Chapter Three
Staring at her appearance in the mirror, Sami pulled a strand of hair back up into her loosely tied ponytail. So she wasn't going for that drop-dead gorgeous look these days, but then again given the year she'd had, she wasn't looking to have it much either. Right about now all she really felt like doing was curling up with a good book and forgetting the world around her, though even that should she find herself immersed in a good romance novel, would remind her of the man she lost. With a sigh, she turned towards the kitchen looking for something tedious to do to keep her mind off her current situation.
"Mom, have you seen my roller blades?" Will questioned from his room as Sami reached for a few dirty dishes, "Mom, I know they were on my chair last night, but they're not there anymore."
"That's because somehow they wound up on the floor and I nearly tripped on them when I came home," Sami answered making her way to her son's room as she watched him crawling beneath his bed searching for his skates, "Will, they're in the closet."
"Oh thanks," he leapt up from the ground making his way to retrieve his skates.
"You're welcome," Sami crossed her arms in front of her chest as she watched her son packing up for his night away with his father, "you know you can always come back here and get what you need since your dad lives right down the hallway."
"I could do that, but right now, well I just want the skates," Will explained eagerly, "dad promised me we could go play some roller hockey down at the Salem Rink early in the morning and I don't want to wake you."
"Will, I don't mind you coming in on the morning to say hello to me. I actually like the idea, you know," Sami smiled at him thoughtfully.
"I know mom, but I also see that you haven't been feeling well lately, so I thought I'd give you time to rest," Will explained simply, "I don't know how early dad will be taking me." He looked up at her thoughtfully, "Mom, if you want me to, I'll come in and hug you before we go."
"You'd better," Sami reached out to embrace her son as the door bell rang.
"That's dad," Will yelped excitedly.
"I'll go let him in," Sami decided with a soft smile, "you just finish packing."
"Alright," Will nodded going back to his suitcase as Sami headed out of his room making her way to the front door opening it to find Lucas standing before her a bright grin on his face.
"Sami," He nodded before looking past her, "is Will ready?"
"He's packing now," Sami opened the door wider allowing him access to the apartment, "he's got his roller blades since you promised him hockey, but be careful Lucas. Don't let him hurt himself."
"Are you kidding? Will is a monster on those things. He can skate circles around me. You'd be impressed."
"Lucas, my grandmother can skate circles around you," Sami shot him a look.
"Yeah well at least I try," Lucas added pointedly as he looked around the apartment, "so what are you doing tonight, Sami?"
"Why? Care to rub it in that I don't have any plans?" Sami shot him a glare.
"I thought we moved past this," Lucas frowned again.
"You mean because of what happened at the hospital?" Sami raised a curious brow, "I just figured that was your way of trapping me into some hair brained scheme that you and your mother came up with to get on my good side."
"Sami, there's no game. Look I was genuinely concerned about you. I didn't like the way Brandon upset you and...." Lucas stopped himself as Will came out into the living room.
"Dad," Will shouted out, "hey I'm all set to go. I have everything packed and the fun can begin."
"Alright," Lucas bent down to embrace his son, "and boy do I have some great plans for us tonight. We're going to have some fun when we get to the restaurant."
"Awesome," Will beamed excitedly as he looked over at Sami, "just let me say good-bye to mom."
"You have a good time, Will," Sami reached out to embrace him as Lucas rose to his feet again watching the two of them together.
"Actually, why don't you see if your mom wants to join us tonight, Will," Lucas suggested as Sami's eyes darted towards his.
"What?" she questioned in confusion.
"We're just going to Pizza Palace for dinner," Lucas shrugged, "Will is eager to check out the new arcade they put in and I must confess I'm a bit eager myself."
"Then you two should have a great time together," Sami offered up.
"Oh mom, please come with us. I know you'll love it too," Will tugged on her arm, "that way you can have some fun too."
"That's right," Lucas agreed, "what do you say? You don't want to let Will down, do you?"
"Lucas," Sami met his gaze wondering what game he was up to as she looked down to their son seeing the eagerness behind his eyes. She took in a breath before reluctantly nodding, "alright I'll join you for dinner."
"Awesome!" Will exclaimed taking her hand as he lead her out of the apartment and the trio made their way to Pizza Palace.
****
Brandon stood in the window of his loft looking out at the world below. Somehow even in this time of year with winter cheer spreading all over Salem, he couldn't find it in his heart to rejoice knowing that so much had been lost in his life. First he'd made so many mistakes growing up with so much anger, but now he'd managed to let the greatest woman who'd ever entered his life slip away. Closing his eyes, he thought to how it had felt holding her again at the hospital, of how her eyes had spoken volumes about her love for him that she'd been too afraid to give in to. He'd hurt her in so many ways and even now he knew he wouldn't be able to take that back. Even after he'd tried so hard to get her to see into his heart, she'd still been hurting.
