“Baby, we talked about it this morning. Don’t you remember?” Brooke was starting to be concerned. She stood next to the bed looking down on her lover as Sam tried to get up, the pain evident in her face.

“It’s…” Sam brought her hand to her head and rubbed it. “It’s all coming back to me now. Yeah, I’m remembering it now.” She held her head and nodded.

Brooke grabbed the bottle of Tylenol from the nightstand and poured a glass of water from the pitcher that she’d placed there earlier. “Here, Baby, take these.”

The blonde looked at the pills with disgust, then popped them into her mouth, downing them with a large mouthful of water to wash their taste away. “Augh, I’m never going to get used to these.” She looked up to the woman standing next to her. “Thanks, Brooke. It’s getting better, but it’s still not gone.”

The tall woman sat down on the edge of the bed and wrapped her arm around Sam’s shoulder. Leaning toward her, she kissed her forehead.

“Give me the phone. I’ll talk to Randi, then I just want to cuddle up next to you for the rest of the day.” She took the phone that Brooke offered her and brought it up to her ear. “Thanks.” Sam leaned into Brooke’s body as she spoke into the phone, “Randi, are you still there?”

“Sam… how are you feeling, Honey?”

“Better, I guess. I’ve still got a blasted headache, though.”

“Just give it a day or so and you’ll be good as new.”

“What do you need to talk to me about, Randi? I’ve got this doting nursemaid here…” she laughed as she shot a quick glance at the woman next to her.

“Well, Sam, to put it all in a nutshell, I need to hear you say that you’re hiring me as your lawyer so that I can ask the court to grant you a PFA against James. I’d like to do that when I plead for one in Brooke’s name as well.”

“I need to hire you?” Sam looked over to Brooke, more than a little surprised. “Randi, I don’t have that kind of money to hire a lawyer, let alone one of your caliber.”

“Yes, you do. I’ll go in front of the Judge on Monday.” Randi paused, then added. “Sam, don’t worry about the money.”

“I don’t want Brooke to be paying…”

“Pro Bono, Sam.” Randi chuckled. “It’s not going to cost you a thing.”

“Huh?” Sam was definitely confused. She looked to Brooke as her lover nodded reassuringly. “Okay,” the word was drawn out suspiciously. “But if I find out otherwise…”

“So, Sam. Are you hiring me or not?”

“Well, ah… sure. You’re hired.”

“Okay,” Randi sounded excited. “I’ll take care of everything from here on out.

“Will I need to do anything? Be anywhere when you file for that PFA thing?” Sam sighed, “You know, I’m not really up to it right at this moment.”

“No, Sam, that’s why you hired me.”

“Great! Thanks, Randi. Now I get to just cuddle up with this big ol’ teddy bear and heal my aching head.”

“No problem Kiddo. Why don’t you get some rest and put that big teddy bear back on the phone?”

“Oh… ah… yeah,” Sam looked shocked at Randi’s pickup on her reference to Brooke. She turned, handing the phone to the person next to her. “She wants to talk to you, Hon.”

The woman accepted the phone, then cleared her throat as she brought it to her ear. “So, what’s up?”

“Keep an eye on her, Sis. I think she really took a good hit there. You just worry about her, and I’ll take care of everything on my end. I’ll messenger over the PFA orders to you both as soon as I get them issued. You’d better keep them with you, just in case.”

Brooke gave Sam a little squeeze and kissed the top of her head. “I will Randi and ah… you don’t have to worry about me taking care of her. Thanks, Sis.” She started to pull the phone away from her ear when a thought struck her. “Hey, Randi,” she called out, slipping the phone back under her hair. “I need some ideas for the kids… for Christmas.”

“Christmas? Is that coming up already?”

“Yep, it’s practically right around the corner.

“Hmm… Well, you know that David is talking about a scooter all the time and Julie…she keeps talking about Sam’s baby.” Randi laughed, “I don’t know what you’re going to do on that one.”

“Uh…Umm…” Brooke gulped, then took in a deep breath, “Well…”

“Got you squirming there, eh Brooke?” Randi teased her sister. “Don’t worry, I’m sure that it won’t be too hard to please a three year old.”

Brooke rolled her eyes, “Yeah, that shouldn’t be too difficult. How about Kevin?”

“Sis, I only got one word of advice for you. Don’t go getting them what you want this year. They don’t need motorized cars or expensive mountain bikes, or even 30gig computers for their rooms. Okay?”

“Damn,” Brooke sounded disappointed. “You’re no fun.”

“Remember, you’re the big kid, Sis. They are just kids, plain and simple. Now try to put that to good use when you’re picking out their gifts this year.”

“Yeah, yeah, okay.” Brooke chuckled.

“So when you going shopping?”

“Maybe tomorrow, if Sam’s feeling better.”

“Oh, so Sam’s going with you? Good, she’ll keep you in line. I knew that I liked her for some reason.” Randi laughed.

“Yeah, whatever smart ass,” Brooke shot right back. There was a moment of silence. “Hey Randi… thanks again for handling things for us.”

“No problem, Sis. I’m just glad I can do it.” There was a long pause, then Randi finally spoke, “Hey, I’ve got to go. The house is way too quiet and that’s never a good sign when you have three kids. I’ll see you, later. Bye.”

“Yeah, later Sis.” Brooke disconnected the phone, then wrapped both of her arms around the blonde next to her.

“So, what’s the plan for tonight? A little lounging and cuddling perhaps?”

“That’s the plan.”

“Hmm…it’s a good plan, but maybe we could amend it just slightly?”

Brooke nuzzled into Sam’s neck with a trail of kisses to her cheek, working her way to the young woman’s ear and whispered, “Amend it?”

“Yeah, that’s exactly what I was going to add,” Sam giggled, “lots of kisses.”

