Up in a puff of Smoke [Closed to Ani]

"I'll think about it"

Ok... she really needed to give him a clear yes or no answer now, the tension was killing him, he would prefer to have her just say no and be done with instead of dragging him along like this. Zoe seemed quite tense about the whole situation a few minutes ago, but now she was casually sitting on her couch with a tub of ice cream and a book, as if this wasn't one of the hardest decisions for someone to make. Sam's jaw dropped slightly at the blatant disregard of the question, he nudged Darcy off of his lap and stood upright with a slight shocked look on his face. His eyes were fixed on the back of Zoe's head, the fact that she became so cal in such a short space of time confused Sam greatly, he wanted to crumple into a pile onto the floor as the silence was making him crazy. "Listen here Zoe and listen good! I know you enjoy torturing me like this, it makes you laugh at my expense and I know how much you enjoy that, but you are going to have to give me a clear answer in the next ten seconds, otherwise I will take that ring, pack up the rest of my clothes and get out of your life for good!"

That is what he would have said if he was the craziest and most stupid man on the planet, instead his body went slightly limp due to the fact that Zoe would drag this on for as long as he could to make him this uncomfortable. He slowly strolled to the couch and slumped down beside him, with his posture as worse as ever, he stared blankly at the wall in front of him as Zoe was indulging in ice cream and her book. Sam needed to break the silence somehow, ironically it felt like nails on a chalk board, he peaked over and saw what kind of ice cream Zoe was eating before making a joke, "No chocolate ice cream then?..." The joke seemed to have fallen flat, Sam could feel the fun leaving the room by the second. Sam resorted to mumbling to himself, "Hmm... Comfortable couch" he said as he bounced up and down slightly, his eyes then darted around the room as he continued to mumble, "Nice view from that window...... It's a little bit hot in here, do you mind if i- never mind, it's the perfect temperature..." Sam had never been in a more awkward situation, he just hoped it would all be worth it in the end.

Well, Zoe smirked; her goal had been accomplished in making Sam feel uncomfortable. So, she stretched out her legs and laid them across his lap.

“No chocolate, haven’t had the stuff in ages,” Zoe stated, turning her page. She was lying, she had a secret stash of the stuff in Sam’s room and she had become a light snacker on the stuff when stressed. But Sam did not need to know that.

Taking another bite of ice cream she offered it to Sam before standing up, “Well. I think I am going to head to bed. It’s late and I am tired. See you in the morning.” Marking her spot she placed the book on the table and then wandered into her room. Changing out of her clothing, she pulled on a pair of pajama bottoms and started buttoning the top.

Zoe pulled her legs up and lied across Sam's lap, it seemed she was doing her best to get comfortable. Sam wasn't surprised Zoe hadn't eaten any chocolate for a long time, the last time she had some of the stuff as far as Sam could remember was because Sam bought it for her, it did end with some humorous results though, and sometimes Sam wished he could see Chocolate Zoe one more time for a good laugh.

Zoe pushed the tub of ice cream over to Sam, who accepted it thinking that she only wanted him to hold it for a moment or two, that was the point when she told Sam that she was going to bed because she was tired, Sam's grip on the tub tightened, he was worried he might end up splitting the tub in half and send vanilla ice cream all over the house, that would have been something that he could explain, and it would be a pain to clean up too. Sam sighed as Zoe left the room, he picked up the spoon full of ice cream and swallowed it with no issues, he hadn't eaten something this cold in a long time. The awkward and joking tension started to make Sam slightly angry, but that the was the one thing that he needed to take control off, he began to breathe in and out slowly to calm himself down, instead Sam rolled around on the couch in a quiet hissy fit, all he wants to hear is a yes or no, but now he has to try and sleep on it and wait until the next day to get a proper answer, if it only came then.

