Silver Lake

Two months had passed since the shooting incident, in that time Sam had used her considerable connections to set Turner up with one of the best psychiatrists in Canterlot. Turner of course wasn’t too keen on the idea of seeing a ‘shrink’, but after the first couple sessions he honestly felt like they were working. The trips to Canterlot proved to be an annoying part of his life, as he was often away from home for three days a week. It was all necessary though, in order to help him get back to some form of normalcy. After the first month he had gotten the shakes under control, and by the end of month two he was able to carry his gun again without breaking down.

Sam had been busy as well, the trucks that she had been working on producing were finally up for sale. They were selling very well, mostly among farmers and moving companies, but Sam knew that would only be the beginning. Indeed, she had even received several requests for more information from the Equestrian Government as a whole. Every trip she made to Canterlot usually had her talk to at least one pony looking to get in on a piece of the action. However, most of her concerns weren’t on the considerable profit she was making, or even the possibility of scaling up Turner’s model airplanes to full size…

The clouds over central Evergreen County were heavy and dark grey, thunder rumbled in the distance and every so often a bright flash of lightning would fill the horizon. Silver Lake was mostly shuttered, stores were closed and the mainstreet was completely empty. Even the Sheriff’s Office was surprisingly bare. The only pony inside was the Sheriff himself, his eyes locked on the front door.

North of town a ways, the barn on the Human Homestead was far less vacant. Within the building, Deputy Turner was feverishly hammering wooden planks up onto some of the smaller holes in the ceiling. He held the nails in his teeth as he quickly put up board after board to ensure that any leaks he had missed wouldn’t get worse. The loft he stood in was covered in tarps, he had already set down a couple buckets in the trouble spots, and down below his truck was parked safely and securely beside his workbench.

“Paige! Hurry up! The storm’s way too close for comfort!” Turner heard Sam’s voice call up from below, he looked over and saw her standing in the doorway of the barn. The man looked back at the plank he was working on, it was the last one he could manage to finish. He’d have to hope the rest of the roof was leak proofed enough. He tossed the rest of the nails into one of the buckets and climbed down from the loft, once down he tossed his hammer onto the workbench. Outside he could hear the intense roar of thunder, the distant sound of falling water told him that soon the torrential rains would be upon them.

“Let’s go!” Turner said, walking towards the door while adjusting his overalls and grabbing his jacket from a nail that served as a hook near the door. “Come on!” Sam walked with him as he closed the door to the barn behind them, the rain was starting to come down rapidly at that point. With a grunt he held the jacket over Sam, keeping her dry as they swiftly made their way back to the back porch, up the steps, and into the house. Freezing cold rain began to pour down outside the house, almost as loudly as the thunder it splattered against the ground. The sound of the downpour was akin to a steak sizzling as it cooked, accompanied by the fanfare of thunderclaps and the flashing lightshow of lightning.

“Those guys at the weather factory need to seriously work on their quality control. This is the second rogue storm we’ve had this year.” Sam said as she removed her slightly damp cloth jacket, she ran a hand through her hair and turned to look at Turner. She giggled slightly when she saw that he was soaking wet, a bit of his hair had been matted down over his eyes. With a huff he blew a bit of air up and cleared it out of his vision, then rubbed his somewhat stubbly chin. “You can’t sit on the couch, not soaking wet.”

“Can’t I just stand here for a bit?” Turner said with a sigh, Sam shook her head.

“You’re dripping all over the floor!” She replied, Turner looked at her for a moment before he sighed and nodded. “Come on, there’s clean towels in the bedroom. I’ll start heating up some soup and we can settle in to watch a movie.” Turner briefly thought about it, then nodded with a shrug and started to walk towards the bedroom. “And Paige?”

“Yeah, hon?” Turner looked over his shoulder at her.

“I love you!” Sam said with a warm smile, Turner smirked quietly. “Now go, you’re still dripping!” With that the Deputy turned and made his way through the house, he passed down the hallway towards their bedroom just as he usually did. The hallway was lined with a couple paintings, the very paintings that had hung in the living room of his apartment before he had moved in with Sam. The thundering noise outside told him that this rogue storm would be a long one, it would likely last through the rest of the day and the whole night. A night alone at home with Sam, likely huddling around the fireplace or watching a movie, Turner liked the sound of that and where that might lead.

Once in the bedroom Turner stripped out of his wet clothes and changed into a simple white tank top and a pair of sweatpants, after all he didn’t plan on going outside that night. With that taken care of he walked to the bathroom to comb his hair a bit more presentably. His Sheriff’s Deputy tattoo still looked good, at least to him, which prompted him to briefly consider getting another… Of course, Sam would likely freak if he did, unless… No, he didn’t have time to think about stuff like that. With his hair in order and everything else complete he tossed his wet clothes in the hamper and walked back out into the living room.

In the kitchen it seemed Sam was heating up a bit of chicken soup that they had left over from a couple nights prior, which prompted Turner to walk towards the fireplace and kneel down in front of it.

“Hey, you want me to start a fire?” Turner called over his shoulder, as expected he heard the familiar muffled ‘Yes’ that came from the kitchen. With a slight smile he grabbed a couple pieces of wood from a stack near the brickwork of the chimney. He put the logs in place and added a bit of kindling from a nearby burlap sack which contained dried twigs and the like. With a practiced hand he lit the kindling and blew on it a couple times until it was burning. Not long after he had placed it back into the fireplace the pieces of wood were starting to catch alight. The man rubbed his hands on his pant leg for a moment, with a sigh he walked to the couch and took a seat while watching the flames grow brighter.

