2012-10-17 Catching Up

Sam hadn't really taken into account the whole marking papers thing when he agreed to become a teacher. At this point, it feels like teaching is harder on him by far than it is on the kids. He's slunk out to The Grindstone because his thoughts are so incredibly uncharitable that he's afraid of darkening the mood for Jean and the Professor.
Of course, now that he's at the coffee shop, he's ignoring the papers in favour of his other nemesis--his massive volume on firefighting techniques. He's not nearly smart enough for all this, but he's trying. He gives up and gets to his feet, tugging his T-shirt down to meet his jeans... again. He's got to go shopping for some new clothes. There's another thing he's bad at. But. Eating chocolate cookies and drinking coffee? He can do that like a boss.
Shan had no intention of coming back to Westchester so soon, but here she was. She was still trying to regain her balance after the last few months -- seeing Leong and Nga again had helped, but they were off at class now -- and she found herself returning to happier memories to help the process along.
Shan is not a very /powerful/ telepath, but she doesn't need to be to feel the dark raincloud lurking inside the Grindstone. It feels /just familiar enough/ that she can't help slipping in through the front door and casting a curious, hopeful look around. Her eyes actually go past Sam twice before she figures it out. She doesn't even bother stopping for a drink first, just crosses the room to stand near his table with a broad, innocent smile.
Sam has just sprawled out again--damn it, he does not remember taking up this much room before--and is about to see if he should take two bites or one of these cookies when he realizes that someone is standing near him. Person. Female. Not immediately familiar. Please do not be one of those people who inexplicably wants to do things like bat their lashes at him and poke his biceps... waaaitaminute. Blink.
"Shan?"
"Sam. I /thought/ that was you," Shan says happily, and no, she doesn't even ask before leaning over to catch his shoulders in a tight hug. Deal with it. "How long have you been back in town?"
"Few months." Sam hugs her back. "Just before school started up. Can I get you a coffee?" He gestures for her to take a seat across from him and then stands up. ALL the way up. "Just tell me what you'd like." He's genuinely happy to see her, he's missed familiar friendly faces lately--smiling ones, that is.
Shan takes a step back to let Sam up and can't help but laugh. "I forgot how /tall/ you are, good grief. Hot chocolate sounds good, actually, or something that vaguely resembles it," she beams, dutifully claiming the other chair at the table for herself. "Thank you."
"Yeah, and apparently I need to stop eating or it'll get worse." Sam gives Shan a wry grin as he heads off to get her something chocolate. Hot chocolate with whipped cream is on the menu here, that should do the trick. Sam returns with that and some more cookies, slides into his seat. "Here you go. So what are you doing back here?"
Whipped cream? Bless his heart. Shan perks and accepts the mug with a beaming smile. "I don't know about that, Sam. You're tall, but you mostly... well. You fill it out better," she says impishly, bringing her drink up for a careful sip to see how hot it is. "You used to be a lot skinnier."
Of course, the question makes Shan's expression flicker a little. With anyone else, she might try to hide it. With Sam? She lets herself look a bit fatigued. "I needed some familiar. The last couple of months have been... less than fun." UNDERSTATEMENT. "But the twins are fine, I'm fine now, it's just... balance. I need my balance back."
"I can understand that. I'm sorry things have been rough." If Shan wants to say more, she will. Sam's juggling, but he isn't so sure how his balance would be if he stopped. He takes a drink of coffee, a bite of cookie before continuing. "I'm... all over the place, really. Teaching at the school, the usual there as well, got some other stuff on the side. Wish I was back at my old job a lot of the time. Balance feels a little mythical some days. Are you going to stay up at the house or are you just passing through?"
"Just passing through right now. We've got a place in the city," Shan notes, and absently, she wonders how the /hell/ the twins have kept up with the rent while she was... elsewhere. Hnnngh. Later. More chocolate will solve this. "What was your old job?"
"Aside from 'raise kids'? Forestry during fire season, fire department the rest of the time. Sometimes at the same time. In whatever time I had between that, the kids, and school, I picked up other jobs. Pa's bills added up to a lot, but we got Ma clear of most of 'em." Sam crosses his arms over his chest and leans back in his chair, trying to relax his shoulders. "It was good. Crazy, but good."
