Same Love

4:Setting

He was used to waking up alone by now. Sam had never felt so elated in all his life to wake up with arms wound around him and a bare body pressed to him but he was brought back down from his morning daze by sounds around the camp. Last night was his first night without nightmares since the whole thing had begun. He sat up, shaking the body next to him lightly.

"Nate, come on wake up sleeping beauty" He said as she shook his lover. It was a muggy morning, the heat sitting heavily in the air already. It was eight o'clock according to his watch that still worked and he shook Nate more violently, earning a groggy groan. He heard the unzipping of his tent and a head poked in to wake them, not knowing one was already awake. All Dale saw was Nate's arms wrapped around Sam's bare waist and he smiled knowingly as Sam's eyes widened.

"Breakfast is out here for both of you" The older man said as Sam shook Nate again. The smaller man sat up quickly, hair out of place and when he saw the laughing Sam he lay down again.

"Why'd you have to wake me? I was comfy" He grumbled and Dale chuckled.

"Thanks Dale, we'll be out in a few minutes. You won't.....tell anyone will you?" Sam asked, nervously. Once people found out they'd grow uncomfortable around him as people often did, it wasn't something that was accepted very easily and he knew Nate certainly wouldn't want to be observed differently and Dale shook his head, still smiling as he left the tent, the two men getting dressed. Sam kissed Nate's head softly, leaving him to continue getting dressed as he went to eat. The group was gathered around the fire and bid him good morning. Here he was finally introduced to Carl and the two chatted idly about comic books, something both liked. Nate followed about ten minutes after Sam when people were beginning to clear up, limping out of the tent groggily. Andrea and Amy giggled at him.

"Don't you look like sunshine?" Lori asked grinning and he groaned, sitting beside Rick at the fire, introducing himself to the cop as he spooned some porridge into his bowl from the cooking pot.

"Why's shorty limping?" Glenn asked, smirking and Nate responded grumpily.

"I tripped over the tent" He admitted, lying quite well through his teeth. That was the first time the group heard Sam laugh and it was infectious, soon the whole group was chuckling at his expense and he shovelled down the porridge and stood quickly. He was to stay at camp today and so rolled up the sleeves of his flannel shirt and stretched. Sam also got ready, it seemed he was needed for the retrieval mission to Atlanta and so he prepared himself and his weapons. He thought that Merle might not be too pleased to see him but knew he must go anyway. They were piling into the trucks when Nate caught him and pulled him behind a tree, kissing him softly. It was short and sweet and enough for both of them to feel satisfied.

"Be safe"

"When am I ever not?"  Sam laughed off the serious comment, climbing into one of the trucks beside Glenn. The truck started moving and all Glenn did was grin at him.

"What? Why do you have that retarded grin on your face?" Sam asked, noticing the new man in the back of the truck with them and greeted him, only to be met with a gruff snort.

"Don't think I didn't hear last night, my tent is next to yours" Glenn grinned and Sam froze up, sending Glenn a warning glare.

"I've no idea what you're talking about" The man said innocently before settling for counting his arrows. Glenn laughed and drove onwards towards Atlanta, following the other trucks. They all piled out, returning to the store to see no Merle on the roof. Daryl, the man who Sam hadn't spoken with properly yet, went mad. Sam did not rise to meet this challenge, the man was violent as his brother had been the previous day but Sam knew he had reason to be, Merle just seemed like a dick. They followed the trail of blood from his severed hand to the bodies of dead walkers and burnt blood on an old stove. It seemed that Merle wasn't dumb enough to leave an open wound and so cauterized it, the trail ran cold from this point onwards and Daryl was furious. They moved on and Sam and Glenn thought up a plan to recover the bag of guns that Rick had left yesterday. Daryl had never been a strategist but he saw Sam and Glenn devising a plan and couldn't help but wonder if they had worked together before.

"What did you do before all this?" He asked and Sam turned, the sound of his voice pulling the brunette out of his thoughts. This was the first time Daryl had spared Sam a thought and he felt himself become more confident.

"I delivered Pizza's, Why?" Glenn replied, thinking the question was directed to him as he was so focused on the whiteboard where scribbles marked positions. Sam turned his eyes down to the floor, kicking at the dirt and staring at his hands. He didn't realise Daryl calling out to him.

"What did you do Arrows?"

"It's Sam." He grunted, his attention back on the red-neck. "I was stunt coordinator" Sam continued as the rest of the group turned to him, knowing looks on their faces.

"What?"

"we knew it had to be something like that" Glenn pointed out as Sam sipped his water from his half-full bottle. He rolled his eyes and the group split up in their plan to retrieve Rick's gun bag from the street and Glenn stuck close to Sam's side as they moved, Daryl close behind. It all happened so fast, Sam was hit by a sharp punch to his jaw, no doubt leaving a scar and as he rose to fight back he felt a pain on the back of his head. One of the men that suddenly appeared had struck him with a metal pipe and he fell down, vision becoming blurred and his head spinning. Oh shit, he thought.

Timeskip............

Sam awoke to a dull room. It was a warehouse and around him, voices were soft and it smelled like old people. He opened his eyes, struggling and an elderly woman sat, her head bent over him as a cloth cleaned the deep gash on his cheek. He slowly sat up, causing the people in the room to begin to squawk excitedly. He tried to stand but was pushed back down.

"Woah there tiger, sit down" He heard the Asian man's voice and his eyes found Glenn's.

"Where are we?"

"The group that is holding us captive want Rick's guns but it's only to defend the old people, this is a nursing home" Glenn said softly, helping Sam regain his senses. Sam felt dread build in him. Were the others going to come back for them? He drank the water offered to him and stood, just as the doors opened and Rick, Daryl and T-dog appeared, lead by an old woman that Sam learned was Abuela. Sam was still disorientated and stumbled, not concentrating as Daryl guided him outside. He leant on Daryl, his head falling on the man's shoulder as he inhaled the scent of cigarette smoke and sweat. Sam found it comforting enough and soon became sleepy, cursing his weakness. He began to lose consciousness, the last thing he knew they were waving goodbye to the group, on their way back to the camp, not in a truck but in the arms of Daryl Dixon.