*-Please ignore that. I can't really change the song cause then it wouldn't make sense. Also, I took a few liberties with direct quotes from the show (wait, then would they be direct quotes? Hmmm). The song is 'Gangsters Paradise' by Coolio. Thanks.

~~~~~~

As I walk through the valley of the shadow of death

I take a look at my life and realize there's nothin left

~~~~~~

"Sam, you haven't said two words since... since the accident. Your brother's made it pretty clear how he feels."

"He blames you." She said, her voice thick with emotion.

"I blame myself."

"Your work has always been more important than us." She turned to face him sadness and despair replaced by anger.

"You know that's not true. I don't want you to forgive me. I don't know if I could accept that yet. I just want you to understand."

"You were supposed to pick Mom up. You were late. She took a cab. There was an accident. I understand perfectly." She spat the readers digest version out like it was a deadly poison.

"I couldn't have known it would happen."

"Mom. Is. Dead. Because. Of. You." Her eyes were no longer filled with anger. Her father couldn't believe he caused such a transformation. She faced him dead on with outstanding hatred and pure rage in her eyes, and heart.

~~~~~~

'Cause I've been brassin and laughing so long

That even my momma* thinks that my mind is gone

But I ain't never crossed a man that didn't deserve it

Me be treated like a punk you know that's unheard of

~~~~~~~

Samantha Carter was gone. After a few days of dealing she couldn't take it anymore. She was suffocating. She needed out. At fourteen, she took all of the cloths she needed and the basic items she needed and all of her money. Knowing where her father kept emergency cash, she went into her paren- her fathers' room, and reached inside of the wall panel of his walk-in closest to find almost $400. Smiling, she started to walk out of the room. Getting an idea, she jogged back to the closet and found his personal handgun, some extra rounds, and his gun license that was right there. Smiling wider, she pocketed her new toy and walked causally out of the room.

Every night her father had insisted on wishing her a good night before she went to sleep. So, already clad in tight black jeans and a dark blue shirt, she climbed into bed pulling the sheets up around her neck.

Knock, Knock.

"Sam sweetie, can I talk to you?"

"Ya, ya."

Jacob Carter walked in to see his daughter all cuddled up in bed. She looked tired.

"Sam, I just got a call from a Col. Meyers. I have to attend to some business in the next week or so. I might not be around much. Ok?" He said, really concerned.

"Ya, whatever."

"I'll be leaving early in the morning for my fight to D.C. so you sleep in and eat anything you want and watch TV all you like ok?"

"Fine."

"Ok Sam."

Turning to go back downstairs, Jacob had a bad feeling in the pit of his stomach. He knew this feeling. It was the same feeling he had rushing to go get his wife, but being to late. Something was going to happen. Something he wouldn't like. Something bad. So he did the only thing he knew. The one thing he knew he didn't do enough of.

"Sam?"

"What?!"

His voice somewhat failing him, he whispered,

"I love you so much sweetie."

It was the first time he had actually said it out loud to her. Therefore she was quite dumbstruck. She watched on in silence as she watched her father leave quietly. She thought it quite ironic that he thought he was leaving her temporarily, when in reality, she was leaving him permanently. She had begun to run.

~6 mos. Later

Sam, now 15 had now been declared missing, presumed dead. She had moved away from her home in Denver to New York. It was easy living there. She was a smart girl. She had skipped several grades and when she had left she was a 14 year old in eleventh grade taking some senior class's. But now she was livin it all up here. And she had made some of the most loyal friends in the world. Unfortunately, they where in the form of a small, tight gang. Carlos, Even, Bagger, and Go-man made up the groups dignitaries. Bagger was the one who made sure all physical evidence linking them to specific crimes was cleaned up. He was a dark guy who wore the black, baggy cloths and had many piercings all over. He was also responsible for applying the gangs mark. A tattoo of man with spiked hair and highed up eyes giving everyone his middle fingers. All gangs have similar customs. Underneath he wrote your personal phrase. When Sam took the mark, on her right hip, she had the phrase. 'Don't cross me or you'll be lined in chalk'. When Bagger finished hers, she had looked at it, with a smile on her face that seemed to mimic the smile of the devil.

~~~~~~

You betta watch how ya talking

And where ya walking

Or you and your homies might be lined in chalk

~~~~~~

~13 mos. Later

Carlos, the president of the gang and Sams personal lover, had been murdered. And the group, the Mau Maus, was in a riotous mood. Rage flowed through the veins of the gang. And Sam, now 17, wanted the blood of the killer. So they attacked the gang, the Bishops, with the intention of killing them all 10 times over. They where named after the African tribe the Mau Maus. Once Carlos had told her the story about them. 'If we have to kill, we kill. If we go down, we go down fighting. We're the Mau Maus. The people. Them African Mau Maus drink blood baby, and were just like them.'

