Matters of the Heart
Chapter Ten
"Well?" Lucas asked anxiously. "How is it?"
Sami's grimace was answer enough. "Ugh," she groaned after swallowing. "And you say that my cooking is bad."
Chuckling, Lucas moved the tray of hospital food away from her bed. "I like some of your cooking," he informed her. "You make a mean plate of spaghetti."
"It's hard to burn spaghetti, Lucas," she retorted, rolling her eyes.
Lucas smiled to himself, letting his gaze trace over her flushed cheeks and her glossy, crystalline blue eyes. Whether it was the morphine or the thirty-minute nap she'd taken, she looked much better than she had upon first waking up nearly an hour ago. Even better, her strength seemed to be returning much quicker than he'd expected it to, but he supposed that wasn't all that surprising, Sami Brady lived to defy expectations.
"I knew you wouldn't end up eating any of that stuff they call food," he announced. "So I brought you a present from the cafeteria."
Sami perked up at the word 'present', an eager smile touching her lips. "What is it?"
"Viola," Lucas said, reaching behind him and picking up the bowl of blue hospital Jell-O he'd set on the table. "I know it's not exactly pizza, but Lexie didn't give me a whole lot to work with on that list of what you can have right now."
"J-E-L-L-O," Sami grinned, gesturing for him to hand it over, and he complied once he'd stuck a plastic spoon into the bowl. "You know, take out the E and the extra L and you'd have J-Lo," she informed him as she took a bite.
"Fascinating," Lucas replied, trying hard not to laugh. He'd forgotten what a pleasant affect morphine had on Sami. Since waking up from her nap, she had probably melted his heart at least a dozen times with little facial expressions and half-loopy comments. "How's your Jell-O?"
"Better than that yellow glue you were trying to feed me a few minutes ago," Sami retorted, then paused, tilting her head thoughtfully. "Needs more sugar, though."
"Oh, it does, does it?" Lucas raised an eyebrow. "You sound like Will, you know that. I caught him adding sugar to his Rice Krispies the other day. Can you believe that?"
"Eric used to do that when we were kids," Sami commented absently, continuing to eat her gelatin. "It drove Dad crazy."
Lucas remained silent, curious as to whether she was referring to Roman or John. Her stepfather had been the one to raise her and Eric, so more than likely she meant him, but if she hadn't noticed her morphine-induced slip, then he certainly wasn't going to point it out. Anytime he even mentioned John's name in her presence, it seemed to lead to a fight.
It was going to make it interesting to see how she reacted when John showed up to see her with Marlena and Belle.
He glanced over at the clock, noting that it had been well over half an hour since he got off the phone with Sami's stepfather. They should be here soon, he observed to himself. Mom, Roman and Will, too.
A faint smile touched his lips, remembering how excited his son had gotten over the phone when heard that Sami was awake. The boy had been crying, but trying to pretend that he wasn't, so Lucas had pretended not to notice. Will was at that age now where he thought it made him a sissy to get emotional, after all.
His mother had been the one to answer when he called, still asleep from the groggy tone of her voice, but she had called Roman into the room and handed him the phone as soon as Lucas told her that Sami had woken up. Will must have been out in the living room with Roman when Kate called for him, because his grandfather had given him the phone after hearing the news. That had probably been a mistake, though, because it had taken Roman a good five minutes to get the phone back again to let Lucas know they would be there as soon as everyone was showered and dressed.
Calling the penthouse had nearly cost him his hearing, though, when Belle Black shrieked with delight after hearing that Sami was awake. Thankfully, John had decided to take pity on him and steal the phone from Belle, for which Lucas and his eardrums were eternally grateful.
"Thanks," Sami said, pressing the empty bowl into his hands. "I needed that."
"That's what I'm here for," Lucas assured her, placing it back onto the table. "How are you feeling?"
Sami rolled her eyes again. "You asked me that five minutes ago, Lucas."
"And now I'm asking again," Lucas replied evenly. "How do you feel?"
"Yeah," Lucas nodded, his chest heavy at the prospect of not being able to do anything to alleviate that pain for her. "Lexie said it probably would hurt for a while."
"Figures," Sami muttered in disgust. "I should have worn flats to the wedding. Those heels were murder in the snow."
Lucas winced at her wording, once again forcing himself not to think about it, not to remember cradling her in his arms as her blood stained the snow around them...
