Odi et Amo

by Medea3

My first long, painful attempt at a realistic Sami/Lucas romance. They'd like nothing better than to stay our of each other's way- or would they? Why is Sami having adventures with bats, Lucas feeling admiration for Eric, and Will eloping with a giant panda? Written/set 2000. Complete.

1. Odi

"Odi et Amo" --part 1

Disclaimer: Not mine.

"Why?"

"The doctor has to make sure you're healthy."

"I'm healthy."

"Good. We'll just make sure the doctor agrees with you."

"Why?"

"Because if you let the doctor look at you, you'll get a piece of candy."

"We can get candy at the store."

"The candy here is better."

"How do you know?"

"I've been here before."

"I don't want any candy."

"We still have to go."

"Daadddyy," Will whined, dragging the word out to at least eight syllables.

"Will, this will only take a few minutes," said Lucas, praying silently that he wasn't lying. "Then we can do whatever you want for the rest of the day."

Will pouted. "I don't wanna go."

"We're already here."

"We can leave."

"We have to meet Nicole."

"I don't wanna meet Nicole." This gave Lucas pause. He wondered if Will was just trying to get out of visiting his pediatrician or if he genuinely disliked his stepmother. Nicole had been spending much of her time lately telling him that he should sign custody of his son over to Sami. He only hoped that Nicole's apparent memory lapse with regards to the reason he had married her meant that her feelings for him had gotten stronger. Maybe he could ask Will what he meant, but his less-than-five-year-old was not always able or willing to give him a straight answer. Kind of like his mother. Lucas pushed that thought out of his mind.

"Why don't you want to meet Nicole, Buddy?"

"I like Mommy better. Why do we always have to have Nicole?"

Lucas glanced quickly around the waiting room, assuring himself that no one was listening before he attempted to answer his son.

"Will, I've told you this. Nicole is my wife. That makes her your step-Mommy, and she loves you very much."

"No, she doesn't."

"Yes, she does."

The argument was mercifully ended by Will's doctor's appointment, which was mercifully short.

Lucas was in a good mood. Every time he went anywhere with Will, he felt two things: pride at having a son, and delight that he had full custody and Sami did not. Sami would probably kill to be able to spend this much time with Will. His happiness increased when he saw Nicole waiting for him. She was talking to her brother, Brandon. That was something that might end Lucas' good mood-- Brandon's apparent interest in Sami. If Sami dated or even married his brother-in-law, she would be even more closely connected to him than she already was. Of course, as things stood now, she was still dating his brother Austin, so Brandon might actually be an extra degree of separation.

Lucas swung Will into his arms, and Will, his earlier talkative mood gone, instantly slipped into a state of near-sleep.

"There you are, Nicole. Hi, Brandon." Lucas kissed his wife hello and then turned to his brother-in-law.

"Why are you so happy?"

Brandon's grin widened. "Your brother."

"What? Did you beat him into a coma again?"

"No! But he and Samantha have come to a parting of the ways."

Lucas smirked. "I'm sorry, Brandon, but if you think that that's going to make Sami fall into your lap, you're wrong. She's been chasing Austin since she was fifteen, and his not wanting her has never changed her plans."

"You don't know Samantha as well as you think you do, Lucas." Lucas wondered why he resented that comment.

"I don't?"

"She isn't fifteen anymore. She realizes that someone could love her for herself, and not try to turn her into her older sister. She realizes that Austin isn't everything she thought he would be. She fell in love with someone she made up, and she knows it."

"Even if all of that is true, which I richly doubt, are you sure she's going to turn to you?"

"She's already agreed to meet me tonight. We've been going out together for a while, we just haven't been calling what we do 'dates.'"

"Good for you, if you're sure this is what you want. I wouldn't get involved with Sami again for any amount of money."

Both Brandon and Nicole winced at Lucas' choice of words, but he managed not to notice.

"I know that you and Samantha have had problems, but, really, I've almost never seen anyone with so much passion and fire. She's a lot of fun. She's beautiful, too, you have to admit that."

"She has gotten prettier as she's gotten older, but she's a spider woman. A black widow. I'm glad you're getting her on the rebound. It's safer."

"I don't know that she's on the rebound. I don't think she and Austin ever consummated their relationship." Lucas tried not to cringe at the mental images that statement dragged up. "Austin was really the rebound relationship-- she was engaged to Franco. She was something like an hour away from marrying him, wasn't she?"

"Something like that." Franco Kelly was not one of Lucas' favorite subjects; literally getting away with murder was not something to take pride in, at least not when it almost caused the death of your son's mother.

Nicole took pity on Lucas. Yes, she was working with Sami to hurt him, but only because she just had to have that brat Will out of her life, and because she wanted a chance with Eric. Lucas wasn't a bad man, but no one was Eric. There was no reason to let him get drawn into a discussion of Franco's murder, a crime which she believed her husband had committed. If he hadn't done it, he certainly knew who had. And as Lucas was the source of her money, she preferred him out of jail to in it.

"Honey? I hate to distract you from this wonderful conversation about how hot Sami is, but what did you want to do for the rest of the day?"

"I don't know. I asked Will but he didn't have anything to say." He glanced at his son once more. Will was either asleep or not answering. "Is there anything you want to do?"

"Me?"

"Yes, you. You know I'd do anything to make you happy."

"I am happy. I'm married to you, and my favorite brother is happy."

"Thanks, Nicky," smiled Brandon.

"I'm just glad you're not focusing on that ridiculous vendetta against Abe Carver any more."

"Oh, I haven't forgotten about that. He will pay for what he did to our family."

"And what exactly is that? It was Mom's fault, no one else's. If she just would have stood up for herself--"

"No, Nicky. Things would have worked themselves out if Abe would have minded his own business."

"When women let their husbands hit them, the cops come. Abe was just doing his job. He didn't have a choice."

"He broke up our family. He didn't have to do that. Men and women fight, especially when they're married, or have children to argue over. The rule shouldn't be 'adults fight, kids never see them again.'"

"It isn't! They weren't fighting, Mom was just knuckling under to his demands, like the spineless--"

"Nicky!"

"Hey, Nicole, we really should go," Lucas interrupted. He didn't want to hear any more of Nicole and Brandon's discussion.

Nicole left agreeably, and Brandon stood alone. "No, *that's* knuckling under, Nicky," he thought to himself. "Marrying Lucas and parading around like his trophy wife when you could have married someone you loved with all of your heart." She *was* making plans to go back to Eric, but she was using entirely underhanded methods where they just weren't needed. Leave it to Nicky to make things as hard as she could.

Brandon was distracted from his thoughts in the most pleasant way possible-- the arrival of Samantha Brady.

"Hey, Brandon. Are you almost off?"

"Get off at the same time you do."

"Oh, then you're off already."

"Really! Time flies when you're having fun."

"Who were you having fun with? Should I be jealous?"

"Samantha, I think it's a little early in our relationship to be quite so possessive."

"Maybe I don't want to let a good thing slip away." Brandon beamed inwardly. This was the first real, semi-flirtatious compliment he'd ever gotten from Sami.

"I'm a good thing?"

"It looks that way. I mean, you help me with everything, you're great fun, and sometimes I think you already know me better than Austin does."

"If I don't, I promise I will soon, now that you're opening up to me more."

"You have to open up to me in return, though, or this won't work."

"Of course, Samantha. It isn't easy for me, but I did tell you I'd try, and I am trying."

"That's all I ask for. And in the interest of your trying, how about you tell me who you were having fun with?"

"Oh, Nicky. No need for you to get jealous."

"What was she doing here?"

"Meeting Lucas. Will had a doctor's appointment." Brandon cringed as Sami's face fell. Why had he said that? She loved her son more than anything in the world, and he knew it was killing her to be away from him. Probably a large part of the reason she was willing to spend more time with him was her faith that he and Nicole would help wrestle custody away from Lucas. He wouldn't let her down. He really liked Will; he liked all children, and he was sure that they could have a lot of great times together. The great times he was most looking forward to, however, involved nothing but himself, Sami, and a bed. Come to think of it, the bed was optional.

"I can't believe my son had a doctor's appointment right here and I didn't even know. Did everything go okay? Do you know if he was scared, if he cried?"

"I think he was all right. He was asleep when I saw him, mostly asleep, anyway. Didn't look upset at all."

"That's good," she answered, but her eyes blazed. "I shouldn't have to hear about my son's well-being second or third hand. I'm his mother! *I* should have custody."

"You'll get it. Be patient."

"How can I be patient when every day I miss so much? He's learning new words, making new friends, trying new things. Sometimes I think he grows an inch between the times I see him."

Brandon grew more concerned. This was not the kind of mood he wanted Sami to be in when they had their first official date. He didn't know that he'd have enough time to snap her out of this.

"Sami, worrying over Will like this isn't going to help him. You'll see him soon, and when you do, you'll want him to see you happy. He'll know if you aren't. Kids always do."

"That's true, he always does. I always did with my parents, too."

"So, how about we start our date now?"

"Now? You don't have dinner reservations until seven and we've just gotten off work."

"Why does that matter? We can go somewhere before dinner."

Sami fought Brandon's inviting grin for a few moments, then reluctantly acquiesced. "What did you have in mind?"

"It's a surprise. But I do have an idea you might like." He led her out of the building and to his car.

"When did you get this, anyway? When I first met you, you said you were in debt."

"I was, but I have Nicky to help me out now. She got me the car as a present for coming to Salem to visit her."

"Wow."

"Wow, what?"

"That's a pretty big present."

"If Eric wanted a car and you could buy ten without thinking twice about it, wouldn't you give him one?"

"Well, yes. But not that long ago your sister Taylor was working two jobs to get herself through school, and Nicole didn't seem to be too concerned about that. And doesn't your Mom still waitress at the country club?"

"My mother waitresses because she wants to, not because Nicky and I won't help her. And as for Taylor, Nicky has a lot more money now than she did then. Tay got that scholarship out of state all by herself, but who do you think is sending her money for books and pizza and whatever else it is college kids need money for?"

"I didn't realize that."

Brandon nodded.

"Still," continued Sami, unwilling to let the subject drop, "Nicole was already modeling when Taylor started school. Why didn't she help her then?"

"She only had her modeling money."

Sami snorted. "I hired her. I know what her modeling money was . . . you mean she bought you that car with *Lucas'* money?"

"Well, no."

"Then what?" This was a path Brandon could not have Sami going down.

"It isn't technically just Lucas' money if they're married, right?"

"I guess not." Sami was disappointed that that was all Brandon had meant.

"How well did you know Taylor, anyway?" Brandon asked, hoping to keep the conversation off of money and find out just how much Sami knew about his family in one blow.

"I didn't, really. She was doing work for a cleaning service at Titan when I still worked there, but I don't think I ever saw her. Eric saw her a lot, though, and I heard about her from him. I think she had a little bit of a crush on him. Oh, and she helped Lucas with his physical therapy after he crunched up a car and almost killed Will, but that was the same day Franco died and I didn't pay much attention to her."

"Naturally."

"Eric said repeatedly that she was really sweet, though. Insecure, didn't want to be looked down on as the sister of a model. I know how that feels."

"You may," thought Brandon to himself. "But I doubt that Taylor does. I guess this is why Nicky was so eager to help her go to college away from Salem-- Nicky was lying even before she married Lucas and Taylor wanted to tell the truth. Honestly, Nicky." What he said aloud was "It looks like we're here."

"I was so busy talking to you that I didn't even notice how far we'd driven. Where are we?"

"Take a look."

Sami craned her head around. It took her a moment to recognize her surroundings. "The *roller rink?*"

"Well, you were so eager to get me ice skating last winter that I thought you might like this, too."

"Have you ever been here?"

"No. I take it you have?"

"Not for a while. I think I was still in high school the last time I was here. My friend Jamie and I went to a party together. And the time before that was years earlier, I was with Eric so we must not have even started junior high."

"So, is there any reason we shouldn't go in here?"

Sami grinned. "Well, you should realize that it's still 1972 or so inside. You'll be able to tell by the soundtrack, and they have a disco ball over the center of the rink. It's pretty dark, but they do have those beams of colored light flashing everywhere."

"So you want to go somewhere else?"

"Not at all. This will be fun, I just wanted to let you know what you're in for. They also have a chocolate cafe and a game room. Eric and I used to play air hockey every time we came."

"And you beat him every time?"

"Just about. He was kind of indulging me. He loved to roller skate. He used to whine about wanting new, fancy skates every day until . . ." her voice trailed off.

"Until what?"

"Nothing. Let's go."

"What? Samantha, I answered all of your questions about my sisters on the way over here."

"Which doesn't come close to evening up what you know about my family and what I know about yours."

"This isn't a contest."

"Then why do I have to tell you a story I don't feel like telling you? I thought this date was supposed to make me feel *better*," she replied warningly.

"You're right, it is." Brandon forced a smile to his face, but the smile became genuine when Sami returned it.

The roller rink was more fun than either of them had hoped. By the time they arrived at Lady Vi's, they were laughing freely and feeling genuinely happy to be in each other's company. Vi greeted Brandon with her usual delight; he was unquestionably one of her favorite customers.

"Your sister is here, too," she informed him.

Sami and Brandon's joy faded as Sami's and Nicole's matching blue eyes locked across the room. There was no true malice there, but Sami was not sure how long that would be so.

With Nicole, of course, was Lucas.

"Odi et Amo"-- part 2

Lucas watched Nicole. She was beautiful, and he never got tired of looking at her, and making her happy. He wasn't quite sure why she had wanted to come here for dinner instead of somewhere more upscale, like the Penthouse Grille or Tuscany, but she had been adamant, so here they were.

He suddenly noticed that her eyes were no longer focused on his; she was very definitely trying to tell someone else something. He turned in his seat and looked toward the door, where he saw the person he least liked to see-- Sami. She was with Brandon, of course. This seemed like his kind of place; he was probably how Nicole knew about it. He should have thought of that before agreeing to come here on a night when he knew Brandon and Sami were going out . . . wait a minute. His life did NOT revolve around Sami. If Sami wanted to be her obnoxious self, she could be the one to leave. She seemed to have Brandon wrapped firmly enough around her finger; he wouldn't be mad if she wanted to go somewhere else or get herself thrown out.

"Nicole! Don't look at them."

"That's my brother, Lucas. I can't ignore him. Hi, Brandon!" Nicole's loud salutation drew the ire of the other three involved parties. Brandon went so far as to mumble something about having a talk with his sister under his breath.

"Hi, Nicole. Fancy meeting you here."

"Well, when you told me that you and Sami would probably be coming here, I guess it put the idea in my head. Thanks."

"Yeah, thanks," echoed Lucas, in a considerably different tone.

"What's the matter, Lucas? Not good enough for you?" asked Sami, by reflex.

"Any place that lets you through its doors is not good enough for me, Sami."

Nicole chose this moment to knock a glass of wine almost directly toward Sami. The wine splattered onto her clothes, and Nicole began apologizing almost before the glass had stopped rolling.

"It's not too bad, Nicole. I'll just go clean it up."

"I'll help you."

"I was hoping you might," came the half sarcastic, half dry response.

"That was a good shot," Sami remarked a moment later as the sometime friends stood before the bathroom mirror. "You made a real mess but my clothes are fine."

"Good." Nicole sounded relieved.

"You did this on purpose?"

"I had to talk to you before things got any more heated between you and Lucas."

"Things always get heated between Lucas and me. We wouldn't be us if we didn't start insulting each other as soon as we got into the same room. Even when we were friends we fought a lot."

"You and Lucas, friends. You both tell the story of your relationship the same way but I still can't imagine the two of you spending time together by choice. I certainly can't imagine how Will ended up being conceived."

Sami tried not to gag. "Why would you want to imagine that?"

"That wasn't exactly what I meant."

"What, then?"

"Why did the two of you have sex? Was it just a casual, no big deal between friends kind of thing?" She balked as she saw the disgusted, annoyed expression on Sami's face. "Not that I have a problem with that. I've been with Lucas, too, I'm married to him, and in your situation I wouldn't have turned him down. Of course, he's no Eric, and probably no Brandon, either."

"Nicole . . . please." Sami looked almost ill.

"What?"

"Please don't talk about your brother's sexual prowess, *my* brother's sexual prowess, or Lucas Roberts' sexual prowess. Or lack thereof."

"I'm sorry. I was just wondering."

"We only had sex once, Lucas and I. We were friends, we both had bad days, and we ended up on the floor in the Titan photo room. Then we decided we were better as just friends."

"The floor of the Titan photo room." Nicole grinned. "Sometimes I think that's all that goes on at that place. I mean, you and Franco certainly couldn't walk past each other without a kiss at the very least, but I guess you don't want to talk about Franco, either."

"Not particularly. I didn't come in here to chat. We can't stay here much longer without Lucas and Brandon wondering where we are. So what did you want to tell me that was so urgent you had to throw a glass of wine at me?"

"I knew Brandon was taking you here tonight. That's why I made Lucas bring me here. I wanted us to have a double date."

