Sam let out a gasp of air, feeling strength start to return to him.  He turned his head to the side, looking into Shadow's eyes with his own, feeling strangely warm in the cold underground chamber.  Smelling the scent of Shadow, he suddenly became aware of how he smelled for the first time in a while.  If he had tried to eat solid food, he would have most likely become nauseous.  As it stood, he simply didn't have any energy to waste on trivial matters like basic humanity.<br/><br/>His lip quivered a little bit as he considered his position.  He could not move, and all of his needs were supplied to him through tubes.  It was almost like returning to the womb, except that he was dying instead of being born.  Sam closed his eyes and pondered what exactly Shadow meant when she said she would give him something that she never was.  It occurred to him that he didn't really know these women at all, yet he felt a very keen intimacy with them, knowing their darkest secret.  Of course, it was one thing to know a darkest secret, and quite another to<em>be</em>a darkest secret.  He let out a careful, measured sigh.  Just enough to relieve the pain and discomfort he was feeling slightly.