John
Henri was working with a small group, showing
different tactics that even I hadn't learned from him; that I never had the chance to learn from him. We were working on enhancing and expanding our legacies. Six remembered something Ella (the bad Ella) asked her about how she stayed invisible, meaning somehow Setrakus Ra couldn't see her. She was getting stronger than he believed she would, and that was what we all needed to be.
Ella was working one on one with Katarina, trying to figure out everything we didn't know about her and her powers. Malcolm and Five were doing studies through Loric history to see if we could find anything on how Five's legacy would work- and more importantly to me if it would only work on Loric; or humans as well.
Six, Sam, and Marina were working on strictly combat stuff. Six spent nearly a week in bed working on her various legacies, and there were still team relief efforts from the flood she caused to remind us of that. Sam, obviously not needing to work on legacies, had to make sure he was strong enough to fight when he needed to, through even the most painful circumstances; which is why Marina was freezing his hand (then healing it).
I was, at the current point overseeing everything, trying to gain a hold on what our next move was, trying to get my own thoughts in order so I could be there for everyone else when they needed me to be. But Nine called me over and we began big group training time. Sometimes it was games, like capture the flag (his favorite), other times it was straight up mock war combat training. It was exhausting, sometimes very painful, but all the while very exhilarating.
We trained through lunch, all the way to dinner.
Sitting around the table that night, it almost looked like a normal family gathering, at least what I would imagine a normal family gathering would look like with a bunch of teenagers and adults who were nothing like parents. Henri and Crayton were testing Fives ability to take the form of objects, with Malcolm observing in great interest. Adam and One were playing a hand game with Adelina and Kat. Six and Sam were sitting close talking quietly to each other as Sarah and Five began to clean the plates (it was their night on the chore wheel). Ella and Nine were also talking quietly when Ella suddenly lost her shape and fell back into the body of her eleven year old self. Six's eyes snapped up, and everyone got quiet. Ella scrunched her nose up and worked on turning back, her face changed every so slightly before dropping back to how it was supposed to be. Six was watching her dead on, biting the tip of her pointer finger casually.
Nine leaned over to Ella, "It's okay, you're draining yourself." he whispered, before trying to pull her away from the table. Her eyes were filling with tears, and she shook her head. Crayton stood up and walked over pulling her chair out so he could get her away from the table.
Six was still watching. Ella shook her head, "No! I can't leave until I get this right!" She shouted in a very angry and un-Ella manner. Sam glanced over at Six, whose hand was now rubbing at her mouth as it did whenever she got stressed, tense or uncomfortable in any situation. She was still watching Ella.
Ella's eyes shot up to Six every couple of seconds, and she seemed to get more upset every time she did. SHe was trying harder to age up now, but it was working less and less. At this point she looked even smaller than she normally did.
"Ella." Nine said sternly, also starting to shoot looks Six's way, as if it was her that was causing Ella not to be able to change, and not just the stress Ella was putting herself under all the time.
Finally, someone had it with the situation. "That's enough." Crayton said sternly. Ella's tears stopped quickly, as did her attempts to change. Sam looked up at me, and I glanced into the kitchen where Sarah and Five were pretending not to be engrossed in everything that was happening out here.
"Hey guys, come on back in here. I think we have some things we need to talk about." Without a word the two of them were sitting in their seats. Everyone was looking up to me expectantly.
"Emotions are high right now. We've all been through alot and I think it's starting to take its toll on us. But here's whats up. Our legacies are special, and we can't take advantage of them because in the end it only ends up hurting ourselves. Nine doesn't walk on the ceiling because it's fun, Five doesn't walk around as a human ball of concrete. We just don't." I was looking at Ella when I said all this because she needed to understand she couldn't be older just because she wanted to be. She nodded, her head low. Nine was still looking at Six. I snapped my finger to get his attention.
He wasn't happy.
"On a different thread, somethings going on here and we need to figure it out. We can't be on such tight terms with each other all the time. We are a team, but more importantly we are the closest thing to family anyone here has at this point. Meaning even when we treat each other like shit and want to be as far away from another as possible, we need to fight our nature and stick together. Because if the Mogs came in and tried to kill us all right now I would have a hard time believing we wouldn't be tossing one another at their feet trying to be the first ones out." Henri was looking at me, and his face was hard to read. But my rant was over.
