The Vacation 
by John O'Connor
Disclaimer:  Stargate SG-1 and its characters are the
property of Stargate (II) Productions, Showtime/Viacom,
 MGM/UA, Double Secret Productions, and Gekko 
Productions. This story is for entertainment purposes
only and no money exchanged hands. No copyright
 infringement is intended. The original characters,
situations, and story are the property of the author.
Rating:  PG-13 to R.
Part 5
"Damn! I hate windmills!" Sam yelled as the striped
golf ball bounced off one of the miniature windmill
blades and back towards her.
Janet and Cassie both laughed, Cassie saying, "I
thought you were going to kick my butt?"
"Cassie!" Janet snarled warningly. "Watch your
language."
Sam lined up her fourth shot and got between the
slowly rotating blades toward the cup. "Finally!" Sam
said.
"C'mon Sam, the sun sets in another five hours," Janet
teased.
Sam turned her body to block Cassie and casually
flipped Janet the proverbial bird. Janet laughed and
said, "You have definitely spent too much time with
Jack O'Neill and company."
Cassie, inquisitive as usual, asked, "What?"
Both women said, "Nothing."
Sam finally sank her ball and all three cheered,
drawing side glances from other players.
"Okay, Sam, that's six for you, and three for mom and
three for me. Let's see..." Cassie scanned the score
card as Sam teed up on the nest hole. "You are losing
by ten points! Wow!"
"Don't give up your day job. The LPGA isn't ready for
you yet," Janet chimed in.
Sam stuck her tongue out and studied the hole. It was
a straight shot to the cup with three humps in the
middle. She hit her ball. It went up the first slope
and rolled back to the tee.
"Damnit!" the blonde woman yelled.
Now heads were definitely turned towards the threesome
and Sam started to turn red in embarrasment. "How many
more holes are there?" she asked.
"Why Sam? Getting frustrated?" Janet asked.
Before Sam could respond, Cassie interrupted to tell
Sam, "There are only two holes left. Then I kin whup
ya at th' arcayade!"
Sam was having a wonderful time even though she wasn't
letting it show. She was admittedly a little
embarrassed that Cassie, who had never played before,
was beating her at miniature golf. Sam hoped she could
hold her own in the arcade.
Janet could only smile at the interplay between her
companions. They all got along so well it was a joy to
be with them. She purposely shied her thoughts away
from the the situation she found herself in the
previous night as she was drifting off.
Unfortunately, the harder she tried to ignore it, the
more it intruded on her thoughts. She finally managed
to damp down the memory of being in Sam's arms and the
fact that it felt so good, so right. She even managed
to forget the dream of the two of them laying in bed
in each other's arms, convincing herself it was caused
by the situation.
Sam was also trying to ignore the situation she found
herself in as she woke up. She was on her side and a
sleeping Janet was pressed up against her
spoon-fashion. That alone was sufficient to bring Sam
wide awake but then she realized that Janet was gently
grasping one of her breasts.
While Sam decided she would've been quite happy to lay
there in Janet's embrace, she was worried about the
reaction of her friend if Janet woke up holding
another woman's breast.
Being careful not to wake Janet, Sam lifted Janet's
arm and slid out from under her embrace. As Janet
mumbled something in her sleep, Sam looked at her
worriedly, fearing she'd awakened her friend. Janet
rolled on her other side and was quiet again.
The day, as Sam discovered when she awoke, was cloudy
and cool. She knew from watching the Weather Channel
the night before that a cold front had moved through,
dropping temperatures into the 70s. While not cold to
people from the mountainous area of southern Colorado,
it was still too cool to swim.
As Sam made coffee, Janet and Cassie both woke up and
came into the living room at the same time. "Oh damn!
It's rainy!" Cass complained.
Sam nodded and said, "Yeah, I'm afraid so, Short
Stuff."
"I'm not short!" Cassie replied. "So, what can we do
today?"
"How 'bout miniature golf?" Sam offered. "And then
maybe the arcade or the go-carts."
