1254 Thunder Road, Sunday Late Afternoon

[beenthroughthat]

Sam was a fan of quiet Sundays, not having had many of those except in the offseason for years. The only downside to quiet Sundays spent at home though, was that there wasn't much to watch on TV except for sports, and at this point he thought he might try to put the remote through the screen if he had to flip past one more football or -- gods

Comments

[victimofcylons]

Cally had slipped out from Mac's careful of watch. How she'd gotten what she was currently hiding in the waistband of her pants, well, that was less important than the fact that it was there.

She had a mission, she decided.

You fought them until you couldn't.

She walked up to Sam's house.

[beenthroughthat]

Sam squinted through a cloud of cigarette smoke at the familiar looking figure as it came down the road, then raised an eyebrow as casually as possible when Cally approached his front porch.

"I hope this is going to be a less awkward meeting than the last one," he remarked, flicking ash over the edge of the porch.

[victimofcylons]

"Yeah, well, I've had time to... think, now," Cally said.

[beenthroughthat]

"Good," Sam replied. "Least, I think that's good. Missed you. Was kind of hoping we could be friends again, you know?"

Early Evening

[sleepswthdemons]

When Phoebe got Anders's message, she had raced over to his place. He had seemed upset and that was all she cared about. She ran up on the porch and didn't even knock before she opened the door.

"Anders?"

Re: Early Evening

[beenthroughthat]

Sam was sitting on the couch in the dark, the only light in the living room coming from the kitchen and the tip of his cigarette.

"'m here," he said thickly; if her eyes adjusted to the darkness quickly enough, she would see that he'd already made heavy inroads into a bottle of whiskey and didn't seem inclined to stop any time soon.

Re: Early Evening

[sleepswthdemons]

Considering how much time she spent in the dark, it didn't take any time at all for her eyes to adjust. She made her way quickly to the couch and sat down close to him.

"I'm here, sweetie. Talk to me."

Re: Early Evening

[beenthroughthat]

Sam turned and wrapped his arms around her, in desperate need of the comfort.

"She pulled a gun on me, Phoebe . . . wanted to kill me."

[sleepswthdemons]

"Dammit," Sam slurred as he took the bottle from her and tossed back a gulp. "Told 'im not to hurt you. Keep it that way, 'kay? You an' me, we've both lost enough already."

Phoebe shook her head. "He didn't hurt me, Anders. I'm right here, with you. Where want to be." She took the bottle back for a drink. "Lost more'n enough, sweetie."

She blinked back tears and took another long drink.

[beenthroughthat]

"More'n you told me 'bout?" asked Sam. He dropped his burned out cigarette butt -- he'd remember to finish smoking the damned things eventually -- in the ashtray and ran his fingers through Phoebe's hair. "Tell me. 'm always here for you. Always gonna be. Love you, and I wanna help."

[sleepswthdemons]

Phoebe took another very long drink from the bottle and then lit up a cigarette -- it took her a few tries to do so -- before looking at him with tears in her eyes.

"If I tell you what I did and how I failed him twice, you'll hate me, too. Jus' like he does."

[beenthroughthat]

"Could never hate you," Sam said, the strength of the emotion making his words clearer. He sat up and looked into her eyes. "Listen t'me, Phoebe. Could never, ever hate you. D'you get that? I'm here for you. Always. Love you. Talk to me . . . I know you."

[sleepswthdemons]

"Not gonna leave you," he insisted thickly. "Won't let you lose me, promise. Won't."

The fact that she was drunk and drinking more helped her to talk. "I tried to kill myself before Marie made me come here. Had his athame set out and everything," she said with tears sliding down her face. "Felt like I had lost everyone I loved and I knew I had failed Cole. Didn't save him, didn't protect our son."

[beenthroughthat]

That revelation shocked some of the inebriation right out of Sam. "No," he said sharply, sitting upright and looking into her eyes. "Not allowed to do that. I'm not him . . . I'm sorry . . . bring him back if I could, but there's still me. An' Lana an' Marie, and Azir'phale an' the doc . . . 's people who'll hurt if you go. 'f you go and do that anyway . . . I'll be right behind you."

[sleepswthdemons]

"Lana said the same thing," she choked past a sob. She looked at him. "Not him, don't want you to be him. You're you... you is just what I want you to be, Anders."

[beenthroughthat]

"Can't be what he is to you, though," Sam said sadly as he took the bottle from her and took another gulp; he'd never have voiced the thought sober. "Can only be me."