Disclaimer: I do not nor will I own any of the Marvel or Nova franchise.

A/N: Hello! This is just a little blurb I've had in my mind for actually, years now, but never got around to actually making an account and publishing! I'm an(well was) avid reader of the Nova comic book series back in 2014 when Sam Alexander's run started, but then I sorta fell off of the series beginning of Volume 6. Imo, everything just went downhill from there, and by the time Volume 7 rolled around I just stopped keeping up for the most part. Anyways, I loved the first volume of Sam's run, and just wanted to write out how I think Sam and Carrie(Not Lina! Where the heck did she even come from!?) eventually got together in Volume 5 Issue #26: Look What the Bus Dragged In. To set up a bit of background for those who have not read that issue or the issues leading up to it, Sam's helmet has been damaged and is no longer Nova, and he now is leading the life of a normal teenager. Carrie's boyfriend broke up with her and she and Sam then finally began a relationship. Here's how I like to think it went.


It was one of the hottest days in Sam's life. Granted, he lived in a freaking desert, but this was hotter than usual, even for Arizona. Today the weather forecaster on channel 6 predicted the peak heat to reach to about 112.9°F, a record high for Carefree. Shutting his eyes he let his shoulders slump and his head fall on the kitchen table with a resounding thump.

"Ughhh…" He groaned.

Thwap!

"Oww!" He cried out, clutching his head. He heard Kaelynn across the table laughing at him. Looking up he saw his mother looming over him with a fly swatter in her hand. She had her arms crossed and a frown settled onto her face.

"Samuel Jesse Alexander! What have I told you about smearing your sweaty face all over my table!?" She yelled, exasperated.

"Not to. Sorry mamá." Sam said tiredly. He rubbed the spot on his head that she previously hit with the fly swatter. His mother sighed, and set down the fly swatter. Reaching over she rubbed the spot on her son's head she swatted and murmured,

"I'm sorry too mi hijo. Just don't do it again. Now get your backpack and get in the car with your sister. School starts in 20 minutes."

And with that Sam gathered his homework(which was actually done for once) and quickly dressed in the most lightweight clothes he could find, a pair of gray basketball shorts and a red Arizona Cardinals muscle shirt. Slipping his backpack onto one shoulder he hopped around on one foot as he tried to put his sneakers on, and rushed out the door. Locking the door behind him he swiftly made his way over to the car and sank into the passenger's seat.

"Took you long enough!" His mother laughed warmly. She was dressed in her work uniform of a yellow shirt and green pants. Starting the car she immediately turned up the air conditioning and pulled out of the driveway. "It's really hot today, isn't it?"

Both children grunted in agreement. Kaelynn started unzipping her backpack.

"Hey Sammy! Do you wanna see what I brought for show and tell?" She asked excitedly. Sam turned his head around and smiled. Nodding his head he said,

"Sure. Let's see what ya got Kae."

The little girl grinned and her pigtails flounced around as she quickly began digging through her backpack. Today she was dressed in her favorite white Avengers tank top, and purple shorts with flip-flops. She pulled out what looked like a cross between one of the beloved characters from that Disney movie she loved(and Sam was a pretty big fan of the movie too, there's aliens!) Stitch, and a goblin if Sam was being honest with himself. He remembered winning it for her in a raffle at a county fair. Smiling he asked,

"Hey what's Mr. Fuzzy Wuzzy doing out of bed so early? I thought he slept till noon!"

Kaelynn giggled and held out the weird stuffed animal proudly and beamed up at Sam.

"He decided he wanted to go to school today with me!"

"Heh, well just make sure you don't lose him okay?" Sam chuckled. Kaelynn nodded her head furiously and clutched the stuffed animal close to her chest. Sam felt a tap on his shoulder.

"Here we are! Have a good day at school mijo!" His mother leaned in to kiss his cheek.

"Mamá, don't do that! It's embarrassing." He muttered, his cheeks flushing scarlet. Scowling, his mother grabbed the back of his neck and kissed the top of his head.

"Mi hijo, I am your mother and I will kiss your cheek whenever and wherever I want! We are family, are you ashamed of showing affection for your own poor mama?" Eva cried out, keeping a firm hold on Sam's shirt collar. In the back seat Sam could hear his little sister giggling. Groaning, he quickly kissed his mother's cheek and reached back to ruffle Kaelynn's hair, earning a surprised yelp from his younger sibling.

"I'm sorry mamá, I shouldn't be so rude." He apologized, before hopping out of the car.

"See you later!"


Carrie groaned. Looking at her phone she impatiently tapped her foot against the sidewalk. Diego was supposed to be picking her up 12 minutes ago. Glancing at her device, she pulled up her contacts and raised her finger, hovering over her current boyfriend's number. Knitting her eyebrows together and scrunching her nose, she debated whether or not she should call.

Honk honk!

A car horn's sudden beeping startled her and she jumped. Whipping her head up she saw her boyfriend obnoxiously honking his horn, over and over again. Shoving her phone in her back pocket she opened the side door and slipped in the passenger seat. Diego started driving. Glaring at her boyfriend she said steely,

"You're late. Again."

"Woah babe! Chill out! I just got behind this morning!" He put his hands up in a placating gesture. All of the sudden the car started swerving into the sidewalk. Eyes widening Carrie quickly took the wheel and straightened them out. Slapping the back of her idiot boyfriend's head she yelled,

"Hands on the wheel you idiot! You're going to get us killed!"

"Kay geez! It was only for a sec!"