Six stood up, her chair scraping across the floor loudly. She winced and looked up at me.
"I didn't mean for it to be so loud." She said apologetically. Everyone was looking at her now, she glanced at me and I could see the question in her eyes. She wanted to speak. I nodded, beyond thankful I wouldn't have the chance to offend anyone else.
She pulled her tank top over her head and I tried not to stare as she stood in the dining room in a tight black sports bra.
Sarah's eyebrows shot up but she didn't say anything Six looked down at Sam, and picking up his hand rolled his sleeves up as far as they would go so we could all see the dark purple scars that covered his arm from when he was stuck in the cave.
"Do what you need to do to show your scars." Six said plainly. At first no one moved; then Eight stood up and slowly took off his shirt too, we could all the the long jagged gash where his heart was. Sarah rolled her sleeves up to show the knife lines that ran up her wrist, Adam did the same. Nine had his shirt off already, so he just looked down at the big purple circles on his chest from when they shocked him. Slowly but surely people took of clothing, cuffed jeans, rolled sleeves, adjusted hair. All so we could see the battle wounds from each other.
When everyone was still again, Six turned around. Despite the healing medication the damage to her back was extensive. Ella's eyes instantly turned down.
She waited a beat, so she knew we could all see the broken skin, open scars, and painful blisters. She pulled her foot up so it was resting on the opposite thigh, so we could all see the Loric scars that told us one of our own were dead. One's had faded like mine, but Two, and Three's were still there.
"We fight through this," she gestured around the room, at Sarah's arms, Nine's chest, Sam's wrists, Fives legs, Katarina's head, Henris abdomen; "We fight through this so we don't have to fight through this." She pointed at her leg without looking down at it. "We fight like hell every chance we get. We fight until we win. We fight and we do not give up." She made a point to look everyone in the eye, yet she lingered on Ella just a beat longer than the rest.
"We fight when we don't want to, we fight when we think we can't. And if we're being honest, we fight when we can't. We fight for eachother, alongside each other, because of eachother. When our man is down we fight for them, we fight for them until they can breathe, until they can speak, until they can walk, talk, run, TK. Until they can fight on their own we fight for them. And no matter what- I will fight for you all. That is my promise to you, and to Lorien. Because against all odds we've made it this far. And I will not give up now. I will not stop fighting because things got hard, because they got into our heads and our minds. Because right here, right now, we are Lorien. And nothing: no Mogadorian plan, no skin eating poison, no heart stopping pain, no life stopping injection, nothing can change that." She looked around the room again before glancing at me and turning to walk out the door.
We didn't stop her.
No one spoke for minutes. Henri stood up.
"Number Six has a point. You are Lorien. You are family. Start acting like it. Get the issues out on the table. Then get over them. Until that happens nothing will feel quite right." He shuffled down the hallway and we heard his bedroom door close. Everyone slowly followed until i was sitting at the table with Sarah and Sam.
"She always knows what to say." I commented when the silence became too much to handle. Sarah just nodded and looked out the door as she had done nearly a hundred time since Six left.
"She runs when she needs to cool down." Sam said as he had done every time Sarah looked.
It was an hour before Six came back, sweating and exhausted, she didn't say anything as she walked to the bathroom, I assumed to shower. She always got distant at night just before we went to bed. She hated sleeping.
Sarah got up, and it was just Sam and I sitting at the table when Ella walked out. Wearing one of Nine's too big undershirts she sat at the table and looked up at me. Her eleven year old eyes caught mine.
"I didn't mean to take advantage of my legacy. I'm sorry." Her head dropped, and I saw Sam's eyes soften as he looked at her.
"Ella, listen," I was trying to think of the right words to say. "I don't think you're doing anything wrong in one sense. But it's dangerous. We can't take abuse what we have because it takes a lot out of us emotionally. But what you're doing can be good in a sense. You are making yourself stronger. And I think that's good. But you can't be dependent on the gift." She bit her lip.
"So…. can I keep doing it?" She asked me, her eyes lighting up a little bit more.
But I knew what I had to say. "I don't think it's wise right now. You have things you need to work out with Six and Nine first. And you can't use that as a cop-out." She huffed and shook her head.
"Nine looks at me different when I'm like this." She said. I felt my eyes widen and Sam shook his head. Neither of us at all needed to think about how Nine looked at Ella, no matter what age she was.
