Sam stayed in bed for another week after Tim threatened to bring Jo. Jo wasn't one to scorn and she would have been furious if she had to cross an ocean to scold Samantha. Sam had finished New Who and most of the MCU movies by the time Sunday evening came around. She was throughly bored out of her mind. Sam graded all of her papers and she had planned all of her classes up to the end of the year. Sam was deemed able to return to teaching. She still had her cast and would for another week but she could teach. Just in time for the Sports Festival.
Sam waved James and Tim, goodbye and reassured the two that she would be grand. Sam could barely sleep, Sunday night. After spending two weeks in bed made her, a bit stir crazy. Sam spent her night tossing and turning. She tried to watch TV. Sam was restless and ended up walking Sasha which would earn her, an earful from James and Tim if they found out. Tim had given Sam a tracking collar that is used for police dogs to track them if taken or after they were set loose on some poor unfortunate soul. So, Sam let Sasha off the leash as she hobbled behind. The dog and human made their way to a nearby park in the early morning. Where Sam sat heavily on a bench, panting upon arrival. She hated this lack of strength. Her lungs were still recovering and her leg ached in waves of pain. That Nomu had been the bane of Sam's existence within an hour at the USJ. In that hour, he caused weeks of pain for her.
Sam sighed, looking back to the sky. Dark shades of blue danced and mingled together, painting a beautiful night. A breathtaking big full moon hung in the center, not taking away from the serenity of the blues. Accenting the blues well. Countless glittering stars danced across the endless stretch, parading their way with silvery brightness. Sam breathed in the crisp night air. Sam loved to take midnight strolls when she lived in London. She found comfort in the calm blackness of night. Sam would sneak out of the palace in the middle of the night to sit in the garden, growing up. It wasn't quite the same here than her old home but still comforting, all the same. "Shouldn't you be resting?" A deep, tired voice asked.
Sam jolted, slightly. A tri bladed dagger forming in her hand. She looked up to meet Aizawa Shouta's tired gaze. She relaxed and banished the blade. "I've been in bed for two weeks... I'm tired of resting. I need to move and be active. I hate sitting still." Sam admitted with the smallest hint of a smirk. "How are you?" She asked, taking in the bandages still wrapped around his head that weren't his capture weapons.
"Better than you." Shouta retorted, softly. "Better than the Nomu."
"I didn't see what I did." Sam said, she was somewhat curious as to how her grenade affected the monstrosity. "The grenade was a highly explosive one. The building destroying kind."
"Scrambled his insides." Shouta agreed as he sat beside her on the bench. "You made All Might's job easier when he arrived. You took a lot of energy out of him and however tired All Might was, Nomu wasn't a match for him." Shouta praised, although it looked like he hated to do so.
"Pity that I couldn't see it through." Sam muttered, sourly. "All of the students are alright, right?"
"Everyone was fine, except us and Thirteen." Shouta explained.
"What happened to Thirteen?" Sam turned to Shouta, concern flashed in her burgundy eyes. Guilt grasped her and her mind flashed back to when she told Shouta that she would be better off in the thick of the mob alongside him. "Is he okay?"
"It's not your fault." Shouta scolded when he glanced over to Sam biting her bottom lip. He recognized the burning regret in Sam's eyes as the what he felt when he saw her limping across the USJ with two of his students. "He's still recovering but fine. This is the villains' fault, none of ours."
Sam sent him, a poor attempt at a smile. "Sure." She agreed, skeptically. Asami's words from so long ago echoed within Sam and her gaze dropped to the dew soaked grass. "Yeah, alright." Sam relented to Shouta, softly. Sasha came trotting through the park and sat by Sam's feet. Bright blue eyes blinked up at Sam, Sam smiled and ruffled her damp fur.
"I never cared for dogs." Shouta muttered, glancing down at a grinning Sasha.
"It used to be the same for me... I got Sasha during a rough time in my life. James believed she would be helpful and gave me, a little husky puppy. I didn't know what to do with her. I never liked dogs." Sam explained, softly as she scratched Sasha's ears. The husky panted up at her with affection in her intelligent eyes. "My cats are antisocial little buggers. However, Sasha's seemed to know just what I needed when I didn't even know what I needed." Shouta didn't respond to that but a pale hand gave Sasha, an awkward pat on her front haunches. Sasha nosed his hand with a wet, pink nose.
The pair sat in comfortable silence, at ease in each other's company. "I assume that I'm off of the school's list of suspects?" Sam asked.
Shouta didn't seemed too surprised by Sam's knowledge. Shouta probably made the connection between her and James and New Scotland Yard. "For now, yes." Shouta admitted. "The principal received two royal letters and a flashdrive, the day after the attack on the USJ explaining why you would not work with villains. As well as providing the necessary proof for the principle... You have already been cleared of all charges, by that point in time."
"Glad to be somewhat trustworthy again." Sam hummed, unamused. "Did you see what it contained?" She asked after a moment.
