DISCLAIMER: IT'S ALIVE! And man…this is one long chapter. But I think you Sam and Murdock fans will enjoy this one since it's nothing but Sam and Murdock. I promise we'll have more of the boys later. But for now, Murdock and his Princess have earned this chapter. And Samantha truly thinks they have.
I hope you enjoy it and it doesn't disappoint. And welcome new readers. Reviews are great and only three more and we'll have hit 300 which is sort of, well, crazy.
In closing I love you Copley you magnificent bastard and I can't wait to see you go all bad guy gruff and mean. Cause I have a sickness.
Chapter 28
"Ouch…"
That word was pretty much the only thing on Murdock's mind as he lay flat on the ground staring up at the sky above him. Was ouch even a word or just a sound? He didn't really care at the moment. Nothing was broken; he knew that feeling too well. Nope he was just really sore, scratched up a bit but otherwise pretty lucky.
"Princess?" He lifted his head and saw her face was shoved into his chest. Her arms were still tight around his middle and she wasn't really moving. That worried him. "Samantha…hey..." He lifted his hand and touched her shoulder. "Baby, you okay?"
Samantha heard him from far away. Everything had been a really quick blur and at some point she'd sort of…passed out? She wasn't sure what had happened inside her brain. They'd jumped out of an airplane and they'd been kissing. OH yeah, she remembered that part of it.
But then the wind was just rushing by and she'd looked down to see nothing but ground really far away beneath them and everything was a blur again. And then there was a loud booming…and Murdock pulled the chute and they'd been yanked upward. She'd held onto him so tight she figured he'd break in two. After that it was sort of slowed down. Sam had shoved her face against his shoulder too afraid to look down. But then she had heard him whisper into her ear "We're flying Samantha. It's okay, we're okay and we're flying."
She'd dared a glance down and sure enough they were flying, floating really. "We're flying…" she said softly, the air hitting her face cold and chilly. It was sort of beautiful. Samantha tried to figure out when she'd sort of shut down and guessed it wasn't too long after that. The drinking booze so fast, thin air, adrenaline…it didn't mix well.
She was still belted to him and she was lying on top of him which probably wasn't helpful to her knight. Sam let out a painful groan and lifted her head slowly. "I don't know…" She managed to say.
Murdock had unhooked the chute and it was laying a good 30 feet away from them. He undid the buckle to the luggage belt and helped her set up slowly, checking her for injuries. She was really pale and she had some cuts and bruises on her arms. He noticed a couple spots on her face he'd not seen before…obviously made from a smack or a punch. Well, he didn't need to waste the time he would have hunting down those guys and murdering them. That had already been dealt with. His fingers touched a small cut near her temple and she winced. "Sorry baby…just checking to make sure you're all in one piece."
"I think I'm all here…" She muttered in reply, still not sure she could walk yet. Everything felt sort of jittery.
He grasped her chin and made her look him straight in the eye. He checked her pupils and they looked alright. Pretty as all heck actually those eyes of hers. "I don't think you've got a concussion, so plus one for our side." He smiled and then noticed she'd grown even paler. Oh he knew that look. Murdock stood up and helped her to stand, knowing she'd be unsteady. He had an arm around her waist holding onto to her tight. "Over here darlin." He said aiming her towards a small tree nearby. She looked at him funny, wondering what he was doing and then her eyes went wide and she barfed her guts up behind the tree in a fashion that would have made Linda Blair proud.
Murdock nodded rubbing her back as she was sick. Yep, first time jumping could do that to the strongest people in the best of situations. Her introduction to the fine art of jumping out of a plane had been chaotic at best. Plus he had had her chug down a decent amount of booze just to keep her calm. He felt more than a little guilty.
When she was finally done puking Sam wiped her mouth with the back of a shaky hand. That wasn't quite dignified or sexy in the least. But at least she hadn't got any on her clothes. "Uhg….I hate barfing." She managed to say.
Murdock reached into his jacket pocket and after a moment produced a stick of mint chewing gum. "Here you go baby."
Samantha gave him a half mumbled and embarrassed thank you and quickly popped the gum in her mouth, chewing vigorously. "Sorry about that…" She told him.
"I've seen men do that after going through a lot less than you just did princess. You're allowed." He gave her a gentle smile. "Feel better?"
Sam took a deep breath and nodded. "Yeah, just achy."