"Yep, the big brother stuff only goes so far. Have you talked to marina about this?" He asked her, his face turning a bit red as he grew more flustered with the course the conversation was taking. Ella smiled a bit and shook her head.
"No I haven't… she's been so busy with-" he threw his hands over his ears
"Ella if you say anything else besides training I swear…" she laughed again and shook her head just as Nine walked in.
"Hey." He said, looking down at Ella. "I was looking for you. I'm getting ready for bed I think." I tried not to think about all the implications that sentence held. Sam was clearly trying to do the same.
"Okay. I'm ready," she said, standing up and walking over to him "thank you, guys." She added before the two walked down the hallway. Sam glanced over at me once before finally giving over to his fit of uncomfortable laughter. I couldn't help but join in with him.
Sarah and Six walked over, both smiling at the scene before them. The understanding that sam and six were together was shared between Sarah and I, though neither of us said anything. He stood when she walked in and wrapped his arms around her.
"Ready for bed?" Sarah asked me, as had become another tradition where we four went in together. I nodded, standing, and walked with the three of them to our room shutting the door behind me. Sarah tossed me a pair of sweatpants as six changed her shirt before crawling under the covers. Sam and I once had a conversation about just how weird our comfort with one another was. But I realized I didn't want to change it for anything.
Sam pulled the covers back and crawled in next to her. Sarah smiled over at me when he kissed the top of her head. The only time you'd see those two showing PDA was right now. And Sarah loved it.
"Tomorrow's a new day." Six said, as she frequently did when we all got in bed. I set my alarm for 4:05 and nodded, pulling Sarah down with me onto our bed.
"That it is. And we'll see what it brings." She hit the lights with her TK. I heard sam whispering to her, trying to tune out the words. Advanced hearing was something not always in my control. He was talking to her about Ella, and the conversation we had. She remained silent but I'm pretty sure she was nodding in agreement to most, if not all, of what he said.
The whispering died down and after being sure Sarah was resting peacefully I let myself drift to sleep for as long as Six's nightmares would allow…
Sam
Exactly three hours after we finally fell asleep Six began to thrash. It was something that was becoming normal, but it never failed to startle me awake. Her eyes pinched shut, already sweating I realized she must have been dreaming for a while before I woke. I looked over and saw that john was still sleeping, meaning she hadn't screamed yet.
I didn't try to wake her. I knew that wouldn't help. It never did. It was when she let out the first shrill cry of fear that John jolted up in bed and glanced over. He ran his hands over his face, classic sign of stress, before looking at me. He flicked the lamp on, and watched in silence.
It was like this every night. And we were all exhausted. Sarah rolled over, though I presumed she was awake by the way she wrapped her arms around John, but she remained silent. There was nothing to say. Six shouted again, and this time I knew leaving her would wake everyone else. I gently pushed on her arm, a motion I knew would jolt her awake in a second.
I was right. She shot up in bed, eyes huge breathing heavy. She took a minute to compose her breathing.
"Sorry guys." She said, like she always did. "We can go back to sleep." We all knew it would only be for a few hours, as she would wake us up again. But none of us spoke the truth. John hit the lights out, and Six lay back down next me to. Under the blanket she grabbed my hand gently. I squeezed back.
"Sleep, please." I said, knowing she also had a tendency to push herself to stay awake in order to not wake the rest of us with her dreams. She nodded, letting her exhausted eyes slip shut. I followed her lead, and to my surprise slept until I felt her slip out of bed at 4:15 the next morning.
John
Six stumbled out of the room pulling her hair into a bun as she did so. She thanks Nine for her coffee, grabbed our breakfast and dropped into her seat on the table.
It took one glance for me to realize that after the encounter of her waking up she did not go back to sleep.
"Six, Sam's not going to be-" She cut me off with a glare and a shake of her head. Not the time. Nine looked over at her, a shadow of concern passing over his face. He glanced at me, catching the subtle shake of my head. He nodded, continued to eat his eggs, and stayed silent. He then walked over and got the green medicine for Six's back. She nodded her head and walked to her place on the couch, lifting her shirt in preparation.
Sam walked out just in time, grabbing the coffee and sitting at the table while her muffled shouts filled the large space. He seemed to be more well rested than usual, and as soon as Six sat next to him he would realize why.
