Present…
Sam walked in, and Jason was sitting on the sofa. "What—" She shook her head and took in a deep breath. "What are you doing here?"
"Alexis got me off the hook." Jason didn't get up, but he kept his eyes trained on her. "Any time anybody dies in this city, they drag me in. I think they're still trying to get me for Corinthos, so Lansing will take whatever he can get."
"But, there's no proof." Sam gulped. "No proof that you did Corinthos, or Manny."
Jason was staring, and it wasn't a lustful stare, or even a longing stare. He was trying to figure her out, and it made her anxious. She hadn't gone in to talk to him while in police custody because he would have stared at her like that. The police station wasn't the place to admit what she had done. Whether someone overheard and took her into custody or not, Sam thought she knew Jason well enough to have an idea of what he would have done. He'd have taken the wrap for her.
"What do you know about this, Sam?"
"Jason—"
"Don't give me that, Sam. I know something's wrong. I saw you outside of the interrogation room at the PCPD, and you were nervous. Talking to Alexis, you were even more nervous. Then, I get home, and Lorenzo tells me that you talked to him and Luis? What could you possibly have to say to either of them that you're afraid to tell me?"
When she left the Alcazar penthouse, Sam had walked the streets. Wandering aimlessly, she found herself standing at the entrance to the alley. The alley where Manny had breathed his last breath. It was a wonder that no one had ever seen her there. She'd scrubbed the ground as much as possible before covering the spot where the blood had pooled with a sinking whole of oil. What? Of course, no one died here. The car just leaked, and I'm gonna get that checked out as soon as I get home. A faulty excuse if Sam had ever come up with one, but luckily, she never had to use it.
"You killed Manny, didn't you?"
Sam's eyes went wide. "Lorenzo told you. Dammit, I knew I shouldn't have gone to them. I shouldn't have done anything. I should've just—"
"Lorenzo didn't tell me anything. Neither did Luis. But, I know that look on your face, Sam. You look guilty, and you look afraid. So, what you need to do now is tell me why you killed him, and why I shouldn't be angry that you did something like this."
Sam opened her mouth, then slapped it shut. She could have easily gone the argument route. Why did he get to kill without her being angry, but she kills one asshole who deserved it, and he was ready to scream at her? Of course, she knew there was a difference. She didn't have permission to kill anyone. And this was a man with a brother who would come after them. It was a lot more dangerous for Sam to kill someone than it was the trained hitman. Jason wouldn't have let the body float to the top of the river.
So, what did she tell him? The truth? Sam sighed. If she didn't tell him, Lorenzo or Luis would tell him. When she lied, Jason would see through it, and he would leave. He would walk out, and expect her to be gone by the time he came back. Then, he would go to Lorenzo, and his best friend would tell him the truth, and by the time that Jason managed to find Sam to talk to her about it, Javier would have already killed her for killing his brother.
No, Sam wasn't a worst-case scenario girl, at all.
Sam crossed the room and wished that they had an open bar sitting out on display like Lorenzo did. She could have really used a drink. "We need a bar," she muttered as she walked to the fireplace. She stopped and turned. "I knew Manny," she said. "Back before I ever came here, I knew him. And he—He knew that I was here. He knew exactly what he was doing when he came to Port Charles. He was going to kill you, and he was going to make me watch. And when he was done with me, he'd have killed me, too."
"I need more than that, Sam. I need to know why you think all of this."
"No! I know!" She pointed at him, her arm shaking with the tension that filled it. "I know, do you understand me! After all that he did to me, I know! He would have never forgiven me for what I did, and I had to make sure that you didn't die!"
"Sam—" Jason walked to her and she put her hands out. She shook her head and he let out a heavy breath. "Tell me what he did to you."
Sam stared at him, and she let the anger be what pushed her to speak. To tell him every disgusting and depraved thing that Manny had ever done to her. And as she spoke, she watched Jason's face. His emotions ranged from pity to rage. In a split second, he went from wanting to hold her to wanting to kill. His ice blue eyes grew even colder with every detail. His body tightened with each thing she said, from the drugs in the beginning to the final act that freed her from him. And when she recounted how he died, the bullet in his throat, the vomiting afterwards—He went right back to pity.
"Sam, you should have—"
"What? Told you? Why would I do that, Jason? Why would I tell you what I'd done?"
"I don't understand why you were afraid to tell me. Did you think I'd turn you in after you killed him? You have to know that I wouldn't do that?"
"God, Jason." Sam laughed bitterly, but it came out choked as she began to cry. "By the time I did it, I was more afraid that you would go down for me if the cops came sniffing around me. As it is, Alexis already knows I did it, and I'm pretty sure she's keeping it a secret that I even knew Manny. But, before…" She shook her head and wiped tears from her cheeks. "I was afraid that you'd leave me. That I'd be dirty, and you wouldn't want me."
"Sam…" Jason sighed and walked to her. She kept her hands up, but that didn't stop him. He wrapped his arms around her and held on, even when she fought to get loose. "I love you, and anything you did—This isn't something that you did, Sam. It's something that was done to you. You can't help what a sick bastard like Manny did."
"He deserved to die, Jason." Sam looked up at him through blurred eyes. "He deserved to die before he killed us. If I'd just killed him the first time—"
"Right now, we have to figure out what to do." Jason walked her to the sofa and sat down, pulling her into his lap. Sam curled up against him, her head resting against his chest. "What did Lorenzo say?"
"Well… Luis said that they were handling Javier, but if Manny told him that I was here, he'll put two and two together. Javier is like—" She tried to come up with some kind of analogy and the best she could manage was, "…Lorenzo to Manny's Luis. He's the calm one, the sensible one, ya know? Javier actually thinks and if he thinks about this, he'll know that I did it."
"Actually, Javier probably won't even think you did it. Even if he knows you're here, he'll probably think I did it. That's where the problem's going to come in." Jason sighed. Absently, he stroke Sam's hair as he thought. "You should have let me do it, Sam. This is my job. I'm supposed to keep you safe."
"I couldn't, Jason. You do everything in the world for me, and I just—what? I sit here and let you do it. This was my chance to do something for you. And yeah, I screwed it up all over the place. Maybe you'd have been better off if I never came to Port Charles."
"Don't say that." Jason kissed her forehead and pressed his hand to her cheek. "I'm glad you came here, and I'm glad that you let me take care of you. You just have to let me do it when it matters." He kissed her again, then sighed. "Right now, though, we need to meet with Lorenzo and Luis. Alexis can handle Lansing, but it's up to Lorenzo and Luis to handle Javier."
"Do you really think they can get me off the hook?"
"It's what they do. They handle the diplomatic side, and I do the rest. And you—" Jason looked down at her and gave a small smile. "—you stop killing people, and let me do my job. I'm better at it than you are."
