The past week had been a whirlwind and now sat for a moment and contemplated just how crazy it had all been. It was only a moment though because he looked at the clock on his phone and he had some place to be.

While he quickly showered he thought back to where he was just a two weeks ago and he never imagined this, not in his wildest dreams.

After the phone call he had placed his phone back on the table he just sat and stared at it. That was out of the blue but he assumed that's what head hunting was all about. He wouldn't know, he'd never been head hunted before.

He didn't know what to make of it either. The thought of returning to Chicago had never crossed his mind, not so early in his career anyway. It was a dream he had but that was years down the track. Did he want to go back just yet? Was he ready for that?

It was never that he hated Chicago, far from it. It was his hometown after all, his family was there and initially he never wanted to leave. Once he had though he enjoyed seeing different parts of the country and world and he loved being in Kenya right now. This job had been a dream come true, it was tough and it certainly had its highs and lows but he was living and learning and that was a good thing.

Going home though had its advantages, mainly that it would bring him closer to his family and he did miss that. It was starting to play on his mind a little more lately, how much he was missing out on. Heidi, his sister was married with two boys and he'd only met Noah once when he was a baby. Lucas talked to him on the computer but he really didn't have a clue who he was. Heidi would send him videos of the boys and whenever he watched them he felt disconnected to them and it sat uncomfortably with him.

Lauren was in London and he had caught up with her a couple of times but they were on different pages and she was too busy living the socialite life to worry about her younger brother. Even though when he did meet her friends they always seemed interested in him and his exotic job. Lauren had been annoyed that he got on too well with a couple of her friends and then 'sodded off back to the jungle.' As she told him in no uncertain terms, leaving her to deal with the carnage and the trail of heartbreak he left behind.

His older brother, Andrew was considering adoption with his partner apparently but that had stalled recently as their relationship hit a rough patch according to Heidi. He'd been with his boyfriend for eight years now and that revelation had knocked everyone for a loop. Now though to adopt they needed to get married and Jerome, his brother's partner had baulked at the idea. This was all coming from Heidi though because Andrew didn't really talk all that much when they did catch up, more often than not they just emailed each other.

Phil Hollister had recently sold his Vet practice and still helped out occasionally and volunteered a the Zoo and Sam assumed that's were David got his number from and his Mom still worked a couple of days a week. His Dad had some health challenges with high blood pressure so that was certainly on the pro list if he was going to seriously consider this offer and he'd be mad not to give it some consideration.

His Mom was also asking him when he was coming home, even just for a visit but the last time he was back in Chicago it was barely two days before he left again and took off for Africa. At times he felt guilty but it was such a long way to come home and he just never found the time. Something always seemed to come up at the last minute and he knew he's disappointed his mother several times when he cancelled a trip home.

Sam had been surprised to get a message to call David Webster from the Lincoln Park Zoo, although it wasn't unusual to get calls from other zoos. They had some success in recent years with their breeding program and generally the calls were from other facilities when they were trying to breed or thinking about setting up their own programs and seeking advice. Chicago wasn't really into hard-core breeding and certainly not in his area of expertise so he wasn't sure what they could want from him.

"Hi Sam, thanks for returning my call."

"My pleasure. How is my hometown?"

"Enjoying an early summer. How's the Rhino?"

Sam loved talking about his Rhinos; it was the one thing he was proudest of. That sweet baby girl was his first big success and he had managed that breed from start to finish. "Settled now and growing like a weed. We are pretty chuffed."

"As you should be. Anyway Sam let me get straight to the point. We are looking for someone to head up our African Animal Section and start a breeding program and we want to talk to you."

"About what?" Sam did miss what he was implying because it never crossed his mind they would want him.

"About you coming home to Lincoln Park Zoo. I want you to run the program."

Sam was quiet. "Me? What?"

"Sam, you've done great things over there and in San Diego, your name keeps coming across my desk. You have a history here and we like that. We like people who started their careers here to come back."

