Changing Lives 29/?? (Sam/Janet femslash) Stargate SG-1
"C'mon, Annie," Sam said loudly, "pass those potatoes down before Janet eats them all," and she laughed.
Anna picked up the huge dish of potatoes and passed them to Sam, while Janet gave her lover a mock scowl. "Enough left for you?" Janet joked; there were almost enough potatoes to feed an army, as Sam well knew. Janet had, as usual, over-catered for the group, but she wanted the first Sunday lunch after Anna, Izzie and Carolyn came to stay to be a special one. So she had pulled out all the stops, and Sam knew that they would be eating leftovers for weeks to come.
The atmosphere at the table was light and fun, and everybody was enjoying themselves hugely. The visitors had been in the house for three days now, and had settled in well. Carolyn and Anna had the two spare bedrooms, and Sam had converted the study downstairs into a small bedroom for Izzie. There was a small shower room downstairs next the kitchen, so Izzie didn't have to contend with the stairs on her crutches.
"Are you that hungry?" Izzie asked Sam, in amazement.
Sam laughed. "No, Iz, I was just playing. I think Janet's made enough food to feed everybody in the road."
Izzie grinned. She loved watching the warm, easy relationship that Sam and Janet had. It reminded her of her parents, who even after so many years together still made each other laugh. She was missing her father, who had had to return to England just before she got out of the hospital, but she had been made so welcome by these new friends that she didn't mind too much. And she knew they would all fly back in just under two weeks, and that time would just fly by.
As Sam and Janet bantered about the food, the doorbell rang unexpectedly. "I'll go," Janet said, "we can't have you being distracted from your potatoes, can we Sam?" and she grinned evilly.
Janet was still laughing when she opened the door. She was delighted to see Cassandra standing on the doorstep. "Cassie!" she exclaimed. "I thought you were working today?" They had already invited her to join them for lunch, but Cassie had regretfully had to turn them down.
"I swapped shifts with Joe," Cassie smiled. "I didn't want to miss the party."
"Well come in!" Janet pulled her over the threshold, and enveloped her in a warm hug. "You're just in time to try and wrestle the potatoes from Sam!"
"Who is it, hon?" Sam called from the table.
"Come see for yourself," Janet replied.
In seconds, Sam had her arms round Cassie and was hugging her tight. "You made it!" she said, delightedly. "I didn't think you'd be able to come."
"I couldn't resist Janet's cooking," Cassie said, with a shy smile.
"Well obviously it's not as good as mine," Sam said laughing.
"Yeah, right," Janet snorted. "There's a reason she's not allowed in the kitchen, Cassie," she told her. "If she did the cooking, we'd need you here on a professional basis."
Sam laughed. "It's true, I'm afraid," she said. "Come, sit. Annie, move up, Cassie can squeeze between you and Izzie."
Izzie beamed. "Hi Cassie," she said, with a smile. "I'm so pleased you came."
Cassie dropped a kiss on the top of the girl's head. "Me too, Izzie," she said, "I would have hated to miss this feast. Hi everyone," she waved shyly at Carolyn, and smiled at Anna.
Janet returned from the kitchen with an extra plate and cutlery. "Help yourself, Cassie," she instructed. "God knows there's enough here."
The meal continued, with much laughter and teasing. Finally, when they were all full, the group migrated to the living room, where they made themselves comfortable on various couches and chairs; Cassie claimed the large cushion on the floor. "Coffee?" Janet asked, and headed toward the kitchen.
"I'll just go and help Janet," Sam told the others.
"I thought you weren't allowed in the kitchen?" Anna grinned.
"She lets me in sometimes; as long as I promise not to cook," Sam laughed. "Though she won't let me bring in any engine parts to clean on the table any more." She pouted, comically, winked and left the room. As she entered the kitchen, however, her jovial mood evaporated, as she saw Janet, with her back to her, holding on to the kitchen side, her shoulders shaking. "Jan?" she spoke quietly.
Janet turned to her, tears streaking her face.
"Oh baby, what is it? What's wrong?" Sam asked, moving swiftly to take her lover in her arms. "Has something happened? Are you okay?"
Janet sniffed. "M'fine," her voice was muffled. She pulled away slightly and looked up into Sam's face. She smiled, embarrassed. "I'm more than fine, Sam. It's just that," she pointed toward the living room, "it's so much like a family. It made me so happy to see everybody together, having fun, acting like a real family. And you, at the head of the table. It's just how it should all be."
