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Sam collapsed next to Cassie, panting heavily as his body came down from the most amazing high. Having sex with Cassie never, ever got old. He was pretty sure it wasn't supposed to get old but with most things you did over and over that eventually happened. Not with this though. Or rather, not with Cassie. Sam was still crazy about her and more in love with her every day. It was kind of annoying, he knew. They were that cutesy couple that couldn't get enough of each other when they first started dating. Only they had been dating for a while.

That's not to say they didn't have their arguments, because they did. Like just an hour or so ago they had been having an argument about cleaning. Mostly about how Cassie hated it. Sam hated it too, but he still did it. Sometimes it had seemed like Sam did all the cleaning and when she talked about how much she hated doing it, he snapped a little bit. He hated it too, he just still did it. Cassie could physically push herself harder than anyone he knew, but it was a huge struggle for her to clean.

So they had fought. And then they had make up sex, which was the most awesome release for all that pent up frustration and energy.

"I would almost get into a fight with you, just to go through that," he said, trying to catch his breath. Sex with Cassie, especially make up sex, could be incredibly physical.

Sam had noticed that Dr. Zimmerman was feelings less than psyched about how she looked while pregnant. Personally, he still thought she still looked amazing, but he could see how she would maybe feel a bit down about it all the same.

His shift at the vet clinic was just about over and she was coming in after him, so he was hastily writing her a card to help cheer her up.



Sam looked at the note and gave a nod, pleased with it. Hopefully she would find it after he left and it would make sure smile. Turning around, he came face to face with Dr. Mrs. Zimmerman.

"Uh. Hello. I was just... writing. Nothing. Writing nothing. Certainly not a note. That is in my hand right now."

Sam had gotten used to the hike to Cassie's place, but that didn't mean he still didn't grumble a bit when he had to make it. Yeah, it was a small concession to make to visit the most amazing girl in the world (or several worlds, depending on your experience with inter-dimensional travel) but that didn't make it fun. It also made it especially difficult if you wanted to bring your girlfriend a treat of ice cream or something.

During the Old West though, he didn't have to worry about that particular problem. It was stupid hot though, so even just jogging there was brutal. Besides that, there weren't really any athletic clothes for the time period, which meant he had to walk the entire distance in tight jeans, flannel, and boots.

Fortunately, Cassie was worth it.

"Cassie!" he called out as he approached the little homestead that was a short ways from the main section of the town. Reaching into his bag, he tossed a sandwich he had brought to Iris, hoping it would at least temporary appease the dog.

"Your incredible loyal and loving boyfriend has hiked all this way to see you. Please be appropriately flattered."

Sam felt somewhat guilty about standing outside Dr. Magnus's office once again, looking for advice. He knew that she said she was always happy to help him if she had time, but sometimes Sam just felt like some annoying kid taking her attention away from more important things. She had never made him feel like that, quite the opposite, but Dr. Magnus was... Dr. Magnus and he couldn't help but feel a little intimidated.

Still, she had never served him wrong so far and he really respected her so when something really mattered, he came to her for advice about it. He was already feeling better about the situation with Cassie and his growing feelings for her. For all Aphrodite's... Aphroditeness he had come away from their talk feeling a bit better.

But when Sam needed advice on something big, it always came back to Dr. Magnus. Knocking on her office door, he cleared his throat.

"Dr. Magnus, it's Sam. If you've got a moment I'd like to talk to you about something."

Sam was rather pleased with how well his classes were going so far. The coursework was giving him something to do and while it was challenging, he definitely had enough time to work on it all. Also, he found that it was making him appreciate his free time more, which he had needed.

Right now, he was debating on whether or not he wanted to go enjoy that free time or keep studying. He was working on a particularly tedious (at least at the moment) assignment and could use a break. But if he just got it done, then it would be over with.

"This is the most ridiculous conundrum ever," he said, flopping back against the bed. "Island, if you're listening to me, send me a sign. Work or not work? Help me out here."

