Hello again! After what feels like years of neglect, I have finally updated my story. Yes I know it's a shocker, I'm sure anyone who used to read this story has long since written me off as dead or a permanent sabbatical, but no I have in fact been working on it. Ok, so I admit I've spent long months writing absolutely nothing, and thinking the whole things a pile of crap that needs to be redone. I did eventually manage to get this chapter to look vaguely decent though, between bouts of self pity and disillusionment of course.
I thank anyone who has taken the time to continue checking the progress of this story, and I hope this chapter was worth the wait!
Once again these characters are not mine, they belong to other people.
Sam pulled a youths shirt off the rack and looked it over appraisingly, then with an approving noise, she set it on the growing stack of cloths in Nagi's arms. The boy was looking a bit bewildered by now.
(How could one person need this much stuff?) He wondered.
A few racks down from them, Schuldig yawned in a loud, exaggerated fashion and wandered away through the cloths racks, staring indifferently as he went. Sam ignored the mans obvious display of boredom and addressed the boy laden with young men's attire next to her.
"I guess you should go try those on before you collapse." Nagi nodded in agreement and turned towards the dressing room.
As the boy headed towards the changing room, Sam wandered down the aisles till she ended up at a table stacked with different hats. Grabbing a camouflage beach hat she put it on and looked herself over in the mirror. Leaving it on, the young woman moved to a display of sunglasses and began randomly selecting shades to model. Around her fifth pair, Schuldig appeared, seemingly out of nowhere, sporting a larger grin then normal and hiding something behind his back.
"Hey, I have something more …flattering for you to model." He said, taking in the wide brimmed hat and large purple sunglasses she was wearing. The young woman gave the redhead a suspicious look over the rim of her big, sparkly, purple shades.
"Oh really? And what would that be?" She asked, hands landing on her hips.
Schuldig pulled a hanger out from behind his back with a flourish and grinned like a hyena.
"You could have lots of fun posing in this, for me." He added suggestively.
The young woman stared at the black lacy outfit on the hanger. It was the type of garment that left little to the imagination.
Sam stared for a moment longer, sudden inspiration hitting her. She looked back at Schuldig and smiled sweetly. The redheads grin fell slightly in disappointment. He had obviously been expecting a more extreme reaction. With hardly a second thought, Sam took the hanger from Schuldig's grasp.
Schuldig let the female have the hanger and stared in barely concealed confusion as she looked it over like it was the most remarkable thing she'd seen all day. Sam looked up at him after a moment and smiled again.
"You have very interesting taste Schuldig, but are you sure this is the one you want me to model?" Schuldig stared stupidly, not quite convinced he was hearing this.
"I mean you weren't over there very long, maybe you should go back and check?" The young woman stared at him. When he didn't respond she held the item in question out in front of her and backed up till she was standing next to him. She looked up at him and began.
"Ok now picture me in this." She pointed at the clothing. "You really think I'd look good?" Sam asked him in what seemed to be honest curiosity.
Schuldig looked from her to the black, see through material. His brain was starting to feel a little mushy.
"I mean woman don't pick these things out for ourselves you know. It's not like we wear them all the time, those straps would get a little uncomfortable under our cloths." She pointed thoughtfully. "They do basically exist for you guys." Sam gave him a playful push on the shoulder. "But hell we don't even wear them very long for you I guess; you have it peeled off within the first five minutes, don't you?"
Schuldig seemed to have lost his ability to speak. Sam stared at the garment for a second longer, then back at the redhead.
"So I guess the more appropriate question is: is this the one you'd like to pull off me the most?" Without a word Schuldig turned and headed in the opposite direction. Sam stared after him then back at the garment in her arms.
"I guess that's a big yes." She said in satisfaction.
"Where's Schuldig going?" Nagi asked, coming up behind her with a pile of cloths in his arms. Sam turned and smiled at the puzzled youth.
