I unlocked the door and heard them drive away as I went inside. Small Paws was curled up waiting for me and ran behind me as I made my way upstairs. As I tucked myself into bed it dawned on me….we didn't go grocery shopping! I didn't sleep very well, my nightmare played over and over. The only thing that made it better was the final little detail before waking up. Instead of the cops, David came and rescued me.

Knocking on the front door woke me up, I put on my robe and headed downstairs. When I opened the door Sam was standing there with a smile, "Hey Sage!" I smiled sleepily, "Hello Sam, would you like to come in?" I stepped to the side and let him pass. "Would you mind driving me to the comic book store today?" I looked at the clock, I had time before my appointment, and it was my second day off this week. "Sure, just let me get ready." He nodded nonchalantly, sitting down on the couch. He was dressed pretty fashionably for a comic nerd, I thought. "You can watch the TV if you want," I said going back upstairs. I heard it turn on. I could hear MTV blasting as I turned on the shower, I danced to Madonna while washing my hair. When I got out, I threw on some shorts and a t-shirt, fixed my hair and did my make-up.

Sam was dancing playfully along to the music video when I came back down, "Okay, M.J., let's roll." He laughed and turned the TV off. I locked up the house and we got into the car. I made sure he buckled up and then we went on our merry way. When we pulled up to the store I made sure to set a limit, "So I have a Dr.'s appointment in an hour and a half. You are welcome to sit in the lobby and wait. Then go grocery shopping with me. Or we can drive you home in 45 min?" He thought about, "I'll help you go shopping." I nodded getting out, "Cool beans." I had never been in here before but it was exactly the way I had expected. Comics lined the walls, each shelf held more and cases stored prized action figures. I laughed at two kids arguing over who was cooler, Batman or Ironman. I found some Power Girl comics and picked one up. She looked cool but I put it back down when Sam shouted at me from the register. I walked over to him, "Done already?" He smiled and pointed to his entire box of comics, "I'll be good for a few days."

I laughed as we headed back to the car, "Alright then. I'm sorry you have to sit and wait but hopefully it won't be a long visit today." He shrugged opening one of his comics, "Its cool." He seemed like he had more to stay but was stopping himself. Maybe the others had gone home and talked about what I had told them. Arriving at the office, Dr. Greenfield called me in right away, "Sage, how are you?" I smiled, "Well, I have a friend who is going to help me grocery shop today." She smiled back, "How nice. Where did you meet?" I thought back to when his parents had brought him to the club, "Well I met his family when they ate at Spice. They just moved here and he hasn't made any friends his own age yet." She tilted her head to the side, "I see." She wrote something down and then asked me some normal questions about my sleep, about my shifts at work and then about how Halloween had gone. "Well, it wasn't that bad actually. I did have to dress-up as a bee," We both laughed, "But all in all it wasn't bad. Not very many scary costumes, none that were demonic." She nodded, "That's good, I'm glad it went okay. Have you made any friends outside of work yet?" I thought to the boys and hesitated, "Yes…I think so anyway. The boys brothers, well they are all adopted, and he has a sister. We all seem to get along okay. We even went to the mall last night." She nodded and wrote some, "How did that go?" I thought back to the previous night's events, "Well, it started out great but we ran into Ricky. He made this big scene about me being a whore and pointed out my scar to everyone." She looked concerned, "Your new friends didn't do anything to stop this?" I shook my head, "No, David pulled me out of his grasp and told him to leave." She nodded and scribbled something, "So, is David attractive?" I blushed, his eyes coming into mind and the image trailing down to his lips, "yes…very." She smiled, "Do you think you might ask him out?" I took in a deep breath at the prospect, "No…not unless he asks first." She chuckled. After writing some more things down, she asked a few more questions about keeping in contact with my family. I answered that everything was fine. She prescribed me some new medication to help me sleep and then sent me on my way. "Hey, Sam," he looked up at me from his comic, "We can go now." He smiled and followed me back out to the car.

During our grocery shop Sam conned me into buying him some soda and candy. I saw the school supplies list hanging up, "Hey have you enrolled yet?" He shook his head, "Mom wants to wait till January." I nodded, "Well you're going to need some things no matter what." I grabbed some notebooks, pens and pencils. Then a binder and some plastic dividers. I held them up and he nodded his approval, "Thanks Sage, you really don't have too." I shrugged, "It's nice to have a friend to spend money on." We grabbed all the traditional stuff such as eggs, milk, bread, some pizza, easy things for lunches and fruit. I made a special trip down the feminine hygiene isle and grabbed the essentials…and some condoms, just in case I got lucky in the near future. I made sure to keep those slightly hidden from Sam.

When we got back home he helped me lug everything inside, it was getting dark and I was about to offer to walk him home when the phone rang. I jumped not expecting it causing Sam to laugh hysterically. I gave him a fake angry look as I picked it up, "Hello?" The voice on the other end was soft and warm, "Hello, Sage?" I answered with, "Yes, this is she." The other voice laughed lightly, "No need to be so formal. This is Lucy, Sam's mother. I was just calling to check on him." I smiled, "Oh hi, he's fine. Been great company for me. Actually I was just about to walk him home after we put my groceries away." She replied, "Oh how sweet of him to help you shop. He's really a great kid. Go ahead and bring him home; could you stay for dinner?" I thought about it for a minute, "Sure, uhm, Lucy. Would you like me to bring anything?" She laughed again, "You're so sweet dear, but no I made sure to buy everything last night." I said okay and goodbye. We put the groceries away and I ran upstairs to change into some jeans and a blouse. Sam looked at me funny as we started walking to his home, "You know, you looked fine before." I thank him as we rounded up their driveway. All the bikes were parked next to a very nice sports car, probably Max's.