Wow, this is like the longest wait before updates I've ever had. Sorry about that, my only excuse is that I'm lazy. Lumi are still stuck back in the begining/middle of December, remember we haven't had seen the Phelle wedding yet. Not so much seen actually as read, but anyway we still have Christmas coming up.

Huffing, Lucas hoisted the tree up one more time and brought it through the door. He plunked it down to the side of the fireplace and stepped back, grateful to be rid of the excess weight.

"It's perfect," Sami came up to stand next to him, "You did a wonderful job, little man."

Will grinned and Lucas set to putting the lights on as Sami made some hot chocolate. Will turned on the stereo and in minutes they were all in the Christmas spirit, Christmas music and all. Together as a family Lucas, Sami, and Will decorated their tree. Father and son laughing at the nitpicky way Sami arranged every decoration, and mother laughing at the way they reacted.

Finally finished with the tree, the three of them fell back onto the couch. Sami chose to quietly watch the tree and for awhile they let her, but after 15 minutes of silence from her end it became unnerving. Will didn't like it, his mother was never quiet this long. It was eerily reminiscent of the way she acted after they found out that Grandma Marlena was the serial killer, except this time it was less melancholy. Uncomfortably he said goodnight and went to his room to kill time before he was tired.

Lucas turned to watch Sami, one of his favorite pass times. He could spend hours watching the emotions play over her face. Unlike his son, he understood that this was not a sad silence. Instead of intruding on her musings he sat back and held her hand until she felt like talking.

"Lucas?"

"Yeah?"

"Let's get married."

He smirked at her, "Now why didn't I think of that?"

She smiled back, "Well, you're just not as brilliant as I am."

"See now, I kind of thought that being engaged was a prelude to getting married. If I'm correct, and I do believe I am, then I instigated the marriage idea. I was the one who proposed after all, so obviously I thought of it first."

"Yeah right, like you could ever come up with a plan as outstanding as us getting married."

"Excuse me, who is the business executive in this family? Who was the one who pushed for us in the first place? Who solved most of our problems?"

"I'll concede that you have a minor point, but I still hold strong that I am the brains of this outfit."

"We're obviously not going to agree on this so what do you say we leave it at a draw?"

"Deal," she rested her head on his shoulder and began the wild card topic that had beaten around in her head all day. It could go one of two ways, he could find it incredibly sweet and kind of romantic or he could be reminded of everything that had happened afterwards and end up extremely mad at her, "Jen talked to Father Jensen the other day. He has two days available in February, the 2nd and the 8th. I thought we could decide together."

As soon as she said it a million memories washed over Lucas. Sami talking trash about herself, kissing Sami, the floor of the photo lab, Sami leaving… He stroked the back of her hand with his thumb absently, "The 8th, huh?"

"Or the 2nd," she swallowed nervously. Why was she nervous, it was just Lucas.

"I like the 8th, it makes sense."

"How do you figure?"

"It's a special day. Good things happen to us on that day," simultaneously they both turned to look at Will's room, "Great things happen to me on the 8th."

"I think the 8th has been pretty great to me, too."

Lucas squeezed her hand and she laid her head back on his shoulder, "So we're agreed?"

"Agreed."

"We've really come full circle, you know that."

Sami smiled amusedly, "Yeah, I guess we have."

They each allowed each other a moment to reflect, until Lucas broke the peaceful silence with a yawn. Sami laughed, "Tired?"

"You try lugging that monster of a tree around for hours on end."

"Come on, we'll lie down and watch Conan."

"Sounds perfect," and it did. These undisturbed, blissful moments were heaven for him.

………………………………...

Bored, Sami finally wandered into the Pub; maybe Grandpa Shawn would feel like talking. She had forgotten what it was like to be completely bored. Will was in school, Lucas was at Titan, Jen was at a doctor's appointment for Steven, and she was bored. Boredom was a dangerous thing when it came to Sami. It made her feel the need to have a plan, some sort of scheme to give her a goal to pass the time with.

She sat down at the counter to wait for Grandpa Shawn to come out and silently leafed through the mail. Her eyes widened as she came across an invitation to Belle and Philip's wedding. What was Belle thinking? Did she really think it was okay to invite her ex's family to her wedding?"

"How are you, me darling girl?" Shawn Brady's thick Irish brogue cut through her thoughts.

"I'm good, just a little bored. I thought I'd come here for lunch, she looked down at the invitation and broached the subject carefully, "Belle invited you to her wedding."

"Yes."

"To Philip."

"That's right.

"Are you going?"

Shawn, who had kept working, now looked up, "I suppose I should," his eyes sparkled with mischief, briefly reminding Sami of an oversized leprechaun, "but with our young Mimi in the wedding I really should stay home to keep me pub running," he winked at her and she couldn't fight her laughter, "Now, me girl, go sit in a booth and I'll bring you some nice chowder."

Doing as she was told, Sami sat down to enjoy some warm chowder and a good magazine. She was halfway through both when Jam slid into the opposite side of the booth with Shawn following.

"Your boob is showing."

Without thinking Sami looked down and began fixing her shirt.

"I meant the clasp on your necklace, it's called a boob," Jan laughed and leaned toward Shawn, "Gets 'em every time."

Sami glared at her, "That was really immature," she snarked as she fixed the chain on her necklace.

"I was just trying to help," Jan snapped back, although she didn't seem too upset.

"Why are you two here?"

"We're allowed to eat at my grandfather's pub, aren't we?"

"I meant why are you in this booth…sitting…with me."

"I wanted to talk to you. I heard you were boycotting Belle's wedding. The little twit's going to be crushed, you're my new hero," Jan smiled at Sami.

"Thanks, I think."

"Nicole used to be my hero, but she was never very good at giving back. Then it was Kewpie. She was a much better hero, but now…"

Confused Sami had to interrupt, although Shawn seemed used to Jan's babbling, "I'm sorry, but who's Kewpie?"

"Oh, she's a genius. I bet she could give you some great ideas, you know for your thing against Belle. She's helped me out a lot."

"I'm fine on my own, and I've got Lucas if I need anything."

Shawn looked up from his meal to finally speak up, "Are you sure about that? I mean he and Philip are pretty tight, did he actually say he was in?"

……………………………

"Mom?" Lucas looked up from his desk in surprise, "What are you doing here?"

"I came here to see that you're doing okay, sweetie."

"It's a lot of work, but it's great. It feels so good to be back in the business world. Everything is falling into place for me. Great job, great kid, great Sami, I have everything I've ever wanted," he knew she didn't want to hear it, but he felt so happy he didn't care, "We finally set another date."

"That's wonderful, baby," Kate forced a smile when inside she wanted to retch. It was a good thing she had another plan, "As much as I would love to keep talking about this, I came here for another reason. You see, your brother's wedding is in a few days."

"Yeah, I know when the day is," Lucas bit out; he didn't want to spoil his good mood.

"The point is, I know Sami is refusing to come to the wedding and she's somehow tricked some other people into joining her. I don't want you to miss your brother's wedding because of her. I know you and Austin have always had your problems, and you barely know Mike and Rex, but you and Philip have a good relationship. He wants you to be there. Think about it."

Lucas leaned back into his chair, she had a point. He hadn't really thought about going to the wedding, he hadn't thought about not going either. He didn't want to disappoint the only little brother he liked. Sami wouldn't mind, would she?

Kate slinked out of the office and leaned back against the closed door, smiling evilly. Sami wouldn't like Lucas going against her. It was perfect. They would fight, Sami would give an ultimatum, Lucas would leave, and there would be no more Sami.