Chapter Two



Note To Greta2242: I have never posted on Second Chances but I remember going to that website a few times.



"Mr. Roberts is paralysed from the waist down." the doctor tried to ignore the horrified expressions on the people in front of him as he continued, "He'll never recover from this accident. He's going to have to spend the rest of his life in a wheelchair."

"No!" Kate said in a shocked, breathless whisper, "This can't be true. My baby can't spend the rest of his life a cripple. Don't even say that."

"I'm very sorry." the doctor looked at the distraught woman grimly, "But it's the truth."

Sami began taking deep breaths, which were broken by loud, high-pitched sobs. Roman put one arm around Sami and the other around Kate. It wasn't long before both of Roman's shirt was soaked through- his left shoulder wet from Sami's tears and his right shoulder wet from Kate's tears. He just sat there, not knowing how to react, only knowing that he needed to be strong for Sami and Kate's sakes.

"How is he taking it? Is he awake yet?" Roman managed to ask.

"He woke up a little before I came out here to talk to you." the doctor replied, "We haven't yet told him because we thought it would be best if one of you went in and broke the news to him."

"I can't tell him!" Kate wailed, "I can't tell my son that his entire life is ruined! I can't." she turned her tear streaked face in Sami's direction, "You should be the one to tell him."

Sami didn't want to be the one to tell Lucas the truth either, "Why me?" she exclaimed.

"Because it's going to break Lucas's heart when he finds out." Kate hissed angrily, "And since you don't have a heart, then it will be totally painless for you to tell him the truth. You might actually enjoy it."

"Kate, I know you're upset but there is no reason to treat Sami like this." Roman gently chided Kate, then his attention moved on to Sami, "Samantha, I think it would be easiest if you were the one to tell Lucas the news."

Sami opened her mouth to protest, then closed it. She didn't see how she could tell her father and Kate no. Even if she hated Kate Roberts with every bone in her body, she felt sorry for the woman. Sami knew she would be taking it even worse if it was her in Kate's place with Will. She decided to do the closest thing to kindness for Kate she ever had done and go and tell Lucas without arguing. Lowering her head meekly, she followed the doctor down the hall to Lucas's room.

One they got to Lucas's hospital room, the doctor left Sami alone with Lucas. He looked up at her with a slightly dazed expression on his face. Sami smiled softly at him, then sat down next to the bed.

"How are you feeling?" Sami asked him, trying to prolong telling Lucas the news for as long as possible.

"I feel weird." Lucas said, his voice sounded a little bit drained from all the medication, "I can't feel my legs, Sami. I can't even move them."

Sami felt her breath catch in her throat at his words, knowing that this was her cue to tell him, "I know, Lucas. And I wish you didn't have to go through this."

Lucas looked at her with a strange expression on his face, "What are you talking about?" he asked her.

"The doctor told me-" Sami paused for a moment, trying to stop her voice from shaking as she spoke, "The doctor told me that you're paralysed. And that you're never going to walk again."

Sami took a long look at Lucas after that. He wasn't in a body cast but he could only move his head and maybe his arms. Everything else was held in place by rods, screws and clamps. She watched as he turned his head away from her.

"Oh." he said flatly, "I bet it felt really good to walk in here on two working legs and tell me that. It must have really made your day."

"Of course it didn't. How can you even say that?" Sami whispered, feeling her eyes burning. Tears were threatening to spill out of her eyes but she wouldn't let herself cry. She couldn't cry when Lucas was going through a much harder time than she was.

"Because it's probably the truth." he snapped, still not looking at her.

"You could get better." she said with fake optimism.

Lucas turned to glare at her, "Don't be an idiot, Sami. You just came in here and told it like it was. I'm screwed, I'm going to be a cripple for the rest of my life. Are you really so heartless that you're going to try and convince me I'm going to get better, to try and give me false hope?"

"I'm not trying to give you false hope," Lucas turned away from Sami and she reached down to touch his toe, "Can you feel that?"

"Feel what?" Sami started at the blank tone in his voice. But even hard realization that he really was paralysed didn't stop her.

"I think there really is a chance." she told him again.

"And I know there really isn't." he shot back, still facing the wall opposite to her.

"I'm so sorry." was all she could say. He seemed so angry, so cold and unreachable. She was so grateful that he had saved Will from a similar fate to his and at the same time, she felt a sympathy for Lucas stronger than she had felt for anyone in a long time.

"I don't want you to feel sorry for me." he responded.

"Then what do you want from me?" she asked, beginning to feel frustrated at his short, scathing replies. She used to be able to understand what Lucas was feeling and now she felt as if his paralysis had caused a wall to come between them.

"I want you to get out of my room and leave me alone. I never want to see you again." he told her and the intensity of his voice made Sami feel weak and scared.

"You don't mean that." she replied, tears continuing to burn around the corners of her eyes.

"Actually I do." he turned to look at her and that was almost worse than him not facing her, "I hate seeing you walking around when I know that I'll be stuck in this wheelchair for the rest of my life."

Sami leaned over and touched his hand, "I am not going to leave you. You saved Will's life and I need you to see how much that means to me. We'll work on helping you get better together. We've always been such a good team, Lucas."

He seemed to soften ever so slightly at her words. He looked down at her hand, which was covering his. Sami noticed his hand was paler than usual but it was warm and soft like it always was.

"I can feel that." he said quietly.

"Good." Sami said, a little bit too eagerly. The hard look was back in place and he closed his eyes.

"I'm really tired. Please leave, Sami." he said and Sami felt deflated. What happened before had been a small success but now it felt like she had taken a step backward again.

"I'll be back." she promised him before leaving.



Sami watched as Lucas pushed his wheelchair so that he was facing her. He was hidden a little bit by dark shadows but she could see his dark eyes burning into hers with a fierce hatred.. She saw his lips part as they began to form the hateful, icy words.

"I blame you, Sami. I blame you." he told her, moving his wheelchair out of the shadows. The sight in front of her was too hard to look at, so she turned away.

"I didn't do this." she told him, trying to keep her voice strong.

"Shut up!" he snarled angrily, "Look at me, you stupid whore! Look at what you've done to me!"

Sami turned to look at him again and let out a little moan, "It wasn't me." now that she could see him clearly, she saw that his legs were now black and shrivelled from going so long without use.



"It wasn't me." Sami moaned again, opening her eyes. She looked around her bedroom, breathing hard. She couldn't believe she had dreamed something like that. Did that mean that deep down she blamed herself for what happened? At least partly?

Sami rolled over in her bed, trying to get comfortable. She, Will and Lucas had moved out of the apartments and into a small, one-story home. It pretty beat-up, with it's faded paint, threadbare carpeting and creaking floors. But Sami felt like she had done the right thing.

Lucas obviously couldn't live alone after the accident. Kate had wanted Lucas to move in with her but with the help of her father, Sami had convinced Kate to let Lucas stay with her. It worked out easier because they had joint custody of Will. Living with Lucas would mean a lot of extra work for Sami, but she didn't care. If he lived with her, then she would have an easier time helping him get better.

The house only had two bedrooms but they had turned an extra room into a bedroom for Will. Lucas's bedroom was next to Sami's and Will's bedroom was down the hall. The house wasn't that much bigger than her apartment and it was in a really dumpy area of Salem.

She still couldn't get over her dream and the look in Lucas's eyes out of her mind. In the dream, he looked at her in almost the same way he had looked at her that day in the hospital. So even if it had just been a horrible dream, she couldn't help but wonder if he did blame her for the accident. Not wanting to think about it anymore, Sami rolled over in her bed and tried to go back to sleep.