AN: so, this is my second non-linear oneshot; if you don't know, non-linear is where a story is complete in its meaning, but the events are mixed up, with parts of the start near the end, and the end near the beginning (though I ended it with the very last part).
This is a Claire/Sam fic for Jamie Scarlett (though it's not particularly good quality) and I am pretty sure that I own nothing.
And it's slightly AU, since Claire/Sam didn't happen, right?
"Will you stay with me?" she asks him, her voice thick with tears, and it's with a slight smile that he replies, his hand on hers, covering the wound in her stomach that will never heal. She'll be dead before she gets to the hospital, that much is clear to him anyway.
"Always."
(She doesn't doubt him for one second.)
/
The first time she sees Sam Glass, he's desperately in love with Amelie (why else would he be asking after her?) and she's scared of him because, hello, he's a vampire and she doesn't know that he's Michael's Grandfather yet, does she?
"How's Amelie doing?" he asks, and she has to bite her tongue, because she wants to tell him – she does; there's something about his face that makes her want to open up all her deep, dark secrets, and Amelie isn't really one of those – but why should she give him anything?
"Ask her yourself. If she doesn't want to talk to you, there must be a reason, right?" she snaps, and stalks off, leaving him sitting there as though she never existed.
/
Her lips find his, and it's slightly confusing because she was sure that she felt something for Shane, and he was certain that he would never move on from Amelie, but they've both been lying to themselves, because this is where they're meant to be.
So as her fingers lace into his copper red hair, and his hand tightens around her waist, Claire begins to wonder why she ever thought this could never happen, because she's never felt anything like this before, and it's bloody fantastic.
/
Her eyes close, and he can't let the tears stay inside anymore; they've got to spill out, to show the world how he feels that Claire has died.
(And it's his fault, when you think about it, because if she had never fallen for him, Captain Obvious would never have gone after her.)
"It's not your fault, Samuel." The voice that he never expected to hear again comes from behind him, and he whips around to find Amelie standing there, her pale blonde hair marking her apart from any other vampire it could possibly be. "Nothing can be your fault; it's always the mistakes of others which lead to these situations. It isn't you."
She disappears within a second, without another word, and he's left wondering whether she means it or not, or if she was just playing with his head.
(This is Amelie, remember?)
/
Claire goes to find Sam because she's not able to forget that he saved her life – and he barely knows her. He risked everything to protect her, and Eve, and so she owes him more than just a smile the next time he sees her; she owes him everything.
So she's slightly hesitant as she knocks on his door, because although he's all for the breathers' rights in this town, he's still a vampire, and that could spell disaster for her continuing to breathe.
Maybe I should leave, maybe that'd be better; I mean, my death isn't exactly going to help me get anywhere in life, is it? Maybe I should just…she thinks irrationally, only remembering the vampire she saw in Sam that night, and considering that she perhaps got it wrong that he's different to the rest.
But before she can turn away, he's opening the door, a bowl of cereal in his hand, and the normal image he projects (even though it's almost five pm, so cereal isn't really the best meal) soothes her, because when has there been a vampire who smiles this widely when they see her?
"I wanted to say hi, and…thanks," she smiles, gaining her confidence back as she smiles at him, because he's as radiant as the sunset, and just as bright as well.
(And when he invites her in, she doesn't decline.)
/
The knife goes into her stomach and twists, and she knows that she's screaming, yet it's almost as though someone else is screaming, because it sounds nothing like her.
Her assassin doesn't care, though. All he does is wrench the knife out of her and give her that sick and twisted grin he gave her when they first met, before dropping a piece of paper on her chest and leaving the room.
It's all your fault.
Since she's in Sam's apartment and she knows he'll be the first to find her, it's obvious who the blame is for.
/
"I think I love you," she whispers into Sam's chest, and she's scared to hear his reaction, because what if he doesn't love her? What if their weeks of spending time together have been because he's wanted a new friend, and she's imagined everything between the pair of them, because she's going delusional?
(It's always possible, though.)
But when she looks into Sam's sapphire blue eyes, she doesn't doubt he feels the same way for a second, because nobody can lie through their eyes, and the burning desire in his eyes is a replica of what must be in hers.
