As Sam entered the limo, Max cleared his throat. "Are you all right, Ms. McCall?"

In the rearview mirror, he could see her smiling at him. Max understood why Mr. Morgan had gone for her. She was a pretty girl. "Max, it's Sam, for the millionth time. And yes, I'm fine."

She was lying, of course. He'd heard her conversation with the Quartermaines, had seen her talking with Officer Spencer. And as he glanced into the mirror, he could see her hand covering her belly protectively.

"Shh, little girl," Max heard her whisper. "Everything's going to be all right. I promise."

Max allowed himself to shake his head. Clearly, the girl hadn't been in Port Charles that long. Because in this town? Nothing stayed fine for long, especially when you were around Mr. Morgan or Mr. Corinthos.

Jason was in the garden. He glanced around, smelling the roses that were his grandmother's pride and joy. "Grandmother?" he called out.

"In here, darling," she replied. Jason turned a corner and smiled as he saw Lila Quartermaine playing with her great-grandaughter. "Hello, Jason."

His daughter looked up from the ball she was rolling back and forth across the green grass. "Daddy," she cooed happily.

He came over to her, and she held up her arms, clearly wanting to be picked up. As he lifted her into his arms, as always, she immediately went for the stethoscope around his neck. "Did you have fun with Great-Grandmother?" Jason asked.

Her light brown hair fell across her face as she nodded vigorously. Jason shifted her in his arms. "Hope she wasn't any trouble. I know how insane two year-olds can be."

Lila waved her hand dismissively. "She's an angel, Jason. How are things at the hospital?"

Jason groaned and put his daughter back down on the grass. He sat down in the chair next to Lila. "Lousy. Doug's still insisting that there needs to be a pediatric Attending in the E.R., half the nurses were out sick today, and the new med students…God, was I really that green when I was their age?"

"Without a doubt," she replies, smiling at him.

"That's what I was afraid of."

"And Sam? Is she still in L.A?"

"Yes," he said, smiling at the thought of her. "She's still scouting out new talent for L&B's. Called last night to tell us that she'd found some potential artists and, of course, that she misses us." He glanced at the newspaper lying on the ground nearby. "Hey, AJ jumped up seven points in the opinion polls!"

"Yes," Lila said with a smile. "He's sure to make Mayor, especially with Carly campaigning so hard for him…"

"Yeah, well, Carly's dead set on being the wife of the Mayor…" As Jason read on, something caught his eye. "Corinthos got arrested again?" he asked in disbelief.

"Apparently, they've finally got something solid on them. John Durant, that charming man—" Jason let out a snort at the thought of Carly's father being described as charming, "— and D.A. Lansing have finally caught that horrible, horrible man for good."

Jason opened his mouth to speak, but suddenly, the garden and the sky and his grandmother and his daughter—the entire landscape—warped and twisted, and then finally faded away.

Jason woke with a start, his eyes snapping open.

God.

That was—beyond crazy. What the hell was that? Jason had dreamed about his grandmother often since—since her death, but everything else had been so out there, even for a dream…he had been a doctor, for Christ's sake. A doctor. And AJ was still around, and married to Carly—weird. No, not weird so much as—unsettling. Highly unsettling.

And it was just a dream. Just a dream. Just a dre—

But then he remembered his daughter. A beautiful little girl with his light brown hair and her mother's dark eyes.

She'd been the most perfect, beautiful thing he'd ever seen.

He got out of bed, deciding to grab a glass of water.

When he came downstairs, Jason was more than a little surprised to find Sam sitting on the couch, in the dark. He flipped on the lights and blinked hard for a few seconds, trying to let his eyes adjust. "What's going on?"

Sam looked at him, silent.

"So, what did you talk about?" Edward asked eagerly the minute Monica and Alan walked into the room.

Monica sighed. "It went very well."

Alan snorted. "Oh, please."

"Don't tell me she's another Carly in disguise," Edward said.

"Oh, no, Sam's very nice," Alan reassured. "No, things were going well…until we were forced to tell her about that whole debacle back in the winter, you know, when Sonny shot Carly in the head?"

Edward groaned. "She didn't take it well?"