Luckily, a knock sounded at the door just then, effectively distracting him from such grim, dark thoughts.
"Knock knock," a familiar voice called from the other side of the door, and a moment later John stepped into the room with Belle and Marlena just behind him.
"Hi, John," Lucas greeted the older man without rising from his chair.
"Oh, sweetie-girl," Marlena cried, rushing to the bed and wrapping her arms around Sami in a long, powerful embrace. "Oh, baby, you gave us such a scare."
"I'm okay, Mom," Sami assured her, but she didn't seem to mind the hug. "Really, Lexie says I'm all in one piece."
"I'm just so glad you're here," Marlena whispered, clearly choked up as she stroked her eldest daughter's hair.
"So am I," Belle agreed, and as soon as Marlena pulled back, she stepped forward to take her mother's place with Sami, hugging her sister tightly. "We were all really worried about you, Sami." She glanced back at her father, who was still standing near the door. "Weren't we, Daddy?"
"Yeah," John answered softly, gazing at the three of them gathered together with a longing look in his eyes as he moved further into the room. "We were."
Lucas actually felt sorry for the man. He knew what it was like to love Sami Brady and have her push you away at every turn. Of course, Lucas himself had the better deal, because Sami always came back to him. No matter what they might scream in the heat of the moment, no matter what hurtful or terrible things they might say to each other, he was still the one she came running to when things got hard. They shared a son, and whether Sami admitted it or not, they shared a connection that always drew them back together again in the end. But John didn't have any of that, and so he'd had to bear the full weight of Sami's wrath.
Sami lifted her head and looked at John with a hesitant, conflicted expression that Lucas hadn't been expecting. He'd been ready for sarcasm and bitterness, for her to make some kind of snide remark, but he certainly wasn't ready for what occurred next.
"Thank you," Sami said softly, and she sounded like she meant it.
"Samantha, you don't have to thank me for worrying about you, " John pointed out, moving up beside Belle.
"Maybe I do," Sami murmured, then averted her eyes away from his face.
"Samantha..." John faltered for a moment, clearly wanting to take her in his arms, and just as clearly knowing that she wouldn't accept that, so instead he reached out and placed a hand on her shoulder, squeezing it, as if he could somehow will his love into her and make her return it.
Lucas half-expected Sami to recoil from John's touch, but she didn't. To his surprise, she tentatively lifted a hand and laid it on top of John's, looking up at the man who raised her in silence that somehow seemed to speak more than words could have hoped to.
The moment ended as suddenly as it had begun, though, and Sami let her hand drop quickly, as if she'd just realized what she was doing. She looked away, turning her face so that her hair fell across it like a veil, and John sighed, a flicker of pain in his eyes as he drew his hand away from her. There was a touch of disappointment in his expression and he wearily took a step back, putting some distance between himself and his stepdaughter.
Lucas had mixed feelings about John Black, he always had. He respected the man and appreciated not only the job he had given to his mother, but the friendship he had given her, as well. John had always been nice enough to Lucas for the most part, save for the time surrounding Franco's murder and Sami's execution, during which none of the Bradys or Blacks had really cared much for him due to their suspicion that he might have had something to do with Franco's murder. But part of him held a grudge against John for what he'd put Sami through over the years, intentional or not. All of Sami's insecurities and issues stemmed from that first abandonment when she was just a little girl, and Lucas knew it.
That was part of the reason he had been pushing her so hard the past few weeks about accepting where all her anger towards John really came from. If they were ever going to be able to move forward, to have any kind of future together, then Sami was going to have to confront those "daddy" issues, so that she could trust that a man might actually love her just the way she was.
"Brady and Chloe had some things to take care of over at Victor's first," Marlena informed Sami, rubbing her arm. "So they'll be coming by later to see you, okay?"
Sami nodded, but Lucas didn't miss the slight flicker of her eyes in John's direction at the mention of Brady's name. "Okay," she murmured.
"Oh," Belle cried suddenly, her face breaking out in a broad grin. "I almost forgot!"
She disappeared out into the hallway for a moment, then returned with a large vase of bright tiger lilies, with one of those large 'Get Well' balloons tied to it. There was something tucked into the flowers, an envelope of some kind, but it looked too big to contain one of those little cards that came with the flowers.
