K Darblyne - Unbroken Season 1

Watching the fountain of tears falling down Sam’s cheeks, Brooke began to speak to her again. “I don’t care what people think or what they say. All I know is that I need to have you in my life, like I need air to breathe. I want to do right by you and I’ve tried to in everyway I could possibly think of. So, I’ve asked Aunt Sandy and your father for permission and well… I kind of asked Chastity too…” Brooke added with a shy grin.

Sam continued to stare into Brooke’s eyes as she felt her heart beat pick up speed, barely able to choke out, “You have… what?”

“I asked Chastity if it would be alright if I asked her mom to marry me…” Brooke took a breath in and pressed on. “Sam, she said ‘yes’.”

The blonde was speechless. Sam was afraid her ears were deceiving her until Brooke spoke again.

“Sam… will you marry me?” Brooke held the ring poised, ready to slide it onto Sam’s finger, as she gazed into green eyes for an answer.

Feeling the love in the words as they reverberated in her ears, Sam couldn’t help but close her eyes to savor the most precious moment of her life. She opened her eyes and looked down at the gold band as Brooke hesitantly waited to slide it onto her finger. Slowly, the lump in her throat eased, although she was still tongue-tied for words. Sam didn’t trust herself to speak, so she nodded at Brooke as the tears continued to roll down her flushed cheeks. Lifting her eyes to Brooke’s, she found her voice. “You bet your twelve days of Christmas, I will.”

Without looking down, Sam could feel the ring slip into place on her finger as dazzling blue eyes stared lovingly at her. Sam reached out and wrapped her arms around Brooke, pulling the crying woman in close to her heart. “Yes, Brooke… yes,” Sam whispered as she leaned over far enough to kiss Brooke on top of her dark head.

Brooke stood up and applause erupted throughout the room when she melted into a kiss with the blonde. “I love you, Sam.” Brooke whispered, breaking their kiss just long enough to whisper those words.

“I love you, Brooke. Thank you. It’s the best present ever.”

Brooke pulled away far enough to wipe the tears from Sam’s tear-stained cheeks. “No, Darlin… you are.”

Sam looked down to the ring on her finger, seeing the round diamond sticking out in the center surrounded by two smaller diamonds on each of its two sides. Filled with love, Sam looked back up into Brooke’s eyes. “We both are.”

Sam continued looking at the ring for the majority of the drive home. When she wasn’t in awe of the gem on her finger, she was in awe of the woman beside her.

Watching Sam closely as they came to a stop at a traffic light, Brooke reached over for her hand. Before Brooke could even register what she was doing, she had brought Sam’s hand up to her lips and kissed the back of it tenderly.

“I guess I’ll have to be more careful with who I let kiss my hand now,” Sam commented as she winked at Brooke. “I still can’t believe you did that.”

Brooke let her eyes gaze over to Sam. “Why?”

“Why? I could name a dozen reasons why, Brooke. You haven’t even known me that long…”

Brooke cut her off before she could finish. “Sam, you wouldn’t even believe me if I told you when I bought it.” The light turned green and Brooke put the Sequoia in motion once again towards home.

“You’re not going to tell me it was after that first movie, are you?” Sam teased her lover and smiled when she noticed that Brooke made no attempt to release her hand.

“I bought it the last night Peter and I were in New Jersey… the night before I came home.”

Sam was quiet for a moment as she considered the time that Brooke spoke of. “But… I… we… we hadn’t even made love yet.”

“Sam, I didn’t need to make love with you to know that I want to spend the rest of my life with you. Loving you is the most wonderful feeling… everything else is just icing on the cake, so to speak.”

“Or the chocolate syrup on the dessert,” Sam added her own analogy as she shot a rakish grin in Brooke’s direction.

“Yeah, Baby. Something like that.” Brooke winked over at Sam as she turned off the main road and started down the long stretch to their home.

“Well… that does take a load off my mind,” Sam commented.

Brooke furrowed her brow in confusion. “Load off? Why?”

“Well, it means that sex isn’t what this whole relationship is about, that’s all.” Sam glanced at her lover, hoping that she was enjoying the tease.

“Of course it’s not, Sam. I wasn’t always the sex-crazed monster you share a bed with now.” Brooke couldn’t help but tease the younger woman. “That was your doing, Darlin.” Brooke slowed down enough to be able to reach over and plant a kiss on Sam’s cheek. She felt her hand squeezed in response by the blonde.

“You know what? I’ve been thinking…” Brooke broke the comfortable silence that had settled between them. “You still have another week before you start at Brownstone. Why don’t we go somewhere for a few days?” Brooke glanced over at Sam to gauge her reaction to the suggestion.

Interested green eyes looked over at the driver. “What… just run off and not tell anyone?” Sam smiled as she whispered softly, “So… where were you thinking of taking me?”

“Oh, I don’t know. Let’s go up to New England or something. We could hide out in a room with it all cold and snowy outside, lay in front of a fireplace at a bed and breakfast somewhere. What do you say?”

“Hmmm… sounds very romantic to me. Do you think we could start that tonight… at least in our minds? I happen to know of a very special container of Hershey’s syrup with your name written all over it. Well… at least I bet I could write your name with it.” Sam slid closer to Brooke as they neared the house.

“I wouldn’t have it any other way, Sam.”

“Well then, I say ‘yes’. What other answer could I give you tonight but ‘yes’?” Sam practically lost her train of thought as they parked the truck in front of the house and leaned into a kiss that became very passionate to both women. After a long enticing moment, Sam pulled away for air when she noticed the shadow of someone standing on the porch. “Brooke, someone’s on the porch. Are you expecting anyone?”

