After a lot of thought and reviewing my story I decided to change it from Sam x reader to Sam x OC. I felt it makes more sense and gives me more creative flexibility with what I can do with the character. As for the OC I'm going to name her Danielle (Dani for short). Sorry if this change confuses the story too much!

24 years ago

"Quit dawdling, get up!" I looked over at Mrs. Adler, wincing slightly at her expression. She had that stern look in her eyes, targeting whoever she disapproved of with that sharp stare. She sat next to her husband, who was too preoccupied with the newspaper to watch their son's match. He always read the paper, checking on something called "stocks."

Rafe fell to the ground with a thud, his bokken clattering to the floor beside him. His opponent was a much bigger kid than him, and looked like he was enjoying beating Rafe and tossing him around. I could see the kid smirking from behind his protective mask. Poor Rafe was clearly frustrated, no matter how many times he swung at the kid; his attacks would always be blocked or parried.

"What a meanie," I commented, my thumb in my mouth.

My father took my thumb out of my mouth, flashing me a look. "You're too old for that, Dani, stop sucking your thumb. Pay attention, Rafe may be advancing from a wooden sword today to the blunt edged sword."

"It's called an iaitō, daddy." I corrected.

"Hmph at this rate Rafe will never advance, just look at that sloppy form! Disgraceful!" Mrs. Adler added, her tone scrutinizing Rafe's footwork and form.

"Well, you wanted him to study in this art, honey, instead of European fencing," Mr. Adler interjected, his eyes still peeled on the newspaper. Those stock things must be very interesting.

"Nonsense, Japanese arts are the most proficient of the arts." Mrs. Adler snapped, still frustrated with her son's match. Rafe fell to the ground again, groaning as he shifted to get up. His sensei called the match, making some comments on how the two opponents drew from their scabbards.

"No way, Korean arts are the best," I piped up. My father cleared his throat, cuing for me to shut my mouth.

I don't think Mrs. Adler heard me anyway; she got up and walked over to Rafe. They had a hushed, but heated argument before Rafe stomped toward the locker room of the dojo, snatching up his bokken from the floor. I jumped off the bleachers and followed him quickly. I found him sheathing his bokken and slamming his protective equipment down into his sparring bag. He glanced over at me; startled that someone was standing in there with him.

"Dani, you shouldn't be in here, this is the boy's locker room," he mumbled, continuing to pack.

"Are you going to get a shinken like your sensei?" I asked, clueless to his seething mood at the moment.

"How could I? I can't even win one simple match!" Rafe suddenly exploded, shooting straight up from kneeling down at his bag. I cowered backward, bringing up my hands to my face defensively. Rafe softened, "sorry, Dani, it's not your fault. I'm just never gonna make my parents proud at the way my training is going."

"Maybe you can come train soo bahk do with me since you don't like iaido that much," I suggested, suddenly feeling excited to have a friend in class with me.

"No, my parents want me to learn to fence with swords, you know how they are." Rafe shrugged.

I watched him pack, admiring at how delicately he held his bokken. Rafe was so cool, he was already eleven and got to play with the big kids that my father said we weren't a "high enough class to associate" with, whatever that means. He got to go to the big kids school. I was stuck being a little kid. I hated being a little kid. I heard some commotion from outside the locker room, suddenly remembering what my mother said we could do once Rafe's iaido lesson was done. I ran over to Rafe, gripping the cuff of his uniform, jumping up and down in excitement.

"You're coming with us to get ice cream! Hurry up and put your stuff away so we can get ice cream!" I squealed.

"Aw, taking your girlfriend out to dinner?" An unfamiliar voice cut in from behind us.

Rafe and I both turned around to see the big standing in the locker room, that rude smirk on his face again. Rafe glared at him as the kid shot me a nasty look. I backed up, shielding myself behind Rafe. The kid took a bold step forward, placing his bokken down in his locker.

"I'm getting to move up to a real sword soon, looks like you're still using a wimpy wooden one," the kid mocked. His eyes fell on me again, "looks like you got at least one adoring fan." He walked over to Rafe, trying to get around him. He snatched my arm, squeezing hard into my bicep. He started to drag me out from behind Rafe's protection. "You sure are puny, I heard that you trained, too? You sure don't act like it."

"Stop it, that hurts!" I cried, trying to struggle to get out of his grasp.

"Leave her alone, asshole!"

I snapped my head around, surprised that he said the bad a-word. Rafe had his bokken in his hands. His hands were chambered back far, ready to swing. The kid let go of me as Rafe fluidly unsheathed his sword and brought it across, towards the kid's arm and chest. The kid jumped back, grabbing his bokken as he slid back. The two of them clashed wooden swords for a moment before drawing back.

"You want a rematch that bad?" The kid snarled, bearing his teeth.

Rafe swung his bokken upward, toward the kid's neck; it just narrowly missed the kid's throat. This enraged the big kid, he charged at Rafe, trying to knock him over and disarm him. Rafe looked stressed and tired from his match, I was afraid the big kid was going to hurt him. I ran over and roundhouse kicked the big kid on the back of his calf. He stumbled over, distracted enough to drop his guard. Rafe quickly swung his bokken and struck close to the kid's wrist. The kid's bokken went sailing across the locker room. Rafe had successfully disarmed the kid at last.

"Stupid girl!" He kid yelled angrily at me.

That struck a nerve with me. I ran toward him again, ready go give him a low kick at his groin, but the mean kid pushed me away easily. It didn't take much force for me to fall over. Rafe went to go for him again, when Mr. Adler stepped in, grabbing Rafe by the arm. The kid's parents and my own were now in the locker room, staring wide-eyed at what was happening.

