Chapter 7- Forever Connected
Sam waited until she heard the sound of the door slam before she dared open her swollen eyes again. Letting the tears fall, she tucked her knees to her body and let herself cry. She finally composed herself longer to crawl off of the floor and get back on the bed, wrapping the blankets around herself. She tried to cover herself up as her ripped and torn clothes remained abandoned on the floor. Her whole body was sore and she felt so violated. Charlie doing this was something she hadn't had to endure in years. And it had never been this bad before. Charlie had lost it. He had gone over the edge, and there was no turning back.
Jason tossed and turned in bed. Sonny was wrong. Sleep wasn't doing him any good. It was just presenting him with the opportunity to muse over Sam and the things that Abdale could possibly be doing to her at that moment. Abandoning his rest and relaxation attempt, he got up from the bed and walked downstairs, returning to his familiar spot on the couch. He booted up the laptop and thumbed through the list of properties again. He still didn't know what he was looking for. Just some sort of clue. If only he had gotten a glimpse of the house in his dream. Leaving the laptop on the table he walked out to the terrace and looked out at the city lights. He let his mind wander to memories of Sam. His perfect Sam.
Flashback
Sam had been nursing a headache all day long. She had woken up to find an empty bed and a note from Jason, letting her know that duty called and Sonny needed him to work. She had accepted it, as always, but still was unwilling to get out of bed. Her head felt like it was splitting in two and she couldn't even will herself to leave the bed to get some Advil. So, she had suffered, trying to sleep it off, but finding that the spinning room had made it fairly difficult to drift off.
Jason had finally come home, exhausted and not in the mood for anything. He had stomped upstairs, looking for Sam, and praying that she wouldn't do anything to get on his nerves because he knew he would just snap. Work had been hell and Jason wasn't in the mood to hear about how he had left her alone all day. When he walked into the bedroom, he noticed that it was completely dark. He strained his eyes and was able to see Sam lying in the bed, his pillow on her face, trying to block out everything. His demeanor softened and he sat down on the bed next to her, the mattress bending and shifting under his weight. She moaned a little and moved the pillow to expose one of her eyes.
"Hi" she mouthed, unable to even speak.
"What's wrong?" he asked softly.
"My head split into two" she answered.
He gently moved the pillow from her head and raised his hand to her forehead. He used his fingertips to gently massage her head, giving her the comfort she so craved. She moaned a little as he did and he pressed a little harder around her pressure points, alleviating the pain.
"When was the last time you took Advil?" he asked her.
"I uh, didn't" she answered. "I couldn't get out of bed" she said sheepishly.
"I'm going to go get you some" he said, putting his pillow back over her face and speeding down the stairs.
He felt guilty to say the least. He had been out all day and hadn't even called to check on her. She had been suffering all day, being unable to even get out of bed. He then realized that even though she hadn't complained that he was gone, she was guilt tripping him. He punched the wall hard as his frustrations got to him. His knuckles scraped against it and the hand began to bleed. That was when Jason realized what a psycho he was being. How was it her fault that she got a migraine? And did she ever complain when he worked? He was trying to take out his crappy day on her and he hated himself for that. He was being an idiot, and that was not something he wanted to be. Ever.
Composing himself, he walked into the kitchen and grabbed the pills and some water.
Hurrying back up the stairs he walked into the bedroom and fed her the pills, holding her body up. He kissed her forehead and then gently lowered her back down on to the pillows, massaging her head again.
"I'm sorry I left you here all alone today" he said remorsefully.
"Baby, it's not your fault. You had to work" she said in that understanding way that she always had with him.
"But I should have called. I should have checked up on you. And I actually had the nerve to be angry at you when I walked in. I figured you'd bite my head off, so I decided to get angry at you before I even walked in. I decided to brush this off as a guilt trip. I'm an ass" he said.
"You are not an ass" she said with a little laugh as her soft hand caressed his face. "You're just stressed. And you need someone to take it out on"
"And that someone should under no circumstances be you" he assured her. "All my girlfriends in the past have been pushed away because of my job. Because they thought they could handle it, but they couldn't. But not you. You can actually handle it, and I am so blessed to have you. Even if I don't show it enough" he said as he kissed her lips gently.
"You do show it. I love you Jason" she said as he continued to massage her head.
