Sami had been so depressed over the deaths in her family lately that she was a shell of her former self. Lucas was trying to be there as a friend for her, and so he decided that he should clean her apartment for her while she worked. Lately she was lacking the energy to clean up after herself, even though she was putting on an act of total control. Last night she had cooked him dinner, so cleaning up her apartment was the least he could do.

He put on a pair of old jeans, and a t-shirt, which was something he never wore in public, and headed to her apartment. He found the broom, the mop, and the vacuum cleaner easily. He put on his headphones and got to work. ~*~

Sami worked all day in her filthy basement cubbyhole again. She hated her job, but it paid the bills. After work she went to pick up Will from her Grandpa, but Will begged to stay at the pub. She relented when Grandpa Shawn said that he wanted the company. Out of habit lately she took an extra burger from the Pub, intending to share with Lucas. When this family act started with them, she had no idea. But Lucas was a constant in her life anyway. Their friendship was returning and she was both excited and nervous with her newfound dependency on him.

She went home and in the hallway met flygirl Angel. Apparently, Lucas was going to be too busy to eat hamburgers with her. Before she could stop herself, Sami asked, "Does he know you're here?"

Angel knocked on his door before turning around to answer, "He told me that I was welcome over anytime when I was in town, besides I have to talk to him."

Sami hadn't liked the sound of the work 'have' in the other woman's voice. Flygirl's voice had cracked. Sami found her key and went into her apartment only to find Lucas singing "You have to learn to crawl, Before you learn to walk, But I just couldn't listen to all that righteous talk, oh yeah.I was out on the street Just tryin' to survive Scratchin' to stay."

He looked up and saw Sami before explaining, "I was just sweeping up."

He wasn't supposed to be here. She snapped at him, "Better run. flygirl needs you."

Before he could ask who Sami meant, Angel knocked and slightly opened the already opened door to say, "Lucas, I was looking for you."

He took his headphones off and stared at Sami and Angel. If he didn't know better, he would think Sami was jealous. But he shook his head and said, "OK, let me just put the broom away."

Sami watched him put her broom back in her closet without saying a word. Angel was quite readily flirting, "Nothing hotter than a man cleaning house."

Lucas smiled at Angel's complimentary stare at his body before he told Sami, "I'll be back in a little while to tell Will goodnight."

Sami saw red. Of course Lucas wouldn't notice that Will wasn't even in the room when flygirl strutted around in a miniskirt. She snapped at him and replied, "Don't bother. Will's staying at the pub."

Lucas walked to the door with Angel but gave Sami a questioning glare. He then replied, "Don't start a fire in the fireplace until I get back to finish cleaning."

Before she could reply he was out the door. She marched to her kitchen and found a plate. She then noticed that her kitchen was shining which only meant that Lucas had been here for a while. She stared at her dinner, but the thought that Lucas was mostly likely getting an afternoon quickie ruined her appetite.

Instead of eating she changed into her most comfortable pair of sweats and plopped down to watch TV. TNT was running Top Gun. Lucas looked a lot like Tom Cruise for some reason and she nodded off picturing herself trying to teach Lucas anything. ~*~

Two hours later Lucas let himself back into Sami's apartment to finish the fireplace. He saw Sami lying on her couch and he knew something was wrong. Sami only plopped herself on her couch when she was upset and didn't want to go into her bedroom. He kneeled on the floor and pushed a lock of her hair out of her face before saying, "Sami, what happened?"

She opened her eyes from her hazy dream of love in the afternoon only to find the man she was fantasizing about staring at her. Her dream filled mind caused her hands to reach out for him, but she stopped herself with the question, why was Lucas here? She flippantly asked, "Her layover end already?"

Lucas replied without questioning, "Yeah she's flying to Israel tonight."

Sami sat up and replied, "Well there's always next time right? Lucas, I'm tired, so can you leave me alone now?"

Lucas told her, "I just wanted to finish cleaning your fireplace. It will take 5 minutes."

She was going to argue with him and tell him that she could clean it herself tomorrow, but he took his shirt off and laid himself own on her floor facing the fireplace. She walked over to him like she was going to argue, but the argument never surfaced. She stared at him until she realized that she was jealous. The revelation nearly knocked her unconscious. She grabbed a chair for balance.

