(A/N: Um…. hi? So, I know that I have a lot of explaining to do. To start, for the three months where I was recovering from two foot surgeries I was so high on pain meds that I literally could not read anything on a screen. The words would just start dancing. Then for a glorious two weeks after that I started writing this chapter. Then my old laptop permanently bit the dust. I went nine months without access to a word processor. I couldn't even open my files so that I could copy them into a spiral so that I could continue writing them for when I would get a computer. Then I had to prepare for my move to a different state, where my parents spent every day (even the actual moving day) trying to convince me not to move. Then began my journey to try and find a job and trying to claw my way out of the depression I was in. I got a job and was writing bits and pieces of my stories when about a third of the staff at my work quit. I worked 6 day weeks and could barely think for the months it took to get more staff. Now, in the past couple of weeks I have been writing more but it has been damn hard. I can't tell y'all how many times I've just been staring at the screen with '90's dial-up noises blaring in my brain. This chapter is the culmination of 2 years of struggle. I hope that it meets expectations and that people are actually still reading. I still own nothing, enjoy!)
Chapter 10: Therapy
Just keep walking and have no expression, Kyoya'll get us to his car soon. Was the thought that kept Sam going as she and Kyoya made their way to the black-tinted and painted sedan.
The reporters kept taking pictures, but she couldn't bring a smile to her face; or even a wry-smirk.
Kyoya was looking at her with worried eyes and she just snuggled closer into his side as they finally made their way into the blessedly air-conditioned car.
She looked up at him, "I know that I have to get checked out by a doctor; but can it be by someone impartial to the situation?"
Kyoya furrowed his brow, "I can assure you that my brothers can be trusted."
Sam looked at him in the eyes, those grey eyes that she had missed for those long hours back in her personal hell, and then hedged, "How about we go to one of your brothers first; and then another impartial party? I have to think of appearances and the integrity of my company is seriously under question right now."
And I trust your father about as far as I can throw him. She thought, still staring him in the eyes; hoping that he would get her message.
/KyoyaPOV/
Was she implying that it was someone else in his family she didn't trus- Oh. He nodded slightly at her, glancing at the driver who seemed to be listening to their conversation a little too closely.
Then he replied in a harried but soft tone, "I suppose that if it will assuage your fears, we can do that."
He kissed her forehead and winked slightly. Her shoulders lost some of their tension.
"Do you happen to have your notebook, sweetheart?" His love asked quietly and casually.
Eyebrow raised, he handed it to her. She pulled the pencil out of the inside pocket of his blazer.
Just what is she up to?
She had just finished writing something.
How much longer until you've completed your original plan to pull the rug out from underneath your father?
He thought about it, a French company had recently started buying out Japanese companies; that meant he would have to raise the amount he had set as his goal.
Around a couple months…. why?
Sam looked at him with tired eyes.
I want to know how long it is that I'll have to pretend to be a complete bitch to get your father to keep on this track. Plus, I want to make a calendar so that I can tick off the days until I get to verbally beat the shit out of him without him being able to do anything about it.
He had to stifle a laugh with a cough and then wrote a final note as they approached his eldest brother's office.
I'll keep you posted. I definitely wouldn't want to miss that.
She subtly winked at him and then in a weak voice demanded, "Kyoya-kun, I do believe that I am too weak to walk…. carry me?"
Inwardly he groaned at his Sam milking her act as a "spoiled-rich-heiress" but on the outside he gave his host smile and replied, "Of course, Mademoiselle."
/Sam POV/
She internally rolled her eyes at his return-jab at her laying on her act a little too thickly. It was just too perfect of an opportunity to miss.
But all she did was giggle and squeak when he picked her up. "Oh, I knew my Kyoya-kun was strong enough to lift me!"
He's never going to let me live some of this down, is he? She thought as she saw her love smirk and straighten up a little. "A lady like you could never be heavy."
She was gonna sock him when they were out of his father's reach. She giggled and hid her mouth which was also forming many swears at this hosting bullshit her love was laying on her.
She wondered where she would be sleeping tonight. Where she would be out of the reach of her new/old adversary for sure. Her apartment was tainted by its benefactor's true intentions and the fact that someone had invaded it rather easily. She really only needed her black spiral. Her guitar was still trashed from the Beach Debacle. She might still have a job with Mr. Honda. She'd have to come clean with him about a lot of stuff though. She might end up bunking with Haruhi and Ranka; but she would have to insist on acquiring a safer place still in the neighborhood…
Okay, maybe she needed her phone as well.
And access to her family's bank account.
Argh. This is all so frustrating…
Just then, Kyoya cleared his throat as he set her down on the exam table where a young adult that looked very much like him waited in a lab coat waiting to be introduced.
"Sam-chan, this is my eldest brother Ootori Yuuichi. Oniisan, this is McIntire Sam." Her boyfriend formally stated.
