IMissAremid

Sami awoke to the sound of running water but refused to open her eyes so she could hang onto the wonderful dream she'd had. She was far away from Salem, far away from everything she knew and frolicking in a magical waterfall in the embrace of a man whose face she could not make out. They had made love for hours and his kiss was more intense, more intoxicating than any she'd shared with Lucas or Austin or even Brandon. Suddenly Sami remembered where she was and where she had gone to sleep that night and panicked at the thought of how much she had enjoyed sleeping next to a man who wasn't her husband. Yet she opened her eyes to find a pillow in her arms while E.J. was standing shirtless at the wash basin holding a small mirror and shaving his face. She sat up in the bed. "I thought you'd never wake up," E.J. said flatly staring into the mirror, showing no ill effect in his speech or manner from his ordeal the night before save for some redness around his neck. "E.J. are you OK?" Sami said, unaware of the bountiful cleavage on display from the black bra she wore without a shirt or sheet to cover it as she spoke. "Yes, I feel fine," E.J. said turning his head toward her then looking away embarrassed. "And how do you know my name?" Finished shaving, E.J. retrieved Sami's shirt and pants from across the room and blindly tossed them toward the bed. "What are you talking about, E.J.?" Sami said as she self-consciously and rapidly dressed. "We've known each other for a year. Quit joking with me." But Sami sensed E.J. wasn't joking and E.J. confimed it. "Well, at the risk of sounding like a cad, my dear, apparently we have not known each other very well, because other than when I found you in my bed this morning I have no recollection of ever meeting you... Miss... Miss..." E.J. asked for help finishing the sentence. "Sami Brady," Sami said hoping that walking closer to him to inspect him might yield clues about E.J.'s strange change. "Actually, it's Mrs. Sami Brady-Roberts." "Well, Sami, it's a pleasure to meet you... again," E.J. said taking her hand and then kissing it. "Wait a second. You seem like you, but something's not right," Sami said trying to pinpoint the difference. "You don't call me Sami. You call me Samantha." "Well, Samantha, it's a pleasure to meet you... again... again," E.J. said with a laugh kissing her hand once more. "Stop joking like this. You're weirding me out." Sami frowned. "I do sincerely apologize for weirding... you... out... as you put it, but I haven't the faintest idea of what you're talking about, and I do think it's time to go," E.J. said. "Time to go, E.J.?" Sami puzzled at his words. "Oh, you mean you're ready to try another escape. Are you sure that's a good idea?" E.J. laughed. "Actually I'm quite sure helping you escape isn't a good idea, especially since I have been assigned to guard you," E.J. said. "My guard? Oh, E.J. what did they do to you?" Sami walked toward E.J. and tussled his hair above his ear, dragging her hand along his now-smooth cheek and staring deep into his eyes with a familiarity that troubled E.J. He gently removed her hand from his cheek. "Seduction will not secure you my help in your release," E.J. said firmly. "Seduce you?" Sami laughed at the absurdity of it all while E.J. shot her a quizzical look. "You really don't remember me or anything about us, do you?" "No, Samantha," E.J. said shaking his head. Sami didn't stop staring deeply in his eyes. "If I haven't yet made that clear I hope to do so now by telling you I truly have no recollection of ever meeting you," E.J. said. "And I'm quite sure that based on this encounter, if I had it would have left quite the impression on me." Sami sighed. "Now, if you're ready it's time for you to have some breakfast," E.J. said. "Oh are you going to go get it?" Sami asked as she walked back toward the bed and sat down. "Do you think there is any way you could bring me back some orange juice? My throat is kind of scratchy. Or wait, you could make me some of your nanny's tea!" E.J. laughed. "My nanny's tea? What are you...? You're trouble, has anyone ever told you that?" E.J. asked. "Well, you did. Once." Sami responded. E.J. laughed harder. "Smart man," E.J. said. "Now come on, Trouble. We're going to have breakfast.*" Sami got up out of the bed and walked toward the door and watched as E.J. knocked twice and it opened. "After you," E.J. said waving her through and following close behind. As Sami left the room she passed Bart, who said nothing while E.J. escorted her back toward the fireplace passageway. At that moment, she stopped questioning E.J.'s sanity and began to question her own. But crazy or not, Sami knew her goal of escaping Maison Blanche had just gotten infinitely more difficult. http://z9.invisionfree.com/ejami_fans/inde...=4762&st=30

Sami's mind raced as she heard some shuffling outside her door and then it opened once again. It was EJ! Sami's heart leapt with joy that he was being returned to the room, but it sank when she saw the disheveled condition he was in as his chin faced the ground, his eyes barely opened, his shirt was ripped open exposing chiseled abs glistening with sweat while Bart and Rolf steadied his shoulders as he slunk across the room to collapse in the bed. Sami's sadness turned to rage when she saw the burn marks on his neck, presumably from the electrodes that had been attached there by Rolf or one of his goons. She ran at Rolf and pounded his chest with her fists but Bart quickly pulled her away and restrained her. "Are you interested in spending the night tied to this chair?" Rolf asked pointing to the wooden chair in the corner. Sami nodded in the negative. "Then are you going to cooperate? Can you learn something from your friend over there?" Rolf asked pointing to E.J. writhing on the bed. Sami grimaced but nodded in the affirmative. "Good. Then I suggest you get some rest," Rolf said. "Yeah, Blondie. No more tricks." Bart added as he once more pointed a gun at Sami and the two of them exited the room. The door slammed and Sami ran over to E.J. to try to talk to him but he was unresponsive making unintelligible groaning noises as she knelt down to comfort him, helping him to remove his shoes and helping him pull the bed covers on top of him. "What are we going to do?" she sobbed as she caressed his face and held his 5 o'clock shadow in the palm of her hand. Sami felt his forehead with the back of her hand and watched with concern as the sweat dripped from his temples. "Oh, E.J., you're burning up!" Sami quickly retrieved a dingy white cloth from a cabinet above the room's wash basin and wet it in cool water from the faucet. She squeezed the cloth a few times and found the splash of the water soothing after what had been such a dreadful night. Once the dripping had ceased to her satisfaction, Sami walked over to E.J. and placed the cloth on his forehead and then tried to stifle a yawn with her left hand. She looked around the room to try to figure out where she might sleep. The room only had the twin bed and there was no way she was moving E.J. "What the hell?" she