This chapter has been revised to take out a couple of typos but is once again mostly lkhoward88's work
The Monday of Sam's second week of school made Sam think about how different this school experience was from her last several.
Her brother was playing his first school team sport ever. And not just any sport, but football. And not just any position, but starting quarterback. The brother that had hidden away and been only slightly more popular than Sam in their previous schools had suddenly become one of the most sought after boys in school- as a friend and boyfriend.
Sam only wished that her father would give Mark the same lecture about girls as she got about boys. But Sam figured that her dad was just happy Mark was finally getting involved in sports, though the mention of Mark joining the Air Force had been shot down in a very loud argument two nights ago, so the short respite that Mark playing football had brought their house, quickly ended.
Jack continued to keep his distance, still picking Sam and Mark up every morning and dropping them off after practice every night. Sam found herself volunteering, at least until basketball season, to help her Calculus teacher tutor students who needed help in various Math classes so that she had a reason to stay after school.
Meanwhile, Sam had learned from Janet during their shopping trip that she had made the leap to Captain of the cheerleading squad after Jack's ex-girlfriend fell while trying to do a "flip that she was so not capable of doing and then she broke her leg in like two places," Janet had told her. Sam had congratulated her newest, best girlfriend.
The two of them had made a day of shopping at the local mall, where Janet finally managed to track down a dress that she liked. It was a pale green dress that somehow complimented her red hair and with the two inch pair of high heels she didn't look nearly as short as she did walking through the halls of their high school.
After much cajoling from Janet, Sam bought herself not one, but two dresses.
"Come on Sam, this dress is perfect for you," Janet exclaimed.
"But it's too much to wear to homecoming," Sam said as she turned around in the dress, watching as the material floated around a little bit before falling to the ground.
"So get it for prom," Janet suggested, a smile forming on her face.
"PROM?"
"Yeah, you know that event that happens in the spring where everyone gets all dressed up, goes out to eat, etc. etc.," Janet reminded her.
"Sophomores do not go to prom," Sam said.
"Sophomores that look like you and are the sister of the quarterback do," Janet claimed.
"No."
"Yes."
"No."
"Yes."
"Hey Janet! And Sam!" Teal'c said as he saunter into the shop, "You two had lunch yet?"
Janet's face lit up in a smile. "Not yet Teal'c. Are you here with…?"
"Jack, Charlie, and Rya'c, yeah, they're waiting outside. We saw you through the window, but I think Jack thought it would damage his image if someone saw his walking into a dress shop," Teal'c explained with a huge smile.
Janet shook her head and chuckled. "That's O'Neill logic for you. So, are you going to get that dress Sam or can we go now?" Janet asked impatiently.
Sam took one more turn in the mirror before heading to take it off. "I don't think so. Like I said, there's no way I'm going to prom and dad will have a fit if I buy it and never wear it," she called from the changing room.
"Sam," Teal'c offered, "I guarantee you'll go to prom if you wear that dress. I'll take you if no one else will."
"Don't you have a girlfriend?" Sam asked confused as she appeared once again dressed in her jeans and t-shirt.
"Yep."
"Won't she be upset that you're taking another girl to the prom?"
"I won't be taking you to the prom," Teal'c declared, "Someone else will ask you. Trust me."
Sam looked between Janet and Teal'c and sighed. "Okay," she said, "I'll get the dress. But you two are explaining to my father why I had to buy said dress when he gets the bill."
"Deal," they both said at the same time.
After Sam paid for the dress, Janet offered her one suggestion. "Don't admit to anything. Just let the bill show up in the mail and see what he does. If he's anything like my dad, he won't notice, just pay it and let it go," she advised.
Sam smiled and thought about the possibility of sneaking a two hundred dollar dress past her dad, and knew that would never happen.
But then her eyes landed on Jack O'Neill who was tickling a four or five year old boy that could have been his twin except for the obvious age difference.
Jack looked up when he realized that someone was watching him. "Hey," he said softly in greeting as he relinquished his hold on the boy a little bit, allowing him to escape and make a run towards Teal'c.
"Save me Teal'c," he begged. "Jack won't stop tickling me."
"That's what you get for asking to go to the mall with us," Teal'c said in a rather harsh voice, but it was obvious that it wasn't meant taken cruelly because he smiled as he said it.
Janet reached down and picked the small boy up. "Well if Teal'c won't save you, I will," she claimed. "Maybe I'll take you home with me. Think we could get Jack to trade you for Cassie?"
"NO!" Jack quickly objected, reaching over to take the boy back again. "Not another teenage girl, please no!" He begged loudly.
"Jack is the oldest of six," a boy that looked like Teal'c explained. "All of them are girls except him and Charlie."
"And all four of the girls are between the ages of thirteen and fourteen," Janet added.
"Two sets of twins," Jack explained when he saw Sam's confused look.
"This is Rya'c by the way," Teal'c said, introducing the boy. "He's my younger brother."
"And this little squirt is Charlie," Jack said with a smile and an affection tousling of the boy's hair.
"I'm not a squirt," Charlie insisted. "Mom says you were smaller than me at my age."
"And what age would that be?" Sam asked curiously, trying to picture a Jack O'Neill at this age.
"I'm six and a half," Charlie said proudly, puffing his chest out in the process as he tried to show six and half fingers on his hand.
"Wow! That's pretty old," Sam agreed.
"Don't encourage him," Jack grumped as tossed the boy onto his back, "He already convinced that he's a better brother than me."
"Who can blame him?" Rya'c asked as he led the way towards the food court. "He doesn't invite all of his friends over on the same weekend that the twins were having their birthday party."
"Yeah!" Charlie exclaimed.
Sam and Janet couldn't help it, they laughed as they followed the guys into the food court.
