Johnny turned his head when Sammy walked back into the office. He stood giving her a brief once over. She wore a gray t-shirt that said "Free Hugs" in graffiti style on the front. She wore boot cut pants that accented her legs and waist perfectly with a pair of Converse that matched the colors of the lettering on her shirt.

"I'm ready."

"You look great." Samantha grinned and nodded her head in thanks. She waited for Johnny to approach her before she turned to her friends.

"If you burn the place down make sure it looks like an accident." They gave her a mock salute. Johnny allowed her to leave first trying to show a little chivalry. Samantha didn't even seem to react to it. They walked downstairs to run into the guy that had let Johnny in earlier.

"Hey, boss, I got the inventory list for the kitchen and the bar." Samantha didn't stop walking, making the cook follow her and Johnny. "I also have my cousin ready for his performance in a couple days. He wants to come down and talk to you and check the place out so he can figure out the best setup. Also Lou won't be in today so we're going to be short on security tonight so Zeke is going to have to work again tonight. Personally, I think you need to get rid of Lou, but you're the boss. Food is looking good running real low on spices, but the order is already sent and it should be here before we open tonight. Little low on whiskey, but that can wait for another day. Uh... I think that about covers it. Oh, who do you want to do interviews for new waitresses?" He talked fast going through each item by the time they reached the front doors. The last part stopped Samantha and crossed her to turn to him. She glanced at Johnny then sighed.

"I completely forgot about the interviews. When is the first one?" she asked rubbing her temple.

"Pretty sure it's three thirty."

"And how many do we have?"

"Three." Samantha sighed again and looked at her watch then to Johnny.

"You have really horrible timing, Johnny do you know that?" Johnny grinned and crossed his arms.

"Oh, so it's my fault you're ticklish." Sam pointed a finger in his face telling him to shut up. Sammy looked at her watch then groaned.

"I'll have to be back here around three in order to do interviews," she said to Johnny. The chef raised his hand.

"I can do the interviews." Sammy gave him a bright smile and Johnny could have sworn he melted right next to her. He wasn't even sure what it was about it. It was just an ordinary smile, but it was on the lips of one of the most beautiful women he had ever seen in his life. He stopped himself giving her a once over.

She wasn't dressed like a supermodel by no means. She wasn't even showing her cleavage. She wore hardly any make-up. No, she wasn't beautiful; she was absolutely gorgeous and she didn't even need to try.

"Look, Jason, it's not that I don't trust you, but I don't trust you. Remember what happened the last time I allowed you to conduct the interviews?" Jason looked beyond her as if having a flashback then shivered.

"I don't trust me either. What about Chris?"

"He isn't high enough on the corporate chain."

"Benji?"

"I have him and Zeke doing the rest of my job today." Jason put his hands on his hips.

"If they're already doing your job for the day so you can go on a date," he paused for a moment then looked to Johnny. "I don't like you by the way, you cost me twenty bucks." He turned his attention back to Sam. "Then why can't they conduct the interviews?"

"Because they're supposed to be off today which is shitty because now I'm going to have to ask Zeke to work again tonight, I also can't tell them they need to fire someone for me, then I'm going to have to make up some now hiring signs for a new security position. Now, I'll be back around three." She grabbed Johnny's wrist and dragged him out of her bar.

"Look, if you want to reschedule we can. You sound like you have a lot on your plate for the day." Sam laughed. Johnny stared at her for a moment wondering if it was a sarcastic laugh or a genuine.

"I own my own business, Johnny. It's like this every day. So, let's go ahead and get this over with." Johnny frowned looking at her. He could understand that she was stressed about the upcoming events that was her day, but she sounded a little bitchy towards him. He didn't like it. Not in the least.

He held his hand out towards his car. He decided he wasn't going to bring any of his more expensive cars with him today because he knew that she wasn't going to be impressed by it. So instead, he brought his Acura. Sammy stared at the car for a moment then looked up at Johnny.

"What no Lamborghini?" she joked. Her smile was back and Johnny couldn't help but smile back.

"Oh come on, I know better than that. You're not the type of woman whose panties drop at the sight of an expensive car." Sammy gave him an evil grin.

"To be fair, you have to have panties on in order for them to drop." Johnny froze at her comment. Did she just say what he thought she said? If so, he had to push it off like she had just made a casual comment. She was not like all those other girls who would go and put wet panties in your hand and tell you to follow them to the nearest bathroom stall.

"This is true," he said as casually as possible though he was pretty sure his voice squeaked worse than when he started going through puberty. Sammy grinned and slid into the car. Johnny ran around to the other side and got in himself. As soon as he turned it on, Sam reached for the radio and turned it on.

Johnny watched her as much as possible since he was driving through some pretty busy streets. She flipped through each station that he had on the presets and listened to the music on each one. Johnny watched her curiously as she did so. He wasn't sure what she was doing.

She nodded her head, turned off the radio, then looked out the window. Johnny narrowed his eyes.

"What did you do that for?" he asked unable to keep quiet about it any longer.

Sammy turned to look at him with a small smile. She stared into his eyes and saw the flash of fire in them. She narrowed her eyes, but didn't mention it. She still wasn't sure if he was aware if it was happening or not. He very well could have been doing that on purpose to keep her interested in some way since he couldn't do it by his conventional means.

"They say that you can tell a lot about a person just by going through the presets on their radio." Johnny hummed in understanding.

