Part 33- No Kidding

"Yes, sir, General, sir," Sami muttered sarcastically as she let Lucas usher her out of the room before she got an explanation as to what Johnny was doing there.

"I know you want to talk to Johnny and be there for Allie," Lucas said when they were alone. "But that can wait. This can't."

Sami sighed heavily. The past few days had been full of tending to whatever couldn't wait—usually something to do with Allie's decision to testify—while everything else lingered in the background ready to explode at any moment. "All right. What do you have to tell me that's so urgent that we have to leave our traumatized children alone?"

"Well, before I forget, you should know that Franco Kelly came at my mom with a fire poker, and I shot him to death with your gun to save her life."

Sami pulled a pillow from the bed and hit Lucas with it. "No kidding. That was about a hundred years ago." Then she dropped the pillow and shoved Lucas hard in the chest. Lucas lost his balance and fell to the bed. "Why are you bringing that up now?"

Lucas rubbed his chest. "Were you working out in that coma, or something?"

Sami ignored him. "Why are you bringing that up now?" she repeated.

"Because Johnny knows. Well, he doesn't know you went to jail for it. He knows I killed him. Also that goon that was trying to kill Tony—Andre?— DiMera in the hospital, right when you were getting your voice back?"

"Why the hell would you share that with Johnny?"

"I didn't. I shared it with EJ. Johnny overheard. I didn't even know he was in this country when I said it."

"When?"

"This afternoon."

"You went to see EJ." Sami went from hot to cold in a fraction of a second.

"Twice."

"And you took our son."

"I told you, he followed me. But Johnny's not the one I'm concerned about."

"I'm afraid to ask who you are concerned about?"

Lucas looked up at Sami, who was looming over him where he sat on the bed. "Will, Sami. Will. When he found out I'd been to see EJ, he pulled out…" Lucas groped inside his jacket and removed the paper bag he'd taken from Will earlier that day. "He started telling me about how if you mix this with a sample he got from some pharmaceutical company back home, you'll have a fatal poison. Then he explained that since he doesn't have a record, I should let him be the one to kill EJ."

Sami shook her head. "You're making that up," she protested shakily, but her tone made it clear that she knew he was telling the truth. "It can't be. Our Will? Will, Will? Our Dr. Will? Mr. Boy Scout? Mr. Honesty? Mr. Hippocratic-freaking-oath?"

"That's the one."

Sami began to pace the length of the room. "Not that I'd mind seeing EJ dead, of course, but Will can't be the one to do it. He was always so sensitive, and so sweet! He doesn't have the personality to just do something like that and get on with his life. Not to mention that he'd probably get caught. The cops always catch people who were doing the world a favor—you spent thirteen years in prison. You'd think Will would have learned something from that."

"According to Will, he learned that I couldn't murder the man properly, so he should give it a try. He's serious, Sami. He thought it through, exactly what he was going to do, and he even got the materials." Lucas held up the bag again.

"I thought killing EJ through lots of times. I poured gasoline over him and lit the match. That doesn't mean I went through with it." She scowled. "Wish I had. If I could go back in time and drop that damn match, I would. Or I'd steal one of Dad's guns and do it that way. Less pain for the twins and Will, for Mom and John, for Steve and Kayla, for everyone. That would have been the really noble way to protect my family. Kill him, not marry him. I never would have passed that burden along to Allie if I'd done that. Now Allie thinks she's protecting everyone else by putting him in prison."

"But when did a DiMera ever stay in prison? As many people as Stefano murdered and kidnapped and tortured, he never stayed in jail for more than five minutes. Andre pulled off that whole serial killer thing, and some 'sympathetic judge' let him out right away. And now we have EJ, and with everything he's done the only charge that might stick is Allie's."

"And when he gets out, he'll come after her again. He'll come after me again, and that will mean my children. Just like when Stefano wanted my mother, he went after Carrie and Eric and me."

Remembering what Stefano had done to her family, and what EJ was continuing to do, made something snap inside Sami. Thanks to the DiMeras, her life was always teetering on a precipice. She'd lost five years with her mother here, eight with her father there, then ten with her twins…

And of course, she'd lost Lucas for thirteen long, horrible years. And now she and Lucas were having a discussion that could very well lead to the a more permanent separation.

She could sacrifice her happiness for her children; she had done it before. But she wasn't going to waste what time she had left.

Sami stopped pacing and stood over Lucas again. She put her hands on his shoulders to force him back against the mattress. Then she kissed him passionately.

As she had hoped he would, Lucas returned the kiss eagerly and flipped Sami over so that he was on top of her. Just as every fiber of Sami's being was about to catch on fire, though, Lucas pulled away and repositioned himself out of her reach.

