Perdita was stunned into silence by her new home. Even in the city on her home planet, homes had never been as luxurious as this. To start with, she was too scared to touch anything, for fear of breaking it. And some things were so remarkable she had just no idea what they were.
Cassie saw her looking in amazement at the CD player. "That's a stereo, Deetie," she told her sister. "It plays music when you want to listen to it. Here, let me show you," and she slid a CD into the tray, and pressed play.
Perdita jumped back startled when music came out of the speakers, involuntarily letting out a whimper of fear.
"It's okay, Deetie," Cassie reassured her, feeling guilty at having scared her. "It's supposed to do that."
Perdita ran over to Sam and took her uninjured hand. "Where are they?" she demanded in a frightened voice. "Where are the people making the music?" She was not unfamiliar with the concept of music, music was a big feature on her home planet. Her brother had played the 'luttra', which was a type of cross between the guitar and the cello.
Sam knelt to her level, and looked her straight in the eye. "It's a recording, Dita," she told her gently. "We have some real clever technology here, so that when we want to, we can 'save' sounds we really like and store them on these clever disks. She led her over to the CD rack. "See, these are all different, and when we want to listen to something in particular, we can choose which one we want, so we know we'll get something we like. Unless," she winked at Perdita, "we make a mistake and take something from Cassie's stack of music, and then we really do know we won't like it!" She squeezed Perdita's hand. "It's nothing to be scared of, Dita, I promise you. Once you settle in, you may find there's some music you really like, and then you can play it yourself."
Perdita shook her head, "I don't think I'm gonna want to do that," she said, her voice still a little shaky.
"Well then you don't have to sweetie," Sam told her, nodding over at Cassie who turned the stereo system off. "Here, let me show you round." And she took her round the whole house, explaining every knob and button, trying not to overwhelm the scared child, but at the same time not wanting to leave anything unexplained and scary.
Finally, she took her to her room. "It's still basic, sweetie," Sam told her, "but it's all yours. And once you settle in, you can decide what you want it to look like; you can paint it any color you want, you can choose new curtains, pillows, anything you don't like, we'll change. But this is where you'll sleep." And she gently pushed her in the door. Perdita gasped, she didn't know what she had imagined, but it wasn't this. Staying in Sam's room in the cottage on the planet had been luxury to her, this carpeted room, with it's color-coordinated linen, soft bed, closet, chests of drawers and electric lamps was way beyond anything she had thought.
She looked up at Sam. "I'm staying here?" she asked her, querulously, "just me?"
"Yes, sweetie, is that okay?" Sam was worried that it was all too much for her. "We want you to be comfortable and happy."
Perdita nodded. "'kay," she said. "I like it."
Sam pulled her into a one-armed hug, carefully protecting her damaged arm, shoulder and ribs. "I'm so pleased you came back with us, Dita," she said, trying to keep the emotion out of her voice. "I know everything's strange, and a bit scary, right now. But we're gonna try and help you out and make it as easy as we can for you. We all really want you here, and Cassie and Janet are so pleased you're part of the family. And I don't know how good I'm gonna be as a mom, baby, but I'm gonna try my best. Janet has really been Cassie's 'main' mom, she's been there all the time for her. I wish I'd been around more when she was younger, but I was away a lot. I'll still have to go away some, but I promise to spend as much time as I can at home, as much time as possible with you, Cassie and Janet."
Perdita took a small step back, and looked straight into Sam's eyes. "I want you to be my mom," she told her, in a firm voice. "I love you."
"And I love you too, Dita," Sam replied, "and I'm gonna do my best, I swear."
"I'll all be okay," Perdita said, in a soft voice. "I just know it."
"Yes," Sam agreed, "it sure will."
SGSGSGSGSGSGSGSG
Sam then took her round the rest of the upstairs of the house - even the concept of 'upstairs' was new to Perdita, and showed her the bathrooms, Cassie's room, and then her and Janet's room. For the first time, Sam saw that all her things had been brought back to 'their' room, and had been installed in the right places; even her robe hung casually over the back of the door. She gasped.
"What?" Perdita was an observant child.
"It's not important, Dita. It's just," she swallowed and looked at the small child and decided there and then she wouldn't lie to her about anything; for better or worse, she was going to be up front and honest with her. "It's just Janet and I had broken up, I was living somewhere else for a while. But somebody, and I'll just bet Cassie had something to do with this, somebody's been to my apartment and brought all my things back here. And it makes me so happy, Dita," her eyes were shining, "to see 'our' room as it used to be. To know that Janet and I really are back together."
