sam merlotte (bordercollie) wrote in thedoorway, @ 2013-12-14 23:24:00 |
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After a year and a half in New York City, Sam should have been more used the traffic. The full moon was treacherous in such a busy city, and it was the main reason he’d stayed away from large cities for most of his adult life. Once he knew better (once he’d almost gotten caught as a dog by animal control), he made sure that he was somewhere quieter, somewhere closer to nature so he would have more freedom to run. In a city, Sam often felt trapped by his surroundings, and not just during the full moons. While it was true that he could shift anywhere, and could have remained at the bar all evening, nosing against the calves of his employees whenever he wanted them to do something, padding around the sticky bar floor and dodging legs of patrons, that was never really what Sam wanted to do. All of the time he’d spent as an animal of some sort had left him with more animalistic instincts than he’d expected (but then again, everything he knew about who he was had surprised him because he’d never had any guidance), and Sam craved fresh air. Or at least as fresh as he could get in a city like New York. The only trouble was that night, a taxi hadn’t seen him crossing the street on his way back to the tower, and it had clipped one of his back legs. Sam hobbled away, unbroken but bleeding and very, very naked, the shock of it all jarring him out of his shift. That was unusual, but he’d been so safe lately that maybe he wasn’t used to holding onto control for longer. He shifted back immediately and ran the rest of the way. The handy thing about being a shapeshifter of his kind was that others might have to stash clothes and their keys somewhere safe so they could access them quickly. No so for Sam. He merely shifted into something smaller and slipped through the doors of his bar unnoticed. It helped that the bar didn’t have nearly the amount of security that the residential part of the tower had, but that would have been easy to access if he really wanted to, too. Once inside, Sam became human again and limped across the floor to the bar. He had a spare set of clothes in his office, but first he needed to get cleaned up. Annabelle wasn’t used to full moons. Hell, she had barely gotten used to superheroes in Houston and then she was thrown here where there were tons of them just walking around. Along with others that she’d really only read about in fairytales or watched on television. But she had gladly taken the chance to close for Sam that night. Really, it was a chance to impress her boss. Though business was rarely on mind lately when she talked to him. It was only slightly busier tonight, but definitely not weekend-busy, so when the gates had gone down, she’d been extremely relieved to be packing things up. All the stools were chairs were already set up, the floor cleaned, and last but not least, the money stored away safely, and she walked out of the storage room, ready to throw on her hoodie. The last thing she had ever expected was to find her boss back here, wounded and naked. But in particular, naked. Very naked. Annabelle started when she saw him, letting out a short cry, fumbling with her hoodie a moment before she successfully shielded her face with it. “Oh my God. You scared me. I was just about to leave.” Sam hadn’t bothered to check the time when he stumbled into the bar. He’d only seen the lights off, and he knew it was late so he’d assumed it was after closing time, and that there’d be no one else there. He should have bothered to check; maybe he wouldn’t have startled Annabelle the way he had. He laughed lightly and pulled an apron out from behind the bar, grateful he’d gotten at least that far into the room so he wasn’t standing in the middle of his room, naked as the day he was born. He didn’t have a problem being naked, not after all the years he’d spent shifting back and forth. He just didn’t want to impose upon and horrify one of his employees. “Sorry…” he was still chuckling, and he shook his head. “I didn’t think you’d be here.” He tied the apron around his waist. He was still bare from behind, but he’d have to be careful. Horrified was not the word she would be looking for. That would be if she was in his position because let’s face it, that second and a half of his torso she had just gotten a glimpse of was really impressive. Her face was still hidden behind the hoodie. “Just, uh… decided to take my sweet ass-- I mean, sweet time here!” Thank god for that hoodie because she was burning red. Not that it would have been able to be noticed in the low light but still. “Do you… need anything? You can use my hoodie. Here.” She held it out, ducking her head down to stare at her feet instead. Her slip up didn't go unnoticed, but Sam chose not to mention it. She seemed flustered enough as it was. The low lighting would have kept any normal human from noticing her reaction, but Sam wasn't a normal human. As it was, he could read people better than most realized. "I'm gonna start thinking I've got something to hide here if you keep this up," he teased, but he waved the offered hoodie off. "Gotta get cleaned up first. We got any clean towels around here? I'll... uh, just stay here." Sam was just barely concealing his amusement at her reaction. "Actually-- shit, I'd better sit down." He still felt a bit woozy and out of sorts, so he carefully slipped by her to drag a chair over. Oh, yeah, if it was possible to blush even harder, that’s exactly what she was doing. She didn’t end up in situations like this. She had enough sexual experience to not let a bit of nakedness embarrass her but that was if she was actually mostly in control of the situation. Her little crush on her own boss though, had been something out of