Log: Sam and Terry, Saturday morning

[x-cannonball.livejournal.com]

When going out for his own morning jog, Sam runs into Terry returning from one of her own. They finally get a chance to catch up.


Saturdays are for being lazy right? Not according to Terry, it seemed. She walked across the grounds with a hand pressed to her side as she brought her breathing back under control and massaged the stitch in her side. That she had been running is obvious by her clothing; that it had been a hard run by the tendrils of sweat-darkend red hair that escaped her french braid. Her face was almost as red as she puffed her cheeks out with the slow exhalation.

In theory they were supposed to be, but not to everybody. Sam allowed himself to sleep in a little before his daily jog, however, giving in to the theory just a little bit, and he was about to have his own run when he spied someone arriving back from some exercise of their own. The red hair gave her away from a distance - well, there were other red heads around, but he still recognized Terry as she drew closer.

"Looks like I'm not the only one lookin' to get in some exercise this morning. How are you doin', Terry?" He'd been meaning to track her down to see how she was doing ever since she'd arrived but he'd been pretty busy himself. The new school year always brought new challenges, especially since he was teaching a different subject this time around.

Sam was hard to mistake himself. Not many of the teenagers around would be up and about, or so she recalled from her days as one. Terry narrowed her eyes and angled her approach until he got close enough to speak. Then her face lit up. "Sam!" she called out, genuinely happy to see the old familiar face. "Well enough, to be sure. How's the form?" she said, returning the greeting with her own idiomatic style. She closed enough to hold out a hand to him.

He grinned back at her, taking her hand and shaking it briefly. "Good, glad to hear it. Not bad, not bad at all. Settling back in, I've only been back from Muir Island a short while." Things seemed to be getting back to normal, or at least what qualified for normal around those parts anyway. Having Vanessa back relaxed him a little too, he'd been worried about his ex. Returning his mind to the present, he nodded at Terry and her outfit. "Had a good run, I take it?"

"Good enough," she replied, grinning brightly. Indeed, her breathing was steadier and she wasn't nearly as flushed. Her hairline was just as wet, a fact she noted with a wry grimace after she pushed her fair off her forehead. Yuck. "Decided you could not keep away any longer?" she asked, swinging around to fall into step next to him, indicating a willingness to accompany him a short ways. "Or did you know I was coming back meself?" she teased, giving him a flirtatious sidelong glance that was (mostly) devoid of actual intent.

"This place has a powerful pull, it's true." Sam slowed his pace a little, not in a hurry to take off and go running now that he'd finally had a chance to chat with his friend. He chuckled at her glance and teasing, nudging her lightly with his elbow. "I wish I could say that, but that is what they call icin' on the cake, I reckon." Putting his hands in the pockets of his sweats while they walked, looking over at Terry. "It is good to see you again, though, Terry. Plannin' on sticking around for awhile?"

Terry smiled primly at the tease back, though the light in her eye was merry enough. "Always did think frosting was the best part o' cake," she replied, rolling her eyes up and away from him coyly before she broke the moment by cramming her own fists into the pockets of her jacket and skip stepped next to the taller man. "I could be returning the compliment, boyo." His question quieted a bit however, and she shrugged. "A while, aye. Depends on how long I can be spinning this case out." And if I am wanting to, she thought to herself.

Sam grinned and nodded. "Of course it is, everyone knows that." He enjoyed his sweets as much as the next guy, which was partly why he made sure to keep jogging and working out when he could. There hadn't been as much of an opportunity to indulge himself at Muir but back in the States he had to be much more careful. "Thank you, ma'am. Sounds like a tricky case then, huh?"

Terry barked a laugh and slapped his arm lightly with the backside of her hand. "Ma'am? Sammy m' love, I may have been gone a while, but I have not gone and grown up into a /ma'am/ on you." She returned her hand to her pocket and made a face. "Not so tricky as other things," she murmured, then turned the tables back on him. "What about you? What actually brought you back?"

"Ow!" He pretended the slap had hurt more than it had, rubbing his arm with his other hand. "Sorry ma- Terry." Sam returned his own hands back to his pockets, thinking about how to answer her question. It was one he'd had to field several times since his return but he still was never quite sure how to completely answer it. "Well, Jay settled down some, so I figured it was time to come back. I can contribute here, with teaching, with the team, y'know?" He didn't want to linger on making up for his past transgressions but that was certainly part of it too.

Maybe Xavier should go into the priesthood. His home had certainly seen enough confessions and penances. Terry was not eager to pry, having just turned the same question aside. "Speaking of the team," she said, latching onto a safe (enough) topic. "I was thinking I could be offering m' services again, while I'm here. Probably need a bit o' practicing first, but..." She looked over at him to watch his reaction.

There certainly wasn't a shortage of those things around the mansion, it was true. Sam's eyebrows went up at Terry's shift of topic to the team. "No buts about it, young lady." Hopefully she'd prefer that to ma'am, he thought with a grin. Sam stopped, putting a hand on her shoulder. "I wouldn't want it any other way." It would be great to have Terry back on the team, and lord knew he had lots of practicing to do himself to get back into shape. If he could do it, so could she, after all.

"Young lady?" Terry echoed incredulously, good humor mixed with faint exasperation. "From Ma'am to young lady. No wonder m'--" She choked on whatever it was she had been about to say and swung herself around, hiding her face for a moment before she cleared her throat and beamed back at Sam. "Got a schedule set up I can horn in on?"

He couldn't help but smirk at her, though he was ready to try and dodge if she took another swing at him, just in case. Hopefully she wasn't really upset with him, and Sam was glad when she looked back at him. "Of course, I've been practicing myself, since I'm still a little rusty too. It's set up down in the Danger Room, just pop on down and feel free to join me whenever I'm scheduled. Or I can just get in touch with you when I head down." Either or would work, whatever worked best for Terry. "I'm looking forward to it, it's good to have you back, Terry. We missed you around here." He hadn't been here the entire time she was gone of course but he'd still missed his friend.

"I'll check it out and make time then," Terry replied, pulling her hand out of her pocket not to swat him, but rather to rest her hand on his arm for a friendly moment, then to shove him as she pushed herself away. "Miss you all too." And in case this was all getting too sacchrine, she added "I need to be getting cleaned up. Enjoy your run, Sam" with a little wiggle of her fingers as she angled away.

Sam nodded, glad to hear her interest in getting back into the swing of things. "I will, thanks. See you 'round, Terry." He waved back at her as she walked away, then stretched his hamstrings a little before starting his morning jog. It really wasn't a bad way to start his day off at all.