Chapter 6

A crash and a rumble woke me. It was dark but a warm light from the hall gave me enough illumination to see that I was in a hospital bed. Oh great. I recalled everything up until the point Sam carried me to the car. No, I was walking to the car. Sam. Where was he?

"Sam?" I croaked into the darkness. "Sam, where are you?"

Maybe I really did go crazy and all of the things I remembered were in fact a part of my overactive imagination. That thought made me panic. I forced a sob to stick in my chest. It didn't feel good, but I didn't want anyone to hear me and shoot me up with some anti-depressant or something.

"Sam?"

A rustling came from the shadows to my left near the window, and a shadowy figure got up from a couch underneath it. A bolt of lightning lit up his face and my whole body relaxed when I saw that it was Sam. "Shhh, it's okay, Nina. I'm here."

"Sam? I-Is it really you? I didn't just imagine all this?" I was bawling, but I didn't care. Tear stains would just be a nice compliment to my restraints later. "I'm sorry. I'm usually a lot stronger than this, but with everything going haywire, I'm turning into a wreck."

"Doesn't surprise me." Sam flicked on a switch and a lamp came to life. His smile was reassuring, and he took my hand and squeezed it.

"I don't know how you all do it." My eyes focused on him, and to see his smiling face, to touch the scruff on his cheek as he took me into his arms made me so happy, I murmured, "Of course, you're all fake."

"Hey, wait, I think I feel pretty real right now. Don't I?" He pulled back and smirked.

I laughed, keeping it soft. "You got me there." Looking up at him, my voice was soft and full of gratitude. "Thank you for staying. I was afraid you'd vanish like a dream."

"No way. Whether you like or not, you're stuck with me for awhile, sister. I'm not going underground until I know you're okay." His thumb rubbed a light path on the back of my hand as he spoke, causing me to wonder about his motives. But I was too fixed on his face as he spoke, banishing my cynical self to a corner of my mind. "The doctor said you can probably leave tomorrow morning, so I'm crashing on the couch. After that, I'll get you home and I'll find a place to hole up."

As he spoke, Sam stroked my hair and cupped the side of my face. If I didn't know any better, I'd think he was loving me. It felt so good and I wanted to fall victim to his charms, but the vision of Elsa stopped me. I resented her for coming between us when he was here and she was there, and unless he returned, they would never be together again. That thought made me think, but I squashed it like a bug. After all, I did have some scruples!

Sobering, I said, "I can make some calls. We'll find a place to go. And no, you're not going to take me home. Remember, there's a little bit of a mess at my place?" Another roll of thunder shook the window pane. "Oh, and unless someone boarded the window, most of my stuff is probably ruined now from the rain."

"I'm sorry," he said, and I believed him.

"It's okay. It's just stuff." I raked my hand through his hair and assured him with my touch that everything would be okay.

Emotions warred within him. His lips were so close to the inside of my wrist, I thought he might want to kiss me again, and if he did, I would take it with relish and knock him out of his shoes. But he didn't make a move. Instead, he smiled as if I was getting the consolation prize before he straightened and stood beside the bed.

"You get some rest. We'll think about where we're going tomorrow, okay?" He slipped away, and I bit back a sigh of regret as he returned to the couch.

I was still awake when he drifted off to sleep. I couldn't stop thinking about what just happened and how heavenly it would be if he loved me and this was all for real. I was having doubts again whether I was truly experiencing all this or if it was only a dream, a very, very weird dream. I kept hoping I'd wake up. Then I'd berate myself and say that it was better to have this fantasy than nothing at all. As long as it didn't get out of control, what was the harm? But it already had and now I was so entangled in it, I didn't know how to escape.

The next day Sam was the ultimate gentleman as he assisted me getting into the car. Then he drove us, but I had no idea where we were going, and Sam wouldn't tell me. It was starting to bug me.

"Where are you taking me? I should call..."

He interrupted me. "No need to call anyone. While you were sleeping, I contacted one of your friends. Barb, I think it was. Yeah, it was Barb." He threw a smile at me. "She was the first one in your phone's address book."

Barb Johnson was not only a dear friend, but my cubicle mate at the paper. She was married, with one kid and a stable husband, and she managed to crank out a weekly column on household hints and balancing work and family. She was sweet, funny, and very down to earth. I couldn't even begin to imagine how she reacted to Sam's phone call! "And what did she say?" Panic gripped me, and I shrieked, "You didn't tell her who you really were, did you?"

