Just remember that we all love Sami, okay. We all know that she gets scared easily, especially when it comes to Kate. She thinks that she needs to protect herself. Just, don't be mad at her. There is a reason that angst is a sub-genre.

Knowing there was no way Kate would leave, so that they could finish what they started, Lucas gently lowered Sami to her feet. He brushed a light hand over her hair, but by her non-reaction, he couldn't be sure if she felt the gesture. Unenthusiastically, he lifted his gaze to meet his mother's eyes, trying to reign in all emotion.

"What do you want?"

She looked taken aback by his cold, clipped tone, but he didn't care. He refused to feel any sympathy for the woman who almost ruined his life.

"I had to stop you from making the biggest mistake of your life, Lucas. You can't take that little viper back."

"What Sami or I do is none of your business."

"The conversation you over heard wasn't what you thought. She must have manipulated it somehow! I didn't set her up."

Sami gaped at Kate in shock. How far she was willing to go to keep her lie alive was unbelievable. She looked at Lucas to reassure herself that he saw the lie as well, but was surprised to see the disgust in his stare, not realizing that it was aimed completely at Kate.

He took a second to register how uncharacteristically silent Sami was staying, then only let the revulsion he felt seep through. She was going too far. It had to be stopped, but Sami didn't need to be here to hear what Kate might say.

"Sami, I think it would be a good idea if you left."

The sting of betrayal nearly took her breath away. How could he possibly believe Kate, of all people? Deftly, she hid her wounded appearance and left the apartment.

Neither realized that she missed the reassurance he was trying to communicate with his eyes.

Lucas didn't even realize that Sami had yet to say a word, because as soon as the door closed he focused his rage on the one person he had never expected to betray him.

"How dare you come into my home! You are not welcome here, I've told you that before."

"I realize you're angry because you think that I set up…"

"Think? Kate, I know what you did. The only thing I can't believe is that it took me this long to figure it out. I want you to leave. Don't come back."

"I'm your mother, Lucas. You can't cut me out of your life, I only do what I do because I know what's best for you."

"Like hell you do. You claim that you want me to be happy, well Sami makes me happy. She is what's best for me, but you can't see that."

"I know you think that she's the woman for you, but you can do so much better. You're being blinded by lust now, but in time…"

"Lust?" He felt physically ill at the implication that his feelings for Sami could be so violated and debased, "Don't insult me or the woman I love that way, ever again."

"You can't love her. I won't allow."

Her depth of denial was laughable, but the last thing Lucas felt like doing was laughing.

"I'm not a child. I make my own decisions that have nothing to do with you," he shook his head in attempt to clear the pain in his body. She was making him do something he had never wanted to, "I don't know what happened to you, but some how you've changed."

Kate's brown eyes grew desperate to fix this situation, "I don't know what you're talking about. I'm still the mother you've always known."

He laughed a humorless laugh, "No you're not. The mother I grew up with would have been happy that I was in love. She would have supported me no matter what. You know, there was a time when you wanted me to go after Sami, instead of Carrie. Do you remember that? If you can find the mother that originally brought me to this town, then let her know I wish she would come back. That's the only way you will have any connection to me or my son, Kate."

Kate tried not to be brought back to the time when she had believed Sami to be a perfect match for her son, but the memories came flooding anyway. After coming back from the months she had spent gutting fish, when her family believed she had died, she had been ecstatic when she believed that Sami and Lucas had gotten together.

But she wasn't that person anymore, and Sami wasn't the girl she'd believed her to be. Tears blinded her eyes as her middle, and at times dearest, son walked away from her. This could be the moment that she'd lost him for good.

………………………………...

Sami paced her living room. Lucas had asked her to leave. That thought kept replaying over and over in her mind. She wasn't sure what she had expected, but that hadn't been it.

Kate was probably poisoning his mind. She was going to convince him that getting back together was a bad idea. Somewhere, in the back of her head, the irony was shining through. Not even a day ago she had been set in the belief that a reunion would be too painful, but finally she'd been able to move past that only to be proven right.

She heard the door open and braced herself. With her arms crossed in an unconsciously protective movement, she turned around to face whatever fate would bring.

Lucas took in her body language as a sign of stress do to their irritating interruption. She had changed out of her dress into a pair of pajama pants and a tee shirt that he recognized as one of his own he had been sure was lost.

Her makeup had been removed and her hair was pulled into a loose ponytail. It suddenly struck him that Sami looked very innocent. She looked too cute and young to have such a hard expression on her face.

"What are you doing here?"

He shot her a curious look, but couldn't provoke a clearer statement from her, "Where else would I be?"

"I don't know. Maybe hanging out with Kate. I mean, I'd think you would have to synchronize your Evil Sami stories. Maybe you two could get the rest of the town together, and then there could be a contest to see who's got the best one."

"Don't do that," Lucas felt a whole new kind of pain engulf him at her accusation, "Don't let her win."

She seemed to deflate and wearily sank onto the couch, "What's the difference? She's going to get her way eventually, anyway. She always does."

Her voice was laced with bitterness, but the despair rang through to him.

"We were so close, Sami. We were going to make love tonight, don't loose that feeling. Not even an hour ago everything was going our way."

She couldn't meet his eyes. This would devastate him as much as her.

"I can't do this. Every time I think we can make it, that dream gets ripped away. It hurts too much."

Although she tried to fight it, a few tears slipped out. Rapidly, she tried to blink them away, but that only served as a catalyst for more.

"But, that dream's not gone. I'm willing to fight for it, but you have to fight with me. I can't save us on my own."

"I don't have enough energy to fight for the rest of my life."

"But…"

"Just go, Lucas"

Anxiously, he searched for a sign that this was not happening. Somewhere in his thought process he knew that this was a defense mechanism. She didn't really mean what she was saying, but all he could see was that Sami was rejecting him. Again.

Sami saw the hurt in his eyes, but was powerless to relieve it. It would be better to get it over with now, rather than when they were deeply depending on their future, like last time. Her already shattered heart broke again as he got up and left.

He didn't even say goodbye.