NaNo #27: Things G Trusts Sam With #4

[miss_lucy21]

They finished with the debrief and Macy told Renko, Kensi and Eric that they could go. She just looked at Sam and G and finally shook her head. "I don't even want to talk to you right now," she said to G. She turned to Sam and said, "Try and talk some sense into him, would you?" before she left the room.

Sam looked over at his partner. G had a sullen look on his face and his arms were crossed. "What the fuck were you thinking?" Sam asked, finally. "Or, were you thinking? Because it sure didn't look like it from here."

"We needed that intelligence. I got it," G said, defiantly.

"We didn't need it that badly. Not badly enough to lose you for it!" Sam exclaimed.

"I wasn't," G started, but Sam cut him off.

"No, G. No. You went off without backup, without telling me or anyone else where you were going. I am your partner. I am your backup. I am responsible for you," Sam yelled, angrily. "This lone wolf shit does not fly. I've told you that before." He shoved back from the table. "I'm going home before I say something I'm gonna regret," he said, shaking his head. He left, still fuming.

By the next morning, he'd calmed down. He was still angry, no doubt, but he'd also reminded himself that 2 years of being G's partner wasn't going to wipe out the 30-plus prior years of having to fend for himself. And he reminded himself that G was honestly trying. This was the first really egregious episode in over six months. He used to pull this kind of shit at least once a week. It was still infuriating and G was still the most frustrating person he'd ever met some days, but he *was* getting better at being part of a team. Sam still intended to sit G down and explain for at leas the one hundred and fifty-seventh time that he was not a one man army, but he could probably do it without yelling at him.

He wasn't going to have this conversation in the fishbowl, though. The team didn't really need to hear it (it wasn't like they didn't know, but Sam wasn't going to dress someone down in public). Fortunately, he was met at the door with Macy handing him a slip of paper. "Take G and go sit on this place," she said. "It's a possible lead on Perkins."

"Where's G?" he asked.

Macy waved her hand towards the lounge area. "Eating breakfast."

"Got it," Sam said. He walked into the lounge and found G eating a sandwich. "Come on, let's go. Stakeout."

G looked up warily. "On who?" he asked.

"Possible lead on Perkins," Sam explained.

"Oh," G said, wrapping his sandwich back up to take with them. "Ok."

Perkins was part of a low priority case- a Marine Lieutenant who was likely a go-between for a couple of different people who were probably attempting to import poppies from Afghanistan. It really wasn't an OSP case, but Macy was doing someone in San Diego a favor in exchange for their help on a case a few months back. They tried to keep tabs on him and track him down when they had a few spare hours, in the hopes that they'd catch him doing something that would let them pick him up. It would be good for a few hours alone with G to sort things out.

G, however, didn't appear to be terribly interested in resuming their conversation. He unwrapped his sandwich and kept eating. While ruffling the sandwich wrapper, which he knew would irritate Sam. Then, when he was finished, he kept playing with the wrapper, until they parked across the street and Sam reached over and took it away without comment. He opened the glove compartment and handed G a Tootsie Roll pop instead. He swiped the wrapper from the sucker and started folding it into an origami shape. It usually worked out well- something to keep G busy, something to keep Sam busy. But today, it wasn't working. G was smacking at the sucker, something else he knew would drive Sam batty.

"Are you counting licks or something?" Sam asked finally. G shrugged, but didn't answer. He started chomping on the sucker instead, though, which Sam found less annoying.

When he was finished, he kept playing with the stem, then when he'd pretty much demolished that, he moved on to fidgeting with his shirt. The incessant wiggling was driving Sam up the wall again. He grit his teeth and tried to ignore it, because he knew G was doing it on purpose. He wasn't sure why, but he knew it was deliberate.

After about a half an hour, though, he'd had enough. He reached over and put his hands over G's to still them. "Stop." he said. "Why are you so wound up today?"

G just shrugged and tried to pull away. Sam kept his hands where they were and clamped down more firmly. He knew G didn't like to be held down, but right now, he really just needed him to stop trying to be so irritating. Then he realized what was going on. G was nervous and was trying to make the other shoe drop.

"You trying to get me riled up at you?" he asked. G looked away, but didn't answer. Sam took his hands away. "What's up, G?"

"Nothing," G said, sullenly.

"Is it about yesterday?" he asked.

"No," G grumbled.

"Yes," Sam contradicted. "Look, yes, I am still angry about what you did. I don't like it when you go off like that. You know I don't like that. We've talked about it over and over. And yeah, I got pissed yesterday when I found out you'd ducked out and gone after Baxter on your own. You didn't tell us what you were doing, you didn't take your com, you didn't have any backup. You didn't know what you were walking into and you could have gotten yourself killed."

"I knew what I was doing," G said, quietly. "It turned out ok."

"One of these days it won't," Sam said. "That's why I get angry when you do this. You're not out there by yourself here."

"Why's it your problem?" G asked, sharply.

"What do you mean why's it my problem?" Sam asked, incredulously. "I'm your partner, G. I'm the one who's got your back."

G blinked. "You're still my partner?" he asked, tentatively.

Sam stared at him. "Of course I'm still your partner. What the hell kind of question is that?"

G shrugged. "You were really mad."

"Yeah, I was mad, but that doesn't mean I'm not going to be your partner anymore, G. I'm not going to walk away just because I got mad at you," Sam said, suddenly realizing that was what G had been assuming all morning.

"Oh," G said.

"I still have your back, G. I always have your back," Sam said firmly. He'd forgotten how much G needed to hear that, probably because things had been going relatively smoothly lately. "You're not getting rid of me that easily."

"Ok," G said, nodding. "That's...good."

"Yeah, it is," Sam said. "So, that take care of what's bugging you?"

"Yeah," G said, sounding a little relieved.

"So, you think you can sit still for awhile, then?" Sam asked.

"Yeah," G said, shrugging one shoulder, embarrassedly.

"Good," Sam said. He regarded his partner for a minute, then said, "Next time, if you want to know if I'm still mad at you, just ask, ok? You don't need to wear a hole in your shirt to annoy me enough to snap at you. I'll just tell you if you ask, all right?"

"Right," G said, still sounding embarrassed.

"Ok, then", Sam said, grabbing another Tootsie Roll. "Maybe Perkins will finally show."

G took the sucker from him and gave him the wrapper. "Doubt it. We've done this six times now and haven't found him once."

"Yeah, well," Sam sighed. "Maybe we'll get lucky."

"Maybe," G said, sticking the sucker in his mouth. They settled back in their seats and kept watching.