Shan whistles lowly. "That explains a lot. It does sound like the kind of work that would suit you," she smiles, leaning forward to prop her chin up in a hand. "I'm glad you and the family are doing well. I should have stayed in touch better," she says thoughtfully. It isn't self-admonishment or anything like that, just a simple observation. "You just seemed so much like you needed... space. So I wanted to respect that."
"Losin' Doug like that right after Pa died gave me a turn," Sam admits. "I think going home was good for me. Let me do some good for people every day, the small stuff. I needed to do something and sitting in a classroom or training, that's not my something. I don't want to be any kind of hero, like I did back then... there was that moment when I thought it would be like that. And it wasn't." He shrugs. Things don't usually work out the way you thought they were when you were a kid.
"I think it gave us all a turn," Shan admits quietly, reaching across the table to lightly pat his hand. "Going home /was/ good for you. Graduating and moving on to college, that was good for me. I think we both came out the other side pretty well, considering."
"I hope you're right--I feel like you are. I'm kind of glad to know you're not settlin' in back at the school. Means I'll see you more. Haven't really mentioned it to them, waiting for a break in the year, but I'm best off elsewhere." Sam shakes his head slowly and gives Shan a little smile. "I love the school, the kids, but... I'm used to bein' the man of the house. I can't live under another man's roof. That sound arrogant or anything? I worry it does."
Shan does look surprised, right up until Sam explains. Then she laughs. "No, no, that makes sense," she promises him, shaking her head. "It's... we grew up there. We were just kids. It would be hard for me to live there now without feeling like I wasn't trying hard enough to make it on my own," she admits, glancing towards the window. "Not that I won't /visit/. But it stopped being my school and my home a long time ago."
"You know, when I left home the second time, when Ma kicked me out for my own good, she sent me back to the school. Took me a while to work out why it didn't sit right with me, being there. There were a few reasons." Sam laughs and reaches for his coffee again. "But it's only lately I realize that I'm not just being stubborn or ungrateful, it's just... I grew up. I can play teacher there but it's not what I do. I'm kind of bad at it. Not the teaching, but..." He points at the quizzes he needs to grade. "If I wanted to teach, I think I'd feel differently. But I want to work. So. I have another place to stay. Bit of a fixer-upper, but it'll do fine. It's the way I know life."
"I'm glad you have somewhere to go. Is it... well." Shan smiles wryly, raising an eyebrow. "Is it a bit like the school, or a little... sleepier?" she asks, casting a brief, sidelong look to the rest of the shop. She is a telepath, but she's not nearly as skillful as someone like Jean or the Professor, so she can't just make people stop eavesdropping. She could ask in his mind, of course, but... rude.
"Sleepier?" Sam laughs at that, really laughs for a good while, and shakes his head. "It's... busy. Makes the school look like Sunday School. But I love it. And it's not so much different. It's not just me there. So it's good."
As soon as he starts laughing, Shan grins wide. Well, there's her answer. "Good. You deserve a good place to be," she says decisively, lightly kicking his shoe under the table. "And /do not let me leave here/ without giving you my number and address. You can come see the twins. They missed having you and the others around."
"I'd love to see them. I know how it feels, missing your friends. I... it'll be harder to leave than I make it out, I admit." Sam sobers up and bites his lip for a moment. "I don't know how Bobby will take it. But I can't stay in a place I don't feel right. That's all there is to it."
"Bobby?" Too many Bobbys in this world. Shan's gotta ask. She smiles at Sam over her mug regardless, adding, "If he's your friend, he'll understand. Just talk to him about it, make sure he knows why you need to go."
"You remember the annoying kid who was all about the snow and ice," Sam says, tilting his head at her curiously. "Less... no, he's probably just not annoying to *me*, I think. He's still Bobby. Same as always." Sam thinks about what she said and nods. "It's just nice that we're pretty much in each others' laps all the time, with our rooms right next to each other. Laps. Beds." Sam waggles his hand. A little of both. "But he's a good guy. We'll manage."
Shan's face alights with recognition. "Oh, that Bobby! He was always nice. Perpetually twelve years old, but nice," she muses innocently, bringing her drink up to finish it. The rest of what Sam's said sinks in and her brow slowly furrows. Hey. Waaaaait a minute.
"Well. Acting perpetually twelve, yeah. That hasn't changed. Snowball fights in summer and all that." Sam smiles affectionately. "I think that's what I like about him, it's so easy for him to have fun. I forget how sometimes, but then he reminds me."
