"It's going to be okay Geni," she looked up to the face of Alvis, a calming smile adorned his features as he grasped her shoulders. His hair had less grey, with more blonde seeping through than last time, fewer wrinkles across his skin. She was conscious he felt taller than before, or maybe she was smaller. "I'll only be gone for a short time."

This knowledge seemed to send her heart racing, a sickly feeling creeping over her at the thought of him leaving. It was as if she could taste the bile at the back of her throat from the anxiety which overwhelmed her.

"But what if I hurt someone while you're gone?" She asked, her voice cracked from how dry her throat felt. She could hear she sounded younger, her voice lighter than before.

"I have told the staff not to enter your room until I return. Once I have sorted this business at the palace we can retreat to the country and we'll find a way to fix this, I promise." The confidence in his voice seemed to somewhat calm her but she found she could only nod in acknowledgement. "I'll be as quick as I can."

She was looking at the ground but could feel the slight squeeze of his hands, a comforting touch which did little to comfort. She did not look up as he left, listening to his retreating footsteps and the sound of the door closing behind him.

After a moment she looked around the spacious room. The ceiling was high and one wall was stacked from floor to ceiling with books of various sizes. On another side was a large 4 poster bed, the pillows and sheets looking more luxurious than Samantha had ever seen in her life.

Her eyes did not focus on anything in particular though, and after a quick scan she moved herself to sit on a chair in front of a vanity of some kind. She looked into the mirror to see a reflection of her pre-teen self. She couldn't be older than 12 or 13 she thought. Her hair was tucked into a tight braid which finished just past her shoulders but it was dull and limp. Her eyes had dark shadows underneath and her skin a sickly pale, clear to all she had not been sleeping well.

I wonder why we cannot go into the Mistress Geni's room, maybe-

Urgh where is that maid, I sent her out for supplies almost an hour ago-

I should have listened to mother and-

Suddenly her head was filled with unspoken voices, a pressure building up behind her forehead from it all. She felt her panic begin to rise, as she screwed her eyes tight and brought her hands up to her ears in a hopeless attempt at dampening the noise.

She focused on her breathing, remembering what her father had told - one breath in and one breath out. It was agonisingly slow but after a period of several minutes, the voices finally started to fade until she could hear them no more.

When she eventually opened her eyes, she could see the wetness to them, the strain clear. She knew with each passing day the voices were getting louder, more uncontrollable and soon, she wasn't sure she would be able to silence them at all.

There was a shadow of movement just on the edge of her mirror, barely noticeable but enough to have her reaching for the dagger she kept at her bedside.

When she twirled around, her dagger held high, it was met with an equally sharp dagger in the air. She traced the dagger down to the owner, and despite looking in his young teens, Samantha could tell by his eyes and the glistening black hair, this was Loki.

The two paused as they eyed their opponent, before both simultaneously retracting their weapon, albeit slowly and without breaking eye contact with the other.

"What are you doing here Loki?" She asked, her voice hard as she finally turned her back on him and placed her dagger back in its hiding spot.

"Hello to you too Geni," the young prince remarked as he sheathed his dagger back on his belt. "You would think you would be more welcoming after having not seen each other for 2 weeks."

"You would, if we actually liked each other," she countered, spinning back around to look at him with her arms crossed. Her anxiety bubbled in her stomach and it was taking all her control to not let it show on her face. She knew any sign of weakness would give Loki something to tease. "But seeing as we do not, I'll ask again. What are you doing here?"

"You wound me Geni, are we not friends?" He asked with a sly, knowing smirk. He began to wander around the room, picking up items and inspecting them as he went. She felt her nails dig into her palms. His hands lingered on an item which Samantha could only describe as a compass of some kind but multiple levels to it.

She stormed over, snatching it out of his hands and placing it back where it came from.

"We are not," she answered pointedly, slamming the object down with a little more force than necessary. "How did you even get in here?"

"The balcony, obviously," he shrugged, gesturing his head over in the direction of the large door to the right, the curtain blowing gently in the breeze. Loki continued his inspection of the room, either oblivious or purposefully ignoring her growing anger. By the teasing smirks he sent her way, she assumed it was the latter.

"But that's two stories high, how — no I'm not going to ask because that invites you to stay longer and you need to leave." She planted herself in the middle of the room, staring directly at Loki. The young teenager seemed to sense the change in her tone and gave up on his survey of the room and turned to face her directly.

"Not until you tell me why you have been absent from lessons and training these past two weeks," Loki insisted, his demands clear.

