(This is it, the last chapter! Thanks to everyone who read and reviewed! It means a lot to me. Of course... now I have nothing to do... ahahah. Crap, didn't think about that. Now that the story is done I'm useless! I should think about writing something else, eh? If you have any ideas, just drop me a review.)

Chapter 15:

The table was set with pretty mugs, the floral design matching the table cloth. There were folded napkins, and a plate of cookies set neatly in the center of the small circular table. Six place settings, six filled chairs, four people sipping from cups far too small for them. Kristina served the 'tea' skillfully, only spilling the water twice. Alexis commended her for how devoted she had been with the preparing the party. Kristina didn't need the praise to feel proud. All her guests showing up was good enough.

Jason looked at the small cup in his hand as if it were foreign. Sam, sitting next to him, elbowed him. She grinned at him and his frown deepened. Her shoulder was wrapped and her arm in a sling, third degree burns limiting her range of motion. She didn't need to be using her bad arm to mock him.

"Just play along," she whispered, kissing the space just in front of his ear tenderly, "for Kristina."

Rolling his eyes, Jason sipped at the water, then gave Kristina a compliment like smile. She beamed at him, then took a cookie from the plate and offered it to him. Sam cleared her throat and he accepted it.

"Thank you," he said with a nod, avoiding all the eyes he knew would be teasing him. Alexis laughed outright, but fondly. Ric shook his head, patting Kristina's hair with pride. Sam covered her mouth in an effort not to mimic her mother. Molly was the only one not torturing him, and that was only because she was too busy chewing on an oatmeal cookie.

Sighing, Jason leaned back in his chair. His side was throbbing slightly, but his pain medication was strong enough to keep him comfortable. It was the crutch he hated using, hobbling around uselessly. Though, he couldn't complain about how attentive Sam was. He looked at her, smiling. She blushed at him, unaware of anything she did to deserve such an expression.

Alexis cleared her throat.

"Kristina, honey, can you help Ric put Molly to bed?"

"Okay!" She scooted her chair back, pushing it back in with the clumsy focus of her age, and moved to help Ric get Molly from the highchair. Ric carried the baby, taking Kristina by the hand and leading them both into their bedroom. Alexis looked at Jason and Sam, putting her small cup back down on the table.

It was their first day together since the final encounter with Manny, Jason and Sam finally back from the hospital. Alexis hadn't thought it right to speak to them while they recovered, but she couldn't contain herself any longer. She leaned forward, her elbows on the table.

"So…"

"He's not dead." Jason said with a sigh. He stood, Sam helping him and handing him the crutch. He used it begrudgingly, limping proudly over to the sofa, "I hit him three times. One I'm sure hit his heart… it was so clear. He was lying there, and I got that last shot off before passing out… it was so clean. But somehow he got up and walked away from it. He's not dead, and I don't know what he might be thinking right now."

"I hope he's learned his lesson," Sam said with a sigh, standing behind her chair and leaning on it in boredom. It might have been denial, it certainly wasn't apathy. Whatever it was, Sam just didn't want to talk about any of this any more. She didn't want think about her time with Manny, about all the things he said to her, all the threats and promises he made. Alexis watched her, reading all this from her expression and more. With one sentence she managed to kill the discussion, which was quite a feat for someone who liked to talk so much.

Alexis stood and circled the table, meeting Sam at her chair and taking her in her arms. It was exactly what Sam had been expecting her to do and exactly what she wanted. The hug became more for Alexis than anyone else, her arms conveying all the emotions she couldn't find words for. Where was she supposed to start?

"I love you, mom."

Tears sprang to her eyes and she nodded fervently, speechless. That pretty much summed it up. Sam laughed, patting Alexis on the back before pulling away and smiling at her. It brought Alexis no short supply of joy when she say the happy moisture in her daughters eyes, signaling how honest this small step towards a perfect family really was. They had a long way to go, and if they had to go through something like this every time they wanted to get a little bit closer Alexis wasn't sure they'd ever make it. She had to take things one step at a time, one day at a time.

There was no denying that this was their life. Ultimately, it always had been. There was no room for her to try to change that. All she could do was cope. And trust in those that knew what they were doing.