Drifting out of his thoughts, Brandon heard a soft tapping at the door and he turned his eyes in the direction of the sound wondering who could be here to bother him. Suddenly his lingering images of Samantha put a hope in his heart as he rushed over to the door, opening it to find the beautiful, blonde woman of his dreams standing there, but instead he was greeted by the other beautiful, blonde woman in his life--his sister.
"Nikki," Brandon greeted her, "what are you doing here?"
"Checking to see if you're still alive," Nicole confessed stepping into his loft and taking a long, hard look around, "though judging by this mess here, I'd hardly consider what you're doing living these days."
"No one asked you, Nikki," he snapped closing the door behind her, "so really, what brought you over here?"
"Can't I worry about my brother?" Nicole questioned searching his eyes, "Brandon, you haven't called me in weeks and I'm worried about you."
"I didn't think you'd have time to notice in between you and Victor trying to make everyone in Salem miserable."
"What the hell is that supposed to mean?" she questioned placing her hands on her hips.
"It means Nikki if you hadn't interfered in my life like you had, then I'd be happy right now. I'd be with the woman I love and my life wouldn't be so screwed up," Brandon snapped at her running his fingers through his hair.
"Whoa, don't you dare start blaming me if things with Sami 'the witch' Brady didn't work out as planned. I always knew she was no good for you."
"That's where you're wrong, Nikki. She was everything to me," Brandon explained tightly, "she was the one woman in my life that I wanted to love. I wanted to share everything with her, but the fact is that I blew it...." he turned away from her, "when you and Victor made her lie to me. You had her tell me that I meant nothing to her and I slept with Lexie because of that lie," Brandon glared at her, "it's because of your so called protecting that I lost the woman I love."
"Brandon, I didn't mean for...." Nicole saw the pain in his eyes, "you really love her, don't you?"
"More than you can ever imagine, Nikki," he nodded his voice dropping as the pain overwhelmed him, "but this wasn't your fault. I'd like to blame anyone else if I could, but this is my own fault. If only I'd gone over to confront Samantha that night instead of falling into bed with Lexie," he sank into the cushions on his couch burying his head, "how could I have been so stupid?"
"Brandon, you were hurting and given Sami's history it was only a matter of time before she dumped on you. You just beat her to the punch."
"Nikki, I love her and she loves me," Brandon met her eyes, "what is so hard for you to understand about that? Why couldn't you just let me be happy for once?"
"Brandon, I only want the best for you," she sighed, "but you have to ask yourself if she was really everything you'd wanted, then why did you sleep with Lexie?"
Brandon looked up to meet her eyes sadly, "I ask myself that question every night and every time I think about what happened, I realize there's no right answer."
"Maybe you and Lexie share something more than you'd like to admit," Nicole suggested hoping to turn her brother's eye away from Samantha Brady.
"Nikki, Lexie is having my baby so of course there will be a bond between us, but it's not like that for us. She's my friend, but Samantha has my heart. Samantha is the one I want to be with," Brandon explained simply, "she's the woman I love."
"Brandon, you can do so much better," Nicole sighed.
"You can't control where your heart leads you, Nikki," Brandon reached out to her, "even you know that."
"I gave up on love a long time ago. You know it's nothing but trouble."
"It doesn't have to be Nikki. If you believe enough...." Brandon shook his head, "never mind. I won't waste the time explaining it to you."
"Brandon, I just hate to see you moping about someone who's obviously not worthy of you or your love," she began as his phone rang.
"Nicole," He started then stopped, "never mind." Reaching for the phone, he answered, "hello."
"Brandon, hey it's Lexie. I was wondering if you were busy tonight," she began.
"Is something wrong?" he questioned concerned.
"Not exactly, but I just needed someone to talk to. Tony's out for the evening and this mansion is kind of lonely. I thought maybe you could come over and we could just spend some time together talking..."
"Actually," Brandon took in a breath, "my sister is here right now."
"Oh," she hesitated, "well maybe I could come over then and we could spend time there."
"Actually that's not really a good idea either," Brandon frowned, "tonight looks pretty busy for me."
"I see," Lexie paused, "well I had been hoping we could talk about our child, but if our child isn't important enough for you....."
"Lexie," he cut her off before taking in a breath, "listen, how about I meet you down at Salem Place? We could have a coffee or something?"
"That sounds good," Lexie's voice perked up, "what time?"
"How about an hour from now?" Brandon suggested with a sigh.
"I'll see you soon," she offered up enthusiastically.
"Sure," he hung up the phone looking over at his sister.
"You sound really enthused," she noted.
"Well I don't get excited about much these days," he confessed with a sigh, "life is pretty bland now that I lost the one thing that meant the most to me."
"Please don't tell me that's Sami because I might have to throw up if that's the case," Nicole groaned.
"You'll never get it, will you Nikki?" Brandon shook his head, "while you might've let love go without a fight when you lost Eric, you never recovered and I know if I lose Samantha completely I'll never recover either."
"Brandon, you need to let go of her. You said it yourself that you lost her," Nicole reminded him.
"She's gone at the moment," Brandon thought it over for a second, "but soon, very soon she'll be with me again. You'll see."
