Chapter Text
They must look like a group of homeless people.
Sammy mused as Gia ushered them inside. They all had to look like they hadn’t slept in days. Kenji was still holding his shoulder and a suitcase filled with dinosaur eggs, Yaz looked like she had lost a fight with a bear (thought she’d probably argue that she won), and overall, they still smelled like they had run through half of Senegal. Dirty clothes clung to their skin as they shivered in the cold Italian air. Sammy chanced a look at her girlfriend as they entered the warm house, and the smell of garlic and tomato sauce wafted in the air. Yaz still looked like she was fighting off sleep, the left side of her face still bruised from the Sucho, her arms cut up from the Dimorphodon claws, and a series of other scrapes hidden under her clothes from fighting through the lab.
Senegal had been… messy to say the least. Their encounter with Santos still played in Sammy’s head, of Brooklynn refusing to come with them. The interaction only lasted a few minutes before hell broke loose. In Ben’s defense, he only wanted Brooklynn to hand over Bumpy’s egg, but as soon as Brooklynn tried to balance the case, Darius grabbed her arm and started running, and suddenly they were all running. Brooklynn tried to break away at one point, but was promptly tackled into the dirt by a ‘definitely has had enough of this bullshit’ Yaz. Kenji grabbed the eggs as they heard the barking of Santos’s Atrociraptor, while Yaz tossed a dazed Brooklynn over her shoulder and booked it while Brooklynn protested the entire way.
Honestly, Sammy was shocked the poor girl hadn’t fainted yet. Though she’s sure Yaz was running purely on adrenaline and anger at one point, as Brooklynn continued to protest until Agent Barry got them onto the plane. Ben and Yaz had to take turns making sure she didn’t run off again. Agent Barry even questioned Brooklynn while the medics looked over the rest of the Nublar Six once they made it to the base, the agents were working out of. For the most part, they had avoided serious injuries, except for poor Yaz, having been diagnosed with a mild concussion, shocking considering how hard the Suchomimus must have hit her to leave the bruising on her face to begin with, so she had been told to rest, and knowing Yaz, “rest” wouldn’t come easily. Especially when the girl seemed to make it her mission to keep Brooklynn where she can see her at all costs. They already had one incident of Brooklynn trying to run off again, resulting in another well-placed (seriously, her girl should play rugby or something with a tackle like that!) tackle ending in Brooklynn kicking out her bad ankle and Ben having to break it up.
But that was Yaz; she was driven and determined to the point that once she got something in her head, it would be impossible to talk her out of it. Like keeping Brooklynn from doing something stupid again.
Seriously, it was like Brooklynn was making it her mission to avoid them. Even landing in Italy and their way to Gia’s place was Brooklynn being either entirely too quiet or scheming some escape plan, only to be foiled by Yaz promptly growling that Brooklynn better not under any circumstances give her another reason to chase her.
By the time they got to Gia’s, Brooklynn seemed to finally give in to her fate of sticking around with the group. Something that slightly bothered Sammy. Sammy had thought getting Brooklynn back would feel more like a victory, but honestly, she was so angry at her she could barely look at her. Gia talked animatedly to her grandmother for a moment before turning back at them with kind eyes. Gia still ushered them into the kitchen and set hot plates of ravioli in front of them. The boys were quick to dig into the meal offered to them, while Gia mentioned something about grabbing the guest items for the showers and fresh towels. Sammy sat for a moment, her head spinning with everything that had happened: Brooklynn rejecting them, them stealing the entire suitcase of eggs, them practically kidnapping Brooklynn to get her away from the broker, Kenji and Ben arguing. All of that was racing through her mind.
Kenji still seemed mad at Ben, opting to sit at the end of the table across from Darius. Ben seemed to sense he was still mad and sat on the opposite end, while Gia sat in the middle between the two boys. Nonna sat at the head of the table, a grumpy-looking old woman who seemed both confused and concerned for the group of ragtag people whom Gia greeted and ushered into the house. The only one she seemed to know was Ben, and given the looks she was giving him, she was not a huge fan of Ben.
