Matters of the Heart
Chapter Eleven
"See?" Lucas asked with a smirk. "That wasn't so bad, was it?"
Sami groaned, leaning her head back against her pillow. "A week, Lucas? She expects me to stay in this place for an entire week?"
"You heard Lexie, Sami," Lucas replied, giving her a stern look as he shifted in the chair beside her hospital bed. "They just want to keep you here for observation, to make sure that nothing goes wrong. You were in bad shape last night, they need to keep an eye on you."
"I know," Sami mumbled under her breath. "But a week?"
"Well, you're stuck here until Lexie signs off for you to leave, so get used to it," Lucas informed her with a smug smile.
"Come closer so I can smack you with this pillow," Sami ordered with forced sweetness.
"I don't think so, sweetheart," Lucas shook his head. "I'm not stupid."
Sami arched an eyebrow gracefully. "That remains to be seen," she retorted dryly.
"Is that any way to treat a guy who's going to bring you your things from home?" Lucas demanded. "If you don't watch it, I may forget to bring those fuzzy blue slippers you love so much."
"You wouldn't dare," Sami warned, narrowing her eyes.
"Wouldn't I?" Lucas shot back.
"No," Sami insisted stubbornly, lifting her chin. "Because my feet would freeze if you did, I don't have any socks on, remember?"
"It's not my fault you wore strappy sandals in the middle of winter," Lucas pointed out. "But you're right, we wouldn't want your toes to fall off, so I'll get the slippers."
"Thank you," Sami said triumphantly.
Lucas just smiled at her, and her stomach did that little fluttering thing it liked to do when Lucas was around. She took a moment to look him over, from his wrinkled tuxedo to his ruffled hair and the dark, tired circles under his eyes, and her heart softened. He really did look terrible, and it was because he'd stayed at her side all night long just to watch over her.
It was infuriating how sweet that man could be when he wanted to.
"I mean it," she said softly, looking him in the eyes. "Thank you, Lucas. For going to get my stuff and for staying here last night and all."
"Don't worry about it," Lucas responded gently. "I stayed because I wanted to, Sami, just like I'm going to bring you back some of your things to make you more comfortable here because I want to." The corner of his mouth lifted into a faint smirk. "That and it's a good excuse to go home and shower."
Sami chuckled, brushing a loose strand of hair away out of her face. "You could use one," she told him with a teasing smile.
"The sad thing is that you're right," Lucas grimaced, rising to his feet. "Since Belle took Will to get some lunch, I guess I should get going so I can be back by the time they're done."
"Yeah," Sami agreed, although she was a little tempted to ask him to stay. She wasn't really tired, so she doubted she'd get much sleep while he was gone, and Lucas was good company. But she was also anxious to get out of the hospital clothes she was wearing and into her own pajamas, which Lucas was going to bring back from her apartment. Besides, he deserved a break after the long night he'd had.
"I'll be back soon," Lucas promised, leaning over her. Her heart skipped a beat and her breath caught in her throat at his close proximity, and when he kissed her cheek she was almost disappointed. "If you need me, call my cell phone, okay?"
Sami nodded. "Yeah, okay."
"Don't go anywhere," Lucas told her with a wink, striding over to the door. "No prison breaks until I get back."
"Yes, General," Sami rolled her eyes.
"Get some rest while you..." he trailed off as he opened to door, coming face-to-face with Brady Black, who had his fist raised in the air to knock.
"Hi," Chloe Lane said from just behind him.
"Hi," Lucas replied slowly, not making any move to get out of their way. "Sami?"
She knew what he was doing without him even having to ask. He wasn't sure if she wanted to be left alone with them or not, so he was offering to wait and run his errands later, after their visit. Part of her was annoyed that he didn't seem to think she was up to it, but the rest of her was touched by his concern.
"Now you can go home and get my stuff without leaving me alone," Sami responded with a reassuring smile. "Brady and Chloe will keep me company until Belle and Will get back from lunch."
"Right," Lucas nodded tightly and stepped back to let them into the room. "I shouldn't be long."
"Take your time," Brady said politely. "We don't have anywhere we have to be, so we can stay as long as it takes for Belle to get back."
"Thanks," Lucas replied warily, then backed out of the room, giving Sami one last supportive glance before disappearing into the hallway and leaving her alone with her stepbrother and his girlfriend.
There was a long, awkward silence in the room as she and Brady looked at one another, both at a loss for what to say. Luckily, Chloe didn't seem hindered by the same self-conscious doubt, because she immediately came over to Sami's bedside and gave her a careful hug.
"How are you feeling?" she asked.
"Better than last night," Sami answered with a shrug. "The morphine helps."
"I bet," Chloe said with a sympathetic smile as she sat down in the chair Lucas had vacated. "I'm glad you're okay. I didn't get a chance to say hi before the wedding."
