DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN CSI:NY OR ANY OF ITS CHARACTERS. I DO HOWEVER OWN SAMANTHA ROSS AND ALL PLOTS, OC'S ETC RELATED TO THE BROOKLYN SERIES.
A/N: I SHOULDN'T HAVE TO DO THIS, BUT:
MY ATTENTION HAS BEEN CALLED TO SOME HEAVY DUTY POACHING. I WANT TO REMIND PEOPLE THAT SAMANTHA ROSS, ANY PLOT OR STORY LINE REGARDING HER BACKGROUND, FAMILY LIFE, APPEARANCE, HISTORY WITH OTHER CHARACTERS IN THE SHOW ETC, WERE CREATED IN MARCH 2008 WHEN MEMORIES OF BROOKLYN MADE ITS DEBUT.
WHILE I APPRECIATE EVERYONE WHO READS, I DO NOT LIKE BEING RIPPED OFF. IF THERE'S SOMETHING YOU WANT TO USE, JUST ASK. PLAIN AND SIMPLE.
AND AS USUAL, THANKS TO EVERYONE SUPPORTING ME AND MY WRITING! ALL THE REVIEWERS AND READERS AND THOSE ADDING ME TO ALERTS AND FAVS.
Haunting me
"Step one you say we need to talk
He walks you say sit down it's just a talk
He smiles politely back at you
You stare politely right on through
Some sort of window to your right
As he goes left and you stay right
Between the lines of fear and blame
You begin to wonder why you came."
-How to Save a Life, The Fray
Danny Messer hated lying.
Since the Rikki Sandoval incident, telling even the slightest white lie always made him feel like a complete shit. That morning nearly two years ago was still blazed into his memory. Although Lindsay had taken him back the night she had showed up on his doorstep at his request, drenched by the pouring rain and ready, willing and able to listen to his apologies, Danny found it a hell of a lot harder to forgive himself. It made him sick to his stomach even now to relive the blatant lie he had told Lindsay that morning. About not being able to grab lunch with her because there were other things he needed to do. When in reality, Rikki was in still in his bed after a night of grief and despair fuelled passion.
Even now, he kicked himself in the ass for not only cheating and then lying about it, but for continuing on the charade when Rikki came out of the bedroom clad in his shirt. He should have just agreed with her when she had said she wanted to take a rain check on Messer's favourite omelette. He should have just nodded and shipped her on her merry way when she had expressed her regret at what had gone down between them. He should have said 'Yes, Rikki, you're right' when she had told him that the only reason they'd had sex was because she was grieving for her son and Danny was suffering immense guilt because of what had happened to Ruben.
But he hadn't. He hadn't turned her away. Instead, he had taken advantage of that grief and that guilt and had gotten her into his bed one more time.
All while the woman he loved more than life itself had been out there, trying to find ways to re-connect with him. To support him through his insurmountable sorrow. To get him to just open up to her.
And how had he repaid her for her unwavering devotion? He'd fucked Rikki. And to Danny, that alone made him a first class bastard for life.
So Danny had gone through dinner at Ruby Tuesday's, putting on a happy face, drinking a pitcher of beer by himself in an attempt to drown the unwelcome memories while inwardly cursing himself for being such an asshole. He had laughed and joked with the girls, teased the two ladies in his life known affectionately as Montana and Brooklyn. Let them beat him at a couple of games of pool. He had listened to Samantha Ross' musical giggle and had seen her eyes sparkle every time she gave that killer smile as she thoroughly relaxed and enjoyed herself. Completely oblivious to both Danny's discomfort and the fact that Zack Tanner, ex-fiance from hell, was somewhere out there just itching to get a hold of her.
The ladies in his life had decided they wanted to walk the eight blocks to Sam's apartment. Danny thought they were nuts. It was well below zero and the snow and the wind had both picked up and neither girl had remembered their hats and mitts from their lockers. Yet it didn't seem to bother them that their ears were turning scarlet red. Or that their noses were running and practically forming icicles on their top lips. Or that they were both so small and slight that the gusts of wind threatened to either topple them or scoop them up and send them airborne to another borough.
