Sam and Quorra Collection Chapter 10: The Untitled Chapter, a tron fanfic

DISCLAIMER: I do not own TRON, TRON:Legacy or anything else related, etc.

Wow! I would like to thank EVERYONE who reviewed after my last update. I have never gotten that much feedback for a single chapter before and it was simply AMAZING! You can find yourselves in the usual list at the end of this chapter :)

Sorry this took so long. Life is shifting and I need time to do other things. Not to mention with me finally phasing over to tech instead of customer service my world is going to be much busier and I will probably be spending a few extra hours a week at work (November through February are so slow for merchandise companies). So… just a forewarning, updates will not be regular from here on out, but they may still happen from time to time :D

So for this one I decided to kill two birds with one stone, figuratively haha. I was given some hints from Jim and Hearns (don't worry if you gave me an idea, I might still use it, I just have to write what inspires me at the moment first). And the story kinda morphed into a direction where I could use both ideas.

The Untitled Chapter

It was shortly after two in the morning, I was out on the deck lounging in my canvas chair with a beer watching the world float by while Quorra was at the table half reading another Jules Verne book and half writing in the journal I had bought for her to record all her new experiences in. We really need to quit this staying up late thing, I am getting to old for this... The smell of bagel bites cooking in the toaster oven filled my nose, Quorra was obsessed with the little things. The house had been quiet for a while and I was just beginning to doze off when I heard the sound of glass shattering and Quorra's startled yell. I tried to ask the preliminary questions, 'whats wrong? are you okay? what happened?' but they all meshed into one grunt as I tipped over my chair and face planted on the wood deck in my rush to stand up.

"Sam?" Quorra called me, uncertainty in her voice.

"Coming!" I heaved myself up off the ground and finally got a glimpse of the living area. I found Quorra sitting frozen in a hunched position over the table but something didn't look quite right, she had spots covering her arm and face and to make matters worse smoke was filling the room from the toaster oven. For a moment I couldn't decide which was more important, putting out the fire or making sure Quorra was alright. Wait... step back a moment. I looked at the toaster oven spewing smoke. Why is the door open? I looked back and forth between the toaster and Quorra and finally settled on a course of action. "Are you alright Quorra?" I asked as I hurried to the counter and unplugged the toaster oven, my shoes making a crunch sound with every step. What a mess! Oh man... I turned around to really look at Quorra. She looked back at me with an expression that was a cross between curiosity and fright. I realized the spots on her were actually small shards of glass in her arm and face.

"Sam, what happened? Am I, bleeding?" She inspected her arm and reached up to touch her face where the glass was embedded. I reached out to stop her, crunching more glass on the floor. I wonder when she will register the pain...

"Wait, don't touch it. Let me help you, don't move okay?" The floor was littered with glass and Quorra was barefoot, not a good combination. I came back a moment later with tweezers, bandages and a broom. "Okay, let's get the glass off the table first shall we?" I used Quorra's journal to sweep the shards into a dustpan before sitting down next to her. "Now this will hurt a little alright? Just hold still." Quorra nodded and followed my hands with her eyes as I held her arm with one and began to work on the glass with the tweezers in my other hand. Quorra winced a few times and I felt bad, almost like it was my fault she was in the situation to begin with. "So... what happened here?" I asked, trying to distract Quorra from the feeling of me digging glass out of her arm.

"I'm not sure one moment I am sitting here reading and the next this, 'glass', is just spraying at me." I looked behind me at the toaster oven and realized what my half asleep brain had passed over the first time. There was no glass door on the toaster oven, the burnt bagel bites stared back at me with no barrier separating us. No way, really? What kind of quality toaster is this?

"It looks like somehow the door exploded, good thing you weren't sitting closer to it." I finished bandaging Quorra's arm and looked up at the glass in her cheek. "Hold on while I grab these last two okay?"

"Sam?" I nodded in acknowledgment that she could ask a question. "The pain, it's caused by 'nerves' right? And the bleeding is the first part of cellular protection and regeneration? Ouch!"

"Umm, sort of. Sorry, this is the last one. Here, hold this to your face for a moment." I pressed a gauze pad to her cheek while I evaluated what I should use because wrapping her face like I did her arm would not be practical. The mental image of Quorra's face wrapped up like a mummy was almost too funny to keep to myself. Once I was confident that she was properly taken care of I sat back and looked at the floor. "Now to clean up the floor..." I sighed. Quorra shifted in her chair, "Hold on, don't walk on the floor unless you want glass in your feet too. Let me clean this up real quick." Halfway through cleaning I looked over to find Quorra sitting cross legged on the table with her journal in hand. When I had finished sweeping she climbed down from the table.

