Fic: Taking Care (NCIS:LA)

[miss_lucy21]

G watched Sam stare sightlessly at the computer screen and frowned inwardly. Something was wrong and it had been wrong for a while. Sam was...upset, he decided. Yes, upset was the right word for it. G thought for a moment. He was pretty sure Sam wasn't upset with him. For one, Sam generally spoke up when G did something annoying because Sam didn't like playing guessing games. But sometimes, he didn't bother saying something when G did something that he knew that G couldn't really help. But as G mentally reviewed the past month or so, he couldn't think of anything he'd done that would punch Sam's buttons like that. Actually, he hadn't done anything like that for a long, long time. He'd been behaving himself pretty well on that score since the Keelson mess. So, whatever it was, it wasn't G, himself.

He knew Sam was a little worried about Hetty- they both were- but worried wasn't upset. And he knew Sam wasn't happy about the situation with Granger, because Sam didn't like it when people messed with his team. But that wouldn't make Sam upset; it would make him pissed. And Sam was not pissed.

Which left the Jada thing. And maybe something else. G wasn't sure.

G had seen Sam upset before. After Dom and after Moe. He hadn't done much about it, either time, which he felt a little ashamed about. He could almost be forgiven for not doing more when Dom was taken and killed, since that had happened to him, too, but it was pretty inexcusable that he hadn't done more when Moe died. So, he was going to do something this time. Except...G wasn't very good at taking care of people. All he'd ever done before was just stand there. And pick Sam up when he'd run too far. But neither of those things seemed like the right thing to do here.

Sam, however, was really good at taking care of people. And when G was upset, the first thing Sam did was get them out of the building and away from everyone. He usually got them food, too. That seemed like a reasonable starting point. Get Sam out of here and get some food in front of him. Usually, Sam took them down to the pier, because G liked the ocean, which would work, because Sam liked the ocean, too. But this plan did leave the problem of how to get Sam out of Ops. Sam just said, "Let's go," and put him in the car and started driving. But Sam didn't really like it when G drove and G was pretty sure that wouldn't help. However...G didn't really understand it, but Sam did like it when he had an opinion on what he wanted to eat. Maybe he could tell Sam he wanted to go for fish tacos and that would get him going. He paused, thinking that this sounded kind of manipulative and he wasn't sure that it was ok to manipulate his partner like that. On the other hand, fish tacos really did sound pretty good and G was actually hungry, so it would be the truth.

He got up and walked over to Sam's desk. "I want a fish taco," he said. "Let's go get some."

Sam looked up and blinked at him. "You want a fish taco?"

"Yeah. From that place by the pier," G said.

Sam looked mildly confused but shrugged. "Okay," he said, pushing back from his desk. G nodded and went to gather up his bag as Sam got his stuff together and logged out of his computer. G didn't bother- he still had work to do, but he needed to make sure Sam was ok, first.

They got in Sam's car and Sam drove them out to the pier without talking. They got their tacos and went and sat down where they'd have a good view of the water. When Sam was the one doing this for G, he always left G alone while they ate, so G figured that would be the best tactic here, too. The tacos were perfect.

Sam finished his taco, and swiped a napkin across his face, saying, "Ok, what's wrong?"

"I couldn't just want a taco?" G asked, trying to feel his way into the conversation.

"Nice try," Sam said. "What's up, G?"

"Nothing," G said. "I did actually want a taco."

"But…" Sam said, waiting for him to continue.

G faltered. He wasn't sure how Sam did this. "I'm fine," he said, finally. "You aren't."

Sam exhaled slowly and leaned back. "I’m ok,"

"No," G said, shaking his head. "You're really not."

"And you thought tacos would make it better?" Sam asked, apparently unwilling to actually have this conversation.

"I don't know," G admitted. He shrugged and looked away out across the water.

He stared at the ocean in silence for a few minutes before Sam said, "Karen's unhappy." G turned to look at Sam, only to find that Sam was looking at the ocean, too. "She's not sure she wants to stay together."

"Oh," G said. He hadn't expected that. "Do you want to stay with her?" he asked.

"I'm not walking out on her," Sam said. "She's got to decide if she wants to leave on her own."

"Ok," G said.

Sam looked over at him and said, "I'm not going anywhere, G. Not walking out on you, either."

"Ok," G said, again, feeling a twitch in the back of his head calm at those words.

Sam sighed. "This has happened before. It'll either blow over, or it won't."

"Is it the girl?" G asked, unwilling to say Jada Khaled's name out in the open.

"No, she doesn't know about that," Sam said, shaking his head. "Doesn't suspect anything, either, because she would have told me. That's my problem, not hers."

G nodded. He'd been pretty sure that Jada had something to do with Sam's mood. "But that is a problem."

"It's a problem in that I made some questionable decisions. Not that it's causing the problems with my wife," Sam said.

"Operationally speaking, they weren't questionable," G pointed out.

"Mm," Sam said, not quite agreeing.

G thought for a moment. "That's the first time you've been in that situation, isn't it?" he asked.

Sam shrugged. "Pretty much." He paused. "Don't tell me I told you so."

"Wasn't going to," G said, shaking his head. "Doesn't help."

"No, it doesn't," Sam agreed.

"The first time, it's hard," G offered. Sam raised an eyebrow at him. "Ok, it's hard the second time, too."

That comment actually made Sam laugh a little. "Not hard anymore?" he asked.

G sort of shrugged. "Sometimes," he said, thinking of Kristin Donnelly. "But not like it used to be."

Sam nodded. "I didn't fall in love with her, exactly," he said. "It was just...it's hard to separate out acting like you're in love and being in love."

G nodded slowly. "That's the tricky part. Because it's got to be convincing, but you've got to stay detached, too."

"Yeah," Sam sighed.

They were quiet for awhile, watching the sun as it set. "Do you feel any better?" G asked, finally.

"Yeah, a little," Sam admitted. He chuckled. "I guess the tacos did help."

G shrugged lopsidedly. "Seemed like you needed something."

"I guess I did," Sam said. "I didn't mean to worry you."

"Wasn't worried," G replied. "Just knew you were upset."

"Thanks," Sam said. "Really."

"You're welcome," G said. He watched Sam gather up his trash and figured it was time to go. "You gonna go home?"

"Yeah," Sam sighed. "Probably should."

"Probably," G agreed. "Drop me back at Ops?"

"Sure," Sam said, standing up. "You still have paperwork?"

"I always have paperwork," G sighed. "But yeah, there's still stuff I got to get done tonight."

"Ok," Sam said. They walked back to the car, and Sam drove back to Ops. "Don't work too late," he told G, as he got out of the car.

"Yeah, yeah," G said, waving him off. "Have a good night."

"I'll try," Sam said, nodding.

G watched him drive off and nodded to himself as he walked into the building and headed for his desk. It hadn't fixed anything, not really, but Sam felt better and that was the goal. Mission accomplished, for now, he thought.