****
"Mom, see I told you this place rocks," Will explained excitedly as Sami finally took a seat at the booth, "I told you that you'd have fun here."
"It is fun in it's own way," Sami nodded in agreement, "but I don't know if I can take you beating me again at ski ball there."
"Oh come on," Will gave her a look, "it wasn't that bad and besides, I did tell you that I AM the best."
"That you are," Sami agreed taking a sip of her diet cola as she looked over to Lucas who'd been grinning the entire time, "you're unusually quiet right about now."
"I was just thinking that it's been a long time since Will beat anyone as bad as he beat me, but it looks like you're worse than I am."
"In your dreams, Lucas," she rolled her eyes as Will let out a wicked laugh.
"Don't let him fool you, mom. No one is as bad as Lucas."
"Dad," Sami corrected giving her a son a look.
"Dad," Will agreed with a huff, "I want to go play again. Can I?"
"Well, shouldn't you sit down and eat some of this pizza?" Sami questioned.
"I'm not hungry," Will shrugged looking to his father, "wanna try to win?"
"Actually, I think I'm going to eat a bit of my pizza here with your mother," Lucas explained simply, "but you go ahead and try not to get into too much trouble."
"Never," Will promised with a wicked smile as he took off to begin his challenge all over again.
"You know he's really got some things he needs to work on," Sami couldn't help but laugh, "our son's sense of competition really is going to wind us up in some trouble one day."
"Did you expect anything less from our son?" Lucas raised a curious brow as she shot him a look, "Okay, I confess there are a few things we could work on."
"I think that would be good for him," she nodded, "after that incident with Abbey, I'd hate to see him wind up in trouble."
"That was a long time ago, Sami, but actually," Lucas took in a breath, "there was a reason I invited you here tonight."
"I knew it," she glared at him, "there had to be a catch, didn't there?"
"It's not what you're thinking," Lucas promised taking in another nervous breath, "there's just something that's been on my mind and I thought we should talk about it."
"What are you and your wretched mother planning now," Sami snapped at him, "another safari so you can run with my son?"
"Sami, it's not like that," he could feel the skepticism in her, "really, it's not."
"I'm listening," She folded her arms in front of her chest, "well...spit it out Lucas."
"It's just," he took in a breath, "you know a lot has happened over this past year and a lot of things have changed...."
"Some, but I suddenly have a feeling that some other things like you and I are just as volatile as usual."
"Sami, the reason I asked you here and wanted you to share dinner with Will and I tonight is because I thought it was time for you and I to get along. I know you don't believe this, but I've been going through a lot of changes lately and when I was in Africa, I had some time to think about things--really think about things and I realized that I don't want life to be like it was. The way I was living, well it wasn't making me happy and while I got some small satisfaction out of making you miserable, it wasn't what I wanted for our son or for me."
"And I'm supposed to believe that why?" Sami raised a curious brow, "Lucas, you live to make me miserable, so there's no need to fight about it."
"Actually while it did top my list of things to do, something else has kind of taken top priority in my life besides our son," Lucas offered his hand across the table noting her reluctance to take it, "Sami, please just hear me out."
"Fine," she sighed as he extended his hand once again and she reluctantly took it, "go on."
"Sami, as I said before there are things that have been going on in my life and I started thinking about what Will needs. He's had a rough life already, but what he needs for himself is some stability in his life and he needs for us to get along with one another. We've been too busy playing games with one another that we haven't seen to the heart of what our son really needs. Will wants a family and I think it's about time that he has one that isn't trying to tear one another apart."
"Well isn't that convenient," a voice interrupted as Sami's gaze drifted upward and she found Brandon standing beside the table, "here I was thinking that the wonders of Lucas Roberts never ceased, but here I'm hearing the biggest line of bull I've ever heard in my life. So what do you want now, Lucas? To take Will away from Sami forever or just to kick her while she's down?"
"Brandon," Sami gasped seeing the anger burning behind his eyes as he looked to her hand laced in Lucas's fingers. Swiftly she pulled away from Lucas and his hold on her as she tried to clear any surprise from her face, "what are you doing here?"
"I could ask you the same thing, though I think from what I just heard, I could pretty much guess at what's going on," He glared at Lucas, "and please don't tell me that you're buying into it for a second, Samantha."
"Butt out Walker," Lucas sneered at him, "Sami and I were having a conversation that didn't include you. Come to think of it, don't you have to go follow Lexie around or something?"
"You son of a--" Brandon reached out to Lucas tearing him from the seat as he pulled him off the ground by the collar on his shirt.
"Brandon don't," Sami snapped as she rose to her feet seeing the anger burning behind his eyes, "Brandon, put him down. He's not doing anything."
"Samantha, can't you see he's trying to take advantage of you now that he knows you're feeling down?" Brandon questioned shaking Lucas, "he doesn't care about your feelings. He just wants to manipulate the situation to his benefit."
"Brandon, that's not true," Sami argued with him, "you just put him down right now. You have no right to bully Lucas around when all he was doing was talking to me."
"Excuse me?" Brandon blinked back at her, "Samantha..."