"What is going on here?" The kid's father exclaimed. He stared angrily at Rafe and Mr. Adler. "Your son was trying to fight my son! Wait until I tell the sensei about this!"

"He started it!" Rafe pointed at the kid with an accusing finger.

"Yeah! Rafe was protecting me!" I responded, running up to my father and wrapping my arms around him. "The big kid was being a bully!"

"Nonsense! The little girl shouldn't be in here, anyway!" The kid's father snapped, not believing what I said.

"Calm down, calm down, we'll get this sorted out," my father whispered to me.

"But it's true!"

My father shushed me.

Mr. Adler gave the other kid's father a cool and confident look. He crossed his arms as the rest of us watched in awe, holding our breath waiting for what he was going to do next. He took a step forward, a strange smile spreading on his face. "Are you calling my child, and my client's daughter a liar?" Mr. Adler asked, his voice low and on the verge of being dangerous.

"Your son is obviously a delinquent in the making! And that little girl, she shouldn't be sneaking in the boy's locker room! It's inappropriate!"

"Children, go wait outside for a minute," Mr. Adler instructed us. Rafe and I gave him an uncertain look. "Run along now, the grownups need to talk."

We waited outside the dojo, by the entrance. Rafe seemed preoccupied with the conversation that was going on behind closed doors. I was quite bored; whatever they were talking about was sure taking an awful long time. I paced around, making raspberry sounds. I started to suck my thumb again, checking to make sure my father wasn't watching. I was tired of waiting around here; I just wanted some ice cream already. I suddenly had a fearful thought that if the two of us were in trouble, that would mean no ice cream…

"Do you think we're in trouble?" I asked Rafe.

"No, but that jerk is going to be," he replied.

I cocked my head to the side. "You mean that big kid? No ice cream for him!"

Rafe sighed in annoyance, shaking his head. "This isn't about ice cream, Dani, this is about justice. He's going to get what he deserves. No one messes with an Adler and gets away with it."

The animosity in his voice made me frown. "Maybe the police man will take him away and he'll have to eat broccoli every day for the rest of his life." That sounded like a pretty terrible punishment to me.

"Forget it," Rafe sighed again, "a child wouldn't understand."

"Hey!" I whined, "I'm going to be big like you soon! I'm almost seven years old!" I stood on my tiptoes, pouting by sticking my bottom lip out.

"Quiet down, Dani, don't make this worse than it already is."

Eventually my parents came out, looking slightly perplexed with whatever happened in there. The Adler's exited right behind them, appearing triumphant. I don't know what Mr. Adler said or did to them, but that family never came back to that dojo.

I slowly opened my eyes, feeling disoriented for a minute. It took me a minute to remember that I was on a small plane flying above Scotland, or was flying above Scotland. It was dark outside now, we were most likely above England. I sat up, rubbing my eyes and waiting for them to adjust. Sam sat on the floor of the plane, flipping the Avery coin with his thumb. Why did I dream of that? That seemed like a lifetime ago. There was so much I didn't understand as a child.

"Hi there, sleeping beauty," Sam greeted.

I could hear Sullivan and Nate talking in the cockpit, arguing about where was a trustworthy place for them in England to stop for fuel, and what airline they could board to fly to Madagascar. Sam seemed uninterested, focusing on the coin.

"How long was I out?" I asked, rubbing the back of my neck.

"Almost four hours, you must've really needed it, uh-" he paused a moment.

I just realized that he didn't even know my name. "Danielle, but everyone calls me Dani. Nice to officially meet you." I held out my hand.

"Well, Dani, it's nice to meet you too." He shook my hand. "So, Dani, tell me a little about yourself."

I gave him a skeptical look, "why?"

Sam shrugged, "I dunno, we're gonna be traveling together, might as well try to learn about who I'm working with."

"I don't think there's anything that interesting about me," I told him, honestly.

"Oh, please, I doubt that. Sully said your whole family is in the treasure hunting business? That's pretty neat, and at the Rossi Estate you seemed to know your way around a fight."

I looked down at my lap, unable to stop the smile from spreading on my face. "Well that's pretty much it."

"C'mon, what's one of the best treasures you've found in your years of experience?"

"I'm not really a treasure hunter, I'm more of a hired help in located valuables for someone else. I don't get to discover things myself on many occasions."

"I know, I know, I mean something that you enjoyed discovering or exploring."

I thought for a minute. I had been a long time since I was sent somewhere for pleasure. "Well, there was one time I got to explore the Muyong Chong in Manchuria."

"What's that?" Sam asked, seeming intrigued.

"It's a royal tomb built during the Koguryo dynasty. Archaeologists believe it was built around 3 AD." I explained. Sam chuckled, and I frowned, "what's so funny about that? I know it's not as impressive as Avery's treasure, but-"

"No, not that," Sam interjected, "your face just lit up talking about it, that's all." Sam simpered. "Like Rafe said, you really are into Eastern Asia, huh? Just like I'm into pirates."

I blushed, staring down toward my lap. I was a grown woman acting like a silly schoolgirl; get ahold of yourself, Dani! I knew from experience that getting into relationships with people never went in my favor.

"Hey, you two, we're getting ready to land!" Sullivan interrupted. "Sit tight, the runway is going to come up fast."

I did as he said, bracing myself and falling silent. These feelings I was having were silly and pointless, anyway.