A/N: Sorry for the wait – real life sucks sometimes. : P Here's the next chapter, and hopefully I'll get another one or two written this weekend (fingers crossed!). Thank you to everyone who has been reading (and reviewing!). I hope you all enjoy the next chapter!
Descension Back To Normalcy
Tossing her armload of bags into the back seat, Cassandra grabbed her sundae off the roof of the car, hip-checked the door shut and moved around to the front of the car where Sam already sat. The teenager ran a hand quickly over the back pockets of her jeans and, not encountering any metal studding on the soft denim, took a seat next to Sam on the hood of the car.
"Janet doesn't need to know about the ice cream," Sam instructed, tilting her head back and letting the late summer sunshine warm her face. "And Daniel doesn't need to know we used his car as a bench."
"My lips are sealed," Cassandra promised, spooning a heaping pile of hot fudge coated ice cream into her mouth. Closing her eyes, she savoured the contrast between the warm topping and the cold ice cream, letting it melt completely away before swallowing. "Yours is going to melt," she advised, loading her spoon up with another mouthful.
"I don't really want it," Sam said dismissively, lying back on the warm metal and planting her feet firmly on the ground to keep her from sliding off the sloped hood.
"But it's your favourite," the teenager wheedled, nudging the abandoned plastic bowl towards her adopted aunt.
"I'm going to be in just as much trouble with your mom for spoiling my own appetite as I would be for spoiling yours," Sam pointed out but obligingly ate a spoonful of her banana split anyway.
"That banana is probably the first fruit or vegetable you've eaten in days that didn't come on top of a pizza," Cassandra retorted between spoonfuls of ice cream. "I think she'd approve."
"Actually, I think she'd be disgusted to learn just how much pizza the men of SG-1 subsist on during downtime, but let's not dwell," Sam noted, breaking off another piece of banana and swirling it through a pile of whipped cream before popping it in her mouth.
Cassandra stirred her treat around inside the little plastic bowl, using the spoon to mix the hot fudge in with more of her ice cream while she observed the woman sitting next to her. The pair had spent most of the afternoon goofing around, catching up and, of course, doing more shopping in just a few hours than Cassandra could remember doing cumulatively in any given six month period, but now that they were quietly enjoying one another's company, Cassandra couldn't help but notice the change in Sam's demeanor. Gone were the beaming smiles and easy laughter; in their place Cassandra could find only tense muscles and clear blue eyes that had lost their sparkle.
"Are you okay?" Cassandra asked quietly, scrutinizing Sam closely and setting the remains of her sundae behind her.
"I'm fine," Sam replied flatly, the words so devoid of inflection and emotion that it was obvious they were more of an automatic response to the question than a real reflection of her well being.
"You seem sad," Cassandra pressed. "I mean, I get why you would be, but…"
"I appreciate your concern, sweetheart," Sam interrupted, a hint of a genuine smile crossing her face. "But really, I'm okay. There's just a lot going on right now, and it's been a bit tough finding time to stop and absorb everything, so when I get two minutes to sit and think, sometimes I get lost in my thoughts, that's all."
"Oh," the teenager said thoughtfully. She knew the basics of what had happened in the last few weeks, having pestered information out of her mom and overheard random snippets of phone conversations now and again, and she couldn't blame Sam for getting distracted trying to process recent events. "I'm sorry I dragged you all over town today. You'd probably rather have had some time to yourself..."
"No," Sam said firmly, wrapping her fingers around Cassandra's hand and squeezing tightly. "I'm glad I had the chance to spend the day with you; it's exactly what I needed."
"Really?"
"Absolutely," Sam assured, sitting up and slipping an arm around Cassandra's shoulders. "Don't ever think there's something I'd rather be doing than spending time with you, Cass; it's just not true."
"Okay," the teenager agreed, dropping her head to Sam's shoulder and closing her eyes while nimble fingers stroked soothingly through her hair.
"Are you ready to call it a day?" Sam asked, curling a long lock of copper-coloured hair around her index finger.
"Yeah, I'm done," Cassandra said, turning her head and burying her face in Sam's shoulder. "As long as you're still having dinner with us tonight. I don't want you to go back to Jack's yet."
"Believe me, neither do I," Sam replied, but Cassandra noticed that the humour that would usually accompany such a comment was missing.
