Chapter 3

Maxie rushed into the bathroom of her house and grabbed some cloths, towels, two first aide kits and a big bottle of rubbing alcohol. She then headed back to her living couch where Sam was laying, trying to push herself up.

"Stop it!" She scolded Sam and set everything down on the table. "You're going to cause more damage and then I'll have to drag you to the hospital whether you like it or not because I am not a doctor or a nurse."

Sam glared at her with annoyed eyes and Maxie cracked a smile at her. "No hospitals," she declared for the fifth time since they had arrived at her house.

Because Sam had acted as a shield for Maxie, she woke up from the blast with nothing but a minor burn on her arm, which she had taken care of in the bathroom of the lobby of Sam's building. Sam had not been as fortunate; she had sustained numerous cuts and bruises on her arms and legs as well as a stab wound from a few long, jagged shards of glass.

Maxie had to half drag Sam down to her car and then into her house, intending to bring her into her bedroom so she could tend to her wounds without her father or Matt "butting their noses in where they didn't belong" as Sam had put it but had been so tired when they finally arrived, they decided it wasn't worth the physical exertion of going all the way upstairs.

She had felt obligated to rise to her father's defence but then realized that he was the police commissioner and Sam had been arrested numerous times- was actually under suspicion of drug smuggling at the moment- and she could understand Sam not trusting him.

"Yeah, yeah," Maxie rolled her eyes at Sam's persistence. "You don't want to go to the hospital where there will be questions and then police. I get it but I still think you should because those burns look serious."

"They're second and third degree burns and I'll be fine as long as I treat them properly."

"Oh, been there, done that, is that it?" Maxie questioned.

"Yes, I've been burned before." Both physically and metaphorically, Sam added silently.

"What about the stab wound?"

"Superficial," Sam said as she examined it using a mirror to asses the damage done to her stomach. "I don't think the glass even penetrated all the layers of skin."

"Promise me you will go to the doctor's at least," Maxie said.

"I don't need to."

"You have two days."

Sam chuckled incredulously. "Excuse me?"

"You have two days to go to a doctor or I will go to my dad," Maxie warned seriously.

"Are you threatening me?" Sam asked and she was actually amused. Her friend was about as threatening as a kitten.

She liked to pretend that she was tough and didn't give a damn about anything or anyone but herself when in truth, Maxie Jones had a bigger heart and was more selfless than she realized.

"Yes, and don't think that I won't do it because I will."

Now that she believed. She would risk their friendship by going to the police if she had to if it was the only way to make sure that someone she cared about wasn't seriously injured. "I will go to Monica Quartermaine in two days, okay?"

Maxie nodded her acceptance and then came over to help with Sam's wounds. When they were finished, she went to get them something to eat.

"Where are you going to stay?" she asked as she took another swig of soda.

"I haven't really thought that far ahead," Sam admitted, shrugging.

"You could always stay with your mom," Maxie suggested.

Sam immediately shook her head. "I love Alexis but if I stay under her roof again, we'll drive each other insane and probably end up at odds." She also didn't think Alexis would be too keen on helping her given that she believed Jerry's garbage about Sam seducing him and smuggling drugs.

"Maybe Jason will find you some pace to live."

The idea made Sam's blood boil. "No, he won't."

"Sure, he would," Maxie nodded encouragingly. "I saw how hard he worked to find you while you were missing. He cares about what happens to you."

"I meant that he won't because I'm not going to ask him to," Sam said.

"You won't have to," Maxie said, oblivious to her friend's growing rage. "Since I've been friends with Spinelli, I've gotten some insight to Jason Morgan and he seems like the kind of guy to offer that stuff without being asked."

"He is but I don't want his charity," Sam spat angrily, brushing a stray strand of hair from her face.

Maxie finally realized that Sam was furious and was worried. "You are going to tell him about Karpov's retaliation, right?"

"No I will not," Sam said immediately.

"Why?"

"I don't want him involved in my life anymore."

"Sam, this involves him too," Maxie pointed out. "You're under his protection and Karpov went after you anyway. I don't know much but I do know there is a truce between them and that Karpov just violated it."

"I have the situation under control," Sam assured her confidently.

Maxie bolted up from her seat in exasperation. "Your apartment was blown up two hours after you narrowly escaped being blown to bits by Jerry who you just killed."

"You're burned and cut up, walking around like a shish kabob; you are nowhere near in control of anything."

"And what makes you think Jason will be able to change anything?" Sam asked.

Maxie chuckled. "Gee, I don't know. Maybe because he's Jason Morgan; a former enforcer, the current mob boss and pretty much Yoda to everything that is related to being in the mob."

"And I am trained in martial arts, an expert shot, trained to use most firearms, and a former con artist turned undercover operative," Sam retorted.

"So?" Maxie asked.

"So I can handle this myself."

