Chapter Two

Sami groaned coming slowly awake, her head feeling like it was stuffed with cotton wool.

"Thank goodness!" a familiar voice broke through her fog, "I thought you were going to be out for the duration."

Sami turned her head and blinked blearily at the man sitting beside her with the concerned look on his face.

"Rafe," she rasped, her throat unbearably dry, "What's happening, what's going on?"

"I'm not sure yet," said Rafe grimly, "But don't panic okay."

Sami frowned at him, not liking the suggestion that she was one to panic so easily but then she suddenly realized that her movements were restricted. She looked down to see that she was tied to a chair with a length of rope and that Rafe was in the same condition.

"Where are we?" she asked, looking around now as the fog began to lift.

The room was small and dark, obviously meant to detain people in. There was a single door in front of them and apart from the exposed light bulb swaying gently above them on the end of an electrical cord there was nothing else in the room.

"I don't know," scowled Rafe, "They knocked me out at the safe house and I came to about half an hour ago and haven't seen anyone."

He looked Sami up and down, taking in her heavily pregnant state.

"Are you alright?" he asked her solicitously, "Does the baby feel alright?"

"No," snapped Sami, wiggling around a little, "I'm tied to a chair after being drugged, of course I'm not okay Rafe! Now stop asking stupid questions and get us out of here!"

"I've been trying but whoever tied these knots really knew what they were doing," Rafe grimaced.

"Don't you have some kind of special FBI training to get you out of this at all?" asked Sami in exasperation.

"No I missed Harry Houdini day," said Rafe dryly, "Sorry about that, my bad."

"I don't see how sarcasm is going to help us any," said Sami snippily, "Unless you can use that sharp wit to cut through the ropes of course!"

"And now who's being sarcastic?" asked Rafe wryly.

Sami rolled her eyes but didn't comment. She looked about again and then frowned as she looked at Rafe.

"Not that I'm sad about it or anything," she said hesitantly, knowing that the whole reason she' been in witness protection in the first place was because there was an assassin out after her, "But why aren't we dead yet?"

"Because you are still of use to me Samantha."

Both Rafe and Sami looked over at the door which had suddenly opened to reveal the man who had just spoken those words standing in the doorway, a self satisfied look on his face.

"You!" hissed Sami, her eyes widening.

"Yes," replied the man easily, stepping into the room, "Me."

"A little help?" asked Rafe with a frown, looking between the two and not recognizing the man who had just entered the room.

"Oh how rude of me," said the man with a little smile, "Let me introduce myself Raphael – I am Stefano DiMera."

"Hm," said Rafe, his facial expression not changing at all at that information.

"Perhaps you have heard of me eh?" said Stefano, coming to stand in front of the younger man.

"I have," nodded Rafe, having heard much about the dastardly deeds of Stefano DiMera, if not what he looked like before this.

Rafe looked him up and down as Stefano looked at him with interest, clearly seeming to expect something more in the way of acknowledgement.

"Something to say Raphael?" he asked calmly.

"Just that I thought you'd be taller," said Rafe straight faced, "I guess evil doesn't have a height requirement."

Sami snickered at that despite the seriousness of their situation. After all Stefano knowing she was pregnant was the one thing she'd been trying to avoid this whole time and why she'd gone into witness protection so willingly in the first place.

"Ah we have a comedian in our midst," said Stefano smoothly, "How delightful."

He turned to look at Sami then.

"And how wonderful it is to see you in such high spirits my dear," he purred, "It is very important that the mother of my grandchildren is happy."

"Grandchild," Sami corrected him quickly, staring back at Stefano defiantly, "And I wouldn't say I'm happy. You've got me tied to a chair!"

"That is an unfortunate necessity for the time being," said Stefano, looking apologetic, "You will be free of your confines soon enough. I don't want to put my new grandchild under anymore duress than is necessary."

He looked down at her swollen stomach then, a pleased smile lighting up his face.

"Ah a new DiMera life," he said happily, walking up to Sami and putting a hand on her protruding stomach.

"Don't touch me!" shouted Sami, struggling against her bonds at Stefano's sickeningly intimate gesture.

"Get your hands off her!" growled Rafe as he too fought against the ropes restraining him.

"Settle down the both of you," said Stefano with a roll of his eyes at both of their histrionics as he dropped his hand away from Sami's stomach, "I merely wanted to make my acquaintance with my latest grandchild."

"This baby isn't a DiMera!" lied Sami quickly, desperate to throw him off, "This baby is Lucas'!"

"Don't insult my intelligence Samantha," said Stefano dismissively, "This baby is a DiMera. The product of a night of passion between you and my son, this I know."

"How do you know that?" asked Sami and then wrinkled her face in disgust, "Oh my god, you didn't have cameras in my bedroom did you?!"

