Jo twisted on the bed so that she could look into Sam's face, seeing tears spring to her eyes before she turned away, her body language threatening to close her off. "Sam, please look at me." She waited for the blonde to comply, reaching around her and gently manipulating her head back towards her. "You shouldn't always assume the worst, not until you've heard everything I was going to say. I'm not sure I can be your friend because every time I look at you, all I want to do… is this…" Jo drew her face closer to Sam's whose chin was still cradled in the palm of Jo's hand. Tilting the blonde head slightly allowing her better access, Jo captured her trembling lips with her own, caressing them with as much tenderness as she could muster. Sam's mind reeled, convinced that she would wake up at any moment, adrenaline and arousal coursing through her veins as she responded hungrily to the kiss. Both women were breathless from the intensity of the kiss when they finally broke apart. Sam knew that if Jo returned to the spare room that night, relief would have to be sought at her own hand such was the blissful throbbing sensation pounding in her groin.
"Jo…I…" Sam found herself speechless, not sure what Jo's kissing her meant, if it meant anything.
Retrieving the photograph from her pocket, Jo looked at it smiling happily before handing it over to a suddenly very curious Sam. "Can I take it that this photo isn't lying then? Was something going on between us before my accident? If so, why didn't you tell me?" Sam gazed at the picture, taken the night of their engagement party: the happy couple cuddled close together, Jo grinning at her adoringly as a beaming Sam flashed her ring to the camera, arms wrapped around one another.
"Where did you find this?" The petite blonde drew her eyes to Jo's face, still close enough for her to feel Jo's breath tickling her cheek.
"In your purse. I spotted it when I grabbed the money for the shopping earlier. You haven't answered my questions. Were we in a relationship?" Jo felt an excitement building within her, feeling like this was the key that would help all the visions slot into place.
"This was taken the night we celebrated our engagement with friends and family. One of the happiest nights of my life." Sam's voice cracked as she remembered how special and safe she had felt being whisked around the room by Jo's side, accepting everyone's congratulations and showing the ring to anyone who would look.
"We're engaged? Why didn't you tell me?" Jo's emotions jostled for supremacy; fear, elation, insecurity, anger. "Are you having second thoughts and this is a convenient way to get out of it?"
"The doctors thought it best that you came to remember in your own time. I had to trust that if it was meant to be, we'd find our way to one another again. I didn't want to force you into carrying on a relationship you had no memory of if it wasn't what you wanted." Sam averted her eyes, feeling the weeks of strain threatening to release themselves in a torrent of tears.
"Well at least I now know I don't just have a one track mind! I keep having these flashes of images whenever I see you; of me kissing you, touching you, crying your name as you… well you get the idea." Jo was bashful as some of the steamier moments sprung into her mind, adding fuel to her already raging hormones.
"And now you know, how do you feel about the idea of us being together?" Sam asked tentatively, worried about the answer she might receive.
Jo thought about it for long moments before opening her mouth to respond, closing it again as she struggled to find adequate words. Deciding she could recite an entire dictionary and still not be satisfied, Jo leaned in to capture Sam's lips once again, tenderly lavishing caresses upon her lover until they were both writhing uncomfortably, needing greater contact. Breaking apart, Sam looked at Jo breathing heavily, allowing herself to hope that everything would work itself out.
"As much I enjoy that, I need to hear you say it Jo. I need to know you want to be with me and that this isn't some knee-jerk reaction to remembering your split with Tessa." Sam risked destroying the moment, closing her eyes as Jo shifted her position.
"I don't have all the answers Sam and I can't make many promises to you, but I can make this one; I promise that it is you I want to be with, one hundred per cent, and it has been ever since I arrived at Sun Hill, if I'm honest. All I know for sure right now is that being with you here, kissing you, holding you, it makes me feel complete. I feel like I'm home, I'm whole and I only ever get that feeling with you. So, if… if you'll still have me and if you'll be patient with me, will you still marry me?" Jo swallowed hard as Sam's face spun back to her having turned away as she started to speak. Sam took in the imploring, sincerely devoted expression and knew nothing would ever make her change her mind. Fishing a length of simple gold chain from inside her nightdress, Sam presented the white gold wishbone ring set with a single tiny diamond Jo had given to her originally with a smile.