"Put him down now!" She raised her voice with a harsher tone, "Brandon, this doesn't concern you."
Brandon set Lucas down tossing him back into the seat as he turned to face Sami again, "Samantha, you can't mean that."
"I'm not your problem anymore," Sami answered tightly, "you don't have to worry about what goes on in my life. I didn't ask you to come to my aid, so why don't you just go find your way back to Lexie and stay the hell out of my life?"
"Samantha, you don't mean that," Brandon reached out to her as she pulled away from him.
"Don't I?" she challenged the anger burning behind her eyes as she stood taller, "Brandon, you've hurt me more than Lucas ever could, so what makes you think that I want or need you in my life? What makes you think that I need you to protect me?"
"Samantha, I love you...." he began.
"Oh that's rich," Lucas muttered sarcastically.
"You stay out of this," Brandon warned throwing him a hateful glance.
"No Brandon, you stay out of this," Sami took in a breath forcing herself to do this as she realized she'd have to put on the greatest act of her life in order to convince Brandon she no longer loved him, "I don't need you stepping into my life when you deem fit and I don't want you around. Brandon, you've done nothing but make me miserable and it's over. From now on I don't want you showing up around my place, bothering Lucas or anyone else that talks to me. Is that understood?"
"Samantha," he started again.
"I don't love you," she answered tightly, "I don't love you anymore, Brandon."
"Samantha, you can't mean that."
"Of course I can," she said clenching her fists to keep from shaking as her heart pounded in her chest, "it's over forever."
"Samantha," Brandon began again as Will returned to the table greeting him excitedly.
"Brandon," he exclaimed, "I didn't know you were coming here tonight. Mom didn't tell me you were stopping by. This is so cool that you're here."
"Hey Will," Brandon turned to smile at the boy, "how are you?"
"I'm doing great, but hey it's even better now that you're here. I was just about to get into another round of ski-ball with my mom. Want to join us?"
"I'd love to Will, but I have to get going," Brandon admitted trying not to let the pain of Samantha's words reach down into him as he placed his hand on Will's shoulder, "but hey how about another time?"
"I'm going to hold you to that," Will nodded, "I miss seeing you around. How come you aren't over mom's place as much anymore?"
"Well...." Brandon began as his gaze drifted to Sami.
"Brandon needs to get back to work," Sami offered up before Brandon could say a word. "He's been busy with the children in his life and it's kept him away."
"Oh, well hey you know if you ever need any help at the hospital," Will suggested with a grin, "I'd love to help you."
"You can't," Sami interrupted again, "Brandon's a busy guy and he doesn't have time to have you doing that right now."
"Samantha, it's no problem," Brandon began.
"It is for me," she reached out to Will protectively as she looked to him, "hey, but you know I'm done with my pizza. How about that game now?"
"Way cool," he agreed giving Brandon one last look, "hope to see you soon Brandon."
"Same here," Brandon answered giving Sami one last longing look at Lucas rose from his side of the table.
"You heard Sami. Get out of here," Lucas warned him, "she doesn't need you screwing things up for her more than you have."
"Don't you talk to me about screwing up her life," Brandon glared at him, "you've already done more than I ever could."
"I never pretended to give a damn about her, then knocked up someone else," Lucas offered bitterly, "at least I was always up front about what I wanted with her."
"I'll just bet you were," Brandon took in a breath opening his mouth to speak again before shaking his head, "you're not worth it."
"That's what I keep trying to tell Sami about you," Lucas stood taller, "now get out of here."
"This isn't over," Brandon warned as he took one last look at Sami before leaving the restaurant to meet with Lexie.
"That's what you think," Lucas muttered realizing that Sami had more on her plate than he'd imagined. His news would have to wait as he vowed to help her through this period of time.
Lucas turned to Will and Sami taking a walk over in their direction as he took in a breath. Watching Will throw the ball, Lucas stepped up beside Sami touching her shoulder. "You okay?" he whispered in her ear.
"I'm fine," she nodded struggling to keep her tears from showing as she hated what just happened with Brandon.
"Don't let him get to you. He's not worth it," Lucas offered gently as Will let out an excited cheer before reaching for another ball, "don't let him break you."
"He's already taken my heart and shattered it," she sighed inwardly, "there isn't much more that I can do."
"Sami," Lucas turned her to face him, seeing the sadness behind her eyes, "he's not the kind of guy you need in your life. You should know that."
"I wish it were that easy, but I love him, Lucas," Sami confessed unable to believe she was opening up to Lucas after all this time, "he's so deep in my system that I can't imagine not having him in my life."
"You thought that about Austin too...."
"That was different," Sami argued, "Brandon truly loves me and I love him."
"Enough to let him do this to you," Lucas half questioned, "Sami you're a fighter and look what he's done to you. This isn't typical for you. You don't break down like this."
"I realize that Lucas," she answered her tone growing harsher as she turned away from him, "and that's what makes me hate this all the more," she whispered to herself wondering how long it would take to get Brandon Walker out of her system.
