Sam sighed as he made his way towards the hospital entrance. If he'd felt exhausted when he was walking home from the splatfest, he felt even more exhausted now. Spending most of the day in the ER waiting room with Zach to see how Calamari was doing just added more and more sleepless hours to the total.

He passed by a few people on his way out, he apologized quietly if he bumped into them and simply kept his head down. He didn't look up until he heard a familiar voice call his name.

He looked up to see Pepper hurrying towards him down the hall. He smiled very tiredly. "Hey Pepper." He said.

"-hey! God I'm so sorry it took me this long to get here. I got your text about Calamari I just, I was talking to Shrimp and Sal's parents and was dealing with that mess, but whatever, how is she?" He asked as he met Sam in the middle of the hall.

"They said she just...drank too much, gave herself alcohol poisoning plus...the pain medicine didn't help." Sam admitted. "They said that she's going to be out for at least a few days so...I was just about to walk home to grab some clothes and shower and stuff before I headed over to Marie's to catch up on some sleep...you wanna walk with me?" He asked.

"Yeah, I will." Pepper said, shoving his hands in his pockets as he turned to walk with Sam towards the hospital entrance.

"...thanks, I appreciate it." Sam answered, walking out into the night air. "What's going on with Shrimp and Sal?"

Pepper sighed, kicking a rock out of the way while they walked. "Well...you know, their parents travel like...all the time. They're NEVER home, so ever since we met I...kinda take care of them alot. Just...stick around and give them rides places and you know...kinda parent. Their parents called earlier today to talk about uhh...making me a legal guardian. They'd let me move in there to take care of Shrimp and Sal while they're away, and provide everything we needed. Just….they're not gonna be home enough. They want me to parent while they're gone."

Sam kind of blinked, looking around at all the people they passed by on their way to the apartment. "...well, are you going to do it?" He asked, glancing up at him.

"I think so. I would keep taking care of them even if this wasn't happening, you know?" Pepper answered, coming to a street corner and hitting the button to walk over and over again, as you do.

Sam nodded. "Yeah, I'm glad you're taking care of them though. Kids need at least one good parent to depend on...trust me, I know." He said, his eyes scanning the sidewalk. He could hear music from down the street, and he was trying to figure out where it was coming from.

Finally, he spotted them. He recognized the young man as an octoling with a single tentacle sitting on top of his head. He was sitting behind a crappy little keyboard with a bucket by his feet for tips. Immediately, his hand went to his wallet to see if he could find anything to give him. He didn't have much in the way of cash, but what he did have he pulled out.

Once they could walk, he hurried across the street and over to the octoling so he could put what he had in the bucket. The octoling smiled wide. "-hey, thanks!" He said quickly.

"No problem," Sam said, smiling back before he started to walk on down the street glancing back only once.

"...that was nice." Pepper said as he caught up to him and walked alongside him.

"Well...it's good to be nice. Especially to people who need help." Sam said with a tired smile, finally walking up to his apartment and grabbing his keys to unlock it. "...someone helped me when I needed it, you know?"

Pepper nodded, following him in the apartment when he opened the door. "Yeah, that's true." He said, watching Sam walk around the apartment to gather up some things. "...so you're heading to Marie's?"

"Yeah. I need to catch up on some sleep and I'll feel better if I'm not by myself, or so I hope. Pearl and Marina's big debut is tomorrow so...I just...need to get some rest for that so I can be there even though my girlfriend is in the hospital." Sam said, sounding a little overwhelmed.

"I'll stay with Cal while you catch up on rest and work." Pepper offered, which made Sam smile.

"...just...call me if she wakes up. I-I want to see her. Know she's okay." He explained as he pulled a backpack on and headed back to his door.

"Of course, I will." Pepper said quickly, "...thanks for letting me walk with you but...I'll head back to the hospital now to sit with Cal. Get some rest, alright?"

"Yeah, Yeah. I will." Sam said with a tired wave as he walked out the door with Pepper and to the street. "...see ya, Pepper."

