(Untitled)

[badblood_rising]

Valentine's Day. Weird.

Funny how common stuff to everyone else was now weird in Sam Winchester's book. He'd tried so hard for so many years to make himself normal and it was all for not. Until he arrived on a magical island in the middle of nowhere populated by the dearly departed, fictional characters, spies... people who couldn't be normal

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[off_the_ceiling]

"You look nice," said Jess, looking Sam up and down when he arrived. And she hoped she looked nice too. Not too dressy, not too made up, but in a flowy sundress with her hair loose over her shoulders. This date, it meant something to her, but at the same time she wanted them both to feel completely casual. Completely comfortable. Completely not trying too hard. "For me?"

[badblood_rising]

"Yup," he said, smiling as he offered the flowers to her. "I know you see them everyday, but I thought you might like them." Sour-tempered cupids, the island could do, but a dozen long-stemmed roses? Apparently not.

It didn't provide them with much of a clothes selection either, but Jess looked radiant as always. "You look beautiful," he said. "Absolutely."

[off_the_ceiling]

"You'd probably say that if I was wearing a potato sack," Jess teased him fondly, taking the flowers and breathing deeply. "They don't get any less beautiful just because I see them every day. Just let me do something with them and then we can go. It'll only take a second."

[badblood_rising]

"You'd probably make the potato sack look good," he answered in his own teasing tone.

"I'll wait," he said. "We've got plenty of time." Which was true in a number of weird ways.

[off_the_ceiling]

They didn't exactly keep vases around the place, but a drinking glass, sure, and that was good enough for now. The flowers looked gorgeous in it anyway.

"I'm ready whenever you are," she said, brushing her hair back behind her shoulders with both hands. "So where are we going?"

[badblood_rising]

"I was thinking that butterfly garden," he said, offering Jess his arm. It was funny how many things they were missing here that were made up for with other, random stuff. "Does that sound okay?"

[off_the_ceiling]

"In what crazy universe would a butterfly garden not be an okay place to go?" said Jess brightly, taking his arm and leaning against him for a moment. "I hope it's not too busy. It's that kind of a day, after all."

[badblood_rising]

"I scoped it out earlier," he assured her. "But we can figure something else out if it is."

He did want to spend time alone with Jess, without people they knew swarming all over, he was still a little unsure about being completely alone with her. Not scared, just not sure what would happen any more.

[off_the_ceiling]

"That's my smart boy," she said, and let Sam lead the way even though she knew it perfectly well. It was so nice, just to feel like it was a normal day, going on a normal date. Like she had a little piece of her old life back.

[badblood_rising]

He hadn't been her anything in years. He could have tried to say he was always hers, but he'd had to be honest with himself and let go. A little at first, and then a little more, and it had grown until he felt as though he'd lost large chunks of himself, not just that belonged to her but everything. He'd made decisions and turned corners in his life so that he'd never thought he'd ever be able to go back.

And yet here he was, walking with Jess to their date on Valetine's day. It was nice but surreal in an almost unsettling way. He wasn't supposed to have this. So why did he? But that was the same question Sam had been turning over in his head for months now, and he still had no good answer.

They made it to the butterfly garden with no incident and Sam picked out a nice spot to spread out the blanket. It was... ugly at best, a weirdly colored plaid with hearts stitched in. "Sorry about the, um.." He nodded at the blanket and grinned self-consciously. "And you know I'm no cook so... don't expect anything gourmet."

[off_the_ceiling]

"Sam," she said, "I think I've known you long enough to know exactly what to expect."

And in a way that wasn't true, there was a huge gap in his life, for her, but in the way that was important to her it was. She'd known him before the island and she knew him on the island, and maybe they had some distance to go before things felt right, but Jess still knew him. He was still Sam.

"And I know what to expect of the island, too. No apologies necessary."

[badblood_rising]

Maybe Jess thought that, but Sam wasn't sure. Hell, Sam wasn't sure he knew himself long enough to know what to expect. He'd managed to surprise himself in the worst ways, and only recently.

He shrugged helplessly, a physical sign of acceptance of her assurances, and folded his long legs under him to kneel on the blanket. "Okay," Sam muttered to himself. "We've got sandwiches and fruit.." He started to lay out the spread, which was modest but kept as close to what Jess would have liked. It was a long time ago, but some things Sam could remember like second nature, like knowing Jess was just like riding a bike. It all came back to him if he let it.

[off_the_ceiling]

Jess took an orange and peeled it very slowly while watching Sam and smiling a little and thinking about things. Thinking about a lot of things.

"If this is a date," she said finally, "then I think we should use it as an opportunity to get to know one another."

It might have been silly, given their history, but she thought that Sam would understand where she was going with that, and what she was trying to do.

[badblood_rising]

It was a good thought, and nothing that Sam would have thought of suggesting. It felt like something they should have been past, but at the same time just their speed.

"Um, okay," he said, grabbing himself a banana. "Where do you want to start?"

[off_the_ceiling]

"We don't need to try too hard," she said, kicking her shoes off and giving him a friendly little nudge with her toes. "What's the last book you read? Since I know there's an abundance of those here, at least."

[badblood_rising]

He grinned at her nudge, biting his bottom lip as he thought about her question. The answer that came to him gave him a little shame, but Sam wouldn't just make something up now. Not to Jess.

"Honestly.. the Bible," Sam admitted. "Not in its entirety, obviously. And uh.. this gardening book I picked up. Nothing really exciting."