"Restroom break I guess. Why don't you look around a bit more? I have something I need to try on real fast."
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"That bitch!"
"I know"
"She's evil!"
"I know."
"The devil incarnate!"
"I know…… isn't it great?"
Schuldig looked up at the white haired man standing next to where he crouched.
"No it isn't great." Schuldig commented in a sulky tone, and took a long drag on his cigarette. Farfarello shrugged and continued to stare blankly at the cars in the parking lot.
Farfarello had of course observed the entire spectacle between his teammates, as had many other innocent customers, but unlike them, Farf had enjoyed it fully and had no intention of complaining to the manager.
The young Irishman turned suddenly, stared thoughtfully at his senior member for a moment, then burst into hysterical, and to normal humans, rather insane sounding laughter.
"Shut the hell up!" Schuldig yelled. Farfarello ignored the enraged redhead and slid down the wall into a sitting position.
"She got you!" The white haired man managed to gasp between fits of laughter.
"A second time no less…" He closed his eye and calmed himself suddenly.
"…in the same day." He finished serenely. When Farfarello opened his eye, Schuldig was staring at him with a "are you quite finished" look. For a moment, only the sound of traffic could be heard as the assassins silently contemplated to themselves in the dim light of the underground parking lot.
"She didn't get me." Schuldig growled finally. Farf chuckled in a way that could give small children nightmares and just stared at his teammate.
Schuldig just glowered silently back.
"This renewed tension between you two is interesting. Where did it come from though?" Farfarello asked, staring at the other man slyly. The German sucked heavily on the cigarette and continued to remain quite.
"I'm thinking it has something to do with our last job." The white haired man commented as he turned back to staring at the rows of unoccupied cars.
Schuldig took in a few more lungfuls of smoke before abandoning the cigarette on the concrete ground and standing.
"You coming?" The telepath asked casually, rubbing the toe of his shoe over the glowing bud.
"Yeah." Farf answered and stood as well. The two teammates headed through a nearby employees entrance and reentered the mall.
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Sam sipped at her cherry slushy and stared thoughtfully at the passing crowd. Next to her, Nagi munched on French-fries and downed an industrial sized coke. They had lost Farfarello and Schuldig almost half an hour ago and were currently waiting for them in the food court.
Normally, it would worry Schwarz members to lose sight of the Irishman for so long in a public building, but Nagi was quite sure he had seen the white haired man walk off after Schuldig. So with this reassuring information the two had set off to find lunch.
Sam slumped lower in her plastic seat, full on chicken salad and stolen french-fries. The food and wandering had made her drowsy, but sleeping in the center of a crowded cafeteria was an unattractive idea. To keep from falling off her chair in a lethargic state, the young woman had taken to guessing what the people passing by had in the bags they carried.
She was trying to decide what a bald man with a Bath and Body bag could have bought when a green glimmer passed by in the corner of her eye. Sam roused herself slightly and turned to look harder at the ghostly aura. She focused in on a child, a young girl, maybe 10 years old. The more attention the woman paid, the brighter the green glow became, till finally, the shine stopped growing. The light was nearly three inches thick all around the girl's body.
(A girl of the earth.) Some part of her mind whispered to her. (A strong one.) Sam thought to herself in surprise. The young woman knew that this little girl was a rarity among rarities; Sam had only ever seen one other. She doubted her teammates would know anything about them.
Sam closed her eyes as that green light began to pull up unwanted memories.
(You have a special gift, I hope you use it well.) The young woman thought to the girl and squeezed her shut eyes tight, not wanting to see that light again.
(Special gift huh?) The thought invaded her mind seconds later. Sam's eyes flew open in surprise. She turned quickly from her survey of the crowd to see Schuldig and Farfarello standing next to their table.
"You see something interesting over there Sammy?" The redhead asked with a smirk. Sam looked over shoulder at the spot the girl had been in but, to the young woman's relief, she was nowhere in sight. Sam shrugged as she turned back to the group.
