Chapter 11:

Gaia tossed her graduation cap and gown onto her bed, sitting down beside it. Well. That had been quite a day. She narrowed her eyes suddenly, realizing that she hadn't received a congratulations call from Sam. Taking her cell out from her pocket, she dialed his number, kicking off her shoes. It rang four times and Gaia thought it was going to go to voicemail before it was finally picked up.

"Yea?"

"Sam, I think I just attended the most screwed up of all graduations," she told him. "And I mean, this is pretty bad. There's this kid that I was sort of friends with, who I thought I knew pretty well, turns out not so much."

"Uh, Gaia?"

"Just let me tell you this. He brought a bomb to graduation."

Sam was silent, stunned. "He did what?" he exclaimed. "Was-was anyone hurt?"

"Oh no. Thanks to me. Yours truly grabbed him and propelled the two of us off the roof of the building, grabbing onto a few flagpoles on the way down, and managed to make it to solid ground. Once I was standing on my own two feet, I chucked the bomb as far as I could throw it and it went off a couple hundred feet in the air."

"Jesus," Sam breathed.

"Yea. FBI had already been there undercover because they thought he was going to try something. They just weren't sure exactly what that was," Gaia said, walking into her kitchen and looking in her fridge for something of decent nutritional value. After a few seconds, she settled on a beer. "So when he pushed the count-down button on the bomb he had with him, nobody was really sure what to do. I swear; my life is way too interesting." Gaia held the phone with her shoulder for a second as she opened her beer, walking over to her couch and sitting down, propping her legs up on the coffee table. "All right. Go ahead. You try to beat that."

Sam was silent for a few seconds. "I wasn't serious. You could just tell me congratulations on surviving college or even just how you've been," she told him. "I mean nothing too deep, I know you don't really want to go into stuff, but go ahead, try to beat my day."

"Gaia," Sam whispered, barely loud enough for her to hear him.

Gaia's arm stopped in mid-air, her beer halfway to her mouth, and she swung her legs down off the table, leaning forward to put the beer down. "Sam?" she asked, her eyes narrowed. "What is it? What's with the tone?"

Sam took in and let out a shaky breath. "Gaia…my dad died yesterday."

Gaia's face went slack and her breath caught in her throat. She swallowed hard, looking around the room as if the right thing to say was written somewhere on her walls. Her mouth opened and shut a few times before she let out a disbelieving breath. "I guess you win," she whispered. "My God, Sam, what are you doing letting me rant about my day when you…?"

Sam let out a snort of laughter that sounded forced. "Uh, I think you're allowed after your graduation nearly blew up."

Gaia didn't crack a smile. "Jesus Christ, Sam," she muttered. She hesitated. "Depending on how this happened, you're okay? Your brother's okay?"

"We're fine," Sam murmured. "We, ah…. We don't really know…exactly what happened. It's…complicated."

Gaia nodded to herself. In her experience, when someone said something was complicated, it meant they didn't want to talk about it. She'd learned Sam was no different in that respect. "How's your brother holding up?" she asked, knowing that while Sam's feelings were touchy at this point in the mourning process, he would be worried about his brother.

Sam let out a long breath. "He isn't really saying much. I mean it only just happened. He's been spending most of his time in bars and stuff. He's probably going to come back a few times beaten to a pulp or I'll get a call that he was taken to a hospital after a bar fight or something."

"Sounds like my attitude on life," Gaia replied. "Violence can always help a situation. You worried he'll get himself killed?"

"He did that, I'd kill him," Sam whispered. "Hell, he's all I've got left."

Gaia closed her eyes, concentrating to keep back tears. She'd been there before, no doubt about it. "Sam…do you want me to…I don't know, do you have somewhere you guys can crash for a while?"

"We're fine. Thanks," Sam said quietly. "We've got a, ah…he's kind of an uncle to us. We'll probably go stay with him."

Gaia nodded slowly. "Okay." She paused. "It isn't fair."

"No. No it isn't."

"Look, you call if you need anything," Gaia told him. "I mean anything."

"All right. Thanks, Gaia."

"Take care of yourself."

"I will."