A/N: I'm glad everyone seems to like the Disney World idea, as it was getting much harder to think of new and not ridiculously dumb things for them to do for a party. So, I remembered I had an unused trip lying around conveniently and figured the change of scene would be refreshing. This story is not going to become an advertisement for Disney World, however - it's still mainly just going to be about our guys. I liked getting people's opinions on The Pete Issue, in this story and in previous ones. I decided to split it up, basically: in this one it is more the idea of Pete affecting everyone, since he and Sam aren't serious at this point. Then in 8, we'll bring him in and have lots of angsty fun with that. Also, for the person who was worried about Janet in this story - it's before Death Knell, so it's before Heroes, so Janet is going to be fine. I didn't want to have two years in a row dealing with someone being gone. Plus I am in even more denial about Janet's death than I am about Pete's... Pete-ness.

Ch 2: Tubby time

Sam and Daniel quickly got over their reluctance to leave the SGC about an hour after arriving at Disney World. They were staying at a place called the Wilderness Lodge, which was in the Magic Kingdom. The room they were sharing was huge, with two beds and a big patio that had a gorgeous view. They quickly embraced the infectious childlike enthusiasm of the place and the days flew by.

Jack had been right, they all did need a break, now more than ever. They spent two full days at Epcot, knowing that nobody else would find it as interesting as they did. They scouted out some things they thought Jack, Teal'c, Cassie, and Janet would especially like, and then just wandered around, stopping at whatever interested them at the moment.

The night before the rest of the group was scheduled to arrive the following day, they retired to their room after dinner, both exhausted from days of trying to see as many different things as possible, and walking all over the place. Sam was lying on her stomach, stretched out across her bed, thumbing through one of the countless brochures that lived in the room, trying to figure out which restaurants they should steer everyone towards.

"I'm gonna go take a shower," Daniel announced.

Sam smiled. "You mean a bath," she said mildly. For some reason Daniel was embarrassed about the fact that he, like Sam, enjoyed relaxing in a long, hot bath.

"Shut up," Daniel muttered, tossing a stuffed Winnie-the-Pooh at her head as he went to the bathroom.

Sam laughed and called, "Don't forget your rubber ducky!"

Her cell phone rang. She grabbed it off the night stand and flipped it open. "Carter," she said into the phone with a big yawn.

"You answer the phone weird."

"Who is this?" Sam asked, frowning. She was so tired.

"Sam, it's Pete."

"Oh. Hi Pete."

"I just wanted to make sure we were still on for this weekend."

"Huh?" It was her birthday. She wouldn't make plans with him. She was ninety-five percent sure he didn't know when her birthday was. She'd never told him, so unless he'd asked Mark (which would be pretty weird,) he didn't know it.

"Remember, I said I was going to try to get a weekend off before the end of the month and come see you?"

"Oh, right."

"Well, you're on Earth, right, unless your cell phone gets really good reception..." he laughed at his own joke.

Sam cringed and said, "Yes, I'm on Earth but I'm not in Colorado."

Daniel chose that moment to reappear from the bathroom holding her bra. He shot it across the room at her like a slingshot, making his yuck-face.

"Daniel, you're going to stretch it out!" she objected, scrambling to pick it up. It was her FAVOURITE, he couldn't just use them as slingshots!

"Well, don't leave it on the floor when you're sharing a bathroom then," Daniel insisted. He frowned when he noticed she was on the phone.

"We don't have to go home, do we?" he asked, worried.

"No, everything's fine. It's just Pete." Daniel made his yuck-face again and retreated back to the bathroom, slamming the door.

Sam put the phone back to her ear, realizing Pete was still talking, asking her a bunch of questions. She held the phone out until he stopped and calmly explained, "Daniel and I are on vacation, Pete. We're at Disney World."

"Together? Alone?"

"Till tomorrow. Everyone's meeting us around dinner time for the weekend."

"Oh." He sounded very disappointed. Sam felt slightly guilty about that, but what did he expect? This was a tradition. Not that Pete knew that. But still.

"Sam, look... I don't mean to sound jealous or anything, but from what I just heard it sounds like you and Daniel are... sharing a room."