"I couldn't wear it on my finger while you didn't remember, but I couldn't bear to not wear it at all. Nothing's changed for me, except maybe for a realisation that I could never be without you. If we could arrange it, I would marry you tomorrow sweetheart. I didn't think it was possible to love someone as much as I love you." Jo reached around Sam's neck finding the clasp for the chain and undoing it, sliding the ring off into her palm. Taking the fragile looking band between a finger and thumb whilst tenderly extending Sam's hand with the other, Jo slipped the ring back into its rightful place on Sam's slender finger, eyes locked in a smouldering wordless exchange.
"I love you too Sam, with all that I am and all that I have. I want to share every moment of every day with you, be it good, bad or positively mundane." Their kiss began sweetly, the gently roaring flames of passion soon igniting once again into a raging inferno that only the other's touch could extinguish.
"Morning. You look better but you still look like you could use more sleep!" Abi admonished, feeling her own cheeks turn crimson as Jo and her mother exchanged a sheepish glance before looking away from one another, Jo having to bite her top lip to prevent from laughing out loud.
Clearing her throat and scratching the back of her head idly, Sam asked, "how's Joey this morning?" The glint of metal caught Abi's eye, her gaze homing in on the simple band adorning Sam's ring finger.
"He's doing great." The exuberant teenager grabbed her mother's hand examining the ring she hadn't seen in weeks. "This looks like good news." She stated switching her gaze from her mother to Jo who found something interesting to study on one of the wall notices.
"Yeah, it is." Sam commented quietly, leaning into the tall brunette by her side, feeling an arm slip around her waist automatically.
"There are still plenty of holes, things I can't quite remember but it's coming back to me. Fortunately, my good sense where your mum's concerned came back quicker than most things." Jo explained before handing over the stuffed rabbit she had bought the previous day. "I thought the young fella might like some company in that big bed of his."
"Phil, my office, now!" DCI Meadows bellowed through the doorway to CID, all heads snapping to attention in his direction. Phil leapt from his chair like a scolded cat wondering what he could have possibly done this time, having been chasing up mostly red herrings and dead-end leads in recent days.
"Sir?" He hovered in front of the desk eyes flicking downwards as an envelope was tossed across the table towards him.
"Where's Sam?" Jack barked.
"I presume she's still at the hospital. Jo was came down from Manchester yesterday but I've not heard from either of them. Gary Best called in with that note Sam received but that's the only contact we've had in the last few days. Why?" Phil wracked his brain, wondering where this was going.
"Put these on and take a look at the contents of that envelope. It arrived anonymously this morning." Phil donned the proffered pair of latex gloves and tipped up the brown paper envelope, taking in the typed label and postmark automatically. Three photos spilled out onto the tabletop, one of Hugh Wallis entering Sam's house obviously using a key, the second of Hugh and Sam talking in the kitchen of her home and the third showing Sam closing the back door as Hugh walked away. "From your expression, am I to presume you knew nothing of her meeting with Hugh Wallis?"
"Guv why would she meet with him? She can't stand the man. She knows what he's capable of, what he's done. This doesn't make sense. Did you have someone watching the house?" The questions and concerns tumbled out of Phil's mouth randomly as his brain tried to compute what the pictures seemed to suggest.
"I want you to ask Samantha if she's heard from Hugh; use the note Gary handed in yesterday as an excuse, ask if she's had any more or if she's been contacted in any other way by Hugh. Don't let on about these pictures, I want to see if she'll volunteer the information." Jack scooped up the photos, slipping them back into the envelope and then into an evidence bag before locking them in his desk drawer until such a time when he had enough facts to decide what to do with them.
"And if she doesn't admit to having seen Hugh, what then?" Phil asked cagily, not liking to think Sam could be colluding with the escaped prisoner behind all their backs and failing to see any reason why she would.
"We'll cross that bridge when we come to it but it wouldn't be the first time she's gone maverick to catch someone." Jack muttered, remembering how Sam had systematically shut everyone out in the quest to profile and track a serial murderer some years before.
"If she wanted to nick him herself though, why let him walk away?" Phil persisted, still confused and wondering how he was going to be able to talk to Sam without letting slip that he knew she'd seen Hugh.
"I don't know Phil, that's what we need to find out though and as soon as possible. Whoever sent these photos will have copies, you can bet on that and until we hear otherwise we have to assume that they're willing to go to the Press with them or to Scotland Yard. Either way, we need to find out as much as we can about the circumstances of the meeting. I'll get Mickey onto asking the neighbours if they saw anyone hanging around – we can trust him to be discrete. Get down to the hospital and see what Sam says but I mean it Phil, under no circumstances is she to know about these photographs." Jack insisted gesturing with the phone receiver as he picked it up to dial Mickey's extension.
