Chapter 16: Family to the Rescue

Marlena, Roman, Will, Austin, Carrie, and Kate finally made it to the hospital only to be turned away from Sami's room by three implacable bodyguards. Lucas filled them in on what he knew since EJ and Sami were both asleep and the rest of the Well's family were MIA.

"So the drug should be out of her system now?" Marlena asked making a mental note to do some more research on Amygdatonin.

"Yes and the doctors gave her a sedative to make her sleep since she's been kept awake for the past 24 hours. They're going to run more tests once Sami wakes up to see if there is any damage to her heart and to get a better read on the damage to her brain." Lucas answered.

"Are you sure that Sami's not faking the amnesia? She's done it before." Kate asked dredging up the past.

"I doubt it. Sami hasn't asked for Austin since she's been awake… in fact she thinks she's engaged to EJ." Lucas answered.

"Does she know about Austin and me?" Carrie asked timidly.

"Sami has amnesia, Carrie; she doesn't remember you or Austin." Lucas answered harshly. He was still furious at both of them and didn't want them here. They weren't even hiding the fact that they were back together again even though Carrie was still married to Lucas. Once again his sainted brother had won the girl at least this time he was welcomed to her. Lucas took sick satisfaction in knowing that they could never have children together. Serves them right.

"How do we know that their engagement isn't real? Sami could have gotten engaged to EJ while they were in NY; they have been inseparable since they met." Kate alluded. As far as Kate was concerned anything that got Sami away from her sons was ok with her.

"Well the last time I talked to Sami, she was pretending to stand in as EJ's fiancée as a favor to him." Austin mentioned but still hoped that Sami and EJ's engagement was real so that he wouldn't have to feel guilty about cheating on her. "But then again, EJ did catch Carrie and I together and maybe he told Sami and Sami got officially engaged to save face."

Lucas shot his brother a disgusted look. How many times had Carrie and Austin been caught cheating and by how many people? Why was he always the last to know?

"What I want to know is how this EJ character fit into all this?" Roman asked. "Is he trustworthy?"

"No." Lucas answered.

"Yes." Austin, Carrie, and Kate answered at the same time.

"I called a contact at the ISA and he confirmed that EJ is a model citizen and does a lot of charity work on top of his racing. His family tends to push the envelope with their business practices but they've never been charged with anything illegal. They are business rivals of the DeMiras and as they say, the enemy of my enemy is my friend." John quoted. He didn't mention that the ISA dossier he had been given on EJ had been a little too perfect which set off his internal alarm bells. He'd already put in additional inquiries through the back channels.

"I don't like it. If they were so above board why did someone try to shoot one of them?" Roman asked, his police instincts taking over.

"I want to check out the NYPD police report and to do some investigating." John said restlessly. He wasn't one to stand around and do nothing.

"I'll come with you; I'm good friends with the police commissioner, he'll cut through any red tape for us." Roman said then turned to Marlena. "Call me when Samantha wakes."

John and Roman left the room determined to get more information.

"How do we know that Sami wasn't really the target? I know I'm not the only want who would have love to take a shot at her…" Kate began and was interrupted by Lucas.

"Knock it off Mom, what are you doing here anyway?" Lucas asked getting fed up with her antagonism toward Sami. "In fact, I think it would probably be better if you leave."

"I'm not going anywhere; I'm staying here for Will's sake." Kate said. But everyone knew that she was staying to make sure that Lucas didn't get caught in whatever scheme Sami had cooked up to lure him back into her life.

"Hey buddy, how are you holding up?" Lucas asked Will who had been silent through the entire update.

"Did Mom really get shot trying to save someone else?" Will asked half afraid to hear the answer.

"Yeah, she did. It's in all the newspapers and everyone in NY thinks she's a hero." Lucas said.

"Way to go Mom!" Will said smiling. "She's going to ok though right? You're not keeping anything from me because you think I'm still a kid?"

"The doctors all said that other then the amnesia she is physically on the mend. Sami won't be running around for a while but she's doing great." Lucas reassured. "I forgot to tell you that the second memory she had was about you."

"Really? Cool! So when can we see her?" Will asked. "I know she's asleep and all but maybe I could sit with her anyways. You know how she hates being alone."

"I was told that Sam's family had finally made an appearance." Elle said sweeping into the room.

"We got here as quickly as we possible." Marlena said defensively.

"Well you're here and that's all that matters isn't it?" Elle replied giving everyone a slightly offensive look over. Elle made no attempt to hide the fact that she thought they all came up lacking.

"And you are?" Kate asked knowing full well who Elle was but she didn't want to give Elle the upper hand.

"I'm Elle Wells and EJ is my son." Elle said imperiously.