control. Not unlike her feelings for Kaine but even those hadn’t flustered her around him this much. There was enough for her to see in her peripheral vision to notice the white apron and deem it safe to look. (Well, safe was relatively speaking.) Her embarrassment, however, took a backseat when she noticed his hobbling. “Whoa, wait,” Annabelle reached out to grasp him by the shoulder before he could collapse. “What happened to you?” “Goddamn taxi,” he grumbled. “I’m okay.” Sam was pretty sure he was bleeding down his leg, and he’d rather not track it all through the tower. “Didn’t see it until it was too late.” His reaction time hadn’t been great, and now he was kicking himself for not shifting into something smaller to get out of the way, but all he could remember were highlights coming way too fast, and he’d never been able to shift as quickly as Tommy had been. “Can you get me a towel? I’ll be okay, I’m just… rattled.” It wasn’t the closest call he’d ever had, but it was unnerving nevertheless. Under the low light, it was hard to see the complete damage but the word “towel” was enough to have her putting her hoodie down somewhere and walking to the back area to look for a roll of paper towels. After finding it and grabbing it, she was halfway into tearing off the first piece as she walked back to him. “This happened to you while you were in form? I didn’t think injuries would transfer over like that. I’d say that’s interesting but that’s probably not the best word to describe it right now.” That was what Sam had first thought, he remembered, but that was a lesson he’d learned early on. He shook his head and reached for the paper towel, bending over to dab at the scrapes on his leg. “It’s interestin’, I guess.” He didn’t know how else to describe it besides annoying as hell. “That’s one of the first things we learn… you get shot as a deer, you still get shot.” His mind drifted back to Tommy and all the scars on his body. “My brother --” Sam’s voice was tight, full of regret and emotion even though Sam hadn’t actually met him yet. All he had were strange memories that he knew were his but he hadn’t actually lived through yet. “Tommy.” Sam glanced up at Annabelle briefly, and then focused on his bare leg again. “Our father used him in dog fights to make money. He had scars, everywhere. Even as a human.” Annabelle was already tearing another piece off, just in case, because that wound looked like it was going to use several of them. The change in mood from awkwardness to melancholy was sudden, though, that she was at a loss for words at first. Christ, those dog fights, at least from what she knew of about them, sounded absolutely brutal. If she could imagine what the dog was left feeling, she could imagine the same in a human being. "I'm... I'm sorry," she mumbled, absent-mindedly tearing off another piece of paper towel. Sam glanced up then, acutely aware of the depressing turn their conversation had taken. “Nothin’ to be sorry for,” he insisted with a shrug, even though he knew the apology had come from a good place. She meant well. She just hadn’t done anything wrong, and there was nothing to be done about it. It’d happened. It was done. There was no changing it now, no matter how much he wanted to. Just another shitty part of his life. He paused for a moment. “You don’t have to stay, y’know. I got it from here.” It was late, and she was probably tired - unlike him. Well, that had been true a few minutes ago but when Sam had startled her by coming, her blood had been pumped with enough adrenaline. It was only just starting to ebb away but she was still on alert. “Yeah, sure,” she said with a slight laugh and a shake of her head. “I’m not going until I’m pretty sure you’ll be safe and bandaged up. And that… looks like it’s going to need one. Paper towels won’t do much.” Before he could get a chance to protest, Annabelle placed the rest of the roll in his hands and turned to go back to the storage space to look for some. They kept plenty back there… especially after the damn Box Ghost enjoyed throwing and shattering random bottles that could have hurt just about anyone. As she walked away, Sam had to chuckle. He knew she’d react that way, which was why he knew to keep his mouth shut as she went in search of the first aid kit. He’d said it before, but it was still true: she reminded him a lot of Sookie, in good ways. She was stubborn as hell, but he needed that around sometimes, and he’d never really given much thought to women who let people walk all over them. “Find anything?” he called out, leaning out of the chair a little. He hadn’t checked their stock yet, so he hoped they had something - at least antibiotic ointment. He’d probably be fine once he got back to his apartment, but for some reason, he still hesitated. If Annabelle wanted to take care of him, he didn’t see a reason to not indulge her. It was kind of nice, once he thought about it. Not many people did. Annabelle searched as quick as she could and came with a small tube of ointment and a roll of bandage that really needed replacing. If the bleeding was slowed down then it would be enough... only if the bleeding was slow though. Whatever. She'd improvise, she decided, and grabbed both before walking back toward Sam. “Should be enough,” she said, making a beeline straight toward him, holding out the antibiotic ointment for him but keeping the bandage roll in her hands. “Hopefully. We’ll figure it out now. Show me the bruise.” “Which one?” he joked, his eyebrows lifting as he took the ointment from her and unscrewed the top. He could feel his knees aching and throbbing, and there was a spot on his hip that he knew was going to be purple and blue before too long, from where the car’s bumper had clipped him. Of all the scratches, however, the ones he was more concerned about were on