Disclaimer: Riley belongs to me. All other characters are property of the creators of General Hospital.
Everything To Me: Chapter Two
Sam lay on her side, content to listen to the breathing of the three children just down the hall. As long as she could hear them she knew they were okay and that was why, two days after she'd been brought to the cabin she had demanded several sets of baby monitors. AJ had refused at first but when she'd pointed out that having the monitors would make it easier for her to make sure that Michael was okay he had quickly agreed.
She had been here for a week and a half and things weren't much better than they were the day she'd arrived. The only major difference was that after a month, Morgan and Kristina were finally starting to realize that their parents weren't going to be there anytime soon and they had become more difficult to entertain and keep calm.
That had made dealing with Faith extra fun. The short-tempered blonde that AJ had appointed to play guard for his hostages had snapped at the children on more than one occasion, but she had quickly realized that she'd met her match in Sam.
Anytime Faith made some smart-ass comment Sam came right back with her own retort, never giving an inch.
It was the same way with AJ. The only difference was that with him, there was something beneath all the sniping and semi-civil conversations.
However, she wasn't about to explore that underlying element because somewhere, in the recesses of her mind, she knew what it was and she didn't want to admit what she already knew she would find.
Even now she found that just the thought of being attracted to AJ was disturbing. He had, after all, kidnapped a pregnant woman and three innocent children. She wasn't about to apply that word to herself. Just using the word in the same sentence with her name was laughable.
Sam shook her head, clearing it of those dark thoughts. This wasn't the time for self-analyzation. She needed to keep a clear head and try to formulate an escape plan. She would of course have to wait until after she gave birth and then give both her and her daughter a couple of weeks to recover.
This was not going to be easy. Already she was going to have to wait a couple of months and who knew where they would be then. She had no idea how long AJ planned to keep them wherever it was they were now.
That was another item on her growing to-do list. Finding out where they were would make it that much easier to escape and give them a clean shot of getting away without being caught.
Not getting caught was presenting enough of a problem as it was. She wasn't that worried about Michael. He could walk and run and listen to commands with no problem. Pulling off an escape with a two-year-old, a one-year-old, and a newborn was going to prove challenging, but she wasn't going to let anything stop her. She never had before and she wasn't about to start now.
Most people would find a challenge like the one she faced daunting and give up, but Sam wasn't most people. The obstacles that she faced would only add to her adrenaline rush and right now, they increased her desire to be back in an action-filled situation.
Becoming pregnant might have mellowed her out, but it had also increased her desire to protect herself and the people she cared about, however few they might be.
Until she figured out how to get them out of here, however, she had to find a way to deal with AJ and Faith, which wasn't going to be easy. Both of them were starting to grate on her nerves.
The sound of crying drifted through the baby monitor and Sam smiled as she sat up. At least until she could put her plan into motion she had a way to keep her mind off of how serious this situation was.
"Michael, sooner or later you'll have to accept that I am your dad."
"No, I won't. I already have a dad and I don't need another one. I don't want another one! Especially not if it's you. You mean nothing to me, AJ. I hate you!" Michael kicked AJ in the shin as hard as he could, hatred shining in his eyes.
The look on the little boy's face scared Sam. He was way too young to be feeling that intensely. Maybe AJ wasn't the model father, but neither was Sonny. He and Carly had given Michael whatever he wanted and let him escape without punishment countless times and as a result, at just five-years-old, he believed that he could get whatever he wanted by throwing a tantrum and he was already modeling the vengeful way Sonny acted when he or someone he loved got hurt.
One of the first things she planned on doing when they got back to Port Charles was talking with Sonny and suggesting that he and Carly set boundaries for Michael and Morgan as well as Kristina when she was at his house. Michael was a brilliant, funny little boy and she would hate to see him become so self-absorbed that his other qualities faded into the background.
Until then, she had to wonder why AJ kept engaging Michael like this. He wasn't going to make any progress if he kept trying to force his son to bond with him. In the end, it was only going to backfire and ruin whatever he had planned.
Still, she couldn't help feeling bad for AJ. All he wanted was to get to know his son and every effort he'd made so far had been rebuffed. Granted, his technique needed a little work, but Sam could definitely relate.
She held the same fear about not being able to connect with her own child. Their situations were vastly different but the fear was the same.
"Listen to me, you spoiled rotten brat," AJ snapped, grabbing Michael's arm and jerking his son toward him.
Any sympathy Sam had felt for her captor quickly disappeared. "Hey, let him go!"
Michael tried to pull away, but AJ's grip was too tight. "You're hurting me," he whimpered.
"You hurt me," AJ retorted.
"He's five-years-old, AJ. You're twenty-five. You're hurting him a lot worse than he hurt you. Let Michael go."
"What are you going to do if I don't?"
"Keep holding him that way and you'll find out."
AJ laughed, but still didn't let go of Michael. "You're pregnant."
The look Sam gave him instantly sobered him. He'd never seen anyone look at him that way. Not even Sonny. "Don't underestimate me, AJ. That's the worst mistake you could ever make."
Deciding that now wasn't the time to test that theory, AJ let Michael go and watched his son all but run to where Sam was standing on the other side of the living room and lock his arms around her legs.
"Are you okay, baby?" Sam asked.
"No, he hurt my arm," Michael responded.
Sam shot AJ a dark look as she took Michael's hand. "Let's go see how bad it is."
"I don't want to leave my brother and sister alone with him."
"They'll be okay. AJ and Faith both know better than to hurt kids that are as little as they are."
Another pointed look was thrown at AJ as they left the living room and he was left standing there wondering just what he'd gotten himself into.