"We are," Sam said, puzzled. What was his problem?

"But... Daniel's... I thought you were just friends..."

"We are, Pete. Very close friends. Which is why sharing a hotel room isn't a problem. It's a lot roomier than a tent, you know."

"I suppose. So... you had this vacation planned for a long time?"

"Sort of. I gave him the tickets for our birthday a couple of years ago but we were too busy at work to use them." She paused and took a deep breath. She hadn't told Pete about Daniel quasi-dying, and wasn't about to get into that story tonight, when all she was thinking about was being jealous of Daniel in that huge tub. He'd be in there forever and she'd NEVER get to use it. "Colonel O'Neill finally got tired of us not using it and sent us packing."

"Colonel O'Neill got you to take a vacation," Pete stated.

"Yeah, he practically packed our bags and dragged us to the airport. Why?"

"Nothing," Pete mumbled. There was an awkward silence. "Sorry, Sam, it's just kind of weird to me that all of your friends are men..." Pete started.

"Not all of them! There's Janet... and her daughter..."

"Yeah. It's not like I don't trust you or anything, it's just... you spend so much time with them, and I haven't seen you since that weekend..."

Daniel stuck his head out of the bathroom to see if Sam was still on the phone. "Daniel, stop being a pain in the ass and go get in the bath!" Sam said, throwing the stuffed animal at him.

He dodged it, and, being Daniel, had obviously guessed the nature of her phone call because he said, very loudly, "Sam, the tub's all ready, I found both our rubber duckies. Come get in before all the bubbles are gone!"

She glared at him and he disappeared behind the door, laughing his archaeological ass off. She could hear the door lock from across the room. Yeah, you'd better hide, she thought, narrowing her eyes at the door. Pete was now silent on the other end of the phone. "Ignore him, he's just trying to piss me off," Sam said absently.

"Oh."

More awkward silence. Wow. Fun. Sam tried to think of a way to get off the phone and Pete, obviously fishing for something to say, asked, "Did you say you gave Daniel the tickets for 'our' birthday?"

"Oh, yeah. We have the same birthday. One of those funny coincidences, you know? Colonel O'Neill calls us the science twins. It's kind of become a thing."

"Oh. What day?"

"Sorry?"

"What day is your birthday?"

"Friday."

"That's... tomorrow."

"Yeah, I know. That's why everyone else is coming down here..." she yawned loudly. "Look, I'm really tired, we've been running around all week long, and keeping up with Daniel when he's full of coffee and sugar is not easy. I better get to bed."

"Okay, Sam. Well... Happy Birthday."

"Thanks, Pete. Night."

She hung up the phone and stomped over to the bathroom, hoping Daniel could hear the noise and that it wouldn't wake up some elderly couple or a woman with five kids all sleeping in the room beneath theirs. She banged on the door and said, "That wasn't funny, Daniel!"

"Oh yes it was!" he called back in a sing-song voice.

Sam laughed quietly. It was pretty funny. Not that she'd ever admit it to him. Mostly, it was just good to have all of SG-1 back in once piece.

When Daniel finally emerged from the bathroom, he was relaxed but not sleepy. That much was obvious by the enthusiastic way he landed himself on his bed. He turned on his side so that he faced her and said, "So, how's Pete?"

"Fine. What is your problem with him anyway?"

"You know what my problem with him is," Daniel said mildly, getting under his covers.

"Daniel... just... I have my reasons, okay. I'm just trying to be... normal."

"You're not normal, Sam. You're special. Way too special for Pete. He's boring."

"Some people think you're boring," Sam pointed out.

"Some people are dumb," he said with a shrug. "I just don't want you to... settle. For anybody."

"Daniel, I just started dating the guy, it's not like we're getting married or anything! Why is this such a big deal to everyone?"

"You know the answer to that one too. Look, I don't want to pick a fight tonight. It's our last night alone together, and I've liked the talks we've been having."

"Me too," Sam agreed, flipping off her lamp so that only Daniel's lit the room. She turned on her side to face him on the bed three feet from hers. "What do you want to talk about tonight?"

