##### Greg's apartment, 1505 hrs #####

Ed followed Greg back to Sam's apartment and helped Greg get Sam and his clothes and pillows back to Greg's apartment. Greg had one arm around Sam and his prescription bag in the other. Ed carried everything else.

After the got off the elevator and got Sam in the apartment on the couch, Ed put Sam's clothes bag and pillows in his room. Ed walked back out to the living room and tipped his chin at Greg and then to the kitchen. "I don't want to overstep here, but do you want me to hang out for awhile? He may be a handful until the morphine wears off."

Greg smiled. "It's up to you. You know I love it when you come over."

Ed nodded, took off his light jacket and put it in the closet next to the door.

Greg had promised the others he would keep them updated with Sam's condition. They had all wanted to go to Greg's, but he reminded them that Sam needed rest and no stress, something they all could use. He'd looked Wordy up and down and said jokingly, "you could tone it down a little." That had made them all laugh. Jules caught a ride home with Lew and they had parted ways.

"You want to play chess?" Ed asked.

"Sure." Greg went to the same closet Ed put his jacket in and took the chess set down from the shelf. He brought it to the table and started setting it up while Ed made sure Sam was ok. He was sitting on the couch enthralled by the cartoon show that was on.

Ed looked in Sam's eyes and saw the same doped up look that Jules had. He seems ok, he thought. Ed straightened and looked at Greg as he walked to the table. "She wasn't kidding. He is totally out of it." Ed pointed with his thumb towards Sam and then put out his fingers so they were out straight and slid his hand to the left.

"At least he isn't in pain. Or has less pain." Greg sat down and put the clock next to the board.

"Greg." Ed looked at him with worry in his blue eyes. "What if he can't come back to the SRU?"

"We just have to hope it goes away. Besides, he won't let that happen." Greg shook his head. He moved one of his pawn and hit the button on the clock.

"He is pretty stubborn." Ed smiled, moved his pawn and hit the button.

Twenty minutes later, Ed smiled big, moved his knight and said, "checkmate."

"Damn." Greg was sitting back in the chair, his arms crossed in front of him and leaned forward when he saw the move Ed was making. He looked over to the couch and didn't see any movement. They hadn't heard a peep from Sam since the game started. He stood and pointed at the board. "Rematch." He moved around the end of the couch and stopped in his tracks. "Where's Sam?"

"What do you mean 'where's Sam?'." Ed stood and looked around the floor. He walked to Greg's side and noticed the tracks in the carpet. He pointed at them and then put a finger to his lips. He followed them to the bathroom where they found Sam asleep in the tub.

"What the hell?" Greg frowned.

"He army crawled in here. I don't know how we didn't notice." Ed explained pointing to the tracks which were from Sam dragging his body across the carpet.

"But why?" Greg asked. Why didn't he just tell them he was tired?

"I don't know. Guess we'll have to ask him." Ed shrugged and walked to Sam. He put a hand on Sam's shoulder and shook gently. "Sam." When Sam opened his eyes, Ed said, "what happened? Why didn't you ask us to help you?"

"Had to pee. Had to find the privy." Sam said in his soldier voice.

"Did you go?" Ed asked.

"Negative. Can't stand. Couldn't sit." He waved his arms.

"Ok. I'll help you ok?" Ed said gently. He helped Sam stand, get out of the toilet, helped him get his pants down and then got him to sit on the toilet. He could see why Sam abandoned the idea of sitting there alone. He couldn't sit still and probably almost fell off, probably into the tub. How had they not heard him? Ed kept his hand on Sam's shoulder while he peed.

He helped Sam up and pulled up his sweats and undies. Man, he thought, this is what it was like in high school with his drunk buddies on the weekend. Hadn't he promised himself he'd never do that again? This was different though. He looked Sam in the eye, "do you want to go back to the couch or do you want to go to bed?"

Sam thought for a minute, then said, "no offense Ed, but you're not my type."

Ed laughed, a smile filling his face. "Well I'm sure Soph will be glad to hear you say that. Are you tired or do you want to watch TV?"

"TV!" Sam pointed to the couch. "Couch ho!"

Ed looked at him again as they reached the couch and he got Sam to lay on it, a pillow under his head, his blonde hair visible from the couch. "Do not move unless you ask one of us. And, did you just call me a ho?" Sam laughed. Ed shook his head as he walked back to his side of the table. "This must be what it's like when he's drunk."

Greg nodded. "Kind of entertaining if you don't think about the fact that he disappeared on us." He looked at Ed and shook his head. "I can't stop messing up when it comes to him."

"Greg." Ed said seriously and waited until Greg looked at him. When he did he said, "it could've happened to any of us. He didn't tell you something was wrong. You didn't know."

"I should've seen it!" Greg pounded his fist on the table.

Sam turned his head and tried to look towards the door. "Come in? No wait, don't come in! Who goes there?"

Ed looked at Sam and tried not to smile but it wasn't working. Greg was being serious and way too hard on himself, but Sam was too entertaining like this. He looked at Greg and they both burst out laughing. Once they calmed down, Ed looked at Greg seriously. "Please don't blame yourself Greg. Look at him." He waited until Greg complied. "He's here, he's ok, so to speak," he laughed again then said, "you've always been way too hard on yourself. Let this one go."

Greg took a deep breath and looked at Sam on the couch trying to conduct the music on the TV. He let out the breath and felt better. He's here, he's going to be ok, he thought. I won't let him be any other way. He looked at Ed and nodded.

