Sorry I didn't update right away! I had a lot of class work and no time, like that never happens, ha! Hope you enjoy this chapter! ~Silme
Chapter 5: Home
Jack drove back to his house. When he got there, he checked to see if Sara had called. She hadn't. There was a message from Sam leaving her address and phone number at school. Jack sat in the living room of his house and stared at a picture of him, Sara, and Charlie taken a few days after Charlie was born. He thought about what his life with Sara was like before they had Charlie. Sara had always hounded him to stop going on missions, to stop taking risks, and get a desk job. Jack knew that flying a desk was not what he wanted to do with his life; he agreed that he should cut back on the missions and risks now that he had Charlie, but was not ready to give them up completely.
That line of thinking led him to the day Sara had told him she was pregnant. Jack had been so ecstatic when he heard that he was going to be a father, he hadn't even noticed that Sara didn't feel the same way. Before that, they had never really discussed children to any great extent. It had been more of a 'children might be nice eventually' agreement. Jack soon realized that Sara had never really wanted kids and to her, Charlie was a mistake. Jack had a sinking feeling that their son's birth would either be the bandage that healed the rift between Sara and Jack, or the last straw that broke the camel's back, and drove them apart.
Sam returned to college and was immediately questioned by her friends. They knew something interesting had happened on her trip.
"Did you meet a guy?" Leslie asked. She had been Sam's roommate the year before.
"Why do you say that?" Sam replied cautiously. She didn't want her friends giving her a hard time about Jack.
"Because, you're different, I don't know, happier maybe," Ana replied.
"I'm happy I got to visit my dad at the base," Sam protested.
"You met a guy on the base, didn't you? Tell us everything!" demanded Leslie.
"The only guy I talked to besides Dad was the one who gave me the tour because Dad was busy," Sam said honestly.
"Was he cute? Was he nice? We want details!" Ana exclaimed.
"He was nice. I didn't think about if he was cute or not though," Sam told her friends. She had noticed that Jack had good looks in a rugged, outdoors sort of way. He was anything but cute.
"Why not?" Leslie wanted to know.
"Because he was married, he even had a son. His wife had taken their son on a vacation but he couldn't go so he was going on and on about his son," Sam exaggerated slightly. Jack had only talked about Charlie when Sam had asked him about his son.
"Bummer, oh well, we'll find you a guy eventually," Ana promised.
"I don't have time for a relationship right now! After we graduate this summer, I go to OCS and then on to whatever they assign me to do! Having a romantic relationship isn't a priority in my life right now," Sam stated truthfully.
"Someday, you'll meet someone and you'll make time Sam," Leslie assured her friend.
"She's right," Ana agreed.
"I know she's right. I'd better get back to reading those papers; I'll talk to you guys later. Bye!" Sam excused herself and headed back to her room. While she made a cup of coffee and collected some of the papers she had to read for class, she thought about the Air Force. She knew it was her best way into NASA. Sam looked forward to going into space. The only problem was she wouldn't have a lot of time to raise a family. That was her only regret. Sam decided she would let her life run its course and she would see what would happen.