the hay adams ; sunday morning

[necroslacker]

Sam hadn't been lying when he told Natalie that he hadn't planned on really leaving the hotel room at all during his weekend with her. Sure, they'd gone to dinner in the restaurant but otherwise, they'd stayed stuffed in the room, just the two of them. And why not when it was such a nice room with a view of a church. Sometimes, the money that he'd inherited came in handy.

Sam had woken up fairly early after getting a few hours of sleep. He'd slid on a tattered flannel (he owned many) and left it unbuttoned and paired that with a pair of soft pants before getting to work on ordering some room service. His stomach was growling and the food here was good.

While he waited for that, he did pour himself some coffee and wandered over to enjoy the view. It was pretty sweet.

[NFB and for the girl there with him]

Comments

[whenshewasnice]

"Why are you out of bed?" Natalie complained. Yes, from the bed, rubbing a hand over her eyes because she'd just now woken up, covers all tangled up around her.

[necroslacker]

"Hey, sleepyhead," Sam said, turning to smile at her. "I ordered some breakfast and thought I'd have some coffee."

He wandered back closer to the bed and knelt down beside her, offering the cup of coffee to her. "Morning, Natalie."

[whenshewasnice]

"Morning, Samhain," Natalie replied, slowly making the effort to get herself to a more sitting position before reaching for the coffee. "It's Sunday."

[necroslacker]

"It is," he said, reaching over and brushing his hand over her hair. He let her take the coffee and smiled over at her. "It's hot, don't drink it too hot."

[whenshewasnice]

"I know how to deal with coffee, Sam," she said with mild mock indignation, cradling the cup with both hands. "I'm not that sleepy."

[necroslacker]

"Well, you did just wake up," he said, standing up and snickering. "I just wanted to make sure you weren't going to have an early morning accident with your caffeine."

[whenshewasnice]

"Mmhmm." She took a careful little sip. Mm, coffee. Sometimes it was necessary. Especially when you'd just woken up and your head was a mess, anyway. "I think I can handle it."

[necroslacker]

"I have all the faith in the world in you," Sam joked, leaning down and pressing a kiss against her hair. "You sleep okay?"

[whenshewasnice]

"Just fine. The usual." She tended to sleep better with him, lately. A little bit. Sigh. "Hotel beds are usually comfier than the dorms ones."

[necroslacker]

"They are, yeah," Sam agreed, sitting down on the edge of her bed and smiling lopsidedly at her. "I got us some pancakes and some pastries for breakfast. Hope that's all right."

[whenshewasnice]

"It's okay." She probably would've said that to just about anything, though. She wasn't feeling too picky about her breakfast right now. "What time's checkout?"

[necroslacker]

"Later this afternoon but I don't have to go back to Seattle till tonight," he told her. "Frank and Ramon are holding down the fort. If nothing's been set on fire when I get back, I'll be amazed though."

[whenshewasnice]

"You're still going to have to go to Seattle, though." It wasn't a question, because she knew he did. And even if he'd stuck around until Monday it would have just been delaying the inevitable.

Back to everyday life.

She took another sip of coffee.

[necroslacker]

"And you have to go back to the island and we can make plans to see each other sometime this week or next weekend," Sam suggested. "I'll call you and I'll text you whenever I've got a free moment. Promise."

[whenshewasnice]

"Mm." Pause, and more coffee. She looked down at the cup, wrinkling her nose just a little bit. "I just wish we didn't have to."

[necroslacker]

"I know. Neither do I." He shrugged and gave her a sympathetic look. "The distance sucks but we just gotta make due. We're all right."

Little did he know.

[whenshewasnice]

Yeah. Natalie chewed on the inside of her lower lip, because she knew she had to say something about that, and she really didn't want to.

Her voice got just a little quieter.

"I wish I could be as sure as you are."

[necroslacker]

"What?" Sam asked, frowning and glancing down at her. "...you're not sure we're all right?"

[whenshewasnice]

Natalie looked up at him, even though she didn't really want to do that, either. "I'm not sure I am."

[necroslacker]

He was still frowning. But that was all right now.

"Okay." This was unexpected to say the least. "Why aren't you sure you're all right?"

[whenshewasnice]

"I'm just finding it harder to deal with the distance and the... need to plan, and everything."

She glanced down again, kind of obviously reluctant to talk about it. But she figured he did deserve to know where she stood. Where they stood.

"Being with you is great. It's the parts in between that suck."

[necroslacker]

Sam stood up and wrung his hands together, a nervous habit if there ever was one. He didn't venture too far away but he did pace a little.

"So...what?" he finally said, sounding unsure. "The distance sucks. I agree but it's a necessary evil when I wanna be with you. Which I do. Being with you, knowing that you love me, that trumps the distance for me. It doesn't for you?"

[whenshewasnice]

Natalie's gaze snapped back up, though her voice stayed soft and on the quiet side. "Putting it like that is unfair."

Because she'd been worried that bringing this up was going to make it look like she just didn't love him as much, or enough.

"It's just harder for me."

[necroslacker]

"I'm sorry but you're going to have to give me some leeway on what's unfair and what's not right now," Sam told her. "Why's been it harder? Why haven't you been talking to me about that?"

[whenshewasnice]

"Because when I'm actually around you, it goes away." It had been doing that, anyway. It was getting harder to forget, though, which was why she was saying this in the first place. "And... I guess I haven't wanted to ruin things whenever I get to see you. Like right now."