"How has your opera career been going?" Sami inquired, genuinely curious as to what the younger girl had been up to these past few months.
"Good," Chloe replied eagerly. "I'm having such a great time and learning so much."
"I'm glad," Sami said. "How's Europe?"
"Europe is... great," Chloe sighed happily. "It's amazing, really. But I really miss Salem, you know?"
Sami glanced over at her stepbrother, who was watching Chloe with a bittersweet smile as he leaned against the wall. "I think Salem missed you, too," she told Chloe.
Chloe followed her gaze and smiled at Brady before turning back to Sami with a serious expression on her face. "Brady's been keeping me up to date on everything that's happened in town while I was gone. I'm so sorry about your grandmother, Sami."
"Thank you," Sami said with a sad smile. "I really miss her."
"She was a wonderful woman," Brady murmured from across the room.
"Yeah," Sami agreed softly. "She was."
There was another pause of silence, but this time Chloe didn't make any move to fill it. She merely leaned back in the chair, letting her gaze drift around the room absently, but her silence was just as pointed as any words she might have said.
"I hear you're short a tuxedo jacket," Sami commented ruefully, finally breaking the silence. "Sorry about that."
Brady gave her a small smile. "Don't worry about it," he assured her. "It doesn't matter."
"You know what?" Chloe said, suddenly rising to her feet. "I'm really thirsty. Brady, can I have some change for a soda?"
"Uh, sure," Brady nodded, digging into his pocket and pulling out a few quarters. "Here."
"Thanks," Chloe smiled, and then without another word she slipped out of the room, leaving them alone.
"That was really subtle," Sami said sarcastically.
Brady snorted softly, shaking his head. "Subtlety never was Chloe's specialty."
"I guess not," Sami sighed. "You might as well sit down, she's probably going to be gone for a while."
"Yeah," Brady muttered, settling down into the chair beside her bed.
They were both quiet for a long moment, and he sat there fidgeting with his hands, which brought a faint smile to Sami's lips. He never had been very good at sitting still, it had driven her mother and John crazy when he was younger.
"So..." Brady cleared his throat uncomfortably.
"Lexie tells me that I probably owe you my life," Sami said quietly, deciding to have mercy on him and give them something to talk about. "That if you hadn't been there, I wouldn't have made it."
"You were pretty bad off," Brady agreed softly, and she saw him swallow hard. "I wasn't sure you were going to make it. Especially not when you..."
"When I what?" Sami asked.
Brady raised his gaze to meet hers. "When you called my mother's name."
"Oh," Sami murmured. "That."
"Did you... I mean, was she there?" Brady asked hoarsely, his eyes pleading for something she couldn't identify, but she could understand the sentiment behind it. He'd been just a baby when Isabella died, and what precious few memories he had of her when hazy and distant. Of course he'd want to absorb even the tiniest bit of information about his mother.
"I'm not sure," Sami admitted softly. "I remember being scared and in a lot of pain, and you were there, trying to get me to stay awake, but then... it was kind of like someone had put their arms around me, you know? I felt safe, and I wasn't scared, because I knew that whatever happened, I was going to be taken care of."
She paused for a moment, trying to focus on the memory of Brady's face hovering over her, of his frantic cries echoing in her ears, and of the figure in the distance that had diverted her attention away from her stepbrother.
A silhouette against the dark winter sky... a woman holding out her hand to a little girl... someone telling her that it was time to go home... laughter echoing in the distance...
"I don't know if she was really there," Sami said at last, her chest aching with an emotion she couldn't really define. "Or if I just wanted her to be so badly that I convinced myself she was."
Brady was silent for a long moment, staring down at his clasped hands. "She came to me," he confided in her quietly.
"She did?" Sami asked breathlessly.
"When Chloe was struggling to fight her leukemia," Brady nodded. "She was watching over her for me."
"That sounds like Izzy-B, alright," Sami murmured.
"So maybe she was watching over you, too," Brady suggested softly. "I mean, Dad told me how much she loved you and Eric, so it would make sense, wouldn't it?"
"I'm sorry for throwing your mother's death in your face a few years ago, Brady," Sami apologized with a whisper. "It was cruel of me, and I shouldn't have said it."
"No, you shouldn't have," Brady agreed gravely. "But we were in the middle of an argument, and I remember saying some pretty nasty things to you that day, too."
There was no denying that, and Sami had no intention of trying to, so she merely avoided a direct response. "She was a wonderful woman," she told him with a sad smile. "It's too bad you didn't get a chance to get to know her."
"Yeah," Brady sighed. "I really wish I had. From what Dad's told me, it sounds like she was a really great mother."
"The best," Sami said with a soft smile, remembering the games of Tag Team Old Maid they'd played against Eric and John. Isabella really had been a mother to her during those vital childhood years, and she missed the woman even to this day.
