Chapter Twelve
"Which floor, Belle?" Shawn asked, glancing over at his girlfriend.
"Third," Belle answered, and he pressed the corresponding button, the elevator doors sliding shut in front of them. "They moved her out of the recovery ward and into a standard room yesterday afternoon, so she's got more space now."
"Not to mention her own bathroom," Mimi added with a smile. "Knowing Sami, she's probably thrilled about that."
"Who wouldn't be?" Belle replied with a nod.
"Who cares about the bathroom?" Shawn snorted. "The good end of the deal is that she has a sitting area for her visitors, and they hooked her up with a television so she doesn't go crazy with boredom."
"Sami?" Philip Kiriakis echoed dryly. "Crazy? Never."
Rex spared his half-brother a glance out of the corner of his eye, but remained silent. He may not have been close with Sami, but he certainly liked her better than the rest of his siblings in Salem.
"Play nice," Belle scolded lightly, swatting Philip in the arm.
Philip smiled that annoying smile of his. "I'm just kidding," he assured her. "I like Sami well enough when she's not making my brother's life a nightmare or trying to drive my mother over the edge. She did give me my only nephew, after all."
Philip's brother, my brother, Rex thought sullenly. Philip's mother, my mother. Philip's nephew, my nephew.
God, his family tree was so messed up. Then again, he'd already known that. He had a half-brother and a half-sister who had a son together, after all.
"Speaking of your brother," Belle said, tilting her head thoughtfully. "Lucas hasn't left the hospital at all since Sami got her except to go home and get some of her things for her. He's been really great the past few days."
"Yeah, I noticed," Philip nodded with a wry smile. "Unfortunately, so has my Mom. She's been ranting about it every chance she gets. Lucas is in for an earful when she finally manages to pry him away from Sami."
"That might be a while," Belle informed him evenly. "Lucas doesn't seem to be in any hurry to go anywhere."
"I noticed that, too," Philip replied in kind.
The elevator came to a halt with a loud chime, and the doors slid open.
Shawn stepped out first, placing his hand in the door to make sure it stayed open long enough for the others to get out. Rex was the last one to emerge from the elevator, and Shawn fell into step beside him as they followed Belle down the hall. If there was one relative that he didn't feel uncomfortable around, it was definitely Shawn, and it was kind of nice to have at least one member of the Brady family on his side, even if not too long ago Shawn had been convinced that he had something to do with the serial killings.
"This way," Belle announced, leading them around a corner and past a nursing station, where several nurses greeted her, recognizing her as the daughter of Dr. Marlena Evans Black. Rex almost rolled his eyes, not missing the fact that not one of them had ever acknowledged him during the time that he was thought to be Marlena's son.
The town of Salem was synonymous with hypocrisy sometimes.
Belle stopped in front of a door marked 315, and knocked. "Anybody awake?" she called through the door.
"Come on in," came Lucas' voice from the other side of the door.
Belle pushed the door open and led the way into the room. "I'm back," she informed her sister with a smile. "And I brought visitors."
"And we brought gifts," Mimi added, holding up the stack of People, Cosmopolitan and Vogue magazines that she and Belle had gathered to give Sami as reading material in case she got bored. Rex wasn't exactly sure how that counted as reading material, but he'd learned a long time ago not to argue with the girls about that sort of thing.
"Then by all means come in," Sami said with a chuckle.
Sami was sitting up in her bed, propped up against a pillow, and dressed in a pair of light blue pajamas, her golden hair pulled back into a loose ponytail at the nape of her neck to keep her hair out of her face. Lucas was seated in a chair beside her bed, and Will was sprawled out on the couch, his attention glued to the television mounted in the corner of the room.
Rex saw Lucas' gaze drift around the room, pausing briefly on him, before focusing in on Philip. "Hey, bro," he said, blinking in surprise. "What are you doing here?"
"Thought I'm come by and see how you three are doing," Philip replied casually. "Hey, Will, what are you watching?"
"Star Wars," Will replied, without looking away from the television. "Episode Five."
"Which one is that again?" Philip asked.
