Hey there, this is going to be short and kinda sweet.

So, welcome back to my crazy mind :D

Enjoy!

M.

1976

She was barely seven years old when he first met her. He was already twenty-four.

Her blue eyes were striking, showcasing a bright and curious gaze profound beyond her years. Her blond hair, tied in two little ponytails, wiggled whenever she shook her head, which she did often. Her smile was radiant, contagious, and it was also missing one tooth. He would tell no one, not even her, that he thought he fell in love with her that very first moment. When she smiled at him.

"Hi, I'm Carter," she grinned at him. Little hand extending in an offering.

"Hi, Carter. I'm ..." he started to answer. Smiling back at her and shaking the little hand that got almost swallowed in his adult one.

"Samantha! We are all 'Carter' in this house, honey. It would be a bit confusing for the Captain to call you 'Carter'. Then have all four of us turning around to answer," Rose Carter smiled at him. "Sorry about that, Captain…"

"O'Neill. You can call me Jack, ma'am." He said, a charming smile quick on his lips. The girl frowned.

"Can I call you Jack too?" Samantha asked, looking at him. Doubt etched on the child's features.

"Sure, kiddo," he agreed easily.

"I'm not kiddo," she rolled her eyes. "I'm Sam," another smile. He couldn't help but warm up to the smart little daughter of his CO.

For reasons unknown to Rose and Jacob Carter, their soon to be eight-years-old took a liking to the Captain. He had just been transferred under Jacob's command barely a week earlier. Jack O'Neill was now living on the base near them. That day, Samantha searched for him whenever he was alone. She talked to him about anything she could come up with. Surprising Jack because it was a vast catalog of subjects that surely should be way over the mind of any seven-year-old.

"It's nineteen hundred, Jack," she later that night. When she found him sitting alone in one of the darkest spots of the Carter on-base house-yard. He had just shared a meal with the Carters. Now, he was waiting for his CO to finish his night before they could meet. Jack shook his head, concentrating on the kid.

"What is that supposed to mean, Sam?" Jack asked, turning around to face her. Little shoulders shrugged in dismissal.

"That I will be dragged to bed soon," she sighed. Plopping herself on the ground next to him. "I like the stars, Jack. I want to be an astronaut when I grow up. What are you doing here by yourself, anyway? It is super dark here."

"Ah, I was stargazing," Jack shrugged unconcernedly.

"Really? Can you teach me?"

"Whoa, something I can teach you?" He asked, surprised. She chuckled.

"I don't know everything, Jack." She blushed. "Will you teach me?"

"Sure. See that one over there?" wondered, pointing to a bright star.

"Samantha! Bedtime!" Rose shouted inside the little house.

"Oh, no," Sam sighed, standing up and patting her dress clean. A disheartened expression on her face.

"Samantha! Where are you?" Her mother tried again.

"I have to go now. It was a pleasure meeting you, Jack," she grinned.

"Yeah, nice to meet you too, Kiddo," he said.

"It's not 'kiddo,' you can call me either Carter or Sam," she glared at him. Placing her little fists on her hips. Something he had seen Jacob Carter do when he was pissed off. In all his years, he would never forget that first glare. It showed exactly how much power she was hiding inside. But back then, he'd only raised his hands in mock surrender.

"Goodnight, Sam," he corrected himself. The girl nodded before she turned around and rushed inside her house.

Surprising himself, Jack had offered to babysit the Carter kids several times during the duration of his post. Feeling oddly proud when months later, the girl had decided to deem him, of all the people, her best friend forever.