Chapter 3

The next morning Sam woke up at her mom's house with a pounding headache and a heavy heart. She had given Patrick his ring back the night before and packed up her son and left his home for good. He'd returned less angry than he had left so they'd been able to have a civil conversation where they each pointed out to the other that they needed to heed the writing on the wall. Both were forever in love with someone else, and although what they were building together was sincere and significant, it was something that would have gotten them through life not being alone, but lacking the fire that they had both found with their soulmates. They were comfortable together, and they loved each other's child fiercely, but there was no way for it to last given what they now knew. They had parted as friends and Sam knew it was for the best.

She looked down on her ringless finger and sighed sadly. Truth was, the huge engagement ring had been a true representation of their relationship…it was beautiful, but it was not her. She always preferred something smaller, something more understated, like her first engagement ring, like her wedding band. The man who gave her both knew her so very well, but she also realized that man no longer existed. Sam sighed again as she got out of bed and headed downstairs. She'd heard her parents moving around and knew she needed to let them know she was there, since she hadn't bothered to call or wake them up when she'd brought Danny over late last night. She was not looking forward to relaying the events of the previous evening to her parents, but knew it had to be done. She gritted her teeth and went down to face the interrogation.

After relaying the current situation to her parents and assuring them that she would be fine, Sam decided that she was overdue for a vacation. She sat outside on the screened back porch for what seemed like hours, mapping out what needed to be done, and then she knew where they'd go. She needed to take her baby and give this town a break. She needed to be somewhere that she would be able to breathe, to focus, to plan her next move. Port Charles was home, but right now she needed some time away from home, away from the madness that her life had turned to, seemingly overnight. She would pack up her precious baby and they would leave the dreary winter with it's dismal outlook, to sail the Caribbean for a couple glorious weeks. Danny would love it, he took to water like a fish and she usually had to drag him from the ocean whenever she took him to the beach. Yes, she needed desperately to be somewhere else for awhile.

Two hours later, she was ready to go. She had called in a favor from a friend and had the keys to a yacht in the marina, had calmed her parents down from their wild insistence that she didn't need to abandon her life and run away because of Liz and Jason, and was waiting for Molly to get back with Danny so they could take off. She had called Jason and advised him of her plans and he had tried to talk her out of it, saying Christmas was the following week and he wanted to spend his first Christmas with both of his boys. Sam told him there would be other Christmases, but she needed to get away and her son being her touchstone was the medicine that she needed. He must have felt bad about his role in her current state of mind because he backed down and said he understood but wanted to see her and Danny before they left. Sam agreed to meet him at Kelly's but at the last minute, had Molly take Danny instead. She wasn't prepared to see Jason again so soon after the emotional roller coaster ride from the night before and all she wanted was to put some distance between them for a little while. She needed to regroup, and Jason Morgan had forever been able to scramble her mind and leave her discombobulated.

Two glorious weeks had been spent on the water and Sam and Danny returned to Port Charles relaxed and happy. Danny had loved every minute of their adventure just as Sam knew that he would. They'd spent lazy days fishing off the side of the yacht and Sam had been tickled everytime her son caught a fish. He would squeal with such jubilation when he got it onboard, moving to touch it then jumping back as it fluttered on the floor, giggling his gorgeous little head off. Afternoons were spent swimming or touring the ports where they'd stopped for the day, but her very best time was at night under the stars, showing her son the different constellations and regaling him with stories of her trips around the world. Danny couldn't believe his mom had sailed to so many of the places that they'd read about in his travel books, and as the Captain of her own ship too. They would eat hamburgers and ice cream and Danny would have a million questions about pirates and sea monsters, and Sam delighted in the mirth in his eyes the entire time. She absolutely loved their nights spent at sea.