Sam had planned the attack. The Bishops holed in an abandon park. And they advanced on them with weapons hid in their coats. It was a cold December night not far from Christmas, so it didn't look strange. Very few had guns. They where to loud. They were armed with baseball bats, sticks with nails in the end, handmade clubs, car antennae which when swung like a whip could take the skin off of a mans body, and bicycle chains which can easily kill a man. And of course everyone had two of three knifes.

Some of the guys with guns where gonna go down and take the bishops by surprise, and when the fight was heard in progress the rest of the gang was to go down and attack from behind. The gang was totally surprised and the fight turned into a mass murder party. They swarmed in, slashing and cutting, the bishops blood on all their hands. The final Bishop was kept alive for Sam. She came out of the panting group of Mau Maus to see Bagger holding a man.

"This is the one Sammy. The one who killed Carlos. I saw him do it."

Sam advanced on the man just as the police sirens where starting to be heard.

"You will pay for the sin you committed against the Mau Maus."

She pulled the hefty nine-inch blade out of its holster and ran the blade against her right thumb, and small red line appearing. She sniffed the blood, and then wiped it symbolically across his lips. She leaned down as if to kiss him, and looking straight into his eyes, plunged the knife into his stomach. Stepping away, she watched as he fell to his knees, but didn't smile as a small cry escaped from the president of the Bishops. His eyes were wide, so she didn't miss it when the life left his body as he fell to the ground.

All was silent in the park, but all Sam could hear was the wind roaring in her ears combined with the shrillness of the ring in her ears. She heard the cookie tray falling, and hitting the ground. She heard herself yelling at her father. She was looking the dead man, but she saw the look in her fathers' eyes when he told her that her loved her. She went back to her 12th birthday and saw her mother smiling with pride as she opened a box. It harbored the necklace that had been her grandmothers. That necklace was still on her dresser.

She was broken out of her revere when loud cheers broke out of the group that was her life. She had killed their enemy. When they heard the sirens she knew she had to leave. Within seconds the park was deserted except for dead bodies. The Mau Maus where famed for their abilities to run. When they reunited back at their hideout, there was a huge party filled with the loud punk music, booze, drugs, and sex. But Sam couldn't enjoy it. She had gotten very high when alcohol just didn't seem to work, and the sought comfort in Baggers body. She was running again.

After that night, she had gone outside of their hideout for a walk. She kept seeing the same images. He Mother, her brother, her father, the previous night. She saw the blade, and his eyes. She then saw a dream she been having. Herself in a bathroom, holding her fathers handgun, that was long gone, with the barrel in her mouth. She saw herself pull the trigger, and saw her mothers' necklace fall to the ground through pistol smoke.

She walked for a while and stopping, she looked up at the streetlight. Realizing the tears that where falling down her face, she fell to her knees on the deserted corner and did something she hadn't done nearly enough of. She prayed to a God that was listening.

~~~~~~

I really hate to trip but I gotta lope

As they croak, I see myself in the pistol smoke . Fool

I'm the kinda g that little homie's wanna be like

On my knees in the night

Saying prayers in the street light

Been spending most our lives Living in a gangsta's paradise Keep spending most our lives Living in a gangsta's paradise Been spending most our lives Living in a gangsta's paradise Keep spending most our lives Living in a gangsta's paradise

~~~~~~

After a few more days of partying and getting over hangovers, Sam had called them all to the main room. Over the door to the world she spray painted the words 'Mau Maus drink blood'. She had started to run again. More cheers rang out and thus started the last party of the Mau Maus. The police had gotten a tip-off of their hideout, and a few hours after their party started, the cops where barging in dressed in full riot gear. Screaming their slogan at the top of their lungs, the Mau Maus started the rumble they couldn't finish. What members weren't killed, where taken into prison.

When Jacob got word that his daughter was alive, but in jail, he had literally passed out. A squad car had come later to rush the general to the airport to be taken to New York.

When he arrived, another squad car took him to the station where her would see his 17 year old daughter. On the way there the police chief briefed him on what had been going on.

"Samantha was the co-leader of a gang called the Mau Maus. They where a big gang that would kill for the fun of it. On the wall of their hideout it their slogan 'Mau Maus drink blood'. Apparently a member of another gang, the uh Bishops, had killed their president. Samantha led the Mau Maus to a rumble that annihilated the Bishops. A member of her gang said she personally killed the president of the Bishops. She is on death row, on multiple murder charges."

Jacob sat there stunned. Murder. Leading a gang. He couldn't believe it.

~Later, at the station

Sam was sitting on her cot. In typical prison garb, she sat staring at the wall.

Jacob now in the observation room saw her through the camera. Falling to a chair all color drained from his face. He saw her look at her hands for a while, and then start to rub the together as if something was on them. She started to rub them harder and started to shake them. Then with a cry, she stopped and just looked at her right thumb. She stared at the small scab reminding her of what had happened in the last two weeks. As the tears came, she buried her face in her hands.

