A/N: No song for this chapter, just couldn't seem to find one that fit.
Chapter 15When Ej opened the door to the pub, Caroline was immediately heading over to him, even though she knew that he loved Sami, she still was angry at what he did.
"I know that I am not your favorite person, but I just need you to give me a minute. I have something for you." He said as Sami came in the Pub from behind him, still wearing his jacket.
"Samantha." She said and ran to her granddaughter, Ej knew they needed a minute and headed to grab a drink from the bar. "Oh my, what happened? Where have you been? Are you ok? Does your parents know?"
"Gram slow down, I am alright and no one knows. Ej brought me here first, I was hoping you could call the family and tell them to come here. I didn't want to scare them by calling them." She said and looked over at Ej, who knew to pour her a drink. As he brought over her beer and lemonade the two sat down at a booth while Caroline ran to the phone.
"I can't believe I'm free. Bart really kept his word, he promised he'd let me out." She said and curled up against him, leaning on his shoulder and wishing for things to never change. But he still didn't want to talk about what happened. "But we'll talk about that later." She said, sensing how uncomfortable he felt talking about it, she could see it on his face. As the family piled in, only Belle understood why she was with Ej. She always knew how her sister felt, long before she got a chance to share that with the rest of the family.
"I knew you never gave up." Bell said and hugged Ej, along with her sister. She was also the only one that knew he was the one that left fresh flowers on her grave every Sunday. Always going to see the woman he thought he lost. When the entire family came, it was time for her to explain where she was, but she left out all the details, not ready to explain to her family all that happened. Simply saying, Stephano kidnapped her to keep her from Ej, Bart knew it was getting out of hand so led Ej to her and he brought her to the pub. Ej stayed at the bar while she talked, feeling she needed this time with his family.
"Sami, Stephano kidnapped you? Where were you?" Roman asked, knowing his daughter was holding things back.
"The mansion, in the room Mom was kept in when Kristen was with John." She said and looked down at her cup of coffee. Ej knew that it was because of him, all her pain was because of him and she could see it in his eyes when she looked at him. "This isn't your fault. You weren't even in the country when they kidnapped me." She said and walked over to Ej, the family could see the guilt he felt and knew that it was genuine. "Ej, your father took me because he wanted us apart, not because of anything else. I watched you for a year tear yourself apart, blaming yourself for something you had nothing to do with. Every week you went to my grave, not once missing a Sunday to bring me flowers, always just talking to me." She said and put a hand to his cheek.
"How did you know? The only one that knew was Belle."
"Bart, he knew. He was the one that always made sure the flowers were ready, he used the live feed your father set up to torture me, with you. Showing me you weren't lost completely and you still loved me." She looked into his eyes, but still could see the guilt of everything that happened to her.
"I'm sorry Samantha. I should have known, I should have known you weren't dead and what my father did. I should have found you sooner." He said and she just cut him off before he could say another word.
"You found me now! You went against your father, you went against your family for me and that means more than anything." She said and her family just watched, in shock of how Sami could really tame a Dimera, but John just smiled. He knew all too well what the Dimera's were like and knew it was love that brought you back to reality, to the real word and Ej had that from Sami. She like her mother for him was his moral compass.
"Bart saved you, I just drove you here."
"We both know that's not true, now there's only one thing left to do." She said and stopped him from speaking with her finger to his lips. "Marry me, meet me at the altar and marry me. No theatrics, no fancy setting, just you and me. The thing we should have done a long time ago, marry me Ej." She said and went to kiss him, but he stopped her, pulled away and looked into her eyes.
"No." He said and ran for it. Needing to get as far away from her and as fast as possible. He left the pub got into his car pulling away as fast as he could. Sami just started to fall to pieces, this wasn't happening, he wasn't leaving her, he couldn't leave her. She grabbed for the bar to save her from falling. But it was no use, she slid down to the ground and her mother came over to try and save her from getting hurt.
John looked at Sami and knew he needed to bring Ej back. He kissed Marlena on the cheek and immediately went out the door after Ej, having an idea where he would be. The two needed to have a talk and he needed to know why Ej was so afraid of being with Sami.
"No he can't leave me. He's the reason I fought Stephano to come home, he's the reason I felt like I had something to come home to. He's my life, I can't do this without him, I can't do this alone." She cried and Marlena wanted to cry herself, it wasn't like Sami to feel helpless, but that's exactly what she seen in her daughter's eyes and she knew it hurt.
"Sami you're not alone. You have your family and your son. Ej will come back, he's just worried about you and needs some time to get everything together in his head. It has to be hard knowing him family kidnapped you and kept you captive for a year under his nose, he just needs some time." She said, hoping to reassure her sister that Ej would come back to her, but she wasn't even sure herself.
"No, he's leaving. I know it, that explains why he was so far away in the car, and even when we came here. He was planning on leaving me the whole time. Just looking at me was hard and I knew something was wrong, I just didn't want to face it because I was so happy to be free." She said and looked at Marlena and Belle, wishing things were different.
"What is going on? I know that he is a Dimera, but he loves Sami. We could all see it when he looked at her, so why would he leave?" Hope asked as Marlena walked over, but neither had an answer.