Author's Notes: Thank you for the great reviews! I love hearing from my readers. This is the last chapter dealing with Otis, Las Brisas and Reunion with a twist will be coming soon. Reviews are greatly appreciated and help me type updates faster.
Part 33
Age: 34 Years 5 Months
As they kissed, Samantha moved against Ed and embraced him hungrily, trying to increase the contact between them. At that moment she wanted him inside he more than anything. Panting slightly as their lips met fiercely, Jack's plans seemed to flee from his mind as he kissed his wife longingly. A loud throat clearing sound intruded on their fevered embrace and they broke their kiss and looked up.
"Sam, Bailey just called and wanted to know what the hold up is," John Grant sneered as he stood over the pair.
Samantha blushed and said nothing as Ed stood up and offered her his hand to help her off the ground.
"I'll be in the car, Dr. Waters," Ed told her. Although Jack longed to hit or better still kill Grant, it would have been out of character for Ed Boast to menace the leering agent.
"What the hell is wrong with you?" Grant demanded.
"Not now John," Samantha dismissed him.
As she walked away she heard him grumbling and making some rude comments about Ed. Sliding into the car, she was grateful when Ed started driving for the research facility where Bailey was waiting for Sam and the key card. On the way over, Samantha tried to collect her thoughts. She had never done anything so impulsive or inappropriate in all her time as an agent. Maybe it's not just men named Jack that are irresistible, she thought. Looking at Ed, she found her gaze drawn to his lips and longing to feel them again.
When they pulled up at the abandoned research facility, Jack distracted Malone by claiming Grant was on the radio so Samantha would enter the facility alone. Dwight Parnell would attack Samantha after she opened the locked door with the key card. He had carefully programmed Dwight to grab her but in no way harm her. Then George should spring into action from his hypnotic state and drown Dwight. The plan went off perfectly as Malone followed in a couple minutes later and Grace and Grant were summoned to deal with the aftermath.
George was shaken up and hadn't realized he'd killed Dwight. Although Jack assured him as Ed that he had saved Samantha, he was pleased to have his little Rasputin motif finished out. Soon Samantha would see that everything had been a dream within a dream after the Lucas trial. For now, George would be a little tougher and perhaps fare better in life and Samantha had gotten into her Father's office where she found files about her Father's illegal and immoral experiments with human guinea pigs.
Sitting at her Father's old desk, Samantha looked over the files of the people whom her Father had used in the name of science. Bailey was watching her expectantly and she tried to think of the appropriate things to say. Although George had previously found evidence about her Father's experiments on the small computer Lucas had owned, seeing the black and white evidence of his monstrosity wasn't easy. While Samantha had been at the orphanage in Cincinnati, her Father had been harming an entire town full of people
As she read she fought back tears. Daddy how could you? So many lives were destroyed by you. When she'd asked about if he would change his human experiments he'd told her no. In some ways her Father was as bad or worse than the killers she chased. Hard as this was to read about and reconcile, what hurt even more was- No Samantha don't go there. Don't think about-
Walking away from the office, Sam walked outside and wiped away tears. Jack watched Samantha uneasily. Although he knew she would be upset by seeing actual proof damning her Father, he hadn't expected she would take it quite so hard as she sank to the ground and began to sob. Abandoning his Ed persona, Jack scooped her up and carried her to his patrol car.
Wrapping an arm around her as he drove, Jack took her back to the motel. His brow furrowed worriedly as she buried her face against his chest and sobbed. At the motel, he guided her into the room and got a wet washcloth for her eyes. Wordlessly he murmured soothingly and stroked her hair until her crying subsided. Somehow this seemed to be about more than her Father's experiments, he decided.
"Want to talk about it?" he asked gently.
Shaking her head, she replied, "No."
Starting to stand up, Jack told her, "If there's nothing else, I'll leave you then."
