Alison/Sam ~ A morning talk...

[x-dazzler.livejournal.com]

After Tai Chi in the morning, Alison wanders to the rec room to think. Sam finds her and they talk about various things. And not about others.

I missed being able to talk to you like this. It's good to be able to do that again.

Now that Tai Chi was over with, today was a doing nothing day. Stretched out on the couch in the rec room, which was blissfully empty and devoid of any human existence other than her own, Alison leaned against the arm of the couch and stared out the window, ignoring the DVD movie she'd popped in the player moments before. Cheek resting on her arm she went over the past days, picking over random details and trying to stop only to start all over again every time.

The "do nothing day" seemed to be catching, because Sam wandered into the rec room with the vague thought of rifling through the massive collection of DVDs to find something that seemed interesting. Upon seeing Alison, he paused for a moment before heading over and flopping gracelessly in an adjacent armchair, thinking that Al looked like she needed a bit of space from that pensive look on her face. "Hey, Al," he said softly, trying not to startle her too badly.

"Hey," she answered, still staring out the window a while longer - she'd heard him wander inside the room and recognized the rhythm of walk right away. After another moment she sighed and set aside what she was trying to think of, turning her head a bit to look at Sam instead. "I'd say it's way early to be up, but you're always awake at these hours. How'd the fishing go?" She'd heard about it ten times from Miles already, but excited little boy babble was rarely coherent, she'd discovered over the past months.

Sam studiously ignored Alison's attempt to change the subject, worried by the look he saw on her face and the sigh he heard. "It went all right," he replied. "There something the matter, Al? Anything Ah can help with? You seem a mite...down."

"Oh..."No, going into details over how she felt about going out on a date with a man she was dead certain wasn't really serious wasn't going to be the topic here. Nuh huh. Not happening. And she didn't even know how to approach Everything Else anyway. So. "Not down really. Just thinking a lot." She grinned at him easily, lazily shifting on the sofa so she was facing him a bit better. "Only it's too early to think for even me and I'm not getting anywhere."

Sam let Alison's response slide for the moment, not quite convinced, but not willing to push it. As she shifted to face him, though, his eyes narrowed slightly as the light caught her face and drew his attention to what looked like..."Al?" he asked slowly. "Why do you have makeup on your chin?" It almost looked like it was covering a bruise of some sort.

"I walked in someone's fist during training," she grinned lopsidedly, squirming a bit in the sofa. Gah. Of course he'd spot it. "It was just light sparring, last Sunday," she added with a calm smile, though the memory of how she'd felt then was still worrying at her. "Already almost gone, there was barely anything in the first place." Which was why she'd not put as much concealer as the previous day.

Sam blinked. Al was usually better than to walk straight into someone's fist. For that matter, it was an extremely rare thing that he ever saw her hit in sparring practices. Her quickness and nimbleness kept her mostly unhit, normally. Something wasn't quite right here, but he wasn't sure what. He nodded slowly. "Well, that's good. No permanent harm done," he replied with an answering smile.

"Nope," she agreed with him, though her pride still demanded she add the following. "I wasn't at my best - he wouldn't have tagged me so easily otherwise." There. Honor intact and all. She shifted again in the couch, trying not to think of why she was so confused of late, since the owner of the fist she'd walked into had a great deal to do with that, for the past few days.

"Not at your best?" Sam asked, a furrow of worry appearing between his eyebrows. "Any particular reason? Anything I can help out with?" he asked quietly. He noticed Alison's continued fidgeting and the furrow deepened slightly.

She let out an inarticulate noise, slumping in the couch. God, it felt weird to be talking to Sam so normally after everything else. And that. But it felt good too. Very good. "I missed being able to talk to you like this," she answered instead, simply. "It's good to be able to do that again."

The way Alison kept attempting to neatly deflect questions she didn't want to answer was a bit bothersome, but Sam let it go. "Ah've missed it too," he admitted. His brain was quick to supply a list of other things he missed, which would be completely inappropriate to mention. He shifted, trying to find a more comfortable position in his chair. "And yeah, talkin' like this is a good thing." He smiled wryly. "Can't even seem to do it with my own sister and brother."

She blinked at that, worrying a bit. "I thought things might be going better since you and Paige had that fight..." She gave him an apologetic look for bringing it up so bluntly. "She seems to be doing okay lately, even with Jono not improving and all." Then again, Paige was good at putting up a good face. "And I admit I haven't had the chance to talk to Jay much outside of music class... is there anything I can do to help?"

Sam drummed his fingers on the armrest of the chair rhythmically. "Not really sure," he admitted. Most of his problems with Paige had stemmed from the argument they'd had, and while he knew he'd been unfair, he wasn't really sure how to approach Paige to try and fix things. "Jay Ah think mostly just needs time," he said slowly.