During their two weeks away they had called her mom and sisters every day to reassure them that they were fine. During that time Sam had learned that she and Jason had been granted the divorce that she'd had her mom file weeks before, and that Elizabeth had wasted no time putting together a quickie wedding and getting to her I dos. At first Sam was taken aback, she couldn't fathom Jason being married to someone else, making a life with another woman. But then she'd remembered that the stranger in town was not her Jason, he didnot have her Jason's face nor her Jason's spirit, and she'd been able to wipe the silent tears away and gone back to enjoying her son. She decided that things would be very different when they got back into town, and anybody expecting her to fall in line was going to be rudely disappointed.

It was a sunny Sunday afternoon when they docked back in Port Charles, having brought the New Year in at sea, leaving the old year in their wake as they returned home. Her sisters were waiting by the docks, waving vigorously as they sailed into view. Sam had Danny sitting in her lap and he was super excited to be steering with his aunts watching. He waved and beamed at seeing them, "look, momma, it's Aunt Krissy and Aunt Molly." His smile was radiant and proud as they disembarked and Molly swept him up into waiting arms, kissing his cute little cheek. "Did you see me, Aunt Molly? Did you see I was sailing?"

Molly and Kristina laughed as Molly replied, "I sure did and you're really good at it."

"Two weeks at sea and you become a Captain, huh Danny?" Kristina said as she ruffled his hair then took him from Molly's arms to get her hugs and kisses in.

"He's a real natural, that one," Sam added as she hugged her sisters too. Just then Danny yelled, "Daddy!" and broke away from Kristina to dart towards Jason coming down the steps of the dock. Jason scooped him up in his arms and hugged him tightly, "hey, buddy!" He smiled brightly at his gleaming son, then hugged him again. "Welcome home, I missed you!"

"I missed you too, Daddy." His little arms encircled Jason's neck as he hugged him back.

"Did you have fun?"

Danny nodded his head excitedly, "uh huh, and Momma let me sail the boat and everything. I caught a fish this big!" He spread his little arms as wide as they would go, his blue eyes shining bright with glee.

"Wow, that's pretty big, buddy. Weren't you scared?"

Danny shook his head and laughed, "nah, Momma was my First Mate, nothing can hurt me when Momma's watching."

Jason was looking over at his ex-wife, who he couldn't help noticing was looking rested and tanned, her beautiful lochs drawn back into her signature ponytail, her favorite black leather jacket zipped up to her neck in protection from the cold. He realized how much he had missed them and the sight of them climbing off the boat that had taken them away for two miserable weeks was joyful and satisfying. "Hey, Sam." He spoke her name softly as she stopped in front of him.

"Jason, hi."

"Momma, it's cold in Port Charles. Can we go back to St. Barts?"

They all laughed at Danny as he wrapped his arms back around his father's neck and hugged him for warmth. Molly reached up to take him from Jason's arms.

"Come on, Danny, let's go get some hot chocolate from Kelly's. We'll load it up with heaps and heaps of marshmallows."

"Yea!" He grabbed Molly's hand as she placed him on his feet and they started off towards the stairs. "See you later, Daddy. Bye, Momma."

"Do you believe that? See how he just abandoned me for a pretty girl and a treat?" Sam laughed to Kristina as they watched them leave.

"Jason, there you are." Elizabeth came into view, passing Molly and Danny as they left, practically running to Jason and throwing her arms around him, kissing him on the lips loudly.

Sam and Kristina exchanged knowing looks and deriding smiles as Sam turned back towards the boat to start unloading their gear. "Here, let me help you, Sis," Kristina offered.

"Elizabeth, I told you that I wanted to welcome Danny home and see if I could spend the afternoon with him, what is it, is something wrong?"

She was a little taken aback by the annoyance in his tone, but if he thought that she was going to allow him to spend the afternoon alone with the harlot and her spawn to realize how much he probably missed them for the past two weeks, he didn't know her at all. She cringed a little thinking that he really didn't know her after all, if he knew the secrets that she was keeping she would lose him forever. She could not let that happen…not when she'd finally gotten everything that she ever wanted. Jason was her husband, the father of her children and as soon as she got him to adopt Cam and Aiden she'd be home free. She'd get him to finally take her on a honeymoon where she would get pregnant with their little girl to seal the deal. He would never leave them after that, no matter what he found out later.