finally muttered to herself. " It's not like E.J. will mind." Sami kicked off her shoes and slid off her jeans, folding them and placing them on the dresser. Next she slowly unbuttoned her shirt while staring at E.J. as he continued to groan and she wondered what exactly the Dimeras had done to him and why. She folded the shirt and set it on top of her jeans before tiptoeing across the room and lifting the covers. At first she tried turning away from E.J. with her back to him, nearly falling off the bed a few times, but finally gave up knowing that she would never be comfortable that way. She turned toward him and lifted up his arm so she could use it as a pillow as she rested her arm across his chest. Somehow her troubles and fears quickly faded away there and her mind stopped racing so she was finally able to drift away to unconsciousness. E.J. was dreaming too, much less pleasant dreams, but if she had stayed awake and listened closely to all the jibberish and grunts he spoke in his sleep, eventually she would have been able to make out the one word he was still able to say, "Samantha." http://z9.invisionfree.com/ejami_fans/inde...=4762&st=30

*KNOCK KNOCK* Sami nearly fainted with fear when she heard the thumping at the door while her ear was still pressed against it. Sami backed away into the corner and crawled into the bed awaiting the newest calamity and hiding her face behind her hands. Sami widened the space between her fingers to watch as the door creaked open to reveal a doctor wearing blue surgeon's scrubs and a mask over their face. Sami launched into a hysterical high pitch scream, but the doctor continued lurching toward her until the mystery physician was leaning over her bed. "Shut up, Sami!" the woman's voice said as the doctor removed her mask. "It's bad enough I have to care for you, the least you can do is not make me go deaf in the process." "Lexie... I... I thought you were DEAD," Sami said. "Some days, Sami, I wish I was," Lexie said bitterly as she listened to Sami's stomach with her stethoscope. "Now what is it you needed checked out? Rolf thought you were faking but made me come by just in case." "Oh, well, you see, I uh, started getting these pregnancy pains you see... but they went away so I think I'm OK now." Sami said quickly. "Mmm hmmm," Lexie said, clearly not buying it, as she lifted up Sami's sleeve so she could monitor her blood pressure. "That sounds like a patented Sami Brady lie if I've ever heard one. Oh and I have. Lots of them." "Lexie, well you see, E.J. and I were..." "Ah yes, you and E.J.," Lexie interrupted. "Remember how I tried to warn him about you? How I told him to drive away from you as fast as he could? But he just couldn't get enough of you even after you married Lucas. It's a shame he didn't listen... I mean, listen to him now." Lexie paused to allow Sami to hear more of the torturing sounds coming from another room in the Dimera's house of horrors. Sami gasped. Lexie's face betrayed no emotion. "I do feel bad for my brother, though, even after the way he cost me my job and my husband and my son, all so he could get me back here to care for my father," Lexie said defiantly. "I mean none of this would have happened if the miserable fool hadn't fallen in love with you. Thank goodness Stefano has finally seen the light about him." "What do you mean?" Sami asked. "Well, Stefano decided that now that Tony's out of jail he is having him take care of family business," Lexie said. "E.J.'s just made too many mistakes, although after Rolf is done with him, I suspect E.J. will never again fail to put the family first." Sami pondered what sort of mind control or torment they must be putting E.J. through as Lexie packed up her medicine bag. "Well, Sami, your vital signs are normal and the baby's heartbeat is fine so I am getting the hell out of here," Lexie said walking toward the door and knocking twice to let Bart know she was there. As the door opened and Lexie walked outside, she taunted "Sleep tight!" But Sami definitely wasn't going to be doing much sleeping that night. There was so much she didn't understand and what she did know frightened her too much to close her eyes. Her mind raced as she heard some shuffling outside her door and then it opened once again. It was EJ! http://z9.invisionfree.com/ejami_fans/inde...=4762&st=30

AT MAISON BLANCHE: We're almost home free, my dear," E.J. said as he bent down to kiss Sami's forehead. She smiled at him as he reached to press the button that would allow their freedom through the fireplace passageway back to the living room of Maison Blanche. "I wouldn't be so sure of that," said a man with a familiar and menacing accent. E.J. was filled with regret that he had let himself get distracted by Samantha and allowed the man to sneak up on him while his weapon was at his side. "Rolf," E.J. said as he turned to face the mad doctor who was holding a gun and a flashlight on the two of them. E.J.'s speech sped up as he tried to formulate a lie to explain his disobedience. "Thank God, you're here. Samantha just started having these awful pregnancy pains and I didn't know what to do. We were trying to get her out of here to a doctor. Do you think you can treat her?" Sami's eyes got big as she listened to his lie, then comprehending E.J.'s intentions she doubled over in pain and started moaning. "Well, I'm sorry," Rolf said, unfooled by Sami's display and E.J.'s words. 'I cannot treat her. I will have to take her to another physician. But until then I'd appreciate it if you set your gun down on the floor." E.J. complied and he and Sami both put their hands up. "Now kick the gun to me," Rolf commanded. E.J. did. "Now turn and walk back to your room slowly. No sudden moves." E.J. mouthed "I'm sorry" to Sami but she just frowned as they walked back toward the room. Rolf immediately noticed the door open, the whiskey stench, broken glass and Bart splayed face down on the floor. "I see Bart didn't share your concern for Sami's health," Rolf said surveying the damage then turning back to face them. "But don't worry, E.J., I'll see to it that Sami gets the medical attention she needs. She'll even have the chance to see a friendly face." Sami contemplated the "friendly face" remark with horror. She had few friends in Salem and predicted she would have even less when Lucas brought word back to town that she had run off with E.J. Wells. Rolf bent down to Bart, who awoke in a daze, and started to shake off his confusion. Bart stood up and glared at E.J. and Sami. "What are you going to do to me, Rolf?" Sami asked. "I know you need this baby to save Stefano. You can't kill it or me." "No, I cannot. That's why I'm going to leave you here with Bart," Rolf said, returning Bart's gun to him. "E.J., I want you to come with me." "Where are you taking him? What are you going to do to E.J.?" Sami shrieked in fear. "That's no concern of yours," Rolf said. "Come, E.J." Sami sobbed. "Sweetheart, don't cry. I can't stand to see you cry. You're not a cryer. You're a fighter," E.J. called to her as Rolf started to push him forward with a gun stuck in his back and