Sam quietly padded through the living room and into the kitchen, trying desperately not to wake any of the kids up. Getting them to sleep tonight had not been easy and she didn't want to repeat the process. Michael hadn't posed a problem, knowing that Sam would protect him and his brother and sister, but Kristina and Morgan were too young to understand that. They just knew that this wasn't where they were supposed to be and no matter how hard Sam and Michael tried, they had refused to be comforted. At least at first, and then exhaustion had won out.
Now her daughter was the one keeping her awake. She'd managed to get about an hour and a half of sleep before she'd been woken by kicks and somersaults. While she loved feeling her child move within her, tonight all she wanted was too sleep.
That was why she was up at two-thirty in the morning pouring water into a coffee mug then putting it in the microwave. Hopefully some tea would help calm her daughter. And her own nerves. She didn't blame Morgan and Kristina for being so upset, but the constant crying was starting to wear her down. She prayed that in a few weeks they would adjust to their new surroundings. It was a long shot, but she wasn't giving up hope.
"You couldn't sleep either?" AJ asked, coming into the kitchen.
She rolled her eyes as the microwave beeped. "Don't tell me that you've suddenly developed a guilty conscience and it's keeping you awake."
"No such luck, sweetheart."
His flippant attitude was starting to piss Sam off. Didn't he even have a sliver of a conscience anymore? She was beginning to have her doubts, but on the small chance that he did, he'd buried it so deeply that no one would be able to reach it. Apparently that was how he could take three small children from the only homes they had ever known and not feel a bit of remorse about it.
"All the crying earlier has given me a migraine."
"Well, that's the price you pay for kidnapping two toddlers. Just wait until there's a newborn in the house. All they do is cry." The thought of AJ dealing with a newborn brought a smile to Sam's face as she put a tea bag in her cup. That at least would bring her some joy. Seeing him suffer would be one of the few bright spots in this mess.
As he went to the refrigerator and grabbed a bottle of water Sam noticed, for the first time since AJ had come into the kitchen, that he wasn't wearing a shirt. The only article of clothing that he had on was a pair of navy sweatpants.
Sam's mind went into overdrive as she noticed how his biceps flexed as he opened the bottle and how his muscled chest and rock hard abs tapered down to his lean waist and—she ripped her eyes away from his form as they moved lower. Damn pregnancy hormones.
They were always making her notice things she shouldn't notice. And right now they were acting like a magnet, trying to pull her to AJ. But she wasn't about to let that happen. No way was she going to give him the satisfaction of knowing that she found him attractive.
"Like what you see?"
AJ's voice pulled her from her thoughts. The smile on his face instantly pissed her off.
He'd been counting on this, the smug bastard. The look in his eyes gave it all away. Part of his plan had depended on her being attracted to him so that she would be willing to help him out, but it wasn't going to happen.
Even if she did feel an attraction she wasn't about to make anything the tiniest bit easier for him.
"No, I don't." She sighed and took a sip of her tea. "While you're here, I think we should talk."
"About what?"
"The way you grabbed Michael this afternoon. AJ, you can't do something like that and then still expect him to trust you and you can't keep forcing him to try and bond with you. All it's going to do is push him further away and make him resent you more than he already does."
"And I suppose you have some brilliant suggestion."
"Actually I do. Let us go back to Port Charles because what you want is never going to happen. Too much has happened between you, Jason, Sonny, and Carly. Michael knows that. He doesn't know all the details, but they've given him the basics. He's never going to trust you, AJ, and now he's going to resent you for taking him away from his parents. And sooner or later you will get caught especially with a newborn and two toddlers."
"Don't count on it, sweetheart."
She rolled her eyes as she finished her tea. "Suit yourself but I'm telling you, this whole thing is going to blow up in your face. Think about it," she advised as she left the kitchen.
"SAM!"
Seconds later Sam came into the living room, holding Morgan. "You bellowed?" she questioned dryly, fastening the last strap on Morgan's overalls.
"Yeah, I did," Faith snapped, holding a squirming Kristina out toward Sam. "Do something with this."
"Okay, first of all, "this" is a little girl and her name is Kristina. And second, a child isn't like a pair of shoes, you can't throw her in the closet when you're tired of dealing with her."
"Save the lecture and take the little monster."
"Michael, will you come take your brother?" Sam asked, already putting the toddler down so his big brother could take his hand.
"Come on, Morgan, let's go play with cars, okay?"
Morgan babbled a response causing Sam to smile as the two brothers walked over to where Michael had been playing with toy cars all morning.
When she saw Morgan pick up a car, she turned back to Faith and took Kristina from her. "It's okay, angel baby. I've got you. You're safe now."
Kristina continued to cry as she laid her head on Sam's shoulder and Faith let out an exasperated sigh. "Isn't there any way to shut her up?"
"You can leave. That would be a big help." Seeing the blonde open her mouth, Sam ground her teeth in frustration. Faith was quickly becoming an annoyance to everyone, AJ included. "I don't care what AJ told you. All you do is upset Kristina and Morgan and you're not really helping anything. You're more of a hindrance."
"Do you have any idea how lucky you are that you're pregnant?"
Sam laughed as she began rubbing Kristina's back, hoping it would offer the little more comfort. "No, sweetie, you're the one who's lucky I'm pregnant. If I wasn't, you'd already be dead."
She shouldn't have said that in front of Michael, but anytime Faith was around, Sam's patience quickly reached its limits. "Now why don't you be a good little servant and do as I originally suggested?"
"This isn't over," Faith warned.
"No, it isn't," Sam agreed. "But when it is over I can guarantee that you will have lost."
"Oh, we'll see about that."
"Yeah, we will."
"Why is she so mean?" Michael asked when Faith had left.
"I don't know, but let's not worry about that right now. Just keep playing with your brother while I take Kristina and get lunch ready."