She turned on the innocence and hiked up the sweetness, "I'm sorry, husband, but we're newlyweds after all, I just can't stand being away from you for too long. Besides, I was just leaving Kelly's when I noticed Danny and Molly heading that way, so I figured since you're done with your visit, why not stop so we can go home together?" He wasn't even listening anymore as he had run over and grabbed a duffle from Sam who was heaving it over the side of the boat. Elizabeth rolled her eyes in frustration. "Are you going to be much longer, sweetheart?"

Sam straightened up as Jason took the duffle from her and looked down at both of them, annoyance creeping into her slowly. "Oh, that's right, I heard congratulations are in order. Not for you Jason, you deserve pity in this situation, but to you Elizabeth…". Sam flashed the brightest fake smile she could muster, "congratulations to you indeed. You finally, finally got Jason to marry you and all it took was what - almost twenty years and amnesia?"

Elizabeth went white with fury. "Leave it to you to be bitter about our happiness, huh Sam? See what I mean Jason? She will never be happy for us, no matter how many times you show her that you love me and not her."

Sam's scoff was loud and incredulous, but just as she was about to retort, Kristina stepped up next to her and joined in, "Oh, please Mary Poppins, who other than Jason do you think you're kidding? My brother-in-law has been in love with Sam since before I was born and the only person here who doesn't know it is him."

Jason was looking uncomfortable with the exchange and Sam had turned back to grab Danny's last bag.

"Kristina, please, this doesn't concern you," Elizabeth tried to appear insulted, hoping Jason would take her side as she was being double teamed. He didn't even appear to be listening, just staring at the harlot's ass as she bent down to grab a bag.

"That's where you're wrong, prissy! You attack one Davis girl you have to fight us all, got that? Convincing Jason that he wants a quiet, boring life with you will only last as long as his memory loss lasts this time and you know it. What's the big plan here, you gonna hurry up and get knocked up so that when he remembers who his heart really belongs to he'll be too wrapped up in guilt to escape your tentacles?"

Sam had had enough, "Krissy, let's go. I need a long, hot shower like yesterday. Elizabeth is garbage we don't have time for." She was placing a bag on her shoulder when Jason reached for the strap, his fingers stroking her shoulder as he tried to take it from her.

"Here, let me help you take these to the car."

Sam shoved his hand away roughly, "I got it, Jason. We'll manage…just…go home."

Kristina grabbed what was left and followed her sister, throwing one last daggered look at Elizabeth to show her immense dislike for the woman.

"See what I mean, Jason? Sam will never be happy for us, I don't know why you bother. She's always been threatened by how much you love me and by the fact that I gave you your first son when she wasn't able to trap you with the baby she tried desperately to get pregnant with. First Sonny, then you…she'll never change."

Jason wasn't listening to a word she was saying. He looked from Sam's receding back down to the fingers of his left hand that still stung from the bolt of electricity that shot through them from him touching her shoulder. His heart was racing and his breathing was curiously shallow and as she rounded the corner and left his range of sight, he marveled at his yearning for her to come back. He was picturing her running back down the stairs, throwing herself in his arms, crushing his lips with hers, when he realized that Elizabeth was still talking. He turned when she grabbed his arm to spin him towards her urgently, "Jason, Jason what's the matter with you?"

He looked at her blankly as she asked again, "Jason, what's wrong, are you okay?"

He shook his head slightly to clear the very vivid image of firm ass cheeks bent over in front of him, begging to be grasped and slapped. "Yeah, of course, Elizabeth, I'm fine."

"Then what was that? Where did you go?" as if she didn't know.

"Nothing, c'mon, let's go."