Huffing she crossed her arms over her chest and looked out the passenger side window. Feeling a buzzing in her shorts she took out her phone. On it was a notification from Sam Alexander, her best friend. At least, she still considered him that, even with all of the stuff he refuses to talk to her about making her mad. She's not an idiot, she knew something strange was up when his dad mysteriously disappeared. And when she met that weird glowy guy with the helmet at the skate park she almost immediately recognized him as Sam. No matter how ridiculous he tried to make his voice sound, she knew it was him. And then when she went to confront him about it later in his garage, he refused to acknowledge it, so she stormed off and told him to talk to her when he's done being a jerk. So far, that hasn't happened yet. Sure, he asks her to help him watch Kaelynn from time to time and they had few awkward mini conversations in the hallway, they weren't nearly as close as what they used to be. Unlocking her phone she went to messages and found a text from Sam saying,

7:08 am Today

Hey Carebear! I know it's been awhile but I was hoping we could hang out sometime? Like how we used to? I think I'm ready to talk about things.

Carrie snorted and typed a quick reply. She'd give anything for their relationship to go back to what it used to be. Taking a quick glance at his otherwise occupied girlfriend, Diego asked,

"Who you texting babe?"

"Sam."

"Wait, Sam as in Sam Alexander-the-not-so-great?" He laughed nastily. He yelped though as a second later Carrie harshly hit the back of his head. Looking angrily at him she said heatedly,

"Don't you ever call him that again."

"Why do you even care? It's not like you two even talk to each other anymore anyways."

"I care because he's still my best friend. And as my boyfriend you should at the very least respect him."

"Whatever." He huffed, and then he started mumbling some under his breath. When she strained to listen closely she thought she heard him cuss and say her name.

'Ugh, what a douche. Why am I dating him again? Oh right, cause I'm lonely and I wanted attention. Usually Sam's here to help me not make these bad decisions. I miss him.' Carrie thought quietly to herself. Diego pulled into a parking spot and parked. Opening her door she made to get out of the car only to feel a hand clamp down around her wrist. Yanking her back in Diego kissed her hard, too much tongue and not much of anything else. Pulling her hand free she mumbled something of a goodbye and walked to the front doors. Checking her phone she saw she had only 10 minutes to get to class. Thankfully they were allowed to have backpacks in class, so she didn't have to stop by her locker. Taking a left she made a beeline for room A-224, Ms. Schafer's homeroom class. Which she again, thankfully does not have with Diego. But she did share that class with Sam. Biting her lip, she took a deep breath and walked in, only to met with a pleasant surprise. Instead of arriving right before the bell rang, as per usual, there he was. Sam freaking Alexander was there, sitting on top of her desk, waving at her nonchalantly. 6 months ago, this would be a usual occurrence. But then they had their fight-but-also-not-really-a-fight fight. Feeling a smile creep up on her face she strode over to her desk and waved back.

"Hey." She said quietly.

"Hey." He replied back, just as quietly. He pushed himself up off her desk and they both stood there, awkwardly staring at each other. Looking down Carrie pretended to study her black sandals, and then she heard the sound of someone clearing their throat. Leaning her head back up, she saw Sam rubbing the back of his neck nervously.

"So, um, great weather we're having today." He stuttered. Gosh he was so cringy it as almost painful to watch. Carrie snorted saying,

"Great weather we're having? It's frickin' 112 degrees outside. That the best s*** you could come up?" The words flew out of her mouth before she even realized what she was saying. Both their eyes met in a super tense stare, until a few seconds later when they both doubled over in laughter.

"Well you haven't changed one bit. Nice to see that my favorite goth still has her crude charm."

"Well at least I got something. What about you? Anything new?"

"Well, I um, my arm's better. And I've actually started getting good at chess. You?

Carrie hesitated to answer. She forgot about his arm. He had done something to it in what she could only assume was during that whole fiasco with the Hulk.

"That's good to hear. I uh, school's been good, parent's are fine, and I um, have a boyfriend."

"Oh?"

Carrie could have sworn she saw Sam's face fall a little bit at the last part. Suddenly she regretted saying that. She knew that despite being best friends, she really, really liked Sam. She always kinda figured they were endgame. Best friends since preschool turned high school sweethearts. Except it never happened. Sam started leaving her more and more out of his life and she got tired of his crap. Maybe things could, no would change.

"Yeah."

"So, um, when did you guys get together?"

"A month ago." She refused to say this was the third fling she had since her and Sam stopped talking. Each guy seemed to be worst than the last. She was sure if she told Sam he would start coddling her, and that wasn't what she needed or wanted right now.

"Who is it? Anybody I know?"

"Diego Sanchez."

Sam wrinkled his nose and narrowed his eyes at the mention of Diego.

"Diego? The douche that hangs out with Moffet?"

"You know just because he hangs out with Moffet that doesn't mean he's a bad guy!"

"He better be treating you right though."

"Oh, like you have?"

Sam stiffened. Carrie crossed her arms defensively. That was a low blow from both sides. Sam started heading towards his own desk. Carrie rushed forward and grabbed his wrist.

"Listen, I really don't want to fight. I miss you. Can we please just forget about this?"

Sam turned around, and looked deep in thought. After mulling it over for a few seconds he put on a small smile and said,

"Sure. I miss you too Care."

Then the bell rang and they both went to their respective desks.


A/N: So I just realized I'm going to make this be a two-parter fic. Be on the lookout for chapter 2! Comments and especially constructive criticism are welcome!