At the Council Library

[stilljustandrew]

Sam's been here before, a couple of years ago.

Very little has changed; it still has the timeless feel of most libraries, the central rotunda still vast and hushed and reverent.

Comments

[gavemea_45]

An oddly doubled recollection flashes through his mind.

"I had no choice! It was me or them... it wouldn't have had to be this way for you."

"You say it like it's what's wrong with you. It's the only thing that's right with me."

Sam takes a careful breath and says, very steadily,

"Then I'd ask if there was something else you wanted to do instead."

[sunnydalealum]

"Yeah?"

It's a slow realization, and strangely liberating: he can't make her do anything. She can let him talk, and hear him out, and if she doesn't like his conclusions she doesn't have to accept them. Whether or not he's telling the truth.

He can't make her do anything.

"Like what?"

[gavemea_45]

He gives Andrew a long look, then turns back to Beth.

Even as he opens his mouth to respond, he can hear the clock ticking inside his head, counting down the year.

What am I gonna do if she says yes? How long will it take to get her settled? To keep an eye on her, just in case? I can't afford to -- Dean can't afford me to --

He shoves the thoughts away and says,

"It's like Andrew said before: we're independent. Not part of the Council."

(He'll figure something out. There's time. There's still time.)

A beat.

"All I'm saying is, if it's not a good thing, then... there are other options. If you want them."

[stilljustandrew]

Andrew's silent, watching Sam.

(is she okay?)

He's not going to interfere.

[sunnydalealum]

There's a long pause before Beth speaks, and a complicated blend of emotion underlying it when she does: uncertainty, suspicion, a tentative gratitude.

"Thanks," she says quietly. "Really."

And below it, something like peace.

"But I'm okay."

[gavemea_45]

"Okay," he says, quietly. "Like I said before -- glad to hear it."

He glances toward Andrew again. This time the look on his face is oddly shuttered, but the apology in his eyes is clear.

[stilljustandrew]

Andrew shakes his head at the unspoken apology: it's okay.

And it strikes him again: even in the middle of his own work, of trying to collect information to save his world from a massive invasion of demons, Sam's still trying to save somebody else along the way.

[sunnydalealum]

Beth straightens, uncrossing her arms.

Her tone's a little apologetic. "I should get back to work."

[gavemea_45]

"Uh-huh -- "

It's only then that he realizes something.

"-- hey, what was it you came looking for in the first place?"

[sunnydalealum]

"Oh -- yeah. Ms. Harkness wants to know if you've got the second copy of Erhardt's Bindings."

[stilljustandrew]

Andrew glances down at the book in front of him. "I just took this one -- Sam, did you grab the other?"

[gavemea_45]

"Um."

He sorts through the piles of books in front of him, and comes up with a second copy of the volume in question.

"... yeah. Looks like." Sam holds it out to Beth. "Sorry about that."

[sunnydalealum]

"It's okay. I can bring it back here if Ms. Harkness finishes with it soon."

Beth reaches to take the book, holds it carefully in the crook of one arm.

"I'll let you get back to work," she says, and turns to go.

[gavemea_45]

"Thanks."

As Beth leaves, Sam turns to look at Andrew, evidently waiting for something.

[stilljustandrew]

Andrew looks back at him, a touch blankly. "What?"

[gavemea_45]

"Nothing, just--"

Sam shrugs, a little uncomfortably.

"--didn't mean to put you in an awkward position there."

[stilljustandrew]

"...What, by trying to help her?"

Andrew shakes his head. "Don't worry about it."

[gavemea_45]

He studies Andrew for a second or two, then evidently decides to accept that at face value.

"Okay."

Sam glances back down at the book he'd been trying without much success to read when Beth had approached, and sighs.

[stilljustandrew]

Quiet: "Wanna take a break?"

[gavemea_45]

"Probably should," he agrees, after a few moments' silence.

Sam's still staring at the book when he adds,

"I just hate to waste the time, is all."

[stilljustandrew]

"You got a deadline?"

He's only half kidding.

[gavemea_45]

Do I ever.

"I don't know, do I?" he counters, with a rueful grin. "I forgot to ask what time this place closes."

[stilljustandrew]

Andrew opens his mouth, and pauses.

"You know," he says, "I'm not sure when it does close. Or if. I could ask?"

[gavemea_45]

"If you don't mind?"

A beat.

"I mean -- I already appreciate that you're doing this, Andrew; I don't want to impose, or anything."

Not that he wouldn't impose in a heartbeat if it meant saving Dean, but it's still true.

[stilljustandrew]

"You're not," Andrew tells him, earnestly. "Don't even."

He pulls a sheet of notepaper into service as a bookmark, and starts to get to his feet.

"Be right back."