Chapter Forty


Author's Note: Yay, here's the second to last chapter. After forty-one I'm wrapping up this giant porn fest, I promise ;)


"Phillip, I don't know what you're trying to do, but I really don't think I'm going to be up to whatever it is." Lucas told his brother, who ignored his protests and drove farther away from Lucas' apartment. Jan, Nicole, Crystal and Sami had given Phillip the formidable chore of getting Lucas down to Unzipped so they could set their plan in motion. Phillip had worked for a good half hour to convince Lucas to take a drive with him. Knowing that Lucas wouldn't have gotten into Phillip's car if he had known where Phillip was planning on taking him, Phillip had simply told him they had to be somewhere important.

Even after his two previous falling outs with Sami, Lucas had never been in as bad shape as he was in now. Not only was he miserable and hard to spend time around, he seemed completely lost. Jan had briefly tried to fill Phillip in on what had went on with his mom, Sami and Lucas a few nights ago, but most of the things Jan had told Phillip were assumptions. Jan was positive that Kate had somehow found out about her meeting with Bonnie and turned around and told Lucas that Sami was behind everything to drive Sami and Lucas farther apart.

As much as Phillip hated to admit it, it sounded exactly like something his mother would do. He was grateful he wasn't in a similar situation with Shawn and Jan as a result of his mother's intrusions, but he knew it could have easily been him in Lucas' position if his mom had focused on his love life first. That knowledge compounded with his loyalty to his older brother was enough to make him willing to help get Lucas and Sami back together in any way he could.

Apparently, he wasn't the only one who felt this way. Not only were he, Nicole, Crystal and Jan helping Sami work things out with Lucas, but he knew Brady, Rex, Shawn and Patrick had all pitched in any way they could too. Most of them would be waiting for Lucas' arrival over at the club.

"Just give it a chance," Phillip urged Lucas, "You won't regret this, I promise. And if you do, you have permission to kill me."

Phillip turned the steering wheel to the left and Lucas began recognizing the route Phillip was taking, "What the hell, man? Are you taking me to that- that place."

Noticing that Lucas seemed to echo Sami's feelings towards Unzipped, Phillip was even more sure that their plan was going to have very good results.

"I don't know what you're talking about," Phillip's feigned ignorance seemed to annoy Lucas even more, who growled angrily.

"Phillip, I am not going back to Unzipped. Take me home right now."

Phillip was already pulling into the parking lot, "I can't. There's something really important you have to see tonight." Phillip opened his car door and stepped out of the car. Lucas didn't follow his lead.

"This isn't funny. Take me back to my apartment right now." Lucas commanded again, not noticing Phillip's almost amused expression.

"Don't make this hard on me. You're going in there. Whether you go in willingly or unwillingly is your choice. I guess if you don't get out, I'll have to carry you." Phillip thought for a moment, then added, "Or I could just get Shawn and Patrick out here to help drag you inside. They would jump at any opportunity to get their hands on you. They might be dating me, Rex and Jan but they still think you are one sexy-"

"I'm getting out!" Lucas interrupted indignantly, making sure to slam the door extremely hard behind him, "Let's get this over with."

Phillip and Lucas walked into the club, Phillip heading for Bonnie's office and Lucas following behind him with a scowl on his face. Once they reached the office, Phillip let Lucas walk in first. Nicole, Jan and Crystal stood around Bonnie. With a deep sigh, Bonnie mumbled something along the lines of 'here we go again', then looked up at Lucas.

"Lucas," Bonnie sent him an apologetic smile, "I talked Phillip into bringing you back here, because a little while after firing you, I decided I had been too hard on you."

Lucas let out a mirthless laugh, "You only fired me because you were bribed until you agreed to do it."

"I guess there's no fooling you," Bonnie responded. She knew she was very lucky Lucas wasn't more upset about what she had done to him, so she decided it would have been a bad idea to try and deny his accusation. "But like I said, I was much too hasty to take such drastic action."

"What are you trying to say?" Lucas frowned at Bonnie, confused.

"I'm trying to say that I want you to have your job back, if you still want it," Bonnie told him.

Lucas stared at Bonnie in surprise, "Are you serious? What made you change your mind?"

Jan cleared her throat and took a step forward, "Before we explain, I think the three of us," she looked behind her at Nicole and Crystal, "Need to clear something up for you."

"Go ahead," Lucas replied numbly, still in shock from Bonnie's sudden change of heart.

"We know your mom told you that Sami was the one who bribed Bonnie into getting you fired. But the truth is, Sami was as clueless as to what was going on as you were. Nicole, Crystal and I were the ones who bribed Bonnie into firing you. We were trying to help get you and Sami back together. Sami knew to be in your apartment after you lost your job because we kind of, um, called her and told her, but we made it sound like you quit."

"It's true, honey," Bonnie jumped in, "Your little sweetheart had nothing to do with bribing me. It was all these three."

"Your mom lied to you, Lucas. She was trying to keep you and Sami from working things out." Nicole concluded, jumping at the opportunity to help turn Lucas against Kate.

