This is a prequel to my story Con a Con. As some of you know, my version of events and timeline is a little skewed and it was very confusing so here's the JaSam break up. This happend a little while after the MetroCourt Hostage Crisis.Summary: It's over and she won't delay the inevitable anymore.

Fall So Low

"I promise," Jason vowed seriously. As he gave her hand a tight squeeze in assurance, the door was suddenly opened and Sam walked in breezily, stopping in her tracks, the smile that was on her face immediately vanishing when her gaze fell on them.

Sam's eyes narrowed at the sight of their clasped hands and Jason immediately released Elizabeth's hand. "What's going on?" she asked, looking at them curiously and clearing her throat to disguise the anger bursting through her entire body.

The two exchanged nervous glances as Sam shrugged off her coat and draped it over Jason's leather jacket which hung on the back of the leather desk chair.

Elizabeth looked at her kindly but Sam could see the triumphant gleam behind the façade. "We were just talking," she started to explain and then quickly glanced at Jason as she faltered in her explanation. "It was private and we're actually not done talking."

"Oh," Sam nodded, folding her arms across her chest as she listened to Elizabeth fumbling with her words, enjoying the flustered nurse's behavior. Sam sat down on the arm of the couch, by Jason, a subtle reminder of her place in his life to Elizabeth.

Judging by the next words out of her mouth, she didn't get it.

"Would you mind giving us some privacy?" Elizabeth shot a pleading look to Jason who sighed heavily as he turned to Sam.

He opened his mouth to ask her if she would mind giving them a quick moment but stopped when he saw the rage that filled his girlfriend's eyes.

Sam stood up immediately and glowered at them, shook her head. She clenched her fists, digging her nails into her hands in an attempt to control her temper.

Her voice was calmer than she certainly felt as she spoke to her boyfriend. "She's here a little too often for my taste."

Elizabeth gasped at the brazen way Sam spoke to Jason about her while she was in the room.

Sam's gaze snapped to her immediately, her eyes blazing. "No I won't leave my own home but I would appreciate it if you did."

"Maybe you should leave," Jason told her. His voice was gentle and apologetic. Sam rolled her eyes. Elizabeth was a grown woman and she didn't understand why everyone treated her like she was so fragile. In fact, Sam found the only way to get through to the woman was to get straight to the point.

"Of course." Elizabeth nodded in gentle understanding as she scrambled to her feet in her pregnant state. Jason handed her purse to her and she took it from him, but held onto his hand which made Sam's blood boil and her hand itched to slap her. "We can talk later." And she was gone.

Jason locked the door behind Elizabeth and turned to Sam with a baffled look on his face.

"I'm getting very tired of this." Sam fiddled with the paper on the desk as she spoke to him.

"What's the problem?" He sounded genuinely confused, and she couldn't understand how blind he was to the situation.

"I come home to find you two huddled together again and I really don't like it."

"Sam, you have nothing to worry about," he told her soothingly, cupping her cheek gently. "The only thing between Elizabeth and me is friendship."

She shook her head in disbelief. "Don't patronize me." Sam swatted his hand away and took a few steps back. "There is something else between you."

"She's going through a rough time right now and she needed to talk to someone about it." Jason explained, and Sam could tell by the way he was avoiding looking at her that he wasn't being completely honest with her. "I don't see what the big deal is." He shrugged carelessly.

That callous statement ignited her temper and she could no longer reign in it in. "The big deal?" she spat furiously and stomped her high-heeled foot for emphasis. "The big deal is that you had sex with her!" Her voice boomed with fury. "Now she's pregnant and not with your kid but her husband's yet she's always coming over here, needing to talk to you and you let her."

"You open the door for her and welcome her in our home without a damn thought as to how I might feel about it." Sam took a deep breath to calm herself down, failing miserably as she looked at his stunned expression. "And if you honestly don't see what the big deal is then we have a really big problem."

He closed his eyes in regret. "I'm sorry. Of course I care about your feelings. I don't want to hurt you."

"Then why do you keep doing it?" Sam begged him miserably.

Jason felt something shift. He couldn't explain the feeling but the desperate way she spoke to him told him that there was a bigger issue. "I don't know." He answered honestly.

Sam deflated. Her face collapsed and she felt her heart being crushed. "That's it?"

Jason looked at her helplessly. "Elizabeth is my friend, she needs my help and I feel like I owe it to her."

"Give me a break!" Sam shouted angrily. "Why is it always about Elizabeth with you these days?"

He opened her mouth to explain but she shook her head at him.

"Save it," she said briskly and sat down on the couch. "Elizabeth has another crisis going on in her life and you're helping her deal with it. I heard you."

"But if you think I'm buying that for one second, you're mistaken." She noticed him wince and realized her instinct wasn't off at all. "Something else is going on—I know there's something that you're not saying so don't act like I'm being ridiculous."

"I don't know what to say to you, Sam."

"That's my point." She succumbed to the realization that things had really changed. "You used to talk to me about everything. You would confide in me." She winced painfully. "Now you confide in Elizabeth."

"Sam," he shook his head in denial.

"What?" She asked miserably. "You didn't think I noticed?" Her lower lip trembled as she recalled him slipping out of their bed to go off and meet her at night or early in the morning more than once. A tear rolled down her cheek and she saw him reach forward to brush it away so she wiped it away with her own hand.

Sam looked up at him with tear-filled eyes as she finally accepted how wrong everything was now. "We need to face reality, Jason." A sob escaped her lips and she shook her head when he took a step forward to offer comfort. She would break if he touched her. "This isn't working anymore."

"Now wait a minute," Jason said seriously but she shrugged at him carelessly.

"No," she sobbed. "I'm tired of waiting." She swallowed painfully. "I can't do it anymore. I won't wait for you to treat me like you should anymore. I will not stand by while put one more person ahead of me anymore. I'm sick of it."

He looked at her desperately. "I don't want to lose us Sam."

"Then you're blind or just ignorant." She laughed bitterly. "We lost us a long time ago, Jason." She stood up. "We just didn't want to face it." She cupped his cheek and bit her lip in disappointment. "But we have to accept reality now or we'll destroy each other and everything we ever had." She dropped her hand, looked at him sadly and walked out the door.

TWO WEEKS LATER

Sam opened her eyes slowly and her whole body ached inexplicably. Her head pounded and so she tried to lift her hand to rub her forehead but her hand was pulled back against the bed that was unfamiliar to her.

It wasn't her actual bed, just a room at Kelly's so it wasn't entirely alarming to her. The metal she could feel around her wrists, however, was. Her eyes widened in realization and she looked around the room, taking in her surroundings.

Her gaze immediately froze on Jerry Jacks sitting in a chair a few feet away, his mouth wide in a grin.

"Welcome back, darling."