Sam shrugged not really thinking about it. ”Cook or scavenge else I didn’t eat.” Sam said taking a bite of it reaching for the salt and adding a bit to his meal. ”Always need more salt.” Sam said now chewing and washing the bite down with some non-spiked coffee. He forgot what coffee tasted like without whiskey. Sam took another sip then added, ”Guess I kinda like to cook. Kinda relaxing.”

”I think we should, and you held your own no problem.” Sam said taking another bite. ”I mean if we are going to be on the same team that is you might need to work with me.” Sam made sure not to say under because he wasn’t sure how she would react to the phrasing. Sam sipped his coffee again and then added, ”Guess I should.” Sam said with a slight wink as he went over to the table and sat down with his meal.

”Now if it was awkward for you to tell me you were on the team and moved under the same roof as me…” Sam took a sip of coffee. ”Is it gonna be awkward when we work together?” he asked curiously he had dated teammates before and sometimes it worked sometimes it didn’t. He didn’t have an issue with it but he had a feeling he might be keeping an extra eye on Juliette whether she needed it or not.

Juliette nodded as he spoke. It didn't really sound like his background (possibly his childhood? That much was unclear) was that easy. She didn't question him about it, though. It seemed like too deep of a conversation to get into at that moment. "Well, you can cook for me whenever you'd like. I'm absolutely terrible at it."

"Not if we don't make it awkward, I guess," she reasoned. There would probably be things that would be different about their relationship as leader and team member, but it wouldn't be impossible to work out. "It might just take a little getting used to."

"Okay, so I shared something with you, so you have to even the playing field. Any big secrets, Cold Steel?" She asked him and took another bite of her omelette. It was partly to change the subject a bit, and partly because she simply wanted to know.

”Oh that’s what this is?” Sam asked as he took another bite. He raised an eyebrow. ”I thought you were just trying to get something off of your chest not play this game.” Sam said as he took a sip of his coffee, ”Didn’t agree to this but… hard to refuse playing along with you.” he rolled his eye slightly and took a bite of his food before clearing his throat.

”Tons of secrets… some of them not so secret. I have a kid, a dog and a cat.” Sam said as he pulled his wallet out and then slid it towards her behind the badge was a photo of him and Alex, Sam drunk and having his arm around him with a thumbs up sign while Alex had his arms folded like he didn’t want to be there. The other two were the same photos only instead of Alex his dog was in one and his cat was in the other. Only the dog looked happy to be in the photo and hugged by Sam. He took a sip of his coffee and then added, ”Alex was adopted. Might have heard about him it was a big trial a few months back.”

Another sip of coffee, ”Big enough secret for you?” he asked taking another bite of food. ”You got any others you are afraid will be too awkward now?” Sam asked with a smirk.

"A... Kid?" Juliette went a little pale. A kid was something you tell the other person about on the first date, not the third. A kid was a big deal. A kid was not something you casually bring up over omelettes. A kid was something that you talked about before you talked about English rock bands.

Sure he was adopted, but that didn't change the fact that Sam was legally responsible for another human being. Juliette took the photo off of the counter and stared at it for a moment. Sam looked unbelievably happy. Too happy to be sober, that was for sure. His son, however, looked like he wanted to be anywhere else. She wondered if the rest of their relationship was that strained.

She had seen the news about the trial, but hadn't connected the two. As she thought about it, she did remember there being something about a Sam Johnson being there. The boy's name was something like Aiden or Austin or something.

"No, no, you don't just get to move on from a truth bomb like that," she shook her head quickly. Her tone had shifted to that of someone on edge as she spoke. "I need a bit more information. How old is he? What's his name? How long has he been your son? This would have been a good thing to bring up a while ago."

Did she have any other secrets? A few, but they were mostly just information about her childhood. None of them seemed relevant at that moment, and she had far more important things to focus on. 

Sam smirked when she went from joking to serious, ”What you wanted to play this game.” Sam said sipping his coffee, ”Alex is sixteen almost seventeen. It was either I adopt him or he would have went to prison.” Sam said choosing a very poor choice of words. He probably should have led that Alex was on trial for self defense not murder and that they were tyring to use him as an example. ”The kid is a softie and was attacked. Self defense.”

Sam sipped his coffee still like it wasn’t hat big of a deal ”A few months maybe three or four. He looks after himself I just need to check in on him every now and then. Kind of like a bother thing than a son thing.” Sam said trying to down play the situation. Maybe this was why he didn’t mention Alex. He didn’t want to scare Juliette odd. ”I told you I have a hero complex. Saw the kid needed a second chance. He just needed somewhere to belong and I gave him that.” Sam tapped on the table, ”He lives here in the boys hallway.” Sam said with another sip of coffee.

”When? First drinks or when we were getting shot at?” he smirked slightly, ”Might have been a bit awkward?” he tried his best to mimic her tone when she told him she was on the team or living in the house. ”I think we are pretty even now. Though maybe I should keep another one under wraps for a bit longer. You did have two to my one.” he said with a bite of food. ”You’re not actually upset are you?” Sam asked curiously hoping she wasn’t. ”the whole adoption thing is new to me. I forget I did it on occasion… Sam said trying to justify.

