Fred looked over the table of instruments she had, then flicked a few switches on various machines, turning them on to warm them up.
"Ok."
She snapped a pair of gloves on.
Sam
Sam knocked on the door to Fred's lab, feeling more than a little apprehensive.
Dean never would have gone for this.
Fred
Fred looked up and smiled, blushing a little.
"Come in."
Sam
"Thanks," Sam nodded to her, stepping past and into the room.
He looked around in awe for a moment. It was almost like being back at college.
"Where do you want me?"
Fred
"On um, the gurney," Fred said, busying herself with her instruments.
"I, um, may need you to take your shirt off," she added nervously.
Sam
"Ok," Sam nodded.
He started unbuttoning his shirt and he sat back on the gurney, taking his boots off so he could lay down more comfortably.
Once he had his shirt off and put it aside, he shook some hair out of his eyes.
"Wifebeater too?" he asked, "am I being electro-ed?"
Fred
"Yes, sorry," Fred said.
She wheeled the trolley over to the gurney.
"I want to run it through every filter I have. See what I'm dealing with, exactly."
Sam
"Ok, sure," Sam nodded.
He pulled the wifebeater over his head, glad he could leave his jeans on, and lay back onto the gurney.
"Would it help if I gave you some background story at all?" he offered, "or would you rather tick to the science aspect?"
Fred
Fred put her glasses on and then stuck a few of the electrode pads on his chest, hands almost shaking.
"Anything you can tell me would be helpful," she told him. "But I'm usually about the science, if you couldn't tell."
She smiled slightly.
Sam
"I figured," Sam shrugged.
"When I was six months old a demon came to me. He slit the wrist of the body he was inhabiting and made me drink the blood."
He shifted a little, uneasily. It wasn't a story he like telling.
"Then a couple of years ago I started having visions. Of people about to die. I leart there were more children like me, nd they all had different abilities. Now I'm the only one left alive, and I've started... accumulating them all it seems."
Fred
Fred nodded, silently listening and working at the same time.
"Ok, this might sting."
She wiped the crook of Sam's elbow with an alcohol swab, then slid the needle in, as gently as she could.
Sam
Sam flinched a little, purposely closing his eyes so he couldn't send anything in view flying with his telekinesis.
"Do you really think you could separate the demon blood from my birth blood?" he asked hopefully.
"Or... what if it's taken over completely?"
Fred
"I guess we'll find out," Fred murmured, filling yet another vial with his blood.
"There might be something I can develop with your blood if it has taken over. Not a cure, but, I guess... a sort of, antibiotic?"
Sam
"There wouldn't happen to be a way to isolate certain powers, would there?" Sam's eyes searched the ceiling.
"I guess demon blood is a case of get what you're given."
Fred
"Depending on how dormant it is," Fred said, filling the last vial.
She slid a sample under the microscope.
"If it's dormant, we may be able to do something about it."
Sam
"I'm sincerely doubting it's dormant," Sam said.
"Four months ago I would have said yes, but right now? No."
Fred
"Mmm."
Fred was peering intently in the microscope.
"Oh. Hmmm."
Sam
"That sound was't very reassuring," Sam's eyebrows rose.
Fred
"What?"
Fred looked up.
"Oh sorry, no, it's nothing bad, it's just very interesting actually, it's been awhile since I had anything this... interesting."
Sam
"Glad to know I'm a valuable test subject..." Sam trailed off, trying to think of possible benefits from the excursion if nothing came up.
Fred
"Sorry," Fred said again. "I just... science geek. Big one."
She took one of the vials and mixed some of his blood in with some chemicals in another test tube.
"I'm just going to try everything I can think of."
Sam
"How long do these things need to be on?" Sam asked, indicating the small patches on his torso.
Fred
"Another half an hour," Fred replied.
"Did you... did you need something?"
Sam
"No, no. I'm cool," Sam assured.
"Just wishing I'd brought a book or something."
He shifted his eyes either side of him.
"Did you... want me to try something out while these were on? Like telekinesis?"
Fred
"I was just about to ask you that," Fred smiled.
She turned to watch the monitor.
"Go for it."
Sam
"I don't want to break anything," Sam said, unnerved a little by the amount of glass in the room.
"Have you got anything that isn't fragile I could levitate?"
Fred
Fred nodded and went into her little office and retrieved a stuffed rabbit that looked like it had seen better days.
She placed it on a table across from Sam.
"If you destroy Feigenbaum, I'll jab you with another needle."
Sam
"I don't blow things up, don't worry," Sam chucked.
"At least, not yet. Do you have any aspirin?"
Fred
"Sure. Do you need it now?"
