Another chapter guys. Sorry for the delay, been busy with work. Same goes for ARK, working on chapters when I can. Without further delay, here ya go. Special thanks to my co-author and beta reader bob the kraken.

Chapter 4

"Sammy! Come out here, please?"

Sam looked up from the kitchen sink and headed towards the front door where her grandad called her. Behind him, lined up in front of the house were close to a dozen men: The new batch of stablehands. The farm was a large piece of land and required a lot of hands to help keep it running smoothly. Every season, her grandfather hired a bunch of new helpers to do just that. Some were familiar faces while others were brand new.

Speaking of familiar faces…

Sam stopped and stared at the pair of grey-green eyes that widened in shock behind long bangs upon meeting her own. "Well, well, well…" She thought to herself "This is…unexpected."

Can you say understatement, Samantha?

Yes, yes she could.

"Just be calm, Sam." The blonde thought as she forced herself to look away from James "You're just going to be showing a potentially wanted man and possible illegal immigrant around your workplace…no biggie." She forced herself to focus on her grandad's words to drown out the thoughts swirling inside her skull.

"This here is Samantha, my granddaughter." The retired sailor began "She'll be showing you around today and she's just as much your boss as I am. If have any questions just ask her, and remember," His eyes narrowed "You're here to work. No goofin' off or slacking around or else you're as good as fired. Understood?" A series of nods answered him and he nodded back "Good. Alright, Sammy, why dontcha show these men around."

Sam nodded and turned to the group of men, swallowing a past the lump in her throat as she tried her hardest not to stare at James "Alright!" She began, forcing a chipper smile "Follow me, guys." She walked off the porch and led them down into the farmyard, one sole thought plaguing her head.

"I cannot believe this."

XXXX

"I cannot believe this."

James thought to himself as he trailed after the line of men following the girl-AKA the annoying girl from the store-although he guessed he should call her Samantha now, since she was practically his boss. Oh, this was going to go absolutely swimmingly! He blamed Thomas for this; somehow this was his fault. James fought back a headache as the 'tour' continued, ending with the bunks where'd they be staying for the work-week. He could feel the girl's eyes on him the entire time and was desperately trying not to make eye contact.

"This is what I get for trying to be a dick." He grumbled to himself. Uncle Bert always said to treat a lady with respect and, well, he had been rude yesterday. But the girl had just been asking way too many questions for comfort, and that last remark she made was what really set him off, even if it had been in jest.

He sighed. Him and his damn temper…he really ought to apologize if he got the chance. Might as well try and establish good terms if he was going to work here. The last thing he needed was being on bad terms with the boss's daughter…who also was his boss…ugh.

This is just peachy!

Once his boss-damn, he still wasn't used to saying that- had finished their tour, she divided them into three teams and assigned them their job schedules for the week. The group he was in was tasked to help George, Sam's grandfather, with any repair and miscellaneous work around the farm along with any. Once everything was said and done, they all went straight to work.

XXXX

Sam's eyes remained fixated on James's retreating figure as he followed close behind her grandfather who was pointing a gnarly finger around at everything and ushered them to get started. After she had divided everyone into teams and given their designated responsibilities, she headed up back to the house and took a seat on the porch. As overseer of the ranch, her job was to watch all the workers to make sure everyone was doing their job. But she just couldn't take her eyes off James, and not in the way that Jessica would have teased her about.

She'd done some research last night and came across a recent article on a month-old incident about someone who tried to hop the border. They had succeeded, too. Most of it was about how one of the rangers apparently shot the person and was facing charges and not much more, but Sam had dug some digging (and by that she meant going to the county store and asking Thomas) and it turned out that James had showed up close to a month ago.

Coincidence anyone?

When she moved her gaze back over the next team of workers, she spotted her grandfather struggling to move a pile of two by sixes from the bed of his pickup by himself. Sam chided her grandfather's stubbornness to ask the other workers for help and was about to get up from the porch to go help him, when James came up to the side of the pickup.

She tensed up immediately. He said something to her grandfather and offered a hand to help him down. At first her grandpa snapped at him for not getting to work like he was instructed to do but after watching him hook his fingers through the plastic straps of the lumber pile and heaving it onto his shoulders, he changed his tone to one of surprise. "Goddamn, son!" Her grandfather crowed, watching as this young man carted close to a two hundred pounds onto his shoulder to the barn. All the other workers stopped to regard their passing coworker with astonished gazes.