Sam wasn't sure what pistols at dawn was going to entail, but he was pretty sure it would not entail a duel. Ninety percent sure at least. Eighty percent sure if he was really, really low balling it. He was 100% sure though that it was going to require pistols and being up at dawn.

The pistols were found, albeit with some effort, down in Rapture. He spent even more time looking for a decent amount of ammunition for her as well. He had even run across a bottle of booze down there that he thought she might like. It was sort of a peace offering. He'd already apologize profusely, but he figured a hard earned bottle of alcohol would go a long way.

The up at dawn part wasn't all that difficult either. Somehow the novelty of sleeping late wore off pretty quick when it wasn't a luxury anymore. Sometimes he even got up that early to go running. This morning, there was a ten percent chance he was going to get shot at. At the worst, twenty percent chance.

So maybe he was slightly nervous while he waited for Kate, but he was also looking forward to it. It wasn't that he was eager to learn to shoot, but if someone was going to teach him, he wasn't going to turn away the offer.

Wednesday evening found Sam in the Southern Clinic, which wasn't an unusual occurrence. He knew that it was Dr. Magnus' regular shift and one of the easiest ways to hunt her down. He knew that she wouldn't mind if he dropped by her hut or found her in the council offices, but he liked catching her at work on the off chance she'd have enough from time to let him see or do something especially cool.

Today, he actually arrived with some questions and some oranges. The questions weren't actually medically related, although the oranges were.

"Dr. Magnus?" he called out as he headed into the clinic.

Sam had everything ready that he needed for the excursion into the jungle with Coraline to find fruit. While he didn't necessarily need Coraline along, Sam knew how badly she had wanted to get out while grounded. Plus, she was pretty cool to have around, fun to kid around with and just be overly imaginative with.

"Alright, we've got backpacks, knife, water, snacks, rope, more rope..." he said, glancing around at all the supplies he had gathered. He was pretty sure that he had everything that he needed and then some. Hopefully they were only going to be gone a few hours, but with the Island you never knew what was going to happen.

"Now we just need Coraline."

If wasn’t exactly glad he was on the island, he couldn’t deny that he wasn’t enjoying it. That made him feel a bit guilty though, that he was relaxing and enjoying himself when his family was an entire reality away. There was no helping it, he knew that, if he could go home he would. Part of him felt like he shouldn’t be enjoying himself this much without Mikaela, and as much as he missed her and there was a real, genuine ache at the absence of her presence, he couldn’t get past the fact that he was in what amounted to a tropical paradise.

Sure, there were dinosaurs on part of the island, some people were fictional characters, he slept in a sort of common room, and sometimes the island turned into candy, but overall it wasn’t that bad. There was even free food in the kitchen, which is where Sam found himself now, having a slightly late breakfast.

Next to his plate piled high with fruit and other assorted breakfast items, Sam had set a list. The list was of things that he should or needed to do here. He could just go through the rest of his time on the island doing nothing but hanging out. Room and board were free, clothes could be found in the clothes box (even if not reliably), and there really was no external need to do anything than just exist. Which was fine, for a bit. Sam definitely needed some decompression time. After everything back home with the Autobots and then finding himself here, doing and worrying about nothing for a while was healthy. But it wasn’t a routine that Sam wanted to keep forever. He had realized lately he wanted to do something with his life, he wanted it to mean something. Sam wasn’t sure just what he wanted it to mean, but he know he didn’t want it to mean nothing at all.

“Alright,” he mumbled to himself as he bit into an apple. “There’s school. Definitely doing school. Should I get a job? Do they have jobs? Maybe Zell could teach me to fight? Because that is seriously on a list of skills it would have been nice to have back home. Not that I could kung fu a Decepticon. Maybe I should add ‘learn to use a rocket launcher’ to my list. Is that even a possibility here? Do they even have guns on the island?”