"See ya."

Sam headed to Callie and Marie's after Pepper left. He let himself in the door, and slowly made his way towards Marie's room with shuffling feet. As he came inside, he left his bag by the door, only taking what he needed to get changed and crawl in bed with Marie.

"...Sam?" She muttered, awoken by the shifting of the bed. "Did you just get here?"

"Yeah, Sorry, I was at the hospital with Calamari all day," He muttered as he moved to snuggle up to her.

"Oh, damn. Is she okay?" She asked, glancing back at him.

"Yeah, she will be. Alcohol poisoning." He said. "...need sleep, gotta get some before I have to go in later to deal with Pearl and Marina."

"When's that….?"

"Tomorrow."

Marie kind of laughed, and let herself relax again. "...I think you'll be okay. I think you've got time."

Sam hummed, and let himself slowly fall asleep.

—

Sam showed up at his office nice and early after a good night's sleep. He still felt like he was dragging, but he guessed staying up for almost 48 hours straight would do that to you. He answered emails while he waited, glancing at the clock as he very anxiously waited for Pearl and Marina to get there.

He knew they were there when he heard Pearl's loud voice down the hall. He had to take a deep breath to calm his anxiety before there was a light knock on the door.

"-Come in!" He called, turning his chair towards the door as it opened, and in walked Marina and Pearl.

"Heeeyyy Sam, what's up?" Pearl asked, going to plop down in a chair in front of his desk and sitting back in it while Marina gingerly sat down in the other chair, glancing at Pearl a little funny. "How is Calamari? I got your text kinda late last night."

"She's still out, as far as I know. I'll probably leave when Pepper calls me and says she's awake. I really need to talk to her." Sam admitted with a sigh. "...I'm anxious to talk to her."

"Yeah I think you two need to work some things out." Pearl muttered. "...so...what's up with the news, though?"

"Right. So…" Sam grabbed a few pieces of paper from besides his desk, setting them out in front of him. "You guys know the general news formula, right?"

"Yeah, I think so." Marina said. "...say hey, announce the maps and game modes…make any splatfest announcements...run out of time?"

Sam smiled a bit. "Yeah, basically. We do have a new sponsor though, Grizz Co. is paying for you guys to do a small segment when they're running shifts." He explained.

"Oh! Hell yeah I do salmon run shifts all the time!" Pearl said with a grin. "That should be easy peasy."

"I mean, I hope so." Sam admitted. "I'm going to stick around to make sure you guys are doing okay, but as soon as Pepper calls to say Calamari is awake…"

"You're out of here?" Pearl asked.

"Right. I'm out of here." Sam nodded. "There will be a script, of course, and we'll do a trial run before we go."

Marina let out a small sigh or relief. "Oh, good. I was kind of nervous…" She admitted quietly.

"Aw...you'll do fine Marina." Sam said with a small smile, standing up from his seat. "Wanna go do the trial run now?" He asked.

"Yeah! Can we please?" Marina asked, quickly standing up from her seat.

"Of course, come on follow me." Sam said, walking out of his office and leading them downstairs to the studio. The trial run went pretty flawlessly, and he felt a bit better about leaving in the middle of their first day.

The moment Pepper texted him that Calamari was waking up, he ran to his office, grabbed his stuff and was out the door. He barely even said bye to anyone, he was just anxious to see Calamari.

His heart beat hard against his chest as he walked to the hospital, and as he walked down the cold and sterile smelling hallway. He came to room 202, took a deep breath and knocked.

The door opened, and Pepper was standing there with a tired smile on his face. "Hey...good to see you Sam. Cal just woke up, come on…"

Sam nodded, and stepped inside as Pepper stepped aside and closed the door behind him. He met eyes with Cal, and his heart dropped a little. She had bags under eyes, and they were red and puffy. She just looked miserable.

He bit his lip, and came to sit in a chair by her bed. "Hey Cal…" He whispered, holding out his hand for hers.

