room 216 ; saturday afternoon

[necroslacker]

A weekend spent in here and now was a good weekend as far as Sam was concerned. He hadn't even existed last weekend so, slow or not, this weekend was gonna be a good one. He'd spent the morning talking to people in Seattle and he'd even gotten a visit from Ashley. She'd been pretty scarce lately and when Sam had asked about it, she'd just given her head a shake and kept typing on her Blackberry.

Sam took that as meaning she'd just been busy and he needed to not worry. Or something. So, that's what he was doing right now. He was not worrying about anything. He'd gotten mail from his mom and Haley that morning (a care package containing cookies) and he was nibbling on those every so often while exchanging text messages with Ramon.

Poor Ramon was still adjusting to the whole were-bear thing and was bitching about Frank nearly peeing himself when he'd run into a transformed Ramon in the hall and hadn't expected it. Sam was just lucky that Brannoc and his family were around and were helping Ramon through since he wasn't really there right now.

Ramon forgave him and even started sending him stupid, joking text messages about them getting married and running away and living as husband and husband. It was just good to joke with his friend and, for a split second, the part of Sam that was constantly reminding him that he'd go evil one day disappeared.

It was just a second but still, it'd been nice.

[Door cracked, post open.]

Comments

[whenshewasnice]

Which was... most of the time, really. He must've liked the challenge.

Natalie, not bothered by the silence, finished her lukewarm chocolate and brushed hair away from her face. "So, you've bounced back okay from not existing?"

[necroslacker]

"Yeah." He shrugged and looked down at his hands. "I don't even think it's the worst thing to ever happen to me."

[whenshewasnice]

"Well, I suppose... torture or a painful near-death experience could be worse than just not existing."

And she wasn't even trying to insinuate one of those might've been the worst that had happened to him – although the state of his back could've pointed to that.

"But then it's more of a thing that affects everyone else rather than the person it happens to."

[necroslacker]

Sam nodded though his thoughts went elsewhere for a few moments while she talked. He almost didn't hear the last bit of her statement, in fact.

"I'm glad to be back," he said though the statement might not have really fit there. "That's a given."

[whenshewasnice]

Natalie quirked one of her eyebrows just a bit. "Of course," she agreed, mildly. As was a given, though the reason was maybe a little different. "Nothing else would make sense."

[necroslacker]

"Yeah," Sam said, getting to his feet and wandering over to his desk while his thoughts continued whirring. He hated when they did that. "And even if I don't make a lot of sense, I gotta make sense about this."

[whenshewasnice]

That eyebrow stayed up, and Natalie took her turn to fall silent. Watching him and wondering what was going on in his head.

He was not an easy read, either.

[necroslacker]

There was always a lot going on in his head. Sometimes, he really hated that. Right now, he was just slightly irritated with the fact that he'd turned onto this path again.

He shook his head and turned around. "What?" It was hard to keep that question to himself when she was watching him like that.

[whenshewasnice]

"I'm just wondering what you're thinking about now," Natalie replied honestly. "That's all."

It was plenty, really.

[necroslacker]

"Just...stuff." He shrugged and didn't elaborate because it was stuff that she was new to and he didn't want to run her off. "It happens."

[whenshewasnice]

"Mmhmm." What else could she really say? She wasn't sure it was the right time to prod him for anything more. Wasn't sure if she really wanted to know anything more right now. "I know."

[necroslacker]

Sam gave another one shouldered shrug before crossing his arms. "Yeah, guess you do. I bet everyone does. No one's immune to thinking. Guess the common cold has competition in things we can't cure."

Or something. It wasn't his best sarcastic reply.

[whenshewasnice]

It was not.

"I can go, if you want," Natalie offered without a particular tone to her voice. "Leave you alone with your thoughts."

[necroslacker]

"I never said I wanted you to go anywhere," Sam pointed out, shrugging. "I dunno, I'm just not sure what to do right now. You don't really seem to want to talk about anything but your coffee."

Or maybe that was how it seemed when it came to inflections and tone and things like that. His thoughts hadn't prevented him from hearing those.

[whenshewasnice]

"Hot chocolate," Natalie corrected him, evenly. Not that it mattered. "I'm not sure what I'm supposed to say to that."

Apart from maybe responding with defensiveness.

[necroslacker]

"I don't know." He shrugged because he wasn't sure what she should say either. "Do you wanna leave?"

[whenshewasnice]

"Not particularly." Again with the honesty. She even shook her head, just barely, just once. "No."

[necroslacker]

"So, what makes you think I want you to go leave?" Sam wondered curiously. "I give you that impression?"

[whenshewasnice]

"I offered you the choice," Natalie pointed out, watching him. "In case you wanted it. In case. I never said I thought you did."

[necroslacker]

"Yeah, I know but why even offer me the choice?" Sam asked. "Had to be something that made you wanna offer since you weren't offering a few minutes ago."

[whenshewasnice]

"It was the polite thing to do," Natalie drawled. "You seemed busy with your thoughts, I thought you might want space. Should I make a note to refrain from being polite in the future?"

[necroslacker]

"Should I make a note of immediately sending you away in the future?" Sam countered because he could.

[whenshewasnice]

Natalie shook her head. "That doesn't even make sense."

[necroslacker]

"Yeah well, what else is new?" Sam asked, shaking his head. "I just meant that thinking doesn't mean you've gotta immediately run away and when I get a little distant, that doesn't mean I want you to go either."

[whenshewasnice]

"I wasn't running away," Natalie pointed out. "Offering space doesn't mean running away. But glad we got that settled out."

Or something.