"Empire Strikes Back," Rex answered reflexively.
That got Will's attention, and the kid grinned up at him. "Want to watch it with me, Uncle Rex?"
Rex glanced over at Mimi, who gave him an encouraging smile, so he shrugged. "Sure," he replied, and dropped down beside Will on the couch. Up on screen, the famous revelation was taking place on Bespin, with Darth Vader announcing that he was, in fact, Skywalker's father. "Ah, the best part of the movie."
"Definitely," Will agreed enthusiastically, and Rex smiled at his nephew's exuberance before glancing back up at the others. Philip and Shawn were standing over by Lucas, talking to Will's father quietly, and Mimi was busy watching him and Will with a smile on her face, but Belle had gone immediately over to Sami's bedside and was just now pulling back from a long embrace with her older sister.
"How are you feeling today?" Belle asked.
"Okay." Sami shrugged. "They're starting to wean me off of the morphine, which sucks, but Lexie says they're going to switch to codeine once the morphine is out of my system."
"You sound like a junkie when you say that," Shawn observed with a snort.
"Laugh it up, Brady," Sami retorted with a scowl. "When I get out of this bed, I'm going to hurt you."
Shawn's expression sobered quickly, but not from any sort of fear at Sami's threat. Instead, Rex saw a flicker of guilt cross Shawn's face as he swallowed. "I'm sorry," he said quietly, a lump in his throat.
Sami frowned, bewildered. "I wasn't serious, Shawn," she said.
"Not about that," Shawn shook his head. "About what happened at the wedding. I shouldn't have locked you outside in the cold, not with a serial killer on the loose."
"Oh, not this again," Sami groaned in exasperation. "Shawn, I'm going to tell you the same thing I told Lucas, and I'm only going to say it once, so get it through your thick head, okay? This isn't your fault, you didn't know."
"Still, I should have-"
"Shawn," Sami cut him off, clearly irritated. "I don't want to hear another word about it, and I mean it. It was not your fault, it was not Lucas' fault, it was not anyone in this room's fault. Okay?"
"Okay," Shawn conceded at last, nodding his head.
"Good," Sami said.
"Well, I guess you really are feeling better," Mimi joked lightly.
"Nah, she's always demanding and stubborn," Lucas retorted with a smirk, earning him an annoyed scowl from Sami. "Whether she feels up to it or not."
"You're a funny guy, Lucas," Sami muttered with a glare.
"Well, funny looking, anyway," Philip said with a grin, stepping out of the way as Lucas tried to smack him in the arm.
"Did you come here just to annoy me, little brother?" Lucas demanded.
"Of course not," Philip replied. "That was a bonus. I actually came to see if maybe you and Will wanted to come eat lunch with me before I head back to base this afternoon."
"You have to go back already?" Belle asked with a frown.
Philip nodded seriously. "I only had a few days leave for the wedding. I'm due back tonight by six."
"Wow," Lucas sighed. "I feel bad, Philip, this is the first leave you've had in a month, and we didn't get to spend any time together."
"I've still got a few hours," Philip pointed out. "And there's no one I'd rather have lunch with than my favorite big brother."
"Of course I'm your favorite," Lucas snickered. "But that's not saying much considering the only other choice is Austin."
Rex glanced over at Sami, curious to see what reaction his elusive half-brother the boxer's name would have on her, but strangely enough she didn't even seem to notice Austin had been mentioned. In fact, if he wasn't mistaken, she seemed too absorbed in studying Lucas' profile to notice much of anything.
"What do you say?" Philip asked, ignoring Lucas' jibe at their absent brother. "We could go to the Pub if you want."
"That'd be great," Will piped up, tearing his gaze away from the television screen. "I'm starving."
Lucas hesitated, glancing over at Sami, who rolled her eyes. "Go," she encouraged him. "One of us needs to eat real food instead of this stuff they try to force on you here. And our son shouldn't have to suffer through food poisoning."
"If you're good, I'll sneak something back for you," Lucas promised her with a wink.
Sami's eyes lit up. "A cheeseburger?"
