Chapter 12:
I don't own anything
Sam's POV:
He was still scurrying around the kitchen at five to eight, the potatoes only half cooked and the starter appearing to look similar to the traffic accident of last week. He hadn't prepared for Amelie coming, Stephen still in his high chair and dressed in a plain babygro and his bow tie still hanging loose around his neck.
But he didn't have the time to fix his physical appearance, along with his scruffy hair. He had to finish laying the table, remembering how he had laid the table for when Melinda had come around to meet his parents for the first time… yet, for the first time since he had lost his wife, he didn't feel the pang of pain at this memory. He seemed almost calm about the fact that Melinda had died… something he supposed he needed since he had actively invited another woman, a vampire, around for dinner.
Promptly at eight pm, the doorbell rang; the person behind which Sam was sure would be Amelie. He wasn't disappointed as he wrenched the door open, his face flushed with the heat from the kitchen, to reveal a stunning looking Amelie.
Her hair was curled and loose on her shoulders, those which were covered by a thin shawl which accompanied a simple yellow dress. On another woman of her skin pallor, it would have looked washed out, but for Amelie, it was perfect. Nothing but pastels seemed to suit her, he realised, knowing his thoughts about her in jeans were nothing compared to this.
"Um… hello," he said awkwardly, causing Amelie to smile slightly at him, the smile not fading from her face.
"Hello, Samuel," she answered, stepping closer to him. "You are quite capable of leaving, gentlemen," she was so relaxed in her approach to addressing the bodyguards who accompanied her, Sam half expected there to be another man in here that she was expecting to leave alongside him!
"If it's alright with you, ma'am, we would prefer to stay here," the taller of the two – not that the other one was by any means short – said in his deep voice as she turned to shut the door.
She shrugged slightly and inclined her head infinitesimally. "As you desire, though I would prefer it if you were to hide yourself from sight… I hardly imagine it would be a good idea to announce I am here, would it?" she said and they nodded, just as Sam shut the door to hide them from the inside of the house.
Sam took her over to the table in the centre of the room but she sidestepped it, moving across to greet the baby sitting in his highchair still. "You must still have cooking to do, so why don't I occupy Stephen if you wish to do that?" she suggested, dashing his building hopes of perhaps a more romantic set up between them. But he nodded, hiding this disappointment. "That is, of course, if you are happy for me to do so?" she continued, evidently remembering how he was with her when Stephen had had his accident and such.
He smiled slightly and nodded once more. "You are the only person I trust him with, Amelie, so you don't need to ask," he said. Then, just as it looked as if she were to contradict him, he continued, "I was wrong in the hospital and before it, as I told you. So you needn't bring that up as an excuse as to why you need to ask."
She smiled at him and resumed taking Stephen out of the high chair and sitting with him on her lap on the sofa, holding him close. Sam kept an eye on them both at the same time as he continued to cook various things and ensure that he didn't burn the already yucky looking starter, not wanting to see the two things he cared for in his life disappear if he didn't keep a close enough eye on them. Because, if that happened, his life would be over.
Amelie's POV:
She pulled the baby closer to her, not wanting to let him go. The vulnerability of him made her feel more human, something she always desired when she was around Sam. She wanted to be the same as him, to be human and able to communicate her feelings so much easier. It would mean that she the communication barrier instilled with the thousand and a half years of life, almost, would be destroyed and she would lose the fear of showing her emotions incase she was hurt.
She crooned gently to the baby, so quietly that Sam wouldn't be able to hear but the baby sure could. He laughed slightly for the first time and Amelie couldn't stop herself from having a face happier than punch, so to speak, as she lifted him up to show Sam.
"He laughed," she told him, his face breaking out into a smile as well.
Sam came around and rubbed the little boy's head before lifting him from Amelie, causing a hole to appear in her heart… she had grown so attached to him, the way that Sam just took him from her broke her heart. At least, it did until she saw him putting him in his travel cot and turning back to her with a smile.
"Last time I checked, he was still on bottles," he explained as he motioned to the table. He was the first person in her existence not to have made her feel bad about being a vampire – he made her forget that she was a vampire. he didn't even treat her differently the way that most people would.
So she took the proffered seat and waited for the food to be served…
…
"I had a… it was nice," she began to offer her praise before stopping, realising that she didn't say 'great'. But Sam seemed to understand what she meant as he walked her to the door.
"Yeah, it was," he agreed, smiling as he handed her the small bag and wrap she had been wearing.
"We should… do it again," she said as he opened the door to reveal the bodyguards behind it.
"Yes, we should," he confirmed, swinging the door in his nerves. "Goodbye, Amelie," he said as she began to walk down the stairs, flanked by her bodyguards. She turned and smiled at him before being whisked into her car and that being the last thing he saw of her that night.
He looked up at the stars and, for a second, only saw Amelie's face.
He knew he was falling for her.
Thoughts?
Vicky xx
