Ice Skating
Liz hadn't heard much from Sam in the last two months. Jack said she had a lot going on, but her trip would be good timing. Liz arrived Sunday late afternoon at Jack's, he made her dinner and they caught up. She saw the picture she sent him from the keys on the bulletin board next to his desk. And, she hoped her friend was okay.
"We going to go to the rink and hit a few John?"
"Nope sorry – not this trip Liz. Something came up at work and I will be on base for the next few days. I'm afraid I'm going to miss the rest of your visit." Liz was disappointed. But, she knew better than to push. Her brother spent time with her when he could. "I'll come to Chicago next month for a couple of days and take you to the rink okay?"
She smiled. "Okay."
"Why don't you spend the rest of your visit with Carter. I know she's on leave, because I banned her from the base." He really could have spent more time with Liz, but thought she was needed elsewhere. He needed Sam to get back to herself and focused. Liz might just do the trick.
"You sure that would be alright with her?"
"I think it would be really good for her."
"Okay." In the morning Liz packed up her stuff and Jack dropped her off at Sam's on his way to the mountain. He was hopeful that Liz would help her recover faster.
6:30am
Knock, knock, knock. "No it isn't my watch yet."
Knock, knock, knock. Sam sat up.
Knock, knock, knock. She opened the door.
"Hi, come run with
me." Liz greeted her.
"Liz!" she hugged her friend. It was
good to feel happy about something she knew was just hers. Between
learning of her father's cancer and Jolinar – she dreaded feeling
anything. But she was definitely feeling happy to see Liz. "Come
in while I change."
Liz walked around Sam's house. She had never been to her house before. Sam always came to get her when she was here taking care of John and they always went out somewhere.
She looked at the pictures of her family. She didn't have many pictures around and what she did have were older pictures. She had a lot of books on pretty heady subjects. Sam was ready in only a few short minutes though and they headed out the door.
They didn't talk much while running but stopped at a bagel place and got breakfast.
"Sam you alright? John said you had a lot going on and I've hardly heard from you lately."
"I'm doing much better now that you're here Liz." She tried to cover herself.
But, Liz didn't by it. "Sam?"
"It's my Dad. He has cancer and it's bad."
"Oh I'm sorry Sam. What's the prognosis?"
"Not good."
They caught up. Sam of course couldn't say anything about Jolinar, but it was good to just get away from all things Stargate and be a regular person again. Liz told her about the race. Liz was proud to say she finished.
They walked back to Sam's. Once they were cleaned up and Liz settled her things in the guest room they sat around the house looking at photo albums and reminisced about the trip to the Keys and caught up.
Sam couldn't believe she could talk to anyone as long as she could with Liz and her phone bill was proof. They never seemed to run out of things to talk about.
"You never got back to me, how was dinner with Jane's new boyfriend."
"Oh, that was ages ago. He's gone. She decided to take a break from dating. She's tired of the whole scene. I don't know how you single girls do it."
"This single girl doesn't. I'm with Jane on this one. I am working on a break that is a good part of the 90's."
"Have you seen the guy at the gas station again?"
"No I guess we were just two ships passing in the night. No one will ever call me babe like he did."
"I brought you the pictures from the keys." They went through them and laughed remembering what a good time they had.
"Oh and that must be Pumpkin." She said of the picture of the golden retriever. Pumpkin was the puppy, now six year old dog that Mike had bought for Liz when they were dating. He hated the fact that Liz lived alone. So he bought her a puppy.
"Yep, that's my Pumpkin baby she's with Mom right now?"
"I tell you Liz that is a much bigger deal than a plant. You are leaps and bounds ahead of me. Next thing you know it will be a baby."
Liz looked like Sam had kicked her. "I'm sorry Liz, did I say something wrong?"
"No Sam. Mike and I haven't been able to have children."
"Oh, I'm sorry."
"No it's no big deal. If it's not in God's plan for me than there are plenty of other things I can do. I still have Pumpkin."
If it wasn't such a big deal, Liz would not have looked so sad. "So how did you raise a puppy with your long hours?" Sam thought it might be best to distract Liz from the baby topic since it had upset her.
"She stays with Mom when I'm at work or when I go out of town. Pumpkin turned out to be a blessing for Mom and me. She a great companion, Mom needs a little of that too. She spoils her, but she house trained Pumpkin for me, so I can't complain."
Sam took Liz over to Janet's for dinner. Liz finally got to meet Janet and Cassie. Sam had told her a lot about them on the phone and in the Keys.
"Did Jack ever play dolls with you?" Cassie asked her.
"Oh I think you know the answer to that question. Has he taught you how to hook a shot?" Cassie looked at her blankly. "Has he even taught you how to ice skate yet?"
"No." Cassie answered.
"Well I guess I'll have to. You do have a rink around here, right?" Liz was on a mission.
"Yeah." Sam answered.
"You up for ice skating tomorrow? Sam you know how to skate right?"
"I can hold my own."
"Janet?" Liz asked.
"No, I'm a southern girl, but I'll try anything once."
"I'll teach you Cassie, but if you like it you have to promise me you will bug my brother to work with you."
The four of them went ice skating – indoors of course, it was only September.
When Sam went back to work, she felt more like herself. At work she was a solider and she often had a hard time distinguishing herself away from work. Liz was teaching her to find out who Sam Carter was when she wasn't saving the world.
