"So what do we do now?"

It was amazing how awkward he felt after such a passionate, life altering declaration had been uttered. Suddenly, he didn't know where to put his hands, and he worried he was staring, or being too obvious. He had the sudden fear that everyone in the room knew about his infatuation. And he had to fight off a stubborn blush that kept trying to advance across his cheeks every time his eyes met Sam's, even if only for the briefest of seconds.

They were now sitting in the living room, the first time that Sam had moved from the bedroom to any other room in the house since he had arrived battered and broken. Sam, fully clothed, was propped up on the couch with a wool blanket draped around his legs. Sarah and Mark were sitting across from him on a love seat, and Henri was leaning against the island in the kitchen, drinking more coffee. He had the intense urge to sit down at the end of the couch and position Sam's legs so that they draped over him. Or, to sit on the arm rest and gently run his fingers through Sam's hair.

Instead, he picked up the house phone and tossed it to Mark, who deftly caught it with a raised eyebrow. "What am I going to do with this?"

"Call your father. He's the head of the police force here, and if he's been keeping records of the abuse Sam's been suffering from then this should be reported. And maybe with your pictures and Sarah's and mine testimonies about the character of Mr. Goode we can finally incarcerate the bastard."

"And this can be all over?"

Sam sounded so hopeful that it nearly broke his heart.

"It'll be over soon," Sarah soothed, reaching her hand out to clasp onto Sam's own. "And I promise that I won't let that man do anything else to you Sam."

"Neither will I" Mark muttered, punching in his father's number.

"I won't either. You're safe Sam, and I won't let anything else happen to you again. Anyone who wants to mess with you from now on will have to go through me."

Sarah gave him a knowing glance, and then smiled back at Sam. "I'm going to go make you some tea. It'll soothe your nerves so that when Officer James gets here you can be focused, but calm."

They both watched Sarah exit the room, and observed her and Henri conversing quietly as she filled the kettle. Both heard the hiss and clicking of the stove as the gas valve was turned. Mark, who had been with them still, walked outside, the phone pressed to his ear. They were alone.

He slowly made his way over to Sam, who lay there slowly picking at his fingernails. His heart was beating so loudly in his chest that he wondered if Sam could hear it. "Hey…Sam?"

Sam jumped, but turned and looked at him, a slow, sweet smile on his face. "Yeah?" Sam's voice was hoarse, and he looked a little unsure but when he started to lower himself onto the edge of the cushion, he pulled his legs up flush with his chest, allowing him room.

"How are you feeling? About all of this I mean."

There was a pregnant silence between them, only broken by the muffled voice of Mark on the phone and the chirruping of some robins nearby. He shrugged, and pushed the blanket off of him. The screen door groaned as a soft breeze entered the house, and he noticed how Sam's hair danced with the intrusive wind. "I'm fine," he intoned, slowly rubbing his left arm.

"Really?" He wondered if the worry in his voice was as evident to Sam as it was to him.

Sam looked at him for a few minutes. He could see the metaphorical wheels inside Sam's head turn, possibly trying to gauge his reaction to whatever he had to say. "You can tell me anything, Sam," he reassured.

Sam bent his head, and found something moderately interesting with the rough blanket he had just kicked off. "I'm…I'm still afraid. What if this doesn't work? What if he somehow convinces everyone that I'm a liar and then he comes home and I have to deal with him alone—"

He gently raised Sam's chin, and smiled at him, even as his palms grew sweaty and his face again heated up. "Sam…" he sighed, "that won't happen."

His eyes were wide, and there were unshed tears just behind his eyelashes. "How do you know?"

He licked his lips, and cleared his throat. Could he tell him? Could he reveal to him his most deep and most dangerous desire? And if he did would Sam reciprocate or would he push him away and want nothing to do with him? Would he runt to Sarah? Or worse, would he go to Mark.

"I know…because I will never leave you alone. I will always be there to help you out when you need it, or to comfort you when you're hurt. And I'll always try to put a smile back on your face."

Sam's grin spread. Tears leaked from his eyes now, and he noticed that his fingers were gripping the sheet as hard as he could, forcing the blood from his knuckles.

Fear that he had done something damning raced through him like a bolt of lightning from a spring storm. "What…what's wrong? Sam?"

He shook his head and let a laugh escape from his parched lips. It was dry, and there was something within it that was just beyond his reach. It sounded off, coming from Sam. "I'm…just not sure what I ever did to get a friend like you, John. You saved my life."