"These are for you, Sami," she said, placing them down on the table near Sami's bed.
"Oh, Belle," Sami smiled, clearly touched. "They're beautiful."
"I'm glad you like them," Belle replied, adjusting the flower arrangement slightly, so that the balloon could float overhead without bumping into anything. "I thought they might cheer you up a bit, and brighten this room up, too."
"Thank you," Sami said, reaching out to catch her little sister's hand and squeeze it in her own.
"You're welcome," Belle responded happily.
There was a short pause of silence, and Lucas shifted in his chair uncomfortably, but none of the women seemed to notice. He glanced over at John, who was leaning against the wall and watching his wife, daughter and stepdaughter with a faint, sad smile on his face. It was a rare thing to have all four of them in one room without some kind of argument stirring up, so Lucas supposed that he was just savoring the moment while it lasted.
Footsteps echoed from the hallway, and they all looked up just as a blur of blue jeans and a red fleece pullover burst through the door at top speed.
"Mom!" Will shouted in delight.
Lucas managed to grab his son just before he threw himself at Sami. "Whoa, buddy," he said gently, earning an annoyed look from both Will and Sami for interrupting their reunion. "Your Mom just had surgery a few hours ago, remember? We've got to go easy on her for now."
"Okay," Will nodded, and Lucas let him go so that he could take the final step or two over to Sami's bed. "Hi, Mom."
"Hi, sweetie," Sami said with a tearful smile, and opened her arms to him. Will fell into her embrace without hesitation, burying his face in her shoulder. Mother and son clung to one another desperately for a long moment, tears sliding down Sami's cheeks as she held their son close to her, as if she had been afraid she wouldn't see him again.
She probably had been, Lucas realized grimly. After the police had finished up with the crime scene investigation, Bo had informed them that Sami had managed to pick herself up and stagger a good fifteen or twenty yards around the side of Tuscany. Lucas had little doubt that she'd found the strength to do so out of sheer determination to see their son again.
"You can't ever leave me, okay?" he heard Will ask shakily, his little voice breaking with tears. "You can't leave me, because I need you, Mom."
"I'm not going anywhere, little man," Sami assured him, stroking his hair soothingly. "And neither is your father. We're always going to be here for you."
"Promise?" Will sniffled.
"I promise," Sami murmured, kissing his hair.
"And so do I," Lucas added, earning a smile from Sami over their son's head. "You can't get rid of us that easily, buddy. So cancel all those wild parties you and Abby are planning for your teen years, okay?"
Will laughed, wiping at his eyes as he pulled away from Sami. "Okay." He turned and looked back towards the door, sniffling. "You coming in, Grandma, Grandpa?"
Lucas looked over his shoulder to find Kate and Roman standing in the doorway. Sami's father was smiling, even with the tears threatening to spill down his cheeks, but it was Kate that Lucas' gaze was glued to. His mother actually had tears in her eyes, too, and while he highly doubted they were tears for Sami, he suspected that maybe seeing the love between Will and Sami had given her a rather shocking wake-up call.
Maybe you finally realize what I've been trying to tell you for years, Mom, Lucas thought. Will needs his mother.
Then again, she never had been very good at listening to that particular argument.
"Daddy," Sami said with a sigh, her blue eyes welling with tears.
"Hey there, peanut," Roman said with a shaky smile as he came forward to make his way over to her bed, leaning down to hug her.
"Daddy, I'm sorry," Sami rasped, clutching his jacket in her small fists as she burrowed as close to her father as she possible while stuck in the hospital bed. "I didn't mean it, the things I said..."
"Shh," Roman silenced her gently, and Lucas could have sworn he heard the older man choke back a sob. "I know, sweetheart. I love you, I love you so much, and I'm just so grateful that you came back to us."
"She had to," Lucas spoke up, fixing Sami with a soft smirk. "She's never let me win an argument yet, so there was no way she was going to start now."
"Got that right," Sami said gleefully, wiping her eyes with the corner of her hospital gown sleeve.
"Thanks for taking such good care of my daughter, Lucas," Roman said, giving Lucas a hard look as he extended his hand. "I appreciate it."
"Somebody has to keep an eye on her," Lucas replied lightly, accepting his hand and shaking it briefly. "Or else who knows what trouble she'd get herself into."
"Oh, that's rich coming from you," Sami snorted.
