At the start of lunch, Sam dutifully waited next to the chemistry classroom for Jack to find her. He was rather prompt, arriving only a few moments after the bell.
"Hey, you listened to me," he said only half-jokingly.
Sam shrugged and said with a straight face only another military brat could interpret, "My daddy always did teach me to follow orders from my superiors."
Jack snorted, "Come on, Carter. Let's go eat lunch."
"Where are you taking me?" Sam asked a few seconds later as the pair made their way through the large groups that had conjugated for the meal.
"To our leader."
"Who's leader?"
"Be quiet! You'll see soon enough."
"Yes, sir."
"I said quiet!"
"Sorry."
"Arg!"
Sam could hear trees rustling and a few voices whispering softly when Jack finally let her stop. When they'd reached the edge of the school campus, he'd blindfolded her so that their location would be a secret.
"Okay, you can open your eyes now," Jack told her as he removed the blindfold. In front of her was a group of about five boys and one girl, all similar looking to Jack.
"Hello," Sam said to them all shyly. "I'm Sam."
The youngest, a lad of about eight, smiled, "We know. I'm Micah."
"Hi, Micah, it's very nice to meet you," Sam greeted the young boy just hid behind one of the older boys. Sam looked at Jack in confusion.
"Sam, these are my brothers. You asked me last week what I did during lunch and this is what I do – I come here to talk to them." Micah ran over to Jack and grabbed onto his leg, causing the lone girl in the group, about thirteen, to scowl at him. "Guys - and Pricilla - this is Sam. Sam, this is Micah, Pricilla, Joel, Andrew, Luke, and Adam," he said, pointing at each in turn.
"Hi, Sam. Jack hasn't stopped talking about you for two weeks," Joel said with a smirk at his younger brother. The twenty-year-old was then on the receiving end of his brother's version of the infamous O'Neill glare.
Soon the entire party was laughing and talking as they ate their respective lunches. Sam's lone salad soon became the source of much mocking and she was soon eating the 'extra' food that the O'Neill children had brought in a rather large picnic basket. That day the contents were hot wings (homemade using Mom O'Neill's secret recipe), macaroni salad, and garlic bread.
It was in this little exchange that Sam found out that Micah and Pricilla were home schooled due to health issues. Seeing the look on Jack's face, however, Sam left it at that, wanting to learn more about the family.
"So, what are your parents like?" Pricilla asked after a while.
Sam looked down at her hands, her countenance fallen. "My mom died five years ago in a car crash." Before they could get over their collective gasp and say something, Sam continued, "But life went on. I've been traveling with my dad for the past five years because for some reason the military just loves to send him to Russia."
"Who's your dad?" Adam, fourteen, asked politely.
"Colonel Jacob Carter, he was just stationed at the base here," Sam explained patiently.
"Oh, OH, that makes perfect sense now!" Luke (sixteen) said as realization dawned on him. "No wonder Dad kept on mentioning 'Carter this' and 'Carter that' and 'Why can't all officers be like Carter?' This is great!"
"How is that great?" Sam wondered aloud, frowning at the boy.
Luke shrugged and said, "It just is." When pressed he refused to say more on the matter.
Sam glanced at her watch and shrieked in protest, "Jack we have to get back to school! The period ends in ten minutes!"
Jack sighed, "See you guys at home then, bye!"
"Bye, it was really nice meeting you all!" Sam waved as Jack pulled her back into the trees toward the school.
It was nearing the end of the day when Sam received a phone call from the office. Jack's brow furrowed as he thought of who it might be. He wasn't reassured at all when Sam came back a few minutes later looking worn and tired.
After school, Sam asked Jack something he'd wanted to hear for a while, "Can you give me a ride home, Jack?"
He smirked slightly, Sam now counted at least ten different smirks of his and she liked each and every single one of them. "Yeah, sure, you betcha. Where do you live?"
"In the on base living arrangements that everyone hates so much yet officers use when they don't want to go look for an actual house," Sam complained with a slight smile. "But I need to stop by the day care first."
"Sure, no problem," Jack said, wondering why she needed to go to the day care.
When he found out he was more than a little surprised and his mind immediately rushed to all sorts of conclusions.
"So… why are we going to the day care?" Jack asked as he turned a corner.
Sam looked out her window, debating how to answer for a few minutes. Finally, she came right out with it, "My brother, Mark, is eight years older than I am and left home seven years ago. Five years ago he showed up – unannounced – with an infant in his arms. He gave my dad the baby saying, 'Here, you raise her.' Then he left. My niece, Annabelle May-Louise Carter, is now five and I just got a phone call that our house keeper can't pick her up because she's sick and I need to go and get her." She turned to Jack and smiled a little harshly, "Hence why I needed a ride."
"Ah," Jack said, wondering why she'd told him so much, yet respecting her for having said anything in the first place. "So… we're off to get Anna?"
Sam grinned at his attempt at humor, "Actually she likes Belle better. Her favorite story is Beauty and the Beast. I think she'll like you."
As it turned out Belle did like Jack. The little girl who looked like a miniature of her Aunt Sam (except with darker blue eyes) took instantly to the new man in her auntie's life. "Are we going home with you?" the very articulate five-year-old asked Jack as they walked to the car.
He smirked, "Well, I'm taking you both home, Belle. If that's what you mean. Then I have to go to my own home."
Belle shook her head firmly, "That's not what I meant."
Sam giggled loudly as Jack went twenty different shades of crimson.
A/N: So? What do you think of the first of my many twists in the plot? Like them? No? Please review!