THROUGH THE YEARS
Summary: This is my take on what might have been if Sam and Jack met when they were young. Sam/Jack AU (of course).
Disclaimer: Stargate is not mine. I make no money from it.
a/n: I have messed with ages, dates and the general timeline in order to make them fit in this story. "My AU philosophy: Anything goes!" So, if this bothers you, then don't read it. But, having said that, the story follows much of the Stargate universe, so even for an AU, it is very easy to follow and relate to the show.
Rated T for later chapters
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Chapter One: First Meeting
September 1982
Jack O'Neill came down the stairs of his parents' new house looking for his two younger brothers. He had been home from the Air Force Academy for two days and was eager to get out and do something fun. Robby and Sean were sitting in the front room looking completely bored.
"Hey, how 'bout we go down to the arena. I heard they have open-skating?" Jack asked his two brothers.
"Uh, maybe later, Jack. We're actually busy right now," Robby, his 17-year old brother said.
"Busy? You guys are staring off into space."
"We're waiting," Jack's 16 year old brother, Sean, told him.
"Waiting for what?" Jack asked, starting to get annoyed.
"For Kelly's tutor," Sean answered him.
Jack looked at the boys like they were crazy. "Why are you waiting on Kelly's tutor?"
"Because they both have crushes on her," Kelly, Jack's youngest sister, said, walking into the room.
"Oh, come on! Both of you have crushes on Kelly's tutor?" Jack teased, grinning widely at his brothers.
"Yeah, run your mouth now, Jack. Wait 'til you see her," Robby told his older brother.
"Rob, don't you have a girlfriend?" Jack asked.
"Yeah, so? I'm just looking. Sam's way out of my league anyway," Robby retorted.
"Really, why?" Jack asked, enjoying this new insight of his brothers' love interests.
"Because, Sam's way too smart for him," his 13-year old sister replied, grinning.
Jack raised his eyebrows at his brother. "Robby, I thought you were on the honor roll?"
"I am. But, Sam's only a junior and she's in three of my classes. Plus, she takes college courses at Wright University. She's like a math genius," Robby answered.
"So, when does she get here?" Jack asked, curiosity about the girl getting to him.
"She comes home from practice with Lizzie," Kelly announced.
"What? She's a cheerleader too?"
"No. She's in track. They both end at the same time so Lizzie and Sam always walk home together. Sam only lives three houses down," Kelly told him.
"Okay, then." Jack laughed and sat down on the couch, awaiting the arrival of the infamous tutor.
A few minutes later, Jack heard the front door open. Hopping up off the couch, Jack walked quickly to the door. "Oh, hey, mom," Jack said after seeing his mom come in the front door.
"Hi, Jack. Here, help me with these groceries. I had a meeting with one of my teachers and still had to stop at the grocery store," his mom announced, handing him a grocery bag. Jack's mom had been a high school English teacher in Minnesota for years. When his dad was offered a promotion two years ago if he moved to Dayton, Ohio to run one of his company's plants, Jack's mom applied for a teaching position at the local high school. Instead, the high school offered her the Principal position. She eagerly accepted, and Jack thought she truly deserved it.
Jack's mom grabbed the rest of the grocery bags and moved on to the kitchen. Seeing her other two boys hanging out in the house, she sighed. "There isn't going to be very many nice days left before winter gets here, you two should be outside."
"We will, mom, shortly," Sean replied, not lifting his head from the TV that had captured his attention.
Maggie O'Neill looked at her sons for a few seconds. "It's already Thursday!" she stated in an incredulous tone. Jack looked at his mom with a confused expression. Seeing his look, she responded. "They never leave the house on Thursday."
"Kelly's tutor?" Jack asked his mom, grinning slightly.
"Ah, so they already told you about her?"
Jack smiled at his mom as two teenaged girls made their way into the house.
"Hi, Mom!" Sean's twin sister said, walking into the kitchen.
"Hello, Mrs. O'Neill,"a very attractive girl with long blonde hair and bright blue eyes said, standing next to Liz.
"Hi, Lizzie. Hi, Samantha," Maggie responded to the girls. Jack just stood and stared at the beautiful girl in the kitchen. She was tall and looked much older than a junior in high school. He was struck dumb the second he laid eyes on the girl. Something that had never happened to him before. His mom noticed the way her oldest son was looking at Sam and decided to break the spell. "Samantha, have you met my oldest son, Jack. He's home for the next two weeks from the Air Force Academy."
