Elizabeth woke up feeling sore all over. As she allowed the hot water to pound her body and soothe the bruises that had sprung up, she reminisced on the pounding it took the night before, loving it and dreading it at the same time. She'd been completely taken aback by the way Jason tore through the door and took her like a caveman, given that he'd always been the most gentle lover…and she'd enjoyed every pounding second. But she was no fool. He'd disappeared for hours and returned without the champagne he said he left to get, all worked up and needing to explode…and what an explosion it had been! She'd never seen him like that - from start to finish, even the sounds he made had been new to her. She needed only one guess what had gotten into him…or rather who.

He was up and out of the house by the time she awoke…his note saying he'd gone to breakfast with Danny. Of course he couldn't wait to go see that tramp again. He must really take her for an idiot. If it had really been about the kid, he'd have invited his other son to join them.

She spent the morning getting the house in order - she had to work later that night then look presentable for the harlot's wedding to her good friend the following day, so best get the housework done early. She'd just finished cleaning up when someone knocked on the front door.

"Nikolas! You're back from your trip." She hugged her closest friend and pulled him inside the living room.

"Hello Elizabeth. Yes, I got back last night, thought I'd come see how you've been doing."

"Fabulous!" Her tone was dry as she took a seat on the couch and patted the one next to her. "Can I get you coffee or anything?"

The prince moved to sit where indicated and look at his friend closely. "No, thank you - I'm fine. You, on the other hand, look like you have something on your mind. What is it, what's wrong?"

"Nothing." She shrugged and tried to smile but knew it didn't reach her eyes when he prodded her to tell him.

"Are the boys okay?"

"The boys are wonderful, they're spending the day with Grams."

"Then I take it it's Jason."

"It's your cousin, actually. Jason and I would be just fine if she'd only butt out of our lives."

"Sam?" Nikolas was confused. "Last I checked she still planned to marry Patrick and move on, what kind of problems is Sam creating for you and Jason?"

"She just won't leave him alone. She's marrying Patrick but she won't be satisfied until she gets Jason to leave me." She moved restlessly from the chair to fluff the cushion on the one opposite.

Nikolas rose behind her and took hold of the hand she was trying to busy, then the other, holding both to get her to focus.

"What are you saying? Sam is getting involved with Jason again?"

"She's doing everything in her power to entice him away from me Nikolas…running into him everywhere he goes, flaunting herself everytime she sees him…does it matter to her that he's engaged and wants nothing to do with her? No! She keeps badgering him about remembering their ridiculous past and child, as if it's not a blessing that he forgot every cursed one of them! He loves me now, and your harlot of a cousin just won't respect that!"

He squeezed her hands softly. "Okay, calm down. You don't need to call Sam names…have you spoken to Jason and told him how you feel? I'm sure it's all quite innocent and you're just reading too much into things."

Snatching her hands free, she went back to fluffing the same pillow again. "Talk to Jason - a lot of good that will do. He doesn't want to hear anything when it comes to his precious ex-wife!" She snapped back around. "I'm not misreading anything - she's after him again - I know she is."

"Well, they're bound to run into each other, Elizabeth - we live in a very small town…and they share a child. You can't get around them interacting every now and again. Don't drive yourself crazy with this, please."

"Why are you taking up for her? You're supposed to be my friend, Nikolas!"

He tried to take her hand again, worried now how shaky she was appearing to him.

"I am - you're one of my closest, dearest friends - which is why I can look at things objectively and tell you when you're overreacting. Sam is building a life with Patrick, whatever she had with Jason is in the past - they've both moved on. You won…enjoy your victory and stop making yourself crazy."

If only she could, but Elizabeth knew that after what happened last night, she couldn't afford to lose an inch to the woman and she dared not take her eyes off her. She looked at Nikolas and gave him a fake, unconvincing smile, knowing it was no use trying to tell him anything - Sam was his cousin - what was it they said about blood being thicker than water?

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Sam had always been a late sleeper, since Port Charles anyway, which was really strange because when she captained her own boat she used to be up with the dawn…when she went to bed at all. She thought about the irony, as she knocked on her mother's front door, where the sun was just rising behind her.

Trying the lock and finding it open, she pushed her way inside. "Hello!" She listened for a sound but heard none, so she went over to the dining table and took a seat by the window with her cup of steaming java from Kelly's, staring out at the morning.

"Sam! What're you doing here so early?"

The sleepy voice of her mother was laden with curiosity as she wrapped her robe around her and joined her eldest daughter at the table.

Sam shoved the cardboard carrier in her direction. "Brought you coffee!" Then she went back to sipping hers, eyeing her mother over the cup innocently.