"I was thinking more along the lines of some of soup," Lucas replied with a faint smirk. "Somehow I doubt Lexie would approve if I brought you back a burger."
"Fascist doctors," Sami groaned, and Rex smiled despite himself.
"Maybe we can save you some of our fries," Will suggested slyly. "Dr. Carver never has to know."
"We'll see, buddy," Lucas replied, clapping his son on the shoulder.
"Grab your coat, okay?"
"Okay," Will said, scrambling off of the couch and over to the corner where his coat was sitting on the corner table.
"I'm glad you're feeling better, Sami," Philip said with a polite, but not insincere, smile.
"Thanks," Sami said with a weak smile of her own. "And thanks for kidnapping these two for a while, especially your brother here. He's been driving me crazy."
"Oh, is that so?" Lucas asked, with mock offense.
"You always drive me crazy, Lucas," Sami reminded him wryly. "And I'm always more than happy to return the favor."
Lucas rolled his eyes, grabbing his own jacket from the back of his chair and slipping it on. "I know you are," he replied with a smirk. "Don't overdo it while we're gone, alright? If you need anything, use your call-button to get Lexie or one of the nurses in here, even if it's just that your pillow needs fluffing."
"I'm not an invalid, Lucas," Sami scoffed indignantly. "I can fluff my own pillows."
"Oh, really? Then why do you keep whining for me to do it, hmm?" Lucas asked, raising his eyebrow. "Or do you just like it when I fluff your pillows for you?"
Shawn coughed loudly, and Belle placed a hand over her mouth, clearly mortified by the suggestive nature of that question, whether intentional or not. Rex had to bite his tongue to keep from laughing out loud at the expression on Lucas' face as the double meaning of his own words sunk in.
Philip opened his mouth to say something, then stopped, thinking better of it when he remembered Will was in the room. Sami blushed, glaring at Lucas, but the corner of her mouth twitched of its own accord.
Luckily for Lucas, Will apparently remained blissfully oblivious, and hurried back to his mother's bedside to give her a quick hug and a kiss.
"Bye, Mom," he said.
"Bye, sweetie," Sami said with a tender smile. "Be good for your Dad and Uncle Philip, okay?"
"I will," Will promised, and bounding over to Philip, who opened the door, and ducked under his uncle's arm and out into the hallway. "Let's go, Dad, I'm hungry!"
"You're always hungry," Belle called after him with a laugh.
"Don't let him have dessert unless he eats something good for lunch, okay?" Sami instructed Lucas with a stern look.
"I won't," Lucas assured her, starting towards the door. "We'll be back soon. My cell phone is on if you need me."
"I'm fine," Sami insisted. "Now go."
"Bye, Lucas," Mimi and Belle both called. "Bye, Philip."
"Have a good lunch," Shawn added.
Rex remained silent, not having anything to say to either of the two men that he was unfortunately related to. The only thing he had in common with either of them was a few strands of DNA, and that wasn't likely to change.
"So how long are they keeping you here?" Shawn asked once they were gone.
"Till the end of the week," Sami sighed in frustration. "Lexie says they need to keep me under observation, in case there are any complications or whatever."
"Better safe than sorry," Mimi commented.
Sami scrunched up her nose, making a face. "Now you sound like Lucas."
"He's been here around the clock practically since you were admitted, huh?" Mimi asked, and Rex recognized the speculative gleam in her eyes. "Do he and Will go home at night, or are they camping out in here with you?"
"They leave just long enough to sleep, then they're right back here again," Belle answered before her sister could open her mouth. "I don't think they trust the hospital to take good care of her like they would."
Though her words were spoken in a teasing manner, Rex wasn't so sure that she was wrong. He knew that Sami and Lucas had a long and complicated history together, full of bitterness and hurt, but he'd noticed over the past year that for two people who everyone claimed could barely tolerate one another even for their son's sake, Lucas and Sami spent an awful lot of time together.
And hadn't Sami warned him to leave Lucas alone, back when the two men had been squabbling over who should control the DiMera empire in Tony's absence? It was rather ironic that they'd been butting heads over that, when neither of them wanted anything to do with Tony now. Lucas had made a point of quitting after Sami's attack, and though Tony had tried to contact him several times since New Year's Eve, Rex had no desire to see or speak with the man.
