Sam's Reality: Cape Canaveral, Florida - Kennedy Space Center

[teh-rest.livejournal.com]

Leeroy wasn't too sure how the night guard at the Kennedy Space Center had acquired Sam's name. He assumed it was the Internet - everything's the Internet's fault these days - but he couldn't be too sure, as the guy looked to be about sixty and the type who wouldn't touch a computer to save his life.

"They're freakin' out the dogs," he said in a Southern accent. "And we ain't been able to photograph 'em, either." He pointed to the large behemoth of metal that could be seen a few miles in the distance. "They're always there."

It was, Leeroy recognized, launch pad 39-B. Jeimu had launched from there not even a year ago.

Why freaks were hanging out around launchpads, Leeroy wasn't certain. He turned to Sam and asked quietly, "What d'you make of all this, eh?"

Comments

[i_salted_dean]

Her eyes were thoughtful as she idly shrugged the shoulder that she'd fallen out of bed onto the night before, God wasn't telling her anything yet, and she wasn't seeing anything either.

"How do you know there's more than one?"

[teh-rest.livejournal.com]

"We seen two different places gettin' weirded out the same time," the man said. "One dog fall over an' die, the other went postal and went fer his handler."

Leeroy pursed his lips. "Could be an overall effect o' one, but I doubt that."

[i_salted_dean]

-Rawr.- She loomed at him as they walked, a twinkle in her eyes.

[teh-rest.livejournal.com]

"Hey, it's better to have them fear us. They'll listen that way."

[i_salted_dean]

Sam was scowling slightly as they snapped her picture and then as she went to stand with Leeroy, but Rob's shenanigans in front of the camera, and then Leeroy's comment had her biting her own lip to keep from cracking up.

-Now I know why I keep you guys around.-

[teh-rest.livejournal.com]

"I'd thought that in my case it was all about the additional perks," Leeroy said, clipping the badge the guard handed him to the front of his shirt.

His deadpan was flawless.

[i_salted_dean]

She blinked at him, then realized her slip and slammed her shields up. "Right. Okay, I'll get the car."

[teh-rest.livejournal.com]

"Okay. Now I know yer really you."

He looked around. "We could always just park th' car an' walk together."

It'd be easiest that way. More eyes on the lookout, and, most importantly, nobody being separated.

Some Time Later

[teh-rest.livejournal.com]

His gloved hands closed over the re-bar and he frowned.

"There's nothing out of the ordinary with it," he said, stooping down to check the bottom of the sigil attached to the launchpad's lowest level. He rattled the thing a little bit, then drew back and sighed, squinting in the sunlight.

"Except of course th' fact that it looks to be welded on." His finger ran across the joints, which didn't look like they were done by any earthly manner. "But that ain't welding." He turned to look at Sam. "What say you?"

Re: Some Time Later

[i_salted_dean]

"Webbing," said Sam from where she hunkered nearby, scowling at the mess and trying to smooth down her arm hair. "And see these shiny spots?" She pointed to long scratches that looked almost like writing.

[i_salted_dean]

Her mind reached out toward his automatically as she tried to figure out what had happened. -What.... Argh!-

Pain ripped through her abdomen, and she rolled onto her side and was wrackingly sick. -Oh @#$%&$#@ no... it was there. It was....-

Rob put a hand over his mouth from where he stood guard.

[teh-rest.livejournal.com]

Leeroy stared.

"What was where? The... thing?"

[i_salted_dean]

She managed to sit up, then blindly tried to get her feet under her, her thoughts holding nothing but guilt, pain, and the need to get away from the scene. -Stupid, stupid, stupid.-

[teh-rest.livejournal.com]

"Don't do that." He put his arms around her and lifted her gently to her feet, then while still holding her pressed a button on his watch.

A moment later they appeared near the Buick. "D'you wanna go inside and wait?"

Re: Later

[i_salted_dean]

She was brooding intensely on the window, but when he spoke she winced and bit her lip. "I'm sorry."

[teh-rest.livejournal.com]

He flipped the card over in his hands a few times, then looked up. "Why didn't you tell me?"

Now that she was more or less safe and fear had come and gone, other emotions were starting to come to the forefront.

[i_salted_dean]

She found herself clinging to him, desperate for the anchor as she cried till she was too tired to cry.

[teh-rest.livejournal.com]

"It's okay..." was all that he could murmur, holding her as tightly as if she was made of glass. "It's okay."

A couple hours later

[i_salted_dean]

Sam looked over her shoulder as they exited the hospital, the garbage bag heavy in her hand. -God, just a few more minutes. Let us be invisible, please....-

"No, you drive." She paused as she saw Leeroy heading for the passenger side of the Buick, which Rob had brought over the night before.

[teh-rest.livejournal.com]

He nodded, but otherwise remained stubbornly silent.

Stiff upper lip and all that.

[random_xtras]

"Where's Sam?" asked John anxiously over a background sound of Rob hunting for scattered electronic parts.

[teh-rest.livejournal.com]

"Right beside me," he grunted, handing the phone to his wife.

There were times when he really disliked how intrusive John could be.

[i_salted_dean]

"I'm sorry," she muttered, and this time she was apologizing for the right thing. She still felt torn up inside, and still had layers of grieving to work through, but she wasn't walling him off anymore.

[teh-rest.livejournal.com]

He nodded. "I know."

Time pass

[i_salted_dean]

Sam looked up from reciting the funeral service over the pyre they'd built, then looked at Leeroy soberly.

[teh-rest.livejournal.com]

And he looked back, uncertain.

[i_salted_dean]

"I shut you out...." Her voice broke.

[teh-rest.livejournal.com]

He just shook his head and stayed where he was.

He'd never felt this low before.