The pilot nodded. "I can relate to that." He reached into his jacket and handed her over her glasses which had managed yet again not to be destroyed. She put them on as he pulled out both their baseball caps. "Okay, we need to get moving. That plane going up and the parachute aren't going to go unnoticed." He handed her hat over, popping his own over his very mussy brown hair.
"You think they are going to come after us?" Sam asked him, nervously, putting her hat on too.
"Well, they may think we are dead…but if anyone saw that all go down most likely they know somebody jumped out of the plane before it went up." He took hold of her hand and started leading her along the field towards what he hoped was somewhere they could rest up. "If they don't hear from their goons, and are smart, they are going to figure out it wasn't one of their boys that made it out alive."
"Crap, you're right." Sam muttered aloud.
"Usually am. Most people just don't realize it." Murdock remarked as they walked the uneven ground. He had very little of an idea of where they were. He figured it was Southern Oregon or Northern California. But that was just a guess. If he'd had more time in the cockpit he could have figured it out, but imminent death sort of made that less of a priority.
He'd had a view from on high while they were heading back down to earth and he remembered seeing a road, probably a highway not too far from where they were. A few larger buildings…what looked like a truck stop maybe? That meant food, rest, and a chance to figure out exactly where the hell they were. Also a chance to contact the team, which was a priority, not the least of which reason was to get the reaming he'd receive done and over with for going against orders. But damn it…she'd have been gone and…well he couldn't even think about that.
They walked in silence for a while, Murdock keeping a hold on her hand. He wasn't normally quiet. But his brain kept rewinding to that first kiss on the plane, and then the second one. Should he say something about that? Should he even bring it up? Damn, did she even remember it since she'd been drinking fast and scared? Why couldn't he have been born with at least 1/10th of Face's way with the ladies?
Murdock decided to let it be for a while. He needed to stay focused on the task at hand which was getting them out of harm's way. With a heavy sigh he kept them moving, finally seeing the highway in the distance.
"Where do you think we are?" Samantha asked him, her voice not nearly as shaky as before. That was a good sign he decided.
Murdock came to a stop, giving them a chance to rest. He led her over to a large tree stump that had seen better days but would hold both of them. The both sat down heavily. The pilot looked around. "I'm guessing Southern Oregon. Area looks about right and from where we were and the amount of time on the plane…yeah…pretty close to the California border."
"Almost home…" She said softly looking away into the distance.
Murdock glanced over at her. She had that look on her face again. Not the yakking up her dinner look, but the haunted closing herself off look. "Hey now…no more of that." He pulled on her shirt sleeve until she turned back to him. "Stop trying to wander off in your noggin and leave me here all by my lonesome. I know the signs." He frowned at her. "You need a slush puppy."
Sam couldn't help it. The randomness of what he just said made her snap out of her worry. "Do what?"
"Slush puppy. Pure sweet chemically colored sugary goodness coating little discs of ice." Murdock smiled. "Turn your tongue Smurf blue and everyone will look at you funny….but you don't care because you are out of your mind on a sugar high of epic proportions. Ain't nothing like it…" He grinned broadly, "Unless of course you've got a Fudge Round to eat with it. And then you're nigh on unstoppable."
Samantha didn't think she could possibly find the man any more attractive, but the mention of Fudge Rounds made her realize she was wrong. "Little Debbie is the devil's concubine." She said laughing at last.
The pilot cocked an eyebrow and in a perfect imitation of Gary Oldman's accent in Dracula said "The chocolate fairy that lives in the Fudge Round wants your soul, but you are safe with me."
Sam shook her head at him grinning despite how down right horrible the situation they were in was. "Take me away from all this grass." She told him, unable to keep a straight face.
Murdock grinned widely and brought her knuckles up to his lips and planted a very princely kiss on them. "I shall do just that princess. Shall we?"
They followed the highway in the direction Murdock hoped he'd seen all the semi's parked. It was about another hour or so before the bright lights of the truck stop came into view. It was full dark and all the walking was causing every ache and bruise Murdock had to hurt twice as much. His biggest concern though was Samantha of course. She needed food and sleep. Actually they both needed food and sleep. And probably a first aid kit and some aspirin. And most assuredly a disposable phone so he could contact the team.
Sam seemed to glue herself to his side when they stepped into the parking lot of the place, giant rigs running in and out around them. Hell, there were even lot lizards that Murdock noticed. Not the classiest women in the world. He didn't care about that though. There was an honest to goodness Motel next door and all he could think about was a shower and real bed.