Sam was done with his tantrum, Darcy had been watching him the whole time with a crooked look, Sam simply asked him "What?" before Darcy made a break for his bed. Sam stood up and lifted his ring off of the kitchen's island, he slipped it back in his pocket as he walked down the corridor, what was the policy now though? Was it ok for him to resume sleeping in the same bed as Zoe? Or should he just play it safe and stay in his own room, his judgement was to keep to himself, who knows how many "accidental" elbows he would be facing if he was in the same bed as Zoe at this point. Sam quietly closed his door and rested his head against it, he wanted to run through it out of frustration, but instead he prepared himself for bed. He stepped over to the bed and was about to jump in before he stubbed his toe on something metallic and heavy under the bed, after closer inspection it seemed to be some kind of tin full of something, he carefully peeled off the lid to reveal countless bars of chocolate of all different varieties. "She is such a liar..." he said to himself before returning the super secret tin back to its original position, with the long day done, Sam was actually looking forward to a good nights sleep in a comfortable bed.

Zoe slipped into bed, crushing the pillow and looking at her hand in the dark where her silver ring sat, glinting in the dim light.

“You scared of saying yes?” A familiar voice asked, causing Zoe to sit bolt upright. Aiden settled down on the edge of the bed, flopping down and flashing a dimpled grin. Zoe didn’t remember falling asleep.

“So what if I am?” She challenged, rolling onto her side to look at him, her blue eyes drinking him in.

Aiden shook his head, “Poor Katie, scared to marry another man. Did I really scare you that badly?”

Zoe flinched, “I found you dead, I found our son dead. All because you where a human and our child a mixed breed! I can’t play that game again!”

“Did you try explaining Kate? Or did you blow him off?”

Zoe glared at him, “Come on Katie, and don’t give me that look.” Aiden said reproachfully, green eyes glinting mischievously.

“Go away Aiden,” Zoe groaned, “I’m not in the mood to have this conversation in my sleep.”

“Fine then, night Catalina.” Then he was gone.

Zoe was up in the morning in the kitchen, reading the paper and a stack of toast was seated next to her as well as a mound of bacon and eggs. Amber was wearing a pair of jeans and a t-shirt munching on a slice as well. Zoe was eating the bacon and eggs as a sandwich, waiting for Sam. She had alerted Amber to the situation and her reaction… well… it was not pretty.

It was a tough night for Sam, he could barely sleep after the adrenaline rush of actually plucking up enough courage to pop the question to Zoe, and the fact that she still hadn't answered him and had left him in suspense caused even more sleeping problems. Sam awoke from his 3 or 4 hour sleep, he sat up as the light beamed in passed the curtains and into his room, he leaned behind him to pull a curtain back, but was only met by a solid wall... "Right, I'm not in my apartment anymore" he said as he rubbed his eyes to wipe away the tiredness. Sam chucked on some clothes and slipped the ring in his pocket before looking at himself in the mirror, he looked better already, besides the distinct lack of facial hair that was still slightly bothering him, but he was clean and healthy and that's all he cared about.

Sam was still plagued by some tiredness, he hopped up and down slightly to get his blood pumping for what he hoped was going to be a great day. He yanked on the door handle and opened it fully before taking a step back, he darted forward and slid across the floor in his socks, unfortunately he didn't realize ho much speed he had and he went arm first into the wall opposite of his bedroom. With a quiet "Oww" and a rub to the wounded area, he was back to his full potential. The scent of breakfast filled his nostrils and he followed that scent all of the way into the kitchen where he found Zoe silently eating and reading the paper, a familiar, feline face was just to the side of her, sitting and staring at Sam, not taking her eyes off of him for a second. Sam shot a quick, awkward smile before taking a seat by the table and looking over the food that had been presented in front of him, he began snatching a variety of foods and placed them on his plate as he looked around the room again, silence... Sam was probably going to have to get used to that. "So...... It's nice to see you again Amber, I'm relieved to see you were ok, I was worried when I found the old apartment was abandoned" Sam's words didn't appear to mean anything to Amber, who was keeping up the same glare she had been doing for the past few minutes. Sam tried again, but with someone else, "Thanks for making all of this Zoe, it looks amazing... how did you sleep?" Sam quickly moved his leg as he felt something sharp brush past him under the table, a quick inspection showed that Amber had left her perch and was probably on the prowl, with Sam being the prey.

Zoe looked at Sam hard, she had heard him thump into the wall. Apparently Sam had become friends with the pale brown painted walls. Amber just glowered, having shifted to her cat form on the stool next to her. The cat glared angrily as Sam sat down.

