Now, the two non-canon Stargate characters, Dean and Ravyn. Dean is my own, so if you wanna borrow him, please ask me first. I really love him dearly. Ravyn I borrowed from the movie "Sublime" (Which is really good, I'd recommend it if you like psychological horror movies). The scene where Sam meets her is also from the same movie.
Chapter 1: Jigsaw Puzzle
I'm pushing open the front door. Its difficult with my helmet tucked under one arm and the grocery bag held tightly in my other hand, but then Cassie's there taking the bag from me.
"I've got it, Sam!" She grins and hurries it into the kitchen, giving me a second to check my hair in the hall mirror. Rumpled helmet head; just what I expected. In the kitchen Cassie's taking the frozen pizza and soda out of the bag. She wrinkles her nose. "Why couldn't we just order out?"
"This is cheaper. And I think your mom'll have less of a fit about it." I'm over at the stove, turning it on and then unwrapping the pizzas. Two of them, just because I know how much a teenager can eat and I'll probably eat the same amount.
Cassie leans on the counter, watching me. I look up and we grin at each other. This is how most nights go when I'm babysitting. Tonight Janet had to look after SG-3 who ran into some mutant porcupines, and I have to look after the alien brat who's just surreptitiously pulled a mega-sized bag of skittles out of the bottom of the grocery bag.
"Drop the candy and no one gets hurt!" It's for my own private stash. Cassie knows that and grins cheekily at me as she sets the bag down.
Janet gets home later that night; a lot later. So late that I'm sitting on the couch watching some old Godzilla movie on cable, where it looks like whoever was in charge of dubbing just said "Fuck it!" and gave up trying to make the words match with the mouth movements.
Janet's tired. I can tell by the way she sort of collapses on the other end of the couch. We exchange the obligatory "Thanks" "Anytime" "See you tomorrow" and I'm standing up and heading out the door. It's dark and cold outside but I don't really care. I speed home to my own bed, my own couch, my own channels with the Godzilla movies.
Its two weeks until Janet needs me to be the emergency stand in babysitter again.
"I just need you to be home when Cassie gets back from hanging out with her friends," Janet says, rushing around and trying to get her medical team under control. "Make dinner, make sure she does any homework." She grins for a moment. "Spoil her rotten the way you always do."
I give the petite CMO a salute and head towards the door of the infirmary. "Only cus it's expected of me, Doc."
I don't really mind that Cassie's not there when I get to the house. It's quiet, which is a nice difference from the SGC today. Two teams came in hot with Jaffa on their sixes and the casualties weren't pretty.
I think I'll order pizza tonight. Janet shouldn't mind and I'm way too tired to make anything.
The couch looks inviting, and I lay down in the late afternoon sun, stretching out on my back and not even bothering to turn on the TV as I tuck one arm behind my head and drift off to sleep. It lasts only an hour before I hear a noise and open my eyes a bit.
Cassie's home, and she's got another girl with her. This other girl is a little taller than Cassie, about my height, actually, with long black hair that's currently pulled up, and pale, pale skin, which makes me think that black is obviously not her natural color. I don't think they even notice I'm there.
I watch with slight confusion through my still half-asleep mind as Cassie backs into the living room, her hands around the other girl's wrists. They giggle madly and the other girl takes a step forward and their lips smoosh together, hands falling apart to draw bodies closer. One of Cassie's legs moves to curl around the other girl's and I clear my throat a little.
"Sam!" Cassie holds her composure miraculously as they both turn to face me. "You're…awake…"
"I hope not." I sit up, looking at them. Just be glad it wasn't your mom, Cass.
Cassie awkwardly puts a hand on the other girl's back, pushing her forward. "Sam this is Ravyn…with a 'y'."
"Hey, Ravyn with a 'y'," I say, smiling at the other girl. She looks like an oversized fairy. Especially with the tight fitting shirt and short skirt. I've got half a mind to call her gothic-Tinkerbell and get it over with.
There's a long awkward silence where we all stare at each other.
"Cass, you want to go order pizza for us?" I ask, including Ravyn in my sweeping gesture.
Cassie nods and bobs into the dinning room. Ravyn looks at me.
"You in the air force too? Like Cass' mom?" she asks casually. This girl obviously isn't shy around adults like some teenagers are.
I nod, trying to not make a big show of it so she won't ask too many questions. "Yep. Haven't done active duty in a while though."
"That's cool." Ravyn perches on the arm of the couch. "My brother's in the marines."
I snort. SG-3 pops into my head with their asses full of mutant porcupine quills. "I know some marines."
There's another moment of silence. Then, "so you fly airplanes?"