The truck stop was a big one. It had a fast food area with three different types of junk food places, a gift shop (yep, they were at the border of Oregon and California) and sort of a mini department store for truckers and travelers. Murdock headed to the department store first, Sam tagging along. He grabbed two of their toiletry sets (1 for a woman and 1 for a man) Samantha sneered at the pink color coordination for the girls set but was just happy for a toothbrush and toothpaste. He told her pink and princesses went together like Oreos and milk. She'd glared at him, and he quickly headed towards the medicine aisle.
There was a blessed first aid kit and a big bottle of aspirin. The pilot grabbed those and then hit the snack food aisle. There were the Fudge Rounds, giant and cheap and beautiful. He'd grabbed four of them along with a big bag of Cheetos because he'd freaking earned it and so had Sam. The disposable phones were near the front and locked in a case. He bought one of those as well as a 100 minutes of time on the device.
Sadly there was no slush puppy machine. But Murdock made up for that lack of sugar by buying two of the largest Cokes he could. It was his turn to glare at Samantha when she protested trying to get him to get her a Diet one instead. She'd quickly hushed up. He told her to get into line at her choice of eatery and he'd go pay for their newly acquired booty.
While in line Murdock soon realized he'd been right about the plane. There it was on the local news, a gang of police circling the wreckage. And then his worst fear was confirmed when some dork with a camera phones video was shown of the mystery chute that had appeared near the plane. Christ, they'd been lucky no one had found them yet.
She'd picked the burger place because it was easy, and in her own words "the fries smelled like god's breath."
Murdock had cocked another eyebrow at that. "You sure you don't have a concussion?" He asked her.
"No but I could eat your jacket at this point." Sam replied giving him a look at both scared and intrigued him.
Two cheeseburgers and two large fries later, Murdock and Sam were no longer hungry. Murdock had been fairly quiet, focusing on his food. He didn't think Sam had noticed the news footage, but he wasn't going to worry her about that yet. A good night's sleep wouldn't be that good with that weighting her down.
They headed to the motel. It wasn't the Ritz, but at this point a ditch was looking comfortable. Murdock paid the guy in cash for a room, grabbed the key, and headed down a hallway that's carpeting looked like the outside of the Partridge Family bus.
They came to room 12 and Murdock opened the door with a prayer on his lips that there was no skittering noises when the light was turned on. He flipped the switch and Samantha's head peered over his shoulder. "Well dang, this is better than I was expecting." The pilot said, pushing the door open. There was a TV that was less than five years old, worn but clean carpeting, typical round table and two chairs and a clean bathroom with a shower. There was also a lone queen sized bed but he Murdock hadn't had a choice in that. Apparently the one or two rooms with two beds had been taken by families. At this point the floor looked clean and he wasn't going to mind it at all.
Samantha looked around surprised too. She hadn't been expecting much but the room was decent and clean and my god did she want to brush her teeth. "Bag please?" She asked him, holding out her hand.
Murdock gave a little chuckle and handed his princess her pretty pink bag. She immediately ran into the bathroom, shutting the door behind her. Murdock tossed the plastic bag with the rest of their loot onto the table after taking out the first aid kit and the aspirin. He put that on the bed and then shrugged off his jacket, tossing it over the back of a chair along with his hat.
With a heavy sigh he sat down on the mattress and then just fell backwards staring up at the ceiling. The level of crazy he was could only do so much in the exhaustion and damage done to himself department. The last few days had been doozies and now it seemed his body knew it could take a moment to remind him how much of a jerk he'd been to it.
Groaning just a bit he sat back up and decided to check for how bad it was. There was a wall mirror next to a floor lamp by the bed. He pulled his t-shirt over his head and looked at what he knew would be the black and blue of his ribs. Yep…they were already bruised and looked like he was trying to turn into Violet Beauregard after chewing that gum. There were the scars of course…the ones that were from who knew how many fights before that one that littered his chest. A couple more bruises showing near his collar bone. He had another one showing up near his cheek. He turned so he could check his back for anything that might be worrisome.
The crisscross of deep, ragged lines there weren't anything new. He took a breath as another one of those random great memories screamed through his head of how those came to be a part of his personal landscape. He'd learned to ignore those usually, but he wasn't at his best or anywhere near a hundred percent right then.
