Previously:

     Marco didn't say anything and Sam leaned over to get in his eyesight. "Hey, let's get you cleaned up and we can discuss how we're going to get you back home." Marco straightened up surprised, "You'll really help me get back home?"

     "Of course," said Sam with a smile. "Like you said, we're pretty blind here, so no one will question you being with me. If anyone asks you're my friend's kid. K?"

Present:

     As soon as Sam got Marco back to her floor she let out a breath that she didn't even know she was holding in. Marco had stayed really close and once they got to the Rep floor Sam stopped dead in her tracks How could I forget that this existed! Thank god they got rid of the blood tester a few weeks ago, but they still have guards that you have you show your ID to. And I doubt Marco has one! Sam was freaking out as she looked down at Marco and nearly jumped back in shock as out of his pocket he produced a wallet that held a legitimate-looking ID. He looked up at Sam with a smirk. "I knew better than coming here without this, it's already saved my butt a couple times." He said with an air of confidence. Sam was still just baffled that he had one. Just roll with it, for now, you're here. No turning back.

"Weeeelll. I'll guess we'll have to go with it, what's your name?"

"Still Marco, last name is Yul."

"Ok, if they ask your mother's name is Robin Green. She wanted you to have a unique last name. After that just leave it to me to answer any other questions about her."

     The guards didn't question much beyond just wanting to see Marco's ID and after that, the walk to her floor was a breeze. No interruption, and no suspicions. Sam was left in a complete state of shock. How?! How did we manage to pull that off? What am I thinking, doing this? Right after the incident last month, if they catch you there's no going back.

"Hey are you ok? I think we look pretty suspicious just standing here in the hallway." Said Marco, cautiously looking around.

Sam jumped out of her thoughts, "Sorry, yeah I am. Just surprised this worked is all and wondering what to do next."

Marco shrugged, "Why not go out the way I came in?"

"We can try, what floor did you enter through?"

"Not sure, but I know there was lots of steam and it was really hot. I didn't stay there very long and was trying to head down but got lost."

     Sam thought for a bit, Sounds like the water filtration based on steam.... but that's 54 floors it could be. "Do you by chance remember how many floors you went down before you got to mine?"

Marco's eyes shifted to the floor and he frowned, "No, I couldn't keep track and got scared."

     Sam got to his level and tried to make eye contact. "Hey, you did so much better than anyone could've hoped for. Those vents are dangerous and surviving on your own for as long as you have... incredibly impressive. Don't be too hard on yourself, be brave and move forward. Now let's get you cleaned up and come up with a plan. Yeah?"

Marco nodded, "Yeah."

     Leading Marco to her room she opened the door and ushered him inside. Leaving him standing the middle of her room she scavenged around for a towel and a new bar of soap that she had stashed in case of an emergency. All she had was her shower sandals and they would have to do. Grabbing a baggy shirt she turned to Marco who was still standing awkwardly in the middle of her room but seemed to be interested in her trinkets. Walking over to him she handed out the shirt to him.

"Take off your clothes and put this on, along with the sandals. I'll get them washed while you shower," she said calmly.

     Marco nodded and took the clothes. Sam turned away and looked for anything else she could wash with his clothes. Mind as well.  Giving him his privacy she didn't look until she felt his small hand on her wrist. Turning around she saw a small boy with a shirt that went past his knees, shoes that were barely attached, and his clothes bunched up under his free arm.

     Grabbing his clothes, Sam put them with her's in a bag and walked him down to the end of the hall where the washrooms were. Asking Marco outside the doors "Hey um, sorry if this is a stupid question, but do you know how to use the showers?"

"No."

     Sam sighed. Ok, let's hide him in the girl's side, and let's hope no one else is in there. There shouldn't be with how late in the morning it is.  "Ok that's fine, follow me and I'll show you how." Leading him into the shower room she was happy to discover that she couldn't hear any water running and led Marco to the furthest shower in the row. Opening up the curtain she explained to him the hot and cold knobs and where the water would come out of.

"Hot water?" Marco asked with excitement in his eyes.