Mimi had asked him that night what he was going to do if it turned out that Tony was, indeed, innocent, and Rex still didn't have an answer for her. He wasn't sure what he wanted anymore, much less where he belonged. His idea of family had shifted and changed too many times since his arrival in Salem for him to have even the faintest idea, but the one fact he found painfully inescapable was that Sami was the one person whose role in his life had remained consistent.
She was his sister, whether he liked it or not, and after losing Cassie he was determined that this killer, Tony or whoever it was, was not going to kill anyone else that he... well, anyone else that he considered family. He had mixed feelings when it came to Sami, part of him wanted to ring her neck on a daily basis, but if he was honest with himself, part of him, the part of him that was a brother, didn't like to see her hurting.
And he certainly didn't like to see her like this, confined to a hospital room that she clearly wanted out of just as badly as he would have in her place, but he supposed anything was better than seeing her laying crumpled on the ground, a puddle of crimson blood dark against the alabaster snow.
"At least you've got company to keep you busy," Mimi replied. "After a while television must get boring, and being stuck in that bed can't be fun."
"Not at all," Sami agreed, making a face, and not for the first time Rex was uncomfortably aware that she and Cassie often made the same expressions. It was a painful observation, one that made him miss his other half terribly, but also made him curious to know what parts of himself he might spot in the woman before him.
"That's why I keep visiting whenever I can," Belle said with a smile.
"And between my parents, Roman, Brady, Lucas and I, Sami's probably sick of us all."
"Not all of you," Sami retorted lightly. "But if Mom keeps calling every half hour to see if I need anything, I think I'm going to disconnect the phone."
"She's just worried about you," Belle reprimanded with a grin. "That's what mothers do. You know that if it was Will in this bed, you'd be doing the same thing, because you're a good mother."
"You're right," Sami conceded.
Rex was inclined to agree with Belle. For all her faults, Sami was a very loving and devoted mother from what he had seen. Will was the center of her world, and it was the same for Lucas. It was one of his half-brother's redeeming qualities, in Rex's opinion, that he was such a good father. Having grown up without a mother or a father, and discovering that the last two people in the world he would have chosen were his parents, Rex found that he couldn't help liking his two half-siblings when he saw them with their son.
And there was something about Will that just melted his heart. It was criminal the way that kid could make him falter the way he did.
I suppose that's what being an uncle is all about, Rex thought with a groan. Next thing you know, he'll be hitting me up for money, and I'll probably cave.
It was good thing that Will was a good kid, because with both Sami and Lucas' genetics on his side, he could probably get away with anything.
"My Dad said to tell you that they've got every available unit covering the serial killer case, Sami," Shawn informed her. "He thinks your statement might help narrow down the field of suspects some."
"What field of suspects?" Mimi asked. "Every one of them was inside Tuscany when Sami was attacked."
"Except for Tony," Rex muttered darkly.
Sami looked up at him, as if she was going to say something, but she remained silent, biting her lip as she averted her gaze away from him again.
"They haven't taken him off the suspect list," Shawn assured them.
"Dad's got him under surveillance around the clock now, and they're looking into whether or not the blood Uncle Roman found at the tree lot could have been staged or not."
Rex glanced at Mimi instinctively, remembering how close she and her mother had come to being attacked themselves just after Roman chased the killer away from an injured Sami in the alley behind Salem Place. In the span of one night, both the woman he loved and the sister he was trying to learn to like had nearly become victims of the same psychopath who killed Cassie.
"Whoever it is, I just hope they catch him or her soon," Mimi said with a shiver. "We've already lost too many people we love."
"Like my grandmother," Shawn murmured, exchanging a pained look with Sami.
Mimi glanced in Rex's direction, but he purposefully turned his gaze to study the flower arrangement sitting on the table. He knew why she had looked over at him, because Caroline Brady had been his grandmother, too, even if he hadn't gotten the chance to know her.
