Chapter EIGHT
Sami rolled out of bed and gave an unhappy grunt - morning again already so why was it she felt more tired now then she did before she went to sleep? She had glanced at the clock - 6:26am, she should have some time to have a quick coffee and compose herself before the Johnny and Ali show began for the day. Once they were on deck it was pretty much over for Sami in the way of 'me' time.
She trudged down the stairs moodily reflecting on how she got to be here. It was two weeks since she and EJ had reached an understanding… two weeks and two days actually but she was totally not counting! He hadn't made one single overture, one single inappropriate advance except for his usual playful flirting since that day, not one. Sami couldn't believe it - every night she lay awake in her bed, half expecting any minute for him to suddenly materialise under some pretext and worm her way back into her bed but he didn't.
At first Sami figured he was just toying with her but now she was beginning to think that he could actually turn it on and off that easily and now that he'd had a taste he just wasn't interested any more! The thought made her angrier than she ever thought she could be with him but what burned her the most was she couldn't even yell at him about it because technically he wasn't doing anything wrong. In fact he was doing exactly what she'd asked of him and it was completely pissing her off!
She was tired from looking after the twins and then not getting enough sleep because she was on tender hooks waiting for EJ to suddenly appear and when she did manage to get to sleep - well her dreams weren't exactly what could be described as restful at the moment. Far too much sweating, heaving bodies occupying her dream to be called anywhere near that. She needed coffee and she needed it now. Sami pushed open the kitchen door and gave an unhappy huff at seeing who was already there.
"Hey Johnny look!" said EJ cheerfully, leaning down to talk to his son who was sitting up in his high chair, "Mummy is up!"
He then looked her up and down, taking in her bed hair, pillow face and dishevelled pyjamas.
"… in a manner of speaking," he finished with a grin, "Good morning sweetheart, sleep well?"
"Like a baby," grimaced a smile at him and then a real one lit her face for their son, "Hello baby boy, how are you today?"
Johnny grinned and waved his arms excitedly at the sight of his mother and Sami walked over and gave him a kiss.
"He's wearing one of Ali's shirts," said Sami with a slight frown.
"Well he was up earlier than Ali so I thought I'd dress him quickly to bring him downstairs before he woke up his sister so I didn't bother turning on a light," explained EJ, "I figured I'd get at least one of them out the way for you before I have to go to work. Besides, I don't think Ali will mind sharing."
"The shirt is pink," Sami pointed out flatly.
"Samantha," tutted EJ as he mashed up some banana, "I don't think our son should feel the pressure to conform to such arbitrary social stereotypes like that. Look at me, I've got a few pink shirts and ties and I make no apologies for it. Besides, both Johnny and I are man enough to pull it off aren't we my boy?"
EJ winked teasingly at his son then and even though Johnny didn't understand what EJ was saying he seemed to realise that his father was asking for his support so he gave a happy squeal and emphatic head nod.
"There you go," said EJ triumphantly, "Johnny agrees with me."
"It also says 'Little Princess' on the back," she continued on, arching a challenging eyebrow at him.
EJ eyebrows shot up and he quickly checked out the back of Johnny's shirt to find that Sami was indeed correct, emblazoned across the back in sparkly letters were the words "Little Princess".
"Ahh," conceded EJ with a rueful grin and wrinkling his nose at Johnny, "Now that might be a little harder to pull off eh? Maybe a change of shirt might be the order of the day after all."
Sami shook her head at them both, trying hard not to find the interaction between father and son endearing and failing miserably. She walked over and filled up the kettle and set it on the stove to heat the water for her coffee and then got out cups as she waited. Waiting for the water to boil she watched EJ attempt to get the last of the banana he'd mashed into his son with varying degrees of success.
"He's just not as into the whole banana thing as Ali is, is he?" observed Sami idly watching yet another mouthful of unrecognisable goo hit the ground.
"Our girl's got a sweet tooth alright," agreed EJ, giving up and wiping down Johnny with a wet cloth, "Or rather sweet gums seeing as no teeth yet."
Sami watched EJ move on from cleaning up Johnny to the high chair and the floor which the baby had managed to cover in banana also.
"You're up early," she commented, making her cup of coffee and his usual morning cup of tea for him.
