Sam, Cain and one poor abused tree

[x-juggernaut.livejournal.com]

Backdated to before the Helix formal, Sam accidantally takes his frustration out on a tree. Cain comes across this, and has all -kinds- of fun questions for Sam.



Sam tucked his thumbs in the waistband of his jeans and sighed, staring at the furrows in the mansion's lawn. After finding out that Haroun was taking Alison to the HeliX formal, he'd felt a need to get outside. Working on his control and landings seemed like a good idea, but he'd be damned if he was going to ask Haroun for help right now.

As a result, there were several nice long furrows that Sam would need to start filling in before Mr. Marko found them. Sam blew out a breath in frustration. Between Haroun taking Alison to the formal, and his continued lack of control over his power, and the work he was going to have to do filling in those furrows...

Scowling, Sam drew back and aimed one booted foot at the large oak he was standing under. A loud backfiring noise occurred, and with a large crack, the oak toppled over.

"You wanna tell me what the hell that tree did to deserve that, Guthrie?" For a large man, Cain could move reasonably quietly, and more so when his approach was covered by loud explosive noises. "I mean, I know you got it out for my lawn, but I thought the trees just had just Spikey and Sparkey beating them up."

Sam blinked, both from what had just happened to the tree, as well as the unexpected arrival of the large groundskeeper. "Uh, Mister Marko, sir, Ah..." Sam stammered in response. "Ah'm not really sure what just happened here, sir. Ah was a little frustrated, and Ah took a li'l kick at this here tree, and then...boom." He gestured helplessly with his hands, indicating the fallen tree.

Cain folded his arms across his chest. "And?" he asked, scowling.

Sam bit his lip, not wanting to draw the ire of the larger man. "And...Ah'm guessin' Ah did somethin' to it, but Ah'm not really sure what. There was a big noise that sounded like when Ah'm blastin', but Ah didn't go anywhere."

Obviously displeased, Cain rolled his eyes and looked towards the sky, as if to ask "Why me?" "I got that part. You hauled off, kicked -my tree- and knocked it down." A bit more sarcastically, he added. "And now you win Marko's Breaking Shit Prize. You get to turn my tree into firewood, and then help me take out the stump and replace it with a sapling."

Sam nodded. "Yessir," he said quickly. "Ah'm very sorry about it. Ah truly didn't mean to. It just sorta happened." He shrugged apologetically. "And after that, Ah'll be sure to fill those furrows in, too." It looked like Sam was in for another day of backbreaking labor, but he didn't mind too much, having grown up on a farm. Besides, it helped keep him in shape, at least. "Point me at where you keep the axe, sir?"

Cain thumbed over his shoulder in the direction of the boathouse. "There's a couple of 'em in the shed. I'll have to unlock it, and just be sure you put it back -and- lock up the shed again when you're done. Last thing I need is to find my axe buried in someone's head," he said gruffly. Damn kids. Even the polite ones broke shit, and dammit, he just didn't feel right giving Guthrie what-for. The boy kept calling him sir.

Sam nodded. "Ah'll get right on it then, sir. You still keep that shovel in the same place?" At Cain's short nod, Sam wandered toward the shed, rolling his shoulders and rolling up the sleeves of his flannel shirt in preparation for the work ahead.

"Goddammit, will you stop being so polite so I can yell at you!" Cain punched one fist into his open palm. He wasn't sure what was pissing him off more. The tree, or that he actually felt a little bad about wanting to get mad about it.

Sam stopped short, blinking confusedly. Cain was mad at him because he was being so polite? That didn't make much sense. "Sorry, sir," he replied. "Ah'm not very good at bein' snotty. Guess mah momma just raised me too well. Ah think Jay's got a good handle on bein' the snotty one right now, what with some of the comments he's been makin'."

"Yeah, I noticed. Mouthy little parakeet, ain't he?" Cain snorted. Damn. Why the hell did this have to be so complicated. It was supposed to be nice and simple. The ones who broke things were supposed to be mouthy and rude. "We gettin' any more of you folks, or what? How many siblings do you have, anyway?"