Sam threw his arms around his neck, and he pulled Sam to him. His own larger hands were gripping Sam's waist as easily as if he were grabbing an extension of his own body. He felt whole; content in a way that he hadn't experienced since he had arrived to Earth all those years ago, a small frightened boy with only his Cepan for company. He felt Sam's shoulder's shudder, and held him tighter as he felt his shirt dampen with tears. His fingers ran softly across and down his back, soothing him.

They were interrupted with a low clearing of the throat. Sam instantly was back against the pillows, as far away from him as he could get, while rubbing his eyes. He could tell he probably looked upset and a little put out as he turned to see Officer James standing in the doorway. Officer James looked pleased with himself though.

"How are you doing, son?"

Sam shrugged, still wiping his eyes. He took the cup of tea from Sarah, nodding gratefully before taking a few tentative sips. Finally, he managed a small squeak that sounded like a "fine".

Officer James walked over toward him, and knelt down. One large hand engulfed his shoulder, and he gave him a fatherly shake. "Good news. I just got off the phone with Officer McNeely. Your father has been processed and is firmly behind bars. We did it Sam. And we couldn't have done any of it without you."

The smile that broke upon Sam's face was something he had never seen from him, nor from any other human that he had ever encountered. He threw his arms around Officer James' shoulders, laughing gratefully as fat tears rolled down his cheeks. He looked like he had just tasted freedom for the first time.

Officer James pulled away first, and Sam sank down into the fluffed pillows once again with a sigh that spoke more about his suffering than even the purple bruises on his soft skin had.

"You do realize that we have a long battle ahead of us. Just because he's behind bars now, doesn't mean that he's definitely locked away. We still have to go through the judicial process. I'm confident though, that after our defense attorney gets through with our evidence, you'll be hard pressed to find anyone in the state of Ohio that won't find him guilty. But you're going to have to face the media and you might even have to testify Sam…potentially against your mother as well. Can you handle that?"

He found himself falling further in love with Sam for the way that he paused and thought. He didn't rashly move forward with his plans to exact justice for himself and his missing father. He weighed his options. Finally though, he nodded, even as he took a shaky breath.

"Alright then. Mr. Smith, can you help take these kids down to the station? We have to write up some testimonies and process them through before their memories interfere with their encounter with Mr. Goode. Sam, you'll come with me in my vehicle so I can protect you…no offense of course Mr. Smith."

He looked at Henri, waiting for him to object and insist Sam went with them but he only smiled and raised his palms in surrender. "Sure, whatever you say officer."

As Sam stood up and made to leave the room, he suddenly found himself beside him. "I'm coming with him. With all due respect sir, I feel like I can protect him and I don't want to let him out of my sight…after what I saw of Mr. Goode's character I mean."

He only grunted and ushered him along after Sam. He didn't miss Sarah's smile that time either.

Sarah

Processing the information that we had to offer took longer than I had initially thought it would. It's nothing like you see on the crime shows. They don't just stick you in a little white room and get your side of the story. You don't sit behind the desk of some brilliant detective, uttering what you experienced as the shadows of the office partially concealed what the detective was really thinking.

Instead, everything is sterile. Paperwork and more paperwork has to be processed. Your identification has to be validated and then reevaluated. Thank God I kept my permit on me. It made it easier to trace my paperwork in the system.

It was even more intimidating to talk to the detective assigned to me. Sitting in a room with only a tape recorder on the table to record my story and a notepad to take notes, I couldn't even tell how many times I stumbled over my own words. Thankfully, I'm sure the detective has worked with a lot of people that were in my position and if he was annoyed with me he didn't say.

Finally, I was outside in the lobby, a cup of coffee in a Styrofoam cup in my hand. The chair was green leather, and looked stained and disgusting but I was tired enough to not care. I was the only one done at that point. Sam I knew, would be here for quite some time now, helping to establish a timeline of events and going over evidence previously collected. Henri…I didn't know where he had ventured too. Same with Mark, who had been escorted somewhere as soon as we had entered the station. John though…he was two doors down with another detective, probably telling him the exact same thing that I had just finished telling my guy. It had taken him longer because his records had been buried but he had been so adamant to share his testimony that the officers behind their desks hadn't given up.

It was obvious, that Officer James had interrupted something of significance. The way that John had been clinging to Sam's waist and the way that Sam had been clutching at John like he was his savior made things a little obvious. Even Mark, who was pretty clueless in almost anything that wasn't football, had gotten it. She wondered briefly if John had gotten a chance to tell Sam how he felt about him. It had been painfully obvious during his first week that he wasn't into her. He was even more obvious once she had started joining John and Sam for lunch and during their after school ice cream sessions downtown. The way John clung to every word that Sam said. The almost wishful look he got on his face when Sam trudged away back home.