So Sammy sat at the table, turning her attention to her own conflicted thoughts about Brooklynn, BioSyn, and everything in between. Suddenly, her heart ached, and her mind went back to when she was alone on the ranch with Yaz, not answering her calls all the time. Weekly calls that sometimes ended up being bi-weekly because Yaz was busy with some project or had schoolwork that she needed to get done. And Sammy understood that, but was it really so hard to keep a weekly phone call schedule?
Until she noticed her girlfriend had swapped their plates suddenly. She looked over to see Yaz, eyebrows narrowed, cutting open all the ravioli on the plate. For a second, Sammy questioned if Yaz maybe didn’t like the food, but Yaz was probably one of the least picky eaters Sammy knew. And she hated food waste more than anything, so it was strange to see her analyzing food with such a serious expression on her face. It took Sammy a second to notice that there seemed to be two different fillings in the ravioli; one looked like cheese and spinach, and the other looked like beef and cheese.
Yaz was cutting open each piece on her plate, sliding the non-meat ones into Sammy’s dish while eating all the meat ones. Despite the weirdness of it, Sammy felt her heart swell a bit, a small smile making its way to her face as her silly girlfriend continued her focused work, making sure Sammy didn’t get any of the meat-filled ones.
She held on to the warmth that settled in her chest. Yaz had remembered she was a vegetarian and even noticed the meat in the food before she had. It was something that felt stupid to be happy about; that Yaz had paid attention to something so small, but after being away from her girlfriend for so long, the idea that Yaz cared enough to remember something so small felt like winning the lottery.
Her smile faded a bit when she noticed the tremor in Yaz’s hands. The fork hit the plate with a clink every time Yaz cut open one of the ravioli, inspecting its insides to see which filling it was. Her dark eyes focused on the task. Sammy watched her tense the muscles in her arm, clearly trying to stop the shake while she worked.
Yaz hadn’t talked about her PTSD, but Sammy was sure getting stuck with a Sucho and a Majunasaurus hadn’t helped at all. And yet, Yaz was still holding it together, far too focused on ravioli fillings. It’s something so silly, so little, but it was a small reminder that Yaz, at least, was trying to think of what Sammy needed. Sammy just… needed more of that from her girlfriend. Especially now, as she felt her emotions whirl in her head, emotions she didn’t want to think about. Things she didn’t want to focus on.
Sammy moved her hand subtly, resting it against Yaz’s leg. The feeling grounded Sammy a bit as she focused on her girlfriend instead of the storm in her head. The brown-eyed woman's head snapped up to meet her eyes, an adorably sheepish smile appearing on her face once she was caught.
The moment was quickly broken when Nonna slammed a spoonful of ravioli on Yaz’s plate, scolding her in Italian for a moment before looking at her expectantly. Yaz only stared back at the woman blankly, clearly understanding she was being scolded, but had no idea what for.
“Nonna says you should eat the spinach ones if you want your bruise to heal,” Gia quickly translated when she noticed Yaz’s very confused look.
Nonna barked a few more sentences in Italian, jabbing her spoon in the direction of Yaz’s now completely loaded plate filled with ravioli.
“That’s my fault,” Sammy quickly intervened. “I’m a vegetarian. Yaz was trying to make sure I only ate the ones without meat in them.”
“I am so sorry, I should have asked before mixing the two,” Gia apologized as she translated the message to Nonna, who scoffed, gave Yaz one more warning look, and scooped a bit more of the meat-free ones into Sammy’s plate. Nonna speaks in a much softer tone in Sammy’s direction before turning to return the pot to the stove.
“Nonna says not to be afraid to speak up; we’re more than happy to accommodate you during your stay.”
Sammy flashed an apologetic smile, feeling a little silly for not standing up for herself before, and causing Yaz to get a little scolding before clearing up the issue. She shook her head, trying to clear the negative thought before she could hear Ben and Kenji snickering as they laughed to themselves. Ben was only being slightly more polite about it, hiding his snickers as a cough when he noticed Sammy had looked over at him, and Yaz flashed him a warning look. Kenji, like always, was more relentless.