"I can't believe it," Lucas shook his head, disgusted with himself, "God, I should never have overreacted and blamed Sami the way I did. I feel so stupid now."

"Don't feel stupid. You had every right to trust your mother, but at least now you know better. And now that you know Sami didn't sabotage your career here, you two can get back together." Jan pointed out hopefully.

Lucas shook his head unhappily, "Even if I start working here again, it won't change anything. We'll just go back to the beginning. We keep going in circles and the point is, Sami doesn't want me to work here because she'll never trust in me enough."

"I don't know where you're getting that from," Bonnie raised her eyebrows, going along with the plan, "Sami was the one who talked me into giving you your job back."

"What?" Lucas jerked upright at the unexpected news.

"It's true, Lucas," Sami had been standing at the back of the room, so Lucas hadn't seen her when he had entered Bonnie's office. But she finally spoke, walking towards him slowly, "I didn't know if there was any other way to show you that I do trust you. It's true that I've never wanted you to work here, but I need you more than I need to have my way about this."

When Sami reached Lucas, he raised his hand to stroke her cheek, unable to respond to what she had just said.

Sami continued anyway, "I love you, Lucas. And I'm not going to lie, I still don't like the idea of you stripping with so many women watching, but if that's what you need in order to know that I trust you, then I won't try to take that away from you."

"Sweet baby," Lucas murmured affectionately before lowering his mouth onto Sami's. He kissed her deeply, his lips lingering on hers for a few moments. When he pulled away, he smiled at her, knowing she would be happy when she heard what he was about to say.

"I'm not going back to work here," Lucas said, watching her face brighten with surprise and happiness.

"Do you really mean that?" Sami asked.

"I do," Lucas traced the contours of Sami's soft, warm lips with his thumb, "I just needed to know that you trusted me. But if it doesn't make you happy, then I don't want to work here anymore."

Lucas couldn't remember the last time he had seen Sami smile with so much happiness and contentment radiating from her eyes, "God, I love you so much."

"I love you too." Lucas whispered before leaning down to capture her smiling lips. Sami could tell from the way Lucas was molding his mouth over hers with voracious abandon that he wanted to kiss her, really kiss her. Wanting to give him what he wanted, she parted her lips, allowing his silky, wet tongue to slip inside. His hands cupped her cheeks, slanting her head back slightly so he could have more access to the sweet recesses of her mouth.

Around the room, everyone stared at Lucas and Sami without speaking. Finally, Jan broke the stillness by whispering to Nicole and Crystal, "Wow, it looks like they're going to be preoccupied for the next, oh, two years or so. I think they've forgotten that there's five other people in the room."

"Make that more than five people," Nicole responded, watching another group of people come through the doors, "They finally got Kate down here. Could this be any more perfect?"

Brady, Shawn, Rex and Patrick led Kate into the room. Kate appeared to be bordering on pure outrage, which must have meant that the four men had probably dragged her over to the club. When her eyes fell upon Lucas and Sami, she let out a shrill squeal.

"Lucas, what are you doing?" she demanded furiously.

Lucas raised his head to turn and glare at his mother, "I'm making up with the woman I'm going to spend the rest of my life with."

Kate gaped at her son, "What? No, that isn't possible. Don't you remember what she did to get you fired from your job?"

"She had nothing to do with that. You were lying, but it didn't work. Sami and I are back together now, and you are not going to be able to break us up ever again," Lucas finished, his arms locking around Sami's waist possessively.

"No," Kate shook her head, "No, this can't be happening all over again."

"It is," Jan interjected, moving over so she was standing right next to Phillip, "And don't even think of trying anything with me, Phillip and Shawn. Nicole and I have already agreed to have you permanently banned from this club now that we own it, and that's only the beginning of what we're going to do to make you pay."

"Excuse me?" Bonnie shot Jan a look of disbelief, "You don't own this club, I do."

"Correction, all you ever did was manage this club. Mickey owned the club before I bought it from him," Nicole countered. "We filled him in on how you accepted bribes to fire Lucas, and we managed to convince him that we would do a much better job of running this club. So, it's ours now. Me, Crystal, Jan and Brady all have equal shares."

"But- but- but," Bonnie sputtered, unable to form a complete sentence.

"And as our first business move concerning Unzipped, we're firing you, Bonnie," Nicole added happily. "You still have Alice's Bar and the money I gave you though, so I wouldn't complain if I were you."

"This is ridiculous," Bonnie fumed, rising from her seat, "I'm going to go find Mickey and see if he can explain this!"

After Bonnie left, Lucas turned his attention back to Sami, "Want to go home?" he asked, his eyes shining with his love for her.

Sami nodded wordlessly, lacing her fingers through Lucas'. When walking by Kate, Sami couldn't resist a quick, victorious smile to anger Kate further. She and Lucas thanked Jan and the rest of her helpers, then continued walking towards the exit of the club. Now that everything was finally coming together for her and Lucas, Sami knew that there was only one way she wanted to spend this night, and she was already looking forward to making up for lost time.