E.J. looked over his shoulder. "If I never have the chance to tell you again, sweetheart, I just need you to know now, 'I love you, Samantha Gene Brady, and I always will.'" "We'll see about that," Rolf whispered in E.J.'s ear before letting lose a loud guffaw. Sami watched as E.J. was shuttered out of the room. Bart warned her not to try anything else before locking her in the room alone, but Sami couldn't imagine how she might escape, especially now with E.J. gone. Potentially killed. It was as if her spirit was killed. Sami laid down in the bed and sobbed at the thought of being alone without E.J., as much as she had tried to convince others and him and herself that she hated him. When he was there with her, she may have been angry with him, his jokes may have annoyed her, but they made her forget she was a prisoner of Stefano Dimera and his maniacal whims. Tears streamed down her face as she stared into the darkness and felt the room closing in on her. But her cries were interrupted by her curiosity a few minutes later as she started noticing a strange humming sound in the distance and a man's voice talking. She got off the bed and walked over to the door to see if she could hear it better. "That's strange," Sami said, before gasping in terror as she realized what she was hearing. That buzzing was electricity... and that wasn't a man talking, it was a man screaming. "Rolf is torturing E.J.!" she whispered. *KNOCK KNOCK* Sami nearly fainted with fear when she heard the thumping at the door while her ear was still pressed against it. Sami backed away into the corner and crawled into the bed awaiting the newest calamity and hiding her face behind her hands. Sami widened the space between her fingers to watch as the door creaked open to reveal a doctor wearing blue surgeon's scrubs and a mask over their face. http://z9.invisionfree.com/ejami_fans/inde...=4762&st=15

AT MAISON BLANCHE: "Samantha, I thought if I punished you, tormented you the way you had my heart, used Kate to make you jealous... I thought if I did all of these things it could make me stop loving you, maybe even hate you," E.J. said, "but it's really just made me hate myself." Sami was speechless. And suddenly E.J.'s hands were free from the rope. Sami was too caught up considering his words to notice. "Oh so you hate yourself now, do you?" Sami said with a scowl. "Well that makes two of us." E.J. then let the rope around his hands slide to the floor and stepped around Sami to face her, bending down and cupping his newly freed hands around her face. "Oh well in that case, shall I let you find your own way out of here, sweetheart?" E.J. asked her as he leaned in to give her a soft, swift kiss on the lips. Normally, had Sami's hands been free, she would've tried to slap him, but Sami was too excited in that moment about the prospect of freedom to scold him. E.J. was pleasantly surprised by her reaction as he had been accustomed to her constantly rejecting his advances and expected no different this time. "E.J., how did you do that?!" Sami marveled at his ability to free himself. "Well, don't just stand there! UNTIE ME NOW!" "Shhhhh, Sami" E.J. said placing his right index finger over her lips. "You don't want Bart to hear you, do you?" "Well, no. But what do you have in mind?" Sami wondered. "Patience, my dear," E.J. whispered as he walked across the room and pressed his ear up against the door to hear Bart muttering to himself as he took swigs from a bottle of whiskey. Just as E.J. was about to step back toward Sami and begin plotting his course for escape, his sinuses got the best of him and he was unable to stifle a loud sneeze. "ACH-OOO!" "Bless you," Bart said from his perch against the door in the hallway. "Hey, wait a second..." E.J. panicked as he realized Bart had heard him. "Bart is coming. Quick, Samantha. Blow out the candles!" E.J. whispered. Sami obliged and bit her lip as E.J. vanished from her sight and the door opened. Bart entered carrying a lantern in one hand and a pistol in the other. He saw the ropes around Sami on the floor and walked toward her. "Hey, Blondie. What gives? Tell me where your boyfriend went." E.J. held his breath anticipating what Sami would tell him. "My boyfriend? Ha! Did you forget I'm married to Lucas? When I told E.J. I wouldn't run away with him that bastard escaped and left me here to die. See?" Sami said, turning her body to the side to show the ropes still tight around her wrists. "I swear E.J. better hope you are the ones to find him because if I get my hands on him, I'll..." *CRASH* Bart collapsed to the floor. Sami was astonished to see E.J. standing over him holding the handle of the broken whiskey bottle. He dropped it and walked toward her. "Are you OK? You aren't hurt are you?" E.J. asked caressing her face with his right hand and staring deep into her eyes in a way that made her breath heavy and face flushed. "I must say I get more and more impressed with you every day I spend with you, Samantha. You are quite possibly the coolest liar I've met." Suddenly she remembered her revulsion toward his advances and quickly turned her head away from his gaze. "How about you save the compliments for when we're both free of this place, all right? Now untie me." E.J. quickly obliged her request and handed her the lantern while he grabbed Bart's gun. "Samantha, just follow me and I'll get us out of here, all right." E.J. said as he stepped out toward the hallway scanning his surroundings with his right arm outstretched holding the gun and ready to fire on any person who got in their way. Sami attached herself to his left arm and followed closely behind. They walked back toward the fireplace passage they had entered earlier and said nothing but E.J. couldn't help but notice how tightly Samantha clung to him. How good it felt to have Samantha depending on him once again as her protector. The unspoken trust of that embrace he felt the same way when he tried to comfort her from the blackmail notes she received the previous summer. "We're almost home free, my dear," E.J. said as he bent down to kiss her forehead and Sami smiled at him as he reached to press the button that would allow their freedom. "I wouldn't be so sure of that," said a man with a familiar and menacing accent. .............................. IN A CAR: "Lucas, I am truly sorry for the pain she caused and any resentment you feel towards me because I was right, but despite how I feel about Sami, I have to tell you your news couldn't come at a worse time for me, for us," Kate replied. "What do you mean, mom? How does this news affect you?" Lucas asked angrily. "If you're bummed because that British bum isn't around for you to have your disgusting fling with anymore, well just get over it!" "No, son, it's not that," Kate said, her voice somewhat bitter due to the unhappy morsel of truth in Lucas's stinging accusation. "The reason I called you was to ask you to get back from that honeymoon of yours as soon as possible so we can pacify the shareholders at Mythic. Someone tipped off the shareholders to the profit skimming in those financial reports you discovered and we need to do some damage control fast or both our lives are over. I've tried calling E.J.'s cell phone about a hundred times to tell him to get his butt back here but his phone is turned off." "Are you serious, mom?" Lucas asked. "But the only ones who knew about this was us and Billie... and E.J. Damn that, E.J. But why would he want this to get out? You know, no wonder he skipped down when he did. I can't believe Sami fell for his bull. Of course, why should I be surprised?" "You know, Lucas, if we can prove that he ran off with Sami, then we can pin all this on E.J. and salvage the company," Kate said. "Do you still have the note?" "Yeah I have the note," Lucas said looking at the crumpled piece of paper in the passenger seat. He sniffed as his upper lip firmed. "Listen, Mom, I'm gonna head to the airport right now so I can get the first flight back to Salem. I can't wait to help the SEC take this bastard down." http://z9.invisionfree.com/ejami_fans/inde...=4762&st=15

