Sam smiled at her she thought he meant a TV, “No I mean in real life not TV, I told you I traveled a lot.” But once again the was thinking of the past, and he was in the present now with Lee, he would have picked this life over the other one in a second.

Smiling at Lee he said, “alright let’s check those Polar bears out. Are they your favorite animal?” Sam seen them in real life to but he didn’t want to brag about It, to much… the entire way walking to the Polar Bear exhibit Sam thought about holding Lee’s hand. When they got to the Polar Bear’s Sam finally grabbed her hand. Feeling her powers he knees buckled for a second. But then he quickly made up of the energy being lost. He stood up watching the bear playing, “you know this is more realistic that the tigers.” He said smiling and staring at the bears.

All Lee could do when Sam told her that he had seen tigers in the wild in real life was blink. He had travelled? That was his explanation? Normally, when people said they travelled, they meant things like Europe, London, Paris, Rome. Not the wilderness seeing tigers.

And there she went with the 'normal' thing again.

Sam seemed favourable to her polar bear idea, so they started walking. "No, don't really have a favourite animal," Lee said. But was that true? What had her favourite animal been when she was growing up? Oh well, it didn't really matter right now. "I just haven't seen them here, so I'm kind of eager to."

By this point, they had reached the polar bear exhibit, and Lee stopped, taking a sip of her coffee. Sam had been so close to her since they had started walking that she really wasn't paying attention. And so she was more than shocked when suddenly she felt a pressure on her hand, felt the energy flowing much faster into her.

Right away, Lee pulled her hand away, taking a step away from Sam as she did so, even as he started talking about the bears. Lee's eyes had been on Sam's hand as she stepped away, but a few seconds later, she lifted them to look at Sam's face.

She barely knew him, yet what she saw there after pulling her hand away hurt. "I'm sorry," Lee said softly, closing the new distance between them but placing both hands around her coffee cup instead of just the one. "I just...don't touch people. You surprised me."

He had the look of a wounded animal, she rejected his hand. It was like he had the plague. What he saw in her eyes was fear. Sam felt a tear coming but covered it by pretending to sneeze, then his face going from sad to sneeze to smiling again. “Ha sorry didn’t mean to.” Raising his hands up shaking them, hoping she wasn’t to upset. Sam lowered his hands now straight faced.

Sam could tell why she didn’t touch people his hand was numb for a second. Shaking his hand and looking at her ”that was a bit weird.” Sam now calm he figured out why she seemed so distant while she was with him, she didn’t want to hurt him. Sam smiled at her “was that part of your mutation to? You don’t have to talk about it if you don’t want to. Just call me curious.”

He turned his head to watch a the polar bear run and jump on a ball that was floating in the water, only to roll off the ball once he landed on it. There was a huge splash and Sam let out a laugh.

He was hurt, really hurt, by how she had jumped away. Lee saw Sam trying to cover it, but she had seen that initial pain, the hurt, before he had been able to cover it.

"Don't, Sam," Lee said softly, though she had turned her eyes out to look over at the polar bears. Looking at them, but not really seeing them. "It's all me, not your fault. You're actually the first person to touch me in I don't know how long who I haven't hit or threatened.

"I guess that part is your fault," Lee continued, glancing over at Sam for a brief second with a hint of a smile on her face before turning back to the bears. "But somehow, I don't see you taking that as a bad thing."

They were quiet for a couple moments until Sam said something about that being weird. Lee's eyebrows furrowed as he continued, and she turned to look at him again. "What was weird?" she asked in a barely audible whisper. They hadn't touched long. What, barely a couple seconds at most before she had pulled away? She hadn't been trying to siphon, she couldn't have possibly taken enough in so short a time that he would have noticed, could she? She wasn't angry, not at all. In fact, she was the closest to actually being truly happy that she had been in months. How could she have taken enough for him to have felt it?

Unless her siphoning had spiked when he surprised her, but still, that much? "I'm sorry," Lee whispered again, her eyes slipping closed, her face turning back to the exhibit in front of them.

Sam was calm now still staring at the bears when she tensed up, he was almost sure she could pull energy now, that brief second he was holding her hand was all he needed. It was small before because he never touched her, twice now he felt weak in the area that touched her, the first time was when he knocked her over and the other time was now, when his hand went numb. He smiled at her, “Sorry my hand went numb for a second.” He was pretending that nothing was happening.

Lee said something that made him do a double take on her; he was the first person that touched her, in a long time. That’s really sad thought Sam no physically contact at all.
He had to be sure, if his hunch was right or not.

“I’m sorry.” It was a whisper but he could here it, she looked back at the exhibit, now was the time Sam leaned towards Lee a bit and poked her in the arm with his index finger to see what would happen.

It took a couple moments for Sam's comment about his hand to sink in, for her to really make sense of it. But as she did, as each little piece clicked into place, Lee's body tensed, bit by bit.

"Your hand....went numb....when you touched me...." It wasn't a question, it was a statement, the final clicking into place. For some reason, whatever reason, Sam had most definitely felt her siphoning when he touched her. Felt it, though the touch hadn't even been two seconds long.

Well, she had been happy. Now she was just simply feeling miserable. What was she supposed to do? She had thought it was just her preference, her desire to not take people's energy, so it never got to the point of almost killing someone again that kept her from touching anyone these last months. But if she was actually taking more again, if people were actually able to feel it after just a couple seconds....Maybe she should go imprison herself in some small town somewhere with no energy...

