Helping himself to one of the bottles, he sinks down on the couch beside Nate and takes a sip before he lets himself answer. It's an odd sort of situation to be in, one where he had some kind of relationship with the man and yet couldn't claim any sort of commitment to him, somehow rendering him with less to mourn than others, at least in his own mind. Some part of him senses he's not being fair to himself with that attitude, that he deserves to feel grief for the loss, too, but he still somehow feels as if he doesn't deserve it.

He hadn't wanted to be in a relationship with Sam, after all. He had been the one to prevent that from happening. It had never been a fight exactly, he hadn't considered their conversation something they needed to make up after, but he'd kept a distance from then on and he feels like he ought to say something about that. Explain it. Nate probably has no idea, but Marcus still feels as if it's owed somewhere, to someone, and if he can't explain it to Sam, then Nate should be the one to hear it.

But that isn't fair either. This isn't Nate's issue to deal with and he's lost his brother. That's infinitely more difficult than what Marcus is dealing with.

"I'm sorry, Nate," he says finally. "I know how much he means to you."