Chapter Four


"Sami, have you seen my jacket?" Lucas yelled at Sami from his bedroom. Lucas wheeled out of the small room and met Sami in the living room.

"Which one?" Sami questioned him.

"The black one. The one that's really big." Lucas replied and Sami knew exactly which one he was talking about.

"The last time I saw it, it was in your closet." she went into his bedroom, only to come out two minutes later empty handed. She shook her head in confusion.

"I don't know what could have happened to it....." her voice trailed off as realization struck, "Oh God. I think it's out in that box in the backyard."

Lucas looked irritated, "Why would it be in a box outside?" he asked.

"Because Will thinks he has a hobo friend. And if Will imagined that he was sneaking his hobo friend food, maybe he thought he was getting clothes for the hobo too."

"That's the stupidest thing I've ever heard." Sami didn't stick around to listen to Lucas, she hurried outside, not wanting to be late for Lucas's physical therapy appointment. She marched over to the box purposefully. She figured that the box would be crammed full of wasted food and clothes that Will thought he was giving the hobo.

She ducked inside the box and almost screamed when she saw the large figure curled up in the far corner. The man was surrounded by food wrappers and crumbs, not to mention he was sporting Lucas' missing jacket, along with his gloves, scarf and hat.

"What do you think you're doing?" Sami demanded, jerking the hobo awake, "How dare you trespass on my property! Give me Lucas' clothes back." the hobo just stared at her.

"Don't look at me like that!" Sami said angrily, then yanked the scarf and hat away. Hobo Joe could tell she was serious and immediately pulled off the jacket and gloves. She snatched them away from him and began stalking inside. In her rush, she forgot to tell Hobo Joe to leave. Sami went inside and tossed all of Lucas' clothes on his lap.

"You won't believe it." she sputtered, "There was a hobo out there and he had all your stuff. Will wasn't joking about the hobo, Lucas."

Lucas gave Sami a dirty look, "Are you saying that there is a homeless person outside in the middle of winter and you took away all his warms clothes. Do you want him to freeze to death or something?" he threw the clothes back at Sami, "He needs these more than I do. Go give them back."

Sami glared at Lucas, "That's the last time I try to do you any favours." she mumbled, storming back out the door. She found the hobo and gave him back the clothes, grunting an apology. She took her time going back inside. Every time she tried to be nice to Lucas, lately he always found a way to make her look like a heartless bitch in spite of it. She was getting so fed up with him.

Lucas and Sami went out over to the car and Sami helped Lucas into the passenger seat, then folded the wheelchair and put it in the backseat. She got into the driver's seat. Before she pulled out of the driveway, she looked over at Lucas. Even with that sullen, angry look on his face, he looked really sexy. When he stared straight ahead with that perfect lower lip sticking out slightly, he just made her want to kiss him even more.

Sami suddenly realized what she was thinking and stopped the thoughts abruptly. She was not going to think about Lucas like that. It was bad enough that she couldn't help but feel that way about him when he could walk but now that he couldn't walk (or do other things she secretly wanted to do with him), she shouldn't have any use for him. But for some reason, she still did.

"Why don't you get the bug out of your ass?" she demanded, trying to push the thoughts even further out of her mind.

"I don't have a bug up my ass. I just can't walk." Lucas responded dully, looking out his window.

"We've established that a long time ago. But it doesn't matter because you're going to walk again soon. Even if you weren't going to get the use of your legs back, there are more important things to think about. I don't know why you're being so shallow." Sami said.

Lucas turned to look at her in disbelief, "Okay then, I'm the shallow one. I suppose being able to walk is a lot less important than screwing up your parent's love lives, isn't it, Sami?"

"My parents belong together. I'd be doing them I favour, I'd be making them happy." Sami argued.

"See, you are shallow. All you do is butt into their lives. You think what you're doing is going to make them happy but you're wrong. Why don't you just concentrate on your own life instead of your parent's? You'd be a lot happier if you did." Lucas told her. Sami was silent because his words had hit her hard. She didn't speak until they got to the hospital.

Lucas' doctor was outside the room where Lucas would be taking his class when the two of them got there. Sami smiled brightly up at the doctor.

