Sam opened bleary eyes to see her own eyes staring back at her. One blink, then two and the other pair of eyes formed the face of her younger sister, Lynne. Strands of her red hair hung over her face and tickled her nose as she towered over her.
"Hey, she's up." Lynne whispered, pushing the loose hairs out of her face.
Not even a moment later, Danny appeared at Lynne's side, looking down at her concernedly. Even in her disoriented state, she'd know those now very familiar blue eyes anywhere. Was that a good thing? She didn't have time to ponder as he began speaking to her.
"You okay? You passed out." Danny put a cool hand to her forehead.
Sam nodded and gently pushed it away, wondering if she'd imagined the flicker of hurt or some other emotion like it that flashed on his face as she did.
"Yeah, thanks." She tried to sit up only to be hit with a wave of vertigo. "Whoa."
"Hey, hey, hey. Lie back down. After a hit to the floor like that, you need to take it easy. I'm surprised you can see straight." Danny smiled.
"Who ever said that I could see straight?" Sam half-joked. Was it her or did Hayley Williams suddenly have three rapidly bobbing heads on that poster over yonder?
"All the more reason for you to stay lying down." Danny affirmed. He stared her down until she relented, glaring at him through half-open eyelids.
As she lie on her childhood bed the night's events began to come back to her, including the horrifying prospect of what she'd have to do, or rather, what she'd have to say to Danny. Ignoring Danny's previous request, she sat up again and turned to her sister who was still nearby.
"Lynne, where's Mom?"
The redhead shrugged, adjusting the bodice of her dress so that it fit snugly. "What, am I the family zookeeper now?"
At the irate look of her sister, she continued. "I don't know, Sam. She's probably off singing praises about how your beloved saved you from cracking your skull open—nice save by the way, D—and listening to everyone downstairs coo about your whirlwind romance."
Sam did not comment for several moments on her sister's words, especially those directed toward Danny, mainly because she hadn't the faintest idea of what to say. She lied back down and closed her eyes again, half concentrated on her thoughts and half concentrated on Danny's hand, which had found its way back to her forehead.
While Sam mustered up a proper thought to make verbal, an unexpected person made an appearance into the room. Sam wouldn't have known were it not for Lynne. Trust her big mouth sister to keep her informed, even in a dazed state.
"And what can we do for you, Princess?" Lynne questioned scathingly.
Adam laughed stiffly. "You say that as if there were a time when I wasn't going to be your brother-in-law."
Danny's hand moved from her forehead and she felt his body turn around, as if he were trying to assess whether or not Adam was even worth paying attention to. Sam felt relieved and a little foolish. She shouldn't have worried that Danny wouldn't be able to hold his own in her world. He seemed to be taking all of this in stride, which was obviously more than she could say for herself. Here he was, fending off the masses and apparently wooing over a whole society without breaking a sweat. And what had she contributed to the evening? A would-be concussion, that's what.
'Manson, you better step up your game…' she thought crabbily. 'You're not exactly holding up your end of the 'united front'.'
Tuning back into the conversation, Lynne scoffed, "You say that as if there were a time that I cared."
"No matter, Lynnette. I was wondering about your sister. How is she?" Adam questioned.
If Sam's eyes were open she would have made the same incredulous look that she imagined Lynne and perhaps Danny was wearing. Adam didn't care about anything, especially not anything having to do with Sam, so why the sudden interest? Lynne asked just that.
"We've a history, Lynnette. Of course I'd worry about her." Adam laughed haughtily. Something was definitely up.
Lynne seemed not to buy into it and remarked, "Sure. BT-dubs, call me 'Lynnette' again, Princess and see if you walk out of this room with all your man junk intact. I'm going to go before I impale you. Sam's husband will make sure she's okay, I'm sure."
"I'm sure he will as well." Adam agreed.
Sam heard shuffling. Peeking through a squinting eye showed her that Adam moved out of the way for Lynne's departure from the room. After the door was shut, Sam hurriedly shut her eye and resumed her Sleeping Beauty state as Adam began speaking once more. It technically wasn't eavesdropping. They knew she was in the room, so she wasn't at fault! Her apt attempt at steady breathing could have implicated her though.
"Any idea as to why she fainted?" Adam questioned casually. Danny didn't respond at first, as if he were unsure of whether he was really being addressed or not. His slow movements after his hand again found its way back to her head were still steady and calming.
"Erm…no, not really. I'm not a doctor." Danny remarked uneasily, removing his hand for what could have been the thousandth time.
