AN: A bit of a shorter chapter than the previous ones. I wanted this chapter to be more positive as it's the holiday season at the end of a very stressful year for everyone. Thank you to everyone who left reviews on the last chapter.

Chapter 9

Sam and Jason were on their way to Sonny's to parlay the information of Sam recognizing the henchman that drugged her. Initially, Sonny and Jason believed that this man was simply a day worker, someone who was simply hired for a job with no questions asked. And it could be very much that he is just a day worker, but he played a much bigger role that night than neither Sonny nor Jason was aware of which could mean that he knows more than either are thinking of.

Sonny greeted the couple as they walked through the door. He asked Jason how Sam was doing. Jason was quick to explain about the iPad and that Sam can understand the conversation as Sonny had been so busy with his own life that he had not bothered to stop around at the penthouse to visit Sam. Jason then proceeded to explain to Sonny about the latest revelation.

"Why haven't we gotten our hands on this guy?! Why didn't we know about this guy?!" Sonny lashed out. He looked disheveled. His hair was no longer slicked back with gel, his shirt was untucked and wrinkled, and it was clear that he had not shaved in at least three days.

"Sonny, how could we?" Jason tried to reason.

"You should've asked Sam!" Sonny yelled.

"Hey, I'm right here," Sam felt as though she'd been excluded.

"How come you didn't say anything sooner?" Sonny asked her directly, but before Sam could read what was said, Jason came to Sam's defense.

"Hey! Stop it!" he yelled., "How could she have even known? She hasn't been a part of the investigation."

"Why not?! I thought you were doing everything to find Brenda. You should've asked her if she recognizes any of the men!"

"I was blown up in a limo!" Sam yelled finally. She was becoming increasingly annoyed.

"And you're here while Brenda is still out there!" Sonny screamed right back.

"Do you understand that Sam could've been killed!" it was Jason's turn to yell.

"See, that's the problem. You're too emotionally invested because of Sam! You're not doing your job properly."

"What?!" Jason was speechless.

"Are you kidding me, Sonny! Jason has been working day and night. Spinelli has been working day and night. Everyone has been working day and night!" Sam was pissed. "How dare you say that Jason isn't doing his work properly. How dare you accuse or suggest that he hasn't been loyal to you."

Sam slammed her iPad against Jason's chest; she didn't have any use for it right now. She didn't want to 'hear' another word out of Sonny's mouth.

"Feel free to call us when you want our help again!" she pointed her finger at Sonny and then turned to Jason, "come on, we're done here." The pair walked in as quickly as they walked out.

"Are you okay?" Jason asked as they headed out to the driveway.

"Yeah, that felt good actually," Sam told him as she hopped into the passenger side of their SUV. Jason gave a quick smile. She was still so feisty sometimes. His little mighty mouse. "I think we should find the guy, what's his name?" Sam asked.

"Carl. I'll ask Spinelli if he can figure his approximate area. Maybe the guy has some kind of social media account or something I don't know. And then I'll get a few of my guys to do surveillance," Jason replied.

"I'll figure out Carl's approximate area. Spinelli is busy having sex with Maxie," Sam laughed. Jason groaned. It was certainly too much information for him.

"At Maxie's right?" Jason wanted to make sure he wouldn't interrupt anything when he walks into the penthouse.

"Oh my gosh, Jason," Sam laughed. Seeing Jason so squeamish was hilarious to her.

"What?!" Jason threw his arms up. He looked over to his right and saw the smile on her face. It'd been a while. "How am I supposed to feel about him having sex?"

"Happy."

"Happy?"

"Yeah. They were happy when they found out we had sex again," Sam remembered the time after the Mexico trip when Maxie had bombarded her questions about what sex was like with Jason. Someone her best friend could simply tell that she'd done the deed. She had said that the 'aura' was beaming off her.

"Okay, that's it. I'm ending this conversation."

Sam giggled again.

