(no subject)

It was late. Sam wasn't actually sure what time it was, but it had taken him a while to get to drinking at all and then he'd been drinking for a while, so he figured that it had to be more late than not, though not so much that everyone would be asleep already. There were still plenty of people at the Hub when he'd left, having just enough sense remaining to know that to continue would have rid him of that sense, after all, and some lights were still on as he made his way down the path. He should have gone back to his own place, turned in for the night and tried to sleep it off (he was going to have a hell of a hangover tomorrow, he was pretty sure), but he couldn't, both too restless and too weighted down to sit in that silence. This was a bad idea, he had just enough sense left to know that, too, but there was only one person to go to, because there was only one other person who knew. He'd made a point of not talking about his father much — not because he felt he needed to keep it a secret, but because there was no sense in sharing it — but now that he was here and had turned everything on its head, however unknowingly, Sam didn't know what to do, and that uncertainty wasn't something he could handle by himself. He had never actually been as good at being on his own and trying not to form attachments as he liked to pretend he was.

Making his way up to Erica's porch, he was at least a little relieved to see that she seemed to be awake. The last thing he wanted was to cause any kind of disturbance, though it was difficult to determine what he did want. He should have been happy about this and he knew it, and he was, but there was more baggage attached to it than that. It was difficult to be pleased without worrying about when the other shoe would drop, because it always inevitably did, and he wasn't sure he could handle losing his father a third time. Not that he had any intention of actually saying that. Just a bit hesitant, he lifted one hand to knock on her door, inhaling deeply as he did. "Hey, Erica," he called, not too loudly, but enough to be heard. "You in?"