"Ed," Samantha stopped him."Could you-"
Could he hold her? Could he kiss the pain away? There was such sweetness and tenderness when he touched her. Would it be wrong to let him make love to her? It was so tempting to simply allow Ed to push the pain away. If she hurt him she would feel horrible, but the pain in her heart was unbearable.
Jack moved to the bed and laid down beside Samantha and gathered her in his arms. Watching his wife, he had seen the play of emotion on her face and decided to hold her for at least a few precious moments. In his arms Samantha slowly relaxed and after a few minutes fell asleep. Stroking her hair Jack watched over his sleeping wife and savored holding her close.
In her sleep, Samantha whimpered and cried out, "Daddy no! God Please help me!"
Gently Jack comforted her and she settled down peacefully with her face nuzzled against him. What had really happened today? Jack wondered. There was something going on that he didn't know about and he didn't like it one bit. Had Samantha's Father harmed her beyond abandoning her and being morally bankrupt? If Walter had harmed his Samantha, he would die screaming, Jack vowed angrily.
Samantha roused in Ed's arms, "What happened?"
"You fell asleep."
Gazing into his eyes, she asked, "How long was I out?"
Tenderly pushing a lock of hair out of her eyes, Jack answered, "About an hour."
Silently Samantha looked at Ed's face and brought her hand up to caress his face. He was really quite handsome, she decided as she studied his features and found herself drawn into the depths of his eyes. As sweet as Ed was, there was something about his eyes that was arresting, an almost haunted quality to them and a steely strength that seemed alien to the gentle sheriff.
Impulsively, Samantha pressed her lips to his and kissed him. Although the kiss was unexpected, Jack eagerly opened his mouth to hers. Hot and sweet, their tongues caressed and their hands started to gently move over one another. Hesitantly, Jack cupped Samantha's breast through her shirt and was rewarded with a soft moan. As Samantha sat up and pulled off her shirt, Jack removed his gun belt. If Jack's back hadn't been turned, he would have seen Samantha carefully removing the chain with her Alpha ring on it and giving it a wistful glance before placing it in the nightstand.
Grabbing Ed's tie, Samantha pulled him down on the bed and eagerly started to unfasten his tie. Jack looked at her for permission as his hands unfastened her bra. As his hands moved to her breasts, Samantha's hands moved to the buttons of his shirt. When he'd dressed this morning, Jack had left off the false middle and had slouched and pulled his shirt to give the illusion of having a stomach. Caught up in the sensation of his hands teasing her nipples, Samantha didn't register the unexpectedness of Ed's flat toned stomach.
Did he dare go through with this? Jack wondered. His cock pressed eagerly against his pants, pleading for release. Samantha's hand caressed him through his pants and reason fell away, along with all traces of Ed. Pushing her onto her back and kissing her, hard, the guise of Ed was dropped and it was pure Jack that was in control. With tender ferocity, his mouth caressed her neck leaving a faint mark as his hands skimmed her torso and began to roam her thighs.
Raising up, Jack unfastened Samantha's trousers and pulled them off, exposing her panties. Moving between her legs, he ground his arousal teasingly against her through her panties and his pants as his mouth sought hers. Against his mouth Samantha whimpered with need and Jack exalted in the sound of her desire. His Samantha was in his arms again and wanted him.
Samantha surrendered to the sensation of Ed's mouth on hers and felt hot as his desire pressed against her with promise. Opening her eyes, she looked at Ed's face and stared into his passion darkened eyes. His eyes were like a vortex drawing her in, but as she started to fall in, the unbidden thought of her first husband came to mind. Jack's eyes, she thought and sadness began to fill her. Although she had tried to push thoughts of Jack away by removing the necklace, Ed's eyes awakened thoughts of her husband.
Hot tears started to flow from Samantha's eyes and Jack instantly stopped his sexual caresses as he asked, "Samantha? What's wrong?"
"I- I'm sorry," she turned her head away and tried to blink back tears.
Moving off of her, Jack gently placed his hands on her shoulders and pleaded, "Talk to me."
"Jack," she said.
Eyes wide with shock, he choked out, "Excuse me?"