Sixteen almost seventeen. That was old. Far older than most kids were when they were adopted. That was only eight years younger than Juliette, soon to be seven, she realized. That was a sibling age difference, not an adoptive parent age difference.

The whole trial thing was less important. Those were facts she already somewhat knew about. She knew that sometimes mutants needed to be cut a little more slack than others, herself occasionally included. However, it still made her a little wary of the idea of him.

Of course he would live here. Of course it would be inevitable to meet him. Juliette nodded uncomfortably and took another sip of her coffee, trying to focus on the flavour of that rather than anything else.

"Well, I think there probably could have been a point over drinks that would have been acceptable to bring it up," Juliette replied with her brow furrowed. "Maybe something like, oh hey, a big part of my life is that I'm responsible for another human being. Just thought you might want to know before I put my life in danger in front of you."

He had another big secret? How many things could one man hide from people for extended periods of time? Juliette's head was spinning, and she tried to focus on the counter top to help.

"You forget?!" Juliette asked incredulously. "How could you possibly forget something in your life that big? Yeah, I'm a little upset, I think. This is a big deal, Sam. This isn't something that you can causally toss out." 

”I’m a self-defense teacher at a school that has the fire department on speed dial because fires are a daily occurrence. That and explosions.” Sam stopped and pretended to wait for an explosion of some sirens. When they couldn’t be heard Sam just sipped his coffee with his eyebrow raised. ”I’m kinda responsible for most of these kids, whether I want to be or not…” Sam suddenly wished he had some alcohol in his coffee. The thought of him kidnapping the kids was a painful reminded of how he had failed before.

”Well, if I knew you were going to be upset about it I would have told you.” Sam said staring at her with his lone eye, ”I’m sorry…” Sam said with a level of sincerity he rarely had. He liked her company and didn’t want to drive her away. Maybe he should just spill his entire history to prevent a fight from later on. No, that would definitely scare her off. Heck, it would scare him off.

”A big part of my life is I like teaching.” he said trying not to think about it too much, he never verbalized how much he liked to teach before. At least not in this capacity. ”So… you think this is gonna be too awkward?” Sam asked before giving a slight smirk, ”I can cook you dinner if that will help you forgive me.”

Juliette took a deep breath as she listened to him speak. What he was saying did make sense, and as her mood began to stabilize she realized that she had probably been a little hard on him. He had taken in a kid in need. It really was the right thing to do, and she had to put herself in his shoes. If she been in that position, she probably would have done something different, but not entirely dissimilar.

She nodded at his apology, which was surprisingly sincere. She was glad he actually got the point that she was upset, and wasn't making jokes about it. That helped his case greatly.

"It might be a little awkward if I run into him in the halls or something, but I'll try and get over it," she said after a second. "I'm glad you told me now, at least. I'm sorry I freaked out so much, but this might take some time for me to get used to." She wasn't going to pretend that she was just okay with it and then move on. 

"I wouldn't mind dinner, though," Juliette replied, a hint of a smile on her face since she'd calmed down.

Sam smirked slightly not sure what to say exactly so he thought a sip of coffee hoping it would help, it probably didn’t, ”Again, only as awkward as you make it. Not like I’m going to introduce you to him as his new mother anything… unless…” Sam smirked and waved his hand and a large ring of ice formed. ”I mean… Lot of ice, hard to say no and it will last as long as I do.” Sam set it on the table while trying to stare at her while sipping his coffee while trying to keep a straight face. He cracked after a second though and laughed into his coffee almost choking.

It might have been a bad joke but he thought it would at least get a little chuckle from her. ”You don’t have to meet him or you can. It doesn’t matter either way, we got all the time in the world.” Sam said still trying to play off the situation now that she knew he didn’t want things to be weird.

”You like steak or Tuna?” he asked curiously already preparing a mental checklist for his next grocery run. ”I’m pretty good at cooking both. At least I think so.” Sam said taking a bite of his omelet and grunting grossly over exaggerating ”This is good.”

"Uh," Juliette faltered and then coughed loudly as Sam produced a rather convincing ring of ice. He set it on the table and took a sip of his coffee with a straight face. She lifted an eyebrow at him and pushed the ring back across the table. "I think you might be getting ahead of yourself there," she warned. "Lets just start with dinner."

When he started to laugh, she got a better feeling about the situation. Leave to Sam to get her laughing again. It took her a minute, but she joined in on the laughter and replaced her frown with a wide smile.

"It might be a good idea to meet him a bit later," Juliette decided. "Not too much later, or it'll be even weirder, but definitely not right now." Aka she would likely consider running for the hills if it was within the next week or two.

"Lets try tuna. If it's good enough, who knows? Maybe I'll let you try steak another time," she continued to grin. Her mood had shifted greatly, having left behind the feelings of wariness over the Alex situation. She was definitely still a little uneasy about the situation, but she was starting to feel better about it.