Monica threw up her hands. "How do you take that kind of news well? She was understandably upset. Had to take off to try and—absorb it all."

"But you did tell her that the Quartermaines were willing to support her?" Edward pressed.

Alan looked up at that. "Father, don't you dare even think about it! No more custody battles. I already told you, I don't want it to be like it was before." His throat clenched at the memory of Sonny Corinthos waltzing into his home and blithely taking away his grandson. "If we push too hard, too fast, we'll lose them for good."

"And if we just stand back, we could lose them anyway," Edward countered, then sighed. "I—I just can't stand the thought of losing another family member."

Alan's throat clenched again. He wasn't talking about Michael or Jason or AJ. He was talking about Mother.

Mother, who would have been so thrilled to know about Jason's baby. Mother, who would have made this so easy, so smooth. Mother, who had literally been the best the Quartermaines had to offer.

In another lifetime, Jason had been that as well. He'd been the best the Quartermaines had to offer.

But that had changed. Mother—Mother was dead. She was dead and as far as Jason was concerned, they were dead to him.

"We have to take this slowly," Monica insisted. "Give her time. She's not going anywhere."

Alan got up to fix himself a drink. "Monica, if you were in Sam's position, would you stay?"

"Sam?" Jason was really starting to get a little bit worried now. The look on Sam's face…she was staring at him as if he were—a stranger. "What's wrong? Did something happen at dinner?"

Sam turned her face away from him and stared straight ahead. "So, were you even going to tell me?"

"Tell you what?" Jason racked his brain, trying to think of something that Monica and Alan could have told her to freak her out this badly.

"About Sonny," Sam spit out.

Jason was still at a loss.

"And the bullet he put in his wife's brain."

Oh. That was what they'd told her.

Fuuccck.

Damn it all, he should have known this was going to happen. "Sam," he said, desperate for her to understand, "it was—"

She leapt off the couch. "You promised me that I would be safe," Sam cried, her voice filled with accusation and betrayal. "You promised."

"And you are!" Jason insisted. "Sam, I swear you're safe here. Sonny isn't a threat to you—"

Sam laughed hysterically at that. "In what universe is a man who put a bullet in his pregnant wife's brain not considered to be a threat?" She waved her arms around dramatically. "Oh, that's right, I forgot! I'm in Bizarro Mob World, where cops and prosecutors are the enemy and men who shoot their wives are heroes!"

He stepped towards her, more desperate than he thought possible. She backed away from him. Jason let his arms fall to his sides. "It was an accident," he said, forcing his voice to stay even.

"And his first wife? Was that an accident too?"

She knew about Lily. Dear God.

Jason didn't know how to make this okay. He didn't know how to make everything right again.

Sam choked back a soft sob. "I trusted you," she whispered. She shook her head. "God, how could I be so stupid?"

Jason couldn't stop himself from wincing at that. "You still can," he quietly said.

Sam wiped away at her tears furiously. "Sonofabitch," she murmured. Jason didn't know if she was referring to him or Sonny. Probably both. "I'm not usually this naïve," she told him with a laugh, sitting back down on his couch. "But boy, were you ever good. You—you said all the right things in just the right way, at exactly the right time…" Sam waved a finger in his direction. "My dad would have been impressed."

"It wasn't like that," Jason said, his voice hoarse. "I wasn't trying to trick you." A small part of his brain marveled at all this. He hadn't realized that Sam had the power to hurt him. But she could.

"And that's the scariest part of all," Sam said, looking straight at him. "You weren't. You—you really think I'll be okay here. Living across the hall from someone like Sonny, surrounded by bodyguards. You think this is all okay."

Jason was silent, then finally asked, "What happens now?"

Sam shook her head slowly. "On the way here, I must have run through this scenario a million times in my head. My imagination always stopped here."

"Do you want to leave?"

"What, like I have a choice in the matter?"

Jason's mouth fell open. Goddamn, he hadn't thought her opinion of him was that low… "You're not a prisoner, Sam. You never were."

"See, here's the thing," Sam said, standing up and speaking in a brisk tone. "If I leave, I know there's no way you're going to give me sole custody and agree to stay away from the baby. And I know that I don't have the money to fight you in court. So, it looks like I'm staying."

