Sami and Austin - Parts IX and X

Carrie couldn't remember a time when she had been more tired. She and Mike had gone out every night this week in an effort to convince Sami and Lucas that their plan was working. They had met for lunch, gone out to dinner, and gone dancing last night. Mike was such a good friend for going through all of this for her and Austin. He had really put on a good show for Lucas last night when they were dancing. She shook her head to help herself wake up as she realized the phone was ringing. "Hello?"

"Carrie, it's Kate. I thought you might want to see the latest reports on Sami."

That perked Carrie up, "Are you saying what I think you're saying?"

"Yes", Kate could hardly contain her excitement. "We finally have everything we need. Anything else Sami reveals before the dinner party tomorrow will just be icing."

"I'm coming over. I want to see everything you've got on her."

"I thought you might say that. Victor and I will be waiting."

For the first time in months Carrie was happy. It was finally going to be over. After tomorrow she and Austin could be together. She didn't care if Sami fought the annullment to keep them from getting married. They would be together and that's all that mattered.

Sami woke up from a happy dream. Austin had told her he loved only her and had asked her to reaffirm their wedding vows. It had been so wonderful. She sat up in bed as the idea struck her fully. That was the answer! Austin would have a hard time getting an annullment if they reaffirmed their vows. She got into her wheelchair and went to the living room. Austin was already working. That was a problem she hadn't been able to solve. The only thing that could get him away from that computer was Will and that was only for a short time. She knew that he was still sleeping on the couch too. She had tried everything this week but nothing worked. Austin refused to look at her as his wife. She was still confident she could get him to love her though. She pasted on a bright smile. "Good morning."

"Hmm? Oh, did you sleep alright?"

"Yes, I did. In fact I had a wonderful dream and it gave me an idea."

"That's nice", Austin was only giving Sami half of his attention. He suddenly realized what she had said. "Idea? What idea?"

Sami was annoyed that Austin wasn't listening. "From my dream", she said a little impatiently. She had his attention now. "I dreamed that we were renewing our vows. Don't you think that would be romantic?"

Austin was momentarily speechless. "You want to renew our wedding vows?"

"I think it would be so romantic. I don't remember our wedding. I'd just like to do it again. Is there something wrong with that?"

"No, no. There's nothing wrong with that. You just caught me by surprise. Why do you want to do this now?"

"It just occurred to me. You don't like the idea?", Sami put on her best pouty face.

"It's not that. I just...", Austin tried to find the right words. I just think it would be better to wait until your better. I mean, wouldn't you rather be able walk down the aisle?"

"Austin, I didn't mean I wanted to do it today. Of course I want to be able to walk down the aisle. I just wanted to talk about it because I want to have time to plan the wedding. I want a beautiful ceremony at St. Luke's."

"Oh, well...um, I guess that's ok." Austin wasn't sure how to handle this. He couldn't remarry Sami. He needed to talk to his mom. "Look, I need to go to the office to drop off some stuff. I'll be back in a little while."

"Ok", Sami was disappointed at Austin's reaction to her idea but she knew he would warm up to it eventually.

Jaimie was at the hospital. She had just finished nursing school. She was updating Will's chart and posting the lab results from the other night. Will had been so lucky that night. If it hadn't been for Carrie and Austin he might have drowned. She was debating whether or not to call Sami. They hadn't really spoken since she had helped Kate expose Sami. Would Sami believe her when she told her what she had found out? She felt she owed it to Sami to tell her what she had discovered. It was up to Sami whether or not to believe her. She dialed Sami's number and prayed she was doing the right thing.

"Hello."

"Hello Sami."

"Jaimie? What do you want? More information to give to Kate? Sorry to disappoint you but Kate's on my side now." Sami didn't even bother to pretend she had amnesia. She didn't think Jaimie would betray her again.

Jaimie wasn't a bit surprised that Sami didn't have amnesia. She had suspected as much. "Sami, that's not it. I really need to talk to you. It's important. Can you meet me for lunch?"

"Why would I want to do that? Haven't you hurt me enough?"

"Look Sami, I know you're still mad at me for helping Kate but I did what I felt was right. I have no regrets. I do have something important to tell you. Something you won't want anyone else to know. I'll be at Salem Place. If you want to find out what I know then you'll be there. It's up to you", Jaimie hung up the phone before Sami could answer her. She knew Sami wouldn't be able to resist.

Carrie was reading the file Kate had accumulated on Sami. It was unbelievable. Sami was so evil. And Lucas was well on his way to being just as bad as Sami. "Kate, this is wonderful! We finally have everything we need. It's finally going to end."

