was crazy anyway. "Then I've got a dare for both of you. You can do it together or I'll just get ya both eventually."

"What's that?"

"Sing a song. A duet. Together."

They looked at each other and shrugged. "What song?"

"Oh I'm partial to that lovely little ditty, 'I'm a little teapot.'"

They both stood up and sang the song, much to his amusement. Unfortunately, at the part where Daniel tipped over and poured himself out, he actually did tip over.

Laughing, Sam and Jack helped him onto the couch. "Think he's going to be okay?" Sam asked, slightly worried.

"Yeah, he'll be all right," Jack said, tucking his arms and legs back onto the couch. "He didn't have that much."

Sam covered him with a blanket and took the top hat off of his head. "He looks peaceful," she stated with a fond smile at her teammate.

"Yeah. Wait till he wakes up tomorrow morning though."

Sam laughed and nodded. "Yeah. Good thing tomorrow's Saturday."

"Your actual birthday," he added. "I thought you might have plans already so that's why I did this tonight..."

"Yeah, my dad's supposed to drive up and have dinner with me. Not sure if he will though."

"That's nice."

"I guess. Daniel's coming too. He doesn't have anybody but us, and Sha're... plus he can help deflect Dad's interrogation."

"Interrogation?"

"Yeah, he hates what I do," she said simply.

He looked at her in shock. "Hates what you do?" he repeated incredulously.

"Yeah. The whole deep space radar telemetry."

It took him a second to remember that was his cover as well. "Oh. Yeah."

"He wanted me to be an astronaut."

He laughed. "The irony."

"Yeah."

She looked a little bit sad all of a sudden, and he wasn't about to have that, not after all he'd done to cheer them both up. "Hey. Let's get out of here so we don't wake up Daniel. You're not tired, are you?"

"No, sir."

"Good. Let's go pack a few supplies..."

She followed him into the kitchen and watched in confusion as he put two large pieces of cake into a container, then put that container in his back pack. When he pulled out a bottle of champagne from the fridge, she raised her eyebrows in surprise.

"You've been learning from Teal'c," he commented with a smile. "This was supposed to go with the cake the first time around, but I forgot. Pretty stupid, I guess. Nobody wants cake and beer."

"They went together surprisingly well," she assured him as he stuffed the bottle in his pack and grabbed two glasses.

"Um, sir, if you don't mind me asking, where..."

"Outside. Oh. Let me find you a coat." He grabbed his black and brown leather coats, put on the brown one, and handed her the black.

Sensing he wasn't in the mood for objections or questions, she put it on without asking him anything and followed him out into the back yard. "You're not too drunk to get up that ladder safely, are you?" he asked seriously.

She looked up at the roof. "No, sir. But..."

"That's where my telescope is," he explained.

"Oh."

"I'm serious, Carter, I don't want you falling off my roof..."

"I know. I won't, I swear. I'm okay."

"All right. Ladies first then."

"I thought it was age before beauty," she said with a smirk.

He grinned and waited at the bottom in case she started to fall, until she was safely up at the top. Then he climbed up as well, realizing there was only one chair up there. "Ah, have a seat," he said, sitting down on the flat roof next to the chair, waiting for her to take the chair.

To his surprise, she sat down next to him on the ground, hugging her knees to her chest. "Cold?" he asked.

"Nope. Can I ask a question?"

"Of course," he said as he started removing the contents of the pack.

"Well, this is a widow's walk. There's a door right there, presumably leading indoors... why the ladder?"

"It was easier to get the ladder out of the garage than move all the junk blocking the inside of the door."

"Ah. I knew there was a reason." He nodded and concentrated on opening the bottle.

When the cork shot off and it started to overflow, he wasn't prepared and completely soaked both of them. "Well. Good thing I gave you a shirt for your birthday, isn't it?" he asked, hoping she wasn't mad he'd perhaps ruined her sweater.

She wasn't. She was laughing, although she did zip up the jacket to provide more warmth. "Yes, sir, it is."

"Well, you thought the cake was good before..."

"It was. I think it was the best cake I've ever tasted..."

"Good. But it'll probably taste better now without that beer and pizza."

She took a large bite and nodded. "Mmm, you're right."

"Good. So, all in all, you think thirty's going to be okay after all?"

"Yes, sir. I know it's stupid to get so upset but... never mind."