"Sam, I think you missed some over here." She stood frozen in place stooped over and looking around the floor. I sighed and then smiled when a mischievous idea hit me. Walking back over to her I reached down behind her knees and scooped her up. "Sam! Stop, put me down!" She laughed, "What are you doing?" She swung her legs around and playfully swatted my back. She is a lot heavier when she is conscious... The thought brought back memories of my dad but rather than letting them sour the moment I relished them for just a moment, reminding myself how lucky I was to be able to see him again, and responded to Quorra's rhetorical question.

"Carrying you to safety of course." I laughed as she continued squirming in my arms before I gently dumped her on the couch. "Now stay put until I bring you some shoes." I tickled her for a moment, drinking up the sound of her laughter before returning to the kitchen to continue cleaning up. Once I finished, again, I plopped down on the couch next to Quorra after checking the clock and tossing the Jules Verne book her way. Three thirty already? Oi! "We really should get some sleep Quorra, this is ridiculous! The sun will be rising in an hour or so."

"Wouldn't we then just as well stay awake?" I scoffed at her question.

"No, because the human body needs sleep to function. It is how we recharge for the day."

"I see, but why do I not feel like my energy is depleted?" I laughed again.

"I have no idea Quorra, maybe it has something to do with your excitement of exploring this world." I smiled back at her, sleep shaping my face into something that must have been amusing to look at. "By the way-" my sentence was cut short when there was a popping sound followed by sparks over the bridge that ran next to my apartment and an explosion that I could only guess was at the nearby power transfer station. Quorra twitched and latched onto my arm as the lights in the apartment flickered and died, along with most of the lights in the city. I sat on the couch dumbfounded for a moment before a short laugh escaped my lips. "Now, if that had happened just an hour or two earlier I could be sleeping and you wouldn't have used the toaster and been sprayed with glass. Oh the irony!" Quorra looked at me as if I had lost it. Maybe I have, considering how sleep deprived I am, ha!

"Would it not have just exploded next time both of us were sitting there eating?" She asked, the fact that she was handling the power outage so well amazed me. Maybe she hadn't fully realized what was happening.

"Yea, but... well I would still have been sleeping by now." I replied dejectedly. Quorra stood up from the couch and went to flip the light switch.

"Sam, why are the lights off and refusing to illuminate for me?" she continued flipping the switch as if maybe she could wake the lights by breaking and reconnecting the nonexistent electrical current multiple times.

"Because we are having a black out right now, there is no power." I paused, waiting for it to click in her brain, "They won't work no matter how many times you flip that switch." She continued the up/down motion, "C'mon stop before you wear it out." She hesitantly took her hand away from the switch and turned to look at me, or at least that was my assumption as it was too dark to really see her face.

"A black-out." She tasted the word, "So does that mean that other computers, and programs..." I heard a gasp and possibly saw her hand move to cover her mouth, "Sam! What about the sun!" Wait... Rewind! The sun? How did she go from programs to the sun? I had just opened my mouth to voice my confusion when she continued speaking. "Will the sun rise with no power? What if the day begins in hours but the sun is behind?" I began to shake my head as she continued to ramble on about her concerns for the sun and the functionality of the coming day. Speaking of which thank goodness it's Saturday at least I don't have to attempt to work on this amount of sleep. Although… I wonder if I will be needed since some of the systems at Encom will probably be down, grrrr.

"Quorra, I thought you understood that this world is organic and does not need a power source like computers do."

"Yes, but Isos were an organic form of program too, is the sun different?" I forced myself to hold in a laugh, it would just be mean to laugh at her while she was so distraught about the sun.

"Yes Quorra, the sun is very different. It will rise without power, I guarantee it." Quorra walked over and knelt in front of me.

"Are you sure?"

"Absolutely." Quorra looked back at the horizon and fidgeted. She was wringing her hands together like she always did when she was nervous. Whether it was a lingering reaction to the sparking transformer or concern for the sun I couldn't tell. "Well, I guess this means I can get some sleep now." I stood up from the couch, stretched and headed for the stairs. "Are you coming?" I looked back to find Quorra sitting on the floor contentedly staring at the horizon. She shook her head.

"No, I want to make sure the sun will still rise on time. It should be roughly one hour correct?" Well I guess as long as she stays here no harm can be done and maybe I will be able to sleep in if she finally crashes. I waved my hand at her dismissively and started up the stairs.

"Yea, something like that."

"Sam?" That one word stopped me in my tacks.

"Yes?"

"Will you stay up with me? We can play a board game or something, an hour is not very long right?" I drug my palm across my face, thankful that she could not see me as I pulled myself back together and prepared to stay awake yet another hour.

"Sure, why not." she squealed happily at that and I began to wonder just what I had gotten myself into. Then again, I was on auto pilot already what else could go wrong? Maybe I shouldn't be asking that question… I silently took back my previous thought.