"I know what you mean. I'm so glad this is over. Now we just have to get through the dinner party tomorrow."

"I hope I can make it through dinner. I just want to go to Sami right now and wring her duplicitous little neck."

Henderson showed Austin into the library. "Hey mom. I hope I'm not interrupting but I really need to talk to you. You won't believe what Sami asked me to do this morning."

"Somehow, I don't think anything Sami does will ever surprise me."

"She wants to reaffirm our wedding vows." Austin shook his head. He still couldn't believe it.

Carrie wasn't surprised. "What did you say?"

"What could I say? She doesn't realize our marriage is a sham. She wants to wait until she can walk sio I've got some time but if her memory doesn't return before then I've got to find a way to get out of this."

"Well, I guess you'll have to let her plan a wedding. It would be too risky not too. We'll just have to pray her memory returns before the wedding and if it doesn't we'll think of some way to delay it."

"I guess I don't have a choice. I can't risk Sami having a relapse."

"Don't worry. You won't have to go through with another fake wedding. Not if I have anything to say about it." Kate was having a hard time controlling her anger. After Austin left she turned to Carrie. "I can't believe it! I just can't believe it!"

"I can. Sami is desperate to hold on to Austin. She'll do anything."

"Thank goodness we found her out in time. She'll never get her claws into Austin again."

The smug look on Jaimie's face irritated Sami. She knew I would show up, she thought to herself. "Alright, I'm here. This had better be good."

"Well, I'm afraid it isn't good. No, this could be very bad. That is, it's bad if you want to keep Austin."

Sami wasn't in the mood for melodrama. "Just tell me what it is."

Jaimie handed Sami some papers. "These are the results of the lab tests they ran on Will the other night. I made copies so you could see for yourself."

Sami read through the papers. Everything seemed pretty normal. What was Jaimie being so dramatic about? As she reached the end she saw it. "This can't be right!"

"Oh it's right. I talked to the lab tech and got her to run the test again. The results were the same."

"But this would mean..."

"Austin isn't Will's father. His blood type AND DNA information is on file from when he donated bone marrow to Abby Deveroux. I checked them against what we found out about Will. Only a DNA test would be positive but it doesn't look like Austin is Will's father."

"There has to be a mistake somewhere", Sami was in denial. "Austin IS Will's father. He has to be."

"You can believe that if you want Sami but you'd better hope Will never needs blood because Austin won't believe it after they try to match his blood."

"Why did you tell me this? I thought you wanted Carrie and Austin to be together."

"I do think Carrie and Austin belong together. You and I know who Will's father really is. I think he has a right to know about this."

"Do you really think Lucas would do anything to jeopardize his chances with Carrie? He'll agree with me. No one can ever know about this."

"Well, that's up to you and Lucas. I've done my part and I'm not getting involved in any more of your schemes. I just hope you'll change your mind and do the right thing for a change."

As Jaimie left Sami studied the lab results. How could she have missed this? This was a possibility she hadn't even considered. She decided to keep this information to herself for now. She wasn't as confident about how Lucas would react as she had led Jaimie to believe. She was grateful that Will was so healthy.

Jaimie wasn't the only one who had noticed problems with Will's lab results. Mike was studying them. There were some minor elevations in Will's enzymes that Mike didn't like. He needed to talk to Sami and Austin about running further tests. Hopefully, it would turn out to be nothing but he wouldn't be sure without running those tests. He left a message on Austin's machine for them to call him immediately.

Lucas couldn't sit still. He paced back and forth Sami's living room. "I don't like it. This wasn't supposed to happen."

Sami shook her head. "Lucas, you're going to wear a hole in my carpet. Sit down and tell me what's going on."

"I think Carrie really is falling for Mike. Damn! I never thought she would."

"How can you be so sure? Austin just broke up with her last week. She couldn't be falling for Mike already."

"You haven't seen them together. They've gone out every day. Lunch dates, dinner dates, they went dancing the other night. I swear at one point I thought he was going to kiss her!"

"What did you do?", Sami really didn't care. At least Carrie had found someone besides Austin. But she still needed Lucas.

"I interrupted them. Just came up and said Hi like nothing was going on. I couldn't think of anything else."

"Maybe it's just Mike. I can't see Carrie moving on that fast."

"Maybe you're right", Lucas finally sat down. "I've been worried about this. The way they look at each other... I can't help it. I love Carrie so much."