"What was that?" Lucas asked hoarsely.

"I think you know. You sure responded like you knew."

"Talking about murder turns you on or something?" Lucas straightened his clothes, though Sami really hadn't had much of an opportunity to displace them.

"No. Thinking about how I might lose you again makes me want to take every opportunity I have now. And you want me, too, Lucas, I know you do."

"That's got nothing to do with anything," Lucas grumbled.

"Don't you think—"

"No!" said Lucas firmly. His tone left no room for argument, but Sami couldn't help but feel encouraged. After all, he had kissed her back. He hadn't denied that he wanted her. His only real objection was that he didn't like to mix sex and murder.

That was new. It wasn't like he hadn't made love to her hours after she'd married EJ and he'd shot EJ.

Her memories must have shown on her face, because Lucas demanded to know what she was thinking about.

"I was thinking…" Sami trailed off. Lucas was right; this wasn't the time to reminisce about their sex life. "I was thinking that you would have gotten away with shooting EJ the last time if they hadn't been able to trace the gun to you."

"So?"

"So next time—if there is a next time—I need to use a gun that would be traced to EJ. Anyone could have taken his own gun and turned it on him."

"There are so many things wrong with that that I don't know where to start."

"Make a list, then," said Sami coolly. "I need to get this right."

"There's a good place to start. You shouldn't kill EJ any more than Will should. For the same reasons."

Sami laughed fakely. "The same reasons? Our son, for reasons beyond our comprehension, is pretty much a goody-two-shoes. He has a conscience."

"You have a conscience, Sami."

"I tried to sell my own sister on the black market. I drugged my other sister's fiancé and had sex with him. I had a child knowing I'd slept with two men and didn't bother to find out who was the father—I just used my baby to torture my sister. I castrated a man. I beat myself up and blamed Carrie. I faked amnesia. I switched more paternity tests than I can count. I lied. I schemed. I blackmailed. I perjured myself. I manipulated."

"You're a different person now."

"I grew up, sure. But my conscience didn't bother me then and it won't bother me now. It would eat Will alive if he killed someone, even to protect his family. I'd learn to live with it. And I'd get away with it. Even if I got caught, I could plead insanity. He kept me prisoner. He left me in a coma. He took the only chance I'll ever have to see Allie and Johnny grow up. He took the only chance I'll ever have to be with Will while he went though medical school. Believe me, Lucas, playing insane won't be a stretch. And even if it were, my mother used to talk about exactly what a psychiatrist looks for when she has to evaluate whether someone can be held responsible for her actions. I can do it."

"Out of the two of us, I'm the one who's killed before."

Sami clapped Lucas on the shoulder. "Then you can give me tips."

"Where are you going to get a gun? Will was kind enough to point out that they're illegal on this side of the pond."

"There's a double false ceiling on the top floor of EJ's townhouse. Guns. Money. Sensitive documents. I doubt the ISA or the cops found it."

"You didn't tell them where to look?"

"It slipped my mind."

"You could tell them now."

"What good would it do them? You said it yourself—everything he's done, and the only thing that might put him away is Allie. And if it looks like he's going to go to prison and stay there, fine. We'll leave it at that. But if he puts himself in a position to hurt Allie again… if it looks like Will is going to make a move… we need those guns, Lucas."

Lucas sank down and buried his head in his hands. Sami sat close to him—not to proposition him, this time, but only to offer friendship and comfort. "When you and Will took off after Allie's testimony today, I was sure that you were the one who went to kill EJ and Will was the one who went to stop you. I hated thinking that you were getting yourself into that. And I know you hate thinking it about me. But this is the best thing for everyone."

"Where have I heard that before?"

"Excuse me?"

Lucas laughed humorlessly. "We haven't come very far in the last thirteen years, have we?"

"What do you mean?"

"You, telling me that you sacrificing yourself is the only way. Me, wanting to kill him. All of us puppets on EJ DiMera's string."

"There's a difference."

"More gray hair?"

"No. This time we're working together. We never really agreed last time. You didn't want me to try to manipulate EJ by marrying him. I didn't want you to shoot him. We accidentally worked against each other. But Lucas, this time we're on the same side. And we always did make an excellent team."

Lucas smiled slowly. "We really did."

"No one could stop us when we were both all the way in."

"That's true."

"So, Lucas, we let the judge rule. And if we think his decision puts Will or the twins in danger, we take matters into our own hands. Both of us. United. Are you in?" Sami held out her hand.

Lucas steeled himself. "I'm in."

They shook on it.

TBC