Nicole Edwards - Entrusted

That’s what she’d been doing since the moment Elijah left that morning.

He had, for the first time since they’d visited Beth’s grave, spent the night with them. They had ended up falling asleep in the guest room, Logan on one side, Elijah on the other, while she’d slept in between them.

Last night had been… God, she didn’t know what it had been but she almost felt as though Elijah was trying to pull away when for the last few weeks they’d all been growing closer. Yet last night had been emotional. Yes, that’s the word.

She hadn’t wanted him to go, but she had known at the time that he needed some space. So, she’d let him walk away. And after he left, Logan had pulled her into his arms and held her. It took her a good half hour to find the strength to pull away from her husband, but she finally managed.

At that point, Logan had gone about his day, a lazy Sunday like most Sundays, and Sam had gone to do her thing. There was no lingering tension, nothing that should’ve drawn attention to last night being any different from any other night they’d spent together.

But her thoughts drifted to Elijah. She wished he were there. She wanted him there. Even if he were just sitting in the house, reading or watching television, whatever he did on a Sunday afternoon when there was nothing on the calendar. That’s the only thing that seemed to be missing. At least for her.

“Hey,” Logan’s voice broke through her thoughts and Sam shielded her eyes as she glanced up at him. He was holding a glass of iced tea, which she took from his hand.

“Thank you.”

“What’s on your mind, baby?” he asked as he squatted down beside her, his hand settling warmly on hers.

“Elijah,” she admitted.

Logan didn’t say anything and Sam didn’t know what to say. They stared back at one another as though they were both trying to figure out what the next steps were but wanting the other one to make the decision.

Finally, Sam said, “Where do we go from here?”

Logan shifted, sitting on the edge of her lounge chair. He took the glass of tea from her hands and set it on the table beside the chair. “That depends. We need to talk to Elijah.”

“This is moving so quickly,” she told him. “It’s only been like, what, a month? But I…” Sam clamped her mouth shut, tears suddenly springing to her eyes as she realized what she was about to say.

“You love him,” Logan said. It wasn’t phrased as a question because her husband knew. He knew just how much she had come to care about Elijah.

“Yeah,” she whispered, a sob breaking free. “Does that make me a bad person?”

Logan reached for her, wrapping his big arms around her, holding her against him and Sam went freely. She grabbed on to him, holding tightly.

“I love you, Logan. I love you more than anything in the world. My life would never be complete without you.”

She was rambling, her tears wetting his t-shirt but he didn’t pull away from her.

“I know that, baby. I’ve never doubted your love for me.”

Sam released him, pushing away so she could look at him. “Doesn’t that bother you? That I said I love another man.”

Logan’s eyes softened. “I heard what you told Elijah, Sam. Remember when you told him that I complete you the way Beth completes him. Well, the same for me. You complete me. And God, that sounds so cliché, but it’s true. I also know how much you love me. You don’t even have to say it for me to feel it. I feel it,” he said, two long fingers thumping the area over his heart, “right here.”

“It just…” Sam looked away. “It’s all happened so fast. We just met him a month ago and suddenly I love him?”

“There’s no time table, Sam. You can’t fit love into a schedule, remember? You’ve got to let that go. Think of it this way… Maybe it’s been a long time. We’ve been waiting for Elijah. And now he’s here and we can move forward.”

“How do we move forward?”

“You need to tell him how you feel,” Logan answered. “Then we need to decide what we want to do from here. Do we make this more… Permanent?”

“Like him moving in with us?” Sam asked because yes, she’d been thinking about that when Logan had come outside. She wanted Elijah there with them. She wanted him close so she could take care of him. She hated to think about him sitting at home alone with his thoughts. She wanted to be able to talk to him.

“Yes. I think that’s the next step. Maybe not today or tomorrow, but I think it’s something we need to discuss with him.”

“Do you think he’ll want that?”

“That’s not a question I can answer. And you’ll never know until you ask him, Sam.”

Sitting up straight, Sam allowed Logan to see everything she was feeling. Yes, she was confused, but more than that, she was happy.

“Will you take me to see him?”

“Whenever you’re ready.”

Sam didn’t even need to say anything more before Logan chuckled. “Have I told you how hot you are when you’re in a hurry?”

Getting to her feet, Sam grabbed the glass of iced tea from the table and faced off with Logan again. “Yes, but feel free to tell me again.”

* * *

Sunday afternoon wasn’t quite as eventful as Sunday morning had been. At least not for Elijah.

After Sam had woken him with her wicked mouth and after she’d done the same to Logan, the three of them had opted for a shower. Elijah would admit he was rather impressed with Logan and Sam’s shower. It was big enough for an orgy. And since there were only three of them, it had left a significant amount of room for them to enjoy themselves. Namely, Elijah and Logan who’d both had the pleasure of thoroughly washing Sam until she was coming again. Twice.

The woman was so damned responsive and if he weren’t mistaken, she wanted sex as much as they did. Maybe more. And no, Elijah wasn’t complaining.

Not even a little.

However, after their shower, Elijah had informed them he needed to go home. It had been a lie, but neither of them had pushed him so he’d called a cab.

But now that he was home, he wished he were back at Sam’s. Elijah hadn’t been a big fan of his lonely house before Sam had brought the sunshine back into his life, but now he found that he dreaded being there.

He just wasn’t sure what he was supposed to do about that.