"No, not really." She answered as calmly as she could manage. The redhead raised a curious eyebrow.
"Really, because I was sure I heard something about a gift." Sam stared at the telepath for a moment then let her eyes fall to the floor, there, she spotted one of her purchases.
"Yeah… I guess… I was thinking about a gift." Sam said and reached down under her chair. She pulled a small pink bag up and set it on the table. She then looked up at Schuldig. He seemed to have figured out what was in the little bag. The telepath was having a hard time finding a good reaction to this development.
"I don't know who it's going to be for though." Sam commented staring up at him. "Thanks for finding it for me, it looks perfect." She smiled.
Schuldig decided annoyed was a good safe emotion. He glowered and plunked into a nearby chair, muttering about insane females.
Nagi stared between the two, not quite sure what was going on. Meanwhile Farfarello took an extra seat beside Sam, looking thoroughly amused.
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Sam put her pen down on the pile of work in her lap and stretched her arms up over her head with a great yawn. She turned her head slightly then, staring out the dark window, trying to make out the falling snow beyond the glass. The winter months had officially begun, snow coming down for nearly a week off and on.
It was now one thirty in the morning and she was waist deep in paperwork because Brad had once again asked her to work late. She had agreed, foolish enough to believe she might manage to finish it all before twelve.
Sam turned slightly to observe her silent companion as he continued to work undauntedly on reports which contents were a mystery to everyone in the house except maybe Schuldig. She considered trying to pressure him to shut off the laptop and go to sleep, but was well aware that the man was a certifiable workaholic and wouldn't have it. Instead the young woman rose from her seat on the couch with a final stretch of cramped, unused leg muscles and headed to the kitchen. Five minutes later she returned and carefully sat a new cup of coffee next to the last, long empty mug on the clairvoyants desk.
Brad paused long enough in his work to give her a glance the woman had come to recognize as appreciative, though it lacked most of the basic components of expressed gratitude. Sam responded to the slight gesture with a smirk, then picked up the empty cup and took it back to the kitchen.
The young woman worked for another half an hour before Brad called to her suddenly.
"Sam, would you come here please?"
Sam pulled herself up off the couch and walked over to her bosses desk.
"Yeah?" She asked, sitting on one corner. Brad handed her a piece of paper.
"Read that." He commanded. The women blinked at her employer. He seemed slightly put out. She turned her attention to the paper and read through it. It was a letter sent by email, it sounded like someone wanted Schwarz to attend some sort of social event in a month or so.
Sam looked up at Brad, not quite sure what it was about the letter that had him perturbed.
"Yes and?" She asked. The clairvoyant looked up at her from were he had been staring thoughtfully at the desk.
" They say they want the five of us to come. I never told them you were a member." Sam raised an eyebrow. When Brad said "they and them" the young woman automatically assumed he was referring to their employers.
" You never told them about me?"
"I said you were a secretary." He muttered distractedly, eyes back on his desktop. "Most employers don't ask assassins to bring secretaries on missions." He added. Sam shrugged.
"It is some sort of party, maybe their hinting you need a date." She suggested nonchalantly. Brad raised his eyebrow and suggested his thoughts.
"Or maybe, it means that they have more surveillance on our movements then I first anticipated."
"Is that a bad thing?" Sam was unsettled, but more so by Brads concern then by their employers.
"It could be."
"Should I be worried?" She asked. Brad cocked his head to the side slightly.
"I wouldn't worry yet." He answered simply. The man then turned back to the computer, dismissing her silently.
Sam remained perched on the side of the desk, wondering why the man had bothered to share this information with her. He often kept her out of the loop on matters of Schwarz's concern, unless it was essential that she know. Did he trust her opinion now, or was he just more unsettled by their employers then he let on?