"Jesus!" Sam mumbled, watching James hoist the load over his head and harshly set it on the ground. It didn't even look like he broke a sweat!

She knew of a few guys that went to the gym, mainly Mike and Matt, but she had never seen anybody move such heavy weight like that. Recovering from her astonishment, she watched as the suspicious young man walked back up to her grandfather who was still gaping at him from the back of his pickup and offered him a helping hand down once more, one which her grandfather reluctantly took.

Her grandpa George was a proud man and it probably grinded his gears to have seen such a young man move something he couldn't because of his age.

The older man gave a small chuckle, bringing a hand up to the younger man's shoulder and giving it a small pat. Sam raised an eyebrow at the small, almost indecipherable pull around the corners of James' mouth at whatever George said to him.

"Well, look at that; he can smile…uh, oh." She groaned internally as her grandfather turned began to lead James: the rude, potentially wanted, border hopping escapee towards her.

XXXX

"Uh oh." James groaned in his head as George began to lead him to a certain blonde standing on the front steps of an old-style home. She, much like himself, wore a displeased expression as they neared each other.

"Now, I dunno what stock you come from, son," George was saying, yanking James out of his thoughts "But that back there was quite impressive! What's your secret?"

James inwardly groaned again. Everybody he wound up revealing his strength to always said something along those lines sooner or later. "Just…hard work and exercise, sir." He mumbled. George laughed. "Then you must be a hard worker! Good, means you'll earn your keep around here!" James forced a chuckle "Yes, sir." He said and looked up at Samantha as George motioned a hand at her "I already introduced you to my granddaughter, Samantha." The older man said.

James stared into Samantha's unimpressed green eyes. She smiled wryly "We've already met, actually. The feed store? Your name's...Jamie, right?"

James gritted his teeth behind his lips. That little-!

"James." He corrected while trying to keep the growl out of his voice. "Oh!" Sam exclaimed in fake realization "Sorry about that." She gave his shoulder a playful (not really) pat. James forced a grin, teeth grinding together at the girl's spitefulness "No problem." He got out.

"Oh, so you're the one Thomas suggested!" George said, inadvertently breaking the two of them up. "Yes, sir." James answered while shooting a sideways glare at Sam who just stared back at him with that damn, coy smirk of hers. "Thomas spoke very fondly of you. Never known him to be too proud of one of his workers like that. Said you're a good kid and you work hard; now I see why!" George said with a small laugh. He looked over at Sam "Sam, I'm gonna have this one help you bale the hay from the field. Hell, from what I've seen, he looks like he could toss it all up into the loft in a few short hours!"

Sam and James tensed up simultaneously.

"Sammy here will get ya started," He pointed a finger at him and added, "And you mind what she tells you!" James nodded automatically "Good. Alright, now off you two go!" George said and turned away. James eye twitched and he slowly turned and looked at Sam who was wearing the most satisfied smile he had ever seen on a person as she crossed her arms over her short flannel shirt.

"Lead the way...boss." James said after a moment.

Sam gave an audible hmph. "Follow me, big guy." she said, walking past him. Sighing, James followed.

After trudging through the field to a large shack made of tin sheets, James swallowed past the lump in his throat. If he was going to work with this girl, he might as well get on good terms with her. "Hey," He began as she opened the large metal doors to the shed. She stopped and looked at him. "I just...want to apologize for the way I acted the other day. A lot's going on for me right now and you didn't deserve to get treated that way." He shrugged, mouth turned downwards "I'm sorry."

Sam was surprised by the sudden apology. She half expected him to be like the ass he was at the feed store. She pursed her lips together and crossed her arms, looking him up and down. The way she saw it, she had two options here; Either brush off his attempts to apologize for being a dick, or let go and not hold a grudge…

Damn it, sometimes she wished she wasn't such so laid-back about things.

"Ass-kissing is gonna get you nowhere around here, bucko." She said. Her mouth turned upwards a bit when he flinched and glanced off to the side before continuing "But, for what it's worth…apology accepted." She said in a lighter tone. James blinked and looked up at her in surprise. Sam smirked right back and thumbed over her shoulder "Now, come on, Sunshine," She said, using his impromptu nickname "Lets bale us some hay."

James's scowled slightly as he walked past her "Don't call me Sunshine." He grumbled.

XXXX

"Holy crap!"

James looked up at Sam's surprised exclamation "What?" He asked, perplexed at her open-mouthed expression.

