”Wait… you’re immune to cold?” Sam asked his expression one of surprise. ”I… didn’t know… that makes things easier when it’s you and me I guess…” Sam said. It just meant he could let loose with her around but Caleb would have had an issue with it. Sam’s arms were still folded pretending to be upset. He sipped his cider then leaned forward a bit and took a step closer to Juliette, now pretty sure that he wasn’t going to get hit again.

”I’ll see the doc when I see him. Good chance he won’t bother with this.” Sam said lowering his cider and placing his hands on his hips. ”You’re someone I care about, easier for me to be thrown in a fight like that than have anyone else dragged in. I’m used to it.” Sam said trying to be a little alpha. He stuck out his chest then stopped from the ribs. He folded his arms again then rand his hand through his hair. Sam made sure to make sure it wasn’t the injured side that did all the moving.

”I can’t promise but I’ll try to make sure you don’t just have to sit and watch.” Sam said sipping his cider and taking a step closer to Juliette. ”Sides, Caleb needed more help than I did then.” Sam said. ”Look I’m sorry… I’ll keep in mind you don’t like me stepping in the line of fire so no one else does…”

The icemancer grabbed a doughnut and took a little bite then offered some to Juliette, ”Now you are sure you are immune to the cold?” Sam asked with a smirk hoping they might have moved past any of the serious tone talk.

"Only in that form," Juliette told him, her voice still betraying a hint of unhappiness.  He had explained himself, sure, but in such a way that told her nothing was really going to change. "Like this I feel it like anyone else."

She took a piece of the doughnut from him and chewed it while she thought. She didn't really want to go further into things while standing in the middle of a pumpkin farm, so she figured that it was best to let it slide. What she did want was to be able to set Sam's ribs properly and have him go see the doc, but she knew that that was unlikely to happen, so she decided to settle for the next best thing: getting him off of his feet.

"Why don't we check out the hay ride?" She suggested, trying to force a lighter mood. There was one that had just unloaded its passengers, and was ready to board for new people. 

The way she talked about her other form almost didn’t sound human. Sam sipped his cider and nodded his head. ”Right… well…” he said limping slightly and talking a step closer to her and gave her a little smirk and reached back into the bag to pull another doughnut.

”Never been on one of these before.” Sam said still not sure of the argument was really settled. He didn’t know if she was just tabling it for later but he was glad that they were done talking about it. He knew he could take more of a beating than anyone else so no one else had to. That was that. At least that was how he felt; he defiantly didn’t want to see Juliette hurt.

Sam walked over to the carriage then formed a little ice under his feet to help lift him up so he didn’t have to hurt his ankle or ribs anymore by jumping or pulling himself up. Sam stepped off the little ice staircase then offered a hand to Juliette to help her up. A few people watched and dropped their jaws slightly at Sam’s makeshift stairs of ice but he ignored them. He was a mutant. That needed to get over it.

Once they were on the trailer Sam sat and let out a small ‘huff’ of air and adjusted his weight so he didn’t feel as much tension on his ribs. ”Been all over the world and there is still things here at home that I never had done.” Sam said smirking, ”Did you do this a lot with your family when you were a kid?” Sam asked curiously biting into a doughnut.

It made sense that he hadn't been on a hay ride before. They typically accompanied pumpkin picking, and he hadn't done that either. It was unfortunate that he didn't get the chance to do it as a kid, but luckily it didn't really loose its charm the older you got. 

She stood behind him as he created an ice step stool beneath him in order to make his step onto the wagon a little easier. Juliette glanced at the people staring at him - at them - and did her best to ignore them. It made her a little uncomfortable with everyone looking, but she tried not to let that show. She simply looked away for a second and then followed after him.

Juliette took a seat on a hay bale next to Sam and thought about his question for a minute. "My mom and I used to go whenever we could. She loved things like this. Most people would only go once a season, but we would go four or five. There were a couple of time that we lived in states that didn't really have pumpkin patches, but we would just make up for the missed opportunities the next year.

"So, yes. I went a lot." She shook her head and stole a piece of his doughnut. "What about you? Did your family ever do festive things?" 

She knew full well that she might have just opened a can of worms, but Sam hadn't ever talked about his family, and she wanted to know. It would have to come out eventually, and it was better when he was awake and sober than when he was drunk, or talking in his sleep again.

