Butterfly Beauty
This is set sometime after In the Line of Duty, Season 2. No obvious spoilers.
Disclaimer: I don't own the characters, this is just for my enjoyment etc.
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Butterfly Beauty
"Sam!" Was the joyful shout that greeted Major Samantha Carter, 5 seconds after ringing the Fraiser's doorbell. She had scarcely had time to see who had opened the door, before she had someone in her arms, giving her a huge hug. Sam smiles as all the horror she had seen in the last few days vanished from her thoughts.
"Cassie! How are you?" she asked the girl wrapped round her as she cautiously stepped into the house. Finding herself in the hall, she looked up from Cassie to see Janet come through from the kitchen, ready for work. Sam had agreed to look after Cassandra and spend some time with her for the day, as SG1 had a few days of leave – unlike Janet. It was as close as she could get at the time to being the girls mother and she was grateful for all the time they could spend together.
"Cassie" Janet gently admonished, "I told you to be careful."
SG1 had had a close call on their last mission, where they were called out to rescue SG12. The situation had quickly gone from bad to worse and a member of SG12 ended up dying on them on the way back to the gate. They had returned with the surviving members of the team, feeling bruised, upset and sore. The remaining members of SG12 were physically uninjured and SG1 had escaped major injuries as well – just Daniel's bump on the head and Sam's sprained wrist. Therefore General Hammond had granted them all a few days leave to rest and recharge.
"It's fine Janet – I'm ok." Janet scowled before turning to Cassie.
"Why don't you go and get your coat and bad while I talk to Sam, hunni?" Cassie nodded and ran into the direction of her bedroom.
"Sorry about that – she's just excited to see you!" Sam smiled. The feeling was mutual.
"How's the wrist?" Janet asked in full doctor mode and indicating to Sam's tightly bound wrist.
"It's ok thanks – a lot easier now!"
"Good!" Janet smiled, before turning around to shout upstairs, "Hurry Cassandra, I have to go to work!"
Sam laughed internally, silently agreeing with what Colonel O'Neill had said about their friend having such a large voice for someone so small!
Janet quickly bundled them all out of her house, before getting in her car and rushing off to work, leaving Sam and Cassie in the front garden. Sam took Cassie's hand "Co on kiddo – let's go to the park on the way home shall we?" Sam didn't live far from Janet and it was easier for her not to drive unless absolutely necessary as her wrist was still sore. She had been warned about Cassie's never-ending energy supply at the moment and had decided that the short walk home would probably be a good idea.
Arriving at the park, Cassie played on the equipment for a bit, before making Sam go on the swing next to her. Once they had finished and decided it was time for some refreshments, they walked for 10 more minutes until they reached Sam's house.
After a drink and a little snack, Sam asked Cassie what she wanted to do with the rest of their day together. They decided to watch Finding Nemo, nibbling on popcorn and stopping the film every now and then to fill in each other on their girly chat.
After lunch, which was a challenge- Sam was amazed how much harder it was to prepare with the use of mainly on hand, Cassie decided she wanted to play with some makeup. There was a school disco coming up and she wanted to practise. Sam smiled as the memory of her messing about with her mum's makeup came into her head. She lead Cassie up to her room, where she began to get out all her makeup, makeup remover (she was sure she was going to need that!) and sat down in the chair. Cassie grinned – this was going to be fun! Sam was still feeling apprehensive! "Cass – where did you learn how to do this?"
"Jack brought me a magazine last time we went shopping – it was full of everything!" came the joyful reply! Sam just wondered what Janet had thought of it, the girl was only 13! As she felt Cassie start to apply the foundation, she realised she knew what she was doing and closed her eyes and started to relax. It was a relief really just to be able to sit down. She was still not feeling herself after their last mission – she gave an involuntary shudder as the memories replayed in her mind – and not for the first time. Her wrist was also really starting to ache again.
She jumped with a start, when Cassie clapped her hands together and exclaimed with a joyful laugh that she had finished her masterpiece. Surprised she had managed to doze off; Sam slowly opened her eyes to see Cassie's eyes twinkling in amusement.
"Go look Sam! Go on!" she urged. Cassie took Sam into the bathroom and made her stop in front of the mirror. Sam's face turned from curiosity to shock and then amusement as she realised what the young girl had done. Instead of using the makeup as just that, Cassie had used it as face paint and made Sam's face into a butterfly. It was very cleverly done, Sam had to admit and she gave her a quick hug, being careful not to let her face smudge on either of their clothes. She settled Cassie down in front of the television and was just going back upstairs to put everything away when the doorbell rang, just as she was walking past it.
Completely forgetting what Cassie had just done, she opened the door. Her shock at finding her CO on her doorstep was nothing compared to what he felt when he saw her face and then smirked when he realised she must have forgotten she had it on. He smiled and quickly looked her up and down. Dressed casually in jeans and a pink top she looked stunning, even with the butterfly gracing her face and the smudge of bruising peaking out from her bound wrist, which she was obviously still favouring. Aware that they were just standing their staring at each other and his thoughts weren't very professional, he decided to break the silence.
"Carter! Hey! How you doing?" his words seemed to bring her out of her daze.
"Sir! What….Why…? Is something wrong Sir?"
"Geez Carter – do you ever relax?" he quipped with a grin. It did its job and made her smile.
"Do you want to come in Sir?"
"Sure!" he shrugged as Sam led him into her house. They were met by Cassie who gave Jack a huge hug. After he put her down, he looked between her and Sam and smiled.
"Well that explains the butterfly!"
