Disclaimer: I don't own anything.


July, 1999

"I think I see them! They're here!"

Janet laughed as her daughter practically bounced out of her seat, she was so excited. Cassie had been unable to attend the ceremony in which Sam had received a promotion to the rank of major, so they had decided to do a special dinner. That way, Cassie was able to celebrate with them, and Sam's achievement was able to finally be focused on. After the way the talks for the Protected Plants Treaty had almost ended in disaster, they were all glad to finally have something to focus on. Especially since Teal'c was now fully healed. They had a lot to celebrate today.

They saw Teal'c first—he was hard to miss, in the black beret he had chosen to hide the gold Apophis symbol on his forehead. He had paired it with a bright blue silk shirt, but he still managed to pull the look off in the way only Teal'c could. Daniel followed, looking very nice in khakis and a light blue button down. Sam was next, in pretty blue and white summer dress, and Jack brought up the rear, in khakis and a navy button down.

Janet couldn't stop her laughter as they all hugged and kiss Cassie hello and took their seats at the table. "What, did we miss the memo, or something?" Janet asked.

"I probably missed the memo," Jack quipped, just as they all knew he would. "But I also have no idea what you're talking about."

"You're all wearing blue," Janet pointed out. Sam, who had likely noticed this as soon as they had all gotten into the car together, looked halfway annoyed, but with a healthy dose of amusement.

"We did not plan this," Sam insisted. She wasn't entirely successful in keeping the laughter out of her voice, though, and she finally gave in and smiled.

"You could have picked a color that you don't wear almost half the time at work, at least," Janet added. She found this whole situation endlessly amusing and wasn't afraid to show it. After SG-1's recent capture by Hathor (and Hathor's consequent defeat, thank god), and the near-fiasco with the Protected Planets Treaty, they were all due for some levity and fun. Besides, some light-hearted teasing was good for the members of SG-1.

"Yeah, yeah," Jack grumbled. But he was smiling, and he winked at Cassie, who giggled loudly. Daniel reached across the table and ruffled Cassie's hair, which only made her laugh harder.

"We'll tell you about the next time we all decide to wear blue so that you can match, Cass," Daniel told her. Cassie looked absolutely thrilled by that possibility and declared that she wanted a hat like the one Teal'c was wearing to match him, as well.

A waitress came to their table then, and they all placed their drink orders, while Cassie and Daniel made sure to let the waitress know that they were having a celebratory dinner for Sam. Jack, who was seated next to Sam, just smiled proudly. Protocol more or less dictated that Jack couldn't go around telling every person that his second-in-command was recently promoted—he decided to leave that to civilians of the group, but he certainly wouldn't miss the opportunity to at least show how proud he was.

Cassie, noticing the lingering look that Jack was directing Sam's way, said, "Sam, your dress is so pretty! Don't you think she looks pretty?"

While Cassie hadn't named anyone while asking the question, it was clearly directed to Jack. She had been looking at him the entire time she had been talking, and she was watching him expectantly, waiting for him to answer.

The question caught Jack so off-guard that he answered without thinking: "Yeah." A beat of silence passed, and he suddenly realized that everyone was staring at him. Jack coughed, cleared his throat. He couldn't believe that he had been taken by surprise like that, but Cassie was the only one who would ever be able to get away with it. She was trying to look as innocent as possible, and for a girl who was almost thirteen years old, she was pretty good at it. Cassie couldn't keep the sly smile off of her face, though, and it was pretty clear that Cassie was quite satisfied with herself.

"Teal'c looks pretty too," Jack said, finally recovering. "Have you seen that hat? Real snazzy."

Teal'c inclined his head, with that small smile on his face. Sam, whose cheeks had turned bright red, was suddenly very interested in her glass of wine, and set about drinking it quickly. Daniel looked entirely amused by the whole situation. Janet cast her daughter a half-amused, half-impressed look. Naturally, it was Sam who saved the day.

"Cass, how was that birthday party that you went to?"

Sam had asked the right question. Cassie had just been to a birthday party at a gymnastic gym, and she described in detail about how the giant trampoline was the coolest. The dynamic at the table went back to normal—mostly.

"Pretty?" Daniel muttered to Jack. "Really?"

"Shut up, Daniel," Jack said, mostly because it was a reflex. Sam, clearly having heard the exchange, looked up and smiled at Jack. He smiled back, and then turned to give his order to the waitress.


Wow, I forgot how angsty season 3 got. I have a few other chapters written, but I wanted to have a more light-hearted chapter before those angsty season 3 episodes. Thanks for reading!