Special Days
A/N: As you can tell I renamed this little series of fluffy chapters. Each chapter focuses on a holiday or special day during Sam's pregnancy.
Chapter 3: Happy Birthday, Jack
Daniel and Teal'c were arriving in less than an hour.
Everything was ready. Sam was proud of herself. She'd managed to organize a surprise birthday party for her husband with a minimum of fuss and muss. Given the circumstances and Jack's feelings about his birthday, that was saying a great deal.
This was the first birthday Sam would be home to share with her husband. She wanted it to be special. Last year she'd been sequestered in Atlantis and birthday greetings were confined to hurried words of love and devotion transmitted over light years. Sitting here today, she marveled to think she'd survived the deprivations of that long distance relationship. She'd missed him so much.
Now, finally married to the love of her life, Sam had learned birthdays were a bitter sweet occasion for Jack O'Neill. Somewhere along the line, her stoic husband and his military bravado had yielded to the knowledge that people cared about him and wanted to express that on special days. Still the last thing he wanted was a cast of thousands fawning over him. So she'd settled for something in between, a simple dinner party shared with their old teammates.
As much as Jack had mellowed, some things would never change. Even now, Sam knew his age was a sore subject. Despite doing all she could to reassure him, she could feel his disdain for the ordinary signs of aging he experienced on a daily basis. Recently he went so far as to verbalize his worry over whether he'd be young enough to be a good dad to his new child. Sam had come to realize this was one of Jack O'Neill's weak spots, his own mortality. For a man who'd dedicated himself to saving others at the risk of his own life, it was to be expected. When he saw those traditional abilities to protect and serve diminishing, he started to question his own worth.
Sam wished Jack could know beyond a shadow of a doubt how much he was worth in her life. He was everything. The last few months had been difficult to say the least. For a woman used to the ultimate in freedom and excitement, beyond most humans' wildest dreams, her new found physical limitations had been potentially debilitating. Now six months pregnant, she'd suffered a threatened miscarriage last month, this time severe enough to warrant strong admonitions from her obstetrician. To make a long story short, Dr Eames had told her she had a choice. Continue her usual level of activity, running between the SGC to Area 51 to Washington or have a healthy baby. To Sam's way of thinking, it was no choice. So for the past month, she'd stayed put in Washington. In fact, she'd spent much of her time at home, getting the recommended amount of rest.
Jack had been wonderful. Where Sam felt guilty about being in a position to merit such a stern medical warning, Jack had been understanding and soothing. More than anyone else, he understood Sam's determinaton to continue her professional duties. At the same time he shared her dismay that those same actions, once so noble and selfless, might have jeopardized the safety of their precious child. From then on, Jack had done everything in his power to help Sam adapt to her new status, expectant mother, working from home and tethered to activity restrictions intended to preserve the pregnancy. Sam realized he understood, related even, to her shifting physical abilities and the necessity of giving up certain fixtures in her life. He'd encouraged her to find ways to interface with the SGC labs and complete her responsibilities, even participate in the research via high security, encrypted internet connections. And bless his heart, when he came home from his own high pressured job at the Pentagon each night, he'd seemed genuinely interested in everything she'd learned in the process. If she wasn't mistaken, he even made more of an effort to discipher her endless technobabble.
Sure, he was far from perfect, that is if one looked for imperfections. Jack had his "guy" moments. Even as a career military officer, certain articles of clothing found their way to the floor or were stuffed behind pillows on the sofa. The kitchen was less than ship shape when Jack, the gourmet cook, was finished and some personal hygiene issues left something to be desired, but all in all, Sam hardly noticed. All of this was simply part of the man she loved, warts and all. And that's who she'd be celebrating these next couple days.
To be exact, Jack's birthday was tomorrow. Where Sam had staked out that day for just the two of them (Jack had taken the day off for an undisclosed private surprise), today's dinner party was a bonus. The old team hadn't been together since their wedding. They were long overdue for some quality time together. Sure they'd kept in touch, but it wasn't the same.
oOoOoO
At 1800, right on schedule, Daniel and Teal'c arrived. Teal'c had surprisingly volunteered to pick up a cake at a local bakery on the way from the airport. After the initial jovial, happy to see each other greetings, Sam took a minute to curiously examine the professionally created cake Teal'c had proudly handed her.
"Teal'c?" Sam queried.
"Yes, Samantha," the Jaffa replied, his inflection displaying the playful lilt he'd adapted over the last few years.
"This cake is incredible," she observed. Sam had opened the white baker's box to reveal an expertly crafted twelve inch chocolate cake, sporting what was clearly a colorful, amazingly accurate depiction of the Stargate as its central decoration.
Daniel took up the challenge.
"You want to know how he got them to decorate the cake without divulging top secret information," he suggested.
"I was wondering," Sam admitted with a twinkle in her eye.
"I simply described what I wanted," Teal'c explained flatly. "There was no discussion."
"Indeed," Sam quipped. With a flash of amusement, she realized few people, let alone an unsuspecting baker, would dare ask Teal'c many questions.
"So how are you?" Daniel asked, gesturing awkwardly toward Sam's expanding abdomen. "I see the baby's growing."
Sam laughed out loud. She'd missed these guys, they were good friends, the best. Commmunicating via e-mail and long distance phone connections wasn't the same. And so she spent the next few minutes catching them up as they waited for Jack's arrival. It was like talking with family; they were family, interested and concerned for her safety and well being. Over the next few minutes they talked and laughed and talked some more. They were so intent on each they nearly missed the warning signs that the guest of honor was approaching.
"Holy Hannah," Sam exclaimed, attempting to jump up from the sofa. "That's Jack!" she said, finally registering the sound of the garage door opening.
Teal'c quickly came to Sam's aid, pulling her to a standing position.
"Thanks," she said, shaking her head. Never did she think it would take so much effort to stand up.
"I parked down the street," Daniel said. "So lets turn out the lights and really surprise him."
Teal'c was already on it. The room was cast in total darkness by the time Jack opened the door from the garage. Sam couldn't help but think she was standing with two of the biggest little boys in the world, just waiting for the third. Silly as it all might be, it did her heart good.
"Surprise," the three yelled, as Jack ventured over the threshold. As Teal'c flicked on the lights, the look on Jack's face was priceless. Total, unadulterated surprise followed an initial look of alarm. Sam swore she could hear Jack thinking as he realized who was innocently lying in wait for him. Then the smile, that marvelous quirky smirk that always signaled his delight at something out of the ordinary. Usually, she realized, that something was connected to her. Today, Jack's reaction took in their teammates as well.
"Sam..." he began.
"Guilty as charged," she replied walking over to him and bestowing his first birthday vigil kiss.
"Get a room you two!" Daniel called playfully.
"They cannot as you say 'get a room'", Teal'c quipped. "They have company."
"Yes, we do," Jack said, pulling back from Sam just enough to grin at Daniel and Teal'c.
"Happy Birthday, Jack," Sam whispered.
"And a fine birthday it is, couldn't be better," Jack replied.
The evening had begun. The team was together and all was well with the world. No finer gift indeed.
The End (of this chapter)
A/N: love to know if you liked it. Please review.
See you at the next "special day".