For Sam Oliver, it was just another lousy day at the Work Bench. Luckily for him, the Devil was MIA from his life today, so at least it wasn't completely hellish.
"Sam!"
Sam jerked around, nearly tripping into the shelf of plumping equipment beside him at the sudden call of his name. He soon relaxed when he saw who it was, but then grew even more fidgety; he tried to not make the latter show. "Oh, hi, Andi."
Andi smiled, and he felt some of his tension abate. Her smile always had a way of doing that to him. "I wanted to talk to you…."
"Oh. Okay." Sam briefly flicked his eyes about to make sure that their boss, Ted, wasn't lurking somewhere nearby, ready to pounce on them for not working. That guy seriously needed to buy a life off of eBay or something.
Andi's smile grew, but more shyly this time. "I've been wanting to tell you this for a while…."
"Yes?" Sam prompted, eager for her to finish.
Andi sighed. "I like you, Sam. Like, really like you."
Sam blinked. If he was breathing, he couldn't tell. "Really?"
She punched him lightly in the arm. "I just said it, didn't I?"
Wow. Sam had never expected the girl of his dreams to actually like him back -- except, of course, in his dreams. He was still in awe of what she had just said when she stepped closer to him and draped her arms around his neck. "So?" she asked.
He blinked again. "So, what?"
Andi smirked. "Do you like me, too?"
Was she kidding? Of course he did! He was about to tell her such when his eyes glanced momentarily away from her lips and noticed the all-too-familiar box waiting ominously behind her. "Damn it."
Andi's face pinched into a frown. "What's wrong?"
Everything, he was tempted to tell her, but instead was at a loss for words. Unlike others in his life, Andi was completely unaware that the Devil owned his soul and that he was doomed to act as a bounty hunter for him, capturing souls escaped from hell. Oddly noble, once you thought about it, but it didn't make him like being the Devil's lapdog any more than he already did, and that like existed somewhere in the negatives.
"Sam?" Andi sounded annoyed now.
"I --" Sam began, but then was cut off by an even more irksome voice.
"Well, well. It looks like someone wants to be receiving their checks in the unemployment line." Ted looked away from Sam and gave Andi one of his I'm superior once-overs. "Make that two someones."
"Ted, don't" -- be a dick, he almost finished, but then thought better of it -- "do this. So we were distracted for a minute."
"A minute too many," Ted remarked, unflustered. "I'm going to have to let you two go."
"That's so not fair!" Andi shot back.
Ted shrugged. "Life isn't fair."
Huffing, Andi turned to stomp away, only to trip over the vessel box and smack face-first against the ground.
"Andi!" Sam knelt down to help her stand, mentally cursing all the while, Stupid box. Stupid Devil. Stupid life…
"Are you okay?" Sam asked, then snapped his head away when he saw Ted picking up the box. "Hey! Give that back!"
Ted tsked as he examined the box. "You know, I've had my suspicions about you. But I never expected this."
Sam stiffened, something in Ted's tone giving him pause.
"Sam?" Andi asked. "What's going on? And what's with the box?"
"It's nothing," Sam assured her, his eyes never leaving Ted.
"More lies." Ted shook his head. "It doesn't really surprise me, though. I can only imagine what things you can get away with when you're working for Lucifer."
Andi frowned some more. "Lucifer?"
"Go," Sam commanded, realization slapping him in the face as Ted's grin grew into one entirely too wicked. He couldn't believe that he had been so oblivious before….
Ted was an escaped soul.
"What's going on?" Andi persisted, not listening to him.
"Yes, Sam," Ted coaxed. "What is going on?"
Sam glared, standing protectively in front of Andi. "Go to hell."
"No, thanks. I think the Work Bench will suffice."
Then, single-handedly shoving Sam away with a strength he never thought he could possess, Ted snatched Andi and opened his mouth like a predator about to swallow its prey. Andi writhed, but soon grew limp, an odd glow passing from her mouth to his. Was he actually sucking out her life? Okay, so it was sort of appropriate, but still -- the ass!
Sam barreled into Ted, knocking both him and Andi to the ground. The box fell from Ted's grasp and hit Sam in the stomach. He wheezed, but otherwise ignored the pain as he wrenched the box open and pulled out the vessel that would help him capture this latest soul -- a camera.
Sam smirked despite the fact that Ted had pounced onto Andi again. "Say cheese."
Ted jolted his head up and screamed as the flash engulfed him. He froze into some distorted caricature of himself, quickly fading to nothing along with the blinding light. Sam sat back on his heels, letting out a sigh. Who would have thought that the boss from hell was actually from hell?
"Oh my God, Sam…"
Sam froze. He had almost forgotten about Andi! "I can explain…"
Her smile paralyzed any explanation he could have come up with. "My hero!" She tugged him to her and kissed him.
The world stopped then. Well, not really. He could still hear the applause of random customers and workers surrounding them, bolstered by cheers. They must have witnessed the soul-capturing. Kind of odd, but he didn't mind. He concentrated on kissing Andi back, joyous for once that things in his life actually seemed to be going his way, the Devil be damned.
Andi then pulled back, her smile widening, and when she opened her mouth to speak, the blaring chirps of an alarm clock replaced her voice.
Huh?
Sam groaned, blinking free from slumber as his hand floundered for the alarm clock, finally slamming the incessant beeping to an end. A dream -- of course. His life, Devil or not, was much too hellish for it to be anything more.
Too bad, he thought, drowsily lurching himself out of bed so he could go to the Work Bench. Maybe, if he was lucky, one half of his dream would come true, even though at this point Ted being an escaped soul from hell seemed more likely than him and Andi actually hooking up.
Sam sighed. Dream Ted was right -- life wasn't fair.