"It's a pleasure to meet you; I only wish it were under better circumstances." Sam politely greeted.
The elder Ootori nodded and replied, "Yes, well let's get this exam underway."
/
In the end, Kyoya's oldest brother had diagnosed her with mild dehydration and exhaustion. So she was told to rest and recuperate for a few days before returning to school. There was nothing that they could really do about the bruises except let them heal. When it came to her mental trauma is where she got into a disagreement with him.
"I don't need to see a shrink. I just need my guitar and notebook; that's been my therapy for years." Sam stated stubbornly. There was no way in hell that she was spilling her guts to some stranger.
"It is standard for people who have been through trauma such as yourself to go through counseling; plus, if you don't you might be declared unfit to run your company." Yuuichi stated in an annoyingly superior tone.
He did have a point though. The public would certainly give her shit if she didn't at least try. "Fine, but I reserve the right to quit if it doesn't help me after three weeks."
Kyoya chimed in. "That's the best you're going to get from her."
Yuuichi sighed and booted up his computer, "I'll book you now."
/
"So where are we headed now? I don't think I can actually tolerate another doctor right now. The press can screw themselves. Also, would you happen to know where my phone, notebook, and wallet are? Also, can we get someone to get my motorcycle? The rest of the stuff in that damned apartment can rot for all I care." Sam grumbled, just wanting this day to end.
Kyoya pulled her into his side to try and get her to rest as he replied, "Well, the Interpol took everything in there to their lab as evidence; but I'm sure you can get it back soon. I'll call them when we get to Tamaki's. The others wanted to see you and Tamaki has offered to let you stay there until you're ready to be on your own. Unfortunately, it wouldn't be proper for me to offer seeing as we are dating."
Sam pinched the bridge of her nose to try and fend off the headache that was forming at the thought of all the red-tape they'd have to cut to get her stuff. She sighed and decided to try and joke about it. "Ooooo, so they think we'll get into mischief?"
He smiled slightly and rolled his eyes.
"So here's another valid question; What am I going to do for clothes? Since they took all of mine."
Kyoya thought about it for a moment before replying, "I'm sure the twins could provide some of the clothes left over from the last fashion show their mom hosted."
Sam cringed at the idea of all the pink and frills she would have to endure until she got her wallet back. "Yeah, so…. You're definitely calling Interpol about my stuff as soon as we get back, right?" She asked somewhat urgently.
He chuckled at her panicked expression. "Yes."
As they rolled up the drive to Tamaki's mansion she had to ask, "Just how likely is it that Tamaki and Honey will glomp me to death?"
He raised a brow as if to say, 'Why ask what you already know the answer to?'
Taking a bolstering breath, Sam opened her door and resigned herself to her fate.
"SAM-CHAN!" Tamaki and Honey cried as they simultaneously glomped her.
She stumbled back at their combined weight, but accepted their iron-gripped hugs.
"Um…. not that I didn't miss you guys, but could you loosen your grip? My stomach is kinda one big bruise right now." Sam asked, wincing.
They relented and she was passed around the rest of the group for them to get their fair share of Sam-hugs.
"Can we maybe go inside and sit down now? I think my legs might give out if I stand much longer." She stated, noting the feeling of her legs quivering. It looked like the last of her reserves of bravado and energy that she called upon to hide what a mess she really was had almost completely vanished.
Tamaki nodded and lead the way into the parlor. Haruhi was watching her with concerned eyes, as were the others. None of them seemed to know what to say, so they marinated in the awkward silence until Sam finally decided to break it.
"So….. I'm alive. Yay me, right?" She asked tentatively with a wry smirk.
"You do something so bone-headed as to purposefully walking into a trap set by terrorists and all you can do is joke about it?!" Haruhi exclaimed enraged and Ranka was holding her back from smacking her.
"We were really worried about you!" Honey insisted with a serious expression. Mori nodding from beside him.
"Yeah!" The twins exclaimed.
Feeling ganged up on, Sam retorted, "If I don't joke about this, I'll start crying. Deal with it!"
Kyoya pulled her closer into his side. She cuddled in as closely as she could so that she could get through the explanation she owed her makeshift family. "Look, I didn't get captured on purpose for fun. I just knew that my dad was plotting something and I didn't have any proof. So I cobbled together a plan to get some evidence while I was at Kyoya's house. After I left him with some instructions, I re-wired the bug I found in his room on my way home. Talk about the most difficult walk of my life. I mean, I was fairly certain he wouldn't allow them to kill me…. But one can never be certain. I just knew I had to do it. If I evaded him again, who knows what dangerous and irrational thing he would have done. He could have targeted you all and that would be unacceptable. So I thought of the best possible way to get my father to spill damning facts about himself and KNIFE: irritating the ever-loving hell out of him with song. He has-had the habit of over-sharing whilst angry. It worked. Interpol came. My own father was shot in front of me. And- and I still don't know what to feel about that."