"I've been ill."

"I can see that," his hand waved in her general direction and she knew he was talking about the harrowing look on her face. "But there must be something else you're not saying. Otherwise why would your father not bring you to the Healers? Why is he planning on an extended stay in your country estate?"

"You need to leave," She said, a growing sense of unease at his questions began to build in her. She started to make her way to her balcony to open the door wider for him. "My father will be home soon-"

"No he will not, seeing as he only just left from the letter I sent on behalf of my father," Loki interrupted, a confident smirk etched across his features as he made no move towards the balcony.

"Loki-"

"How else was I suppose to ensure we would not be disturbed?" He gave a quick shrug as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. He took a step towards her as he continued his questioning. "So are you going to tell me?"

She could feel the pressure beginning to build up behind her forehead again, a tight band which needed to be released.

"Loki, you need to leave," her voice was now strained as she scrunched her eyes closed, trying her best to remember to take deep breaths.

"I told you I'm not-" his voice was louder as he must have continued stepping towards her.

"This is not a game. I am not trying to trick you," she hissed, her eyes flashing dangerously as they whipped open to stare at him. For a moment, he seemed to falter, reading her expression but despite this he continued.

"Geni what is-"

"Loki. No-"

It seemed to happen all at once. As they both spoke, Loki took the final step forward and reached out his hand to her. The elastic band snapped and for a second she enjoyed the feeling of relief from the disappearing tightness. Her enjoyment was short lived as horror quickly swept over her as she watched Loki fly through the air and land with a sickening thud against her bookshelf.

She felt her eyes go wide as she rushed forward and crouched over his crumpled form. After an agonising moment, he slowly began to move, giving a loud groan. When he looked up, there was a small trickle down his forehead where a cut lay.

"Loki, I am so sorry, are you okay?" Her hands hovered over him, scared to touch him and do more damage.

"You have magic," Loki whispered, his eyes wide as he stared at her, ignoring whatever pain he was in.

"No..no, I…I do not know what that was but it was not-"

The noise came from Mistress Geni's room-

Is someone in there with her?

"Shut up!" She yelled, clamping her hands back over ears again as she rocked back on her heels and fell to the floor.

"Geni-"

"Please make them stop," she pleaded, she could feel the trickle of tears on her cheeks as she became overwhelmed by the never ended stream of noise in her own head. Her breathing wasn't helping, if anything it was making them louder.

She could sense Loki crouch next to her and saw the familiar green glow of his magic but it was fleeting and she was too preoccupied to enquire further about what he had done.

That's when she felt it, a comforting touch on her shoulder and suddenly the voices seemed to dim, making them bearable again. She looked up and followed the hand back to Loki, a worried look over his features with no hint of teasing. Slowly her hands returned to her side as she looked wide eyed at him.

"You made the voices stop," she said with awe as she stared at him. "How did you do that?'"

"Do what?" His eyebrows furrowed in a questioning look, unsure what she was asking.

A flash of gold out of the corner of her eye caused her to whip around to see a newcomer in the room.

Immediately she jumped up to standing, her head bowed to the floor. Samantha recognised the new arrival instantly, she had been the kind lady who had sat next to the one eyed man in her previous dreams.

"Mother-" She could see Loki take a step towards the lady from the corner of her eye but was cut off by her gasp. No doubt she had seen the damage to the bookcase from where Loki had collided with it earlier.

"What has happened?" The older lady asked, and Samantha was surprised to find her voice was as kind as she looked. Finally, she glanced up to see the older woman gently placing Loki's chin in her grasp as she inspected the cut on his forehead.

"It's Geni mother, she has magic but she cannot control it." Loki said, his eyes glancing in Samantha's direction. "It's why I sent for you, she needs your help."

Feeling the older woman's gaze return to her, Samantha's eyes immediately dropped to the floor, unable to look up. Terror gnawed at her stomach at her secret being discovered. Flashes of Alvis warning her not to tell anyone came to her mind.

"Is this true Geni?" The voice was so kind, it almost broke her. She did not deserve such warmth, not after how she had hurt Loki nor the danger she posed. The woman crouched, making it unavoidable to not look at her. "Geni, let me help you."

She lifted her eyes from the ground and in doing so, paused over Loki's gaze. For once there was no mocking, no sign of mischief, only concern. He gave the slightest nod, urging her to speak and it seemed to be the propellant she required.