Cassie looked at her mom as Janet poured herself
coffee. Janet nodded and said, "That sounds fine but I
want to go to the store first and get some provisions
for breakfast and lunch."
Sam noticed that, as on previous mornings, Janet
wouldn't make eye contact right away. She was unaware
that she was avoiding Janet's looks as well.
After a quick breakfast of Cap'n Crunch for Sam and
Cassie and Grape Nuts for Janet, Janet went to shower
and dress. Sam was going to follow after. Cassie
decided she had plenty of time since she wasn't going
to the store.
Later, as Sam stepped into her sandals, Janet asked,
"Are you sure you don't want to come with us,
sweetie?"
"Yeah, I'll be okay," Cassie said as she flipped
channels. "Hey! 'Ferris Bueller' is on!"
Janet rolled her eyes, saying, "Great. An instruction
video on how to skip school." To Cassie, she added,
"Don't get any ideas for next semester, young lady."
"Yes ma'am," Cassie acknowledged.
When the women returned with several bags of
groceries, Cassie jumped up and came into the kitchen.
"Hey, Sam, we gotta go to Chicago! It's really cool!
They have parades and stuff. We can go to baseball
games."
Sam smiled and said, "It might not be like that
anymore.  That movie is pretty old now. Remember
'Godzilla?' The scientist Nick Tata-whatever? That's
the star of this movie."
"No way! Really? Well, why can't we go anyway?"
Sam looked at Janet questioningly. Janet gave her a
small grin and addressed Cassie, "Well, we'll have to
see. This vacation is going to have to hold us for
this year, though. Maybe next year."
Cassie looked disappointed and Sam added, "Hey, you'll
see. The time will go by like that." Sam snapped her
fingers. "And this way I can pump Jack about the best
spots in town."
"Alright," Cassie said in a way to show that it wasn't
alright but that she knew she couldn't win against two
grownups.
"Cassie, I have something that'll make you a little
happier. I can make pancakes for breakfast tomorrow,"
Janet said.
Cassie brightened up and said, "That's awesome!" Then
she looked out at the nearly empty beach and asked,
"Before we go play golf, can I run down to the turtle
nest and see how they're doing?"
Janet told her it was fine but to be back soon, as
they were going to have lunch before they left.
After lunch, during which Cassie gave them a rundown
on activity at the nest (none), they drove to the
amusement center to try to have fun during the gloomy
afternoon.
Cassie jumping up and down yelling, "I won! I won!"
brought Sam back to the present. The tall woman tried
to look petulant but couldn't help smiling at the
obvious joy on Cassie's face.
"Gee, Sam," the teenager teasingly said, "I think I
won by, let's see...12 strokes!"
"Cassie, don't pick on a person just because they're
not as good as you at sports," Janet added with a
smirk.
"Hey! No fair ganging up on me!" Sam protested.
"Anyway, I'll smoke you guys on the go-carts."
They turned in their putters and went over to the
small oval track. There were eight carts racing around
the course as they got to the gate. They had to wait
for four people ahead of them before they got a chance
at racing each other, and anyone else on the track.
Near the gate, a few spectators stood watching the
racers. Most were friends or family to people on the
track, some were deciding whether to try the carts,
and some were just biding their time watching the
action.
Sam noticed three young males standing by the gate
watching. They were in their late teens and all had
extremely short, sun-bleached hair. They were wearing
torn, faded jeans, dirty t-shirts, and denim jackets
with the sleeves ripped off. She was getting a bad
vibe from them but tried to ignore it. As they passed
by at each lap, the three yelled out catcalls at them.
Cassie was too involved with driving to pay any
attention. Janet made eye contact with Sam to indicate
that she saw them as well.
At the end of ten laps, Sam managed to pass Cassie on
the inside and beat her and her mom in their impromtu
race. Cassie, of course, had to protest.
"You passed on the inside! You can't pass on the
right!" the young girl argued.
"Maybe not on a two lane road, but in racing..." Sam
countered. "Look at any Nascar or Indy race."