"I know you both miss her so much," Belle said softly, squeezing Sami's hand in hers and reaching out with her other hand to touch Shawn's arm consolingly. "But she'd be so proud of you."
"I hope so," Shawn muttered to himself.
Belle opened her mouth to reply, but was cut off when Sami gave a sleepy yawn.
"I think that's our cue to leave," Belle announced, leaning over to kiss Sami on the cheek. "Get some rest, okay? I'll be back in the morning."
"Okay," Sami replied, stifling another yawn.
Shawn moved over to the side of the bed and leaned down to give Sami a hug. "Grandpa Shawn wants to come in and see you, so I'll see if tomorrow morning is good for him. If it is, he and I will come by with Belle."
"Sounds good to me," Sami said with a faint smile.
Rex rose to his feet and silently crossed the room to open the door, holding it for the others. "I'm glad you're doing better, Sami," Mimi told her sincerely as she moved towards Rex.
"Thank you, Mimi," Sami responded.
Mimi flashed Rex a small smile as she slipped past him and out into the hallway. Shawn and Belle went after her, and Rex was about to follow when Sami called his name softly.
Pausing in the doorway, he turned to look back at her with an inquisitive tilt of his eyebrow. "Yeah?"
His half-sister was looking down at her arm where the IV was hooked up, and he saw a small shudder go through her shoulders before she averted her eyes, flipping her wrist over so she didn't have to look at it.
The action didn't surprise him, Mimi had told him once about her brush with execution for a murder she didn't commit, and he felt a twinge of sympathy for Sami.
He hated needles, too, they reminded him entirely too much of his time spent growing up in a lab.
"Thank you," Sami said quietly, lifting her gaze to meet his.
Rex glanced down at the inside of his elbow, which he knew was still covered by a bandage underneath his shirt. "It was nothing," he said dismissively.
"It wasn't nothing," Sami replied, shaking her head gently. "It was something. A big something."
Not knowing what to say in response, and sensing that Sami was just as flustered by her words as he was, Rex just gave her a weak smile. "Get some rest," he advised, and then slipped out into the hallway, pulling the door closed behind him.
Sighing, he leaned against the door and closed his eyes. Dealings with any member of his biological family were usually emotionally exhausting, and Sami was no exception. Sometimes he just couldn't figure her out, and other times he felt like he understood her better than he would have liked.
And still other times, like now, he was somewhere in between.
"Hey," Mimi's voice whispered, and he opened his eyes to find her standing beside him, a concerned look on her face. "You okay? We got all the way to the elevator and I realized you weren't with us."
"Sami had something she wanted to say to me in private," Rex explained.
"Oh." Mimi bit her lip, a hesitant expression crossing her face. "What did she say?"
"She thanked me," Rex replied, still a little shocked himself. "For giving blood."
"Of course you gave blood," Mimi said, as if it was an everyday occurrence. "She's your sister."
A faint smile touched Rex's lips, and not for the first time he wondered how he got lucky enough to have a woman like Mimi in his life. Somehow she always saw the best in him, and in others. The idea that he might have hesitated in helping Sami had never even crossed her mind, and he loved her for it. In truth, he had hesitated, because for a moment he hadn't been sure he felt like submitting himself to a needle for a sister he didn't even really liked, but it had only lasted a second at most before the fact that Sami was his sister set in.
After that, it would have been impossible to say no.
"Still, it was nice of her to say thank you," Mimi mused, looping her arm through his and pulling him away from the wall as she started down the hall. "Maybe she's trying to turn over a new leaf where family is concerned."
"Maybe," Rex murmured.
"So," Mimi said with a slow smile. "Are you glad you came this time, too?"
Rolling his eyes, Rex sighed. "Yes, Mimi, I'm glad I came."
"Good," Mimi said, tugging him towards the elevator where Shawn and Belle were waiting. "And since you were on your best behavior, I think you deserve a treat."
"What kind of treat?" Rex asked, raising an eyebrow.
"What do you think?" Mimi retorted slyly.
"I think," Rex stated with a grin. "That if this is my reward, I may just pay Sami a visit again tomorrow."