"Of course not," said Stefano, looking offended at the suggestion, "Elvis informed me of your tryst."

"Icky," grimaced Sami but wasn't one to back down too easily, "So what if we did? I went back to Lucas after that and we made love several times and I can tell you that this baby is Lucas'!"

"This may surprise you Samantha," said Stefano calmly, "But I don't think you are that kind of girl eh? You are not the kind of woman to hop from one man's bed to another, despite the many rumors about you that I've heard."

"All from that shrew Kate Robert's no doubt," growled Sami, "Or that 'Debbie Does Dallas' wannabe Nicole."

"Watch your mouth Sami," said Nicole tersely, suddenly appearing in the door way, "Like you're some kind of saint!"

"Nicole!" she gasped in disbelief, "What are you doing here? With... with him?!"

Sami nodded her head at Stefano as the two of them stood side by side, looking down at Rafe and Sami in various degrees of amusement.

"Nicole and I have found that we could be of benefit to one another," said Stefano smoothly.

"What is it with you doing old men all the time?" asked Sami in disgust, "Talk about daddy issues!"

"Ours is not as parochial as a sexual relationship Samantha," said Stefano calmly, "It is a far more useful agreement then that."

"What do you mean?" asked Sami with a frown.

"It means I scratch his back and he scratches mine," said Nicole with a smirk.

"You mean you're working for Stefano to get EJ to do what he wants?" asked Sami bitterly.

"It's in his best interest," said Nicole sharply, "In our best interest and seeing as we are going to be married soon I have a right to have a say in these things Sami!"

The thought of EJ marrying Nicole sent a stab of pain through Sami's chest but she had no one else to blame but herself on that front unfortunately. She'd practically pushed EJ into Nicole's arms back at the cabin but at the time Sami felt like she'd had no other choice. She'd been desperate to protect this new baby from Stefano which meant keeping her pregnancy a secret for as long as she could. Plus of course there had been the news of Nicole's own pregnancy to grapple with as well. It made her physically ill to think of a woman she hated so much carrying EJ's child and had been devastated to find out that the baby was actually his but that was how it was and Sami had just had to deal. Sami's eyes dropped to Nicole protruding stomach, feeling a lump in her throat at the thought that EJ was going to be at the birth of Nicole's child and not hers and felt a deep wave of regret at how things had turned out. Sami dragged her eyes from Nicole's stomach and looked at the other woman with disgust.

"So I guess what you're getting out of this is money?" she said scathingly, "That is the only thing that you really love in this world after all isn't it Nicole?"

"You're wrong Sami," said Nicole tightly, "I love EJ."

"Right," snorted Sami, "Of course you do."

"I do," said Nicole fiercely, her cheeks heating.

"You love his money," said Sami flatly, "And all the things he can give you Nicole! If EJ was suddenly a pauper in the street I can see your 'love' drying up pretty quickly somehow!"

"You don't know what the hell you're talking about Sami!" snarled Nicole.

"I know you gave up my brother who fool that he was really did love you to marry Lucas because his mom waved a check in front of your face," said Sami bitingly, "I leopard doesn't change its spots and you're still the same scheming, money grabbing whore that you always were Nicole!"

"Ladies, ladies," said Stefano, interrupting them before it could go any further, "There is no need for all of this impoliteness between us. After all we have some important business to conduct."

"What are you talking about?" asked Sami, feeling her stomach flop over nervously at Stefano's comment.

"A transaction," said Stefano easily, looking over at Nicole, "Nicole here has graciously helped my son to see the errors of his ways and return to the family fold and in return I will provide her with her heart's desire."

"A Swiss bank account?" asked Sami in confusion, starting to feel her nerves tighten at where this might be going.

"A family," said Stefano smoothly, "A child to make her and Elvis' joy complete."

"But... but you're having EJ's baby," said Sami, her voice starting to become raised with her distress as she looked over at Nicole.

"Not anymore," said Nicole tightly and held up her blouse to reveal the pregnancy padding.

"Whoa," said Rafe in surprise while Sami was rendered briefly speechless.

"A great tragedy has occurred and unfortunately Nicole has lost her child," said Stefano sadly.

Sami was looking between Nicole and Stefano then, a sudden horrible realization beginning to come to her.

"And then we find out you also are carrying a DiMera child," said Stefano looking at Sami, "And our happiness was returned to us and both Nicole and I knew that there was a way that she and Elvis could have the family they deserved."

"No," whispered Sami, the reality of what they were suggesting beginning to sink in, "No."

"You were intent on keeping this child from knowing its father Samantha," said Stefano heavily, "That is a terrible crime."

"So what, you're going to take this baby from its mother instead?!" choked out Sami, feeling the panic start to claw away at her now.

"This child will have a mother," said Stefano, looking over at Nicole.