The green goo went away, and as Six stood I saw his eyes tighten. He looked at me, as if I was going to say anything to either of them about it. Somehow Nine knew how to work it though.
"We all worked really hard yesterday. Maybe today is just a day to take it easy. Have some fun. Let the tension die a little more?" He was looking at me when he said it.
Six didn't object.
"Yeah I think we all could use a break…" I said, giving her a chance to protest, but knowing she was far too tired to.
He nodded, and we sat in silence until the rest of the group slowly made their way in.
Sarah
The morning went by with ease because we all knew the day was going to be much less physically exhausting than previous days.
Meaning the guys actually got to play video games. And the girls got to paint nails. I, of course, had to show them some basics. But I think they all enjoyed it.
Six made the decision to sit out on the girl time, she claimed she wasn't feeling great. I knew she was a state of exhausted that would have killed her had we trained physically.
We girls wandered out of the side room that reeked of acetone and polish, only to find the guys cooking in the kitchen. I immediately noticed Nine, Sam, and John to be missing.
"Couch!" Five called over to me with an almost sad smile upon seeing my eyes searching for him. I tiptoed into the living room to see Nine talking softly with John and Sam, who had a fast asleep Six in his arms.
She was curled up in a ball in his lap, looking almost like a small child. Her face was absolutely relaxed. He was twisting her dark black hair in his fingers.
I felt myself growing suddenly jealous at the fact that none of us would ever get to actually love the normal teenage life the scene before me looked like. I knew when I got close enough to hear Nines words it would all be battle strategies, or how to stop the nightmares, or how to heal the scars, of how to teach Ella.
John looked over at me, "hey there." He ushered me over, Nine grew quiet.
I sat on the arm of the chair "don't stop on my account." I said tossing him a smile. He glanced up at Six in Sam's arms and shook his head
"Conversation was probably ending anyway." He said vaguely, his face of frustration twisting to a mask of joy when Ella strode in the room. She was shifting for the hour, but on Henris recommendation in order to give her specific practice times.
"Adam needs help." She said, her voice nervous with a hint of frustration. Sam looked over at her, just as John spoke up.
"Is he okay?" John asked, standing up so Ella could show him where he was. She shook her head.
"You can sit. He'll be here in a minute." She looked over at Six, "you may want to bring her up to a bed, I don't think she'll want to hear it when she wakes up." Sam shook his head.
"We're going to stay here." Ella regarded him with a huff, and sat back waiting for Adam to come in.
"Ella. What happened to him?" John asked as we continued to wait. Everyone was growing frustrated and impatient and the urgency of the situation felt like it was diminishing somehow. Ella shook her head.
"Trust me, he'll come out when he's-"
Six's screaming cut her off. Ella looked at Six before dropping her shift back to her eleven year old self. She then looked at Sam. "I told you." Ella said. John glanced at Nine with a look of concern, he didn't seem to understand. I wasn't having it.
"Ella. What the hell is happening?" I snapped, getting everyone's attention, I knew it would. She looked up at me, her eyes wide.
"Adam knew this was coming. He'll be here in one minute to explain what's going on. It's like the vision dreams!" Six gripped Sam's shirt and cried out again. Ella stood up. "I'll go get him." She said, and rushed out of the room. Nine followed her in and instant. Sam, who was quickly losing his patience, stood up.
"Six!" He yelled, dropping her onto the couch, trying to make sure she didn't hit her back and break up the healing scabs.
"Shit!" She yelled thrashing once before jumping to her feet. "Where's Adam?" She asked frantically, taking off down the hallway to where his room was. John threw me a confused glance, but I couldn't give him any information about what was actually happening so I just shook my head and followed her.
Ella looked up from Adams room when we walked in and Six turned to face us all.
"Get everyone in here. Make sure to stress that our location is secure, but we have a lot to work out." Without asking any questions john rushed out of the room calling out to everyone. Adam was simply looking at Six with wide eyes.
Everyone stood around waiting for Six or Adam to say something. She stepped forward.
"Okay. Adams family has been trying to reach out to him in the same way Setrakus reached out to Ella, or John, or me. They were trying to figure out where we were, so they could attack. But I think together, in dream… Adam and I figured out a way to trick them…" Adam looked around at everyone, I just kept my eyes on Six. She was still so tired, and I realized even when she was sleeping before her mind wasn't actually resting.
