Title: Tuffy
Author: KellethMetheus
Spoilers: Singularity a smidgen.
Category: Gen
Summary: Sam helps Cassie.
Disclaimer: Not mine but I do now own all of SG-1 and Atlantis I just need to find the time to watch the rest of SGA and keep writing.
Warnings: none

Challenge: Pic challenge: Of young child, chest and Teddy bear.

Cassie sat in the middle of her bed clutching a new teddy bear. After a while, she buried her face in the soft fur, staying like that for a moment, only to toss the bear on the other side of the room, before curling up and crying.

Sam, who had been watching this from the doorway, called, "Cassie are you all right?"

Her words were slightly muffled. "I told you, I miss Tuffy."

Crossing the room, Sam sat down and brushed the hair back from the little girl's face. "Who's Tuffy? You've drawn him in pictures haven't you?" she asked, afraid the little girl was asking for her pet.

Her voice sound sad and lost. "It doesn't matter. He's lost, and so are Mama and Papa. It gone. It's all gone and I'm all alone."

Tears filled Sam's eyes. "I'm sorry. I know you miss your home, but you're not alone here. I love you, Cassie, and I will never leave you-"

"Hey, Carter!" Jack called from the doorway.

Sam looked up. "Yes, sir?"

"It's ready. Why don't you bring the sprite to have a looksee? This is your surprise after all."

Sam got to her feet and wiped her eyes. "Cassie, do you want to come with me?"

Cassie sat up and nodded. "Is it ice cream?"

Smiling, Sam held out her hand. "No, but if you come you won't be disappointed, I promise."

Forcing a smile on her face, Cassie slipped her hand into Sam's, and they left the room together following Jack.

Making their way into Sam's lab, Cassie stopped suddenly and stared at the sight before her, her voice filled with wonder. "Where did you find that?"

"Colonel O'Neill and Teal'c went to Hanka and got it for you. The other night were talking about your mother's trunk and how it was full of memories. So I had them get it for you. I thought your'd want something of your mother's."

Cassie slowly crossed the room to the workbench and sat down on one of the stools. She ran her hands over the delicately carved chest. "Papa made this for Mama as his wedding gift. It held all of her treasures."

The lid creaked slowly as it opened, and the smell of cedar filled the room. Reaching inside, Cassie began to remove various items. A beautiful blue dress and a white linen veil, a few different wooden toys, necklaces and other trinkets, what looked to be a few pieces of baby clothing, and then last of all - a bear-like toy made of real fur. In places he was bald, but Cassie immediately clutched the toy to her chest as if he was the most perfect thing she'd ever seen.

"Just before it happened, Mama told me I had to put him away, and that I was a big girl and he was a child's toy. She put him in the chest with her treasures. She told me one day that he would be mine. I just didn't think it would be so soon."

She laid the bear down and lifted the dress to her nose. "I can still smell her. My mother wore this on the day she married my father." She laid the dress and veil back in the chest. Next she picked up the trinkets and the toys, and placed them back in as well, but she kept out the bear.

Looking up at Jack, she smiled. "Thank you for bringing me this. It means a lot to me."

Gently she stroked the bear and then looked up at Sam, before jumping into her arms and presenting the bear. "This is Tuffy. Mama made for me when I was a baby. She saved all the bits of the skins she could while she carried me, so that I would have it when I was born."

Looking up at Sam, she smiled. "Thank you for finding him."

Sam held the little girl tight wishing that she could take her home, and that she could be this little girl's family, but the world needed her too. It was a hard choice to make, but she had let Janet file the paperwork to adopt Cassie.

She would step aside and make this world a better place, and make sure Cassie never lost her family again.

Wrote this one a few months ago, but I'd thought I'd share. Leave a review and make me smile :0)