Little Sam loved her Da, who was the first person to teach her about animals, and made the best sandwiches, and didn't mind that she preferred to play with swords and toy soldiers[1] rather than dolls and dress up.
But she loved, loved, loved her Mummy.
—
Her earliest memories of her Ma were all senses; the smell of cheap cigars, the feel of leather and cold metal, of scarred but strong hands, and the sound of her mother's voice, rough and gravelly from years of yelling, smoking, and drinking, reading "Where's My Cow."
—-
Vimes had gotten into the habit of doing her paperwork one handed, so she could hold Little Sam in the other, during the months that she had Little Sam with her at the Watch House.
It wasn't that Little Sam would fuss if she was put down, but Vimes…just wanted to hold her daughter, to know that she was safe and and for Little Sam to know she was loved.
Little Sam knew she was always safe with her mother. Always.
—
Her Mummy was a Watchman.
The Commander of the Watch, actually.
And long before she understood all that entailed and why some nights her father paced the floor in worry and that one awful time where a sword got through…
Yes. Well.
Long before that, when she was small, Little Sam just saw the Watch as the best kind of circus/school/playground with her mummy as the ringleader of it all.
So the dwarf and troll officers taught her the basics of their languages, which Vimes found out when Little Sam cussed out Lord Selachii.[2] Cheery showed her how to make her own explosives, and Igor would have let her sit in on a autopsy if it weren't for the stormy forbidding look on Vimes' face, so he settled for teaching her as much about the human body and how it was put together as he could.
There was the afternoon that AE Pessimal took her aside, and showed her how to write her name out. As it was the same as her mummy's, she presented the paper that read "sAm viMeSs" to her, who then promptly tacked it to her door.[3] And there was Detritus, who, as Little Sam solemnly told her Mummy one day, gave the best piggy back rides.
Angua, to Vimes' and Carrot's surprise, acquiesced with no problem at all when Little Sam asked to see her as a wolf. The day ended with Little Sam and Angua curled up together asleep on her and Carrot's bed in their room at the Yard, Little Sam using Angua as a blonde furry pillow. Carrot took an iconograph and gave a copy to the two of them. As for Carrot, if her Ma would let her, she would be attached like a lamprey to his leg. [4]
Fred, who openly wept when he saw Little Sam for the first time, took her to All Jolson's for her first slumpie. And then there was the infamous time Nobby tried to teach her to pick pockets before her mother came in and hauled Nobby off for a talking to.
And through it all, leading all her aunts and uncles,was her Mummy, shouting and yelling…and encouraging and helping at the same time.
There was no one else in the world Little Sam looked up to than her mummy.
—-
Her father, before she went to school, took her out every day, that was true. And she loved all the shenanigans that they got into, especially the day there was that spontaneous parade and there was the two cartloads of chickens and then she and Da somehow ended up at the front.
But she treasured the times that her mother took her out.
—-
There were solemn moments.
One of her earliest memories was being held in her mother's arms, with her mummy standing in front of a grave at Small Gods, the small stone saying only "Mary Vimes"
"This is your grand mum Samantha."
—
Of course, there were many more adventures as well.
Usually ending with "Let's not tell your Da about this" or "When we get home and your Da asks about the char marks let me do the talking lass."
—-
Frequently she was taken to the Gibbet, and she would cling to the dummy while her Mummy pushed her as high as she could go.
—
She had her first rat at age 4, in the company of Grag Bashfullson at a lunch meeting her mother was having with him at Gimlet's.
"So this is the little girl who saved us all at Koom Valley," he remarked, as he shook Little Sam's hand, which greatly pleased her.
She didn't understand that remark or her mother's pained look at Bashfullson and the sudden wrist rub until much later of course.
Her budding gourmand offered Vimes some rat onna stick later, but she just blanched, much to the mirth of Bashfullson.
—
"And what are we walking on now?" Vimes asked her daughter as they walked through the Shades.
Little Sam thought for a minute, ground her feet like she had seen her mummy do[5] into the cobbles of the street, and then triumphantly proclaimed "The ground!"
Vimes sighed. "Yes dear, the ground."
—
"Ma! Mummy! Mum! I can see that lady's tits!"
"So you can dear," Vimes said, and walked them past the Seamstress' Guild a little faster[6]. "Where did you hear that word at?"
"You! Said your armor made your tits hurt somethin awful at times."
Vimes sighed. Damn, she was going to have to start watching her mouth.
—-
Little Sam thought about all this and more when she laid her newborn son into her mother's arms for the first time.
"He's named Samuel. For you."
[1] though she did also use her toy soldiers for games of House in between bloody battles
[2] and oh didn't Vimes regret having to give that lecture to Little Sam. The look on Lord Selachii's face as he was called unspeakable things in Dwarvish by a seven year old was priceless.
[3] the Watchmen knew not to make a big deal of such displays, but honestly, most everyone thought it was rather sweet.
[4] and don't think Samantha Vimes missed the looks that Carrot and Angua gave at each other now with Little Sam around. Sam gave it another few more years, but she could just see a mini Carrot or Angua running around like Little Sam was in the future.
[5] which for anyone else but Vimes would have resulted in a loveheartsplosion, and even she got a little gushy inside.
[6] Vimes had no objection against ladies of negotiable affection, and of course as a city girl Little Sam would find out soon enough but Sam REALLY did not want to have that discussion with a six year old on the street.