seattle ; friday ft

[necroslacker]

A few weeks later, Sam was back in Olympic Park, hiking with new escorts. Ramon was spending some much-needed time with his family. He’d been easing into visits with them since his accident. When Sam told him he felt bad that Ramon had to miss out on family time because of him, Ramon had shrugged and reminded Sam that it could have been much worse

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[whenshewasnice]

It was a new year, and things had been weird back in Seattle the last time Natalie had had any kind of an interaction with Sam.

Yeah, she was checking in with a call. Seemed like the time for it.

[necroslacker]

Fresh off getting his tattoos, Sam had made it back home and was now back on his front porch, resting. His ribs were still aching and his chest was sore too so he was just going to take it easy.

When his phone rang, he picked it up and glanced at the caller ID. The phone got pushed to his ear carefully. "Hello?"

[whenshewasnice]

"Hey," Natalie said. "It's me." She could no longer remember a time when saying that didn't come automatically. Like a warning. "Just checking in."

[necroslacker]

"I know it's you," Sam said, almost laughing. "I checked my caller ID this time."

He was quiet for a second or two, though. "Checking in, huh?"

[whenshewasnice]

'Almost laughing'. That was a new one. Well, not really. She just hadn't heard it from him in a while.

Still unfamiliar enough that there was a longer pause than what was maybe natural. But then she was always pretty measured with her words. "Yeah. Things didn't sound so great, last time we talked."

[necroslacker]

"Can't even remember when that was," Sam admitted, shrugging a shoulder. "A lot's happened in a short amount of time."

[whenshewasnice]

"It was after your birthday." Although she only remembered because that had been the main topic. Or, her birthday gift for him. "How are things now?"

[necroslacker]

"Dunno."

It was hard to commit to an emotion because he was afraid it would change and everything would turn on its head again.

"Douglas is dead. Again."

[whenshewasnice]

"That --"

Actually, wait, what?

"I didn't know he was not-dead at some point. Was he behind everything?"

[necroslacker]

"Mmm."

Sam paused for a second to shift, unable to sit for too long and not ache. His ribs creaked in protest. Sam made a quiet sound and then settled down.

"He had help but yes. I killed him. For good."

Unless he somehow got past Ed, Douglas was gone.

[whenshewasnice]

"Okay."

She'd gotten rusty at responding to these things. There was death all around in the world she was living in right now, as Bean delighted in pointing out, but it was far away. It was statistics.

So, she wasn't sure what else to say to that.

[necroslacker]

"Wow, that's quite the response," Sam said, sarcasm filtering in. "Just forget I said that, Natalie. Just don't worry about it."

He sighed and rubbed his ribs lightly.

[whenshewasnice]

"Sorry." That was sincere, if mild. She sighed. "My supernatural YA interaction skills have fallen out of use. Takes a second to adjust. Is everyone okay? Or at least okay enough under whatever the circumtances may be."

[necroslacker]

"I guess."

Sam sounded a little less sincere with that statement. Maybe he'd climbed further back behind his shields after his revelation had been met with a one word response. Her explanation was sound, it was, but still.

"Sure."

[whenshewasnice]

"I'm sorry, okay?"

Maybe she was rusty, but she could still spot doors closing between them when it happened. And she hadn't grown to like it any more than she ever had.

"I didn't mean it like that. But you killed someone who was supposed to be dead to begin with. It's a lot to take in, even when I have zero empathy for Douglas."

[necroslacker]

"I told you, a lot's happened," Sam told her, shrugging a shoulder. "Too long a story to get into."

Yeah, he was still trying to close the door there. Sorry, Natalie.

"Things are fine."