AN: Finally part eight lol, slight angst warning if you can call it that lol. Without further ado here we go, happy reading. As always thanks for reading and let me know what you think!

Part Eight

"Drew are you sure about this?" Sam asked her husband for what seemed to be the hundredth time since the night he came back home and told her the truth about what he's been up to. Tonight was the night that Maria would come to dinner and meet their family and Sam was starting to regret going along with this plan the closer they got to it.

"Yes babe, besides it's a little too late to change the plans now. She'll be here any minute." He said before kissing her forehead and going to finish setting up the table.

Sam sighed and looked around the penthouse, they had set it back up to make it look like they still lived there. The kids toys were around but out of the way, some of their old pictures were back on the wall and they had Robert and a few other WSB agents install more security measures in place for the visit and any future visits to be held at the penthouse with Maria or Henry Archer who they heard had decided to come to town after all. Sam didn't understand why but the knowledge of Henry Archer coming to town gave her a sinking feeling in her gut. She just knew he wasn't coming solely because of Drew, she just knew that he had more reasons outside of her husband and Maria's mob status. The only thing that made her more anxious was the fact that she didn't know just what those other reasons were but she had an inkling that they would affect her family and her life nonetheless and killed her to think they'd lose the peace that they had fought so hard to achieve.

She hadn't told Drew about these feelings yet though, she wanted to suss out Maria's motives first. Also she had a feeling that he was feeling the same way since he decided to up the ante on the security measures they've already had in place. Neither one knew what was coming but they both knew not to go into anything with these two unprepared. Before she could even respond the doorbell rang and any thoughts she had died and she was overwhelmed with the intense need to protect what was hers and make sure their guest knew that her family and her man were the wrong ones to try any bullshit with. When Drew opened the door a petite brunette with gorgeous hazel eyes stepped into the apartment with a killer smile wearing a form fitting little black dress that made Sam scoff internally. But what really aggravated her beyond anything was the way she looked at her man. The bitch really had the audacity to come into HER home and look at HER man looking at him like she wanted to jump his bones and take the dick that belongs to HER. If it wasn't for this dumb ass mission she inserted herself into she would slap this chick into her next life.

'Woosah Samantha, woosah.' She told herself, the last thing they needed was for her to catch a case or blow their cover.

"Hey Maria." Drew said, greeting his ex. He made a show of trying to discreetly check her out so that she would think that she has a chance at getting him alone. If he was a lesser man the dress she had on definitely would've had him checking her out for real but as beautiful as Maria was she was no match for the little spitfire that was glaring at them from across the room. MY little spitfire, he thought with a smile. A smile that Maria thought was all for her as she leaned in for a hug, pressing herself against him a little too closely. He kept himself from cringing as he felt his wife staring daggers at his back. He was sure that if looks could kill him and Maria would both be dead, he didn't even have to turn around to feel the irritation coming off of her in waves.

"Hi Drew." She whispered in his ear before giving him a kiss on the cheek that touched the corner of his lips. He pulled back and cleared his throat and she smirked believing that he was pulling away because he was flustered.

In reality he pulled back because he knew if he didn't get away from her Sam would probably say fuck the mission and just kill the other woman where she stood. He wasn't wrong, Sam watched the scene play out in front of her all the while having to hold herself back from stabbing them both. She trusted her husband, knew he loved her and would never do anything to hurt her on purpose. But that didn't block the feelings that seeing another woman that close to him brought. The irrational wave of jealousy, the slight ping of hurt, and the overwhelming anger was almost enough to make her blow this whole thing up in everyone's faces. She didn't understand why the emotions hit her this way. The wayward thought that she could possibly be pregnant again hit her and suddenly she felt a whole new slew of feelings 'I've got to get on birth control.' She noted to herself. For now she'd just blame it on the fact that she just had a baby three months ago. Drew clearing his throat pushed those thoughts away and she schooled her face when she saw him turn around to introduce the mafia cunt.

"Maria, this is my wife Sam." He said making sure to put an emphasis on wife as he introduced the two women. "Babe this is Maria."

