Jamie sat at the kitchen counter and watched in fascination as Lucas deftly navigated his way through Sami's kitchen cupboards, seemingly very familiar with their contents. After his initial shock of seeing his old friend he'd asked her if she could check on Sami, while he prepared dinner. Jamie returned from Sami's bedroom after realizing that her friend had quickly cried herself to sleep. After Lucas turned down her offer of assistance she sat down at the counter and filled him in on what she'd just finished telling Sami. Lucas had been horrified to hear what Jamie had been through, but also somewhat relieved. Her story explained Sami's drastic reaction to his words. He'd taken a deep breath and relaxed somewhat, knowing that what Sami really needed at the the moment was just some time and space to sort out her jumbled emotions. At least, he hoped that was all she needed. He desperately wanted to spend the rest of his life with her and only her. He could only pray that once she sorted through her feelings she came to the same conclusion. Turning to Jamie as he stirred the pasta sauce he asked tentatively.
"So you think she'll be okay?"
Jamie smiled. "Are you asking my professional opinion or my personal one?"
Lucas' brow arched. "Professional? Don't tell me you became a shrink! Does Sami know?"
Jamie laughed. "I'm not a psychiatrist. I have my PhD. in Psychology. I work at a college on the west coast. And yes Sami knows, I told her this afternoon."
Lucas chuckled. "I'll bet that thrilled her to no end."
"She took it pretty well." Jamie grinned. "We made a deal. I can stay with her as long I want but I had to promise her that I won't analyze her every word."
"So you're a psych prof. Do you guys still run little experiments on the freshmen students every chance you get?" Lucas smirked, remembering the psych class he took during his brief stay at Salem U years ago.
"Hey!" She protested. "We don't experiment on them unless they're willing!"
Lucas smirked. "Really? Well what exactly do you call cramming 400 students into a lecture theatre that holds only 300?"
Jamie deadpanned. "My school's not that bad. We only try to squeeze in 350."
Lucas laughed. "Nice. So what made you go into psychology? I guess I never bothered to ask you what your future plans were when you lived in Salem." The realization made him feel a bit sheepish. He'd been blind to so many things years ago.
Jamie noticed his slightly flushed skin and averted eyes. Reaching out she placed her hand on his and gave him a gentle squeeze. "It's okay Lucas. I always knew that your mind was only on one person, even when you didn't realize it."
"I wish you'd told me." He murmured softly. "I mean about my fixation with Sami. I might have actually done something about it if I'd been more conscious of it." He trailed off, his mind occupied with images of how different the past decade would have been if only he'd been able to admit to himself earlier that he'd fallen in love with his blonde angel.
With a gentle smile Jamie replied. "Well I sort of wanted you for myself, so pointing out to you that you should be directing your energies towards Sami rather than her big sister wasn't exactly in my best interest." With a shrug of her shoulders she added. "Lucas we all made a lot of mistakes back then. I mean look at me. I was going through hell at home and I kept it quiet. I should have told someone, anyone, years earlier."
Lucas nodded. "We would have helped you get away from there. You know that right?" Letting out a sigh he continued. "I just wish that Sami and I both hadn't been so preoccupied with our own lives to see what was happening to you."
Jamie flashed another smile. "It's okay Lucas. Everything worked out in the end."
"Yeah, but you ended up leaving Salem."
"I had to. My mom kicked me out and although I loved living with the Brady's at the pub, they weren't my family and I felt like I was imposing. I needed to make a fresh start so I headed to school on the coast. And I wasn't completely alone. I moved to the same place as Sami's aunts Kim and Kayla. Kimberly helped me a lot, in fact she's the person who encouraged me to take this career route."
"I'm glad you weren't alone." He let out a sigh of relief. She seemed happy enough with how things had turned out after she left Salem, so perhaps it had been the best move for her. "You mentioned your mom. Does she still live here?"
Jamie shook her head. "I haven't spoken to her in years, but I hear she's living in Florida now."
"What about your sister?" He paused, trying to remember the young woman's name. "Heather right?"
