Marie and Sam: Two Southerners in the City

[x-traction.livejournal.com]

As arranged almost a month ago Marie and Sam go to dinner and a play, courtesy of Logan.

Marie carefully took her gloves off and set them on the table as the waiter brought over their meals. "It smells good, but these ribs sure look fancier than anything we ever had back home," she told Sam as she looked at the plate in front of her. Stabbing a piece of okra with her fork, she popped it into her mouth, a grin spreading across her face. "Well, that's somethin' they got right."

Sam took a moment to reflect on the remains of their dinner. The waitress had been a bit taken aback at the amount of food the two Southerners had ordered, but they had polished off every bit of it, and Sam was looking longingly at the dessert menu. "It ain't the same as Momma's, but Ah definitely agree that it ain't bad," he said, sopping up a last bit of gravy with a biscuit.

"Ah think they're taking bets in the back as to just how much the two of us can put away," Marie said to the Kentuckian. Setting down her own dessert menu, she patted her stomach in satisfaction. "Personally, Ah think Ah've got enough room left for a slice of apple pie with a big ol' scoop of vanilla ice cream."

"Marie, Ah never realized how much y'all are a woman after m' own heart," Sam replied with a grin, signaling the still slightly disbelieving waitress for two pieces of pie. Ah, the joys of the infamous "mutant metabolism".

Marie grinned right back. "Just glad to see you're able to keep up. This is better than the stuff Ah've gotten used to eating lately, what with school and missions eating up time like there's no tomorrow, so Ah gotta make sure to enjoy as much as Ah can."

"Ya should always take time ta enjoy good down-home cookin'," Sam opined as the pie arrived. Suiting actions to words, he took a big forkful of pie and ice cream and ate it lingeringly with a pleased sound. "That's good pie."

"Mm hmm," was Marie's response, her own mouth full of pie and ice cream. The two Southerners made short work of their desert, the waitress almost looking surprised now that the two seemed to have reached their fill as she brought over the check. Slipping the money from Logan out of her pocket, Marie glanced up at the clock. "Walk or taxi? We have plenty of time 'fore the play starts."

"It's a nice night, how's about we walk?" Sam asked, standing first to offer Marie his arm gallantly. He left a generous tip on the table, then held the door for her to preced him out of the restaurant. He pulled his lined flannel jacket up around his shoulders and offered his arm to Marie again whimsically, feeling like playing the Southern Gentleman role to the hilt.

Marie took his arm, her cheeks flushing slightly. Unfortunately, the color change occurred before they stepped outside, so she couldn't blame it on the weather. "It really is a beautiful night," she said, hoping Sam hadn't noticed her glowing face. "And Ah don't know about ya, but Ah needed a night out more now than ever."

Sam had indeed missed the flush of Marie's cheeks until they were well down the block, and wrote it off to the cold. He pulled his own scarf a bit closer around his neck. "Ah know what ya mean," he said. "This whole thing with Sabretooth..." he trailed off. He knew he had some issues where the feral mutant was concerned, but he wasn't the one who had siphoned off parts of the man's memories.

Noticeably tensing, Marie didn't answer immediately. She was lost in her own thoughts - in truth she was dealing with things better than she had expected, but the mention of Sabretooth's name always seemed to dredge up a memory or two that she would rather stay buried. "At least he's behind bars now, where he belongs. Hopefully for a good long while." She squeezed Sam's arm. "It was mighty brave, what y'all did to capture him."

Sam blushed slightly and hunched his shoulders. "Ah jus' did what needed ta be done," he said, slightly embarassed at the praise. He wasn't proud of the vicious pleasure he'd gotten from dragging Sabretooth along at the end of a harpoon and sending him crashing into the containment cell.

"An' that's something to be proud of, considering how many folks have tried before. Ah mean, Ah threw him off a dam and he managed to come back from that." Marie watched her breath fog the air as the pair walked the last couple blocks to the theatre. "Couldn't have been better timing for something like this though, huh? To get our minds off of things, at least for a bit."

"Amen ta that," Sam agreed wholeheartedly.

----

"Wow!" Marie said, brown eyes sparkling. "Have ya ever seen anything like that?" Marie had been surprised by the seats Logan had gotten - front row in the balcony. "An' the music was incredible."

Marie's enthusiasm was infectious, and Sam grinned in reply. "The show was really good," he agreed. "An' Logan really got us great seats. Ah don' even wanna think about how much they mighta cost," he said.

"Probably the best Christmas present Ah got and totally worth waitin' for," Marie said with a smile. She had long ago stopped being surprised by the way Logan never seemed to be wanting for money, since she knew that it was because he never really spent any he earned, except on his bike, cigars and beer.

"So why'd ya ask me?" Sam asked a bit suddenly. He'd been wondering ever since she'd sent him the email. Not that they didn't get along, but he didn't necessarily think they were the closest of friends, so he'd been a bit startled.

Marie blushed and barely kept herself from missing a step. Truthfully, she'd been surprised he hadn't asked it earlier. "Logan suggested it," she blurted out before taking a breath. "Ah think he saw me smilin' after that horse race and knew Ah'd had fun. An'...well, it's nice being around someone who understands Southern things, y' know?"

Sam nodded. He could see how that made sense. "Speakin' of which, when springtime comes around we have got ta go muddin'..."