"I'm gone or five minutes and you're almost done?" She explained, gesturing with one arm between the hayloft and the freshly stacked bales down below. James frowned, bemused, and raised an eyebrow "You were gone for almost ten minutes, actually." He said dryly. She'd drove back to the field to pick up more bales to refill their dwindling pile, and during that time James had kept tossing them up and stacking them without pause. Sam waved off his correction and walked back into the shack. Did he even take a break? "Aren't you tired?" Sam asked as he threw one of the bales she'd brought in up onto loft. "No." James grunted. Sam squinted at him and asked "Are you on steroids or something?"

James huffed a small laugh at her words 'Oh, definitely something, alright.' He thought as he answered her with "Nope; just good ol' fashion hard work and exercise." Sam shook her head in disbelief "You'll forgive me if I find that hard to believe." James grunted in response and went back to work, unaware of Sam's expression morphing into one of concertation and the way she bit her lip in indecision. "Now's a time as good as any to bring it up." She thought anxiously. She grabbed a fresh bale and brought it over to him, trying to sound nonchalant when she asked "Hey, did you hear about that thing that happened a while ago? Some guy got shot trying to cross over from the states illegally." She glanced at him out of the corner of her eye to watch his reaction "Crazy, right?"

"I don't read the news." James grunted as he turned his body away from her to grab another bale and disguise the panic taking over his face. "Why you so interested in that?" he asked, hoping he didn't sound as suspicious as he felt. Sam fixed him with a look he couldn't place and she said "I like keep up on recent events. Keeps me in the loop of things, you know?"

Which wasn't untrue; it had become a habit of hers to check the news every so often just in case Hannah and Beth were found and she hadn't been contacted yet for some reason. But this time, an actual news story might be standing right in front of her, and she wanted to see if she if she was right on her assumption.

James's reaction was a grunt and a shrug before he turned back to work and the two of them lapsed into a strange silence as they worked until they were done.

XXXX

"Not bad for the first day, Sunshine." Sam commented as they walked out of the tin shack, their hay-stacking complete. James just grunted in response and kept his gaze straight ahead. Sam couldn't help but scowl slightly as they walked to the old pickup awaiting them. James had lapsed back into his previous quiet and aloof demeanor, something that both irritated and worried Sam. Irritated because she felt like she was back to square one with this guy and worried because she had a feeling she'd said something to set him off. Sam kept reviewing their conversation in her head. James had clammed up after she'd mentioned the news. She wasn't one to jump to conclusions, but Sam was ninety percent sure this was the same guy she'd read about.

Now what to do about him was the question…

The barking of dogs pulled her from her thoughts as she looked up to see three canine shapes lopping across the field towards her.

Beside her, James froze.

Three dogs with gold and brown coats came bounding across the field towards Sam who immediately dropped to a knee with a smile and cooed out greetings. They were the farms dogs; three golden retriever mixes that were beautiful balls of fur Sam had raised since they were puppies. Bud, Lou, and Glue were total sweethearts who wouldn't hurt a fly and were practically the friendliest animals on the whole farm. 'Something they got from their mamma' she'd always say. So, she was taken completely by surprise when they suddenly skidded to a stop in their tracks, ears pricked and heads held high in alert. Sam frowned in confusion and called out to them once more. They were staring at something behind her.

Sam glanced over her shoulder to see James standing stock still, rigid as a board; wide eyes fixed on the dogs. Sam's frown deepened when she saw a bead of sweat drip down his temple and he swallowed a lump in his throat. A harsh, snarling bark made startled her into turning back to her dogs and her jaw dropped at what she saw. Their ears were flat against their skulls, lips peeled back to reveal foam-soaked teeth, and their eyes were wide and wild. Hackles raised, they all began to let out a war cry of angry barks and snarls. Sam glanced over her shoulder at James as he took a half-step back, his expression wild. His eyes flashed dangerously and his teeth ground together, grey-blue eyes darting back and forth from her to the dogs glittering with…was that fear?

Then everything took a turn for the worst.

The second he moved, her dogs surged forwards in a chorus of howls and snarls and James turned on his heel and ran. Sam made to stand up but one of the dogs barreled into and knocked her over. She called for them to stop and got to her feet to run after them, but the dogs were streaks of gold and brown lightning across the field as they pursued James, who in turn was moving so fast he was practically a blur as he dashed back to the shed. Sam finally got her legs working again and she sprinted on after them. James was a yard away from the shed, Bud hot on his heels, when they disappeared into the darkness of the hay loft. Then, there was an awful yell of pain and angry snarls. Sam increased her pace, shouting for her dogs. When she finally made it inside, she skidded to a stop and stared in open mouthed shock at her three dogs barking and jumping to get at James who was perched up in the hayloft, eyes wide and teeth bared.