“Fine, I slept much better knowing where you where at.” Zoe gave him a soft smile before closing her news paper and sliding it away from herself. “I wanted to talk to you about last night honestly. Did I ever tell you how I met Aiden?” Upon him saying no Zoe continued.

“I was sent by the counsel of my people to assassinate his family and I couldn’t. The reason he and Josh died was because I couldn’t do my job properly and I let myself become too human. Not to mention I had developed feelings for one and that led to a half breed child. That is illegal in my world. The reason why I was hesitant in giving you an answer, to saying yes, is that I don’t want that to happen again.”

Zoe twisted the ring on her finger and looked ahead; The Arae where powerful and dangerous, much more so than people gave them credit for.

“I-I can’t say yes comfortably because of that.”
If she did, she would constantly be worried all the time, an absolute mess. Zoe twisted the ring faster as she stared at Sam. Willing him to try and understand. She wasn’t saying yes but she wasn’t saying flat out no either. Zoe sighed and rested her head in her hands.

Sam steamed into his breakfast, the variety of food and tastes pleased him, it was far more substantial than what he was used to eating, he almost felt like he didn't deserve to eat something this delicious. "Aww" he thought when Zoe explained she slept better with him in the same house, Sam's ears perked up when she said she wanted to speak about what happened last night, perhaps she just needed to sleep on the decision before deciding what to say, Sam was quite excited to hear what she had to say, but he didn't show his excitement, he simply continued eating at a regular pace.

"You have not" Sam said in reply to the story about Aiden, Zoe didn't talk about him too much, Sam didn't even know what he looked like. Sam would have paid more attention, but he was busy eating his breakfast, the sound of metal cutlery scratching along the plates could be heard as Zoe spilled the story on how Aiden and her met, it was quite a sad story and it clearly meant a lot to her, but Sam felt like he knew where this was going and he saw this coming. Of course there were some differences between the situation she was in now and the situation she was in before, but it had clearly affected her in some way, it appeared she had some commitment issues now. Sam's eating slowed down as he noticed Zoe twisting her ring, her feelings were understood as much as it pained Sam.

"Yeah it's probably a good idea you said no, it was a pretty stupid idea to begin with, the lack of sleep probably didn't help..." Sam picked up a slice of toast and slowly munched on it as he stared blankly into the difference, Sam would be lying if he said that he wasn't dissapointed, he had a slight lump in his throat too, but he didn't burst into tears. The one thing that pained Sam the most was that the past cannot be changed, and as long as Zoe clings to that moment in her past, she probably will not be marrying anyone in the future, causing the ring in his pocket to be completely void, "I wonder how much money I will get back for this ring then..." he thought.

Sam finished his breakfast and placed his plate and cutlery into the sink, he placed his hands onto the counter and leaned on it as he stared at a wall "Well... what am I supposed to do now?" he thought, he didn't have any gym equipment as far as he knew so he couldn't take out his frustration on it. Sam yanked on his collar and scratched at his tattoo as he turned to see Zoe with her head in her hands, she was clearly distressed by all of this, Sam stepped forward and rested his hands on her shoulders, letting her know that he was there for her now and will be there forever, despite their marital status. "So what are you planning on doing today?"

Zoe wordlessly turned and wrapped her arms around Sam, and buried her face in his chest, mumbling something incoherent. Then she adjusted her position so she could be heard, “It was not a stupid idea- it’s just I’m-”

I’m too what? Careful? Scared? Selfish? Zoe thought this to herself and loosened her grip on Sam a little bit. Instead she just opted for a groan and pulled away slightly.

“You’ve lost weight,” She mused, poking him in the stomach teasingly before standing and carrying her dishes over. Zoe had wanted to say yes so badly, but there was that one little thought. The one little fear, what if he left again? What if he was killed because of her? Well… she hadn’t flat out said no had she? Maybe he would ask again later, when everything was normal. Mumbling in Gaelic under her breath about proposals, Zoe put the dishes in the dish washer.

“I suppose, we ought to get the rest of your stuff out of storage.”