Sam laughed and his eyes sparkled. "Are you kidding? I told her I was Sam, the guy you met on a singles' site online. I said I was in town and you had a little accident but that you were okay, and I was looking for a place to stay for a couple days."

"She believed that?"

"I don't know." He shrugged. "She heard about what happened at the apartment. And she knows about your Burn Notice obsession, so when I said my name was Sam, I'm not sure she knew what to make of my story."

I groaned and fought the urge to cry. My friends thought I was a little whacked, but this would clinch it in their minds!

"I'm sorry, Nina. I didn't know how else to play it."

It was impossible to stay mad at him when he gave me that sincere, contrite face. "Okay, fine. So where are we going?"

"There's a motel near the beach that Barb recommended. It's not nearly as nice as Elsa's place, I mean, the Beacon, but it's discreet." He glanced at me. "That's what we need right now."

"Yes." I fell silent, leaving my fate in Sam's hands and trusting that he would take good care of me.

He drove us to the motel and he parked in an out of the way place. When we checked in he paid in cash, and for a moment I pondered whether the sixty dollars would make a weird dent in the economy in the real world and cause an issue in Sam's world. That was too much to consider! By the time Sam opened the motel room door, I was ready to drop onto a bed and go to sleep. I didn't care what happened after that as long as Sam didn't leave.

And to my chagrin, I later remembered murmuring as Sam tucked me into bed, "Don't leave me, Sam. I can't do this without you."

I could have sworn I heard him respond, "I'm not going anywhere, honey. You're all I've got now."

When I woke it was dark again and Sam's body stood in shadow near the window. The curtains were closed but they didn't keep all the light out of the room. He must have heard me stir, because he slipped to his knees beside the bed and his hand whisked the hair out of my eyes.

"How are you feeling," he asked. I detected some concern, but he was more happy that I'd awakened.

"I feel better than last night," I replied. "Are we still in my Miami?"

He chuckled and replied, "Yeah. I'm still here too, and I have a feeling I'm stuck here for good. Not that it's all that bad. I'll just miss my friends, you know?"

"And Elsa. I understand." I sat up, crossed my legs, and gave Sam room to sit on the bed. In the soft glow filtering through the curtains I saw his sad smile and my eyes stung. I reached out and took his face in my hands. "Sam, you shouldn't have to stay here if you don't want to. If we can find a way for you to go back, you must go."

"Why should I? What's waiting for me there besides my girl? A TV show that got canceled?"

"Well, it didn't really get canceled. They just decided to end it."

"But why, if we were doing so well," Sam cried and turned away.

I got to my knees and put a hand around his neck to pull him close as my other hand rubbed his back. "As much as I like having you around, this isn't where you belong."

"So I can go off to oblivion. Nice." His voice cracked.

"There'll be other shows..."

"But not for me, Sam Axe. I got the ax, sister, and... and maybe that's why I'm here." His eyes widened with excitement. "Maybe I wasn't going to sit by and let my fate be such that I fade away with everyone else."

"If you were escaping, why didn't you bring Elsa along," I asked, not wanting to hurt him, but that fact needed to be addressed.

His head dropped back and he stared at the ceiling as he said, "I should have brought everybody with me."

I was getting annoyed at his taking on a responsibility that wasn't his. Planting my hands on his shoulders and forcing him to look at me, I asked, "Did you plan on coming here?"

He stared at me as if I'd lost complete sense, but it slowly dawned on him that he was the one who wasn't thinking clearly. Which, of course, only served to make him collapse into himself and wallow in his grief. He clamped his arms around my body as if I were the only thing keeping him from disappearing. I didn't know what to do as all the pain and frustration of his short time here came rolling out like a swollen river over an overburdened dam. All I could think was to hold him until the wave passed.

When his lips found mine and he kissed me deep and hard, at first I was frightened by the power behind it. Then I welcomed it with a dance of my own lips and tongue, and he moaned as he took me in. For a moment I felt cheap for taking advantage of him again when he was in such a vulnerable state. I pulled away, and the force of tearing my lips from his made mine feel raw and bleeding. But they weren't. His chest rose and fell and his eyes glistened with questions.