"Are you gonna break up again some time?" Perdita wanted to know.
Sam knelt at her level. "No sweetie, not ever. That's one thing I'm sure about. I think we've both learned something from last time; that time apart was terrible for both of us. We're never going to let it get to that again. I swear to you. Janet and I are going to be together for ever."
Perdita nodded. "Good," she said.
When Sam and Perdita got back downstairs again, Janet was standing with her hands on her hips at the bottom of the staircase. "Samantha Carter!" her voice had a warning note to it, though she wasn't able to hide her smile. "It's about time you rested."
"Yes, Mom!" Sam replied cheekily, earning herself a swat on the backside.
"Couch! Now!" Janet could be fierce when she wanted to be.
"Just one thing," Sam leant forward, kissing Janet softly on the lips. "Just had to do that first. Hope that's okay, doc," she grinned widely.
"Oh yeah," Janet agreed. "That's definitely okay. That's always okay. C'mon now honey, you don't want to overdo it," she could see that Sam was all but wiped out, and led her to the couch, where she made her lie down and pulled the comforter over her. Within five minutes, the blonde scientist was asleep.
"Is she okay?" Perdita tugged at Janet's sleeve in the kitchen.
"She's fine," Janet put her arm round her, "she's just tired. She'll get real tired for a while, but soon she'll be all fixed up. But she will be okay, Deetie, once she gets enough rest and everything heals properly. Why don't you go in the garden with Cassie, she'll show you round there, while I make dinner?"
Cassie took her little sister by the hand, and showed her all round the garden. The garden was big and secluded. Due to the unusual positioning of the house in the corner of the street, and the high fences, the garden was well protected and not overlooked. Perdita loved it; she loved to be outside, and she felt right at home there.
SGSGSGSGSGSGSGSG
An hour later, Janet called to the girls in the garden to come in for dinner. She went into the living room, where Sam was still dozing. She approached the couch, and knelt down by her lover. Gently pushing the hair from her face, she called, "hey, baby, can you manage some dinner?"
Sam awoke, grinned sleepily, "hi honey. Time to get up, huh?"
Janet smiled, "only if you feel up to it."
"I sure do," Sam replied, and gingerly got to her feet. Her injuries were very much better, but her shoulder still gave her quite a lot of pain. It wasn't the first time it had been dislocated, and it seemed to be taking its sweet time to recover. Her arm was still in plaster, but the pain had almost gone, and her ribs felt much better than a few days ago. She knew she was lucky to be alive, so she didn't complain.
The girls came in from the garden, and they all enjoyed their first real 'family' meal together in their home. Perdita was still unsure about what to say, or what to do, but Sam rejoiced at the easy, bantering relationship she had developed with Cassie. Toward the end of the meal, unnoticed by the girls, she took Janet's hand, and nodded toward their daughters, who were laughing fit to bust at some private joke. Janet smiled, and squeezed Sam's hand. "Happy?" she asked Sam.
"Oh yeah," Sam told her. "Hundred percent."
SGSGSGSGSGSGSGSG
After dinner, Janet and Cassie insisted on clearing up, while Sam sat on the couch with Perdita. "You like your new home, sweetie?" Sam asked Perdita.
Perdita nodded, vehemently. "It's great," she smiled. "I mean, some of it is a bit... strange. But I'll get used to that. I love being here with you, and Cassie, and Janet," she told her new mom with feeling.
"And we love having you here, Dita," Sam put her arm round the child, who was still far too thin, despite having filled out a little since coming to Earth. Perdita snuggled carefully into her, and when Janet returned to the living room twenty minutes later, she was entranced to see two blonde heads poking out from the comforter, both sound asleep.
When Sam awoke a couple of hours later, Perdita remained asleep. "Time for bed, honey, I think," Janet told her.
"Yeah," Sam agreed. "Could you?" she gestured to the sleeping child.
Janet carefully scooped Perdita up from the couch, and carried her upstairs, where she lay her on her bed. With some help from Sam, who was restricted by her arm, she got her changed into her nightshirt of choice, which was of course one of Sam's t-shirts. The girl stirred briefly. "It's okay, Deetie," Janet said. "Just getting you ready for bed." Perdita nodded, and her eyes closed again.