"Hi." Sam said with a tight smile as she reached her hand out to the other woman.

"Hello…" Maria responded as she shook Sam's hand and then turned back to Drew. "So this is the woman I've heard so much about?"

"The one and only." Drew smiled as he went to Sam's side and placed his hand on the small of her back.

"Well, I must say you're one lucky woman." She told Sam honestly. She was one lucky bitch to get Drew especially with this new face, 'fuck he's so much more handsome now'. Maria could admit that she was jealous, but she vowed to herself that she'd get him back in her clutches soon, if her plans worked out the way she wanted them to. "It's good to know that Drew is so happy. I was glad to hear that you two have worked out your problems." She said dropping that little bomb as she walked further into the penthouse and looked around.

Drew cursed internally, he forgot to tell Sam exactly what Maria knew. He never actually talked to the woman about their problems but it's not exactly a secret that his twin was alive and that the case of mistaken identity rocked half of the people in Port Charles. She had asked him how everyone dealt with that especially his wife who she had read was married to Jason and he only stated that there had been some rough patches along the way but everything ended up working out the best for everyone involved. That was it, but apparently that was all it took to make his wife move away from him and look at him like she wanted to throw him off of the balcony and breakdown at the same time. The look broke his heart and he knew he'd have to get this Maria shit nipped in the bud because it was now one hundred percent clear that she was after him.

"I'm sorry what?" Sam asked in disbelief. 'How the fuck did she know we had problems?!' She asked herself as she looked at Drew with a mix of hurt and anger. This dinner was going to have to be short, because if this woman kept playing the games she was playing Sam knew she'd snap. The baby monitor indicated that Samuel needed her so she took a deep breath before looking away from Drew and at the stairs. "I'm going to go get him and the kids, would you mind checking to see if dinner is ready?" She spoke quietly.

"No I don't mind, you need me to come help gather the kids when I'm done?" He asked softly.

"It's okay I've got them." She said firmly before walking upstairs.

Drew watched her until she was out of view and then he sighed. 'Could this shit get any worse?' He wondered as he turned to go to the kitchen and check dinner.

"Maria, I'm going to check and see if dinner is ready. Go ahead and make yourself at home. I'll be back in a minute. Sam should be down with the kids soon."

"Okay, you have a lovely home Drew." Maria said with a sweet smile.

"Thanks." Drew forced a smile in return. "I'll be back."

A few minutes later Sam came down the stairs with all three children in tow. Drew waited until he heard their footsteps to come out of the kitchen. Maria had made herself at home by the fireplace with a glass of wine looking at their pictures.

"Mommy who's that?" Danny asked in a loud whisper making his parents chuckle.

"That is an old friend of Daddy's, her name is Maria." Sam told her son in introduction.

"Why, hello handsome. Who might you be?" Maria asked as she walked towards them. Scout hid herself behind Drew's leg wary of the strange woman approaching her family.

Danny blushed and smiled shyly. "I'm Danny, you're pretty." He giggled.

Maria smiled genuinely. "Thank you handsome, now who might this sweet little cutie pie hiding behind her daddy's leg be?" She asked softly, actually interested.

Drew lifted his princess up into his arms, always happy to show off daddy's little girl. "This is my little princess Scout." He said with a proud smile.

"Well hi princess Scout, I'm Maria. It's very nice to meet you." Scout just gave a shy wave and hugged her daddy tighter. "Now who is this little guy?" She asked looking at the baby in Sam's arms.

This time Sam smiled proudly. "This is Samuel, our littlest Jedi." She said looking down at her little prince who smiled a gummy smile at her.

"Aww, well you guys have very beautiful children." Maria said and it was the most truthful thing she said the entire evening.