Sam felt strange when Zoe hugged him, it had been a long time since he had done it and it had been a long time since anyone had been this close to him, he could feel her warmth as she pushed her face into his chest, Sam slowly wrapped his arms around her and was even more confused about the way she felt about him, was she still angry he had left? Or had she understood why he did it and forgiven him for everything? When she tried to explain in more detail why she said no to his proposal, he simply tightened his grip around her slightly, he didn't want or need an explanation, he already understood why she said what she said. He was enjoying the moment they were sharing, he wanted to stay in the same position for hours, but she noticed the change in his body and pulled away from him. The slight jab to the stomach hurt slightly, especially with Zoe's nails, he rubbed it until the sharp pain went away before explaining, "Yeah, not eating decent meals kinda does that to you, I also don't think the monks in Thailand would appreciate me bringing a punching bag into their home, so I couldn't really work out there either" he said as Zoe dashed around him with her plates.

"So you didn't sell all of my things on ebay!? Thank god I'm with the most caring woman in the world... My stuff probably wouldn't have given you much money anyway, besides my sword." Sam hadn't thought about his sword in a long time, he hadn't thought about his whole Titan lifestyle in a long time either, he would look at his tattoo's every day, but would never think anything of them other than the fact they looked pretty cool. Sam tried to stay in the most human mindset as possible, he found that being a Titan is more like being a soldier than a member of a species, and he felt more comfortable being human and living that lifestyle so he could indulge in such great things like chocolate, and re-runs of Friends episodes that he has already seen a dozen times.

Sam leaned over Zoe's shoulder and gave her a quick peck on the cheek before moving back to his room to pick up his hoodie, he pulled the ring out of his pocket and stared at it one last time before placing it back in it's box and in a drawer, where it will probably sit for some time. Sam hopped out of his room and jumped around excitedly as he waited for Zoe to get ready so he could pick up all of his things, he was sure that seems that it was Zoe's house, he would have to make some more compromises, but he was in a bargaining mood and would fight to the death to get some of his most prized possessions back into his household.

Zoe arched an eyebrow before stating, “Don’t push your luck,” to Sam before smiling in spite of herself.
After cleaning up breakfast, Amber attacked her shoe laces and Darcy was snoozing on the couch, with his legs sticking up in the air and snoring. Picking up the now full grown cat, Zoe itched her behind the ears, murmuring soft words and the kitty responded by purring.

Then Sam came bouncing back in, fully dressed and looking like a kindergartener promised sugar. Zoe snickered slightly and patted him on the cheek as he came up to her.

“Where are you off to in such a hurry?” She teased him as he seemed to dance around excited. Dropping the cat onto the floor, Zoe scooped up her keys from the counter and offered Sam the spare. Turning the door knob she stepped outside into the air, inhaling and waited for Sam.
“Monks?” She finally asked, crinkling her nose. “Did you have to shave your head?”

Sam was almost half dancing as he waited for Zoe to get herself ready to leave, he was quite excited about picking up his old things. "I'm happy, I'm excited and I'm full of energy, the perfect way to start of a great day" he said as Amber hopped onto a table and glared at him, Sam glared back at her as he slowed his pace down until he was standing still, he walked a little bit closer to Amber and leaned down to her level before explaining himself, "Look Amber, I know you're mad at me for leaving again, but this time it was for your benefit, you might not understand that, but it's the truth... I feel bad about leaving again, I feel even worse than the last time, but I promise you, I will never leave again, mmk?" he said as he slowly reached out to her, his hand grew closer and closer and his faith in Amber forgiving him was growing and growing until inches before he reached her head, she turned around and scurried away, it took some time for her to adjust the first time, it appeared this time wouldn't be any different.