Looking at Ed, Samantha clarified, "I can't do this because of Jack."
"The serial killer?"
Shaking her head Samantha replied, "No."
Samantha hesitated, she'd never told anyone about Jack, but Ed was so sincere and he would never betray a confidence. Her voice thick with emotion, Samantha explained, "Your eyes remind me of someone I once knew and loved. Jack was- my first love."
Loved? His Samantha just admitted that she had loved him! Despite feeling physically frustrated, her words made his heart soar and he listened breathlessly for her next words.
"What happened?" he urged her to continue.
"He- he died."
Died? Samantha thought he was dead? Was that what had happened? Had she been tricked into believing him dead? While he'd been in agony believing she didn't love him, had she believed he was deceased? But that still didn't explain the damning letter, he thought miserably.
"Ed, you're a wonderful man and I'm very attracted to you. But your eyes remind me so much of Jack, that I can't do this," Samantha sighed in sad frustration.
Forcing himself to reign in his emotions and his own frustrations, Jack said, "I understand. I think I really should be going Samantha."
Pulling her clothes on as Ed got dressed, Samantha felt a lump form in her throat. While her inability to find passion in the arms of Tom and Coop hadn't affected her, she felt strangely sad at pushing Ed away. Her heart felt heavy as she watched Ed get ready to leave. Despite knowing Ed for only a short time, it bothered her that she had hurt and frustrated him.
"Ed-" Samantha called out as he walked towards the door.
Turning around he saw that she was crying and he walked to her. Pressing his mouth to her forehead, Jack held her for a moment and then left. As Ed left, Samantha sank down on the bed and began to cry. She cried for herself, for Ed, for Jack and for her inability to love anyone but her first husband. Blindly she reached for the ring in the drawer.
"Damn you!" she cursed at the ring angrily. Then kissed the ring and sobbed, "Damn us both."
Doing the gentlemanly thing had been the right thing to do, Jack decided, but it was very frustrating. Going home, he stripped his clothing off and laid down on the bed. Turning his head to his wife's smiling photo, he came without touching himself and began to cry as the years of loneliness overwhelmed him. Jack cried until he hadn't tears left shuddered with dry sobs into the night.
Samantha had to wear the same outfit she'd had on the day before when they returned to Atlanta early the next morning. Ed had left a mark on her neck and she didn't feel like explaining it to her coworkers. Since catching her kissing Ed, John had made some snide remarks about the small town sheriff and she didn't want to listen to any other rude comments about him.
Storming to the jail where Lucas was being held Samantha told him his plan hadn't worked that she'd been to Otis and that it hadn't affected her. She'd gone to vent and to try and convince herself that Lucas really was Jack-Of-All-Trades. Her first husband was dead and she had to stop hoping he would somehow come back. Lucas was Jack and she had to find a way to move on. Maybe when Ed came to testify in Atlanta she could cook him dinner and apologize.
After Samantha gave Lucas a tirade and turned to storm off, he pleaded, "Sam don't go."
Stopping cold in her tracks, his words echoed in her head. Turning her head, Samantha said, "You used to always call me Samantha. Since you've been here you call me Sam."
Lucas stared at her like a deer caught in the headlights. As Samantha left the jail, she found herself questioning again whether Lucas could really be Jack-Of-All-Trades and didn't like the answer that flitted through her head.
In Otis, Jack sat in front of his computer with his sheriff's badge cast aside as he stared at Samantha's photo on the computer screen. Taking a sip of his drink, Jack looked at his wife and thought over his plans for their future. Around him candles blazed and roses perfumed the air as he reflected on his beloved. Despite her returning to Atlanta, he felt closer to her than he had in a long time.
Looking at her photo, Jack purred sibilantly, "It's so good to see you again."
Polishing off his drink he told the picture of his wife, "I've missed you Samantha."
As Samantha tried to fall asleep with doubts of Lucas being Jack plaguing her, Jack stared at her picture and smiled...
