The Lovers

"How can someone do that to another person?" cried Sam.

Danny saw Sam put her head into her hands as she cried. Chris was immobile at her side. Rising from his seat he limped around the table to slide into the chair next to her. He took her hands from her face and turned her to look into her tear filled eyes.

"It's not worth trying to think about why. There are people like that out there that have no conscience. It was one of the reasons why I do what I do."

Danny had spent ten months in prison to get on inside of a drug gang. There had been a leak. Local law enforcement supported the FBI when they raided the former gas station where he was being held captive. They found him locked in a basement cell. He was naked and had been brutally tortured.

He looked up and fixed his eyes on his Mom.

"I'm done with working undercover." Their parents had been at Sam's house when they called to deliver the cheesecake.

"Oh Baby..." Danny moved to stand behind his mother. Leaning forward his wrapped his arms around her.

"This morning, you asked me if I was OK and I answered that I will be. Here is where I need to be to do that."

"So what happens now?"

"I start looking for a place to live so that I can become Danny Effron again

"You can stay with me," said Mouse instantly.

"You only have the one bedroom," answered Sam. Danny looked at Mouse when she didn't try to argue.

"Would you let me help you find a place?" Danny heard the uncertainty in his sister's voice. Sam was a realtor and had taken leave after adopting Jessica.

"Yeah, that would be great." Sam moved from next to her husband and walked around the table. Standing behind her brother she wrapped her arms around him. She spoke loud enough for the others to listen.

"You are the only brother that I've got so listen carefully; no more crazy stuff or I will hurt you."

"Yes ma'am," he answered.

"I love you, you fool," Sam cried into his ear.

"I love you too."

"We all love you Baby." Danny smiled at his Mom.

Mouse laughed through her tears, "right, who wants cheesecake?"

Sam hugged her brother. Her voice was no more than a whisper. It was just between them.

"I don't think that I can let go." Danny reached back and cradled her face in the palm of her hand.

"I'm not going to let you." Sam finally released her hold.

"I could use a sandwich." Dan's Mom instantly jumped to her feet.

"This is my kitchen," Sam called out. Danny felt Mouse start to release her hold on his hand and then change her mind. He gave her hand a gentle squeeze.

"Dan, what do you want on your sandwich?"

"Mom, you're a guest in my house."

"I can't have them like this Mouse." Danny excused himself. Mouse watched him walk out of the kitchen.

"Stop it! For Danny's sake would you just stop this now?" Mouse had their attention. "He didn't need the bathroom. He couldn't watch the two of you argue about making him a sandwich."

Mouse paused when she thought she heard a door opening.

"Mom, Danny knows that you want to take care of him but this is Sam's house and she should be making him a sandwich."

Mouse had tears in her eyes.

"He'll kill me if he knows that I've told you." Mouse felt her Mom's arms wrap around her shoulder.

"You are right Honey. I'm sorry."

A shiver ran down Mouse's spine as she heard the soft moans through the bedroom walls. Slipping out of the room she tiptoed down the corridor stopping at the door to Dan's room. She knocked light and waited.

"Hey, couldn't you sleep?"

"Not with the moans coming from the next room." Danny popped his head around the door and looked down the hall. He noticed that she was wearing an old hockey shirt and lounge pants. They looked more like Chris's than Sam's.

"Way to go Chris." He felt the sting when Mouse slapped him on the arm.

"Let me in, it's cold out here." Danny stepped back and let her enter. Mouse went to the warm left side of the bed and slipped beneath the cover.

"That's better."

"Hurry up and get in before all the heat escapes." Danny walked around the bed and slipped into the cold side of the bed. The bed shifted beneath him as Mouse shimmied across the bed and curled into his form.

"I had a good day today," Mouse said quietly.

"Me too."

"Truth?"

"Truth," he whispered into her ear. He felt her shiver. "Are you cold?"

Mouse reached back for his hand and pulled it across her stomach.

"Not anymore."

"Hey, it's time to wake up sleepy head." Mouse opened her eyes to see Danny standing at the foot of the bed. She could smell coffee.

"You have fifteen minutes to shower and try to make yourself look human again." Mouse growled.

"Just as I thought; here, this should help to get you started." Mouse sat up in the bed and he passed the coffee to her. Danny left her alone.

Dressed in a white sweater and jeans that she had tucked into ankle boots Mouse entered the kitchen to be greeted by the Sam, and the parent units.