I kept telling John we had to get her some Benadryl. I was ready to do it today. Adam stepped forward, his eyes looking nervous.
"So I'm thinking we devise this huge plan. We go into the New Mexico ase, as walk as a pack, and we kill anything that gets in our way. But we tell them exactly what we're planning through dream control. Then we don't do it when we say we will. We find ways to get setrakus ra to a place of weakness, and attack. I know this isn't what you want to hear but I don't think we can kill him yet. But if my suspicions are correct then they have no idea this place even exists. And that's a good thing." He looked around the room. I felt my lips smiling even if I wasn't sure the news was really all that good.
"What he's saying is we have an upper hand. And we needed that right about now. He hasn't been telling anyone about his dreams because he's been lying to his family through suncoscious thought. They really think we're hiding out in an island still working on healing Ella's head." Six began, looking over at John who nodded. "It also means we have to keep training. Because we're getting stronger, and they have no idea."
John stopped forward, looking at Adam. "You have to continue to keep us updated on how these dreams work. If your family is really reaching you through connections that way you have to have full control of your mind all the time." He was tired too. I could see it in the way he was holding himself.
It made me want to kiss him so bad.
"But," Henri then stole everyone's attention. "Today is a day of rest. You've all been working your asses off, and sometimes you just need a minute, or a day, or an hour. So take it. Enjoy your time together, exist as friends. And be ready to get right back at it tomorrow."
That seemed to be the cue for us all to disperse.
"Catch up on sleep!" Malcolm called as we shuffled out of the room.
"Take a shower!" Crayton added.
"Kiss eachother!" Kat yelled, getting a look of mock disapproval from Henri, and a hidden eye roll from sam.
John came up behind me and pulled my hand into his. "Kat had some good advice don't you think?" He asked, walking with me to our room.
"Sam and Six?" I asked, as he pushed the door closed. His eyebrows shot up.
"Well I mean if we're really doing things they shouldn't see I can lock it…" he winked at me, just as Sam called from the door
"We're asking you not to do that!" I couldn't stop the laugh as John twisted the lock
"Sorry sam, couldn't hear ya there!" He shouted back, running over and gently tackling me onto the bed. I laughed freely, but the situation was even funnier when Six used her TK to unlock the door from the outside. John jumped up with a huff, shaking his head.
"There's just no privacy in this place." He groaned, shaking his head, kissing me again.
"John!" I shouted in protest as he picked me up. I couldn't stop laughing.
"Woah, woah, woah!" Sam walked closer with his hands up. "It's not just the John and Sarah show here guys. You're making Six feel left out." He wiggled his eyebrows at John suggestively, laughter overtook me again.
"Oh yeah like you could outdo us with your hidden-" John began to banter, but Sam cut him off by grabbing Six by the waist and passionately kissing her on the face, in the doorway, with the door wide open.
I felt my eyes widen, as John called out from my side. I set my head in his shoulder. Sam lifted Six off the ground and walked over to sit on the bed with her.
They stopped kissing. Six's face was unreadable, yet obviously happier than it had been in a while.
"Okay, Sam. Remember in high school when we joked out the nerd never getting the cool girl to like him?" Six tossed her head back at my joke shaking it, seeming to know where I was going. Same cracked a smile my way as John came and sat behind me. "You're definitely not the nerd anymore." John laughed into my hair, just as Six winked over at him and kissed him again for good measure.
She clearly intended to make it quick, but he had a different idea, pulling her arms they were suddenly laying on the bed. John kept laughing, and none of us noticed when Nine walked over to the door.
Sam pulled back, just as Nine cleared his throat.
"Didn't mean to interrupt couples time…" he shot a weak attempt at a joke, using Sams embarrassment as a cover for what I think was his jealousy.
Six rolled her eyes, John sat up on the bed, slipping his hand in mine. "What's up?" He asked, his tone implying both urgency, yet also compassion.
"Five is starting dinner. Henri says we all need to be prepared to dish it out tonight because he doesn't want another day like yesterday during training. So be ready, or don't eat." He shrugged and walked away.
I glanced over at Six, who shrugged, and dropped her head onto the pillow.
"Dish it out…" sam said skeptically. John shook his head.