"I know the others didn't believe you about, you know," Cassandra murmured quietly, cautious of what she said since they were still sitting in a very public parking lot. "That must have hurt a lot."
"It did," Sam sighed, the words escaping in a rush of air. "But we're over that."
"All of you?"
"All of us."
"Because it really doesn't seem like you are," Cassandra observed. "You say all the right things, but sometimes when I bring one of them up, your eyes change and it seems kind of like you're just pretending to be okay."
Sam sighed again, not really able to argue with the teenager. She was well past forgiving her teammates for not believing her, but a surge of hurt still accompanied thoughts of them sometimes. As she'd said a few nights ago during the team heart-to-heart, she had forgiveness covered, it was forgetting that was proving to be a challenge.
"It still hurts to remember that they didn't trust me," Sam decided to confess, wondering when Cassandra had gotten to be so perceptive. "But we've all talked about it and we are okay. It's just going to take a little time for all of us to move past this."
"It's not going to break you guys up?" Cassandra asked uncertainly, finally giving voice to the thought that had been nagging away at her for days.
"Absolutely not," Sam swore, her voice laced with conviction. In spite of the damaged trust and hurt feelings, the last few days had proven once and for all that her team was her family and, as Jack had noted a few nights ago, families stuck together even when doing so was difficult.
Besides, Sam knew she wouldn't be able to get rid of her teammates if she tried.
"Good," Cassandra stated, sliding her arm around Sam's waist and squeezing tightly.
It might be a bit ridiculous now, knowing the members of SG-1 as she did, but a large part of Cassandra would always hero-worship the four people who'd plucked her from her decimated world and woven her into their lives. Years of careful observation had taught her that there was something special about Sam, Jack, Daniel and Teal'c together, allowing them to beat the odds time and again and return to Earth, sometimes a little worse for the wear but always alive. The thought that they might one day go their separate ways, forsaking that intangible something and paying for it with their lives, terrified her. She'd already lost so much in her short life; the thought of losing one of the people she considered family was unbearable.
"Will you stay the night with me and mom?" Cassandra requested hopefully. "We can pick up dinner and movies on the way home and then spend the rest of the night hanging out together, just the three of us."
"We'll have to call Janet and make sure it's okay with her first," Sam noted, tugging affectionately at the lock of hair wound around her finger.
"You don't seriously think she'll say no, do you?" Cassandra asked in astonishment. Girls' nights at the Frasier house were a regular occurrence and were often arranged on the spur-of-the-moment. She couldn't recall a time when her mother had forbidden it. Heck, half the time it was her mom's idea anyway!
"I think when she sees all the bags in the backseat, she might not want to give me any more opportunities to spoil you rotten for a very, very long time," Sam retorted with a grin.
"Hey! Some of those bags are yours!" the teenager exclaimed, straightening up as she defended herself.
"Yeah, but probably not as many as Janet would like," Sam rebutted knowingly, bracing her hands on the hood beneath her and pushing herself to her feet. Gathering up their garbage, Sam carried it a few feet to the nearest garbage can and disposed of it.
Cassandra lifted her feet off the ground and slid down the sloped metal until she could stand, raising her arms over her head and arching her back as she stretched. When she'd worked out the kinks she'd earned by carting an armload of bags through the mall all afternoon, she slipped her cell phone off the waistband of her jeans, Flipping it open, she speed dialed the house as she climbed into the car. Sam slipped in on the driver's side before slipping the key in the ignition.
As Cassandra updated her mom about the proposed change of plans for the night, Sam gave the teenager a mischievous grin and pulled out of the parking space, revving the engine several times. It would have made Daniel cringe, but he wasn't around. Instead, Cassandra was treated to a lecture from her mother about how Sam was a highly trained pilot and experienced driver with a thorough understanding of the mechanics and capabilities of the car, and that if she ever caught Cassandra driving like that, there would be hell to pay, young lady. Well acquainted with this particular spiel, Cassandra held the phone away from her ear and stuck her tongue out at Sam, giggling when the gesture was returned.
Janet's lecture lasted several minutes and the phone call wrapped up a few minutes after that. In the end, Janet agreed to let Sam stay the night, even if she was a bad influence on her only daughter, and after gleefully passing that tidbit along to Sam, Cassandra hung up, pleased that she had a full night with two of her favourite people to look forward to.