"I've always been able to hear the voices," she said quietly but she knew both in the room were listening intently. "We tried to get them to stop, father turned from healers to sorcery but none could fix me or knew where they came from. My father told me to ignore them, and hope they would go away he said. And for a time I could but recently they've been so loud. Sometimes I cannot even hear my own thoughts anymore."

"You poor thing," the woman gave a sad sigh as she looked over her features, worry clear in her eyes. "What else ails you?"

She took a deep breath, stealing herself before she replied.

"Recently objects began moving around me. It is as if they react to my emotions. I have no control over it, and one day they flew so hard it hurt a nearby guard." She swallowed past the hard lump in her throat following her confession.

"Is this why you have been holed up in here these past 2 weeks?"

"Father thought it best, otherwise I might hurt somebody else. Until we can make it stop," No longer able to ignore her tears, her hand came to wipe the wetness from her cheeks. "But tonight Loki came, and I could not stop it. I hurt him."

She watched as Loki opened his mouth to speak but a gentle shake of the woman's head stopped him.

"May I listen to the voices?" The older woman held her palm out to her, an invitation.

With some hesitancy, Samantha finally reached out to place her palm in hers, a faint gold illuminated their hands. She could almost imagine the woman in her head, the feeling of someone looking around. The woman closed her eyes for a moment before a knowing smile spread across her lips. When she opened her eyes again, the gold light faded but she continued to hold Samantha's hand in her own.

"It is not magic, dear Geni, but a gift." Samantha could feel her eyebrows pull together in a questioning look. She felt the gentle squeeze of her hand by the older lady as she continue to crouch in front of her as she spoke. "Your mind is greater than anything we have encountered on Asgard before, and therefore it is not surprising it is capable of more than we thought possible."

Her eyes glanced to Loki seeing if he understood the woman's, his mother's, words any better than she did but the confusion was evident on his face also.

"I am sorry my lady, I do not understand," she interjected with, the tears finally beginning to stop. She gave a loud sniff, unable to stop herself despite how undignified it was.

"The voices you hear are the thoughts of others, the objects you move, you do so with your mind," the woman gave her a gentle smile, she seemed to be the epitome of kindness. "For Loki or I to do so, would be magic and requires years of training and energy to do so. You have been gifted this ability without the use of seiðr, you are unique Geni."

"So there is no way to control it," she said, panic beginning to claw back into her throat. The idea of living the rest of her life in isolation did not appeal to her but then again, neither did hurting those around her without meaning too.

"I did not say that," the woman's smile turned into a smirk of amusement, one similar to Loki's. She straightened up as she let go of Samantha's hand. "It will take training, and I have no doubt as you learn more and grow, so will your power. But I have every confidence you will learn to master it."

Samantha could feel her own lips stretch into a smile, she could tell it had been the first true smile in weeks and almost immediately it was as if a weight had been lifted off her shoulders.

"Geni!" The three heads in the room turned to look at the slightly out of breath Lord Alvis as he burst into the room. His eyes went wide for a moment as he took in the scene around him. Suddenly his fist crossed over his chest as he gave a small bow. "My lady, your highness."

"Lord Alvis, I would say what a pleasant surprise, but then again we are in your home so not really a surprise, but a pleasure all the same." The older woman gave a warm smile to the new arrival. "I hope you may forgive the intrusion, but it appears Geni required some assistance."

At the mention of her name, the older man looked towards her with worry before his eyes seemed to suddenly take in the shattered book case and the still bleeding forehead of the younger man in the room. His mouth just hung open, unsure what to say, where to start.

"I think it best we let Geni get some rest. Loki dear give me a few minutes before joining me at the door to head home. We'll fetch the healers to look at your head when we do so. I believe Lord Alvis and I have a few things to discuss first though." The woman sent Samantha a quick wink, causing her to smile once again.

Seeing the relief on her face, seemed to calm Alvis momentarily, allowing for the older woman to guide him out of the room and leaving her alone with Loki once more.

An awkward silence filled the air, she could feel a nervous energy to her, suddenly unsure how to act in his presence. She looked over to see him press some fingers to the cut on his forehead and give out a small hiss.

"It's going to get infected if you play with it," she found herself remarking without thought. It caused Loki to whip his head up, his usual smirk plastered over his lips.

"I did not know you were suddenly the expert healer Geni," he said before giving another hiss from his prodding.

"Sit down," she walked over and grabbed his arm, forcefully sitting him at the chair at her vanity before turning around and heading to a door on the left.

Inside was a bathroom of some sorts with a rather large bath. Before she could admire further, her hands lifted a towel from the side and dabbed it with the water from a basin. She returned to find Loki now playing with the items on her desk. On reaching him, she swivelled him around to face her before gently wiping away the dried blood which had stained his head.