"I'm sorry," Lee repeated even as she felt Sam's finger poking her arm. She flinched. With the thoughts going through her mind, there was no way she could stop herself. "Please Sam," she asked, trying to keep her voice from cracking as she squeezed her eyes closed even tighter. "Don't..."

Sam smiled “I knew it, that’s how you get your energy.” He could see that she was upset at the fact that he found out and even closed her eyes tighter when he poked her.
“Lee, I told you before you can take all my energy and I wouldn’t mind. I am more interested in the one behind the powers not the powers them self. You shouldn’t feel bad at all. I know what I am doing.”

He paused for a second holding his hand out in front of her hoping when she opened her eyes she would see his hand and try grasping it or at least touching it. “Lee take my hand you won’t hurt me, trust me.” He focused his powers in his hand creating a small layer of ice around his hand.

"I would mind, though," Lee stressed. "I don't like doing it. It's not just touching, though, just stronger that way."

Lee paused, taking a breath, as she shook her head. Her hands were still both around her coffee cup, the liquid inside growing colder by the minute, and her eyes were still closed. "You could stand over there," she continued softly, tilting her head to the side without opening her eyes. "Twenty, maybe thirty feet. I'd still be taking energy from you. I'd be less than right now, but I still would be."

Lee only opened her eyes when Sam told her to take his hand. She didn't look over at him, though, but kept her eyes toward the bears, so she saw his hand held out in front of her, palm up, waiting for her to take it.

"How do you know I won't hurt you?" Lee asked Sam, staring at his hand in front of her, not looking over at him. "We barely touched, and yet your hand went numb..."

Sam smiled at her “just trust me okay?” he laughed a bit and then pointed with his free hand does this look like the face of someone that would lie to you.” Hoping she would loosen up with this joke. Sam said “Your not the only one that has a hard time coping with their power, it took me 6 years to get control over a little bit of it. Now I have almost complete control of it.” This wasn’t a lie the company he worked for trained him for six years straight, finding his limits weaknesses and strengths. “The first thing I had to do was learn to trust myself as well as others,” He played this back in his head and thought to himself, wow that was good.

Lee was still looking at Sam's hand when he asked if he looked like he was lying. It was only then that Lee looked away from Sam's hand and up to his face. He was smiling again. "Lying?" Lee repeated slowly. "No. But people aren't always smart about everything."

So he had control over his powers, did he? Lucky him, Lee couldn't help but think. Yes, she had more control, or at least she had thought she had more control till Sam had touched her, but that didn't mean she had control. She couldn't stop siphoning. All she could do was try to take as little as possible and hoped it worked.

"So I should start trusting you?" Lee asked as her eyes returned to look at his hand, hanging there in front of her. Biting her bottom lip, Lee simply looked at it for a moment, then slowly unwrapped her hand from around her coffee cup, the hand that Sam had grabbed. But she didn't reach out, didn't touch him. Not yet.

"I need to know I can trust you," Lee said, her eyes once more turning to look up at Sam. "As soon as you start feeling tired, worn, I need you to tell me. Promise?"

Lee wasn’t sure if she could trust him. That was fine they only did meet twice but Sam felt that he could trust her. He smiled “you don’t think you can trust me? How do I know I can trust you?” He waited for a second then said, “Just got to believe, that's all.” Sam turned his body so he was facing her completely his eyes fixed on hers, he just stared at her, “I know my limits, go for it.”

He was talking more about trust and belief as he turned toward her, not even pretending to look at the polar bears any more. His hand still outstretched toward her. His eyes looking down into hers.

But Lee didn't miss the fact that he hadn't promised to tell her. He said he knew his limits, but not that he would tell her when he started feeling tired.

She wasn't doing this without a promise.

Not that such a promise would tell her that much right now, not with how short a time she had known him, but it would tell her things later. Like really if he could be trusted, if he broke promises.

"Please Sam?" Lee asked, her free hand, the one she had unwrapped from her coffee cup, falling to her side as she stared up into his blue eyes. "Promise you'll tell me when you start feeling tired?"

Sam smiled at her the fact that she didn’t to hurt him was all the comfort he could ever need. “Lee I promise, that I will.” Bracing for the touch he was ready.

Lee heard Sam's words, heard him promise to tell her when he got tired. Not that she had really been touching him long enough for that to happen anyway, but with how he had seemed to react to that other, quick touch before, well, you never knew.

But he did promise. Lee's eyes slid shut and her teeth started worrying her bottom lip again as she drew a deep breath.

Finally, Lee looked down at Sam's hand again, her own reaching up tentatively. Lightly, her fingers ghosted along his thumb, but it didn't matter that the touch was soft, barely there, the energy flowed into her. Lee focused, trying to keep the amount of energy she was siphoning as minimal as possible, but didn't know whether she was being successful; she had never really felt a difference unless she was actually consciously taking a lot.

"I'm sorry for what this is doing to you," Lee apologized, her eyes moving back up to Sam's as she let her fingers slide down to touch his palm.

Sam felt his hand tingeing a bit but nothing significant, Sam hardly would notice it after a few minutes. Sam finally felt closer to Lee, her warm fingers gliding down Sam’s hand, to touch his palm. She had a warm touch and it gave Sam goose bumps, all up his arms.

She said sorry again as she kept eye contact with him, Sam let out a big grin and then opened his mouth as if to say something but he closed his eyes and fell backward. Using his powers he covered the back of the head to make it sound like he hit hard. Sam was fine but he was just messing with Lee, he wanted to see her reaction.