AN: Soo... you've come to see the goat publish another Fate story have you? Looking for a little min-me action? Wel you're getting it. Also y boss is just annoying everyone except me. Me she weirdly likes and listens to. No freaking clue why. The trouble is once everyone ELSE figures that out I'll be the go to boss wrangler just like E used to be K's

Chapter 1

They had walked to the park around the house from Wil and Mare's. Sammy chose a picnic table and flopped on a bench face down dramatically.

Sam sat and looked at the clone of herself with a worried frown. "Something on your mind?" She asked the girl.

Sammy just sighed and shook her head, her blond hair flopping back and forth.

"You're going to get splinters in your nose."

"Don't care." Sammy mumbled through her hair.

"I forgot this part." Sam murmured thoughtfully. Her mom had been gone. She'd had no one to talk to about her insecurities. Of which she could catalogue many. "You'll care when they have to be pulled out of your nose." Sam observed wryly.

Sammy rolled over and flopped face up, her arms dangling dramatically on either side of the bench.

Sam missed being that slender and flexible. She was still in great shape but nothing like she had been at fifteen. Forgetting their birthday wouldn't be until December.

Sammy stared up at the sky, lost in thought. Of course she could read herself like an open book and could probably guess what was bothering her… but had she figured out why? No. Probably not. Sammy wasn't sure she could even explain her illogical concerns. They were valid. She was fourteen, Jon was eighteen. Not a huge gap all things considered and far less than she had shared with him as their memories told them they were… but Jon would be leaving for the Academy at the end of the summer. He'd spend the first six weeks in Basic and wouldn't have very much time for her after that. They pretty much had this coming summer after school let out and that was it for the next two years.

Sitting on the edge of the bench, Sam absently watched children run around the playground and after a while she asked her in a curious tone, "So, are we going to discuss this or are you going to wallow?"

"I don't see what difference it would make as the situation remains static." Sammy replied, dejectedly.

Sam made a humming noise. She'd once said almost exactly the same thing to Janet. It had been an accurate assessment when what should have been a two-to-four-year assignment had dragged out into ten years, eight of which she'd spent being unable to do anything about her feelings for the man who was right in front of her. Oh, they had done things… just not the things they wanted to do like admitting it was more than sexual attraction or getting married or any of the other normal things you did when you met someone you almost instantly connected with on a very deep emotional level and knew you wanted to spend the rest of your life figuring out.

But they had done that part so what was the problem? It wasn't at all likely that Jon had found someone else. Jack hadn't even dated anyone else until Sam had gotten engaged to another man after all. And even then he'd been extremely uncommitted to the situation. Sammy would be upset not mopey. They had the rest of school and this summer before she needed to worry about it and Basic was only six weeks, after that Jon could contact her all he wanted as long as he didn't go over the top with the declarations or do anything dumb like ask her to marry him formally.

"Do you want ice cream?" Sam finally asked her, at a loss for how to handle herself this time. Her romantic prospects at that age had been nil. And Jon was not going to stop being the huge dork he was currently any time soon as she had living breathing proof at her house playing Mario Cart with her best friends.

"I guess." Sammy grumbled.

Sam shook her head. The irony that she couldn't get herself to open up was not lost on her. "Ice cream it is." She announced and stood. "Did I tell you Jack kept the dog?" She said dryly to change the subject.

Sammy snorted. "You thought he wouldn't?"

"He didn't even tell me he had a dog until I got back. Just came home to Ginny losing her mind because he was back."

Sammy shook her head. "You aren't mad."

"No, but it might have been nice had he mentioned it at some point though I can see why not since he stupidly got himself kidnapped over her." Sam said in dry amusement.

Sammy smiled but it didn't quite meet her eyes. She wished her problems were as simple as Jon acquiring a dog without asking her. No. He was just going to be out of reach for two months then spending years around women his own age that didn't have flat chests or weird hang ups and he could have all the sex he wanted with them because they weren't underage and there wasn't a damned thing she could do about that at all.

"Are you guys going to do anything for the talent show this spring?" Sam asked her, breaking into her thoughts as they walked.

Sammy shrugged. "I don't know."

"What's this year's school play?"

"I haven't checked."

"Is it a musical?"

"Probably. Last year they did Death of a Salesman."

"Got a preference if you try out?"

"Anything but Grease." Sammy said emphatically. She hated how cringy that movie was, especially after Conner's crap a couple of years ago.

Sam nodded. "If they do Sound of Music, Gracie might want to try out for Gretta." Sam suggested as an olive branch.

Sammy smiled genuinely for the first time. "Jon as Captain Von Trapp seems somehow fitting."

Sam chuckled. "You have a point." She agreed dryly.