"I'm real tired," Cassie admitted. "It's been a long night. I've really got to get some sleep. But maybe we can meet for breakfast again tomorrow? If you'd like to?"

Sam smiled widely. "I'd love to. We'd love to. Wouldn't we Jan?"

Janet smiled her agreement. "We sure would," she agreed. "Same time, same place?"

Cassie nodded, enthusiastically, and got up to leave. She hugged Anna, Janet and Sam. "Thank you," she whispered in Sam's ear. "Thank you."

Anna, Janet and Sam headed back to Izzie's room; they knew she was keen to know how it had all gone. Sam was so tired that she was happy for Anna to fill Izzie and Carolyn on all that had happened, though she warned her not to say anything about the Stargate, or Hanka. So Cassie became merely somebody Sam had known when she was much younger, and with whom she was keen to re-establish a relationship.

After less than an hour, Janet made their excuses and led Sam to the car. "We'll stop for lunch on the way back," she told her, "then it's straight to bed for you. You haven't slept properly in days, Sam," she said as she saw Sam about to demur.

"Okay, Jan," Sam said quietly. She knew that Janet was right, she hadn't been so tired for longer than she could remember. Nor had she felt so happy. She had no idea where the relationship with Cassie would go, but their 'first' meeting had gone just about as well as she could have hoped. She put her hand on Janet's right hand, which was resting on the gear shift. "She's just great, isn't she baby?"

Janet smiled warmly. "She's just as you described her, Sam, she's real sweet. She liked you too, I could tell. A lot."

They finally got back to the motel room just after 2pm, and Janet pushed Sam towards the bathroom. "You wash up first, honey," she told her lover, "I'll be right behind you."

After a few minutes, Sam emerged. "Bathroom's free," she told Janet.

Janet washed quickly and brushed her teeth. When she came out of the bathroom, she saw that Sam had changed into her pajamas, but was still sitting on the edge of the bed, looking a little lost. She sat down next to her. "Hey, sweetie," she said softly. "You okay? Ready to sleep?"

Sam looked up at her. "Not quite yet," she said in a quiet voice, and pulled Janet into a firm kiss. When she started fumbling at the buttons on Janet's shirt, Janet pulled back slightly.

"Sam," she said gently, "you're exhausted. You need your sleep, baby."

Sam looked at her with her impossibly blue eyes, a deep, penetrating look. "I want you to make love to me," her voice was not much above a whisper. "I need you, Jan. I want to feel you. All of you. Please, honey?"

Sam looked so distraught and lost that Janet's heart melted. "Okay, baby," she said, "whatever you need. Sleep after though, huh?"

Sam nodded enthusiastically. Janet laughed softly. "I don't think I could ever refuse you anything, Sam," she said, "one look at those eyes of yours, and I'm lost." She reached up for a kiss, and then pulled her own shirt over her head. "I love you Sam."

"I love you too, hon," Sam's voice was husky. "More than you can ever imagine."

As they lay in each other's arms later, Sam turned to Janet. "Was that okay, baby? I didn't push you into anything you didn't want to do, did I?"

Janet laughed. "No, sweetie, you didn't. I can't imagine ever not wanting to make love to you. It's never anything less than exquisite. You're just amazing, Sam. Think you can sleep now?"

"Oh yeah," Sam's voice was drowsy, and her eyes were already closing. "Just s'long as you're with me."

"I'm not going anywhere, Sam," Janet snuggled up close to her lover.

Both Sam and Janet slept solidly all night, waking refreshed and happy just before 6am. Janet woke just before Sam, so when Sam struggled back to consciousness, she could see Janet's smiling face. "Hey," she called softly, "what'cha doin?"

"Looking," Janet replied. "At you. D'you mind?"

Sam grinned. "Not in the least," she told her, "though I can only guess what a mess I look!"

"You look perfect to me, Sam," Janet replied, "just perfect."

Sam smiled again, and kissed her very softly on the lips. "That makes us a good pair then, sweetie," she said.

