fandomhigh | Fandom High Graduation Ceremony, Class of 2013, Early Saturday Evening [Part 2]

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!event: graduation

Fandom High Graduation Ceremony, Class of 2013, Early Saturday Evening [Part 2]

As the last graduate took his seat with his diploma, a faint rumble rattled the folding chairs.

The noise grew louder and the tremors grew worse and true to Fandom graduation protocols, a invisible, impenetrable dome came down to separate the graduates from the rest of the audience.

The rumble faded away into uneasy silence.

Then:

"Dig...Lett...DIG!"

Now might be a good time to see what's in those ACME boxes, grads...

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And lo, Natalie Adams had graduated! And survived graduation without a scratch on her. And getting her phone out from her pocket underneath the robe informed her that her parents were stuck at a Portalocity hub in a 22nd century Caracas.

She could actually have felt happier right now. Definitely.

Sam knew she could handle herself in a fight so he wasn't concerned about her there. But, she didn't look all that good when he saw her through the crowd of people.

He made his way over and said, "You all right?"

That wasn't a voice Natalie had expected to hear right now. She blinked as she looked up, surprised. "Yeah," she said, mostly rationalizing to herself. She'd see her parents later. It was not the end of the world.

It just sucked a lot.

"You remember that I can feel your emotions," Sam reminded, "so I can kinda tell that you're not fine."

"My parents are a hundred years away," she sighed, putting her phone away again. "Literally. In Venezuela."

Thanks ever so much, Portalocity.

"Sorry. I know that sucks," he said because he knew she did love her parents. "Anything I can do?"

Natalie loved her parents, and they had never missed any significant event like this before. She brushed hair away from her face and said, "Don't suppose you can make them magically appear."

Yeah, okay, maybe missing out on congratulatory hugs was really bumming her out right now.

"Not a power I have, unfortunately," Sam told her. "If I could, I would though. But, if you need anything else..."

Look, he was still maintaining the whole nice thing. He was trying, he really was even if there were issues still.

So many issues. Ones that made her shrug awkwardly in lieu of offering up any useful sort of verbal reply.

The things she felt like she needed were also ones she didn't feel comfortable asking for.

"You don't know or you don't wanna ask?" Sam asked because he was observant sometimes. "Want me to go?"

"If my parents were here, I'd be getting hugged and congratulated right now."

That wasn't a real answer.

It wasn't but Sam stepped forward to embrace her anyway. He wasn't her dad or her mom but he was pretty decent with hugs.

"Congratulations," he told her quietly. "Your speech was amazing."

Natalie hesitated a moment before she relaxed a bit in his embrace, then returned it, but not too tightly or anything.

"Thank you."

Because she appreciated nice words just as much as anyone else when she'd done something right.

"And I'm sorry your parents weren't hear to see it but I'm sure they're proud of you anyway," he murmured quietly. "You did well."

"They usually are," she replied softly. "Of course, they don't even know yet that I was going to do that."

Since she'd only told Peter she'd even applied.

"I know and I'm sure they'll be sad that they missed it," Sam told her. "But, don't let that get you too down. Be proud of yourself. You did great."

"And they'll probably make me recite it word for word, anyway."

Because they could be like that.

"And then they'll take you to dinner to celebrate," Sam said, letting go of her and nodding. "They'll make it up to you."

"That seemed to be the plan," Natalie replied, not really smiling, but also not really not smiling. Damn her subtle expressions. "They asked me to go meet them at the Baltimore hub. Or wait for them, as it's likely to go."

"See, you'll be fine," he told her. "You'll get your hugs and your congratulations. They'll just be a little delayed."

"Or a lot." She was going to take a book with her to Baltimore, yeah. She trusted Portalocity about as far as she could throw it, right now.

But she just looked at him for a second. Then she nodded, slowly. "Thank you. For being nice."

Sam shrugged a shoulder.

"Go wait for your parents, Natalie," he told her with a nod towards the causeway. "Have a good night with them. You deserve it."

She did, didn't she?

For lack of a better thing to do, Natalie reached out and gave his shoulder a light squeeze. Then she let go, and nodded, and turned, and weaved her way through the crowd, away from him.

Graduating had not gone at all like she'd expected it to.

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Fandom High Graduation Ceremony, Class of 2013, Early Saturday Evening [Part 2]

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