"Why?"

"I want to tell Lucas right in front of you that Will would be better off with his mother. But I want you to act civil to him, so that you're the victim and he's the bad guy, no question about it."

"Why does it make a difference if you say it in front of me? It makes us look like we're working together."

"I want you to be able to tell Eric what happened."

"I could do that without it actually happening."

"He could check with Lucas or Brandon."

"Why would he? He hates Lucas and he almost never sees Brandon."

"He's a brother. He'll probably make an effort to see Brandon now that the two of you are an item. It'll be one of those 'I don't want him to hurt my sister like his sister hurt me' kind of things."

"Fine. Brandon knows what we're doing anyway. He'll lie for us. This is just causing a lot of unhappiness for all of us for no reason and I don't think we should do it."

"Do you or do you not want to drive Lucas to take a drink?"

Sami considered. "Okay. But in the future, check with me. No more spontaneous plans. They just aren't as good as the detailed, written out kind."

"You write out your plans?"

"Of course not. Just mentally."

"Oh. You're ready to go?"

"Yeah. You?"

"Let's get it over with. Just remember, no matter how bad this is for you, it will be worse for my dear husband. The rest of us can get drunk and forget how miserable we are. He can't." She looked almost sorry, and Sami noticed.

"You aren't having second thoughts about this, are you?"

"No, no. I have to get Eric back," she declared firmly.

"But?"

"It's too bad we have to hurt Lucas so much. He isn't all bad."

"He isn't all bad? He had something to do with Franco's death. You remember Franco, you were going to be maid-of-honor at his wedding to me?"

"Really, you were going to dump Franco before you married him anyway, and you don't know Lucas did anything."

"I know that while I was lying unconscious on the floor, Lucas was putting our son's life in jeopardy by trying to skip town with him and cracking up his car. Will went into a coma, Nicole! Do you know how few people wake up from comas?"

"Well, in the past two years, Will did, and Lucas at the same time, and you after that lethal injection, and Austin after Brandon--"

"This isn't funny!"

"No, it's not." Sami decided against slapping Nicole only because she could now see that the wine she had thrown had not been her first glass of the night. "I'm sorry. It's just so stressful, being married to Lucas and missing Eric so much. Look, we'll just go out there and make it through the night, and then I'll never do anything without your telling me to again until we have Lucas drinking and Eric in my bed."

"Deal."

They re-entered the restaurant, and found Lucas and Brandon still talking.

"There you are," said Brandon, upon seeing Sami. "Ready to go to our table?"

"Are you sure you don't want to stay with your sister?" Sami asked as guilelessly as she could. "You said at work that you were in a good mood because you'd seen her, so if it would make your evening better to have her around, I'd hate to stop you."

"Funny," put in Nicole before Brandon had an opportunity to respond, since she was sure that the only thing that would make Brandon's evening better involved finding out if Sami was a natural blonde, "He told me that he was in a good mood because of you, Sami. I guess he needs us both."

"If that's what you want," came Brandon's reply, finally. Lucas only gave Nicole one of the what-the-hell-are-you-doing looks he had developed for use on Sami years and years ago. Unfortunately, it seemed to move Nicole even less than it had ever moved its original recipient.

"It's what I want," replied Nicole firmly. "I think it's great that I'll get to see my brother twice in one day. I'm so glad Will had that doctor's appointment and I ran into you," she smiled.

"Speaking of Will's appointment, how did it go?"

"None of your business," Lucas replied sourly. That was how Sami had generally answered his questions about Will when she'd had custody, after all.

Sami's promise to let Lucas be the villain tonight vanished. Surely Nicole didn't intend for her to listen to *that*. Lucas was being nasty even by his standards, which Sami knew from experience were roughly the same as her own. That is to say, worse than most peoples'.

"None of my business? Lucas, I am his mother!"

"Trust me, I know. I've been trying to forget."

"Trying to forget, and trying to make Will forget. He won't , Lucas, I swear he won't! You are not helping your son by keeping his mother away from him!"

"And you wouldn't be helping him if you tried to keep his father away from him, which you admit that you would do!"

"Only because his father doesn't deserve him!"

"Be that as it may, neither does his mother!"

"His mother doesn't kill people and get away with it! His mother isn't a drunk, and married to another! His mother would never hit him!"

"Sami, when are you going to drop that? You know you made it up! And as for the drinking, that's over and done with. And as for Franco, come back to that when you or one of your supercop relatives comes up with something that actually connects me to the crime! Why do you have to do this every day?"

"All I asked was how my son's doctor's appointment went, and you won't tell me!"

Lucas smirked. "Isn't it a shame that you wouldn't agree to joint custody last fall?"

"I'm sure you'd be making my life miserable even if we did have joint custody."

"You'll never know."

"Yes, I will."

"Oh? Care to tell me how?"

"I only lost custody in the first place because I went to jail for a crime I didn't commit. No judge in his right mind would deny me joint custody if I sued for it. So I'll start with that, and work on getting you completely out of his life later."

"Oh, that kind of statement should really work in your favor. I have papers proving that Will benefits from having me in his life! So when Nicole and I testify as to what you just said tonight, your judge isn't going to be quite so likely to let you start poisoning your son's mind. Right, Nicole?"

"Huh?" Nicole had long ago learned to tune out Sami and Lucas' arguments. They were all the same, really. She had thought Sami would be willing to hold off on it for tonight since she had so much to gain, but apparently not. Maybe spending more time with Brandon would loosen Sami up.

"You and I are going to testify that Sami shouldn't have any kind of custody of Will because she intends to confuse him. And he's already been confused enough for one lifetime since she had to lie about who his father was for two years!"

"She isn't going to testify for you. She didn't even hear what you just said, so how could she? Unless you want her to lie in court. I know lying in court doesn't mean much to you, since you do it so often--"

"And you don't?"

"Sweetie," Nicole broke in, "I've told you before that I think Will would be better off with his mother in his life. How would you feel if your mother wasn't in your life?"

"We admit that NICOLE would feel a lot better if your mother wasn't in your life," added Sami before she could stop herself.

Lucas glowered at Sami. "'We?' Since when are you and Nicole 'we?'"

"It's a habit of speech. And maybe we are 'we,' as in 'we, the people who have Will's best interests at heart.'"

"That is a club you'll never join."

"I don't have to join it. I founded it."

"How? By lying to him from the day he was born?"

"I was trying to protect him from you."

"By acting like you were my best friend and letting me baby-sit him and play with him and take care of him until the fact that I'm his father, not his uncle, worked its way through your thick skull?"

Sami shrugged. "You can't blame me for forgetting about that night. It just wasn't very memorable."

"No, it wasn't for me, but you weren't drunk when it happened."

Sami failed to take advantage of the opportunity to criticize Lucas for being drunk at all, ever, because she was so shocked that she had just made a remark about her child's conception in the presence of her new boyfriend, whom she was ignoring completely. This was not the way to behave on a first date, or anywhere, for that matter. She was turning herself into a hypocrite after telling Nicole that she didn't want to have this kind of discussion with her. So, Sami abruptly turned to Brandon, who did not seem to be able to decide whether he was bored, amused, or disgusted.

"I'm sorry, Brandon, you don't deserve this."

"It's all right, Samantha. But I demand your undivided attention for the rest of the night."

"I think that can be arranged."

"Good." He sealed his agreement to her proposal with a kiss.

"And you can give me *your* undivided attention," Nicole informed Lucas, brushing her lips against his ear and then down his neck.

Lucas very nearly flinched. Nicole had completely taken Sami's side against his in that argument. She'd been acting that way lately anyway, but her eagerness to get Will out of his life was becoming more and more evident every day, and this was her most blatant attempt yet. If he was forced to choose between Nicole and Will, there was no contest. None.

Lucas forced himself to put his thoughts about Nicole out of his mind. He had to focus on controlling himself, on not letting Sami get any information that she might use to her advantage. Spending time with Sami was exhausting that way. Life had been much easier when she'd been on his side. Luckily, the rest of the night demanded very little of his attention. Nicole and Sami dominated the conversation by talking about little other than the weather and movies.

"So, did you and my sister have a good reason for that stunt you just pulled?" Brandon inquired when he and Sami had returned to his car.

"Stunt?"

"Come on, Samantha. You know I know you better than that."

"Nicole wanted to take my side against Lucas' in front of him so it would get back to Eric. I told her I'd tell him without it actually happening, but she was afraid he'd talk to Lucas. There wasn't really any reason to do it, but I wanted to throw her a bone so she didn't do anything more idiotic before I got my son back."

"Idiotic? That's my sister."

"I meant--"

Brandon laughed. "Relax. I know Nicky. And I assume that your schemes are usually much more thought-out and successful than that."

"Well, yes, they are."

"Aren't you glad you're with someone who can appreciate that?"

"I guess I am."

"You just guess?"

"You seem to have a pretty good opinion of yourself. You might not need me to stroke your ego quite this much." Sami promptly found puppy-dog eyes turned on her in full force.

Sami sighed. "Brandon . . ." He continued to stare at her until a blaring horn made them both jump. "Watch the road!"

"I'm sorry, Samantha. Your beauty was distracting me, but that's no excuse."

"My beauty was distracting you?" she asked ironically.

"Yes. You see, that's how you pay a compliment."

Sami privately thought that she might not be too sure of that, but she answered him anyway. "Thank you, then. I didn't mean to tease you too hard before. I had a great time tonight except for having to see Lucas. And it is a relief to be with someone who understands me. I'm always going to care about Austin-"

"That's what another guy likes to hear."

"Let me finish. I'll care about him as a friend. He's always been really good to me. But I'm not what he needs and he's not what I need."

"What do you need?"

"Someone who realizes that just because I will do or say anything in some situations I'm not a one-note bitch. Someone who can be my partner without either of us feeling uncomfortable. Someone I can laugh with and who will be good to my son. Someone who will always have my back."

"That's a kind of a tall order."

"I didn't mean to scare you."

"You didn't--"

"What I meant to say is, so far you have done that, just as my friend and I'm really glad I met you."

Brandon eased his car to a stop.

"Why did you stop?"

"This is where I live now. Up on the second floor from the top."

"It's a nice building. But . . ."

"I thought you'd like to come in and see my new place. If not, I'll be a perfect gentleman and take you home right now."

Sami considered. She still had very little experience with actual dating, but the combination of the wine she had drunk and Brandon's attentiveness had given her a warm feeling that made her loathe to let the evening end yet.

"I'd like to see your apartment."

"Then come right this way." He ceremoniously jumped out of the car and ran around it to hold her door open for her.

Brandon's apartment building was very nice; he claimed that the time he had spent living for free at the Kiriakis Mansion had allowed him to save enough money to live somewhere more expensive than he would have otherwise been able to afford.

"There's only one bad thing about this place," he concluded as they arrived in his living room.

"What's that?"

"I haven't done this in it yet." With that, Brandon began to kiss Sami, exploring her mouth with his own. They broke apart briefly, and then began to kiss again. This time, Brandon began to play with the buttons that ran down Sami's dress.

"What about that 'if I'm lucky, a goodnight kiss' thing you were telling me about when you first started asking me out?" Sami wanted to ask, but Brandon's hands felt good against her skin, and she remained silent. She felt a myriad of emotions, dominated by a vague confusion, as Brandon led her to his bedroom.

"Odi et Amo"-- part 3

Lucas stared out his office window and watched the inhabitants of Salem go about their afternoon business. "I need a drink," he thought to himself. Well, you can't always have what you need. There was no way he would give Sami Brady the satisfaction of taking another drink. He wouldn't do that to Nicole, either. She must care about him to some degree. She was married to him. Then why . . . why was she so busily helping Sami last night? She had said, in no uncertain terms, in front of both of them, that Sami should have custody of Will when she KNEW that the only reason he had married her so quickly was his desire to solidify his claim to custody.

He considered the previous evening. Nicole was very close to her brother Brandon. He had no doubt that she had known where he and Sami had been headed last night, and she had set up that confrontation.

Equally as odd as Nicole pushing him to sign his son over to his arch-enemy was Sami agreeing to eat dinner with them. Sami hated him. She told him so every day, and in a variety of creative ways to boot.

As far as Sami and her wonderfully friendly personality went, she hated Nicole, too. He couldn't quite blame her-- she knew that Nicole was one of the main reasons Lucas had been able to get custody instead of Carrie and Austin, and besides, Nicole had broken the heart of Sami's precious brother Eric. Lucas still wondered how Sami and Eric could be so close if Eric had stayed away from Sami and Salem for a good four years while Sami embarked on a spectacular downward spiral of self-destruction. The relevant fact at the moment, though, was that Sami hated Nicole.

Had Sami blackmailed Nicole into helping her? That didn't seem likely. Lucas knew all about Nicole's "sordid" past, and he had destroyed the evidence. Eric obviously didn't know anything that he could have told Sami, since the only reason Nicole had broken her engagement to Eric was her fear that he would not be able to accept the past history that Lucas himself had barely blinked at. Nicole was probably right. Eric did seem to be quite the sanctimonious jerk when dealing with anyone but Sami.

Still, Nicole's fear of her past coming back to haunt her was real, and perhaps Sami could have exploited it. Sami was the master. How such an innocent-looking girl, with round blue eyes and flowing blonde hair could invent and successfully implement so many disgusting schemes was beyond Lucas even after years of being her enemy and years more of being her friend. Had they ever been friends? Maybe ally was the better term. Lucas doubted that Sami could care for anyone. The woman wasn't capable of love or even like; he would probably be wise to keep Will away from her entirely.

Determined to find a way to think about something besides the esteemed mother of his child, Lucas went to find Nicole. He could just ask her why she was working with Sami. If some kind of underhanded methods had been used against his wife, Sami would suffer. She wasn't the only schemer in town.

Nicole's secretary informed Lucas that she was in the photo lab. He grimaced. The photo lab meant Eric Brady.

Sure enough, Eric's voice came up the hall. Lucas decided to stop and listen.

"I'll always be your friend."

"Thank you, Eric. I don't know what I'd do without you." Lucas rolled his eyes. That was Nicole. He really didn't like it when she put on this "damsel in distress" act. Additionally, it was reasonably insulting to have your wife telling her ex-fiancé how much she still needed him.

"What's wrong this time?"

"Oh, nothing, just the usual. I really miss you."

"Nicole. No."

"You won't even let me touch you?"

"Not like that!"

"Don't you remember--"

"Before you married another man? Yeah, I do."

"Eric, I only married Lucas because . . ."

"Because why? You always get this far in the conversation and then you won't tell me anything."

"I can't."

"Fine, if that's how you feel, that's how you feel. But why did you come down here?"

"Have you talked to Sami today?"

"Not really, why?"

"I was just worried about her. She seemed so upset about Will the other day. I did what I could to help, but I don't know if it was enough."

"What did you do, besides marrying Will's jerk of a father to keep him away from Austin and Carrie, whom Sami wanted to have him while she was on death row?"

"Eric, I'm sorry. But Lucas and I ran into Sami and Brandon at dinner last night, and Sami and Lucas started fighting about custody. Again."

"Okay, so they had the exact same discussion they've been having since Lucas found out he was Will's father. Then?"

"I tried to tell Lucas that I agreed with Sami. I think I made him mad, he's barely said anything to me since then."

"If you're so miserable being married to him, that should make you happy."

"He's not a bad man." Eric snorted. Lucas was unmoved. He was disgusted to realize that the best justification he could come up with for this was that Nicole thought she could get Eric to call Sami off of her.

"Nicole, I do have to get this done today."

"Okay. I'll get out of the way of the master photographer."

"Bye, Nicole."

"Bye, Eric-- Lucas!"

"Hi."

"I just came down here to show Eric the final result of that shoot he did last week. The one with that new model you said looked like she--"

"Right." Lucas waved off the small talk. "Do you have a minute?"

"As many minutes as you want, Sweetie."

"Good, let's go to my office." He ushered her inside and locked the door behind them. Nicole eyed the locked door suggestively.

"You think this is only going to take a minute? Not up to your usual standards." Nicole reached toward her husband. Lucas would have been tempted to forget about talking to Nicole had the discussion he had just overheard been about anything else. He caught Nicole's arms, trying to make the gesture look playful.

"Let's talk for a minute."

"What about?"

"I think why you married me would be a good starting point."

"Because I love you."

"That isn't what you said at the time. You said you loved Eric and would marry me because I could protect you. And haven't I?"

"Yes." Nicole squirmed.

"Do you remember why I wanted to marry you?"

"You said you loved me."

"True. But why did I want to marry you right away, without giving you any time to back away from Eric?"

"Will. You thought you would get custody if you were married."

"Good. I'm glad to see that your memory is intact."

"Is this about talking to Sami last night, then?"

"You *are* smart. I knew there was a reason I liked you."

"And it wasn't my brains," Nicole muttered.

"What was that?" Lucas asked, even though he had heard clearly.

"Nothing."

"Okay. Nothing. Now, you know what *isn't* nothing?"

"Sweetie, this is ridiculous."

