"Traitor," EJ muttered under his breath to his uncle as he and Marlena took the children and beat a hasty retreat.

Samantha's countenance had been telling as they made their way back home after hours of interrogation by Salem's 'finest'. Knowing that a blowup of epic proportions was sure to follow, his uncle had grabbed his far more pliable wife and their children to take back to the townhouse.

"A title I would gladly own nephew," John cocked an eyebrow at him, "as long as it keeps me out of the wrath of little Blondie. Her reputation is decidedly more vicious than yours."

EJ scoffed determined not to concede that his uncle had a point, because he did. It was one of Samantha's more interesting qualities. She was positively diabolical and he would have her no other way.

When she had burst into the factory, gun drawn, face determined like some avenging angel he wondered how in the hell he had gotten so lucky to find a woman that matched him in every way; a woman that was brilliant and manipulative, unerringly beautiful, insatiable and impulsive. Unfortunately, the impulsiveness scared him half to death, because there she was, in a warehouse with armed gunmen when she was pregnant with his child. Rage filled him and he almost lunged for Barney's throat as he realized the man had brought the love of his life in a battle against Stefano Dimera.

What if the factory was booby trapped?

They had been lucky that Stefano had been depending heavily on his sniper to alert him of any threats and on Rolf to control EJ and John. Samantha could have been seriously hurt for his father was not an enemy to be trifled with or rather, he hadn't been.

EJ still had trouble coming to grips with it, Stefano was gone. The drug the Austrian had created to put his father in a coma so deep there was no way he ever woke up, had worked, but what Rolf hadn't anticipated was the strain such a drug would have on the man's heart and so with far less fanfare than one would expect from the man whose reign of terror had spanned decades, Stefano Dimera was finally dead and this time he was not coming back.

EJ was sure the 'pious' Brady clan was holding a celebration the likes of which had never been seen before. Not that he could blame them. With all his father had done to them, he would be surprised if they weren't ushering the old man's passage to hell with a candle-lit vigil.

With a final wave to the twins, he closed the door and turned to Samantha.

She was ready for him, hands flailing in anger as she shouted, "What the hell did you think you were doing?"

"What I was doing?" He shot back incredulously.

"A house drops on your head and you go after your father. What kind of brainless…"

"I beg your pardon?"

"No, no damn 'pardon'," she mocked in a fake British accent as she advanced toward him. "You were stupid and thinking only of yourself… "

"Let me cut you right there, darling," EJ sneered, back up as well. "You're the selfish one, here, running head first into a confrontation when you are pregnant with our child…"

"Don't be stupid," she advanced, getting right up in his face. "I went there for our kids, so that they don't have to grow up without a father and I don't have to live my life knowing I let you die. Do you have any idea what that would have done to me?"

"And what about me? All I have ever wanted was to hear you say that you love me, to live with you and our children in this house. If something happened to you, what would I do?" He screamed, pushing her against the wall.

She flinched as her back hit the hard surface and EJ reeled back in horror, "Bloody hell! Did I hurt you?"

"No, I…" Her breath was heaving and he was surprised to see the flare of lust in her eyes.

"What?" He replied, feeling his own body flare. EJ was sure his next words came out more like a plea than a command. "Tell me."

Samantha smirked shrugging her shoulders in an entirely innocent way, belied by the words she spoke next, "I like a little rough."

"Not too much, then." He teased, leaning back into her body.

"Not too much," grin still in place as she answered, an eyebrow cocked in salacious invitation, "At least not until the baby is born."

EJ dropped his head on her shoulder for a moment, groaning at the erotic images that passed through his mind, "You will be the death of me."

"As you will be of me," she pursed her lips and EJ knew she was going back to their previous conversation. "Wherever you are Dimera, I'll be right there with you… even unto hell."

EJ looked into her eyes, seeing the truth of her statement and felt the well of tears rise up, the day's emotion catching up with him.

"Nicole was never pregnant," he admitted to her on a whisper, body leaning into hers for support, "and my father tried to make me into a puppet."

"What? Oh, oh! EJ… I'm sorry." Her fingers stroked his head as they stood in each other's arms.

"Are you? Really?"

She nodded, "I know how much you love your children, how much they mean to you so you loved that baby, even just the thought of it. And Stefano was driven by revenge, it was all he could see." She must have seen something in his eyes because she grabbed his chin and said, firmly, " You didn't cause this."

"Didn't I?" He replied, thinking how his actions had led him there. "I was the one who slept with Nicole because I was trying in some vain attempt to let go of you and I followed my father's edicts my whole life. I gave him the perfect soldier, Samantha and then expected him to let me go."

