okay guys since it's ya girl's birthday, here's a new chapter for the first time in 6 months :)
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15 years.
It had been 15 years since Panama. 15 years since Sam Drake had been shot right before your eyes, since he had slipped from your grasp. 15 years since you were forced to leave him behind. You didn't want to, you wanted to lay down and cry for eternity but Nate had pulled you up and along and had dragged you all the way to the ocean. He had helped you swim and get into the plane, had gave you a blanket and had held you as you cried into his chest. He never said anything, only wiped your tears and most of the time would cry with you. You were never really the same after that, sure you and Nate kinda moved on with your life and had went on other adventures together, but Sam was always a lingering thought in the back of your mind. When you found El Dorado with Nate, Sam would have made a comment about how much the thing was worth. Finding Shambala and trekking through the mountains, he would have complained about how cold it was. Iram of the Pillars in the middle of the Rub al Khali desert, he would have complained the whole time about how hot it was and there was no telling what he would have hallucinated from the water.
You and Nate had grown closer over the years, more like brother and sister now than anything else. After he got married and settled down with Elena, the two of you had drifted apart. He didn't call as often, he used to call almost every day and now you were lucky to hear from him once a week or two. It was sad, your heart ached every time you thought of your distant relationship with the younger Drake. After Sam, you had only hoped to at least stay good in touch with Nate, but it seemed he had his own life going for him. Your life was rather dull, you worked a 9 to 5 job at a corporation with a blouse and pencil skirt dress code, your feet always hurt from your heels, and your boss was a little on the creepy side. Nonetheless it payed well, and it kept your lights on and water running and that was good enough. After Iram of the Pillars and that whole mess, you hadn't done another job like that. Sully had called you a few times about an odd job here and there, but you had gave the same excuse Nate would and said "I'm out."
Now, as you return to your apartment late at night, your feet screamed at you as you jammed the key in the lock and jiggled it. The door opened and you sighed in relief, kicking off your heels by the door as it closed behind you. You slung your coat and bag across a stool at the kitchen bar before opening up a bottle of wine, grabbing a glass and pouring the white wine into it before taking a swig from the bottle itself. Placing the wine back in the fridge you made your way into the living room, the curtains had stayed open all day and now gave you a view of the lit up city at night. You plopped down on the couch and sighed loudly, sipping the wine and throwing an arm on the back of the couch. The loud ringing of your phone still in your bag brought you from your relaxing state, a loud groan passing your lips as you sluggishly got up off the couch and made your way back over to the bar and set the glass down on the counter. You dug through your bag and finally found your phone, seeing "Nate" pop up on the screen making your eyebrows furrow as you glanced at the clock on the wall. What on Earth was he doing calling you at 9:00?
"Hello?" You answered, your heart smiling anyway since you hadn't talked to him in a while. "Y/N, hey, it's Nate." His voice came through the other line, you rolled your eyes but smiled a little nonetheless at how dorky he was. "Yes, I know it's you, Nate. It's 9:00, what's up? You never call me this late." You grabbed your glass of wine on the counter and sipped it a little more, seeing you were almost already done with the first glass and made your way to the fridge again. "Well—uh, what are you doing right now?" He asked after a moment of hesitation, your eyebrows furrowing at his odd question. "Uh, pouring myself a glass of wine. Why? What are you doing right now?" You dragged out, popping the cork again and filling the glass up. "What? What do you—oh, nevermind. Listen, I need you to come down to Jameson Marine. It's an emergency." Now you were certainly confused. You put the bottle of wine down on the counter and your brows furrowed, at the very least you could tell he was serious. "What? Nate, it's 9:00. I'd love to see you but can you wait till tomorrow?" You heard shuffling on the other end and muffled talking, before hearing Nate come back on the other end.