Lucas heard the noise and sat up asking, "I knew something was wrong. You look sick."

Sami was just realizing that he was the man that she wanted and he thought she looked sick? She returned to the couch and plopped back down.

He left his project and sat next to her on the couch before saying, "What's wrong?"

She had a headache. She couldn't be jealous and she couldn't want Lucas, could she? She replied, "Nothing's wrong."

He told her, "You only plop here when you're upset. So what's wrong?"

She retorted, "If you know me so well then you should know what's wrong!"

He smirked at her and joked, "Wait for it padawan. My senses are telling me something. Hmmm, did my mom give you hard time at the office today?"

She latched onto his suggestion since Kate had visited her in her hellhole today. She replied, "Your mom wanted me to stay away from you."

He stopped breathing for a minute thinking that his mom told Sami that he was constantly fantasizing over her. Course he wasn't speaking to his mom at the moment, so she couldn't know that he wanted Sami. He answered, "I'll call her later and tell her that you haven't murdered me yet."

She laughed at his reply. She thought that she said too much a minute ago, but he didn't hear it. She hesitated before she asked, "So what did flygirl have to see you about?"

Lucas replied nonchalantly, "She's pregnant. Do you need some aspirin?"

He stood up intending to get her something for a headache, but Sami caught his arm before yelling at him, "How many brothers and sisters is Will going to have out there if you don't keep your pants zipped!"

He yelled back, "What the hell are you mentioning Will for?"

She stood up to give her anger more punch, "Will's about to be a stepbrother. Why the hell wouldn't I mention him or your overactive sex drive!"

Lucas stopped short from yelling back when he realized that Sami thought that he. He told her calmly, "I'm not the father."

Sami countered, "Of course you're Will's father. You saw the DNA results."

Lucas stared into Sami's eyes and answered, "I am Will's father. But I am not the baby's father."

Sami started to say something, but she shut her mouth. She started to say something again, but she shut her mouth. Finally she asked, "Who is then and why did she have to talk to you?"

Lucas answered slowly, like he wasn't sure if he should speak, "I must have told her that I had family in Israel because she told me that she recognized Mike from one of my photos. It's why she's flying to Israel."

Sami replied, "But Mike's engaged to Carrie!"

Lucas answered, "I realize that. Mike and Carrie was my idea in the first place."

Sami felt bad before stating, "I pushed the idea more than you did. Carrie's going to be hurt."

He nodded his head in agreement before admitting to Sami, "One of my regrets in life is trying to break up Carrie and Austin."

Sami had an idea. He saw that she was plotting something and asked, "What's going on?"

Sami replied, "We never should have interfered with Carrie and Austin."

He answered, "I just said that."

She continued, "It's our job to get them back together."

He put his hand on her forehead and asked, "Are you sure you're feeling well?"

Sami answered, "Dad would have wanted his family to be closer."

He was unsure and told her, "Why don't you sit down? I'll make you some tea."

Sami replied, "No. Lucas, call the airlines! No wait. We need a plan. Where should we plan their reunion?"

He shook his head and said, "Sami we're terrible matchmakers. Neither of us have had successful marriages. What makes you think we can pull off matchmaking?"

She smiled up at him and asked sweetly, "Are you going to be my partner in crime and help me repair our troubled past or not?"

Lucas pulled Sami over to his apartment. He went through his mail and found what he was looking for before telling Sami, "Greta's getting married in Paris in three weeks. Austin is going. Can we get Carrie to Paris?"

Sami hugged Lucas as she told him, "You're brilliant!"

He put his arms around Sami and hugged her. Her eyes had that sparkle when she's scheming, and he realized that as a teen, it was that sparkle that kept him glued to her. He then said, "Greta told me that she fell in love with Eric because he played her knight in shining armor during some tough grieving. The key to success here is creating a situation where Austin is going to be there for Carrie."

Sami pulled out of the hug and asked concerned, "When do you talk to Greta?"

He answered Sami, "We're email buddies. Are you going to Paris as my date to her wedding to Nathan?"

She noticed the quick change of subjects, but she hadn't seen a need to comment. She bit her lip before replying, "Date's too casual, and neither Austin nor Carrie would believe it."

Lucas asked her, "Then how are you explaining."

She cut him off and said, "My annulment from Brandon is final. I'll go to Paris as your wife!"