This was probably why he hadn't noticed Samantha staring at him for who knew how long and seeing exactly what he wouldn't have wanted her to see in a million years. In fact he nearly tripped trying to get his shirt back in place and instead sat down heavily on the mattress and trying to look at anything else other than her big pretty eyes that had been filled with what he knew had to be pity. And damn it, he did not want that ever from her.
Samantha could tell immediately he was…well…maybe embarrassed wasn't the right word. But my god…those marks on his back… She hadn't meant to stare, but she'd never seen so much of him at once before either. And what the hell had he been through to make those? Part of her brain was also telling her "Damn…you were right about the chest weren't you? Woo!"
"I thought you might want some water for the aspirin." She said and knew how lame she sounded as she spoke it.
She walked over to him and placed the glass on the night stand. He still wouldn't look at her, even as he mumbled a "thanks…"
Samantha sat down next to him. After all they'd gone through….and god knows that whole kissing on the plane and in the air plummeting to possible doom thing…he didn't get to be the one to shut down on her. He'd made it clear she wasn't allowed to chicken out like that so he couldn't either.
Sam pushed the nerves down and licking her lips turned to face him. She took a breath hoping this wouldn't blow up in her face. "I want to see." She told him softly.
The pilot looked at her like she'd just screamed "I'm on fire and covered in Jell-O."
Sam touched his hand and felt him jerk just the tiniest bit. "I want to see." She said again.
He swallowed thickly, feeling more than a little exposed and not knowing what to do. He turned to stare at the floor again. "Why?" He asked her at last, his voice sounding fragile…something she'd never heard him sound like before.
She slipped her fingers around his hand and came to kneel in front of him, so he had to see her. She gave him a smile so sweet he doubted he'd ever see its equal again. She looked up at him with those sea and sky eyes that wouldn't let go of his tired heart and said the words he needed to hear. "Because it's part of you."
Murdock felt something shift inside of himself, or maybe die and come back to life. He wasn't sure how to describe it or if there were words that could. But hearing her say that…and realizing it wasn't pity in her face but something else, well he supposed it healed part of that tired heart that she'd grabbed onto. He took a deep breath and pulled off the t-shirt, still not quite able to meet her gaze.
Up close the ones on his chest and arms were strangely beautiful. She knew it was an odd thought but she'd never really been called normal. Samantha reached up hesitantly to one close to his collar bone, barely touching it. Murdock flinched just the tiniest bit at the contact of her warm fingers. "What happened here?" She asked him her voice gentle, nearly a whisper. He was like a spooked pony ready to run.
He remembered all of them of course. "Bullet during a rescue mission in Kabul." He told her. He felt her fingers gently run along his shoulder to the cluster of marks on his bicep. He tried really hard not to shake.
"What about here?" She asked him.
Murdock took a shuddery breath. "Shrapnel from a crash during a raid in Iraq."
Sam saw another scar near the Ranger tattoo on his other arm. Her left hand reached up and she placed her fingers lightly over it. "This one?"
"Knife wound during a fight with an enemy insurgent." Why wasn't she freaking out yet?
Instead Samantha touched another spot just a few inches up from his rapidly beating heart. This one was bigger than the others, looked deeper and a lot more fatal. "Here?" she asked, her voice still that gentle whisper that was making him keep his fingers curled around the threadbare comforter he was sitting on instead of grabbing her and…well…he didn't know what he would do.
Everything was going haywire. So instead he just answered her truthfully. "Gunshot...bad aim…I won." The implication on that answer was pretty clear.
There were other ones, some smaller and some not so small. The ones on his back though, those were the winners. She hadn't asked about those yet, though he knew she probably wanted to. Of course the ones a life like his had left on the inside were the real doozies. But she wasn't freaked out. She wasn't disgusted. Why? How? How could she be so god damn beautiful and not horrified by all of the scars? Finally he couldn't take it anymore.
He was fast and she knew that, but he was suddenly standing and so was she, and he was holding both her wrists in his hands. He wasn't hurting her, but the look in his now very dark green eyes was strange. Why was he looking at her like that?
He was just staring at her, close enough that he could count the freckles on her nose and see the scratches on her glasses. They weren't quite unscathed after all. Murdock couldn't help it everything was just riled...crazy…and he knew crazy. This was something beyond that. He could see she was starting to get a bit scared maybe. Well he was used to that. But that didn't answer his question. So he finally asked her. "Why aren't you afraid? How can you touch me?"
