Sam got to take the rest of the week off to be with Abigail and Jacob and get things set up for them, but then she needed to be back at work. Jake also needed to start attending school, a notion that he wasn't terribly thrilled with.

"Why can't I just go with you, like Abbie?" he asked as he followed behind Sam as she pushed a cart through the local office supply store. She was planning on having Abbie stay in her office at the SGC on days that she was just working in her lab. She'd found a day care for days when things at the base would be busy or she'd be off-world.

"Because you're older than Abbie," Sam replied. "And older kids are supposed to be in school. What kind of markers do you want?" He grabbed one of the two packages that she was holding and chucked it into the cart.

"But I don't want to go!" he protested. Sam was pretty certain that Jake was actually very concerned about going to school, and not just purposely trying to be difficult. According to Janet, he hadn't been in several months since things had started getting very bad on his Earth. He was only in the first grade, so he'd never had a chance to get used to the routine.

Sam made sure that Abbie couldn't get into trouble with anything within arm's reach of the cart, then turned to Jake and knelt in front of him. "It's not going to be as bad as you think, okay? You like the new clothes we bought, right?"

Jake's eyes were focused on the floor as he traced one of the linoleum tiles with the toe of his right sneaker. "Yeah," he grudgingly admitted.

"And you're going to have new supplies and a new backpack and I've heard that your teacher is very nice."

"They wouldn't tell you if she was mean," Jake pointed out, one eyebrow raised as if he was daring her to argue with him. He's EXACTLY like Jack… Sam thought.

"Just give it a chance, okay?"

Jake was still anxious by the time Monday morning rolled around, however. It took two tries to get him out of bed. "Jake, we gotta get going, buddy," Sam told him as she came into his room for the second time. He'd woken up the first time, but was now lying down again with his pillow over his head.

"I'm not going," his muffled voice told her. Sam picked the pillow up.

"I've got breakfast for you."

"I don't want breakfast." She laughed as his stomach growled at that moment.

"Oh really? Get dressed and come eat." Jake sighed, but got out of bed.

Ten minutes later, though, he still hadn't appeared in the kitchen. "Jake?" Sam called through the house as she put a bowl of cereal in front of Abbie. "Where are you, buddy?"

"My room," was his reply.

She was beginning to regret letting him get ready on his own. "Are you dressed?"

"Maybe." A minute later, he trudged down the hall, carrying his shoes.

"There you are. I've got English muffins and fruit salad. What kind of jelly do you want?"

Jake slouched in a chair. "Grape."

Sam put the jar on the table, along with his plate. "We gotta leave in ten minutes, okay? Work on the fruit first; you can take the muffin in the car if you're not done."

He didn't end up finishing the fruit or the muffin. He mostly just played with the little pieces of peaches and pears, pushing them around on his plate. Sam gave him a couple reminders that they needed to leave, but they didn't seem to make any difference. Finally, she couldn't wait any longer.

"Okay, grab your bag and I'll bring your English muffin out to the car."

"I'm not done with my fruit," he told her.

"I know you're not, buddy, but we've gotta go. I put a cup of applesauce in your lunch."

During the drive over to the elementary school, Jake appeared to be a prisoner facing the gallows. He finished his muffin, then just stared out the window, arms folded and shoulders hunched. Sam parked the car and got Abbie out of her car seat so that they could walk Jake inside. Jake made no move to get out of the car; he didn't even unbuckle his seatbelt.

"Come on, Jake, we gotta go inside."

"I want to stay with you," he told her.

"I know you do, and I would love it if you could. But there are so many things that you need to learn in order to go from being a smart kid to a smart man. You're going to learn all of those things here in school."

"I don't have to be smart," he argued.

"Oh, nice try, mister! You are already very smart and I'm going to make sure you stay that way. It's not going to be as bad as you think, Jake. And I promise that I will be back this afternoon to pick you up and you can tell me ALL about your day."

That seemed to appease his fears a little and he got out of the car. When they walked in to the main office, his teacher was waiting for them. "You must be Jake," she told the little boy with a smile. "I'm Ms. Kirkpatrick. I'm going to be your teacher."

"Can you say hi?" Sam prodded Jake when he didn't respond. "He's a little concerned about starting school."

"I can understand that," she replied, her smiled widening. "But there's nothing to be scared of. You're going to make some new friends and learn new things and have a great time."

Jake willingly followed his teacher to his classroom, and Sam headed for work. She couldn't suppress her concern for the little boy, though, and as the morning went on, she started to get just as worried as Jake had been. What if he really DIDN'T like the school? What if his teacher actually WAS mean? She had seemed very nice, but what kind of idiot wouldn't be nice around the parents? Why had she pushed him into this before he felt ready? He deserved to have something finally go easy in his life.

She'd gotten almost nothing accomplished by the time Cam came to her office around lunchtime. "Hey, munchkin," he greeted Abbie as he passed her little play area in the corner. "Welcome back," he then added for Sam.

"Thanks," she half-heartedly replied.

He could easily read her tone and expression. "What's wrong?"

"Jake."

Cam frowned. "He still having issues?"

"I don't know. He was really concerned about school this morning, and I told him it would be fine, but I keep thinking… He might really hate it. I mean, he could get picked on for being the new kid, and he's probably going to be behind everyone else a bit – "

"Sam," Cam interrupted her with a smile. "Stop. Breathe. He's gonna be fine."

"We don't know that."

"No, but even if today sucks, he's still going to be fine. He's been through a hell of a lot more than a bad day of first grade and he's survived that."

"That's the other thing I keep thinking about. I mean…should I be rushing to get him into a normal routine?"

"He's gotta go to school."

"Yeah, but… He's been through so much and he won't talk to anyone about it. So does that mean he doesn't actually feel safe here? He needs that, you know?"

"Yeah, I know, and I also know that trust takes time to earn. You're doing fine, okay? Really, you're doing amazing. I can't imagine trying to take on the two of them alone."

"I'm not really alone."

"You're the one who's in the same time zone with them."

"Cam, please don't start." She'd already heard her teammate's opinions about Jack's role in their lives – or lack thereof – when he'd stopped by her house to visit a couple nights earlier.

"I'm not trying to, I'm just saying. You're the one who's here with them."

"You know it's not that simple."

He held his hands up. "Okay, okay, I won't say anything else about it. But seriously, Sam. You're doing a good thing. They're going to be fine."

"Thank you."

He nodded. "No problem. Don't let all that start bottling up again, okay? Your head might blow off the next time and then where would we be?"

She laughed. "Who knows?"

"Screwed, that's where. You want me to take the little one and go get some food in the mess?"

"You sure?"

"Yeah, no problem. I saw Teal'c in the hall. We'll watch her for a little while and let you get some work done."

Sam smiled. "She's not the cause of my lack of productivity."

"Well, either way."

"Thanks."

TBC...