"Don't know the answer? I'll tell you. The fact that you married me so I could get custody of Will and then started trying to get me to give custody away. Look, I'm not mad at you. Yet. I want to know what's going on. Did Sami threaten you? Is she trying to blackmail you?"

"Lucas, you have enough problems with her as it is." A nicely-crafted non-answer.

"That's true, but I can deal with them, and her."

"I hope you can. But there isn't any problem."

"Then why were you crying on Eric's shoulder just now?"

"I wasn't crying."

"Figure of speech."

"It was just business. We did talk about Sami, but only because, even though I hate her for the things she's done to you, she really seems to be heartbroken about losing Will."

"Now she knows how I felt."

"Then you have your way."

"Are you trying to change that?"

"No! Of course not, Honey."

"Good. Fine. I trust you." About as far as he could throw a truck.

"Can we get back to work now?"

"Sure. See you tonight."

They kissed each other good bye before Nicole nearly flew down the hall to her own office.

She grabbed her phone and dialed quickly, hoping against hope that Sami left her cell phone on.

"Hello?"

"Sami! We have to talk."

"What? Nicole?"

"Yeah. Listen, Lucas thinks--"

"Hold on. I'm in an elevator." A moment later, she resumed speaking. "Is there somewhere you want to meet?"

"Where are you?"

"Outside Eric's and my apartment."

"Not at work?"

Sami rolled her eyes. "I work in a hospital. They don't close on weekends, so I get my days off in the middle of the week."

"Oh."

"So." Sami's voice was vaguely snappy. "Where do you want to meet?"

"Ballistix, in an hour or so?"

"I can do that. I'll see you then."

"Thanks. Bye, Sami."

"Bye, Nicole." Then she added, "take care," although she didn't especially mean it except in the sense of "take care that you don't do anything stupid and blow my plans."

*********

Sami ran into Ballistix at the appointed time.

"Sami, there you are!" Nicole looked undeniably nervous.

"What's wrong?"

"Lucas thinks something is going on."

"Can you be a little more specific than that?"

"He thought that you might be blackmailing me into helping you get custody of Will."

"That's it?"

"That isn't enough?"

"Well, you told him I wasn't, right?"

"I'm not sure he believed me."

"Come on. He obviously has a blind spot a mile wide when it comes to you. He doesn't even realize why you married him."

"I married him because"

"See, you can't even say it anymore. I don't know exactly why you married him and I couldn't care less. I do know that it wasn't for love, because anyone with two eyes and even a little bit of intelligence could see that you were head over heels for my brother."

"Speaking of brothers, how did it go with Brandon last night?"

Sami's stomach flipped upside down as she remembered where she had woken up that morning-- in Brandon's bed. Luckily, he was a heavy sleeper and she had been able to get up and dressed without bothering him. She had stood on his balcony, wondering if she felt miserable because of the amount of alcohol she had drunk the previous night or for some other reason, until someone came up behind her.

"You were quiet this morning, Samantha."

"There was no reason to wake you up."

"Sure there was. You shouldn't be out here, all alone, after what happened last night." He leaned around her to kiss her, but the kiss was brief because Sami barely responded. Brandon stared at her face. "Oh, no. You regret last night, don't you? God, Samantha, I swear I thought you wanted me or I wouldn't have done anything, please, believe me."

"No, it's not that. I don't feel like you forced me, not at all. Do *you* regret last night?"

"I'm the one whose been trying to make this happen for almost a year now. I'm not the one who wandered out onto the cold balcony all alone when I could have stayed in a nice warm bed." He gave her a suggestive glance.

"I'm fine."

"Not the most ringing endorsement I've ever heard."

"I'm sorry." She turned and kissed him, not as thoroughly as she had the night before, but firmly enough to get her point across. "I just can't believe that this happened so fast. I do *not* have the best history with men. You're the first man I've ever been with who wanted me."

"I doubt that. If I am, it's because you turned down a lot of guys."

Sami shook her head no. "How much of my dating history did you pick up when you were asking around last summer?"

"I didn't ask around. I asked *you*. I know what you told me."

Sami wasn't entirely sure that Brandon was speaking the absolute truth, but she may as well let it slide since she was going to explain anyway. "My first time was when I was seventeen. I was so excited to be dating a college guy. His name was Alan Harris and he date-raped me because he was obsessed with my sister Carrie. The first man I slept with by choice was Lucas. He was obsessed with Carrie, too, and was probably thinking about her. He was also drunk." She tried unsuccessfully to smile. "We talked about that last night. Then there was that one night with Austin, who was not only drunk but drugged, and, he thought I *was* Carrie. I didn't meet Franco until years later." She laughed ironically. "I actually gave him a speech almost like this. Anyway, he only wanted me for a green card, as you must know, and he was cheating on me with a stripper. He supposedly thought about her when he was with me because I disgusted him so much."

Brandon pulled Sami even closer than he already had. "It was just bad luck, nothing more. You can't blame yourself for those stupid men. And they were stupid, all of them, to turn down a chance at spending time with you."

"Well, Austin and I did try it eventually, as you know."

"I'm glad you have him out of your system now. But I don't want to talk about *him*."

"What do you want to talk about?"

"I'd rather not talk." Brandon had once again begun to kiss her, and tell her how beautiful and special she was, and Sami had not arrived home until that afternoon.

However, she hardly intended to tell all of that to Nicole.

"The date was fine. You were there for most of it."

"Where did you go afterwards?"

"Just back to his apartment for a little while. So, have you seen Eric?"

"Yeah. We talked for awhile earlier today. Lucas might have overheard some of the conversation."

"You have to be careful about that."

"I know, I know."

"Don't worry too much. Like I said, he's fallen a long way in scheming ability. He's just not like he was when we worked together."

"You don't have the respect for him that he has for you. Be careful."

"I don't have the respect for him that he has for me because he doesn't deserve it. Honestly, the fact that he can't see what's going on between you and Eric even knowing your past kind of disappoints me."

Nicole laughed. "It's so strange, the way the two of you hold each other to standards of evilness."

Sami had been annoyed at first, but Nicole's laughter was contagious. The two emerged into Salem Place still smiling, and almost ran into Eric.

"Sami! I haven't seen you, I was worried when you didn't come home last night." Nicole suppressed a cough.

"I'm sorry. It was late and I'd been drinking, so I just stayed at Brandon's place."

"Are the two of you really friends again now?" Eric looked from his twin to his ex-fiancé.

"Yes!" Sami and Nicole answered together. Then Sami continued, "Nicole's been really great about helping me see Will and everything, since Lucas is being so unfair. I miss my little boy so much."

"It's okay, Sami. I'll help you get him back." Nicole punctuated her statement with and affectionate half-hug which she hoped did not look too fake.

"Thanks, Nicole. I'll see you later, I really have to be going."

"You'll be home tonight?" Eric called after her.

"Yeah. Will you? Want me to cook?"

"That's an offer I'm smart enough not to turn down." Sami waved goodbye, and Eric turned his full attention to Nicole.

"How did you and Sami end up here together?"

"We just sort of ran into each other. You know how that happens, I mean, you ran into us too."

"I guess so."

"How did those pictures turn out?"

"Great."

"I knew they would. You're a great photographer."

"I always have the best subjects at Titan."

"But you liked it better when Sami had my job."

"It's nothing against *you*. But yeah, I miss having both my sisters there. And Austin, too. I feel like a sell-out, keeping my job there after the way Kate and Lucas treated Sami, especially since Austin had the guts to leave."

"Sami wanted you to stay there, do what you loved."

"I know. If she'd asked me to quit, I would have."

"I know. So does she. It's great that you guys mean so much to each other."

"It is, I mean, she's my twin. I'm glad that you two are friends again. I love it that you're helping her. It reminds me why I fell in love with-- well, I shouldn't have mentioned that, but"

"No! Mention it, please. Eric, I'm not even close to being over you." She moved closer to Eric, and he didn't pull away. Instead, he leaned down as if he might kiss her.

"Odi et Amo"-- part 4

Sami sank into the cushions of her couch and let out a sigh which was intended to be contented but which sounded more exasperated than anything else. She and Brandon had crammed quite a few dates into the past several weeks, and he would be coming to pick her up again in a few minutes. She glanced at her clothing one final time, and was satisfied with what she saw.

"You look fine, Sami," came Eric's voice as he emerged from his bedroom.

"Thanks."

"When is Brandon coming over?"

"Any time now." Eric made a face that would have been imperceptible to anyone but Sami, who shared virtually all of her twin's facial expressions and knew exactly what each one meant.

"Is that a problem? Do you need me to do something for you?"

"No, it's not that at all. I just want to talk to you and I barely see you even though we live together."

"Will you be around tomorrow evening?"

"No, I promised Greta."

"That's the problem. We have to get our love lives in sync. Set up a double date or something. Would Greta go for that? I know she's still sometimes nervous around some people, and I seem to be one of them."

"She likes you just fine," Eric assured. "She's a little bit intimidated by you because she knows how much you mean to me."

"And she's heard stories about me."

"Most of them true."

"I didn't say they weren't. I hope they haven't ever caused *you* any problems, and I don't mean only with Greta."

"They haven't caused any problems with Greta, because like I just *told* you, she likes you, and she knows better than to judge someone by the gossip mill. Anyway, she knows that John cares about you, and me, and Austin, so I don't think she thinks we could be wrong."

"When did she and Austin get so close?"

"I'm not sure. It seems to be a nice friendship, though. It's doing both of them good. I mean, she spent years living in a swamp all by herself and that can make you kind of insecure about your social skills." Both twins smiled.

"And Austin has really been drifting loose since Billie and Carrie both left town," Sami completed the thought.

"Right."

"So what do you want to talk to me about? We can start now and finish later."

"No, it's almost time for you to leave."


"This is bugging you. I won't go. We'll talk."

"It's not that big a deal. I mean, it could be, it's a lot of things, but it's not that big a deal."

"Uh-huh. I can't believe my twin brother is such a lousy liar. I promise you that I will not have a good time tonight and neither will Brandon if you don't tell me what's bothering you."

"Well, one thing *is* Brandon. How do you feel about him, really?"

"I like him a lot. I'm glad we're dating, even if it is kind of soon after Austin."

"Are you sure?"

"What do you mean?"

"Somehow, you don't seem completely happy. Right before I came in here, you looked more like you were waiting for a funeral than for a date with someone you like."

"I do feel a little bit tired tonight, but it isn't Brandon's fault. If Brandon becomes the source of any of my problems, I'll break up with him faster than Belle can invent a new hairstyle."

Eric laughed. "Okay."

"What else?"

"Nicole."

"Has she done something?"

"Not that I know of."

"You're just still hung up on her."

"I'm not sure I'd phrase it that way, but she was the first woman I ever loved."

"Do you love Greta, too?"

"I think so."

"But you're sure about Nicole."

"Yeah. Doesn't that make me an awful person?"

"It makes you human, I think. Is there a specific reason you brought this up tonight?"

"Partly just because she's Brandon's sister and I'm worried that Brandon might treat you like she treated me. We don't know a lot about what happened in their past, unless Brandon has opened up to you a lot in the last month or so." Sami responded in the negative by shaking her head. "And also because she called me while you were getting ready to go out."

"What did she have to say?"

"She wants to come over tonight to go over some things from work."

"You're worried about being alone with her."

"In my-- our-- apartment at night? Yes. Especially since Austin is living right next door and I know he's been giving Greta updates on what I do when we're not together."

"Austin is *spying* on you for Greta? She trusts you that little? I think you might have bigger relationship problems than Nicole."

"She wouldn't be this insecure if it wasn't for Nicole."

"If you want me to cancel with Brandon and stay here, the offer still stands." Sami prayed that Eric would not take her up on that offer, though. Nicole was not going to help her knock Lucas off the wagon if she deliberately interrupted what she assumed was a seduction of Eric. Still, Eric was one person whose life she was unwilling to ruin to get her son a little bit more quickly than she otherwise would. Yes, he loved Nicole, but she wouldn't force them together while he still had strong feelings for Greta. Luckily, Nicole was unaware of this little piece of information.

"No. I want you to go. Have a good time."

"I will."

On cue, a knock sounded on the door, and Sami hurried to join Brandon.

"Hi."

"Hi. Ready to go?"

"Yeah." She shut the door behind her. "Movie tonight?"

"If that's still what you want."

"Okay." They headed for Salem Place. "This is one thing that's better about living here than in the Kiriakis Mansion. You can't really walk anywhere from there."

"That's true."

"Brandon?"

"Yeah?"

"Is anything wrong? You sound annoyed."

"Aren't I allowed to sound annoyed once in a while?"

"Of course. I was just wondering if there was something I could do to help."

"It isn't about you, Samantha."

"Still, if you wanted to tell me I might be able to help, or if you really feel that bad and you want to cancel tonight, or do something else . . ."

"I'm fine!" Brandon fairly snapped. Sami did her best not to shrink away. Brandon suddenly looked much as he had the night he had boxed Austin and Austin had ended up in a coma. That had been an accident, though, and Brandon had been genuinely remorseful. If Sami had thought otherwise, she never would have forgiven him, let alone dated him. No one harmed Austin on her watch. Her primary concern was still Will, though, and Brandon could help her get him back.

"Have you seen your Mom lately?" Sami tried for a new topic of discussion. She had only met Brandon's mother once, and she had liked her.

"No. Why, having problems with yours?"

"Of course not."

"What 'of course not?' You went years without speaking to her."

"That was complicated, and it was over before I met you. What does that have to do with anything?"

"Nothing, nothing. I just thought you might be having problems with her being disappointed in you, and all. Since she's a hot-shot doctor at the hospital, and your sister was the public relations director, and you have to take orders from Nurse Brenda."

"I think everyone takes orders from Nurse Brenda." Sami tried to laugh the remark off. Brandon obviously hadn't meant it the way she was tempted to take it.

"That's right."

"And Mom is happy that I'm working. And happy that I'm seeing you." She hoped this revelation would snap Brandon out of his foul mood.

"She should be, considering the other men you've dated."

That was too much. "What? Brandon, you have no right to say that. You can go to the movie yourself if you want to see it. I don't really care where you go, but I'm going home." She turned on her heel and moved purposefully back the way they had come. Brandon caught her in half a step and grabbed her arm tightly. "Let go of me. I swear I'll scream."

All of the hatred vanished from Brandon's large eyes. He loosened his grip on her arm. "I'm sorry, Samantha. I had no right to say that, and I didn't mean to hurt you, physically or otherwise."

Sami was relieved. "Well, can you let go of my arm, then?" Brandon did as he was asked.

"Can we still go to the movie? I promise I won't take my mood out on you anymore. I'd really hate to ruin tonight."

"Let's do it."

Sami glanced up as they crossed the street. She only now realized that they were passing the Titan building, where she had worked, where she would still work if she hadn't been framed for murder. Her eyes instinctively sought Lucas' window, even after all these years of animosity. She forced them away, but not before she saw that his light was on. So he was working late. He could be spending time with their son, an option she did not have, and he was working instead. A small corner of her mind reminded her that once she would have been thrilled to see that light on. So much of her late adolescence had been spent running after Lucas to tell him some new bit of gossip or a brilliant idea that she had that would surely create some gossip if he was willing to help her put the wheels in motion.

Those days were gone forever. She was an adult, a woman with a child, and he was her enemy. For a while, she had missed his friendship, but now she had a new life, with new people in it, and she only wanted to get Lucas out of Salem and out of her world. If there was one thing that she did not need, it was reminders of her shady, troubled, mistake-filled past. She did not care if there was a light on in his office.

*********

Lucas left the light on in his office as a cover. His mother and Victor knew that he would be here late; his excuse had been that he wanted to take the afternoon off to spend time with Will while he was awake and make up for it tonight. In actuality, his work had all been done long ago. The building was empty now, and he could do as he pleased without seeming suspicious.

He pulled a key out of his pocket and slipped it into Victor's lock. He had copied it one day long ago when he had had some legitimate reason to use Victor's office. Legitimate? This was legitimate, too. If he discovered anything interesting that did not pertain to the matter at hand, he would promptly forget about it. But he had to find out of there was any information about Nicole in here. Had his mother and Victor done another background check on her? Was she involved in something of which he was unaware? Her behavior lately simply had not been that of a loving wife, or even of a friend who had been willing to marry for convenience.

So, while the light in his office let all of Salem know that he was working, he used a flashlight to examine the contents of Victor's filing cabinets. His personal folders held nothing of special interest. Everything was dated quite recently, and most of it was medical.

The Titan reports, then. Most of these he had access to; he only had to find a form or statement that he had not seen to know he had a potential lead. He was becoming discouraged when he heard a voice out in the hall. Willing himself not to panic, he shut the filing cabinet and left the office.

"Hello?"

"Lucas?" A woman came into view. It was Greta Von Amburg, the woman who should be out keeping Eric from looking at Nicole. It shouldn't be too difficult for her; Greta was very pretty, and some kind of royalty as well. Her mother had been a princess, at least. No one seemed sure who her father was.

