from town to room 216 ; sunday afternoon

[necroslacker]

When Sam blinked back into existence, his phone was still at his feet and he was right where he'd been when he'd disappeared. The...time of day seemed different but it was like he'd just stopped where he was.

"Holy -- " His words died and he picked his phone up. The battery was still half full (just like it had been when he'd left) and the last number dialed still showed up at Natalie's. Oh man, he'd left her a voicemail right as he'd been -- taken.

That...yeah. That wasn't even going to be something he thought about because he was going to (hopefully) have to deal with a lecture. He'd listen to the lecture as long as people were still there.

Sam started making his way back towards the dorms, hoping the dorms were still there and that she was still there. He didn't feel any worse for wear which, he suspected, was a good thing.

Still. He needed to get back to the dorms and he needed to make sure the world hadn't ended and he was now about to start living like those people from that one show where there zombies and everyone was sweating.

He couldn't do that even if he got a cool hat. Not a chance.

[For that one girl and set right around this post, of course]

Comments

[whenshewasnice]

... Well, Natalie was just going to sob against his chest in an entirely stoic and dignified manner, then.

Or something.

She didn't know. She'd slept maybe seven-ish hours in the last three nights combined, and there'd been a lot of fighting and hiding and running around during the days.

[necroslacker]

Sam had not expected her to start crying. Before this, he hadn't even known if she could cry but now that she was, he found himself reacting instinctively. He held her tighter and rubbed her back and kissed her hair and let her cry.

[whenshewasnice]

Natalie was pretty sure she hadn't cried in at least five years, or something like that. It wasn't something she did. She had better control over herself than that. And maybe later she'd distance herself from the whole thing to look at it as a lesson in pushing herself too hard.

But not right now. Right now, she was just sobbing harshly.

[necroslacker]

"You're okay, you're okay," Sam murmured, still rubbing her back and holding her as tightly as he dared. "I'm sorry. I'm sorry."

He himself was a little shaken by her completely breaking down. It was evident that she needed it but still. It was enough to shake him.

[whenshewasnice]

To be fair, Natalie was trying to pull herself together. Quite desperately, in fact. Trying to breathe deeper, trying to find some words to maybe rationalize why she was unraveling so badly.

But what came out, all strangled and teary, was, "There were toadstools in the library."

... She kind of wanted to smack herself for that one.

[necroslacker]

The statement made Sam laugh a little and he brushed his hand down the back of her hair, fingers tangling up in the strands a bit.

"Sounds interesting," he murmured, still holding her and swaying them both back and forth while he was at it. "When you're up to it, you can tell me about what went on."

[whenshewasnice]

Natalie gave a ragged sigh. She wanted to be up to it now.

But her body wasn't cooperating. It just wanted the comfort she'd been denying herself for days.

[GOOD NIGHT!]

[necroslacker]

"I know." He could tell she wanted it to be done with even without sensing it because of what he was. He didn't need those right now. "You're getting it out though. Needs to come out now or it'll eat you alive. Shush."

[NIGHT!]

[whenshewasnice]

Natalie would've been fine with it eating her alive, honestly. She disliked this. Really a lot. And what was weird about that was that this was actually relief pouring out of her.

She buried her face against the side of his neck and tried to get a grip on herself.

[necroslacker]

"It's okay," he said again, stroking a hand down her back and keeping her close to him. "It's okay. You'll be all right when you're all right. Don't rush it."

[whenshewasnice]

Natalie just kind of wanted to sink to the floor again, but she wasn't going to. She was quiet for a long time, though, but at least her voice wasn't quite as broken once she spoke again.

"These three days have been crap."

[necroslacker]

"I'm sorry," he said again, still holding onto her. "They're over now, though. We can both put them in the past and just move on. It's over. You guys, you did whatever you had to do to get things right."

The next thing he said was quieter and his lips were closer to her ear. "Thanks for remembering me."

[whenshewasnice]

Natalie shuddered a little at those words, and curled her hands into his shirt.

"That," she choked out, "was the easy part."

[necroslacker]

"It might have been easy but it made a world of difference to me," he told her and sighed himself, closing his eyes. "You wanna talk about the other stuff or do you wanna do something else?"

[whenshewasnice]

"We had to fight them." Guess that answered that question. "The Auditors. So we did. But it wasn't enough. The forcefield failed."

[necroslacker]

"I didn't even know there was a forcefield," Sam admitted, still rubbing her back. "You fought them? When one of them even got near me, things started distorting and one touch sent me...nowhere."

[whenshewasnice]

"They turned more human," Natalie explained quietly. Subdued. "Although they turned into dust when they died." She paused, then added, "You could kill them with chocolate."

[necroslacker]

"Guess I just ran into one at a bad time," Sam said, moving to rest his lips near the top of her forehead. "You did a good job, you know. It's past time for you to relax. Been a long few days for you."

[whenshewasnice]

"No kidding," she sighed. She was tired enough to be open about that. "I don't want to see the library again for a while."

[necroslacker]

"Anything I can do?" Sam asked her quietly. "Anything you need?"

[whenshewasnice]

"I need to sleep." The library floor, Special Collections or otherwise, had not been kind to her. "I'm staying over. You don't get a say in that because you were dumb."

Ha.

[necroslacker]

Amused, Sam kissed her hair before pulling back and giving her a lopsided smile. "I'm gonna dispute the dumb part but I want you to stay over. I dunno if I'll sleep but I'll definitely be here for you. Promise."

He still didn't think he'd been dumb but he wasn't gonna make her leave.

[whenshewasnice]

Natalie did not require outside validation for her opinions, anyway, so he could keep his own, as incorrect as she thought it was. She untangled her hands from his shirt and wiped the back of her hand across her eyes, still a little red.

"Good," she said.

[necroslacker]

"Good," Sam agreed, reaching to smudge his thumb under her eye. "So, get in bed, sleepyhead."

He was still as lame as ever.

[whenshewasnice]

He really, really was. And that was about all Natalie wanted right now.

She cracked the tiniest little tired smile, turning her head a bit to catch more of his hand against her cheek. Then she moved past him to go and climb on his bed.