Chapter Two: Cassie
"So Janet, we taking my car or yours" Sam asked.
"Ah… your's!" She said smiling. "Besides I haven't got a lot of petrol" She added with a smirk.
"That'd be right" Sam responded and laughed. "Well lucky I filled mine up this morning then isn't it?" Sam said and as the lift doors opened, Janet nodded in reply and they exited, making their way through all the security checks and then outside.
They headed over to Sam's car and she unlocked the passenger side first and opened the door for Janet, then walked over to the driver's side, casually throwing her bag onto the backseats.
"So" Sam started as she sat down in the seat, Janet was already sat down and with the seatbelt on, a big grin on her face. "Where to first?" She asked.
"Well I suggest a quick visit home first, a change of clothing and then out for a good night of partying" Janet said enthusiastically and Sam just smiled.
"Sounds like a plan…" Sam said grinning, a grin which Janet returned.
"Besides I have to take Cassie over to her friend's house" Janet said.
"Ah I see, no problems" Sam responded. "So we head to your place, you get changed, we pick up Cassie, drop her off, then head to my place, then out for the night!" Sam said taking a breath.
"Yep, that sounds about right!" Janet nodded.
"Good, then off we go" Sam said as she started the car up and pulled out of the car park.
Arriving at Janet's house first, Janet jumped out and quickly ran inside. Sam got out at a more subtle pace and walked over to the door. Cassie was walking down the hall; she had a backpack on and was carrying a pretty descent sized bag with her right hand. Sam hadn't seen her in a while, well over a month and even in that time she seemed older. Cass was almost eighteen now, they had a huge party planned for it and that was only a few weeks away.
"SAM!!" Cassie yelled as she saw Sam enter the house. The bag immediately dropped to the floor and she ran over to Sam and she hugged her tightly. Something about Sam and SG-1 had always made her feel like a little kid again. Maybe it was the way they had treated her when they found her, something about the way they were with her, she loved it and had always taken advantage of it. Unlike everyone else she knew, they treated her like she was so important, she had had good friends over the years, but it was never the same.
Sam smiled as she returned Cassie's hug. "Hey Cass!" Sam said as Cassie's grip tightened.
"It's good to see you again, Sam!" Cassie said still gripping Sam in the hug.
"You too, Cass" Sam replied pulling Cassie away from her slightly. "How are you?" She asked her.
"I'm good, Sam… I'm actually really looking forward to this weekend, my friend Amanda and I are going camping" Cassie explained to Sam.
"Sounds like you two have a great weekend planned" Sam said.
"Yeah, we're leaving early tomorrow morning" She said and then hugged Sam again and Sam hugged her back again. "So do you and mum have plans?" She asked as she let go and pulled away.
"We're just going to spend the weekend together" Sam explained.
"That's good; you just make sure you two have lots of fun…" Cassie said.
"We will, promise…" Sam said and smiled.
"Good, I'm glad you two are spending some time together, it's been too long" Cassie stated.
"Yeah it has" Sam admitted and smiled at Cassie.
"We should go away again sometime Sam, just you, me and mum" Cassie suggested. "Just have a nice girly time away from everyone and everything" She added and Sam nodded.
"Yeah, we should" Sam agreed and Cassie hugged her again.
Sam and Cassie loaded all Cassie's stuff into the boot of Sam's car while they were waiting for Janet, then they went back inside and sat down on the couch talking. It was a few minutes later and Janet emerged from her room. Dressed in something a little more descent than the jeans and jumper she was wearing when she left base.
"Okay, I'm ready!" She announced. And the other two smiled at her.
"So are we!" Sam said as she got up off the couch, Cassie did the same.
"I'm Ready Mum!" She said smiling and Janet smiled back.
"Okay, let's go!" She said and the three of them made their way out of the door. Cassie got into the backseat and sat right in the middle, while Janet and Sam where in the front. Sam started up the car and then pulled out of the driveway and into the street.
"So how far away is Amanda's house?" Sam asked.
"Not too far" Cassie said and Janet turned to Sam and smiled. "It's actually only a block away from your place Sam" She informed her and Sam nodded.
"Cool!" She said and they continued on.
Cassie sat in the back and when the car got silent she learnt forward and reached for the radio, but couldn't reach.
"Hey Sam, could you put the radio on?" She asked.
"Sure Cass" Sam said as she leant forward and turned the radio on, after conveniently switching it to the station she knew Cassie liked listening to.
"Thanks, Sam" Cassie said as she leant back and started to hum along to the music. Janet just sighed.
"This music gives me a headache" She stated.