"No." Shouta answered, shortly. "Whatever was on it satisfied the principal. What the flash drive contained was none of my business."
"Thank you for not wanting to look." Sam said, gratefully. She peered at the skyline, seeing the deep blues lighten to a gentle purple. Morning was arriving, joggers started to appear as the lightening sky welcomed them. Soft chirping could be heard in the distance as animals stirred. Soft sunlight trickled through tree branches. A new day has begun, Sam quoted to herself with a reminiscing grin. Sam patted Sasha and the husky moved away, obediently. Sam grabbed the crutches and pulled herself up. "Well, I'm heading for a cup before going to change for school. Care to join me?" Sam asked, looking down at her colleague and offered a hand.
"Yeah." Shouta took the offered hand and let Sam pretend to pull him up. She didn't have the leverage pr strength to pull him up with her crutches and leg. Shouta pulled himself feet and Sam released him with a friendly smile.
Sam, Shouta and Sasha walked down to the coffee shop closest to her place. Sam ordered her typical triple mocha frap with five extra shots along with an apple fritter and a doggy treat. Shouta ordered a black coffee and a croissant. The pair sat at a nearby table. Sam tried to ignore the strange looks given to them by the other patrons. "I never asked, what were you doing out this early?" Sam asked after a long, delicious first sip from her frosty drink. "You don't seem the type to be an early bird." Sam tossed the doggy treat down to Sasha, who quickly devoured the treat.
"You don't either." Shouta pointed out over the rim of his mug.
"I alternate." Sam declared with a small smile. "I go between early bird and night owl."
Shouta quirked an amused eyebrow but he didn't bother to reply. "I'm used to my hero shifts, being late until morning. I haven't been able to work as a hero since the injury but I'm still used to the odd hours." He explained.
Sam hummed an agreement and bobbed her burgundy hair. "James hasn't let me touch the Ripper case and restricted my access to the police database. I've been bored out of my mind for two weeks going stir crazy." Sam added, sympathizing with Shouta. "So, the Sports Festival starts today?" She asked.
"Yeah, you picked a great day to come back to teach. Today's classes will be short. Just long enough to give assignments and then off to the stadium." Shouta sighed.
"Yay, more siting around." Sam cheered with sarcasm. "How is it?" She asked.
"Not too bad, just."
"Reporter? Media?" Sam guessed.
Shouta offered Sam, a small smirk. "That sums it up, nicely." He agreed and that sent Sam into a fit of soft giggles. "It's a mystery as to why you hate the media. The darling heroine of England."
Sam stopped laughing as he asked a question without asking. She took a long sip of her drink. "My teacher, Nathan told me too."
Shouta let out a small scoff of disbelief and lack of respect. "You allowed someone to tell you what to do? I thought you had more of a backbone than that."
Sam bristled at the harsh words from the erasure hero. "Nathan raised me since-!" Sam caught herself just as she went to throw all her soul and all of her secrets over a cliff. Secrets she's worked to keep since childhood. Sam bit her lip and straightened her posture as Nathan taught her, so long ago. "Because of what I've endured, Nathan placed measures to keep me in the limelight far after I left the palace to start life. He did this so if someone like me disappeared; the world would know rather than a lowly heroine that no one would care for... No one would truly miss me if I wasn't the Militia of today. James and Tim, the royals, the Shimizus, Nathan would, however everyone else I loved is dead. In the end if the end ever came, it would be my family against them."
"I keep in the Media's eye to ease Nathan's stress and worry. I try to stay in the forefront of everyone's minds over there as Dame Pond; as Militia. Yes, I argue with the vultures, all the time. I can't stand the sleazy reporters but I also cannot stand it if my family were left to fight a hopeless fight on their own. I do that for them." Sam growler, her burgundy gaze flashed with a fierce fire baring down at Shouta's calmer black gaze.
Shouta stared, silently. Sasha began to lick at Sam's hand and she turned her gaze down to ease her worried husky. "Alright." He said at last. Sam turned her gaze back to him. "Are they still a threat, to you?" He asked.
Sam blinked at him, surprised at his curiosity. Sam couldn't discern the look in Shouta's eyes but she trusted that emotion she saw. It flickered back into the dark depths of his eyes, too fast for her to delve deeper into. Sam pursed her lips as she concluded her thoughts. He was concerned for the safety of the school and students. Sam sighed, heavily. "No, not that we are aware. As far as we are concerned with they have been dismantled. We saw to it after the Americans failed." She answered, vaguely.
"Alright." Shouta breathed out, satisfied with Sam's response and finished his cup of coffee.
After another moment of silence, Sam asked to change the subject and to ease the tension. "So, I heard that you expelled an entire class. What's the story on that?"
The pair stayed at the coffee shop until they finished their food and drinks. They didn't talk too much, each were comfortable in each other's company. Sam left after realizing that everything became more complicated with her leg cast and hurried back home to get ready for the day.