(Britt) Let Life a Little Dance and Song

SO NOW WE'VE COME UPON

Samuel glanced at his watch and sighed in an attempt to stifle his yawn, fighting off the exhaustion he felt. It was nearing Eleven O’clock, nearly four hours after his original clock out time. These days, the manor was a bit understaffed so him and his brother had to help Eliot pick up the slack. Of course Sam didn’t mind the extra money on his paycheck, but these huge shifts were starting to wear him out. Which honestly seemed ridiculous to him because he’d spent a lot longer out in the wilderness when he’d been doing search and rescue. Cerulean eyes fell to the Bernese mountain dog by his feet, dead asleep. Jealously picked at him so he nudged the dog with his foot.

“Hey dopey, your on the clock to you know.”

The dog made a small whine before rolling over on its back and resting its head on Sam’s boot. Rolling his eyes, Samuel stepped away from the hundred pound dog and made his way back to the command center. By the time he’d get there it would be eleven and he’d be able to clock out for the day, go home and get some sleep, then rinse and repeat tonight at seven. These night shifts were slowly killing him, he was sure of it. Seeing that Sam had walked off, Ares quickly bounded up after his master, causing Sam to smile and pat the dog gently on the top of his head.

Just as he thought, as soon as they reached the command center it was time to leave for the day. It was a good thing to because Samuel was dead on his feet and Ares didn’t look any better. Grabbing his security jacket off the back of one of the chairs, he punched his time clock and was out the door before anyone could convince him to stay any longer. When Sam had first started this job, he’d carried an extra set of clothes with him to change into after his shift so he wouldn’t be forced to walk around in his security uniform to run errands and stuff. Lately though, all he had time for was work so he didn’t bother.

Choosing to walk home, not trusting himself behind the wheel honestly, would bring him past one of his favorite places to frequent before his shift. Not to mention it was one of Ares’ favorite places too. The owner had grown to like Ares and since the dog was S&R trained as well as a security dog, he was allowed in the small Café. Damn dog was spoiled if you asked Sam.

He walked up to the counter, deciding it would probably be just best to get their stuff to go. The woman behind the counter smiled and then looked at Ares with wide eyes. Sam deduced she must have been new, cause he hadn’t seen her here before. He smiled lazily at her, not really having the energy to explain whom he or the hundred pound dog beside him was. But she didn’t say anything, only taking note of his security outfit.

“I’ll have the jalapeño and cheddar baked pretzel and a coffee, black please.”

Ares let out a bark, and Sam rolled his eyes. Yeah, he was definitely spoiled rotten.

“And he’ll have a plain bagel, but if you could throw some peanut butter on it that would be great. Thanks.”

The waitress smiled and nodded, telling him to wait because the bagels were still in the oven. Samuel nodded and stood awkwardly at the counter, looking down at the dog.

“Of course we’d get stuck waiting on your order. You’re a dog, why can't you just eat dog food?”

Ares licked his hand and Sam whipped his hands off on his pants, an annoyed but amused look on his face. The berner had a charm about him; Sam could admit that, even if the dog drove him crazy. Looking up from the dog, he glanced around the room and noticed a Nurse in the corner he recognized from work. He had no idea what her name was, but then he didn’t really learn names unless he had to. Sam nodded hello in her direction, but she seemed much more interested in her chocolate cake and book. Shrugging, he glanced back at the dog who was looking up at him with his head tilted.

“What?”

TAGGED Beatrice!
WORD COUNT 732
NOTES =] I love my Sammy and Ares.
CREDIT Me! =]

SO NOW WE'VE COME UPON

He was sure the look on his face didn’t present his amusement as well as he would have liked. To be honest, Sam was running on fumes alone and until he had his coffee in hand, he would probably look like a zombie. Hell, even with the coffee in hand he’d probably still resemble a zombie, or that’s how he felt. Blue gaze shifted to watch as Ares quickly closed the gap between him and the woman with the chocolate cake, taking a seat beside her. Samuel rolled his eyes; Ares was always trying to make new friends- especially when they had food. Damn dog was already getting a bagel and now he was after someone’s cake.

“Ares heel.”

With one last fleeting glimpse at the cake and the nurse, Ares turned and crossed the floor over to Sam who was already meeting him halfway. As soon as he reached Sam, he shifted on his feet so that he was standing right next to him. Sam couldn’t help but feel a little bit of pride at the fact the dog obeyed. The road of obedience had been a long one for Sam and Ares- or so it felt. With a boyish grin and a gentle nod in her direction, they walked over and Samuel sat down in the seat across from her.

“Thanks. I’m Samuel and this is Ares.”