The two women tucked the new 'baby' in, and withdrew from the room. They they knocked on Cassandra's door. "Come in," Cassie called cheerfully.
"Hey sweetie," Janet said to her. "We just wanted to check how you're doing with all this."
"I'm doin' great," Cassie grinned. "You two back together, Deetie here, school vacation, can't really get much better than that!"
Sam grinned back. "I'm so glad you feel like that, Cass. I know you weren't given much of a choice when I brought Dita back, but I hoped you'd understand and be happy about it."
"She's cute," Cassie smiled. "I couldn't be happier about her being here, truthfully."
Sam, Janet and Cassie met together in a group hug.
SGSGSGSGSGSGSGSG
Perdita slept soundly for the first few hours, but when she awoke, in a strange room, in a strange house, she was frightened and confused. Every instinct in her just wanted to get away, and she was already half way to the door when she remembered. She was not trapped in the city, there was no nasty man preparing to do bad things to her. She sat down on the bed, and wept - with relief, and with fear. She loved her new family, it would just take a while to get used to all this newness.
After a while, she calmed down somewhat. She wanted to crawl into somebody's arms, preferably Sam's, but she was an independent-spirited little girl, and she didn't want to wake the rest of the household. So she did what she used to do when she was alone and scared in her camp on her old planet; she looked out at the stars, fixed on the largest and brightest of them, and found some solace in that. She opened the windows, and was relieved to find the breeze blowing across her face. The house was wonderful, but at least with the big windows open, she could kid herself she was outside again; and she associated being outside with being safe.
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In 'their' bedroom, Sam looked at Janet with so much love in her eyes that Janet caught her breath. "Thank you," Sam said quietly. Janet looked at her quizzically. "Thank you for everything. For having me back; for taking Dita in. For giving this 'family' another chance. I don't deserve you, Jan, though I'm gonna try my best. I love you so much."
"Oh Sam, I love you too, honey. More than anyone or anything. And it's you who deserves thanks, for forgiving me. It's gonna be great from now on, isn't it baby?" her big brown eyes looked up at Sam pleadingly.
"Everything's gonna be perfect, Jan," Sam reassured her. She led Janet to the bed, where they sat side by side. "I've missed being with you so much," Sam's voice shook with emotion. "I can't quite believe we're back together, in the same house, the same room, the same bed."
"I know, baby," Janet agreed. "I've missed you too, more than I could ever have imagined." And she reached up for a kiss, gingerly at first, but become more passionate as the kiss deepened. Sam responded, and started to unbutton Janet's blouse. "Gently, hon," Janet admonished. "You're hurt, remember?"
Sam's look of disappointment was almost comical.
"I don't mean let's not," Janet laughed. "I just mean, let's be careful."
So they were.
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Sam was first up in the morning, unable to break her early-morning habits. She helped herself to a coffee - one of the few tasks she was allowed to carry out in the kitchen - and then knocked softly on Perdita's door. There was no answer, so she quietly opened the door. As soon as she stepped in, she was startled to feel the cold in the room. She saw the big windows were wide open, and Perdita was curled up in the corner of her bed, wrapped firmly in her quilt, only the top of her head poking out.
As Sam entered the room, Perdita awakened, and poked her head out from under the covers. "Hi, Sam," she whispered, a note of relief in her voice. Even after opening the windows, she had had some bad dreams, so it was comforting to see the face of the person she loved most.
"Hey, Dita," Sam moved over to the bed. "It's freezing in here, sweetie, are you okay? Why the open windows?"
Perdita moved into her arms. "I wanted some air. I was a bit scared," she took a deep breath. She hated admitting to any fear, but she knew that if anybody could make the bad dreams go away, it was Sam.
"Oh Dita, there's nothing to be scared of here. Why didn't you come wake me if you were scared?"
"Didn't want to wake you," Perdita told her. "I have to get used to this. But it was better with the windows open, even with the cold."
"Then that's okay," Sam tightened her grip on her. "Tell you what, sweetie, we'll make sure you've got more blankets tonight, and then if you want the windows open, at least you won't be cold. And if you want me, at any time, you come get me. And if I'm not here, Janet and Cassie will be. We all want you to feel safe."
Perdita looked up at her. "I do feel safe, Sam, and I love being here."
Sam smiled at her, with love in her big, blue eyes, "that's good Dita, 'cos we all love you being here."