Jacob couldn't stand it anymore.

"Let me down there. Now. I want to be with my daughter."

"Follow me Sir." The guard said with a nod.

When they got down to her cell, Jacob nodded to him to open the gate. When she didn't react to the clang of the gate opening, he spoke to her.

"Sammy?" his voice braking

She lifted her head, recognizing his voice, then turned around to face him. She fully expected him to be furious with her, to hate her forever. But when she looked into his eyes, she only saw his love for her. In the matter of a split-second she ran to him, holding onto him with all of her strength.

"I'm so sorry Daddy. I'm so sorry."

~Later, still in the cell

He still held his little girl. But now they where sitting on her bed.

"I'm on death row."

"I know sweetie." He said rubbing her arm. "But I've got a better idea."

"Hm?"

"You could join the Air Force, or what ever branch of the military, and help the fight against gangs. You're educated Sammie. You're a smart girl, but if you chose this, one mistake can land you here again. You'd be a regular member of the military. You'd even get pay. You'd work for your country."

~~~~~~

They got this situation, they got me facing

I can't have a normal life, I was raised by the state

So I gotta be down with the 'hood team

Too much television watching, got me chasing dreams

I'm an educated fool with money on my mind

Got my ten in my hand and a gleam in my eye

I'm a low down gangsta, set tripping banger

And my homies is down so don't arouse my anger. Fool Death ain't nothing but a heart beat away

I'm living life do or die, what can I say?

I'm twenty-three now but will I live to see twenty-four

The way things is going I don't know.

~~~~~~

She finished school, training camp and her time at the Academy and then started the job which she feared. She had to track and catch felons in gangs, and they would be tried. Its not that she didn't want to serve he country, she just didn't like being around gangs again. She had an ugly scar from her time with the Mau Maus and so did her Dad.

~~~~~~

Tell me why are we so blind to see

That the ones we hurt are you and me?

Been spending most our lives Living in a gangsta's paradise Keep spending most our lives Living in a gangsta's paradise Been spending most our lives Living in a gangsta's paradise Keep spending most our lives Living in a gangsta's paradise

~~~~~~

Sam didn't stay with what was affectionately called the "Hood team' long. After the Air Force saw just how dedicated and how smart she really was, she was sent to the Pentagon. With her position there, came power. With power, came money. But she was still different. Still hurting. They said she had to learn the ways of the military verses her own less then admirable training on the streets, but no one wanted, or knew how to teach her. Everyone at DC seemed to not acknowledge what was really happening on the streets. They just didn't take the time to look.

~~~~~~

Power in the money, money in the power

Minute after minute, hour after hour

Everybody's running, but half of them ain't looking

At what's going on in the kitchen

But I don't know what's cooking.

They say I gotta learn

But nobody's gonna teach me

If they can't understand, how can they reach me?

I guess they can't

I guess they won't, I guess they front

That's why I know my life is out of luck, foo!

~~~~~~

She thought her military life, her life, was out of luck. Then she was assigned to a new top secret program called the "Stargate Program". She worked on it for two years when she was informed that one Dr. Daniel Jackson has translated the text and made it work, she had fought to be on the team, but her superiors denied her request saying 'it was too dangerous'. She had almost laughed out loud. Had these bozos know her background?! No, of course not. Its classified.

~~~~~~

Been spending most our lives Living in a gangsta's paradise

Been spending most our lives Living in a gangsta's paradise Been spending most our lives Living in a gangsta's paradise

Been spending most our lives Living in a gangsta's paradise

~~~~~~

10 Years Later

"Sammie, what's wrong honey?" He said he said stepping closer to her.

"Jack, this day, six-"

She couldn't go on, and the tears came again. He saw how distraught she was and decided it best to just hold her.

After a few minutes, he asked her,

"Do you want to talk about it?"

"Jack, you have absolutely no idea the things that I've been through. The things that I've done are so terrible and I've hurt so many people and I don't know-"

"If I'll still love you? Sam, I love you more then every thing, and that'll never change. I've hurt people to. We've both been hurt. But I'll always be there for you. I'll always love you." He looked into her eyes, willing her to understand.

She just cried harder and he held her again, his strong arms enveloping her.

"I love you too."

~Some time later

He had set her down on the couch and ordered some pizza. They had watched an older movie call 'Dangerous Minds' that Sam had. They where snuggled together and he held her a close as physically possible. He heard her clear her throat, and say

"This day, when I was 14, my mother died."

No more running. No more running.

~~~~~

Tell me why are we so blind to see

That the ones we hurt are you and me? Tell me why are we so blind to see

That the ones we hurt are you and me?

~~~~~~

~~~~~~

There you go! I really have no clue how it came to me, but there it is! Please tell me what'cha think!

BTW, what the heck is a beta?