Chapter 5
Sam feels like he's in some sort of out-of-body fever dream.
Twenty-four hours ago, he had been laughing, watching his boyfriend's daughter wrinkle her nose up in distaste for the alligator nugget they had tricked her into eating.
Eight hours ago, he watched as that same thirteen year old little girl fought off a grown woman and then demonstrated a perfect field dressing in a speeding vehicle.
Now, Sam watched as Natalia's little boots stomped against the cartoonish lily-pads painted on the floor of the herpetarium, which she had informed them all was the name given to the area of the zoo that housed both reptiles and amphibians.
Eight hours ago, her little hands - that now left finger smudges on the glass of the spotted tree frog enclosure - were covered in her father's - who lifted her in his arms to see into the alligator pen - blood.
Or, not-her-father's blood, but Sam isn't sure that he didn't dream that conversation up as well.
"Stop that," James says when the girls run up to a giant turtle statue made specifically for kids to climb on. He slings an arm across Sam's shoulders and takes a casual sip from his bright red coca-cola cup, the majority of the girl's lunch sits abandoned on the table in front of them. The whole thing is almost normal and Sam can't rationalize it in his mind. "You keep looking over your shoulder like you're on the run,"
"Aren't we?" Sam hisses back.
"Yep," James lets his sunglasses slide down his nose as he reaches the crowd lazily, "Which is why you can't act like it." Then he suddenly pushes then up into his hair and raises the arm not wrapped around Sam's shoulders. "Stevie!" He calls loudly, gaining attention from the families around them.
Sam doesn't see the man until he's nearly on top of them. 'Stevie' is possibly the biggest man Sam has ever seen, like seriously, the dude is ripped. James stands, leaving Sam to sit in his newly normalized state of complete shock.
"Bucky!" The blond laughs, gathering James into his too-big arms and giving him a painful looking hug, complete with the overly aggressive back slaps.
Sam can't help it, it just slips out, "Who the hell is 'Bucky'?"
James laughs like that's the funniest thing he's heard all day, "'S me," He manages between giggles, "Sam, this is Steve, my best friend. Steve, this is my boyfriend, Sam."
"Nice to meet you," Steve says like he's holding back laughter just as strong as James'.
Steve pulls out the chair that Nat had been sitting in and invites himself to their table. He plops a notebook down on the table and then leans over it, hands clasped together, elbows braced on the tabletop.
"What are you doing here, man?" James' asks like this is a normal chance encounter with an old friend.
"Dum-Dum entered me in the annual art comp. here. I've been trying to draw the animals but I'm still not very good at realism. Here, look-" instead of sliding the notebook over though, he pulls out his phone, taps some buttons and slides it over.
Sam leans into James' space to glance at the phone when prompted, the photo does appear to be hand drawn but its focus is not of an animal. Instead it is a perfectly realistic, incredibly detailed portrait of an older blond man, complete with color and everything.
"Nah, these are great, Stevie." James disagrees, flipping to the next picture in the man's camera roll. The second picture is also a drawn portrait of a different man.
"My favorites the fifth one, there," Steve says, and James flips quickly to it and off again. All the pictures he passes are the same, hand drawn portraits of different people. "Anthony the Alligator, that's my best one I think. Probably the one I'll use for the art show."
Steve looks up as James and Sam do, follows their eyes to Yelena, where she's balancing on the back of a stone turtle as she calls for James to, "Look! Daddy look at me!"
"I see you, baby,"
"Jesus, is that Lena?" Steve asks, though it's not really a question. "She practically grown, Buck, damn."
"Yeah, I know. Nat's a friggin' teenager now." He sensors himself since the mother at the table across from them sent them a glare at Steve's use of profanity.
Sam is barely keeping up, he can't figure out what exactly is happening. He has to assume that this guy - 'Steve' if that's even his real name - is aware and on their side, but he doesn't know for sure and he has no way to subtly ask James.
When Steve leans in close and lowers his voice, Sam thinks he may finally get some answers, but Steve just says, "You heard from their mama lately?"
James leans his own elbows on the table, scrubs at his face with both hands. The phone has disappeared though Sam is sure it wasn't returned to its owner. "Yeah, she called to talk to Lena yesterday. Nat's still not having any of it, hates the new boyfriend. Lena's more lenient but she's little and it's her mom, you know?"
"Did Melanie say anything to you?"
"Nah, shit man, you know how it is. Mel's fighting the custody agreement like hell. She doesn't want the girls with me, still weird about the gay thing. Thinks I'll corrupt the kids or some bullshit."
"You don't think that has anything to do with the new man, do you?"
James throws a wave to one of the girls when they look over, "I mean, maybe? Yeah, I'm sure he's part of it, but she's a grown woman. They're her kids, not his. What he thinks shouldn't really matter."
"But, it does,"
"Yeah, apparently."