Alexis looked from her eldest to the proffered cup, plopping in the chair before she reached to grab it. "Okay, spill! Who's on fire?"

"What? I can't bring my mother coffee?"

Alexis took a sip then pointed to the clock on the wall over the mantle. "It's early, Sam! Which in and of itself, makes no sense because you don't get out of bed till noon. What's up?"

"Shows how much you know - I've been known to get up early sometimes."

"Maybe, but not since before you were with Jason." The light dawned on Alexis when her daughter's chin went up at the mention of the name. "This is about Jason? What about him - what'd he do now?"

Sam set her cup down and squirmed in the chair. "I don't have to always talk about Jason…can't we find other things to talk about? I'm getting married tomorrow, maybe I want to talk about that. My business is at a stalemate and in need of clients - how about we talk about that? Or you, maybe I want to find out how you're doing, how about that?"

Alexis took another sip of the coffee that was doing its job and slowly waking her up. "Okay, what do you want to tackle first?"

Sam lowered her head to the cool surface of the table, lifting and laying it back down, soon essentially banging her head against the glass. Grunting in exasperation, she whispered painfully, "I need to talk about Jason." It wasn't until her mother's hand reached out to grab hers that she gave up hitting her head to the table and sat up to face her, a pathetic, simpering look taking over when she saw her mother's answering understanding.

"What is it honey, what did he do now?"

Sam laid it all out for Alexis, from when he'd opened the door at the Quartermaine's and thrown her for a loop, to how he ogled her all night, followed her to her old place, and the electric conversation they'd had that sent her home hot and bothered to use the man she loved for release.

"Oh, dear." Alexis drained her coffee cup then covered her mouth with both hands as she tried to think. "Okay, this isn't so bad. You don't really want Jason back, you're in love with Patrick!" She looked to her daughter for confirmation and when she nodded she continued, "It's not as bad as it sounds…men and women fantasize about other people all the time…it's totally normal!"

When Sam gave her an incredulous look she backed up a little, "Okay, maybe it's a little more complicated, given your history with Jason, but it's not the end of the world. It's not like this is going to continue to happen - you've just been dealing with a lot, that's all."

"What are you saying, Mom? Don't you think I should tell Patrick before we get married tomorrow? What if this wasn't just a one time thing? What if I never completely get over Jason - that's not fair to Patrick."

"Are you in love with Jason now?"

She thought deeply about it. "I'll probably always be in love with my Jason, but this guy…this guy is a stranger to me. He's not my Jason and he's in love with somebody else - there's nothing I can do about that."

Alexis scooted her chair closer. "What are you saying? Are you telling me that if he gets his memories back tomorrow and wants you back, there's a chance?"

"But that's not going to happen, Mom. Too much has already gone down for any of us to go back now."

"Are you sure about that? Answer the question, Sam. What if you could have your Jason back, memories and all - would you leave Patrick and go back?"

She was crying. Sam was startled when something wet fell atop her hands resting one on the other on the table, not even realizing when she'd started crying.

"I don't know, Mom." She'd turned into a blubbering mess in under two minutes. "What am I supposed to do, huh? I spend years loving Jason like I've never loved anyone - before, or since. I lost my mind when I lost him…then he came back, after years of me holding out hope and praying day after day, he came back…and I didn't even know him! One day I wake up and out of nowhere, I'm thrust into a world where I'm engaged to someone else, and the love of my life is too…he doesn't know me, doesn't want to know me, ignores our child." When her mother's arms wrapped tightly around her, Sam really lost it then, humongous, broken sobs rocking her body and tearing her heart out of her chest.

"It's alright, baby…everything's alright."

"It's-not-Moooom! It can never be alright again if Jason doesn't love me!"

Clinging desperately to the warmth of her mother's love, and to her arms wrapped tightly around her, Sam wailed through the pain that ripped her insides out from bow to stern, churning through razor for good measure, until the tears were spent and she had nothing left. Still Alexis held her, rocked her softly as she swiped at her own tears, her own insides awash with pain for her child. A mother can never bear to see her child hurt, no matter how grown she got.

"It's alright baby. We'll fix it. We'll fix it somehow."

"How, mom? How can I hurt Patrick with this - he's been nothing but good to me and Danny. But I have to be honest with him…I can't let him walk blindly into a marriage where his wife is not a hundred percent committed to him - he doesn't deserve that."

"No, he doesn't baby, but you don't deserve to be alone either. Are you willing to give up Patrick, even if Jason stays with Elizabeth?"

A new batch of tears sprung to Sam's eyes when she pictured Elizabeth plastered on Jason, the way she was the night before, advertising her position as the future Mrs. Morgan. Feeling sick and sad in equal measures, Sam bawled out so loudly that it frightened Alexis to the core.