“Not a problem,” Brooke interspersed each word with a kiss.

Sam smiled as another kiss was bestowed upon her. “Yeah, I didn’t think it would be a problem.” She turned toward Brooke and was greeted with a multitude of soft kisses, the last one being placed on her lips.

CHAPTER BREAK

The reflection in the mirror didn’t look as bad as it had the day before. The area of discoloration on Sam’s cheek no longer looked as angry compared to her natural skin shade. In fact, it was beginning to fade. Grabbing for her purse, the young woman took out the small compact and the bottle of foundation that she hardly ever used anymore. She leaned in toward the mirror and set to work with the task of covering up any reminders of her unfortunate accident. She’d seen the look on Brooke’s face every time the bruise caught her attention. It was almost as if the woman was blaming herself and Sam wanted nothing to mar their first time Christmas shopping together.

Stepping back to take a look at her work, Sam smiled. The blonde turned her face from side to side, studying it in the mirror. “There we go, looking good as new.” The woman smiled as she placed a finishing touch on a stray lock of hair, then turned to walk over to the bathroom door.

“Hey, Hon… I’m going to start getting dressed for the big outing today. We are going shopping, right?”

“Yes Baby,” the garbled sound came through the door. “I’ll take you anywhere you’d like to go.”

“Hmm…” Sam’s face took on a devilish smile. “Where I’d like to go and shopping are two different things,” the young woman muttered under her breath as she walked over to the armoire and opened it. “Well, let’s see what’s going on in the world these days.” She turned on the TV and chuckled. “Oh, I must be feeling better.”

Taking the remote with her, she walked over to the bed and sat down as she flipped through the stations, finally settling on her favorite, MTV. She set about getting dressed as she sang along with a hit from the past, Anti-Zero’s signature song. When the song ended, Sam looked over to the bathroom and smiled. “Who would have thought?” Out of the corner of her eye, Sam suddenly saw the flashing changes on the television screen as images of James came on. “What the…” she grabbed the remote and raised the volume as she walked closer to the set.

And this hour on MTV news, Former Anti-Zero vocalist & guitarist, James Anderson, was arrested this week and is being held on charges of assault against former band mate Brooke Loran.

Sam’s eyes grew bigger as she watched old images of both Brooke and James flash across the screen. “Brooke, you’d better come in here…NOW,” she called out to her lover, as her gaze stayed fixed to the TV, listening for the next snippet of information.

Anderson was arrested after a heated argument where it has been reported that he struck out at Loran’s as of yet unidentified live-in girlfriend…

Shocked by the publicity that the story was generating, Sam moved back toward the bed and slowly sat down on the edge of the mattress with her mouth agape, and her eyes still fixed to the screen.

We’ll bring you more as this story unfolds. Stay tuned next hour to MTV news when we try to interview former bass player, Peter Butler. MTV News… Where you here it… first.

Still in shock, Sam mumbled the beginnings of a curse very slowly under her breath. “Son of a…”

“Those bastards!” Brooke slapped the doorframe with her open hand as she came out of the bathroom, letting the towel she was using on her hair come to rest over her shoulder.

Startled, Sam looked over to see her scantily clad lover fuming as she came into the room. “How did they…” the blonde stopped, then started again, “Why did he… Brooke, what are you going to do?”

The tall woman turned around, her eyes narrowing as they glowed with hatred at the media play that she knew would come. With each second, the anger grew until her mind set off its own little warning, release or explode. She could feel the pent up energy building as her heart rate skyrocketed and her blood surged wildly through her body. Brooke’s fingers twitched at first and then extended outward as far as they could. The drummer knew what would happen next. She turned back toward the bathroom. Years of drumming had built up the muscles in her upper extremities and she needed to let her rage out on something that could withstand her fury. She could already feel her fingers closing into a fist as her arm began to cock back to deliver the blow.

Sam closed her eyes as she saw Brooke’s arm begin in backward draw. She held her breath as she waited for the sound to fill the room. It took only a few seconds before it was there, reverberating into the walls of the house.

“THUNK!”

Dear God, don’t let her hurt herself over this. The makeshift prayer ran across Sam’s mind as she heard the impact, then she opened her eyes to see how bad the damage had been. The blonde watched as Brooke pulled her hand back from the door, stripping the towel that was hastily wrapped around it out from the hole that had been made. “Oh my God, Brooke… your hand.” Sam got up from the bed and hurried across the room.

Brooke cast the towel aside and grabbed her jeans, pulling them on, she raised her gaze to see Sam standing before her.

“Did you hurt your hand?”

“No.”

“You sure?” Sam whispered meekly as she tried to look at the hand that was being shielded by the tall woman’s body.

She turned around, her anger still present as she tugged her jeans into place before fastening the button and sliding the zipper shut. Brooke reached out and grabbed her T-shirt, sliding it over her head and yanking it into place as her eyes came to rest on Sam. Almost immediately, the anger began to lessen. Brooke took in a deep breath, and then let it out as she opened her arms, inviting Sam into her space.

Without hesitating, Sam entered the embrace and held onto her lover desperately. “I’m sorry for all this trouble.”

“Baby, it’s not your fault.” Brooke’s jaw tensed when she felt Sam’s body as it began to shake. “I’m sorry I got so angry and I’m sorry that you’ve been pulled into all of this shit.”

“I didn’t mean to have anything…”

“Baby, this is not your fault.” Brooke leaned down to kiss the top on Sam’s head and felt the small arms tighten their grip on her body.

“So, what… what are we going to do now?”

The tall woman sighed. “Love each other more and just deal with it.” Brooke’s mouth quirked into a half grin. “Welcome to the music industry, Darlin’. I think you’re going to see firsthand some of that media hype about Loran come blasting at us from out of the past.”