"Theoretically," I lean back against the couch and Cassie comes back in to sit on the floor near me. "I'm more of a scientist though. Deep-space radar telemetry."
"Like Jodie Foster in 'Contact'," Ravyn nods appreciatively. Smart girl.
We eat dinner then the girls vanish off for a little while. I pretend to think that they're up in Cassie's room gossiping about other kids in their class or maybe out in the backyard taunting the boys who live next door. Ravyn leaves eventually. She's got her own car parked outside.
"She's not in your class, is she?" I ask when Cassie comes back inside.
The girl shakes her head. "Nah she's graduated already. I met her at those classes I go to at the YMCA."
I'm looking at Cassie and trying to tell her what I'm thinking by the sheer force of my mind. I can see her cave in.
"You're not going to tell Mom, are you?"
I blink innocently. "Tell her what?"
"Saaamm…"
"Cassie." I give her a hard look. "I'm not going to tell your mom and even on the off chance I did, I doubt she would care."
"She would too…Ravyn's older than me."
"So?"
"So…yeah…Mom would probably think we're doing drugs together."
"As oppose to…?"
Cassie rolls her eyes, tossing a lock of long brown hair out of her face. "I'm going to bed, Sam."
"Alright, sleep tight, Cass."
She grunts, and stops halfway to the stairs to give me a brief smile. Then she's gone and I'm stretching out on the couch again.
I suddenly knew what my father had probably felt like back then, a year after my mother had died, when he'd walked into my room to find me and my 'friend' Becca passionately making out on my bed. The fact that Becca was extremely hot made up for the fact that General Carter gave me the lecture of a lifetime that night.
I sigh heavily; it was just another thing to tear my incredibly dysfunctional family apart.
"I really owe you for looking after Cassie," Janet says. Its late one evening and we're sitting shoulder to shoulder in one of the labs, studying a sample of biotechnology that one of the teams brought back. It's not very interesting.
"I like doing it."
Janet closes the lid of the case we're looking at and takes off her rubber gloves with a snap. "I know, but I want to pay you back."
"If I ever have kids you can baby sit them."
"Oh-ho," Janet's dark eyebrows shoot up. "Something you've been working on?"
I pull off my gloves, though only to throw them at the doctor. She giggles and ducks. "No! You could always take me out for dinner."
"Sure. What do you like?"
"Steak."
"Go figure." Janet's taking her lab coat off and I think my eyes linger a little too long as she works the buttons undone, down her chest, over breasts and stomach…She looks up suddenly and I hope she hasn't caught me staring. "Sam? I think we should call it a day."
She mistook my hesitation for reluctance to leave our work. I shake my head. "Yeah, sorry, I'm just in my work mode."
"Lets go out tonight then," Janet suggests as we walk out into the hall, making sure the door to the lab closes firmly behind us. "There's a place on the edge of town that hardly anybody knows about and they've got great American food…best fries in the world…"
With the thought of delicious, deep-fried American goodness in my mind I promise to meet Janet at her house in an hour. She leaves me with the order to "dress fun", whatever that means.
I take it for tight pants and boots and a black tank top under my leather jacket. I slap on a little tasteful makeup, just for that added bit of fun. Fifteen minutes later Janet's climbing into the passenger seat of the car, looking adorable with her hair down and flare legged jeans under a light blue top.
"No bike?" she sounds a little disappointed.
"Brakes are acting up," I reply, pulling away from the curb. "So where is this place?"
It's a small roadhouse style restaurant with a mob of motorcycles outside. We go in and I seep myself in the country music and smell of tobacco. People of all shapes and sizes fill the booths and the bar, groups of girls in tiny shorts and too tight shirts, men with tattoos all up and down their arms and some looking like they're trying to drown themselves in the small shot of whiskey sitting before them.
It could be the set from a movie, and I love it.
Janet and I slip into one of the last unoccupied booths and pull menus out from behind a diner style chrome napkin holder. I scan the list of entrees then look up to see Janet's reaction.
She flashes me a crooked smile. "Dr. Fraiser is currently back at the base having a nice green salad and cup of tea."
"Good." I chuckle to myself and tell the waitress that I'll have a diet-coke.
Two juicy steaks and heaping stacks of fries later and we're both feeling satisfied. Things are going so perfectly that we cave in and split a piece of apple pie. I make a silent promise to work out extra on Saturday.
Some people are dancing now, their previously nervous minds put at ease by copious amounts of liquor. Janet kicks me under the table.
"I dare you." She indicates the other girls who are dancing.
My eyes widen. "No!"
"How about if I buy you a few drinks?"