”Oh? You think that you might get a second dinner?” Sam sipped his coffee and then set down the empty mug and went to grab the pot with the other few cups that remained on a good day he could finish a pot by himself with Juliette here he had a feeling they needed to make more. ”Starting to see a trend here. You have some awkward information and then I make breakfast. Now I’ll be making you possibly two dinners?”

Snapping his fingers the ring shattered into a few pieces of ice and he turned with the coffee pot and raised an eyebrow. ”Either I’m the luckiest guy in the world or you don’t get a lot of home cooked meals.” Sam said walking with the pot back to the table. Sam filled his cup then offered to fill Juliette’s.

”So I got to ask, this whole you couldn’t tell me you moved into my house then joined my team thing.” they were both everyone’s not just his, ”Did you think it was weird cause you like me?” Sam teased sitting back down raising an eyebrow and grinning.

Juliette smiled appreciatively and held out her coffee mug between two hands. More coffee was never a question. "I'm afraid it's the latter," she informed him. "I'm a terrible cook, and my mom never cooked growing up. Other than the couple of years I lived with my grandparents, cooked meals were never really a thing in my life. They're a bit of a novelty, I suppose."

"But, if you really want to keep it to yourself, I suppose that's up to you," she grinned as she teased him. "I won't stop you."

And they had somehow circled back to the original topic of conversation. She sighed and swirled her coffee carefully in her mug, taking a quick sip as she thought. "I guess it seemed a bit strange. I mean, two dates and suddenly I'm both working for you and living in the same building? I guess it was just easier to go through Cafas and push tell you off, you know?"

"What about you, do you think it's weird?"

”No, if I’m going to try impress someone I could do worse for company.” he sipped his coffee then raised an eyebrow. He thought about her question and finished his meal adding a long dramatic silence before saying. ”Not really, no.” Sam shrugged, ”Now if I picked you up for another date then yes, I think it would be weird considering you probably live down the hallway from me…” Sam paused and raised an eyebrow. ”What room are you in?” he asked hoping she didn’t move across the hall. That would be weird especially if they stopped talking for some reason.

”Maybe I should just be using my window more so you won’t have to run into me unless we plan it.” Sam mused, ”and you work with me. Not for me. You work with me until I ask you not to die on a mission. Then you work for me.” Sam pushed his plate slightly away from him and leaned over the table slightly, ”So I got to ask… why the interest in the X-Men? You seemed pretty busy with the hospital on the first date. It was a date by the way.” Sam nodded his head so she couldn’t argue.

”Also when did you move in here. Again, also nice question dodge.” he smirked. The ice shards reformed into a tiny ice bunny when he looked at it.

"Room... 33, I think?" Juliette replied. She hadn't actually spent all that much time in her room, since she was still dealing with her apartment in New York. Three nights that week had been spent there. "I mean, we can't be that close. I haven't seen you in the hall yet."

"So what, you're afraid to talk to me in the halls now? I thought you said this wasn't going to be awkward?" She smirked at him. She didn't really mind running into him in the halls, just so long as it didn't require her to be extra awake in the mornings. Besides, it wasn't like she had anything to hide. Unless he did...

"Sounds fair," she nodded to the job description. "I guess it was after the whole Odessa thing. It make me rethink some things. The X-men are important, you know? I suppose I wanted to do something good. And I was a little sick of dealing with annoying cops that get their arms sliced open." She finished up her omelette and loaded her plate on top of Sam's.

"About two days," Juliette shrugged. "I'm still figuring things out with my apartment, though. Been going back and forth between the two places for the entire time."

Sam raised an eyebrow and smirked he watched her set her plate on his and he took another sip of his coffee. He was feeling refreshed and alert now and the fact that she mentioned her room was a little more ridiculous than he wanted to admit. She across the hall and a few rooms down from him. Now it was awkward. Also it made sense she didn’t see him in the hallways because he never had the same hours as anyone else and his main exit of the mansion was his bedroom window.

Sam however decided to keep that information to himself as he sipped his coffee some more. If Juliette was so worried about not making things awkward Sam thought he’d hide this information from her a bit longer. At least until they bumped into the hallway. He now had a reason to use the door to his room and exit his room at normal hours. It seemed Juliette was great motivation.

”Said the woman who moved across the hall from said annoying cop who isn’t a cop… unless you have a lot of cops come in with arms sliced open…” Sam took another sip of his coffee set it down and stood picking up the plates and walking them over to the sink, ”Now I don’t feel as special.” he said in a mocking tone as he started to rinse the dishes and put them in the dishwasher.

”You might have to explain in detail what the X-Men mean to you… they mean something different to everyone else. I’m always curious. There is no wrong answer I guess.” Sam said with a shrug as he shut the dishwasher and walked back over to the table and sat down next to her. Grabbing his coffee and pulling it closer to him he took a sip and set it down.

”You’re going to be running into me a lot more it seems.” he smirked, ”You live practically across the hall from me.” he smirked, ”I know some guys from a moving crew if you need some help. It’s always nice to help out your neighbors.” he took another sip of his coffee, ”Even if they don’t like telling you they moved in with you and are on the same team as you.”