Jamie's smile disappeared at the sound of her sister's name. "She followed me to the coast, but whereas I took what had happened to me and turned it into something positive, she didn't. She never recovered from what Dad had done and she turned to drugs. I lost her to the streets." She paused, trying to regain the composure that she was desperately clinging to. The subject of her sister never failed to make her upset. "The last I heard she was working on the streets of Los Angeles."
Lucas cringed, knowing full well what she'd meant. "I'm sorry."
"Thanks." She spoke softly and watched as he briefly turned his attention back to the dinner he was preparing. He quickly drained the pasta and added the remaining ingredients for his casserole. They remained in a comfortable silence while he continued the preparations. Finally as he placed the casserole in the oven he turned to her and motioned to the sofa. "It'll be in for about 45 minutes. Let's go sit down and catch up some more."
Jamie grinned. "Sure. You can tell me all about you and Sami and Will of course."
Lucas looked a bit surprised. "I thought Sami filled you in on everything!"
With a shake of her head she replied. "We have years to catch up on. She covered the basics, you know about what happened with her grandmother and her parents. I'm sorry by the way Lucas, really sorry about your Grandma and your Aunt Maggie."
Lucas' face clouded momentarily in sorrow as he thought about those two very important women. "Thanks. I still miss them very much." He paused and looked at her again. "What exactly did she tell you about us?" He was quite curious to see how Sami described their topsy-turvy relationship.
Jamie gave him an enigmatic smile. "Well I'll give you my personal opinion, as a friend. Let's just say that Sami was less than forthcoming when the subject turned to you. I got the feeling that she loves you and also that she knows she loves you, but doesn't quite know what to do."
Lucas chuckled ruefully. "Yeah that sums it up pretty nicely. Our relationship is basically indescribable."
"You seem more open about your feelings than her."
His shoulders slumped as he let out a big sigh. "For the most part I am. I love her, plain and simple. I want to spend the rest of my life loving her."
"And you've told her that." Jamie coaxed.
Another sigh. "I have. Today was the first time in two months, but yes before we broke up I tried to tell her. She just kept pushing me away. At the time I was hurt. I thought she didn't love me, that she was just using me to get revenge on my mother. But now I know the truth. She was scared of her feelings and what she really needed was just some time and space and instead of giving her that I pressured her..." He trailed off as he walked over to the bureau by the door and picked up the framed photograph that Jamie had been admiring earlier. His voice catching with emotion he continued. "I pressured her and she reacted by pushing me away even more. I should have known when I saw her with that guy..."
Jamie's ears perked at his words. "A guy?"
"An assistant district attorney. I caught her talking to him at the Blue Note." He paused to explain. "The Blue Note is a bar that Brady Black, Sami's stepbrother owns."
"Brady owns a bar? Is he even old enough to drink?" His words had startled her. She could have sworn that Brady was just a small child when she'd lived here before. Well, it is Salem. Children always seem to grow up faster here than anywhere else.
Lucas could tell what she was thinking. With a grin he told her. "You think that's bad, just wait until you see Phillip and Belle."
Jamie's eyes lit up at the prospect of seeing Sami's little sister and Lucas' little brother. She couldn't wait to see how they'd turned out after all of these years. "So you were saying about Sami and some guy at the Blue Note?"
"Yeah, she told me that she was going to bed so I went to the Blue Note for dinner with my mom. When we got there we spotted Sami flirting with a tall dark haired guy at the bar. In hindsight, I know I over-reacted, but at the time I was just so jealous."
"So you were jealous and you confronted her?"
He grimaced as he thought back to their argument at the bar. He'd been so hurt and he'd demanded that she leave with him. If only I could go back and change my reaction. Oh who am I kidding? When have my reactions to Sami ever been anything but passionate? "I did and she said no. I left and the next day we sent Will off to camp for the summer and agreed not to see each other until September."
Jamie's lips twitched with mirth. "Somehow I don't think you two sat down and came to a mutual decision to not see each other anymore."
Lucas smiled slightly. "When Sami and I do things we throw everything we have into it, be it loving or fighting. We fought and fought badly. Then we went to the grand opening of a new country bar that my Uncle Mickey financed."
Jamie gave him a puzzled look. "You went together?"