"Oh. Umm I've never thought about it."

"Never?"

"Well not never, but I mean I've only been doing this six years."

"And few have achieved what you have in six years. You're resume is impressive. You are young, enthusiastic and would be an asset to this zoo." David went through a few of the details about what they were after and what the offer was and promised to follow it up with an email explaining the role in a little more detail. "Look take a few days, think about it, talk it over with your family and maybe we can chat again at the end of the week?"

"Okay."

He thought about it, it was all he thought about.

Sam only talked to two people about it though. His old mentor in San Diego and his best mate here.

Nick Grainger had been Sam's mentor since he graduated. He had the reputation of choosing the best young talent and grooming them so that they moved up in the world and it had been such a buzz for Sam firstly to get allocated to Nick in college and then to be picked by him for his first job. He'd seen a lot in Sam early on, he was passionate, determined and incredibly hard working. Not much distracted him and he put in the long hours and hard yards to get ahead. "Going to Africa was designed to give you experience to run your own program." Nick had even organised this placement for him.

"Yes, but I am not sure I'm ready to start something from scratch?" Sam talked to him at least once a month and had used him several times as a sounding board when he was worried about things.

"Why not?"

"There are guys out there who have been doing this for years."

"True and many of them have never left US shores. They do things the way they've always been done. They don't want to try new things, they breed from the same diminishing gene pool and you've seen the success rates plummet lately in some of these places, yet you go outside traditional breeding stock and look at that Rhino. Look at those two giraffes and the lions. That's why they want you." Sam was heavily involved in breeding from wild stock. It was designed to open up the gene pool again as it had shrunk considerably over the past few years. It was a dangerous and challenging process but they had successfully bred a Rhino, four giraffes and at a nearby wildlife park they were waiting on the birth of three elephants. Those infants would then be sent around the world to diversify the gene pool. They also had two more Rhino's hopefully in the early stages of pregnancy, however they had already been moved on to other facilities to manage.

"I don't want to leave these guys in the lurch."

"Every time you get someone good you know it's temporary particularly when they are young and working their way up as you are. I would never have recommended you if I didn't believe you could do it."

"You recommended me?"

"Of course I did, without hesitation." Nick loved talking with Sam, he was without a doubt one of his greatest successes and of all the names he had at his fingertips when Lincoln Park Zoo called him Sam's name was the only one he gave. "What do you want to do?"

"I think I want to go home."

By the time David called him back at the end of the week Sam had a few questions and threw out a few ambit claims he was willing to negotiate on and by the end of it had accepted the role. He also agreed to fly back to Chicago for two weeks to do a recon and meet with his team before moving back permanently in a couple of months. David tried to insist on six weeks but had to admire Sam's determination to stay on until his replacement had been found and trained. He had his man though and that's all that mattered to him.

Jonah, his best mate encouraged him to take the job. It was a promotion and something he had been working towards. Sometimes things came earlier than expected and you never knew when another offer would come your way. "You can always come back if things don't work out, but don't think you are not ready for this, because man you are."

Not everyone was delighted by his move. His boss was disappointed but knew that he needed to take the role and that it was a big step up for him. Sam had impressed him and he did have some hope that eventually he would move up the ranks here but he didn't have the role available for him right now so wished him all the best and made sure he knew he always had a spot here and that they would be happy to continue the relationship and talk about breeding with him from Chicago.

"Hey Mom." Sam eventually called his family. "How are you?"

"Oh it's so nice to hear your voice." His Mom always sounded genuinely excited to talk to him even though he called her every fortnight.

"Yeah, sorry it's been wild here. Lots going on, babies being born left right and centre." Sam always sent his parents emails with photos of his latest babies. He was like a proud father with some of them, particularly those that had tough pregnancies or failures in the past.

"How is Ada?" That was his pride and joy and she always remembered how excited he was when he called to say they had the baby. It was like he'd given birth himself.