"It'll be fine. Ella's the one I'm most worried about." Six looked up, her face doubtful, but remained silent. I nodded into him, twisting around so I was laying in top of him. Six groaned good naturedly from my side, and in my peripheral I saw her bury her face in Sams neck as he pulled her back with him. John kissed my nose. My heart sparked at the simple joy in what we got to do.
"Tell me a story." I said to John, who pulled me back so he was leaning against the headboard. He peered around me to look at Sam and Six.
"Story time?" He asked with a smirk, patting his side of the bed which was open for them to join us. Sam shrugged, scooped her up and sat next to us on the bed.
"This better be good." He said, adjusting so Six was curled in his lap.
I couldn't help myself "every time I look at you guys this happy I think of paradise. And the morning after." John felt the somber tone I placed over us, pulling me closer to him.
"What do you mean?" Six asked, tired eyes still boring into mine so she could figure it out.
"In that moment, when you left, I figured that was it. I figured in ten years I'd be committed to a hospital or something because, honestly? I didn't think any of you would ever truly get to be happy. You all looked to broken. And even though you wanted to have hope, and even though you won, you were still hurting so much. But now- this? I mean you two being together, getting to lay here with John… it's just too much to believe sometimes. And if I can say it… it's kind of nice to see our warrior relaxing in the arms of her knight in shining armor." Sam's cheeks darkened, and he shook his head. Six smiled over over me once before looking up to him.
He pulled me even closer to himself, so his scent was surrounding me. I nuzzled my face in his neck and couldn't help the contented sigh.
"Things definitely aren't how I thought they would be." Sam said, twisting his fingers through Six's curls.
"But," she began, sitting up and looking down, "there's still a war to fight. And we've got to get back to training tomorrow if we want to win." I practically felt Johns eye roll from behind me, but knew he agreed with her. Sam remained quiet, hands still in her hair.
John
Sarah was right, it was so special. We sat in the beds for almost two hours, holding each other quietly. Sometimes a memory would be brought up, sometimes a bad joke would be told, at one point they all fell asleep. But it was unique. And I never wanted it to end. The smell of food began to permeate the walls, and I knew the bliss of being together would end soon.
Sarah's eyes fluttered open as she woke from her nap. The three of them had fallen asleep. Six was tucked into sam who's head was resting her hers.
I watched Sarah's eyes trail over to them and her lips tilt up in her smile. I kissed the top of her head.
"Nap time felt nice." She said quietly, yawning once, and pushing her hair from her face. I pointed over to our friends.
"Dinner will be ready soon, but I can't bring myself to wake them up." She smiled at me and nodded.
"We'll wait until it's absolutely necessary." We stayed like that, content to sit in the silence that was so uncommon. Holding my girlfriend, next to my best friends.
If ignored the scars on my ankle, or the fact that we were hiding out in a California penthouse I could pretend we were in Paradise, like Sarah said.
A knock came at the door, the two stayed asleep. I opened it from the bed.
Kat stood there, raising just one eyebrow when she took in Six and Sam before her.
"Dinners in five, you should all be awake by then." She winked, took one more look, and then walked back pushing the door closed behind her.
"Well… hopefully they're well rested." Sarah said, standing and stretching out. I glanced over at Six
"I feel like I can't wake her…" Sarah smiled and nodded.
"I know. But she'd rather we do. Even if it means she's still tired." I remembered back to the time she used her TK to tickle my feet when she needed my attention.
I went with that.
She woke up in a second, eyes murderous, before cracking a smile. "Taking one from my book." Upon hearing her voice sam stirred awake, and smiled.
"Wow. That felt great." He said, I laughed, joining Sarah to stretch out my sleeping joints.
"Kat said that dinner will be ready really soon and we should all get down there." Sarah explained starting to braid her hair over her shoulder.
She caught me staring and winked. Six stood, grabbing a shirt to change into. I caught a quick glimpse of her back as she changed, pretending not to see how bad it still was. She didn't even wear a bra most of the time because the skin was so raw.
Sarah noticed too, but didn't say anything. Sam looked away. But I know he saw.
She threw another loose workout shirt on and tossed a t shirt to Sam. He caught it with ease, and I thought back to a time when he wouldn't have made the catch; or get the girl. I laughed to myself, and as if he could read my mind, he laughed once shaking his head.
Six and Sarah were walking to the door without waiting, talking quietly together. I glanced at Sam who gave me his classic side smile and we followed to girls to the dinner table, where hopefully everything would run smoothly.