Part of his shirt was shredded.

The sight scent ice down her spine "Oh god." She thought and surged forward, yelling out her dog's names at the top of her lungs to get their attention. Fortunately, it did, and Sam stood in front of them, sparing a glance up at James who was curled against a bale of hay like a cornered animal. She turned back to her dogs "Out!" she barked, pointing a finger at the door "Out!" They barked in protest, but Sam didn't care. She moved forward and seized them all by their collars and dragged them outside with the final command of "Git!" and she pulled the tin door shut. They barked and scratched at the door but she ignored them instead turning back to James who was still up in the hayloft, half-hidden by shadows.

"James?" She called softly. She saw his head turn, and for a second thought she saw orange flash in the dark. A deep sigh reached her ears.

For a moment, Sam just stood dumbstruck by what had just happened "Are you alright?" She asked after a moment. He shifted to look at her "I'm okay."

Sam floundered for words "I-I'm so sorry." She blurted out "They're…they're never like that! I don't know why-"

He cut her off "It's okay." Another sigh "Dogs and I…they don't like me." He said with a wince. Sam hesitated before walking towards the loft ladder as he kept talking "Funny thing is I used to love dogs." James continued, his voice and expression a far-off melancholy that abruptly twisted into something bitter and sad "Too bad they don't feel the same anymore."

Sam climbed into the loft and looked at the boy half-curled into a ball, fists clenched and shaking, his expression a rictus of pain.

It was scene she knew very well.

Josh…

"It's my fault, Sam." He'd say sometimes when she'd find him holed up and hiding in a dark corner his room "It's all my fault." He'd repeat as tears ran down his cheeks, vacant eyes staring off into space…

The next thing she knew, she was crawling up next to him and placing her hand on his shoulder. His whole body tensed up and his eyes darted to hers, sharp and wary, but slowly melted away to confusion until they softened. "You gonna be okay?" She asked. She felt his walls go up the second she asked and he looked away "I'm alight." He sighed softly and looked away.

That's when she remembered the enormous tear in his shirt near his armpit "Oh my god!" she breathed. She could not believe that her dogs had done this. "Did…" She afraid to even ask "Did they bite you?"

"I'm fine." James said, a strange look that almost resembled amusement passing over his face, but Sam saw how he didn't look at her when she asked and her eyes narrowed. "Bullshit." She stated bluntly "Let me see."

James's eyes widened "What-no! I'm fine! He just nipped me, didn't even break the skin-"

"Let. Me. See."

Internally, James quailed from the razor-sharp look in her emerald eyes that silenced any and all argument. "Fine." He grunted. Sam didn't let up her 'look' as she said "Good," and slid off the loft and landed on her feet with a thud. "Now get down here, bucko." She said turning to look at him expectantly.

James just rolled his eyes as she slid off the landing after her, ignoring her cry of "No, use the lad-"

RIIIIPPP!

For a moment, no one said anything.

James looked at Sam.

Sam looked at James.

Cool air tickled his bare skin…

"Are you serious?!" The now very shirtless James exclaimed as he turned to glare at the tattered remnants of his shirt that was hanging on a loose nail head on the edge the loft like some sort of flag "Just…seriously!?" He growled, running a hand through his long hair "Great! Just great!"

"There goes ANOTHER shirt!" He thought angrily.

"…Whoa." Was what Sam was thinking at the moment.

James was…well, for lack of a better word ripped. Lean and compact muscles swelled with each breath he took, rounded shoulders and biceps flexing distractingly when he moved to press his fingers to his temples to relieve a headache.

Sam was not a romantic girl; never had been. It was one of the things that set her apart from the others. She didn't go googly-eyed over the first cute guy that walked past like Jessica or Hannah did. She considered herself rather level-headed and did not go undressing guys with her eyes…although she never had someone actually undress for said eyes to see what was underneath. Trying not to pay attention how the muscles of his back resembled the letter V, she desperately searched for something else to stare at…

…and stopped.

Leading down James's right shoulder were jagged sets of rounded, puckered flesh that stood out in sharp contrast to the rest of his skin.