The door clicked open. John strolled out slowly, his hands shoved deep into his pockets. He lumbered over to the chair next to hers, and then settled down unceremoniously, sighing loudly.

"How'd it go?"

"Fine. I told them my part and they wrote everything down. I just hope that what I say actually makes a difference for Sam."

"That's not exactly what I meant but I'm glad."

"Huh?"

She smirked, took a long sip of coffee, then grimaced at how cool it had gotten. "I meant…did you tell him you like him?"

His eyes went wide, and his mouth fell open.

"Listen…I'm not upset. I'm not disgusted. I just want to know if you did because that means I don't have to endure any of your love sick puppy looks every time he walks out of a room."

"I don't make faces when he leaves!"

She raised an eyebrow and laughed at the blush to his cheeks. God why did all the best looking guys turn out gay?

"Okay…maybe I do but…"

"But…"

"No. I didn't. James' father came in before I had the chance and besides…I want to tell him when it's right. Somewhere memorable and special only for us." He shook his head, "God that sounds so cheesy."

"No. It makes you sound like you care. Sam's a very lucky guy."

He shook his head this time, eyes swiveling around the room. "No. I'm the lucky one because he's in my life. No matter if he rejects me or not."

She smiled again, and slowly placed a hand on his shoulder. "You're a good guy." Then she adopted a mock frown and jabbed a finger into his chest. "And you better not forget how special Sam is because if you do mister, then you have to watch out for me."

He laughed and batted her hand away. "Yeah, yeah Sarah. Thanks. You're a good friend. To both of us."

Sam

Moonlight flooded the bedroom. They had gotten back to the house around 1 o'clock and had promptly fallen into their respective places for sleep to overtake them. He however, could not find sleep. Instead, every time he closed his eyes he thought of John's warm hands wrapped securely around his waist. He could even know feel the butterflies that had swarmed his stomach at the very contact.

God what was wrong with him. John liked Sarah. John was straight.

He closed his eyes again, and turned onto his back.

He heard the door creak open and he instinctively went rigid, sitting upright in bed with a short gasp. At first he thought it was his step-father, drunkenly stumbling into the room to beat the straight back into him. But instead, when the person in his doorway shifted into the light he found himself staring at the bare chest of John. His abs shown in the moonlight filtering in through the crack in the drapes, and he couldn't stop the blush.

"Sam?"

"John? What…what are you doing?" He wondered if John had accidently walked into his room while looking for Sarah. Not that he didn't mind seeing his very good looking friend in the doorway, looking almost hesitant to enter.

John didn't say anything though; he just quietly entered, closing the door behind him slowly after crossing the threshold. He crept silently to the bed, and he held his breath, eyes widening. Quiet surrounded them, broken only by the creaking of the bed when John finally settled down next to him.

His mouth was dry, and he wished he had taken a cup of water with him back to bed. He swallowed, then tried to speak, but only got out a "What's up…" before he was silenced by a swift kiss to his lips.

His bones melted, and he leaned in closer to John, clutching at his shoulders to keep him steady. Their lips danced together, and when he felt John's tongue begging for entrance he parted his lips. His heart was pounding, but he felt like he was soaring now, bliss filling him up.

Finally they pulled away, both panting. He lay down, resting his head on his pillow, and watched as John did the same. Though confused, he felt the stupid grin that was engulfing his face. They stared at each other for a while, until finally he was able to ask, between pants "Why…"

John smiled, and ran his thumb over his cheek in a soothing motion that left Goosebumps on his arms.

"Because…I love you Sam Goode. I've loved you since the first time I set eyes on you." His heart stopped after hearing the declaration. John loved him? Not Sarah? Him?

"Sam?" John sounded worried now. "Sam…it's ok if you don't like me back. I'm sorry for just stealing a kiss like that…I just couldn't stand to wait any longer and I thought maybe you liked me back but if you don't can we just forget this because I can't lose you—"

He shut him up with the only thing he could think of doing. He kissed him.

Finally they broke apart again and he smiled. "I love you too."

John's face beamed with happiness. Climbing under the blankets, John gently turned him and then pulled him to his bare chest, sighing in happiness. "I…I can't believe this is happening."

John just pressed a kiss to the nape of his next, squeezing him gently as he burrowed down for sleep. "You better. Because you're mine now."

And together they fell asleep.

So hey guys! I hope you enjoyed this update. Josh has been doing a lot better since his accident, and he wanted to give this story a try first. Do me a favor and review to show your support so that Josh knows that we still care. Every review is loved and matters. Thanks so much for reading.

Julie.