Hey, guys. Yeah, I'm real late. Sorry for the delay. Just came back from outstation. I'll try to update as frequent as possible. Can't have you all hanging to the cliffie for long, can I?

Sitting in her room at her father's house, Jules glared at her cell phone. She was debating with herself whether she should give Sam a call. Although she was still as mad as hell, deep down she already missed him. She longed to hear his infectious laughter, to feel his strong arms around her, to taste his kiss on her lips…

Calling herself a thousand fool, she started dialing his number, only to quickly disconnect before the call could get through. Ringing up Sam would only stoke his ego. He would utterly love it if she threw in the towel first, as if proving that he was right, women did have weaker resolve.

No, that would not do. Jules had had enough of hearing sexist comments from him, even though she knew he was just teasing her.

Let him sweat, she angrily thought. Guys are more level headed? Yeah, right. Let's see how long he can stay level-headed when I stop talking to him!

One thing bothered her, though. She wondered why Sam still had not given her a call. This wasn't like him at all. Normally after any disagreements between them, he would be the first one to relent and apologize, even when she was the one clearly in the wrong. That was just Sam's nature, awfully concerned to spare her feelings.

Jules gazed at her phone again, puzzled. It should have started ringing a long while ago. Sam was supposed to be groveling by now.

Why won't he call me?

"Jules?"

She jerked to hear her father's yell from the kitchen. "Yes, Daddy?"

"What's taking you so long? Come eat your dinner before it gets cold."

She sighed, slightly exasperated. Her father seemed to forget that his only daughter was not a little a girl anymore.

The minute she arrived at his doorstep, the first thing Mr. Callaghan had demanded to know was if she had had dinner. When she said she hadn't, he grumbled like a mother hen and went into the kitchen to heat up some leftovers, complaining all the way about how she should have told him she was coming so that he could make her his famous spicy lasagna, her favorite.

"Jules!"

"I'm coming, I'm coming. Sheesh. Hold your horses, Daddy." Throwing the cell phone onto her bed, Jules rushed out of the room and into the kitchen. "Hmm. Something smells nice."

Sitting at the table, reading a newspaper, her father only grunted in response. As she took her seat, he suddenly asked her, "You fighting with your boyfriend?"

Surprised, Jules stared at him, open-mouthed. "Daddy!"

"What?"

Jules shook her head, jabbing halfheartedly at the baked salmon on her plate. "Look, I don't want to talk about it, okay? I'm still pissed."

"So you guys are fighting," he remarked, lowering the paper.

"Not fighting. We had a disagreement."

"Same difference. What's the fighting all about?"

"You really wanna know?"

"Of course. You dropped by without warning, looking completely out of sort. If this boy has broken my girl's heart, I need to know."

"Sam is not a boy, Daddy. Jeez, I'm not in high school anymore."

"I'm just looking out for you here, honey. Remember 'Todd the Toad', how badly he hurt you at your graduation? I should have let your brothers kick his ass a little harder," he responded with an arched eyebrow. "So, does this guy Sam smack you around or something?"

His daughter gave him a look. "Sam is not that kind of guy. It was me who hit him."

Mr. Callaghan blinked at that, and burst out laughing. "That's my girl! But what exactly did he do to piss you off?"

Reddening a bit, Jules told him. He was in stitches after she finished explaining things. "You hit him in the nuts? Oh, honey, I thought you love this guy?"

"I do love him, but sometimes Sam can be so…so…obtuse! He would be the better team leader? Men are more level-headed? Puh-lease."

Her father gave her an adoring gaze. "And this is how a level-headed woman normally reacts? By running away, leaving your great love behind in the parking lot, eating your dust?"

"Not running away, Daddy. I'm keeping away from him. There's a difference."

"Suit yourself." He shrugged, raising the newspaper to cover his grin. "But for once, I think your boyfriend is right."

Of course, he'll side with Sam. He's a man too, was her annoyed thought. However Jules refused to rise to the bait, focusing on her food instead.

Unfortunately her father just wouldn't give up. "Poor Sam, having dinner all by himself tonight. I feel so sorry for him. God knows how he's coping right now."

Sulking, she turned a deaf ear and resumed eating.

Sam was coping a lot worse than Mr. Callaghan could ever imagine. In fact, no one had the slightest idea of the predicament he was in. While Jules sat eating a nice dinner in a warm cozy kitchen, food was at the farthest back of Sam's mind. His only priority was to free himself and get help.