James sighed and fully turned around to face her with a mildly embarrassed expression "You don't happen to have another shirt, do you?"

Sam couldn't answer.

Now, if she were Jessica or Emily, she'd being saying how he looked even better from the front and drooling over his 8-pack or something else along those lines…but Sam was more focused on the scars.

Three faded lines carved a path across his chest coming down from his left shoulder and ending below his ribs. They were harsh with uneven edges and looked like they'd been deep wounds. It looked like a bear had gone and slashed a paw across his chest. Either that or someone had carved him up with a very big knife. The worst was his shoulder. Wrapping over his right collarbone was a messy crisscross of uneven scar-tissue that danced dangerously close to his neck.

They were bitemarks.

Sam's breath caught in her throat.

"Take a picture, it'll last longer." Came the growl that pulled her out of her thoughts. Sam blinked as James turned his body awkwardly away from her to cover the scars. "W-what happened?" The words tumbled out of her mouth before she could stop them. James's whole body went stiff at her words.

"…I was attacked." He said after a moment, hands curling into fists.

"By what?" Sam floundered "A bear?"

"Yeah." James said quietly "A bear. It chased me. I…I wasn't fast enough."

Sam wanted to correct him that it was impossible to outrun a bear on foot, but the way spoke made it seem like he was talking about something else entirely. Sam swallowed past the lump in her throat "Does…do they hurt?"

"No." Came the strangely bitter reply "They don't hurt at all."

Silence reigned

"Hey," Sam called. James glanced over his shoulder and she held up her right arm and pulled down her sleeve "I lost two good friends a while ago. It was a whole shit-show how it all happened…"

"What happened? Where is my sister going?"

"It was just a prank, Han!"

Sam pushed past the old ache and anger the memories brought and pointed to the faded lines across her wrist for James to see "I used to cut myself…afterwards." She let out a humorless chuckle "I blamed myself for what happened, for not doing anything to stop it…" She closed her eyes and covered her wrist "So you're not the only one with scars you're not proud of." Sam finished looking at him with an empty smile. James just stared at her "I-I'm sorry." He fumbled awkwardly. Sam shrugged "Don't be. You weren't even there."

"Still," James persevered "I know what it's like to lose close friends and-" He swallowed past the old and bitter pain welling up in his throat "And feel like you could have at least done something."

"Is that what happened?" Sam said, indicating his scars. James sighed, and after a moment, nodded "Yeah." He admitted quietly "We went out on a camping trip." The words flowed freely, and he was unable to stop them "There were six of us together, just a weekend at one of the campgrounds." Why was he telling her this? Why couldn't he stop talking? "Kelsey and Max roped us all into it." He laughed at the memory "Naturally, they were drunk when they pitched the idea. So were and Gabe and Jonathan when they agreed, now that I think about it, heh. Brock and I were just along for the ride…"

"Guys, guys! I got…got…I got this campground me and Kelsey rented, right? And-shut up, Gabe, I'm talking! And I we want you to come along. There's gonna be booze and a bonfire…it's gonna be great!" Max slurred over his words, hanging off an equally tipsy Kelsey.

"I got one question!" Jonathan had asked with a very serious expression on his face, although the image was ruined by the way he swayed on his feet "Will there be smores?"

"Fuck yeah they'll be smores!" Kelsey exclaimed. Jonathan strode over to her with that same dead-serious look plastered on his face and high-fived her. "I'm in!" He said and turned to look at the curled-up lump that was Gabe "Gabe, you in?"

The arm that shot up in a thumbs-up was the answer.

"Alright~!" Max sing-songed "Brock, James, how about you?"

"I'm down." Brock said taking a pull from his beer. James shrugged "Sure, I don't have any plans."

"Woop-woop!" Kelsey said, pumping her palms up in a 'raise-the-roof' motion.

"This is gonna be awesome!" Max had said grinning around at all of them "We're gonna have a blast."

"We just got settled in to go to sleep when it came…they didn't stand a chance…" James shook his head to try to rid himself of the blood-soaked images that danced in the forefront of his brain "Jonathan told me to run…I didn't want to, but I did. Someone found me by the time it caught up to me and scared it off." He sighed and shrugged "I woke up in the hospital."

Sam stared at him as the pieces fell into place. She took a deep breath, let it out, and steeled herself for what was to come.

