Against All Odds Chapter 27: After All, a days of our lives fanfic

Song is "After All" by Cher and Peter Cetera.

EJ lay there, staring at Sami across the abyss that separated them. They were only an arms-distance away from each other on his bed back at the Dimera mansion, but to EJ, it felt as if they were worlds apart. They hadn't communicated with each other at all since leaving the docks, unless you counted the way he was stroking her hair now.

Well, that wasn't totally true. He'd held her hand the whole way home. And she had spoken, albeit only once. On the way back to the mansion, she'd said, "I want my babies." So they had stopped off at Shawn and Belle's to pick up Tom and Colleen.

They were now sleeping peacefully in the other room. Sami thanked God that they were still only just about eight months old and had no idea as to what was going on. They didn't know of the deadly situations they could possibly be put in.

After they arrived at the mansion, EJ had taken the twins and put them sleep. When Sami went to help him with them, he had waved her off, telling her to go lay down. That's how he found her when he came into his room a few minutes later.

EJ wished for her to say something, anything. She wasn't even looking at him, just staring down at the bedspread beneath them, curled into the fetal position. Every once in a while, she'd shiver and EJ knew it wasn't because she was cold. He knew she was recalling parts of what had occurred with Andre.

Well, here we are again.
I guess it must be fate.
We've tried it on our own,
But, deep inside we've known
We'd be back to set things straight.

Sami could feel him staring at her. She didn't want to say anything, though. She didn't even know what to say. How could she possibly express in words how awful she was feeling for leaving him and how thankful she was that he'd saved her life yet again? Words just didn't seem like they'd do it justice.

So, she'd let herself get lost in her own thoughts. She re-played the previous evening in her head over and over until she mentally kicked herself. She had been such a horrid bitch to him. What was wrong with her? If she had never left the mansion in the first place, none of this would have happened.

Thoughts of just what did happen crept into her mind. Scenes from the docks flashed across her brain like a montage. She kept thinking of the moment she'd heard EJ's voice behind her. She'd felt the biggest feeling of déjà vu then.

Her thoughts then jumped to every other time EJ had saved her life, fixating on the time she was tied in the car with carbon monoxide, when Andre had her gunpoint, when he got her and Lucas out of the safe-house, when the two of them were stuck in the steam-room, and every other time in between. She also supposed she could count the time he convinced her not to marry Austin.

Not to marry Austin…she knew what the deciding factor in that was. It was the moment she'd woken up from the kiss of her life (one of them, anyway) to realize it was EJ she was kissing.

I still remember when
Your kiss was so brand new.
Every memory repeats,
Every step I take retreats,
Every journey always
Brings me back to you.

Sami shivered again from the goosebumps she got every time she thought of that first kiss with him. There had been something…magical inside it. Their fate had been sealed in that one moment. After that, she knew there was no running away from it, no matter how hard she tried.

EJ noticed her tremble and decided he had to do something about it. Red wine. That usually calmed everyone's nerves in an instant.

He took his hand away from her hair and started to get up, but stopped when he felt her grab his arm. He turned to look at her in surprise. He had started to think she was sleeping with her eyes open. Now, though, she looked fully awake and like a child who had had a scary dream.

"Where are you going?" she asked.

"I wanted to get you something to stop your shaking," he said. "A glass of wine, perhaps."

"Don't leave me," she whispered.

"Sweetheart, I'll be right back –"

"Please, EJ." She was looking at him with such a mixture of fear and need in her eyes, it broke his heart to say no. So, he lay back down, this time pulling her into his arms.

After all the stops and starts,
We keep coming back to these two hearts.
Two angels who've been rescued from the fall.
And after all that we've been through,
It all comes down to me and you.
I guess it's meant to be
Forever you and me,
After all.

After a few seconds of silence, EJ asked, "How did you know I was at the docks?"

"I didn't."

"You called my name out, though."

"Not because I knew you were there. I just…felt the need to scream, hoping someone would hear me and I…thought of you. I had no idea you were there, EJ."

He kissed her lightly on the lips. "I guess it's lucky I went there first, then. I headed straight to the docks after I found out you'd left Belle's house."

"You knew Andre had me?"

"I knew he had escaped from the police. I went looking for you to bring you home and when Belle said you'd went out, I immediately feared the worst. I just assumed he had you. But," he said, "I killed the bastard. He's never going to hurt you, or anyone, ever again darling."

When love is truly right…
This time it's truly right.
It lives from year to year.
It changes as it goes.
Oh, and on the way it grows,
But, it never disappears.

"EJ, I'm so sorry," she whispered. "If I hadn't have left, none of that would have happened. Now you're gonna be charged for murder –"

"Charged for murder? Samantha, the Salem PD will probably throw a party in my honor for ending Andre's miserable life. If they wanted to start a case against me, Abe and Bo would have arrested me on the spot."

Sami managed to crack a smile at that, realizing he was right. Her uncle and Abe would never arrest EJ for fatally shooting Andre. It was something they had been wanting to do for years.

He let himself rejoice in the fact that he finally got her to calm down. The way she had been, all silent and distant, had been starting to worry him. Now that she was talking, his mind could be at peace.

"EJ…do you think my dad will be ok?"

"Oh, darling, I'm positive he will be. He's made it through much worse than this before. He'll be fine. Besides," he said, "everyone in this town seems to survive just fine from major injuries. Or come back from the dead."

She burst out a laugh at that one. It was so crazy, but true. Salem was filled with seemingly invincible people. Roman would be fine, she knew he would.

"So. Still mad at me?" he asked, giving her that half-smile to show he knew she really wasn't.

Sami shook her head before literally throwing herself on top of him to share one of their mind-blowing kisses. She could swear that each one felt like the first time, even after two years had passed since then.

Always just beyond my touch,
Though, I needed you so much.
After all, what else is living for?

Sometime during that kiss, they managed to shift positions so that he was holding himself above her. Their kiss deepened and they found themselves in a misty, rose-colored world of their own. A world they never wanted to leave and didn't plan on leaving for quite a while.

EJ pulled away to kiss down the side of her neck. This was finally happening. After every other time of being interrupted just as it began, it was, at last, going to happen.

He hesitated then, before going any further. It had happened, almost two years ago, just not how either one of them wanted it to. Their eyes met and Sami immediately knew what he was thinking of. She pulled him back in for another kiss before he could voice any thoughts on the matter. That was in the past, over and done with it. She didn't want to discuss it again. She just wanted to concentrate on the future.

And concentrate on the future is what they did as everything they had been through the past two years came together in one earth-shattering moment of pure ecstasy.