A/N: You'll see more of who Sam really is. Thanks for reading.

Song: Burn The Night Away by There For Tomorrow

DISCLAIMER: I own nothing from ABC's Scandal or anyone/anything else.

By that Thursday I was in physical therapy, Mellie's doctor's appointment went well, and we had three new guards - George, Collin, and Jones. Ben left George and Collin on house duty and had Jones here with them. He said that Jones was the best of the three, and wanted to keep him close by. He was ex-Marine, 28 years old. George and Collin had both been in the army and were in their early thirties.

The physical therapist said I was doing good for having surgery two days ago, which made me feel better. So far I felt pretty down and exhausted. I was so used to being active and now had to have help to do things. I wasn't stable enough to walk without an aide yet, but I was able to get up out of my wheelchair with the help of a walker. I never went far, but every time felt like an accomplishment.

Physical therapy was my release, my escape. My therapist was so supportive and never made it boring. I could get away in there for a few hours each day, and I loved it.

Loved it until Ben entered through the double doors in the middle of therapy with my phone in hand, saying it was Jackson and it was urgent. I gave the therapist a look and asked for five minutes, and he let me rest. I sat down in my wheelchair and took the phone from Ben.

"Hello?" I answered, not wanting to talk right now.

"Fitz, Mike, Pete, and I have been bending over backwards to keep this place together and everything quiet, but more public appearance opportunities are coming up and more press events wanting your time. I need to know how you would like to proceed," he sighed, sitting in my office with Mike and Pete, overwhelmed trying to keep my health quiet.

"Is there any other choice besides a press release today and an address to follow?" I asked, laughing lightly. This was it. This was the deciding point of our future. All of it riding on the people, and my wondering if they could accept me this way, if they believed in me enough to re-elect me this fall.

"Not really. I can have the press release written and out before the hour and Pete ready to go by noon tomorrow, unless you would rather have someone else do the address. I just assumed since he's lieutenant governor. Mellie doing it might give you the sympathy advantage," Jackson explained, leaning on my desk.

"I don't want any advantages I don't deserve," I said back, offended.

"You'll take what you can get if you want to get re-elected," Mike chimed in, and I knew he was right. I needed all the help I could get at this point.

"Let me get done with physical therapy, talk it over with Mellie, and get back to you by one," I said, seeing it was already 11:17 a.m. by my watch.

"Ok. Talk to you then. Get better, man. Bye," Mike said, hanging up. I gave Ben my phone back and he pushed me back into the main room, after having taken me to a side room to talk.

"You ready to start again?" My therapist asked, and I nodded, now ready to be done.

"I'll do it. I'll need to go get something to wear," Mellie told me as we sat in my hospital bed together around noon. "Anything to help our case at this point," she laughed softly, knowing it wouldn't be easy.

"Are you sure you want to do this?" I asked, getting a nod from Betty in agreement. "Pete can always do it."

"Like they said, we can get some sympathy and support if I go. I'll be fine," she said, her mind clearly preoccupied, worried about this. I knew she was only doing it to try to keep us in office.

"You have my wallet. Use the gold card for whatever you buy. Take Ben and Chris with you," I said, and I could see the concern in her eyes when I mentioned the gold card. I rarely used it. I have three personal accounts set up, one with our inheritances, retirement funds, savings, and emergency money in it. Another is for our paychecks for bills and spending. The other is solely mine, however, and it is where I keep a portion of my inheritances and salary. I also the one I rarely use, mainly because I use it for quiet business deals or when I'm trying to build up our joint accounts more. She knows it as the "gold account", and she always associates it with bad news.

"Are you sure about the card?" She asked, wanting more information.

"I'm positive. Everything is ok, Mels. I promise. I just need some activity on it," I told her. I couldn't tell her about Samuel, not yet, if ever.

"Ok," she smiled. She asked Betty if she wanted to go with, and they told me goodbye and headed to the mall. I knew they would be seen, but no one knew yet.

I called Jackson back and gave him the green light on both the release and address, but told him to wait until they got back on the release.

Our lives would be totally different in a few hours.

By four that afternoon, the statement was out, and Jackson said his email had crashed twice already and the phones wouldn't stop ringing at the office. I turned off the TV when I saw my name come on, and Betty said nothing as she sat beside me. Mellie was asleep on the couch after shopping, and I was glad she could rest amidst this chaos.

I was trying to rest, trying to keep my mind off the idea that now everyone knew my old past, knew I was an amputee for all these years without their knowledge, when I heard Ben in the hallway, still managing my phone. The calls had gotten out of control, and he was handling them professionally since Jackson was busy at the office.

I was only concerned when he opened the door with the ringing phone and gave me a look that let me immediately know who it was.

"Hello?" I answered calmly and quietly, motioning for him to get my wheelchair so I could go somewhere away from Mellie.

"Fitz, how are you doing today? Better, I hope," Sam said.

"I'm fine," I said, getting into my chair and holding on to my IV pole as Ben started me out the door and down the hall to another bathroom. "What do you want now?"

Ben already had it tapped and was listening on his earphones and recording the entire thing.

"The same thing as last time; I want to see my daughter," he smirked. "Word is, you two are expecting a baby soon. When were you going to tell me, Fitz?"

My heart dropped into the pit of my stomach and I was ready to do whatever it took to keep him away.

"I wasn't," I growled. "She left you years ago and if she had wanted you to be in any part of her life, don't you think she would've made the effort by now?"

"I don't, because she's still blind to who you really are, and as long as she still believes in you, she won't come back to me. You refuse to show her the real side, the side trained to kill, to defend yourself at all costs. When are you going to break her heart and tell her that this Mr. Nice Guy stuff is all an act?" He breathed into the phone, and I was about to lose it.

"You don't know me at all," I said angrily. "I'm not a killer just because I was in the Navy, despite what you think. This isn't an act. I love Mellie and I would do anything for her."

"Anything? Well then, here's how this will work. I see her within the next two weeks, alone, place of my choice. You will regret this for the rest of your life if I don't see her," he threatened, and I knew I was in deep now.

"What's the catch? What are my other options?" I demanded. I couldn't let him get even in the same state as Mellie. I knew he would do anything to get her back on his side, anything at all.

"You have $200,000 in my account by morning, and the game will change. Possibly even in your favor. Understood?"

"Yes," I huffed, looking at Ben as I hung up.

"You need to tell Jackson," he told me. "Let him help you. Call in the legal team."

"How can I call in the legal team here and without Mels knowing? If she finds out, this is all over," I said. "Call in one man, set it up down the hall, ASAP," I said as we went back to the room. Mels was still asleep, and Betty knew by the look on my face that Sam had made a threat.

Either way, I knew how this would end.

There goes half of my gold account.