Crossing Lives

By Aryashi

Chapter Three

Sam was in a foul mood. Drama had (once again) been murder, a strange combination of standing around and doing nothing and running around doing what felt like everything at once. Mr. Brian had (once again) run him ragged, and it felt like everything was still a hastily cobbled together mess that would look like crap on opening night. It had also lasted 3 hours.

So, yeah… he wasn't in a particularly pleasant mood.

But he had a new roommate to deal with, and if he was going to live with this guy, it was best to start on the right foot. He was at least going to be polite.

The first thing Sam noticed about him was the fact his hair was green. Not in-your-face, rock star, "LOOK AT ME, I'M SO GREEEEEN!" green; it was more of a mellow "Yeah, I'm green. And?" green.

The second thing he noticed was that even being near him gave Sam the most intense Déjà vu he had ever experienced.

"Hey," the new guy said, in a sort of "I'm saying this because I have to" way.

"Hey." Sam responded in the same tone.

"Names Zach," he said, sticking out his hand.

"Sam." Sam grabbed and shook, making sure to be firm in his grip, but lazy in the motion.

"So we're roommates?" Zach said, tossing his duffel onto the spare bed.

"Yep," Sam said. Then he looked confused. "Is that all you brought?"

"The rest is getting mailed. Cheaper than flying it all."

"Oh. Live far from here?"

"Washington." Zach had started unpacking now, tossing a couple shirts into the small dresser on his side of the room.

"D.C.?"

"State."

"Cool."

And the conversation died. The silence wasn't awkward, per say, more wrong. Sam knew somewhere deep down that quiet had no place between the two of them.

Not that the bit of Sam that wasn't deep down recognized that fact.

"I'm heading out. Need help with anything?"

"Nope. I'm good."

"'Kay."

And Sam left, pack of cigarettes in hand and phone "forgotten" in his dresser.

'Seems okay,' thought Zach, settling onto his just-made bed.

And that was all his brain had to input on the matter before dutifully shutting down.

Nicole had always detested waiting rooms.

Not that it showed on the outside. On the outside she sat patiently in her dinky plastic chair, reading a magazine that was about a decade old. She smiled at those who looked her way, the absolute picture of a friendly, kind young woman.

It wasn't the sitting that bothered her. Nicole could sit so still while reading birds came to rest next to her. And it wasn't the old magazines (those were interesting in their own right) or the horrid waiting room brand of elevator music, or even the musty smell of a hundred pets.

'It's the atmosphere,' she decided, looking around. No one came to the Animal Hospital because they wanted to be there. The mood was dark, anxious, and maybe even a little fearful.

And for some reason, those emotions were all too familiar.

"Ms. Robin?" the nurse called, looking slightly bored. Nicole supposed dealing with 'emergencies' everyday would become boring.

She stood, leaving behind the waiting room, and following the nurse through a thick wooden door.

"How is he?"

"The reindeer? Stable, as far as I know, but you really should talk to the Doctor." She chuckled. "Gotta say, when you showed up with a reindeer in the back of your truck, a lot of people were very surprised."

Robin made a noise that might have been an agreement and didn't ask any more questions.

"Here we are. The doctor will be with you in a minute."

Nicole questioned the reasoning of Hospitals. Why bother to take you out of the waiting room if you were just going to wait for the doctor somewhere else?

A few minutes later, a man wearing a white lab coat that had seen better decades and some well worn jeans walked in.

"Hello, Ms. Robin. I'm Doctor Bishop."

"Hello. How is the reindeer?"

He chuckled. "Not one for chitchat, are you?"

Nicole smiled. People had told her that she must have been Da Vinci's model in a past life; her smile seemed both warm and off putting.

Dr. Bishop took out a clipboard and began scanning his notes.