For a few minutes they sat in silence, neither one knowing what to say before she decided to break it.

"Why did you come tonight Loki?" She watched as his mouth opened but she cut him off before he could say anything. "The honest answer only please."

He closed his mouth again, taking a moment to think before giving a sigh, releasing some of the tension in his shoulders.

"I was worried about you," he shrugged as if he didn't really care at all but she could hear in his voice he did. "You have never missed a day of lessons since we met, or training. It's also not the same without you there. Thor is too easy to trick, it is not as satisfying. Also he does not read for lessons, it's no fun when you're the only one answering the questions."

"It almost sounds like you missed me," she mused, a teasing smirk of her own as her eyes focused on the cut she was cleaning.

"Never," Loki scoffed, "we don't like each other, remember?"

"No we do not," she said but her usual malice was missing. Another pause in conversation came but this time it was comfortable. Once satisfied she had cleaned his cut the best she could, she placed the towel down on the vanity and focused her eyes on him. "Thank you…for getting your mother. Without it, I would probably be packing to leave the city and would never have found out what was happening to me."

He gave a nod, an acknowledgment of her words. Silence filled the gap as she stared at him, it was only for a moment before a soft sigh left Loki's lips.

"Damn,"

"We're friends, aren't we?" She asked, an amused smirk across her lips as they both came to the realisation at the same time.

"It would appear so," Loki agreed with an amused smirk of his own before the pair erupted into laughter.

Without warning, the air turned cold and the sky went black.

She was fighting; reaching out for him as she was dragged down and then she was falling

Samantha gave a strangled gasp as she sat up, her eyes taking a moment to adjust to the mid morning light of the motel room. She looked down to see she had fallen asleep at the table, her laptop's black screen staring at her having gone to sleep hours ago. She gave a sigh as she stretched her neck side to side, feeling the cracks in her back as she stretched it out.

Next, her hands came up to rub some of the grit and sleep which had accumulated at the corner of her eye before giving a large sigh and slumping into her chair. For a moment she had to remind herself it had just been a dream, it want't real. Despite how much it felt like she was there, it was all an elaborate illusion her brain had conjured for her in a new way to present her stress.

A familiar ping of a new email alert brought her back to the room and she opened her laptop and logged back in, multiple screens opened from where she had been devouring her dad's notes in the hope of finding where he had gone. Her mouse hovered over the email icon, her breath holding for a moment in the hope it was another message from her father. It was quickly replaced with disappointment though as the two emails waiting for her were a random free offer from a pizza company and the other from her community psychiatric nurse.

Samantha quickly glanced over the email from her CPN, asking where she was and why she hadn't picked up her medication this week. With only the smallest tinge of guilt, she quickly deleted both emails and quickly forgot about them.

Remembering she was not alone, her eyes wandered back around the room, looking for Gareth but he could not be found. She became aware of his voice outside the room, and she lent over to the window to peak out the curtains to see him stood outside talking on his phone. Samantha couldn't make out his expression as his back was to her but from the tension in his shoulders, he was clearly on edge about something. She concentrated trying to hear what he was saying but at best it was still muffled.

After a few minutes he turned around and saw her staring at him from the window. Samantha raised her eyebrows in a questioning look, but he waved his hand and put on a smile, trying to reassure her. Samantha remained unconvinced but gave him privacy once more as she let the curtain go.

Taking the moment of solitude, she gathered her toiletries and some fresh clothes before heading into the bathroom for a shower.

By the time she had left the steam filled room, Gareth was now back at the desk reading over the notes the pair had made last night. Samantha placed her still wet hair in a small ponytail. Her body feeling rejuvenated, it was amazing what some hot water could do for you.

"Who was on the phone?" Samantha asked as she made her back to her bag to place her dirty clothes in it.

"Oh it was my agent, he's annoyed I missed some auditions yesterday he had arranged for me," Gareth gave a shrug, clearly not wanting to expand further.

"I'm sorry, if you need to head back to New York…" Samantha left the sentence hanging, the implication clear, she paused in what she was doing to look at him.

"Nah, I was never going to get it anyway, unless it's a revival of The Colour Purple, I'm not exactly most casting director's top pick," Gareth joked, gesturing to his face with a sarcastic smile.

"That's not true," Samantha said as she walked over to him and placed a hand on top of his shoulder. "There's always a chance they'll revive The Wiz."