When Samantha Ross and Lindsay Monroe were together, their fun loving, almost childish sides were quick to surface. These women, who were quick to jump into action at work, whether it be skilfully and artfully interrogating a hardened perp, or chasing a suspect down the street and ultimately 'putting the boots to them' as Flack like to call it, suddenly became two entirely different people when they hung out. They laughed, and sometimes cried, easily. They told dirty jokes and used colourful language that made the guys blush. They belched out the national anthem time and time again. Never tiring of it and always ending up in fits of giggles each and every time. They hugged and kissed each other's cheeks and skipped down the sidewalk with their arms linked. When they were together, all that mattered was them. Their sisterhood. A impenetrable, heart warming bond that they had seemed to share from day one.
Danny was surprised, as he walked several feet behind them as they window shopped and occasionally paused to bend down and scoop up snow and shower each other with it, that those two lovely ladies had actually managed to survive without each other in their lives for so long. A friendship like that, a love if he could be so bold as to call it, was a once in a lifetime thing. And he hoped, for both of their sakes, that nothing would ever come between them.
"Penny for your thoughts!" Lindsay suddenly cried, snapping Danny out of his reverie. She stood no more than two feet in front of him while Samantha, in the near distance, let her eyes feast on the wares displayed in the front window of a shoe store.
He winced as something cold and rock hard collided with the middle of the forehead. "What the hell, Montana?" he grumbled and glanced down at the snow. A shiny, brand new penny rested at his feet. Sighing heavily, he bent down and snagged it and held it up, an eyebrow cocked and a smirk on his face.
"I said penny for your thoughts," she giggled.
"I didn't think you meant it literally," he complained and tossed the offending item at her.
Lindsay caught the penny in mid air and slipped it into her jacket pocket. "Could be a lucky one," she said. "I mean, I've had three beers and I still managed to peg you off the middle of your forehead from two feet away. Damn penny must have some magical powers."
"Between chucking pennies at my head and using an improvised slingshot to fire bullets, I'd say your aim is pretty damn good there, Montana."
"Damn tootin'," she laughed, and making the shape of guns with both hands, blew on the tips of her index fingers before pretending to twirl the weapons and holster them. "Best damn cowgirl you ever did see, baby."
"Best damn something," he agreed, and reaching out, grabbed her by the hips and yanked her into him. Giving her a devilish grin before sealing her frigid lips with a deep, toe curling, mind numbing kiss.
"Mmm…" Lindsay said with a content sigh, after the kiss ended and her fiance rested his forehead against hers. "What was that for?"
"Just because," Danny told her, sliding his hands around to the small of her back and pecking the tip of her nose. "I can't kiss my girl just because?"
"You can kiss me for whatever reason you want," she said. "You know…I really miss your glasses."
"You do? Even though they were always poking you in the face every time we kissed? And you always had to peel them off of me if I fell asleep with them on or yank them off when we were in the middle of a little something something"
"Even then," she said. "You just don't seem like my Danny without them. My Danny's had glasses since the day we met. I found my Danny quite sexy and fuck-able in his glasses."
"Oh yeah?" he licked his top lip seductively and pulled the lower half of her body against his. "Well I'll tell you what. How about YOUR Danny goes and pops the lenses out of his glasses at home and just wears the frames. So he becomes sexy and fuck-able again. How does that sound, MY Montana?"
She grinned. "Sounds damn good to me," she declared.
He kissed her once more, his hands slipping down to cup her ass as his lips moved softly and slowly against hers.
When the need for air became a necessity and their mouths finally parted, Lindsay wrapped her arms around Danny's waist and snuggled her head into his chest.
"I love you so much, baby," he whispered into her hair.
She drew back and smiled up at him. "I love you, too. And I'm freezing."
"Yeah…you're starting to resemble Miss Jackie Frost. Why don't we hail a cab, get Brooklyn home in one piece and head for the hills? Spend some time in a hot tub before heading to bed for something even hotter."
"Sounds good to me," Lindsay chirped, and dropping one arm from around his waist, stepped to his side and turned in the direction where she'd left her best friend window shopping. "Hmm…" she said. "I wonder where Sammie went?"
Those were the worst possible words Danny Messer could have ever heard. Sheer panic overtook him as his eyes widened and his sight fixed on the now empty store front where Sam Ross had recently stood.
"Where the hell did she go?" he asked, and grabbing a hold of Lindsay's hand, nearly yanked his tiny fiancee off of her feet as he stormed down the sidewalk.
