fandomtownies | J,GOB, Saturday morning

River was in a good mood. After a visit to the junk yard to check on her spaceship, she stopped by at J,GOB for some apple pie. She waved to Mary and smiled cheerfully.

Mary was happy to see River. "How was your second day of work?" she asked. "I had planned on dropping by the lobby, but something came up." Like sleeping until 6 PM, but Mary wasn't going to admit to that.

Of course, there was no need to admit it to a psychic. Not that River minded. "It was quiet," she said. "I liked the flowers on the desk."

"Good. I hope Gunther didn't get too wacky," said Mary. He had been pestering her earlier in the week, wanting her to call up the Delines and let them know how she got injured. Mary understood that he felt guilty, but she still wanted to keep her distance from her old life.

"No, he didn't. But refused suggestions for the lunch dishes." River smiled. "You're better now?"

"Gunther doesn't like to take suggestions. The trick with him is to convince him that it was his idea to begin with," said Mary with a smile.

"I'm feeling a lot better. I just hope I don't have a scar from the tiger's claw marks," she added.

River made a mental note of that. She nodded. "Scars show experience," she noted.

"I hadn't thought of it that way," said Mary. It had been a good lesson in accepting help, though, so maybe having a reminder of that wouldn't be a bad thing.

River nodded. "You strive for independence?"

Mary raised an eyebrow, not quite sure how the conversation changed, but she was willing to go with it. "I tried to tackle something on my own when there were people who were more than willing to help me. I guess I was just ashamed to admit that I needed help," she said.

Still, she hadn't been bashful about accepting Johnny's help Monday night when he offered to carry her to bed. Mary blushed just thinking about it.

"Not easy to ask, no." River could easily understand that. And then the memory of Johnny carrying Mary to her bed made her giggle.

"Still, if I had asked someone to back me up, maybe that cat wouldn't have snuck up from behind me," said Mary, grimacing. And even though she didn't know River could pick up on her thoughts, Mary was still trying to banish Johnny from her mind. She'd spent most of the week replaying their conversation in her head, embarrassed by how much she admitted to when she let her guard down.

"Who would you have asked?" River said, spinning her coffee cup in circles on the table. It was a genuine question, but also one intended for Mary's mind to start thinking in new directions.

"John Connor in room 111 offered to help me out, and he was armed to the teeth. Seems like a decent guy. I think he came to visit me in the clinic when I was still a little out of it," said Mary. She ought to drop by and thank him one of these days.

"He likes guns? He has a problem remembering my name." Not that River found that terribly upsetting. "I got to ride a dinosaur."

"He must like guns. He certainly had a few of them," said Mary. Upon reflection, she wondered if he had her .22 that went missing after she was injured.

"What type of dinosaur? That almost sounds like fun."

"Was exciting until I fell off," River replied solemnly. "Diplosaurus."

"I don't think I got to see that one," said Mary.

"Big and not very clever," River replied. "I didn't get to see the cat."

Mary didn't get to see much of the cat either, considering it came up behind her. "It was quick and had sharp claws. I would have rather dealt with bit and not clever," she said.

River nodded. "Advantages to that. Good riddance." She took a large bite of her apple cake.

"Thank goodness it's been quiet this week," said Mary. "I wonder who long it will last."

"Not long," River replied solemnly. "It's Fandom."

Then she smiled. "Tell me about Vegas?"

Mary smiled as she thought about her hometown. "It's a pretty amazing place. It's like an oasis in the middle of the desert, except this oasis is decked out with millions of neon lights that just light up the night sky. It's like one big never-ending party."

River smiled. "I haven't seen much of Earth yet. Still a mythical place."

"Honestly, I haven't seen much outside Las Vegas," said Mary. "I grew up there and until my little family crisis, I was afraid to leave."

"Families cause complex emotions," River said, nodding. "I like this place."

"Fandom's been good to me so far, except for the dinosaurs," said Mary. "In some ways, it wasn't healthy for me to stay in Vegas when there were so many disappointments and bad memories."

"Moving away from memories can be a good thing," River agreed, sipping her coffee.

"Moving away from the bad ones is good. It's tough to leave behind the good ones," said Mary, thinking about Sam and hoping that she was doing okay.

Nodding again, River asked: "Tell me about Sam?"

"Sam?" asked Mary, looking a little startled. She hadn't remembered saying anything about her yet. "She's the top casino host in Vegas and the toughest girl I've ever met. But she just went through a horrible ordeal. I heard from another friend the other day and he said that she was having a tough time. Plus her husband just died." Which was a little weird, because technically Casey was Sam's ex-husband, and he was dating Mary for a while after the divorce, so Mary wasn't sure which one of them qualified as the grieving widow.

River nodded. "I miss my brother when I'm here."

A.J. was a little torn. While he wanted to go into J,GOB and place an order for doughnuts and pastries for the auditions tomorrow, he felt bad about it, because he and Anemone hadn't gotten a chance to go these together yet. But, he told himself that, if he didn't get anything for himself and only place the order, then it still would keep it so that he'd be actually eating there for the first time with her, right? Right.

She he pushed open the door and started to take a look around before getting in the order for tomorrow.

Oooh. Pie.

Mary didn't recognize A.J. and thought he was probably another new student she hadn't met. So she gave him an inviting smile. Maybe he would say hi so she could introduce herself?

A.J. caught the smile and returned it a little shyly, lifting his hand in a wave to the woman before it ducked back in his pocket and he shifted a little nervously between his feet while waiting.

"Nice day, isn't it?" asked Mary. Hey, she had to break the ice somehow.

"Yeah," A.J. smiled a little. "Not even too hot like it has been..."

"Hey, this is balmy compared to what I was used to in Las Vegas," said Mary.

Why did his voice sound awfully familiar? It was too bad that knock to the head from last weekend was still playing havoc with her mind.

"I'll bet," A.J. let out another small smile. "I'm only just from Jersey, so it's not that different for me."

"I've never been there," said Mary. They once asked her to go to the Montecito Atlantic City for a week, but Mary had other commitments at the time.

"It's not bad," A.J. said. "It's a small state, so you can do everything in about two days. I've never been to Vegas, myself."

"I grew in Vegas. It's amazing, although they don't have dinosaur attacks," said Mary.

Laughing a little, A.J. offered, "I don't think many places actually do, yeah. Lucky us, right?"

"Thank goodness," said Mary, absentmindedly rubbing her leg where the saber-toothed kitty had clawed her.

"I'm Mary Connell, by the way. I run the Arms Hotel."

"I'm A.J.," he introduced himself back, idly brushing the hair out of his eyes. "Nice to meet you, Mary. I, uh, well, I work over at the diner, although not exactly impressive as running a hotel."

"Hey, the diner's still a nice place. I eat there when I've had enough of fancy hotel food," said Mary.

"You should stop in on a Sunday or a Wednesday, then," A.J. said, beaming a little. "Those're my days. Guaranteed great service."

"I'll keep that in mind," said Mary, smiling back.

J,GOB, Saturday morning

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