"All the ribs on his right side are bruised, and a couple of them are broken. Lots of fractures, but only one clean break. We had to go in and make sure it didn't puncture a lung. No spinal injuries, as far as we can tell, and all organs are stabilizing nicely. His left side is covered in cuts, bruises, and abrasions, but we washed them and they should all heal fine. Frankly, you're both pretty lucky."

"Myself as well?"

Dr. Bishop nodded. "This guys a runt. About a third of the size of the average reindeer. If he had been normal sized, his legs would have snapped while the rest of him crashed through the windshield."

"And I would be dead, along with him." Nicole said, emotionlessly.

The doctor glanced up at her, surprised she was so calm.

"… Yes. You would be."

"Lucky us, then."

There was a somber pause.

"May I see him?"

Dr. Bishop appeared hesitant.

"He's not looking too good miss."

"I want to see him."

Nicole had no idea why the reindeer she had run into was suddenly so important, but she knew that if she left without seeing him, she would regret it for the rest of her life.

"… Okay."

He led her to the back rooms. The rusty smell of old blood drifted through the air, ignoring the efforts of all the chemicals that tried to hide it. It was clean; so spotlessly clean that you knew unpleasant things had happened there. Necessary, perhaps, but unpleasant.

"He's in here."

Nicole glanced at the room the doctor had indicated. She frowned.

"He's still in Operation?"

"It's the only room we have that's big enough to hold him, miss. This isn't a very large facility. Biggest thing we usually have to deal with is a Saint Bernard."

Nicole nodded, and made a 'after you' motion with her hand.

Dr. Bishop pushed open the doors, leading Nicole into a white tiled, brightly lit room that stank of disinfectant. Resting on the operating table was the reindeer, shaved in some spots and bandaged in others, breathing deeply, but also unsteadily. The bandages looked fresh and clean, but Nicole could still smell the taint of blood in the air. He looked so fragile, laying there amongst all the cold and shiny steel.

It was odd, but Nicole didn't feel like she was looking at an animal she had accidentally run into. She felt she was looking at a seriously injured friend.

"I'm sorry, Doctor-san."

"What was that?"

Nicole looked up at the doctor.

"What?"

"Didn't you say something?"

"No, I didn't. What will you do when he's healed?"

The man looked at her as though she had just asked what color the sky was.

"We let him go, obviously."

"Into the wild? By himself? His heard must be miles away by now. Are you healing him so he can be a meal for the wolves?"

Dr. Bishop stepped back, surprised that this calm, controlled woman had suddenly turned so venomous.

"It's all we can do. I'm sorry."

It was sincere. She wished it wasn't.

Nicole turned her attention back to the reindeer. She had always been the level headed one, the one who stayed calm through all forms of crisis. But the sight of this broken reindeer, not to mention the fact it was her fault, was making her hurt in places she'd forgotten could.

Then the reindeer opened its eye; suddenly, as though awakening from a horrible nightmare.

She froze.

The reindeer seemed startled, but he was looking around. With what looked like great effort, he lifted his head and observed the bandages wrapped around his middle. Then he slowly turned and looked at her.

"It's okay, Doctor-san. You can sleep."

The reindeer seemed to sigh in relief, and then he lay down and was lost to the world.

"That was amazing."

Nicole turned, rattling some instruments on a tray next to her.

"Usually when an animal wakes up in a hospital, it panics. I was going for the morphine and expecting a fight. What did you say to him, anyway?"

"I didn't say anything to him," she said, confused and bewildered.

"Yes you did. He looked right at you, you said something to him, and then he went back to sleep. Was that Spanish?"

Nicole could feel her composure coming back to her, like water becoming frozen again.

"I didn't do anything like that. I don't even speak Spanish. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have an appointment elsewhere." Nicole said all this in a warm, almost friendly tone. A couple steps to the left and it'd be downright flirtatious. Almost as if she wasn't making a quick and mildly rude exit.

Just as the operating room doors were about to shut behind her, she paused.

"Doctor?"

He looked up, brows raised and questions in his eyes.

"I'll be back tomorrow."

He nodded.