Easier said than done.

Tethered to the tree, he had been sitting haplessly there for hours. It had been raining on and off the entire night, soaking him through as if he hadn't been drenched enough. The piercing cold stabbed him to the bone, causing him to shiver uncontrollably. To get himself warm he gathered his knees closer to his chest to conserve some heat, which was a moot effort. At least he had the gag to bite on to stop his teeth from chattering like castanets.

Grimacing, he tested his bonds for the umpteenth time. No wonder he couldn't easily get out of it. This was no simple bindings. It was made of plastic, like those flexi cuffs the SRU frequently used to restrain their violent subjects. The more he struggled against it or the harder he rubbed it against the rough tree bark, the deeper it cut into his wrists. Both his hands were already sticky with blood. And that gave him a morbid idea. Maybe he could continue on until his wrists were completely sawed off, and then he would be free.

Uh…maybe not.

Sighing, Sam stopped moving and leaned his head back. He began to feel the awful strain in his shoulders with his arms wrapped tight around the tree trunk behind him. His ass started to grow numb from sitting on the hard ground for so long.

Still, whatever discomforts he was facing, Sam forced himself to take it like a man. He was ex-Special Forces, for god's sake! He had suffered a lot worse than this. He had been instilled with strict discipline since he was still in diapers, much more so in the military. As a long-range marksman, he had had the experience of spending hours sitting at the same spot without a twitch. Or lying motionless on his front, blending in with the surroundings as he aimed his sniper rifle at the assigned target. There was even one particular mission that required him to bury himself under the hot desert sand with only the snout of his gun poking out.

Yeah, those were great times. If he could breeze through that, then he could definitely survive whatever hell he was in right now.

With the trees surrounding him, blocking his view of the position of the moon in the sky, Sam couldn't tell the exact time. It was probably past midnight, which meant it had been over six hours since he last spoke to Jules.

Does she miss me already? Has she called me yet? Is she worried that I'm not answering?

Sam then scoffed, ruefully shaking his head as he recalled how mad Jules had been with him.

Does she even care?

With the disturbing thought floating in his mind, Sam closed his eyes. He felt so drained he had troubles staying awake. Within moments, he drifted off into fitful sleep.

What the hell's wrong with his phone?

Jules was fuming, and she almost threw her own cell phone against the wall. Despite her vow earlier about not making the first move to reconcile with Sam, her heart had softened a bit. Soon after she had finished dinner, she rang him up countless of times. To her absolute frustration, she could only get his voice mail.

She dialed his number one last time. Same thing.

"Okay. If that's how you're gonna play it," she muttered, growing angry all over again. "You purposely switched off you phone to avoid me, Braddock? Fine. Have it your way."

Simmering, she went to turn out the lights and got into bed. But an hour later she was still unable to sleep. Something was keeping her awake. It was an odd feeling of unease that she had rarely felt before.

What could possibly be wrong?

If she only knew.

Sam woke up with a jolt. A sudden sound from somewhere in the dark had penetrated his sleep, startling him. The rain had fully stopped now, returning the woods to its natural quiet sounds which enabled him to hear all kind of strange noises.

He thought he heard some twigs breaking, sounding ever closer as if someone or something were approaching. This was followed by a low growl, causing the hair at the back of his neck to stand.

Great. Are there wild wolves around here? Or is that a coyote? A bear maybe?

As he continued to quiz with himself, the scraping sound got nearer. Sam looked around him in panic. If it were the taxi driver, returning to release him after all, Sam would gladly kiss the man before punching him square in the face. But if what would appear instead was other than human, then he was totally sitting duck. No pun intended.

There was that growl again, and Sam couldn't help but shoved himself flat against the tree. As if that could make him appear invisible to whatever that was coming. Trembling with helpless fear, he began to hatch up a plan of defense.

If a wolf or a bear or even a god-damn bigfoot pounced upon him, he would kick the shit out of it with his bound bare feet until they were chewed off completely!

"So come and get me, you beast!" he yelled through his gag. "I'm not afraid of you!"

Seconds later, a creature leapt out of the darkness to land near his feet.

TBC…

This chappie too short for you guys? Sorry. That was intentional. I just can't help it. Hehehe...