Chapter 2: Grace
Sam walked into the elementary school, somewhat nervously.
"May I help you?" A woman asked from behind the receptionist desk as she checked in.
"I was hoping to volunteer…"
"Oh, are you a parent?"
Sam's smile fell as she shook her head. "No. My husband and I are…newly married, and, uh, I'm an Air Force officer. I have some leave, and I thought that I might…"
"Volunteer to fill up your days?" She asked with a knowing smile.
"Exactly." Sam chuckled.
"Well, actually, we have a number of programs available. We're looking for someone to come in and read to the kindergartners."
"That might be fun."
"We're also looking for someone who can tutor science and math for all grade levels."
"I'm a physicist. Science and math are my specialties." She continued.
"How much time do you need to fill?" The woman asked with twinkling eyes.
She managed a chagrined smile. "A lot. My husband's, uh, working in the Pentagon."
"My husband's a Congressional aide," she grinned. "I understand."
Sam laughed.
"Listen, I'll take you to the library, and you can read to the kindergartners who show up in ten minutes." She said, walking around the desk.
"Are you sure? That's all I have to do?"
"Well, you'll need to talk to the librarian if you come back more than once, but I'll keep an eye on you for the next half-hour." She offered her hand in greeting. "I'm Sonya Martinez. I'm the principal."
"Samantha C..." She stopped herself. "O'Neill. New volunteer."
"Nice to meet you," Sonya smiled. "Samantha O'Neill."
"Nice to meet you too." Sam grinned.
"Shall we go meet the kindergartners?"
"Lead the way," Sam joked as she motioned dramatically toward the door.
"I want to warn you. There's a girl in this class, who is new to the school."
"Okay."
"She's a little shy, but she's been through a lot, and the counselor suggested that we don't push her too much right now."
Sam nodded. "Of course."
The kindergarten class filed past them, and Sam watched them each with a curious eye. She inhaled as she saw a face that made her raise her eyebrows in surprise. The six-year-old girl with sad brown eyes and long, unruly brown curly hair wearing a sundress that was slightly too big for her caught Sam's attention, curiously.
"Eat. You need to keep your strength up." The little girl said after a moment.
"Do you have a name?" Sam asked, looking at the apparition.
Grace smiled. "I'm Grace."
Sam looked at the little girl in the haze of hallucination. "Who are you?"
"You know." She said, coyly.
"Samantha?" Sonya asked, looking over at her.
"Hm?" She asked, pulling herself from her reverie.
"Is something wrong?"
"Who is that girl?" Sam asked, discreetly pointing to the Grace look-a-like.
"That's the girl I was talking about. Her name's Grace."
Sam looked over in surprise. "Grace?"
Sonya nodded. "Her parents were in an accident. They died, and she's been placed in her first foster home."
Sam tensed. "Really?"
"They're a great couple," Sonya said, softly. "Hopefully, she'll find a good adoptive family soon."
"What are her chances?"
"Rather slim, honestly. At least, according to statistics."
"She's a cute girl. She probably has higher chances than most," Sam said, hopefully.
"You'd be surprised how many "cute" kids are in foster care from the time they're two to the time they're emancipated."
"It's that bad?" Sam asked after a moment.
"Unfortunately," Sonya said with a small sigh. "Yes. If you're not a baby in foster care, your chances decrease exponentially."
Sam nodded slowly as she looked back at the little girl who played with the hem of her dress as she sat on the rug.
"I should probably start the story…" Sam said, looking over at her companion.
Sonya nodded. "That would probably be wise."
The librarian handed her a book. "You're the reader for today?"
"Yeah." Sam nodded.
"Excellent." She grinned. "And you are?"
"Samantha O'Neill."
"Wonderful. I'll introduce you to the kids, and then you can start the story." She said, leading her to the circle. "I'm Harriet."
"Nice to meet you, Harriet."
They reached the circle, and Sam looked around at each of the children. Grace's head was still bowed, and she looked at her hands.
Sam swallowed, worriedly, as Harriet made a quick introduction. "So, let's welcome Mrs. O'Neill," Harriet said, clapping her hands to signal applause from the kids.
Sam sat down in the chair with the book in her hand. "Hi, kids. Well, I have a story here that I think you'll enjoy." She looked at the book. "Franklin and the Thunderstorm."
Grace finally looked up at Sam with tear-shaped eyes that reminded her of Cassandra's eyes when they'd first met her. Sam felt a tug at her heart-strings as she began reading the story to the small children. Yep. She really would talk to Jack when she got home.
-
Sam stood in the kitchen, nursing a cup of coffee as she wondered how she would bring the subject of Grace with her husband. She was rarely on Earth, and while he lived on Earth, he was rarely home because of his Pentagon responsibilities. One or the other or both of them would need to drastically change their lifestyle in order to accommodate the six-year-old girl.