Sam continued to stare carefully at her leader, aware that she was somewhat in his way as she was actually sitting on a pile of his paperwork. But she couldn't bring herself to leave just yet. From her seat she could see just how warn the 28 year old was. Men Brads age were not supposed to look as tired as the clairvoyant did. Brad carried it well though, he never complained, never took a break, was always calm, always immaculately groomed. He never seemed to buckle under the pressure.
The others weren't like Brad. They broke down once in a while. Schuldig drank, Farf raged at the world and even Nagi went into short depressed stupors. Sam hated to see them that way, even Schuldig. But at least it was a release of some sort. Brad didn't seem to have one. Sam worried that eventually the Oracle was going to implode under the pressure.
He needed to relax more, but what can you do to distract a workaholic long enough for them to relax? Get them laid, that was the obvious answer for a man , but Brad Crawford really wasn't a normal man. He was focused, so much so, he ignored his body's needs and wants. The clairvoyant was like an evil monk, he devoting his life to the pursuit of a higher power, a power only he understood.
So how does a girl get a guy like that to take some physical interest to her? Sam found herself wondering. She has to get his attention first off. But was she sure she wanted that attention from him? She supposed the fact that she was even musing an idea like this must mean something along the lines of yes.
The young woman stared thoughtfully at the clairvoyant for a few more moments as he continued to diligently ignore her presence.
"Brad?" Sam asked finally.
"Yes?" He replied calmly, not even looking up. The young women put her question simply.
"Would you like to sleep with me?"
The mans fingers promptly slipped down the keyboard and produced a string of gibberish. Sam didn't need Schuldig to figure out what the man was probably thinking.
(Why didn't I see that one coming?)
The young woman figured that bluntness was the best policy with a guy like Brad, he didn't have time for seduction and beating around the bush.
Brad recovered fast from his initial shock, calmly deleting the error marring his document before spinning his chair slowly to stare at his frank teammate. The clairvoyant then leaned back, his gaze intent as he looked her up and down.
Sam had to admit she felt uncomfortable under that piercing stare. She wasn't used to having eyes so intimidating rove over her so obviously. Yet she supposed it was what she should have expected as a response from her leader.
"Very much so." He said simply and nonchalantly, as if answering some sort of strange survey. Sam's lip quirked upward, feeling weirdly amused by his quick acceptance, and strangely bemused by her own part in bringing this subject about. Her mouth seemed to be moving faster then her brain was processing its actions. Was she really asking her cold, ruthless leader to sleep with her?
"Now?" Sams mouth formed.
Apparently she was.
Brad didn't bother to answer this time, he just reached out, grabbed her by the elbow and knee, then dragged her across the desks surface towards him. Papers went scattering onto the floor as the man dropped Sam into his lap.
Sitting sideways across the clairvoyants long legs , one of the mans hands holding the back of her neck, the other moving slowly up from her knee to her thigh, Sam wondered vaguely to herself how long Brad had been interested in her. He'd never displayed any attraction to her before. Yet he was so intense towards her now, his tongue had already worked its way into her mouth. She'd assumed he'd be interested enough to accept her offer, but this was more passion then she'd expected, or maybe he'd just needed to get laid more then she'd realized.
Her thoughts began to fizz out of clarity as her full attention was caught up in the man holding her. All her senses registered how clean and businesslike he was, he tasted like coffee and mouth wash, smelled of cologne and soaps and even his shirt felt smooth and wrinkleless.
It was only when she realized Brads hand was working at undoing the front of her jeans that Sam came back to herself enough to realize something. She absolutely did not want this to happen in a chair in his office. It was too much like being a slutty secretary doing an older, married guy in some corner office of a skyscraper. After another minute of rough kissing Sam managed to get one hand over Brads mouth, allowing her to speak.
" Not here!" She rebuked. Her leader raised an eyebrow wordlessly, questioning her right to scold him.
" We'll mess up your paperwork more." She added carefully, supporting her objection.
Brad pushed her hand away.