Brooke furrowed her brows as she shut off the ignition. “No, I’m not. Stay here in the truck and lock the doors.”

Sam could tell by the look of determination on Brooke’s face that there would be no argument. “Okay. But if it’s James, you get right back in here.”

Brooke nodded her head in agreement as she stepped out of the truck and made her way, cautiously, towards the porch. Even with the porch light on, she couldn’t tell who the person was standing in the shadows cast by the columns on the porch. “Can I help you?”

“Brooke? Is my sister with you?” a small voice asked, shaking slightly from the cold.

“Sarah?” Brooke asked in disbelief.

“Yeah… it’s me. I need my sister.”

“Sam,” Brooke called out over her shoulder. “You’d better get out of the truck and come here.” Kicking the duffel bag at Sarah’s feet as she tried to get closer, Brooke took off her jacket and wrapped it around the teen’s shoulders.

Sam got out and walked slowly up to the porch, her eyes growing in surprise upon seeing her sister. The blonde threw open her arms and took the smaller body into them in a hug, then quickly pulled back. “Sarah? What the…”

Sarah simply shrugged her shoulders. “I… uh… need a place to crash for a while. You see, I kind of ran away from home.”

Brooke and Sam looked back and forth to each other and then to Sarah. The young girl broke the deafening silence with three small words. “Happy New Year?” she said with a tentative smile as she held up the business card that Brooke had given her father.

“… Love’s more than a four-letter word… it’s everything that they say is real…”

Letting her feet steal silently down the hall to the bedroom that she now shared with her lover, Sam thought about the conversation that she’d just had with her sister Sarah. The small exchange that was spoken now weighed heavily on her mind. God, what if Sarah’s right?

The conversation quickly passed through Sam’s mind as she tried to analyze it for all that it was worth.

“You know Mom’s gonna have a bird when she finds out you’re getting married,” Sarah said confidently. “She’ll have a whole flock if you get pregnant.”

Sam remembered the weird face that Sarah made when she saw Sam’s own shocked face, and then asked in her child’s voice. “Mom couldn’t do anything… could she?”

“Could she?” Sam muttered, wondering the same as her sister, only this time, under her breath as she turned into the doorway of the master bedroom.

The blonde paused there for a moment and gazed at the dozing form on the bed with a recent issue of Modern Drummer draped across her chest. A smile spread from one side of her face to the other as Sam remembered how Brooke had tried to make Sarah feel at home when they had found her on their porch. “God, I knew I loved you… even before I met you,” Sam whispered as she remembered hearing part of their conversation.

“So are you mad at me… for crashing in on your New Years?” Sarah’s voice was monotone, almost as if she were waiting for a scolding.

“No, why would you think that?” Brooke’s concern showed through. “Worried, yes. Angry, no.” The tone of her voice was encouraging to say the least.

“I don’t know. I thought that maybe you and Sam…” Sarah paused, taking in a breath. “Well… maybe you wouldn’t want anyone around.”

The deep timber of Brooke’s voice brought a smile to Sam’s face as she remembered it. “Uh… it’s okay, Sarah. We need to worry about you now. What were you doing on the porch? How did you get here?”

“I… I ran away.” Sarah started hesitantly. “I hitched a ride after I told my parents that I was staying with a friend.”

“Ran away?” Brooke paused for only a second before dropping the question altogether. “Well, you’re here and safe. Right now, I’d say that’s all that matters. How about I get the fireplace going and we start getting you warmed up on the outside while Sam’s making you that cup of tea?”

“Yeah,” Sarah responded, sounding amazed. “You know something, Brooke? I wish I had you for a parent.”

“I’ll remember to tell Chastity you said that,” Brooke smirked.

“Chastity?” Sarah paused for a moment and looked around the room. “I don’t see any kid’s stuff.”

The look on her sister’s face was a mixture of both joy and shock all at the same time as Sam remembered entering the living room with the cup of hot tea.

“Sam… are you…”

Frozen in time, Sam’s mind brought back Sarah’s words from moments earlier. “You know, Mom’s gonna have a bird when she finds out you’re getting married. She’ll have a whole flock if you get pregnant.” The words spun round and round in her head like some cheap sound byte in a horror movie.

Sam acted on her sudden need to be close to the woman that she loved as she crossed the room. Crawling into the bed with the woman seemed like a good idea. As she tried to get the thoughts out of her head, Sam laid there, staring up at the ceiling.

“Brooke…” the soft voice called out. Sam turned her head to see the dark-haired woman next to her still asleep. The blonde bit her lip tentatively. Finally, deciding that her need for comfort was legitimate, Sam gave her slumbering lover a gentle nudge and called her name again. “Brooke.”

“Hmm…” the sleepy murmuring slowly started as Brooke began to stir. “Hey, Baby…” the half-asleep woman uttered as she tossed the magazine to the floor and then curled herself around Sam’s body.

“Hey… are you sure you want to have a family?” Sam stared up at the ceiling as she waited for the answer.

“Hmm…What?” Brooke settled in wrapping a strong arm around Sam’s waist.

“Family…” the blonde looked over at her lover. “You really want one, don’t you?”

“I already have you…” she tightened her hold on Sam, “…and Mario.” Brooke chuckled as she felt the dog jump up on the foot of the bed and curl up around their feet.

“Yeah, I know, but I was talking more like the pitter-patter of little feet and I don’t mean of the four-legged kind.” Sam gave a weak smile as she looked down to the ball of fur on the bed. “Good dog, Mario.”

“I would love for you and I to have our own family… I mean if that’s what we both want. Why do you ask?”

There was nothing but silence as Sam held back her thoughts.