"I know what you mean. That's how I feel about Austin. How do you think I felt when he was living in Carrie's apartment, right next door, making love to her when we had just been married?"

"I knew you'd understand. This has to end. I've got to start making a move on Carrie. She needs to know that I still love her."

"Don't rush it Lucas. You'll just push her away. She has to learn to trust you again."

"I know. I've got to move slowly but I can't move too slowly. I guess I'll start with asking her to lunch. I can use business as a reason if I need to."

"That's good. Take it slow. Gain her faith and trust. That's what's important to Carrie. The love will come after you have that."

"Yeah, that's what I need to do", Lucas finally settled down. He felt more confident now. "How are things with you and Austin?"

"Better. I still have a lot of work to do but we're getting there. I talked him into renewing our vows."

"That's great! When are you going to do it?"

"Not for a while. I want to be able to walk down the aisle. Plus, I don't think he's ready yet. He's still getting over Carrie."

"Don't wait too long Sami. Now that you've decided to let him know your memory is back you've got to be careful. One false move and he'll be talking to Mickey about getting that annullment."

"Austin can never know my full memory is back. I've been very careful not to "remember" anything about him and Carrie. As long as I don't have any memory of our marriage being a sham I'm safe. It won't be much longer. I know Austin will fall in love with me soon."

"Well, I just hope you're right and this whole plan doesn't blow up in our faces. Wouldn't that be the icing on the cake? Break up Carrie and Austin only to have Carrie run to Mike and Austin leave you and find somebody else."

"Don't even think that Lucas! That will never happen. Austin is mine and I will never let him go", Sami wheeled herself to the desk. "I hate to cut this short but I have to get ready for Kate's dinner party tonight."

"Yeah, me too. You don't think mom has anything up her sleeve do you?"

"I've got Kate in line. She's not going to risk me telling her secret."

Lucas let it go at that. He had to find out what Sami had on his mom but he knew she would never tell him. He had to find those papers.

Sami smiled as Lucas left. He really was sweet. Somewhere in the back of her mind was a nagging little voice telling her she should have told him about Will but she ignored it. She couldn't do that until she was sure that she had Austin's love. Things were going to good for anything to spoil her mood. She had wondered why Kate was throwing a dinner party. It was a lot like the last time. If she didn't have Kate under control she would have been worried.

Carrie couldn't concentrate on work. She was too excited. After tonight this whole charade would be over and she could finally be with Austin. She had made reservations at the Green Mountain Lodge for them. She could only hope that Austin would go with her and that he wouldn't be mad that she hadn't told him about any of this. She decided to go see Kate.

Kate was glad to see Carrie. She wasn't able to concentrate on work either. "I can't wait until tonight. Sami is finally going to get what she deserves."

"Have you talked to Marlena?"

"Yes. This morning. She and John will be there. Sami's going to need her mother tonight."

"I know. I hope that Marlena can help her now that they're close again. Sami really needs help. This obsession is destroying her."

"She's not the only one. My son is becoming just like her, maybe worse. Unfortunately, I don't know if I can help him. He is so sure that I'm favoring Austin over him. I don't know how to convince him that I'm not. The only thing I can think of is to help him with his career."

"That's always been important to Lucas. Knowing that you have faith in his business skills will help."

"You and Austin have been through so much. I'm so glad this will be the end of it."

"Me too. How's Victor doing? Is he going to be able to go through with this?"

"Victor is doing wonderfully. His speech is so clear now and he has recovered almost all of his mobility. He's still weak on the left side but he's making wonderful progress. They're saying he might be able to start using a cane soon."

"That's wonderful. I'm so glad he was able to help us with this."

"So am I. His support gave me the courage to go through with this. I just hope that Austin and Billie don't hate me after tonight."

"Kate, they could never hate you. You did what you had to do. Is Billie coming tonight?"

"No, I haven't heard from her. She and Bo haven't returned from their trip yet."

"Oh", Carrie decided not to say anything about Bo and Billie. She could see that Bo still loved Hope and she wasn't sure why he had gone back to Billie but she didn't want to argue with Kate. "Well, I better try to get some work done. I'll see you tonight."

Kate took a deep breath. It was finally going to be over. No more secrets, no more blackmail, no more Sami. She called the house to check on Victor and see how the final plans for the dinner were coming.

Austin returned from the store to find Sami getting things ready for the dinner party. "What are you doing? We don't have to be at Kate's for hours."

"I know. I was just bored so I thought I'd get everything ready. It won't take us as long to get ready that way."

