Sorrow

Prompt - #009 - Sorrow. This comes to you curtesy of flashpoint_sru over on livejournal.

*Spoilers for the series in general.

Twenty years.

Staring down at the tiny slab of stone, Sam simply couldn't believe it had been twenty years. Twenty damn years since his baby sister, his little Emma, had been taken.

He thought he had been passed it, at the very least accepted it, but the sight of the carefully engraved words over the earth beneath him simply brought the anguish of his childhood rushing back.

The sky above him had long ago gone dark, but he was unable to move. There was a nearly empty bottle in his hands; however he hadn't touched it since passing through the gates of the cemetery. It had taken nearly an hour for him to walk through the city to the small grave just outside of one of his homes as a kid, and during that time, he had had his friend Jack to keep him company.

The morning had been easy enough; getting ready for shift, eating a quick breakfast with Jules, changing at the station. It wasn't until Natalie had called that the reality had hit like a punch.

It was the twentieth anniversary of Emma's death.

Upon hanging up the phone, Sam realized he would never make it through the day. Not this day.

So he had told Sarg he had to leave and simply left.

Probably not the smartest move, but the only one he thought to make.

He wondered offhandedly what the Team was doing, how Jules was.

Slowly, Sam lowered himself to the grass and sat heavily. Beside him, Jack sloshed promises of relief, of oblivion and Sam wished desperately to just take the out. But he couldn't, not when he was sitting beside his baby sister. So the bottle settled dejectedly into the grass and was ignored.

Around him, wind began to swirl with a ferocity that was lost to his senses. The alcohol had dulled him to a point where he no longer felt the bite of cold and he didn't notice when the heavens opened and began to cry.

He would never know how long he sat there, just keeping watch over Emma's place.

It was only when a light began bobbing in the corner of his vision, was he jerked from his vigil and reverie. Peering around, it took a second for his vision and hearing to return to their natural states; so oblivious to his surroundings he had been. The movement sent bolts of protest from his muscles and a low moan escaped his lips.

"Sam!" It was Jules, coming towards him with a flashlight and an umbrella.

All he could do was stare at her stupidly as she hurried towards him, alerted by his small sound.

She froze when she caught sight of the state he was in.

Saying nothing, she extended a hand and waited.

The mere sight of it filled him with love, burning away the sorrow that had filled his chest for hours.

He took it and let her haul his battered body to his feet.

"Let's go home," was all she whispered.