his knee, where he’d landed on the pavement. He gestured towards it carefully. “Everythin’ else I’ll just ice when I get back to my place. Christ, my damn luck. I swear I have a curse on me.” Annabelle visibly winced when she got a better look at the bruises and cuts (now that she wasn’t blushing from her boss’s nakedness), because holy geez, that looked painful. It wasn’t like she was a stranger to painful injuries. She was a pretty active kid and she was still active, and living on her own for most of her life meant that she eventually taught herself self-defense. Sad as that may sound. “A curse on you?” she said, raising an eyebrow at him before she sidestepped him slightly to grab an extra chair for his foot. If she was going to bandage up part of his leg, she could only do it while it was elevated. When she brought it over, she gestured toward it and then bent down slightly to help him lift his leg if need be. “That sounds somewhat ominous. Did anything else happen today?” “You don’t --” Sam sucked in a deep breath as he lifted his leg, wincing slightly from the pain. It wasn’t as bad as it looked, he told himself, but he didn’t think Annabelle would believe it, even if it was true. Injuries usually looked worse than they were. At least, the ones he got that didn’t land him in the hospital, and he tried to avoid those at all costs. With no one around to guide him and tell him when it was safe and when it wasn’t, Sam learned how to take care of himself and to trust no one. The last thing he needed was a hospital to find out there was something “wrong” with him. He shook his head. “No, nothing today. Just --” He inhaled deeply. “Just thinking about my rotten luck. Never can seem to come out on top. Something always happens. There’s always something…” He’d gotten comfortable here, but it wouldn’t last. Annabelle had a feeling what that sentence that was cut off would have said but she continued. If he was going to say she didn’t have to do any of this, she wasn’t about to listen. Instead, she just started her work. “You can’t think that way, Sam,” she said, giving him a brief glance. “No matter how many shitty things happen. I mean, I’m not saying I’m the most positive person out there, but… it’s crippling. You have a lot going for you. And who said you don’t come out on top? Personally, I think you’re totally top notch!” She cringed at herself as soon as she said that. Apparently, she wasn’t that good at pep talks. “Pretend I said something that did not sound as corny as that, just now.” It was a nice sentiment, but Sam wasn’t convinced. He wished he could think that way, he wished he could think that he’d overcome everything that had happened to him. He didn’t, though. He didn’t know why it happened; all he knew was that he got the short end of the stick, over and over. He couldn’t even believe that what he’d seen in his future - Nicole getting pregnant, him becoming mayor of Bon Temps - would end up going well. Something was going to happen. To her, and to that baby. He knew it in his bones. He chuckled lightly, trying not to move too much. “All right, I’ll pretend, but…” He paused. “I appreciate it. You know, the thing you didn’t say.” “Good,” Annabelle said, finishing up the bandaging and straightening up. In her eyes, there was nothing wrong with Sam, nothing he could possibly do wrong. Maybe she didn’t know too many details about his life (his life that was apparently all on the Internet to read about anyway), but Annabelle wasn’t the sort to not see the good inside a person. She saw it in Kaine, even when he didn’t see it himself. Of course she would see it in Sam even if he screwed up massively before her eyes. “I’m not letting you go to your room on your own, just so you know. Someone has to keep everyone else from getting a glimpse of too much skin!” “Concerned about my modesty?” Sam asked, his voice lightly teasing. “When I’m not?” Once she pulled away enough, he stood up slowly, testing his leg. He could feel the aches in his muscles more now, and that was a good sign that he should get some sleep before his morning shift. “I’ll clean everything up in the morning. Lemme just grab some clothes first, all right?” He hobbled to his office, not paying any mind to the view he knew Annabelle was getting, but he’d stopped being modest a long time ago. Now that she’d seen him walk into the bar naked, he had nothing left to hide. A few minutes later, he was back in a pair of jeans and a plaid shirt. “Walk me back?” She almost protested his walking on his own, about to offer to get him what he needed. But by then, he was already moving on his own and she… already had that view. That was a really nice view. Annabelle gave a little smirk, instead, allowing herself to take it all in (hey, if he didn’t care…) as she picked up the stools and chairs and put them back in their place after a quick wipe-down. It didn’t look like there was any blood left visible enough for customers to spot, but if Sam said he was going to, he would. Thank Merlin she, at least, wasn’t opening this time, not while she had offered to cover closing for full moon days. When he came back, Annabelle’s smirk grew into a wider grin. “I was going to even without your modesty to defend.” She moved closer, putting an arm around his waist, in case he needed any support. “Ready?” Sam draped an arm over Annabelle's shoulders. If he were the kind of boss that had rules against fraternizing with employees, he wouldn't have been so casual with her, but Sam didn't have those kinds of boundaries. His employees were more his friends than anything else (and sometimes more, although that rarely worked out well). He grinned at Annabelle. He had hoped that no one would be around when he made it back to the bar that night, but now he was glad Annabelle had been there instead. "Ready." |