"You're going to give my baby to an alcoholic, man eating prostitute to raise?!" asked Sami in abject horror, "Are you kidding me?! I'll never let that happen, do you hear me, NEVER!"

"You don't have any say in the matter," said Stefano simply, "I will decide what is best for my grandchild and that is to be with his or hers father. Nicole will be a fine mother I'm sure and she and Elvis will lead the way for the next generation of DiMera's."

"I don't believe this," said Sami faintly, "EJ will find out, you can't keep him in the dark about this forever. He'll figure out what you're doing!"

"No he won't!" said Nicole sharply, "EJ loves and trusts me and has no reason to think that I'm still not pregnant with his child."

"Can you hear the crazy in that sentence?" asked Sami in disbelief, "He trusts you so that makes it alright for you to trick him like this?!"

"I'm doing what is best for EJ!" said Nicole, defending herself, "He deserves to know his child and he was born to inherit the DiMera empire! We are going to be a big happy family, this new baby, Johnny, EJ and I."

"You keep your claws out of my son!" yelled Sami, "You're never going to have anything to do with either of my children Nicole, I swear to you!"

"Sami calm down," said Rafe with a concerned frown as her face flushed bright red, "You're getting yourself all worked up."

"They're stealing me babies!" screamed out Sami, "How am I meant to be?!"

"Raphael is right," said Stefano smoothly, "You must not upset yourself like this Samantha, and it is bad for the baby."

"Don't you dare tell me what is bad for my baby you monster!" yelled Sami, "They are my children and you can't have them!"

"I can see it is impossible to reason with you in your current state," said Stefano, unfazed by Sami's ranting, "I will return at a later date to talk to you further on this matter."

"So what's the plan here then Stefano?" asked Rafe, obviously thinking a little more ahead then Sami was right then, "You're keeping us both here for the duration?"

"You might have a use yet Raphael," said Stefano, giving the younger man a considered look, "I don't like to throw things away before I'm certain they no longer have a function."

"You can't keep us here," said Sami, her emotion still high, "People will know we are gone, they'll come looking for us!"

"Or they will assume that my man got the job done at last," said Stefano easily.

"Your man?" repeated Rafe, his FBI instincts kicking in and trying to work out exactly what else Stefano was us to, "You hired the gun man to kill the mayor?"

"I did," nodded Stefano and then gave a vaguely irritated look at Sami, "But then you had to see him my dear and things became complicated. It grieved me the thought of taking my grandson's mother from him but then I realized that he would still have a mother in Nicole once she and my son are wed. Of course when my man reported back to me about your wonderful condition that changed everything and we adjusted our plans accordingly."

Sami made a distressed sound at how casually Stefano talked about the taking of life, especially hers.

"How did your guy find us?" asked Rafe with a frown.

"I told Stefano about the webcam hook up," said Nicole, sounding very proud of herself, "And one of his computer whizzes was able to trace the call back to the safe house you two were in."

"As I said," Stefano smiled, "We have a mutually beneficial arrangement, Nicole and I."

"It's a sick arrangement," said Sami bitterly and then fixed Nicole with a warning look, "EJ is going to snap your scrawny neck when he finds out what you're doing Nicole!"

"EJ isn't going to find out anything about anything," said Nicole confidently, "You can be sure of that Sami."

"All I'm sure of is that I'm going to make certain that you two get what is coming to you!" Sami threatened them.

"I always did enjoy your bravado Samantha," said Stefano with a little laugh, "However misguided, very entertaining I must say."

He turned to Nicole then and smiled warmly.

"Come my dear," he said heartily, "We should allow our guests to get settled hm?"

"Sure," smirked Nicole, looking very happy with the current state of affairs, "I've got a wedding to get back to planning anyway."

With that last little dig delivered Nicole turned on her heel and walked out of the little room, with Stefano behind her.

"We will talk again soon eh?" he promised them and was then gone.

"Well this isn't good," commented Rafe rather stoically as two guards appeared in the doorway.

"Understatement much?!" asked Sami sarcastically, "The two craziest people in Salem have teamed up – 'isn't good' doesn't seem to really cover it somehow!"

"Stand up," ordered the larger of the two guards.

Sami hadn't paid them much attention but the one who had spoken was a giant of a man, easily being at least six feet four and almost as wide as he was tall. She noticed absently that he had the beginnings of two black eyes and a plaster across a possibly broken nose. His companion was smaller in comparison but still looked powerfully built; both of them were carrying guns in holsters and looked like they meant business. While Sami and Rafe had been talking the two men had handcuffed them and undone their ropes.

"Where are you taking us to?" asked Rafe, sizing the men up and deciding that he didn't stand a chance against them with his arms handcuffed behind his back.

"Disneyland," said the big man flatly, "Now walk."

