Someone almost forgot it is Saturday... It's a good thing I remembered at a reasonable time.

Happy reading.

***

How was I going to be the saving grace for all of the people who were trapped in the hell that was Mathias' ploy to get me to love him?

"Well, I guess we could start out by figuring out his next move? He doesn't have Collin nor Sam, I guess his next move would be to get them back," Silas suggested.

Layla agreed, "If there's anything I know about Mathias, it's that he doesn't like it when things don't go his way. Once he realizes that his precious Sam is missing, he's gonna go apeshit."

Jason glances at Jackson, "He still thinks that we're still on his side, also. All of us. He's not the slightest bit aware that we all think he's a bloody asswipe."

"What if we keep everything as it is?" Emily wondered aloud. "If we keep him believing that Sam is right where he wants her, and everyone else is still on his side, he won't have any reason to think otherwise."

"How good are your acting skills?" Silas wiggled his eyebrows at Collin. Shit, I couldn't make Collin go back to that chair. He didn't deserve to get because of me.

But to my surprise, Collin beamer back, "As good as yours."

"No," I interrupted. "I'm not making you get back in that chair." I glanced at Layla, "And I'm not making you get back in that cell." Then I looked around the room at everyone who was willing to give their life so I could live. "And I'm not letting you guys be put in danger." I started to unbutton the buttons. Jason and Jackson both jumped up faster than I thought possible. Heffburn cleared his throat and looked away, horribly uncomfortable.

"Stop. What're you doing?" Jackson asked. He grabbed my hand hard so I couldn't move it."

"I'm saving your asses. No one is going to get hurt on account of me, I won't allow it." I pulled my hand from under Jackson's grasp and reached around him, my eyes gleaming. He raised an eyebrow and I could literally hear Jason grinding his teeth behind him. My hand was at Jackson's back, he still unaware that my fingers were nearly two inches away from the gun he wasn't supposed to have.

In a matter of breaths, I reached down, pulled the gun from his belt and pulled back the slide hammer. Jackson yelped and jumped back too slow.

I wasn't going to argue with them so they could try to convince me that I was way too important. It wasn't fair of me to ask them to lay down their lives for me. I looked at every one of them.

Heffburn had always been there for me. He was the sweetest man I've ever met. He took a stranger under his wing and selflessly loved her like his own daughter. He was a good man who deserved life.

Rousseau was a crazy motherfucker. Sure, he had a rocky start with me, but I soon realized that he loved life and learning. Someone like him, with a strong mind and a passion for pretty much everything deserved to live a whole hell of a lot more than me.

Layla didn't have any life. Her own brother locked her up to do tests on her because of me. I couldn't ask her to give up her life for me too. She deserved a chance to feel what life was like. And I wasn't going to rob her of that experience.

Emily hated my guts. She hated that she wasn't as special as I was, but I was glad that I was special because I was going to be the one to die instead of her. She didn't deserve to have her life stolen because of me.

Collin, my amazing, pain-in-the-ass of a brother. I had sacrificed so much to find out the truth. Now that I had him back in my life and in my world, there was no way in fucking hell that I was going to give him up again. He wasn't going anywhere.

Silas was complicated. He was strong as hell and crazy committed. To me, we weren't really anything, but to him, I was everything. I felt like I needed to make it up to him, to prove that maybe he meant more to me than I did to him.

Jason was one hell of a find. He was caring and compassionate. He deserves to keep on being caring and compassionate to another woman he would meet in ten years. I wanted him to be happy, but that also meant he had to be alive.

Jackson...

God, how was I going to do this to him? How was I going to look him in the eyes and tell him that the only reason that I wanted him to live was because I loved him? How was I going to tell him that everything that he'd ever done for me was way more than I could pay him back even by taking his place?

I couldn't look him in the eye when I thought about it. I couldn't look over at him and tell him how much he meant to me and how unwilling I was for him to do anything but live. He had already saved me. I wasn't going to let him save me anymore.

"I have to do this alone."

Jackson stepped forward, preparing to stop me. "Absolutely not."

"It's not up for negotiation, Jackson. You said what you needed to say," my eyes landed on all of them, "all of you. But I'm not letting any of you get hurt because of me. I'm not worth your lives."

And what happened next, still to this day, shocks me. Jackson glared at me for a few more seconds before he huffed out a sigh and muttered "Fuck" under his breath. He, in no time at all, closed the distance between us and crushed his lips on mine; it was so forceful that it knocked the wind out of my lungs and I forgot how to breathe.

I heard the gun clatter to the floor though I didn't realize that's what it was. I wrapped my arms around his neck and pulled myself closer to him. My body flush against his. I started kissing him harder when an appreciative moan escaped his lips. He reacted like I had hoped. His arms were around me, pulling me closer, yet pushing me away so he could pull off anything standing between us. His hands explored every part of me, my ass, my back, my legs, and in between them, causing me to gasp.

I was lost in everything Jackson, like my whole life was leading up to this one moment, and now that it was here, it was nothing like I had expected. It was way better.