Staring at her appearance in the mirror, Sami pulled a strand of hair back up into her loosely tied ponytail. So she wasn't going for that drop-dead gorgeous look these days, but then again given the year she'd had, she wasn't looking to have it much either. Right about now all she really felt like doing was curling up with a good book and forgetting the world around her, though even that should she find herself immersed in a good romance novel, would remind her of the man she lost. With a sigh, she turned towards the kitchen looking for something tedious to do to keep her mind off her current situation.
"Mom, have you seen my roller blades?" Will questioned from his room as Sami reached for a few dirty dishes, "Mom, I know they were on my chair last night, but they're not there anymore."
"That's because somehow they wound up on the floor and I nearly tripped on them when I came home," Sami answered making her way to her son's room as she watched him crawling beneath his bed searching for his skates, "Will, they're in the closet."
"Oh thanks," he leapt up from the ground making his way to retrieve his skates.
"You're welcome," Sami crossed her arms in front of her chest as she watched her son packing up for his night away with his father, "you know you can always come back here and get what you need since your dad lives right down the hallway."
"I could do that, but right now, well I just want the skates," Will explained eagerly, "dad promised me we could go play some roller hockey down at the Salem Rink early in the morning and I don't want to wake you."
"Will, I don't mind you coming in on the morning to say hello to me. I actually like the idea, you know," Sami smiled at him thoughtfully.
"I know mom, but I also see that you haven't been feeling well lately, so I thought I'd give you time to rest," Will explained simply, "I don't know how early dad will be taking me." He looked up at her thoughtfully, "Mom, if you want me to, I'll come in and hug you before we go."
"You'd better," Sami reached out to embrace her son as the door bell rang.
"That's dad," Will yelped excitedly.
"I'll go let him in," Sami decided with a soft smile, "you just finish packing."
"Alright," Will nodded going back to his suitcase as Sami headed out of his room making her way to the front door opening it to find Lucas standing before her a bright grin on his face.
"Sami," He nodded before looking past her, "is Will ready?"
"He's packing now," Sami opened the door wider allowing him access to the apartment, "he's got his roller blades since you promised him hockey, but be careful Lucas. Don't let him hurt himself."
"Are you kidding? Will is a monster on those things. He can skate circles around me. You'd be impressed."
"Lucas, my grandmother can skate circles around you," Sami shot him a look.
"Yeah well at least I try," Lucas added pointedly as he looked around the apartment, "so what are you doing tonight, Sami?"
"Why? Care to rub it in that I don't have any plans?" Sami shot him a glare.
"I thought we moved past this," Lucas frowned again.
"You mean because of what happened at the hospital?" Sami raised a curious brow, "I just figured that was your way of trapping me into some hair brained scheme that you and your mother came up with to get on my good side."
"Sami, there's no game. Look I was genuinely concerned about you. I didn't like the way Brandon upset you and...." Lucas stopped himself as Will came out into the living room.
"Dad," Will shouted out, "hey I'm all set to go. I have everything packed and the fun can begin."
"Alright," Lucas bent down to embrace his son, "and boy do I have some great plans for us tonight. We're going to have some fun when we get to the restaurant."
"Awesome," Will beamed excitedly as he looked over at Sami, "just let me say good-bye to mom."
"You have a good time, Will," Sami reached out to embrace him as Lucas rose to his feet again watching the two of them together.
"Actually, why don't you see if your mom wants to join us tonight, Will," Lucas suggested as Sami's eyes darted towards his.
"What?" she questioned in confusion.
"We're just going to Pizza Palace for dinner," Lucas shrugged, "Will is eager to check out the new arcade they put in and I must confess I'm a bit eager myself."
"Then you two should have a great time together," Sami offered up.
"Oh mom, please come with us. I know you'll love it too," Will tugged on her arm, "that way you can have some fun too."
"That's right," Lucas agreed, "what do you say? You don't want to let Will down, do you?"
"Lucas," Sami met his gaze wondering what game he was up to as she looked down to their son seeing the eagerness behind his eyes. She took in a breath before reluctantly nodding, "alright I'll join you for dinner."
"Awesome!" Will exclaimed taking her hand as he lead her out of the apartment and the trio made their way to Pizza Palace.
****
Brandon stood in the window of his loft looking out at the world below. Somehow even in this time of year with winter cheer spreading all over Salem, he couldn't find it in his heart to rejoice knowing that so much had been lost in his life. First he'd made so many mistakes growing up with so much anger, but now he'd managed to let the greatest woman who'd ever entered his life slip away. Closing his eyes, he thought to how it had felt holding her again at the hospital, of how her eyes had spoken volumes about her love for him that she'd been too afraid to give in to. He'd hurt her in so many ways and even now he knew he wouldn't be able to take that back. Even after he'd tried so hard to get her to see into his heart, she'd still been hurting.
Drifting out of his thoughts, Brandon heard a soft tapping at the door and he turned his eyes in the direction of the sound wondering who could be here to bother him. Suddenly his lingering images of Samantha put a hope in his heart as he rushed over to the door, opening it to find the beautiful, blonde woman of his dreams standing there, but instead he was greeted by the other beautiful, blonde woman in his life--his sister.
