1981 - Daniel's 16, Sam's 12
Daniel sat in his room reading the latest book recommended by Dr. Allen from the Museum of Art. A knock on his door interrupted his thoughts.
"Come in."
He heard the door swing open with a creak and saw a shadow poke its head in.
"Mom said for you to come down to dinner. The company's here." Rachel closed the door softly as Daniel put his book away.
Daniel entered the living room in time to hear George introducing Rachel and Julie to his guests. "Ah, and here's our son, Daniel. Daniel, this is Major Carter and his two children, Mark and Samantha." George guided Daniel's hand toward the three guests as he completed the introductions.
Ruby turned to Rachel. "Why don't you kids take Mark and Samantha out to the back yard until dinner's ready? It should be about twenty minutes."
This was probably Daniel's least favorite thing about living with the Hammonds. Entertaining the children of their guests. He supposed that entertaining was a part of being an officer in the military, but why did he and the girls get stuck with the Air Force brats?
He sat on the back steps and listened as Rachel turned on a radio and searched for her favorite station. She stopped when she found the Oak Ridge Boys song, "Elvira." Daniel dropped his head down in his hands and groaned in mock pain. He hated country music and the girls loved to torture him with it because, after all, George was from Texas and all Texans must love country-western music. It's genetic.
He heard Mark plop down next to him on the cement steps. "I guess you don't like that crap either?"
Daniel lifted his head. "No. I like jazz and classical much better."
"Oh, god, a dweeb!"
Daniel felt the warmth creep up from his neck to cover his face, but didn't say anything.
"So what grade are you going into in the fall?"
Daniel grinned to himself. Mark wanted a dweeb, well, he'd get one. "I just finished my sophomore year at Columbia University. I have a double major in archeology and anthropology with a lot a linguistics thrown in for fun." Daniel knew what was coming next, but didn't offer any more comments.
"How old are you?" Mark narrowed his eyes as he tried to guess Daniel's age.
"I was sixteen last week."
"My god, you are a dweeb! Complete with glasses!" Mark stood up and wandered over to the table where the girls were talking with his sister. He sat next to Rachel and slowly looked her over.
"Want to dance?"
Sam groaned. She was afraid she could see what was about to happen. "Mark, leave her alone. She's not your type. She's human."
Mark ignored his sister and grabbed Rachel's hand, pulling her over to a grassy area. "A guy's entitled to some fun in this dump."
Daniel's "geek" radar went up. He usually knew when he was about to be picked on, but this was Rachel, his sister. He stood and made his way quietly down the steps, listening to hear if Rachel needed his help.
Sam saw Daniel and went over to stand next to him. "Mark's been such a jerk since our mother died six months ago. He's doing his best to punish our dad with his bad behavior."
"He seems to be succeeding quite well." Daniel understood Mark's anger. God knew he'd been there too, but he still wasn't going to allow anything to happen to Rachel. "I do understand. My parents both died when I was eight."
"But…I thought the Hammonds were your parents." Sam looked closer at Daniel.
"Foster, until he gets transferred again."
"And then what happens to you?"
"In the past, I'd spend about six months at a time in one home, then get shipped off to another. It seems that most people don't know how to handle a blind kid."
"You're blind? I couldn't tell."
"Legally. I can see some things up really close and I can see blobs moving around at a short distance." Daniel squirmed, uncomfortable with the focus of the conversation. "How long have you been stationed here?"
"Two months. We never get to stay longer than a couple of years in one place."
Daniel heard Rachel trying to politely go back to Julie at the table, but Mark didn't want her to go. He started to move toward the older boy, but Sam stopped him.
"You don't want to do that. His bite is much worse than his bark. Let me handle this." Sam put a restraining hand on Daniel's shoulder. "I don't want Dad to know. He'll punish Mark and then Mark'll make my life miserable."
Sam strode quickly over to Rachel tapped her on the shoulder. "Come show me your room. Julie, you want to come too?"
Rachel and Julie promptly led Sam back inside to their room, grateful for the rescue from Mark.
Mark turned to Daniel. "Well, what are you going to do to keep me entertained? Recite all the states and their capitals? List the presidents?"
Daniel raised an eyebrow. "I could, but I think it would be wasted on you. I'm going back inside." He turned and stomped up the steps, letting the screen door slam shut behind him.
The kids all managed to keep their dislike of Mark hidden during the rest of the evening, although Daniel was sure he could feel Mark glaring at him from time to time.
After the Carters left, George asked Daniel if he could speak to him privately. George followed Daniel up to his room and soundlessly closed the door.
"Sit down, son." Daniel sat on the edge of his bed and George settled himself next to him.
"I invited the Carters over tonight to meet you."
Daniel blinked in surprise. "Me? Why?"
"The kids' mother was killed in a car accident about six months ago and they blame their father. Major Carter was hoping that if you became friends with them, you might help them work through it."
"I might be able to be friends with Sam, but I don't like Mark. I don't think he'd let me be his friend. He thinks I'm a dweeb."
"What in the world is a dweeb?" George had never heard the term before.
"A wimp. A geek. A nerd. Someone who spends all their time with their nose buried in books. I've heard them all before." Daniel sounded ashamed.
George had to admit that "dweeb" pretty much summed up Daniel. During the past couple of years, he'd tried to get the boy interested in some type of sport, but Daniel always preferred to study. It was clear that Daniel felt offended by the term, so George cleared his voice and tried not to let his amusement show through. Daniel was pretty perceptive about other people's feelings. "I'm sure you two could work it out. You're pretty good with people, son."