"Danny what in the hell?" Lindsay yelled at him. "Are you trying to dislocate my shoulder?"
"Where's Brooklyn?"
"She's probably stopped in at one of the stores," Lindsay told him.
"She can't be running off like that. Pulling these disappearing acts."
"She hasn't disappeared," Lindsay argued. "She's probably gone in to see something or buy something! What's gotten into you?"
"No running off!" Danny snapped. "She can't be running off like that!"
"She's a big girl. If she wants to go into a store and buy something, that's her business!" Lindsay exclaimed. "What are you? Her body guard or something?"
"I promised Flack," Danny said.
"Promised Flack?" Lindsay frowned. "Promised him what?"
"That I'd look after his girl. That I wouldn't let anything happen to her."
"Why in the hell would anything happen to her? What is up with Flack and this insane overprotective and possessive thing he's got going on lately?"
"He's not being overprotective and possessive," Danny informed her. "Not this time anyway. He's got a legit reason to be concerned."
"And what reason is that? He's afraid she's going run off on him with some other guy? Please. She's nuts about him and…"
"He's not thinking about that, Lindsay. He's thinking about Zack getting a hold of her."
"What?" Lindsay dug her heels into the snowy sidewalk to get him to halt. "Zack getting a hold of her?"
Danny sighed heavily.
Lindsay's eyes narrowed. "Daniel Messer…"
He gave another sigh. "Zack's in town," he reluctantly told her. "He paid Flack a visit today."
Lindsay's breath caught in her chest as her eyes widened.
"Apparently, Zack's going to working out of New York City. He went and got himself a new career as a US Marshal. So you know what that means? You know who just may be the one having Flack's back going through the doors on some raids?"
"Hell no!" Lindsay exclaimed. "He'd be pushing Flack into the room hoping he'd get killed."
"The guy is a raging psycho, Montana. The stuff that Flack told me? The threats that were offered up? The crap that Zack said about Brooklyn? The guy is not right in the head. He was spewing all this crap about him being the only one that can handle her when she's in her wild and crazy moods and how she's sneaky and manipulative and that Flack couldn't deal with that. That he shouldn't have to. Zack even went as far as to say that Flack should be thanking him for offering to take her off his hands. That he was sparing Flack a world of hurt by getting Brooklyn away from him."
"And what did Flack say?"
"He didn't go into details about that. But I can imagine that he stuck up for her. You know he's nuts about her Linds. I guess he told Zack to take a hike. And none to politely, either."
"And Samantha doesn't know that Zack's in New York," it was more of a statement then a question.
"Flack wants to tell her in private. Talk about it without an audience. He asked me to keep an eye on her and make sure she got home safely. Doesn't want me leaving her side until he's home or close to it. And then she goes off and disappears on me?"
"She didn't disappear, Danny. Look!" Lindsay grabbed him by the arm and yanked him over to the window of the shoe store. "See!" she pointed inside, at the tiny brunette standing at the cash register digging her wallet out of her purse. "I told you she was in there. She's buying a pair of shoes! Sammie can't resist shoes. They're crack to her. Whether she wears them or whether they sit in her closet collecting dust. Do you feel better now? To see her safe and sound?"
"I promised him, Montana. I promised Flack I'd…"
"And she's fine. Look at her!" Lindsay gestured in the direction of her best friend who was bent over the counter, signing the credit card slip. "Does she look like she's in grave danger at the moment?"
Danny sighed and shook his head. "It's just…I've let a lot of people down in my time, Montana. Too many, in fact. And I promised Flack that I'd watch out for her. He's always had my back no matter what and I don't want to repay him by letting something happen to his girl. And if anything ever happened to Brooklyn, he'd…"
"Hey guys!" Sam chirped, as she stepped out of the shoe store, clutching her Kate Spare purse and two plastic shopping bags. ""Wait until you see what I bought! These sexy thigh high black leather boots that will go perfectly with that little tartan skirt and bustier I bought last week! And these little red patent leather peep toes that are going to look so awesome with my…" her voice trailed off as she noticed the serious looks on her friends' faces. "What's going on?" she asked.
"Brooklyn," Danny began, his voice low. "We need to tell you something."