"Oh sweetie," Sam pulled Janet to her again, holding her tight. "It is a real family. Just a slightly unconventional one. There's more to family than blood, you know."
"I do know that, baby," Janet replied. "It's just so great to see everybody getting along, enjoying themselves."
"Thanks to you," Sam reminded her gently. "It's your house and, thank God, it's your food."
"It's our house, Sam," Janet's voice was firm. "Yours and mine. I don't ever want you to leave. I want you to feel this is your house. And if you can't, we'll find a place that you do feel comfortable in."
"I feel comfortable right here, Jan," Sam kissed her very softly on the lips. "It's a great house. I love it. But I'd live in a draughty hut, just so long as I could be with you. You make me so happy, Jan."
At that moment, the coffee machine beeped. "Coffee's ready," Janet said, unnecessarily. "You want to carry it through? I wanna wash my face."
"Okay, sweetheart," Sam said. "You are okay, though, right?"
Janet smiled. "I sure am, Sam," she said, "I don't think I've ever been more okay."
Sam took the coffee through on a tray, and distributed it. She tried to look nonchalant when Janet returned a few minutes later.
"Have you been crying?" Izzie's words were blunt.
Janet smiled. "Yeah," she admitted. "I couldn't help it Izzie; having you all here has made me so happy. It's been a great day."
Izzie smiled gently. "Yes, it has," she said. She reached out and grasped Janet's hand. "Will you sit next to me?" she asked, moving carefully along the couch. Janet smiled again, and sat next to Izzie, who kissed her softly on the cheek. "Will you be my auntie?" Izzie asked. "Sam too?"
Janet's eyes filled with tears again. "We'd be honored, Iz," she whispered.
"Hey," Anna joked, "you can't adopt just one sibling you know, you get the two of us, we come as a package!"
"That's good," Sam said, trying to keep her voice light, though she was filled with emotion. "You're all part of the family now. You too, Cassie, if that's okay?"
Cassie smiled; Sam could see she was struggling to contain her own emotions. "Yeah," she said, her voice cracking. "That's okay. That's more than okay."
Sam moved over toward Cassie. "Room for another?" she asked.
Cassie's face lit up, and she moved along the cushion. "Always," she said, and squeezed Sam's fingers.
= = =
The afternoon passed pleasantly, with much laughter and jokes. Cassie had them all in fits as she told them some of the more outlandish stories of the calls they had had to make as EMTs, and described with much humor some of the more unpleasant patients she had had to deal with.
"What do you do if a patient gets nasty?" Anna asked, intrigued as to how the EMTs kept calm in difficult circumstances.
Cassie grinned. "We make sure to put 'ULN' on the paperwork," she said. Janet snorted with laughter. "You know what that means, I'm sure Janet," she said.
"I sure do," Janet replied. "'Unnecessarily Large Needles,' she explained to the group. "Along with 'RTO' and 'MSTOGAE'."
Cassie laughed.
"Oh you can't leave it like that," Sam demanded. "You know how I need to know what every acronym means."
Janet blew her a kiss. "You can't help being a nerd, Sam," she said jokingly. "'RTO' is Rectal Thermometer Only,' and 'MSTOGAE' is Make Sure This One Gets An Enema'."
The whole group collapsed with laughter.
"We'd better take a look at the paperwork after you were picked up Izzie," Carolyn winked affectionately at her younger daughter.
"Oh no," Cassie said, unable to keep the fondness out of her voice. "Izzie was a model patient. If only all our patients were like that."
"TOAS?" Janet asked.
"Yep," Cassie replied.
"This One's A Sweetie," Janet explained, with a smile. "Not too often doctors see that on the sheet."
Izzie grinned, and then tried to mask a huge yawn.
"You may be a sweetie Izzie, most of the time at least, but it's time you took a nap," Carolyn told her younger daughter. "Come on, I'll help you to your room."
"I can come back later though, can't I?" Izzie hated to leave the gathering.
"Of course you can, in a couple of hours," Janet promised. "But you should sleep for a while. Doctor's orders!"
= = =
After Carolyn and Izzie had disappeared into her room, Cassie cleared her throat. "Actually, I wanted to talk to you," she said to Sam. "That's the other reason I came. There's something I want to ask you and Janet. If that's okay."