"I don't believe this," said Sami in faintly as she and Rafe were led down some dark and twisting corridors by the two men, "Nicole Walker can't be in cahoots with Stefano DiMera to get her clammy hands on my baby to pass off as her own! This cannot be happening!"

"That's exactly what is happening," said Rafe grimly as they walked along, both of them with them handcuffed with their hands behind them and a burly guard on either side.

"Over my dead body!" spat out Sami angrily, glaring up at one of the guards as he bumped into her in the narrow corridor.

"I wouldn't say that too loudly," said Rafe flatly, sending her a warning look, "Once that baby you are carrying is born you are an expendable commodity Sami."

"Is this your way of cheering me up?" asked Sami bitingly as the truth of Rafe's words hit home, "Because it needs work if it is!"

"Shut up you two," growled the larger of the two guards, glaring at them both.

"You shut up," said Sami hotly, glaring right back at him, "I'm pregnant and as hormonal as hell so if you want to go at it tough guy let's do it!"

The two guards exchanged exasperated looks at her outburst and just kept moving them along.

"You don't really have any sense of self preservation do you?" asked Rafe, almost conversationally.

"It's gotten me this far," said Sami huffily.

"Need I remind you were 'this far' actually is?" asked Rafe wryly, "You may want to consider changing your approach to things Sami."

"And you may want to consider doing as Lurch said and shutting up!" said Sami huffily.

"Stop," ordered the other guard as they came to another large metal door that he proceeded to unlock with an electronic card.

The guards pushed Rafe and Sami through the now opened door and Sami frowned as she looked around. There seemed to be a row of small cells with bars on three sides and a brick wall at the back of them along both sides of the wall and a narrow walk way in between.

"Home sweet home," said Lurch mockingly and nudged the two forward.

Sami felt herself becoming a little hysterical as she realized that this was really happening and there was a good chance she was going to give birth to her child behind bars.

"Hey," called out Lurch to someone, "Come and meet your new neighbors."

Sami frowned and peered into the gloomy lighting of room full of cells, wondering who he was talking to. She racked her brain to think who else Stefano might have stashed away where ever they were. Sami didn't have long to wait as the dark mass that had been lying down on a bunk on one of the cells down suddenly moved and stood up. The guards kept pushing them down the aisle towards the figure and it was only as they drew close that there was enough light to see the man properly.

"EJ!" gasped Sami, receiving her second huge surprise of the day.

She stared at him wide eyed, unable to believe that he was there. EJ seemed to be having the same problem.

"Samantha," he choked out, his face mirroring hers and then his eyes slid to her extremely protruding stomach, his eyes widening as well.

He looked back at her in complete shock.

"Samantha!" he exclaimed, "You're pregnant!"

"I know," said Sami faintly, her heart beating wildly in her chest having not seen EJ in the flesh for nearly two months now.

He seemed just as impossibly handsome as she remembered him to be, the webcam didn't do him justice she decided. In the flesh EJ DiMera really was something else and had a ridiculously female thought that she must look a mess.

"I can't believe you're here," he said raggedly, "I can't believe you're here and pregnant!"

"I know I should have told you," grimaced Sami, ignoring the other three men in the room, "But the time never seemed right."

"What are you talking about?" asked EJ, looking at her in consternation.

"I was worried about Stefano getting his hands on this baby as well as Johnny," said Sami in a rush, suddenly feeling the need to explain, "That was why I was happy to go into witness protection, I couldn't have him finding out about this baby. I was trying to protect the baby from your father."

She'd been dreading this moment for months now and it was finally here and her words were falling over the top of one another as she tried to explain.

"I know," she continued on hurriedly, "Fat lot of good that did me considering I've ended up here but I was doing what I thought was best. And I know I should have told you at Christmas during the webcam thing but..."

"Samantha," EJ interrupted her in consternation, "I have no idea what you are talking about. Witness protection, webcams, Christmas, you're not making any sense sweetheart."

"What do you mean I'm not making any sense?" Sami frowned, "I'm talking about when we saw each other at Christmas over the webcam."

"Samantha I haven't seen you in eight months," said EJ earnestly, "I don't know who you were talking to but it wasn't me. I've been stuck in this hell hole since the night we made love in May."

"You... you what?" said Sami weakly, shaking her head, "That's not possible EJ. How is that possible?"

"Alright enough with the reunion," said the smaller guard and undid the cell next to EJ and shoved Sami into it, "You can catch up on your own time, you'll have plenty of it."

The two guards then put Rafe into a cell directly across from EJ and then turned around and left, locking the heavy metal door they'd come in by behind them but Sami didn't even notice, all she could do was stare at EJ.

"Eight months?" she repeated shakily, walking up to the bars that separated them, "You've been locked away in here for eight months EJ?"

"Yes," said EJ grimly.

"Oh god," she whispered, putting a hand to her mouth and wondering how that was even remotely possible.