'He has good taste,' thought Natalie, savoring a spoonful of vanilla and tangerines.

She and Aesop were sitting in a hole-in-the-wall Dessert bar in what passed as the "Bad" side of their small town. Normally she wouldn't have gone anywhere near this area with someone she didn't know well, but for some reason the idea the boy trying anything was absolutely ridiculous and had been dismissed almost as soon as it came up.

And the place wasn't one she would normally go, even with people she knew well. It was on the backside of a particularly small shopping centre, hidden from view and extremely shady looking. Once entering, however, she discovered an extremely clean (if a bit sparse) establishment run by a nice looking old man who owned it as more of a hobby than a business.

Natalie glanced across the small, café-esque table at Aesop, wondering how he discovered the old man and his small production. He was wholly devoting himself to eating his chocolate chip ice-cream cone, looking like he was making a very serious sort of game out of it. She was filled with a calming familiarity, watching him catch the melting treat with his tongue at every turn.

"You're very good at that."

Aesop looked up, but the majority of his attention was still focused on the dessert.

"Thanks. Years of practice."

Amiable silence settled in the spare chair at their table, making itself comfortable. Things stayed that way for a while, the only sounds being made by the eating of ice-cream, until Natalie decided enough was enough.

"So, what are you majoring in?" she asked.

"Engineering. Minor in Mechanics."

"Interesting. You like to build things?"

"Yep. I was always taking things apart as a kid. Drove my parents nuts."

He gave his ice-cream a large lick, flattening it into the top of the cone.

"You?"

"Meteorology. I don't have a minor."

"Lots of required classes?"

She nodded, spoon hanging from her lips.

"I don't want to go on TV and announce the weather. I just want to know more about it."

Aesop nodded, than bit a huge chunk out of his ice-cream cone.

"You don't seem the type."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

He shrugged. "I just meant you don't seem like the type of person who can put on an act for too long. Too real for that."

The silence coughed, shifted, and became awkward.

"S-sorry! Did I insult you?"

"… No. Not really." A small smile tugged at the corners of her mouth.

He sighed with relief, than crunched the last bit of his cone with a great sense of satisfaction.

"So, going to the concert tomorrow?"

"Don't know. Maybe." She looked distant, but than some pieces clicked together in her mind, and what could only be described as a sadistic grin appeared on Natalie's face.

"Are you coming onto me?" she said, reminding Aesop of a cat who had just spotted a mouse. "Really, asking me on two dates in less than 48 hours! Have you no shame?"

"But- I didn't… I mean-"

"It's alright, I forgive you. But as punishment for trying to take advantage of an innocent young girl, you are going to pay the full bill." Natalie chuckled evilly, slightly on purpose and slightly not.

Aesop rocked back in his seat, gasping in a perfectly overdramatic way.

"Could this have been your nefarious plan all along?" His face mocked shock while his eyes laughed in ridiculous delight.

The act held for another second, than their laughter burst through and shattered it. Insane giggles belonging to children much younger than them filled the small dessert shop, attracting the attention of the owner reading a newspaper behind the counter. He smiled cynically to himself, marveling at the high of young love. Made him wish he was 60 years younger and glad he would never have to deal with that shit again.

End Chapter Three

AN: To all wondering why Zach and Sam's meeting wasn't more explosive, they have talked for a grand total of 5 minutes since being introduced. There is no way to piss someone you just meet and exchanged less than a hundred words with unless you were really trying. Which they weren't. Logic dictates you would try to have a good relationship with the guy you would be living with. But don't worry; nerves will be gotten on soon. *Grins and rubs hands manically*

And for the record, I don't ship Nami and Usopp. I just like to put them in scenes together because they interact well. I DO, however, ship Natalie and Aesop. … I can't help it! They're just SO CUTE TOGETHER! *Squeals in Fangirlish Delight*

As for Larry, I haven't forgotten about him. He just isn't doing much of interest right now. I promise he'll become very important later!