After dinner…

Maria had just left the penthouse after a very awkward and tense dinner, the kids were good buffers but the tension that Sam was already feeling tied in with the fact that Maria had made several digs and flirted with Drew the entire time made things worse. Sam was pissed, Drew was nervous and the kids had suddenly decided that they wanted to be difficult. Samuel wouldn't let his mom put him down and Scout and Danny refused to listen to her while she tried to get them ready for bed. Normally Drew would handle it but he was on the balcony debriefing with Robert and she didn't really want to wait for him to finish. She was intent on ignoring him for the rest of the night, was that rational? Nope but it was just how she felt. She raised her voice slightly to Danny and Scout who immediately stopped acting up. She bathed all three children together which was the only time Samuel let her put him down without fuss and then made sure her two oldest were ready for bed.

After that she went into their old bedroom, fed Samuel and put him to sleep before putting him in his bassinet and going to take a shower. Drew had finished debriefing with Robert, made sure the house was locked up and walked upstairs to find that the kids were already asleep and heard the shower running. He sighed, he already knew that Sam was pissed but he didn't know what he could say to get himself out of the proverbial dog house. He may not have told Maria about their problems in depth or used her as a shoulder to lean on but he did say that they had problems after Jason returned, breaking the cardinal rule of never telling an ex about your relationship.

"Fuck." He whispered before getting up and walking into the bathroom. He took off his clothes and climbed into the shower behind Sam and watched as she tensed up. "Babe?"

She didn't say anything and he sighed. "Sam come on baby talk to me." He reached for her only for her to pull away.

"Drew I really don't want to be touched right now. Just take a shower okay and then let's call it a night okay?" She pleaded all the while never turning to him.

"Are you really that upset with me?" He asked quietly.

"I just… I just need a minute to just be myself." She said before exiting the shower and getting a towel.

Ten minutes later she was fast asleep, Drew had walked into the room to see her snuggled around his pillow. He got in bed next to her and pulled her into his arms smiling at the fact that even if she wanted nothing to do with him right now her subconscious self yearned to be as close to him as possible.

The next morning…

The first thing Sam did that morning was text Dr. Lee, who told her to go ahead and come in after twelve because her schedule will be clear at that point. That gave Sam about three hours to kill and she had planned to spend that time with her children but when she went to get Samuel out of the bassinet he wasn't there and neither was the baby monitor. She checked Danny and Scouts rooms as well and there was no sign of her children at all. Figuring they were downstairs eating breakfast with their dad she headed down but when she got down there she found that her kids were gone and her husband was making breakfast.

"Where are the kids?" Sam asked as she sat in the little breakfast nook.

"Molly came to take them to your moms about an hour ago. We need to talk." He told her as he cut the stove off and made her a plate.

Sam sighed and ran her fingers through her hair. "I can't right now. I just came down to eat, and I have to get ready to go to the doctor after." She said tiredly. She really didn't want to talk; she just wanted to forget what happened last night. She could tell that Drew wanted to reassure her and make sure she knows that nothing Maria could say or do would take him away and he'd probably tell her how Maria found out about their past problems but she truly wasn't in the mood for that at the moment. She really wished she knew why her moods just plummeted so quickly now, and she prayed with everything in her that it wasn't because she was pregnant. Her kids were her life but three was enough for her, and she and Drew agreed on that about a month after Samuel was born. So the last thing on her mind at the moment was talking about Drew's ex.

"Babe…" he started but she cut him off.

"Drew just stop, okay?! I'm sorry I don't want to talk about your ex or last night right now alight. We can talk after my appointment. I'll meet you back at the house. Now can we just eat breakfast and start our days?"

"Fine… I won't push, but we will talk about this when you get home." He said sitting her plate in front of her and then taking the seat across from her. "So are you going to tell me about this doctors appointment that I'm just hearing about? Or is that off limits too?" He said sarcastically, he couldn't help it. He tried not to be upset over the fact that she was acting like this with him but he couldn't help it.

"I'm going to see if I'm pregnant again." She told him bluntly.

Drew almost choked on his eggs at the shock of her words. "What? Sam…" he started but was at a loss for words, if she was pregnant again then it was the last thing they needed at the moment. He didn't want to say that because even if another pregnancy right now was an inconvenience the baby wouldn't be and he couldn't honestly say that he wouldn't be happy but they had agreed that three was enough.

