Somewhere Between The Bar and Home, Friday Night Late

[sleepswthdemons]

After the fight with Cally at All Souls and seeing Pippi, Phoebe had had too much. Saying goodbye to Pippi, she had fled.

Now, she wasn't sure exactly where she was. She had had a lot to drink before the fight.

She was on her way home, she thought, and was more than a little drunk and her bottom lip was still bleeding. Her face hurt and she really was thinking of finding more alcohol so it wouldn't hurt.




[[OOC: For beenthroughthat]]

Comments

[beenthroughthat.livejournal.com]

Sam happened to be out for a late-night motorcycle ride -- of the very slow cruise variety -- when he caught sight of Phoebe and pulled over, thinking to offer her a ride.

When he caught a glimpse of her in the headlights and saw the bleeding, he cut the engine and ran to her side immediately.

"What happened?"

[sleepswthdemons.livejournal.com]

Phoebe blinked a few times, finally recognizing Anders through the haze of alcohol and pain.

"I had a fight."

[beenthroughthat.livejournal.com]

"Lords, Phoebe, with who?" He dug into his pocket and found a wad of mostly-clean napkins, which he used to start dabbing at her lower lip. "Let's get you home and cleaned up. You shouldn't be out like this right now."

[sleepswthdemons.livejournal.com]

"At the bar. I hit Cally for traum...traum... terrorizing you. She said mean things then called me..." She looked down. "So I hit her... then she hit me in the face with her cane and we started fighting."

She shook her head. "Don't wanna go home. Piper will be upset and so will Marie and..."

Marie... whom he was in love with now and if she saw him bringing her home she might get the wrong idea and she didn't want to go home right now and hurt anyone...

"Looking for something to drink to make my face stop hurting."

[beenthroughthat.livejournal.com]

"I wish I'd seen that," Sam admitted with a wry smile, touched that she'd tried to defend his honor. "Right. I take you home, Piper will blame me and kick my ass. So you're coming home with me tonight, and we're gonna get you a couple ice packs and some painkillers and put you to bed."

He frowned and ran his fingertips across her cheek. "Come on, get on the bike with me . . . I haven't got an extra helmet for you but we'll go slow."

[sleepswthdemons.livejournal.com]

"She hurt you," Phoebe explained, slurring her words slightly. "'S not allowed. No hurting Anders. Tried talking first, but that didn't work. Then she used that word and I hit her."

She looked at him sadly when he said he'd take her home with him. "'M bleeding, though. Mess your stuff up and... ow."

[beenthroughthat.livejournal.com]

"Don't care," Sam replied firmly, wrapping an arm around her shoulders and leading her toward the motorcycle. "You're hurt, and I won't have it. Don't care if you bleed all over the whole damn house long as I know you're okay."

[sleepswthdemons.livejournal.com]

Phoebe walked with him to his bike. "You're upset with me," she said softly.

[beenthroughthat.livejournal.com]

"I'm upset that you're hurt," Sam replied as, not trusting her to climb on the bike in her state, he lifted her up onto the back of the seat, then swung up in front of her. "I'm upset that she got you mad enough to hit her. Not mad at you, though. Just worried. I don't like seeing you hurting, you know that."

[sleepswthdemons.livejournal.com]

"She hurt you," Phoebe explained slowly as she leaned forward to let her head rest against his back. "Terrorized you... almost killed you. 'S not allowed. Cole would have fireballed her. Upset me 'cause you were hurt. Hurting my 'Nders not 'llowed." She sighed.

"Didja know that gettin' hit in the face with a cane hurts like hell? I thought couldn't hurt, but didn't drink nearly 'nough apparently."

[beenthroughthat.livejournal.com]

Sam paused in the middle of turning his key in the ignition and turned his head briefly to stare at her. "She hit you in the face? That little . . . I'll kick her ass myself. Nobody frakking gets away with treating my Phoebe like that," he snarled as the engine roared to life and he started driving at a slow, careful pace toward his house.

[sleepswthdemons.livejournal.com]

"She's girl. You would never hit a girl, Anders. No matter how mad you are at her, you'd never hit her." She was getting blood on his shirt and that made her sad. "I hit her, you know. Twice."

[beenthroughthat.livejournal.com]

"For hurting you, I might reconsider that little restriction," Sam replied. "Twice, huh? I'm really wishing I'd seen that, now."

[sleepswthdemons.livejournal.com]

"No one hurts you like that."

[beenthroughthat.livejournal.com]

Sam felt slightly bad, now. "She didn't fire the gun, Phoebe. Just pulled it on me. I didn't get hurt, see?"

[sleepswthdemons.livejournal.com]

"She scared you and upset you," Phoebe pointed out. "She terrorized you and that was hurting you." Hurt her too. "She kept saying how she anted you dead and that hurts, too."

[beenthroughthat.livejournal.com]

That did hurt, and Sam gritted his teeth and opened up the throttle just a little more as they approached Thunder Road. "You didn't have to get yourself hurt for my sake, Phoebe."

[sleepswthdemons.livejournal.com]

Phoebe's head lolled against his back as she held on.

"I wasn't planning on the fight, love. But then she pissed me off and I hit her. She deserved it."

[beenthroughthat.livejournal.com]

"I think it's sweet, you know," Sam said a few moments later as they approached the house. "That you defend me like that."

Hearing the endearment from her made him feel a little bit better.

[sleepswthdemons.livejournal.com]

"Always will protect and defend you."