"Oh. Well, I've got to get some work done first."

Sami wasn't surprised. "That's okay. I'm going to give Will a bath."

"Can you handle that alone?"

"I think so. If I need any help I call for you."

"Alright", as soon as Sami was in the bathroom Austin opened up his journal file. The journal was the only thing keeping him sane. He put all his anger and frustration in there. Right now he was frusterated over Carrie and Mike. He had told her to get on with her life but he hadn't thought she would do it so quickly. He closed the journal when Sami came out of the bathroom with Will.

"See, I told you I could do it alone. He's all clean and wants his daddy."

"Hey big guy! Did you have fun?", Austin took Will from Sami and played with him. If anything good had come out of this whole crazy mess it had been Will.

Marlena was apprehensive about tonight. She knew she had done the right thing by letting Kate do this but she knew how hurt Sami would be. Sami was behaving just like Kristin, she reminded herself. She was lying and scheming to hold on to Austin knowing that he loved Carrie. In a way Sami was worse than Kristin because she was doing this to her own sister. Just like Samantha did to me, she thought as the tears rolled down her face. She hadn't thought of Samantha in so long or the pain she had caused. She couldn't allow Sami to follow in her namesake's footsteps. She quickly brushed away the tears when she heard John.

"Doc, you know better than that. You can't hide it from me. You're upset about Sami aren't you?"

"Yes. I've got to find a way to help her. I can't let her become like...", Marlena stopped. The pain of what had happened with her and Kristin and John was too fresh.

"Like Kristin. You can say it. I can't believe I was so blind. I'll do whatever I can to help Sami. I love her as though she were my own."

"I know you do. I'm going to offer for her to stay with us. I don't know if she'll accept but I have to offer."

"Well, she does seem to be taking our relationship better this time around. She forgave us for the affair. Who knows, maybe she will accept."

"I'm so glad you here. I don't know if I could get through this without you."

"I'll never leave you again Doc. I was a fool not to tell you the truth a long time ago. None of this would have happened if I had just been honest about my feelings."

"I made the same mistake John. We've both made mistakes. The important thing is we're together now."

"You're right, as usuall. Don't worry about Sami. She's strong. I think she'll be just fine."

"Yes, she is. I think that I should just be there for her tonight. I can't condone her actions but I'm not going to condemn her for them either. I know the pain of loving someone so much and thinking they don't return your love."

"But I do love you Doc. Sami needs to realize that she doesn't love Austin. If she did she wouldn't have done all of this to him. Just like Kristin didn't truly love me. We'll find a way to help her see that."

Kate came home early to prepare for the dinner. She wanted everything to be perfect. Nothing could go wrong. She found Victor upstairs with his physical therapist. "Hello darling."

"Hello Kate."

"Well, tonights the night. It all ends. It's finally over."

"Not yet."

"I know but it's so close I can taste it. Sami won't be manipulating anyone after tonight."

Lucas came home to get ready for the dinner. He wasn't as confident as earlier. He had asked Carrie to lunch today but she had turned him down. That was bad enough but she had known. She had known he was still in love with her. She told him they could only be friends. She would never love him. He had to find a way to prove to her that she was wrong. He would talk to Sami tonight.

"Lucas, you're home early", Kate said as she came downstairs. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing I can't handle", he wasn't in the mood to listen to how much Carrie and Austin belonged together.

Kate let it go. She knew it had to be Carrie. She felt his pain but she knew that Carrie wasn't for him. He would find his true love someday. She hoped it would be soon. "Why did you come home early?"

"I finished my work and I came home to get ready for the dinner", Lucas was a little surprised. He had expected another lecture about Carrie. Maybe his mom had finally realized that Carrie belonged with him.

"Good. You can help me with some of the last minute details", Kate wanted some time with her son that wasn't spent arguing. She knew there was lots of arguing to come.

Mike had decided to talk to Austin and Sami at dinner. He needed them to bring Will in for more tests as soon as they could. There was probably nothing to worry about but he wanted to be sure. He looked at his dinner invitation. After tonight Carrie and Austin would get back together. He had really enjoyed spending so much time with Carrie this week. He was sorry to see it end. Stop it, he thought to himself. Carrie belongs with Austin. She loves him...not me. Mike was surprised at that last thought. Had he fallen in love with Carrie? No, they were just good friends, he reminded himself. That's all they could ever be. He looked at the invitation again. Tonight was the end for him and the beginning for Carrie and Austin. He wished he could be happier for her.