That wasn't what he wanted. "It's not like that," he insisted desperately.

Sam smiled bitterly. "Sure it is, Jason. I can't fight you and Sonny, so I have to make nice. Why pretend otherwise?"

He rubbed his face with his hand. She made it sound so… "How do I make this all right?" he asked plaintively. "Tell me how to make this all right, and I'll do it, Sam. Whatever you want."

"So, what'd they talk about?" Sonny asked.

"Lots of things," Max said casually. "Nurses' Ball—that's coming up soon, L&B Records, ELQ…" It had to be admitted, Max didn't feel so great about tattling to Sonny like this. But Sonny was the boss and he didn't have a choice.

Sonny gave him an impatient look. "Did they say anything about me? Or Michael?"

"Nothing about Michael," Max assured him. "You did come up towards the end…"

"And?" Sonny prodded.

"Um, apparently Lorenzo Alcazar has been talking to Sam, and he gave her a few hints as to what happened in the winter, you know, with Mrs. Corinthos…"

"You mean, when I shot my wife in the head and put her in a coma?"

"Yeah," Max said, relieved that Sonny had gotten to the point. "Well, she asked about it, and the Quartermaines…they told her."

"Shit," Sonny said. "Aaah, fuck it. She didn't take it well?"

"I think that would be an understatement," Max said wryly. "She took off, went to the park…ran into Officer Spencer."

"Shit," Sonny repeated darkly, frowning at the mention of Lucky.

"They talked for a while…couldn't make out what they were talking about…she said something about going home and yelling at Jason—"

Sonny mumbled something unintelligible at this point. As this was a usual occurrence, Max ignored him and continued. "Then she left and came into the limo and I drove her back here."

"She's with Jason now?"

"Yes," Max said.

"Whatever I want?" Sam repeated, sitting back down again slowly.

"Just tell me what it is," Jason said.

Sam closed her eyes and thought. Finally, she said, "Keep me and our daughter away from Sonny Just--keep him away. I never liked him, and I like him even less now."

"All right."

"Good," Sam said, getting up and making her way to the stairs. As she was on the first step, she paused and turned around. "That was a lot easier than I thought it would be. What gives?"

Jason looked down at the ground. Quietly, he admitted, "I should have told you about Carly. You should have been able to come into this with your eyes open, knowing all of the risks."

Sam sighed. "Why didn't you tell me?" she asked. "You're not an idiot, Jason. You knew that this was something I would want to be told about."

He licked his lips nervously. "Because—I was sick of sacrificing. I was so sick of giving up people that I cared about. My grandmother had just died, Courtney and I had just gotten divorced, and there you were, in that hospital bed, and I just—I couldn't do it, Sam. I couldn't do it."

"You know, it seems like you've lost a lot of people because of all this," Sam said, waving her hand around. "Then—why stay?"

It was the question they'd been dancing around for almost two months. It was the question that Jason had been running into since he could remember.

Jason's voice shook as he said, "Because—this is all I know."

"There's more to you than this, Jason," Sam insisted, even though, sometimes, she wasn't even sure of that herself.

Jason's mouth curled into a bittersweet smile that tore at Sam's heart. "That's the thing, Sam. There really isn't."

The next morning, Sam and Jason were better than last night.

That wasn't saying much.

Jason cooked as usual. Pancakes, with chocolate chips this time. Sam drank mango juice—her new craving—and idly flipped through Entertainment Weekly. They ate in silence.

While Jason washed up, refusing Sam's offer of help, Sam went to call the Quartermaines. No one answered, and eventually, the answering machine picked up. "Hey, it's me, Sam. Listen, aside from the last part, I thought dinner went rather well. And you'll be happy to know that not only have I not skipped town, Jason and I…well, we've come to an agreement of sorts." Sam glanced at Jason, who wasn't looking at her. "Anyway, I feel awful about the way I ran out of there, so I was hoping that maybe we could try the whole dinner thing again, and this time, with no mention of Sonny Corinthos. So call me back. Bye." She hung up and sighed. "What a mess."

"Are we going to be okay?" Jason asked quietly, not turning around.

She looked over at his back, at his tense shoulders. "I don't know."