Gareth laughed at her teasing smile as he playfully knocked the hand from his shoulder.

"In all seriousness though, the lack of parts for black actors in musical theatre seriously needs addressing," Samantha continued, as she took her seat by her laptop again.

"You don't have to tell me," Gareth said with a deadpan look.

"I'm white-splaining again, aren't I?" Samantha asked, her face scrunching in embarrassment.

"Just a little bit," Gareth held up two finds a few millimetres apart to illustrate his point but his teasing features made it clear he wasn't upset. They both smiled at each other before Gareth turned his head in the direction of her laptop, reminding them what they were here for. "Find anything useful?"

"Plenty but not about Project Bluebird," Samantha sighed as she closed her laptop. "I've managed to access Hughes International's system remotely, but any mention of the project is safely locked behind a firewall I can only break through with access to an internal server."

"So we need to somehow break in and hack into one of their in-building computers?" Gareth asked next after listening to what she said.

"For someone who claims to be just an 'actor'," Samantha gave half hearted quotation marks with her fingers as she spoke. "You do seem to understand my computer jargon rather well."

"I told you, I'm a big fan of Criminal Minds and my hero is their computer genius Penelope Garcia," Gareth argued but there was just something in his eyes which made Samantha hesitate to believe him. It was fleeting but there all the same. As if sensing her mistrust, Gareth changed the topic with a much lighter tone. "Right, we've hit a wall here and we need to refuel. Brunch?"

A short time later the pair found themselves sat in a diner of sorts. It had taken longer to find one than necessary as a result of all the road work in preparation for the G7 summit due to take place in just under a week's time. It had reminded Samantha of any time a world leader had done a state visit to London and the extra hour it always added to your commute due to all the security measures.

The pair were sat in a comfortable silence after having had a typical American breakfast…well it was what Gareth had called it, when Samantha initially seemed startled by the amount of sugar and cinnamon which seemed to be on offer for the first meal of the day. The pair quietly sipped at their hot drinks, a coffee for Gareth and a tea for Samantha. Her free hand played with the wedding ring next to the USB which was now sat at the base of her neck.

"So are you going to ask?" Samantha finally said, moving her head to the side and placing her hands across the table top.

"Ask what?" Gareth asked innocently as he too moved his hot drink to the side.

"About the video," Samantha answered, raising an eyebrow at her friend opposite her. "I know you've been dying too."

"Okay, you got me," Gareth placed his forearms on the table as lent forward to talk to. "What was your dad on about? You know the whole 'sorry we held you back' and 'your mind being a gift'?"

"It's kind of a long story," Samantha warned, her fingers beginning to nervously dance across the table. In the background she was aware of the faint music drifting around the diner from the radio, the latest number one single which she had never heard before today.

"We're not exactly pressed for time," Gareth pointed out, with a look urging her on.

"Okay," Samantha gave a sigh before looking around the cafe one last time, trying to find the right way to phrase what she would say next. "When I was younger I was…advanced for my age."

"Advanced?" Gareth gave her a confused look.

"Yeah"

"Advanced as in how? What your brain? What are you, like a genius or something?" He gave off a breathy laughing his posture relaxing slightly at his joke but when Samantha did not laugh, not even smile, all jest left his face. "Oh my god you're totally a genius."

"I mean, how do I answer that without sounding like a dick?" Samantha held up her hands up towards him, elbows resting on the table in a questioning pose.

"Wait…how genius are we talking here?" If possible Gareth seemed to lean ever further forward on his forearms. "Like Stephen Hawkins? Like Einstein level?"

"Well, technically everyone could be a genius in their own right, it just depends on what you measure intelligence as." Samantha avoided the question as she sat slightly further back in her booth.

"That is something a total genius would say," Gareth shot back at her with slightly narrowed eyes, which comically widened when he thought of his next question. "Wait, what's your IQ?"

"When I last checked it was 190 but I was 10-"

"10?!"

"And they reckoned I would easily score over 200 once I was older," Samantha continued, ignoring Gareth's out burst though inwardly she was cringing at herself.

"I thought the highest you could get was 200."

"Theoretically yes, but there have been a handful of recorded cases over that."

"Who's they anyway?" Gareth enquired next, finally starting to relax back into his seat again.

"Mensa."

"Mensa?!" Gareth shot back froward and raising his voice by several octaves.

"Shhhh," Samantha shot a quick look around the almost empty diner. The only people who seemed to be disturbed by Gareth's outburst were the waitress and the patron at the counter as she poured them more coffee. Samantha shot them an apologetic smile before swivelling to face Gareth again. "Anyone else you want to overhear our conversation? I don't think the chef in the back heard you."

