A/N: This takes place in Season 3. I don't write things in order, but I'm posting these year-by-year so they make sense to everyone. I have to say, this is my least favorite of any of the years I've written or planned out, but it's necessary. It's not bad, it's just not as funny as the others, but it's necessary. I also think it's pushing the mushy-factor a bit, but that's me. Anyway, here we go... Chapter 1 of 5

Birthday Traditions 3

Ch 1: Anticipation

It had been a very long year, thought Jack O'Neill as he stepped out of the shower to get ready for the evening's events. Actually, it was mainly the last four months that had been so long. Before that, things had been going fairly well.

They had rescued Carter's dad from hell. All right, so that hadn't been a lot of fun, he had got shot in the leg, and he really couldn't stand that Martouf guy, but it was a rescue mission for the history books. The super-secret history books, of course, but still.

After that whole ordeal, Carter had told them how remembering what (who, actually, Jack had politely refrained from pointing out) Jolinar had done to escape from there had really helped her separate her own feelings from Jolinar's. Jack wouldn't even pretend to understand how you could have someone else's feelings and memories, and he preferred not to think about that kind of stuff at all, but according to Carter, the only things she'd learned about Jolinar before had come from Martouf, so they weren't exactly unbiased, and that had been confusing.

Now, she had told them she realized no matter how similar Martouf seemed to think they were, she understood they were fundamentally very different. Like Jack couldn't have told her that. Still, it had been important to her apparently, and she had lightened up quite a bit after that.

And earlier in the year, everyone had got over the weird alternate reality Carter and Kawalsky's little visit without any major drama.

And speaking of "Major," he grinned as he remembered promoting his 2IC at the beginning of the year. He still regretted not being able to give that speech before Thor beamed him out. He knew he usually sucked at that kind of thing but he had really spent a lot of time on it this time, wanting to make sure she knew how much he valued everything she did. Oh well. He'd have to save it for the next time she got promoted.

The year had started off just fine, until he got stuck on that damn planet for what seemed like forever. That whole thing now occupied the 1 spot on his list of Stupid Things I've Done. He hadn't brought it up with Carter, even after he had made Daniel and Teal'c tell him everything he'd missed, but he knew how deeply he'd hurt her. He also knew that she didn't want to talk about it, even if he had a clue what to say, which he didn't.

He knew the Laira thing was bad, but he also knew his 2IC well enough to know that what had hurt her even more was that he hadn't thought she'd be able to come up with a way to get him home. He demanded impossible things from her on an almost daily basis, and she had never once failed to pull off something miraculous. He should have known she'd figure out a way to get him back, despite the way things had looked from his side of the gate.

Then, right after that, it seemed, Hammond had put him on that undercover assignment and he'd hurt them all that time. It saddened him to think it, but he sort of got the feeling from Carter that she was starting to get used to him disappointing her after that one. And that mission had hurt Daniel even more than Carter, because she had a better appreciation for Classified than Daniel did.

So, for the first time, he was worried about their birthday party. This was his favorite tradition with his team, for a number of reasons, one in particular, and if they couldn't get back to normal after this, he didn't think they ever would. They'd still be the closest unit at the SGC, but they'd lost the easy comradery he now realized he'd taken for granted before. As he dressed, he resolved never to take it for granted again if he could just get it back.

To help ease the tension and provide more distractions for everybody, this year he was having everyone meet at O'Malley's. He'd reserved a pool table and a large dinner table, and in addition to SG1, Janet, Cassie, General Hammond, and Jacob were all definitely going to be there.

Speaking of which, he had to hurry if he wanted to make sure he was the first one to arrive at O'Malley's. He grabbed his wallet and phone and hurried out the door, mentally crossing his fingers that tonight, while celebrating Sam and Daniel's birthday, he could mend a few fences as well.