Sam grinned. "We got ourselves a good ol' Southern family. There's me, Paige, Jay, Jo, Liz, Melody, Jeb, Lewis, and Meg." He chuckled. "Only enough to field a baseball team."

Cain whistled. "Kee-rist. Tell me you and your sister've had that talk, and we ain't gonna have a bunch little Sparkeys or homeboys running around shedding skin everywhere?"

Sam blushed slightly. "Ah'm pretty sure Momma gave her that talk so's Ah wouldn't have to, but yeah, Gee knows all about the birds and the bees, and how babies are made and all."

"Ain't what I'm asking." Cain shook his head. "You can know how to make babies without knowing how to not make 'em. She's a smart girl, and about as polite as you, most times. Shouldn't have to be saddled with bundles of joy from either of those two." He scowled. Why was he having this conversation?

Sam blushed even further. "Yeah, she knows all about birth control too, sir." He fished around, looking for a way to change the subject. Finally, the pair reached the shed, and Sam breathed a small sigh of relief as Cain reached for the lock.

After opening the shed door, Cain handed Sam a pair of axes, one significantly larger than the other, and picked up a chainsaw. In his huge hands, the tool looked almost like a child's toy. He moved to pick up a length of chain, then shrugged and put it back on the shelf "Figure we won't need the truck for the stump."

As the pair made their way back to the fallen tree, Sam spat on his hands and gripped his axe, going straight to work, putting his back into several frustrated swings at the tree.

Leaning against the fallen trunk, Cain watched. He figured it couldn't hurt to make sure the kid knew what he was doing, just in case. Besides, he was kind of half-curious about just what Sam had done to his tree. "You sure you're not gonna go blowing up any more trees there, Guthrie?"

Catching his breath and readjusting his grip, Sam took another mighty swing at the trunk of the oak. "Nossir," he said between swings.

"Cause, you sure as hell look like you've got it out for that particular tree." Cain said lazily. "Unless something else crawled up your ass. I'm just sayin."

Sam grounded the ax, leaning its haft against his legs before unbuttoning his flannel shirt, taking it off and throwing it into a pile at the base of another tree. Shaking his hair back, he gripped the axe again. As he answered, he punctuated each word with a swing of the axe. "Just...venting...a few...frustrations...sir."

"Next time you need to vent whatever frustrations you got, living in a nice cushy house you aren't paying for? You come see me and I'll put you to work on the parts of the house I -want- taken apart, got it?" Cain crossed his arms and watched Sam hack the limbs of the tree off the main trunk. "Or at least cutting down the trees I -want- made into firewood, seein' as you're good at it."

Sam smiled at the backhanded compliment. "Thanks, sir. Mah poppa taught me all kinds of odd jobs. Made sure Ah could be useful 'round the farm and all while he was at work in the mines." He nodded. "But Ah'd never mess up your house on purpose, sir." He indicated the tree. "Heck, even this was an accident. Ah'm not normally so temperamental, honest."

Cain shrugged one shoulder. "Yeah, I got that impression. Amuse me, tell me what's got under your skin so much that you're blowing up my trees?"

Sam sighed. "Ah suppose it's kinda stupid, sir. Dealin' with a mite of jealousy Ah can't seem to shake. And it ain't even like Ah got any place to be jealous, seein' as Ah got no claim on her anymore..." He shook his head. If he was going to be up front with Mr. Marko about the situation, he should at least tell him who was involved instead of trying to talk around it. "Haroun's taking Al to the HeliX formal this weekend."

"Huh. Really." Cain set his jaw. "Sucks to be you, don't it?" Picking up one of the larger pieces of the tree, he began methodically stripping off the side-branches and breaking them down into small pieces. "Cause you sure as hell ain't got much of a right to be jealous." Cain wasn't jealous. Angry, yes. Jealous, of course not. And he was not taking it out on the pieces of the tree either. "If the camel jockey wants to date Al, not much you can do to stop him, is there?"

Sam quieted and blinked for a moment, confused. Was Mr. Marko...nah. He shook his head. That would just be crazy. "No, Ah don't suppose there is, sir," he answered softly before getting back to work with the axe.