[ when she starts off on that, on the distant way she says my, sam merely lifts a brow. he knows, at least in that outsider sort of way, what geralt and julie probably are. it doesn't take a genius to put it together. but at I care about him sam feels a kind of small, fond sort of smile.

her hands fall to her lap, and sam takes advantage for that, slipping his hands around hers and squeezing. ]

You care about him. [ he repeats. ] And he cares about you. Trusts you. And if there's one thing I know about guys like him, it's that they tend to build themselves up to a place where people don't think they need any help. And it bites them in the ass when they do. But when he needed it, he had you, when he didn't have any of the rest of us.

[ is there probably some guilt and a bunch of other shit wrapped up in that last little statement there? most likely. but this is about julie right now and sam can keep going. he will keep going, actually. and hey, don't worry about that little detail, julie - sam's got you.

because that's when he sighs, shakes his head a little. ]

And yeah, okay, I kind of want to smother him for taking all your and Nadine's hard work and just. Completely fucking it over by wandering through the desert without contacting any of us, but. [ sam loves him, he swears. but still, sam thinks about what she says for a moment. looks...tired, all of a sudden. ] That's kind of the point, isn't it? When someone is trying to prove a point, and to really make an impact, they go after the one no one thinks that could happen to. But what happens after is that that person needs to have their own support, who can get them back on their feet and have their back when they need it most. Like you did.

[ and sam looks at her again, still focusing, still waiting for her to look him in the eyes. he hopes she does. ]

So will you stop putting yourself down for being a person, who just went through something pretty freaking awful? This isn't a trauma competition.