Cassie thought about it for a minute, realizing there
was a lot more to this new world for her to learn. She
had only heard about auto racing but now the "interest
bug" had been planted and she wanted to know more.
"Sam, can you tell me about racing?" Cassie asked.
Sam, happy now that she had been left little choice
but to watch the Daytona 500 and the Indianapolis 500
earlier in the year while they were on-duty in the
Mountain, agreed, "Sure, later. Let's go check out the
games."
As they entered the Arcade, one of the watchers said,
"You're fast, little lady. Are you loose too?"
Sam glared at the three as they laughed. The apparent
leader just stared back with a leering expression.
"C'mon, let's go inside," Sam said, gently pushing
Cassie ahead of her.
The three women began to play various video games.
Janet was happy to see "regular" pinball machines and
immediately headed for them.
Sam's mind wasn't on the game she was playing with
Cass as she kept an eye on the three punks as they
wandered into the arcade.
They stood together, making no move to play any game.
They just stared at Sam and Cassie.
"Hey, kiddo, I gotta get some more tokens. Just stay
here and I'll be right back, okay?" Sam firmly placed
her hand on Cassie's shoulder as the girl nodded,
engrossed in the game.
Sam walked over to the token machine and turned her
back on Cassie for a moment. When she turned back, the
punks were right behind Cass! Sam walked back over
just as the lead punk grabbed Cassie's arm.
"Hey, sweet stuff! How 'bout we ditch the two old
bitches and go party?" the creep was leaning very
close to Cass as she squirmed and leaned away from
him.
"Let me go, you creep! Just leave me alone!" Cassie
protested.
Sam walked up and casually said, "Let her go."
The lead punk turned and, without releasing Cassie,
challenged Sam, "Who's going to make me? You?"
He turned to his friends laughing when Sam grabbed his
free arm at the wrist. Twisting it back and applying
pressure to his wrist bones, she hissed, "Let her go
or I will grind these bones to powder!"
Janet had seen the confrontation and crossed the
crowded room quickly, concerned for her daughter and
her friend. As she neared them, she heard Sam's
warning and also could hear the sound of bones being
ground together. As she got near the group, she saw
the punk on her right reach inside his torn jacket.
"Sam! Look out!"
As Janet lunged forward to grab the creep's gun hand,
the punk was pulled back when a baseball bat was
thrust across his throat and jerked back. The punk
pulled his hand out holding a small revolver aimed
towards Sam. The bat was pulled back again and the
punk choked, lowering the gun.
The wielder of the bat, a tall, muscular Hispanic,
snarled in the punk's ear, punctuating each phrase
with a jerk of the bat. "You come inta my place" "You
carry a piece in my place" "You threaten and harrass
my customers" "Well, I'm fuckin' sick of it" "No
more!" The gun dropped to the floor. "Nobody touch
that!"
"You! Don't ya fuckin' move!" he said to the third
punk standing there stunned by the turn of events. The
owner yelled over his shoulder, "Julius, call the
cops. I want these fucks arrested!"
The teen Sam was gripping snarled, "My daddy's the
sheriff! He won't stand for this!"
"Julius, call the sheriff's office too," the owner
yelled. "Then call the newspaper." To the first punk,
"Junior, yer daddy is a fuckin' Klan pig! You're a
fuckin' Klan piglet! We ain't puttin' up with this
shit no more!"
As he finished, people in the arcade began to clap.
The third punk used the distraction to move towards
the door and freedom. Janet quickly kicked him in the
crotch. As the punk doubled over she said, "He told
you not to move. What part of that don't you
understand?"
Junior started to twist his body, trying to ease the
painful grip on his wrist. Sam whispered, "Don't," and
applied more pressure. His knees began to buckle as
sirens were heard.
The local Destin police took the three away and got
statements from the witnesses. As the three were
cuffed and led to a squad car, a sheriff's car pulled
up and a man in a khaki uniform got out.  Overweight
and in his 40s, it was obvious this was Junior's
daddy.