AT MAISON BLANCHE: " Bart, I am trusting you to stand guard outside this room. Don't fail me. And Rolfe, I hope you will walk with me out to the car so we can talk over these medical reports," Tony said, ignoring his prisoners, before turning back to get another look at the two of them helpless and struggling against each other. Tony laughed. "Now I think I'll leave you two alone. Don't thank me too profusely, little brother," Tony said before exiting, slamming the door shut behind him and turning the lock. *click* "Oh, E.J., look what you've got me into now," Sami said with exasperation as she squirmed against the ropes binding them together. "Just relax, Samantha," E.J. said. "Relax?" Sami asked, no longer struggling violently against the rope while E.J. continued methodically working to loosen its grip on them. "How can I relax knowing that I'm locked up here WITH YOU, when I know that my baby... our baby... is going to be used to save Stefano and that Lucas thinks that I ran off and left him and Will alone." Sami burst into tears. E.J. wished he had an arm free to reach for his handkerchief and extend it to her. "Sweetheart, if Lucas really loves you, as much as it pains me to admit it, he'll know that you would never willingly abandon him to run away with me. He'll know that you would never cheat on the person you truly loved, the person you married, and that you are the most fiercely loyal and protective lover a man could ever wish to have," E.J. said with devotion while Sami, with her back turned toward him, was still self-conscious about the way she was blushing. "Samantha, if Lucas loves you, he'll know that note is a fake and come back for you and believe that you didn't run away with me." "Yeah, right." Sami says bitterly, before mumbling, "I almost don't believe it myself." "You almost don't believe it yourself? What do you...?" "Oh, I didn't mean to get your hopes up E.J.," Sami says remembering herself and allowing her ice-covered heart toward him to harden once again after its brief thaw. "I just almost don't believe this whole thing myself because I've always been such a screwup and here FOR ONCE I'm in this mess and it's not my fault!" "No, darling. It's not your fault," E.J. said wistfully. "It's mine." "Yours?" Sami questioned. "But I heard the way Tony talked to you. It sounds like you're in as much trouble as I am right now." "More actually," E.J. said taking a moment to laugh at his own misfortune. "What do you mean?" Sami asked not realizing she sounded truly concerned. "Well, you see, Samantha, it's my fault that I thought I could make you love me, even after all that happened. I wasn't supposed to come back to Salem from Mexico originally but I begged Father to let me do it. Stefano wanted me to plant the Dimera seed and kidnap the mother before the child was born, but I thought once you were pregnant with my child I could convince you to be with me willingly and we could raise our child together as Dimeras, both of us," E.J. said. "That was the only way I could sell Father on the pairing." "You mean, us being together, truly together, was your idea? Not Stefano's? But the baby and the rape..." Sami said before E.J. cut her off. "Darling, for the last time, it was NOT rape! Now I know I am a scoundrel and a cad and maybe even the monster you say I am, but I am NOT a rapist!" E.J. said indignantly. "Then what do you call what happened that night if not rape, huh?" "Oh, I know that night in Lexie's car wasn't as exhiliaratingly blissful for you as it was for me. I had made you an indecent proposal, Samantha," E.J. admitted. "And used emotional blackmail to get you to accept it. It was sexual extortion. Sextortion. Hmmm I think I just coined a new word, eh?" "Just shut up already. Fine, it was SEXTORTION and not rape. But that doesn't change what a bastard you've been to me all these months." "That is true, darling. I have been somewhat of a bastard, haven't I." E.J. said with a twinkle in his eye and a sly, half-grin. "But the truth is that's the only way I know how to cope with this, Samantha. I never meant to fall in love with you. I certainly wasn't ever supposed to have this happen. I mean I've spent my whole life learning how to avoid getting too emotionally attached to people, and when I fell for you last summer and I found that hold that Lucas and Will had over you and I couldn't have you all to myself, well I... I... I didn't know how to handle you rejecting me." "Me rejecting you! As I seem to recall it, you made me choose. You made me choose between you and my son!" "And if I could undo any one of the thousands of terrible things I've done in my miserable life, it would be that night. But I didn't mean for you to think that was really a choice between your son and me. I just wanted you to stop letting Lucas use Will to get what he wanted from you, to stop you from getting what you wanted. I didn't think it fair for him to use your sense of obligation to deny your true passion." "My true passion?" Sami scoffed. "Oh, you mean, you." "Yeah, I mean me. We were passionate once, weren't we, my dear?" E.J. asked. The two of them flashback to last summer. *Watch an EJAMI montage here to get a sense of what I'm talking about* Make sure it includes the look they give each other when E.J. feeds her oysters, the dance in the abandoned house, the kiss at the bar, the tango on the pier, etc. "Yeah, I did care passionately about you E.J. Way more than I ever realized or admitted. But that passion died when I found out the police were after you for all the horrible things happening to my family and then there was Kate's monogrammed bra stuffed in the cushions of your sofa. And then... and then I find out you were a Dimera and Stefano's son!" "Look, I'm sorry you were hurt by me lying about who I was, but I am NOT sorry I did it because if I had been upfront with you about who I was - all those magical, real, romantic moments we shared last summer wouldn't have happened." "Magical? Real? Romantic moments? So you're telling me that all that wasn't just playacting in your twisted plant the Dimera seed in Sami