"Mom's right," Will agreed, giving Lucas a sly grin. "I'm the only one in the family who stays out of trouble."
"Oh, really?" Lucas asked dryly. "I seem to recall a parent-teacher conference a few weeks back that begs to differ. Right, Sami?"
Sami opened her mouth to reply, but was cut off by none other than Kate. "Will, your father hardly gets into trouble," Kate said evenly, strolling across the room to loop her arm through Roman's. "It's nice to see you awake again, Sami. Everyone was very concerned for you."
"I'm sure," Sami said stiffly, her eyes narrowing at Kate's rather possessive hold on her father. Lucas groaned to himself, just as positive as Sami was that his mother had put on that little display for Sami's benefit, no doubt to demonstrate that though the wedding had not gone as planned, she and Roman were still very much together.
He braced himself for the ensuing argument, not sure he would even bother to interfere this time, but it never came. Sami gave her father and Kate one last glance, then turned her attention away from them completely, focusing instead on their son.
"Happy New Year, sweetheart," she said, tugging on his hand so that he bent over enough for her to kiss him on the cheek.
"It is now that you're awake," Will answered, and Lucas hid a grin. His son had absolutely no idea how charming he really was, but in a few years, they'd have girls lining up at their door. Will had inherited the Roberts charm, and both of his parents knew it, which was why Sami had already made it clear that if their son took after him in the ways of love, particularly the young initiation factor, she was going to make him regret it.
"Flatterer," Sami retorted, ruffling his hair.
"Aww, Mom, watch the hair," Will cried, desperately trying to smooth it back down.
Sami gave Lucas a pointed look, and he shrugged. "What are you looking at me for?" he demanded. "You're the one who spends an hour doing your hair in the morning, sweetheart, not me."
Out of the corner of his eye, he saw his mother stiffen slightly, and knew that she was going to start in on another one of her 'Stay away from Sami' lectures the next time she got him alone, but he didn't care. He'd gotten a glimpse of what life without Sami could have been like the night before, and he wasn't going to waste any more time worrying about what his mother thought. Sooner or later, she'd have to just accept that there was no where he'd rather be than with Sami and their son.
Because he wasn't going anywhere.
"She gets that from her mother," John observed wryly, and Marlena gave him an indignant look, but didn't deny it.
"It's a woman's prerogative to take her time getting ready," Belle insisted. "Right, Sami?"
"Right," Sami agreed, letting her sister draw her into a lighthearted conversation as she carefully scooted herself over on the bed and gestured for Will to climb up and sit on the edge. Their son complied with a smile, allowing her to put her arm around him as they listened to Belle rambling about unimportant things.
After a while, Bo had called on Roman's cell phone to report that they needed him down at the station to go over some things, so Sami's father had left after passing along Bo's love to Sami and promising to come back later on. Sami had understood, urging him to go and try to figure out who the killer was, making a promise of her own to try and remember anything she could about her attacker so that she could give a statement to the police.
Kate had made no move to leave, even after Roman's departure, clearly determined to wait until she got a chance to drag Lucas outside into the hall and lecture him, but for once John Black seemed to favor his stepdaughter over Kate. He'd claimed that there was a lot of work piling up at Basic Black, and suggested that he and Kate look at some of the new lines over lunch so that they didn't fall behind, but Lucas had a feeling that the older man had simply noticed the tension between Kate and Sami and wanted to alleviate some of Sami's stress considering she had just been attacked a few hours ago.
Either way, Kate could hardly refuse, so she had politely wished Sami a speedy recovery, bid farewell to Marlena and Belle, and then pointedly informed Lucas that she wanted him to come over for dinner.
Lucas had pretended not to see the smirk on Sami's face when he'd regretfully informed his mother that since it was technically Sami's week with Will, he was going to stay at the hospital so that the doctors would allow their son to stay and visit with his mother.
Mom's going to throw a fit, Lucas sighed to himself after watching his mother stalk out the door. He soon pushed all thoughts of his mother and how he was going to deal with her out of his head, though, when Will's laughter caught his attention.
His son was waving his arms animatedly as he recounted for Sami, Belle and Marlena a game of soccer they had played in his gym class at school earlier in the week, during which he'd scored the winning goal for his team.
"I thought you played football," Belle said, frowning in confusion.
