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She wasn't too surprised that Jack had succumbed to Cassie's softly spoken, puppy-dog-eyed request – especially given Sam herself had already fallen for it. But she was a little concerned about how it might look.
The carnival had made it's way into Colorado Springs and Janet had promised to take her wide-eyed child along. But then Dr. Wallace got sick and her night off became a double shift and a major disappointment for the youngster. Until Sam – and later Jack – had rounded the SGC corridors and saw the upset face of their pseudo-niece and agreed to take her in Janet's stead.
“Sir,” Sam started, spying familiar faces from the SGC amongst the masses of people crammed into the high school playing field.
It was nearing nightfall, enticing twinkling fairy lights and neon signs lighting the dusky, purple sky. “Relax, Carter,” Jack told her, waving a small hello to Siler in the distance. “They know Cassie and the situation.”
She didn't feel a whole lot better about the visual of her and her CO enjoying a moonlight night with a hyper child many would assume was theirs. The flip-flop in her stomach spoke to another emotion about that visual but she tampered that back down as usual.
“Can we go over there?” Cassie's excited voice broke through her reverie. “And then over there? Wow, what's that? Can I eat that? I wanna go over there!”
Jack laughed, “Okay, how about we start at the 'Hook a Duck' and work our way around to the Ferris Wheel?” This was apparently an acceptable plan because Cassie ripped her hands away from them both and ran towards the inflatable duck pond.
“Hey! Don't run off!” They called in unison and made a quick job to catch up.
The glee on the girl's face quickly made Sam forget about her apprehension for the visual. Cassie came away from the duck game with a small bag of candy that was devoured in seconds. Sam remarked she was glad to see live goldfish weren't prizes anymore, while Jack fondly remembered a prize guppy he won as a child.
“How long did it last?”
“We had two glorious hours together. Until I found it floating and cried to my grandma.”
Sam smiled at the image – her stomach doing that unwarranted flip-flop again – and said, “While I'm not sure I like all that sugar bouncing around in her, I am glad it's not a fish.”
“Yeah,” Jack laughed, watching her win yet more candy and jump in excitement. “She's gonna crash. Hard.”
Cassie dragged them around the various games, Jack attempting to dissuade the eleven year old from playing every game and spending all the money in his wallet before they even got to the hotdog vendors.
They rounded the next booth when suddenly Cassie pulled them both by the hand towards the 'Rodeo Gun Sling'. Her eyes were firmly rooted on the giant unicorn grand-prize hanging from the corner of the rickety booth. She could barely say a word as she pointed to it.
“Janet would kill us,” Sam laughed.
“It's as tall as the doc...”
“Please? Pleasepleaseplease?” came Cassandra's excited reply.
The young carnie manning the booth laughed, “Kid, your Dad would need to shoot five,” he held up five calloused fingers, “cans using just six bullets to get you that toy.”
Cassie turned to Jack, obviously knowing the challenge was simple to the Air Force Colonel. “Pleeeeease?”
“Five cans, you say?” he fingered the plastic coated, modified 22 calibre rifle chained to the table.
“That's right, Pops,” the scrawny kid smirked. “Already disappointed three kids today.”
“Pleasepleaseplease?”
“Oh, I don't know,” Jack said, fully prepared and looking forward to putting the kid out of business but the end of the night. “Maybe you should try.”
Sam took the proffered gun, “Me?”
“Sure, give it a go. What have you got to lose?”
“Step on up, Ma'am,” the kid was practically laughing, which riled Sam up exactly the right amount for which Jack was hoping.
“This is heavy,” she mentioned as she held it – incorrectly – in her hands.
Jack pulled Cassie to stand against his legs, his arms crossed over her shoulders. “Get ready some see some stuff, Cass.”
Cassie looked up to his barely contained smirk and couldn't help mirroring it with her own. She was totally getting that unicorn.
“Take your time, miss. Remember, five cans, only six bullets.”
Sam nodded, her blue eyes wide and deceivingly naive. “Okie.” Jack could have sworn there was a slight Minnesota-twang to the word. A small crowd of SGC families had come to watch the ruse.
She took an exaggerated breath, planted her feet firmly and brought the gun up to her shoulder. She repositioned her hands and fired four shots in quick succession, seven cans clattering to the ground. “Oh my!” Sam exclaimed.
The kid looked somewhere between pissed, impressed and scared. Jack was applauding while the small crowd whooped and cheered Sam's name. Cassie ran forward and threw her arms around Sam's waist, rocking her off her centre a little. “We'll take the unicorn, please.”
“You- you hustled me.”
“What's that?” Jack stepped forward.
“You knew she was a good shot,” he complained, his cheeks flushing as the crowd began to filter forward for the apparently easy win.