Fred looked nervous.
Sam
"No, but I will when I'm done," Sam explained.
"It takes alot out of me. How long should I do it for?"
Fred
"I'll let you know when I get a reading," Fred said. "Maybe a few minutes."
She looked at him, then back at the machine.
Sam
"Ok," Sam nodded.
He turned his head towards the rabbit and focused on it, raising it into the air about a foot.
Fred
After a few seconds, the machine began to record some activity and Fred peered at it intently, before watching what Sam was doing.
"A little longer and then I'll have a decent reading to analyse."
Sam
"Ok," Sam was struggling already, and the strain was evident in his voice.
He held his breath at short intervals, hoping that would help.
Fred
After a few minutes, Fred turned back to Sam.
"Ok, you can relax. I'll get you that aspirin."
Sam
Sam let the rabbit - which had started shaking - drop back onto the table.
He closed his eyes, panting, as he tried to get his breath back.
Fred
Fred appeared seconds later with a glass of water, an aspirin slowly dissolving in the bottom.
"Here."
Sam
"Thankyou," Sam sat up and took the glass.
He waited for a moment until his breathing steadied, then gulped it down.
"I think I might OD on this stuff eventually."
Fred
"Actually, I don't know if that's really all that possible, you're more likely to have a hole in your stomach before an actual overdose," Fred said, babbling slightly.
"Sorry, I'm a yammerer from way back."
Sam
"It's ok," Sam smiled a little, laying back to let the drug set in.
"My brother used to say I was the walking encyclopaedia of weirdness. It's good to know someone else with random facts in their head."
Fred
"Well," Fred said, almost blushing. "I mean, I loved school. Came from Texas to go to UCLA, studying physics. Then I got sucked into another dimension and was trapped there for 5 years."
Sam
"That must have been horrible," Sam said sincerely.
"But if you don't mind me saying, you don't seem any worse for wear."
Fred
"Handsome man save me from the monster," Fred said, smiling faintly as she remembered.
"Angel saved me. Brought me back. Took me in. Helped me... regain some sanity."
She walked over and gently peeled the electro pads off his chest.
Sam
"He seems to do that a lot. Save people, I mean," Sam said curiously.
"Strangest vampire I've ever met. And I've seen strange."
Fred
"It's what he does," Fred said, her eyes crinkling in another smile.
"He helps people. It's his version of penance, I think. But, I admire it. It's why I chose to stay on and work with him. Seeing the amazing things he's done and he still does for people, it's just... inspiring. I mean, with Wesley and Gunn and Faith and everyone. It's just... it's just amazing. Sorry, I'm babbling."
Sam
"It's ok," Sam assured.
"It's a fresh change, having another outside point of view. I feel like the odd one out a lot around them."
Fred
Fred nodded.
"It can get like that. Gunn and Faith are quite similar, so they get along with Angel really well. It can be intimidating."
She grinned.
"Although, I do believe that Faith is probably the only person Angel has ever been afraid of."
Sam
"Why is he afraid of her?" Sam frowned a little.
"Just because she's a slayer?"
Fred
"That might have something to do with it, but I think it's more... she's the only one not afraid to pull him up on something if she doesn't agree with it," Fred answered, moving back to the microscope.
"Also, if you ever watch the two train together, you'll pick up pretty quickly why he's a little afraid. She's stronger. And she fights dirty."
Sam
"Fighting dirty is the only way to deal with the paranormal most of the time," Sam held his arm that had been the source of the blood in the test tubes in his lap protectively.
Fred
"A good point," Fred mused.
"It's kind of cute though. Not the fighting dirty. But the way they keep each other in line. Now if only someone could control Spike the same way."
Sam
Sam chuckled.
"Yeah. He looks easy enough to tame," he said sarcastically.
Fred
Fred laughed and then adjusted the focus on her microscope.
"Everyone is hoping he'll get bored and leave soon."
Sam
"I've only spoken to him once and I have to agree," Sam admitted.
"I have the overwhelming urge to decapitate him when no one's looking."
Fred
Fred laughed again.
"He gets a bit like that."
She turned to him.
"You can probably head off now, if you like. I'll keep running these samples."
Sam
"Ok," Sam nodded with a smile.
"Thanks again for your time. I'm not exactly a paying customer after all."
Fred
Fred smiled.
"It's ok, don't worry about it. It's what we do."
Sam
"You'll let me know if you come up with anything?" Sam asked, pulling his shirt on and buttoning it up again.
Fred
"Of course."
Fred turned back to her work.
"See you around, Sam."
Sam
Sam pulled his boots on and headed for the door.
"See you, Fred."