"Good Morning Honey. Did you sleep well?" asked her Mom.

Mouse smiled, "I had trouble getting off to sleep but, yes, I had a good night's sleep."

"Did you sleep well Mom?"

"Yes, thanks to Sam and Chris," his father answered. "We swapped rooms last night."

Danny caught Mouse's eye. He wasn't sure what he saw in her expression. When he looked at Sam he saw hurt.

"So, where should we have breakfast?"

Mouse smiled at Danny and then turned her head slightly. She put forward an idea that had just happened. They would have breakfast at Al's Diner and then they would drop Danny and Sam off at the car dealership so that he could collect his new truck. Mouse and the parent units would take Jessica, letting Danny and Sam go shopping for her present.

Danny saw Sam smile for the first time.

"We can drive around and look at what areas you'd be interested in living in." Danny glanced at Mouse and noticed that she was looking at Sam. He saw the puzzled expression on her face.

"I still need to buy Mouse's present." Mouse's head whipped around. Her eyes narrowed.

"That would be a smart move." Her comment brought laughter into the room.

Sam sat quietly in the passenger seat of the F150. The details had been quickly processed and they were handed the keys to the truck. Sam had stayed silent the entire time. At the next intersection Danny took a left instead of heading straight on. Sam still remained silent. They joined the Interstate heading west.

"Are you OK?"

Sam shook her head. "Yes."

Danny took the next exit.

"Sam, don't shut me out." Had he glanced over he would have seen the tears welling in her eyes.

"Chris wants a divorce, he's met someone else." Danny listened as Sam explained. "He's leaving after the Holidays so that he can be with her for New Year."

Danny spotted the entrance to a Mall and pulled in. He parked the truck a distance from the other shoppers. He twisted in the driver's seat and look at his sister.

"You need to tell him to leave now." Sam stared at him. Finally she nodded.

"Do you trust me?"

Sam nodded. "Of course."

"Then, I need you to get him on the phone?" Sam stared at him. Danny gave her a simple nod in encouragement. "Put it on speakerphone."

"I thought I told you not to call me." Chris's voice echoed inside the truck. Danny felt the hairs on his neck rise.

"Hey asshole, I am going to tell you this the one time, so listen up. You will do exactly what I'm about to tell you. Are we clear?"

Danny waited. "I said, are we clear?"

"Yes."

"Next time I ask you a question, damn well answer." Sam shivered in the passenger seat as she heard the menacing tone of her brother's voice. He hadn't raised his voice once.

"Sam and I will be at the house in thirty minutes. You will be sitting outside in the street waiting for us. You will then have one hour to pack up all your shit and leave. Anything left behind will be going in the dumpster."

"Do you understand?"

"You can't..." Danny cut the call.

"I need a cell." Sam looked at him as if he had grown a second head.

"What? Y...You scared the shit out of me and you're on my side." He considered an apology. "Then seconds later you calmly say that you need a cell phone."

He nodded.

"Remind me never to be on the opposite end of one of those."

"When I'm at work I'm protecting strangers. It's different when it's someone I love."

Sam looked at her brother. He wondered what she was seeing.

"Can you call Mouse on that thing?" Sam hit the speed dial.

"Hello."

"Mouse, don't let the parent units know that you're talking to me, OK?"

"Hi Sheila."

Danny smiled. "Can you keep Mom and Dad away from the house for the next couple of hours?"

"I'm sorry Sheila but we won't be able to make the party tonight. No, Danny has just come home and I want to spend some time with him before the rest of the family drop in on us."

"Thanks Mouse."

"I'm sorry too," said Mouse.

"I'll explain everything to you later."

"That's fine."

"Yeah, I'm sorry too but I haven't seen him in like forever and you know how it is."

"No, but you'll tell me later," said Danny.

Mouse was silent for a second. "Sure. Bye."

Danny recognised Chris's Black Explorer parked in the street. He pulled into the driveway and parked behind Sam's minivan.

"Go into the house, I'll just be a minute." Sam was about to argue and then nodded her head. Danny slipped from the warmth of the truck and intercepted Chris as he climbed out of the Explorer.

"Just give me one excuse and I'll beat the shit out of you and not lose a second's sleep." Danny looked at his watch. "You have exactly one hour to pack up all you clothes and the rest of your shit."

"There's one more thing; if you have a present for Jessica then leave a message on the answerphone. I will meet you to collect it."