"Lucky! Hold up a second!"

Lucky stopped outside Kelly's, turned and saw Ric Lansing jogging towards him. "Hey, Ric, what's up?" Lucky asked. "Did something change with the Mayor?"

"I spent half the night going over everything in my head," Ric said, breathless. "Finally I decided to call Alexis and tell her everything. She is Skye's attorney, she has a right to know what she's up against."

"How'd it go?"

Ric laughed ruefully. "Well, after she finished ripping a strip off my back for not telling her sooner...she's just as confused as we are."

"Great," Lucky muttered, then groaned. "What a nightmare. Listen, I'm--I'm meeting a friend for lunch..." He glanced through the window, and saw that Sam was waiting for him at a table.

Ric followed his gaze. "That's who you're meeting?"

It had to be admitted that Lucky stiffened slightly at the tone of Ric's voice. "Yeah. We're friends."

"Isn't she living with Jason?" Ric asked. "And isn't she pregnant with Jason's child too?"

"Yes to both," Lucky said tightly. At Ric's look, he burst out defensively, "We're friends."

"You sure about this?" Ric asked gently.

"There's nothing to be worried about," Lucky said shortly. "Sam and I are friends." Without looking back, he firmly opened the door of the diner and walked right in.

"Okay," Ric said after a moment. "This isn't going to end well."

"Hey," Sam said, smiling as Lucky slid into the seat across from her. "There you are."

"Sorry I'm late," Lucky said. "Got held up talking to the D.A."

"Ooh, Ric Lansing?" Sam asked. "He's hot." At Lucky's look, she said defensively, "What? I'm almost five months pregnant, hormonal as hell, and I've got eyes, don't I?"

Lucky laughed. "So, how did things go last night with—"

Sam held up her hand. "Uh-uh. Today is about you and whatever's going wrong in your life."

"How do you know there's something wrong?" Lucky asked lightly.

Sam shrugged. "You always look like there's this...weight on your shoulders. But I wasn't positive until last night. So come on. Tell me."

Lucky stared at her in amazement. His own brother hadn't bothered to notice. Emily, Elizabeth, Lucas, his friends at the PCPD...they all thought he was doing just fine. Oh, sure, they'd inquire occasionally as to the progress on Skye's case, but Lucky wasn't an idiot. They didn't really want the truth, they wanted him to smile and say everything was all right. And for months, that had been exactly what he'd done.

Sam had known him for such a short amount of time in comparison...and she knew something was wrong, and she actually wanted to listen.

"Tell me," Sam said again.

And almost before he knew it, Lucky was spilling his guts out. About his mother's mental illness, his father's destructive behavior, the whole mess with Skye and Ross Duncan. The disappearance of both his parents. How his sister was growing up without a father. How alone he felt. How it seemed as though he kept having to give everything to other people, support, love, comfort—so much so that there was nothing left of him.

Five minutes into his spiel, Sam took his hand.

She didn't let go.

Mike served them coffee, but Lucky didn't notice. He wasn't Catholic, but he finally got the whole idea behind confession and why so many people would feel the urge to spill everything to someone. Except he didn't have a tiny room and a screen, just Sam's luminous dark eyes fixed on his face and her small, perfect hand in his.

Finally, when his voice got hoarse, his throat scratchy—finally he finished. "Wow," he said. "I didn't mean to go on that long…"

Sam looked a little stunned. "Damn. And to think I was whining all the time about my messed-up life, and here you are, with all this--"

"I'm doing okay," Lucky muttered.

Sam snorted. "Hello, you're speaking to a former con-artist here. You think I can't spot a lie at fifty paces? You're not okay."

"Neither are you," he pointed out.

She laughed mirthlessly at that. "No, you're right about that." She paused. "Think we'll make it?"

Lucky grinned at her. "Hey, I'm a Spencer, and I'm sure you've seen worse than this. We'll be fine."

To his relief, she grinned back. "Yeah. We'll be just fine."

And at that moment, both of them believed it.

"I want you to talk to Meyer about the shipping contracts..." Sonny trailed off. "Jason, you with me here?"

"Yeah," Jason said, jerking out of his reverie. "Yeah, I'm with you."