"Okay…what kind of something? Oh my God…" her face blanched. "Did something happen to Donnie? Is he okay? Did he get hurt or something?"
Danny shook his head slowly.
The bags and purse slipped out of her hands and she gave a startled gasp. "Worse!" she cried. "Something worse happened to him?"
"Of course not," Lindsay told her, laying a comforting hand on her best friend's shoulder as Danny scooped up the bags and Sam's purse. "Nothing happened to Don. He's fine. Danny and I were just talking and…"
"About what?" Sam asked, laying a hand over her pounding heart, breathing slow and deep in order to compose herself. "You both look like someone died."
"We were just getting ready to tell you that…"
"That we really need to snag a cab and get out of here," Lindsay cut Danny off. "My ears and my nose feel like popsicles. Let's hail a taxi and take off. Go to your place and have some peppermint hot chocolate."
"And you guys thought I'd be mad?" Sam asked, eyes flicking back and forth between them.
Lindsay smiled brightly and nodded.
Sam laughed. "Are you crazy? I'm freezing my ass off! I've been praying for the last twenty minutes that one of you guys would suggest getting a cab. I just didn't want to be the one to pussy out. I'm just going to run into the Starbucks and use the bathroom. I have to piss like a race horse!"
Danny and Lindsay both laughed as the tiny brunette scurried down the sidewalk and disappeared into the coffee shop several doors away from where they stood.
Danny, juggling the purse and bags in one hand, laid his free one on the back of his fiancee's neck and pressed a kiss to her temple. "Thank you," he said. "For not saying anything to her."
"The last thing I wanted to do was get her all scared and freaked out," Lindsay told him. "But I'm warning you, Danny, if she finds out by sheer chance and not from Flack that Zack is in town…"
"She won't," Danny assured her. "There's no way. I swear to God she won't."
Lindsay sighed. "Let's just hope Zack isn't sneakier than you and Flack both give him credit for."
Danny nodded in agreement.
And let's just hope he's not as dangerous and as crazy as we think is, Danny thought. Because that could be disastrous.
Danny and Lindsay, after two cups of peppermint hot chocolate with Bailey's each and splitting an entire package of Oreo cookies between them and Samantha, departed at quarter to nine. Flack ha called and said he'd be at Sam's apartment in less then an hour. Although Danny had been reluctant to leave, his best friend had insisted that he and Lindsay take off for the night. The uniform that Flack had parked out in front of Zack's apartment building had reported, during his last scheduled check in, that the former State Trooper and now US Marshall, had not left his apartment. All of the lights were still on and there'd been consistent signs of movement. Flack had been surprised how easy it had been to get the Feds to cough up Zack's address. He had told Zack's immediate supervisor that he'd been given Zack's name through the friend of a friend who had said that Zack was just the man he was looking for to help out on a case.
Flack was more then satisfied with the uniform and the news that Zack had, at least for the night, given up on contacting Samantha. However, not leaving anything to chance, that uniform would only be dismissed when Flack got his girlfriend's apartment and called the uni and told him to go home.
There was going to hell to pay when the deputy inspector found out that Flack had taken it upon himself to send a uniform on surveillance detail without permission from the brass. There was no possible way news like that couldn't get back to the dragon lady. And once it got to her, she would be quick in passing the word along to Sinclair. Shit rolled up hill in the NYPD. Flack knew that either a stern warning or an actual write up would be his punishment once the higher ups got involved. But aside from a view complaints from perps about his anger management and aggression issues, Flack had a clean record. His employee jacket was spic and span. And a write up was worth keeping a sonofabitch like Zack Tanner away from his girl.
After her friends had left, Sam had locked up her door and turned the volume up on the stereo and headed for the bathroom for a long, steaming bubble bath. She'd stayed in the water as long as her skin could take it. Sipping her third hot chocolate with Bailey's and every so often topping her bath up with hot water when it began to cool. While in the tub, she also finished up the last of Tolkien's The Silmarillion. She had already read the book -a chronicle of Tolkien's created world from the 'beginning' to the events leading up the War of the Ring- several times and never tired of it. She had all of Tolkien's works, along with various celebrity biographies and various titles by Jane Austen and Tolstoy, arranged on the bookshelves in her bedroom.