[beenthroughthat.livejournal.com]

"And I love you for it," Sam said quietly. He pulled into his driveway as carefully as possible, parked, and held out a hand to help Phoebe down from the bike. "Let's get that lip looked at."

He was trying not to think about how very much he wanted to kiss her.

[sleepswthdemons.livejournal.com]

Phoebe wasn't about to stop him if he did.

She took his hand and managed -- somehow -- to get off the bike.

"You don't have to do anything, 'Nders," she said quietly. "Don't want 'pose on you or anytyhing."

[beenthroughthat.livejournal.com]

He really, really wanted to, especially when he pulled her into his arms to steady her as she got off the bike . . . but he knew it would be a bad idea.

"You never impose on me," he said -- not letting go just yet. "I have to take care of you. I promised, didn't I?"

[sleepswthdemons.livejournal.com]

"Promised each other, yes," she nodded, holding onto him. "But don't think you meant that include cleaning my face when I got hurt in a fight and I'm getting blood on you again..."

[beenthroughthat.livejournal.com]

"Better to get it on me than all over the ground somewhere, where I couldn't find you," Sam answered. "Meant it when I said taking care of you, that includes cleaning you up when you're hurt and bleeding. Do I have to carry you into the house?"

[sleepswthdemons.livejournal.com]

"House?" she asked. She wasn't really too aware of her surroundings. "But if I bled on the ground you wouldn't know I was hurt and then wouldn't worry about me."

[beenthroughthat.livejournal.com]

That logic was so much what he would have expected of Phoebe, Sam would have laughed if he wasn't so worried about her.

"And then I'd feel fifty times worse when I found out afterward, and you know it," he said. Shaking his head, he decided that carrying her into the house really would be the most expedient route, so he scooped her up into his arms and marched up to the front porch.

[sleepswthdemons.livejournal.com]

She leaned her head against his chest as he carried her. "But I'd be protecting you from worrying."

[beenthroughthat.livejournal.com]

Sam laughed a bit bitterly, fumbled for his keys, and let them into the house. He didn't hesitate about carrying Phoebe directly into the bedroom and depositing her on his bed -- but he ducked out of the room quickly to grab her a glass of water and some ibuprofen, which he set down on the battered secondhand nightstand before going back to the bathroom for a wet washcloth.

If he hadn't hurried out of the room right then, he was afraid he'd have given in to the urge to kiss her.

[sleepswthdemons.livejournal.com]

Of course, Phoebe got entirely the wrong idea about the bitter laugh and him leaving her alone so quickly. She looked down at her hands, blinking back tears as she waited for him.

"Sorry," she mumbled.

[beenthroughthat.livejournal.com]

"Sorry for what?" asked Sam, kneeling in front of her and dabbing with surprising gentleness at the blood on her lip. "There's nothing you can do that's going to keep me from ever worrying about you, you know."

[sleepswthdemons.livejournal.com]

"I should be making you worry less, not giving you more to worry about. I fail at taking care of you."

[beenthroughthat.livejournal.com]

"Hey." Sam tried his best not to look directly into her eyes as he cleaned up her face; the more he did that, the more he wanted to kiss her. "You've come here twice without questions when I've called you needing someone to hold onto, haven't you? You've spent the night and held me and let me get a decent night's sleep. You do a damn good job of taking care of me."

[sleepswthdemons.livejournal.com]

"And then I ruin all of that by fighting with someone who used to be a friend and letting you find me all battered and bloody."

Cole would never have done that.

[beenthroughthat.livejournal.com]

"Listen to me, love," Sam insisted, holding her chin firmly as he scanned her face for any more cuts or bruises that he should take care of right away. "Don't beat yourself up for it, please?"

[sleepswthdemons.livejournal.com]

The right side of her face was going to be pretty bruised, but it looked like only her mouth was bleeding.

"Try."

[beenthroughthat.livejournal.com]

Sam brushed his thumb against her lips. "It's a start. I'll take it."

[sleepswthdemons.livejournal.com]

Phoebe tried to smile. "Okay."

[beenthroughthat.livejournal.com]

Sam smiled up at her. "That's my Phoebe," he said gently, putting the glass of water and painkillers into her hands. "Let's get some of those into you while I get an ice pack together, and I'm putting you to bed."

[sleepswthdemons.livejournal.com]

Phoebe quickly swallowed some ibuprofen with the water and gave him back the glass.

"'Nders?"

[beenthroughthat.livejournal.com]

"Yeah?" he asked, getting ready to get back to his feet.

[sleepswthdemons.livejournal.com]

"'M going to kiss you now," she said with a nod, holding onto him.

She probably would have, too, except at that moment the alcohol and the battering from the fight, and the lack of food or sleep all caught up with her at once. Instead of kissing him as she had planned to, she suddenly passed out...

...slumping against him.

[beenthroughthat.livejournal.com]

Sam's heart had nearly stopped when she'd said that, only to start beating double time with hopeful anticipation . . . anticipation that was quickly dashed when she passed out against him.

"Just as well," he mumbled with a sigh, carefully easing her beneath the covers and moving around the bed to climb in beside her. "Would've been a really bad idea . . . but damn, do I ever want to."

He lay there, eyes shut for a few minutes, until he was sure he had himself under control and wouldn't try to kiss even her forehead as she slept.

"Love you, Phoebe," Sam whispered as he finally pulled her into his arms and, eventually, drifted to sleep beside her.