game?" "Samantha, it was real. I never was supposed to fall in love with you. And now that I have, it will probably cost me everything." E.J. told her, still quietly and calmly working with the rope behind his back. "I'm sorry but how am I supposed to believe you loved me the way you've treated me these past several months. Humiliating me at my wedding. Nearly causing me a nervous breakdown with all these games. Making me think you were going to kill me at the hospital!" "Samantha, I thought if I punished you, tormented you the way you had my heart, used Kate to make you jealous... I thought if I did all of these things it could make me stop loving you, maybe even hate you, but it's really just made me hate myself." Sami was speechless. And suddenly E.J.'s hands were free from the rope. ..................... IN THE CAR: "Listen, Mom. I don't really feel like talking right now," he said after picking up the phone. "If you're calling to nag me about Sami then just save your breath because it's over between us. We're over." "Lucas, what are you talking about?" Kate asked. "In the middle of the night Sami ran off. She left me. For E.J. I told you how we ran into him the other day snooping around, right? Well I woke up in the middle of the night and found a note downstairs,' Lucas said, his voice quivering. "She said she knew the baby was his all along when shel married me and that the reason she never told me about being with E.J. before the marriage was because she wanted ME to leave HER so she could save face being with him. I only wish I would have left her. Man, I should have hit her in the face with that cake at our wedding. Now if you don't mind I think I see a bar up here and I'm feeling a little thirsty right now." "Oh, that's awful, Lucas. I'm sorry I can't be there in person to help you get through it," Kate said. "But you know as well as I do that drinking is not the answer. It won't change what happened or end your pain, it will only cover it up temporarily." "It won't ease my pain? Well like talking to YOU is gonna help. C'mon, mom. Cut the crap. I know you're just dying to say I told you so. I know you couldn't be happier that this happened," Lucas said. "That I'm heartbroken and have failed at marriage once again." "Lucas, I am truly sorry for the pain she caused and any resentment you feel towards me because I was right, but despite how I feel about Sami, I have to tell you your news couldn't come at a worse time for me, for us," Kate replied. http://z9.invisionfree.com/ejami_fans/inde...=4762&st=15

AT MAISON BLANCHE: "I'm so sorry for this, Samantha," E.J. said as the two of them headed into the mysterious room with him holding her hand. "I promise I'm not going to let anything happen to you." Sami stared at E.J. fearfully but said nothing. Behind them, Tony was shoving them forward in the darkness warning of rustling upstairs. Sami gasped as she heard the fireplace door close behind them and then started to scream. "LUCAS! LUCAS I'm in... hgurhghgh!" Sami's speech was garbled by the hairy tan hand covering her mouth. "Now, Sami, Lucas cannot hear you through this wall. It's best if you cooperate with us, but it's your choice. We can do this the hard way or the easy way," Tony warned. "Which do you prefer?" A protective instinct overcame E.J. as he ripped his brother's arm off Sami and put his large hands on her shoulders and bent his tall frame downward to face her eye to eye. "Samantha, listen to me." E.J. said. "No one is going to harm you. Just keep quiet for now and you will be fine. I will see to it that nothing happens to you or our child." Sami nodded as the three of them walked through a dark brick passageway yellowed with the light from a candle carried by Tony in his left hand. His other hand was pressed against his coat pocket waiting to remove his gun should the weapon again become necessary. "Now, brother, it's not really fair to Sami here to make promises you don't know you can keep, is it? Don't want to be giving her any false hope." Tony laughed. "Don't listen to him, Samantha, darling. When I have a chance to speak to my father I'll..." E.J. said before Tony interrupted. "You'll what?" Tony asked. "Father finally got fed up with your incompetence and placed me in charge of the family. And now YOU will know what it's like to rot in captivity the way I toiled behind bars for years without my brother lifting a finger to help." "Tony... you can't," E.J. pleaded. "There is so much to be done with Steve and Mythic and well everything Father has planned." Sami's eyes darted between the two men as she tried to make sense of their schemes. "You have had your chance to take care of all that, brother. And you failed." Tony said. "I will take over those matters when I return to Salem. But don't worry. I am leaving you in the best care possible." Tony sneered as he said those last words and the three of them walked toward a closed door that opened to reveal a short, stupid-looking fool, and a balding old man in a white lab coat. "Hello, Bart. Hello, Rolfe. I am placing these two in your custody until Samantha's baby is born," Tony said. "I assume you know what to do with them." Tony had assumed too much as Bart did not even know if he was supposed to tie his shoes without someone telling him. "Hey boss, if you don't mind me asking, what's E.J. doing here? I thought you said we were just supposed to keep an eye on Blondie, not your brother." Bart questioned with a curiosity that annoyed Tony. "Yes, well that was the plan, initally," Tony said before turning to glare at E.J., "until E.J. decided he had another plan in mind for Samantha." Sami turned to stare at E.J. to see if it was true. Her instincts told her it was. "Father is not going to approve of this, Tony," E.J. insisted. " Bart, Rolfe, you know that's true. Tony has gone power-hungry since he's been back. Just stop this nonsense and let Samantha and I go and everyone will get what they want." "Everyone will get what they want? HA!" Tony snickered. 'What I want is for you to suffer." Tony motioned with his gun while Bart and Rolfe gathered some rope and the three of them pushed Sami and EJ together back-to-back and tied them together. "Now, I have some business to attend to so I hope you don't mind me leaving," Tony said with a smile before exiting the room. The fate that had befallen Sami suddenly rushed over her at once and she was filled with questions. "Wait! Tony! What will we do for food? Where will we sleep? You can't keep us locked up forever, can you?" Sami asked. "No, Sami, I can't keep you locked up in this room forever," Tony smiled walking across the room. "But for tonight this is where you'll stay." Tony took his candle and lit a candleabra revealing a wash basin and twin bed in the corner of the room that had previously been hidden by the darkness. He walked back toward the doorway. " Bart, I am trusting you to stand guard outside this room. Don't fail me. And Rolfe, I hope you will walk with me out to the car so we can talk over these medical reports," Tony said, ignoring his prisoners, before turning back to get another look at the