By 7am, they had arrived at the hospital, and let themselves into Izzie's room, where they met up with Anna again. "I don't think I'll come this time," Anna said, in reference to the breakfast with Cassie. Sam's face fell. "No, it's nothing bad Sam, I swear," she said hurriedly. "I just think you and Janet need some time alone with Cassie, you don't need me along. Anyway," she grinned bashfully, "I'm meeting her tonight. She suggested we go ice-skating. It sounds like fun. You should come along."

Sam smiled affectionately at her new friend. "Oh no," she said, "I think maybe Cassie wants to get to know you properly too, Annie. Anyway, can you imagine Janet on the ice, with her little legs? She'll never keep up!"

Janet gave Sam a mock scowl. "Just you wait," she told her threateningly, "I'll get you back for that."

"Nervous?" Janet asked Sam as they sat in the coffee shop, ten minutes early for their breakfast with Cassie."

"A bit," Sam admitted. "Not as much as yesterday. She wanted to see us again, that's got to be a good sign, huh?"

"A real good sign," Janet said in a reassuring tone. "She's a real sweet girl."

"She is, isn't she?" Sam agreed. "I just hope she's happy. She must have been lonely after Catherine died. I hope she's got some good friends. Nobody should be totally alone."

Janet took Sam's hand and brought it to her lips. "No, baby, we all need somebody."

Sam smiled warmly at her lover. "Thank God I found you," she said, with feeling.

"So what brought you to Bismark?" Sam asked Cassie, as they embarked on their third coffee of the morning. "In my timeline, Catherine lived in Washington most of her adult life. Did she move here?"

"No," Cassie said. "We did live in Washington, though we would visit New York from time to time, as Catherine had spent quite a lot of time there when she was younger. I moved here after she died."

"So why Bismark? What is it about North Dakota that appealed to you?" Sam was curious.

Cassie blushed slightly. "Nothing, really," she admitted, "not about the area in particular. You know I'm gay, right?" she looked bashful.

"You are in my timeline," Sam said, "so I kind of assumed you probably were."

"Well, I met a girl, just after Catherine died. I was in a mess, pretty screwed up I guess. For a while, it seemed to me that whenever I got close to somebody, they died, and I was all alone again. Even Daniel had gone out to Egypt, he was pissed with being treated like an outcast. His theories had been trashed, and he lost all credibility. So he was gone too. I was wasting my life, really; working the odd job here and there, drinking too much, staying out late, not taking any responsibility for anything. And then I met Rose. It was never a great love affair," she explained. "But I was lonely, she was lonely, and we just kind of gravitated together. She helped me see that everybody has to deal with shit in their lives, and we have to just get on with it."

"So what happened?" Janet asked gently.

"Rose told me it was time I stopped sulking because I didn't have a real family, and because I didn't have the money to train as a doctor. She was an EMT herself, and she told me I could do much worse than train as one myself. She told me straight, if I was that keen to become a doctor, I should get off my ass and start earning some money, start saving up. She was about to transfer here, for a year, and she asked me to come with her. We both knew it wasn't really going anywhere, and that we wouldn't be together for long. But she was good to me; she was kind and understanding. And we were good together for a while. We had fun. But when she transferred to Salt Lake City, we both knew it was time to end it. I have very fond memories of Rose, she helped turn my life around really. We're still in touch, send cards at Christmas, birthdays, that sort of thing."

"So you decided to stay here?" Sam asked.

Cassie laughed. "Not really, I just haven't yet decided where I want to settle. There's nothing holding me here, really. I just need to work out where I want to be. That's one good thing about being an EMT, I can transfer to pretty much anywhere I want."

"Are you happy, Cass?" Sam asked, dreading the answer.

Cassie looked her straight in the eye. "Sure, I've got a good life; I'm healthy, and I enjoy my job. I've got a few friends, nobody real close right now. But I'm optimistic, and one day I hope to find someone special. Yeah, things are okay."

"But they could be better, huh?" Sam said.

Cassie snorted. "Things can always be better," she said, "but they could be so much worse. I'm pretty fortunate really. I do miss being part of a family," she admitted sadly. "But maybe I can find my own family?" she looked up hopefully at Sam and Janet.