"Nikki," Brandon greeted her, "what are you doing here?"
"Checking to see if you're still alive," Nicole confessed stepping into his loft and taking a long, hard look around, "though judging by this mess here, I'd hardly consider what you're doing living these days."
"No one asked you, Nikki," he snapped closing the door behind her, "so really, what brought you over here?"
"Can't I worry about my brother?" Nicole questioned searching his eyes, "Brandon, you haven't called me in weeks and I'm worried about you."
"I didn't think you'd have time to notice in between you and Victor trying to make everyone in Salem miserable."
"What the hell is that supposed to mean?" she questioned placing her hands on her hips.
"It means Nikki if you hadn't interfered in my life like you had, then I'd be happy right now. I'd be with the woman I love and my life wouldn't be so screwed up," Brandon snapped at her running his fingers through his hair.
"Whoa, don't you dare start blaming me if things with Sami 'the witch' Brady didn't work out as planned. I always knew she was no good for you."
"That's where you're wrong, Nikki. She was everything to me," Brandon explained tightly, "she was the one woman in my life that I wanted to love. I wanted to share everything with her, but the fact is that I blew it...." he turned away from her, "when you and Victor made her lie to me. You had her tell me that I meant nothing to her and I slept with Lexie because of that lie," Brandon glared at her, "it's because of your so called protecting that I lost the woman I love."
"Brandon, I didn't mean for...." Nicole saw the pain in his eyes, "you really love her, don't you?"
"More than you can ever imagine, Nikki," he nodded his voice dropping as the pain overwhelmed him, "but this wasn't your fault. I'd like to blame anyone else if I could, but this is my own fault. If only I'd gone over to confront Samantha that night instead of falling into bed with Lexie," he sank into the cushions on his couch burying his head, "how could I have been so stupid?"
"Brandon, you were hurting and given Sami's history it was only a matter of time before she dumped on you. You just beat her to the punch."
"Nikki, I love her and she loves me," Brandon met her eyes, "what is so hard for you to understand about that? Why couldn't you just let me be happy for once?"
"Brandon, I only want the best for you," she sighed, "but you have to ask yourself if she was really everything you'd wanted, then why did you sleep with Lexie?"
Brandon looked up to meet her eyes sadly, "I ask myself that question every night and every time I think about what happened, I realize there's no right answer."
"Maybe you and Lexie share something more than you'd like to admit," Nicole suggested hoping to turn her brother's eye away from Samantha Brady.
"Nikki, Lexie is having my baby so of course there will be a bond between us, but it's not like that for us. She's my friend, but Samantha has my heart. Samantha is the one I want to be with," Brandon explained simply, "she's the woman I love."
"Brandon, you can do so much better," Nicole sighed.
"You can't control where your heart leads you, Nikki," Brandon reached out to her, "even you know that."
"I gave up on love a long time ago. You know it's nothing but trouble."
"It doesn't have to be Nikki. If you believe enough...." Brandon shook his head, "never mind. I won't waste the time explaining it to you."
"Brandon, I just hate to see you moping about someone who's obviously not worthy of you or your love," she began as his phone rang.
"Nicole," He started then stopped, "never mind." Reaching for the phone, he answered, "hello."
"Brandon, hey it's Lexie. I was wondering if you were busy tonight," she began.
"Is something wrong?" he questioned concerned.
"Not exactly, but I just needed someone to talk to. Tony's out for the evening and this mansion is kind of lonely. I thought maybe you could come over and we could just spend some time together talking..."
"Actually," Brandon took in a breath, "my sister is here right now."
"Oh," she hesitated, "well maybe I could come over then and we could spend time there."
"Actually that's not really a good idea either," Brandon frowned, "tonight looks pretty busy for me."
"I see," Lexie paused, "well I had been hoping we could talk about our child, but if our child isn't important enough for you....."
"Lexie," he cut her off before taking in a breath, "listen, how about I meet you down at Salem Place? We could have a coffee or something?"
"That sounds good," Lexie's voice perked up, "what time?"
"How about an hour from now?" Brandon suggested with a sigh.
"I'll see you soon," she offered up enthusiastically.
"Sure," he hung up the phone looking over at his sister.
"You sound really enthused," she noted.
"Well I don't get excited about much these days," he confessed with a sigh, "life is pretty bland now that I lost the one thing that meant the most to me."
"Please don't tell me that's Sami because I might have to throw up if that's the case," Nicole groaned.
"You'll never get it, will you Nikki?" Brandon shook his head, "while you might've let love go without a fight when you lost Eric, you never recovered and I know if I lose Samantha completely I'll never recover either."
"Brandon, you need to let go of her. You said it yourself that you lost her," Nicole reminded him.
"She's gone at the moment," Brandon thought it over for a second, "but soon, very soon she'll be with me again. You'll see."
