Sammi woke up later in the day, not quite believing she hadn't dreamed everything. But she was still wearing the ring, and was still carrying the potion Pyro had given her. She decided to put it on the nightstand next to her bed. She wasn't going to drink it, at least not yet.
She was on the verge of being old enough for a mid-life crisis, but she wasn't inclined to run from that. Besides, she had the beginnings of an idea. But first, she should tend to her garden now that it was finally warm enough. When she got out there, the plants didn't need watering.
In fact, they didn't seem to need anything. Had Pyro been upping his gardening game too? Just what had he been doing at home all day when she'd thought he was learning to cook?
With summer coming and half the ingredients in the bag, Sammi decided to take some unpaid time off. She could afford to take a week off now, and she wanted to do that so she could focus on her plants. And spend more time with Pyro. Yes, that was also important. She particularly needed to keep an eye on him to make sure he was improving his cooking instead of getting more creative ideas.
Sammi planted the seeds she'd kept in her pocket all winter, and fertilized them with some very nice fish. Then she went inside to find Pyro. She located him in front of the television.
She sat down on the couch next to him, but couldn't keep her mind on the TV. It wasn't long before they were cuddling, then kissing, and then finally making out on the couch. Pyro did not resist at all. She was surprised to find that his ghostliness no longer repulsed her. In fact... well, it was kind of a turn on to hear the soft echo of his voice when he spoke to her, to feel that smooth coolness of phantom form beneath her. Maybe that was weird, but she no longer cared if she was weird.
She had left normal behind long before she'd even realized there was such a thing. She had lived alone in a house as a teenager, paying the bills with rocks she found in the local parks. She had become a powerful vampiress outside a dive bar. She had entered the movie profession with the intention of becoming an actress, only to turn around and become one of the most famous directors of her time. She had made her imaginary friend real, and then fallen in love with him. Now he was a ghost, but together they were going to bring him back to life. Oh, and she was human again.
Weird was just another word she knew, like ataraxia, psithurism and kismet.
What she did care about was the fact that, no sooner had they gotten really into it than a paparazzi reporter was peeping in through the windows that she and Pyro had picked out to replace the garage door that had been on that wall before. She started to get up to do something about it, but Pyro wordlessly pulled her back. This time he was on top of her on the couch. She decided she didn't care about the peeper. It wasn't as if they were doing anything wrong. After all, this was her fiance, and this was their home and it was still Love Day. Who could find fault with a little making out on the couch?
Then heard Kyo whistling 'Successfully Pregnant'. That killed the mood somewhat. Sammi wasn't ready for that commitment. And she didn't want a ghost baby, not when she'd seen how difficult and painful being a ghost was for Pyro. She wanted children, but not the ghostly kind and not yet.
They started watching television again, but Sammi couldn't sit still. She'd just had a fabulous idea about what she could do with her time while Pyro studied cooking. Giving him a quick kiss, she dashed off to the library to do some reading. Pyro hardly noticed her go, because he was now thinking about something else. And worrying about it a little. Life fruit. It took a long time to grow, he'd seen that last year. Considering how cold the weather in Bridgeport often was, possibly too long.
Especially seeing as none of the plants from last summer had produced any fruit. They hadn't so much as grown weeds today. Pyro sensed more than knew what that meant. It meant they might have become frozen forever. Even though it was warm, they might never bear fruit again. That meant those special plants that were grown might not do them any good. Pyro was disturbed by it, and briefly tried to consider getting planters to protect this year's crop. But he got the same white walled feeling, that he was being blocked from considering the idea too hard. He also got that same sense of potential doom. There had to be another way.
He kept watching television.
Sammi, meanwhile, was tracking down every sci-fi book on the shelves of the library, and reading them one after the other. Sometime late in the afternoon, Sammi decided to check the movie listings in the theaters. Starship: Incredulous had just come out. Sammi rushed home, dragged Pyro off the sofa and hauled him off to the theater to watch the movie.
Pyro didn't seem upset by this and didn't even ask where they were going or why, though he did not share her enthusiasm for the movie once they arrived. Afterward, they stopped and had dinner at the restaurant side of Steve's Business (the food quality had improved somewhat since Sammi had been there last).
Sammi was recognized at both places and got free theater tickets and also free food. In fact, the restaurant was so excited to see her (and relieved at her kindness and understanding concerning a clumsy busboy they had recently employed) that they sent her home with a baked angel food cake that gave her the warm fuzzies just looking at it. She was too full to eat a piece that night, but she put it in the fridge for tomorrow.
It was clear by then that Pyro was getting very sleepy. She released him to go to bed. But she had some work to do. She was so busy with it that she barely even realized that had been the first real date she had been on with Pyro. It had been great, and the mood boost really sent her into action.
She intended to spend a bit of time at the chemistry lab station herself. She'd never discovered all the potions, and the one sitting on her nightstand gave her motivation to try and finish what she'd started. She didn't want to be young again if she couldn't have Pyro with her. But first, to the computer and desk which were now parked in the former living room to get some writing done.
She had written Space Soup for the movies, but now she wanted to write novel versions. It seemed like the perfect way to spend her time while waiting for the garden to do its thing.
She also needed to refresh her memory on the world and characters she had created before going for the big finale. Space Soup was meant to be a lone script, but after the first she had written them to be a series that could just go on forever if she wanted. But now she knew the story needed an end.
She needed to finish her old life before she could move ahead into her new one. She needed to write the script for the final installment of Soup. But first, she had to figure out what it was really about.
To that end, she had ordered the stu surprise at Steve's Business for inspiration purposes. This last Space Soup story would be different than the others. This time... this time she was going to do something that she'd never done before. She was going to put her heart into it.
Even if it was the least successful of any Soup movie before it, Sammi would be satisfied because she was finishing what she'd started so long ago, and this time she was going to give it her best. Whatever the consequences of it, her best would have to be enough, because it was all she had.
Somewhere in her mind, she knew that Pyro had somehow taught her that.