"Greta. What are you doing here?"

"I'm looking for Eric. He said he was working tonight when I called him, and I thought I would come surprise him."

"He isn't here. No one else is in the building. How did you even get in?"

She blushed. "I have key. Eric copied it for me. Please don't be mad at him," she rushed on, "I wouldn't do anything, I'll give it to you right now--"

"Greta." She stopped. "I personally don't care if you have ten keys as long as you're careful with them." Greta remained frozen in place. "Relax. This isn't a serious thing."

"Good. Thank you."

"No problem. Come back to my office with me and I'll walk you out. This place is empty at night."

"I didn't really notice. I got used to that, living alone for so many years."

"I guess you would. I'm sorry you couldn't find Eric."

"So am I. He's been getting harder to find lately. When I do find him, he's always with Nicole." She fairly spat out the name before realizing that she was speaking with the woman's husband. "I'm sorry, I don't mean anything against Nicole."

"Don't worry about it. We aren't on the best terms at the moment, anyway." Lucas wondered if divulging that would prick Greta's interest. If Eric was spending time with Nicole, then the two of them might find a sharing of information mutually beneficial.

Sure enough, Greta turned to him with unconcealed interest, although she said nothing. What could she say to that? Lucas decided to continue. "Nicole has Eric to help her with he problems, though. It's nice that they're able to stay such good friends after the way they broke up."

"You don't think it's nice at all." So Greta had some spunk. Good.

"I doubt that you do, either."

"Friends is fine. But every time I see them . . ."

"What?"

"They look so intimate. Like they've kissed, or are about to. They flirt so much, and she's so much more aggressive than I am, I wonder how much Eric misses that. I wonder if they want to start their relationship again, like Nicole said, I mean, " she rambled.

"It's okay. Tell me what Nicole said."

"It wasn't anything. She just kept telling me about how nice her relationship with Eric was, and how she didn't think they'd ever really be out of each other's systems. They were each other's first true loves or something. I shouldn't be telling you this."

"Why not? I asked you. And I know that a lot of what you've said is true. But can I tell you something?"

"Yes."

"Is it okay if I insult Eric a little? You insulted my wife."

She smiled. "Sure."

"In many ways, Eric Brady is a self-righteous, sanctimonious bastard. He would never cheat on you. I don't like him, but at the moment I trust him more than I trust my own wife."

"I think you're right. But Nicole can be very persuasive."

"She won't persuade Eric to walk away from you. Look at you, you're beautiful, you're sweet, I can't imagine that he'd want anyone else, even Nicole, after having you."

"I wish I agreed with you."

Lucas was relatively sure he wouldn't find anything more tonight. He could help Greta, though, and if he did it wouldn't be beyond the realm of possibility that he would also help himself.

"Let me take you to Eric's apartment. It isn't too late, you can surprise him there."

"I don't think he'd like that."

"Of course he would. I would."

"You're sure?"

"Let's go."

They arrived at the apartment building quickly.

"The light is on," Lucas announced. "See, he's home."

"It could be Sami."

"No, she had a date with Brandon."

Greta gave him a questioning look, and he realized that it might seem odd that he knew his arch enemy's social calendar. He shrugged. "Brandon always tells Nicole and she insists on repeating it to me. I'm not sure why."

Entering the building, Lucas was hit was a rash of memories. He had not been here for a while, but when he had first come to Salem he had spent much of his time here, in Carrie and Austin's adjoining apartments. Carrie he had visited in his fruitless quest to win her affection, and he had gone to see Austin either to play with his mind, such as it was, or to visit Sami and Will. He had loved Will so much when he had believed him to be his nephew. It was amazing that the love had become even deeper when he had discovered the truth. He was still shocked when he thought about Sami's willingness to lie about her son's father. That was how she treated her friends. Not so different from how she treated her enemies.

No one answered Greta's knock on Eric's door.

"You see, he doesn't want to be bothered. Let's go."

"I don't want to leave yet."

"Then I'll visit your brother. Want to come?"

"Not especially. Let's let ourselves in. He won't mind."

"Yes he will."

"What if something happened to him?" Lucas hated having to play this kind of game with someone who had done nothing wrong, but he needed to know what Eric was up to tonight, and Greta was an unexpected way in.

"You think something happened to him?"

"Home alone. Light on. Not answering the door. We really should check."

Greta took a deep breath and flung the door open. She looked inside, and turned and fled, forcing Lucas out of the way as she retreated down the hall. Lucas then looked in for himself. Eric and Nicole lay naked in each others' arms on the couch.

"Odi et Amo"-- part 5

Sami arrived back at the apartment she shared with her twin brother just a few minutes after midnight. She had to be at work early the next morning, and she knew that she should go straight to bed, but she could not shake the feeling that something was wrong. Her sixth sense, the one that reached out and curled itself around Eric, had been bothering her for much of the evening, but she had decided not to tell Brandon of her concerns. The bond that Sami and Eric shared tended to intimidate their friends, and Brandon was already irritable enough.

Fearing that she had been over-reacting, and fearing even more that she had not, Sami tapped lightly on Eric's bedroom door before letting herself in. She crossed her fingers in the hope that he would be peacefully asleep.

Instead, he was sitting on the bed, with his back to her, staring at the wall. A voice that sounded very unlike his broke the silence.

"Usually, after you knock, you wait for someone the say 'come in.'"

"Eric what's wrong?" The panic she had suppressed all night came out in full force now.

"Not now, Sami." She ignored him. "Not now," didn't mean "not now" between them. It never had. She was not going to leave Eric here alone while he was feeling so miserable that she had sensed his pain from halfway across town, and there was no two ways about it. Instead, she climbed onto the bed with him and pulled him into a hug. As she had known he would, he returned the hug with surprising force.

"Do you want to tell me what happened now?"

"Are you going to ask me every two minutes if I say no?"

"It's possible," she shrugged.

"This might not be something you want to talk about with me," he warned. Just then, Sami knew what had happened. Eric knew she knew, and she knew he knew she knew, but they proceeded with the conversation as if this were not the case.

"Tell me anyway."

"I made a mistake. I think. I'm not sure it was a mistake. No, of course it was. I keep forgetting that."

"Why was it a mistake?"

"She's married. And I hurt Greta. God, I didn't mean to hurt Greta. She's been through enough, and I promised her I would never hurt her, but then I did." Eric wore an expression of pure self-loathing. "She won't talk to me. I know she's safe, at least, because Austin is playing her knight in shining armor."

"You already TOLD her?"

"I didn't have to. She saw, thanks to that husband of Nicole's." He sighed deeply. "But it's hard to feel superior to a man when you're having an affair with his wife."

Sami inwardly remarked that she doubted that most men felt that way, and Eric looked at her and smirked. She hadn't needed to say it; the telepathy was on.

"I'm not like those men, Sami, and I don't want to be."

"I know you don't. I know."

"I wish Greta did."

"She'll forgive you. She'll even take you back if that's what you really want."

"I don't know about that. And I don't even know WHAT I really want."

"It's okay. You don't have to know right now. You've got time."

"Time to keep ruining other peoples' lives, and my own?"

"Eric, no. You haven't done that."

"Tell that to Greta."

"I may, if she doesn't come around in a few days. But I think she's smart enough to understand how rare someone like you is."

Eric made a face. "And how someone like *Austin* is even rarer."

When Austin's name was combined with such a derisive tone, Sami's mind instantly went to one person. That was one of a million little triggers that she could not eliminate from her mind no matter how much she wanted to do so.

"So how did Lucas cause Greta to walk in on you?"

"I'm not really sure. I just know that he was behind her when she walked in the door. I'm under the impression that he just walked her over here and convinced her to open the door without being invited in. We were asleep. I don't think she screamed or made any noise, but somehow I managed to open my eyes just when she came in. Sami, the look on her face . . . she just turned and ran out. Then Lucas came in. He never even looked at me, just grabbed Nicole's arm and told her to get dressed. She wasn't very awake, she didn't wake up until I stood up to try to chase Greta. The weird thing about Lucas was, he didn't even look surprised."

"He didn't have much of a right to look surprised. It would have been hard to miss all those times Nicole was hitting on you. Although Lucas used to be a killer liar, so he might have been covering."

"Whatever. I can't believe he didn't try to hit me. I think I would have let him."

"Then I'm glad he didn't want to."

"Me too, sort of. It might make me feel better to be punished."

"You are being punished, by yourself. And you'll get it from Greta and Austin even if you never get it from Lucas."

"Why would Austin be more interested than Lucas?"

"You know that's how he is. He likes to protect people, and now he's protecting Greta. He always used to protect me, no matter what it did to his relationship with Carrie, so I'm sure he'd be willing to give you a couple of black eyes if he thought it would make Greta feel better. Which of course it won't, so he won't."

"I guess you're right."

"I am."

"That isn't the real problem, though."

"What is?"

"I already said it. I don't know what I want."

"What's wrong with that?"

"It isn't fair to anyone. I've been thinking about this for a while. I should have done it before anything happened. I'm going back to Colorado."

"You don't think that's over-reacting a little?"

"No."

"There's more to life than relationships. What about your job at Titan?"

"It's given me a portfolio. I can get work somewhere else. Besides, I don't feel comfortable there anymore. I haven't since you and Carrie left."

"Still, you won't get a job quite like that ANYWHERE. I know you're good, I'm more proud than I can tell you, but I'd hate to see you let that slip away."

"I've thought of that too. And I'm not formally quitting yet. I'm asking for a year off, because I want to 'develop my photography talents in other mediums by working for a newspaper in Colorado.'"

"You don't like that kind of work."

"Kate doesn't know that."

"She owns the Salem Spectator, too, you know. She might tell you just to take a job there."

"If it comes to that, I'll quit outright. I don't think it will. That's her son's wife I was . . ."

"I know. She'll probably thank you for that. She hates Nicole."

"Has she ever liked anyone Lucas was involved with?"

Sami smirked. "Carrie." Then her face fell.

"What?"

"You know what. I'm going to miss you so much."

"I'll miss you, too. But we've done this before."

"I know this is completely immature of me to say at our age, but I don't want to go another five years without seeing you!" Sami was almost crying, and she didn't care.

"It won't be five years this time. I couldn't do that, and I don't have any reason to, since we AREN'T little kids confused about who our parents are anymore." He stared at his twin. "Sami, I don't want to leave you either. I can't tell you how it felt last summer when you were lying in that room. You actually DIED before they brought you back, and I swear that I felt it. If it weren't for Will, I'd try to get you away from this mess and back to Colorado, too. But this is something I have to do."

Their eyes locked. "I know," Sami answered.

They spent the rest of the night talking, since they did not know how long it would be before they had another opportunity to just discuss things face-to-face. When the time came for Sami to leave or face the considerable wrath of Nurse Brenda, Eric steeled himself to knock on the door of the apartment adjacent to his.

Austin swung the door open. "You've got a lot of nerve, showing up here."

"Is Greta still here?"

"Yeah, she is, but she doesn't want to talk to you, so you can just leave."

"She has to talk to me sooner or later. Not too much later, because I *am* leaving town with my head hung in shame, okay, Austin? Let me talk to her."

"It isn't your decision."

"Austin." Greta's voice interrupted the conversation that was well on its way to becoming a shoving match. "Eric's right, we have to talk sometime and we're both here now." Eric's already all-consuming guilt somehow got worse when he saw Greta's face. She was determined to go through with this conversation, but she looked as if she were in shock. Why had he had to hurt her?

"Fine," answered Austin tightly. Then his voice softened. "It's your decision. I'll be next door if you need me." With that, he walked into Eric's apartment. Eric was slightly annoyed to realize that he didn't have much right to make a snide remark about asking permission to enter someone else's home, especially since Austin was only trying to stay close enough to support Greta while not eavesdropping on her conversation.

"Well?" asked Greta. "Did you just come here to stare at me?"

"No, no. I came here to apologize, but everything I think of to say to you sounds like such a cliché."

"Say it anyway. Chances are even if it is a cliché, I haven't heard it before." It had been a long time since such bitterness had entered Greta's voice.

"I didn't mean to hurt you."

"You didn't mean to have sex with Nicole or you didn't think your having sex with her would hurt me?"

Eric winced. "The first one."

"So it's just that sometimes sex is something you have no control over?"

"I should have been in control. I shouldn't have done it."

"We agree on something, then."

"I know you're upset."

"I'm beyond upset. I'm so upset I don't know what to say to you. Eric, I was burned by ACID. I thought I would never recover from those scars. I thought I was so ugly that I needed to hide myself in a SWAMP, and cover myself with mud! I was afraid that Stefano DiMera would find me and hurt me. I lived my whole life alone and afraid. I didn't trust anyone, but I trusted YOU! But that doesn't matter to you, does it? It doesn't matter that you were the only one I ever believed when you said I was beautiful."

"You are beautiful."

"Just not like Nicole."

"You're at least as beautiful as Nicole."

"But not enough to make up for how good she is in bed? Or on the couch, or the floor, or wherever else it is you did it. No, I was a virgin and I would have bored you, so you decided I wasn't even worthy of the time it would have taken to break up with me before you went back to Nicole."

"I didn't go back to Nicole."

Greta glared. "Just not officially, because she's still married. I don't understand Salem. I don't understand you people. I never should have left Europe. I guess I'll go back now, to be out of your hair."

"You don't have to do that."

"I'm not doing it for you!"

"I'm leaving Salem, Greta. I'm going to Colorado, maybe for a year, maybe more."

"Good."

"Is there anything else you want to say to me?"

"I don't even want to look at you."

"Then just listen for a second. I care about you. I like you. I love you. I think you're beautiful and caring and funny and intelligent. I'm grateful for the help you've given my family. I don't want you to think that because of last night everything I ever told you was a lie. If there was a way I could prove that, I would do it."

Greta stared at him, unmoved.

"I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. I have never been sorrier about anything in my life. Can you forgive me?"

"This time yesterday I was planning a romantic evening for us, twelve hours ago I walked in on you and your ex-fiancee naked, and you want me to have forgiven you already?"

"No. But I hope you will someday. Sami will have my address if you ever want to have anything to do with me again."

"Have a nice trip," said Greta sarcastically.

Austin re-entered the room as soon as Eric left it.

"How are you?"

Greta looked at him, puzzled, as if he had asked the question in Greek.

"Greta?"

"I thought I would feel so much worse. But somehow, I'm just glad it's over."

"Do you want to lie down now? I know you didn't sleep last night."

"Neither did you. Eric obviously didn't, either, so probably Sami didn't."

"Or Nicole or Lucas."

Greta made a face. "Let's not talk about any of them." Then she reconsidered. "Do you suppose Lucas is all right?"

"I think Lucas knew this was coming."

"So?"

Austin shrugged. "Lucas is no saint."

"That doesn't mean he can't be hurt. Besides, I hear stories everywhere about what he did when he was seventeen, or twenty-one, and none of it seems like the person I was talking to yesterday."

"Be careful around him. He's not always what he seems."

"Who is?" wondered Greta, as she thought if Eric, and her brief feeling of relief was replaced by an odd combination of depression and fury. The emotions surprised her, and she was glad Austin was there.

****************

Across town, as Austin had predicted, neither Nicole nor Lucas slept that night. Lucas did not say a word as he and Nicole made their way home to the mansion made exactly to Nicole's specifications. Nicole several time considered breaking the silence, but always decided against it. She was somehow afraid. She knew that Lucas was not like her father, or her brother, and would never hurt her physically. But the way that Sami talked about Lucas' scheming ability when he was not hindered by "a blind spot a mile wide," with an almost reverent tone, was certainly cause for concern.

Lucas finally spoke upon entering his home. "Go take a shower. Wash *him* off of you. Then come find me." Nicole did as she was asked. An amicable divorce from Lucas would be much better for her bank account than a messy one. And the state of her bank account would determine the state of her relationship with Eric.

"Lucas?" Nicole didn't dare call him by any of the endearments she had been using since soon after their marriage.

"In here, Nicole." She stood before him.

"Have a seat." She sat. "Now. Don't you ever go near Eric Brady again."

Nicole changed her mind about giving in to Lucas. "You can't tell me who to go near. You don't own me."

"You see this mansion? You like it? You want it?"

Nicole was silent.

"You've been bought and paid for."

"That's not true. I have my own money. I can leave."

"You do not have the connections I have. If you divorce me now, I promise you won't get a dime. And the REASON for our potential divorce works in my favor as well. I'll get anything that you happen to have from your modeling jobs, too. And I'll see that you never model again. Is that clear?"

"You can't do that."

"Not personally, but Titan is a big company, and I think Victor Kiriakis is on my side. I haven't noticed him liking you much. And you don't even have Sami and Eric to help you anymore. Sami will cut you loose as soon as she gets her claws into will and you know it. And as I said, you don't talk to Eric. I can also have him fired, you know."

"He's your best photographer."

"Best isn't only, DEAR. Tastes are always changing, anyway."

"How long do you want to continue with this sham of a marriage, then?"

