She dozed like that for an indeterminate amount of time, occasionally jerking awake when a turn slid her chin off her hand and her head dropped, only to resettle quickly again. But, she startled when something bounced rudely off of her face, and shook herself awake to look around with an irritated frown. She realized it was a crumpled ball of paper, and her assailant was probably Patrick since he was looking back at her from the front passenger seat. When she made eye contact, he arched an eyebrow and tilted his head towards Rebecca, where she sat behind him looking out the window.

Sam blinked her eyes clear and looked over at Rebecca, then past her through the window to see what had her attention. Their route zigzagging across town, dodging the mess of the main highway and the causeways it overflowed onto, had taken them within sight of the local hospital, and it was a pretty haunting sight. The emergency measures were unnerving enough to look at, but time and weather had been unkind, like they had their own commentary to express about humankind. Field hospital tents were erected in the parking lots, tears hanging open in jagged flaps. Whole wings of the erratically connected buildings forming the complex were wrapped in yellow sheeting plastered with biohazard symbols, and scaffolding and decontamination "airlock" tunnels jutting from them were collapsing in on themselves.

Worse was the open space bordering the property. There was just enough twilight for Sam to see the wide swaths of disturbed ground and a pair of abandoned digging machines sunken in thawing mud, slowly being overgrown by the unkempt scrub brush.

Gah... she knew mass graves were a thing, but the sight was still viscerally uncomfortable. And on the other side of the complex, dozens of "mobile home" style trailers like those emergency agencies used as temporary housing after hurricanes... but fenced in with razor wire. She'd learned enough about checkpoint construction over the last several months that she could plainly see the gates, guard towers, and floodlights were designed as much to keep people in as out. Dear god... had it really come to quarantining people by force?

She heard Rebecca mumble something, and strained across the wide gap between the seats to get a grip on her shoulder and then reach for her face once she'd gotten close enough. "Hey. Hey, look at me." Rebecca blinked, but still had a lost expression on her face. "Remy, look at ME." Sam found herself lifting her eyebrows and tucking her chin downwards like a lecturing teacher or parent. "All that... everything over there... happened already. We can't change it. Focus on the future, what's in front of us. What's right in front of you."

To her credit, Rebecca seemed to shrug the shock off pretty quickly once Sam had her attention, and took a long slow breath. "Yeah. Okay. Just... jeez."

"I know, honey, I know." Motion caught Sam's eye from the front seat, and she saw Patrick offering a metal hip flask in her direction. Sure, what the hell. She took it, spun and flicked the cap back with the thumb of the same hand she held it in, and took a swig without bothering to ask what it was first. The sweet, smoky burn made her eyebrows rise again, and she coughed a little as she passed the flask to Rebecca, breathing deeply to air out some of the heat in her throat. Rebecca had pretty much the same reaction, but with an added shake of her head that briefly reminded Sam of Rufus sneezing... before she took another sip and passed the flask back. Sam didn't feel like a second dose and looked at Pat as he reached back for it. "Good lord. What was that?"

"Scotch with some honey n' herbs added in. 'Drambuie', it's called. I was pretty stoked to find a bottle of it a few months back, it's a hell of a lot smoother than Broadway's moonshine."

"No shit. I think you just cleared out my sinuses for a week." Sam watched him grin and take a pull of his own before putting it away, then refocused on Rebecca again. "Hey babe. You there?"

"Uh, yeah. I'm not sure how many brain cells that stuff just killed, but whooo..."

Sam chuckled as she noticed a small shiver run through Rebecca. Patrick's little concoction had certainly been a timely and effective distraction, even if it would take a bit for the alcohol to have any effect. (Though, she pondered, it very well might have just gone straight from her mouth to her bloodstream... and lungs, the way the heat seemed to linger in her chest.)

Rebecca continued. "Thanks... I just last saw the hospital months before, when it was... not like that."

Sam nodded and patted her hand, then removed both her glove and Rebecca's to get better skin contact. She kept her thumb moving gently in a continuous circle to provide a constant stimulus for Rebecca to tune in on, consciously or otherwise. "Of course, sugar. We'll be home soon. Rufus is probably gonna lose his shit when he sees us, and then we can get out of all this gear, finally put our feet up."

"That sounds like a great idea."

"Right?" Sam sat back so she wasn't pulling against the seatbelt any longer, but kept ahold of Rebecca's hand. Patrick made eye contact over his shoulder one last time, and she gave him a small appreciative nod for rousting her.