“Don’t laugh at them,” Gia quickly scolded, swatting Ben’s arm as the two quieted their laughter. “It was sweet.”
“That’s our Yaz for you,” Kenji teased as he eyed Yaz. “She’s just the sweetest.”
Yaz’s eyebrow twitched at Kenji’s overly saccharine sing-song tone as she growled in Kenji’s direction. Sammy and Gia shared a look before rolling their eyes.
“Come on, Kenji, cut her some slack,” Darius said with a stern look. “She's concussed.”
“Concussed?!” Yaz glared at Darius as if that was the most offensive thing he could have said to her. Kenji laughed loudly as Darius raised his hands in surrender.
“That's what the medic said!” Darius tried to defend before giving Yaz a concerned look, “You do remember that, right? Because memory problems could be a side effect of a worse concussion.”
“I remember what he said! It's a mild concussion; it's not that big of a deal.”
“Isn't a mild concussion still a concussion?”
“Yes,” Sammy and Ben said simultaneously, causing Yaz to grumble.
“Dude, not with her thick skull. The damn Sucho would have a worse concussion-OW!”
Kenji jumped out of his seat as he glared in Yaz’s direction, who had an overly satisfied look on her face as she turned her attention back to her food. Darius snickered a bit as Ben rolled his eyes.
“Not at the table, kids,” Ben chuckled as Sammy shook her head, the familiarity of them all teasing each other lightening the load of emotions a bit as they tried to cling to something happier, at least for tonight.
Sammy barely registered Brooklynn’s ghost of a smile as she watched her friends bicker. Something about it felt wrong, like it didn’t feel right for Brooklynn to suddenly just be back without any remorse for the pain she put the rest of them through.
But Brooklynn’s focus didn’t stay on them for long, she was otherwise preoccupied with a burner phone that sat in her lap, obvious enough for Sammy to know it was there, but not directly at the table. For a moment Sammy wondered if anyone else had noticed. If they did, none of them said anything about it.
“You all must be so tired,” Gia quickly redirected as Kenji sat back down, rubbing his bruised shin from Yaz’s well-placed kick. “I can show you all where you’ll be sleeping after dinner!”
The group stuffed their faces like starved animals for the next few minutes, almost peacefully, despite the tension and heaviness that seemed to linger, eating away at Sammy’s little bubble until it felt like a gnawing in her insides. Her perfect little bottle of emotions felt like it was being shaken up, fizzing and bubbling uncomfortably under the surface.
“So, what next?”
Darius’s voice felt like cold water. Everyone seemed to freeze at his words. What did they do next? They effectively had the Broker after them, they stole a case full of dinosaur eggs, they crashed a plane (thought Barry seemed chill with that), were in another country, and worst of all, they didn’t have a solid way home.
“Let’s call that a tomorrow thing,” Yaz’s voice was soft, clearly trying to assure Darius in some way. Ben was quick to agree, and the group split up into their two assigned rooms for the night. Yaz and Sammy would stay in Gia’s room while Kenji and Darius stayed in the guest room. Ben offered to sleep in the living room with Brooklynn. Gia would bunk with Nonna during their stay. Sammy couldn’t help but feel a little bad about kicking the woman out of her room. Gia assumed them she switched everything to clean sheets and towels in the bathroom before Sammy and Yaz were left alone in the room. Sammy pushed Yaz to shower first, so she could get some first aid supplies from Gia to re-wrap Yaz’s injuries that had been half-hazardously taken care of in Senegal. While Yaz was in the shower, Sammy went through the first aid kit, pulling out the needed bandages and antibiotics that would be needed to properly wrap up Yaz’s injuries this time.
Sammy’s almost unerved by the calm energy of the house. She’s surrounded by muffled noises of the boys talking a few rooms over; she can hear the buzz of chatter from Ben, hushed whispers from Kenji and Darius, and the constant sound of the water in the shower. Everything sounded off. Too normal, too calm. Sammy shook her head, trying to shake off the itchy feeling beneath her skin. She decided to blame the feeling on too much adrenaline from their recent dinosaur encounters.
