Lee was looking up at Sam after she had apologized, seeing the smile on his face at her touch, as she wondered whether she could hold his hand, actually let her fingers close around his and hold his hand. She knew that she could physically, the question was more mental and emotional in nature. She still had no idea whether she was ready for this, not just what she was already doing here, but also whether she was ready to actually hold his hand. Lee was pretty sure that she was no where near ready for what would come after the hand holding, though.

Still, this was feeling easier than she had expected. So far.

And then, not even a second after he was opening his mouth to say something, Sam's eyes slipped closed and he was falling backward. Before she could move, before she could even think, Lee felt her heart jump up into her throat. Or had it dropped down below her stomach? She wasn't sure, but as she heard Sam's head crack on the ground, Lee felt her heart start to pound, her eyes widen. She didn't even know that she had let go of her coffee cup, but suddenly both her hands were covering her mouth in shock and horror.

What had she done? How had she done that? Even if she had been trying to siphon from him, he shouldn't have passed out that quickly, but he had...He was laying there, still, on the ground.

"Oh my god oh my god oh my god..." Lee started mumbling as she finally started moving, kneeling down beside Sam. "I knew I shouldn't...Sam, can you hear me?"

Her hands were hovering over him again. Lee knew that she needed to check his pulse, see if his head was bleeding, but she couldn't bring herself to touch him. Not after such a short touch had done this to him.

"Can you hear me, Sam? Oh please be ok..."

He took it to far he could sense she was on the verge of tears he though it would be funny, but it was too much. As she hovered over his head to see if had been bleeding Sam opened his eyes smiling. He activated his power round his lips and went for it taking Lee by surprise completely. He kissed Lee Square on the lips; he felt her power work a little but not enough to hurt him. It was only for a few seconds but Sam was so glad he did it. The ice on the back of his head melted instantly, because he was so happy.

He pulled back smiling “scared you didn’t I?”

Lee was still kneeling beside Sam, her hands still hovering over him as she tried to figure out how to check him without actually touching him, when she saw his eyes open with a smile.

Her eyes, already wide, opened wider as she saw that smile.

Again, it took a couple moments for Lee to fully digest what was happening. He had passed out, fallen, yet seconds later, was awake and smiling at her. A teasing, joking smile. He hadn't actually...He...

He was kissing her!

While she had been distracted, her mind trying to catch up with what had happened in the last minute since Sam's eyes had closed, he had pushed himself up and his lips were pressing against hers. That, Lee knew how to deal with.

Lee's hands closed the last bit of distance between them, finally touching him now that he was 'awake' again, and shoved him away from her. She wasn't nearly as strong as the last time he had seen her, more simply exactly what she looked to be, but she didn't need a lot of strength to do what she needed. Just enough to get his lips off her.

"How dare you, Sam!" Lee exclaimed as she got to her feet. Lee didn't know when, but tears had sprung to her eyes, and now they were spilling over, running down her cheeks. "All that talk about trust, then you pull this?!"

She had thought Sam was a decent guy. Had actually been considering holding his hand not two minutes earlier. Apparently, she had been very wrong about him if he were capable of pulling something like this on her. With a swift kick to his side, Lee spun, the tears still running down her cheeks, and started marching away.

Sam felt like a complete idiot, not only did she kick him hard but also she was crying. Sam took a deep breath in to try to compensate for the wind getting knocked out of him and then he stood. Not sure how to make up for the huge mistake he just made, he decided to wing it. His best work was when he winged it.

Sam had to run after Lee cause she already but a few feet of distance between them. He was running still holding his side a bit almost sure he was going to have a huge bruise where she kicked him, and well he felt like he deserved it completely. “Lee, Lee wait I am sorry let me explain.” He ended up running in front of her and then got into sturdy position as if to block her way. “Lee listen I am sorry, it was a bad joke and I feel terrible.” He did he felt like going to the nearest cliff and felt like jumping off for making her cry. “Lee it was a joke that I took to far, I am sorry. I was just going to mess with you, I had no idea you would be this upset, if I knew I wouldn’t have done this.” His voice sounded scared almost timid, he was afraid of her leaving him because he was so stupid.