After rummaging through the refrigerator to find there wasn’t a damn thing in the house to make for dinner, Elijah settled on a glass of his favorite scotch. Glass in hand, he returned to the living room and went to stand in front of the fireplace.

He rested his hand on the mantle, his fingers touching the edge of one of the shiny frames that held his most precious possessions. Sipping his drink, he just stared back at the image in front of him.

“Beth,” he whispered his wife’s name as he stared back at the picture of her bright, smiling face.

He missed her. He hadn’t talked to her since they went to her grave. He’d been scared to. Scared to reveal what he knew to be true.

“Do you wish he was here, Sam?” Elijah asked Sam.

“Yes, I do. Last night was incredible, don’t get me wrong. But I would love for Logan to be here. He completes me. The same way Beth completes you.”

That conversation he’d had with Sam always ran through his head. He was pretty sure it had been then that he fell head over heels in love with the woman. The easy way she had admitted to needing Logan had settled something inside of Elijah. She understood him better than he even understood himself. She didn’t seem to mind that she would forever share him with Beth. And as soon as the words had left her mouth, he’d had to swallow past the lump of emotion that had knotted in his throat.

He loved her. Sam. He loved her too.

Yes, he would admit, he’d fallen for Sam. He hadn’t expected it, hell, he hadn’t actually thought it possible, but here he was, in love with a woman who was not his wife.

Did that mean he loved Beth any less? No, it didn’t. And that felt good. Incredibly good.

“I love you, Beth. You know that right?” he spoke to the picture of her from their wedding day. It was one of those candid shots that had frozen a moment in time when Beth had been smiling, her eyes lit up. She was the only one in the picture, but Elijah remembered that moment. She’d been talking to him, smiling at him. Loving him.

“I’ll never stop, Beth. I swear to you. I will never stop loving you. But I… God, Beth, I... I’ve fallen in love with her and I don’t know what the hell I’m supposed to do about that.”

“Tell her.”

Elijah nearly dropped his now empty glass as he turned to see Samantha standing in his living room. Behind her was Logan, both of them staring back at him.

“How’d…” That wasn’t really important.

“Your front door was unlocked. We knocked, but…” Sam let her explanation drift off, as she too must’ve realized that it wasn’t important how she had got in there.

Just the fact that she was there was all that mattered.

Turning back to look at Beth’s picture, Elijah placed his glass on the mantle as he took a deep breath. When he turned back, Sam was closer. Just a foot away from him.

“I didn’t expect this,” he said by way of excuse, talking fast. “I just didn’t. When I met Logan at X-hale –”

“Tell me,” Sam said firmly, her hand settling on his arm as she took another step closer. “I don’t need reasons, Eli. Just tell me.”

Elijah could see tears in her eyes and the thought of her crying broke his heart. He looked back at Logan over Sam’s head and the man nodded.

“I love you, Sam. I don’t know how that happened, and I–”

“I love you, too,” Sam whispered. “As I was subtly reminded a short while ago, love doesn’t pay attention to time. It can happen suddenly,” Sam glanced past Elijah to the picture on the mantle, “and it can last for eternity.”

Elijah reached for her, unable to stop himself. When she walked into his arms, he wrapped himself around her, holding her tight. He stared back at Logan.

“It’s true,” Logan confirmed. “We can’t predict how things will happen. And no amount of excuses or reasons will change it. So from this moment forward, we just need to accept this for what it is. Everyone else be damned. This is what we want.”

We.

Elijah liked the sound of that. He couldn’t find the words to say, so he nodded, fully understanding.

As much as he loved Sam, as grateful as he was to have her in his life, Elijah had also developed a bond with Logan. They were friends. They both loved the same woman. And they entrusted one another with her. There would never be a single moment when Sam didn’t know just how much she was wanted. They would both make sure of that.

“So where do we go from here?” Elijah asked, letting up on the stranglehold he had on Sam. She didn’t move away, just looked up at him.

“That’s what we’re here to ask you,” Sam answered, her face radiant, her smile brilliant.

She warmed him completely. His heart. His body. His soul.

“Well, since we’ve gone at warp speed thus far, I really don’t see the need to slow down. Do you?” Elijah asked.

Sam shook her head no.

“Full speed ahead it is then,” Elijah said, pulling Sam close as he kissed her.

And a second later, Logan joined them.

The next day…

To say she was nervous would be a huge understatement.

To say she was excited would be one as well.

Sam didn’t quite know what to feel, but watching Elijah and Logan talking quietly was making her body tremble, and she wasn’t sure if that was a good thing or a bad thing.

At first, she had attempted to distract herself by watching the room where Xander and Mercedes were. As she’d watched, Xander had strapped her to a St. Andrew’s cross, and for a fraction of a second, she had envisioned herself in that woman’s place.

The fantasy had festered only briefly before she’d turned her attention to Logan and Elijah, who appeared to be deep in conversation. She had no idea what they were talking about, but she hoped it was about her.

Now, as she tried to focus on Xander once again, she found her attention span was the equivalent to that of a gnat. She was tired of watching others. She wanted to participate.

Not that she wanted to be on full display in one of the glass rooms as Mercedes now was. No, she much preferred the private room that Elijah had eluded to a few minutes ago. They had been talking to Sierra and Cole shortly after they arrived, but then her two men had led her away and she had believed they were ready to go to that private room, but apparently, a detour had been necessary.