Lee was very uncomfortable, not wanting to have to do this. She had known it was going to be weird enough if she ever saw Sam again after what had happened at the zoo, but to be seeing him for this reason...

But Tarin was still extremely worried about what might happen if he had Garrett take him to the mansion for help, so Lee had agreed to ask Sam if he would talk to Tarin about the mansion first.

Yeah, weird. And awkward.

So Lee had called Sam up, using the number that she still had in her purse, and arranged to meet him for coffee. That was about as safe as she could get, especially since she had made it for the middle of the afternoon. Giving Tarin a tight smile, Lee had left him and Garrett in the shop and made her way a few blocks over to the coffee shop they had agreed on.

Lee had spent a considerably longer time choosing her clothing that morning than normal, finally settling on a black skirt that hung to just above her knees and a deep red tank top. She wasn't sure whether it would help her situation with Sam or make it worse.

But it was too late now, she was already at the coffee shop and it was too late to go home to change, so all Lee could do was get into line to buy her coffee and wait for Sam.

Today was starting off to be a great day, he woke up and had a good breakfast, a good workout in the danger room and then fell asleep by the pool. The day was perfect up until he got the call. It was lee, and she wanted to meet again. Seeing how she messed Sam up pretty well last time he wanted to say no he did, but those feelings he had for her spoke for him.

They were supposed to meet at a coffee shop, but Sam got lost on the way, big cities were never good for him. Sam ended up getting a cab and had to pay a ridiculous amount again. He got out of the cab and walked into the coffee shop whistling, he was nervous, Sam wasn’t exactly sure what she could have wanted. Sam was hoping for a date but when it came to Lee, not everything always worked out as he hoped it would.

Scanning the shop he saw Lee looking as pretty as she always did, and those same feelings he had for her on the second date came up again. He didn’t greet her as he did on the second date because he wasn’t sure what she wanted from this meeting, but he tried to stay as cheerful as always. “Hey sorry I am late, not to good with big cities I get lost pretty easily.” Sam smiled his fake smile and waited for her to respond hoping she would say something along the lines of “ I am sorry, lets go out, I am ready to date now, I missed you.” Any of those would have been fine with Sam in fact he was almost wishing it was one of the last two.

Lee was just about to the front of the line when she heard a voice behind her. In a split second, the nervousness she was feeling sky rocketed, and she felt her palms starting to sweat slightly. What the hell was she thinking doing this, anyway?

Turning, Lee couldn't help but smile. Despite how weird and uncomfortable this was feeling, Lee really couldn't deny that she liked Sam. At least when he was behaving himself.

"Don't worry, you're not late," Lee assured him, the smile still on her face, though the nerves were leaking into it. "Haven't got my coffee yet, so you can't be late."

At this point, Lee made it to the front of the line, and she turned to order. "Extra large black." Then she turned to look over her shoulder at Sam. "What 'd you want?" She asked. She knew it was going to be an odd conversation she was going to be having with him, but it could most certainly wait until after she got her coffee.

Sam wasn’t feeling like this day was going to turn out to be a great one. Lee seemed a bit distant and was acting a little out of the ordinary, well in his opinion at least, but he only went out with her twice so what he know what was normal or not for Lee.

“Hmmmmmm…” Sam was thinking what sounded good, he wasn’t much of a coffee drinker he only liked the smell, the taste didn’t do much for him. “I’ll just have a water.” Sam actually looked around to see if someone would try hitting him for drinking water at a coffee shop.

Sam was a little worried about how they ended on their last date, or meeting, or whatever it was. Trying not to start this meeting off on bad terms, “Hope you’re not still mad about how we ended things on our last get together.” Sam said this while trying to smile the entire time.

Sam walked to a table and sat down. It was a perfect location; if things started getting bad he could just look out at the traffic.

As she waited for Sam to tell her what he was going to drink, Lee could tell that he was feeling rather awkward too. Or, at the very least, that he wasn't overly comfortable, not entirely sure, which was somewhat weird because the last couple times she had seen him, Sam had appeared very confident.

But he just wanted a water, so Lee paid for her coffee and Sam's bottle of water, and then followed him to the table he found for them.

"Yes and no," Lee admitted when Sam asked about their last encounter. "I still can't believe you actually did that to me, but I probably reacted stronger than you expected."

Setting her coffee down on the counter in front of her, Lee's hands clasped, idly playing with the ring on her right hand as she took a deep breath. How was she supposed to say this? Again, why had she thought this was a good idea?

