“That’ll be five dollars and twenty five cents please!” the perky new cashier said as she placed the two extra large black coffees on the counter in front of him. Smiling and handing her six he walked away with coffees in hand letting her know that she could keep the change. A smile was wide on his face because for the first time in a few weeks he had a reason to be happy, like a legit reason not one like he had less paperwork. Sam was happy because he was going to see Lee for the first time in a few months, he had heard that she was in Romania but he didn’t get the chance to see her.

Walking over to the table they sat at the last time they had coffee tighter Sam positioned himself facing the door so he could wave his gal pal in when he spotted her. Hand under his chin he closed his eyes and waited to hear the door open, he didn’t have anything better to do and this was his down time.

Periodically Sam’s hand trailed from his chin up his face scrapping against his scruff to his left eye. Even if he was used to the patch he still wasn’t used to the people staring at it, waiting for something like him pulling out a sword and a pirate’s hat. On more than one occasion he was tempted too. The door opened and the bell rang and he stepped scratching the side of the patch and smiled as he spotted Lee.

”Long time no see! What’s new?” Sam said as he stood and took a few steps forward towards her and pulled her into a bear hug and then squeezed enough to get the point across that it has really been to long. He knows she wasn’t big on the contact but the last time he saw her was at Ghost’s wedding.

Sam had called, asking to get together. Lee wasn't completely back to normal after Romania even though it had been a few months, but she was definitely trying. And some days putting some real effort into trying to make things go back to normal. Not that going for coffee with Sam was something that Lee normally did before going to Europe, but it was one of those things that could be considered 'normal', and would definitely give her something to do for the afternoon.

She was dressed simply that day: a dark grey skirt, a red tank top, and a light leather jacket to protect herself from the slight chill that still hung in the shadowy air of the New York streets.

It really didn't take long to get to the coffee shop. She'd been there on a couple occasions to meet Sam for coffee, so she knew exactly where she was going. And, almost as soon as she walked in the door, Lee saw him sitting there, at the same table they'd been at before. With two coffee cups sitting on the table as Sam stood up.

"Hope I haven't kept you waiting too long," Lee said, trying to point to the cups, but was unable to because Sam wrapped her in a hug. "I've just been trying to get things back to normal," Lee continued as she returned the hug. After a moment, Lee pulled back and looked at Sam, now sporting an eye patch. "What happened?"

”Nope not long at all, I actually just sat down a few moments ago.” she pulled from the hug before he could and then she asked about her eye, shrugging and looking to the coffee he smiled trying not to sound very dismissive but he would have preferred a little coffee before he touched on the subject. ”I lost it in Romania.” Sam said without much attachment story. Yes it was hard a when it happened and when he got home but it was something he had learned to cope with.

”XL and black right?” Sam asked pointing to the coffees at the table. Sitting down in his spot he smiled and took a sip of his, he recalled her order but he wanted to be sure so when their next meeting would take place he could order it again.

”So I heard you and Tarin had a trip to Europe as well,” his smile faded as he took another sip of his coffee from what he had heard from Shin and a few of his friends Tarin was locked up in the camps, something he couldn’t recall but then again he was either working, getting cut up or in the hospital wing. Oddly enough similar to his schedule back home only he had a saw what was going on in his schedule.

”Hope you guys were safe.”

He lost it in Romania. To someone listening in to the conversation, that wouldn't be an sort of explanation. If anything, it would have raised even more questions.

But for Lee, it was more than enough of an explanation, and Lee simply gave a slight nod of understanding. He lost it in Romania. Even more that had gone wrong there.

And then Sam questioned how she drank her coffee, and Lee realized why there were two cups on the table; he had already got both of their coffees. "Yeah," Lee replied. "Though sometimes I do scale things back and just go with a large."

Having said that, Lee sat down at the table as well, across from Sam, and took a sip of her coffee as Sam mentioned that he'd heard that she and Tarin had been in Europe too.

Eyes dropping to the table, both hands wrapping around her paper cup, Lee shook her head. "Not really," Lee said softly. "Unfortunately we weren't."

Noted coffee varied in size but remained the same. He nodded his head as her eyes dropped to the table and her fingers wrapped around the cup. Assumptions started railing through his head, she averted his gaze on purpose, which meant something had happened. What it was exactly he didn’t know but could only guess, unless he asked her. ”Camps?” he asked assuming it was the location of the incident.

