A/N: Guys guys! Apparently there's a thing called "Samtember" starting this year via a Tumblr prompt. And as soon as I heard about that, I knew I had to participate. Who doesn't like Sam? At least some (possibly ALL?) will be Soulmate AUs, and those that are will be cross-posted into Plum Soulmates. ALL will be Crossovers. :) Steph will not always be romantically paired with Sam, but all will be Sam-centric. Oh, and all of them are going to be un-betaed, so if there are issues, let me know, but leave my poor beta alone!

If anyone is reading this because of Samtember, and hasn't read one of my soulmate fics, here's the quick version. When your soulmate is born, their first words to you appear on their skin- almost like a tattoo. Romantic soulmates are in black "ink", while platonic are grey. It is possible to have one, none, or multiple in either category. Sometimes words appear at times other than birth, but those cases are few and far between.

Warning, this one isn't the happiest. Canonical minor-character death.

Will you tell me about him? - Steph & Sam (platonic)

Some people thought that having a soulmate guaranteed you a lot of things. They thought it guaranteed that you would actually meet that person one day. They thought it guaranteed that once you did meet the person, you would have time to spend together. And they thought that it guaranteed a happily ever after.

None of those things were actually true. Sometimes soulmates could both live to be quite old and never meet, or die young and never meet. Some soulmates went through something in their lives before meeting that changed their character so drastically that when they finally did meet, it wasn't a good match. And some people met, took it slow or rushed off to do something else, and never made it back to their mate. Worst to me were the people who took their soulmates for granted, treating them poorly or simply not cherishing them for the gift that they were.

I grew up the son of an Air Force Chaplain who had seen it all, and he had instilled upon me a healthy respect for soulmates and the gift they were. My father taught me to treat them well, and spend as much time as possible with them because you never knew how much of it you would get. And he'd given me a healthy respect for the fact that none of those fairy tale promises were true, while still managing to ingrain a sense of hope in me for my soulmates.

When I met my platonic soulmate, it was at Air Force Basic Military Training. Of course, I'd played into fate's hand on that one because he'd laid it out for me so easily to find him.

"My name is Riley, it may take two years, but by 2012, I'm going to be a pararescueman."

They were words that had terrified Momma, but they did make it damn easy to find Riley. My father had managed to get a buddy to tip him off to which enlistment group I needed to attend in 2008, and I'd made it happen. Then he'd wished me luck.

We made it through the first tour, and it seemed like luck was on our side. But Riley wanted to re-up, and someone needed to watch his ass, so I'd gone along with him. When he showed up for our second tour, he was two hours late. I ragged on him pretty hard about it, until he told me that he'd met his romantic soulmate on the way in. He'd been late because he was making sure he knew multiple ways to get back in touch with her when the tour was over.

That was a qualifying event, and he could use it to delay his tour. Try as I might, I wasn't able to convince him to do so. He'd insisted that there was plenty of time later. This would be his last tour, then he'd find something to do that would allow him to be with Stephanie Plum. I asked him what he was going to see, and he told me he didn't know, but he knew he'd be happy. Stephanie, or Steph, as she preferred to be called was in school getting a business degree, and he expected she'd be able to find work anywhere.

Playfully, he told me I should come with him, at least until I figured out what I wanted to do. Because I hadn't wanted to go on the second tour, it was a likely that I was going to leave anyway. When he told me he thought I'd like her, I'd agreed because I figured anyone who could put up with Riley would be alright in my book.

Of course, then an RPG knocked Riley's dumb ass out of the sky and just like that, time was up for the couple before they'd even really gotten to be together. Because we were platonic soulmates, when Riley went down, the Air Force sent me home. That didn't used to be the policy for platonics, but too many died due to the distraction and it had eventually become a regulation. I quietly went through the exit process, and reluctantly informed the chain of command that I was done. I still had another platonic out there I'd yet to meet, and maybe I'd wind up with a romantic one day. Crazier things had happened, and I wanted to be free to enjoy whatever time we had.

When I walked out of the base, my parents were standing there waiting for me. Talking to my father helped a lot, he always seemed to know what to say. Yet, when I told them where I was going next, I declined his offer to go with me. I did let them drive me back to where I had my truck stored, and ate a meal with them before I left.

By the time I pulled up to her off-campus apartment at Douglass College, I was still exhausted. I took a few minutes to pull myself together in the truck, and as I did so, I noticed the fully uniformed officers walking out of the building. Getting out of the truck, I held a salute as they walked by, seeing nods of understanding and recognition from the men as they passed. I waited until they'd gotten in their vehicle and left before I took a deep breath and walked up to her door.

I knocked on the door, and watched her take in my uniform. She looked a little confused, and opened her mouth, I figured to tell me that they'd already talked to her. But I beat her to the punch.

"Hi, I'm Sam," I said softly.

Her eyes went wide and filled with tears, but she nodded her head and opened the door for me. I walked inside, looking around the small apartment, and when she sat on the couch, I took the armchair across from her.

"Will you tell me about him?" she asked through tears.

My eyes widened because I realized that must have been why Riley was so sure that Steph and I would get along. Her fingers ran along her forearm where my words to her were written boldly in grey writing. That night I told her about Riley, striving to help us both vent our grief, but also to get her to laugh at least a few times.

Even if she hadn't been my platonic soulmate, I would have taken care of her for Riley. And because it was the right thing to do for anyone in her shoes. I stayed with her for a couple weeks, making sure she took care of herself until the shock wore off and the veil of grief started to lift. Then I really started thinking about what would make me happy, and I enrolled in Douglass to get credits so I could become a counselor at the VA.

A/N: I know, that hit me in the feels SO HARD. I don't even like angst, so I'm not really sure how this one happened… I'll make the rest happy!