Jack's thoughts wandered back to Carter again as Teal'c set his last pair down, thus winning the game... again. He couldn't help but wonder just what the Major was doing in Texas, the last he'd known about she'd been in Pennsylvania, where they'd just missed her by minutes. It looked like Carter would have quite a story to tell when she got home. Not if, Jack reminded himself. When.
Chapter 56
Over the next several days, Sam adjusted (somewhat unwillingly) to family life. Every attempt at escape had been thwarted, and after her first two attempts to rush out the open door, they were now on guard against her going outside and she was generally shoed away or someone would hold her or lock her in a room while the door was open.
Her tail had been yanked several times by Bobby, and Sam thought she deserved a medal for actually not scratching him. Ginny liked to grab her too and usually carried her upside down, and once hauled her, despite her vocal protests, to her bedroom while Alice was in the shower, and dressed her up in doll clothes. Sam escaped, charging into the master bedroom, still wearing the doll clothes and diaper, startling Alice who had just come out of the bathroom wrapped in a towel.
Sam found herself getting placed on top of the fridge an awful lot. Anytime she cried out for rescue, one of the adults would generally put her up on the fridge and out of reach of small hands. About the only one that didn't cause Sam a lot of grief was Brian. Sam had grown more and more to like the little boy, who seemed rather bright for his age.
Once, when Ginny was chasing her, a little frilly baby bonnet in her hand, Sam ducked into Brian's room. Frantically, she locked eyes with the startled little boy, before ducking under the racecar bed. Brian won a permanent debt of gratitude when he told his younger sister that he hadn't seen the kitty at all. After she'd left, he'd gotten up and closed the door, before peering under his bed at her.
"Its ok, you can come out now. I can't believe she wants to dress you like a baby." Brian wrinkled his nose in disgust. "She's such a girl."
Sam chose to ignore the last remark, as she rubbed herself around Brian's ankles, and he reached down and stroked her awkwardly. Sam purred.
Brian turned back to his toys, and Sam noticed the rather impressive array of action figures spread out before him, as well as an assortment of military vehicles. They were all surrounding a large plastic Godzilla figure.
"Girls can be so stupid you know." Brian continued on in the same vein while he prepared an attack on the "monster". His voice suddenly changed to a high falsetto, in an obvious imitation of his little sister. "Where's Princess Snookums? I want to play dolly with Princess Snookums!" Brian's voice changed back to normal. "What a stupid name. You need a better name." Brian's brow furrowed, changing suddenly to one of delight. "I got it! Dragon! That's what I'll call you! Hey, Dragon, you can play with me, you can be Godzilla!"
Before Sam had time to react, Godzilla had been tossed across the room and Sam found herself surrounded by action figures and armed military transports. Something thudded lightly into her side, and she blinked confused, looking down to see a soft foam missile lying next to her. A second thud, and Sam looked up to see a joyous Brian delighting in his direct hit. He crouched down and muttered "Acquiring target!" With a look of intense concentration, Brian primed yet another toy missile. That was it! This meant war. Forgetting all her troubles for the moment, Sam crouched and pounced, knocking the truck on its side and scattering action figures, much to Brian's delight.
For the next hour, Sam could almost forget about being trapped in a cat's body, still away from home and the people she loved, while she played with Brian. She started out being the monster, and knocked down figures or ran away with them as "hostages." But later in the game Sam switched sides and even found herself outfitted with her own missile launcher, a converted toy belt fastened around her body. She even took on "Godzilla" tackling the large plastic figure and sitting on it while Brian proclaimed victory and danced around the room.
Finally though, Sam grew tired and Brian grew bored with the game. Sam leapt lightly onto Brian's bed, and curled up, only mildly surprised when Brian joined her. The little boy curled up next to her, and reached out a small hand, softly stroking her. "You're the best cat ever, Dragon. I'm so glad you're here."
As Sam settled in for a nap, she was hit by a pang of regret. She wouldn't much miss being the family pet, but she would miss Brian. He'd be heartbroken when she left, but there wasn't much she could do about it. As much as she loved the little boy, she missed her freedom. And she missed being human. She needed to go home.
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Later that same evening, after the kids were tucked safely into bed, and Alice and Ted were settled down, their voices drifting out from the partially closed door, Sam patrolled the house. First, she checked under the kitchen table.
Sam had discovered that with three kids, there were usually plenty of things that fell onto the floor. And if she hung out while the kids ate, she generally found quite a few more offerings being added. Brian was the first to take advantage of the new garbage disposal, and Sam usually found quite a few vegetables and other things he didn't like finding their way under the table. That was fine with Sam, she liked vegetables. And just about anything was better than the dry cat food she was given. Except for the time Brian dropped his liver under the table, not even Sam would touch it. He'd been sent to his room for that one, but he told her he didn't blame her for not liking liver either. After that, he would share some of the other things besides vegetables with her.