"They still haven't found it." She told him. James face twisted in confusion "The bear that attacked you." She clarified. She watched as expression went from confused, to wide-eyed shock, to finally blank. Sam was bolstered by the silence, so she continued "You're James Steele." She said and tried for a disarming smile "A little far from the States, aren't you?"

James was still silent.

"Well…aren't you going say something?" Sam said gesturing to him. James opened his mouth to speak, paused, and then closed it and licked his lips "You going to call the police?" he grunted quietly. Sam blinked at the question before crossing her arms and saying "I don't know. Should I?" James just shrugged in response. Sam frowned and pursed her lips, taking a step closer to him "You're the one who hopped the border, too, aren't you?" James was quiet for another moment before he let out a weary sigh from the depths of his soul and nodded his head. Sam frowned and took another step forward, eyes roaming over him "But…they said they shot somebody…"

"I tripped and fell down after the guy took the shot." James answered her unasked question. Well, he did trip and fall because a bullet entered his leg after the guy took the shot, but he really couldn't explain that his body healed like fucking Wolverine, now could he? "Seriously?" Sam questioned. James just and shrugged nodded.

"Why did you run away in the first place?" Sam asked him in a serious tone, her eyes emerald-hard again. James opened his mouth to speak, but choked on the lump that suddenly formed in his throat.

Why had he run?

Claws burst free from his fingers as the maddening itching of millions of hairs sprouted all over him…

Uncle Bert lying in a puddle of his own blood, his throat a wet, ripped out hole…

Sobbing as he scrubbing away at his skin to wipe the sticky red blood off his body…

"It's my fault…" James choked out "It's my fault that….that monster killed my uncle."

The suspicion drained from Sam as she watched a single tear trail from his pain-clouded eyes "What?"

"The…" James struggled to get the words out "The animal killed him. I couldn't do anything. I was..."

Trapped, gone, no more.

A monster.

"…stuck." He said "I couldn't do anything to stop it. It tore everything to pieces…my uncle…oh god, Uncle Bert…"

Why? Why did this happen to him? Oh, god it was his fault, wasn't it? Everything was his fault; Uncle Bert, Kelsey, Jonathan, Brock, Gabe….god WHY?

It's my fault! They're dead because of me! Why? WhywhywhywhywhywhyWHY-

"James!"

Ohgodsomuchbloodhecouldn'BREATHE!-

"James!"

He blinked, and spring green eyes swam into focus, staring into his. Sam was right in front of him holding his arms by his wrists away from his face "James." She repeated in that same firm, urgent tone "I want you to breathe. In through your nose and out through your mouth like this." She demonstrated twice until he complied. It eased the sharp pain in his chest he didn't know he had until now. "Good." Sam said as she kneeled down next to him "Keep breathing just like that. There you go…"

Wait, kneeled?

…Why was he on the floor?

"What happened?" James asked as his bearings slowly came back to him.

"You had a panic attack." Sam answered.

James frowned "A panic attack?" He asked, bewildered. "Yeah." Sam told him. She pulled him up and helped him to his feet "I have a friend who has them a lot."

"I never had one before." James scowled and sounded annoyed when he said that, and Sam couldn't help but crack a wry, humorless smile "First time for everything, I guess?" She laughed hollowly before turning dead-serious "You okay?"

"I'm fine." Was his immediate response. "Fine doesn't mean okay." Sam responded in earnest. James frowned at her words "That doesn't make any sense." He told her.

"Neither does your hair."

"What's wrong with my hair?" he questioned, surprised and slightly affronted.

"It looks ridiculous!" Sam exclaimed reaching up to tweak a lock of said hair "Like you're wearing a dead animal on your head!"

James stared at Sam.

Sam stared at James.

For a moment, neither said anything.

"It does not." James grunted after a moment, facial muscles twitching to fight a smile. Sam smiled unabashedly "Yes, yes it does. First thing's first, you're going to need a haircut if you're going to stay here."

James faltered "Wait, stay? You mean-"

"I'm not gonna rat you out." Sam said shaking her head "Holes in your story aside, I don't really see a reason to tattle." Her expression turned pensive "Look, James, I don't know what happened to you, and I'm not going to pretend I do, but…" She placed a hand on his unscarred shoulder "I'm a pretty good judge of character. You're not a bad person. Scruffy and rough around the edges, maybe," She teased "But you're not trouble."

