Der Waffle Haus, morning

[desertaliengirl]

It couldn't be a tradition if they'd only done it once before, but Isabel supposed it could be the start of one. She hadn't seen Anders, Sam, and damn hard to remember that, since before she'd gotten stuck dreamwalking. Somehow, given the dream of his that she'd wandered through, she had a feeling they had a lot to talk about

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[beenthroughthat]

You'd think Sam had been stuck in a fugue state or something for all he'd hardly left the house at all in over a week thanks, RL suckage. Well, he'd certainly been out of it, that was for sure. Stupid World Series induced emo. Snapping out of it, finally, he . . . wanted bacon. Yes, in mass quantities again.

Looked like he was going to get company along with the bacon today.

"Hey, you," he said hoarsely as he slid into the booth across from her.

[desertaliengirl]

"Hey yourself," Isabel smiled. "How are you?"

She resisted the urge to reach across and thwap him for hiding for the last few days.

[beenthroughthat]

Sam gave her a half smile; maybe if she'd thwapped him it would've been a full-blown one. "Breathing, healthy, all the basics, y'know."

[desertaliengirl]

"You mean emoing, hiding and generally being a dork?" she sighed, rolling her eyes in fond exasperation. "It's a good thing I love you, otherwise I'd think you didn't want to talk to me or something."

[beenthroughthat]

"Of course it's not that," Sam objected. "It's just . . . October."

[desertaliengirl]

"Of course. I should have realized."

She'd have to give him that.

Isabel waited till the waitress had taken their orders and poured their coffees before speaking again.

"So it was an interesting week last week. This place is as weird as Fandom was."

[beenthroughthat]

"Was it?" Sam looked genuinely surprised, blinking at her with still slightly unfocused eyes. "I didn't even notice."

He was lying. Or at least downplaying his own agitation a lot.

[desertaliengirl]

"Liar, liar, pants on fire," she sing-songed, reaching for his hand.

But then, more quietly, "Do you really think it matters to me?"

[beenthroughthat]

"Matters to me," Sam mumbled; he didn't pull his hand away, but he didn't look up either.

[desertaliengirl]

Like she'd let him pull his hand away.

"Why?" Isabel asked, her voice low and soft. "It doesn't change who you are."

[beenthroughthat]

He had no intention of pulling that hand away, but he raised the other one and stared at it. "That's the part that throws me so much, you know? Still, you gotta admit, one way or another it was a hell of a bombshell."

[desertaliengirl]

"I can see where it would rock the worldview just a bit," she nodded. "How'd you find out?"

[beenthroughthat]

"Combination of things," Sam admitted. He picked up a strip of bacon from his plate and absentmindedly started shredding it into tiny pieces. "All the weirdness about the dope testing that got me kicked off the team, for one. Cranky doctor at the clinic told me once a normal human would've died from the blood loss I took when Cole was . . . not himself and tried to kill me."

It probably said something about Sam that the only acknowledgment he gave that making that statement was kind of dysfunctional was a brief hesitation.

"There was a thing, once, with an electromagnetic pulse, and I blanked out," he continued, starting on a second piece of bacon.

[[OMG NFBkthx.]]

[desertaliengirl]

"Cole tried to kill you..." Isabel started, then shook her head, that was a story for another time. "You tried to tell me before, when you talked about the blood work. I didn't realize. I'm sorry."

"I guess it makes sense that a pulse would cause you problems. I'm just glad it wasn't permanent."

[beenthroughthat]

"You and me both," Sam agreed. He stared down at the shredded bacon, then sighed and started popping the pieces into his mouth five or six at a time. "You remember how I used to say that the longer I stayed on Earth, the less everything back home seemed real to me?"

[desertaliengirl]

She nodded, breakfast forgotten as she listened. "I do."