"Hi. It's nice to meet you. I've heard a lot about you," Sam said, smiling at Jack.
"Uh, really? Uh, I've heard a little about you, too," he stuttered out to her, still mesmerized as he gazed into her eyes. 'What the heck was this girl doing to him!'
"Really?" Sam asked, surprised.
Jack smiled at her, starting to get back some of his control. "Oh, yes! Apparently you have quite a fan club here!" he told her while motioning towards the front room where Robby and Sean were.
Jack watched her as Sam dipped her head while her cheeks changed to a nice shade of pink. 'Wow!' he thought to himself. 'She looks even more gorgeous when she's embarrassed!'
"Sam, Sam! I got an A on my math test!" Kelly yelled, running into the kitchen.
"Oh, that's great, Kelly!" Sam exclaimed, turning her attention from the Air Force cadet to the rambunctious 13 year old. "Are you ready to practice those Algebra equations?"
"Yeah, I have the books set out on the dining room table," Kelly told her, leading her into the other room.
Jack looked over at his mom after the girls left the kitchen. "Kelly's doing Algebra?"
"Yeah. Isn't it amazing? Last year she was struggling in basic math. But, since Sam started tutoring her, she's been surpassing all the other kids in her class. Her teacher wants to take her out of her eighth grade math class and put her up into Algebra. Sam's been helping her with Algebra to give her a head-start before she makes the move."
"Wow! She must be one heck of a tutor," Jack said to his mom while taking a bite out of the apple he had picked up.
"She's the smartest kid in school. She could have graduated a year ago if she would have wanted to," Maggie told him, nonchalantly.
This peaked Jack's interest. "Why didn't she?"
"She went through a couple bad years. Her mother died when she was 14 from a tragic car accident. She and her older brother rebelled. They blamed their dad for the accident. He's an Air Force Colonel. He's stationed at Wright-Patterson. I've told him all about my Air Force cadet," Maggie said, smiling, proudly at her son.
"Sheesh, mom! And I thought you were embarrassing when you were my English teacher!"
"Oh, you had it easy! Your poor brothers and sister have to deal with me as their principal," his mom laughed.
Jack's mom walked to the door of the kitchen and yelled into the dining room. "Samantha, would you like to stay for dinner?"
Jack could hear Lizzie talking Sam into it. "Come on, Sam! Your dad isn't going to be home until tomorrow. Stay!"
"Um, I really don't want to intrude," Sam said, looking up at Mrs. O'Neill in the doorway.
"Honey, you're practically family. We all love having you around. I don't want you to ever feel like you're intruding," Maggie lectured the young girl.
"Uh, well, okay then. I was just going to heat up a TV dinner at my place anyways," Sam replied, smiling at Mrs. O'Neill.
"Oh, child! A TV dinner! That is no way to eat! I should talk to your dad. Tell him you are more than welcome to eat here whenever he is out of town," Maggie scolded as she walked back to the kitchen to start dinner.
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All through dinner, Jack had an incredibly hard time keeping his eyes off Sam. Every few seconds, he would realize he was, once again, staring at her. He would shift his eyes to his food, to his family members, even to the ceiling, trying to keep his eyes off her. But, somehow, they kept getting drawn back to her beautiful face. 'Get a hold of yourself, O'Neill!' He would mentally lecture himself. 'She's only 16! For Christ's sake! You're 6 years older than her! For crying out loud! She's your brothers' age!'
"So, Jack," Jack's dad broke through his mental berating. "Samantha is planning on attending the Air Force Academy, too."
"Really?" Jack asked, his gaze, again, settling on the pretty blonde.
Sam's cheeks blushed as Jack looked at her. "Uh, yes, actually. I want to work for NASA someday," She said, looking at Jack.
"Really?" Jack said again. "Well, from what I hear, you're definitely smart enough," he complimented her, causing her cheeks to redden more.
"Sam's dad took her on a tour of NASA before they moved here," Lizzie put in.
"Wow! I would like to see that!" Jack exclaimed, his eyes still glued to Sam.
Sam looked up into Jack's eyes and smiled a sweet, soft smile that made Jack's heart skip a beat. "It was great," she said to him in a soft voice while smiling.
