Making Adjustments
6
Alexis has gone way, WAY too far.
She remembers with a smile the way he carried her over the threshold that one day.
Her cheeks flush when she remembers slamming him into the desk and kissing the life out of him.
And what they did on the floor by the sofa . . . well, let's just say that hate him or not, she wouldn't mind trying that again with him any day of the week.
The fireplace. The pool table. The wall next to the front door. The stairs. The balcony. Even the downstairs closet. Is there any place in this one room alone they haven't had sex?
Sam tries not to think about it, but she can't help all the memories. And the feelings they're bringing up are far from hateful.
"What are you doing here?"
He sounds mad. She can understand it. She screamed at him. Told him to leave her alone. And now she's here having flashes of all the hot sex they used to have.
"Jason, I . . ."
"You told me to leave you alone. I think you should do the same."
He goes to the door and holds it open, waiting on her to leave. But she can't. Just like she can't take off her ring. Just like she couldn't stay away. There's just something about him.
"I don't know what's going on with me. I have all these memories and the feelings just don't match up," she tries to explain.
"What do you expect me to do?" he asks, his voice low to hide the tears she can see building in his eyes. "You looked at me the other day as if you hated me."
"I do," she admits. "But I don't know why. I hear a voice in my head telling me that you're bad for me and that you're dangerous and that I don't need you in my life. But my heart . . ."
"What does your heart say?"
"My heart feels you catching me when I fall. My heart feels you holding me when my baby died. My heart makes me ask myself how I can hate a man that looks at me the way that you look at me."
He walks over to her and slowly reaches his hand out to her. Shyly, she reaches back, allowing him to take her hand in his own. He lifts it to his chest and places it over his heart.
"Hear what my heart is saying to you," he whispers, his stormy blue eyes drawing her in. She feels herself drifting towards him, ignoring her head and the words screaming for her to stop.
"Jason," she whispers, closing her eyes as his lips close over hers.
How can this be so wrong when it feels so right?
She pushes him away, stepping away from him as he tries to wrap his arms around her.
"I'm sorry," he apologizes, sticking his hands in his pockets to keep from reaching for her again.
"No. I'm sorry. I want this. I want to love you, but something is stopping me," she sighs, tears rolling down her cheeks. "Why is this happening to me?"
"Alexis," he answers, frowning when she shakes her head, refusing to believe it. "She let them do something to you at that hospital."
"No. She was helping me. My mother loves me. She loves me and only wants what's best for me. And that isn't you, Jason."
"Maybe you're right," he shrugs. "But I do know that you're the best thing that has ever happened to me. And I'll tell you everyday how much I love you until you begin to believe it again."
"What if I can't?"
"You're here now, aren't you? You still have on my ring, don't you?"
"I love this ring," she says, looking down on it with a smile. "I remember when you gave it to me that night after the train wreck and before your surgery. You didn't even know me then. Yet, you remembered our love. Do you think the same thing can happen for me?"
"I guess we'll see." His smile makes her smile. The hopeful look in his eyes makes her feel like anything is possible. "Stay here. I have something else for you."
She walks over to the couch while he goes upstairs. She sits down and closes her eyes for a moment, startled when she feels someone walk up behind her.
"Where's my surprise."
"Right here."
She gasps at the familiar, yet unexpected voice behind her.
"Surprised?"
"How did you get in here, Alexis? How did you know I'd be here?"
"Just luck, I guess. I didn't expect for you to be here. But this is obviously how things are supposed to happen."
"What things? What are you talking about?" Sam shivers when she sees the look in her mother's eyes. It reminds her of the day her baby died and all the feelings she felt towards Alexis that day.
"I'm here to protect you, Sam. After today, Jason won't ever be able to hurt you again."
Alexis raises her hand to run her hands through her hair and Sam sees the blood on them.
"Alexis, what did you do?" Sam asks her, still staring at her bloodied hands. "Who's blood is that?"
"I made my sacrifice for you and your sisters. To prove how much I love you. Now it's your turn, Sam. If you love me, make the ultimate sacrifice for me."
"Ultimate sacrifice?"
They both look up as Jason walks down the stairs, stopping when he catches a glimpse of Alexis with Sam.
"There he is," she says, the crazed look now constant in her eyes. "His death will free us all, Sam."
"Alexis, no! What is wrong with you?" Sam shrieks, slapping the knife Alexis tries to give her onto the floor.
"Are you saying that I'm crazy?"