Sam laughed a bit. " Yes, though be careful, you'll want to balance it with the cold so it's not too hot. It will burn your skin."

Marco's eyes widened and nodded.

"Ok Marco, I'm going to leave you here, but call out when you're done and dressed and I'll come get you. I'm just going to be at the other end washing the clothes, understand?"

"Yes."

     Sam nodded and turned to leave, still grateful that no one was here. Heading over to where they first entered, against the wall on the left, there was a small washer and dryer stacked on top of each other. Someone had left their clothes in the dryer and Sam huffed in annoyance. It was a common occurrence, people would sometimes get a load going before heading to work and just leave it for the next people to take care of.

     Sam grabbed the unknown person's clothes and set them on the opposing side counter. Putting her and the kid's clothes in the washer she stood back and leaned against the counter. Watching the 30-minute timer count down. Ah, now would the time to message Robin. Pulling her phone out she saw three messages from Robin.

Good Morning Sam. See you after work today?

Hey, don't tell me you're too busy to message me back! 

Ok missy. If I don't hear back from you in the next hour I'm coming down to your station and looking for you and I won't be happy about it!

     Sam looked at the time and compared it to when Robin sent the message. She only had a few minutes before she could picture Robin storming down the floors in a rampage. Sending a quick message she tried coming up with a believable lie that would keep Robin from trying to find her.

Hey sorry, I lost my phone among my tools and have been trying to find for the last few hours. I'm ok silly person, you can stop panicking now.

     Sam thought back to the behavior of Robin the last few weeks, She hasn't been the same since my disappearance, it's starting to get worrisome. Not sure how to deal with this new side of Robin she lost herself in her thoughts waiting for the washer to be done. After a chime from the washer, she changed over the clothes from the washer to dryer and started it up. 45 minutes for that to be done. Worrying about the boy and the fact that he wasn't done yet, she called out down the aisle.

"Hey Marco, you doing all right in there?"

"Yeeeaaah, just want a little longer please," he called out over the running water.

"No rush, take your time. Still have 45mins till your clothes are

     Sam could see the steam coming from his stall, like a wall of heat. She didn't know how the boy was handling it. Smiling to her self she recalled his surprise that he could bathe in hot water. I guess they don't have readily hot water, and I would probably take a long time too. After a little bit more time she heard Marco call out her name. Walking over to his stall he stepped out still wearing the baggy shirt and sandals. His dark hair sticking to his face and his freckles a lot more prominent. Bending down Sam smiled and poked the tip of his nose.

"Much better, how do you feel?"

"Amazing!" He said with glee, "I wish we had these back home."

     Sam Shrugged, "Come on, we still have some time before the dryer is done. I'll take you back to my room and we'll wait till it's done. " Marco nodded and followed Sam out the washroom and into her room.

"You can sit on the bed or wherever. Anything you want to do while we wait?" Sam spoke.

"Can I read one of your books?" He said cautiously.

"Of course, stay here. I'll come back when the clothes are done."

     Sam headed back to the washroom and waited. Checking her phone she got a reply from Robin and checked it out.

God lady! Stop giving me heart attacks, are we still up for meeting after work?

     Sam sighed, she couldn't meet up with Robin tonight. Thinking of an excuse she messaged Robin back.

No, I'm not feeling so well. Didn't sleep much last night. Maybe tomorrow? 

     She knew that wouldn't sate Robin for long. Sam had hoped that she and Marco would've had a few days to come up with a plan on how to get him out of the tower and she could go back to pretending that nothing had happened. However due to Robin, Sam doubted she had more than 24 hours before Robin would want to see her.

     Checking back on the dryer it had less than a minute before it was done. Afterward, she gathered all the clothes and headed back to her room, where she found Marco had curled up with a Stephen King novel on her bed, passed out.

"Alright, I can only imagine how tired you are. Take a nap and we'll come up with a plan when you wake up. We'll have to act quickly."

      Sam spent her free time gathering a few things and putting them in a bag for Marco and his journey home. Including one of her mechanical trinkets, a rabbit who's ears twitched side to side. It was relatively small only two inches big, small enough to fit in a pack.