A/N - Thanks for all the positive feedback! I'm glad everyone is enjoying the story. Jason makes an appearance in this chapter and a few times in the story. I think he needs to be involved, somewhat for the way I'm going with this. If you absolutely hate the character, please bear with me. ;) Trust me, I don't like him either!
Sam was in such a rush as she burst into Kelly's that she didn't even notice when she walked right into Jason. He quickly stepped back and held his coffee out of the way so it did not get spilled. "Sam are you okay?" Jason asked concerned. "You seem really distracted."
Sam embarrassed that she had completely plowed into him chuckled shyly. "Yeah, Im fine, sorry, I'm just really late for a meeting." Looking up at Jason she kind of felt weird. She wasn't sure what the feeling was, but she had kind of been feeling it a lot lately when she was around him. When he first got back, she wanted to see him all the time, but now, she wasn't sure, it seemed like something had shifted a bit. Sam pulled herself back to reality quickly, realizing she may have been staring. She looks around the diner and was glad when she saw Curtis right away. "So, there's Curtis over there," Sam points to the other side of the place. "I'll see you later, okay?" she says as she quickly walks away. Jason looking perplexed leaves the restaurant. "What's up with her?"
"Curtis, hey I am so sorry to keep you waiting."
"Damn girl what took you so long?"
Sam flips over the coffee cup sitting in front of her so the waitress can pour her some coffee. She pulls off her vintage black leather jacket, the one that had been a birthday gift from Drew.
"I had to go back to my house and get the files," Sam explains calmly. "While I was there I got…..distracted."
"Distracted, distracted with what?" Curtis smiles and raises his eyebrows.
"Just, stuff, okay." Sam snaps back hoping he would let it drop. Curtis had been a good friend to Drew and honestly to her too, but Sam had kind of pulled back from Curtis and kept it just business. She didn't want to put Curtis in the middle and Sam felt like Drew should have someone he could go to and be able to confide in if he needed.
"Sam, come on you know you can tell your pal Curtis." Curtis cracks a little half smile and bends down to meet her eyes.
"Ugh, okay fine, I'll tell you!" Sam blurts out sort of loudly. She looked around the restaurant to see if anybody had heard and then calmly took a deep breath. Sam crouched down a little lower in her chair and leaned in toward Curtis so she could whisper what she had to say quietly.
"I was thinking about Drew." Sam barely gets the words out with sound.
"You were thinking about Drew!" Curtis begins loudly and then trails off at the end realizing how loud he was talking.
"Shhhh,!" Sam exclaims almost cutting him off and reaching across the table to him waving her arms. "I don't need a bunch of attention here, ok?" Sam explains sternly. "I have enough people in my business right now the last thing I need is Krissy or my Mom hearing you and asking a bunch of questions." Sam knew her family meant well but they were very pushy and nosy. She wasn't ready for anyone to know that she had been thinking about Drew lately, not until she could figure out what it meant for herself. She hoped she could trust Curtis to keep it to himself, she would make sure he knew he'd better!
"So," Curtis begins slyly, "What does that mean, you thinking about Drew?" Drew was Curtis' best friend and he had seen the guy through some pretty bleak times. He thought Drew and Sam were made for each other, but when they broke up, he had his homie's back. Not that he bad mouthed Sam or anything like that, but he wanted Drew to know that he would always be there for him. Curtis had recently helped Drew out a lot by retrieving a certain flash drive back for him. Sam didn't know anything about that little bit of business and now with this revelation, he was wondering if he should "accidentally," let something slip.
"I don't know what it means, maybe it means nothing, maybe I'm just reminiscing." Sam replies matter-of-factly. Sam really couldn't figure out what was behind the recent draw, dare she call it almost, longing for Drew. She hadn't been this drawn to him for months, but ever since Drew's birthday, when he said he wanted back what they once had, Sam had been looking at things differently. Maybe it was because before, she thought she had destroyed their relationship with her lie. She thought he would never forgive her, that he would hate her forever, but when he said that her heart kind of leapt a bit in her chest. She wished she would have said something way better than "Good luck," but he had kind of caught her off guard.
"Sam, yo Sam." Curtis says emphatically as he snaps his fingers and waves his hands in her face. Sam had drifted off with her thoughts of Drew without even realizing it.