Sam rested back in the chair and relished the extraordinary feeling of having the weight off his legs. His entire body was giving out, and somehow he doubted he would be ready to go back to work when seven pm rolled around. It wouldn’t matter if he was ready or not, he’d go in anyway. Sam was just like that; if work needed to be done he’d do it, after all why not? It was better then sitting in his apartment and fighting the urge to drink his self stupid. Stifling the yawn he felt trying to escape, he turned to the woman sitting across from him and focused on how familiar she looked.

“I feel like I’ve seen you around, do you work at the manor?”

TAGGED Beatrice!
WORD COUNT a crap 356
NOTES -yawn- sorry its so short. <3
CREDIT Me! =]

SO NOW WE'VE COME UPON

Samuel sipped on the coffee in his hand with a small smile, relishing the warmth that he felt slip down his throat and into his chest. The only other thing he enjoyed drinking this much was the alcohol that usually helped him sleep. With a heavy sigh, he sat it down on the counter and took a bite out of his pretzel as the nurse before him went on some long rant before finally introducing herself. Sam had to pause for a moment after she spoke, trying to take in everything she said.

That was, until he realized none of it mattered. She was rambling about something that he, to be honest, didn’t quiet understand. The main thing he took from her dialogue though, was her name. Beatrice. He nodded quietly at her and took another sip of his coffee, still enjoying it just as much as he had the first sip. Ares was sitting on the floor beside him, gazing up at Sam or more so, at his pretzel. Of course the dog had already woofed down his bagel, he ate like Sam didn’t feed him or something. Sam reached out and patted the dog’s head before returning his attention back to Beatrice.

“Nurse huh? That’s cool. And you can call me Sam if you want, Samuel always sounds a bit formal.”

It was then that Sam realized he was kind of out of practice with conversations outside of work. Ares nudged his hand again, causing Sam to redirect his attention to the bi colored canine. With a heavy sigh, he tossed the rest of his half eaten pretzel at the dog, who wolfed it down accordingly. He shook his head and let out a small laugh.

“So Beatrice, are you just getting off or about to go in?”

The odd hours didn’t surprise him, even though noon probably seemed a bit odd for a shift hour. After all, the staff deficiency wasn’t only in the security department- it was everywhere. Sometimes he wondered how the manor even managed to stay open, considering you had to have so many doctors per patients. But they somehow kept it together, which of course he was happy about because it meant he had a job.

With a small sigh, he watched as Ares made his way around the table to go back to sitting and staring at Beatrice and her plate. Sometimes that dog irked him but right now he didn’t even have the energy to care. Tilting his head back for a moment, he closed his eyes. Suddenly realizing he was about to doze off though, he jerked himself forward and took another swig of coffee.

TAGGED Beatrice!
WORD COUNT 445
NOTES n/a
CREDIT Me! =]

SO NOW WE'VE COME UPON

Being dead on your feet had its advantages, of course Sam wasn’t really aware of them. Maybe the laid back feeling that overwhelmed his thoughts was one, slowing his mind down to an almost crawl in an effort to rest. Not that rest would come as long as he was sitting in this café trying to carry on a conversation with the nurse from Lucid Manor. He cracked a smile at her comment of him becoming a giant fluff ball. Sam wasn’t too worried about any increase of weight gain in Ares, damn dog was way too active.

“What? Hundred pounds not good enough for you Ms. Beatrice?”

Once more he sat back in the chair and listened to her ramble on about her shift, or alarms, or breaks… you know that- the words just kept coming and he wasn’t exactly sure where one topic started and another one ended. Basically what he took from it, was that she worked a lot. Her last bit of questioning resulted in yet another boyish grin from Sam as he let out a nod.

“Yeah, just finished up a sixteen hour shift. Going back in tonight at seven. Though fur ball here sleeps on the job all the time, so long hours don't matter much to him. Lucky.”

He watched as Ares tilted his head and wagged his tail each time Beatrice addressed him, amused with the dog’s friendliness. After all, it hadn’t been that long ago that he’d found the Berner spending its nights in alleys and trying to find food out of the garbage. He was a good dog though, and Sam counted himself lucky to have him as a partner at the manor. Because behind that loveable friendly personality, was a ferociously loyal dog who would watch out for Samuel just as much as Sam watched out for him.

“It was a shift, dull and a bit boring to be honest. Well, until breakfast anyway. Almost always have some sort of crazy confrontation at meal times but it wasn’t anything Ares couldn’t handle. How was your shift?”

Ares shifted a little on his paws to edge ever closer to the nurse, tilting his head and allowing a small whine to erupt as she talked to him about pigtails. Sam grinned, of course he wouldn’t let Beatrice do that to Ares, but it was a funny thing to think about- not that the dog had any idea what it meant. Reaching out to his coffee cup, he took a few more sips before realizing the container was empty.

TAGGED Beatrice!
WORD COUNT 422
NOTES n/a
CREDIT Me! =]