She looked at Jason then, smiling wanly. Jason nodded at her and then turned his body away instinctively, a small warning not to try and hug him. Alexis would not risk it, but moved closer to him with her hand proffered. That he accepted with only one slight hesitation. He shook her hand firmly, not surprised when she kept hold of his hand in both of hers once the initial thank you was finished. She looked at him straight in the face, her trace of her usual contempt for his existence.

"There is no way I can ever thank you enough for everything you've done…" she began, ending before she could say anything meaningful at all. Jason put his remaining hand on her shoulder, his severe face softening as his eyes absorbed and reflected her appreciation.

"You don't have to thank me. I'll protect Sam no matter what. Kristina. Molly. You. Hell, I might even help Ric is he needed it. All you have to do is be good to your daughter. She deserves that." He was looking over her shoulder at the woman he loved with all his heart. Sam was watching him with a beautiful smile, her eyes misty, her grip on the back of the chair weakening as he stole her breath away.

"Wow, thanks Jason. That's really nice of you," Ric laughed from the end of the hall, "Your daughters want their mommy to tuck them in. Daddy isn't good enough tonight."

Alexis laughed at his pseudo-pain and, with one final squeeze of Jason's hand, disengaged from the uncomfortably connected moment with her future son in law and made her way to her own husband. She kissed him and he took her by the arm, walking with her back to the kid's room.

Jason and Sam found themselves alone at last. No tension, no terror. Nothing to worry about or think about. Sam went to him, skipping a couple of steps in her adorable haste. He scooped her into his arm, completely forgetting about his injuries and getting no reminder of them. She kissed him fully on the lips, all of their pent up anxiety released in one spectacular moment that threatened never to end. Jason found himself walking backwards. He hit the arm of the sofa unexpectedly and they toppled over it, landing gracelessly on the chair in a confused pile of arms and legs.

Sam was laughing so hard she couldn't breathe, clinging to her chest desperately and only able to keep one eye open at a time. Jason, too, laughed, trapped beneath the feather weight of his fiancé. They laughed until Jason put his hands under her arms and eased her off of him, kissing her on the check. He stopped in the middle of his effort to get up, his lips barely touching her skin. Her laughter faded away as she was overcome with another, more fantastic emotion. She turned to look at him, her long silky black hair falling over her face. Jason brushed it away, leaning forward and kissing her with a different kind of passion. It took her by surprise, but she did not complain. She stabled herself by catching his chin in her hands, returning his love with everything she was.

To him she was perfect. She was all he could handle, and the time they spent together was never enough. The thought of losing her to any thing was devastating. She affected him, made him the man he was today. He was a mobster, a murderer, a ruthless business man. He was a knight in shining armor, a lover, a man captive to his heart. She completed his life, completed his being. Without her he couldn't function. All he would have left was his horrible way of life. Dealing with it, doing it well: none of that mattered. He would give it all up if she asked him to.

He loved her all the more because she never did.

She loved him. That was it. She loved him, and would never stop loving him. She didn't want to change him, because she loved him for all that he was. Even his shadowy parts. His emotional baggage. They weren't perfect, but together they got close. With just a touch of his hand, a look into those amazing blue eyes of his, he healed her fractured heart. He was her best friend, a sweet man and the greatest love of her life.

Dizzy from the intensity of their mutual infatuation, Sam found herself letting him lead. He moved from the sofa, standing strongly without his crutch, and took her into his arms. She kissed him, messing up his hair with her useless hands. He carried her to her bedroom, putting her down on the bed. He hovered over her for a moment, their eyes trapped together in a swirling, erotically charged instant.

"I love you."

"I love you, too."

He climbed carefully on top of her, showering her with kisses as more of her body became available to him. She worked to free him of his clothes as he did her, careful of his injuries but not so worried as to stop. His hands slipped down her body, working over her intimate curves with a tender, sensual grace.

They were together, and nothing would tear them apart.

Outside, the night was beautiful. The moon shone down, silver and white against a star dotted navy blue sky. No clouds could threaten the clarity of the night. Only one singular, immobile shadow fell across the window into the lover's room.

The End!