"At least until the next custody battle is over. That's if you're lucky."

"And if I'm not?"

"Then you will play my loving wife indefinitely."

"I won't play your loving wife. I'll sleep with every man in town but you."

"That stuff I said about seeing Eric? That goes for the rest of the male population of Salem, too. And you *will* be sleeping with me. But only sleeping. I don't want you moving out of our bedroom because I don't want Will to report to Sami."

"I can report to Sami myself."

"And I'm sure you do. And I'm sure she takes everything you say with a grain of salt."

"Even if she does, she has no reason to doubt anything I tell her."

"And less reason to care. Let me tell you a little about Sami. She can hold a grudge until the end of time. You hurt her twin." Lucas rolled his eyes, as he always did at the mention of the oh-so-special relationship between Sami and Eric. "You are on Sami's hate list until the end of time."

Nicole decided not to cross Lucas until she had spoken to Eric. Still, she couldn't resist one more stab at him. "Sooner or later, you're going to want a real wife. A real friend. You won't have anything but an enemy under your roof until you divorce me. That won't be easy for a recovering alcoholic."

"That's it, isn't it."

"What?"

Lucas wasn't really talking to Nicole anymore. "That's what Sami wanted with you. She asked you to make me take a drink. It won't work. I'm better than her. I'm better than both of you." He came back to reality. "Ready for bed?"

"You're kidding."

"Nope, not in a very funny mood today. I'm not sure why."

So, after a night of lying on opposite sides of the bed pretending to sleep, Lucas and Nicole went into Titan together. Alone in his office, Lucas almost wondered if he should just set Nicole free. He did not get quite the pleasure out of making other people miserable that he once had. Then a man whom he did not know handed him an envelope filled with papers.

"So this is what Sami and Brandon work on when they're at work together," he said to himself. "I guess Nicole will be staying with me a little while longer."

The papers informed him that Will's custody hearing would occur one week from that day.

"Odi et Amo"-part 6

Everyone in the room had been to hearing like this one before. Several times. "This hearing will determine the custody of William Roberts," the judge was saying. Sami and Lucas flashed each other cool looks across the room. Nicole sat next to Lucas, looking discontent, but a sideways glance from her husband forced a smile to her face. Behind them sat Kate and Victor; Sami's mother and father were there as well, Lucas noted.

"In this state alone, there are thousands of children who are somehow harmed
by their parents. They are unwanted or unloved, forced into a well-intentioned foster care system that allows far too many children to slip through its cracks. William is lucky enough to have two parents who care about him very much. However, he is hurting as well, having been through FAR too many custody battles in far too short a period of time." The judge paused to glare at the assembled families. "It is the abiding hope of this court that this will be the FINAL upheaval in this young boy's life. Because of the obvious complications of this case, we will discuss all aspects of the situation in more detail than
is average. Failure to abide by the decision will result in large fines and potential jail time. Is that understood?"

She sounded like a kindergarten teacher lecturing her more unruly students. Not entirely inappropriate considering the way Will's parents sometimes acted, though, Lucas thought.

"Samantha Brady, the mother, will speak first. We would like to have some additional background information to help us understand the need for so much legislation so far. Miss Brady, why have there been so many custody battles surrounding your son?"

Lucas rolled his eyes as Sami lowered hers. He knew these tricks; he had coached her on them. Sami began to speak in a less powerful voice than she ever used in her everyday life.

"Will wasn't lucky enough to be born to a married, loving couple. I was only seventeen when I became pregnant, and I was alone and scared. And I was guilty, more guilty than I can describe, that Will wouldn't have parents who loved and supported each other. But I did everything in my power to make sure he was happy anyway. No one can say I wasn't a good mother. And because until my ex-fiancé's murder I was the only constant in Will's life, I felt that as a good mother, I had to try to keep custody. I mean, even his father admits that he doesn't sleep well when he doesn't see me."

"If his father 'admits,' as you say, that your son needs you, that seems to me to be an indication that you are both concerned for your son's welfare, correct?"

"Yes."

"Then why have you repeatedly attempted to keep him from having any sort of custody? You even refused to sign joint custody papers just last autumn?"

"Lucas may have good intentions, but he cannot provide Will with the role model that he needs. He used underhanded methods to get custody of Will in the first place, and he even hit Will while he was drinking a few years ago. He could slip back into alcoholism at any time, and his trophy wife isn't any better."

Lucas sat up straighter and waited for the judge to object to the child abuse comment. There would be hell to pay if she didn't.

"Miss Brady, you may not make such accusations in this courtroom. Mr. Roberts was not convicted of child abuse and you cannot provide any evidence that he has continued to drink, can you?" Sami shook her head mutely. "Please stick to established facts."

"The established facts are that I only lost custody in the first place because I was sent to prison for a crime which I did not commit and of which I have since been acquitted. Will has never been unhappy in my care, and he is unhappy when I am not around. Custody should have reverted to me when I was released from prison last summer."

"Thank you. Mr. Roberts, I would like to ask you the same question. "Why has your son been forced through so many custody battles before his fifth birthday?"

"I had no involvement in most of those custody battles because Will's mother lied to me about who his father was. When I did find out, she wanted me to have no involvement in his life, even when she was in prison and unable to care for him herself. She would not even agree to joint custody when I offered it to her last fall, as you have already mentioned."

"And to spite her you do not wish to agree to joint custody now?"

"I believe that she hates me so thoroughly that if she is granted any sort of custody she will attempt to confuse our son. She has also already stated to me that joint custody is 'a start' and she will take Will from me entirely at the first opportunity."

"So, rather than risk this behavior from Miss Brady, you would prefer to deny your son any sort of contact with his mother?"

"I do not deny him contact with his mother now. I understand that he would be the victim if he was forbidden to have contact with his mother, but I also know that he would suffer if he was not allowed to see me. I don't think that his mother agrees with me on this point. In addition, when he is with me, Will has a stepmother. When he is with his mother, he does not have a stepfather, and in addition, his mother has considerably fewer financial resources than I do, so when she is working she cannot ensure that Will has consistent child care. Several years ago, she left him with a neighbor she barely knew and the neighbor kidnapped him and sold him on the French black market. That was the reason for one of the custody hearings on your list, I believe."

"Thank you. Miss Brady, please tell me why you decided to have a child with a man whom you detest."

"I was seventeen and my judgment wasn't the best. I had been raped and then been told by everyone from my rapist to the tabloid newspapers to strangers in a club that it was my own fault. Lucas was my friend at the time, and he got rid of some men who were hitting on me. I just wanted to feel better about myself, and my situation. It was one night."

"Mr. Roberts, do you agree with that assessment of the situation?"

"Yes. We were friends at the time, and we probably still would be if it was up to me."

"You would befriend a woman whom you have accused of attempting to keep your son from you, of lying to you, and who accused you of child abuse?"

"I would certainly be civil to her for my son's sake, but she is not willing to make that an option."

"Miss Brady, why is civility 'not an option?'"

"My son's welfare is at stake. I can be accused of being many things, but I can't be accused of being a bad mother. Will's father kidnapped him, and then put his life in danger by getting drunk and getting behind the wheel of a car. He says that he can take better care of Will than I can because of his financial situation, but I do not agree that his ability to buy a pony for Will automatically makes him a fit parent."

"You previously stated that Mr. Roberts was once your friend, and now you are perilously close to stating that he is your enemy. If you believed that he could change from your friend to your enemy, why do you not believe that he can change back?"

"I am concerned that it was my perception that changed, not his actual behavior. Before Will was conceived, I remember being in a car with Lucas while he was drinking and driving at least twice, and he was underage at the time as well. We were very nearly in an accident once."

"Is this true, Mr. Roberts?"

"No, it is not true, your honor."

"WHAT?" exclaimed Sami from across the room, finally breaking the tension that had been created during what had probably been the longest amount of time she and Lucas had spent in the same room without a fight in years. "YOU KNOW THAT HAPPENED, LUCAS! THIS IS WHAT YOU PLAN TO TEACH WILL, HOW TO LIE?"

"Miss Brady!"

"Your honor, he is lying and he knows it!"

"Miss Brady, you will control yourself in this courtroom! And as for the relevance of an action Mr. Roberts took prior to his son's birth, it is practically none. The relevant fact is that he has not continued to drink after promising not to do so. Is that clear?"

"Yes. I apologize, your honor."

"I was only attempting to understand the intricacies of your relationship. None of the previous custody arrangements have held, so it was decided that a more in depth approach needed to be taken to discover the underlying problem. If this type of behavior continues, I will have the child placed in foster care until his parents learn to stop using him as a weapon."

"It will not happen again, your honor."

"Good." The judge turned to Lucas. "Tell me how you met your son's mother."

"She was interning for my mother's company and my mother asked her to meet me when I came into Salem from school."

"Another lie," Sami mumbled under her breath. The judge's head snapped up.

"Miss Brady?"

"I'm sorry, your honor, I didn't mean to say anything. I was just so nervous."

Lucas tried not to laugh. He was amazed that Sami's slave-to-fortune act always seemed to work. Still, he was sick of her attitude, and angry at himself for consistently trying to be fair to him when she hadn't shown him that courtesy since realizing he was Will's father. He probably should tell the judge about the very first time he had met Sami; he could even make sure to describe in great detail the expression she had gotten on her face. Yes, your honor, that was really when Will was conceived, right then. Sami couldn't wait to get me with my clothes off again . . . it wasn't true, but it would really irk Sami. And since Sami went out of her way to annoy him, well, turnabout was fair play.

He snapped himself back to reality.

"There will be a twenty minute recess. I expect everyone to be ready to control themselves when we resume."

Lucas was struck again by the resemblance of the judge to Will's preschool teacher.

"Lucas."

He turned in his seat to look at his mother. "You think it's going okay?"

"Okay? Sami's lost her temper and you haven't! It's going beautifully."

"Still, she's only suing for joint custody now, and she hasn't done anything to establish that she doesn't have a right to see her son."

"Oh, she only lied about his paternity, drugged her own sister's fiancé so she could rape him, kidnapped her other sister, should I go on?"

"None of that has anything to do with how good a mother she is, at least that's what this judge seems to think."

"Then you can just be glad that Victor knows this judge."

"What?"

"Victor knows this judge. They've worked together before."

"I heard you. Why didn't you tell me before?"

"I wasn't sure, and he wasn't sure. He hasn't said anything yet, but he will if he has to, and his presence here should be enough."

"This is great. Where is Victor, anyway? He was here before?"

"Some minor crisis at Titan. He was trying to handle it on his cell phone so he's probably just outside if you want to check."

"I think I will." Lucas stood, and turned to Nicole. "Are you just going to stay here, *Sweetheart*?"

"Better than being with you, *Dear*."

"Just make sure you don't say that in front of the judge if you have to speak."

"Or what?"

"You know what."

"I'm not sure I care anymore, though. I didn't have money when I met you. I can deal with not having money again. It just isn't worth staying in this town when Eric's gone, anyway. I'm just going to tell the judge that I don't care *who* gets custody of the little brat."

"New rule. You do not *ever* refer to my son as 'the little brat' no matter where you are or who you're talking to. And when I win custody, I don't want you near him except when we're all out in public and we have to put on a show. Understand?"

"For the moment."

"Fine." Lucas left, and was pleased to see his mother lean forward to discuss something with Nicole. He knew that his mother would get the upper hand on Nicole-- she always did-- and any time Nicole spent arguing with someone else was time she couldn't spend arguing with him.

Outside, Lucas quickly caught sight of Victor, but he stopped his approach when he realized Victor was speaking to Roman Brady. He stepped aside to listen.

" . . . I saw you leave partway through the hearing. I hope nothing too serious is wrong."

"I didn't know you concerned yourself with my business, but no, nothing is wrong."

"Good. I'm glad for your sake just because I really am grateful to you for helping my brother and sister-in-law and nephew out a few months ago. They're getting settled in their new house and I know they owe a lot of their happiness to you."

"I certainly am glad they're happy. Did you have a reason you really wanted to speak to me?"

"No, that's it. I'm glad Titan is doing well. Even a big company like that can be rocked by a scandal."

"What kind of a scandal did you have in mind?"

"Well, one of your models was brutally murdered not that long ago. And if the case was re-opened it would put the spotlight back on several of your executives. I mean, I personally never stopped thinking that it was very interesting that a few moments after Franco was murdered Lucas grabbed his son and tried to get out of Salem in a rented car, almost as if he didn't want to be chased, and then we have the little matter of his mother sending him out of town the day of Sami's execution and his rush back here to confess."

"Franco is dead. Roberto killed him. The whole matter is over and done with, and I don't see that it has anything to do with this hearing."

"Everything is connected to everything else if you look hard enough, not that it takes too much effort to realize that Sami would not have lost custody in the first place if she had not been sent to death row for a crime she didn't commit. I'm sure she'd be a lot more inclined to let sleeping dogs lie if the outcome of this hearing was fair."

"Fair?"

"I seem to have heard that you know this judge, and I would hate for that friendship to cloud the outcome of the hearing."

"Just what are you accusing me of?"

"Nothing. Like I said, I just came over to give you a little update on Bo and Hope and Shawn. And I see that Sami and Marlena are back, so if you'll excuse me . . ." Roman walked off and Victor turned back toward the building.

"Lucas, how long have you been standing there?"

"Just a few minutes."

"Long enough to hear the threats he made against Titan?"

"Yes."

"As far as that goes, Titan would be able to deal with another murder trial just fine, but I don't know that you could. You've gotten away with murder, Lucas. I don't want to give Roman Brady an excuse to start chasing you again."

"I wouldn't ask you to. I think everything will be all right without your intervention."

"Good. Where is your mother?"

"Inside with Nicole."

"Is she under control?"

"It's almost disappointing how easy it was."

"Don't count her out yet."

"I haven't. But she knows where she stands."

Nicole proved Lucas right during the conclusion of the hearing, during which the predictable outcome was reached: joint custody. The court even went so far as to specify that Sami and Lucas were to have custody in alternate weeks, switching on Saturdays, and that Lucas would get the first week because he had full custody at the moment. The papers were quickly signed, including the agreement to stay in the country. Lucas hadn't much wanted to leave Salem, anyway. He knew it would upset his son, and his own mother was here as well. His entire childhood had been spent with her and her alone, and he was grateful for their close relationship, no matter what Nicole or Sami happened to think of it.

He saw out of the corner of his eye that Sami was still hugging her parents and thanking them. She was especially thanking her father; whether that was because she was always overly affectionate with him or because she knew he'd made a point of arguing with Victor Lucas did not know. Soon Roman and Marlena walked off together, looking oddly friendly for a couple who had gone through a divorce so bitter it had turned their daughter into a near-psychopath, and Sami was alone. She glanced in Lucas' direction, and he knew he was in for another argument. Fine with him. He could handle Nicole and he could handle Sami, too.

"You see? I told you I'd get my way."

"And now you're here to gloat. Very mature. I'm sure you'll set a great example for Will."

"I don't think you should talk about that. The last time we did this, you ran over to a camera so you could gloat at me while I was on death row for a crime I didn't commit."

"Yeah, being accused of crimes you didn't commit isn't much fun, is it?"

Sami glanced around quickly before dropping her voice to a harsh whisper and answering Lucas. "I only said that to protect my son. I don't care if you were drunk and playing airplane and dropped him on his head or feeling violent and hit him on purpose, you still hurt him! No one believed me when I said you were drinking too much because obviously no one cares enough about you to pay much attention to you, but they paid attention when they thought you might be violent!"

"I can't believe it. You actually remember the truth."

"So do you, I take it? None of this story you fed Carrie about having nothing to do with Will getting hurt? Do you also miraculously remember that time you almost killed yourself and Jamie and me because you were drinking and driving?"

"That has nothing to do with anything. The judge said so, or weren't you listening?"

"You still perjured yourself."

"I didn't have to, though. And as far as it goes, I wasn't drunk that day. The car swerved because I was looking for the beer, not because I was drinking it. If I had been drunk and you had been stupid enough to get in the car with me, you would have gotten what you deserved. You, on the other hand, HAD to lie to get custody."

"I did not. You weren't convicted of child abuse, or has that slipped your selective memory?"

"Accused is almost as bad as convicted."

"It is not. You NEVER would have gotten custody if you'd been convicted, not the next year, not in ten years."

"And that would have made you very happy."

"YES!"

"I can't believe you, Sami. I can't believe you hate me that much. I should have told the judge all about how we really met, but I thought you'd be embarrassed if I did."

"You were thinking of yourself, as always. You didn't do that for me."

"What do you mean? All I was doing was spending time with a friend, who happened to be a celebrity. YOU broke into said celebrity's dressing room to stare at me, and you obviously liked what you saw enough to want to try it for yourself."