"I love you, too."
(Neither of them can explain how much it means to them to finally hear these words from someone, even be them different people to who they originally thought the words would be from.)
/
He's the perfect host as she enters his (too clean) apartment, saying, "do you want a coffee or anything?" and offering her food, even though dinner'll be ready at the Glass House in about an hour.
They don't have any specific conversation in mind, so they both just talk; they discuss school and love, classics and television shows, and he even persuades her to read To Kill A Mockingbird, a book she's never had any interest in.
But as she leaves to go home, realising that she'll be murdered by her housemates if she's any later, Claire realises that she doesn't want to leave.
"Can I come back tomorrow and…talk?" she asks, and she can see the hope in Sam's eyes. Instantly, she can tell that he's lonely, and that he craves human contact and company more than anything else in the world.
(Possibly even more than Amelie, since she's left him, remember?)
"I'll see you tomorrow, Claire," he replies, smiling as she leaves, and it's that image of him grinning that stays with her for the rest of the night.
(It's even in her thoughts when she goes to sleep.)
/
Nobody outwardly tells her that it's wrong for her to be dating a vampire – or whatever she and Sam are, since nothing ever seems to be clarified to her, at least – but she can tell from the looks of disgust from her fellow humans that they find it disgusting.
Even to be dating Sam Glass is wrong.
She doesn't ever realise that it could be dangerous, though – dangerous enough for her life to be threatened.
/
Soon, in their meetings, she stops mentioning Shane and he stops mentioning Amelie, and it's almost as though it's just the two of them, debating books and science, and whether modern technology is better than the days "when there was just a good, old wireless" because they're from different eras, so they have to disagree on some things.
And after a few weeks, as she leaves, she realises that he's in her thoughts far too much, and as he closes the door behind her, there's a feeling as though Claire has replaced Amelie as owning the key to his heart.
It's strange, but he knows that it seems right, better than the love he has (had) for Amelie, because that was always her in control, whereas Claire and Sam both have a share in whatever this is. Neither of them is stronger than the other in terms of the relationship, and he knows that making her laugh is far easier than it ever was to make Amelie smile.
(But he stops comparing them after this when he realises that he still loves Amelie, just not as much as he thinks he loves Claire.)
/
He closes her eyelids over and tidies up her appearance before the Mayor comes around to see just what has gone on, because when a human dies in a vampire's home, there's generally a cause of death needing fabricated.
But since the damned assassin left the note, it's pretty obvious to the Mayor that Sam isn't guilty of Claire's death directly, though it doesn't really help. Sam's set free from the vampire equivalent of police custody, but it's pointless, because he doesn't understand what he's going to do now that Claire's been murdered because of him.
(He knows he is the one responsible for her death, directly or indirectly, because without being close to him, she would never have been the target of the underground resistance's anger.)
/
After they've been 'together' for a few weeks, they go out for the first time, to one of the vampire/human mixed restaurants near to Founder's Square. She doesn't feel particularly comfortable, what with everyone staring at her because of who she's with, but she's distracted from this by the time Sam says three words to her.
(Who would have thought that something as perfect and effortless as this would come about because he had saved her from rape?)
As he reaches out and takes her hand over the table, she swears that she catches a glance of Amelie in her peripheral vision, but when she looks, there's nothing there.
"Did you see something?" Sam asks her, but she shakes her head and says that she made a mistake.
(She didn't; Amelie just realised that there was no point fighting for a man who she had abandoned, and told to do exactly this.)
/
As she dies, her last thought isn't that she wants her murderer tried, or even that she'll miss her friends and family. It isn't for the town of Morganville, for the Glass House residents, and not even for science.
Her last thought is reserved for Sam and Sam alone, the memory that originally stuck in her head from the first time she went to his house; it's him with a huge grin on his face, his red hair sticking up in all directions, and it's this image that she's always remembered him by.
It's the image of true love, and it's her only comfort as she's ripped from the world of the living, from Sam's arms, and into an unknown world.
(At least she'll have the comfort of Sam's love for her, right?)
AN2: I'd appreciate it if you didn't favourite without reviewing!
Vicky x