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]

"You better be," Natalie replied, masking that very real wish in trademark mildness. She did not need him disappearing again. "I don't bother with people who keep vanishing."

[necroslacker]

"Yeah, don't worry, I'd rather not up and disappear again. It's never really all that fun. You never disappear and end up in that candy room from that movie about the chocolate factory."

He'd wanted that to happen to him as a kid. It never did.

"So yeah. Don't worry."

[whenshewasnice]

"The place we ended up in in the Special Collections was a little like that," Natalie shared, since... she'd actually talked about that with the guy in the red pajamas. "The Depp version. With the giant toadstools and a gingerbread house in the vicinity."

[necroslacker]

"Really?" He was almost sad to have missed that. "Sounds like a halfway decent place to take shelter, I guess. Better than some accommodations I've had in the past."

[whenshewasnice]

"I guess it would've been okay on a good day," Natalie said, shrugging. "Now it was just like the library was mocking us."

Well, it had felt like that to her, anyway.

[necroslacker]

"Yeah, I get that," Sam said and trailed off. "Sorry. Wasn't trying to make light of it or anything."

[whenshewasnice]

"At least the place gave us tents," Natalie added, leaning further back on her hands and glancing up at the ceiling. "It redeemed itself with that, somewhat."

[necroslacker]

"Mmm." Sam was just gonna take her word for it. He nodded and fell quiet, letting some less intrusive thoughts gain his focus for a bit. He glanced over at her briefly before turning his attention back to the room at large.

[whenshewasnice]

Natalie ended up leaning so far she was eventually flat on her back on the bed. That worked as well as anything, she supposed.

A moment later, she held a hand out for him.

[necroslacker]

Sam didn't immediately see her hand but he did eventually glance down and he did take her hand though he wasn't sure where he was supposed to go from there.

He figured she'd do something to let him know what to do.

[whenshewasnice]

She tended to be utterly helpful like that, didn't she?

This time, she gave his hand a little tug. And, look, even some words! "Come here."

[necroslacker]

"Where am I coming?" Sam asked, letting himself slide backwards until he was flat on his back, next to her. Hopefully that was where he was supposed to be.

[whenshewasnice]

It was good enough. Sort of lazily – as much as anything she did could be called lazy – Natalie rolled onto her side which brought her pretty close to him.

That was kind of the point.

[necroslacker]

"Hello," Sam said once she'd settled closer to him. A smile flickered briefly on his face and he tucked one of his arms under his head. "Whatcha doing?"

[whenshewasnice]

"Nothing much." She brought her hand up to brush a few fingertips against his cheek. "Trying to act a little less like strangers in a dentist's waiting room."

[necroslacker]

"Mmm. Sorry," Sam apologized, eyes fluttering shut at the light touch. "Guess I'm not great at being a boyfriend. I haven't had much practice."

And she was...challenging to date. He liked the challenge but it was definitely a challenge.

[whenshewasnice]

Natalie smiled. Sucked to be him to have closed his eyes, but he hadn't actually said that one word before and apparently hearing it made her smile.

"I'm not the greatest girlfriend," she admitted while still touching him. She was aware that she was not the easiest girl to date. After all, that was mostly her conscious doing. "Sorry."

Well, he'd said sorry first.

[necroslacker]

"No, you're an awful girlfriend," he said though it was clear from his tone he wasn't at all serious. "You should take some classes in that."

See, he wasn't serious at all.

"With time, I bet you'll be okay at the whole girlfriend thing."

[whenshewasnice]

"Maybe." Natalie wasn't entirely sure but she didn't tend to put too much effort into worrying over that. She ran a fingertip down his forehead and the bridge of his nose. "You will be, too."

[necroslacker]

"Mmm. I dunno about me," he murmured quietly, keeping his still. "I'm pretty sure I'm just hopelessly lame all around."

[whenshewasnice]

"No." She shook her head, as her fingertip passed over his lips – or was going to, anyway, before taking a detour to trace them. "No, I think you're boyfriend material."

Good, considering he was her boyfriend.

[necroslacker]

"Not a thing you hear said about necromancers very often," he said, just barely getting the words out since her fingers were close to his lips and he was staying still.

[whenshewasnice]

"I'm not saying it about necromancers," Natalie retorted. Her fingertip trailed over one corner of his mouth and down to his chin. "You're much more than just a necromancer, Sam."

[necroslacker]

"Mmm." Well, it was nice that someone believed that. He tended to think pessimistically about these things and was stubborn about believing bad things about his power.

[whenshewasnice]

Natalie rolled her eyes at that 'mmm' because she knew it stood for scepticism.

And then she leaned in to softly kiss him, because she felt like it.