The pair had arrived at the penthouse but not before going to pick up Danny at school and Scout at Alexis. Scout, though fussy in the car, was out like a light after eating and being placed in her crib. Danny meanwhile was sitting on the couch watching the kids' program on the TV.

"Do you have anything?" Jason walked over to where Sam sat with her laptop at the desk, making sure to first lightly tap her on the shoulder to alert her of his presence. He also brought her a peeled clementine.

"Thanks," she quickly ripped a section off and popped it in her mouth. "I don't have too much but I know he's somewhere in the Buffalo/Niagara area. I'm trying to narrow down the search though. I found that he has the standard set of social media accounts, but he's been careful to turn off all location settings."

"So how do you know he's around the area?" Jason asked, taking a piece of clementine for himself.

"Hey!"

"What? I peeled it."

"Hm, fine," Sam gave in and then returned to the discussion about Carl. "Carl doesn't have location services but he does post pictures. I'm using this new software that Spinelli developed to recognize landmarks within the pictures to pinpoint the location. Then I'm going to consolidate all the locations and see which one he frequents the most. That'll help out the guys that will surveillance him."

"Great. It looks like a solid plan," Jason said.

"Mom!" Danny screamed, causing Jason to jump. They had somehow forgotten that their kid was still in the same room.

"What's up buddy?"

"I want a clementine!"

"You seriously gave me a clementine without giving our son one first?" Sam laughed while also giving Jason a stern eye. Jason rolled his eyes and made his way over to the kitchen. Sam meanwhile shut her laptop and went over to sit next to Danny, bringing her iPad along with her.

"Hey kiddo," she reached her arm around his shoulders, pulling him tight towards her and putting her chin on his head. "What are you watching?"

"SpongeBob but it's over now," Danny answered.

"It is? Well, what's on next," Sam grabbed the remote and turned to the tv guide. "Ah, interesting." She read through the description of the next kid's TV show.

"What?" Jason asked, returning from the kitchen with a peeled fruit for Danny.

"It's an episode on sign language."

"Let's watch mommy!" Danny exclaimed excitedly. Jason smiled at his son and was more than happy to oblige.

The three of them watched together with Danny curled up with his mom and Jason sat across them in the watched as the new kid explained that his parents were deaf and that he knew how to sign. The other kids asked what sign language was and how to sign. They showed how to sign 'hello' and then moved on to how to sign each other's names. The one kid, Josh, explained that names are often given to you by someone else and is usually based on the personality or some key characteristic of the person. He gave an example of himself in which he made a "J" with his hand and waved "hello". The "J" to represent Josh and the waving was to represent his friendliness and his propensity to wave at others with a smile.

Sam and Danny continued to watch the rest of the episode, but Jason grabbed his phone and began researching on his phone. Soon enough, the episode was over.

"Mom, can I go upstairs?" Danny asked, pointing towards the stairs.

"Yes, of course, go ahead," Sam replied and Danny ran off and up the stairs. Sam turned to Jason. "That was cute. What were you looking at?"

"Well, they were talking about sign names on the TV show and I realized that you didn't have one yet," Jason started.

"Yeah," Sam smiled, curious, and interested in seeing where.

"So I decided to look up how to sign something so that I can give you a sign name," he continued.

"Okay, and what is it?"

"It's this." Jason checked his phone one last time for assurance before putting it into his pocket. He brought his hands up and then gestured to his chest with both hands, all fingers extended, and then brought his hands back out in fists. He then used one hand and with his index finger, waved it back and forth in front of his nose.

"What does that mean?" Sam asked.

"Mighty mouse. This is mighty," he explained while repeating the gesture, "and this is mouse. It's a bit long so you're probably not going to want to use it."

"No, no, stop. I think it's perfect," she said as she reached for his hands. "Thank you."

Jason was so happy to see her smile again.

"Anytime. Mighty Mouse." He leaned over and as she leaned in, he gave her a quick peck on the lips. The two smiled. Maybe things were beginning to calm down. Perhaps this is the first indication that everything will be okay. A glimpse of hope. "I love you," he said. Sam read his lips.

"I love you too."