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Part Thirty-two

    Sam, Axel, and their parent's were not overly fond of the situation at hand.

    While the humans left them to their own devices and had a supposed "meeting" with Jamie, the family of borrowers were forced to twiddle their tails and anxiously await to see where the talk would head. As it was, Axel curled up against his parent's warm hugs, happy to see Jack and Drizzle once more after the rude disruption in his family time. The two parent's gladly accepted their son into their arms, holding on tight as if they had been parted for the first time in years. That might've been the case, but with all the recent circumstances going on in their individual lives, nobody quite had the time to ponder over such miniscule details.
   
    Sam, however, couldn't feel a thing.
   
    He tried. He really tried when he first saw Jamie enter the house, panting from the pain in his head and crying about something incomprehensible. The sight of his parent's kidnapper standing right in front of him, clear as day and yet years older than the last time he saw him, somehow broke the cord within Sam that might usually produce emotions. Instead of tears shedding or words being screamed or even a sense of anger bubbling up in his chest, Sam felt numb.

    Had he felt anything, the thought might have scared him. Rather, Sam kept to himself in the hands of Leo and left his gaze off to the distance, recovering from the fact that Jamie was there. In front of him. Four years older, but just as recognizable as the first time he saw the grubby-handed child in search of a microscope.

    Light brown hair and a pair of glasses that fogged his nightmares and forced him awake on a bad night. The same kid that plagued every trauma he encountered growing up was there, right there, and Sam did nothing about it.

    When brought to the kitchen to sit with his parents and wait for whatever to happen, he didn't speak a word. Jack and Drizzle noticed -of course they noticed- but what could they have done to help? It wasn't a problem involving a solution.

    "Sam?" A voice of a friend washed in from the arch of the kitchen, bringing his dull eyes forward to meet those of Elijah's. "Jamie wants to talk to you."

    "No way in hell," Jack replied, just as Skip and Leo entered through the living room.

    Leo figured it would end up like that. Either Sam or his parents would refuse, and he would be forced to go right back to Jamie and explain that after a lengthy conversation with nothing but other humans, his trip was for nothing. And while he was obliged to accommodate his friend above anything else, Leo had to admit that, in a way, he wanted Sam to speak with Jamie. Not for Jamie's sake, but for Sam's. Closure was not easy to come by, and Sam finally had the opportunity sitting right in front of him to receive it.

    "I'll go," Sam announced to the room, not taking the time to cherish Leo's soft smile, nor his father's disturbing disapproval. Jack looked taken aback, grabbing his wife's hand in a frenzy of anger, and yet he did not argue with his son.

    Maybe something about Sam's empty expression stopped him. Maybe it was the fact that, while he would've liked it differently, Jack was not always right about everything. The talk with Skip was undeniable proof that he ought to shut up every now and then, and so with a growl caught in his throat, Jack did not say another word. Drizzle appreciated her husband coming to his senses for once in his life.

    Leo stepped over and swiftly scooped Sam into his hands, allowing him to get situated before taking off to the living room next door. The other humans, now with the family of remaining borrowers on the tabletop, were a little less than completely awkward at the current predicament. That is, until Drizzle spoke up and allowed Elijah to come closer, seeing as his eyes never strayed far from Axel's tiny, huddled body. Drizzle also noticed the irrefutable perk in Axel's tail as Eli came to stand beside them.