John was happy to see the pizza fell in good taste with his fellow alien. As he was taking a slice of pizza he watched 'Teen Titans, go' from the corner of his eye. Even though he wasn't concentrating on the storyline he was still terribly annoyed by Robin, like he always had been before. He felt strange for a number of reasons, first of all Henry had never enjoyed his pizza as much as the two new guests seemed to. Secondly, this was the very first time there was a girl in his house. Sam had been allowed by Henry before, but never had he allowed any girl on the premises. Although coming to think of it, none of the girls they met before were Loric.
John was thinking of the attack from the Mogs earlier. He was wondering if it was still save in Paradise. He knew the answer, and he knew what to do about it. Fleeing was something he had done for years, not just second nature, but more first default. And now more than ever he wasn't looking forward to the next move. He hadn't been in one town for this long in years. He'd gotten used to the people, he teachers, and most of all the take away meals from Lin-Wah.
Him introducing himself had been the first attempt to a conversation so far. He had thought that Sam would have been the one to ask all sorts of questions, but he was surprisingly quiet. John thought it might be because Sam was scared of what was going to happen. He had the feeling Sam never really had friends before John came along and that he was afraid it would change back when John and Ashley would hit the road.
"Well I'm Ashley, Ashley Smith. Seems both our guardians were 'uniquely' unoriginal." John had had many names before. Smith, Jones, Johnson, all of them just as plain normal as the next. Smith had somehow stuck to the first name John, as if the name had some historical meaning. Henry had kept that up since it was just about the most common name in the United States. John guessed he could choose any name he wanted to, but he had grown so used to John Smith that he did not want to change it.
John seemed to have broken the ice with his introduction. Ashley caught her voice and started laying out the plans for the next day. Listening to the plan John realized this was not her first rodeo.
He actually got excited when Ashley mentioned NY and DC. Henry never took him to the big cities. It had been an endless list of small-towns and forgetful hamlets. His initial excitement was gone quickly after Ashley admitted it was just a rouse to keep the Mogs off their tail. He didn't like the sound of North, it meant it was going to be colder, and he hated colder. He wanted to interject and maybe offer a counter proposal like Florida, but before he could, Ashley mentioned going into Canada. John was startled: "Don't you think Canada is overdoing it a bit...?" It took a few seconds before he realized that she said finding number 7. "unless you have a better plan?"
"Wait, wait, hold on... Finding number 7? Why are we looking specifically for 7? Do you have any idea where he is, is he in Canada?" He just was getting used to the fact that he met number 6, and now he was going to chase after another one. He felt blinded by 6's knowledge, her dedication and the fact she seemed to do it with ease. John was impressed, but not nearly as much as Sam was. His eyes had only grown bigger as the conversation went on. Ashley apparently didn't notice it as she gave him the quick and short. "You're a liability, if a Mog got a hold of you they'd make you crack in five minutes. I suppose it would be better to keep you in sight than have you stay here, but I don't know." Sam just stared her in the face, not finding the words to reply. John interjected: "Sam, snap out of it. Go home, get two bags of clothes and come back. If you want to tell your stepfather and mother anything, just tell them you're going camping for a few days. Here...," John grabbed the keys from the counter and threw them at Sam, who caught them without thinking,"use my car, and call me if something's wrong. We'll come to you as soon as we're done. We really need to go."
Without being told to, or not to, Ashley started packing the computer stuff. John sprinted upstairs to pack his own stuff. Thankfully there wasn't much for him to pack. He had been here for a while, but after learning from previous experiences he had never unpacked. He just grabbed the things that were left in the laundry and put them in a plastic bag. He would wash them in Ashtabula, or Canada, wherever they would have the time for it. In 5 minutes he had his stuff in the back of Ashley's car, while she simultaneously put in the silver suitcases that had belonged to Henry before. It made him realize there was a room he had not yet packed, Henry's old room.
Standing in the middle of it he realized now more than before that Henry was gone. He was a bit scared he was clinging onto Ashley a bit faster than he should. It was just so damn easy to not be in charge. On the other hand he did feel guilty. He was the man, he had powers, shouldn't he be the one leading?
The two suitcases belonging to Henry were under the bed. He almost panicked about the Loric box, until he suddenly realized it was at Sam's house. The box could only be opened by a Cepan together with one of the Loric children. The only way around this was for the Cepan to be dead, and come to think of it, he was. John would be able to open it by himself, but he felt no need to. In fact it scared him a bit. With the suitcases he walked down the stairs.
Down the stairs Ashley was waiting for him. "Are you ready to go? You can lead the way if that's okay, since you probably know this backwards state better than me." John looked around to see what else they might need. "Well, except for the groceries this is it. I'll just grab the power bars and drinks, I think we can leave the rest. Unless you like meats roasting in the back seat?" When they walked out of the door with the last things Bernie walked out with them. John had only met the dog in Paradise, but he wouldn't dare leaving him behind. Holding open the door the dog jumped in.
"Okay, I'll drive to Sam's for now. I thought we could maybe sell one of the cars when we pass through Cleveland. Maybe to someone on the way to NY? The Mogs could fall for it, don't you think?" He waited for her to respond. "I don't think we need two cars, especially when we will be taking things to Canada." He started the car and quickly drove to Sam's place. "You know, it might be better to use my pick up instead of this car. It has more space and is just the tiniest bit less conspicuous than this thing."
Sam was waiting for them with the bags already in the car. John got out of the car with Bernie following him. "Sam, you can get in the car with Ashley. Ah, don't look so nervous, 1 hour ago you had more questions for her than you ever asked me." He looked in the back of the pick up to make sure the small Loric box was there. After that he got in the car and drove past the Chevelle slowly to indicate Sam could follow him. Well Canada, apparently, here we come.
The next two hours or so were quite boring. Bernie had seemingly fallen asleep on John's lap and he could feel the dog's soft breathing. They were about 10 miles out of Cleveland when John felt he needed to take a leak. He put on his indicator to the next gas station. Counting on Sam not sleeping behind the wheel he took the turn and waiting for his companions to follow him. He parked the car in the parking lot and waited for them to pull up next to him. He stepped out of the car leaving Bernie to sleep inside. Maybe they would be able to sell one of the cars in this place, although they'd need to be lucky enough to have a buyer at hand.