"Y/N, listen. I know we haven't been talking that much lately, and I'm sorry. But this, you—you just really need to come down here. Please, trust me." You could tell he really meant his words by how exasperated he sounded, but you could tell there was something else going on by the tone of his voice. You waited a moment before replying, hesitating as you sighed loudly to where he could hear. "Alright, I trust you. I'll be there within the hour." You finally responded, hearing an audible sigh from the other end expressing his relief. "Okay, I'll see you soon." You couldn't see but you knew he was smiling, nodding your head before saying your goodbyes and hanging up. You sighed again as you put the cork back on the bottle and placed it in the fridge, running over to your bedroom and unzipping your pencil skirt and taking off your pantyhose to throw it in the hamper. You removed your blouse and slipped into a pair of dark jeans, an old shirt of Sam's that Nate had given you back after Panama, and a pair of flats. You messed with your hair until you looked halfway presentable, grabbing an old jacket of Nate's he had left lying around on the rare occasion he came over and throwing it on. You grabbed your keys, phone, and purse before making your way out the door. You locked it behind you and walked out to your car, getting in and starting it before making your way to Jameson Marine.
The ride there didn't take too long due to the nonexistent amount of traffic this late at night, seeing Nate's car parked in the parking lot and pulling in next to him. You put the car in park and turned it off before hopping out, locking it behind you and making your way over to the stairs. You walked up the few steps and walked across the wooden deck to the main office where Nate would be, approaching the door and raising your hand to knock. Before you could, the door swung open and Nate was suddenly in front of you. "Y/N! Wow, you got here fast." He began with a wide smile, like he had just won the lottery. You smiled weirdly at him, finding it odd how giddy he was at 10:00 at night. "Hey, Nate." You chuckled, watching as he stood awkwardly in the doorway. "Uh, can I come in?" You motioned to inside and watched as if a light bulb had went off in his head, closing the gap between the door and him a little more to where you couldn't see inside as much. "Um, would you wait out here for a minute? I gotta grab something." He tried to convince you everything was fine but you could tell he was hiding something, nonetheless you obliged his request and nodded, watching as he threw you a small smile before shutting the door. You took a step back and turned to walk towards the railing.
The stars twinkled down at you as you approached the metal railing, seeing the moon shine down on you and bathe you in the rich light as the lake water lapped at the concrete wall below the railing. You leaned onto your elbows as you waited patiently, a gentle breeze blowing and wisps of your hair flying around you. "Nathan said you were wearing my shirt, but I just had to see it to believe it." A voice came from behind you, familiar but not at the same time, as if you hadn't heard it in a long time. Your whole body tensed up as you raised your body to stand up fully, your hands now resting on the railing as tears sprung to your eyes. It took you a minute before you finally turned around, eyes watery as one of your hands fell to be by your side. "Sam." You whispered, by God he still looked the same if not just a bit older. Same smile, the same caring eyes, the same calming aura he carried with him always. He smiled softly, his eyes drinking you in and seeing just how much you had changed over the years.
"Hey, Y/N." He spoke, fiddling with his hands in front of him and all you could do was stare at him. Your eyes were wide and filled to the brim with tears, mouth opening and closing as you gaped at him. "15 years." You mumbled, blinking away the tears but failing to keep them from falling down your cheeks as his face fell. His eyebrows furrowed at your statement, but before he could you were already speaking again. "15 years, Sam." You weren't sad or shocked anymore, you were angry at him. His mouth opened to speak again, but you already beat him to it. "No, you don't get to speak." You pointed your index finger at him in your blaze of fury, angry tears spilling down your cheeks. You took a step closer to him, eyes wide and cloudy as he gulped visibly. "You left me alone for 15 years, Sam. I thought you were dead!" You were practically screaming now, taking another step forward to where you could jab your finger in his chest accusingly.