The way she talked about her trips going to pick pumpkins made Sam wish he had done more stuff with his family or at least remember more stuff about them. After he was kidnapped there wasn’t many fond memories for a while not till he was allowed out of his compound but that didn’t come for a few years later. ”….. Christmas?” Sam asked trying to think of the most festive thing he had done as a child. This was before his time with T.A.T. when he was living in Colorado with his family. Things were a bit hazy but there were always one or two scenes that seemed to be frozen in time for him.

”I don’t remember much of anything else really.” Sam finished the doughnut after Juliette stole her piece and he fished for another one then offered it to her. Sam wasn’t exactly sure if he was ready to tell her the whole truth yet or not. He liked her and didn’t see any reason to scare her away. ”I got separated from them when my powers first manifested so I didn’t really get any opportunities to.” Sam said wishing there was more than just cider.

”So it sounds like you moved around a lot when you were younger. Military kid?” Sam asked raising an eyebrow as the wheels for the hayride started to move.

She nodded at Sam’s recount, made only more curious by what he told her. Separated from them when his powers first manifested. What did that mean, exactly? Did he go straight to the institute? Did he run away? Was he taken?

Juliette took the offered doughnut from him silently, realizing how little she actually knew about him. She had heard things, mostly second hand, but he hadn’t really told her much about himself other than surface facts.

The lurch of the hayride starting made her mind clear. ”Hardly. My mom was a self-proclaimed nomad. She used to say that my powers made it difficult to stay anywhere for long, but really, she just hated staying anywhere for more than a few months. We stayed in with my grandparents for a number of years until my powers surfaced, and then we were on the road every few months until I moved out to go to college.”

She let the air settle for a minute before countering with a question, introducing an unspoken one-for-one rule. ”How did you get separated from your family?” She asked him quietly, taking a bite of her doughnut.

Sam’s tongue clicked slightly when she asked him how he was separated from his family. This could have gone one of two ways, he played it off and told them they died (which they did) or what happened and then she’d wither pity him more or be chased off. Sam shifted uneasily and tried to lean back and then he stopped remembering his injury. ”So I’ve heard a few different stories on how my powers first manifested, all of them would end the same. I was kidnapped.” Sam said as if it was a common theme of any childhood.

The icemancer sipped his cider wishing he could lean forward and keeps his eyes forward but the ribs and the hayride made that difficult so he gracefully changed the subject back to her with a less serious question, ”So you were homeschooled, huh? Guessing you were the bookworm?” Sam smirked and took a little piece of Juliette’s doughnut.

”You went to college so it was a fair assumption” he sipped his cider and added, ”When did your powers manifest?” Sam asked having an idea mostly, it was puberty with a lot of mutants but there were some cases that mutants developed their abilities in times of heightened stress, like him.

Kidnapped. That was heavy. She had been half expecting to hear about some sort of family circumstance that had driven them away, but a kidnapping was much more difficult to deal with. No wonder he drank and screamed in the night.

She was about to ask another question of him, but stopped herself. Maybe a hayride wasn't the place to dig up old memories. Surely he would tell her when he was ready to. Instead, she simply leaned into him a little and squeezed his hand.

"No, not homeschooled. I was just usually the new kid. I learned a lot of things twice, and I'm pretty sure I missed things, but it wasn't that horrible, all things considered." She hadn't been kidnapped or lost her entire family at a young age. It felt selfish to be embittered by her past with Sam sitting next to her. "But yes, I did enjoy books."

A second question was asked of her, breaking the silent rule. She thought back for a moment and then continued, "I think I was twelve? I was in science class, I believe, and my teacher was using a projector. Next thing I knew the lightbulb wouldn't work, and I felt different. It just kept happening after that."

Family background and power manifestation seemed to be taboo topics for Sam, given that they were connected to his kidnapping, so Juliette decided to steer clear of them - at least for a little while. Maybe if he felt comfortable enough he would eventually give her the whole story.

"How did you end up at the mansion?"

The lean and hand squeeze was welcomed. Sam took a sip of his cider and laced his fingers with hers and then leaned in a little to kiss her head. Sam was glad he had met her it seemed that she got the message that it was a sensitive subject for Sam. Then again he was asking similar questions of her and if they did bring up painful memories Sam couldn’t tell.