"That's because you are of an older generation mum, you like all that old stuff" Cassie said and Janet looked over at Sam and rolled her eyes. Sam just laughed.
"What? You telling me you actually like this stuff?" Janet said and Sam just shrugged.
"Not really, but it isn't that bad" She said, Janet just shook her head.
"Sounds worse than that time Teal'c and Daniel had a go at karaoke, after Daniel had had a few too many" Janet said as she laughed at the memory, Sam joined in the laughter and Cassie just raised an eyebrow.
"Okay, you are so right about that… Guess I'm just used to it, but as you said earlier today… I do have to put up with a certain Colonel everyday!" She replied and continued laughing.
"True" Janet said and continued laughing too.
"You two are talking about Jack again aren't you?" Cassie asked from the back. Janet and Sam shared a look.
"What makes you say that?" Sam asked.
"Mum complains about him all the time" Cassie replied and Sam looked over at Janet again who just nodded and Sam laughed again.
SG1SG1SG1SG1SG1
They arrived at Amanda's house about twenty minutes later and each got out of the car, Cassie walked up to the front door and rand the door bell, whilst Sam and Janet went around to the back of the car to grab out Cassie's stuff. Sam loved it when she got to hang around with Cassie, especially when she got to see her socialising with all her friends. Janet watched as Sam's smile grew and smiled herself.
"She's been looking forward to this trip all week" She said and Sam turned away from watching Cassie and look over at Janet.
"Yeah, seems her and friend have got a good weekend planned, she was telling me all about it before" Sam said with a smile. "It's good to see her having such a good time now. It's been so hard on her…" Sam said and trailed off.
"Yeah, she really is" Janet said as she grabbed out Cassie's backpack and walked past her smiling, Sam grabbed the other one and followed her.
"Hey Amanda" Cassie said as a girl about the same age as her opened the door to greet them.
"Cass" She said with a smile.
Cassie then looked up and saw Sam walking up the step to the door and she walked over to her and then stuck her hand around her waist. "Amanda, I would like to introduce you to my friend Sam" Cassie introduced Sam to them and Sam smiled.
"Hi!" She said and waved slightly and Cassie grinned at her and then grabbed her bag out of Sam's hand.
"Ah, so you're the famous Sam…" Amanda said and smiled. "It's nice to finally meet you" She added as she extended her hand to Sam a smiled and shook her hand.
"Nice to meet you too Amanda, although I don't think I'm that famous" Sam said as she shook her hand.
"Well Cassie talks about you all the time, so famous in her books" Amanda said as she let Sam's hand go and smiled over at Cassie.
"Oh she does, does she?" Sam said and grinned at Cassie who blushed slightly.
"Yes, all of the time" Amanda said and grinned over at Cassie, who shot her a look. "All good things though" Amanda added quickly and they all laughed.
They stood there and chatted for a few minutes when Amanda's mum approached the door.
"Hey Cassandra" She said as she saw Cassie.
"Hey, Mrs. Groves" Cassie said politely.
Amanda then turned to her mum. "Mum, this is Sam!" She said and indicated Sam. "You know, the one Cassie is always talking about?"
Amanda's mum smiled and then extended her hand. "Nice to meet you Samantha, I'm Julie" She said as Sam took her hand and shook it.
"Nice to meet you Julie, and really Sam is fine" She said with a smile.
"Sam it is then!" Julie added with a smile and then turned to the two girls. "Why don't you two go inside and gets yourselves ready" She said and Cassie and Amanda smiled as they entered the house.
"Hey Cassie… Forgot something?" Janet yelled after Cassie, and Cassie turned around, to see Janet hold up her back pack.
"Right… sorry" She said and walked over and grabbed it. "Thanks mum" She said and smiled.
Janet shook her head. "Teenagers" She said and received a nod from Julie. "So you got plans tonight then?" Janet asked and Julie nodded.
"Yeah… I promised Amanda that I'd take them out for dinner tonight" She informed the others.
"Thanks for this Julie" Janet said. "Really appreciate it, and Cassie has really been looking forward to it" She added with a smile.
"As has Amanda" Julie responded.
"Anyway, thanks for taking them away for the weekend" Janet said and smiled again.
"No problem Janet, it should be a good weekend and Cassie's no problem, she's great to have around" Julie responded and they each smiled.
"I'll be around to pick her up sometime Sunday" Janet informed her and Julie nodded.
"No problem… I'll see you then" She said with a smile. "Nice to meet you Sam" She added as Sam and Janet turned to leave; Sam turned back around to face her.
"You too, Julie" She said smiling.