Tabs & Sam, On the Docks: Catching up

[x-plosive.livejournal.com]

Tabitha seeks out her friend to catch up, spurred by recent impromptu trips to NYC.



Though it was far too late to call her friend to task for his
erratic behavior at the Brownstone, Tabitha's curiosity demanded
satisfaction. So she took her day off to hunt Sam down.

She had no idea where that chase would lead her.

Fortunately Sam had decided to stay close to the mansion. This wasn't
really a time to fly off somewhere again but, in search of that kind
of peacefulness, he found himself in the lake. Floating on his back
like he would in a creek, he tried to imagine that scenario for
himself, his ears under the water; at least the lake didn't have the
chlorine smell of the pool. That would destroy any possibility of an
imaginary escape.

Tabitha stared at Sam for a few minutes, pondering just what to throw
at him. She was pretty sure her throwing arm wasn't up to getting a
rock out that far. So she made a bomb big enough to cause
speedboat-like wakes. "Hey, cornfed! Quitcher daydreaming! I *will*
swim out there and drag you back!" she yelled.

Sam righted himself at the explosion, looking at Tabitha and riding
the waves she made before making his way back in toward the shore. He
had been more sparing than usual with his powers lately, instead doing
things the 'normal' way. He climbed up on the dock after a few minutes
of swimming and grabbed his towel. "I figured I'd save you the trouble
of actually trying to drag me back."

"Pfft, you don't think I can?" She bared a bicep. "I been working out,
I could take you," she teased.

"I believe it." Sam nodded and threw out a good natured smile. In
truth he wanted to get off the topic as fast as possible. "So, what do
you need?"

"I don't *need* anything," she said as she toed off her shoes. With a
sigh, she sat on the dock, feet in the water. "I'm horribly nosy
though. Curious about why one of my best friends ran off to the Super
Secret Hideout to yell at the Super Secret Agents. That's not very
much like you, Sam." She turned her head to look up at him. "Nosy
*and* worried."

Sam sat on the dock next to Tabitha, still dripping wet, his feet in
the water as well. "I was angry. I know that's not much like me but I
figure that we can't expect any one person to never get angry." He
sighed a bit and watched the water, moving his feet to make ripples.

“Angry, sure,” she said with a sideways glance. “But dude, that was
really kind of dumb. Like that dude from Anger Management, dumb.”

"Well, I hope I don't get that kind of counseling, at least." Sam
hoped he didn't sound to Jay like people were sounding to him the last
few days. He liked to think that he listened a bit more and judged a
bit less. Maybe he didn't, though. Maybe this was another learning
experience for him that he needed to have.

She leaned back on her elbows. “Yeah, you should try a barber shop
quartet or a letter bomb next time. It’d be way more therapeutic, and
funnier.” Perhaps flippancy wasn’t the right response, but she and Sam
hadn’t talked in so long, years even.

Sam ran his left hand through his hair. He thought about getting it
cut for a brief moment but left that debate for another time. "If I
ever have a planned angry time I'll definitely figure out a better way
to pull it off. Hopefully one that doesn't make nearly everyone angry
right back."

“I’d at least like it if you didn’t get shot,” she replied. “Or
arrested,” she added after a moment of thought. “Okay, enough about
stuff that’s really none of my business. Y’wanna go get some cheap
Chinese or something?”
"Could we do something less cheap and more homestyle. I'm interested
in some sort of comfort foods, I think." Sam swirled his feet int he
water for just another second before he stood up on the dock and
offered a hand to help Tabitha up.

She put her hand in his and made a face. "You get to pick the place, I
don't know *anything* like that."