”heh,” Sam chuckled to himself, ”So what your saying is your powers got you out of learning something.” it wasn’t that funny but Sam just pictured himself as a kid playing dumb and shrugging as the light bulbs continued to go out on projectors. ”Bet a few kids wouldn’t mind something like that.” he joked a little then took another sip.

”I was eighteen when I got there. I was tired of running and there were two possibilities for a mutant at that time. Safe Haven’s always seem good but when you are running to hide it is only a matter of time till that place doesn’t end up safe. The Mansion and then The Sanctuary.” Sam said as he raised an eyebrow to her, ”Obviously the mansion stuck.”

Sam leaned into Juliette again willing the air to get colder around them as if the only way to escape from the cold was to close the distance between the two of them. ”You know… I can talk a little about my past… you might not like what you hear though.” Sam said as he spotted a scarecrow slowly moving closer in the field. A few crows circled near it and started to eat some corn or whatever was out there.

Juliette grinned a little and shrugged. "I suppose it did. I think it would have been easier to just learn it, but I guess that is something that came from it." Other people might have appreciated it more, but it turned out to just be a bit of a hinderance for her. She didn't say that, though, leaving it instead as a funny moment.

The mansion stuck, obviously. That much was clear. He was eighteen when he arrived there - nine years ago. He had lived there for nine years, which was longer than she had lived anywhere since leaving Georgia. She had just arrived there, and yet already it felt like much longer than it actually had been. Nine years seemed like a lifetime. 

"You lived at the Sanctuary?" She asked curiously. That gave some insight as to why he had been so hostile at the party. Obviously it hadn't gone that well, so he was probably harbouring bad memories.

”You know… I can talk a little about my past… you might not like what you hear though.”

Juliette sighed and watched a scarecrow grow closer in the distance. It clearly wasn't working, as crows began to land around it and peck at the corn growing in rows around the stuffed man on a stick. The closer the hayride came, the more crows flew off, scared away by the sound of the wheels on the gravel.

"Just tell me what you think I should know," she said after a minute. She had no idea what she was going to hear, but from his previous behaviour, it wasn't an easy thing for him to talk about. "Tell me what I should know, so that if someone else said something, I wouldn't be surprised."

Sam shook his head and lifted his cider now pretending that there was a some alcohol in it, for some reason it made it easier to talk about things like this. ”No, never lived at the sanctuary. They were close but I was trying to hide. They offered protection but… I didn’t like what I had to give up so I stuck with the mansion. Neena did a good job at feeding me enough till I wanted a room.” Sam said trying to recall what it was that she had fed him. Mashed potatoes? It didn’t matter they weren’t the best he ever had but if you feed anyone who is starving it will taste amazing.

The crows came and went the wheels churned gravel and the hayride shifted slightly causing Sam to wince when he had to lean a bit too much into Juliette. ”Sorry.” the icemancer said as he shifted his weight and then took a bite of the doughnut to mask his pain and the fears of what might come up in this conversation.

”What you should know...” Sam repeated thinking that she should know he was killed, he has killed and occasionally still did for what he deemed was good reason, he was kidnapped, he kidnapped… he had a not real family… ”See that’s a little more difficult to know what people are gonna say about me. “he thought a bit then added, ”I had a fridge full of beer before it was raided by Gawain.” Sam said thinking of the first non-dangerous rumor he could think of.

Sam smirked slightly then his nostrils flared as a few kids some hay stacks before them started to sing. It wasn’t because of the kids but because what he was thinking. Most likely by now the majority of the school knew something that would scare her off. Maybe this was his chance to get a head of it. ”I was mind controlled last year to kidnap some kids at the mansion so they could be recruited into the same organization that turned me into an attack dog.” Sam blurted out before he could stop himself.

There that was the most recent and most likely the more recent rumor other than his death. Sam shoved the doughnut in his mouth and forced himself to chew so he couldn’t say anything else because he needed a moment but didn’t have any twix.

With a furrowed brow, Juliette took her hand from Sam's and wrapped her arm around his waist, trying to steady him against the bumpy wagon. The cold air around them, which she knew was caused by him, gave her another reason to pull in closer. She was freezing. She leaned into his side, and rested her head on his shoulder. "We should really get you back to the doc," she murmured and then went quiet again to listen.