After some time passed Sam walked out of the kitchen with two bowls of soup, which she gingerly placed on the dining room table. Turner stood up and walked over to take a seat while Sam put down a couple spoons. The thunder and rain outside was louder now than it was before, and it seemed it would only get louder as the day went on until finally the storm passed. They sat across from each other, the steam rising from the bowls of warm broth placed before them.

“So, I was talking to the Sheriff when I was in town earlier today.” Sam said, prompting Turner to look at her with a raised eyebrow. “Seems that they’re finally starting to see some new funding, you might have some new deputies when you go back.” Turner nodded quietly and blew on his soup before picking up his spoon and taking a spoonful. It was a little hot, but not too much, just perfect.

“That’s good…” The man said, staring down into his bowl quietly. “I’m glad he’s getting help, I hate being out of work this long.” Sam sighed sympathetically before she too took a sip of her soup, the warm broth was just as good as it had been the first time they had had it. “Doctor Clear Sky says I’m still at least four months away from full duty…”

“Personally, I’m glad you’re home.” Sam said as she enjoyed her soup, she watched Turner quietly stir his, something he occasionally did when in deep thought. “I get to spend a bunch more time with you, and I haven’t been getting any complaints about you spending more time with me.” The woman waggled her eyebrows at him, he smiled back at her and stopped stirring the soup in his bowl.

“It has been nice, but we both know that we’re both going to go crazy if I’m stuck at home for too long. There’s not really a lot for me to do.” Turner replied, Sam shrugged her shoulders as she heard him say that. In all honesty she enjoyed his company now that he was home more often, but she knew that it couldn’t last forever. “I have enjoyed helping you with that plane idea you had, though I still think you should start with something smaller… Like an ultralight.”

“Well, tell you what, if you build me a working ultralight I’ll have a better idea of what kind of materials and processes are involved.” Sam said with a smile, lately she had been giving him tasks to help him drive out the dark thoughts that pervasively infested his head from day to day. The Doctor had made it clear that until they could get his thoughts under control the best they could do was minimize the amount of time Turner spent thinking about them. “Just… Don’t take it for a test flight while I’m here.”

“I’ll keep that in mind, if I decide to make it.” Turner nodded as he continued to eat his soup, the conversation from that point on shifted to some of the more mundane subjects of the day. Did they have enough milk? Had Turner heard the latest gossip around town? All topics that helped pass the time as the eventually finished off their soups. Even as their bowls sat empty on the table Turner and Sam talked the the hours away. The sound of the round outside accented their conversation as the light gradually started to fade outside. Turner would occasionally get up to tend the fire, and eventually the two of them moved onto the couch to continue their discussion.

“Did you read the paper today?” Turner eventually asked, that had been a subject that Sam had intentionally been avoiding. Mainly because the headlines were somewhat concerning, at least to her.

“Yes… I saw, though… It doesn’t really affect us.” Sam said, Turner raised an eyebrow at her, as if she had somehow read a different article than him. “What the Griffon’s do in regards to their neighbors isn’t our business.” She briefly looked over to the paper which she had placed on one of the unused dining room tables.

“It’s not some dispute over who has the prettiest garden, Sam…” Turner said in a somewhat serious tone, which made it all the more surreal for Sam. The headline in question had to do with an incident between the Saddle Arabians and the Griffons, specifically the Griffons had stationed at least four thousand combat troops on the border for ‘War Games’. The Saddle Arabians had seen it as a threat and so they moved their own army in to defend against a possible invasion. Tensions had risen, several shots were fired, but cooler heads prevailed and the incident didn’t devolve into a full on shooting match. “A border skirmish is pretty serious, that’s why we have fences. Good fences make good neighbors. That’s the kind of thing that needs to get nipped in the bud, maybe send a couple of our own troops over there to make sure they play nice.”

“My mom would flip right now if she heard that… I can hear her now. ‘My daughter is dating a right wing knee jerk reactionary! Where did I go wrong?’.” Sam replied, Turner chuckled faintly and put an arm around her.

“You seem to really care about what she would think of me… Does it really bother you that much?” He asked, Sam nodded quietly. “Why?” The crackle of the fireplace filled the air with soothing warmth, even as the rain poured down outside Sam felt comfortable enough to talk.

“My parents were just really critical is all…” Sam said with a sigh. “Everything I did had to be perfect or else it wasn’t good enough. ‘You got an ‘A’ on a test? Why isn’t it an ‘A+’, Samantha?’.” Turner hummed quietly, his eyes looking deep into her own. “I kinda do wish they were here though… Mainly so I could watch their heads explode.”

“I'd even be wearing a full uniform while you told them, if you think that'd help.” Turner hugged Sam closer, prompting her to smile and nestle in against his shoulder while the night fell around the house. The darkness of the room was only broken by the flames in the fireplace, the crack and pop of the burning wood was just as soothing as the sound of rain outside. “So… Do you want to put on that movie?”

“Nah…” Sam nestled a little closer as she spoke, Turner didn’t protest and put his arm around her in a gentle embrace. “We could do something a bit more active though…” She was looking up at Turner with her bedroom eyes, her hand moved to his cheek as she leaned up and kissed him. He kissed her back, putting a hand on the back of her head and holding her as their lips continued to press against one another. After a couple minutes Sam pulled back, her cheeks flushed. “Do you want to do this here, or in the bedroom?”

“Here is good…” Turner’s voice was somewhat confident, and Sam could tell that he needed to blow off some steam. As it turned out, so did she. With a smirk Sam leaned back in and started kiss him once again. Perhaps the rogue storm wasn’t such a bad thing after all.