Sam accepted the spare key from Zoe before following her outside of her house and closing the door behind them. "Yes, Monks, they were pretty cool guys, they didn't understand anything I was saying, but they were still very nice, they would ask me every day if I wanted to cut my hair and whenever I said no, they thought I was saying yes... you have no idea how many pairs of scissors I had to fight off." he said as they turned the corner at the end of the street. The trek was a fairly short one to the storage containers, after a short search, Zoe lifted open the metal door to reveal a range of Sam's things. Sam's eyes lit up, he was like a small child on Christmas morning as he stepped into the locker and looked at all of his old things that he had not seen in a long time, it was only some furniture and a bunch of boxes of stuff, but it was still nice to see it. Sam stopped and closed his eyes before taking in a deep breathe through his nose, "Where are you?..." he asked quietly and rhetorically, he leaped over several chairs and slipped his hand behind a tower of boxes to reveal his sword, still in it's sheathe. He slid his hands up and down the leather sheathe before yanking the hilt slightly, revealing the blade still inside of it, a pocket of Nether was also released and made it's way up Sam's nostrils, it was a scent that he had not been around in a while, and it felt good. Sam pulled his attention away from his sword and back to Zoe who seemed to have no idea what he was doing "Err... I can teleport back with all of this stuff if you want, saves you from having to do anything, just hand me the keys and I'll lock it up afterwards, I'll be done by the time you get home." Sam said with a smirk.

“Scissors are dangerous weapons,” Zoe tried to state wisely but she ended up grinning like a fool with suppressed laughter. Once they reached the storage unit, Sam dug around like a small puppy. Zoe just opened a box and coughed when a cloud of dust flew into the air.

“You sure? Just take what you want, I’m not to concerned about the rest.” Zoe inquired, when Sam suggested his idea. She wasn’t fond of Sam poofing around everywhere like he does but it was a handy trick. “I might get bored walking home.” She arched an eyebrow at him before leaning against the wall, wondering about his response. Smirking slightly she waved before starting back home.

"Oh really?" he asked with a smirk as he hopped over some boxes back outside to return to Zoe's side, "In that case, I'll make it quick and get back to you before you get home to keep you company" he said as he leaned over slightly and nudged her on the arm, slipping the storage keys out of her pocket in the process. Sam swung his sheathed blade over his back as Zoe left to return home, after she had gone, he dove in to the boxes to find the things he only cared about the most, he managed to condense several boxes down to only one box full of some of the things he has owned since living in London, he also had the crystal given to him back in his old apartment, it did not have much value anymore, but it just looked too good to throw away.

Sam teleported back to his house immediately with the box in hand, he said hello to Darcy and Amber before getting his door open and slumping the box onto the ground, the lid had opened slightly to reveal a small toy bear that he had when he was a child, he lifted it out and blew the dust off of it to show that it was still in quite good condition, he sneaked into Zoe's room and placed it on her pillow before returning to his room, Sam then shimmied the sword off of his back and leaned it up against the wall, it was larger than he remembered, he also hoped he could remember how to wield it properly, it had been a while since he had caused any damage. Within seconds Sam was back at the storage unit, he yanked the chairs that had been kept for him and placed them onto the sidewalk, they were in pretty nice condition and they were not there for too long after Sam had placed a note reading "Free Chairs!" next to it. Sam was feeling slightly sweaty as he kicked the empty boxes back into the storage unit before closing it and locking it up.

Sam wiped the dust from his hands onto his shirt as he jogged back the way he had come earlier in the day, sure enough he could see Zoe in the distance, walking rather slowly. He caught up and wrapped his arms around her when he reached her, Sam rose the key up into Zoe's view before she took it back of off him. "The stuff I want to keep is in my room, I made someone's life a little more comfortable when I gave away my chairs and the storage unit is all locked up my dear" he said as he released her and walked alongside her. "You know what is quite funny though? You remember that time when you told me you didn't eat a lot of chocolate? You know... yesterday? Well I found the strangest box underneath my bed, for some odd reason, it was filled with chocolate... But then I thought that it couldn't have belonged to you because you don't eat the stuff, so I decided to tuck in and now it's all gone..." he hadn't eaten the chocolate of course, there was no way Sam could have eaten that much chocolate in just one night, but he was still interested to see Zoe's reaction to it all.

Walking home, Zoe stopped to glance at a news paper. The usual gossip was on the front page and she put it back and began to walk away when someone snuck up behind her, wrapping his arms around her middle. Zoe shrieked, jumping before realizing it was Sam and flushing red.

“Thank you,” She said, taking the keys that Sam dangled in front of her. After removing his arms, Sam fell into step next to Zoe and stuck up another conversation… about chocolate no less. Uh-no.