"Well, if I can help Sam I'll give it a shot. I'm just not sure what you and Major Carter think I can do for them."
"Just be a friend. They may open up to you more because you've experienced the loss of your parents. They're at the point where they don't think anyone understands what they're going through. Even their father, who lost his wife." George gave Daniel a quick squeeze on the shoulder and tried not to think about life without Ruby. "Just be yourself, Daniel. That should be good enough."
The next afternoon Daniel called the Carter house to talk to Sam.
"Major Carter."
"Oh. Hi. I'm, um, calling for Samantha?" Daniel felt a bit bewildered. For some reason he never expected Major Carter to answer the phone.
"Whom may I say is calling?"
"Oh. This is Daniel. We met when you came to the Hammonds' for dinner last night." Daniel chewed on his lip, debating with himself whether or not he should just hang up.
"I'll go get her. Wait a moment, please." Jacob was pleased that Daniel called to make an overture of friendship. Both the kids pulled away from him since his wife's death and he was concerned, especially about Mark, who was openly hostile. He knew from George that Daniel was a very nice young man and he hoped that the three of them could develop a friendship.
"Sammy," Jacob called, knocking on her door.
"Yes?"
"Phone's for you. It's Daniel. From the Hammonds."
"I'm coming." Sam tucked her Major Matt Mason doll under her pillow. No way did she want Mark to know she still played with it occasionally.
Daniel waited nervously until she picked up the phone.
"Hi, Daniel."
"Hello, Sam. Ruby's taking Rachel, Julie and me over to the park for a few hours. I wondered if you and your brother would like to come."
"Sounds good. I'll have to check with my dad, but I really don't think you guys want Mark to tag along, do you?" Sam would love to have an afternoon away from his sullen, sarcastic remarks.
"I'd be happy to have him come," Daniel lied. He hated starting a friendship with a lie, but he knew George was counting on him to help Mark.
"Hang on. I'll ask." Sam put the receiver on the table and went off to ask her dad and Mark.
Daniel waited and wondered what Amy was doing on this summer afternoon. He hadn't seen her since his birthday the week before and he really missed her. Talking on the phone just wasn't the same as being with her in person, where they could touch and ki…
"Daniel?" Sam interrupted Daniel's wandering daydreams.
"Um, yeah, I'm here." He was really glad she couldn't see his blushing face.
"Dad said okay, but Mark isn't coming." She didn't tell him it was because he'd snuck out of the house and they didn't know where he was.
"Great! We'll pick you up in about thirty minutes. See you then." Daniel hung up with a sigh of relief that he wouldn't have to put up with Mark's nasty remarks all afternoon.
Daniel listened as the three girls kicked a soccer ball around. Julie was acting like a typical junior high girl, very giggly and loud. Sam, who was the same age, was much quieter, but seemed to be having a good time. Daniel turned back to The War of the Worlds and began running his fingers over the pages.
Eventually the girls tired out and came back to the table where Ruby and Daniel sat reading. Julie began rooting through the picnic basket for chips while Rachel stretched out on the grass.
Sam sat next to Daniel and peered over his shoulder to see what he was reading. "I thought you could see well enough to read."
"I can, but I get headaches from it, so when I read for fun I prefer Braille."
"What are you going to do this summer?"
"Usually, I take a couple of classes, but next week I'll be going for training so I can get a guide dog."
"Wow. That sounds interesting." Normally Sam would have asked more about this, but she was preoccupied today.
She picked at a blade of grass on her jeans. "Daniel, can I ask you about your parents?"
Daniel shoved a paper napkin into the book to save his place and sighed. He knew this was why George had encouraged a meeting between them, but it was still hard to talk about his parents to anyone else.
"Sure. What do you want to know?"
"You were only eight, right?"
"Yes."
"Weren't you mad at them for leaving you?"
"Not at first. I spent the first six months in the hospital. When I got better, I was mad at my grandfather for not taking me. I'm still mad at him, but then he only sends cards for my birthday and at Christmas."
"Mark says that if Dad had just picked her up on time, she wouldn't be dead. Both of us are mad at him, but sometimes I see how sad he is too." Sam pulled her feet up on the bench and hugged her knees, leaning her head down on them.
Daniel didn't have an answer for that. He'd never thought about what it would have been like if only one of his parents had died. He'd been pretty little, but he remembered how much they loved each other. It would have been really hard on the one left behind.
Sam continued, "We always knew about the possibility that our Dad could die during a mission and I think we could have dealt with his death better. I mean, he's gone a lot for work and it just wouldn't have been that much different, but mom…"
Daniel heard the pain in her voice as it trailed off. He reached out and put an arm around her shoulder to give her a hug.
"Sam, it's only been a few months for you. It's taken me seven years to be able to talk about it without falling apart. I think it's always going to hurt, but it will get better."
"Oooooh, Daniel! I'm going to tell Amy you've been hugging another girl!" Julie's voice interrupted their conversation.
"Oh, man. I'm dead meat!" Daniel pulled away from Sam and groaned. "Little sisters can be such a pain in the neck sometimes!"
"Hey, that's what Mark says! Personally, I think big brothers are worse."
A/N: Wikipedia gives Samantha's birth date as December 29, 1968, so that makes her three-and-a-half years younger than Daniel and she'd be 12 when he turned 16. Odd, because I've always pictured her as a couple of years older.