His mother hadn't seemed to catch onto the fact that Brian seemed to be eating more than normal. On the other side, when the parents grew concerned that Sam didn't seem to be eating the food in her bowl, Sam took to hiding as much of the kibble as she could under the bowl, in potted plants, even in an old pair of shoes in the back of the hall closet which the kids tended to leave open.
Still prowling the house, Sam jumped onto the windowsill, and checked to make sure it had been closed. She'd taken to double checking all the doors and windows to make sure nothing had been left unsecured, so far she hadn't had much luck, the place was usually closed up tighter than Fort Knox.
Tonight, however, Sam found something out of the ordinary, something that had been overlooked. It wasn't an open door or window, but it just might be her salvation. Ted had forgotten to log off his computer, and had left the office door open.
Sam listened intently in the hallway, the drone of voices telling her that Ted and Alice were still in bed, before she leapt lightly into the computer chair, tapping the mouse lightly to deactivate the screen saver. It was still connected to the Internet! And the mail program was open too.
Sam wasted no time in clicking a new email. Briefly, Sam tried to decide who she should send an email to. She wanted to email Daniel, but for the life of her, couldn't remember his email address. He'd used some sort of ancient Egyptian word, and she couldn't remember how it was spelled. Sam settled for emailing the Colonel, and prayed he would check his mail. "RatherBeFishing" was a lot easier to remember than Daniel's address.
Tapping out the email address in the space, Sam moved to the body of the letter. She was worried about discovery, it would be hard to cover up a cat using the computer to send email. Time being a premium, Sam kept the message short. Luckily she'd found a bit of mail with the address on it, so she knew where she was. "Sir, need a lift 2410 Windy Pines Cr. Boulder, CO. Sam."
Just as she finished typing the last, Sam heard the voices get louder.
"Where you going Ted?" Alice called.
"I think I forgot to turn the computer off hon, be right back." Ted replied.
Sam could hear Ted's soft footfalls getting closer. Frantically, Sam clicked on send, not enough time to input her own email on the from line. Sam prayed that the email wouldn't go to the Colonel's junk folder. Ted was naw just outside the door, and Sam watched the status bar crawl. Only forty percent, damn slow dial-up! It was time for a diversion.
Sam jumped off the chair and ran to the door, wrapping herself around Ted's ankles, and generally being as obnoxious as possible, getting underfoot and meowing as if she wanted something.
"What? What is it Princess? You need something?" Ted picked her up, but she just struggled, confusing him even more. He put her back down and made his way past her into the office, but fortunately the bar had just disappeared, the message had been sent. Sam abruptly stopped being annoying, making Ted shake his head and mutter something about cats before turning his attention back to the computer.
Sam left the room, but stayed in the hall, listening. She stiffened when Ted discovered the sent mail message, scratching his head over the address. She relaxed marginally when he decided that he probably just had a virus and programmed the scanner to run in the morning before shutting the PC down. Sam felt Ted pat her head on the way back to bed.
"You were gone a while dear." Sam heard Alice murmur to her husband.
Sam smiled inwardly, as Ted replied, "That crazy cat, got all excited and wouldn't let me walk. Probably in heat or something." Sam glowered at the last, and started to leave, but Alice's reply froze her in her tracks.
"Well that should change soon, I made the appointment for the vet to fix her tomorrow. Those hormones always make cats nuts."
The rest of the conversation was drowned out as panic overwhelmed Sam's mind. "Fix her" could only mean one thing. They planned to have her spayed! Suddenly, escape was no longer something that could wait. She couldn't take the chance of Jack getting her email in time, she had to get away tonight!
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A/N: There, you've been asking for it every time Sam goes near a vet. Have them spay her you said lol. Well here ya go. There's the threat, now see what happens! You'll just have to wait til next chapter!
Ok, I know you've all been anxious for Sam to get reunited. There's just a little bit more. She is almost home. You seriously didn't think that I'd get her THIS close to home and just be done with it? Get rescued, go home, and live happily ever after? No way. That would be anticlimactic. There's another 80-100 miles between Sam and home, and given Sam's track record, SOMETHING has to happen to her. Besides, my whole intention in having her trek out on her own was to pit all the odds against her. Rescue is soooo overrated. But I do promise, the reunion will occur in just the next few chapters, and the story will wrap up probably a few more after that. The end is in sight! I actually have about 6 chapters outlined for the rest of the story, but that may change a bit. 3-4 of those chapters is after Sam gets home. So there are some cookies for ya'll! And that's all you are going to get!