"You're out of your depth on this one, Sam, and I think you know that." Maxie shook her head sadly. "You're just too proud to turn to Jason for help."

"It's got nothing to do with pride. It's about trust and I don't trust him."

An hour later, Sam left Maxie's house, saying she needed to find a new apartment and should do so immediately. Maxie sensed she was lying and was going to start on the next part of her plan against Karpov.

"Bye and thanks for your help," Sam said and hugged her friend goodbye.

"Be careful," Maxie warned her.

Two days later, Spinelli answered the door and his face lit up upon seeing her. "Maximista, this is a surprise," he greeted her excitedly.

Maxie smiled at her best friend and hugged him for a short second before pulling away and looking around. "I actually came to talk to Jason but I'm happy to see you too."

"What is your business with Stone Cold?" Spinelli asked in concern and eyed her arm.

"It's fine," she said, looking at the bandage on her arm where she was burned.

Spinelli called Jason downstairs and when he realized it was her that wanted to talk to him, he gave her a puzzled look.

Maxie cleared her throat as she put her coat and purse down on the couch and sat down. Jason took the chair and Spinelli sat next to her.

"I don't like coming to you for help especially behind my friend's back but I think you're the only one that can knock some sense into her."

"Who?" Jason asked curiously. Maxie didn't give a damn about Elizabeth and actually despised her so if she was in trouble, he had a feeling that Maxie would rather help cause her pain than help her. Lulu was out of danger in regards to Logan's murder so he wondered who and what she was talking about.

"Sam," Maxie replied and told him about the explosion at Sam's penthouse as well as Sam's refusal to ask for help. "I even suggested Lucky after she flat-out refused to go to you and that just seemed to make her angrier."

"Why didn't you just ask Mac?" Jason wondered. Being his daughter, it was natural for her to go to her father when she had a problem.

"Uh, because I still want to call Sam my friend after this," Maxie said incredulously. Jason realized she knew of Sam's distaste for the cops. "Besides, she is still out on bail until they realize that she was telling the truth when she said she was being framed and drop the charges."

"And if Maximista were to go to her father, she would then have to tell him why Karpov was going after her so hard which would mean revealing that Fair Samantha was the one that killed the Demented One."

"Jerry killed himself," Jason disagreed. He had been the one to set the explosives with the intent of killing Sam but instead wound up being the one killed instead.

"If Sam was so against asking for my help, why did you come to me?" Jason wondered. Surely, Maxie knew that Sam would consider this a betrayal.

"Sam doesn't think clearly when it comes to you because she's still hurting and angry about what happened between you; she doesn't want to admit that you're the only one that can help her."

"But aren't you worried that she'll hate you for coming to Stone Cold?" Spinelli asked, concerned that Maxie might be hurt if Sam was mad at her. He knew how close Maxie and Sam were as friends; they were the only girl friend either had.

"I know she'll be mad at me." Maxie wasn't looking forward to that. "But at least she'll live and I think once she gets over the anger, she'll realize that I am only trying to help her and that I don't want to see her hurt."

"She'll forgive you eventually," Jason agreed and hoped he was right. "Once she gets over the anger, she'll realize that you were looking out for her; underneath everything, she's a very caring and forgiving person."

"You would know, wouldn't you?" Maxie remarked. "Hell, you've tested her ability to forgive enough times."

"Maximista," Spinelli started to tell her not to antagonize Jason but she held a silencing hand up to him.

"But it seems you've finally pushed her to her limit," Maxie continued, unfazed by the increasing coldness behind Jason's eyes. "I'm curious about what you did that has made her think that she can't come to you when she needs your hep as much as she does now."

"That's between me and Sam," he said through clenched teeth and Maxie smiled inwardly.

She had hated Jason for everything he had done to Sam, but by being Spinelli's friend, that hate had started to wane, however there was still enough of her abhorrence for what he did to Sam left to occasionally taunt him.

She also hoped that if she bugged him enough, he would explode in anger and tell her what had happened by trying to explain why it wasn't his fault.

"Stone Cold wasn't trying to hurt Fair Samantha with his actions but the Maternal One-" Spinelli rose to his friend's defence but then quickly clamped his mouth shut with his right hand when he realized he had said too much.

Maxie's eyes glittered with triumph as she said, "Elizabeth is involved?" She shook her head at the mention of the despicable woman. "Hmm, I should have known."

"You don't know the details about what happened so don't judge without the facts," Jason told her, praying she would take his advice and drop the subject.

"And I'm sure if I did know everything, you would still be the bastard that I think you are right now," Maxie countered and then raised an eyebrow. "Maybe even a bigger one."

"He is a bastard."

All three of them turned to the door and were shocked by Sam's appearance.

"How did you get in?" Jason was the first one to ask because he was sure he would've heard her had she used the door.