"The bitch wanted the kid, she can keep it." The slap knocked Chris sideways. He stumbled but didn't fall.

"You were warned. Now you have thirty minutes. I'd suggest you get a move on." Danny turned his back and walked towards the house. Sam climbed out of the truck and met him at the front door.

"Go through to the kitchen," Danny said as they entered. He stood at the doorway and watched Chris entered the hallway. They exchange a look and then he started for the stairs.

Entering the kitchen he found Sam standing at the kitchen window. He walked up behind her and slipped his arms around her. Sam leaned back against him. He felt her body shiver and then heard her crying softly. Turning her around her pulled her into an embrace.

"Don't let go."

"I'm not about to. Trust me." Sam fell silent. She trusted him without question.

"Danny, talk to me. Talk to me about anything. Just don't let me hear him upstairs."

"OK." He felt nervous.

"I was thinking of the type of place I should be looking at. I could rent or buy a place. Maybe even buy a fixer upper."

"So, you're really moving back here." Sam leaned back to look him in the face.

"I've been offered a posting as an Investigator with the State Police. I wasn't sure if I wanted to take it until seeing you with Jessica and realised how much I've missed with being away." Danny tilted his head to the side.

They broke their embrace when they heard heavy footsteps on the stairs. Danny moved across the kitchen and stood in the doorway. Chris appeared at the foot of the stairs. He was carrying two cases and had a large gym bag over his shoulder. His laptop was hanging from his other shoulder.

Danny nodded toward the hall table.

"Leave your house keys on the table before you go." Chris hurled the keys down the hallway. Danny let them hit him.

"Mikey's a better fuck any way." Seeing the anger in Danny's eyes he fled from the house, tripping over the doorstep in his hurry to flee.

Danny caught him as she scrambled to his feet. Chris was petrified into silence. Danny released his grip and let him fall.

Mouse entered the house and instantly sensed the ice cold atmosphere in the room. She found Danny sitting in the armchair in the kitchen. He turned and looked directly at her. Mouse felt as if an ice cold hand had taken of her heart when she saw the look of disgust in his eyes. There was a moment of sickening silence.

"Danny, it's not what you think." As he expected Chris had called her. His voice was low and ice cold.

"You have no idea what I'm thinking!"

Mouse was shaking. "It just happened. We didn't mean for it to happen but we love each other."

"The Mouse I knew wouldn't let her sister pay the price for her happiness." Mouse saw the look in his eyes and knew that she had lost him.

"Please, don't shut me out."

Slowly he lifted her sweater to reveal the lines of scars across his ribs.

"The people who did this to me did so because I was their enemy. Sam wasn't your enemy but you have done than this to her. You're not the Mouse I used to love, that's for sure. The Mouse that I love wouldn't let her sister hurt just so that she can be happy. I don't know who you are, any more. "

"You don't mean that."

Danny turned away from her.

"I love him," Mouse said quietly to his back.

"What makes your love more important than Sam's?"

The confrontation with their parents was heated. They blamed Danny for breaking up the family. He stared at his silent father and then his mother. The remnants of his anger had been festering. Sam entered the kitchen in the middle of an argument and moved to stand next to her brother.

"Well, Chris and Mikey will be staying with us until you get things sorted out."

Danny took a step forward. "So, what you've always said about us being equal was a lie all along. She was always your favourite."

"We put a roof over your heads." Danny glared at his mother.

"You knew about the two of them having an affair and did nothing. That makes you worse than they are. They fell in love. You lied to your own family."

Bob took a step forward.

"Don't even think about taking me on right now. Besides putting you down I'll arrest you for assaulting a police officer and don't think I won't."

He could see the hurt in his father's eyes.

"I will always be grateful to you for putting the roof over our heads but I guess that all you did." He followed them to the front door and stood on the porch to watch them leave. His father's silence had disappointed him most.

Danny finally realised that Sam hadn't reappeared after taking Jessica upstairs. He checked the master bedroom. Jessica was sleeping soundly in her crib. Finally he heard the soft sound of someone crying. He opened the bathroom door. Sam was down on bathroom floor. Danny fell to his knees and wrapped his sister in the safety of his arms. What self control she had kept when facing her parents had vanished and she unleashed all her heart felt sorrow.