The speed at which Alexis turns to Sam and grabs her around her neck is shocking to both Jason and Sam. She has Sam down on the couch before Jason can move from his spot.
"Sam!" he calls out, finally taking action and running over to the two women. It takes a great deal of strength to pull Alexis off of Sam, leaving the younger woman gasping desperately for air.
Jason struggles to hold onto Alexis and grunts in pain when her elbow makes contact with his groin. Using his distraction to her advantage, Alexis twists out of his grasp and gets the knife from the floor.
"Don't ever touch me or my daughter ever again!" Alexis screams, running towards Jason and sticking the knife in his gut. She gives it a twist for good measure, throwing her head back and laughing when his warm, sticky blood gushes out onto her hands.
Ric had put up no fight, so it surprises her to feel Jason's hands on her wrists, keeping her from pushing the knife in any further. His pain is obvious in his eyes, but so is his determination to live.
"Let go of him," Sam manages to squeak out, her voice still weak from when Alexis strangled her.
Alexis looks up, stunned to see a gun pointing towards her. But she mistakes Sam's intentions and gives the girl a proud smile. She pulls out the knife and lets Jason fall to the floor, moaning in agony as he falls on his wound.
"Want to finish him off yourself?" Alexis preens. "Go ahead, my precious one. Make Mommy proud."
"No Mommy," Sam says sarcastically. "I will not kill him. And I won't let you kill him either."
"Do it, Sam," Alexis yells. "Do it now. Then he'll be out of your life forever."
"That's not what I want," Sam sobs. "I want him to be in my life. Because he iis/i my life. I love him."
"You love me too," Alexis says. "You don't want me to die, do you? What do you think he's going to do if given the chance? You have to kill him, Baby. That's the only way to save me. I'm your mother."
"Stop getting in my head!"
"Do it, Sam. Pull the trigger," Alexis continues, stepping closer and closer to Sam with each word without her even realizing. "A bullet right in that damaged brain of his and he won't even feel it."
"No!"
"Do it! Now!" Alexis screams, raising the knife over her head, aiming for Sam's throat.
A shot rings out and Alexis freezes. The knife falls from her hand and she falls to the floor along with it.
Sam lets out a gut wrenching sob and kneels down next to her fallen mother.
"Alexis! Alexis!" She shakes the woman, praying for her eyes to open. "Don't you die on me."
Sam rolls her over to try to find a wound, surprised to see just a flesh wound in her upper arm. She looks up and watches Jason stagger over to her, dropping his weapon on the ground.
"I just winged her. Call 9-1-1 and she should be fine."
His eyes roll back into his head and he collapses, the blood stain on his shirt having spread faster than Sam thought possible. With all that blood, he can't have a single drop left in his body, Sam fears.
She quickly grabs up all the weapons and sets them out of the way on the desk. Then she calls for an ambulance, explaining what happened and begging them to hurry.
"Jason," she whispers to the man, trying to rouse him. If he passes out, she's not sure he'll ever wake up. "Come on, Jason. Let me see those beautiful eyes of yours."
"Sam," he groans, his body starting to shake from shock. Sam grabs the blanket off the couch and covers him with it. "Love you."
"Jason, don't," she cries, shaking her head. "Don't you die on me either."
"Reach into my pocket," he whispers. "It's your surprise."
"That's right. You did promise me something, didn't you?" She reaches in his pocket and gasps when her fingers pull out her necklace. The diamond star he bought her from Italy.
"My necklace," she smiles. She puts it around her neck, knowing she did the right thing when a look of peace crosses his face.
"No matter what you forget, always remember that I love you," he gasps out, coughing from the blood threatening to choke him.
A tear drips down her face and lands on his cheek. She bends over and kisses it away. Then she takes his hand and places it on her heart.
"Hear what it says to you," she whispers.
"I hear it," he smiles gently, his eyes closing peacefully. "I love you, too."
"No!" she sobs, holding his still body close to her. "Come on, Jason. Not like this. Please. Don't leave me."
"Sam," she hears Alexis groan, causing all the anger and hate to rise up in her. "Help me, Sweetheart. We have to get out of here."
Alexis uses the desk to pull herself up and then leans against it for support.
"Please. Let's go. I'll make sure the police file this as a mob hit. But we have to get out of here."
"You killed him," Sam says, almost robotically, too in shock to register much of anything. "You have become what you claim to hate so much about him. You're a killer."
"No, Sam. I did it for you, Baby. You're my daughter. I have to protect you, no matter what the cost."
"You tried to kill me! How is that protecting me?"