The door opened from downstairs, and Sam looked over to see her husband walking up the stairs. "Hey!" He said with a grin as he caught her eye.
"Hi." She said with a small, but distracted, smile.
He set his briefcase down in the living room before he looked over at her. "What's going on?"
"I went to volunteer at the elementary school today."
"Good for you." He grinned. "Have fun?"
She nodded. "Yeah. The kids were sweet. I read to the kindergarten class."
"Sounds like a good time." He said reaching for a cup which he filled with the leftover coffee in the pot.
"Oh, it was." She assured, absently.
"So, what's the problem?"
She looked over at him. "Do you remember the time seven years ago or so when I was stuck on the Prometheus?"
"In the nebula?"
She nodded.
"Yeah. I remember."
"I told you about the hallucinations I had while I was aboard ship, right?"
"Yeah."
"There was a little girl..."
"You called her Grace."
She nodded. "She had long brown curly hair and brown eyes. She liked to play with bubbles. She recited "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star" like my mother used to read to me."
"Okay..."
She looked at him in all seriousness. "I met her today. In real life."
His eyebrows shot up.
"She was one of the kindergartners I read to. And she's been recently orphaned."
"Oh, no..." Jack said, shaking his head as he understood where she was going.
"I haven't even said anything yet, Jack!"
"Yeah, but you're going to. And no."
"Jack, she's a little girl, and she could use our help." She insisted.
"There are a lot of kids in her position, Sam. And we can't help them all."
"Look, Jack, I know it sounds silly, but that hallucination or angel or whatever…saved my life." Sam explained. "And, I," she bit her lip before she looked up at him. "I feel like I- like I owe her something for that."
"It wasn't her."
"Then explain why she looks exactly like the girl I saw. And has the exact same name as the girl I hallucinated."
"Maybe you're wrong. Maybe she just looks moderately like the girl you envisioned…"
Sam closed her eyes with a small sigh. "You don't want to do this."
"No." Jack protested. "I just don't want you to get your hopes up. Adoption takes forever and it can get expensive."
"And?"
"And we might lose her anyway."
"Sonya told me…"
"Sonya gave you the odds." Jack interrupted. "You know better than most that when the odds seem astronomical, sometimes, they tip in your favor."
"You mean that she might get adopted under our noses."
"Exactly."
"What if the odds were to tip in our favor, Jack?" Sam asked after a moment. "It is possible. It's happened on more than one occasion."
"Sam…"
"Can we just look into it?" Sam sighed.
Jack sighed. "We'll look." He agreed.
"Thank you." She huffed. "Now, if you'll excuse me. I've had a long day, and I think I need a nap."
"Let me come with…" He said, following her.
Sam turned and raised her hand in a "halt" motion, causing him to stop in his tracks. "I don't think so. I need some time alone."
Jack watched his wife leave, more than a little perplexed by her behavior. What exactly had he done wrong?
-
He waited an hour before he walked into the bedroom and sat beside her on the bed. As he had anticipated, she wasn't asleep, just lying on the bed as she stared up at the ceiling somewhat abstractly.
"I'm sorry." He finally sighed.
"No," she said, shaking her head. "I'm sorry. You're right. I'm getting too emotional about this whole thing."
"Emotional isn't necessarily a bad thing." He said, looking over at her as he placed a gentle hand on her knee.
"Right..." She said, sarcastically.
"I got scared by the process of adoption." He admitted after a moment.
Sam looked up at him, confused. "What? Why?"
"Because when you have a baby the "old-fashioned way", no one can say "no"."
"You're afraid they'll say no because of your past."
"Not just mine."
Her brow furrowed. "What?"
"There's more to this background check than worrying about what they say about how Charlie died. Because of my work, my background has been scrubbed, and thanks to Pete, we know that yours is pretty much the same." He reminded her.
Her face fell. "They're going to say "no" because they can't look at our past..."
"They don't like giving kids to people they know nothing about." He said, soberly.
She tensed. "Then, I guess I really should just...kiss this all good-bye."
He shook his head. "No, Sam, I promised you that we'd look into it, and we will."
"I know we're going to need to change if we want to make this an attractive idea for the social workers." She admitted. "So, I'm...thinking of putting in for reassignment. They can station me at Andrews or at the Pentagon..."
"Is this what you want?" He asked, raising an eyebrow.
She nodded. "You've made sacrifices for this to work. Now, it's my turn."
"You're sure?"
"Yep."
"And if they turn you down?"
"Then they turn me down." She sighed. "I haven't come up with a Plan B yet."
"Then, maybe you should let me help you think of one," he said with an affectionate smile as he leaned down to kiss her gently.
He looked into her eyes for a moment after he released her lips from his own. "Hey..."
"Hm?" She asked, looking up, curiously.
"I love you."
She smiled softly. "Love you too."