When the threat of falling asleep -from a mixture of fatigue, the relaxing hot water and the alcohol she had consumed- became a real one, she had reluctantly abandoned her bath and emptied the tub and cleaned up the room before drying off and climbing into a pair of watermelon pink and green polka dot satin pyjama bottoms and the pink tank top and green cover up that went with it. With her hair still damp and rolled and twisted into a makeshift bun held in place by plastic 'chop sticks', she headed back into the living room to tidy the place up. Dust the furniture and water the plants that had been suffering from lack of attention for way too long.
It was nine -thirty when the cordless phone resting beside her rang noisily while she sat on the couch, foot up on the coffee table as she applied the second coat of bubblegum pink -with sparkles at that- polish to her toes. Reaching to her left with her free hand, she snatched the phone and checked the call display, frowning slightly when she spied her brother's cell phone number. Adam rarely called while he was on shift. Mostly because he was worried about getting in shit for making personal calls while on the clock, and because he rarely found the time to take a break let alone phone to chat.
"What's up, Peanut?" she asked in way of greeting.
"You and Flack," came his response.
Sam closed her eyes briefly. She kicked herself for allowing her brother in law to find out through the office grapevine and not having the common sense to make him the first person she told about her not so new romance. "Angell?" she asked, vowing to hunt the bitch down and kick her ass from one end of the city to the other.
"I saw you two," Adam informed her. "Tonight. At the elevator. I saw him kiss you."
She couldn't help but grin at the obvious disgust that dripped from her baby brother's voice. "Okay…" she said, holding the phone to her ear with her shoulder as she dipped the small brush into the bottle of polish.
"He kissed you," Adam informed her, stressing each word.
"Well…" Sam said, painting her big toe. "He kisses me a lot. And I happen to like it very much when he kisses me a lot."
"You what?" her brother asked. Sounding more serious and horrified then he ever had in his young life.
"I. Like. It. Very. Much. When. He. Kisses. Me," Sam spoke slowly, clearly pronouncing each word.
"And how long has this been going on for?"
"He's been kissing me A LOT for about three a bit months now."
There was a loud clatter as Adam dropped the phone. Or maybe he threw it across the room. Samantha wasn't entirely sure. But she was highly amused, and slightly irritated, with his reaction and his behaviour.
"Are you there?" she asked, when she heard his breathing once more. "Or did you pass out?"
"You and Flack?" Adam couldn't quite wrap his head around the obvious.
"Me and Flack," Sam confirmed. "For three and a bit months now."
"So there was never some cop that you were dating. The mystery guy."
"Sure there was. Don's a cop and he was a mystery to all of you. I never lied about that. I was dating a police officer and I was determined to enjoy him for as long as possible without having to worry about office gossip and spiteful rumours. So technically, I never fibbed about anything."
"You weren't exactly truthful either," Adam pointed out. "Everyone's been asking for months about this guy. What he looked like, what his name was, when we were finally going to meet him. We were all starting to wonder if he even existed or if you were just so lonely you made up this fantasy guy."
"Let me assure you, he is a fantasy," Sam said. "Everything I've ever fantasised about in my entire life in fact."
"Okay!" Adam snapped. "I don't want sex details Sammie!"
"And I told everyone all about him," she continued, leaning forward to blow on her wet polish. "I said he was tall, dark and charming and incredibly handsome. And I said that when I was ready to for everyone to meet him, they would. And well, Donnie and I decided we were ready for everyone to meet him. Well, technically you've already met him, but you get what I mean."
"I get that you're sneaky," Adam grumbled.
"We had our reasons for keeping things so secretive," Sam informed her brother. "We just wanted some privacy for a while. No drama."
"But I'm your brother," Adam reminded her, sounding hurt. "We tell each other everything. And you couldn't just pull me aside and tell me you were dating Flack? I mean, I could have kept a secret."
"I know."
"Don't you trust me?"
Sam sighed. "Peanut, I trust you more than anyone else in the world. You know that. Don and I…we just weren't ready to tell anyone. This isn't personal."
"Sure feels like it," Adam mumbled. "And why Flack? Seriously. Why him?"
"Because I was attracted to him and he was attracted to me and we were interested in each other and we acted on it," Sam responded. "We have fun together. He treats me like a princess. He's a good man with a huge heart. And I love him."
Adam made a spluttering noise, which he followed up with loud gagging and coughing.