"Going well, back with Mom now and they are bonding well." He actually felt a little nervous telling them; he knew they'd be happy so it was more nervous excitement than anything. "Anyway I thought you'd like to be the first to know I have a new job."

"Oh, I thought you loved it there. Anywhere exciting or exotic? Like Australia, I'd love to go there."

"No, nothing that exotic or warm. Lincoln Park Zoo." Sam let it sink in a little. "You know in Chicago."

"You're coming home?"

"I'm coming home Mom." Sam was not the least bit surprised when his mother burst into tears. "I hope they are happy tears?"

"Phil, Phil…" she screamed. "It's Sam; he's coming home. Come here, talk to him." He talked to his Dad who also seemed pretty chuffed and ii was like the final little bit of doubt was snuffed out. It took a good half hour to get them off the phone again and they had a million questions. His Dad wanted to know about the job and his Mom focussed on the important details, like when she could actually hug her son again.

One person who also didn't take it well was his girlfriend. Perhaps it was because he didn't tell her until he'd made the decision. Surprisingly she was not one of the factors when he decided to take the job and it was then that he knew it was a dead end street. They hadn't been going out all that long, only a couple of months and his attachment to her wasn't overly strong. She was pretty; tall and blond and full of personality but he just didn't get that rush of blood with her that he'd had with other woman he'd gone out with.

His last girlfriend, Sophie had sent his head spinning and he fell hard. When he got offered this job he just expected her to follow him but she was a year off finishing her law degree and had no intention of giving that up. Briefly she did contemplate his offer of a long distance relationship but felt it was never going to work because he still wanted her to move once she was done. Even when he threw it out there that they get married once she was graduated it didn't sway her and Sam took his broken heart with him to the other side of the world.

Vi was a bit of a rebound and as far as he was concerned that's all it was and one day he'd meet someone else who sent his head spinning. He did enjoy spending time with her though even if it felt a bit like a 'friends with benefits' type situation, for him at least.

"So, I've got some news." He started very carefully as they sat down to dinner. "I've been offered a job in Chicago."

"Oh, that's nice. It's nice to be wanted I suppose."

"It is, it was out of the blue." Vi poured herself another glass of wine from the bottle that was sitting on the table between them. "My parents actually cried when I told them."

"I guess they hold out hope that one day you will come home."

"Yeah, they always did." Taking a deep breath he added. "I took the job."

She dropped her cutlery onto the plate with a clatter. "What do you mean?"

"I didn't have long to make a decision and when I weighed up all my options and looked at the offer compared to my job here it just makes sense. It was too good an opportunity to pass up."

"When do you go?"

"I fly out on Sunday just for two weeks and then I will be back for a month or so to wrap things up. I promise Raul that I would stay until they found my replacement."

"Sunday?" Sam knew this wasn't going down well but Vi always knew that one day he wanted to go back home to the US, it was a little earlier than anticipated. She knew that she didn't have him where she wanted him just yet.

"That's so soon."

"It is. My head is kind of spinning to be honest."

"So I am the last to know?"

"Sorry. It's been pretty hectic." It was a lame excuse, he knew it and by the look on Vi's face as she picked up her plate and threw it in the sink she thought so too.

The hits just kept on coming and his head was still spinning as he left the office and headed to his next meeting. They had told him that they wanted him to talk at the upcoming Charity Ball being held at the zoo in part to start promoting his return. It was all part of their plans to beef up the zoo's profile as an International Breeding Centre for endangered species and Sam was to be the centre of that.

"What's the deal with Charity?" He wanted to get a handle on all the details before he met with the organisers.

"Teen Suicide. It's for the BraveHearts Foundation." He'd never heard of it but the teen suicide thing certainly spiked his interest. "It's called Abbey Lives." Sam felt his heart skip a beat. "It's a big thing on the Chicago social calendar and this is the first year we have been involved."

"And who are we meeting today?"

When she walked into that room he had about a minute to restart his heart.