"What's the matter with Sam?" Julian's alarmed voice sounded as he came rushing down the stairs, startling Sam and Alexis who'd forgotten that he was there. Sam sat up in her mother's arms, the tears receding when her father got to them, as she wiped quickly at the ones that hadn't.

"Sam, what's wrong, are you hurt?" Julian was still trying to get an answer when Sam got up from the table, still wiping at her eyes and started towards the door.

"I'm fine, I'm sorry I woke you. Please, go back to bed you two. Sorry."

She was halfway to the door, Alexis following behind her, calling for her to stop.

"Sam, please don't leave, let's talk some more. I'll put on a fresh pot and we'll talk, okay?"

She got to the door and turned back around to face her worried parents. "I'll be fine, Mom, really. I needed to get it out and I did. Now, I have to talk to Patrick. I'll call you later. Thanks, Mom."

Hurriedly, she retreated before they tried again to stop her, thankful for the brisk wind that smacked her in the face and dried her remaining tears, as she hurried towards her car and what she knew she had to do.

She sat for a minute in the car, dreading what was coming but knowing it was inevitable. Her mother's words played in her mind as she pulled out into traffic. What if she gave up Patrick, a man she knew loved her and wants a future with her child, for loneliness and no father for Danny? It was a heavy, heavy question that weighed largely on Sam the whole drive home, but by the time she pulled up outside the house, she had the answer…and it was the one she gave Patrick when he asked the same question.

He was devastated when she came clean, and Sam felt like the world's worst person for the hurt she could see him feeling, but she'd learned a long time ago that you can't shy away from doing what's right or telling the truth, simply because it hurts. It didn't benefit a single person to lie and use someone else, and she'd tried to live her life that way, ever since she'd learned that lesson.

"Jason wants Elizabeth, not you. Do you think leaving me is going to bring him running back to you? He's in love with her, isn't that what he told you? He doesn't give a damn about the old ride or die shit that you're clinging to, but you want to rip our lives apart for nothing?"

She knew his harsh words were coming from a place of hurt, and she could even understand it, but she couldn't let them stop her from doing what she knew was right.

"This is not about what Jason wants or what Jason does, Patrick - this is about you and me and what is happening between us. I'm standing here telling you that I've not been able to bury my feelings for my ex - and oh, God, I've tried. It was easier when I thought he was never coming back…I was able to put them into perspective and tie them into a nice little bow and put them aside…but now…now he's here! No, he doesn't remember me and yes, that hurts like hell! No, we're not together and it's possible that will never ever change, but I will not close my eyes and let you walk blindly into marriage when I have these feelings resurrected in me."

She watched him as he paced the dining area angrily, keeping her distance by the couch and not venturing near him. She wasn't afraid he'd do anything, but she wanted to give him his space.

"Oh, cut the crap Sam! You're being selfish! Yes - selfish! You're not thinking about Danny - you're letting some stupid adolescent fantasies get in the way of what we can be together! I'm who's good for you and Danny - not Jason! I can offer you a stable home, without bullets and rapists targeting you to send a message to a man who didn't care enough about you the first time to choose you over the mob…and he won't choose you this time either! When he had that choice he chose Elizabeth - not you! It's never you - when will you get that?"

"Okay, forget place of hurt - now you're just being mean! Danny and I will move out today so you can have your house back." She started towards the bedrooms to start packing when he stopped her cold.

"What about Emma? Hmm - what about my little girl, who you made promises to?"

Emma. Her sweet, angelic, smiling face flashed in front of Sam and slapped her heart. Her decision would undoubtedly hurt Emma too, but lying to them would hurt so much more in the long run. Better to rip the bandaid off and give a cut the chance to heal, than to leave it infected and festering to a boil.

"I'll explain to Emma why Danny and I had to leave. It's what's best for everybody - I'll make sure she knows that."

"You stay the hell away from my daughter! Don't talk to her, don't go anywhere near her…I'll tell Emma what she needs to know."

It was his right as her parent. Turning back towards the door, Sam grabbed her keys and jacket.

"On second thought, I'll come back for Danny's and my things later when you're at work. It's not such a good idea for us to be here together right now." She looked at the man who's world she'd just rocked in the worst way, and she was stricken with how angry she'd made him.

"I'm sorry, Patrick…I'm sorrier than you'll ever know…but this is the right thing to do…and even if I end up spending my life alone because of it, you deserve to find someone who can love you like you deserve. It's not me - and I'm so sorry for that."

He stormed towards her and Sam involuntarily backed up, just as he reached her and slammed his door shut in her face. Yep…that one is going to sting for awhile. On both sides!