It isn't until a couple of young men in cowboy boots come over and ask us to dance that I finally get up off my ass. And this is after the promised drinks from Janet.
And then, dear lord, someone has switched the jukebox to "Honkey Tonk Badonkadonk" by Trace Adkins. I can feel myself blushing.
"C'mon, honey, this song is perfect for you!" Janet shouts to me and I stick my tongue out.
"Your friend's right, you know." My dance partner has liquid chocolate eyes and a gorgeous smile. "I'm Dean."
"Sam." The music picks up and I somehow find myself pressing my back against him as our bodies move to the beat. Normally if any guy got this close to me I'd give him a sharp kick in the nuts, but…this night is supposed to be fun, so I give my hips a jerk so my ass presses tantalizingly against him. Dean laughs and his arms encircle my waist. And I'm actually enjoying this…those drinks must have been stronger than I'd thought…
I find it amusing when he starts singing along, low in my ear in a perfect imitation of Trace Adkins.
The next song is slower and I turn around, draping my arms around Dean's shoulders. A quick look at Janet shows that she's enjoying herself as well, and she meets my gaze and gives me a broad smile.
"So what do you do, Sam?" Dean asks. "Wait…don't tell me…" I feel his eyes traveling from my short hair down to my muscular arms. "Personal trainer?"
I snort. "Air force."
"No kidding!"
"Nope. So that's Major Carter to you."
"Yes Ma'am!"
His friend who's dancing with Janet has to leave, but Dean joins Janet and me as we head back to the bar for another drink. Well, I'm having another drink. Janet seems to have asserted herself as the designated driver.
I'm talking to Dean when I catch a tone of anger in Janet's voice. Turning around abruptly I see her talking to another man at the bar, maybe a little older than Dean. Janet seems to know him.
"Aw, come on, Janet you don't have to give me the cold shoulder." I hear the man drawl.
Dean seems to have picked up that's something's wrong as well. I feel his hand rest lightly on my side.
Janet's scowling at the other man. "Oh, don't you claiming to be any better than he was, because you sure as hell aren't."
"Now that's no way for a lady to talk." The man is leaning on the bar with one elbow. He reminds me of a cat playing with a mouse; only this mouse is really a fierce tigress in disguise.
"You above all people should know I ain't no lady." Janet turns to me after this outburst and grabs my arm. " C'mon, Sam, let's go."
"Oh, hey, is that the dyke you dumped Edward for?"
The tigress turns around, growling. "Excuse me?"
Luckily Dean seems to have heard this last comment and steps in, going chest to chest with the man. "Hey, man, lay off!"
"And you're supposed to be…who?"
It's one of those awkward moments when everyone in the near vicinity has stopped what they're doing to watch. Dean seems calm…cool as a cucumber as they say…and the other guy appears a little intimidated by this.
"I'm a friend," Dean replies. "Now leave the ladies in peace, and stop resorting to childish name calling."
The man turns away and Dean walks with us out to the parking lot.
"So I take it you know that guy?" he asks Janet. We're at my car now, but standing in a little circle behind the trunk.
"Friend of my ex-husband," Janet replies. She looks glum, then suddenly her face lights up in a smile as she looks at me. "But I refuse to let him ruin a perfectly wonderful night!"
"That's the spirit!" Dean looks down at his watch. "I should get going…I've got work in the morning."
Janet smirks and grabs the car keys from me, heading over to the driver's side. I'm about to turn away as well, but suddenly Dean's hand is on my arm.
"Hey Sam." The words blend together. Heysam.
I turn around, giving him a smile. Dean seems awkward. But he wears "awkward" and all other emotions adorably.
"I'd like to get to know you more," he says finally, his eyes wide and hopeful. Liquid chocolate, shining in the moonlight.
I grin. "I'll give you my number." There's a scrap of paper in my pocket and a pencil stub. As I hand the paper with my number on it to Dean he scoops my hand up in his and kisses the back of it. I feel myself involuntarily blushing.
"I'll talk to you later, Sam." With a wave he's off, heading towards a red convertible on the other side of the aisle.
"Did you have fun?" Janet turns to me in the car as we're driving back to her place.
I nod sleepily. "Tons of it. I almost forgot that I have to be going off-world day after tomorrow to fight aliens."
Janet throws her head back and laughs, a joyous, free sound that reminds me more of a wild horse than a tiger. "I told you it's good to be normal sometimes!"
I'm slipping down in the seat, the after effects of the alcohol and all that dancing finally catching up to me. "Indeed." I murmur as my eyes close. The last thing I hear is Janet laughing softly.