Still, she threw the balled-up lunch bag back at him a minute later once he probably wasn't expecting it anymore.

**

Rufus' tail-wagging was definitely taking the rest of his back half along for the ride when Tania, Nate's mom, let go of his leash. Apparently the two of them had been keeping each other company the latter half of the day. Last time that happened, Rufus had thrown up on the floor right after the girls had gotten under the covers. (Credit for not doing it on the bed, at least.) Such a mundane anxiety was a comfortable relief for Rebecca as Tania emphatically promised she'd only given Nate snacks that were known to be Rufus-safe, since she'd given up on trying to convince him to not oblige the big sad puppy eyes every time they were turned loose. Rebecca smiled and thanked her, and knelt down to let Rufus headbutt her, having shed her helmet as soon as they pulled into the gate. She giggled at the inevitable licking, wondering how the condition of her hair compared to when she first got to meet him in that rainy alley. A little dog spit would wash off easily enough, and much like the smaller worry of his stomach stability, was a more familiar, domestic kind of yuck that she'd take any day.

Sam took a knee beside her and joined in lavishing Rufus with affection, scritching under his collar and getting some chilly wet nuzzles in her face in return. "That's a good boy... we're home, buddy. Yes, hello, we missed you too." When Rebecca's eyes met hers, Sam was glad to see some of the usual warm joy kindled in them again and gave her a private little smile. "Better now, sugar?"

"Oh yeah." Rebecca sighed happily and buried her face in the top of Rufus's head for a moment before standing, visibly refreshed. "Tania, thanks again for bringing him down to meet us."

"Of course, Rebecca. I'm happy for Nate to have all the friends he can, no matter how many legs they have. Have a good night, I'm sure you'll sleep like logs."

Had she overheard some of the radio chatter, or was that just a mom's instincts, knowing they'd had a day? Either way, Rebecca and Sam thanked her again and wished her a good night in return before turning back to the rows of vehicles parked between the two buildings, backed up into two facing rows along the sides of the big impromptu courtyard. They walked a few spots down the row to take their place in the small crowd of tired personnel unpacking the vehicles they'd been riding in, seeing Patrick say something to Christine that made her nod and kiss him on the cheek as she patted his shoulder approvingly.

"Hey gals." She greeted them as they returned. "Enjoy putting your feet up — I'll let the boys see you to your door and catch up with you in the morning?"

They figured out what she meant as Patrick finished picking up the rest of their gear and Christine dragged his pack from the cargo bed. Rebecca chuckled gratefully while Sam spoke up. "Thanks for the loan, Chris. Sleep well."

"You too. See you in a bit, hon."

Patrick leaned to kiss her back, murmuring something affectionate they couldn't hear, and then shrugged the bags on his shoulders to resettle their weight. "Ladies, if you'd be so kind, I'll show you to your suite."

Rebecca grinned. "Such service here. Are pets allowed in the hotel? I forgot to mention him on our reservation."

"Well." Patrick looked down at Rufus, who wagged at him. "He seems remarkably well socialized and trustworthy. I think we can waive the deposit."

As he started walking to the door that Christine was holding open with one foot, Sam laid on a heavy artificial Southern accent. "My. Well, we do appreciate your consideration good sir."

Christine rolled her eyes at them before letting go of the door as Rebecca reached for to hold it for Miss Samantha and her entourage. Before they reached the stairs, Patrick made a comment about how management (nodding ahead of them towards Christine) emphasized making guests feel at home, but once they were climbing, the banter petered off while they focused on getting enough air for the four-and-a-half story climb and proper footing in the dim light. A string of low voltage landscape lights hung down the center of the stairwell, but Chris supplemented it with a compact lantern from one of their bags.

When they reached the right floor, she turned off in the opposite direction — she and Patrick enjoyed the river view without the same emotional baggage, particularly in contrast to Broadway's mostly underground quarters. As her light faded, Sam and Rebecca turned on their flashlights to better light the way for Patrick. Even dimly lit as it was, the cold hallway echoing with Rufus's clicking toenails felt appropriately like coming home to Rebecca, not the spooky movie a newcomer might compare it to. She knew a few more yards would bring them to the little welcome mat outside their door, the heavy steel originally meant to block the sounds of hundreds of neighbors providing that innermost shell of security around their cozy home, blocking out the messed up world outside they were trying to carve a decent life out of.