Mind control, kidnapping, a fridge full of beer, and turned into an attack dog. It was about what she had been expecting to hear, but that didn't really make it any less intense. Again, the drinking made sense. Did he blame himself? It couldn't have been his fault, if he was under control like he said, but on some level he obviously did, to react like that. She nodded as she considered it, and didn't say anything for a few minutes.

"What..." She trailed off, not sure of how to ask anything without making it worse on him. "What happened? To the kids, I mean?"

The sun was setting off on the horizon line, which meant that it would be dark in a few minutes. The area wasn't lit up, and there was only one light on the front of the tractor. She tried not to go outside that late in the country for exactly that reason. She shifted nervously and took Sam's hand again with her free one. 

Sam shrugged slightly when she mentioned the doc. Sam didn’t see any reason they were just some cracked ribs. The pain wasn’t going to be permanent and it served another purpose of grounding him to now and not letting his mind wonder too much, that was when he was at his best anyways. It didn’t help he on some level questioned if he was awake or sleeping, another side effect of the mind control by Amanda, but he knew now that he was awake. The pain reminded him.

The cold shifted off of them when she came in close. She was cold and some of it was his fault the setting sun didn’t help much either so he did what he could to make it above freezing around him. He at least had that much power. Sam set his cider down now that it was empty next to the bag of doughnuts. He held Juliette’s hand in his and brushed his thumb gently across her hand and then smirked, ”The kids are fine now. Other than being kidnapped by someone who was supposed to protect you.” the way he said it made it obvious he blamed himself. It wouldn’t happen again though he might get controlled but his powers would make sure he wouldn’t do anything to hurt anyone again.

”They are both still at the mansion, one of them still is afraid of me. The other… I think she enjoyed the idea of learning how to beat people up too much. I don’t think she understood what they would have made her do eventually.” Sam said his teeth clenching slightly at the reason why T.A.T. and Amanda targeted kids. They were easy to influence and the idea of being a super hero was too great for some. Sam included.

”I didn’t have classes for a while after that. The kids were afraid to be around me.” Sam smirked slightly, ”Guess it meant we were doing a good job at the school, teaching them some sense.” his hand gripped a little tighter around hers.

”Used that as an excuse though to sneak away for a couple months though. Go where I couldn’t hurt anyone.” Sam said as let go with one hand and reached into his pocket to grab his phone. It had a white rubber case around it. He offered it up to Juliette with a smirk. ”It glows, you know if it gets too dark.”

"I don’t think she understood what they would have made her do eventually.”

The whole story had been somewhat difficult to listen to, but that sentence made Juliette frown. What exactly did Sam mean by that? He had mentioned that he had been made into an attack dog, but that could mean a lot of things. At least the kids ended up alright, so there was no lasting damage. Physical damage, at least. She took another bite of her doughnut as she thought, deciding not to pry if he didn't want to share.

"Where did you go?" She asked instead, settling for a less-invasive question. She assumed that the answer would be somewhere cold, but couldn't assume. 

When present with his glowing phone case, she smiled at little, both bashful and appreciative of the gesture. She took it and held it between them, looking down at it so she wouldn't have to focus on the darkness that surrounded the tractor. "Thanks," she gave Sam a hint of a grin. "Where did you get this?"

”North…” Sam said at first thinking that would explain things but not everyone knows what that means. ”Not north pole north but pretty close.” Sam said thinking about the exact location he didn’t the coordinates off the top of his head but he’d start at Raina’s old village and just go north for like a day or two. ”Safest place then was to be far away from people as possible.” Sam said summing up how he felt about it. ”Gave me an opportunity to live like a hermit and make sure I wouldn’t experience something like that again.” he said not going into more detail.

It was odd the less she asked him the more he felt like he needed to say. Without alcohol being nearby however he didn’t know how exactly how to say anything, which, in turn frustrated him more because she had, a right to know everything. How do you tell someone they are sleeping with a killer who experiences doubts in his own reality? You typically don’t, which was why Sam found this so difficult.

Welcoming the slight change in conversation Sam looked to her and smiled, ”Bought it online. Thought it would come in handy. I mean, you have a girlfriend who is afraid of the dark you need to cater to that a little right?” Sam said smirking not realizing he called her his girlfriend which was the first time he verbalized it.

”Sorry…” Sam said thinking more about his past and current situation and the fact that it must be a lot to handle for someone.