"Of course." He answered and rose from his seat, forcing her to rise quickly. Sam led the way to the door connecting the clairvoyant's room to his office. But before she could open it, Brads arm wound past her body and grabbed the knob first, holding the door shut. The young women turned back slowly to look at the man, wondering what he was thinking.
Brad had trapped her between the door and his body, and now stared down at her with considering eyes.
"Are you sure you want to do this?" He asked calmly. Sam stared back at her employer for a moment in bemusement before realizing why he would ask such a question. He wasn't asking her because he cared about their relationship as leader and subordinate, or even because he worried about her having second thoughts. He was asking because he didn't want to be accused of being pushy later. He was covering his ass. Making sure she couldn't complain if she was regretful afterwards or expecting more from him. Brad was a business man right down to his core and all events in his life applied.
Sam smiled at the man slyly and leaned closer to his large frame. Carefully, she hooked her finger through his tie and pulled it undone, pulling him closer as she did.
"Very much so." She breathed.
Sam was by no means sleeping with Brad simply for his benefit, she wasn't that selfless. She was stuck in a house with three very attractive older males, and living a life of total celibacy; it was starting to really suck. A girl needs attention too, and she hadn't gotten any for a long time.
Brad let his lip curl upward slightly before pressing Sam up against the closed door and smothering the breath from her lips. Sam tensed momentarily, unexpectedly overwhelmed by the mans intimidating presence, but she melted quickly, the hunger for another's nearness quickly overriding the fears held.
Digging her fingers into the thick, dark, hair at the back of the clairvoyants neck, she reciprocated his rough passion, allowing the kiss to deepen and evolve. Brad slid his agile, eager fingers down the young womans side and up the inside of her shirt. There they tormented her sensitive skin, running over her stomach, down to the small of her back, and up to work on undoing her bra. Sam meanwhile began the painstaking process of undoing the buttons on the clairvoyants shirt with her free hand. Suddenly the door behind her popped open as Brad remembered that he was still holding the knob. The young woman clung desperately to her leaders neck to keep from falling to the floor.
"Warn me before you do that!" She hissed in his ear.
"Hmm." Was Brads only reply as he scooped her up off her feet, entered the room and kicked the door shut behind them.
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Schuldig groaned groggily as the morning light invaded his sensitive eyes and alerted him to a pounding headache. He was hungover, very hungover. He snarled weakly at the sun, the window and the whole morning that had dared conspire to wake him, before dragging himself off the bed and stumbling over to a dresser where his stash of aspirin was. Swallowing two dry, the telepath then directed his attention at the clock. It was eight o'clock in the goddamn morning! How was that even possible! He wondered and rubbed the sleep from his eyes. Schuldig had been out late the night before and had come in around 2 A.M. Then after that he'd been kept up by something else. What was it though? He couldn't remember real well. The redhead rubbed his forehead and leaned heavily on the dresser.
Suddenly his head jerked upward, away from his hand as it came back to him. Noises. Not physical noises no, the walls in his room were pretty thick, but not thick enough to block out mental noise. Schuldig groaned, feeling a little ill suddenly.
Sam and Brad, now that came out of nowhere. He was a little surprised his leader, Mr. Freeze, Mr. I'm so above you dirty, emotional, little chimps, was even capable of such a primitive, human, act of physical need.
Schuldig left the stable dresser he'd been using to keep himself upright and ventured carefully back to his bed. There he sat on its edge and began clumsily working on the buttons of the shirt he'd been too drunk to remove the night before.
Then of course there was her, what was she thinking? Did she think that man was going to return any feelings she had for him, was she that naïve? She shouldn't be with that man.
The redhead, now free of his shirt, headed unsteadily out of his room and down the hall to the bathroom. He managed to reach the door without bumping into any walls, but just as he was about to grab the door handle, the door opened inward. Schuldig, in his unsteady state, had put too much dependence on the door being where it was supposed to be and since it wasn't, he ended up tumbling into the room and crashing in an undignified heap on the floor. Dazed and confused he looked up at the person who had intended to leave the room before a large, hungover telepath had crashed in.
