Never Again
Summary: Sam/Phil/Stuart. Sam finds out Stuart has been cheating and turns to the only person she knows can save her. A lot of Stu bashing, sorry. Written about a year ago and I only just found and finished it! Oneshot songfic to Kelly Clarkson's 'Never Again'
Samantha Nixon surveyed the contents of her refrigerator glumly. Her stomach was telling her that she was hungry and needed food of some sort but her mouth and brain weren't quite in agreement on the matter. Her eyes moved to the fancy bottle of wine that occupied the middle shelf. It looked like some of the pretentious stuff that Stuart seemed to like whereas Sam preferred cheap supermarket plonk – it had the same effect after all. Her stomach growled at her, almost as a warning. She had barely eaten all day aside from a slice of burned toast for breakfast and an apple at lunchtime. Sam knew that the alcohol would go straight to her head but that didn't seem like such a bad prospect right about now. She pulled the bottle from the fridge and selected a glass from the cupboard and poured herself a liberal amount of the blood red liquid. Taking a sip from the glass she then raised it in the air and said:
"To single life."
Samantha took her glass of wine into the living room and settled into the corner of her favourite sofa. The glass balanced in one hand as she flicked through the television channels with the remote in the other hand. She wasn't really paying attention to anything on the screen in front of her; her thoughts were otherwise occupied. As well as feeling sadness and self-pity, an overwhelming sense of anger pulsed through her veins. It was no secret that she was getting older but it didn't necessarily mean she was getting wiser at the same time. She may be a crime-stopping detective by day but that didn't mean her own life was in order. After the pain of her past it took a lot for Sam to let her guard down and allow someone into her life. She had thought she had made the right decision in embarking on a serious relationship with Stuart Turner but she could not have been more wrong there. She knew she should have seen it all along but in this case love really was blind. All this time her friends had been trying to point out his faults to her and trying to assure her that she could do so much better. Sam just wanted a secure and loving relationship and had believed that Stuart would be happy with this commitment but she couldn't have been more wrong. She knew she should have listened to her friends, especially Phil Hunter.
Stuart Turner relaxed back into the arms of the twenty-something woman, whose honey blonde hair splayed out across the pillow beside him. He was feeling pleased with himself once more, not an unusual emotion for him. He smiled smugly to himself as he thought about his situation. Things were looking up for him at the moment. His career was well on track with his fairly recent promotion to Detective Sergeant and he guessed that there would be many more to come soon enough. His love life also seemed to be working out. After a few months with Samantha Nixon he had managed to persuade her into letting him live with her at her house and since then his financial situation had also improved. For a woman of her age and experience, Samantha had been surprisingly naïve when it came to relationships. Fortunately for him, Sam had gone with her heart and not what people such as Phil Hunter were telling him to do. Now, he had finally broken things off with her and to be honest he didn't feel any remorse at all. Stuart Turner believed he had done what was needed to be done.
God. She knew she shouldn't have started thinking about him. Everything went into a downward spiral whenever he crossed her mind. Not that she was convinced that could actually happen at the moment. She remembered every glance they had shared over the past few years and looking back she realised that there could have been something between them and she had dismissed it all along. She had always thought men like Phil Hunter had been nothing but trouble but it was the ones like Stuart Turner you had to watch out for. She would know what to expect from a relationship with Phil but with Stuart his betrayal had been so unexpected and had hurt her more. Sam downed another mouthful of wine, wincing at the bitter taste but enjoying the light-headed feeling it gave her. For once it felt good to be out of control.
Phil Hunter stared across at his mobile phone where it sat on the edge of his desk. He glanced over at it every couple of minutes but there were still no messages. He knew it was irrational for him to be this worried about Sam. She was a grown woman and she knew how to take care of herself better than anyone, at least she thought she did. Still, it didn't stop Phil from worrying about her. He had tried to warn Sam about the sort of man that Stuart was but he was the last person she would listen to when it came to advice about her love life. They were good friends and trusted each other but there were some aspects of their lives that they just didn't talk about, maybe because they were just too close to home. There had always been the attraction between them but nothing had ever become of their relationship and after Stuart's recent behaviour Phil doubted there ever would be.
Taking her glass into the kitchen and taking a seat at the table she reached out for a pen and a sheet of plain paper and began writing down everything she felt. She was determined to let Stuart now just how much he had hurt her and the hell he had put her through. Tears merged with the ink as she poured her heart out to the stark white paper. She was close to finishing when the doorbell rang. She wiped her tears away with her hands, oblivious to the eyeliner and mascara that smudged down her pale skin.
"Phil?" She said in surprise as she answered the door.
"Are you okay?" Were the first words out of his mouth when he saw the state that she was in. "Stupid question," He rectified. "What's wrong Sam, can I come in?" He asked instead.
Sam wordlessly stepped back and let Phil into her house, shutting the door after him. She hurried into the kitchen after Phil to destroy the tearstained letter she had been writing to Stuart, but she was just a little too late.
"Sam?" He asked, as she manically screwed the damp paper into a ball. The look of concern in his eyes made her burst out into tears once more. Phil still didn't quite understand the situation but he took her in his arms and held her close to him.
"It's okay," He soothed. "He can't hurt you anymore."
Sam and Phil seemed to cross a line together that day and, though he knew it would be a long journey at a slow pace, Phil knew that one day she would let him in the way she had accepted Stuart into her life; but with him it would be different, he would never hurt her.
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