Gladly, she thought. The sooner she got him home the sooner she could get to work on making him forget about the tramp. They had been married for three glorious days and had yet to consummate their marriage, but tonight was going to be the night. Her cycle had chosen the day before their wedding to show up and as ill-timed as it was, she knew she still had plenty of time to put her plans into motion. She had stopped using birth control the minute she'd found out that Jake Doe was Jason Morgan, and although she had pretended to understand when he'd told her he didn't feel right sleeping with her while he was still married to Sam, she comforted herself in knowing that the same kind of loyalty would let him stay faithful to her if his memories resurfaced after they got married. She could wait a few days to cement her future as Mrs. Jason Morgan, after all, she had waited almost twenty years already anyway. Now she didn't need to wait any longer, she was sure that her system had been flushed by now and as fertile as she'd always proven to be, getting pregnant the first night they spent together as husband and wife would be a piece of cake. She smiled devilishly at the thought. She had finally won!

They entered the house and Elizabeth excused herself to head upstairs and set a romanic mood in the bedroom for tonight. She had bought something special for the occasion and couldn't wait to put it to good use. The boys were spending the night at Gram's so she and her new husband were free to spend all night making their daughter. She had missed him in her bed for the fast couple months, Jason Morgan was an attentive and thorough lover, and tonight she would show him just how good she was going to be to him for the rest of his life. After tonight he would never think of Sam again. Had she known what was going on downstairs, she would have been worried out of her mind.

Jason sat on the couch and stared at his wedding photo sitting prominently on the mantel, its frame towering over the smaller ones of Elizabeth and the boys, him and Elizabeth, and even one with his old face. Everytime he looked at that particular photo of himself it gave him a very uneasy feeling that he had not been able to place. It was as though it was somehow out of place but he couldn't quite figure out why. He'd seen photos of his old face before, plenty of them in fact, had seen them online when he'd researched the mob enforcer, had seen them at Carly's and Sonny's house, and even at Patrick's house where Sam had one of him and Danny displayed for their son. Sam. Sam had always told Danny about his father, how much his father had loved him, and kept pictures of him so that his son would never forget what his father looked like. Sam was a wonderful mother to his son and as he thought about her now, he kept going over the instances in which he'd noticed what a great mother Sam was. The very first time they'd met at that hospital, she handled her son with such love and looked at him with such devotion that anyone could see that they shared a very special bond. She was always holding and kissing him, ruffling his hair and tickling him. Danny was a very happy boy, it was evident in the way he laughed all the time, the way he ran to his mother's arms as soon as he spotted her, the way his eyes shone even when he was being quiet. Sam was to praise for all that, she had been raising their son all by herself, while he had been foolish enough to put himself in a position to be taken from their lives when they needed him to be there for them.

Jason thought back to the time he had spent with Sam as Jake Doe, how easy it had always been to be around her, how much she made him laugh, and how calm she remained in a hectic and dangerous situation. Not only was she a flawless beauty, but Sam Morgan was all woman. From her delicious curves, to her feisty persona, to her kickass, take no prisoners attitude, she was the complete package. Patrick Drake was such an idiot to let her get away from him. At that thought Jason realized that as much pleasure as it gave him to know that Drake would not be touching Sam again, making love to her, claiming her heart anymore, he also realized that he too had been a tool to let her go. He scoffed at himself in derision and as his thoughts strayed again to Sam's very kissable lips and the teasing, tantalizing smile that reached all the way to her eyes, his eyes drifted again to the photos on the mantel. It was as though they were placed in a way to tell a story, and as he stared at the one of his old face again, he suddenly realized what was bothering him about it.

