It was just another night after a long day of work. Most of the team, including Jay, was at Molly's having a few drinks. They had all been surprised when he decided to tag along. Everyone had been sensing for the past few days that there was something going on with him and Erin. It's like they were civil around each other, but tense.

And yet here they all were, having some drinks and laughing at some story Ruzek was telling.

The door to the bar opened and no one in the group really paid any notice, until there was a tall figure hovering next to their table. Jay looked up and saw a man with long brown hair, who looked like he was around his mid thirties. He didn't recognize the man and was about to ask who he was but Kevin beat him to it.

"I'm sorry, have we met before? Is there something we can help you with?" Atwater asked, trying to sound polite.

Jay looked around at his team members to see if he could get some sort of hint as to who this guy was from any of them. Ruzek looked just as lost as Jay felt. Olinsky looked like he might have recognized him, but almost couldn't place why. Kevin asked the question so he obviously had no idea. What caught Jay's attention though, was the look he saw on Erin's face. She looked like she was in a confused daze. He could see her mouth hanging slightly open, as if she wanted to say something but couldn't find the right words.

The mystery man looked towards Erin and met her eyes.

"Hey," he spoke quietly.

Erin let out a small, almost disbelieving laugh, "hey," she replied in the same quiet voice.

He looked at Atwater, "Sorry to interrupt, I'm Sam. I know Erin, I heard that this is where I could find her and I wanted to see if I could borrow her for a second," he finished shifting his gaze back to Erin.

Jay looked towards Erin and saw that her entire body seemed to be in shock, but she was trying her best to hide it. She nodded towards Sam and slowly got off her stool.

"I'll be right back, guys sorry," she said as she led the man back out the door onto the sidewalk.

Erin shoved her hands in her pockets, not sure if they were shaking because of the man standing in front of her, or because of the chill from the wind. She figured it was probably a mix of both.

She met Sam's eyes again and couldn't believe what she was seeing. He was here, he was back, standing in front of her and she had so much to say but it felt like she couldn't remember how to form a single word.

Sam just watched her, waiting for her to make the first move. He didn't know how this was going to go over, so he walked into the situation prepared for almost anything. Yelling, hitting, crying, even hugging, but he got none of that.

Instead she just looked up at him and spoke softly, "I saw him the other day," she let out a slight bitter laugh, "he was here, watching me. I saw him, but I looked away for a second and then when I looked back he was gone. I thought I was going crazy," she shook her head.

"Yeah," he started, "we've been in town for a few days. That's actually why I'm here."

"What do you mean?" She asked still partially in a haze.

"I told him I thought it might be good to come check up on you, see how you were doing and all. He refused to and he hasn't been saying much of anything since we got here, " Erin could see the worry he had for his brother in his eyes, "I had no idea he had seen you."

Erin fidgeted and scratched her forehead quickly, "I'm sorry, but I don't really know what you want me to do. It sounds like he's made his decision. Maybe it's for the best."

"Come on Erin, you don't really think that. I think he's just scared. He's not prepared to have this conversation, so he figures he'll just avoid ever having to see you. That's not what's right and we all know it."

Erin sighed already feeling drained from this barely five minute conversation, "Listen, when Dean makes up his mind you and I both know there's no point in trying to change it. Now I'm glad you stopped by, really, and it was nice to see you, but I think that I should go back inside."

She moved towards the door and Sam looked like part of him wanted to stop her, but a bigger part knew that he couldn't. Her and his brother were a lot alike in that way. They were both stubborn as hell.

Back inside the bar Jay looked towards Olinsky with a look that meant 'tell me everything you know about this guy'.

Alvin just shrugged, "He looks a bit like someone Erin used to know, but I'm not sure if he's the same guy I'm thinking of."

The older man was never forthcoming with details.

"If you really want to know ask her yourself," Al nodded to the door which Erin was walking back in through. She was alone this time.

She walked over to the table to take her previous seat and was met with lots of questioning eyes. "Sorry about that, he just had a quick question," she shrugged it off. Jay wanted to pry more but he wasn't sure it was his place, he wasn't sure where they stood so he decided to drop it for now.

The team went back to having their normal conversation and eating. After about fifteen minutes Erin's drinks were gone and she hadn't touched her food since her visitor. She told the team that she was going to call it an early night and head home, grabbing her coat off the stool and heading for the door. Jay watched her walk out wondering what was going on.

When she got back to her apartment she threw her coat on the couch and went straight to lay in her bed.

She looked up at the ceiling trying to figure out what she was feeling. She had no idea what to do with the information she was just given. On one hand, she could just do what Dean was planning to do, avoid each other entirely. Or she could confront him, but what would she say? She had no idea. All she knew was that she was exhausted. Her head hurt from thinking about it and she just wanted to close her eyes to shut her brain up. She turned on her side and drifted off to sleep, the situation still at the forefront of her mind. She almost wanted to laugh at the irony. When she wants him to leave he just won't go away.

A/N Hey, so I just had the idea for this story and I'm not sure how I feel about it yet. Feel free to tell me what you think of it so far. Thanks for reading!