Ed nodded back and moved his pawn.

Greg smiled, a gleam in his eye, made his first move and hit the button.

They played three more games, with them tied at two and two before they took a break.

"What do you want for supper?" Greg asked as he walked to the kitchen and grabbed the menus.

"Timmy timmah." Sam said.

Ed looked at him and frowned. Wow, I'm going to have some good stories from this one, he thought.

"Uh, so I'm assuming that's one vote for Timmy's." Greg frowned in Sam's direction. He looked at Ed, his eyebrows raised.

"Timmy's is fine by me." Ed shrugged.

Greg looked past Ed to Sam. "Are you sure Sam? You had Timmy's last night."

"Timmy timMAH." Sam answered.

"Ok." Greg dragged out the first letter with uncertainty.

Ed shrugged and they decided what they wanted. An hour and a half later, they were all stuffed and hanging out on the couch together.

Sam had leaned back against the back of the couch and his eyes were getting heavy. I'm so tired, he thought. At least his headache was down to a dull ache.

Greg noticed and stood so he was in front of Sam. "Hey Sam, why don't you go to bed ok?" When Sam nodded sleepily, Greg leaned over, put his arms under Sam's and lifted him off the couch. They stood for a second and Sam wobbled. Greg knew he probably wouldn't get any steadier so he put an arm around Sam's waist and walked him to the bedroom. He flicked on the light which made Sam wince. When they got to the bed, he turned on the small light and looked back at the door. Ed was there and turned off the overhead light. He lowered Sam into the bed and got him covered.

The moment his head hit the pillow, Sam was in a deep sleep.

Greg turned off the light, walked quietly out of the room and left the door open a sliver. He walked back to the table and started clearing everything away. Ed had followed him and started helping.

"One more game before I go?" Ed said with a twinkle in his eye.

"Oh yeah." Greg smiled.

They set up the game and started playing.

Sam felt the familiar knife to his head wake him up. Dammit, he thought. I thought it was going away. Ah damn. He tried to sit up but that made it worse. He laid back down. Help. Need meds. "Greg?" He said quietly. He waited, but he knew that wasn't loud enough. Take a breath and do it, he thought. It's going to hurt, but he can fix it. He took a deep breath and said, "Boss!" He put a hand to his head. He heard the scrape of legs on hardwood and someone, no two people running. They're coming, he thought. They're coming.

Greg heard Sam say 'Boss!', immediately stood and ran to the kitchen. He grabbed the pain pills, glass of water and a flashlight, reading the directions again as he opened Sam's door. He turned on the flashlight and walked to the bedside table and turned the light on.

Sam jumped back from the light and hissed in pain. "Ah. Boss help me."

"I got you Sam." Greg whispered. He opened the bottle and took out a good sized pill. He put it in Sam's hand and coaxed him to sit up a little. Sam did but it was obviously very painful for him. Greg held the glass even though Sam put a hand on it too. He waited for Sam to drink what he wanted and eased him back to his pillow. "That should kick in in a few minutes. I'll set my alarm and get ahead of it next time ok?" Greg put a hand on Sam's.

Sam flipped his hand and squeezed. "My fault." He said resolutely. "Sorry. Not your fault ok?"

"It's ok Sam. You rest." Greg squeezed back and let go, but Sam did not.

"No. Promise me. No guilt. My fault." Sam kept his eyes closed, concentrating on every word.

Greg smiled and felt his eyes start to water. "Ok Sam. I promise."

"Good." Sam smiled a little.

"I'll be close by if you need me." Greg said, turned the light off, took the water and pills and left the room. Again, he left the door open a crack.

"Why'd you take the pills? Wouldn't it be better to leave them in there so he can take them when he needs them?" Ed asked confused.

Greg looked at him for a second and said, "honestly, I was going to but I don't know what state of mind he's in. What if he decided it'd be better to take them all? He was in a lot of pain in there Ed. More than I think anyone can bear. I don't, can't give him that option."

Ed considered what he said. While he didn't believe Sam would do that, he understood Greg's thinking. "Ok."

"Now, let's finish this." Greg sat back down at the table. He set his watch alarm for seven hours and forty-five minutes. Luckily the doctor had given Sam long acting pain pills so he didn't have get up every four hours to take the next dose. It would let him get more rest.

Ed saw Greg set his watch and nodded. He knew Greg wouldn't be getting much sleep. He planned on talking to Soph when he got home about staying over tomorrow night to give Greg a break.

The game was finished eight moves later. "Checkmate." Greg smiled.

"Nice." Ed smiled. "Well, I'll let you get some sleep before you have to give Sam his next dose." Ed stood and walked to the closet. He pulled out his jacket and put it on. Greg had picked up the game and put it in the closet.

"Thanks for coming and your help with Sam." Greg slapped Ed's shoulder.

"You're welcome. Talk to you tomorrow?" Ed smiled. When Greg nodded he tapped his shoulder, turned and left.

Greg closed the door and went to his room. Ed was right, he should sleep before Sam's next dose, but first he had to blow up the air mattress. He hoped it didn't make too much noise and wake Sam or keep him awake. After it was full he carried it out and put it next to Sam's door. He put sheets and a blanket on it and then got ready for bed. He looked at his watch as he climbed into bed, 2130 and a little less than seven hours until he had to get up. Not bad, he thought. He settled in and fell asleep fairly quickly.