Sonny looked at him. "What's going on?" When Jason didn't reply, Sonny said, "It's about Sam. Right?"

"Yeah," Jason admitted. "Yeah, she found out about what happened with you and Carly and Alcazar...it upset her."

"But she's still staying?"

"Yeah," Jason said bitterly. The distrust in Sam's face, in her words...it had left a bad taste in Jason's mouth that he couldn't get rid of.

Sonny didn't pick up on Jason's bad mood, or he just chose to ignore it. "Well, that's good."

"She's staying, but only because she doesn't think she has a choice. She thinks that if she leaves, I'm just going to try and take the baby away," Jason elaborated. He threw up his hands. "I have no idea how to fix this, Sonny. I mean, she was starting to settle in, we were getting along great..."

"You care about her, don't you?" Sonny asked.

"Yeah. I do," Jason admitted. Sam was frustrating, annoying as hell sometimes--but she was also funny. It wasn't so bad living with her. And if he was honest, he had to admit he enjoyed having her there, puttering around in the apartment. Knowing there would be someone who would be there when he got home.

Sonny held out his arms. "Hey, if you want me to talk to her for you--"

"No," Jason said hastily. "Sonny--Sam didn't like you before she found out what you did, and now--" he shook his head. "In fact, I think it's a good idea if you just keep your distance from Sam from now on."

Sonny's eyebrows rose up. "Jason, I'm not a threat--"

Jason cut him off. "I know that, but Sam doesn't see it that way, and I don't want her to be any more stressed out than she already is. Please, Sonny, I'm asking you, as a favor, to leave it alone."

Sonny didn't look at all happy, but he pressed his lips together and nodded tightly. "All right."

"Thanks."

"Hey, Coleman," Sam said softly. After saying goodbye to Lucky at Kelly's, she had wandered around town and eventually ended up at Jake's. Well, she was outside Jake's, really.

Coleman stopped dead in his tracks. A slow, slow smile appeared on his face. "Well, hello there, baby-doll. Long time, no see."

"Yeah," Sam admitted awkwardly, shifting from one foot to the other. Coleman had been the first person to help her out, had given her a safe place to stay when she had needed it the most. She should have talked to him more since she'd returned. "Sorry, I've been really busy, settling in..."

"Don't worry about it," Coleman shrugs, and seemed to remember that he had a garbage bag in his hand. He effortlessly threw it in the Dumpster and turned to her, grinning. "So, what is it this time?"

Sam tilted her head. "Why didn't you tell me about Carly?"

Coleman's grin faded slightly, but he said, "Well, there are a lot of things I could tell you 'bout Carly Corinthos. Besides, you didn't ask."

Sam wouldn't let up. "Why didn't you tell me that her husband shot her in the head when she was giving birth?"

Now the grin was completely gone. "Well, I figured there wasn't much point. I'd already told you about the first wife, and if that didn't knock sense into you, nothing would." He paused. "How long ago did you find out?"

"Last night," Sam admitted.

He held out his arms wide. "And you're still here, which proves my point. Why'd you stay?"

"I can't beat him in court," Sam insisted.

Coleman laughed...and called her bluff. "Liar. Fact of the matter is, baby-doll, there isn't a judge in the country that wouldn't give you custody...especially if you had the Quartermaines backing you up. No, that's not the reason why you're staying."

Sam was speechless. Finally, she admitted, "You're right. That--that's not the entire reason why I'm staying. The truth is," she swallowed, then went on, "the truth is...I like it here. Back--before I got pregnant, I lived out of a suitcase. I used so many aliases that I've lost track of all of them. I didn't have any friends, all I had were contacts that I could use to get information. I told myself it was all right, that I didn't mind being alone...but the truth is, I was miserable. But now...now I can settle in. I can...put down roots without wondering how long it'll be before I have to leave."

"So, you're not in love with Jason Morgan then?" Coleman asked.

"No," Sam said, then reconsidered. "But...I still like living with him. There's...finally someone who's going to worry if I don't come home on time. It's--nice, having someone around who cares." She looked at him pleadingly. "Is it so bad to want that?"