"Her car wouldn't start that night. She'd been having trouble with it on and off ever since she and John collided the night my grandmother was killed." He shook his head to ward off more unpleasant memories. At her questioning look he added. "But that's a story for another dinner. Anyway, I gave her a ride and then we went out separate ways. I hooked up with another woman..."
"Oh no." Jamie winced, picturing Sami's reaction to that occurrence. "I can just imagine how well she didn't take that happening."
He let out a grunt. "It wasn't pretty. And I didn't help things and neither did my mom, but then she never does." His reference to Kate came across bitterly and caught Jamie's interest. In her conversation with Sami that afternoon Lucas' mother had been mentioned frequently and never with pleasantness. For now she was more concerned about her two friends and let his comment about Kate pass, making a mental note to follow up on the subject later.
"So you met another woman. Did you date her?" Jamie asked curiously. Sami had alluded to another woman being in the scene but hadn't elaborated and with everything else that they'd covered the detail had seemed minor at the moment.
"I took her home that night."
"Uh-oh."
"I didn't sleep with her, if that's what you're thinking. She was willing, believe me, but I couldn't go through with it. We ended up just talking for a while and then I took her home. Unfortunately Sami saw me with her in the hall and just assumed..."
Jamie filled in the gaps. "She assumed that you'd slept with this woman. Did you correct her assumption?"
Lucas frowned, waging an internal battle with himself. He knew he'd hurt her terribly by letting her think that he'd been with another woman, but he'd been so hurt himself that he hadn't been able to reason clearly. With a quick shake of his head he replied. "No."
Jamie couldn't say she was surprised. Lucas and Sami had both always been rather fond of drastic reactions. "But she must have found out eventually right?"
He nodded. "Mimi, that's Belle's best friend and our brother Rex's girlfriend—."
"Wait a minute. You said our brother?"
Lucas smirked. "I like to do that just to see people react. Rex is the son of my mother and Sami's father. He had a twin named Cassie but she was killed along with the others last year. Again, it's a long story and it'll take another dinner just to explain it all."
Jamie laughed. Life in Salem had never been without its share of unusual complications. She was happy to see that nothing had really changed while she'd been away. "So Mimi, the girlfriend of your and Sami's brother..."
"Yeah, Mimi found out the truth and told Rex and Rex of course told Sami." At Jamie's confused look he explained. "Rex and Sami get along better than Rex and I do."
"Oh." She said, implying that she understood when in fact she was more confused than ever. "I suppose that's also a subject that will take up a dinner?"
Lucas grinned. "You could say that. In fact I'd say we have enough catching up to do to last for the rest of the year of dinners. So much has happened since you moved away."
"It's worse than a soap opera by the sounds of it."
"Sometimes it is, it really is." Lucas agreed. "So speaking of the rest of the year, when is the baby due and are you back in Salem for good?"
Giving him another enigmatic smile she answered. "The baby's due in the third week of December and yes I'm back for good. Sami offered Will's room to me for the next two weeks while he's still at camp. She mentioned that between her place and yours she's sure we can work it so I stay with you guys for the rest of my pregnancy. She said she doesn't want me to go through this alone. But I really don't want to impose—."
Lucas held up his hand. "No she's right. You shouldn't be going through this alone. Besides, between both apartments we do have room. Will sleeps wherever he feels like it most nights and I'm sure he wouldn't mind picking one room and letting you have the other for a few months. The kid seems to forever be away on sleepovers anyway." He chuckled, knowing full well that Will's numerous sleepovers were motivated more by Will wanting his parents to be free to be together rather than a desire to spend time at his friends' houses.
"Well if you're sure..."
"Of course!" He insisted and then walked back over to the kitchen to check on the casserole in the oven. "This will be a while yet. I'll just make the salad quickly and then let's grab a drink and I'll tell you another story."
Jamie nodded. "Okay." Turning her back to him she smiled to herself as she flipped through a photo album that Sami had left on the coffee table. Spotting a photo of Lucas and Sami from their younger, happier days as best friends she couldn't help but feel a bit relieved. Things between the pair now were rough, but not unfixable. With a little time and patience and her guidance everything would work out between the two and her plan would fall perfectly into place...