How could he have done that, Lee couldn't help but wonder again as she marched back toward the gate. Her movements were too quick and tense to be considered walking. How could he possibly think something like that was a joke?

Lee didn't stop when she heard Sam calling her name. Tried not to listen, to not notice his presence as he came up beside her, talking, apologizing. The tears were still running down her face. As if she didn't have enough legitimate worries about her powers already.

He came up in front of her, and Lee tried to walk around him, but Sam shifted again as if to block her. After her second attempt to get past him, and him continuing to block her path, Lee stopped and crossed her arms as she looked up at him.

"You should feel terrible," Lee hissed at Sam. "You know I take energy from people, know I feel horrible about it. Made you promise to tell me when you feel tired before I'd even touch you, and then you pretend to pass out on me?!?" Lee took a breath, trying to control her pain and anger. She wasn't exactly successful.

Sam was not used to getting yelled at, in fact the first person that ever yelled at him was dead within twenty seconds of situation. But that was the old Sam the uncontrollable one.
He let Lee finish the yelling and then with a serious face, he said, ”Lee you couldn’t even imagine how bad I feel right now, if I could time travel I would go back in time and kick my ass so I wouldn’t have to put you threw that. Lee I did promise that if I was feeling tired I would let you know,” he tried a lighter more timid face and said “I didn’t feel tired at all I felt a tingle that was all.”

Sounding more and more down about the situation Sam walked a little closer to Lee, “What can I do to make it up to you? I will do anything, you want me to jump in the tiger exhibit and get mauled I gladly would.” Sam really hoped that she wouldn’t ask him to do that. One of Sam’s biggest flaws was how he reacted to a request whenever he saw some one cry. He was now looking at Lee with her eyes still red and watery, “Pleae forgive me.”

Sam felt bad. Of course he did, if for no other reason than she had kicked him. Lee knew it wasn't even close to as powerful a kick as it would have been if it had been on their first meeting, but she hadn't exactly been being gentle, either.

And he wanted to know how he could make it up to her. How could he? Though it hadn't been the way she was expecting, he had failed her test about the promise.

"I don't know that you can make it up to me, Sam," Lee told him. At least she wasn't crying anymore, but she didn't lift her hands to wipe the tears from her cheeks. "If I can't trust you, I can't touch you, Sam. And after you've done that..." Lee shook her head and moved to step around Sam, to continue on her way out of the zoo.

Sam had broken the closet bond of trust he had had. She was still leaving. She cut off whatever she was going to say, it could have been important he would never know, cause he tried to run after her, again “Lee please don’t go.” He was now in front of her again, “come on Lee give me another chance, we won’t have to hold hands or nothing, at least not till you can trust me again, cause we both know now that your siphon doesn’t kill me.” He said this with a small smile trying to make it so she wouldn’t be as mad at him.

Sam would make it up to her he had to; he made her cry and felt lower than apiece of trash. Then he added, “I never did break that promise, and I never will. So please don’t be upset anymore.” He was now felt a little better cause her pace did slow a little, “I really am sorry.” The sight he witnessed was the worst sight he could ever imagine, he took lives before in the most gruesome way imaginable, but he never wanted to see Lee cry again.

This time, Lee got around Sam and kept walking. But Sam followed. Sam kept talking.

But she couldn't ignore him any more when Sam claimed that her siphoning didn't kill him, doesn't kill him. She kept walking, but she turned her head to glare at him. "It can," she said, a mixture of venom and pain in her voice. "That was thirty seconds. What about after three minutes? Thirty? Three hours? It can kill you, Sam.

"Luckily, I haven't yet," Lee continued, her voice dropping, the venom disappearing leaving only the pain, her eyes returning to the path she was following. "I haven't actually killed anyone with my powers yet, but I've come damn close a couple times. I never want to come anywhere close to that ever again."