“...Babe?”
Sammy nearly jumped out of her skin at how close the voice was, spinning to see Yaz, hair down and damp against her shoulders, as she looked at Sammy with concerned brown eyes. Yaz had changed into a pair of joggers that had been half-hazardously tossed in her makeshift duffel bag, which hadn’t gotten any wear since they had been non-stop since they got on the boat in Louisiana. She was also in a sports bra, never one to sleep with a shirt on as she ran warm.
“Sorry,” Sammy muttered as she blinked the haze from her head.
“Do you feel okay, Sammy?” Yaz asked as her hands came up, fingertips gently grazing against Sammy’s jaw. Her hands cupped Sammy’s face gently as she pulled her closer, resting her forehead against Sammy’s gently.
Her skin is warm against Sammy’s, damp from the shower, and Sammy couldn’t help but close her eyes at the warm touch.
“You’re a little warm,” Yaz muttered as she pulled away a bit. Those darn brown eyes filled with concern almost had Sammy falling into her arms the second she blinked open her grey ones.
“It’s nothin’,” Sammy assured, “just tired.”
“How’s your shoulder?”
Sammy backed up a step and moved the banged-up appendage. It hurt to move certain ways, and she’s sure by the way Yaz’s eyes widened a bit that she’s flinching as she tests the usage of her shoulder.
“Try not to move it too much.” Yaz’s voice was firm but concerned. “Go clean up, and I can dig through the first aid kit for something to help with the pain.”
A shower did sound nice.
“We should probably get your wounds all wrapped up first,” Sammy suggested.
“I can handle that.”
Yaz waved her hand a bit, an easy smile making its way to her face, the kind of smile she gave Sammy when she was trying to make something sound like no big deal. Sammy raised an eyebrow at that. A buzzing in her stomach made her feel a bit ill. She didn’t love the idea that Yaz didn’t need her help, even if it was something as simple as her wrapping up a couple of cuts.
“You sure?”
“I’ve got it, Sam. You run some water over that shoulder. And if I do need your help, it can wait until after your shower.”
Sammy gave in and grabbed some spare clothes from her own duffel bag before heading into the small room. The bathroom is small, and the shower is a glass cube in the corner of the room. The mirror still had some condensation on it from Yaz’s shower. The air is still warm, damp, and oddly normal-feeling. Sammy couldn’t hear the boys bickering as much from the small walls. Sammy stepped closer to the shower, pausing when she noticed something in the condensation on the glass walls.
A heart is drawn into the dampness on the glass, and it instantly brought a little smile to Sammy’s face. It was a habit she and Yaz had developed over the years, in the events they didn’t shower together, the first one would draw little pictures in the mirror or shower for the other to find. If she closed her eyes, she could almost imagine she was back at the ranch with Yaz and her cows, soaking in the Texas sun while they mucked stalls and moved hay. They would shower and laze around the house in the afternoons when the sun was at its hottest, plan dinner from the comfort of the couch, or talk about everything and nothing at all while Yaz sketched or Sammy knit.
The warm water did feel nice on her shoulder, soothing some of the pain as she washed away the grime and dirt that was starting to feel like a second skin. When she stepped out of the bathroom, Yaz was still seated on the bed, though she had tossed one of Sammy’s tank tops over her sports bra as she analyzed a few ice packs that had not been on the bed before.
“Hey,” Yaz greeted softly, and Sammy couldn’t help but raise an eyebrow at the lack of bandages on her arms.
“Hey, yourself.” Sammy crossed her arms. “What happened to wrapping those cuts?”
“So… turns out that's a lot harder to do with one arm.” Yaz offered sheepishly, “So I would really appreciate your help, Nurse Sam.”
Yaz flashed a dorkishly charming grin, and Sammy wasn’t sure how she would say no to that. A rogue giggle pasted her lips before she could stop it.
