Summary: They know each other through Carly. Jason's sister and Sam's best friend has been trying to play cupid between the two for years. Carly swears that there could be something between them, if only they both weren't so stubborn and pig-headed. However, when Sam comes by the coffee house looking for Carly after a major fight with Lucky, she finds Jason is the only one there to lend a friendly ear. What happens when an innocent chat back at his penthouse turns into a conversation fueled by high emotions? This story will be AU. Sam is currently engaged to Lucky. Jason and Liz have shared custody of Jake. Jason and Sonny share the Coffee business, with Sonny the only one in the mob. Jason owns a successful security firm and Lucky is still a cop at the PCPD. I think that's all you need to know right off of the bat. Anything else will be revealed in the story.

"Jason,

Thank you for everything last night. I don't think I could ever repay you for what you did for me. You listened without judging me, and let me get everything out before offering you own thoughts. Everything about last night was exactly what I needed. Don't tell Carly, but I think I prefer you're version of listening over hers. She's a great friend, but sometimes she just can't help being, well, Carly. Anyway, I think what I need is to get away for a while and figure out what I want for myself. Tell Carly I love her and that I'll call her as soon as I'm settled in wherever I end up. Thank you again.

Yours truly,

Sam

PS. Don't forget what I said. Jake is going to need the stability of having both of his parents. Trust me, I would know"

Jason was staring down at the note she left him almost a year ago, tracing her handwriting delicately with the tip of his finger. Almost as if it would crumble if he was too rough with it. It unnerved him just how much he seemed to miss her lately. She was his sister's best friend so they had seen each other quite often in the past, but it never was more than a friendly conversation for the sake of Carly. That all changed the night that she showed up at the coffee house reeling from her latest fight with Lucky. He remembered it all too clearly as of late. Closing his eyes, he let the memory flood his brain.

Flashback – 10 months ago

Jason was sitting in his chair with his face in his hands, taking a much-needed break from all of the case files currently littering the top of his desk. It was almost dinnertime and he had been working on his task since he came in early that morning. He knew that he needed to enlist some help this week with all of the high profile events he had been hired for. Jason made a mental note to ask Sonny if he had any spare bodyguards that he could borrow. With three of his best men on vacation, he had been stretching himself thin and he knew that he couldn't wait for them to return to work so that he could spend more time with his son.

Speaking of his son, Jason had just received a text message from Elizabeth saying that she would call him when she was on her way over to the penthouse with Jake. Just as he was about to reply, he heard the commotion coming from the dining room of the coffee shop. Getting to his feet, he opened his door to investigate what was going on. What he saw shocked him. Samantha McCall, otherwise jokingly known as Carly's "better half" had her back to him with her index finger shoved accusingly against Lucky Spencer's chest. Lucky was not only Sam's fiancé, but he was also her cousin Nikolas' brother which in and of itself was a weird situation that he did not understand. Getting back to the scene at hand, Jason leaned against the doorframe in an attempt to stay back and assess exactly what was going on.

"I told you not to bother following me, you son of a bitch!" Jason could hear both the anger and tears in Sam's voice as she used her finger against Lucky's chest to try to shove him further away from her. When the man did not budge, she used both hands and caused him to almost trip over the barstool behind him. Jason wanted to snicker at the look of disbelief in the cop's eyes, however got ready to intervene when he saw the anger almost instantly replace it as Lucky stalked dangerously toward Sam.

"You shouldn't have done that Samantha… And this is no place to be having this talk. Now I think you need to come with me. We are going home and that is final" His voice was low and it should have sent chills of fear down her spine, but it didn't. She simply put a little more distance between, shaking her head vehemently before speaking.

"How many times have I told you not to call me Samantha? And it's your fault that this is happening here. I made it clear that you would regret it if you followed me and there is absolutely no way in hell that I am leaving here with you. Don't you understand what you did to me? This hurt worse than any bullet..."

"THAT WILL BE ENOUGH!" Lucky's voice boomed throughout the small space of the coffee shop before it dropped back down low as he moved closer to his fiancé

"We are leaving. This is not the place" Now being directly in front of her, he roughly grabbed her upper arm and turned to drag her out of the building. He was stopped, however, when he practically ran right into Jason, who was standing with his eyes cold as steel and arms crossed challengingly over his chest

"Let her go" His voice was as cold as his eyes as he stared Lucky down.

"This is none of your business, Morgan. So stay out of it" The cop was now surrounded by every single one of Jason and Sonny's men that had been in the building at the time, with the most dangerous at the forefront. So when Lucky made no attempt to remove his grip, Jason got right in the other man's face, looking down at the shorter man with a glare that would make many run for the hills. He may not be in the mob, but he definitely knew a thing or two about intimidation.

"It became my business when you brought it into my place of business. Now I said, let her go." His voice was low and even, daring the man in front of him to disobey the order for a second time. Taking a glance back at Sam, Lucky glared at her as if he was disgusted by what was in front of him. He did as he was told, glanced between Jason and Sam, and shook his head while shoving himself past Jason and all of his goons. Once he was out of the building, Jason's eyes immediately softened with concern as he walked up to his sister's friend and gently touched her arm where a bruise was starting to form.

"Care to explain what just happened?" He could see that she was trying to hide the tears from him, but it was useless. Neither she nor Carly could fool him when it came to how they were feeling. Reading people came with his job, but it always had come easiest to him when it came to Sam. She could never hide from him. There was a combination of hurt, anger, and betrayal in her eyes and he wanted nothing more than to comfort her and take away her pain. Nobody deserved to be treated the way that Lucky had just done to his supposed fiancé.