****
"Mom, see I told you this place rocks," Will explained excitedly as Sami finally took a seat at the booth, "I told you that you'd have fun here."
"It is fun in it's own way," Sami nodded in agreement, "but I don't know if I can take you beating me again at ski ball there."
"Oh come on," Will gave her a look, "it wasn't that bad and besides, I did tell you that I AM the best."
"That you are," Sami agreed taking a sip of her diet cola as she looked over to Lucas who'd been grinning the entire time, "you're unusually quiet right about now."
"I was just thinking that it's been a long time since Will beat anyone as bad as he beat me, but it looks like you're worse than I am."
"In your dreams, Lucas," she rolled her eyes as Will let out a wicked laugh.
"Don't let him fool you, mom. No one is as bad as Lucas."
"Dad," Sami corrected giving her a son a look.
"Dad," Will agreed with a huff, "I want to go play again. Can I?"
"Well, shouldn't you sit down and eat some of this pizza?" Sami questioned.
"I'm not hungry," Will shrugged looking to his father, "wanna try to win?"
"Actually, I think I'm going to eat a bit of my pizza here with your mother," Lucas explained simply, "but you go ahead and try not to get into too much trouble."
"Never," Will promised with a wicked smile as he took off to begin his challenge all over again.
"You know he's really got some things he needs to work on," Sami couldn't help but laugh, "our son's sense of competition really is going to wind us up in some trouble one day."
"Did you expect anything less from our son?" Lucas raised a curious brow as she shot him a look, "Okay, I confess there are a few things we could work on."
"I think that would be good for him," she nodded, "after that incident with Abbey, I'd hate to see him wind up in trouble."
"That was a long time ago, Sami, but actually," Lucas took in a breath, "there was a reason I invited you here tonight."
"I knew it," she glared at him, "there had to be a catch, didn't there?"
"It's not what you're thinking," Lucas promised taking in another nervous breath, "there's just something that's been on my mind and I thought we should talk about it."
"What are you and your wretched mother planning now," Sami snapped at him, "another safari so you can run with my son?"
"Sami, it's not like that," he could feel the skepticism in her, "really, it's not."
"I'm listening," She folded her arms in front of her chest, "well...spit it out Lucas."
"It's just," he took in a breath, "you know a lot has happened over this past year and a lot of things have changed...."
"Some, but I suddenly have a feeling that some other things like you and I are just as volatile as usual."
"Sami, the reason I asked you here and wanted you to share dinner with Will and I tonight is because I thought it was time for you and I to get along. I know you don't believe this, but I've been going through a lot of changes lately and when I was in Africa, I had some time to think about things--really think about things and I realized that I don't want life to be like it was. The way I was living, well it wasn't making me happy and while I got some small satisfaction out of making you miserable, it wasn't what I wanted for our son or for me."
"And I'm supposed to believe that why?" Sami raised a curious brow, "Lucas, you live to make me miserable, so there's no need to fight about it."
"Actually while it did top my list of things to do, something else has kind of taken top priority in my life besides our son," Lucas offered his hand across the table noting her reluctance to take it, "Sami, please just hear me out."
"Fine," she sighed as he extended his hand once again and she reluctantly took it, "go on."
"Sami, as I said before there are things that have been going on in my life and I started thinking about what Will needs. He's had a rough life already, but what he needs for himself is some stability in his life and he needs for us to get along with one another. We've been too busy playing games with one another that we haven't seen to the heart of what our son really needs. Will wants a family and I think it's about time that he has one that isn't trying to tear one another apart."
"Well isn't that convenient," a voice interrupted as Sami's gaze drifted upward and she found Brandon standing beside the table, "here I was thinking that the wonders of Lucas Roberts never ceased, but here I'm hearing the biggest line of bull I've ever heard in my life. So what do you want now, Lucas? To take Will away from Sami forever or just to kick her while she's down?"
"Brandon," Sami gasped seeing the anger burning behind his eyes as he looked to her hand laced in Lucas's fingers. Swiftly she pulled away from Lucas and his hold on her as she tried to clear any surprise from her face, "what are you doing here?"
"I could ask you the same thing, though I think from what I just heard, I could pretty much guess at what's going on," He glared at Lucas, "and please don't tell me that you're buying into it for a second, Samantha."
"Butt out Walker," Lucas sneered at him, "Sami and I were having a conversation that didn't include you. Come to think of it, don't you have to go follow Lexie around or something?"
"You son of a--" Brandon reached out to Lucas tearing him from the seat as he pulled him off the ground by the collar on his shirt.
"Brandon don't," Sami snapped as she rose to her feet seeing the anger burning behind his eyes, "Brandon, put him down. He's not doing anything."
"Samantha, can't you see he's trying to take advantage of you now that he knows you're feeling down?" Brandon questioned shaking Lucas, "he doesn't care about your feelings. He just wants to manipulate the situation to his benefit."
"Brandon, that's not true," Sami argued with him, "you just put him down right now. You have no right to bully Lucas around when all he was doing was talking to me."
"Excuse me?" Brandon blinked back at her, "Samantha..."