(Speak of the devil.) He managed to think through his daze.
Sam in nothing but a towel, had just barely managed to avoid ending up underneath Schuldig, and was now staring down at him in surprise. After a moment the look melted into amusement, as she seemed to realize what was wrong with him.
" Have an interesting evening Schuldig?" She asked. The man in question pulled himself up off the floor, attempting to regain some of his dignity.
" Maybe." He said, taking in her state of undress with carnivorous interest. Sam seemed to notice the attention she was receiving and raised an eyebrow at him. The young women then turned to leave.
Schuldig scowled slightly at her back, unwilling to leave the conversation at that. His frown suddenly became a wide, nasty, smirk as an idea flitted into his fuzzy head.
" I'm sure my evening wasn't half as interesting as yours was though." He commented nonchalantly, staring at her retreating form.
Sam stopped dead and turned to look at the man over her shoulder. Her gaze was sufficiently more unsure then before.
"I suppose." She commented simply. Schuldig moved a little closer to the girl and leaned heavily against the sink.
"Trying to rack up brownie points with the boss man by, 'working late', I see." The redheads tone was sly and suggestive. Sam tensed and glared momentarily at the unkempt, bleary eyed man. Then closing her eyes briefly, she ran a hand through her hair. Attempting to control her displeasure and at the same time, the damp tresses in her face.
"Whether I 'work late' or not is really none of your business." She informed Schuldig calmly, not looking at him as she spoke. The redhead meanwhile continued to grin at the young woman, sensing discomfort in her.
"It is when it keeps me up at night." He declared casually, cocking his head slightly, trying get a look at her face.
"You know physical sound may not carry well through thick walls, but mental noise does." This topic had put teeth marks in the young women's dignity, Schuldig could see it on her face and in her mind. He intended to keep gnawing away till he left real impressions.
"If you're so desperate and lonesome for male companionship, there are better options. Options that won't make you look like a slutty secretary in a cheap porno flick." The man grinned wolfishly.
Sam twisted irritably to face the redhead, and glared up at him.
" So a film involving a guy, drunk of his ass on cheap liquor, hanging out in a dirty dark room is somehow better quality?" She hissed then turned quickly back around and headed for the hall. Schuldig sneered, feeling unexplainably angry with the young woman. Without really thinking about it, the telepath lunged forward, grabbed Sam by the waist and dragged her back into the bathroom.
" Schuldig! You ass! Get the hell off me!" The young women raged and attempted to kick and elbow her captor. Yet even in his hung-over state Schuldig could somehow fend off an ass whooping better then a door. Which, he somehow managed to stagger into and trip against, before hitting the floor again; bringing Sam with him.
The redhead groaned, the jolt up his spine not helping his aching head.
" Let go of me you stupid shit bag!" Sam was still snarling and spitting like an angry cat. Somehow the mans hold on her waist had remained strong.
Schuldig stared at the women's bare shoulders, unsure of where to go from here. He hadn't been thinking when he'd grabbed her. He really hadn't had any intention at all when he did it, he just hadn't wanted her to leave yet. Now he found that the anger that had caused this act of stupidity had left him, and all that remained was a strange dull, heaviness in his gut, as if he'd been slugging shots of swamp mud all night.
" Schuldig you stupid fuck!" Sam managed to slam her elbow into his side at that moment. The mans arms went loose as the pain needled through his insides, allowing the young woman to launch herself out of his grip and take off in a huff down the hall.
The telepath collapsed to the floor, resisting the urge to vomit all over it. He was convinced that if he did, it would be thick, black, and a pain in the ass to scrub off the white floor.
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Awww, Schuldigs hurtn bad, poor little bugger.