two of them helpless and struggling against each other. Tony laughed. "Now I think I'll leave you two alone. Don't thank me too profusely, little brother," Tony said before exiting, slamming the door shut behind him and turning the lock. *click* ............................. IN CAR: Lucas held back tears as he drove away from Maison Blanche in search of a watering hole where he could drown his sorrows. "How could she do this?" he said to himself, pounding the top of the steering wheel with his hands. "After everything we've been through! She just threw it all away for that limey bastard." Lucas shook his head in disgust. "Well, that's it, Sami. You chose E.J. so Will and I are going to make a good life for ourselves without you. Never again will I give you the chance to hurt me like this. It's finally, truly over." Just then Lucas's cell phone rang. "Oh, just what I need..." he said as he looked down at the phone's caller ID and let it ring several times before finally giving in to the caller's pestering. "Listen, Mom. I don't really feel like talking right now," he said after picking up the phone. "If you're calling to nag me about Sami then just save your breath because it's over between us. We're over." For more of this story go to: http://z9.invisionfree.com/ejami_fans/inde...c=4762&st=0

"So where are you taking us?" Sami asks. "Taking you? Why you're already here?" Tony laughs. "What?" "Welcome to Maison Blanche, Samantha." E.J. says. A look of horror sweeps across Sami's face. "Did you say Maison Blanche?" Sami asks is disbelief. "The place where Stefano kept my mother and John and Hope hostage all those years ago? I thought that place burned to the ground!" "Oh, it did," Tony assures her. "But I think you're well aware of how us Dimeras always seem to find a way to rise from the ashes. Didn't my brother teach you about that?" Tony flashes a wicked grin. E.J. is not amused. "Obviously this isn't the original Maison Blanche, but after the other one burned to the ground Father picked this place up and renovated it to look as much like the original as possible, with a few modifications of course, as you'll now soon find out. You should have seen the house before the flood and wind ravaged it. Well, enough reminiscing. Into the fireplace you go. Chop chop." Tony still holding his gun, motions for them to move. "Huh?" Sami asks. "Go ahead. Show her E.J." Tony sneers. Sami furrows her brow in confusion and E.J. winces as he pulls the lever opening up the fireplace to reveal a secret passage. He takes her hand and they go inside while Tony places Sami's note on the desk and admires himself and his plan. "I'm so sorry for this, Samantha," E.J. says as they head into the mysterious room. "I promise I'm not going to let anything happen to you." Sami stares at E.J. fearfully but says nothing. Tony hears rustling upstairs and tells them they need to get a move on. He follows them into the secret passage and we see the fireplace slide back into place. Just seconds later Lucas is back at the top of the stairs. "Sami? Sami?!" Lucas calls before muttering to himself. "Where the hell are you?" Lucas walks down the stairs. He walks through the living room and past the copy of Gone With The Wind left out lying on the coffee table. He doesn't notice it's been moved from the shelf. He walks into the kitchen but quickly comes back out. "Sami, where are you?" Lucas wonders as he turns around the room until his eyes spy the note Tony has left for him. He pauses for a moment as if he is not sure whether he wants to read it then walks forward. He picks up the note and reads aloud: Dear Lucas, I am so sorry that I am unable to tell you this in person but there is something that you must know, something that means that we can never be together. "Sami, no. What have you done?" Lucas, it was wrong of me to keep the fact that E.J. and I were together the night this baby was conceived a secret from you all this time. I really thought you would leave me if you knew and that is why I waited all those months and until after the wedding to tell you. But you see, when the truth came out and you did stand by me, I was actually disappointed. "How can she say this, now, after all we've been through?" You see, I wanted you to leave me so that I would finally be free to be with E.J. without feeling like I was letting down you and Will and all of my family. But I can't keep lying to myself or to this baby, which I have known all along was E.J.'s and not yours. "How can you be so heartless, Sami? String both of us along this way, marry me when you know the child isn't mine and then run off with him?" Lucas sobs. Please understand that I didn't want to hurt you and even though I know that you and Will can never forgive me for this, know that I love you both. Just not enough for me to stay in this marriage when I can't give you the kind of love you deserve and when I can't deny my true feelings for E.J. Wells. Good bye. Love, Sami "Love? Love, Sami? You don't know what the meaning of the word is." Lucas says before crumpling the note in his fist. "That's it. I can't take it anymore. I've tried to put on a brave face. Tried to let her assure me nothing was wrong. I tried to be trusting. I gave everything of myself. I apologized and asked for her forgiveness. I gave her the perfect wedding she always wanted. I got my mom to stay out of our lives. And... And she still does this?" Lucas breaks down for a minute and then he turns to rage sliding everything on the desk onto the floor. "THAT B1TCH!" Lucas pauses for a moment to look around the room and stops to think. "Dammit. I need a drink," he says. Lucas grabs his coat and car keys and heads out the front door. For more of this story go to: http://z9.invisionfree.com/ejami_fans/inde...c=4762&st=0

"Tony, I won't let you harm Samantha." E.J. said stepping in front of a frightened Sami. "Won't let me, eh? That's funny. Because you know as well as I do that I have no intention of harming Samantha." Tony said to a defiant-looking E.J. and a confused Sami. "Then just what is your intention?" Sami asked even though she didn't really want to know. "Oh hasn't E.J. told you?" Tony said grinning. "Well, you see, it's quite simple, Sami. That baby you're carrying is going to save our father's life." "STEFANO? What do you mean my baby will save Stefano Dimera? How is that even possible?" Sami said as E.J. tried to put his hand on her shoulder to console her. She brushed it away. "Well, I don't want to confuse you any more than I have to with all the scientific details, but once you give birth to this baby, its umbilical cord blood will be collected and we will finally be able to restore Father's health." "Sami, I'm sorry..." E.J. said before Sami interrupted. "I don't care. I won't let you do this. I won't let you use my baby to save that monster!" Sami said as she angrily lurched toward Tony. "When this baby is born I'm having the umbilical cord blood, or whatever it is you're trying to get from me, destroyed so that you can never get to it." "That's why I'm going to be keeping an eye on you for the remainder of the