"I have a favour to ask," Lee started, then her eyes shot up to Sam's face. "I mean, you don't have to if you don't want to. It's completely up to you, but I've got to ask."

Ask, yeah, but how? Lee wondered as she dropped her eyes again. How did you ask a guy you dated to meet with your former ex, who you were once again with, to help him out? The only thing Lee could come up with at the moment was to be vague.

"I know someone who needs to go to the mansion to ask for help, but he's worried about how they'll react when he goes. Since you're living there, he was wondering if maybe he'd be able to talk to you about it first."

Sam listened closely to what Lee was asking. He was glad that she wasn’t entirely mad at him but he had a feeling something bad was going to happen. Sam looked down at his water then back up at Lee’s eyes, she had asked and seemed generally worried about asking him.

Sam smiled knowing that he was going to figure something out he hadn’t wanted to know. “Let me guess, this guy who wants to know about the mansion, he wouldn’t happen to be the one you have been taking care of when we went out on our last time together was he?” Sam waited for her response, he looked around hoping that this guy was just a friend and nothing more, he looked outside for a few seconds then back to Lee.

Sam waited till she was finished speaking before he answered. Still, what he said wasn't really an answer, wasn't saying that yes he would help or no he wouldn't. It was asking about who it was she was asking on behalf of, if it was the same person she had told him she was helping take care of the other times they had been out.

She couldn't lie. Even if she had thought she could lie to Sam about it, even if she really thought there was a reason to lie about it, Lee was sure the truth would come out sooner rather than later.

"Yeah, that is who it is," Lee told Sam with a slight nod. "His name's Tarin. He's been having some...problems with his abilities, and needs some help with it, but is worried about what he might face there."

Once again he listened to what Lee had to say and once again he answered with a smile. “Lee don’t worry about it, I will help him out, regardless of the situation.” Sam said this with a tiny hidden wink. Sam really meant it; he would do anything for a friend.

Hesitating on what he was going to say next he chose his words carefully, “so what kind of situation is he in? If you don’t mind me asking.” Sam’s eye shifted down to Lee’s hand it had what looked like an engagement ring on it, the only problem it was on the wrong hand. Sam smiled a sad smile; he knew what this was about. Sam decided he would tease her a bit, “That’s some ring you have.”

Lee breathed a sigh of relief when Sam said that he would help, no matter what the situation Tarin was in. She couldn't help it, given the situation between the two of them, Lee honestly wasn't sure how Sam would react to the request. She also didn't know how Tarin and Sam would react if they were in the same room together, Lee had already seen Tarin's jealousy on numerous occasions when it was far less deserved. But then again, Tarin did already know what had happened between her and Sam, and still wanted to meet the guy to get this information. She could only hope things would work out.

"Thanks, Sam," Lee said sincerely, looking up at him with a small smile. "You have no idea how important this is to him, how much he needs the help."

But then Sam was asking questions. Not overly surprising given the situation. "That," Lee said slowly, quietly, her eyes darting around as she spoke. "Is a very...delicate issue. Not exactly the best thing to be speaking about in public. I only seem to be any help after the fact, and believe me, that's no where near enough."

Before she knew it, Sam was commenting on her ring, which she had continued to unconsciously play with as she was talking. Swallowing the lump that was suddenly in her throat. She knew Sam hadn't seen the ring before, it had been on a chain around her neck and tucked into her shirt the last two times they had seen each other. But apparently, he was seeing at least some of the significance it held despite its small size.

"Ah, the ring," Lee said, her eyes dropping down to look at it. How did she explain this? She had told him that she wasn't ready to date yet, and then the very next day she had gotten back together with Tarin.

But she and Tarin weren't really dating, were they? They were just simply together. That was different, right? At least it felt different in Lee's mind.

Taking a deep breath, her eyes still lowered, looking at the ring that still felt weird on her right hand, Lee started to speak. "Just before I was thrown in the camp," Lee whispered; this wasn't exactly something she wanted to share with the entire world, after all. "Me and my fiancé broke up. A lot of it was a misunderstanding, but because of the camp, we didn't get back together when I finally got out.

"I wasn't lying when I said I wasn't ready to date," Lee said, looking up at Sam again. Hopefully he would see the truth of that in her eyes. "I'm still not exactly ready, but we're trying to work things out and start again."

Sam smiled at Lee jokingly he said “so this is kind of awkward for you isn’t it?” Sam showed no sign of anger at all in fact he was relieved. Sam really thought he lost his spark with women and well life, she put him in a rut and he now knows why.