Samantha wasn't expecting him to ask that at all. The way the words came out was so brittle…broken. Like parts of him were she supposed. Like parts of her were. "Lancelot…" She smiled at him again, hoping he'd see she was telling him the god's honest truth. "Each of these means you survived it. You made it, no matter how much hell you went through you were tougher than whatever it was that tried to stop you. I hope I can be like you when this is over. They're beautiful because it means you lived." His fingers slipped away from her wrists and he just stood there again, staring at her like she'd grown a second head.
Finally he spoke and Samantha didn't know what to make of it when he asked her "Are you…are you real? Where'd you come from?" His southern drawl becoming more pronounced again and the words actually sounding suspicious.
She raised her eyebrows at that. "I think I'm real." She answered him, slightly confused.
Murdock still wasn't sure but he'd be the judge of that. Without hesitation and with no warning he pulled her into his arms and kissed her like he had on the plane. After a few breathless seconds he let her have some air, but still had his arms around her in case she tried to float away like a dream or run…neither of which he was going to let happen. "That felt pretty real."
Sam nodded, her glasses actually steamed up and her hands resting on his very well formed shoulders. This shirtless thing was quickly becoming her new favorite fashion statement by him. "Uh…yes. Real. Uh huh." The fact she could speak was amazing.
Murdock decided he needed more research. Research was fun and important and she tasted like peppermint. So he kissed her again taking his time and managing to make it back to the bed without tripping and injuring them. He very carefully leaned back her back onto the mattress, ready for her to realize she needed to head back to heaven at any moment because the only thoughts going through his brain were way more than sinful.
She still wasn't screaming or running away. In fact she was holding onto him with as much gusto as he was holding her. All of those pictures of what knights and ladies did came unbidden back to his head, crashing through any of the bad memories that might have tried to ruin this perfect moment. By god he wasn't going to let that happen. No way.
Her naughty little fingers ran down his back and along his side and he shuddered. She stopped kissing him and pulled away a little and Murdock wanted to pout like a two year old. "I didn't hurt you did I?" She asked him, her voice reminding him of that time in the parking lot she'd fell into his arms. Warm, whispery and making him want to shake all over again.
"God no…no..." He realized then she'd been banged up pretty badly too. "I'm not hurting you am I?"
Samantha grinned up at him "Exact opposite."
That grin was infectious and he grinned back and then realized the glasses were just going to get in the way, so he very quickly removed those from the equation, popping them over onto the nightstand. Seeing her look up at him so trustingly when he turned back to her was a little daunting. He felt very unworthy of that look and of what he was obviously doing right now.
Samantha saw the hesitation. She'd come to a decision a less than a minute ago when he'd started kissing her and he was NOT going to chicken out. The decision was based on a few things. Firstly she really really really liked her knight. Secondly, she could be killed at any moment in the next few days…so she was going to have fun that she'd most definitely earned. And thirdly, her knight was going to have fun he had most assuredly earned too. So yes, fun was going to be had.
"Lancelot…you do not leave your princess in distress…that's a very unhonorable thing to do." She told him in all seriousness and while he was distracted by what she said she leaned up and after placing a trail of kisses along his rather long neck, she nipped his ear.
Murdock made a strangled cry that he didn't think he'd ever heard come out of his mouth before, and he'd made some odd noises in his day. But when her teeth clamped down on his ear and then her lips did...whatever damn magic they were doing to his neck. His brain just stopped. It just stopped. He kicked it into gear again because he needed to live up to his epic reputation as a knight. He could not leave his princess in distress. No he would never leave a lady in distress, and especially not this one. But there was one thing he needed to say.
"James…" He breathed the name against her cheek, his lips brushing her jaw. "My name…my first name…is James."
Sam moved to look up at him as he peered down at her through that messy brown hair. His eyes were clear and green and she knew she was seeing the real deal look out through them and straight into her. She grinned knowing she was purely snookered, a phrase her dad had used to describe the day he'd met her mom. She was well and truly snookered. She leaned up and kissed him on the cheek. "Hi James." She said, leaning her forehead against his.
"Hi Samantha." He replied. "Nice to meet you." James Murdock smiled brushing his fingers through her hair which still smelled too damn good.
"Nice to meet you too." She told him and they laughed knowing they had at least tonight before the craziness of the real world descended back into their lives. And they proceeded to have a lot of fun.