Sam realized that she was shaking by the end of her story and trying to not break down. Kyoya's grip on her was now so tight it was almost painful and the rage mixed with sadness swirling in his eyes shook her control enough that tears began flowing down her face. She pushed down the conflicting emotions that were building inside of her and avoided looking at the others. She could feel their pity and sadness coming in waves and knew she couldn't handle it right at this moment.
"What does it say about me as a person that I can't decide if I should be sad or relieved that my own father is dead?!" Sam exclaimed and put her head in her hands, gripping her hair like a lifeline.
Sam heard some rustling and felt a new set of arms around her. Catching the scent of a sweet perfume, Sam realized that it was Ranka that had gathered her into such a warm hug.
"It shows that you are an extraordinary young woman who cares about even those who didn't deserve it." The man reassured.
Sam sat there absorbing what she was sure was what true parental love felt like before she gently moved out of Ranka's embrace and stood. "As much as I love sitting in blood encrusted clothes and Kyoya's uniform jacket, do you two tricksters have anything comfortable for me to change into? Also, where's the guest shower, Tamaki? I think I could use one."
Better to have a good cry in private.
They nodded and started going through a duffle bag that she hadn't noticed before by the couch. The others were still looking at her with concerned expressions.
"Perhaps the rest of you could decide what we're going to eat since, you know, I haven't in a few days." Sam put out there.
"Good idea, Sam." Kyoya replied in a carefully done "casual" tone of voice.
The twins tossed her an off-the shoulder sweatshirt and some cheerleader style cotton shorts.
"Right this way, daughter." Tamaki called, holding out and arm for her to take ahold of.
"Lead the way, o fearless leader!" Sam exclaimed in a weak form of her usual sassy tomfoolery.
/
*Kyoya POV*
Only years of practiced self-control stopped him from following his fragile love just so he could reassure himself that she was indeed still there and that her return wasn't an illusion. To distract himself from how likely it was that his girlfriend was crying in the shower, he decided to do what he does best: Plan.
"So for food, we should do something light so as to ease Sam's system back into having food in it." Kyoya stated.
"And yours." Haruhi muttered, giving him a wry look.
The twins smirked at Haruhi's expertly employed snark.
"Soup and sandwiches." Mori suggested.
"We should have smoothies, too! Something sweet might cheer Sam-chan up!" Honey put in, his ever-present smile not quite as genuine as usual.
"I'll contact my driver and have him pick up lunch from the appropriate restaurants." Kyoya confirmed as he texted Tachibana.
His task completed, his mind inevitably drifted back to his traumatized girlfriend. There hadn't been a waking moment when she hadn't been trembling since they had rescued her. It was a perfectly logical response to the hell she had been put through; Nonetheless, it was very unsettling and heart-wrenching to see his usually tenacious girlfriend so timid and broken. He really hoped that the therapy will help his girlfriend.
/
*Sam POV*
After an exhausting, yet strangely liberating, crying jag in the shower Sam changed into the admittedly extremely comfortable outfit the twins gave her.
When she walked out of the bathroom, she was shocked to see that Tamaki was sitting in a chair waiting for her. His expression was the most serious she had ever seen on his face.
"Boss?" She asked hoarsely, worried about the uncharacteristic silence of the Host King.
"Why don't we talk before we rejoin the others, Sam." Tamaki softly ordered.
Sam took the chair next to him and waited.
"I'm only going to say this once. Promise never to do something so brash and selfish again or leave. I never want to see that much pain in our family again." Tamaki spoke in this disconcertingly quiet voice with a pained expression.
Sam felt a sharp pang remembering the weary looks all of her usually glamorous friends and boyfriend were sporting. "I promise. I don't think that will be especially hard to keep anyway. What with, y'know there having been such a limited to supply of megalomaniac terrorist fathers out there." She choked on that last sentence and shook her head trying to stop the now almost always present threat of tears.
Tamaki's expression softened considerably as he rushed over to give her the gentlest hug she had ever received from the exuberant blonde. "I didn't like having to say that, but you had to see what your recklessness does to those of us who care about you. We were absolutely terrified. You mean more than you seem to believe, daughter."
Chuckling wetly, Sam replied, "Damn it, Tamaki; I'm two months older than you."
Producing a silk handkerchief from his coat pocket and handing it to her, the silly blonde offered his arm and said, "Why don't we see what the others have decided for lunch?"
/
Sam ruffled Honey's hair in thanks as he handed her a smoothie when she walked past him to cuddle into her boyfriend once more.
She let their boisterous conversations wash over her as she focused on not feeling absolutely anything. She was just so tired of breaking down and her first therapy session wasn't for a few days. Mechanically, Sam forced herself to eat when she noticed her boyfriend giving her a pointed look.