Coleman's face softened. "No, it's not. Just--be careful, all right? Corinthos and Morgan...they--don't really have a great track record when it comes to relationships, if you catch my drift."

Sam laughed. "Yeah, no kidding."

"No, I mean that," Coleman said seriously. "Watch out for yourself...and your baby."

"I will," she promised. "Thanks, Coleman."

"Anytime, doll."

Sam gave him a mock-glare. "I'm not a doll," she said, then grinned at him.

Coleman grinned back.

When Jason and Michael entered the apartment, Sam was on the couch, talking on the telephone. She waved at them. "Hey, Monica, this is Sam," she said with a laugh. "Seems like we just keep missing each other. Anyway, I got your message and I would love to have dinner with you. Monday at 7:00 sounds great and I'll see you then. Bye." She hung up. "Hey, there. What are you guys up to?"

"We're going to the carnival," Michael said in excitement.

"There's a carnival being held in a nearby town," Jason explained. "Sonny can't take him, he's busy with work, and Carly's still in Manhattan, so I said I'd do it."

"Do you want to come with us?" Michael offered.

Sam hesitated, then to Jason's surprise, said, "Sure, why not?"

Sam and Jason sat down on the bench and waited for Michael to get off the roller-coaster. Sam was eating pink cotton candy.

"We still need to talk more," Jason said softly.

Around a mouthful of pink fluff, Sam said, "Jason, we've said all we need to say. I don't want to argue any more."

Jason had to think for a moment about what he wanted to say, and how it needed to come out. He wasn't good at this. Communicating—words—all of it. He spoke when he needed to, didn't when it wasn't necessary.

But now--this was necessary. Jason wanted Sam to stay, but not for the wrong reasons. He wanted her to stay because she wanted to stay. Not because she thought she'd been backed into a corner. "Look, I know you don't feel safe in the penthouse, and that's not what I want. It's not good for you or the baby to be stressed out all the time."

"Obviously," Sam said in a clipped voice. "But what are we going to do about it?"

Jason took a deep breath.

It wouldn't be easy. Sonny would hate it. Carly would throw a fit. The Quartermaines would see it as a reason to hope again.

But it needed to be done. Jason needed to do it, and what was more, he wanted to do it. He was sick of sacrificing everything for this life. Sonny got to have it all, why did Jason always have to be the one who had to constantly give everything up?

"We could move out," Jason said evenly.

Sam stared at him, not understanding. "What?"

"We could move," he said, uncomfortable under her searching gaze. "You don't feel comfortable living across the hall from Sonny--"

"I don't feel comfortable being in the same building as Sonny," Sam said flatly, "but--you're really willing to move? For me?"

"Yes."

A stunned, disbelieving smile was starting to spread across her face. "Really? You—you mean it?"

Jason started to relax. If she was smiling, then maybe this could work out. "Yeah. I mean it."

"You'd...uproot everything, just like that?"

He shrugged. "Well, you uprooted your entire life for this baby because I told you that that would be best. Seems like it's only fair if I do the same."

In a sudden movement, Sam hugged him. "Thank you," she whispered in his ear. "Thank you, thank you, thank you."

Jason smiled into her hair. "So, you like the idea then."

"Like it?" Sam released him. "Are you kidding me, I love it! Have you found a place yet? Should we get an apartment or a house? How long do you think it'll take?"

Jason laughed. "Uh, let's see. I haven't found a place yet, and I think we should just go for the house, and no, I don't know how long it'll take."

"You can do that?" Sam asked. "You can...leave, you can move out?"

Jason laughed softly. "Sam, Sonny doesn't run my life."

"Could've fooled me," she muttered.

He gave her a look. "Seriously, Sam, it'll be fine." But despite his words, Jason knew Sonny wouldn't like it at all. And Carly...oh God, Carly would throw a major fit. All things considered though, Carly was overdue for a fit, so maybe it was good to get it over with.

But Sonny wouldn't like it.

But at this point, working things out with Sam was more important.

At that moment, Michael showed up. "Oh, man that was awesome!" he said happily. "There was this guy in the back that threw up once, and there were so many loops that I thought I'd throw up too..."

And as Jason listened to Michael's story, he looked over once and saw Sam smiling at him. In that moment, he believed that everything was all right again.