"Put him down now!" She raised her voice with a harsher tone, "Brandon, this doesn't concern you."
Brandon set Lucas down tossing him back into the seat as he turned to face Sami again, "Samantha, you can't mean that."
"I'm not your problem anymore," Sami answered tightly, "you don't have to worry about what goes on in my life. I didn't ask you to come to my aid, so why don't you just go find your way back to Lexie and stay the hell out of my life?"
"Samantha, you don't mean that," Brandon reached out to her as she pulled away from him.
"Don't I?" she challenged the anger burning behind her eyes as she stood taller, "Brandon, you've hurt me more than Lucas ever could, so what makes you think that I want or need you in my life? What makes you think that I need you to protect me?"
"Samantha, I love you...." he began.
"Oh that's rich," Lucas muttered sarcastically.
"You stay out of this," Brandon warned throwing him a hateful glance.
"No Brandon, you stay out of this," Sami took in a breath forcing herself to do this as she realized she'd have to put on the greatest act of her life in order to convince Brandon she no longer loved him, "I don't need you stepping into my life when you deem fit and I don't want you around. Brandon, you've done nothing but make me miserable and it's over. From now on I don't want you showing up around my place, bothering Lucas or anyone else that talks to me. Is that understood?"
"Samantha," he started again.
"I don't love you," she answered tightly, "I don't love you anymore, Brandon."
"Samantha, you can't mean that."
"Of course I can," she said clenching her fists to keep from shaking as her heart pounded in her chest, "it's over forever."
"Samantha," Brandon began again as Will returned to the table greeting him excitedly.
"Brandon," he exclaimed, "I didn't know you were coming here tonight. Mom didn't tell me you were stopping by. This is so cool that you're here."
"Hey Will," Brandon turned to smile at the boy, "how are you?"
"I'm doing great, but hey it's even better now that you're here. I was just about to get into another round of ski-ball with my mom. Want to join us?"
"I'd love to Will, but I have to get going," Brandon admitted trying not to let the pain of Samantha's words reach down into him as he placed his hand on Will's shoulder, "but hey how about another time?"
"I'm going to hold you to that," Will nodded, "I miss seeing you around. How come you aren't over mom's place as much anymore?"
"Well...." Brandon began as his gaze drifted to Sami.
"Brandon needs to get back to work," Sami offered up before Brandon could say a word. "He's been busy with the children in his life and it's kept him away."
"Oh, well hey you know if you ever need any help at the hospital," Will suggested with a grin, "I'd love to help you."
"You can't," Sami interrupted again, "Brandon's a busy guy and he doesn't have time to have you doing that right now."
"Samantha, it's no problem," Brandon began.
"It is for me," she reached out to Will protectively as she looked to him, "hey, but you know I'm done with my pizza. How about that game now?"
"Way cool," he agreed giving Brandon one last look, "hope to see you soon Brandon."
"Same here," Brandon answered giving Sami one last longing look at Lucas rose from his side of the table.
"You heard Sami. Get out of here," Lucas warned him, "she doesn't need you screwing things up for her more than you have."
"Don't you talk to me about screwing up her life," Brandon glared at him, "you've already done more than I ever could."
"I never pretended to give a damn about her, then knocked up someone else," Lucas offered bitterly, "at least I was always up front about what I wanted with her."
"I'll just bet you were," Brandon took in a breath opening his mouth to speak again before shaking his head, "you're not worth it."
"That's what I keep trying to tell Sami about you," Lucas stood taller, "now get out of here."
"This isn't over," Brandon warned as he took one last look at Sami before leaving the restaurant to meet with Lexie.
"That's what you think," Lucas muttered realizing that Sami had more on her plate than he'd imagined. His news would have to wait as he vowed to help her through this period of time.
Lucas turned to Will and Sami taking a walk over in their direction as he took in a breath. Watching Will throw the ball, Lucas stepped up beside Sami touching her shoulder. "You okay?" he whispered in her ear.
"I'm fine," she nodded struggling to keep her tears from showing as she hated what just happened with Brandon.
"Don't let him get to you. He's not worth it," Lucas offered gently as Will let out an excited cheer before reaching for another ball, "don't let him break you."
"He's already taken my heart and shattered it," she sighed inwardly, "there isn't much more that I can do."
"Sami," Lucas turned her to face him, seeing the sadness behind her eyes, "he's not the kind of guy you need in your life. You should know that."
"I wish it were that easy, but I love him, Lucas," Sami confessed unable to believe she was opening up to Lucas after all this time, "he's so deep in my system that I can't imagine not having him in my life."
"You thought that about Austin too...."
"That was different," Sami argued, "Brandon truly loves me and I love him."
"Enough to let him do this to you," Lucas half questioned, "Sami you're a fighter and look what he's done to you. This isn't typical for you. You don't break down like this."
"I realize that Lucas," she answered her tone growing harsher as she turned away from him, "and that's what makes me hate this all the more," she whispered to herself wondering how long it would take to get Brandon Walker out of her system.