"I know… Drew… we can't have another baby right now. It's already a lot and with everything that we're about to do, if I'm pregnant…" she trailed off.

"I know, babe I know. But no matter what we'll find a way to make it work for us, we always do." He said as he grabbed her hand and kissed it.

"Yeah, yeah we do." She said with a slight smile and dug into her breakfast before it got cold. They didn't say anything else for the rest of the meal and they were okay with that. Once the meal was over they showered together and she left him with a kiss and a promise to keep him posted and that they'll talk when she gets home.

General hospital…

"Okay Sam I have good news and bad news." Dr. Lee said as she walked back into the exam room Sam was waiting in after getting her blood work and a couple of other tests done.

Sam groaned. "Kelly just tell me." She said looking at her friend.

"Okay well first I just want to say congratulations! You're not pregnant. That feels very weird to say by the way. The bad news is that none of your tests indicate anything is wrong with you. Your hormone levels are normal and so is everything else. It's most likely just stress and I'm sure I don't have to recommend ways to relieve that." Dr. Lee said with a slight smirk.

Sam breathed a sigh of relief at the fact that she wasn't pregnant but she frowned at the fact that all her tests came back normal. This didn't feel like stress but she trusted Kelly. She felt the need to be honest though. "I get plenty of stress relief doc, which is why I got worried. Kelly this honestly doesn't feel like it's just stress." She said, telling Dr. Lee her hunch.

"I know and I'm not saying that it is but Sam, none of your tests are indicating anything right now. We could do some more in depth tests and get you in for testing with Dr. Finn and Dr. Griffin in a few days once we get the results of the new tests. I know they treated your toxoplasmosis last year. I highly doubt that it could be that again, especially since Samuel's birth was pretty normal but I'm not the expert in that field of medicine, that's Dr. Finn." Dr. Lee told her honestly.

"Yeah, I doubt it's that but I don't know at this point I'm really ready to try anything. The last few days have been so out of whack for me emotionally and it's starting to drive a wedge in between me and Drew. And we have already come so far after everything Kelly I can't lose him." Sam told her doctor and friend, her voice breaking at the thought.

"You're not going to lose Drew, Sam. That man loves you so much and he's not going to let anything come between you again, now all you need to do is make sure you don't let anything get between you two either. Are you still going to therapy?" Kelly asked.

"Yes. I actually have an appointment later this week." Sam told her. She and Dr. Clarke had come a long way in her sessions over the last few months. She hasn't seen her since she's started having these feelings though. She made a mental note to tell her about them at her appointment.

"Good, make sure you fill her in on these feelings as well, especially if they keep up. She may be able to bring some insight into the emotions and what they mean if the next few rounds of tests and consulting with Finn and Griffin don't bring any results." Dr. Lee advised her, taking off her friend hat and speaking to her as her doctor.

"I will."

"Okay now let's get these new tests done and get you out of here." Dr. Lee said and patted her knee.

Sam and Drew's house…

Sam walked into the house feeling exhausted than she had been when she left so the first thing she had planned to do was take a nap. She wasn't about to get her wish though, because when she walked past her living room her husband called out to her. Taking a deep breath she stopped, turned around and walked into the living room after remembering that she did promise him they'd talk when she got there.

"Hey babe." Drew said getting up to give her a hug and a kiss which she relished in.

"Hi." She whispered against his lips before kissing him again. She really couldn't believe that she made herself miss out on this last night.

"How was your appointment with Dr. Lee? Is there an announcement that needs to be made in a few months?" He asked softly after they broke their kiss.

"No." She said simply and he nodded.

"Okay, so is everything alright?" He asked in concern.

"We'll see. She ran more tests and set me up with an appointment to see Griffin and Finn later this week. I also have my therapy session with Dr. Clarke this week as well so I'm sure we'll know something soon."

"Wait, Finn and Griffin? Sam what's going on, are you sick again?" He asked with a hint of panic in his voice.