I had completely drowned myself in his affection that I forgot about everyone else in the room. They were probably standing there staring at my bare skin that Jackson was slowly trying to expose more of.

I pulled away first and regreted it. I wanted to be back in his arms and tasting his lips. I wanted to be so caught up in everything about him that I would forget that I was about to die.

Jackson set me back down on the ground. "I don't have an excuse for why I did that," he admitted.

"Jackson," I whispered. Here we go... "I'm not letting you die trying to save me. No one is going to die for me."

"I'm your bodyguard, Sam. I'm supposed to protect you at the cost of my own life, and that is exactly what I plan on doing."

"I can't."

He shook his head, "I'm firm on my promise."

"I can't lose you. And you can't lose your life. Not for me."

He scoffed, looking somewhat pissed. His gaze bored into mine and he said with a straight face, "I don't want a life without you." He hesitated, then said, "I love you, Sam."

Emily's heartbreak was audible as she sobbed once, slapped a hand over her mouth, and silently cried. She didn't leave the room, she stayed there, committed to helping me. I should have liked her more. She could have been a good friend.

While I looked away at Emily, Jackson knelt down to pick up the gun I had dropped. "Hell, I love you so much..." he held the gun up so it was aimed at my leg. "...I'm going to make sure you stay out of trouble."

Even with 50% cerebral capacity, I couldn't move fast enough to avoid being hit by the bullet. The gun fired and in that same second, I was graced with pain so unbearable, I screamed.

"Sam!" Jason called out, pushed his way around Jackson and caught me before I hit the floor. When I looked up, Jackson was headed towards the door.

"Jackson!" I cried, praying he would stop for one second.

He turned to look at me, his eyes betraying no emotion. He was in full bodyguard mode. I opened my mouth then snapped it shut. "What?"

"I love you, too."

He blinked, almost shocked at the words that came from my lips. All I could do was stare into his eyes and hope that he knew I was telling the truth and decide to stay.

I held my breath, ignoring the throbbing pain in my leg where the bullet was. Jackson watches me for a moment more, then spoke, "5474009." He turned and strode out the door. No one tried to stop him. He was as good as dead now, and yet no one tried to stop him.

"Silas, get the first aid kit," Jason demanded. Heffburn walked over and helped Jason lift me into the couch. Rousseau walked to the kitchen and scrubbed his hands, preparing to take the bullet out of my leg. Layla mutter about pain relief and went to the kitchen to find some bourbon.

Everyone was suddenly busy except for Emily. Her heart had been ripped from her chest and was stomped all over by the man who was supposed to protect it. Her life was over because it had walked out the door.

I couldn't help but feel the need to console her, "Emily..."

She shook her head, "I'm fine. Let's get this fucking thing over with."

Our eyes met for a moment and my sorrow for her grew immensely. I looked into her eyes and saw her vulnerability, yet there she stood, willing to stay and help me. I knew she had seen my deepest gratitude and hoped that would be enough to convince her of what she needed to hear.

She nodded and walked to the kitchen too, grabbing herself a glass and pouring herself a drink. Layla handed me a glass of the liquid and sat down on the coffee table, getting ready to pour me another drink when the surgery started.

Silas handed Rousseau the first aid kit and I watched the evil scientist bleed through his façade. He composed himself, "Mathias fucked us all up in one way or another. I used to love helping people. It was all I wanted to do; I was good at what I did, too. One day, Mathias approached me, explaining who he was and how much he desired a good doctor to work for him as the head of a medical research team." While he was speaking, he dug around in the first aid kit and pulled out a pair of tweezers to remove the bullet. I threw back my bourbon and watched his face as he worked.

"He didn't tell me about what I would be researching. He said it was for a good cause and a shit load of money. Well, long story short, I agreed to his terms and conditions and came to work here at the HSD." I winced, threw back another glass, and nodded. The story was helping me forget about what was happening to my leg.

"The first day, they had me signing a bunch of papers and gave me a tour of the bulding. They found me odd jobs to do the first week, and I was so excited that I was working for such a powerful man that I didn't even think about what my job actually was. The second week was when they started me in the operating rooms.

"I remember the first woman. Her name was Sarah. There wasn't much information about her except that she was pronounced dead two weeks before I met her. But she was very much alive. Mathias was standing in the room, glaring at me. He kept telling me that she was getting her kidney removed and she was against using medication."

I watched closely as he continued: "She begged me to stop, told me that it was a lie and that she wanted to go home. I wasn't sure what to do, so I stopped and someone I didn't know put a gun up to my head and told me that if I didn't operate, he would shoot her first and then me. I knew if I did well enough, she would live, so I apologized over and over while I removed her kidney with unsterilized tools." He swallowed, "They shot her anyway."

I looked at my leg, it was all stitched. "How did you end up working for him and liking it?"

He smiled at me, his eyes sad. "Are you aware of conversion therapy?"

I shook my head. "Better open up another bottle, Layla. We're gonna be here a while."