Lee kept walking. He wanted to make it up to her, said he was sorry. So what? "You almost gave me a heart attack, Sam," Lee whispered, though her walking had slowed slightly.

Lee was still pretty mad at him, and again Sam agreed why she was still mad. She was talking about how her powers almost came close to killing someone. With that he immediately knew how she felt. The first time he killed someone with his power was a rough spot in Sam’s life, from then on he became emotionally numb, until now this was the first time he actually cared about how someone saw him, and he was a monster, giving her a scare like that.

Sam ran next to Lee now staring her directly in the eyes hoping she would stop and look at him, “I don’t want you to kill anyone, I know what kind of pain that can give you.” He grabbed his heart for emphasis, “but if it would make you happy I would be there giving you all the time in the world. Lee I am way to stubborn to die.”

"You almost gave me a heart attack, Sam," whispered Lee.

Sam hesitated for a second then said trying again to try to cheer her up a little, “and I think I might be bleeding inside my chest, that was one hell of a kick.” He grabbed his side and rubbed it a little.

>“But if it would make you happy I would be there giving you all the time in the world. Lee I am way to stubborn to die.”

Hearing those words, Lee stopped moving. She simply froze and looked at Sam. Those words, though different, were remarkably like others she had heard. Words telling her time and time again that he'd wait forever for her to be ready. That he didn't care if he ended up in an exhausted heap on the floor. The words were different, but much too the same.

Lee started shaking her head. What in the world was she doing? She knew it would take forever to actually get over Tarin. Though she hadn't actually thought about it before, it wouldn't surprise Lee if she ended up dating before she was over Tarin. If she ever actually dated.

But this, now? She was staying in Tarin's apartment, helping him get over the merge, for heaven's sake! How could she have even contemplated the idea of dating?

"I'm sorry, Sam," Lee whispered, still shaking her head back and forth slowly. "And I'm sorry about the kick, though you deserved it. I'm not ready. I shouldn't have put you through this. I'm not ready to date yet."

Lee just told Sam that she wasn’t ready to date again, but why did she call him here? Sam was hurt and confused. Sam didn’t know what to say he stood there for a second then said, “it’s fine I deserved the kick in fact I expected you to do a bit more to me.” He smiled a sad smile and said “well Lee no reason this has to be over we can be here just as friends. You didn’t put me threw anything I wanted to be here and I am more than willing to wait till your ready to date.” He really hoped she would still want to continue the date, or what ever this meeting is called.

Lee had told Sam that she wasn't ready to date. Was that hurt on his face? Lee wasn't sure, she didn't know him well enough to tell. But she was sure that the smile he gave her as he started speaking wasn't a happy one.

But he wanted to continue, to stay, for her to stay. Lee wasn't sure what to think about that. He had obviously been thinking this was a date; hadn't she said on the phone that she wasn't sure about that yet, even if she did want to see him again? Lee couldn't remember, her mind was a little frazzled at the moment by what happened.

"Not today, Sam," Lee said softly. "I'm sorry. I think I need to just go home, clean up, you know." Not that it was really home, not any more. But Lee was not in the mood to try and explain that at the moment.

"Maybe we can hang out some time?" Lee asked, though even as she said it, she wasn't sure. She knew she wouldn't be ready to date for a while, quite a while. Would Sam really be alright with the 'just friends' thing for long?

"I'll call you," Lee said, moving around Sam once more.

Sam kept the fake smile up for as long as he could, but like the ice he creates it soon melted. He felt still pretty down. She said she wanted to hang out again some time. Sam smiled that same stupid smile he always smiled and said, “sure I think I can do that.” He waved at her and walked away with his hands on his head taking in the sights of the zoo which was much more lonely, than he thought a zoo could ever be.

He decided that today was not a good day to make a memory of his first time at the zoo, so he decided to go back to the mansion to vent on some stalker bots down in the danger room.