She didn't quite take it, instead she stared at him with sort of a tired, and puzzled look on her face. "...you still wanna hold my hand?" She asked, her voice sounding raspy.

"...yeah. Of course I do." Sam answered, frowning. "...why wouldn't I?"

"You're pissed." She said. "...you're pissed I drank again and you're pissed you had to come home from..from a two day splatfest and I almost killed myself."

Sam kind of sighed, and glanced back to see Pepper slip out the door so they could talk. Smart man. "...well…" He started, looking deep in thought about what he was going to say. "...yeah I was mad, but it was for selfish reasons, I think. I don't know we...gotta talk. I've been anxious to talk since I found you."

Calamari nodded, and looked up at the ceiling above her so she could avoid looking him in the eye. "Go ahead...talk."

"...okay well…" Sam started. "...yeah I mean...I was kind of mad when I found you because I thought...like, don't you know how much this hurts me? Don't you know what I went through growing up? I recognized you had alcohol poisoning because of how many times I saw my dad like that. It scares me to see you like that because of my dad. It scares me because I think I'm going to get hurt, but that's not true. You're not angry or violent...but...it's still not right for you to drink. But that's not...that's not what I even need to be saying." He said, pinching the bridge of his nose. "...I don't need to be scolding you. Listen...I...I wasn't right to be angry because recovery isn't smooth and...it won't help you if I'm angry. I want to help you."

"Sam...come on. I'm not helpable am I?" She asked, reaching up with her only hand to wipe tears from her eyes. "I feel like a lost cause."

"Because you slipped up?"

"That wasn't a slip up!" Calamari said, clenching her fist. "That was a major fuck up! I almost died! What if you went to your apartment instead of coming to check on me? You'd be at a funeral right now."

"Okay, you went backwards. You went backwards pretty far. You can come back though, and I want you too!" Sam said quickly. "...Cal...I care for you. I love you. You're absolutely helpable. Recovery is always something you can achieve."

"...I don't feel like it is." She answered. "...I feel like I'm trapped inside my brain with all these bad thoughts and cravings and I can't...get out. I don't have anywhere to turn. You were at the splatfest and I didn't want to interrupt! You deserve a girlfriend who's not...fucking up and interrupting your work all the time! Especially when you've already dealt with so much."

"-splatfests don't matter. Work doesn't matter. I have all these assistant managers, and Callie and Marie knew what they were doing. Zach would have been there if I couldn't have been. I would have come home for you." He said quickly. "...you mean the world to me and I'll do anything for you. No matter what I've already dealt with. Just because I had an awful past doesn't mean I'm going to have a good life the rest of the time. I'm not, and I don't mind if it means helping you."

Calamari watched him, her eyes getting teary again. "...really…?"

"Really. Please...if you're struggling...talk to me. Please. I want you too." Sam said quickly, holding out his hand for hers again.

She slowly nodded, and took it as she let out a small sob. Sam immediately got up, and pulled her into the tightest hug he could, letting her bury her face in the crook of his neck as she cried.

"I'm s-sorry I never even th-thought about...a-about your dad and…" She choked, gripping the back of his shirt with her hand. "I want to g-get better."

"You will, you will." He said quickly. "I'm gonna help you. Everyone is gonna help you, right?"

She nodded, trying to make herself stop crying and calm down. It was quite a few minutes before she pulled away from Sam just to look him in the eye as she took his hand again. She took a deep breath. "...I'm gonna get better." She whispered. "I promise. I'm gonna get better."

Sam smiled, using his other hand to caress her face. "...I know you are. We're going to do this together, got me?" He asked quietly.

Calamari nodded. "...r-right." She answered. "...together."

A/N: Calamari's recovery is dragging out quite a bit, but I would rather kms then show anyone that recovery is smooth and nice when it's totally not. Believe you me, my own recovery hasn't been smooth and I really wanna reflect that. So sorry if it's dragging a bit, but I need to get that across.

As always, thank you for reading! I ALWAYS appreciate your reviews! They make me so happy! 3