Though no one mentioned her uncharacteristic silence, she couldn't help but notice that the others were slowly migrating towards where she was sitting next to Kyoya until she was surrounded in a warm cocoon of family.
Suddenly, her exhaustion hit her all at once and she drifted.
/Sam's Dream/
Her father stood in front of her calmly with a horrid smirk. "You didn't think that your little plan would actually work did you?"
He moved closer to her and his smirk twisted into a manic grin. "While you've been here; I sent my men out to gather some company for you."
He made a gesture towards the goon stationed at the door of her room at the mansion.
Two faceless men dragged in her Kyoya, who looked rather battered. He tried to send her a reassuring look, but the affect was somewhat marred by the fact that one of his eyes was swollen shut and he had a gun pointed at his head.
"No." Sam breathed, dread stealing her ability to speak any louder.
"Oh yes. Aren't you happy to see him? I don't really understand it, seeing as how he doesn't stand any chance at actually running any company and he's just some pansy-ass pretty boy. In fact, I don't think you need his company after all. Men, if you will?" He ordered.
"No, no, NO! NO! NOOOOOOOOOO!" Sam kept repeating as all of the goons in the room cocked their guns and pointed them at her love.
Kyoya smiled at her one last time before he was riddled with bullets. Her father laughed uncontrollably at her pained screams and blood squirted from a hole that suddenly appeared in his chest, splattering all over her-
/ End Dream….er…. Nightmare/
Sam jolted awake with a scream that she immediately stifled with her hands, shaking. Her eyes darted around, trying to identify her surroundings with what little light that was coming from the face of the digital clock on the bedside table right next to her that soft music was coming from.
Someone had carried her to a lavish guest room and… it is only two in the morning. Great.
Not wanting to go back to sleep only to see the horror that was her subconscious, Sam looked around for some paper and a pen. Perhaps she could write her way out of this dizzying panic caused by the grizzly images that so easily could have been memories. Finding a notepad next to the room's landline, she breathed a sigh of relief. Flipping to a clean page, she let the words flow out of her pen like always:
Laying in the dark,
Music playing softly,
The night Is still.
Semi-steady breathing,
Thoughts racing,
I'm feeling ill.
Peace is impossible for me to find.
There's no rest for the restless.
There's no break for the broken.
Collapsing in the light,
Staring at a wall,
Nothing feels right.
Hands shaking,
Eyes burning,
I'm losing the fight.
This isn't peace I've found.
There's no rest for the restless.
There's no break for the broken.
It's fast as a blink,
It doesn't heal…
It's not true sleep.
I'm wearing down,
What have I sown
That this is what I reap?
Peace doesn't want to be found.
There's no rest for the restless.
There's no break for the broken. *
Rubbing her eyes, Sam felt more peaceful after writing out some of her feelings. Just like she knew she would.
Deciding that she still didn't want to sleep, she decided to find the kitchens to make herself some tea to sip while writing the chords to her newest song.
/
It was a little past 7 in the morning, and just after her third cup of tea, when she heard a distant scream of terror that sounded like Tamaki. Without a thought, Sam raced toward the noise.
The sight she came upon in the entrance hall was equal parts concerning and hilarious. Tamaki was bickering with his housekeeper wearing pajama bottoms with his Ouran blazer.
"You alright there, boss?" Sam asked, thoroughly dumbfounded at how out of sorts her friend was.
"I- I just simply-"Tamaki was stammering with a slight blush starting to form on his face.
"The young master seems to have had a nightmare that something happened to his 'Precious Haruhi.'" His stern housekeeper informed her with a deadpan expression.
Sam's lips twitched a little. She liked this woman already. "Is that all? I thought you were being attacked, Tamaki!"
He puffed up indignantly, "What father doesn't worry about his daughter?! I-"
Sam took a deep breath and replied, "You do realize that the person that the person that can get past the Morinozukas doesn't exist, right? And I'm going to start searching for a house her, me, and her father to live in that has top of the line security?"
Tamaki, finally seeming to calm down, responded. "You're right, daughter. Now, care to explain why you look like you've been up all night?"
Sam fiddled with her lip ring and muttered, "You're not the only one who had nightmares last night."
Tamaki gathered her into a hug and said, "Why don't we both get ready for the day? The others will probably be here soon."
Sam took in a deep breath in an attempt to center herself and nodded. These coming days, probably months, would no doubt be hard. However, Tamaki had just reminded her that she wouldn't have to go through it alone.
(A/N: Holy shit I finished it. Y'all don't have any clue how many hours I've spent trying to get this out, to try and get this right. My friends can attest to this, seeing as how they've had to deal with my complaints of writer's block this whole time.
*: I wrote this song myself. Please respect that and don't let anyone copy it. Thanks!
Please let me know what y'all think of this chapter!)