Slipping one arm under her legs and the other around her back he lifted her up off the floor and carried her back into the master bedroom. He lowered her gently on to the bed and drew the quilt across her form. Slowly the sound of her crying fell away. He realised she was sleeping and checking on Jessica he tip toed out of the bedroom. The kitchen was silent as he sat in the armchair, alone with his thoughts. The baby monitor sitting on the kitchen counter gave him peace of mind.

A low rumble in his stomach reminded him that he hadn't eaten since breakfast. He wandered upstairs and looked into the master bedroom. They both appeared fast asleep.

"Danny, please don't leave me."

"I won't."

Sam lifted her head. The quilt slid off her shoulders. His eyes settled on her naked breast. He had held her in the bathroom and carried her into the bedroom. She had been naked in his arms but he hadn't seen her as he was now.

"I was just going to make some tea and came up to see if you wanted some?"

Sam smiled, though sadly and nodded her head. Her breasts shimmered with her movement. They were pale and flawless. Her nipples were pink and hard and a half inch long and surrounded by dollar sized areola.

"That would be good." He nodded before turning away.

As he headed for the stairs he hoped that Sam hadn't seen the effect she had had on him. He busied himself in the kitchen building sandwiches and making English breakfast tea for them both. Minutes later he heard Sam enter the kitchen and then felt her move up behind him and slip her arms around his waist. He covered her hands with his.

"I'm not sure if I could cope if you weren't here with us."

"I wouldn't be anywhere else."

"Truth?"

Danny turned in her embrace. Leaning back against the counter he put his arms around her shoulders and pulled her into a tighter embrace. Sam rested her head against his chest.

"I wouldn't be here if it wasn't for you. How do you repay someone for saving your life?"

Sam knew to what he was referring. That winter was the coldest on record. Ice storms had swept down from Canada. Danny had been dared by some of Sam's school friends to go out on to the ice. The ice had given way and he plunged into the cold water. Sam had heard the crack and then the screams and raced to see his head disappear beneath the water. Laying on the ice, her friends folding on to her legs she had plunged her arm into the freezing water. Losing the feeling in her gloved hand she grabbed something and pulled with all her might. Danny's head appeared and her friends pulled him out. Sam's scream ripped through the air when she saw that he had stopped breathing.

Alerted by the screams several parents appeared on the scene and took over. Sam watched as they stripped Danny and started CPR. He was breathing but still unconscious when the paramedics appeared. Sam rode in the back ambulance with her brother. She had suffered from the early stages of hypothermia. Danny had been seven.

"In some societies if you save someone's life then they belong to you."

"Is that so," he answered. His arms dropped to her waist. Sam looked deeply into his eyes.

"Do with me what you will."

The kiss took him by absolute surprise. She bit his lips hard. He tasted the saltiness of his own blood. Danny kissed her back fiercely, letting her taste his blood. He cupped the cheeks of her ass in his hands and lifted her off her feet. Sam wrapped her arms around his neck and clamped her legs around his waist, locking her ankles behind his back.

"Oh God," she gasped as she felt the familiar pressure from his hard cock against her pussy. He walked across the kitchen and lowered her into the armchair.

"Fuck me Danny. Fuck me and make me forget."

Danny slipped his hands under her bank. He hooked his fingers under the waistband of her PJ's. He tugged them over her hips. Sam's aroma filled his senses. He looked deep into her eyes. Sam leaned forward and kissed him, feeding hungrily on his lips.

"Make me forget."

He grabbed her PJ's in his left hand and yanked them off first her right leg and then her left. Raising his hands to her thighs he slowly pressed her legs apart. He watched as her pussy opened, revealing the pink most labia.

"You're beautiful." Her pussy was clean shaved. He hated hairy women. A small landing strip was fine but he loved to eat out clean shaven pussy.

Lowering his face he kissed the inside of her left knee. Sam squirmed under the touch of his lips. He trailed kisses along the baby soft flesh inside her thigh.

"Oh God..." she gasped. "Don't... stop."

He stopped and inhaled her essence.

"You are so beautiful."

He ran his tongue along her slit, tasting her for the first time. It was nectar sweet on his tongue. Sam grasped his hair between her fingers. Arching her back she thrust up with her hips, pushing her mound into his mouth.

"No one's ever," she said gasped breathlessly. "Oh Fuck, eat me."

Danny lifted her legs up to rest on his shoulders. His hands were free. Sliding his fingers along her thighs he pushed on the flesh either side of her slit opening her pussy to his mouth. He touched the tip of her clit with his tongue.