"Early meeting," he informed her from where he was crouched on the floor.
"Don't tell me let me guess," said Sami bitterly, "Nicole!"
The way she said the other woman's name it was as though she threw up a little in her mouth when she was saying it.
"Yes Samantha," said EJ patiently, "Nicole - hers is quite a complicated case as you know."
"Well just make sure you wash your hands well after being around that trailer trash," snapped Sami, "I don't want you bringing home any germs to the babies."
"Aren't babies dirtier than adults?" John posed the question as he strolled into the kitchen, dressed for the days work already.
"Not my babies!" snapped Sami, "And certainly not in comparison to that piece of skanky…"
"Ah ah ah," cautioned EJ with a finger to his lips and a nod to Johnny, "Let's get our son at least out of nappies before we teach him profanities eh darling?"
Sami closed her mouth with an audible snap but still had a very unhappy look on her face.
"Here," she said, practically shoving the tea she'd made at EJ.
"Why thank you sweetheart," said EJ with a warm, only slightly ironic, smile, "You're too kind."
"Don't get too excited," she grumped moodily at him, "I only boiled water, it's not like I'm giving you a kidney."
"You also put a teabag in it," pointed out EJ, not to be put off.
"Yes," said Sami with a saccharine sweet smile, "But I didn't wash the cup!"
"Oh well," smirked EJ, taking a sip regardless, "Whatever doesn't kill us only makes us stronger eh darling?"
Sami just wanted to hit him, the more strung out and frustrated she got, the more relaxed and easy going he seemed to get. It was driving her crazy!
"Do you want a coffee John?" she asked, deciding if she didn't have something to do with her hands someone was going to be having that grin smacked off their face pretty darn soon.
"I don't know," said John seeming to consider the offer, "Do I get a clean cup or is it going to be served out of a bin or something?"
Sami's eyes narrowed dangerously and she opened her mouth to give him an earful when Ali chose that moment to start crying.
"Duty calls," said John, "Don't worry about it, I'll make my own coffee."
"Whatever!" snapped Sami, swooping down and picking up Johnny, "I'll change his shirt while I'm at it."
"Fine sweetheart," said EJ but she was already out the door and stomping down the hallway.
"So what's up with wifey?" asked John as he poured himself a coffee into a clean mug.
EJ leaned back against the kitchen bench and gave a rueful grin.
"She's fine," he told his Uncle as he took a sip of his tea, "She's just channelling one of the lesser known dwarfs at the moment - Cranky."
"If you ask me the dwarfs name is Horny not Cranky," said John perfectly straight faced as he turned around to face his nephew, coffee in hand.
EJ half choked, half spluttered on his mouthful of tea at his Uncles words before bursting out laughing.
"Uncle John!" he exclaimed around his laughter.
"I'm just calling it as I see it," shrugged John unconcernedly, "Sexual frustration is like a plague of Biblical proportions in this house at the moment."
EJ bit on his lip and shook his head in amusement - the things this man said!
"Are we having a moment?" asked John suddenly, looking over at EJ with a look of detached interested on his face.
"I think we may well be," conceded EJ with an amazed nod of his head, "A strange, vaguely inappropriate moment but a moment none the less."
"That's… nice," said John in the same tone of voice that he used for everything else - flat.
"Yes," agreed EJ with a little smile, "It is isn't it Uncle."
"What are you two talking about?" asked Marlena a little suspiciously as she walked into the kitchen to find EJ and John deep in conversation.
"Children's classic," said John flatly.
"Really?" replied Marlena sceptically, looking between the two of them with narrowed eyes.
John's expression was characteristically blank but there was an impish amusement in the other man's eyes that made Marlena suspicious.
"Well," said EJ, putting down his now finished cup of tea, "I must be getting on - big day today."
"Why's that?" Marlena quizzically, pouring herself a cup of coffee and looking at EJ over the rim of it.
"What's with all the questions Blondie?" asked John suddenly, "Writing some kind of book we should know about?"
"No," said Marlena, fixing John with a calm smile, "I'm just interested in my son-in-laws day."
"Well thank you for that interest Marlena," smiled EJ, sensing now would be a good time to make his leave, "And as to your question… I don't know, it just feels like one of those 'big' kind of days if you know what I mean? Nothing specific."