Meanwhile, Sam could have kicked him. Sure, he was fine with a bunch of randy old socialites, but get him cornered in a room with Adam Cain, King of the Pansies and he clams up like just that—a pansy! It was safe to say that she still had a bit of resentment left for her ex-fiancé, and Danny was about to get kicked out of her personal fan club again if he kept it up.
"Oh, well obviously not." Adam replied offhandedly, most like eyeing him. Sam felt her hand clench up and fist the comforter at his blatant rudeness.
"But if I had to guess—" Danny backtracked quickly. "If I had to guess I would say it's been from the last two days. We've been quite busy."
Adam cleared his throat once and from the sound of it, Sam recognized it as his angry throat clearing. …The one he did when he was thrown for a response. Oh, how she would enjoy the rest of this conversation.
"Busy." Adam repeated, as if he were testing the word out on his own. "Such a simple word that doesn't even begin to do justice to the offense."
Sam twitched, but continued willing herself to keep still.
"'Offense'?" Danny questioned. "Are you calling Sam an 'offense'?"
Adam scoffed. "Don't be ridiculous. While Samantha always has been and continues to be offensive, she is not an offense."
"It sounds like the two of you go back a-ways." Danny remarked evenly.
There was a brief silence, in which Sam imagined that the two of them were involved in a testosterone fueled stare-off, before Adam simply remarked, "You could say that."
'Keep still…don't kick him…keep still.' Sam concentrated. If it had been a movie or a cartoon she'd have either beads of sweat pouring down her face and/or a thought bubble with an exploding Acme bomb. Or would it be sticks of dynamite in her eyes? When was the last time she actually watched a cartoon again...?
"No," Adam continued his earlier sentiment. "The offense I am referring to was the wrongful adultery that was committed yesterday evening. And here you are parading yourself with my fiancée. Have you no shame or dignity?"
Okay, so maybe Sam wouldn't enjoy the rest of this conversation. She mentally debated whether to pop up and defend Danny while giving herself up, or to continue lying here and allow him to fight his own battle…even though technically it was her battle. Danny didn't give her a chance to decide.
"Your ex-fiancée. If anyone's being adulterous, it's you. You shouldn't be chasing after someone else's wife, man. It's immoral." Danny answered coolly, placing his hand back on her forehead. Sam could envision Adam's jaw clenching and his nostrils flaring like an angry blond bull.
"Everyone else may be convinced that you two are a match made in heaven, but I find it far too convenient that you were wed the day before her betrothal." Adam grimaced.
Sam felt Danny's hand pause for a moment before his thumb continued its small circles on her head. "So you admit that it was a marriage of convenience?"
"No better than your own." Adam challenged, making his way toward the door. "Maybe everyone else is buying into this whole epic romance bullshit, but I'm not. I know Samantha, and I know how unwilling she was to uphold her end of the bargain. So if this whole thing between the two of you was just a mistake, you should know…it's a costly one. A three point two million dollar one, at that. I'd watch my back if I were you, Fenton."
Sam's breath hitched angrily in her throat and she prayed that neither of them heard it. Adam's cold demeanor and mannered composure did not give way to his angry footsteps, and with the air that was Adam Cain, he turned to the pair of them.
"Congratulations again, and good luck. You'll need it with her. She's offensive." Adam reminded Danny.
"I like offensive." Danny countered.
There was another testosterone fueled silence before Adam gave a slight laugh to himself and remarked before his exit, "Yeah, you would."
The door opened and shut for the second time and Danny stopped to tap her forehead with his index finger. "You. You, are a horrible fake sleeper, Miss."
Sam's eyes flashed open and she smirked. "Hey, I was doing good!" she defended.
"You're an amateur." Danny insulted. "A pathetic amateur."
Sam sat up and fake gasped. "Oh, and as if you could do any better fake sleeping in front of a mortal enemy?"
Danny nodded earnestly. "I can and I will. In fact I can do so much better than you that—"...
"—you're going to wonder why you didn't marry me for my fantastic drinking abilities!" Sam cried emphatically.
Danny laughed, lying back on his elbows as he watched her dance around in his shirt, bouncing excitedly as she chugged yet another bottle from the mini-fridge. "Slow down, baby. You're going to get yourself sick." He still held his own half-drunken bottle in his hand.
Sam only meant to shake her head, but ended up shaking her entire body back and forth. "No! Honey, no. I am an expee—…an expar—…and ex-puh-urt." She pronounced drunkenly. "I'm on my third one."
