Returning Home

Chapter Five

By Crow Skywalker

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Disclaimer – Don't own Days of Our Lives, nor do I claim to. Just using its characters for my own amusement.

Author's Notes – I haven't been updating this fic lately, even though I'm totally obsessed with Days…so I decided to pick up where I left off, and try writing more more often ;)

Other Notes – This fic is AU, Sami has never met Lucas because she was sent away to boarding school at such a early age. Sami/Lucas romance.

Summary – Samantha Brady was sent away to boarding school at an early age. Now, feeling abandoned by her family, she struggles to make a living for herself. That is, until an important phone call calls her back home to a place she hardly remembers.

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The sun pouring in through the window woke Sami up the next morning, and no matter how much she tossed and turned and tried to pull the covers over her head to escape the light, she couldn't do it. Finally blinking the sleep out of her eyes, she winced and tried to make out the time on the clock not too far away with blurry eyes.

10:45…that can't be right. She blinked, rubbing her eyes harder before looking at the clock again. Oh my God…I wasn't seeing things! I really did sleep in!

Rolling onto her back, Sami yawned and stretched, before opening her eyes and staring up at the unfamiliar ceiling with a small smile on her face. I must have been really tired yesterday…the trip, meeting Nicwhore, which was the name Sami was secretly calling her now, and staying up with Eric half the night, she yawned again, was pretty exhausting.

A rumbling in her stomach woke her up further as she realized she was hungry, and that it was almost dinner time. She a sigh, she dragged herself out of her warm and cozy bed and fumbled around the room, trying to find some towels. She found them in the bathroom connecting to Eric's room, and grabbing some clothes, she went to get a shower. A half an hour later she emerged with a towel upon her head.

Wondering what to do next, Sami wandered around the apartment. She knew where the kitchen was, of course, and she was hungry…but it wasn't her fridge to pick through, and she didn't know where anything was. With a shrug, she went back into her room, shaking her hair dry with the towel before running a brush through her fine blonde locks.

It was then that a knocking sound startled her.

"Coming, I'm coming!" She yelled, glancing herself over in the mirror. The last thing she wanted was to open the door and let whoever was there see her having a bad hair day or something. The knocking continued. "I said I'm coming!"

Running out of the room, she was about to open the door when the knob twisted and it opened itself. Nicole Walker came in, her arms full of paper bags. She struggled to close the door behind her, and Sami made no attempt to help her.

"Oh, it's you." Sami frowned, sitting down on Eric's couch.

"I have a key," Nicole said, walking across the living room to the kitchen where she laid down the bags, "But since you're staying here for a short while, I figured I might as well knock." She turned to Sami and gave her a brief smile, before picking through the bags she'd brought.

"Where's Eric?" Sami asked.

"At Titan." Nicole answered, the rustling of the bags continuing, "He goes to work early."

Sami remembered he'd told her last night, but she'd forgotten she was so tired. "I see."

"You must be really proud of your brother," Nicole went on to say, "Working at Titan."

Sami's eyes narrowed at the other woman's back. "Yeah."

"I recently got a job modeling there." Nicole finally turned around, leaning against the counter, "Eric's kind of like my boss now. He tells me what to do, I do it, and he takes pictures."

Sami wiped all emotions off her face. Yeah, and I wonder how many people you had to sleep with to get a job there modeling? She wondered, before offering a smile. "Must be nice, being a model."

Nicole nodded. "Oh, it is."

"Get paid more than waitressing?" Sami asked with a small smirk.

Nicole furrowed her brow, ignoring Sami's question as she once again turned away from the other woman to pick through bags. "Eric gave me some money this morning to pick up some groceries for you, since Eric doesn't have much. What would you like for dinner? I'm told I'm a good cook."

I bet that's not all you're good at, Sami frowned, standing up. "Nah, I'm not hungry," She lied. "I think I'm just going to go out and pick something up."

"Would you like me to give you a ride?" Nicole offered, "I have the rest of the afternoon off…I could show you around."

"No thanks. I'm sure I can find my way around." Sami shrugged, grabbing her jacket from where she'd left it the night before.

"Have fun."

Sami flashed her a fake smile before heading out the door. "Oh, I will."

To Be Continued…