The number of people who believed him right off were few and far between. The number of people he’d have trusted once they admitted to believing a complete stranger so quickly in a tense situation was even smaller.

Said something about him then, that he was standing there anyway, didn’t it just?

He always preferred it when the kid was a runner. No parents to deal with then, unless they wanted to go back home. And then, well, then they made their own show of force sometimes, just in case. But acting tough here hadn’t been the plan. Calm and rational decisions, right? Get on their good side, avoid the guns, avoid the shouting, but if he’d wanted to avoid the trouble, he’d have paid attention when Prhy sighed long-sufferingly beside him after the story had come onto the TV at the diner.

He’d found the next words, small platitudes, and few extra points, walking around the issue until the time seemed ripe to throw down the gauntlet and let them decide. But before he could even open his mouth, she cut him down to size. Sometimes, he wished Prhy wasn’t so good at getting to the heart of the problem. 

The irreverence of his mind for bringing up the first few lines of Bohemian Rhapsody wasn’t helping either, and Kal raised a hand to press thumb and forefinger to his eyes, rub at his face and maybe just rub away the memories that brought a little close for comfort. Never worked though, and his grimace was plenty obvious when his hand fell back to his side. At the trailer’s steps, Prhy snorted, more to himself than anyone else, before he turned around and sat right where he was to keep an eye out from there.

“Ayuh, luv, we heard- well, nothing sure, but…” They’d held to the same certainty their waitress had when she glared at the screen and muttered about the dangers of letting them loose like that. “Been around the block a bit, yeh?”

He smiled, not too wide, just easy in the moment. He let go his worry about that gun barrel and her father, glad to note the man wasn’t trigger happy with where he was putting his finger. This was all on her, but it wasn’t her fault, just her problem. He thought he could understand a bit of what she was feeling. He wanted her to know he wasn’t judging, but he’d never been too good at straightforward serious. “My guess is y’used your words.”

The rest of his guess he kept to himself, though he wasn’t so out of touch with the world to have forgotten what two kids in a parked car might mean. As far as he could figure, no meant no. She’d just had a little extra back up, was all. He couldn’t spare a whole lot of care for a kid he’d never met who’d brought this into her life without her asking for it. 

“And us here, we can help figure that out with you. Nothing fancy and no guarantees. Isn’t ever any guarantee this life, but we ain’t riskin’ our skins for nothing, Samantha. If isn’t something we’re good for, we can find you someone else. Wasn’t no one but ourselves brought us here we heard the news. We only want to help cuz I think we can.” Well, Prhy could, at any rate. "All I'm asking is some chance to talk."

Kal spoke low and quiet, earnestly. He knew they only had the one chance to convince her. And that was half the battle won. If she didn’t want to come, she wouldn’t be. But he didn’t want to back down until he was convinced there was nothing else he could do. Her father, while armed and definitely dangerous, was not the one who’d have final say. Children could have a greater power over their parents than most wanted to admit. More importantly, Kal wasn’t afraid of a few break and enter legalities when it came to keeping kids safe. 

She looked a little older than their usual range of troublemakers, but he just figured that would make it easier, if she didn’t have so many hormones pulling her every which way. Well, he was allowed a little optimism once in a blue moon, wasn’t he?