“Yeah, yeah,” Sammy shook her head as she sat next to Yaz on the bed, quickly fumbling through the first aid kit to find the antibiotic and bandages needed to wrap up Yaz’s arms.
“Do they hurt?”
“Not that much,” Yaz said as Sammy applied the cream carefully, “it’s still tender, but it doesn’t burn as much.”
Sammy hummed in acknowledgement. Zayna had instructed them on how to disinfect the wounds when Yaz had gotten them. Deep cleaning the cuts had been its own hell. Yaz had been a good sport at the time as they poured unspeakable amounts of a solution Zayna’s mother had packed in case of injury. Yaz had whimpered for at least an hour after, as she could still feel the burning sensation. Thought she might have been playing it up for extra sympathy cuddles from Sammy. Which, of course, she got. And how could she not get extra cuddles when she looked up at Sammy with those big brown eyes? Especially after scaring the devil out of Sammy to begin with when she had gotten separated.
Sammy smiled a bit at the thought as she continued working, wrapping the cuts on Yaz’s arms until the only one that remained was the cut up by her collar bone, a diagonal mark from when the Dimorphodon tried to grab onto her shoulder.
“Lose the shirt.”
Yaz dared to look scandalized.
“There are other people in this house.”
“Dork,” Sammy scoffed as Yaz removed her shirt, leaving more room for Sammy to bandage the wound, “there ya go.”
“Thank you.”
Yaz’s voice is soft, gentle in a way that only Sammy got to hear. The house had gotten quieter, and Sammy could tell the boys must be asleep by now.
“We should get some sleep,” Sammy offered as Yaz shifted back against the bed, already ahead of her. Sammy felt Yaz’s hand wrap around her wrist, gently guiding her closer. Sammy’s almost surprised when Yaz pulled her until she was almost fully lying on top of her, head on Yaz’s chest, as her girlfriend let out a contented sigh.
Sammy giggled a bit at her girlfriend’s insistence, the steady sound of Yaz’s heartbeat in her ear.
“You sure you want to sleep like this?” Sammy asked as she braced her hands on either side of Yaz, preparing to push herself away, “I’m kinda on top of your injuries like this.”
No sooner did she try to push away did she felt Yaz’s arms wrap tighter around her shoulders, a noise of protest leaving her throat.
“Please?”
Sammy froze at the tone. She was expecting Yaz to fight her a bit, but she didn’t really anticipate a “please” or the way Yaz’s heart rate picked up anxiously when Sammy tried to pull away.
“I…uh,” Yaz immediately stuttered, “I miss having you this close.”
Her voice was so small, vulnerable in a way Sammy hadn’t heard in a long time. Sammy felt warm at the words as she snuggled up to Yaz, letting her head fall against the other woman’s chest and draping an arm around her waist.
“I missed having you this close, too,” Sammy muttered as she felt Yaz’s hand tangle into her hair, nails brushing her scalp pleasantly as she felt her eyes drift closed. The gentle touch was familiar, warm, enough to lull Sammy closer and closer to sleep, before she pushed herself upward again, meeting Yaz’s surprised face a moment before she pressed a gentle kiss to the other girl’s lips. She felt Yaz freeze for a minute, confused, before she felt lips move against her, a satisfied hum vibrating against her mouth, before she pulled away.
“You sure you don’t want to ice your shoulder?” Yaz dared ask when they pulled away. Sammy thought for a second about the icepacks and then shook her head.
“The water did a good job, I think I’ll leave it for a bit.”
Besides, the ice packs were within reach distance if Sammy wanted them later, and she would rather get chased by raptors than move even a fraction of an inch away from her girlfriend right now.
“Goodnight, Yaz.”
“Sleep tight, Sammy.”
Sammy snuggled back into her girlfriend, a smile forming at her mouth, and before she could stop herself.
“Don’t let the dinosaurs bite.”
She felt Yaz swat her shoulder lightly as a laugh filled the air, Yaz’s chest moving up and down with the familiar sound. Sammy felt herself laugh a bit as the two tried to settle down the noise bubbling from their throats before quickly drifting off to sleep.