He flinched back at your poking, still not interrupting you during your rant and letting you get all your bundled up emotions out while you could. "I saw you get shot, you slipped out of my grasp and all I could do was watch!" You gestured wildly as his lips parted in shock with how angry you were, fresh tears spilling down your cheeks as you were almost sobbing now. "I-I-I searched for months, Sam. Months! And now here you are, fine and well, and—and—" You were practically hysterical by now, your words barely understandable as Sam smiled sadly. He moved forward and took you into his arms, wrapping them around your waist and holding you close. Your arms wrapped around his neck as you clung to him like he was the only thing holding you to Earth, cigarette smoke filled your nose as his scent enveloped you. It only made your heart ache even more, not knowing how much you truly missed his smell. "I know, I know." He muttered into your hair, his arms tightening around your waist while your hands gripped the back of his denim jacket.
"I missed you so much." Your words were broken as you spoke between your sobs, feeling Sam squeeze you a little tighter as one of your hands fiddled with the hair at the nape of his neck. "I missed you more." He muttered, his hands rubbing up and down your back soothing your sobs as they died down. Sam held you as you cried, not once letting go or pulling away until your cries had died down and it was just the two of you in each other's arms. You sniffled and wiped your tears from over his shoulder, not daring to let him go yet as your eyes caught onto the ink on his neck. "Did you get a tattoo?" Your nose was stuffed and your voice was nasally as you pulled back to look into his hazel eyes, seeing him go blank for a second at how quickly you went from crying to asking a humorous question. "Yeah, back in Panama. Hurt like a bitch, too." He blinked, chuckling at the end and watching as you gave him a small smile in return. "I like it." You sniffled again, seeing Sam genuinely smile at your approval. "It suits you. What does it mean?" You continued, your hands adjusting around his neck as his thumbs rubbed small circles into your back.
"It's a reminder that even when things got bad in that hell hole, I'd one day fly back home to you." He was confident in telling you, not once breaking eye contact and giving you a small smile when he was done. Your lips parted as tears welled in your eyes again, seeing Sam's eyes widen when he saw you were on the verge of crying again. "Oh, shit. That was supposed to cheer you up, Y/N." His face was panicked as his eyes grew wide, his body tensing up as you chuckled at him stumbling over his words. "I didn't mean to make you cry. I've ruined this whole moment, haven't I? God, I'm an idiot. I meant that—" He rambled on, but your hand over his mouth stopped him in his tracks. "Sam?" You questioned, your hand dropping when you knew he had stopped. "Yeah?" He asked sheepishly, your hand moving to grip his collar in your fist as he furrowed his eyebrows in confusion at your actions. "Shut up." You chuckled, moving forward to capture his lips with yours. "Okay." He muttered just before your lips had pushed into his, the hand that was holding his collar moving around to connect behind his head as he brought you closer to him.
All those years spent apart were forgotten as he held you close and kissed you so softly, the feeling of being in his arms was something you never wanted to go without again. His hands gently ran up and down your back as you kissed him slowly, not wanting the moment to end between you both. His arms squeezed around your waist as he brought your body to meet his, the space between you nonexistent and you wouldn't have it any other way. You disconnected your lips from his to breathe for a moment, eyelashes fluttering across your cheeks as you smiled brightly for what felt like the first time in 15 years. "I know what you meant." You muttered after a moment of comfortable silence, feeling his chest vibrate against yours as he chuckled. "Good, I was afraid I wasn't getting my point across." One of his hands came up to move wisps of stray hairs away from your temple and push them behind your ear, his eyes connecting with yours as he smirked. "Oh, you did." You chuckled as he joined in, the both of you smiling like idiots as the moon bathed you in the rich light of the night.
"Hey, Sam?" You muttered after you both had calmed down and were submerged in a comfortable silence again, he gave you a hum for an answer as you moved to connect your foreheads again. "Don't leave." Your voice was small as you whispered the words, your eyes fluttering closed again as the image of him coughing up blood and hanging from the side of the building flashed into your mind. Sam smiled and moved to kiss your forehead, bringing you in for a warm embrace as you rested your cheek on his collarbone, the birds on his neck in your peripheral vision again as your heart warmed at the sight of them.
"Never."
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wow i love sam drake