Danny looked confused as he looked down near her feet. "Are you not counting the five you drank while I was in the bathroom?"
Sam blinked, then averted her gaze to the floor. "Oh. Right. Then I'm on my three plus fifth!" she announced excitedly.
Danny grinned at her. "I love you, Mrs. Fenton."
Sam placed her bottle on the vanity behind her and beamed back at him before jumping on the bed to be nearer to him. "I love you more, Mr. Fenton."
...Sam zoned back in to Danny repeating her name. "Way to be a space case." He joked.
Sam just stared at him before looking away in embarrassment. Danny caught this and questioned her. "What?"
Not knowing where to begin, Sam just threw something out at him. "Do you recall…any of that night?"
Danny nodded slowly. "Sort of. I remember bits and pieces of things like the elevator and talking in Baja. I kind of get déjà vu and things come to me. Why?"
Sam nodded in understanding. "Because the same thing just happened to me. It's actually been happening to me all day at the worst and most random of times. One minute I'm sitting there and the next—"
"—you're in the same clothes as two nights ago with a person you just met in less than forty-eight hours. Happened to me at a red light yesterday. One minute I'm driving and the next, I'm remembering our wedding and there's three cars honking at me." Danny snorted to himself, brushing a hand through his hair easily.
Sam turned to him quickly. "You remember our wedding?"
Danny nodded and Sam felt a little excited. "Well, what are you waiting for? Tell me what happened!"
Danny opened his mouth before closing it. "Erm…no."
"No? You remember our wedding, I ask you to tell me, and you say 'no'?" Sam deadpanned. Was he really not going to tell her? This was usually the day a girl dreamed about since she was a little girl, and he wasn't going to tell her?! Okay, so while she may not have actually been one of those little girls, it was the principle!
"I'd rather you remember it for yourself." Danny explained. "I don't know much about this stuff, but I can wager that me telling you and you remembering it for yourself are going to be two totally different experiences."
Sam nodded and leaned back against her headboard with a sigh. Danny gave a slight grin at her expression and Sam rolled her eyes at him before smacking him upside the head with a nearby pillow.
"Ow! What was that for?" Danny questioned, rubbing the side of his face.
"For letting me say 'three plus fifth'." At Danny's confused look she taunted, "I'd much rather you remember it for yourself."
He snorted before extending a hand. "I'd hit you back, but I'm afraid of your mother." Sam laughed loudly before taking his hand and allowing herself to be pulled up from the bed. "That and I think you've suffered enough head trauma for one day."
"We've gotta go back downstairs." Sam concluded with a sad pout.
Danny nodded. "That we do. We should hurry up before I'm minus a sister-in-law, though. She isn't too nice to Adam or Paulina, and you know what happens when the evil villains get together and go after the innocent girl."
"Lynne is hardly innocent and someone needs to stop watching Disney. Seriously, Prince Charming, what's with all the references tonight?" Sam laughed at the sheepish look on his face.
"Disney Channel comes on at work." He defended.
At his words, Sam felt the ease between them slip away, at least for her. Her mother had asked her to do something. Her family needed her to do something. She had to ask Danny to do something that her mother had asked her to do because her family needed her to do it. If only her head would stop spinning and weaving circular sentences long enough for her to get the words out.
How did one go about asking someone to sacrifice something so great as their personal freedom for someone else? Oh. She'd have to ask her mother, who had just done that for not the first, but the second time in her life.
Would she have done it if it had been the other way around? She knew the answer—probably not. Not after the first time anyway, when she'd ended up in this whole mess, nearly trapped as Mrs. Adam Cain for all of eternity. Adam had accused her time and time again of having commitment issues. She didn't! The true issue was that she could not commit herself to someone with issues, and Adam Cain was the Grand Emperor of Issues. That, and at seventeen she'd been so desperate to get away from her family that she hadn't really considered the fact that she'd practically given away the freedom she'd wanted so badly. It was just marriage, and if marriage was anything like what her parents and the other social elite families had shown her, she didn't think she was missing out on much. The difference however, was that Danny would be getting his freedom back, no strings attached.
Back to the problem at hand, Sam was unsure if she could do it, but she knew that right then would be the only opportune time to ask him. To ask him if he wanted to stay married to her; ask him if he wanted to make their shotgun wedding of convenience the real deal. She herself, who just hours before had been ready to force herself into a nearly identical situation with Adam, didn't even know if she could handle it, but it was a risk she would be taking for her father, her sister, and (she would grudgingly admit) for her mother.
"Danny. I need to ask you something."