"What th' hell are you doin' ta muh boy?" he bellowed.
The officer in charge calmly replied, "He's being
arrested for assault and sexual harrassment among
other things, Sheriff."
"Wha' kinda bullshit is that?" the sheriff yelled.
The owner of the arcade, Ramon Guiterrez, walked up to
him and said, "No bullshit! Not anymore! We're fed up
with you and your white trash doin' whatever you want
to in this town just 'cause you were elected sheriff.
It's time fer justice and that's all we want."
The squad car pulled away with the three teenage punks
cuffed in the back seat as the sheriff, John Wayne
Carlson Sr., ranted and raved about all the bullshit
he was hearing.
Cassie was watching everything with great interest and
little apparent fear. Sam and Janet watched the
sheriff with worried eyes. They flanked Cassie and
each had an arm around her shoulders protectively.
Ramon, after thanking the city cops, turned back to
his arcade and walked up to the women. "I'm sorry you
were bothered by that white trash. But I have ta admit
I'm impressed by how you handled yourselves."
"Well, when you're in the Air Force, you get some
special training," Sam replied. She didn't bother to
add that she had more practical experience than most
Air Force personel. "Are these guys really a big
problem?"
Ramon nodded, "Yeah, they've been a real pain to all
the businesses around, 'specially the ones what cater
to younger people. Those three have been gettin' away
with eveything they do 'cause Junior's dad is
sheriff." Ramon paused before adding, "The only reason
that cracker is sheriff is 'cause nobody really
bothered ta vote and his Klan buddies got him elected.
I'm hopin' this'll lead to his gettin' booted out."
Janet nodded sympathetically, "We have some real
extreme types in Colorado too. Regular survivalist
mountain man types. Fortunately they almost never run
for office." She looked up and saw the sheriff walking
towards them slowly and whispered, "Get ready. I think
we're about to get the riot act read to us."
"Afternoon, Ramon. Ladies. I wanted ta 'pologize for
muhself and muh boy. He sometimes gets a little too
rambunctious, ya know. He's just a teenager and ya
know how boys are." Carlson stood and tried to look
meek. It didn't look believable.
Sam responded first, "Look, Sheriff, my friends and I
didn't come here looking for trouble, just to enjoy
ourselves. Well, we were until trouble came to us. I
did not like, and will not stand for, the way your son
talked to Cassandra here. She's not an object for
their amusement, she's a person."
Janet went Sam one better and, going up on her toes,
got right in the sheriff's face, "Yes, my daughter has
the right to enjoy herself without being ridiculed or
harrassed. If she gets out of line, she knows she's
going to be punished. What about your son? Have you
ever bothered to punish him? Or do you condone his
behavior?" When Carlson didn't answer right away,
Janet leaned into him and said, "Well? Do you have
anything to say or yourself?"
Sam and Cassie stared in admiration as Janet got right
into the sheriff's face, even though he towered almost
eight inches over her and outweighed the young doctor
by well over one hundred pounds.
Ramon stepped in quickly and said, "Now, ma'am, just
relax. Junior's not getting away with anything." This
was said more to Carlson than to Janet.
Carlson blinked and said, "Don't go askin' fer
trouble, Guiterrez. Ya won't like it when ya find it."
"The only trouble is from you and your red-neck
cronies. The merchants and business men here rely on
tourists for a livin' and we don't want anythin' to
ruin that includin' some cracker sheriff and his idiot
son. There's a resolution with the County Board
callin' for you to be kicked out and with this little
to-do, that should slide through real well." Ramon
smiled and added, "I don't think there's anythin' more
to be said, Carlson." He led the women back into the
arcade and away from the baleful glare of the county
sheriff.
"Wow!" Cassie laughed. "You guys are real hard-asses!"
"Cassie..." Janet warned, but she couldn't help but
smile. It was kind of nice to know her daughter
thought she could be a hard ass.
"Ladies, again I'm sorry this happened to ya. The only
way ta make it up ta ya'll is free passes, I guess.