"I wondered... if you'd tell me about last year?"

"That's what we've been doing all along..."

"No, I mean... our birthday. Last year. What happened? Teal'c told me you didn't have a party, but your dad took everyone out for lunch the day after your birthday... but that was all he said. And Jack just grunted, 'She got through it like Carter always does' and changed the subject."

Sam smiled and said, "They told you the truth then."

"Come on, Sam... it's weird enough as it is... I mean I'm celebrating a birthday that's for one year more than I feel like I am. Please. I want to know what I missed. I hate that I wasn't there with you."

"I know," Sam said quietly. "Okay. I'll tell you about it. I was... scared... as it got closer. Trying to figure out how I was going to feel... knowing it would be just a really crappy day no matter what... the Colonel suggested I stay home even though it was a work day, so people wouldn't be looking at me funny and everything. So I did. I couldn't sleep the night before, barely all week. I went running a lot. Morgan brought me breakfast and a balloon. The Colonel had paid him off in cookies. Cassie came over and we did the albums. The Colonel showed up with a bunch of food and Maggie, and kept me company."

"What exactly does that mean?"

"It means that he was... perfect that night. You know how he usually is about grief and feelings, Daniel. And with you it was... so bad. He shut everyone out. He missed you so much. And I know that was his way and I finally got over it, but I guess because it was our birthday and he knew how important that had been to both of us, he... he did everything right. He had a cake and he had hats for Quarks and Maggie... then he suggested a few things but what I really wanted to do was just... drink until I could sleep. Without dreaming. So. We did."

"Oh God."

"Yeah. We drank way too much. I got really sick. We went to sleep. In the morning I got up feeling fine because I had already thrown up the night before, so I took Mags out for a run. When I came back, everyone was in the kitchen fighting."

"Oh no..."

"Yup, see the Colonel has these shorts Feretti gave him..."

Sam filled Daniel in on the rest of the story and they were both laughing into their pillows by the time she was done. "... and then my dad stayed for the rest of the week, and I don't think he let me out of his sight the entire time! AND he popped my balloon with a salad fork!"

Daniel laughed quietly, and after he settled down he got a thoughtful look on his face. "What?" Sam asked.

"Nothing. Sometimes I feel like... I have a memory I just can't get to. Like when you know you just walked into a room to do something, but you can't remember what."

"You think you remember something else from when you were ascended?"

"Maybe... I just keep thinking there's something else important. Something I learned that night... I mean I can't say for sure but I know that if it was possible, I would have come to see you."

"You would have?"

"Of course."

"But... you visited everybody but me," Sam said quietly.

"I know," Daniel said sadly. "Sam, I know that hurt you, when you found out that I had shown up to Teal'c and Jack but not to you. And I wish I had a real explanation for you..."

"It's okay. You don't remember any of it, I understand..."

"I know. But I thought about it a lot, and the only thing that makes sense to me now is that... I must have known you didn't need me."

"Daniel that's just stupid. I needed you more than either of them did..."

"No you didn't, Sam. Because you were keeping me alive by yourself already, weren't you?"

"Yes," she admitted reluctantly.

"And the only person more succinct than Jack is Teal'c. And that's on a good day. Additionally, Sam, you're the strongest person I know."

"Daniel..."

"No, I mean it. Jack, Teal'c, and I all have certain strengths, but you, you're like a perfect combination of all three of us. And then some. You didn't deny your feelings, and you were strong enough to deal with everything on your own. Sam. I'm sorry I wasn't there for you, but I know without a doubt that if you had really needed me, I would have been there. You have to believe me."

"I do," she said quietly.

"Good. I also suspect you would have been harder to walk away from than Jack or Teal'c, so there may have been some self-preservation going on on my part too. But that's just a guess."

"Daniel."

"What?"

"I'm so glad you're back now."

"Me too, Sam. Let's go to sleep so we can get up in time for those Mickey Mouse head waffles again."

"Okay. Night, Daniel."

She looked at the clock and saw that it was after midnight. It was officially their birthday. "Happy birthday."

He smiled. "Happy birthday back."