"Your windows need better locks," Sam said mysteriously. Truthfully, she had broken into Sonny's old penthouse by going in the employee entrance and using the stairs that were around the corner in the outside hall, gone out one of the windows and made her way over to the nursery window of Jason's penthouse, picked the lock and crept downstairs.

She looked over at Maxie. "Why are you here?" she asked nervously.

Sam sighed in annoyance. "I realized you were right when you said that Jason should know about Karpov's betrayal so I came to tell him about it." She shifted her gaze to Jason. "I might not be willing to accept your help but if your truce with Karpov is being broken left and right, then you should know and deal with it accordingly."

"I appreciate the heads up," Jason nodded but Sam was now looking at Maxie.

"Why are you here?" she asked.

"She came here to tell me the same thing," Jason lied. He didn't know why he felt the need to spare Maxie the pain of Sam's wrath and the loss of a friendship that obviously meant a lot to her and Sam but he suspected that her devotion to both Spinelli and Sam had something to do with it.

Sam's face relaxed. "Okay, I guess I'll go then."

"Where?" Jason called after her.

"What?" Sam asked as she turned around to face him once again.

"You no longer have a place to live so I'm wondering where you're going," Jason replied carefully.

"I was going to go beg Alexis for a room," Sam replied.

"No, you weren't," Jason shook his head at the idea. "You have a target on your back so there's no way you would go to Alexis and put her and your sisters in danger by living in the same house, not while Karpov was still after you."

Sam bit her lip in frustration. "Then I'll go to-"

"You wouldn't go to Kelly's for the same reason," Jason interrupted her, knowing she was very fond of Mike and would never put risk him getting hurt either.

Sam cursed him for knowing her so well. "I guess I can ask Nik." She tried desperately but Jason actually smiled at her as he shook his head dismissively at the idea.

"Nik has a son and he's your family."

"Okay, so maybe I don't know exactly where I'm going," Sam admitted, exasperated with his smugness.

"I can put you in a safe-house, Sam," Jason offered.

Sam laughed at him harshly. "Do I look like your safe-house slut Elizabeth to you?"

Maxie exploded into laughter at that. "I overheard her gushing about meeting you in a safe-house to Robin a few weeks ago."

"Oh, it's what they do," Sam told her. "Elizabeth is so afraid of her own shadow that she doesn't have the guts to face Jason's life in public so she's suckered him into being together in secret."

Maxie looked at Jason incredulously. "Is that true?" she asked him.

"Yes, it is," Sam said, eyeing Jason coldly. "I ran into Elizabeth while she was on her way to see him once. Or rather, she ran into me."

Jason's eyes widened a fraction at the subtle mention of the hit-and-run. "That's none of your business," he said to Maxie.

Maxie rolled her eyes. "Did it ever occur to you that the two of you are adults and that if you truly cared about each other and actually had a snowball's chance in hell of making it as a couple, you wouldn't need to sneak around like that?"

"Of course not because that would require Jason admitting that Elizabeth was actually wrong about something and in his eyes, she is never wrong about anything."

"I never said that," he argued.

"You didn't have to. Your actions speak for themselves," Sam snapped.

"I did what I thought was best, Sam, but that doesn't mean that I don't know that what I did was wrong now."

"Too late, Jason, and that doesn't mean that you think what she did was wrong."

"I know that we were all wrong."

Sam eyes blazed. "Then why did you do it?"

"You already know why," he reminded her of his son.

Sam rolled her eyes. "You know the two of you use him as an excuse for everything you do just so you won't have to take responsibility and actually admit that you made a mistake."

"We're trying to protect…" Jason trailed off as he realized he was about to reveal that he had a son.

"And to hell with everyone else!" Sam was enraged at the fact that he was sticking to his story like glue. "You lied, you cheated, you destroyed lives and continue to do so but it doesn't even seem to faze you."

Spinelli stood between the two of them. "Fair Samantha, Stone Cold," he called for them. When he had their attention, he sighed in relief. "I have a suggestion as to where Sam might stay."

Sam blinked, starting to calm down as she focused her attention on what Spinelli was saying. "Where?"

Spinelli walked to the door and opened it. "The Godfather's former abode sits across the hall, unoccupied."

"Sonny wouldn't agree to that," Sam said, realizing that Sonny still hated her because of Amelia's manipulations.

"Yes, he would but it doesn't matter because I own that penthouse now." Jason considered the idea of moving across the hall and was beginning to see the appeal. It wasn't the ideal situation which would be moving her back into the penthouse where he could make sure she was safe but it was the next best thing.

"No charity," Sam dismissed it.

"You can buy it from me if you want." Jason told her that they could put her name on the lease so no one would be able to kick her out since she knew he didn't trust her.

Sam considered this and after a few minutes, she looked at Jason. "Is that ugly rug still there?" she asked.