"I love you too" he whispered. "So much" he said as he buried his head in her hair that was strewn on the pillow.
End Flashback
He needed to find her. He wouldn't be able to live another day if something happened to her. She was what kept him going. Those long days at work were only gotten through because he knew that she was home waiting for him. And that she completely accepted him for who he was and what he did. She never wanted to change him. She would have preferred if he had a safer job, but she knew that was who he was, and that made him the man he was today. It gave him the qualities that she fell in love with.
Jason looked up on the stars, again thinking of all the time he had stared at them with her. He only hoped that wherever she was, she at least had the stars to look up at. At least they were staring at the same stars, forever linked by the night sky.
Sam was still sobbing on the bed with the thin sheets and blankets around her. Her fingers came to lie on the star necklace that rested around her neck. She twiddled with the pendant, the tears coming down harder now. What would Jason think if he knew just what she had done? He wouldn't want her anymore, that was for sure. And she needed him. She needed him so bad. She felt connected to him through that necklace. She remembered the feel of his fingers as he had placed it on her, how she knew he truly loved her in that moment. She brushed her hair off her face and tried to stop crying, but she found it impossible. She felt dirty, and used, and unable to cope with anything that had just happened. She had been raped. She had been taken advantage of and forced to have sex with another man. She had cheated on Jason, the one person who truly mattered to her in the whole world. She knew it wasn't her fault that she had sex with another man, but it sure as hell felt like it was. She slowly got off the bed and stared out the one tiny window, looking through the bars up at the stars that would forever connect her to Jason. And then she cried some more, the tears showing no signs of stopping.
Jason continued to type at the laptop as he viewed each property that Adbale owned, trying to remember something that would look familiar from his dream. But nothing stuck. He took virtual online tours and everything, but he was no closer to finding her. He wasn't sure how much longer he could go on like this. His dreams were torturing him, as was the thought of anything bad happening to his Sam. He couldn't shake the feeling that something terrible had happened to her when he last got that dream and he had no idea what it was. A part of him didn't want to know, wanting to shelter himself from the pain. But the other part of him was begging to find out so that he could save her.
Jason suddenly stopped as he looked at the computer screen again. Something about that last house looked familiar. Jason went pale as he was sure that the hallway he was looking at on the internet tour was the same hallway from his dream. And that door was the same door he had been so desperately trying to get through. Jason looked at the words on the screen and noticed that the room was the attic. That bastard was keeping her in a tiny attic. Jason wouldn't stand for it. Not caring about the time, he burst into Sonny's place, demanding that his best friend come help him save Sam and now.
"Sonny, I know where she is!" he yelled.
"Jason, keep your voice down" demanded Sonny in a soft tone as he came down the stairs in his pajamas. "How do you know where she is?" he asked.
"I saw the hallway online in an internet tour of one of his houses. And it was the same one"
"Are you sure?" asked Sonny, humoring his best friend for a moment.
"Yes I'm sure Sonny" insisted Jason.
"Jason, this was a dream. We have absolutely no solid proof" argued Sonny.
"Sonny, the woman I love it missing. I don't need solid proof to go looking for her. I need gut instincts"
"Jason, I think you are just desperate to find her and your willing to believe anything that your subconscious is telling you. You want to find a lead so bad that your mind is tricking you into believing that you know where she is" explained Sonny slowly.
"Sonny, in the ten years that I have known you, you have never once treated me like a brain damaged idiot. Please don't start now. Not today of all days" begged Jason.
"Alright, you're heart's set on following this lead?" questioned Sonny.
"Yes" said an exasperated Jason.
"Alright. Get some sleep, we'll follow it up in the morning" said Sonny as he patted his friend on the shoulder and then walked back upstairs.
Jason couldn't believe his best friend. How could Sonny just turn his back on him and Sam like that? If it was his girl missing, Sonny would be out there in an instance, searching far and wide for her. Jason wasn't going to take it anymore. He wasn't going to let Sam suffer anymore. With or without Sonny's help, he was going to rescue his girl, and he was going to rescue her tonight.
A/N: Yes, I know that this was a short chapter. But, as I said above, I'm not doing too well with this story and I've been hitting a lot of writers block and stuff. So just be happy that I got this little thing out! Lol.