Pre-Season One. 1974.
Spoilers: 1969.
A/N Dedicated to JenCamp because a line in her fic inspired this slightly strange plot bunny
Special thanks to Toomi my beta. She is so great and I just keep giving her more work. Damn muse.
Pairing -none
General fic with Sam(much younger) Jacob, George Hammond

"No no no no. I am not going to wear that. No way daddy." The irate 5 year old Sam Carter screamed.

Jacob was at his wits end, as his wife, Elizabeth, had gone to take Mark to the doctor for a checkup, and he was left trying to get Sam dressed and ready to go to her first birthday party.

"Sammie, all the other girls will be wearing dresses since it's a party. "

"I don't care dresses are for sissies. Even Mark says so. And don't call me Sammie, daddy. I hate that name."

"That is your name, Samantha, and I just shortened to Sammie, I like it." Jacob just wanted to get her in the dress, not have an argument

"I like Sam better" She was stubborn, just like him.

"Sam is a boy's name." Perhaps if he distracted her with her conversation, getting the dress on would be easier.

"No. Short for Samantha."

"But Sam is also a boys name."

"Is not." Samantha's arguments had faded to two word sentences, punctuated with a stomp on the floor.

"Is so."

"Is not."

"Samantha I am not playing that game with you." She squirmed out of his reach, and out of the dress that Jacob had managed to get over her head. "Sammie..."

"Daddy, Please"

"Your mother bought the dress so you could wear it to the party."

Sam climbed up on her father's lap and smiled at him with her big blue eyes so serious even for someone so young. Her long blond hair was gently brushing his cheek and he knew he would give in to her. When she looked at him like that he couldn't refuse her anything.

"But I want to wear my jeans. I can't climb trees or play in the fort in a dress. I could wear it for church instead." She had thought of a compromise and pleaded with her father. She really wasn't going to wear it anywhere, at least not without a fight, but she kept that information to herself.

Jacob couldn't argue with her logic. She would probably be off climbing trees and doing all sorts of activities and ruin the dress. Even at five she was showing remarkable intelligence, and had taught herself to read almost 2 years ago.

"Okay Sam, we'll find some nice dress jeans you can wear, but I am going to put your hair up in pigtails."

Sam preferred to wear it down or better yet stuffed into her favorite baseball cap that used to be Mark's, but she looked at her father's determined face and decided this was one argument she wouldn't win.

"Please don't brush too hard daddy, and don't pull too tight either. It will hurt." She stood in front of him, arms crossed.

Jacob sat her on the couch and began the time consuming process of brushing her hair. He barely got started when Sam yelped.

"Ouch daddy, that hurts..." a small tear started down her freckled nose.

He decided to distract her by playing one of her favorite games.

"That was a big rat are you ready to get some more."

"Yes Daddy lets go hunting for those rats." The quick tears forgotten, she started giggling.

Whenever Sam got her hair brushed it was so fine that it tangled easily, and getting the tangles out was never fun for tender-headed Sam. To make it easier, her mother distracted her with a game of rat hunting. Let's see how many tangles, er, rats we can find and destroy, um, comb out. Her father soon learned the trick as well since Sam was so busy counting the number of tangles to worry about her hair getting pulled in the process.

Sam was up to about 20 rats when he father announced they were all done.

"Wow daddy, I think that was a new record."

Grinning to himself, he marveled at his little girl. She was adorable even in her jeans and t-shirt. Her blue eyes were so expressive, and her freckles on her cheeks and nose gave some color to her face, which lit up when she was excited about something. Her smile make her eyes sparkle and when she giggled he couldn't help but join in. Someday, he mused, my little girl is gonna break some hearts.

Lost in his thoughts he failed to notice that Sam had wandered off. He called for her hoping she hadn't gone where he thought she had. Was she in the garage again?

Ever since Mark entered a go-cart race two weeks ago, Sam had been enthralled with the go-cart. Mark didn't really like his little sister touching his stuff, but she was handy to have around when he needed someone to get a tool for him. Sam had shown an interest in all the tools and she soon recognized and was able to remember the names of all the tools in the toolbox.

Mark didn't tell his dad that Sam actually managed to fix part of the go-cart where a gear was sticking. Her little hands were able to get in and loosen the gear and fittings where Mark's hand didn't fit. He could just picture his dad saying 'what if your sister got hurt?' Luckily she hadn't, but since then she couldn't resist playing with all the fun stuff in the garage. She was sitting by the go-cart and peering under the engine hood looking at everything intensely. She didn't even notice when her dad came in the garage.

He started to call her name again when he saw her. Her small face was completely covered by the hood of the co-carts engine, but he could see blond hair sticking out and he realized that she had wiggled under the engine and was in the process of taking it apart using a wrench she had in her hand.

"Samantha Jean Carter what have I told you about playing around the go-cart."

"Aww daddy, I wasn't going to hurt anything. I just wanted to see how it worked."

"What? Tell me your brother didn't let you stick your hand in the engine?" Jacob was angry that Mark was so careless.

"We turned it off first Daddy. It couldn't hurt me."

Secretly he was amazed that his daughter knew how to repair something and use the tools properly, but he was also worried because he knew once Sam had figured out how it worked, he was in trouble. He decided that it wasn't worth the risk.

"Sammie if I catch you near this go-cart again without either Mark or I to watch you, I will ground you, and you won't get to go to the Blue Angels next weekend. Do you understand me?"

"Yes, Sir." Sam was sulking. "But I wouldn't have hurt anything. Honest. Please let me go see the cool planes. I want to be an astronaut someday so I have to see them."

It wasn't the first time Sammie had mentioned the astronaut thing, but Jacob hoped it was just a phase she was going through. He wanted her to be happy but he knew that Sam being a girl would have a hard time being accepted to NASA. She is very smart though and if anyone could do it, Jacob believed she could.

"Ok, let's go get you cleaned up again." Jacob grabbed Sam's hand, and the two walked back to the house.
ssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssss

When Jacob and Sam returned from the party, only Elizabeth was home. Jacob and his wife were planning on going out to dinner, and Mark had gone to stay at his friend's house for the night. The sitter they had hired however had just called and informed them that she couldn't babysit, because she had strep throat. Jacob couldn't believe the timing. Here it was their anniversary, and who would they get to babysit Sam at such short notice? Going through the list of names, he came across George Hammond, his good friend and godfather to young Samantha.

"Honey, how about I ask George to watch Sammie. He is always saying how he hasn't seen Sammie since she was just a tiny baby, and he just got back from a long assignment, so he's on leave right now."

"You think he'll do it?" Elizabeth looked at him, hopeful.

"I'll call him and find out." Jacob grabbed the number, and went into the living room to make the call.

"George, this is Jacob."

"Hi Jacob."

"I know you've only been back for a few days, but I have a favour to ask."

"What can I do for you, Jacob?"

"Could you watch Sammie tonight? Our sitter called in sick, and Elizabeth and I have dinner plans for our anniversary."

"How old is she now?" George chuckled down the line.

"Five."

"I'd be happy too. Margaret is out of town, so just bring her by and you can let her spend the night as well. That way you two can have some alone time together. You can pick her tomorrow afternoon. Our unit is having a cookout and I think she would enjoy that. Don't you?"

"She'll love it as long as there's trees to climb, and trouble to find."

"Well bring her over. It's been years since I've seen her." George tried to remember how many years it had been.

"Thanks a lot George. You're a lifesaver. Elizabeth would never forgive if we couldn't have gone tonight. I made reservations at the new romantic restaurant overlooking the bay."

"My pleasure Jacob, and don't worry about Samantha. She will be fine."