Brady got that look on his face, the one she knew meant he was about to ask her something she really didn't want to hear. She'd seen it on John's face enough over the years whenever he was trying to connect with her, and it always led to some sort of emotional and stressful subject.
I can't do this right now, Sami thought with a groan. Yes, there was something appealing about the notion of having a better relationship with her almost-sibling, but there was only so much a girl could take in one day.
"So how long is Chloe in town for?" she asked, quickly changing the subject on him before he could speak.
"I'm not entirely sure," Brady admitted with a sigh. "Granddad flew her home for the holidays as a surprise, but she's got the opera company to go back to sometime soon."
"She's really lucky," Sami mused. "Having the chance to fulfill her dreams and all."
"She's talented, not lucky," Brady corrected.
"She's lucky," Sami repeated firmly. "Because she has someone in her life who puts her happiness before their own, someone who believes in her."
Brady opened his mouth to reply, just as the door opened and Chloe returned with a can of Coke in hand. "Sorry that took so long," she said, chuckling sheepishly. "I got my quarter stuck in the vending machine and it wouldn't budge, so I had to find an orderly to shake the machine."
"Strong men are handy to have around," Sami observed conspiratorially.
"Is that why Lucas is hanging around all the time?" Chloe asked with a grin.
Somehow, Sami managed not only to keep from blushing, but to pull of a disinterested expression, as well. "Lucas and I share a son, Chloe, remember? You haven't been out of town that long. He kind of has to hang around, pay child support, that kind of thing."
"So he stayed at the hospital because of Will?" Brady asked skeptically, and Sami resisted the urge to scowl at her stepbrother. "No other reason?"
Thankfully, she was saved from having to answer because just then the door opened again, and Belle stepped into the room with a broad smile on her face. "Brady," she cried in delight. "You made it."
"Yeah," Brady nodded. "Granddad let me put most of the work off until tomorrow when I told him we were coming here to see Sami."
Sami snorted to herself, rolling her eyes. She highly doubted that Victor Kiriakis had let them leave early because of her. The man despised her almost as much as she despised him, but she felt she was entitled to hate the old man as much as she wanted to. After all, he'd been in on all of Kate's plots to kill her, now hadn't he? And he'd had the audacity to threaten her at her grandmother's funeral of all places.
In her opinion, the world would be a better place when Victor kicked the bucket.
"Uncle Brady," Will's face lit up as he slipped into the room, a soda in hand. "What are you doing here?"
"We came to see how your Mom was doing," Brady answered with an affectionate smile. "How are you holding up, pal? You being strong for your Mom?"
"I guess so," Will shrugged. "But she has Dad for that."
Brady and Chloe were too busy giving Sami a pointed look to notice the smirk that crossed her son's face, but Sami didn't miss it. She knew that smirk entirely too well not to catch it when it was flashed in her presence.
Oh, you are definitely your father's son, little man, she thought with a shake of her head. He was starting to scheme against them, she just knew it, and if he had inherited her skills of manipulation plus his father's craftiness, then they were in for a bumpy ride.
"How was lunch, Will?" Sami asked.
"Good," her son replied with a smile, coming over to perch on the edge of her bed. "We had tacos, and Aunt Belle let me get the mega combo."
"He sure eats a lot," Belle commented, wrinkling her nose in amusement.
"Growing boys need to eat," Brady pointed out.
"Yeah," Will nodded in agreement. "Hey, where's Dad?"
"He went home to shower and get me some stuff from the apartment, not to mention get some food since he hasn't eaten since yesterday," Sami answered. "He'll be back soon."
"Speaking of food," Brady said, glancing at Chloe. "We should probably get going. I don't know about you, but I'm starved. I didn't eat enough at breakfast."
"Probably because having Nicole batting her eyelashes at you made you lose your appetite," Chloe snorted in disgust, and Sami gave Brady a surprised look. "I know you said she's just doing it to annoy your grandfather and all, but it's shameless."
"Right," Brady said uneasily.
Well, well, Sami mused to herself. Looks like I was right about Nicole and her step-grandson, after all.
What was it with her idiot brothers and Nicole Walker? First Eric, now Brady? Who was the woman going to chase after next- Rex?
"It was good to see you, Sami," Chloe said with a warm smile. "I hope I'll get to see you again before I leave town."
"That'd be nice," Sami replied.
"I'll probably be back tomorrow, if I have time," Brady informed her. "If not, I'll definitely come by the day after."
"Whenever," Sami shrugged, wishing he wouldn't try so hard. Just because she was in the hospital didn't mean he was obligated to visit. But if he wanted to she wasn't going to say no, any company was better than none. "Lexie says I'm going to be locked up here all week, so I'm not going anywhere."