"Sam, I can't do this when you love another woman. I-I can't."

The exhalation that came from him shook me to the core. "You're... you're a very honorable woman, Nina. I apologize for trying to force myself on you."

"If you were a free man, I wouldn't feel forced upon." I dared to touch his cheek. "But as long as Elsa owns your heart, there's no room for me." I got up to use the bathroom and when I returned Sam was nowhere to be seen. "Good going, Dummy. You made him leave!"

I checked the long walkway in front of our room but I didn't find him there. Trying to sigh away my sorrow, I returned to our door, but I couldn't get inside. I was locked out! It must have automatically locked behind me when I left, and I didn't have the key card. "Crap," I muttered before pounding on the door. "Sam? Sam, are you in there? Please, let me in!" No one answered. I tried repeatedly until someone next door came out of their room and barked at me to shut up.

The office was empty, so I had no choice but to go back to the room and sit on the concrete in hopes that Sam would come back soon. I stepped on a small sharp stone and muttered a curse as I picked it out of my sole. It looked like it was a minor puncture wound. I'd live. My hand reached for the stair railing. I was feeling wiped out and wished I could go back to bed, but the hard walkway would have to do for now.

Mid-breath, a big hand clamped over my mouth and an arm snaked around my waist and picked me off the ground so my feet dangled. I tried to scream, but my captor's grip was so tight I couldn't make a sound. I was lucky I could breathe. My muffled cries and curses were for nothing.

"I have the girl. Bring the truck." He spoke in broken English with a Russian accent.

I freaked out and squirmed against his grip, but he only tightened it more. My bottom lip brushed the side of his hand, and I saw an opportunity. I moved my jaw, took in the flesh and bit him. Hard. I thought I would take off a good chunk before he screamed in agony and loosened his hold. I elbowed him in the chest and my body slipped, allowing me to jam my heel into his instep. Don't let anyone kid you and say you can do that in bare feet without injury. It hurt like hell, but at the moment my only aim was to get away.

"Hey, stop her. Stop her, you fools! She's getting away!"

Despite the pain in my heel, I ran over gravel, glass, whatever was on the pavement, and I headed in the opposite direction of the truck. The driver backed up and crashed into something in his effort to turn around in the tight parking lot. The other Russian shouted at him in his native tongue, and I couldn't help but smile a little. Then I saw a figure on the sidewalk walking toward me, locking on my running form, and changing to a trot, and I felt a momentary sense of panic. My brain tried to go back and remember what Michael Westen would do in this situation, but it wasn't happening. At the speed I was going, I'd probably just mow the guy down and keep going.

"Nina? Nina, what the..."

I plowed into Sam and he pulled me sideways into some bushes. The Russians weren't far behind, but I didn't have to tell him that. He grabbed my waist and put a hand over my mouth as he settled me on the ground against him behind the bushes. The Russian ran past us and the truck trolled along the street, the driver hanging out of the cab searching the area. The runner came back and stopped right in front of us. I felt a freak out coming on, but I held it in check along with my breath. With my back against Sam's chest, I detected his shallow, noiseless breaths. It put me at ease.

The runner got into the truck and the two drove away. We waited until we were sure they were gone before standing, and even then Sam kept an eye on the street.

"We can't stay at the motel anymore," Sam declared. "Let's get moving."

"But I left my purse there, all my clothes..."

"Nina, we've got no choice. I found a place where we can go. It's not half as good as the motel, but it'll be hard for anyone to find us there."

I'd finally gotten to the point where I had to make a decision. If I went with Sam, who knew what would happen. How much deeper was this situation going to get? I could still back out and go home and no one would know what happened. I glanced at my watch and realized that in more ways than one, it was already too late. Things had changed and there was no going back.

"Sam, my job... I had a deadline for an article yesterday and I missed it. I hardly ever miss a deadline! My boss is probably wondering where I am, since I didn't call in..."

He stopped me with a finger on my lips and an empathetic expression. "I understand, hon, but you can't call him now. Trust me. We've got to just disappear for awhile."

I held back a whimper of helplessness. When I signed on for my wish to interact with Sam Axe, I wasn't counting on anything like this! He grabbed my hand and pulled me into the shadows as we ran away from the coastline.