Jack hums to amuse himself as he pokes through the assortment of MRE packs available to them for the evening. It's not a matter of finding one he'll enjoy; each and every one of them is unappealing, but there is always that one you hate the least, so he's on the hunt for it as his stomach grumbles for dinner. He flips through the group they have left after the last few days and notices a bean burrito with rice, a few beef assortments, and some chicken with rice before he spots the winner: the pasta with vegetables in tomato sauce.

It's the winner because of its simplicity, the ingredients being so simple that even the Air Force has a hard time messing it up before they dehydrate and suck the flavor and life out of it for shelf stability. He fingers the packaging with reverence that can only come from decades of surviving on this shit before he shakes his head and tugs it out of the bag along with the bean burrito.

He walks to their campsite and drops his long body down next to Sam's on the large felled tree they've been using as a bench. He smiles at her and hands over the pasta.

"Sir?"

"Dinner, Carter," he says. "It's a thing."

Her head drops slightly and a smile pulls the dimples into relief on her cheeks. "I know," she says. She flips the package over in her hands and eyes him curiously. "But this is your absolute favorite of the admittedly bland flavor catalog of MRE options, Sir."

"Yes, it is," he says. He smiles back at her as he opens his bean burrito and rice to prepare it. "But it's also yours.

Her smile warms in a way he didn't know was possible. "Yes," she says. "It is."

They prepare their dinners silently, only glancing back and forth sweetly. Eventually Daniel and Teal'c arrive back at camp and rummage through the options. Daniel complains about how gross the food is, as if they don't all know. Teal'c eats happily and quietly. Sam saves the last few bites of her pasta after she's had her fill and surreptitiously hands the rest of it to Jack with a wink. He beams back at her and accepts. "Thank you, Carter."

"Thank you, Sir."

She bumps her knee against his so lightly he only just notices. He chews the bland pasta like it's the best thing he's ever had and bumps her knee back. It really is the little things, he thinks.