Sams face turned to shock as she remembered what her face currently looked like. Jack meanwhile watched his 2IC as she turned into a red tomato and then a goldfish. Sam opened her mouth to try and say something, before closing it and wondering what the hell she should say to her CO when she had her face turned into a butterfly picture and answered the door completely ignorant of the last couple of hours. She muttered "excuse me" and practically ran out of the room and up the stairs, leaving Jack and Cassie to burst out laughing!
"I take it that was your doing kiddo?" he asked
"Well Sam said I could practise makeup on her and then she kinda fell asleep I think or else she must have realised that it wasn't just eye shadow I was putting on."
"Don't worry Cassie, she's just a bit embarrassed and I'm s….." he stopped talking abruptly on hearing a crash from upstairs followed by muffled curses. He cringed before going to check up on Carter, with Cassandra just behind him. He followed the noises to Sam's bathroom, where he found her with a makeup bottle top in her hand whilst the actual bottle, along with the spilt contents, were in a mess all over the floor. Sam herself was sitting on the floor with the lotion all around her.
"Sam? Are you ok?" Cassie was worried. Seeing the girl there, she looked away to gain her composure, before answering.
"Fine Cass – I just slipped."
"Cassie, can you go downstairs and carefully get a cloth and the kitchen roll and bring it up here please?" asked Jack taking command of the situation. She nodded her consent and hurried off. He then turned his attention to Sam. He held out his hand and she grudgingly accepted. She slipped again as she stood up and would have fallen if Jack hadn't grabbed hold of her arm with his other hand. Once firmly on her feet, she looked down to see both her trousers, and the bottom of her top, splattered with lotion.
"Carter, just sit down a minute hey?" he pointed to the lid of the toilet.
"I'm fine – I just want to get cleaned up." She stood at the sink and wet a flannel before going to wring it out slightly.
She quickly let go though when pain shot up her wrist causing her to grimace. Jack saw this and firmly took the flannel out of her hands and guided her to sit down where he said. He then squeezed out the flannel and gently started getting the makeup off her face. By the time he had finished and declared that it was mainly off, she had calmed down.
"Thanks Sir," she said gratefully.
"No probs! Why don't you go and get change and I'll clean up here!" he gestured between her splashed clothes and the messy floor. She smiled gratefully and left, just before Cassie returned with the cleaning items. Between the two of them, they managed to do it pretty quickly, before Jack set up a video for Cassie to watch deciding it was time he checked on Carter. He went up to her bedroom and knocked, aware that by now she had had plenty of time to change.
Sam was frustrated. It hadn't been easy changing out of her trousers but it was nothing compared with doing up her shirt buttons. The more frustrated she got the more her wrist seemed to throb back at her. She heard the knock on the door and sighed, before calling at him to come in. Seeing her little problem, he walked over to her and made eye contact. She signed and dropped her hands in consent and he quickly moved in and did up her buttons.
"Where's Cassie?" Sam suddenly remembered the events of the day.
"It's ok. She's just watching TV!" he saw her nod before asking her next question.
"What are you doing here Sir?"
"Just checking up on my team. Daniel's in his office and Teal'C is helping him."
"How come Daniel is allowed to work?"
"He slept last night."
"I…." she drifted off then glared at him. How the hell did he know she didn't sleep last night!
"I'm fine, Sir!" he just shrugged and gently took her bound wrist in his hand feeling her tense when he gently ran his finger over it and then grimace when she took it back.
"Carter!"
"It's just a bit sore!"
"Doc said rest it! Go and take some pain killers and curl up on the sofa with Cassie!"
she looked up to him and had a silent conversation before complying.
"Yes Sir!" She stalked off in a bit of a mood. Jack didn't mind though, she would forget it soon enough.
And she did. Half an hour later both she and Cassie were completely engulfed in the romantic comedy they were watching. Coming into the living room with two hot chocolates, he was awarded a Carter smile and knew she had clearly forgotten about their previous argument.
Janet was surprised when she came to pick Cassie up, to see Colonel O'Neill open the door.
"Hi Doc!"
"Colonel? Is everything ok?"
"Fine Doc – Carter and Cassie are watching a film." He led Janet into the living room to find both girls practically asleep on the sofa.
"Hey sweetie" Janet gently tapped her daughters shoulder to wake her up. "It looks like its time for bed!" she grinned as she started collecting Cassie's coat.
"Work ok Janet?" Sam asked after she had woken up a bit.
"Yea fine actually. Thanks for looking after her"
"No probs!" She smiled.
Sam and Jack went to the door to wave off Janet and Cassie.
"Say goodbye to Miss Butterfly" Jack yelled to Cassie, who had to stop trying to get in the car for a minute whilst she attempted to control her laughter. They waved as the car drove off before Sam turned to Jack.
"I'm never going to live that down now am I Sir?"
"Nope Carter! Just wait till Danny and T hear about it!"
She looked elsewhere in embarrassment before turning back. "You might want to be ummm…. Careful next time you hang around with Cassie then Sir!" she said with her eyes twinkling in cheekiness.
"Damn you Carter!" he replied, causing them both to start laughing.
"I should go" Jack decided "And you need to get some sleep" he added pointedly.
Sam nodded, she was tired. "Thanks Sir – for coming round!"
"Sure – no problem! You going to be ok?"
She nodded smiling "I'll see you tomorrow, Sir"
"Night Carter!"
Sam closed the door softly and smiled. She had a feeling she would be able to sleep tonight and if she couldn't, she was sure the memories of today, relaxing with her friends would lure her into a peaceful sleep. 'Miss Butterfly indeed' she thought to herself smiling. Maybe she should find out when the Colonel was looking after Cassie next! And with that thought, she fell asleep with a smile on her face.