"Hello, Dr. Bose. Is there any news?"

Dr. Bose eyed the blonde woman blankly, "News?"

"Yes, the news about Lucas' condition." Sami smiled brightly and squeezed Lucas's shoulder, "When is he going to be able to walk again?"

Sami had believed that Dr. Bose was going to tell her that it would only be a matter of days, or weeks at most. But once she saw the sympathetic and dismayed expression on the older man's face, her hopes quickly dissolved.

"Didn't they tell you?" Dr. Bose asked, "There has been too much damage to some of the major bone structures in the body. There is no possibility that he's ever going to walk again."

But his words did nothing except make Sami even more determined. Sami had heard that line so many times and she had always found a way around it. She would MAKE up her own possibilities if this doctor was going to act like a pathetic loser. There was no way in hell that she was going to let the father of her child spend the rest of his life in a wheelchair.

Lucas turned around and shot daggers at Sami with his eyes, "Just go away, Sami. No matter how many times you ask the same question, nothing is going to change." she watched as he wheeled into the room.

Sami left the hospital for a while and went to the grocery store to pick up some things for dinner. She dropped all the food off at her home and then drove back up to the hospital. When she sat down in the chair outside the room, there were still five minutes to go until Lucas's appointment was over.

"Sami!" she turned to smile at her mother, who settled into the chair next to hers.

"I was just in with a client and I saw you out here. How are you doing? I haven't seen much of you lately." Marlena smiled at her.

"Well, I've been really busy." Sami told her, "But I'm fine."

Marlena tilted her head and watched Sami carefully, "Then, I take it you haven't heard the news."

"What news?" Sami asked.

"I talked to Roman a little while ago. He proposed to Kate a few days ago. They're already making wedding arrangements." Marlena told her.

Sami felt her chest tighten at the words but then she thought about the defeated look on Lucas' face that day in the car, "You're right, I had no idea that he asked Kate to marry him." Sami made sure to keep all emotions out of her voice.

"Are you feeling sick, Sami?" Marlena couldn't believe that Sami was so calm about the whole thing, "I expected you to have more of a reaction to this."

"What do you mean?" Sami shook her head emphatically, "No, I'm not going to waste my time anymore. If daddy wants to ruin his life by marrying a whore, then it's none of my business. If he doesn't want to try and get back together with you, then it's his loss. And if you decide to stick with John, then it's your loss. I have more important things to worry about than how much my parents are screwing up their lives. Excuse me." Sami got off the chair and began walking away.

She pictured the open-mouthed, wide-eyed expression on Marlena's face when she had said what she did and gloated inwardly. Saying all that to her mother had felt good. Really good. Sami thought of how much shit both her parents had put her through in the past and wondered why she had ever bothered trying to help either of them.

"Were you planning on leaving without me?" Sami whirled around to see Lucas coming towards her in his wheelchair, a small smirk on his face.

"I'm sorry, I got so distracted that I forgot why I was here." Sami replied, giving him a little smile. She noticed that he didn't look as bitter as he usually did.

"I heard." Sami went behind him so that she could push his wheelchair, "I can't believe you actually decided to take my advice for a change."

"I didn't decide to take your advice," Sami shot back, "I just got to thinking about it and came to the conclusion that I have more important things to think about than who my parents are sleeping with. And maybe it was never about getting my mom and dad back together. Maybe it was just about making Kate and John completely and utterly miserable."

"Sami...." Lucas said in a warning voice when Sami mentioned his mom. Sami ignored the tone of his voice.

"Maybe now, you can take my advice and stop acting like a....... a troglodyte!" she finished triumphantly, proud of her choice of words.

"What the hell is a troglodyte?" Lucas demanded and Sami heard the tone of his voice go back to angry and hostile- a tone that was getting used to, unfortunately. Sami sighed and continued wheeling him out to her car.

"I'll let you figure it out for yourself." she told him. As she continued pushing him towards her car, she tried to figure out a way to help him learn how to walk, or at least a way to get his frame of mind back to the way it had been before the accident. But no matter what angle she looked at, she couldn't come up with a single plan.