Alexis just sighs wearily and shakes her head, the disappointment in her eyes clear to anyone.
"I didn't want it to come to this."
Sam curses to herself when she sees Alexis grab one of the guns she put on the desk. She can't believe she so stupidly left them out in the open like that. Then again, she thought both Jason and Alexis were down for the count.
"Alexis, put the gun down," Sam begs her. "You can't kill me. I'm your daughter."
"You don't love me. Not like you loved him. I had to pay a doctor to brainwash you, Sam," Alexis barks out angrily. "How pathetic is that? I had to make my own daughter love me."
"What about Kristina and Molly? What will you tell them happened to their sister? To their father? How are you going to tell them you killed us both?"
"Ric was a sacrifice. He had to die. You're dying by choice, Sam. For not loving me."
"But I do," Sam cries. "Mom, I do love you."
"Thank you, Baby," Alexis says, a sad smile growing on her face. "That makes me so happy to hear you say that."
She wraps her arms around Sam, the gun pressing dangerously to the back of her skull. Sam tries to ease out of her embrace, but they're both shocked when the doors fly open.
"Police! Freeze!"
Alexis panics and grabs Sam around the neck, holding the gun to her head.
"Stop or I'll shoot her!"
"No!" Sam screams. "Mac, help. She stabbed Jason and killed Ric. Stop her!"
"Shut up with all that noise," Alexis orders her. "I can't think with you screaming and crying every 5 minutes.
Alexis starts to back Sam towards the balcony doors, hoping to make it to the fire escape that she knows is there.
"Alexis, don't do this," Mac warns her, making his men stay back until he can talk her down.
Alexis manages to get the balcony doors open and step outside.
"Stay back, Mac. Or I'm throwing her over."
"Mom, no," Sam sobs, pleading with Alexis to stop. "Don't do this. It's not too late to get you some help."
"I am sick and tired of people calling me crazy!" Alexis yells. She throws Sam down the ground and aims the gun at her. Before she can even think about pulling the trigger, a chorus of bullets sound, the officers firing to defend Sam.
Seven or eight bullets hit their target, her body jerking when each one hits. The force of the final bullet in her head knocks her back, her body flying over the edge and landing on the sidewalk below with a sickening splat.
Mac runs out and looks over the edge, saddened at having to do that to a person he considered a friend. He bends next to Sam and help her stand, her stare fixed on some distant spot as she mentally withdraws from the events of the day.
"Get the medics up here now," he barks to his officers. "How's Jason?"
"He's lost a lot of blood. But he's still breathing, barely. He's still alive."
"You hear that, Sam? He's still alive," he whispers to the catatonic woman. "He's going to need you to pull through this. Don't let him down."
He holds her close, trying to rub warmth into her freezing limbs because it's all he can do. That, and pray. He prays that both Jason and Sam can survive both the physical and mental traumas of the day. Because they're only going to get through this together.
- - - - - - - - - -
The service was sad yet dignified. Despite her death and the events leading up to it, many people turned out to show their respects. Mostly out of sympathy for the two motherless little girls who shouldn't have to live with the stigma of what their mother had done, but also for the many years she served the community.
"It's so unfair that she had to die," many had whispered when they didn't think Sam could hear. "How could her daughter choose her mobster lover over her own mother?"
As usual, the gossip mongers had it wrong. And it bothered Sam more than she cared to admit.
"Don't listen to them. Alexis did this to herself," Ric assures her.
From the way Alexis spoke, Sam had assumed the man was dead. Fortunately for him, Viola decided to return to the house to pick up some things she left behind. She called the paramedics just in time to save his life. And with Alexis gone, she decided to stay on with Ric and help him care for them, especially while he recovers.
"She's dead because of me, Ric. All she wanted was my love. She just went about it the wrong way. It might have taken some time, but I think I would have grown to love her."
"Alexis never was a very patient woman," Ric smiles in remembrance. Despite what the woman had done, she was his wife and he loved her. For the sake of his girls, he has to try to keep that love alive. "She had to live life on her terms. And make everyone around her live them on her terms as well."
"I hated her for that. I really did," Sam admits. "But she was my mother, Ric. I wouldn't have hated her forever. But now, now that we don't have anymore time . . . I just might."
"That's understandable," he nods, patting her on the shoulder. "I have to get the girls home. Are you going to be all right?"
She looks across the cemetery at the man standing against the tree, giving her this moment to grieve for what she's lost.
"Yeah," she smiles, giving Jason a brief wave. "I'm going to be just fine."
The End :-)