Author's notes: Just a tender moment in Jake's past. Sorry, I tried to post it before the 4th but ff was bogged down with heavy traffic like the roads were! Enjoy!
Jake was frantic as he searched the upstairs bedrooms. He had been searching for fifteen minutes with no luck.
He couldn't believe what he'd done. Allison will never leave him alone with either kid from now on. All he did was turn his back on Sammy for two seconds to grab a beer and like that…she was gone.
"Jake!"
"George, did you find her?" he asked expectantly when his best friend appeared at the top of the stairs.
"No. You?"
Jake shook his head.
"Allison's going to kill me! Sammy's only three years old for Pete's sake!"
"I told you that you can't turn your back on a toddler for more than a second," George chuckled.
"You're not helping George. The one time Allison leaves him alone with the baby I lose her. My wife is going to kill me!" he reiterated, scratching the hair on top of his head.
"No she's not. First of all, she and Mark are in New York with her folks. So she doesn't know what's going on. Second, I promise we'll find Samantha before the fireworks begin. She can't be far. So quit worrying so much, I'm sure one of the wives down stairs is doting over those big blue eyes of hers right now."
"I hope you're right," Jake grumbled, as he followed George down the stairs.
Only Sammy was still MIA. Or maybe she went AWOL after deciding that Daddy wasn't paying enough attention to her because he was chatting away with George, catching up on all he'd missed while being out of the country for a month. Either way, Jake was going to be KIA if he didn't find his daughter before Allison returned from New York tomorrow.
In the kitchen, Jake found a flashlight from a kitchen drawer. He sighed in relief that it still worked. It was dark outside and he knew they were going to turn the outside lights off when the fireworks started.
Sure enough, as he stepped out the backdoor the lights went out. In the nearby distance he heard the loud cannon go off. It was shortly followed by the eruption of a colorful blooming firework high in the night sky. Its reflection mirrored on the lake brought no joy to him like it should have.
Jake sighed. This was his first Fourth of July home in a long time. And the first that Sammy would get to see since she had been too young before and slept through her first two.
It was supposed to be a wonderful father-daughter moment. But as usual, Jake messed up. No matter how hard he tried he always seem to mess things up with his family. This year he forgot his own wedding anniversary and was late to his own son's birthday party…by two days! Ok, so he got held up because of a mission. But Jake had promised Mark he would be there. After all, his son would only turn five years old once during his life.
The cannon shot off again. This time, Jake heard something nearby. Like the muffled cries of a little girl…or boy. With the luck he's had lately it would be someone else's kid. The cries led him to one of the banquet tables covered with several containers half full of food. Turning the flashlight on, he knelt down and lifted the table cloth to take a look.
"Sammy!" he cried out in such relief.
Another cannon fired even louder than the one before it. Sammy screamed covering her ears. Without hesitation, Jake crawled under the table to her. Despite the cramped quarters, he pulled Sammy onto his lap, holding her tightly in his arms.
"Shh, it's ok baby," he cooed.
"I'm scared!" she wept, clinging onto his shirt.
"There's nothing to be scared of Sammy. It's just fireworks. Is that why you're hiding under the table, because you're scared?"
"No, I was playing with you, Daddy," she explained.
"Oh…Hide and Seek?"
Sammy nodded.
"Sammy, honey, you scared Daddy. He didn't know what game you were playing."
"You got scared?"
"Yep," he nodded.
Sammy nearly jumped at the sound of the cannon.
"Shh…it's nothing to be scared of…want to see why?"
"Ok," she nodded, weakly, her innocent blue eyes still filled with tears and looking unsure up at him.
"Here, you hold the flashlight," he smiled.
It took some maneuvering to get out from beneath the table without banging Sammy's head on it. She giggled when he smacked his own. At least it was better than her crying. Jake hated it whenever his kids or his wife wept.
"Watch the sky, Sammy," he grinned pointing up.
Like before, she gripped tightly onto him when the cannon fired. Then he saw her mouth drop and eyes open wide in excitement.
"Pretty!" she cheered.
Those big blue eyes he loved to see where now filled with wonder and amazement. No longer did he see the fear in them. And when the next barrage of fireworks was fired off she didn't jump. She actually giggled wildly like all little girls should.
"I see you found her," George said as he handed Jake an open beer. "I told you not to worry so much."
"I don't care how old she is George, whether she's three or thirty-three, I'll always worry about my little girl," Jake smiled, continuing to watch Sammy. "I love you, Sammy."
"Love you, Daddy," she smiled, leaning to kiss his cheek while keeping her eyes fixed on the sky above.
The End