"I'm sorry, Jason. Carly's not answering her phone and I thought I would find her here. I didn't think that he would have followed me. Can you just let her know that I'm looking for her?" She started to walk out the door when he touched her shoulder ever so gently to stop her from leaving, a drastic contrast to how Lucky had gone about it.

"She's probably with Sonny. Do you want to talk about it?" Jason gestured to his now open office and Sam looked hesitant at first. Glancing between the man in front of her and the small room that was being referenced, she didn't know what she wanted to do. On the one hand, she desperately wanted to be alone in her apartment to scream and break things as she pleased. On the other hand, she just wanted someone to hear her out and let her know if she really was being irrational like Lucky said. Whatever she chose, she knew that she didn't want to unload on Jason, and she voiced as much.

"I don't want to burden you with my love life, or apparently lack thereof, with Lucky. I appreciate the save but I think I'm just going to go back to my apartment and break something, you know pretend its Lucky's head or something" A small smile played at her lips at her attempt at a joke to try and lighten the tension between them.

"Now that's what I like to see" When she looked at him curiously, he used the pad of his thumb to wipe away a stray tear from her cheek and explained what he meant.

"That smile. It looks so much better on you than the tears." Jason could have sworn that he saw her blush with embarrassment before she looked down to stare at her shoes, as if they were the most interesting thing in the room. Placing his index finger beneath her chin, he brought her gaze back up to his, but she turned her head away from him.

"I'm sorry; it's just that… that's the nicest thing a man has said to me in weeks… Lucky…" Sam was interrupted midsentence when Jason cut her off

"…is a dip shit with low self-esteem so he gets his kicks by harassing a woman who far from deserves it, and there is nothing to apologize for." Sam couldn't help the smile that once again formed at Jason calling Lucky a dip shit with low self-esteem.

"Look at that, I got you smiling for the second time in minutes. Does that mean you're done with the tears?" There was a teasing tone to his voice and it caused Sam's smile to grow even bigger. She hadn't felt this care-free in a long time, and she had just been in a major fight with her fiancé…. Go figure.

"Thank you Jason, for everything. Now I'm going to go see if I can hunt down that sister of yours. I'll see you around" As she turned to walk out the door, he once again stopped her by lightly grabbing hold of her hand. As soon as he did, they both felt a tingle that had never happened to them before. Choosing to just brush it off, Jason released Sam's hand and then stuck both of his in the pockets of his jeans.

"Elizabeth is supposed to be bringing Jake over after she gets out of work. Carly said she was going to stop by at some point to see him so you are more than welcome to wait there for her…." This time it was Sam's turn to interrupt him

"Jason I don't want to intrude on your time with your son. I'll just call her every ten minutes until she answers. I'll probably be speaking with her in no time. You know how she gets when she can't have her "alone time" with Sonny." She saw Jason slightly cringe at the reference to his sister's sex life with his business partner. If he could tease her, then she had no problem paying him back just as bad, if not worse. Choosing to ignore the comment about Carly, Jason simply addressed how he wouldn't mind her company.

"Sam, Jake is barely four months old. All he does is eat, sleep, and drool. And I can guarantee you that he will be out for the night by seven. You wouldn't be intruding at all. In fact, we could play a couple games of pool and pretend that the balls are Lucky's head. This way there won't be a mess to clean up from breaking things. And you can try and talk me out of killing him for how he mistreated you. What do you say?"

Jason held his hand out for her to take if she wanted to. It was his way of not pushing her into anything and allowing her to make the decision for herself. If she turned him down, there would be no hard feelings. He would just wait to hear from Carly as to what else Lucky had done to upset Sam as much as she had been.

She stood there, simply staring at his outstretched hand trying to figure out if she wanted to take him up on his offer. She really wanted someone to talk to about what had happened, and Jason would probably be a little more objective than Carly. She loved the girl to death, but she tended to act before thinking quite often. That and kicking his ass at pool would definitely make her feel better. Having come to a decision, she faintly nodded and then took his offered hand, the tingling a little stronger and more noticeable than the first time.

"I have been looking for you everywhere, Jason. What in the world are you doing up here? It's freezing out and you're not even wearing a jacket!" Elizabeth had just gotten home from her shift at the hospital and had been looking forward to some time alone with Jason. She had dropped Jake off with her grams and Lucky had Cameron for the night. Imagine her surprise when he was nowhere to be found within the penthouse that they now shared. She had been about to call him, when she remembered that she found him up on the roof a couple weeks ago. And just like the previous time, he had seemed to be completely lost in his own little world.

"I'm fine, Elizabeth. I'll be down in a minute" Jason inaudibly sighed at the interruption and didn't even turn to face her. He didn't know why Samantha McCall was all that he could think about these days, and he knew it wasn't fair to Elizabeth, but he frankly didn't care right now. He was still clutching the note she had left as if it was going to disappear, not realizing that his son's mother knew exactly how often he read it.

She hated that stupid piece of paper and wanted nothing more than to burn it in their fireplace. Elizabeth had yet to get close enough to read it, but if it was anything like the others she had to intercept over the course of the last six months or so, then she knew it meant nothing good for her. The nurse knew that if Jason knew exactly what she was keeping from him, then she would probably never see her son again. He would make damn sure of it.