"Right," said Marlena slowly, having no idea what he was talking about but letting it go.
EJ gave an inclination of his head and left the older couple to their morning, heading up the stairs to get ready to go to the office. He hadn't just been making conversation when he'd referred to today being a big one. The pit of his stomach tightened nervously, knowing everything he'd been working on for the last two weeks was about to come to fruition. EJ also knew that he had a bit of a rough patch ahead of him but he determinedly kept his eye on the prize - which was Samantha of course, always Samantha. He was taking a big gamble, he knew that, but every new day he spent with Sami made him realise that it was one that simply had to pay off.
Living without her was no real option anymore.
Mid afternoon that same day Sami's mood hadn't improved any. EJ had left so early for the office and the thought of him spending so much time with that bleached cow Nicole… Sami's hand tightened around the drink she was holding as her anger started to increase. She couldn't help but wonder if EJ's seemingly effortless ability to return to their previously chaste relationship was because he was getting it somewhere else. The thought of Nicole's hands or any other part of her scrawny ass body being on EJ made her skin crawl and her want to kill them both!
"Cheez ball."
Sami pulled her head back and scowled at the plate of hors d'oeuvres being thrust under her nose by Rolf.
"What is it with you and appetisers these days?" she questioned him in annoyance.
"He's had worse hobbies," pointed out John as he walked by and poured himself a scotch.
"I guess," Sami grudgingly admitted, rolling her eyes, "So these cheese balls are made with cheese that was made from cow's milk right… it's not like rat or dog milk or something disgusting like that is it?"
"No Zamantha," said Rolf calmly, never seeming to take offence at what people said to him, "It eez defunatley the cheez of the cow."
"Okay," said Samantha dubiously and picked up one and put it in her mouth and rather surprisingly it wasn't bad.
Mind control/resurrection abilities, willing minion for the criminally insane and now preparer of not half bad bite size treats - his resume was really starting to fill out!
Sami finished her mouthful and reached for another, suddenly realising that she hadn't had lunch and that she was getting hungry. The door bell sounded and Rolf scurried off to answer it diligently. Sami turned to face John as he sipped at his drink.
"I don't know why it is you keep that guy here," she said to him, "He's so creepy."
"Rolf has his uses," said John unapologetically.
"Yeah well," said Sami dryly, popping the cheese ball she'd taken from Rolf before he went to answer the door into her mouth and continuing to talk, "He's going to have to make a lot of these babies to even begin to make up for what he's done to this family."
"I can't believe how much I've missed you baby."
Sami's head shot round at the sound of the familiar voice and she spun around to face the doorway from which the statement had come.
"Lucas!" she gasped, wide eyed but her sudden intake of breath meant that the cheese ball she'd just put in her mouth got lodged somewhere in the back of her throat and she began to choke on it.
Sami started to cough and splutter but then John reached out and casually gave her a hard slap on the back dislodging the offending cheesy item and it shot out of Sami's mouth and bounced across the floor, stopping just short of Lucas' feet.
"Sami!" said Lucas in horror, taking a step towards her, "Are you alright?"
"What are you doing here!" she spluttered, her face red from not just her near choking experience, "Oh god Lucas, tell me you haven't broken out of jail!"
"Of course I haven't Sami," said Lucas with a shake of his head, "I've been paroled, I'm a free man."
"But… how… when… why didn't I know about any of this?" she stuttered, unable to comprehend that Lucas was standing there in the middle of the DiMera mansion as large as life.
"I wanted to surprise you honey," said Lucas with an excited grin walking up to her and wrapping his arms around her.
"Mission accomplished," said John emotionlessly and then more loudly, "ROLF!"
Rolf almost instantly appeared from around the corner, so much it was hard not to believe that he'd been standing there listening in the whole time.
"Appetizer malfunction," said John, inclining his head and indicating the now defunct and furry cheese ball on the floor.
"Very good master," said Rolf and retrieved the offending snack with a napkin from the floor, "Vould anyone be vanting any zing else at all?"
"Nothing that goes in your mouth," said John expressionlessly, "Let's not tempt fate."
Sami stood stock still in Lucas' arms, so shocked that she couldn't find any words as she numbly returned his embrace.
Lucas was back.
Holy crap.