"I'll just be in my room," Anna said, wanting to give the three women privacy.
"No," Cassie put her hand out, "stay. It's nothing private. And I want you to hear it too, though I'm not quite sure why."
"Cass?" Sam asked. "Are you okay?"
"Yeah, I'm great," Cassie replied. "There's nothing wrong, I swear. I've just been... thinking. And I wanted to see what you thought of my plans. Well, they're not definite yet. I haven't done anything yet. But I wanted to ask you first." She laughed. "I'm not making a huge hell of a lot of sense, am I?"
Janet smiled. "Not yet," she said, with a laugh in her voice. "What is it you've been thinking about Cassie?"
"I've been thinking of moving on for some time," Cassie told them. "I mean, Bismark's okay, but I've never really felt at home there. I haven't really felt at home anywhere, not since Catherine died. Bismark was fine when I was with Rose; we knew it wasn't really going anywhere, but we got along well for the time we were together. But she was the only reason I went there. Since she left, I've been wondering where to go next. Being an EMT is good that way, I can transfer pretty much anywhere."
Sam took a deep breath; she knew what she wanted Cassie to say next, but she didn't want to put any pressure on the girl, it had to be her own decision. "Go on, Cass," she said gently.
"I was thinking of moving this way," Cassie tried to sound nonchalant. "Montana's beautiful. And I would really like to get to know you and Janet better. I'd like to transfer here, get an apartment nearby. But not if you don't think it's a good idea. I can still come visit you from Bismark. Or I could go somewhere else, Colorado's supposed to be nice. I don't want to do anything that's... weird. Or creepy. I don't want you to feel any obligation toward me. I know I'm not your daughter, not like from the other timeline. But I'd like to be, kinda, like part of your family. In some way."
She looked down at her hands, and realized with some dismay that they were shaking. The next thing she knew, Sam had swept her up in a huge hug. "Oh Cass," Sam said, tears in her eyes, "you don't know how much I was praying you'd say that. In fact, Janet and I have talked about moving midway between here and Bismark, so it would be easier to see you. We can't go too far, because of Kathryn, Janet's mom. But if you move here, that would be just perfect. Wouldn't it, Jan?" She looked up at Janet, and saw how moved her lover was by the scene unfolding before her eyes.
"Yeah," Janet said, with feeling. "It really would. We can be a real family. And you'll visit us, won't you Anna, after you go back?"
Anna nodded. "I certainly will, if that's okay," she said with enthusiasm. "You've all been such good friends to me, to us. Izzie'll want to visit too, I know."
"Well, you're all welcome, any time you can make it," Janet told her.
= = =
"How're you doing Sam?" Janet asked, as they climbed into bed that night, tired but happy. Sam had just taken a quilt and pillows down to Cassie, who was sleeping that night on the couch. "Been a hell of a day, hasn't it?"
Sam turned to Janet, and kissed her softly. "It's been an amazing day, Jan," she told her. "The best I've had in ages. I can't believe Cassie really is moving here."
Janet reached out and took Sam's hand, pressing it to her lips. "I've had an idea about that, honey," she said. "I was going to say something earlier, but I wanted to run it past you first. Cassie's your daughter, Sam," she started.
"Our daughter," Sam replied, firmly.
"Well, she should be living in the same house as us then, shouldn't she? At least to start with. She's trying to save money, and she's moving here to get to know us. What do you say we ask her to move in? For as long as she wants. Would that be too weird for you baby?" Janet peered anxiously at Sam.
Sam swallowed; she had had no idea Janet was going to make such an offer. "I think that would be... amazing," she said. "If that's what Cassie wants. What about you though, sweetie? Are you sure you're okay with this? Are you ready for that sort of commitment?"
"I sure am," Janet told her. "I've always wanted a family. In fact," her eyes glistened with unshed tears, "we were going to start a family. Sam, the Sam from my timeline, and I. We... we had decided that the time was right. In fact, we'd booked to go to the clinic. But she died," Janet sounded so sad that Sam's heart broke for her, "the week before. So it didn't happen. But now," she wiped her eyes, and tried to sound positive, "now we've got a chance at a ready-made daughter. I want to do everything I can to make sure this works."
"It'll work, Jan," Sam embraced her lover. "It'll work. It'll work, because you are an amazing woman. An amazing mom. And I love you."