pregnancy, Sami." Tony said, gesturing with the gun to remind Sami she had little choice in the matter. "Tony, just put the gun away. Let's talk," E.J. said trying to play peacemaker. "Talk? Yes, let's talk, brother. Let's talk about how you left me in prison and I had to rely on Celeste to get me out of jail. Let's talk about how your tenure as CEO at Mythic has been an utter failure and your pathetic company is bleeding this family dry. Let's talk about how miserably you've failed at controlling Steve Johnson, finding Shawn Brady and when the moment of truth came, you were too much of a coward to shoot John Black." Sami is shocked. Tony continues as his eyes turn from E.J. to Sami. "And why have you failed at all these simple tasks? Because you were too busy chasing after some girl. Some girl who's married to someone else and detests you with every fiber of her being." Tony laughs. Sami looks at E.J.'s face and senses the hurt in his eyes. She reaches out to express her sympathy, before realizing what she was doing and pulls her hand back. E.J.'s lip stiffens as he tries to regain his pride. "Regardless, I won't let you hold Sami captive. She will need to see a doctor during the pregnancy. Let's work out some other solution." "You know, E.J. I'm getting quite tired and I'm sure FATHER is getting quite tired of the way you seem to have your loyalties a bit mixed up these days," Tony said with a frown. "Your mistakes have proven too costly to this family already for me to allow you to jeapardize this now." "What does that mean?" EJ asked. "It means that you are going to be joining Samantha in captivity. We can't have you trying to play hero, can we? Besides it will be easier for me to clean up your messes without you around to make more of them." Tony smirked. "Now Sami," Tony said pulling out a notepad and pen from a desk drawer. 'I need your help to ensure that no one goes looking for the two of you." "How is a piece of paper going to accomplish that?" Sami asked incredulously. "Well, you see, Sami, you're going to write a letter informing your new husband that you have decided to run away with my brother, here, after realizing your true feelings for him and learning the baby you are carrying is a Dimera." "But we don't even know this baby is a Dimera. E.J.?" "Actually, we do know, Sami," E.J. said "What?!" Sami asked, exasperated. "During your hospital stay. When you thought you were dying. Well a test was done. And I am the father of your baby. I'm sorry I couldn't tell you before the wedding." "But why? You knew before the wedding and you didn't tell me?" "I didn't think you'd believe me, Samantha. And you were so certain that Lucas wouldn't forgive you when the truth came out that I thought... well... there's nothing I can do about that now." "Are you two finished yet?" an impatient Tony asked. "OK, good. Now start writing. And make it convincing. We can't have that little weasel of a former associate of mine snooping around where he doesn't belong. He could be waking up soon." Sami sits down to write the note while Tony watches over her shoulder. Sami starts to cry. "Oh, what now?" Tony sighs. "I don't know what it is you want me to write, Tony. I've never even dumped anyone before let alone been the one to leave one of my husbands." Sami sets down the pen and paper and sobs into her hands. "Here, Samantha." E.J. sits down next to Sami and hands her his handkerchief. "Can I help you?" Sami looks at him. "I guess." Sami says through a sniffly nose. She picks up the pen and paper again. "OK, Samantha, this is what you write: Dear Lucas, I am so sorry that I am unable to tell you this in person but there is something that you must know, something that means that we can never be together." "Oh you're just loving this, aren't you, EJ?" Sami glares, quickly recovered from her moment of weakness. "Well, I'd be lying if I hadn't fantasized about a similar scenario, my dear, although it never involved my brother pointing a gun at us." Tony grins and waves the gun at them in salute. "Anyway, back to the letter, Samantha," E.J. says, then dictates. "Lucas, it was wrong of me to keep the fact that E.J. and I were together the night this baby was conceived a secret from you all this time. I really thought you would leave me if you knew and that is why I waited all those months and until after the wedding to tell you. But you see, when the truth came out and you did stand by me, I was actually disappointed." "That's not true, E.J. No matter how much you wish it was," Sami says defensively. "I know, darling. I know." E.J. sighs. "Can we wrap this up soon? Lucas could wake up at any moment and if he does we'll have to shoot him." Tony warns. "Well, in that case..." E.J. says, before Sami punches his shoulder. Sami decides to finish the note herself. She reads aloud: "You see, I wanted you to leave me so that I would finally be free to be with E.J. without feeling like I was letting down you and Will and all of my family. But I can't keep lying to myself or to this baby, which I have known all along was E.J.'s and not yours." Sami starts to tear up. E.J. looks at her sorrowfully. "Please understand that I didn't want to hurt you and even though I know that you and Will can never forgive me for this, know that I love you both. Just not enough for me to stay in this marriage when I can't give you the kind of love you deserve and when I can't deny my true feelings for E.J. Good bye. Love, Sami" Sami cries some more. E.J. doesn't know whether to try to console her or let her be. "Finally," Tony says. "So where are you taking us?" Sami asks. "Taking you? Why you're already here?" Tony laughs. "What?" "Welcome to Maison Blanche, Samantha." E.J. says. For more of this story go to: http://z9.invisionfree.com/ejami_fans/inde...c=4762&st=0

"Tony!" Sami exclaimed before covering her mouth in shock. "Sami. Did you miss me?" Tony said with a smile. "How did you...? What... what are you doing here? I thought you were in jail!" Sami said before contemplating just how the night could get worse. "Oh I was. Thanks to YOU, of course. But I've paid my debt to society and am a free man now," Tony said while fishing around in the inside of his suit coat pocket. "What do you want from me? Tony, you have to know, I'm sooo sorry for everything. I promise I won't tell anyone I saw you..." Tony finally retrieves a black handgun from the inside of his coat and brandishes it. "No, you won't tell anyone you saw me. And I agree you'll soon be quite sorry for every single trick and scheme and lie and backstab you've ever done." "Tony, no! You can't do this." "Can't I?" Tony said grinning from ear to ear. "No. You can't," said a male voice, who walked in the mansion through the front door to Sami and Tony's surprise. "This is no concern of yours, brother. In fact, if you had taken care of business, I wouldn't have to be cleaning up this mess of yours." "E.J., what is he talking about? Was this whole thing just some scheme of yours and Tony's to get back at me for helping put Tony behind bars? Ugh. I think I'm going to be sick. I can't believe I..." Sami whispered with regret. "You can't believe what, Samantha?" E.J. asked, his eyes squinting to try to see the truth Sami tried so hard to conceal. "I can't believe I... ever thought you were my friend is all," Sami said throwing her hands in the air. "You know I shouldn't be surprised that you and Tony were working together all this time." With that, Tony broke out into a fit of laughter. "Sami, you must know that none of this has turned out as I intended." E.J. said before turning toward Tony. "Listen, Tony, there must be another way to handle this. Let me take care of this." "Ha! Because you've done such a spectacular job taking care of this so far." "Tony, I won't let you harm Samantha." E.J. said stepping in front of a frightened Sami. "Won't let me, eh? That's funny. Because you know as well as I do that I have no intention of harming Samantha." Tony said to a defiant-looking E.J. and a confused Sami. For more of this story go to: http://z9.invisionfree.com/ejami_fans/inde...c=4762&st=0