Lucas' cockiness in the face of what should have been a defeat for him caused something inside of Sami to snap. Her heart had broken each time he had reminded her that he had custody and she did not. Now she had begun to turn the tables, and he would feel it! The words flowed easily off her tongue. "If it weren't for Will, that would have been the worst mistake of my life. I hate you. I hate you more than I've ever hated ANYONE, ever. I wish you had died that night you tried to kidnap Will and you both ended up in comas. I wish you had gotten AIDS from one of your stupid conquests. I hope that you end up leading a miserable, lonely life after I get Will away from you for good!"

"You know what Sami? I don't even care about you that much anymore. I used to worry about you because we used to be friends, and hey, you're Will's mother. But now, after hearing this, I don't even care if you live or die. I just wish I had never seen your face."

With that, they parted company.

"Odi et Amo"-part 7

William Roberts stared at the ceiling. He had been promised glow-in-the-dark stars for decoration, but Mommy hadn't gotten them yet. He missed his room at his other house, but he was pretty sure that he would be going back there tomorrow, if he could just make it through the night. Of course, when he was there, he missed Mommy . . . if he just had his glow-in-the-dark stars, he was sure he would be able to sleep.

Will decided to get up. He crept to the entrance to the living room and saw that his mother was still talking to Brandon. When she had put him to bed what seemed like hours ago, she had said she would come back as soon as Brandon left. If Will had known how to roll his eyes, he would have done so. As it was, the expression on his small face was strikingly similar to one his father often wore.

Sami and Brandon were trying to keep their voices low out of respect for the sleeping four-year-old in the next room, but they were becoming less and less successful.

"All I said was that Austin didn't have any brain cells to spare! And he doesn't! Come on, Samantha, any person of even average intelligence would have seen through those little tricks you pulled on him for years. I mean, setting all the clocks in his apartment back so he wouldn't know it was time to meet Carrie? That's lame. That's all I'm saying."

"You have no right to speak about Austin that way! He believed me because he's a trusting, caring person! If you are going to say that about my best friend, then you're no friend of mine, let alone more, so you can just leave."

"Samantha, calm down."

"No! I will not calm down!"

"I thought you had a sense of humor."

"I do. But calling Austin stupid is NOT funny! And this started when you practically said you weren't sorry you beat him into a coma."

"No, I said I WAS sorry because he didn't have the brain cells to spare. You can't have it all ways."

"Austin has been my friend for a long time and I've known you for a year. Your idiot sister broke my brother's heart and helped Lucas steal my son. So the way I'll have it, if I can't have it all ways, is the way where you leave!"

"I won't leave. Not like this."

"You will." Sami shoved Brandon toward the door, and he turned to stop her.

"Let's talk about this. I don't want you mad at me."

"I'm only going to get madder at you if you don't leave." Sami gave Brandon another nudge. He moved like the athlete he was to avoid her, and in the process his open palm cracked against her cheekbone. Stunned, Sami stepped back.

"If you don't leave right now, I will call the cops. And I happen to have several of them on speed dial."

"Samantha."

"Then I'll scream for Austin. He's right next door and these walls are thin." Sami prayed that Austin was actually home.

"GET OUT!" She yelled as much to assure herself that she could if she had to as to frighten Brandon into moving.

"I'll see you tomorrow, and you'll feel better--"

"Leave!" Brandon left.

Sami locked the door behind him and took a deep breath to calm herself before making her way into Will's room. He was lying under the covers, and he seemed to be deeply asleep. Good.

"Will? I just came in to say goodnight again." Will did not respond, so she kissed his forehead and left the room, sorry that this would be the last time she kissed him goodnight for a long week.

**************

The next morning, Lucas wasted no time in personally retrieving his son from Sami's apartment. Sami stood in the hallway and watched them leave. She was surprised when she felt arms encircle her from behind.

"Austin?"

"Who else?"

"How are you?"

"I'm okay. How are you?"

"As well as expected considering I probably won't see him for the rest of the week."

"Who? Will or Lucas?"

Sami turned to glare at Austin.

"Okay, okay, not funny. I know how hard it is for you not to see Will every day. But I hope you remember its hard for Lucas, too."

"Lucas has his pet trophy wife to keep him busy. He probably doesn't even notice when Will is gone."

"You know that isn't true."

"Yeah, I do. I know I'm being selfish, but I just always pictured raising Will on my own. Or with you."

"I know, I know. But you can't afford to be selfish when Will is involved. And things don't always work out the way you always pictured them."

"Are you thinking about Carrie again?" Sami felt a twinge of something that might have been guilt. Her relationship with Austin had not worked out. She could have been both his best friend and his sister-in-law, and he would have been much happier. Still, she had sworn she would punish Carrie for handing her to Alan Harris, and now everyone in Salem knew that she did not make empty threats.

"Yeah, Greta was going through my closet looking for something and she found a roll of film that apparently got developed and never looked at. It was all shots of Carrie and me. Really old ones. I think you might have taken some of them."

"Maybe . . . so you and Greta are close enough that she goes through your closets?"

"That's a funny way of measuring relationships, but I guess we are."

"Are you really serious about her?"

"What's with all these questions?"

"I'm worried about you. What if she's on the rebound after Eric?"

"That relationship wasn't as serious as they pretended it was."

"If you're sure."

"I'm not. Sometimes I wonder if you and I didn't work out because I was on the rebound."

"That wasn't it, Austin. We're right as friends but not as more, and I really wish I had known that before I did so many things to try to get you."

"It's not your fault. No one is to blame for Carrie and me but Carrie and me. And Mike." He scowled.

"But you have Greta now."

"Yeah. And it might turn out well. It's definitely worth a try, but we've already had this conversation. How are you doing with Brandon?"

Sami was uncharacteristically silent.

"Sami?"

"I'm not sure how we're doing. It's probably over, actually."

"Why?"

"That's not important."

"Sami, you can't swear off the relationship over your first fight."

"Maybe. Maybe not. We'll see."

"We'll both see."

Will craned his head around. Mommy and Uncle Austin were still standing outside the door of Mommy's apartment.

"What are you looking at, Buddy?"

"Nothing, Daddy."

"Fine, I'm gonna look at nothing, too." Lucas turned around. Will giggled. "Did you have a good time with Mommy?"

"Uh-huh."

"What did you do?"

"We went swimming with Uncle Austin one day."

"You have your own pool at home."

"I wanted to go with them."

"What else?"

"I painted. I painted a picture with stars, but I don't have glow-in-the dark stars on my ceiling in there yet." Will looked so unusually pensive that Lucas started.

"Does it bother you that much not to have stars?"

"I can't sleep without them."

"We'll make sure you get them before you come back here next time, okay?"

"Okay. Are you gonna yell at Mommy?"

"No. Why?"

Will answered with a gesture reminiscent of a shrug. "Do you think Mommy's okay?"

Lucas immediately got down on his knees to look his son in the eye. "Do you have a reason to think she's not?"

"No."

"Are you sure?"

"No."

"No, you aren't sure?"

"No, I don't have no reason--"

"Any reason."

"Any reason."

"All right." Lucas attempted to open his car door for his son.

"I can do it!" Will proved himself right and Lucas smiled.

By the end of the weekend, Lucas was furious and worried that the best part of his time with Will had been the walk from Sami's apartment to his car. Will was willing, in fact, demanding to spend time with him, but his behavior was much less assertive than it had been even a month before. He didn't even argue with his father about his bedtime, but he did call him back soon after he left the room.

"What is it, Will?"

"I don't want you to go yet."

Lucas leaned on the edge of his son's bed. "Why not?"

Will did not seem inclined to answer. He almost never was anymore.

"Where is Mommy?"

"Your Mommy is at her apartment. You just saw her a few days ago. You talked to her today."

"When will I see her again?"

"Next week, Buddy." The next question was going to rip Lucas' heart out, but he had to ask. "Do you want to stay with her more?"

"NO!" Will's vehemence was unprecedented.

"What do you want?"

"I want her to come stay here."

"Will, Buddy, we talked about this."

"Can you read a story?"

Good. A question with an easy answer.

"Sure." When Will was asleep, Lucas went hunting for Nicole. He knew that she was in the house *somewhere*. He just wasn't sure where. Finally, he came across her in a small room that looked out over the unabashedly impressive backyard. She had a martini glass in one hand and a pen in the other. On closer examination, he realized she was writing a letter to Eric.

"What have I told you about talking to Eric?"

"It's just a letter, Lucas. You got him out of town; what do you care if I write to him?"

"I think it's much more your fault that he left town than mine. I'm surprised he even gave you his address."

"Sami will."

"Why? You've got no swing over her. Nothing to offer."

"I'll find something."

"Sure you will. But before you work on finding something, how about you tell me what you've done to my son?"

"I haven't seen him since you brought him home. That's what we agreed."

"Are you sure? You haven't been near him?"

"No, I haven't been near him! Why would I go near him? We both agree that I don't even like him and I'm not any good at dealing with kids. My sister Taylor isn't that much younger than me and even her I couldn't deal with."

"Just tell me one more time that you haven't even seen Will since I brought him home this weekend."

Nicole took another drink and turned melodramatically to Lucas. "I haven't seen him since you brought him home this weekend. It's a big house. I can avoid you both despite the fact that I'm being kept prisoner."

"Don't get smart with me, or I'll show you what 'kept prisoner' feels like, Nicole!"

"Sure you will. What's wrong with your kid, anyway?"

"Why do you ask? You don't care."

"I don't *not* care. And I haven't seen anyone all day, except the servants. They were talking about him, too. They said he wet his bed. He didn't used to. His problem is *probably* that you kept him away from his mother."

That again? Lucas had thought Nicole would stop with that particular line once her deal with Sami fell through. Maybe she actually believed it. Since his only real enemy happened to be his son's mother, though, and she had Will's best interests at heart, he didn't see any reason not to talk to Nicole about this. "I asked if he wanted to go back to her and he said no. But he keeps asking about her. I know that when I first married you he was afraid you were taking over for Sami, but he can't think that anymore."

An odd feeling shot through Nicole. She really wouldn't have minded marrying Lucas if she had not been in love with Eric. Lucas' problem was that he always wanted something that was forbidden, and when he couldn't have it, he obsessed over it. Currently, he was obsessing over his son's happiness, when nothing was going to make that kid happy except his parents learning to get along. Nicole came from a broken home. She knew that. Why didn't Sami and Lucas?

"I know you'd like to blame your problems on me, but this one is not my fault. You and Sami are fighting over him like a toy or something. He has two homes now, and he's confused. That's *it*."

"That's your opinion. But this is really the first time he's gotten to see both of his parents regularly, except when we all lived in the Kiriakis Mansion."

"And it's the first time he's had these problems, isn't it?"

Lucas left without another word, and Nicole grinned. She had won one small battle. And if Lucas did suddenly give up custody, Sami *would* throw all of her efforts into handing her precious twin back to Nicole.

Lucas, though, had never had any desire to be a part-time father and he was not about to develop one now. He was going to help his son, and desperate times called for desperate measures.

"Odi et Amo"--part 8

"This must be my punishment for everything I've ever done to Austin. Or Carrie. Or my Mom and John," Sami mumbled to herself. The punishment seemed a bit too harsh. She had started her life as a good, innocent, adorable little thing. Everyone had said so, from her family to complete strangers. And what had she gotten for being a good little girl? Dead parents, resurrected parents, an illegitimate half-sibling to destroy her parents' marriage, a rape . . .

Yes, she had kidnapped Belle, but she had done so not out of malice but out of desperation. She had wanted Belle to have a happy life; when the couples who might have adopted her fought, she denied them the chance to raise her baby sister. Her last resort could have been to hand the baby to someone who might hurt her, or even to kill the young girl herself, but instead she had decided to go to Miami and raise Belle as he daughter. How different their lives would have been if she'd tried!

And yes, she had a nice laundry list of crimes against Carrie and Austin to her credit. But because of Carrie, Alan Harris had gone free! And again because of Carrie, Austin had not been able to come to her rescue before she shot Alan in such a way that just about any man who heard that story kept his distance. Carrie had not known how to treat Austin, anyway. Hadn't she broken his heart in the end?

And again, yes, she had lied about Lucas hitting Will. But Lucas had been drinking heavily at the time, and he was a danger to her son. She had had to make everyone understand that. She would do anything for her son.

So, did she really deserve to work a menial job in a hospital full of people who hated her and were delighted to boss her around? She thought not. She hated the computer system that crashed at the drop of a hat. She hated the phones, and the obnoxious people on the other end of them who knew that they could speak to her in any way they liked and go unpunished. She hated the files that seemed to *want* to ruin her nails.

A few things had made her days at the hospital better: Larry and Brandon. But now Brandon was one more thing to worry about. She cringed as she saw him approach, and cursed herself for thinking of him. Perhaps if she had kept him out of mind, her would have stayed out of sight.

"There you are, Samantha."

"Go away, Brandon."

"We're at work. Don't make a scene. I could have a perfectly legitimate reason for talking to you."

"You admit you don't?"

"I do, but it doesn't happen to be work-related."

"In that case, I have some work-related things I want to do, so--"

"This will just take a minute. Come on, I helped you get this job."

"I helped you get yours."

"That's true. Lexie thinks a lot of your opinion."

"And if I told her my opinion was that Abe is right, your temper is out of control--"

"Samantha, I'm sorry. I am so, so sorry. I didn't mean to hit you."

"I don't care."

"You should. It was an accident and I've been sick about it all weekend. I called you, I looked for you, I knocked on your door but you weren't there or wouldn't open it. I would have broken down your door or just screamed for you if I hadn't known Austin was right there to take things the wrong way."

"There's a right way to take someone hitting his girlfriend?"

"No! Absolutely not! It was an accident, and I have to know that you're all right."

"I'd be much better if you'd leave."

"If that's what you want, I will. But know that I'm sorry, and I was terrified when I thought I might have hurt you when I'd do anything to save you from any kind of pain. I've dedicated my life to making people feel better, you know."

"In that case, there was no real damage done, but get out of here before I do damage to you."

"All right. But you have to believe me, I'm sorry."

"I believe you." Sami replied partially because she wanted Brandon to leave and partially because she almost meant it.

Later that almost interminable work day, several bouquets of roses arrived at her station. "What are these?" she asked Larry.

"I don't know. But I don't think anyone's sending ME flowers," he answered amicably.

She read the card. "Brandon."

"I heard you liked roses." Brandon appeared from nowhere.

"I do, but I can't accept these."

"Please, Samantha. I need you in my life, if only as a friend."

"Brandon, please back off."

"Just be my friend. Do I have to beg? I will." He made good on his promise and dropped to his knees. "Please, please, please, I need you. Don't let one mistake, one misunderstanding ruin one of the best relationships I have in Salem. I would miss you so much if I couldn't talk to you every day. One more chance, just one more chance, please." He ended with his most charismatic smile.

"Come on, Sami, don't be cold," put in Larry.

"Yeah, take the poor man back!" added a passing nurse.

"Brandon . . ." Sami began annoyed. Then she smiled. "Get off your knees."

"Anything for you."

"I do want to stay your friend. But I'm a little bit concerned about what happened the other day."

"You have a right to be."

"Oh, thank you." The sarcasm was back. "But we have to take a few steps back." She whispered the next demand in his ear, much to the disappointment of the audience they had attracted. "I don't want to be alone with you."

"Okay, whatever the lady wants, she gets." Then he, too, dropped his voice to a whisper. "But you'll change your mind about THAT soon enough."

Nurse Brenda chose that moment to arrive, and both Sami and Brandon were relieved that Larry was there to turn his considerable charm on her. The day then continued, with minutes feeling like hours, until Sami was able to return home.

She wished that she was returning home to Will, or at least to Eric. Still, returning home to an empty apartment was preferable to staying in the clamor and open hostility of the hospital. It would be such a relief to be left alone for a few hours, to feel like a human instead of a servant.

Her feelings were shattered when she saw Lucas waiting outside her apartment.

"What are you doing here?" she asked even as she unlocked her door.

"Hello to you, too. Can I come in?"

"I'd rather you didn't."

"Too bad. We have to talk about our son." He pushed himself past her into the living room and seated himself on the couch, trying hard not to remember what he had seen in this very place the last time he had visited this apartment. Focus on the fun you used to have with Carrie here, he reminded himself. That would make Carrie's sick little sister easier to deal with.

"Will?"

"That's the only son we have, unless there's something else you're not telling me."

"Ha ha. What's wrong with him? Is he okay?" Her annoyance quickly became panic.

"I'm not sure."

"You're not sure?"

"No. If I knew what was wrong I would have figured out how to fix it and I never would have come here to talk to you."

"Well, talk. Tell me what you've done to my little boy."

"*I* haven't done anything, Sami. But if that's what this conversation is going to be, I won't waste my time." He stood up. He was bluffing, because he truly didn't think anyone but Sami could help him in this situation, but Sami didn't know that. Luckily, she did know that he would not allow her to simply go to Will while he had custody, and she felt that she was stuck.

"Lucas, wait!" He turned. "I'm . . . sorry. What's wrong with Will?"

"As I said, I don't know. Did he act differently than normal in any way at all when you had him here last week?"

"No, not at all. What's happened? You haven't told me yet!"