"EJ, Stefano was incapable of seeing past his vendetta, and that would have happened even if you didn't try to be the perfect son to him or not. Whatever Stefano and Nicole did that's on them, not on you," EJ looked into her eyes as she said her peace. "And I know I was no fan of the man, but he was your father. You loved him, and you lost him today, so if you want to tell me the good memories you have of him, I'll listen."

Looking at her in awe, he cleared his throat from the mammoth sized lump he could feel forming there and spoke, "I love you and I don't deserve you.

"We deserve each other and that's the best thing in the world. Come, let's go." She moved from between him and the wall, tugging on his hand.

"Where are we going?"

"Well, there are some sleeping bags and some really nice pillows in the sitting room and we're going to lie down and you're telling me about your father, the man no one else knew."

They lay quietly side by side still amongst the pillows having talked for hours. Sometimes Sami wondered if the man EJ spoke of was really Stefano Dimera. He spoke of fond memories like when his father had introduced him to classical music or painstakingly taught him how to play chess and even when he smoked his first cigar. He had spoken of awful things too, how his father had taken him from his mother and denied him contact with her, how as a boy when he misbehaved Stefano refuse to reply to him, not speaking to him, acting like he didn't exist for hours or days depending on the crime and even the staff weren't allowed to acknowledge his presence beyond the most basic needs. It was an awful thing to do to a child and Sami felt rage build in her, but didn't make a single reaction. It wasn't what EJ needed just then. He just needed her to listen.

Now that they were silent, she could feel sleep catching up to her as she lay warm and content in his arms.

"No, you don't."

"Hmmm," she hummed as his fingers traced a path across her baby bump. He was always touching her there.

"No sleeping Samantha Brady," he said as he flipped her over so her body was facing him. "I've got plans for you."

"Plans?"

"The kind where I want you awake and screaming my name," and with that he kissed her lips, teasing them open to taste, hands slipping under her shirt. Sami giggled after a few minutes of him snapping her bra against her back.

"Front clasp," she informed him, laughing at the frustrated look on his face.

"Minx," he retaliated, pulling at her shirt until it was over her head and finally unhooking her bra.

EJ swooped down sucking hard on the first one he exposed. He didn't let up, suckling like a babe, eyes fixed on her face.

"EJ," she groaned shifting under him, to press her thighs together to get some relief from the heat he was generating.

"Not until you can feel it," his hands moved down to cup her between her legs, finger stroking lightly over the seam of her jeans, "ight herer."

Switching to the other one, he tasted her, laving against her.

"Oh!" She cried out, as he slipped two fingers, inside her, so easily.

Sami was done for, the moment he pressed up his fingers, caressing that place deep inside, as he bit her. She was screaming, feeling overwhelmed with pleasure, barely even to comprehend his words. Hips raised she met him thrust for thrust fingers gripping tightly to his hair as she rode her release to completion.

When Sami was finally conscious again, she became aware of EJ's fingers playing with ther.

Flushing her eyes met EJ's as he grinned, "I think we should clean you up."

Sami lifted her hips as he pulled at her pants, sliding them and her panties down in one fell swoop. Lying on his back, he pulled her naked body on top of his.

"Why is it, I'm always the one naked?" She pouted, as she had not a stitch on and EJ was still fully dressed.

Looking at him, she saw his eyes narrow and Sami gasped when EJ's hand came down on her bottom.

"EJ!" She screamed, surprise and lust commingling to make her even more aroused.

"Come here." He motioned to his head.

Sami was sure her face was beet red, but she shifted up shivering as he placed kisses on every part of her he could reach.

"Do you know how amazing you taste?" He posed, hazel eyes staring into hers.

Her answering 'no' was frantic because she knew if she didn't reply he would stop and she didn't want him to stop. She didn't know if she would survive if he stopped. The man's tongue ought to be illegal.

The zing of pleasure that shot through her body as EJ's fingers joined his mouth between her legs, caused Sami to cry out. That was it, and she was gone again, legs clenched so hard around his head, she was sure she was suffocating him and yet she could not stop.

She didn't waste a minute once her body stopped convulsing, moving down his body, pulling at his shirt to expose his chest, biting, licking anything in her sights as she throbbed with the need to have him deep inside.

"Samantha!" He called as she slid her mouth over him, mouthing at the tip jutting at her.

Opening his pants she giggled as he shot out, nearly hitting her chin.

"Darling," he tried again, but Sami was too far gone, had been strummed like an instrument and was coiled enough to break. Without warning she took him inside her, the tip of his just entering and then she started to move.

EJ roared her name as she swiveled her hips as if in a tango, each rotation, taking him deeper inside to where he belonged, in her, filling her until white spots danced across her eyes.

Sami gasped as EJ, eyes wild with need, shot up abruptly pulling her down harder on him, each thrust punctuated by a kiss on her lips or a bite on her neck until he finally found release deep inside her, screaming his love for the world to hear; and she responded in kind.