“She is Captain Samantha Carter of the US Air Force, you better believe she is a good shot.” He took the large stuffed toy and handed it to a squealing Cassie. “Tough break, kid.”
Sam's stomach was flip-flopping again and she didn't care. Though she felt bad at scamming the carnie kid, the pride and amusement shining from Jack's face definitely made up for it. He gave her a pat on the back at they walked to the next booth, his hand smoothing down to rest at the small of her back.
“That was mean,” she grumbled.
“That was awesome.”
She shook her head and couldn't help the chuckle.
A few further booths, and Jack returned from a delightful port-a-potty experience to find Sam and Cassandra had moved on to a game a few over. He took the opportunity to hang back a bit and watch the interaction between the two. Sam was obviously explaining the scientific trajectory path of the hoop and how to land it on the bottle neck to get a prize, all with a giant unicorn tucked under her arm. The kid was rapt with attention and nodding along.
Cassie's first attempt at a throw was a near miss and Jack could see the sudden disappointment flash before her young eyes, before Sam instigated a hi-5 and praised her good job. She was good with kids; he could see her with a couple of angelic little trouble-makers spouting big words and big books under tiny arms.
Cassie dropped one of the hoops and Sam bent to retrieve it from the grassy mud. He found himself suddenly mesmerised by tight blue jeans moulding perfectly to a taut, round ass. He told himself to look away, to stop staring at his 2IC, but damn if he didn't appreciate the view.
“Sir, fancy your chances?” Sam asked, offering the fallen hoop.
He was pretty sure he had managed to avert his gaze before she looked to him because something told him he would have been mopping up a bloody nose had she caught him. “Cassie seems to be doing good.”
Sam smiled and passed the hoop to Cassie who tossed it in a perfect hoop around a bottle right in the centre. “Yes! Great job! You won!”
“Nice, Cass!”
“I won!” she hugged Sam tightly.
It was another hour before Cassie started to feel tired and just a little bit poorly. An hour of them trying to tell her that they couldn't take her to see real unicorns and what other animals and stories were myths on Earth. Even though her eyes were heavily lidded and dark, and her arms lagging at her side, she demanded they go on the ferris wheel as promised.
Jack paid the guy and the three squeezed onto the small carriage. Knowing the swaying of the carriage could go either one of two ways, Jack and Sam exchanged happy glances when Cassie fell asleep on Jack's shoulder rather than throw-up over the side.
He spread his arm over the back of the seat so Cassie could nestle in comfortably to his side while she still grasped Sam's hand.
“I think she's had a good day,” Sam smiled, stroking her hand over the child's hair, while ambulance sirens blared far below.
“I haven't seen a kid that excited in a long time,” he replied, peering down to her sleepy face. Sam knew to not mention the look of sadness and nostalgia that briefly flitted over his features. When he looked up, he noticed Sam looking out to the distance. “You okay? Feeling sick too?”
“No,” she flashed him a weak smile, “I'm fine.” She quickly looked away from his dark eyes and moonlit skin. He followed her gaze to the Cheyenne Mountain Complex and knew what was going through her mind; it was going through his too. His thumb drew a light shape across her back and he saw her shoulders heave a sigh.
–
They pulled up outside Janet's home and Sam tried to rouse a still-sleeping Cassie out of the back seat. Jack ushered to the side and reached in, threading his arms under the child's arms and knees and pulled her from the truck.
Sam shut the door before him, tucked the unicorn under her arm and followed Jack to the opening front door.
“I think this is yours,” Jack announced to Janet's shocked face.
“Looks like it,” she stepped to the side and gestured the way to Cassie's bedroom. Jack carefully laid the child down, trying to hide the wince as his knees twinged at the action. Janet removed her muddy shoes and got her into her pyjamas with the kid barely registering the jostling.
“This is hers,” Sam passed the giant unicorn which, to Jack's amusement, came up to Janet's neck.
Janet sighed, “I'm going to ignore that smirk there, Colonel.”
“Yes, Doc.”
Janet arranged the toy at the bottom of the bed and gestured for them to meet in the hall. “Has she been good?”
“As gold,” Sam smiled. “She's a great kid.”
“Heck of an arm on her,” Jack added.
“You want a drink?”
Both declined with thanks and headed for the door. Janet thanked them for taking Cassie and they bade goodnight, Sam climbing back into Jack's truck for the ride home. It was a silent ride, just the tinny music of the radio filtering into the cab.
He pulled to a stop outside her home and turned off the engine. “I think the kid had a good day.”
Sam nodded and smiled, having enjoyed the night more than she had imagined she might. “Yeah. Me too.”
“What's not to love? Candy, hot dogs, more candy. Good company.”
Sam gave a contented sigh, “Yes, sir. Good night.”
“Night, Carter.” He watched her leave the truck and enter her home, waiting for a light to turn on before he drove away.