"Kelly doesn't think it's the toxoplasmosis reappearing but she ran more tests because whatever it is I've been feeling can't be chalked up to being just stress. I thought that with everything I've been feeling lately that it was because I was pregnant again but that's not it, it's also not a hormonal imbalance. I'm going to see Griffin and Finn to see if they can tell if it's anything that they would handle, but only after the new test results come in and if I'm still feeling the way I have been. Therapy just helps in general, but maybe Dr. Clarke can shed some light on what these feelings mean. This is just about covering all the bases."

"Okay, okay. Well I want to be there when your results come in. And I'm going with you when you go see Griffin and Finn, if it comes down to you having to see them." He stated firmly.

"Okay." She said without bothering to fight him on it. There was no point in it anyway he'd just convince her regardless.

"No trying to convince me I don't need to? You really must not be feeling like yourself." He joked.

"Shut up!" She laughed and playfully pushed him away. He laughed with her and pulled her back into his arms and kissed her.

"I love you, you know that?" He said suddenly with a serious look in his eyes.

"Yes." She whispered in response. "I love you too." She sighed. "I'm sorry I pushed you away, I'm promise I will work on not letting these feelings whatever they may be push you away again."

"Don't… don't apologize Sam. I'm not saying that pushing me away was okay. But your feelings were valid and I know that they started after I told you Maria was in town and I was working with Robert to take her down. The late nights and that dinner last night didn't help either, that was a hairbrained idea and I'm sorry. I know what it feels like to be in the same room with the love of your life and the person they loved before you and having to watch as they interact with your family. I should've known better." He told her softly.

"You don't have to feel sorry about going along with something I agreed with Drew. None of this is your fault, I wanted to be involved. I wasn't worried about seeing you in the same room as her or how I would feel about watching her interact with my family because I know where your heart is and I know who you love, this wasn't like what we experienced when Jason came back. Last night that bitch had her hands all over you and she blatantly disrespected me in my own house in front of my children and she brought up problems in our marriage that we fought hard to work through with a smug smile on her face. I didn't appreciate that and I'll admit that watching you barely do anything to correct her behavior didn't help, and yes I know you didn't want to blow our cover but I wasn't completely prepared for it. I thought she was just in town for some mob shit and other nefarious bullshit but clearly her main goal also includes getting back with you." She told him, feeling the anger building inside of her again at the thought.

"That will never happen and I promise I will never let her disrespect you or touch me again." He said vehemently. He would never let anything come between them again, especially another person.

Sam scoffed. "And how do you suppose you'll be able to keep any of that from happening while staying undercover?" She asked with a raised eyebrow, genuinely curious as to how he'd manage to keep that promise when the whole point of this mission is to get Maria to trust him enough to open up about why she's truly back.

"I'll blow it!" He exclaimed. "Fuck the mission, Robert will just have to find some other way to figure out what Maria is planning without me."

"Drew…" She started, a little shocked at his reaction.

"No Sam." He stated firmly, cutting off whatever she was about to say. His mind was made up, he pulled out his phone and was about to dial Robert when she smacked it out of his hand. "What the… what are you doing?!" He asked her incredulously.

"You're not going to blow your cover or stop this mission." She said resolutely and took a deep breath. "We just have to figure out how to proceed without blowing your cover, and without giving Maria what she truly wants. Things are already set in motion Drew, it's too late to back out now."

"Sam I'm not doing this if it's going to take us ten steps back after everything we've been through." He sighed and picked up his phone.

"It won't." She said firmly before snatching his phone out of his hand, not trusting him with it at the moment.

"Fine." He said raising his hands in surrender and throwing himself on the couch in defeat. "How do you suggest we do this then?" He asked, staring up at her with his head in his hands.

"Why, I'm glad you asked." Sam said with a smirk and threw his phone onto the chair before removing his hands from his face and straddling him. "We do this the only way we know how." She told him as she caressed his beard and looked at his lips. "Together." She whispered and then sealed the deal with a kiss. Teamwork is what makes the dream work after all and that's what they were, a team.