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Part Thirteen

   The next time a voice was heard, it was paired with heavier footsteps and a growl in the tone that led Leo to believe Skip had been woken up. With Sam still fast asleep on his chest, Leo decided it was for the best that he stayed put and just listened in on the conversation outside his bedroom.
   "Sleeping beauty is up!" Eli sang out with confidence, until Leo heard something resembling a smack and then a slight yelp of surprise. "Hitting a defenseless minor?! I'm calling the authorities."

   "Go ahead, I'll tell 'em you slapped me awake last night," Skip's strong voice flew through the air and bounced off the walls. "Where's Leo?"

   "Oh, get this," Elijah sounded a bit farther away, as if he cupped a hand around his mouth to whisper. "He fell asleep with Sam last night. They're still sleeping right now."
  
   Leo wanted to laugh at the connotation that he could actually fall asleep last night, but decided he was too exhausted to even move.

   "Damn," Skip whispered back. Leo heard a chair groan and could only assume Skip sat down to consume whatever breakfast Elijah planned out for them.

   "It's all sort of unreal, isn't it?"

   "Yeah," Skip said. "But I knew something was up with Sam from the start."

   "Oh, please. You thought he was a predator, not three inches tall, and don't even try to convince me that you predicted the tail."

   "No, I didn't. And I'm still beyond confused at this whole situation. I woke up this morning thinking it was all a dream, you know."

   "Yeah," Elijah picked at a full plate of food. "Me too. But I'm sort of happy it's not."

   "Why's that?"

   "Because this explains so much that I was worried about for so long, I guess. And I prayed that Sam would turn out as cool as he was online, because I had suspicions just like you. I'm glad he's still Sam," Eli explained, voice getting higher in pitch by the second.

   "Minus the few inches," Skip pointed out, and Eli laughed at that.
  
   After their conversation, Leo tuned out the rest of whatever gibberish they were speaking about, because he couldn't focus for much longer without passing out. As it turned out, that happened to be the exact moment he felt a shift on his thumb.

   When Sam first came into consciousness, all he felt was warmth. His usual nest only provided a sliver of the heat he was feeling at the moment, and he wouldn't give it away for anything.
   Until he remembered the events of the last twenty four hours, and his eyes shot open where he lay. On a huge chest, the giant rolling hills of fabric and skin underneath, and an enormous cave of fingers surrounded him.
   Sam felt utter panic for a second, and then the relaxing loll of something pressing into his back, forcing more guttural noises from his throat that he couldn't control. He was being touched, even after falling asleep, but he didn't mind it anymore.
   Was there something wrong with him?
   When Sam forced his eyes to follow up to the face of the human, he was only met with bagged eyes and something resembling a cloud in Leo's gaze. His friend looked completely exhausted, and there was no doubt in his mind that it was Sam's fault. As much as he wanted to go back to sleep, Sam figured getting up would most benefit Leo's health, and so he squirmed his way out of his grip and onto his knees.
   "Hey," Leo murmured.

   "Hi, Leo."

   "Get enough sleep?"

   "Way more than you, it looks like," Sam brought his tail up to his hands and wrung it out of anxiety, waiting for Leo to admit that he wanted Sam to leave so he could go to sleep. Instead, Leo's palm curled under Sam's feet and swept him up, earning a quiet humph escape his lips while he watched Leo's immense form rise up to the sky.
   In reality, all Leo was doing was sitting up to bring Sam to the living room with everyone else, but failed to mention doing so out of his dazed confusion. He swung his feet off the floor and winced at the cold hard wood meeting bare skin, but shook it off and stood with Sam still cupped in his hand.