"I bet," he replied, in an equally soft voice, keeping eye contact and smiling warmly at Sam.
Jack's mom and dad shared a knowing glance with each other while watching the exchange between Jack and Sam.
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After dinner, Sam helped clean up with Lizzie and Kelly. Jack paced the house a few times and finally gave in and entered the kitchen. "Hey, Liz, what happened to my radio I gave you?" Jack asked, the only excuse he could come up with for entering the kitchen.
"Oh, it's up in my room. I'll go get it. Here, take over for me," she said, moving away from the sink where she was washing dishes.
Jack moved over to the sink and stood next to Sam who was rinsing the dishes. Before it registered in his head what he was doing, he gently nudged Sam with his side and smiled down at her.
Sam smiled at Jack and her cheeks blushed again. Then, setting her shyness aside, she pushed her side into his in a playful manner.
"Oh, no you didn't!" Jack exclaimed, picking up a handful of bubbles and launching them at Sam.
Sam laughed at the assault and ran her hands under the cold water and then rubbed them on the back of Jack's neck.
"Aaah! Ok! Ok! Truce!" Jack yelped while cold water ran down the inside of his collar. "Dang, girl! You know how to battle," he exclaimed, smiling warmly at Sam.
"What did you expect? I'm an Air Force brat," she told him, pushing into his side again.
Kelly, who was sitting on the counter drying and putting the dishes away, groaned. "Oh, no! Not you too, Jack!"
"What?" Jack asked, laughing.
Kelly nodded towards Sam as she looked at her oldest brother and raised her eyebrows.
Sam's face blushed, yet again. In fact, so did Jack's that time.
Lizzie walked back into the kitchen and immediately noticed how close her oldest brother was standing next to her best friend. Lizzie plugged the radio in and Michael Jackson's "Thriller" came over the airwaves.
"Oh, God!" Jack groaned over the song.
"What? I like this song," Sam said to him.
"Me too," Lizzie said and turned the radio up a little more.
Jack looked over at Kelly, who was grinning at her big brother. He went back to washing the dishes, something Lizzie wasn't about to complain about.
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Shortly after the kitchen was clean, Sam headed home. Jack sat in the living room with his family. They chatted happily with each other as the night wore on. Then, Jack, who couldn't get Sam out of his head, made the mistake of teasing his brothers about her. "So, you two sure no how to drool over a girl," Jack joked, laughing at his younger brothers.
"Oh, you have a lot of room to talk, Jack. You were drooling quite a bit yourself there," Sean announced.
"What?" Jack shrieked, completely denying his brother's accusation.
"Jack. It was quite obvious. You were staring at her all night," Liz added.
"What? I was not!" he shrieked again.
"So, what are you saying, Jack? You don't think Sam's pretty?" Robby asked his brother, teasingly.
"Huh? Well, yeah, she's pretty. I'm not denying that. But I wasn't drooling over her," Jack defended.
"You two were flirting in the kitchen," Kelly announced to everyone in the room.
Everyone's attention was now on Jack.
"We weren't flirting!" Jack yelped.
"Jack. You did the dishes. When was the last time you voluntarily did the dishes?" Liz asked him.
Jack was speechless. His parents exchanged knowing smiles with each other. "Kids, stop teasing Jack. He only has a short amount of time with us. If he and Sam like each other, there's nothing wrong with that," Jack's dad told his children.
Jack's siblings muffled their laughter.
"I don't like her!" Jack exclaimed. "She's too young for me!"
"Honey, age doesn't matter. Your dad and I are eight years apart," Maggie told her son.
"I know, mom, but, I'm 22 and she's 16."
"Love is ageless, son," she lectured, smiling at her son.
"Ok, let's change the subject now," Jack whined.
"I think she likes you, too," Lizzie announced.
"What? Why do you think that?" Jack's head shot up and turned towards his sister.
"She's never that shy. Every time you looked at her she blushed. Plus, I saw the way she was flirting with you in the kitchen. I think she definitely has a crush on you."
Jack tried to hold in his smile, but it broke through anyways. "Ok, let's change the subject, now. Dad, didn't you say MASH was on tonight?"
"Ah, yes. It's coming on right now," His dad replied, his attention turning back to the television.
As the show started, Jack was happy that the conversation was dropped.
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