Warning! This story contains major spoilers from Uncharted 4! Please read carefully and enjoy!

God, I don't know if I'm ready for this.

Victor Sullivan sat down in the hotel lobby after a heart wrenching call with Nate. He had called in such a broken and small voice that it shook Sully to his core. It was a little hard to understand over the noise from where he was, and the fact that his voice was cracking all over the place and his breathing was panicked and ragged. But he got the gist of it. Nate's brother was dead.

I don't hear from the kid in months, and when I finally do he drops the biggest bomb possible.

Sully sighed, scratching the back of his neck nervously. He never really was good at the whole nurturing thing, considering Nate and Sully were never very affectionate towards each other like a normal kid-guardian duo would be. They cared a great deal about each other, there was no doubt about that. Sully loved the kid to death, but that didn't mean he liked to shower him in affection. It just wasn't something they did.

But I can't wisecrack my way out of this.

Just the thought of seeing Nate heartbroken made him anxious. He was a kid. Well, he was 23, but still too damn young to experience a loss like this. He knew how much Sam meant to Nate. Although he was never a fan of Nate's older brother, he knew that Sam was good. He knew he was a great brother. He took care of Nate as much as he could, and stuck to him like glue. And why shouldn't he, they only had each other after all. But now... Nate had no family left.

He's still got me, dammit.

His thoughts were interrupted by the sound of the lobby door opening. Sully looked up to see Nate standing there. He looked like an absolute wreck; his hair wet and messy, and his face was pale and had a numb kind of expression. Victor had never seen Nate so... broken. There was someone else with him, and looked to be about Nate's age. He also looked disheveled and his hair was wet. They were both dressed in blue prison shirts which were also damp. Nate locked eyes with his guardian and Sully could see the pain in his sky blue eyes. His somewhat blank expression broke slightly as he stepped towards Sully.

Gotta lend him some clothes. Can't have him walking around like that.

Sully sighed sadly and stood up to greet the two boys standing before him, shivering slightly from being wet. "Let's get you upstairs to change your clothes, huh?" He put a strong hand on Nate's trembling shoulder, Nate nodding slowly. Sullivan looked over at Rafe. "Can't say I know who you are." He said honestly.

"I'm Rafe. I, uh... I work with Nate." Rafe answered, his face neutral as he looked at the older man before him. Sully nodded warily. "I see. You can come and change, too. You guys are looking a little rough."

Rafe nodded in agreement. "Thank you." He said and headed to the elevator. Sully and Nate followed, the older man keeping Nate steady with a hand on his shoulder.

Poor kid must be exhausted. He can barely walk.

The three men entered the elevator and headed up to Sully's room. Nate, unsurprisingly, was extremely quiet and kept that same numb expression on his pale and dirty face. Sully subtly rubbed Nate's shoulder as the elevator reached their floor. He helped Nate out of the elevator and down the hall, with the kid almost collapsing halfway there. "Come on, kid. Almost there." He held him up and the three of them entered Sully's hotel room. He picked out some of his clothes for both of them to wear, and while they got dressed, Sully sat down to think.

Gotta get Nate somewhere quiet to talk about this. I'm starting to hate that blank look on his face.

Rafe was the first one to finish getting changed. "Thanks for the clothes, Sullivan." He walked past him. "I'll be back later. Got some stuff to take care of now that we're here." He explained before leaving the room. Sully didn't pay much attention to Rafe as Nate slowly entered the room, now dried off and in warmer clothes.

"There, you look much better." Sully tried to sound enthusiastic, but it fell short as Nate didn't say anything. "Alright kid, let's go somewhere quiet. I gotta talk to you." He took Nate's arm and helped him back downstairs. He was determined to help Nate, no matter what.

He led his exhausted prodigy out to his car and sat him down in the passenger seat. Sully himself got in the driver's seat and started driving. The ride was silent, as Sullivan expected. He wanted to say something, anything to Nate, but didn't know how to start. As he thought about what he wanted to tell the broken kid sitting silently beside him, he found an empty parking lot to sit in. "Here we go." He mumbled to himself, pulling into the lot and parking the car. "Alright kid. I...I'm trying to think of the right way to start here. Maybe we-"

"He's gone."

Sully looked over at Nate, his expression had changed from vacant to full of sorrow. "I-I'm so sorry, Nate." He responded quietly. Nate looked at Sully with tears in his tired eyes.

"Sully, he's dead. M-My brother is dead.." His voice was beginning to waver as the tears ran down his pale cheeks. "God dammit.." He sobbed, his shaking hands coming up to cover his face. Sully sat frozen in shock. He had never seen Nate cry, as he was very reserved. But he knew that he grew up that way, and never had anyone to comfort him, besides...Sam.

"Kid..." Sullivan desperately tried to think of anything to say.

You don't need to say anything, Victor. Just be there for him.

Sully took a deep breath and reached across the car, enveloping Nate in a warm hug. "It's alright. I'm here." He said softly, rubbing Nate's back, which was trembling as he sobbed and finally let his emotions out for the first time in a long time. "It's okay, son. Just let it all out." Nate wrapped his arms around his guardian in return, sobbing and breathing raggedly into his shoulder.

"H-He... he's-"

"Shhh... I know."

"Oh god..." Nate cried harder, his fingers desperately clinging onto Sully's tacky Hawaiian shirt as tears continued to run down his face.

"Shhh..." Sully held him tighter and rested a hand on the back of Nate's head. "I gotcha.."

I may not be his father, but he needs this. He's a damn good kid.