Jason got up off the couch and moved over to the mantel, lifting the photo in his hands and really looking closely at it. Why did Elizabeth have an old photo of him prominently displayed in her home? She had told him early on that it was a photo of her friend and father of her son, and she had shared their past with him, telling him that she missed her friend everyday. At the time it hadn't struck him as odd, but now, after everything that he now knew, he found it quite odd. From what everyone had told him, at the time of his 'death' he and Sam were working on their marriage, and although there had been a brief period of flirtations between he and Elizabeth while he and Sam were separated, they were not together and hadn't been for several years before that. She had even been involved at the time with some deranged doctor from the hospital. In addition to that, the son that they had together was presumed dead, so why exactly did she have a photo of her ex and Sam's husband, displayed in such a poignant place in her home? Jason walked over to the dining table, recalling one afternoon when he came in and found the very photo on that table, indicating that Elizabeth had been sitting there, staring at it for who knows how long? Why? They had been planning a life together then, and she had professed how in love with Jake Doe she was, so why was she so obviously enthralled by an old picture of Jason Morgan?

Jason moved to sit back on the couch again, all the unanswered questions swirling around his brain, seemingly mocking him with how close he was to the actual truth of it all. What was Elizabeth keeping from him? Sam had been adamant that she knew who he was a long time ago but he just couldn't make himself believe that about her. She was hiding something but he doubted that it was anything as sinister as that, afterall, didn't everyone have something to hide? In fact, wasn't he hiding the fact that he was hopelessly in love with his wife? His eyebrows rose in shock as he realized it wasn't his current wife that had his heart all apitter, but his ex-wife! He was very much in love with Sam Morgan! Jason had realized when she'd left that he missed her more than he could explain to his puzzled brain. The two weeks that she had taken their son and left his life had been the longest two weeks that he could remember, and as he struggled with what that meant, he was also struggling with the fact that he was also in love with Elizabeth, had promised her and her boys a lifetime together, and he couldn't go back on that promise. Especially not when Sam wanted nothing to do with him. He had hurt her and insulted her when all she had ever shown him was friendship and kindness. His confusion and anger at the impossible situation they were all in had caused him to lash out at the one person that he should have bent over backwards to understand and appease, after learning he was in fact the love of her life, resurrected from the dead over a year before. How was he going to make amends and get Sam to forgive him? She couldn't stand to be around him, had shown him this afternoon that she didn't need him and didn't want anything to do with him. Meanwhile he had just promised Elizabeth and her boys, forever. 'Forever,' what was it about that word that made his heart beat faster, made his brain tick like there was something on the cusp, something important that he needed to remember?

Jason got up and went to the mantel again, staring this time at the recent wedding photo of him and Elizabeth, her white dress making her look like a princess in a fairytale, only, he wasn't seeing Elizabeth anymore. He wasn't seeing a princess wedding dress but a Goddess in jagged white, her dark wind kissed hair cascading over her shoulders, turning towards him from a balcony, and Jason had never seen a more beautiful sight. "Sam, you look…amazing!" The memory hit him like it was yesterday, she was worried about tradition, that he was seeing her in her dress the night before the wedding…their wedding…the beautiful Chinese garden where they exchanged vows as the Dragon and the Phoenix…alone they bring happiness, but together they bring double happiness. He, the Dragon, a symbol of strength and protection, her his Phoenix, a symbol of luck and prosperity. Jason was thrown by the memory of his wedding to Sam, but more than that, he was floored by the enormity of the love he felt in those memories. His heart was bursting, overflowing with love for her, counting down the minutes until Robert would pronounce her his wife for all eternity. He had waited so long to get to that point, to make her his wife, his life partner, his always and forever. She was always it for him and he knew in that moment before Mr. and Mrs. Yi, and Robert Yi, that he would never ever leave her side again, that she was his heart and soul and he would love her better than any man was known to love a woman, forever. Sam was his wife! He had loved her above all others!

Jason was breathless as he looked up at the ceiling, listening to the sounds of Elizabeth setting a snare and he realized with trepidation that he wanted no part of it. He could hear the soft sounds of Kenny G's trumpet and he could envision the room lit with candles with Elizabeth waiting for him in their marriage bed, and the thought literally terrified him. "I love you forever." He had said those words in another marriage bed, the one where he was meant to spend forever, and he realized in that moment that he wanted to be there again. More than anything, he wanted to be there again. Only, his wife wanted no part of him…his ex-wife, shit!