"You just got a latte all over your Iphone didn't you," Sam said.
"You love him?" Adam managed through his sputtering.
"No. We love each other."
"Jesus Mary and Joseph," her brother muttered.
Sam grinned. "You sounded so much like Sarge when you said that."
Sarge, as he was affectionately known as to his two step-children, was a retired pilot. Both Air Force and American Airlines. He had met their mother when her children were sixteen and almost twelve respectfully. Their real father, an alcoholic and habitual drug user who had inflicted all sorts of hell on his kids through the years, had just passed away under not so peaceful and pleasant circumstances when Sarge and their mom had met, by sheer chance at a grocery store. A casual chat in the produce section had resulted in an invitation, on their mother's part, over for coffee. Sarge had accepted.
And never left.
Two months later he was shipping the entire Ross family off to his original hometown of Phoenix, Arizona. The rest, as the saying goes, was history.
"Sarge would be down here on the first flight to kick your ass if I was to tell him what you've been up to," Adam declared.
"And what have I been up to, Peanut? Meeting people? Making friends? Getting a sex life?"
"No!" Adam wailed. "Don't use the word sex to me! Thinking about you and Flack having sex makes me nauseous."
"Does it make you feel better to know we haven't had sex?" she asked. "Because figuratively speaking, we haven't. Unless you want to call mutual masturbation and oral sex actual sex."
"Stop!" Adam pleaded. "Oh my God! Just stop! I don't want to know! I don't want to hear it! Just please stop!"
"Well I am just saying that what we do is not real sex," Sam laughed.
"Don't go all Bill Clinton on me, Sammie," her brother said. "Just don't."
"You need to lighten up, Peanut," she complained. "Seriously. Maybe you need to be going out and finding yourself a Monica Lewinsky," she suggested. "Getting a little Oval Office type action might do wonders for you."
"That's the last thing I need," Adam informed her. "What I need is for my sister not to be dating someone I work with."
"Well seeing as that's not going to happen, I guess a Monica is your best bet."
"You are impossible," he sighed. "Utterly and hopelessly impossible. You couldn't find a normal guy to date?"
"Don's normal," Sam said. "He's the most normal person I know. He's got a steady, respectable job, doesn't live at home with mommy and daddy at his age. Doesn't collect coins or stamps or other boring shit like that."
"That is not what I meant," Adam huffed. "I mean you couldn't find a guy to date that you don't work with? New York City is a huge place. Lots of single guys out there."
"True," Sam said. "But I found a single guy that I was incredibly interested in and I fell in love with him. So no more browsing for me. I am perfectly happy with what I have. In fact, I…"
A loud knock at her apartment door cut off her sentence.
"I've got to go, Peanut," she said into the phone, hurriedly finishing her last toe nail before jamming the brush in the bottle and screwing the lid in place. "Donnie's here now. I guess he forgot his key. Or lost it."
"Let him knock a bit longer," Adam told her. "We're talking."
"And we can talk again tomorrow," Sam said, jumping up and setting the bottle of polish on the coffee table. "Right now, you have a job to get back to and I have a boyfriend I really, really want to spend some quiet time with. So I am hanging up now."
"But Sammie, I…"
"Talk tomorrow, Peanut," she said, finger hovering over the end button. "I really need to go."
"Just promise me you know what you're doing," he told her.
"I know exactly what I'm doing," Sam assured him. "Bye for now."
He sighed, "Bye. If you need anything…"
"I will call you. Yes, dad."
"If I was your dad I'd…"
"Goodnight, Adam," she said and hung up.
Tossing the cordless onto the couch, she hurried through the living room and into the small front foyer, trying to walk on her heels to avoid messing up her polish.
"Somehow I knew you'd forget your key, babe," she spoke loud enough for the party on the other side of the door to hear her as she snapped open the dead bolt. "Sometimes I think you'd forget your head if it wasn't attached," she laughed as she reached for the door knob, turned it and threw the door open. "So what happened? Did you lose it or…"
Her words caught in her throat. Her eyes went wide as sheer panic and terror rushed through her at the sight that greeted her.
"Samantha," Zack said simply.