"Ok," she nodded, although she was already making a mental note to see if the music angle might be a good approach to help the boy fit in a bit better or faster. "And Paige?" she asked softly, bringing her legs up close and wrapping her arms around them, chin on her knees. "I know you were worried about that," she murmured, leaving the 'before' thankfully unsaid.

Sam looked sheepish. "Ah said some hurtful things to Gee," he admitted. "And Ah'm not sure how to fix it. Ah realized somethin' a bit back, seein' Mister Beaubier and his sister after she got here. In the grand scheme of things, a sister with two boyfriends ain't all that much to fuss about, and Ah was wrong to judge her." He smiled sadly. "But Ah don't know how to tell that to her. Or if she'll even be of a mind to listen to me, after the things Ah said to her before."

Alison grinned at him suddenly, shaking her head. "It's Paige, hon. Just go up to her, tell her you were a dweeb and that you love her and will she please for give your sorry self and she'll cry all over you and say yes." She paused a bit, considering. "You may want to throw in apologies to the boys in there too, though. She'd be wanting something for them as well." She picked up the speech pattern from old habit, not even noticing.

Sam raised his eyebrows. "Ya think it'd really be that simple?" he asked softly, almost tentatively. He knew how badly he had messed his relationship with Paige up, and was skittish about putting himself out there in an attempt to apologize.

"I can't promise it. But how else will you know if you don't try? Paige is great girl and you're her brother. She loves you," Alison nodded, having not a single doubt in the world there. "I don't think she'd let you fall - but you may have to be ready to talk fast and make it clear you'll be fair to Jono and Angelo..." Alison trailed off a bit. She never had told him she'd been the one to first suggest that to Paige, had she? Oh dear.

Sam drew in a deep breath and let it out. "Yeah. Ah...yeah. You're right, as usual, Al," he said, a more natural smile on his face. "Won't known unless Ah talk to her. Which Ah should probably do at some point pretty soon. No sense waitin' on it." And as regarded Jono and Angelo, he'd try to be a little less protective older brother, and give the two young men a chance, get to know them.

She reached over and patted his hand comfortingly. "You probably want to talk to Angelo first too, of the boys." There was no way she wasn't pointing that out, though she figured Sam would likely get that himself. "You make her happy, odds are high they won't hold much against you either." Just like Sam wouldn't be upset with them if they kept Paige happy, of course. "And let me know how it goes, huh?"

Sam nodded. "'Course Ah'll let ya know, Al," he replied. He cocked his head and changed the subject. "So, Ah take it the fishin' trip was a big hit with Miles?" he asked curiously.

The answering smile said it all. "He's still going on about it," she chuckled, shaking her head. "Took a while for me to be able to make sense of it all he was in such a hurry to tell the whole thing all at once, but it sounds like he really enjoyed it. Thanks for taking him fishing like that," she said warmly.

Sam grinned. "It was my pleasure, Al. Ah had a great time with him. He was so very serious about gettin' fish for Lorna to cook. It was cute. And he was obviously tryin' hard not to be impatient when they didn't bite first thing. You shoulda seen it, Al, he's such a good kid. You're doin' a good job by him."

It felt ridiculously good to hear that, and Alison found herself hugging her legs tightly, giving him a small and somewhat taunt smile. "Thank you." She took a deep breath, still smiling despite the clearly strong emotions his words had generated. "I wonder sometimes if it's insane that I'm doing this and if I won't mess it all up."

Sam reached over instinctively to pat a hand against Alison's arm, doing his best to ignore the tingle that came from touching her, even so casually. "You shouldn't worry like that, Al. It's plain to see Miles adores you. Ah don't think you could mess it up if you tried. It's just as plain to see how much you love him, and Ah don't see how anyone who loves someone that much could mess it up."

It wasn't that simple and Alison knew it, bone deep. But she smiled anyway and took the words as the comfort they were meant, tearing her mind away from the fact that it hadn't mattered how much she'd loved Sam - things still hadn't worked out. "Okay. I'll remember that."

The same thought had popped into Sam's head right after he'd said that, and he tried not to wince, feeling like he'd stuck his foot in his mouth. Standing up abruptly, he smiled down at Alison. "Well, Ah think Ah might try lookin' for Jay or Paige, get a start on that apologizin'. We should do this more often," he said, indicating the chair and couch with a wave of his hand.

"Yes," she replied instantly, smiling at him. "I'll keep my fingers crossed," she added, feeling a bit silly but she knew he'd understand the sentiment.

Sam chuckled and tipped an imaginary hat. "Much obliged," he said before quietly heading out the door and down the hall.