"Jo good to see you again. How you doing?" Phil greeted his colleague warmly, genuinely pleased to see her back in Sun Hill.
"I'm ok thanks Phil. Any more news on catching up with Hugh yet? Sam's going out of her mind worrying about her family's safety. I don't suppose you're here to tell her he's back where he belongs?" Jo questioned as she balanced the coffees she had just purchased for herself and Sam on one hand, pushing through the swing doors.
"Not yet I'm afraid but we're all working flat out to get to the bottom of what's going on." Phil replied a little cagily, wondering if Sam had confided in Jo about her meeting with Hugh.
"Phil – what brings you here? I told the DCI I don't need babysitting." Sam snapped, resenting the intrusion at her grandson's bedside.
"Where's Abi?" He asked ignoring her question.
"Gary's taken her home for a rest." Jo supplied, moving to Sam's side and placing a gentle hand on her shoulder as she passed over the coffee.
"Mind if I have a word with Sam, in private?" Phil asked the brunette.
"Whatever you have to say to me you can say it in front of Jo. We have no secrets." That answered Phil's question in his mind – the fire in Sam's eyes proved there was a real truth to her statement.
"Have you had any further contact from Hugh Wallis? Any more notes sent to you?"
"Not since the one Gary brought in, no. But then yesterday was the first time I'd been home since – not much chance for him to get at me really." Sam lied glibly. "Have there been any developments? What have you found out about Ciaran O'Rourke?" Phil's eyes flicked between the two women, seeing a hint of tension in Sam's eyes but nothing in Jo's eyes to suggest she was party to the falsehood.
"Ciaran who?" Jo interjected, her head starting to hurt with the underlying tension in the room. She had watched the interaction between Sam and Phil, seeing them both scrutinize the other carefully, wondering what it was she was missing and hoping it was just her overactive imagination.
"James King – the man responsible for abducting Joey - called a Ciaran O'Rourke just after Phil had finished talking to him about Hugh Wallis searching his house. I was going to do some digging but then the call came through about the fire." Sam explained patiently, the drumming of her fingers along the side of the plastic coffee cup the only betrayal of her eagerness to hear Phil's report.
"Not much to tell about him really. A few previous cautions and convictions for drunk and disorderlies, one for ABH on a copper who tried to arrest him. So nothing unusual happened while you were at home yesterday? Nothing that could be connected to the case?"
"No, like I told you, there was nothing from Hugh or whoever's sending those notes in the post. Jo was with me practically the whole time. So anything to tie O'Rourke to Hugh?" Sam pushed, knowing she would need more than that to satisfy Hugh, wondering how she could go about finding more information without raising eyebrows. "Were they ever in the same area at the same time? Any chance of them knowing one another?"
"I've been trying to trace anyone that knows him. Seems he's a bit of a loner, always has been but more so since his daughter met with an unfortunate accident and landed up in a home permanently as a vegetable. I'll give you one guess who O'Rourke held responsible for the accident." The sergeant explained briefly, noting Sam's reference to more than one note despite her insistence she had not received any further correspondence.
"Hugh Wallis." Phil nodded.
"Doesn't sound like someone who would be in league with Wallis now then, unless something changed between them." Jo concluded with a frown, still troubled by the tension in Sam's shoulders.
"I'm keeping digging, seeing if we can come up with anything else – including his current whereabouts. I'll leave you ladies to it but call me if you hear from Hugh or if anything out of the ordinary happens, ok?" Phil looked intently at Sam, wondering what he was going to tell Jack now that Sam had failed to come clean about seeing Hugh.
"Something I should know about going on with you two?" Jo questioned her fiancée as soon as Phil had left the room.
"What do you mean?" Sam rounded on her with a scowl.
"Get off your high horse Sam, you could cut the tension with a knife." Jo's insecurities ran wild in her mind, conjuring up all sorts of scenarios developing between the blonde and her sergeant in Jo's absence. "He's always had a thing for you."
"And you trust me so little that you think I'd do anything to encourage that as soon as your back's turned, do you?" Sam hissed, her nerves on heightened alert after Phil's probing, wondering if they could have somehow found out about Hugh's visit to her.
"If it's not that, then why did it seem you couldn't wait to be rid of him? What are you hiding Sam? If you want me to trust you, I need you to be honest with me."