"What, oh sorry." Sam replies still distracted. "Look Curtis, I really need you to keep this information to yourself okay. I mean it, I don't need a bunch of people all in my business, okay?" Sam says sternly and with a serious look in her eyes.
"I got it I got it, okay." Curtis assures her. "But, I think I should tell you something," he says with hesitation. Curtis still wasn't sure he should say anything, but it probably didn't matter anyway, he didn't know exactly where Drew and Dr. Maddox went off to or what they were doing, for sure.
"What?" Sam asks. Sam took one look at Curtis' face and she could tell he knew something, something big. What could it be, did it have to do with Drew? It must have or why would he have mentioned it now. "Curtis, what is it?" Sam asks with annoyance.
"I think, now look, I'm not trying to rat my boy out, you understand, right? I just think that maybe you might need to know this information, but I don't know there is much you can do about it."
"Curtis! Come on out with it." Sam exclaims worriedly. "You are kind of freaking me out now. What is going on? Is it Drew?"
"Yeah, so the other day he had me do a job for him, one that we need to keep on the DL, if you know what I'm saying." Curtis says quietly as he leans in close to Sam. He knew technically what he did wasn't illegal but he just didn't want to have to go up against the DA and get on her bad side, any more that he already was, plus that might put Jordan in a bad position.
"Okay, I get it, I'm not going to say anything, of course."
"So, it turns out that our "illustrious," DA had the flash drive, you know Drew's flash drive." Curtis whispers in his husky voice. He remembered how Drew had told him the story of the DA blackmailing him and that Drew didn't want to get involved in any of that drama, he just wanted the memories back. Drew had a hunch that the DA kept the flash drive locked in the safe in her hotel room so he had asked Curtis to see if it was there for him. While Drew kept the DA busy down in the restaurant, Curtis was up in her room cracking the safe. Sure enough there was the flash drive sealed up in an envelope. Curtis didn't have a lot of time, so he hurriedly switched Drew's flash drive for a fake so that little miss DA would be none the wiser. As he was turning to leave, he made sure the room was put back exactly as he found it so she wouldn't suspect a thing and he slipped away into the hallway.
"Curtis?" Sam's questioning voice brought Curtis out of his thoughts. He darted his head around and focused his attention back in on Sam. "Why did the DA have the flash drive, wait, how did she get it, I thought Peter August had it, wait, why did you have to get it back on the DL, what is going…." Sam had so many questions, but Curtis quickly cut her off.
"Sam, Sam, I don't know any of that, Drew didn't let loose with too many of the details," Curtis replies as he lifts his eyebrow. "I got the idea he was protecting me or something, you know?" Curtis said with a questioning look.
"That sounds about right, he's always trying to protect the people he loves." Sam said fondly. "So, then what, what happened after you gave him the flash drive?"
"Well, I know he wanted Jordan to use her contacts to help find Andre Maddox. I think that means he's going to go through with the memory reversal, right?" Curtis asks while crossing his arms across his chest.
"WHAT?" Sam shouted out, not caring now if she attracted attention. "He can't do that, what if something goes wrong, what if…" a hundred worst case scenarios raced through Sam's mind, she remembered when Dr. Maddox talked of the procedure last winter, he said it was very dangerous, he said there was NO protocol to reverse it, how was Drew doing this, why, what, something must have happened to cause Drew to want to do this, but what? Sam suddenly felt a wave of guilt wash over her. How could something so bad have happened to Drew to make him want to do this and her not know about it? Sam felt so selfish in that moment. She had been so consumed with figuring herself out that she forgot to pay attention to what was going on with Drew, she was supposed to be there for him, she told him he could lean on her, so why, why didn't he?
As all these thoughts were running through her head she quickly stood up and was pulling on her coat. "Curtis, I, I gotta go, I gotta find out what's going on." Sam utters as she rushes out of Kelly's.
"But Sam, wait, what are you gonn….." Curtis stood up and tried to grab for Sam as she ran out, but she was too quick and was out the door in a shot. "Well, Drew, I hope I did the right thing brother, and I hope you are okay." Curtis quips to himself as he watched Sam disappear down the street.