"It's hard to put my finger on it. He's gotten clingier than he ever was, even when he was a real baby. He seems to worry about a lot of things. He was worried about you, especially. He kept asking about you, not the way he usually does when he doesn't see you, but like he was afraid you were in trouble. Do you know why he thinks this?"

Sami was startled. Could Will have seen or heard her conversation with Brandon? No, of course not. He had been asleep when she'd checked on him. Besides, his door had been closed, so he could not have heard any of their mostly whispered conversation. He certainly couldn't have seen the slap.

"Earth to Sami."

"I'm thinking. No, I can't think of anything that would have made him worry about me. Maybe he's just afraid that he won't see me for a long time again, like when you got custody when I was on death row." She glanced at Lucas reproachfully and he willed himself not to respond.

"I did tell him he was coming back here on Saturday. And he does call you on days he stays with me."

"You don't think he's just confused about the new arrangements? That could be making him anxious."

"That's what Nicole said."

"You talked to Nicole before you talked to me?"

"I live with Nicole. I don't live with you."

"But I thought you were living together in name only."

"Who told you that?"

"Nicole. She let it slip when she was trying to get me to give her Eric's phone number."

"And you haven't yet?"

"I'm not going to, until he tells me to. He needs time on his own to think about her, and Greta, and Salem."

"He's obviously lost his chance with Greta."

"Maybe. Maybe not. Hey, isn't it interesting that of Eric's two love interests the one you say he's lost his chance with is NOT the one you're married to?"

"That goes without saying."

Sami snickered. "Even Will told me that during the last week he spent with you he almost never saw Nicole. He said he had to ask you if the two of you were still married."

"Will is four. He's smart, but some things get by him."

"Sure. Numbers over a hundred . . . foreign languages . . . . your alleged marriage to Nicole . . ."

"Sami, are you worried about your son or my marriage?"

"Both. But I admit I feel better about having him stay with you if he isn't around Nicole. You're at least a decent father when you're paying attention, but she really hates him."

"Oh, now I'm a decent father when I'm paying attention. That's a few steps up from child-beater, but how about you tell me when I'm not paying attention?"

"Whenever you get near Nicole. You've never been able to see her for what she is, just like Eric."

"Oh, Sami's comparing me to her sainted twin brother. I'm sure I should feel honored."

"Leave Eric alone."

"Why should I? He slept with my wife, and he hated me since the day he met me. There probably wouldn't BE a Will if he'd been in Salem when we'd met because you wouldn't have been friends with someone he didn't approve of."

Sami smiled to herself but didn't really respond.

"What?"

"That was actually sort of the appeal," she whispered.

"Say that a little louder."

"When we met, it was the first summer I'd ever spent in Salem without Eric. We were trying to establish ourselves as different people, you know, as Sami and Eric instead of the Brady Twins. So one of the reasons I liked you was that I *knew* Eric wouldn't like you at all."

"Tell me, have you ever done anything in your life that wasn't an act of rebellion against someone?"

"Sure. Lots of things." As she hunted for an example, her mind returned to the question at hand. "But we were supposed to be talking about Will." She wondered why she slipped so easily into conversation with Lucas. It had been years since they had been friends, but some far corner of her mind still seemed to crave the hours on end they had once spent together.

"You don't have any idea why he's so anxious?"

"No. He was quiet the morning you picked him up, but I thought that was just because he had to move again. It can't be easy to go back and forth like this."

"If you have a better idea, I'm listening."

"My better idea is that I get full custody."

"Don't start. We were having a decent conversation about Will, and you had to bring that up."

"Well, it probably does have something to do with whatever's bothering him. If you would let me SEE him, I might know better."

"I will let you see him during my week as soon as you let me see him during yours."

"He wasn't sick during my week."

"Maybe you just didn't notice."

"What?! I would notice one hundred times faster than you if something was wrong! I'm his mother!"

"And I'm his father. And if you notice so much, why doesn't he have those stars he likes so much on the ceiling in his room here? He says he can't sleep without them."

"Have you noticed how long the list of things he says he can't sleep without is?"

"Well, I guess he has to get security from somewhere, since his parents, no, his mother, isn't willing to give it to him. And why doesn't he have the stars?"

"Because I couldn't find them. I looked."

Lucas pulled something out of his jacket pocket and handed it to Sami. "Stop looking. Just make sure they're up before he comes back."

Sami was startled. "Thank you."

"No problem."

"You can come in and check when you bring him back next time. I'll put them up now."

"Then I'll help you."

"You don't have to."

"I have to make sure you do it right."

"It's not that hard to do."

"That's what you think. You have no idea how *discriminating* Will's taste is in this area."

Sami laughed and rolled her eyes. "I probably do."

"You might."

They walked into the bedroom that had once been Eric's. It had been re-created to be a four-year-old's paradise. They spent a surprisingly stress-free hour putting the stars on the ceiling. Then they turned out the lights to admire their work.

"Wow," Sami gasped, briefly unaware that she was standing less than an inch from Lucas in a darkened bedroom.

"Hey, we're artists."

"Either that or people with too much time on their hands." She took another step back, and stumbled into Lucas. He reached out instinctively to keep her from falling, and she drew in her breath sharply when she felt her former best friend's hands on her body. She hoped he hadn't noticed, and said a silent prayer of thanks that the lights were out so he could not see her face.

"Thanks . . . sorry."

"It's all right." Lucas reached for the light switch, and the magical starry night became an empty child's bedroom. "This might help him. I don't know what's wrong with Will, and it's just frustrating, you know, not knowing what to do."

"I know. You know how I was when he was first born, calling Austin, Carrie, Mom, Grandma, anyone. But I don't think anyone is going to tell us anything we haven't already figured out this time."

Lucas smiled at the memory of seventeen-year-old Sami and her infant son. He only wished he'd known then that Will was his. Still, the contrast between the girl with a baby of her own and the woman before him was striking. The physical changes could have been predicted, but they were striking nonetheless. Also striking were the added doses of confidence and emotional stability. Austin had used to say that Sami wasn't ready to have baby and therefore Carrie should have been allowed to take over. No one could say that about Sami now. She was ready for anything.

"Lucas? What are you smiling at?" Lucas realized they had reached the door of her apartment. He opened it and stepped outside.

"When did you grow up?" he asked.

"When did you?"

They shut the door.

"Odi et Amo"-- part 9

Sami and Brandon ran up the steps laughing.

"You see, I told you it would be faster if we didn't take the elevator," Brandon grinned.

"And you were right."

"I often am."

"Modest, too, I see."

"Haven't you heard that false modesty is a sin?"

"I suppose."

"You suppose? Now the fact is, I am right about a lot of things. Want to hear some of the other things I'm right about?"

Sami was playfully exasperated. "Why not?"

"I'm right about us. I always have been. You intrigued me from the moment I saw you, Samantha. I know we're meant to be more than friends."

"I told you I wasn't ready to go down that road again yet."

"Not yet. Whatever you say. But you can't pretend you don't miss having me in your bed."

"There is more to a relationship than good sex."

"Just good. I'm hurt, Samantha. Who was better? Franco Kelly?"

"What do you care? And no, Franco wasn't better than you. You seem to be all you claim in bed-- just considerably less in other areas! Like tact."

"All right, all right. As long as I'm tactless anyway, may I ask that you invite me in?"

"No. I'm not comfortable with that, and for now it's my way or nothing."

"You drive a hard bargain."

"We aren't *bargaining* at all."

"Of course not. I wouldn't argue with you."

"You shouldn't."

"So I've heard."

"Heard where? Who have you been discussing me with?"

"No one. But you don't exactly keep a low profile. Can I ask . . ."

"What?"

"Is it true you broke into the hospital records to change your sister's blood type?"

"That's true. They changed the whole system because of me."

"Were you trying to get her killed?"

"No! I didn't even think of that, although if I had I did know that before she got a transfusion they'd check again."

"Then why?"

"I thought you knew this. It's common knowledge, especially around the hospital."

"I don't. You don't have to tell me if you don't want to."

"No kidding."

He held his hands up in a gesture of surrender. "Sorry."

"No, I'm sorry. I just haven't gone through this in a while." She gathered herself to begin the recitation. "I was still in high school. My parents were married, but I knew that my Mom had had an affair with John. She got pregnant, and didn't know who had fathered the baby. So she and John, who didn't want to tell my Dad what had happened if they didn't have to, got the baby's blood tested. They didn't need to do a real paternity test because Mom is type O and John and Daddy are different types. I switched Belle's blood type so they wouldn't know she was John's and they wouldn't tell Daddy about the affair."

"Wow. That's some pretty sophisticated stuff for a high school kid."

"I wasn't your average high school kid."

"You've never been anyone's average anything. You're still not."

"I'll take that as a compliment."

"As it was intended. You see how right we are for each other? Most people wouldn't listen to that story without batting an eye."

Sami had to admit to herself that that was true. "That's why I don't tell that story to most people."

"You're *sure* I can't come in?"

"How many times to I have to tell you?"

"I just don't want this night to end. We can't stay in the hall forever."

"No, we can't. So why don't we say goodnight?"

"Do I get a kiss?"

"It wouldn't seem right if you didn't."

Their lips met, and neither wanted the kiss to end, but end it did.

"I'll see you tomorrow," Brandon murmured as he left. Sami finally turned the key in her lock, but didn't feel up to ending her evening just yet. Something unknown was nagging at a tiny corner of her mind. So, she instantly went to the place where she had always found comfort, ever since she had arrived in Salem for the first time as an adult. A young adult, anyway.

"Austin, are you home?"

"Yeah, come on in, Sami. Brandon with you?"

"No, we were out tonight, but he's gone now."

Sami and Austin seated themselves in his living room.

"I'm glad you didn't let that one fight with Brandon end your relationship."

"So am I." She didn't sound convinced of what she was saying and she knew it.

"Hey, hey, you don't sound glad. Why don't you sound glad?"

"I said I was glad."

"Sami, you think you can lie to me?" The irony of that statement almost made Sami burst into giggles.

"No. I'm not lying, I've just had a long few days and I wanted to come see you to see how your last few days have been. It's a waste, living next to your best friend if you never see him. And I don't see you enough."

"Well, I'm around. What did you want to talk about?"

Sami smirked. "How about you and Greta?"

"What about us?"

"How are things moving along?"

"Slowly. I don't want to make the same mistakes I made with Carrie." Sami wondered how Austin planned to take things more slowly with Greta when he and Carrie had married only after more than four years of dating and being engaged.

"What have you been doing?"

"A lot of the usual. Talking. Movies. Dancing. Pool. I wouldn't have thought Greta would be a pool shark."

"Eric said the same thin-- oh, I guess that wasn't the best thing to repeat."

"It's fine, Sami. We're well aware that she dated Eric and I married both of Eric's sisters."

"So that's what you talk about? The screwed up Brady Bunch and how you wish you'd never met us?"

"What's gotten into you, Sami?"

"I'm sorry, I'm really sorry." Sami jumped up. "I shouldn't have come over here knowing I was in this kind of a mood."

"Sit down." Austin grabbed Sami playfully. "Tell me what's wrong."

"Nothing, it's really nothing I can think of. I just had a date with Brandon and it went fine. Yes, work is wearing me out and yes I'm worried about Will, but nothing should have made me snap at you like that. I really am sorry."

"You're forgiven, not that there's anything to forgive. But what about Will?"

"Lucas came over the other day and said Will seems stressed."

"It's probably just that he's moving back and forth between two homes."

"You, Lucas, Nicole, and I all agree on that."

"The world must be coming to an end."

"Could be."

"So you and Lucas fought the other day? I must not have been home. Usually I can hear you two from down the block."

"We didn't fight much. We're both worried about Will. And I don't want to upset Will more than he already is by being at his father's throat. I mean, Lucas really has stopped drinking so I don't think Will is in danger anymore, and I know Nicole barely sees him, so I don't have to worry about her. I do want full custody eventually because I KNOW Lucas framed me for Franco's murder, but Will loves him and I can't justify creating any more upheaval in his life right now."

"Wow. Sami, that is one of the most mature speeches I have ever heard out of your mouth," Austin said sincerely.

"Don't get your hopes up too high. I still hate him. I will still bring him down." Sami's passionate vehemence returned.

"And I will help you if you can ever prove that he really did get away with murder. But don't you think there's a chance he didn't?"

"There's always a CHANCE, but in this case it isn't a very big one. There aren't that many people out there who'd want to frame me for murder."

"You walked into the room and passed out. You were an easy target. It might not have been someone who had something against you. It might really have been Roberto. Why can't you let it lie and get on with your life, and Will's?"

"I want to see justice done."

"Will isn't more important than revenge?"

"Will is always the most important thing, always. And I don't want him being raised by a killer who is capable of treating me that way!"

"Okay, I understand. I just hope you aren't letting your desire for revenge get in the way of living your life."

"How could it? Will, work, Brandon . . . there's too much for me to spend all my time planning how to trip Lucas up. If he's guilty, he'll trip himself up eventually, anyway."

Austin eyed her critically until she finally asked him why.

"You do look tired. Are you working tomorrow?"

"Just half the day, thank God."

"Which half?"

"Morning. I'll be home by noon."

"Then I'll make sure to visit you tomorrow, if you aren't doing anything else."

"I won't be, if I know *you're* coming."

Sami received a smile from her sometime crush, boyfriend, husband, brother-in-law . . . "Okay, then I will come. You definitely need someone to check on you."

"Austin Reed, all-purpose hero."

"I do what I can."

"And that happens to be a whole lot." Sami stood and hugged Austin. "Thank you."

"You're welcome. Now go right to bed, young lady."

"Yes, Austin."

"Seriously, promise to take care of yourself."

"I look that bad?"

"No, but you still need rest. Even if you don't have full custody, you're more of a single mother now than you ever were before because you always had so much financial support from Carrie and me or from Lucas." He paused. "You know, Lucas *would* probably give you enough to take care of Will without your keeping that crummy job."

"And I would lose custody!"

"You can't be sure."

"I can't take the risk. And I can't take anything from Lucas." With that, she left. "Good night," she called, as an afterthought.

"Good night," replied Austin.

Austin could not remove Sami from his mind for the rest of the night, or even the next morning. He very nearly doubted their decision to stop dating-- if they were together, it would be so much easier to protect her. Still, there was more to a relationship than protection, and something deeply underlying their personalities prevented them from being compatible on the necessary levels.

A temporary solution fell into Austin's lap in Salem Place that morning, though. If this didn't cheer Sami up, then he would at least have help in figuring out what was wring and ultimately fixing it. He would always feel a responsibility to fix Sami's problems, and he knew it. So, he arrived at her doorway as promised, grinning like the cat that ate the canary.

"Hi, Sami."

"Austin! I was wondering when you'd be over."

"Here I am. And I brought a surprise."

"A surprise? A good one?"

"What, you think I'm the kind of guy who thinks a woman needs cheering up and brings her a bad surprise?"

"No. So what is it?" she inquired eagerly.

Austin stepped aside and Sami gasped.

"Jamie?"

"Hi, Sami," was all a nervous Jamie Caldwell could think to say. She had not spoken to Sami for years, and she was well aware of the possibility that Sami did not WANT to speak to her. Sami had always been the assertive part of their friendship. Jamie had been at school, had grown up, and did not need Sami as she once had. That didn't mean that she no longer *wanted* her friend back, especially now that she had found her way back to Salem.

Sami was startled. Jamie was the last person she had expected to see today. She was unaware that she was simply staring at her former best friend. However, she soon found her way back to reality and she was able to see the wheels turning in Jamie's head. She was petrified!

Now Sami knew what to do. She stepped forward and hugged Jamie. "I'm so happy to see you."

"I'm happy to see you, too," Jamie nearly whispered.

Sami's energy returned. "Come in, some in!" she exclaimed excitedly, almost dragging Jamie behind her. "You, too Austin! Can I get you anything, either of you?"

"I'm fine," they answered in unison, and Sami was so eager to hear how Jamie had ended up in her apartment that she did not force the issue.

"Jamie, why are you back?" she demanded eagerly. But before Jamie could answer, they were interrupted.

"Austin?"

"Greta!" Austin jumped up. "In here."

"Austin, I'm sorry to bother you, but can you help me with something? Hi, Sami," she added as an afterthought, and only then did she realize that there was another person in the room.

"Greta, this is Jamie Caldwell. She's an old friend of Sami's, and Carrie's and mine, too," Austin explained. "Jamie, this is Greta Von Amburg." Austin kissed Greta thoroughly. "You can see who she is."

"Nice to meet you."

"Nice to meet you. I'm sorry, I didn't mean to interrupt."

"It's no problem," remarked Austin. "Sami and Jamie probably want to be left alone to catch up." Neither Sami nor Jamie argued that point, so Austin and Greta quietly left.

"Well?" Sami asked.

"You haven't changed much." Jamie cringed when Sami's face fell nearly imperceptibly. "I mean, I'm sure you have, you look older, but you're still so eager and impulsive."