When Lucky walked into Kelly's with Elizabeth, Emily and Nikolas, he saw Sonny Corinthos talking to Mike behind the counter. Giving Sonny a look, he just decided to ignore him.

"We were thinking of red for the bridesmaids's dresses," Emily was saying. "Dark red…that'll look so great on you Elizabeth…"

"Hey, are you changing your last name to Cassadine?" Elizabeth asked.

As the girls talked and Nikolas occasionally cut in with the wry or sarcastic comment, Lucky let his mind drift. Lately, he hadn't let himself do that…because eventually it would get back to his mom and dad and just where they were…or how Skye was doing in Pentonville…

But God, was he ever bored. Weddings weren't really his thing. He was thrilled that Emily and Nikolas were going to be happy, but the constant discussion over invitations and seating arraignments were driving him crazy.

Idly, he wondered how Sam was doing. She'd seemed to be okay the last time he'd seen her…she'd smiled at him, listened to him…Sam had seemed happier than the night in the park, which must have meant she'd worked things out with Jason.

Jason. If Lucky was perfectly honest with himself, he would admit that he'd never really liked Emily's brother. Especially not when Jason and Elizabeth had had—whatever they'd had. But even after that was over, Lucky still hadn't liked Jason. He could just put it down to the mob-cop thing…but that wasn't precisely it.

To be blunt, Jason gave him the creeps. The way he constantly skulked around…how he never talked unless it was absolutely necessary…those dead eyes.

Jason creeped Lucky out, and he just couldn't picture someone like Sam with Jason. He just couldn't see it. Sam had a good sense of humor, she wasn't—she wasn't like Carly. Lucky couldn't see her being happy in that life, not in the long run.

And boy, was this ever inappropriate. What the hell was he thinking? Lucky had known Sam for such a short time, sure, they'd had some intense conversations, and yes, they did get along pretty well, and sure she was gorgeous, but—

Hold up.

Where had that come from?

Okay, okay, there was no reason to panic. Lucky had always known that Sam was attractive. He had eyes, after all, and he'd have to be a blind idiot not to notice. In a clinical way. In a strictly clinical, platonic way.

But….if it wasn't strictly clinical and platonic…then…then he was totally screwed.

Lucky groaned and let his head drop onto the table with a dull thud.

"Lucky?" Nikolas asked. "What are you doing?"

"Trying to knock some sense into my head," Lucky muttered.

"Spencer." Lucky groaned again. It was Sonny. Shit.

Lucky lifted his head and met Sonny's expressionless black eyes. "What is it, Sonny?"

"If you're trying to use Sam for information against me or Jason—"

"Here we go again," Lucky groaned. "Look, I'm not using Sam for information at all—"

"You know, it's funny," Sonny said musingly, ignoring Lucky's protests, "One dinner with the Quartermaines and a little talk with you in the park, and bam! Sam's ready to run."

Lucky bristled at this. "Hold up. The reason Sam's so afraid isn't because of me or the Quartermaines, it's because of you. Look, you may have succeeded in isolating Carly from everyone that you don't approve of, but that won't work with Sam. And if you and Jason don't get that through your thick skulls, things'll just get worse." At this point, he stood up and stared Sonny down. "Any more questions?"

"Ooookay," Emily said slowly. "Maybe we should all just take a step back here—"

"I used to be, you know, pretty good friends with your dad," Sonny said slowly. "But that won't protect you."

"Good, we're in agreement then," Lucky said briskly. "Because you may have been friends with my dad, but that's not going to stop me from throwing you in jail one day either."

Mike quickly came up to them. "All right, I'd like to avoid bloodshed today, if that's all right with everyone here."

Sonny gave Lucky one last glare and then walked away.

"Wow," Elizabeth said. "What was that all about?"

Lucky cast one last glare at Sonny's retreating back, then sat back down. "Nothing. Sonny was just—being an ass."

"Who's Sam?" Elizabeth asked next.

"A friend," Lucky said shortly. "Can…we just drop this, please?"

His friends shared a look, but thankfully, Emily changed the subject and went back to discussing the wedding.

But this time, Lucky didn't dare let himself drift off into a reverie.