"I'm Marlena Evans Black, Samantha's mother." Marlena said introducing herself.

"Right, Saint Marlena, the woman who abandoned Sam during her childhood years. I've heard such wonderful things about you." Elle said sarcastically making her dislike of Marlena evident. Elle didn't understand how people could believe that Marlena was a Saint when she had done some pretty unforgivable things in her lifetime.

"How dare you?" Marlena said angrily. There had been extenuating circumstances.

"How dare I? You should be ashamed of how you've neglected Sam. If you had been any kind of a mother you wouldn't have let a DiMera within 10 feet of your daughter let alone allow him to convince her to work for him!" Elle said righteously.

"I.." Marlena spluttered guiltily.

"Sam will soon be a Wells and we Wells take care of our own. Sam won't need you Bradys to make her feel less then who she really is." Elle said dismissing Marlena and turned to her next target, Kate.

"Kate Roberts I presume, I guess I have you to thank for being foolish enough to let Sam slip through your fingers, not once but twice. But I think it's for the best since it's pretty clear that neither of your sons are man enough for my Sam."

"Well mother, I see you're already making friends!" Derrick said sarcastically striding into the room. "Please excuse my mother; she tends to be a little aggressive when it comes to family and she has decided to take Sam under her wing."

"Darling!" Elle greeted as she gave Derrick an air kiss. "How are the lovebirds doing?"

"EJ and Sami are still sleeping." Derrick replied and turned to the rest of the occupants in the room. "Hello, I'm EJ's twin brother Derrick. I'm sorry to hear about your detainment at the Salem airport. We have been taking good care of Sam for you."

"I'm Marlena, Sami's mother." Marlena said holding out her hand. She hoped EJ was more like Derrick then his mother.

"Well now I know where Sam got her beauty," complimented Derrick. He used Marlena's hand to pull her closer so that he could bend down and give her a kiss on the cheek. "It's a pleasure to meet the woman who raised such an amazingly brave woman like Sam."

"I didn't know EJ had a twin." Kate said flirtatiously holding out her hand. "I'm Kate Roberts."

"Yes, you're Sam's son Will's grandmother?" Derrick stated then dismissed her by turning to Will.

"And you must be Will." Derrick said shaking Will's hand. "You are lucky to have such a courageously brilliant mother."

"You're the first person to say that about her." Will said smiling feeling proud of his mother.

"Well, I don't think enough people appreciate you mother's unique qualities. Not like you and I, right?" Derrick said giving Will a wink.

"Yeah, Mom is definitely one of a kind." Will agreed.

"Lucas I've met." Derrick said and turned to the two remaining people.

"I'm Austin Reed and this is Carrie Brady." Austin introduced.

Derrick took Carrie's hand and kissed it. "A pleasure!" Derrick said throatily making Carrie blush. "Austin, we will have to sit down and talk business, ARC and J&D a Well's company, has a bright future working together."

Austin was surprised at the business connection between J&D and ARC. He wondered why a company like J&D needed ARC when Wells Inc most likely owned several marketing companies.

"Now that we have the introductions out of the way I think we need to discuss how we want to handle things." Elle said getting to the point.

"The doctors think that we should wait a few more days before we move Sam back to Salem." Derrick added.

"And since EJ and Sami are engaged, we thought they should live together at the new Wells estate we purchased in Salem. It will be outfitted with 24 hour protection as well as the best doctors and nurses." Elle rushed to add.

"Protection?" Marlena asked surprised. "Is Sami in danger?"

"Of course Sam's in danger; we still don't know who tried to sabotage her recovery with Amygdatonin." Elle said impatiently.

"I give you my word that Sam will be completely safe from now on. I feel personally responsible for failing to protect her before she was shot. The Wells family is not without enemies but this is the first time that we have been personally assaulted and we were caught unaware. It will not happen again." Derrick promised.

"And we are supposed to believe that the word of a Well's means something?" Lucas spat out suspiciously. "I don't care if the President vouches for your family, I still don't trust any of you."

"That's a pity since the President can and will vouch for the Wells family. But not trusting my family is your prerogative, Mr. Roberts. Just be aware that I will not take it kindly if you try to undermine my brother's relationship with Sam." Derrick warned drawing the line.

"Relationship? What relationship? Their engagement is a fake and Sami only went along with it to help out EJ." Lucas said not caring that he was outing EJ's secret.

"I have no doubt of the feelings between EJ and Sam. I was at their engagement party prior to the accident. There are some things you cannot fake." Elle said confidently. "And need I remind you that she took two bullets for my son, if that's not love I don't know what is."

"Believe what you want, but I'm not going to leave Sami's side until she remembers everything." Lucas said stubbornly. "The way it was." He added as an afterthought.