She couldn't respond. There were no words and no way to get them out of her constricting throat even if there were. She reacted as quick as her stunned brain would allow her to. She attempted to slam the door in his face, only to meet incredible resistance when her ex laid a large, strong hand on the door. Easily and effortlessly pushing his way into the apartment.
"Did you miss me, baby?" Zack asked, an evil, malicious smirk on his face. "I missed you. It's been a long year. I just couldn't resist being without you any longer."
"Get away from me!" she cried, backing up into the kitchen as he advanced slowly towards her. "Just get away from me, Zack!"
"Now is that anyway to talk to the love of your life, Sammie?" he asked, reaching out to gently touch her face.
She slapped his hand away. "Get the hell out of here!" she yelled, the small of her back colliding with the hard wood of her kitchen table. "Leave Zack! NOW!"
"I thought I'd come and win back what is rightfully mine," he told her, as he stood directly in front of her tiny frame and leaned forward and placed his hands on the table top. Pinning her between the piece of furniture and his strong body.
"I am not yours!" Sam informed him. "I stopped being yours a long time ago! So get the hell out of here and…"
He silenced her. Not with a blinding backhand like many times in the past. But by covering her lips with his in a rough, demanding, aggressive kiss.
She refused to give in to him. Refused to yield or submit. She shrieked against his lips and brought her hands up and pushed as hard as she could on his broad chest. When he didn't budge, she did the next best thing. Feigned enjoyment and responded eagerly to his kiss. Until she took his bottom lip into between her teeth and bit down as hard as she could.
Zack roared in pain at the feel of her teeth cutting deep. Instantly drawing blood. He drew away from her, fury in his eyes, his chest heaving with both anger and the desire he felt for her. Enjoying the fright in her eyes and the way she winced and turned her face away when he simply brought his hand up to touch his injured lip.
"Get the hell out of here, Zack! Leave before I…"
"Before you what?" he smirked. "Call the police? Call your boyfriend? I'll be finished with you before anyone manages to get here. So what are you going to do, Samantha?"
She opened her mouth, and just as a shrill, ear piercing scream began to erupt, Zack grabbed her by the chin, his fingers and thumb digging into opposites sides of her tiny jaw.
"Shut the fuck up!" he bellowed. "Not a goddamn word out of you! Not a word, not a sound! Understand me, Samantha?"
She nodded meekly.
"I didn't come here to hurt you," his voice softened, as did his eyes as he observed her face. "I just came here to talk to you. That's it. I don't want to hurt you, Sammie. That's the last thing I want to do, baby doll. I just came here to talk to you. To get you back."
She shook her head, tears welling in her eyes.
"I came to try to get you to see the error of your ways," he told her, the grip on her jaw loosening. He brought his other hand up and took her delicate face in his hands. "I miss you, Sammie. So much. I can't take being without you."
"It's over, Zack," she whispered. "It was over a long time ago. Please. Just leave me alone."
"I can't," he told her. His lips mere inches from hers. "I can't let you go. I want you. I need you."
"Don't do this to me, Zack,' she pleaded, tears slipping down her cheeks. "Please don't do this. Just go."
"I love you so much, Sammie."
"If you loved me you never would have done what you did for so long."
"I had to," he told her. "You needed me to be that way with you. You get crazy, Samantha. You get into those moods and you go insane and violent and I couldn't sit back and watch you hurt yourself. Don't you understand? I couldn't see you do that to yourself. I had to control it. And the only way to do that was to control you."
"No," she said, shaking her head adamantly. "You made me go like that. You made me go insane. You made me mental. You drove me that way. The way you treated me made me that way! You committed me for a breakdown I never had!"
"Are you still in denial, baby doll? You were sick. You needed help."
"I had lost my baby!" she cried. "You were blaming me! I was depressed! I was grieving! I wasn't crazy!"
"Listen to yourself. You're ranting and raving. You're out of control. Listen to yourself, Sammie Lou Who."
"Don't call me that!" she pleaded. "Don't ever call me that! Don't even call me Sammie!"
"What should I call you?" he asked calmly, stroking her lips with his thumb. "Cupcake? Do you remember that? I remember how you used to laugh every time I called you that. Said it sounded funny coming out of a huge guy like me. Do you remember that, babe?"
