Six weeks earlier…

Sam looked at the clock and cursed herself for sleeping so late. There were things that needed to be done if she were ever going to make it down the aisle. At ten in the morning, Brenda and Carly were probably already waiting for her at Kelly's. They were also probably in the middle of yet another argument. Par for the course with the Alcazar women, but Sam had to get used to it. For Jason's sake and the sake of her own sanity, she had to learn how to get along with everyone.

Brenda wasn't that much of a problem. Between L&B Records and her isolated elopement with Luis Alcazar, Brenda had enough on her plate that she didn't necessarily need extra conflict. She just enjoyed it a little bit where Carly were concerned. She was busy enough with her own life that she didn't have the time to try and run the wedding. Well… she either didn't have the time or she was avoiding the possibility of running into Jason or Lorenzo, both of whom had an opinion on she and Luis's elopement. Sometimes, Sam thought the latter was the most probable reasoning behind Brenda's busy schedule and lack of desire to lead.

Carly, on the other hand, was an entirely different matter. Beyond the fact that Carly had a dominating personality and absolutely nothing to do while The Cellar was being rebuilt, she and Brenda could just barely get along. The two women barely knew each other, had no reason to be at odds, but for whatever reason, any room they were in together slowly grew cold and tense. Their personalities clashed, and Carly wasn't one to let animosity go any easier than Brenda. Added to that was the animosity she and Sam shared. Though the last Port Charles mob war had given them a better understanding of each other's relationships, that didn't mean they were suddenly going to be friends. It just made it easier not to kill each other. But they put up with each other for Jason's sake. Neither woman was stupid enough to make him choose between them.

Sam looked down to her hand and sighed. The ring that graced her finger was heavy and no matter the light, always seemed to sparkle. Half the time, it still caught in her hair when she washed it. But, more than that, it was the promise that she had to get used to.

Sam would never claim to be anybody's good little girl, and she was nowhere near a virgin. She'd been in so many relationships over the years that she'd long ago lost count of all the men that had crossed her path. She lived a life of salvage and wrecks and had never once thought of herself ever getting married. She wasn't the type to settle down. She wasn't the type that a guy decided he wanted forever. She was usually just the one that most men had fun with before moving on and finding the girl they took home to Mom.

But, Jason… All of a sudden, Sam was the marrying type. She was the woman that this guy could take… Not to his mother, but to the people he was actually close with in this life. He integrated her into the family that he had made for himself, done all he could to make her comfortable. He'd worried her, he'd loved her, he'd trusted her. He'd basically done everything that an actual relationship entailed, and in the end, he'd put a massive diamond on her hand.

As always, Jason was gone when Sam crawled from the bed. Their night had been equally long, but he never failed to be out of bed by six or seven. If she didn't at least roll over by eight, she knew she wouldn't see him until well into the afternoon, if not later. The note that was left beside the bed was proof positive of that.

Sam,

I'll be out late. Might not make it back before dark. If you need anything, Lorenzo is across the hall and Luis is downstairs.

Jason

Short and to the point, that was her fiancée. Sam pushed the covers to the foot of the bed, then finally swung her legs over the side. Most men would have gone into unnecessary details if they'd bothered to leave a note at all. But Jason Morgan stuck to the important things. When he would be home, who to go to in case of trouble, and who knew where to find him in case of emergency. Whenever he left for an extended period, Jason sent her to the same people. In the past, she might have gone to them. Considering that her only expected issues were Brenda and Carly maiming each other, she figured she would just handle it herself and leave Los Alcazars out of it.

Sam took her time in the shower. Had she actually gotten a call from the diner, she would have moved quicker. Honestly, she wasn't that eager to plan the wedding. She would have preferred to just go to Vegas or something, but somehow, Carly had talked her into the big wedding. Something about publicly and spectacularly cementing her spot in that world, that circle, that life. Sam wasn't' sure exactly what the argument was but it had obviously been enough to get her to go along with it.

She was only minutes out of the shower when the doorbell rang. Groaning, Sam cinched her robe tightly around her waist. Rubbing a towel through her hair, she came down the stairs. The bell rang again and she called out, "Alright, I'm coming!" She groaned again, annoyed at whomever it was and completely sure that it wasn't any of the usual suspects.

If Carly and Brenda had gotten tired of waiting and come to the penthouse, they would have just let themselves in. Sam still wasn't sure just why Carly still had a key to the penthouse, and she kept forgetting to tell Jason to get it back from her. Were it either Alcazar, they, too would have let themselves in. The only other person it could have been was a guard, maybe Johnny, Lucky or Zander, but any of them would have called out and said who they were. That only left the unknown.

Sam threw her towel over her shoulder, then opened the door. Her brow furrowed as she stared at the UPS delivery guy in his crisp brown uniform. She wasn't expecting any packages, at least none that would have come by UPS. Frowning, she stuck her head out the door, peering around him, and looked across the hall. Johnny stood at the door and gave her a nod, which meant that whatever the package contained, it had already been checked out and it wasn't anything dangerous.

She stepped back and as she looked at the guy, he asked, "Are you Samantha McCall?" She nodded and he stuck out an electronic notepad. "I have a package for you. Could you sign here, please?"

She rose an eyebrow at him, but signed her name, anyway. She wasn't very girlie, but she was girl enough to l ove getting gifts. "Thanks," she muttered, taking the small brown box and stepping back inside the penthouse.

Sam closed the door behind her and walked across the room. She tossed the box onto the sofa, then fell down beside it. The box was smaller than a bread box but bigger than a jewelry box. If it were something small Jason had ordered, it would have had to be filled with peanuts. Then again, if Jason had ordered it, the package would have been for him.

She groaned and looked over the label. The return address was something in Miami, and last she could remember, she knew no one in Miami who would be sending her gifts. Sighing, she stood up and carried the box to the desk that sat beside the door. Using a letter opener, Sam cut the seal of tape, then groaned at the amount of foam peanuts she would have to sift through.

Finally, her hand touched something glass and round. Curious, she pulled it out of the box. Foam peanuts fell on either side of the box, but the second she got a good look at the top, she no longer cared about the mess. Her gift was a medium-sized snowglobe. She held it with both hands around the ball and shook it just enough for the glitter at the bottom to move. She brought the globe closer to her face, just enough to read the words etched into the side of the ship that perched inside. It was the S.S. Manuela.

The snowglobe instantly fell from her hands and shattered against the floor.