Title: Two Beds and a Coffee machine
Summery: Stand alone Sam fic. How did Sam come to make Chicago her home anyways? Based around the lyrics to Savage Garden's "Two Beds and a Coffee Machine"
Rating: PG

And she takes another step
Slowly she opens the door
Check that he is sleeping
Pick up all the broken glass and furniture on the floor

Been up half the night screaming now it's time to get away
Pack up the kids in the car
Another bruise to try and hide
Another alibi to write

Sam looked at through her rear view mirror and saw Alex sleeping in the back seat spread out around the boxes stacked on the seat next to him. She really thought that Denver would have been different. This is the forth time they've had to move in the past two years. Every time she thought she could escape, something happens and she is pulled back into the hellishness that has been her life. What she wouldn't give for a place she could settle down in, and not have to leave after a few months. Who knows, maybe Chicago will be different.

Another ditch in the road
You keep moving
Another stop sign
You keep moving on
And the years go by so fast
Wonder how I ever made it through

The road through Missouri was unpaved and bumpy. The boxes in the trunk and the backseat shook every time the car went over another bump, or pothole, or ridge. I she kept moving she would make the border of Illinois by day break. Then, maybe she would be able to get a motel for a few days and rest before finishing the trip to Chicago.

"Mom, where are we?" asked Alex from the backseat. The moving of the boxes that made up his pillow must have woken him from his sleep.

"We're in Missouri, kiddo," she replied smiling at him through the rear view mirror. If we're lucky we'll make Illinois by the morning and then get a hotel, ok?"

"I guess, as long as it has a pool. Why Chicago anyways?" he asked.

"Cause that's where the dart landed buddy."

And there are children to think of
Baby's asleep in the backseat
Wonder how they'll ever make it through this living nightmare
But the mind is an amazing thing

Full of candy dreams and new toys and another cheap hotel
Two beds and a coffee machine
But there are groceries to buy
And she knows she'll have to go home

They stayed in the motel for two days before finishing the trek to Chicago. Finding an apartment was relatively easier than it had been in Denver and Reno. Finding a job was even easier, a city full of too many traumas and not enough nurses to handle them all. Things were looking up. She started thinking that maybe this was somewhere they could stay for awhile and not have to pack up and leave.

They stayed in Chicago for a period of time. It was easy, and fun, and different than the other cities they had been in. But like every other time in the past, Sam found herself packing the car again, and finding a new place to go to. The need to run and escape from the demon that followed her, namely Steve, was too great to ignore.

Another bruise to try and hide
Another alibi to write
Another lonely highway in the black of the night

This time, was different. Luka ran after her. For once in her life, there was someone there to run after her, to want to protect her and Alex. She could get used to this. So she packed the car up again, one last time. Only this time, instead of running away from it all, she was going back to it. She was going to face her life, and not run from it.

But there's hope in the darkness
You know you're going to make it

Another ditch in the road
You keep moving
Another stop sign
You keep moving on
And the years go by so fast
Silent fortress built to last

"What are you thinking about," asked Luka as Sam stared out the window of the lounge. He came up behind her and wrapped his arms around her waist.

"I wonder how I ever made it."

FIN