"Oh. I'm not expecting that to change, ever."

"I wouldn't want it to."

Sami just looked at Jamie until her friend gave in.

"I have one year of law school left. I didn't want to come back here, but Salem University offered me such a good deal on tuition that I couldn't refuse. I went through college part-time because I was working, you know that, and I'm eager to be done in any way I can get done."

"LAW school? Jamie, I always knew you were smart enough and everything, but, after your father . . ."

"I'm not going to swear off a career because it was what my father did. It's actually part of why I want this job. I want to be able to help protect other girls in that situation."

"That's great. That's so . . . great. I don't want to sound condescending, but I'm so proud of you."

"Thanks." Jamie was ready to get the topic of conversation away from her life. "How has Salem been?"

"Not the same without you," Sami answered honestly. "But wow, wait until you see your godson! He was still a baby when you left, but now he's his own person, completely."

"Where is he?"

Sami made a face. "With Lucas."

"Yeah, Carrie explained that to me on the back of the wedding announcement she sent. Um, Sami, did you"

"Did I know? No, I didn't. Not until a few months before everyone else found out."

"A FEW MONTHS! Sami, how could you not tell him? He was your friend, and he had a son, and you just didn't tell him?"

"So, your feelings haven't changed."

"What feelings?"

"Don't be cute. You always had a crush on Lucas."

"That isn't why I think you should have told him as soon as you realized what happened."

"I know, I know. You always were the conscience neither Lucas nor I ever had."

"That isn't fair."

"I didn't mean it that way. I just meant that you're right, I should have told Lucas. We were just so close to ending Carrie and Austin's relationship. Austin was marrying ME! That wedding Carrie told you about, it was mine. She crashed the ceremony and married Austin instead."

"Then what? Austin told me they were divorced." Jamie blushed. "I kind of put my foot in my mouth by asking about Carrie."

"Don't worry. Austin knows there's no way you could have known. Anyway, when I should have been marrying Austin, Carrie was off on some adventure with Mike Horton. She started to fall for him-- she always had a crush on him-- and eventually she cheated on Austin. He couldn't forgive her and they got divorced. That's where Carrie is now, with Mike in Israel."

"He couldn't forgive her? But he could forgive you everything you did?"

"It doesn't make much sense. Love doesn't sometimes. But I always TOLD you he cared about me. Carrie never would have had the chance to cheat on him if he hadn't been on the run with me."

"On the run? As in 'from the law?'"

"You don't know about this? Don't you ever hear the news?"

"Not that much."

"Obviously. When Austin married Carrie, I started moving on with a man. His name was Franco Kelly, and we were about to get married when someone shot him to death. I was the prime suspect and I wound up on death row. That's when Austin took me away."

"Until you could prove you didn't do it."

"You're great, Jamie."

"Why?"

"You automatically assumed I didn't do it."

"You're capable of a lot, but not murder."

"Carrie didn't feel that way."

Jamie ignored that side comment. "What happened?"

"Long story short. Turned myself in. Got lethal injection. Got last minute pardon when some friend of Franco's confessed to the murder. By some miracle, CPR worked and brought me back to life."

"Sami, I'm sorry. If I had known . . ."

"Don't be sorry. Well, I guess you can be a little bit sorry . . ."

"What happened next?"

"It's been quieter the last year or so. I dated Austin but we decided we weren't right for each other."

"So you did all of that for nothing? Destroyed Carrie's life? Destroyed your relationship?"

"Hardly. She's happier with Mike. Anyway, I wasn't mad at her because I wanted Austin. I was mad because she let Alan get away with raping me! The fact that I loved Austin was icing on the cake. And our relationship is a little bit better. Before she left, Mom talked to us a lot about her sister Sam, and how much she misses her, how you never know how little time you might have to make amends."

"Don't you feel guilty about Austin? Or Lucas?"

"Some things with Austin. But he forgives me, so I forgive myself. And Lucas, NEVER! He was probably the one who shot Franco! He was there, he knew where my gun was, and he ran away from the scene of the crime-- drunk and with my son in the car, I might add! He was trying to kidnap Will, and instead Will ended up in the hospital in a coma!"

"That doesn't mean he shot this guy!"

"He also confessed."

"Confessed?"

"While they were executing me, he broke into the room screaming 'I shot Franco!'"

"So why isn't he in jail?"

"He took the confession back when he found out Roberto confessed. Bastard. The Franco thing is really why we don't get along now, not my lying about who Will's father is."

"It's over and you're free. Why punish Lucas? You might miss him some day, like you might miss Carrie. If he stepped in front of a bus this afternoon, would you want him to die knowing you hated him, and hating you?"

"Jamie, you haven't seen me for years! Don't come in out of the blue and hand me this fairy tale stuff!"

"I- I'm sorry. I'll go."

"No, don't. I didn't mean to snap at you. This must be why you didn't stay in touch. I'm a lot to take. I never was the friend you deserved."

"That isn't true! I never would have gotten through everything with my father without you. I can't imagine high school without studying with you, and talking to you--"

"And having me sleep with the guy you had a crush on."

"I know what you were going through. I got over it."

"You shouldn't have had to."

"We were teenagers. It's not like he was my husband. He wasn't mine to lose."

"But I really feel bad about it. I always did, even if I never told you."

"I knew."

"How can you be so *good* all the time?"

"It's a gift." They both laughed.

"You're a gift. You saved me so many times. I always knew you cared, and sometimes I felt like that was all I had."

"The feeling was mutual. I promise."

"You really aren't mad about everything I put you through, the covering up, the lying, the worrying, Lucas?"

"No. But that's not an invitation to put me through it again. And if I see Lucas, I'm not going to accuse him of murder on the spot."

"You don't have to."

"Are things that bad between you?"

"Pretty much. I hate him so completely sometimes, because he stole a year of my life. He almost stole my life completely. I would lose all self-respect if I started to like him again. But every now and then, something happens, usually something with Will. Once we were putting him to bed together, and our hands touched, and it was perfect in a strange sort of way. The other day, we were talking about how joint custody is affecting Will, and just the talking, I don't know, I missed it! I missed him like I missed you! For a few minutes, I just wanted my friend back and nothing else in the world mattered!"

Sami ended her speech abruptly when she realized she was almost crying. "I'm sorry. You just got back to town, and I'm already venting at you."

"I'm flattered. I'm glad you still trust me."

Well, thought Sami, that's one best friend back. It's too bad I can never have the other.


"Odi et Amo"-- part 10

"Jamie, Brandon, Brandon, Jamie," Sami introduced gleefully.

After the mandatory exchange of nice-to-meet-yous, Jamie glanced at her watch.

"I'd better go now."

"Jamie, I can do it. I even want to. I'm not going to start using you that way when you've been back in town for about three days."

"But when I've been back a week you'll be willing?"

"Ha ha."

"I don't have anything better to do. Stay with Brandon." Sami wished she'd shared her doubts about Brandon with Jamie, who was probably thrilled at the opportunity to see Lucas again as well as by seeing Sami with a man not named Austin.

Jamie flashed Sami a grin that assured her friend that both of her suspicions about Jamie's eagerness to pick up Will were valid. Then she left, and Sami was once again alone with Brandon.

"So that's the Jamie you've mentioned a few times?"

"That's her."

"She's pretty. You have good taste in friends."

"If that's how you judge it."

"You do realize I was kidding?"

"Yeah."

"She's nice in other ways, too. Nice enough to leave me here with you."

"That I'm probably not going to thank her for. You know why I wanted to slow down."

"Being alone in your apartment talking is hardly the speed of light."

"Maybe it is to me."

"You're just being spiteful. You're punishing me because of one little accident."

"That's what you call a little accident?"

"Yes! And I don't appreciate your treating me like this, Samantha."

"Like what?"

"Like I'm some kind of criminal, like my father."

"You won't tell me about your father, so I can't say if I think you're like him."

Brandon sighed. "Maybe this will be easier if I do tell you. Look, my father was abusive. Hit me. Hit my Mom."

"Brandon, I'm sorry. I had no idea."

"It doesn't show much."

"What about Nicole, and Taylor?"

"Nicky was his little pet. He'd never touch her. And we all banded together to protect Tay. She was the baby and never knew much about what went on."

"I don't know what to say. I wish I could go back in time and change things."

"So do I. And sometimes it's all I can think about and I do lose control. That's what I was thinking about the night I beat up Austin so badly. Remember how Nicky didn't want me to fight?" Sami nodded. "She knows how I get. She was afraid I'd hurt him. I thought I would be okay. I've dedicated my life to HELPING kids, not beating them. I'm NOT my father."

"No, you're not. But you did hit me."

"You call this a hit?" And with that, Brandon repeated his earlier action.

"Yes, I do! Now get out, and this time I AM calling the police."

"No, no, Samantha. I was just explaining . . . you don't want to call the police on me, and besides, it would look ridiculous."

"How so?"

"That a cop's daughter would get into this situation? That you're complaining when there's not one bruise on your body? Please, Samantha, my life is on the right track. I've come out of nothing, and you're my friend. Don't let me down."

**********

Jamie Caldwell suddenly became nervous as she knocked on the door of the enormous mansion. She had grown up in an upper-middle class family and had never wanted for anything, and she had spent plenty of time in the Kiriakis Mansion with Sami and Carrie, but this felt strange.

A woman who looked somewhat like a maid opened the door, and a tall blonde approached behind her.

"Can I help you?"

"My name is Jamie Caldwell. I'm here to pick up Will."

"I've never seen you before," the blonde interrupted. "I'm not handing my stepson over to just anyone." Jamie knew at first glance that the woman was drunk. If she was Will's stepmother, she must be Nicole.

"I'm a good friend of Sami's. Lucas knows me, so if he's here, I'm sure he'll be willing to let me take Will. I'm Will's godmother, actually. One of them."

"Come this way, Miss," maid directed, conspicuously ignoring Nicole. "Mr. Roberts and Will are outside with Will's pony." Jamie smiled. She wondered how long Lucas had known Will was his son when he bought him his own pony.

"Well, Lucas can't blame me if she's a fraud!" Nicole exclaimed as they left.

Once again outside, Jamie was again stunned by the complete majesty of the home. Will and Lucas were indeed playing with a beautiful pony, a dappled gray with a thick white mane and tail.

"Mr. Roberts! This woman says she is here to pick up your son. She said you would know her, although your wife didn't."

Lucas turned. Jamie was happy to see that he had only grown more handsome with age. His dark eyes struggled for a moment to place her.

"Jamie?"

"You do remember."

Lucas turned first to the maid. "She's fine, thank you." The maid left. "How long have you been back?"

"Just a few days. I'm staying with your brother for the moment, actually, right next door to Sami."

Lucas bit back a grimace at the mention of Sami's name.

"I know things haven't gone well for you two since I've been gone."

"That's an understatement."

Will chose this moment to interrupt them. "Who are you?" he asked, applying all of his mother's tact on her worst day.

Jamie knelt to talk to him. "My name is Jamie. I know you don't remember me, but when you were a baby I used to play with you a lot."

"I'm not a baby anymore."

"I see."

"Jamie is here to take you back to Mommy's," Lucas explained.

"No!" Will complained.

"Why not?"

"Do you like Mommy?" Will asked Jamie, ignoring his father's query.

"Yes. She was my best friend for a long time."

"Is that true?" He now addressed his question to Lucas.

"Yes, it's true. Jamie is a very good friend of your Mommy's and of mine. So it's okay for you to go with her."

"I want to finish."

Lucas glanced at Jamie over his son's head. She smiled and nodded.

"Okay, finish up, Buddy." Will ran off.

"I can't believe how much he's grown."

"Kids do that."

"Older people, too. Sami's different, and Austin, and you."

"Yeah, I'm all grown up and married," Lucas joked.

"Married I'll accept. You might have to prove the 'grown up' part. Hey, is your wife . . ."

"What about my wife?" Lucas' dark eyes turned cold.

"Is she really Brandon Walker's sister?"

"Yes. You've met him?"

"I just did, right before I came over."

"So Sami wanted to spend time with him instead of her son?"

"No, she didn't. He really wanted to see HER, so I insisted that she let me come over in her place."

"Oh." Lucas grinned. "So you really just wanted to come over and see me." He had known about Jamie's crush on him years ago, but she seemed to have matured enough that it had faded. He was glad. It would be nice to just flirt with someone, instead of dealing with his wife-in-name-only.

Jamie beat down a blush when Lucas turned the full force of his charm on her. She should have outgrown these feelings; at least she could keep Lucas from seeing them. "You know it, Lucas. You're the whole reason I came back to Salem."

"But you left a trail of broken hearts in your wake?"

"Of course. I compared every man I met to you, and I had to come back. Naturally, I was crushed when I met Nicole."

"You actually saw her?"

"Yeah, when I first came over. She said something about not knowing me so I shouldn't take Will."

"Ignore her."

"Everyone else around here seems to."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"It didn't mean anything. I just thought her behavior with the woman who brought me out here was odd."

Lucas glanced hard at Will before answering. "How much has Sami told you about me?"

"Nothing. I knew you were Will's father already--"

"You KNEW? But you left town way before--"

"No, I didn't know then. I found out when I found out about Carrie marrying Austin."

"Oh."

"Anyway, all Sami said to me about you was that you haven't really gotten along ever since you found out Will was your son. She told me this unbelievable story about almost marrying a model and ending up on death row. That's really what she said about you-- she thinks you framed her."

"I didn't."

"I didn't think you did. I don't think either of you could kill."

"Thank you. But you don't know about Nicole? And Sami didn't send you over here to get information out of me?"

"No. All I know about Nicole is that she has a brother named Brandon, and that you married her right before you got full custody of Will even though she was engaged to Sami's brother that I've never met. And I know that I just saw her and she looked drunk at three in the afternoon."

"You aren't missing much with Eric. And everything you know about Nicole is true."

"Then what did you mean by 'you don't know about Nicole?'"

"Sami knows, so I thought you must. We're only married officially. I can't have a divorce that makes the society pages if I don't want to ruin my chances of keeping custody of Will."

"I'm sorry. You deserve to be happy."

"I'm not sure about that."

A familiar pain lanced through Jamie. She hated to see Lucas hurt. Hurting him had almost been worse than hurting Sami the day she had given Kate Roberts the information she needed to expose the machinations of the two to end Austin and Carrie's engagement. She hadn't had a choice, though; she could not allow Sami to delude herself or Carrie to suffer.

"You do. You always have."

"Thanks, Jamie. But your friend Sami doesn't feel that way, and neither does Nicole."

"Then why did you marry her?"

"I was in love with her."

"Was?" Jamie hated her heart for skipping.

"It's easier to fall out of love than I used to think. Seeing your wife make love to her ex-fiancé helps."

"She cheated on you? How could she? How could anyone do something like that to you?"

"Ask her."

"I'd rather just hit her and scream at her for being so stupid."

"Can I watch?"

"Sure!"

"You're great, Jamie. Leave Nicole alone, though. She's just fine and following all the rules."

"You have rules for your wife?"

"I told you, it isn't a real marriage. She has a job and she's being paid for it. Not literally, but she has this mansion and she uses my money to but whatever she wants. So as long as she's out to destroy me, I thought she needed a few rules. Don't look at me like that."

"I know it must be awful that she cheated on you, but that doesn't mean she's out to destroy you."

"Oh, that isn't how I know she was out to destroy me. She started scheming with Sami against me. The deal was that if Nicole made me take a drink, Sami would hand over Eric. And the worst part is, a couple of times I almost fell for it. But that's probably something else you didn't know. Sami was desperate to keep Austin, so she did everything to keep Will from bonding with me when she found out I was his father. He thought I was stealing him from Austin and he hated me. I didn't deal with everything in the best possible way and I started drinking a lot. That's how I lost custody before Sami went to death row. She knows she'd get full custody if I started drinking that way again . . . I'm not sure why I just told you all of that. You thought I'd grown up at least a little but really I just got within two steps of being a raging alcoholic."

Jamie shook her head. "I know it must have been awful. But you did the hard thing and you STOPPED drinking. I would never think less of you over that." Lucas' eyes were still focused entirely on Jamie, as if he didn't quite believe her. She responded by wrapping her arms around him, something she had seldom had the courage to do during their first stint as friends. He returned the hug until she broke it off.

"No, I don't think less of you. I think less of SAMI! That's a cruel scheme, even for her."

Lucas considered defending Sami by remarking that allowing her to be framed for murder was likewise a cruel scheme even for him. But he didn't.

"Yes, she's been getting worse with age. Doing more with less provocation."

"Well, if you ever want to talk about it, I'm here. I want to stay friends with both of you, like I was before."

"That'll be a good trick." His eyes ran over her, and his earlier flirtatious demeanor had returned. Suddenly, he glanced toward his son. "HEY, WILL! Come on! Are you ready?"

"Yes, Daddy. Bye."

Lucas hated this. He gave Will his last hug for the week, put his backpack on his small shoulders, and watched him as he set off with his hand in Jamie's.