His left eye started to hurt for a moment as he relived the flashback of that female guard taking a knife and running the blade down his eye. ”Still have dreams about it…” Sam said sighing slightly as he touched his left eye briefly. ”It was a bad month that was for sure…” said Sam as he recalled all the events that had happened, when he was locked up in the camps and the following events before he returned to the states.

”Tarin alright?” Sam asked, making sure Lee wasn’t hurting because of something happened to him, Sam never had much love for the guy; he was as Sam recalled kind of an ass, but then again Sam did kiss Lee. Regardless of the situation they were in Sam still felt it was right to ask.

”So how did you guys hear about the camps? News, or did you have a fiend there?” Sam asked curiously if it was because of the news or if they heard from one of their friends and felt they needed to help as well.

Lee nodded when Sam guessed simply 'the camps'. That was it, alright. But still she didn't look up, even when Sam mentioned that he had been having dreams about it, and that the time he'd spent in the camps, that month, had been bad. So he'd been captured in around the time that Tarin had, because that had been one long, agonizing month for her.

"I started having nightmares about the first time again," Lee said softly. For the first little bit, they had been bad, but thankfully they had been getting better recently, been far less frequent.

And then Sam asked if Tarin was alright. Again, Lee simply nodded, taking a sip of her coffee. "Yeah, Tarin's alright," she said. "We're both alright now." Then Lee paused, glancing up at Sam briefly before dropping her eyes back to her cup. "I died. During the breakout."

Sam remained silent when Lee said she was having nightmares about the first time, he was guessing she was talking about the ones in New York opposed to the ones in Romania. He was fortunate enough to be nowhere near the first camps; even though he wanted to help he didn’t learn about it till the last month it was in effect. He was at the time hiding in the Application Mountains from some one other than just the stalker robots. Hiding in the mountains didn’t help much when T.A.T. found him though.

Taking a sip of coffee right before Lee dropped the bomb on him he started to cough, ”Wha?” he asked still choking on his drink, making sure what he heard was correct. ”You died?!?” he asked his voice louder now than he had realized, drawing the attention of a few people enjoying their coffee around him. He blinked with his one eye and then realized where they were; looking around to see a few eyes on him he leaned in closely to his drink and asked again, ”You died?”

She had died? Then how was she here before him enjoying coffee and some catch up time? He blinked again with his one eye turning it into a wink then he thought about it. Guessing it had something to do with someone’s mutation he waited for some kind of explanation before he asked simply, ”What was it like?” it was a question he himself had wondered about several times, one that he was surprised how quickly it came to his mind when Lee said she had died.

…. ”You don’t have to answer that if you don’t want, I honestly had no idea where that question came from.”

Lee nodded slightly when she heard Sam question what she had said about having died during the breakout. Her head was still down, her eyes closed not wanting to see the looks she was fairly sure would be directed at them with how much louder Sam's voice had gotten.

She had nodded, but otherwise didn't do much else for a minute, hoping that that time would cause others who had heard to lose interest. "It's fuzzy," Lee finally replied, opening her eyes but keeping her gaze on the table between her and Sam. "I'd found Slate, and we had just found Tarin. I was going to him, and was shot, I never saw by who."

A crease had formed between her brows as Lee frowned, remembering. "I don't even remember falling, but then I was looking down, saw myself laying there, covered in blood..."

When she mentioned Slate a right eyebrow frowned slightly, only to be replaced with concern as she retold the rest of her experience with death. He listened intently as she recounted the moment she was shot and what happened after. He had been shot before but never had an out of body experience, a in body experience but that was only due to the haywire virus. ”Probably a guard, too many people got hurt during the breakout… on both sides…” Sam said as he looked down to his coffee only to take a sip moments later.

”Gotta be scary right? Out of body experience…” he added as he set the coffee down and leaned in a bit more, ”What happened next?” Sam asked wanting to know the rest of the story, he knew how it ended because she was sitting in front of him. In fact it he remembered something he once heard, it’s not where you end up but the path it takes you to get you there is what is important.

He again realized how inclined he was for her to continue with the story again he didn’t want her to relive something that she wasn’t comfortable living its just how often does someone get brought back from the dead?