"Okay," Brady nodded. He hesitated, then leaned forward to kiss her on the cheek, catching her by surprise. "Feel better, okay?"
Startled, Sami could only nod in response.
Brady stopped to give Belle a kiss on the cheek, as well, and to ruffle Will's hair, before he and Chloe let themselves out of the room, shutting the door behind them. Sami stared after them for a few seconds, not entirely sure what to make of Brady at the moment.
He hadn't cared much for her in the past, at least not as far as she knew, but she had seen the fear in his eyes the night before, while he fought to save her life. And she'd heard the relief in his voice today while he visited with her and talked about her attack.
Why are my relatives so damn complicated? Sami asked herself with exasperation. They turn up their noses at me or flat-out ignore me some days, and others they act like we're the Brady Bunch?
Sighing, she leaned back against her pillow and looked up at the ceiling. She was tired, both physically and emotionally. It really had been a long, confusing day, and it was only half-over.
"Sami?"
Lifting her head, Sami looked over at her sister. "What is it, Belle?"
"You never opened the card with your flowers," Belle observed quietly.
Sami blinked in surprise, glancing over at the flower arrangement beside her bed. Sure enough, there was an envelope tucked into the flowers, one she hadn't noticed until now. "I didn't even see it," she admitted ruefully, reaching over to pluck it out of the tiger lilies Belle had brought her.
Upon opening it, she was surprised to find that there was no card inside. Instead, she found a photograph.
A lump rose up in her throat and her fingers trembled as they traced the smiling faces staring back at her.
"I thought you might like to have that," Belle said softly.
Sami knew her sister meant well, the poor girl had such a romantic outlook on life that she thought everything would have a happy ending like it did in the movies. But life wasn't a movie, and sometimes things just got too broken to be fixed, like her relationship with John. Because there was too much bitterness and resentment, too much hurt and anger, between them for them to ever get past that and move on.
"Belle, sweetheart, I know you're just trying to help," she said gently. "But John and I aren't those people in that picture anymore. And sometimes people just can't forgive and forget when they've hurt each other too badly for too long."
"Funny," Belle replied evenly. "That's what everyone used to say about you and Lucas."
"That's a completely different situation, Belle," Sami insisted firmly. "Lucas and I share a son. We've got a very complicated history."
"So do you and Dad," Belle retorted stubbornly. "But you're right, why would it be the same? I mean, Dad only raised you, he was only the only father you knew growing up. He only loved you and Eric more than anything. Why should you even make half the effort with him that you do with Lucas?"
"Belle," Sami said sternly, with a warning look that told her was about to go too far and step into unfriendly territory. "Just drop it, okay?"
Her little sister folded her arms, looking so much like a petulant child who was upset that they weren't getting their way that it would have comical under different circumstances. "Fine," Belle grumbled.
"Thank you," Sami sighed in relief, and held the photograph out to her. "Here."
Belle glared at the photograph for a moment as if it was offending her, then pushed Sami's hand away. "Keep it," she said quietly, and when Sami opened her mouth to protest she found herself being fixed with a steady, challenging gaze that was eerily like Eric's. "Maybe someday it'll be a different situation."
Don't get your hopes up, Sami thought, but she didn't have the heart to say it out loud. "If it'll make you happy," she agreed begrudgingly, and placed the photograph down on the table beside her bed.
"It does, and I'm sure it would make Dad happy, too," Belle said with a small smile. "Thanks, Sami."
Sami shifted uneasily, not really sure what she was supposed to say. Somehow 'you're welcome' just didn't seem appropriate.
"Dammit!"
Both Sami and Belle turned to look at Will with shocked expressions. "William Roberts," Sami scolded, her eyes narrowing sharply. "Watch your mouth!"
"Sorry," Will mumbled, but he didn't look very sorry as he glanced down at his soda, which was now covering the floor. "Uh, Aunt Belle, could you go get some paper towels so I can clean this up?"
A light bulb flickered on in Sami's head, and her anger softened, realizing what her son was up to. He'd conveniently spilled his drink, thus creating a distraction and saving her from what was clearly a very uncomfortable situation. Her son was not only highly perceptive, but sneaky, as well.
"Sure," Belle said, quickly getting to her feet.
As soon as she was out of the room, Sami turned to her son and raised an eyebrow. "Well?" she demanded. "What do you have to say for yourself?"
"Sorry," Will said with a wince. "I know I'm not supposed to curse."
"No, you're not," Sami agreed, a faint smile tugging at her lips. "But I appreciate what you were trying to do, so thank you. Next time just try to watch the language, okay?"
"Yeah, okay," Will nodded, then smirked, looking too much like his father for it to be a good thing. "You know, if you really want to thank me, you and Dad could always renegotiate the terms of my allowance."
Sami raised an eyebrow. "Don't even think about it."
"Right," Will sighed. "Well, can't blame a kid for trying."