"Please…" she begged. "Please just leave. My boyfriend will be here soon and if you knew what was good for you you'd…"
Zack smirked. "The boyfriend. Homicide detective. My mistake. He's a detective Sargent. Don, right? Don Flack? There's a junior at the end if I do remember right. His daddy's some big legend in the NYPD. Think I heard somewhere that he'd been blown up and nearly died. And that he'd become the department golden boy after some huge drug bust."
"How do you know all of that?" she asked.
"I do my research. After I paid him a little visit today, I checked some things out. Your boy's got quite the career going on. Impressive. Sounds like he's a hell of a cop."
"He is," Sam said. "And he's an even better man and he's going to kick your fucking ass when he finds you here!"
"He already knows I'm here. I all but warned him I'd get to you. And where is he, Samantha? Obviously he never told you I was in town. And he obviously doesn't give a shit what happens to you or he'd be here protecting you wouldn't he."
"Just get the fuck out of here, Zack! What more do I have to say!"
"Tell me you miss me, Sammie. Tell me you miss me and you still love me."
"I don't miss you and I don't still love you!" she yelled. "Now get lost!"
"You love this new man of yours, Sammie? Look me in the eye and tell me you love him."
"Get out of here, Zack!" she screamed.
"Well that's a good sign," he said, smiling as he released her face and stepped away from her. "You can't admit it. Guess you're just using him, huh? Fill up some kind of gap in your pitiful little life."
She knew she was stuck between a rock and a hard place. That admitting any feelings towards another man would send Zack over the edge and have her receive a pummelling because of it. But she took the chance anyway. That maybe, just maybe, Zack had turned over a new leaf and hearing the truth would make him leave.
"I love him," she said, wiping her tears on her sleeve. "I love him and I want to spend forever with him. I want to marry him one day and have kids with him. Is that what you wanted to hear, Zachary Tanner?"
His eyes blazed and his jaw clenched.
"I want you to leave!" Sam demanded. "I want you to get the hell out of my apartment! Before Don gets here! Because I love him and I honestly don't want him getting arrested and tossed in jail for beating your sorry ass! NOW LEAVE!"
"How's he going to feel, Samantha? When he makes that kind of commitment to you and finds out you can't give him children. That you can't have babies? You think that's fair to him?"
"They never said I couldn't have children," she said. "Just that I might have a hell of a time getting pregnant! And you know what? He's man enough to accept if I can't and love me regardless."
"I love you regardless. And how much of a man is he? Does he do the things I do for you, baby? Can he do the things I can for you? The things that drive you wild?"
"He already does all of it and more," she responded. "He does it just by looking at me a certain way. And he's a hell of a lot better in bed then you could ever hope to be. So get the hell out of here and take your pitiful little life…" she glanced down at his crotch. "with you."
He smirked and turned to leave. Then spun back around and caught her across the face in a backhand that brought her to her knees. "You piece of shit!" he hissed and spit on her. "After everything I did for you! After I accepted you and your bullshit! After I loved you no matter what!"
She refused to cower to him. With tears spilling down her face and her hand holding her throbbing cheek, she rose to her feet on shaky legs. "Get the fuck out of here, Zack," she demanded, her eyes never leaving his.
He held up his hands in surrender. Then dug on hand into the pocket of his coat and pulled out a ring. Her engagement ring. A single solitaire diamond. A carat in total set in a thick yellow gold band.
"And to think I went to the trouble to get this back for you," he said, holding it up to her before tossing it on the kitchen counter.
And with that he turned on his heel and stalked through the kitchen and to the front door. Never looking back as he tossed it open, stepped into the hall and slammed the door behind him.
Sam raced behind him. Nearly blinded by tears and pain as she locked the dead bolt and slid the chain across.
"You'll regret this, Samantha," she heard Zack say from the hallway.
"LEAVE ME ALONE!" she screamed. "FUCK OFF AND LEAVE ME ALONE!"
She heard him stomp away down the hall. And eventually the screeching off the elevator door opening and then closing.
Letting out a choked sob, she turned around and let her back slide down the door until she was in a sitting position on the floor. Drawing her legs up, she hugged her knees to her chest and hung her head.
And finally, after years of pain and suffering at Zack Tanner's hands, Samantha Ross allowed herself to come undone.
Thanks to everyone that is reading and reviewing. I appreciate all of you! Even the lurkers! But please R and R folks!
Huge thanks to:
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