"And what does my presets say about me?" Sammy turned her head back out her window to watch the buildings pass by. It was still a little overwhelming for her to be in the middle of a big city like New York. She was just a simple little backwoods type that moved to New York to live out her dream of owning the most successful bar in the country. She came from a town of less than one thousand people. Everyone knew everyone in someway. In New York, there were millions of people. Sometimes she wondered if she would wake up one morning and everything that she had would just be a dream and she would still be stuck back in West Virginia working at the local pizza parlor.

"It says you have a wonderful taste in music so you can go ahead and put a line in the win column." Johnny smiled at shook his head.

"I'll take it." He heard her chuckle.

They finally made their way to the diner and found a booth over in a corner away from the rest of the crowd so they could have a little privacy. Johnny didn't want to be too far out in the open for fear of being swarmed by people wanting pictures and autographs and the works. He really didn't mind it, in fact, he loved the attention, but today was not a day for that. No, today was just going to be about Sammy.

Sammy slid into the booth giving a kind smile to the waitress who was waiting for them to get situated before taking their drink orders. Sammy ordered coffee black and a glass of water. Johnny ordered a soda. He stared at her for a moment to which she returned the stare as if they were both sizing each other up. Sam sat back in her booth getting comfortable.

"Can I ask you a serious question?" Sammy asked as her curiosity became a little too much for her. It was something she was always curious about when it came to superheroes, but Johnny and Ben were the only ones she had ever met.

"Of course," Johnny said leaning forward. He swore he could smell her perfume over the smell of all the food and people in the diner. He realized hadn't even smelled it in the car. Was it even hers? Maybe there was a lady of the night just getting off her shift sitting near by. He took a quick glance around and saw no one.

"How did you become a superhero?" Johnny frowned slightly. It was a memory that he really didn't want to bring up. It was a very difficult and confusing time for him and his team. It nearly tore them apart at the seams, but in the end, he knew that they would be together forever.

"We were in space. We were going to study this cosmic anomaly. It wasn't supposed to hit for some time, but it was early. It hit the space station and we were all affected by it." Sammy looked down at her hands.

"How long did it take you to learn how to use your powers?" Johnny shrugged. He wasn't sure if he wanted to talk about himself. Usually women loved it when he talked about himself, but Sammy wasn't like that. He had to direct the conversation back to her. At the same time, though, she was the one that started the conversation.

"I think I'm still learning. There's still something to learn every day about my powers. We found out pretty fast that if I use my powers to their full potential there is a possibility I could burn the ozone layer up." Sammy looked at him shocked about his words. Then she grinned and he couldn't help but grin back.

"Good thing you're a good guy. Well, not a good guy, but… you know what I mean." Johnny gave her a deadpanned look.

"Oh come on, we were having a nice conversation," Johnny said feigning anger. Sammy grin turned into a smile, but Johnny learned it wasn't for him. It was for the coffee the waitress was sitting down in front of her. She waved the waitress away when she went to lay cream and sugar out to signal that she didn't need any.

"Are we ready to order?" the waitress asked a little too perky for her to be a waitress. Sammy smiled up at her.

"I am if you are," she said glancing at Johnny. Johnny nodded. Sammy turned her attention back to the waitress. "I would like the biscuits and gravy with a side of extra bacon." The waitress scribbled it down with the biggest smile on her face. She looked to Johnny waiting for him.

"I'll have the same." They fell silent as the waitress walked away to place their orders. Sammy picked up her coffee and placed it under her nose taking in the scent of it. Johnny could see the smile behind the cup as she smelled it. Johnny grinned as he watched her.

"Why do you do that?" he asked truly curious. It was an odd thing to do and she always seemed to do it whenever she had coffee. Sam gave him an odd look as she took a sip of her coffee.

"Do what?"

"Smell your coffee before you drink it." Sam glanced down at the ceramic white cup containing the nectar of the gods inside then back up at him.

"I just love the smell of it. There's no better smell in this world than a hot cup of coffee." Johnny grinned and Sam had to fight not to return it. She didn't have to fight long because the flame returned to his eyes. She wanted to call him out on it, but part of her wondered if he knew what he was doing and all just to get her worked up over something he was doing. She honestly wouldn't put it past him.

Their food came before too long and they enjoyed their food in silence. Sammy soon sat her fork down to take a few sips of coffee.

"It's good, but it's not the way my Mama makes it." Johnny grinned taking the opportunity to learn more about her.

"You're mom still live in West Virginia?" Sammy nodded her head looking a little sad over the fact.

"Yeah. I miss her a lot." There was a small silence. "What about your parents?" Sam immediately regretted her words as his eyes darkened.

"They passed away a long time ago." Sam's heart broke for him. He looked so sad about it and it was all her fault.

"I'm sorry. I didn't know." Johnny grinned at her though the pain was still in his eyes. Their thoughts were pulled away when they saw flashes from cameras. Johnny groaned completely annoyed. He pulled out his wallet and threw some money down on the table. He didn't even count it. He didn't care. He had to get Sam out of there. He knew she wasn't going to go for that kind of treatment. Any other girl and they would be all of Johnny just to get their fifteen minutes of fame.

He slid out of the booth and held his hand out to Sam who took it without question. He pulled her up and into him as he slipped her arm around her protectively and led her out of the diner as quickly as humanly possible. He put her in the car and ran to his side and slipped in and drove away. Sam had her hands on her face as her cheeks burned red.

"Oh, man, this is just great. Now my face is going to be plastered all over tv about how I'm now Johnny Storm's new love interest." Johnny grinned glancing over at her.

"But… you are Johnny Storm's new love interest." She gave him a flat look and Johnny was really glad that looks couldn't kill. She then laughed and shook her head.

"You're impossible."