Sam swallowed. "There's nothing we'd like more than you to become part of our family Cassie. I know it's far too early to ask you to make any decisions about that," she said, "but we'd both love it if you could be our... kind of 'surrogate' daughter. If you'd like that. One day," Sam knew she was gabbling now. "Sorry," she said, "I don't want to put any pressure on you. But we'd both really like to get to know you, to spend time with you."

Cassie took her hand from across the table. "That sounds great to me, Sam," she said, struggling to contain her emotions. "I mean, I don't know how it's going to be, how we're gonna get on. But I really want to get to know you both properly. At least to be friends." She tried to stifle a huge yawn. "Sorry," she grinned, "we had a busy night."

"When do you finish nights?" Janet asked.

"That was my last night for a couple of months," Cassie said, the relief evident in her voice. "Some people don't mind nights, I hate them. I find I can never sleep, even when I know I should. I've got three days off now," she said cheerfully. "Anna and I are going ice-skating tonight. Hey," she had a sudden idea. "Why don't you two come?"

Sam shook her head, laughing. "No, you two go," she said, and winked at Janet.

"What's so funny?" Cassie demanded.

"We had this conversation earlier, in the hospital, with Anna," Janet told her with a smile. "And Sam very rudely suggested that I'm too short to be any good at skating. What she forgets," Janet grinned, "or maybe it's different in your timeline Sam?" she wondered, "is that I used to figure skate semi-professionally, as a teenager."

"You're kidding!" Sam gasped. "That's certainly something I never knew! So why did you stop, Jan?"

Janet grinned again, bashfully. "I had to give it up," she said, trying not to laugh. "Don't laugh, but I was... I was... too short!"

Sam and Cassie exploded with laughter.

"I'll bet I can still beat you round a rink," Janet's tone was threatening.

Sam held her hands up in surrender. "I'm sure you can, sweetie; after hearing that about you, I'm not going to be issuing any challenges!"

"So when do you have to get back to Montana?" Cassie wanted to know.

Sam's face darkened. "We're going back tomorrow," she said sadly. "Janet has to get back to work; she's already had too much time away. And I have to talk to the authorities, about my moving from Washington. Lots to do. But we'll come back, Cassie, just as soon as we can. And maybe you could come stay with us? Come for a weekend, or something."

"That'd be great," Cassie said. "I'd really like to do that. I don't want to leave here until Izzie's out of the hospital, though. I promised her I'd visit her every day, and I don't want to let her down. Anna says she's had bad experiences in hospital, too many tests when she was a kid. So I want her to know she can trust me. She's going to be released in nine days' time, I think."

Sam was moved greatly by the girl's caring nature. "Some time after that then?" she suggested.

Cassie nodded, enthusiastically. "That'd be great," she said again.

Janet had a sudden thought. "They won't let Izzie fly for at least a couple of weeks after she's released, right?" she asked Cassie.

"Two to three, depending on how she's doing," Cassie confirmed. "But her mom's going to stay. Her dad has to go back to England next week, he's got work things he needs to do. But at least Izzie'll have Anna and her mom."

"And you," Sam said.

"Yeah, and me," Cassie grinned, "just for a while."

"How about we ask them to come stay with us after she's released?" Janet suggested to Sam. "We've got three bedrooms, and we can clear out the study downstairs, so Izzie doesn't have to climb the stairs. What d'you think Sam?"

"I think that's a great idea," Sam agreed, "we can head back to the hospital after breakfast, see what they think. Carolyn and Roy should be there by now, shouldn't they? I hope they agree."

Soon it was all settled. Izzie, Carolyn and Anna would come to stay in Janet's house as soon as Izzie was released. And Sam fixed it with Cassie that she would be back for two days in a week's time, which would coincide with Cassie's days off. And then, Sam hoped, Cassie would visit regularly when Izzie was staying with them. She thought that perhaps she could detect an attraction between Cassie and Anna, though she knew it was very early days. She knew, too, that Anna needed some time without a partner, to allow her to heal from the terrible time she had had with Tina. But one day, Sam hoped, one day, they might all be together. At very least, she could see that Cassie and Anna would be good friends. She prayed that she, and Janet, would also be able to develop a close relationship with Cassie, and to be a proper family. One day.