They're good any time." Ramon snapped his fingers
towards the boy behind the counter and was handed a
stack of coupons. He handed these to Janet with a
smile. Janet thanked him as did Cassie.
Sam asked, "Are you going to be okay? The sheriff
looks like a mean SOB."
"Nah, he won't try anythin'. If he did, he'd be outta
here on a rail, County Board or no County Board. And
he won't make trouble for you, either is my guess,"
Ramon said. "But if you see Junior, Caleb, or Marsh
around, call the cops, the Destin cops. They ain't too
fond of our sheriff either." Ramon snickered. "You are
one tough little mama," Ramon added admiringly to
Janet.
"Who's little?" Janet chuckled, trying not to swell
too much with pride. Sam, Janet, and Cassie said
goodbye and Cassie promised to come back to use the
passes.
On the drive back to the condo, Sam said, "After
Larry, Daryl and Daryl, I can use a drink!"
Janet agreed, "Yeah, that actually sounds like a very
good idea. I can still feel the adrenaline."
Cassie had a huge grin and said, "You guys were
awesome! Mom, you really nailed that one creep right
where he lives."
"Cassie!" Janet said.
"She's right. He won't be walking right for a week,"
Sam concurred.
Janet just smiled and said, "The benefit of a medical
education; I know the most sensitive areas."
They made a quick stop at an overpriced liquor store
before returning to the condo and Sam bought a 12-pack
as well as a bottle of white wine.
When they got upstairs, Janet said, "I'll get the
drinks after I use the powder room. Shall we sit on
the balcony?"
Sam and Cassie sat down outside and Sam said, "You
know, before we met you, when Hathor was being such a
bitch, you're mom was pretty hard-ass then too."
Cassie replied, "Yeah? Cool. Sam, I just want to tell
you thanks for that back there. I wasn't scared, at
least not with you and Mom there, but I wasn't sure
what to do. You saved my bacon."
"Too many war movies," Sam said, shaking her head.
Sam sat silently for a moment, then added, "Cass, I
never want anything to happen to you. I'll never
forget when I threatened you when I had Jolinar inside
me. I'm still so sorry for that."
Cassie put her hand on Sam's and said, "It wasn't you.
 You didn't do anything. I know you will never hurt
me."
"Thank you, sweetie. Anyway, back when Jolinar was
killed, you helped me out more than you know. I don't
think I ever really thanked you for that." Sam looked
at Cassie to see her blush.
"That's alright. Sam, can I ask you something?" Sam
nodded and Cassie continued "Do you love me?"
"How can you ask that? Of course I love you! You're
the most important person in my life!" Sam leaned over
and hugged Cass.
Cassie smiled and asked, "Do you love Mom?"
Sam looked at her and said, "Of course, she's one of
my best friends."
"No, Sam, do you love her? Really love her?"
Sam was at a loss for words when a shout came from
down below.
"Cassie! Cassie!"
Cass jumped up and looked down over the railing,
"What?" She listened and yelled down, "Really? I'll be
right down!
"Sam, I gotta go. The turtles are hatching!" And
Cassie was into the condo and on the way out the door
with a quick "Hi, Mom!"
Janet walked onto the balcony with two beers and a
Coke to find Sam completely lost in thought. "Hey.
What's got you so entranced?"
Sam blinked and looked at Janet, finally saying, "Oh,
uh, it's nothing." But her mind was racing. Did she
love Janet? She had admitted to herself that she was
attracted to her but did she love the doctor?
Sam wasn't aware of it, but Janet had heard the
conversation between Sam and Cassie and had waited
inside the sliding doors so as not to interrupt the
two. When Cassie asked Sam if she loved Janet, Janet
felt her heart race and she was suddenly nervous, more
than she had been at the arcade. Cassie charging
through the condo broke the spell and Janet knew she
had to walk onto the balcony.
Her seemingly innocuous question was actually a veiled
attempt to learn the answer to Cassie's question. What
Janet didn't know was what answer she wanted to hear.
 (c) John O'Conner
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