"I do," Will shrugged, giving his aunt a strange look. "People can play more than one sport, Aunt Belle. Right, Dad?"
"Right, buddy," Lucas confirmed with a smile. "You know, if you want to play soccer outside of school, your Mom and I can sign you up."
"Can I still play football, too?" Will asked hopefully.
Sami shrugged. "If the schedule works out, I don't see why not."
"Awesome," Will grinned enthusiastically. "Thanks Mom."
"Don't thank me," Sami said with a smirk. "Thank your father- he's going to pay for it."
"Oh, I am, huh?" Lucas retorted skeptically. "What happened to splitting it fifty-fifty like we did with his football fees?"
"It's also a woman's prerogative to change her mind," Belle informed him.
"Good thing we outnumber Mom, then, huh, Dad?" Will asked, and Sami gave their son a look of mock outrage.
"Yeah, it is a good thing, buddy," Lucas agreed, tossing a smirk back at her. "And she's lucky to have us around to protect her from herself, or else she might never be able to decide which shoes to wear with what dress."
"That would be a tragedy," Will said sarcastically.
"That's it," Sami said with a scowl. "When I get out of this bed, the two of you are both getting whacked to death with pillows."
"Two against one, Sami?" Lucas asked dryly.
"Oh, I think I can take you, General," Sami retorted, and Lucas raised an eyebrow suggestively. While the others in the room didn't seem to catch the meaning behind it, Sami knew the way his mind worked, and a blush touched her cheeks as soon as he looked at her. "Besides," she added quickly. "Maybe I can bribe Will onto my side, then we'd outnumber you."
"I don't know, Mom," Will shook his head doubtfully. "Dad's pretty strong."
Lucas gave Sami a smug look at their son's comment, and she rolled her eyes, but he didn't miss the small smile tugging at the corner of her lips. She couldn't deny that Will was right, but the fact that she didn't even bother to try amused him. He had no doubt about whether or not Sami wanted him, he'd seen the way she looked at him when she thought he wasn't looking, but this was probably the closest she had come to admitting it other than that day in the cemetery after her grandmother's funeral.
"I should probably head over to my office for a bit and check my messages," Marlena sighed, checking her watch. "Do you want me to go by your apartment and pick up some things for you, sweetie-girl?"
"That's okay, Mom," Sami shook her head. "Lucas already promised to bring me some stuff back later, after he goes home to shower and clean up."
Marlena glanced over at him, and Lucas gave a slight nod of agreement. "Okay, then," she said, patting Sami's hand as she rose to her feet. "Take it easy, you hear me? You need to get your rest so you can get better faster."
"I will, Mom," Sami promised with a touch of exasperation. "Don't worry, Lexie already gave me the drill, and General Roberts over there threatened to make me adhere to her rules by any means necessary."
"If you behave, it'll make it easier on us all," Lucas retorted.
"When do I ever behave?" Sami drawled with a smirk, blue eyes somehow brighter than normal. Lucas couldn't decide if it was the morphine, or if she was just as grateful to be alive as he was to have her back.
"Good point," he conceded.
"Lucas, you take good care of my little girl, then," Marlena said after a pause, looking at him warily. She didn't quite trust him, he knew, and he couldn't really blame her. He'd done a lot to hurt Sami in the past, and it was a mother's instinct not to forget that kind of thing. After all, his own mother certainly held lifelong grudges against those who she felt had wronged her offspring. Marlena just didn't want to see Sami hurt again, which was completely understandable.
"I intend to," Lucas assured her seriously, hoping she understood that he didn't just mean for the next few hours. Whether she did or not, Sami's eyes darted to his face for a moment, their gazes meeting, and he saw a faint flicker of that indefinable emotion he'd occasionally catch a glimpse of before she averted her eyes, staring intently at the floor.
She wasn't the only one who seemed to read into the subtext of his words. Will grinned, his eyes glittering with that gleam that Lucas knew meant his son was plotting something, and he sighed to himself, making a mental note to talk to him about that later.
Maybe it was time the two of them worked together to win Sami over. Between the two of them, they had to be able to find a way to convince her that they belonged together, a real family, just the three of them. Lucas had been dropping subtle clues, trying to get her to see that for the past few months, but she was being stubborn.
Well, this time, he was determined to win, and with their sneak of a son on his side, he had a feeling that he was going to do just that.