"Kick me in the shin if I am off-base," Shan says slowly, lowering her mug. "But it sounds a lot like you're going out with him." This is, to her, a serious topic. It would probably come across better without the whipped cream on her nose.
"Oh, right. yes." Sam totally forgot that was something one ought to say or announce or whatever. "For a while now. He asked me out near the end of summer. I think it's been good. I didn't have time to date at home, I kind of missed all that. But it's been nice. Comfortable in the non-boring way."
"/Get out/. I had no idea." Shan is trying not to laugh. Really, she is. It's bubbling up in her throat and she's having a hard time stopping it. "That's great!"
"Had no idea what?" Sam is baffled. What is there to have ideas about?
So much for not laughing. Shan cracks up and slumps back in her chair, bringing a hand up to wipe her eyes. Oh, lord. She did miss Sam. "That you were anything other than completely straight," she explains between helpless giggles. "Or... or disinterested. It just. It never came up."
"Oh. I never thought about it," Sam admits. "Guess 'cause I never had any real preference either way, I never gave it thought. And I was so busy. When he asked me out, I thought of all the reasons I'd say yes and the reasons I'd say no, and there really weren't any 'no' reasons. It was only after I said yes that I realized anyone would think anything of it. I'm happy. Ma's just happy I'm happy. So that's how it is."
"That... that does sound about right," Shan says with a laugh, slowly shaking her head. "I'm very happy for you both. Lucky jerks," she muses, making a grab for a napkin. "I haven't had a date in over a year. It's okay, though, I'm not really looking. Life is too... life, right now."
"Life is never NOT life," Sam points out. "When you find the right person, they'll fit into a space you didn't know was there. It'll happen. It does. You just have to go along doing what you need to get done. I figure that's how it worked for me. I just didn't say 'no' when it happened."
Shan nods sagely, crumpling the napkin up once she's cleaned her face. Stupid whipped cream. "I know. Mine's just been /extra/ life the last month or two," she says, her expression darkening. But she shakes it off quickly, with the help of a deep breath. /Ahem/. "If someone comes along, I'll take her out for a drink and see what happens. But I'm not gonna get too bent out of shape if I'm on my own for a li'l bit first."
"Like you said, balance." Sam winks at her. "You know if you ever want to talk about your life-y-ness, you can call me." He pulls out one of his plain cards with his answering service scrawled on it, writes his real phone number on the other side, then gives it to her. "Drinks are all good, but don't forget about the zoo. Or the carousel. Or flying kites. We don't have to be serious all the time."
"Look at you, being all smart," Shan grins, grabbing a fresh napkin and making grabbyhands at the pen. She needs to get her number jotted down for him, too. She is not losing touch again. "Ah, it'll work out. In the meantime, though... you should come over and play. You can even bring Bobby if you'd like."
"I'm not smart, I just make a lot of mistakes and happen to remember them," Sam protests. He lets Shan have the pen. "I'll let Bobby know. And if you need company on a date, ever, you know you can call us for backup. Or opinions."
Shan tuts quietly at Sam and starts scribbling on the napkin. "That's called learning, Sam. And learning makes you smart," she notes, and then she offers the napkin and pen back to him. "I will remember, I promise. You'd make a fine wingman, Mr. Guthrie."
"I'd be honoured. And if I go out with you, my likelihood of getting groped drops significantly. I hope." Sam makes a face at that as he's putting things away. There's no reason anyone would want to grope him. No sir. He does not know why anyone but Bobby would do it. People. Seriously.
"I will not let anybody grope you," Shan promises solemnly, giving Sam's hand another pat. She means it, too. "I will walk them out, have them hail a cab, and send them across town if they try." Which... well, probably not. She's really not big on using her powers gratuitously. But if someone were irritating enough, and bothering someone as close to her as Sam is, she might just reconsider.
"My hero." Sam grins at Shan. "Now. These cookies are not nearly as good as mine. So I will have to bring you some as soon as I can. Because Ma would never forgive me otherwise. I have my manners. And, when you feel a little more balanced, maybe I'll introduce you to a few of my friends."
"Please do. On both counts." Shan smiles and snatches a cookie anyway, sub-par quality or otherwise. It is a /cookie/ and it is /here/, so it is officially Good Enough. "I should let you get back to grading. Come over for dinner later this week?" she suggests, starting to get up. "I'll cook and everything."
"You're on, just tell me when." Sam pulls out some papers and a blue pencil. "I'll make sure to get these papers back before then so I can enjoy with a clear conscience."
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