We played board games for another hour when the sky finally started to lighten. As the first hints of orange appeared on the clouds Quorra dropped her pieces right then and there and went to go sit on the couch and watch. I decided to sit on the floor next to the couch, she might be upset with me if I fell asleep this far along and the floor was the best stimulant aside from coffee. Once the sun was halfway up and the colors were at their brightest I looked over to see Quorra with her eyes closed, soaking up the warmth and her mouth open in a big grin. "You see? I promised it would rise without power." I smiled up at her. The only response I got was a bigger smile. I turned back to the bright star rising in the distance, content to just sit there in Quorra's company. Marvin even came up and curled up next to me for a while, although he abandoned me for Quorra's lap eventually.

Once the sun had risen completely my body began demanding caffeine. I was about to ask Quorra if she wanted some coffee when I realized she was asleep. Finally, heh. Too bad its morning, now she will never sleep like a normal person. Instead of making the coffee I settled for cleaning up the dishes and putting the kitchen back together, sans busted toaster oven, before trying to get more sleep myself. Quorra's journal was laid open on the table as I picked up the pens and pencils and organized the other books. I tried to keep from reading it not wanting to pry into what she might be confiding in her journal rather than me, but the sight of my name on the page caught my attention.

I am grateful for Sam's attention and care, I can tell that he does things for me not just because he promised Flynn that he would keep me safe but because he cares. It is an interesting thought, to be cared for. Flynn tried to teach me about the complexities of human interaction but I never really understood what he meant until now. Sam is ~

Her handwriting trailed off into a scribble. I smiled to myself and looked over at the sleeping form on my couch, the sun glinting off of her skin that was marred only by the little bandage I had placed there. It was beginning to tan and look more natural but she still had that captivating ethereal look to her. Well, guess it's time to sleep, now that the sun is actually up... I rolled my eyes at myself and grabbed a hat from one of the shelves before settling back down into the canvas chair. With the hat thrown over my eyes to block the light from the sun I fell asleep soaking in the heat of the morning, confident that Quorra was safe and content and sleeping comfortably on my couch.

This was another tough one...I had it playing out in my head but my brain was too tired to put the effort into writing it sometimes. It was another written over the course of a week deal but I feel better about this one that I do the infamous chapter 8. Haha...

So I am sure most of you are wondering why this chapter is so long… and why there is an authors note in the middle? Well I sort of had a plot bunny sneak up on me in the middle of this and the editorial cat pounced on it, but I figured you guys might still enjoy it So! Here is an alternate ending (well, middle really, the end is the same). Enjoy!

"Yea, something like that. Okay well you enjoy that, I on the other hand, need sleep. See ya in a few hours." I disappeared up the stairs and collapsed on the bed.

The world was shaking. Wait is it an earthquake? Joy, my house will probably survive… sleep is more important right now... am I missing something? The world continued to roll around. Quorra! I shot up, all traces of sleep leaving my system as a short startled cry hit my ears. Wait... whaat? The sun was shining a deep orange on the walls, a sign that it was still very early and nothing was amiss, there was no earthquake and I had only been asleep for maybe forty minutes. That was when I noticed Quorra staring at me with her hands held to her chest and a startled expression on her face. "Are you okay Quorra?" She nodded hesitantly. "Are you sure? You don't look it."

"I am sorry Sam, I just wanted to share the sunrise with you, I didn't mean to anger you." I stopped and thought for a moment and then everything started to fall into place. I scratched the back of my head sheepishly.

"Were you shaking me just then?" She nodded, "Did I say anything?"

"You yelled my name right before you sat up and you looked so distraught, I'm sorry!" Ooops. I couldn't help but laugh quietly.

"No Quorra, I'm sorry. I was never angry with you, worried yes, but not angry." I smiled at her, finally able to get her to make eye contact. I wish there was a way to make a mental note to not talk in my sleep...okay topic change. "So... sunrise?" Her face lit up and she nodded before running down the stairs. I found her on the couch curled up in one corner, her face glowing with the rays of light. I decided to sit on the floor next to the couch, she might be upset with me if I fell asleep this far along and the floor was the best stimulant aside from coffee. Once the sun was halfway up and the colors were at their brightest I looked over to see Quorra with her eyes closed, soaking up the warmth and her mouth open in a big grin. "You see? I promised it would rise without power." I smiled up at her. The only response I got was a bigger smile. I turned back to the bright star rising in the distance, content to just sit there in Quorra's company. Marvin even came up and curled up next to me for a while, although he abandoned me for Quorra's lap eventually.

Once the sun had risen completely my body began demanding caffeine. I was about to ask Quorra if she wanted some coffee when I realized she was asleep. Finally, heh. Too bad its morning, now she will never sleep like a normal person. Instead of making the coffee I settled for cleaning up the dishes and putting the kitchen back together, sans busted toaster oven, before trying to get more sleep myself. Quorra's journal was laid open on the table as I picked up the pen and pencils and organized the other books. I tried to keep from reading it, I didn't want to pry into what she might be confiding in her journal rather than me, but the sight of my name on the page caught my attention.

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