“So you getting back together with him, was that before or after the stolen kiss?” he wanted to know it might have explained why there was such of, well in his opinion an overreaction.

“I am not mad or nothing I thought I just lost my touch with women.” He smiled at her, “It actually explains a lot on why you were so distant all those times, and I thought you didn’t like me.”
Pausing for a second to sip some water, “I will still meet your guy if it will make you happy.” He put his water down now happy he had some closure, “it is going to be kind of awkward between me and him though.”

Sam had regained his former personality; he smiled and stated, “ You know if it doesn’t work out between you two, I am going to expect a call.”

"You have no idea," Lee replied, returning a small bit of Sam's smile. And it did feel awkward for Lee, even more so because she did like Sam, just...not as much as Tarin.

"It was after," Lee replied softly. "Well, Tarin had been trying for months, but I finally agreed to give it another try a few days ago."

Lee looked down at the table and took a couple, slow sips of her coffee as she listened to Sam speak. He said he wasn't angry, and he honestly didn't sound it, but Lee knew he couldn't exactly be feeling the best about the situation. She was the one essentially dumping him here, and she didn't feel good about it.

"You haven't lost your touch," Lee whispered, one corner of her mouth turning up slightly. "I might have even let you get away with the kiss if not for that other stunt of yours.

"You really terrified me, there," Lee continued, her voice closer to a normal volume again as she raised her eyes to look at Sam. "I pretty much haven't touched anyone at all since the camps because I'm worried about what my powers are doing to people, so to see you pass out like that..."

Lee drew in a deep breath, her eyes dropping again. "And I know it's going to be very awkward, for all of us," Lee continued. "But thank you, Sam. You have no idea how much this'll mean, how much he needs the help."

Next thing she knew, Lee could hear the smile back in Sam's voice as he started talking about if things didn't work out between her and Tarin. Her eyes shooting back up, she saw not only the smile on his lips, but thought she saw a teasing gleam in his eyes. That, there, changed her answer to him. "You got it," she said with a slight nod. "If it ends up not working out, I'll give you a call."

“Really I didn’t mean it to go so wrong I was only teasing you.” Sam smiled as he picked up his water bottle to take another sip of his water. Sam now pondering the best situation on how he should go about this, “so does your guy know you’re here with me?” He hoped he did other wise the guy probably wouldn’t be to thrilled when Lee would bring Sam.

After Lee spoke Sam asked her about whats going to happen next. “So when and where do you want me to meet this guy? And a name would help some to.” He finished with a smile.

Lee nodded and took a sip of coffee as Sam told her he hadn't meant his joke to go so wrong. She didn't know what else to say about it. Sam had already done the damage by pulling that on her, and she had already told him how horrible an idea it had been.

Though, what Sam went on to really wasn't all that much better. Lee swallowed and nodded again to his question. "Yeah, he knows I'm here," she told him simply. "Actually, it was his idea I come talk to you."

And there it was, the big question. When. Lee looked up at Sam for a moment before she spoke again. "Whenever you're able to, I'd guess," she said. "He's wanting to start dealing with this as soon as he can, so if you're free now, and willing to, I think Tarin would just about jump at the chance to talk to you now. Otherwise, whenever you're able to."

Sam paused not sure that Lee was completely truthful with Tarin, “did you tell him that you kissed me?” Sam smiled at this because they both knew that was the exact opposite of what happened.

Sam wasn’t to thrilled about the idea of meeting with Lee’s current boo, he was almost positive Tarin would be the jealous type, it was just a hunch but it has always been Sam’s luck. “Lee if you really want I can meet him now, I actually canceled my plans for today,” he smiled “just to find out I was hanging out with a women who was spoken for.” He pointed at lee after he finished his comment then put his finger down. Sam looked out the window and looked towards the sky at the clouds.

Lee gave Sam an almost outraged look when he asked if she had told Tarin that she had kissed him. And she was about to react verbally to that as well when she thought for a moment and realized that she actually hadn't told Tarin about the kiss. At all. How Sam had pretended to pass out had been the much larger concern, the bigger worry in her mind.

"Uh," Lee somewhat stammered, her eyes on the table once again. "I don't think I actually told him about you kissing me..." How would Sam react to that? Would that cause Tarin to actually show the jealousy she had been expecting from the start?

Lee blushed when Sam told her that he had cancelled his plans for the day. "I'm sorry," she whispered, only looking up at him again once she had finished saying those words. "You didn't have to do all that. Probably shouldn't have done it. But, if you don't mind, I mean the shop really isn't far from here, I'm sure Tarin'll close up early if you're willing to talk with him today."