James held back from correcting her otherwise. He was trouble, just…not right now, anyway…

"And if you are, I'll just kick your ass and hand you over to the police." James blinked at the casual way she said that "Good to know?" He tried answering. Sam patted his shoulder "Anytime, Sunshine." she answered with that dry tone of hers.

James snorted before a sudden thought hit him and he frowned "Wait…" He said "Why do you want to help me?" he asked, distrust coloring his tone. For a moment, Sam said nothing. Then the skin around her eyes tightened, green eyes clouding with a distant sadness and pain.

"You remind me of someone I know." She said wetting her lips "You remind me a lot like him after the friends I told you about died. They were his sisters. We all tried to help him after but…He didn't let us and…well, he went off the deep end a few times and almost…" She trailed off.

Late-night calls from the hospital telling her Josh had overdosed, walking in on him with a knife pressed against his wrist, the gun…

"I just don't want to see another guy like you go under." She admitted. She sighed after a moment and looked up into his stunned expression "I don't know about you, but I'm kinda getting tired of all this emotional spieling we're doing here, how about you?" She said, cracking a wry, crooked grin. James blinked and snorted "Way to ruin the moment." He teased, crossing his arms over his chest.

"Eh, I'm not a mushy person anyway. Spewing my inner angst all over the place is pretty draining." Sam told him dryly. James rolled his eyes "Good to know. So, we cool?" He asked her. "We're cool." Sam confirmed. Her smile quirked upward and she mock-punched his arm "Good talk, bro!" She said with fake macho voice.

"Fantastic…now can I please get a shirt?"

Sam rolled her eyes "Yeah, yeah keep your hair on…we got to take care of something first, though."

Sam turned and pointed to the three canine shadows still pacing under the door.

XXXX

Sam cracked the door open just enough peek her head out. The dogs had been pacing restlessly around the entrance and the second they heard the door sliding open they swarmed the entrance barking and whining. "Back!" Sam said firmly, sliding one leg out. Lou moved forward, nose twitching and a growl forming in his throat "Lou, back!" She repeated the command in a sterner tone. Lou obliged and rejoined his brothers in barking and howling "Good, good." Sam said absently. She looked over her shoulder "Come on." She told James, who looked just about as apprehensive as her dogs "They have to know you're okay. It'll be fine, James, I promise." She added in a softer tone seeing the fear flash in his eyes "Come on." She gently pulled him out of the shed with her, keeping a firm grip on his wrist.

The second James emerged, Glue and Bud moved forward snapping and snarling. James tensed behind her, but Sam stepped forward "Hey!" She barked at the dogs "That's enough!" The dogs barked in protest and Sam took another step forward, pulling James towards her "Get closer." She said to him "They have to see you with me to know you're okay." James obliged and touched his shoulder against hers. Sam let go of his hand and placed it firmly on his shoulder to reinforce the image. Slowly, the dogs barking lessened.

"Okay, give me your hand. Let them smell you." Sam instructed him as she took his hand and brought them to the kneel on the grass. One by one, their barking winded down to unsure growls "He's okay, babies." She cooed softly to her dogs. Bud stepped forward, nose lowered and eyes darting between James and where his hand met with hers. Sam brought his hand outstretched with hers "See, he's okay." Bud stopped just out of reach of James's hand and gave his knuckles a tentative whiff. "Good boy, Bud." Sam praised the dog, lifting her free hand to pet his head. The other two fell in behind their brother, coming up to sniff James's outstretched hand. "There we go." Sam said softly as she slowly let go of James and let her dogs smell him freely. James, to her credit, didn't even flinch when she let go. Instead he stood still as each of the dogs stepped closer to freely inspect him. One by one, tails started wagging and James found himself surrounded by a bunch of friendly dogs. Suddenly, Glue let out a playful yelp before putting his paws on James's shoulders and attacked his hair with his tongue. The others followed suit and jumped all over him, licking his face like it was covered in peanut butter. James dutifully bore the assault with eyes and lips clenched shut to prevent dog slobber from getting in.

Sam giggled at his expense and he cracked an eye open to stare at her "Something funny?" He grunted. Sam shrugged in response "This whole scenario for one thing." She said wryly "They hated you and now they love you." Her smile turned pensive and she said "In fact…I don't think they're never this playful with strangers." James looked from her to Lou who was sniffing at his face with wide excited eyes, panting heavily "It's an animal thing, I guess." James said with an expression she couldn't place and he ruffled the dogs fur.

Then he scowled.

"Now, for the love of god, can I please get a shirt!"