“Sadly, if you refuse my help, I think you… and our baby… are alone on this one,” E.J. whispered with regret as he clutched her shoulders with his hands. Sami stared intently at E.J.’s face for several seconds trying to discern the hidden meaning behind his cryptic warning until she was distracted by the sound of what she thought was a man’s laughter. “Did you hear that?” Sami asked. “Hear what, darling?” E.J. said, clearly perplexed. “It sounded like… it… well… nothing. I… just want you to leave. Leave me alone. Let me have this one moment of happiness without you and these games and my secrets getting in the way of it.” “Oh, so should we wake Lucas then and let him know I’m here? Oh Lucas! LOOOOOO-CUSSS!” E.J. calls up the stairs. “What are you DOING? Please just get OUT of here before he sees you!” E.J. laughs and grasps her left hand. “Good to see married life hasn’t changed you too much, my dear,” E.J. said before kissing her ring finger. “Ugh. Just GO!” E.J. obliges and shuts the front door behind him just as bleary-eyed Lucas appears at the top of the staircase. “Was someone here just now? Was E.J. here?!” Lucas shouted. “What? What are you talking about?” Sami said biting her lip. “There was a man calling my name. I’m pretty sure he had a British accent.” “Well, as you can see, no one is here but me. I was getting a glass of water. Honey, go back to bed. You must have been dreaming.” “Well… OK… I’ll be waiting for you.” “OK. I’ll be right there.” Lucas heads back to bed. Sami sighs and rubs her stomach. “Oh what are we going to do?” she whispers to the baby growing inside her. “I thought if I married Lucas, if I got Lucas to be my husband then we’d be home free, but this wedding didn’t really solve anything, did it?” Sami headed toward the kitchen to get her water when something caught her eye and caused her to stop in front of the bookcase. She noticed an old copy of “Gone with the Wind” on the bookshelf and picked it up. “Wow. A copy from the original printing.” Sami leafed through the pages. “And in such good condition. I’d love to take some time to read this again. I wonder if the owner would mind if I borrowed this.” “Frankly my dear, I don’t give a damn.” “Tony!” For more of this story go to: http://z9.invisionfree.com/ejami_fans/inde...c=4762&st=0

OK let's see if I can get this to work right. So here's the setup for this fanfic: I started writing this EJami-centric fanfic right after the Lucas and Sami wedding and when the spoilers came out saying that Lucas and Sami would spend their honeymoon at Maison Blanche. This fic picks up basically where that storyline was then while Phillip, Shawn and Belle have all made it back safely from Tinda Lao to take their place on the backburner with Nick, Chelsea, Willow, Bo, Hope, Steve and Kayla. As the show was then, John is still in his coma. The story begins with Lucas and Sami are on their honeymoon are working to repair a mansion in New Orleans where they have run into E.J. Wells earlier in the day. This was not the honeymoon Samantha Brady-Roberts had been dreaming of these past 15 years. After ten tries, she finally got her wedding to the man of her dreams. Or so she thought. Yet as she laid in the dark tossing and turning on a rumpled air mattress, next to her snoring husband, surrounded by paint cans and listening to the night rain fall on the windowpane, Sami wondered just why she agreed to her wedding planner’s idea that she celebrate her wedding with this bizarre remodeling project to rebuild an old mansion of some old crazy man who had left the place after Hurricane Katrina. Sami decided she would get herself a glass of water and see if that would help soothe the uneasy feeling she had about this place. As she walked down the grand staircase to the kitchen clutching her stomach she thought back on her wedding humiliation and the way she slugged E.J. She also thought about Lucas’s decision to stand by her. Neither moment was as satisfying as she thought it would be. But before she could consider why, a shadowy figure crept up behind her. Sami went to scream but the man covered her mouth before she could let out a sound. “Samantha, you really need to get out of this place,” a familiar voice said, slowly removing his cupped hand from her lips. “No, E.J., I think it’s YOU who needs to get out of this place. What are you doing here? This is my honeymoon. Lucas is my husband. He found out the truth and he stood by me. He loves me. You’re just going to have to deal with it,” Sami said. “Ah yes, I will have to deal with that, darling, but before we can take care of that we need to get you out of this dreary place and into accommodations more befitting a woman... in your condition.” “My condition?” Sami says with an incredulous glare. “And what are you kidnapping me now? Can’t you Dimeras come up with something original FOR ONCE?” “Listen, Samantha. I am not trying to kidnap you. I am not here to scare you or to hurt you. I am trying to warn you. I… I can’t explain it all right now. But just promise me that you’ll convince Lucas in the morning to give up this home makeover business and just eh… take up somewhere in New Orleans a little more fun, more luxurious, more romantic for the rest of your time here.” “Promise YOU? Pfft. Why? Is it too inconvenient for you to stalk us out here in the middle of nowhere so you can sabotage our honeymoon just like you did our reception?” “No… I… I was afraid this would happen.” E.J. turns away from Sami. “I can’t protect you, can I?” Sami pulls him back into her gaze. “No. You can’t. And I am not interested in your protection. I have LUCAS to protect me.” E.J. laughs. “You mean the man you’ve had me rescue from near-death situations twice in the past twelve months, my dear? Sadly, if you refuse my help, I think you… and our baby… are alone on this one.” Sami stared intently at E.J.’s face for several seconds trying to discern the hidden meaning behind his cryptic warning until she was distracted by the sound of what she thought was a man’s laughter. For more of this story go to: http://z9.invisionfree.com/ejami_fans/inde...c=4762&st=0