“Oh that,”Zoe  said nonchalantly, “That is for… ehh…” She flushed guiltily, the red color rising up her neck. “It was for my sleeping problem. But now that’s gone, I have to go buy more. The mortal stuff just doesn’t cut it. My venom ruins the normal sleeping medication so it doesn’t work.”

Zoe chewed on her lip, watching Sam out of the corner of her eye. It appeared to her that he was trying to get a reaction out of her so she leaned over and poked him in the ribs before dashing down the streets, the demon was trying to encourage a game of chase.

“Sleeping problems eh? You also seem to have a bad case of lying-itus” he said cheekily, he watched her face as it grew red, he was ready for another lie or simply the truth, but Zoe decided to give neither, instead she jabbed him in the ribs and darted off into the distance, clearly trying to instigate a game of cat and mouse. He could had ended the game there and then if there weren’t any passers-by, he could have just teleported in front of her and grabbed a hold of her, she probably would have hit him for doing it though, so maybe it wasn’t worth it in the end. He pushed off and was in hot pursuit, she almost gave him the slip on several different occasions, he wouldn’t have been able to catch up with her without cheating and teleporting to the end of an alleyway to intercept her, he of course wouldn’t tell her he did this because that would just spoil the fun altogether.

He waited until Zoe was just passing the alleyway before stepping out and grabbing her around the waist, she squirmed as he lifted her slightly off of the ground, when she realized she had been defeated, she stopped squirming and was slowly lowered back to Earth. Sam managed to control himself and did not break out into a victory dance, it would have been embarrassing for the both of them at this point, instead Sam pulled Zoe into the alleyway slightly, just out of the view of the public. “Close your eyes” he asked of her, she seemed slightly reluctant at first, but Sam managed to convince her. He had wanted to do this for some time, and just couldn’t find the right opportunity, but it was incredibly ironic that he did this in an alleyway. He held her hands and slowly moved his head closer to hers until he was kissing her, it only lasted a second or so, but that was all the time that he needed to teleport the pair of them into their house, Zoe seemed slightly surprised when she opened her eyes to see the pair were nowhere near the alleyway she was dragged in. Sam smiled at her as he held his hand up to his nose, he still wasn’t quite powerful enough to teleport him and one other person without it causing him some kind of pain, but if it was only a nosebleed he had to deal with now, it was better than anything else. He darted into the bathroom to snatch a tissue or two, he used them both to clean the blood from his top lip before swiping it with his hand and returning to the corridor. “I’ve waited six months to do that!” he yelled as he couldn’t see Zoe anywhere, it appeared his yelling had startled the two animals who had revealed themselves in the kitchen, “And it feels just as great as the first time” he said in a lower volume.

Sam moved to the fridge where he pulled out a plastic bottle of water before going back to yelling for Zoe “You can keep the chocolate by the way, it’s pretty hilarious when you eat that stuff.”

“Ahh!” Zoe yelped as Sam dangled her and seemed to be enjoying himself, “Evil brit!”
Her heart was fluttering from the excitement as well as fun and Sam looked like he was about to break out into a happy dance at winning the game. Zoe pushed her dark brown hair out of her face and looked around, before Sam instructed her to close her eyes.

“How about… No?” Zoe arched a dark eyebrow before Sam gave her puppy dog eyes. “Fine! Just don’t give me that look again.”

Obediently she closed her eyes and was kissed, Zoe couldn’t help but smile. Opening her eyes again, Zoe smelled the blood and scowled. Sam had gone and done it again with the teleporting, Zoe did not like that this ability hurt him regularly.

“Sam,” She stated disapprovingly and he just dashed off to clean off his face. Rolling her eyes at his yelling, Zoe leaned against the wall as he went through the fridge. She reached into her pocket and chucked a package of gum at his head good-naturedly.

“Oh why? Because I got all handsy with you last time?” Zoe teased him before wandering over and closing the fridge. “Also, I recall you complaining the first time I kissed you. I recall it very vividly. Cop avoidance and a ribcage mauling, kinda hard to forget.”

Amber trotted past carrying a chocolate bar in her mouth and looking pleased with herself.