"Sorry," Gareth replied meekly as he began to settle back into his booth. "How do you know the people at Mensa?"

"They came to me after my first IQ test and offered me membership" Samantha shrugged, grabbing her mug and taking another quick sip of tea before continuing. "But my parents said no."

"But if you're this some kind of genius…then what the hell are you doing working in a cafe?"

And there was the million dollar question Samantha had been dreading. She bit the inside of her cheek for a moment, taking the time to give a sigh as she looked out the window the bustling street outside before turning back to face Gareth.

"That's the long story part." She said with a grimace. Gareth simple sat further back in his both, opening his hands and inviting her to continue. "I was offered the chance to skip years at school, grades as would call it, but my parents were big believers in letting a child be a child. They didn't want me to look back with regret at not having a childhood. So they compromised and let me attend an elite private school in London with the deal being I stayed with my own age group."

"What did you think about that?" Gareth asked quietly.

"I was resentful at times but I got on with it," Samantha admitted. Her eyes then strayed back out the window as she continued telling her story. "And then the time came to choose what to do at university. My parents always talked about giving back, helping others. I mean my dad was a police officer and my mum was climate change scientist and activist before it was cool. So I chose to do medicine at Cambridge."

"You were at Cambridge?" Gareth raised his eyes in disbelief.

"Yeah," Samantha looked back at him and couldn't help the small smirk which crept over her lips, it had been a long time since she had been happy to tell anyone that.

"So what happened?"

"My mum died," Samantha stated as if it was the simplest thing in the world but she had to take a second to swallow past the hard lump which had formed in her throat. "And I realised…I was a horrible person. I was narcissistic, arrogant and generally just not nice to be around. I never had to work hard for anything, I was naturally athletic and my grades came easy, so why should I put effort into anything? It was all beneath me…hell I didn't even get into medicine to help people. Of course I said that to my parents and in the interviews but really I was only in for the title, the prestige that came with being a doctor. I didn't care about other people."

Samantha gave a bitter laugh as her hands clasped her tea mug tightly, the knuckles starting to go white. Her eyes focused intently on the golden shade of brown sat at the bottom of her mug.

"But my mum, she did, she would help anyone she could." Samantha gave a sad smile as she looked back up at Gareth, her eyes hard and her jaw set. "It should have been me that died that night, she had so much more to give, not me."

She let the statement hang in the air for a few seconds, grateful when Gareth did not move to fill the silence. It was a statement of fact in Samantha's opinion and Gareth had no response to it.

"So I dropped out of medical school, found an inconsequential cafe and hid away from the world." Samantha shrugged as she released some of the tensions in her shoulders and sat back in the booth. "My dad's right, it's my hiding spot. He thinks I do it because I'm scared, my mental health wasn't the best after my mum's death, but he's wrong. I don't hide there because I'm scared, I hide there because I don't deserve anything more."

And there it was, all laid out to bear for Gareth. Samantha felt almost naked, a raw vulnerability to her she hadn't felt in a long time. She didn't think she had ever been so open and honest with someone about this before, not even Dr Angelo.

"You can't keep punishing yourself for something that wasn't your fault." Gareth decided to say after a long pause. Samantha wanted to look away but his stare caught hers, forcing her to look at him and see the belief there. "Surely a better way to honour your mom is by living up to your potential?"

She couldn't help it, Samantha gave a small gasp at his candidness, not expecting it. Sensing he had said the wrong thing, Gareth quickly tried to backtrack.

"I'm sorry, I overstepped the line there," Gareth's voice cracked, embarrassment evident across his face as his cheeks darkened.

"It's okay, you're right…no matter how hard I try, I'm still taking the selfish option, aren't I?" The loathing and self hatred in her eyes almost broke Gareth. He attempted to reach across the table to take hold of her hand but Samantha was already moving. "I think I'm going to go for a walk, get some fresh air."

"Sam, don't - I'm- wait-"

"I'll see you back at the motel."

And before he could even stand up, Samantha was already out the door and lost in the ever moving crowd of Washington DC.

Hello

Apologies for the delay in posting. This chapter turned into a mammoth of one and ended up having to split it and put part of it in the chapter for next week. I think I managed to catch all my grammatical errors, apologies if some have slipped through the net.

As always thank you for your support

Vex

PS - go see Shang-Chi! It's so good and it's got me so hyped for the phase 4 films!