"No, you can... talk about it. I mean, if you want. I'm not going to make fun of your or anything. I mean I could," he continued, nudging her shoulder with his. "Seeing as how you're like the youngest astrophysicist/captain/stargate expert I'VE ever met, even if you are THIRTY... but I won't."

"Thank you, sir. I wasn't... worried about it professionally. It was just..."

"Personal stuff?"

"Yes, sir. Like you said, maybe I've done a lot professionally that some people haven't by thirty, but other than that, I don't... I mean, I can't even keep my plants alive."

"Carter, you keep everyone on this planet, and thousands of people on OTHER planets, alive."

"Yes, sir."

"I know what you mean though, I went through a similar funk at forty. Course, my CO didn't give me cake and a tiara. He just yelled SNAP OUT OF IT! In the locker room one day."

She giggled. "Well, thank you sir, I much prefer your method."

"So do I," he agreed, taking another big bite of cake. "So Daniel's just been having the same thing?"

"Yes, sir. I think his is made worse by the fact that he misses his wife so much though... kind of hard to celebrate your birthday without your wife, I guess."

"Yeah," he agreed.

They fell into a calm silence for several minutes, eating and drinking occasionally. Jack was looking up at the stars. "So how many of those have planets we've been to?" he asked casually.

"Well, none, sir... through the telescope we could find some but with the naked eye... not even Chulak."

"Oh," he said, sounding a bit disappointed. "Well... they're still cool to look at."

"Yes, sir."

After several minutes of comfortable silence, Carter said, "Umm, Colonel?"

"Yes, Captain?"

"I just wanted to say again that I... and Daniel too, really, really appreciate this. I mean, the fact that you noticed what was bothering us both and then found a way... an unorthodox way, granted, but still... a way to make us feel great about our birthdays instead of miserable... it means a lot, sir."

"Now, Carter, don't be getting all mushy on me or I might change my mind about turning this into a tradition," he said gruffly, draining his glass of champagne to have something to do.

"A tradition?" she asked with a surprised smile.

"Well, I think it would be a good one. I mean, it's pretty unusual you and Danny having the same birthday, we might as well celebrate. And Teal'c told me they don't celebrate birthdays on Chulak, so we should have a party for him too."

"I'd have to find out when his birthday is on Chulak and compare their planet's rotation to ours, then..."

"Carter!" he said pointedly.

"Sorry," she said with a sheepish smile.

He sighed, shaking his head. "It's all right, I know you can't help it."

She smiled and looked up at the sky. It was a very clear night so they could see tons of stars. She glanced at him briefly and blushed, not knowing how long he had been watching her. "What?" she asked self-consciously.

"I just realized we forgot one very important birthday tradition," he said suggestively, slipping his arm around her.

"PLEASE tell me you're not about to say 'birthday spankings,'" she said incredulously.

He chuckled and shook his head. "Like the way you're thinking there, Captain, but no," he said, leaning in and kissing her.

He couldn't help lingering a bit. They were out on his roof under a blanket of stars, both quite drunk, and they both tasted like chocolate and champagne. So the friendly kiss (he would insist to anyone he had intended it to stay that way) turned into much more.

When they finally pulled apart to breathe, they both looked at each other, clearly surprised at what had just happened. Jack hadn't thought the whole 'sparks flying' thing was real before. Sure, they'd been flirting around occasionally during the first few months of their time together on SG1, but neither had expected anything like... that.

Luckily, Carter was a lot stronger (and smarter) than he was. "Once a year," she finally said quietly, raising her eyebrow slightly.

It took him a few seconds to figure out what she meant, then he got it. It was an excellent deal, or compromise, however you wanted to look at it. Nobody needed to start questioning regulations and relationships or anything crazy like that, but there was the security there that until things changed, once a year, on her birthday, he could kiss her like that.

"It's a good tradition," he agreed, smiling fondly at her and getting to his feet. He knew they needed to go inside right now.

As he gathered up their things, she asked, "So, does that mean you're going to be kissing Daniel every year too?"

He whipped around and looked at her in surprise. Her eyes were twinkling; she was teasing him. "Cute, Carter," he said, slinging the backpack back on and heading over to the ladder. "We'll just make that Teal'c's job," he added with a wink.

The end.

A/N: If you enjoyed this story, please continue on to the sequel, Birthday Traditions 2 - Story ID: 2240166