A/N: Hey, another update! Aren't you lucky:P Reviews make me update faster… (looks innocent)

Chapter 30: Waiting

Sam sighed, kicking her heels against the surface of the bench in frustration where she lay sprawled since her father had left her to go to some stupid meeting. Even the little lights that normally cheered her did nothing to alleviate her current mood. She was tired, bored, and she wanted to go home.

Footsteps approached her position, and Sam lifted her head eagerly, only to be disappointed when she saw a tall dark haired woman she didn't know. She let her head flop down on the bench and continued kicking her heels. Thump. Thump. Thump. Thump!

"Hello." Sam realized the woman had spoken to her, and at the same time became aware of a now familiar tingling sensation in her spine. The woman's voice was also funny sounding. Sam ignored the woman and continued kicking her feet.

"May I sit down?" The woman was looking down at her now, and had a funny fake smile on, the kind that Sam remembered Mommy wore sometimes when company told stupid jokes that weren't funny but people laughed anyway.

The woman had asked her a question, and Mommy had said it wasn't polite to ignore people when they were talking to you. Of course people ignored her all the time, so she really didn't understand that one. On the other hand… "My Daddy says I shouldn't talk to strangers."

"My name is Garshaw," the woman told her, and Sam's mind worked out the new dilemma of the fact that the woman had just told her name, so therefore did that mean she wasn't a stranger anymore?

"I'm Sam," she finally said figuring that was safe enough, and introductions were polite her Mommy said. Thinking of her Mommy made new tears threaten to fall, but Sam blinked them away, determined not to cry.

"I know," the woman said, "Your father asked me to come sit out here with you while he was in the meeting. May I sit down?" she asked again, waiting patiently.

Sam scowled. "Well, why didn't you just say so in the first place?" she answered, her voice tinged with exasperation. This time the woman's smile was genuine as Sam grudgingly made room for the woman by scooting around on the bench so that her feet and legs rested up against the wall, and her head and back lay on the seat of the bench. Since the bench was wide and made to accommodate adult bodies, it was perfect for Sam's impromptu body arrangement. And if Sam's occasional kicks against the wall near the Tok'ra's head to set the little lights in shoes off annoyed the woman in any way, she was very good at not showing it. "I wanna go home," Sam announced plaintively when the woman had settled herself.

"I know, I'm sorry we are keeping you and your father here longer than you wish, but this meeting is very important. We would not have kept you otherwise." Garshaw's tone was patient.

"Mommy says Daddy does very important work, and we should be proud of him. He has to go away a lot for a very long time, and we don't see him for months and months. I miss him a lot. Sometimes I wish his work wasn't so important and that he was like some of the other dads at school, and didn't have to go away all the time. He'll probably have to go away again soon. We never get to see him long. But this time… this time… Daddy said that Mommy is dead and gone away forever. I'll never get to see her again." And now the tears that had been threatening earlier did fall, she couldn't stop them if she tried. Sam brought her legs down, curling into a little ball to make herself as small as possible as she cried again, barely conscious of a gentle hand on her back. She didn't mean to cry. She was a big girl after all, and big girls didn't cry, especially in front of strangers. But the woman seemed nice, and very wise, and Sam felt so very sad and lonely and not like herself she couldn't help it, so she cried, and the woman didn't seem to mind at all, just sitting by her silently.

When she was done crying, the woman was still sitting there, and lifted her hand away. Sam studied her for a moment, still conscious of the funny tingling feeling in her spine. She narrowed her eyes, for the moment her curiosity overcoming all her other discomforts and pains. "Do you have, um, a sym… cymbal in you too? Like my dad does?" Sam wiped away her tears and sniffled as she waited for the woman to reply.

Confusion crossed Garshaw's features as she tried to figure out what Sam was asking. After a moment, she realized what it was. "A symbiote?" When Sam nodded, she smiled. "Yes, I do."

Sam sat up on the bench, sitting cross-legged and tilted her head to one side. "Does your cymbal know any good jokes like Selmak does?" Sam's expression was hopeful.

Garshaw blinked, momentarily taken aback by the rapid mood shift. "Jokes?"

"Yeah. Like, why was the lettuce blushing?" Sam giggled slightly, and brought up her small hands to cover her mouth, hunching her shoulders a little.

Garshaw's brow's knitted together in confusion. "Why was the lettuce blushing?"

"Because it saw the salad dressing," said a new, deeper voice from the doorway.

"Daddy!" Sam cried joyously, surging off the bench and into her father's arms. A slight whine returned to her voice as she laid her head on his shoulder. "Can we go home now? I'm tired."

"Yeah pumpkin, we can go home now. Thank you for watching her Garshaw. I wish these emergencies had better timing." He took the small black bag from Garshaw.

"It is we who are in your debt Jacob Carter, we should not be asking anything of you at this time." Garshaw spoke softly.

Jacob shifted his daughter. "Yeah, well, that's the way the cookie crumbles sometimes. Let me get the kid home, then we'll talk."

Garshaw nodded, and watched the two of them walk away, a new insight into the host of Selmak and the former host of Jolinar. She sighed, and wished the war could spare them.

A/N: Well, thought I'd try a little something different, don't think I've done anything from the kids POV huh? What did you think?

Anyway, kids are so cute. I don't have any myself, and my brothers haven't seen fit to gift me with any nieces or nephews either. So my friend, the one that is responsible for giving me my furbabies, has made me an honorary auntie to her son, now five, since she's not particularly close to a lot of her and her husbands family. It works out well, I have a "nephew" to spoil, and I get to live vicariously through his antics. So my little nephew just started kindergarten, and he's made a few new friends on the first day, and identified one bully that pushed him and another kid. And he's absolutely convinced that his teacher doesn't like him because he was playing with some toys when he wasn't supposed to and she reprimanded him. Oh well, hopefully he'll decide otherwise. I get to visit him next week while my friend passes through here on their way south to visit family, and give him some late birthday presents. Can't wait to see how big he's gotten since I saw him last. And she'll get to see how big Dragon (or Dragon O'Neill as she calls him) has gotten and how big Sammy hasn't gotten. Originally, she named all the kittens before people had picked them out. I'd been promised two before they were even born, but she named them all the day they were born and has an uncanny knack for personalities I guess. Dragon was Piggie, and still lives up to that name. Sam was Ittlebit. Their brother that had the tail was Lucky (he's now named Simon). There was another kitten with Sam's coloring that died due to an accident, that one was named Creamie. Their parents were Hermione and Harry lol.

Technetium… I have also seen or heard of those websites. That site isn't the only one, there are actually multiple organizations out there, many faith based, encouraging people to open up their homes to a family affected by Katrina.

And not to belittle the terrible human tragedy at all, but there are many shelters set up just for animals as well, though in far fewer numbers. The new Orleans SPCA was also shut down by the hurricane and was evacuated, and the LA SPCA is working to try and rescue people's pets. Both trying to find those wandering the streets as well as get those that may be trapped in homes that may be running out of food that had to be left behind when their owners were evacuated. You can actually make donations to the organization on their site. There was more than one story where a person refused to be evacuated because they weren't allowed to bring their beloved pet and even a story or two where the person returned after being taken out because of worry over their pet, which is why such shelters and programs exist. I'm glad I've never had to make such a decision over whether to leave my guys behind or not, because I know it would be heartbreaking.

Speaking of the furbabies, I just made their appointment for their one-year checkup and boosters for next week. I'm sure they can't wait. I had to buy them another carrier because they got too big to fit into the one carrier together anymore.