A/N- Thanks for the feedback guys! I appreciate it! Sorry for the delay in posting ch 2. I was on vacation with my family visiting my hometown with a jampacked itinerary so i was unable to write as much as i would have liked. Anyway, i will try my best to post every week or so if i can. This is a shorter chapter, but i promise the next will be longer and much more exciting with the Dream encounter

Ry

The morning was brisk. The cool misty breeze blowing off the harbor stung as it hit his face. Drew was up early and needed to clear his head for the day to come. Today was the first day he was going to see Sam in over a month. He'd seen Scout and Danny often but usually Alexis was the one to bring the kids by. Or he would visit them at Monica's. Sam said being around him would be too difficult. It still dug at his gut. Difficult for her? She was the one who walked away to be with his brother.

Drew rounded the corner to Perks and stopped to catch his breath. He saw Curtis sitting at one of the tables. A lot of people had turned on Drew since Jason came back. They had him back so they suddenly had no use for Drew. Curtis stuck by him and was probably the one person he still called his friend. He was a sounding board for Drew. And truthfully kind of kept him in check. There was more than one occasion recently when Drew had wanted to pay Jason a visit but Curtis talked him out of it. Thank god.

"Hey man." Drew said walking over "you mind?" he said pointing to the chair accross the table from Curtis.

"Hey, Drew. No man, please. Sit down. How have you been?" Curtis asked taking a sip of his coffee.

"Ah, you know." Drew said with a chuckle. "Sam and the kids are actually coming by today though. First time I've seen Sam since the split."

"Oooh. That's progress. How do you think that's gonna go? All of you being in the same room together?"

"Honestly, I have no idea." Drew shook his head, but smiled at the thought of seeing Sam. He missed everything about her. Her smile, her laugh, the way she lit up a room when she walked in. Her body. The way she touched him. The look she got in her eyes when he touched her. Drew tried to shake the image of Sam from his mind. This wasn't the time or place for that.

"It's been a while for us. We were barely ever apart and I havent seen her in 4 weeks. I don't know how she feels or how things are going with..him. I just need to see her, you know? Make sure she's happy."

"I hear you. So you're still ok with all this? Not planning on trying to win her back? I'm just saying, you gave a lot. You two had something pretty damn special if you ask me."

"Yeah, we did. But she made a choice and she asked me to respect it. As much as I want her back..I love her enough to walk away if that's what she needs."

"That's love, man. Listen, I have to go meet Jordan. But good luck today. If you need anything...you know where to reach me."

"Thanks." Drew said, standing up to shake Curtis' hand. He turned towards the harbor again as Curtis left. The fresh air was exactly what he needed. The only question now was how he was going to handle being in close proximity to a woman he couldn't keep his hands off of, knowing full well she wasn't his anymore.

"Sam...honey...SAM! The toast, it's burning!" Alexis yelled from the living room where she was keeping Danny and Scout occupied while Sam cooked breakfast.

"Ahhh! Thanks, mom. I shouldn't even be allowed in the kitchen. You'd think after all these years with kids I would have gotten the hang of this by now." Sam grabbed the toast from the toaster and finished the eggs, thowing them on the plates. "Okay guys, breakfast is ready."

Alexis brought the kids to the table and sat them in their seats.

"Are you sure this doesn't have anything to do with you seeing Drew today? You seem a little distracted." Alexis said, pointing out the obvious.

"No! I don't know...probably." Sam said sadly. "Why am I so nervous? I was married to Drew for god sakes. We ended on good terms."

"Oh, come on Sam. You didn't end things on good terms. You walked away from him to go back to Jason. And why? Look, I'm not saying you were wrong. But Drew loved you. And you loved him. You moved on from Jason, but you went back to him anyways. He's heartbroken, Sam. I'd hardly say that's ending things on good terms." Alexis said all thw things she didn't want to hear.

"Oh, and what was I supposed to do, mom? It wasn't Jason's fault he was gone for 5 years. He tried to get back to us, and he did. Was I just supposed to walk away from that? My marriage to Drew wasn't valid. I was still married to Jason. Don't I owe it to him to give him his life back? Doesn't he deserve that?" Sam didn't even realize she had begun shouting.

"Mommy, why are you mad at grandma?" Danny asked as he shoveled in the last of his eggs.

"Oh, I'm sorry sweatheart. I'm not mad at grandma! Hey, Danny why dont you go pick out something fun to do at Drew's today while i clean up from breakfast. Sound good?

"Ok! I can't wait to see him. I have so much to tell him!" Danny said running from the table. It broke Sam's heart seeing how much he missed Drew. Danny hadn't quite gotten used to the fact that he wasn't actually his dad.

Sam picked up Scout and held her in one arm as she started cleaning up the plates.

"And the answer is no, by the way. You don't owe Jason anything. Where is he right now by the way?" Alexis asked, raising an eyebrow. Sam hesitated.

"He's at Sonny's going over some business." she responded shortly, not wanting to look Alexis in the eye.

"I see his priorities haven't changed."

Sam scoffed as she put the last of the dishes from breakfast in the kitchen.

"Honey, listen to me. It's your life. It's your choice. I'm just pointing out that maybe you walked away from this life for a reason. When Drew believed he was Jason, he walkwd away without a second thought. Because he didn't want to risk his life and loosing his family. It was his choice. Jason seems to have fallen right back into old habits. Maybe that's something worth thinking about." Alexis said, walking to the kitchen. "I'll finish up here. You go ahead and get the kids ready. It's a big day today."

Sam took the kids upstairs trying desperately to mentally prepare herself.

"Big day indeed" she thought aloud.

Sam closed her eyes and took a deep breath as she stood in the elevator with the kids up to Drew's condo. It felt like her heart was beating a million miles a minute. What would she say to him? What would he say to her? Would it be awkward or feel like it used to? Her palms were sweaty and her legs felt like they were going to give out from under her. She heard the ding of the elevator as it reached his floor. They walked up to his door but Sam couldn't move. Danny reached in front of her and knocked.

"Danny!" Sam said just above a whisper as she gently tugged his hand from the door.

Sam wasn't ready. She wasn't ready to face him, at least not yet. She couldn't do this. But just as she was about to turn and walk away the door opened and she looked up to see his beautiful baby blue eyes staring back at her. That look of love still there as he stared deep into her eyes. Both of them just stood there for a minute taking eachother in. The electricity between them almost too much. Then he spoke. In that sexy, husky voice she loved so much.

"Hi Sam."