Amour

My arms and shoulders are being shaken with an urgency. Louis' voice is angry and thunderous. "Sam, wake up!"

I'm dragged out of my nightmare about a pale face and wretched glares to find Louis regarding me with his face etched with concern.

"Jesus, Sam. You were screaming and tossing and turning. What's wrong?" He encircles my waist with his arms as he pulls me against his chest trying to comfort me.

I sit up in bed supporting myself on my elbows trying to level out my breathing again. Wiping my forehead with the back of my hand I discover that I've been sweating. The face of my nightmarish foe is still fresh in my memory as it overpowers every thought by plastering the face of the Z-Man - the man who haunts my sleep - at the forefront.

"What did I say?" I look up into his ocean blue eyes that never fail to transfix me every time.

"Nothing I could understand. I was so scared, you didn't want to wake up."

"Did I hit you?"

"What? No." He holds back his laughter. "Why would you ask that?"

"No reason. What time is it?"

"Its three in the morning. Sam, what's wrong?"

"Nothing, I'm fine. Promise. It was just a bad dream." I'm sure they are nothing but nightmares so I don't plan on telling him about them. Peculiar that the same person would make an appearance in two nightmares in a row though.

"You sure?" He looks so worried it makes my heart heavy.

"Aha."

I snuggle closer to him by draping my arm around his waist to make myself almost invisible. He kisses my head, crushing me against his body and I fall asleep again feeling safe in Louis' arms.
In the morning I'm raised from my sleep by an awful ringing sound before everything goes dead silent again.

"Good morning, beautiful." Louis kisses my cheek.

"Hmm." I hide my face in the mass of pillows hoping to fall asleep again.

"Wake up. I want to see you."

"No."

"Please?" He pulls back the covers and my back is exposed along with my legs and bum. I thank the seventh Heaven that I have shorts on.

"No." I reach out my hand and grab to sheets pulling it back up to cover my body.

He surprises me when he tucks me in, securing the ends of the duvet beneath me. When he's done I look like a human tortilla and I let my hair splay out on the pillow covering most of my face when I turn around.

"I can't move." I comment wriggling my hips to stress my point.

"That's the point." He brushes a few strands of my hair out of my face.

"I feel like a human sandwich wrap."

"Yes, my human sandwich wrap." He leans down to kiss me but I cover my mouth with my hand. I'm still human and I need to brush my teeth.

"I didn't brush my teeth yet."

He chuckles before moving my hand aside and going back in for the kill - I call it the kill because I melt inside every time and that's pretty lethal. He kisses me chastely but my body has an agenda of its own, wrapping my arms around Louis' neck to hold him to me.
His lips form a smile against mine as his hands relocate to my waist. The kiss deepens and I pour all of me into the sweet union. He turns over onto his back pulling me on top of him. I put my legs on either side of his waist, I feel Louis' hands move under my shirt further up my back. The corners of my mouth pick up in a grin when Louis reaches reaches the clip of my bra and he breaks the kiss.

"So you like it?" He looks up at me with the most breathtaking smile.

"Best present ever." I rub my nose against his.

He combs my hair aside with his hand, letting it fall like a brown curtain off my right shoulder. A question that's been brewing for days pops into my head.

"I-I have a question for you."

"Ask away."

"Well, um......you never used.....protection when we....you know. Given its deficit I've been meaning to ask you if that would......have consequences or not."

Its not the easiest thing to do, asking your vampire boyfriend if pregnancy was a possibility. I had avoided eye contact while asking him and I risk a peek now. He doesn't look upset which always a feature I like, his hands haven't moved either. His gaze meets mine and his brows furrow as if processing my question before smiling reassuringly up at me.

"No, Sam. There won't be any consequences as far as I know and that's pretty far."

My ruling fear to ask about this was because I was afraid it would bring up much deeper and more sensitive topics. Like the inevitable fact that he will go on living forever and I - the mere mortal - am bound to do die. We've never had an open discussion about it and I don't want to ruin my morning by bringing it up now.

Rolling back over he pins me to the bed. He moves with gracious speed as he tugs my shirt up stopping at below my chest and I know what he's going to do.

"No. No, please don't." I'm laughing despite my plea while I try unsuccessfully to cover my abdomen.

"Oh no you don't, baby." He kisses my tummy making my skin all tingly the way only Louis can.

He blows out air roughly against my skin, and it tickles. I can't contain my laughter when he grips he waist and repeats the action. He finally ends torture before hiding his face in my tummy.

"How necessary was it for you to do that?" I extend my arm to run my fingers through his hair.

"You have a very tempting body, Samantha." He picks up his head resting his chin on my abdomen. "Your tummy most of all."

My cheeks turn crimson and my face splits into a shy smile. "I'm a fan of your body too."

"How kind of you. How are you feeling?"

"What do you mean?" I frown.

"Is anything paining? Sore?" He smirks, his voice lowering to a dark whisper.

Now that my attention has been directed to it, I was feeling a little sore but nothing I couldn't live with.

"Nothing I can't handle." I run my fingers along his jaw and stubble. He closes his momentarily inhaling sharply.

"Maybe we should have listened to Michael then, eh?" He reopens them and his eyes are now portals to another dimension appearing both dark and bright.

"I have no regrets."

"Good because neither do I. So what was your nightmare about last night?"

I manage to prevent gasping but I feel goosebumps arise at the memory. "I don't remember exactly. I was running in the streets and there was someone chasing me."

"Who was it?"

"I don't know."

"Did you see his face?"

"Um.........he had a white face and it wasn't pale, downright white. He had black scars all over his face and neck. A tattoo, I remember a tattoo on his neck. It was a Z."

Louis' face falls with all the playfulness vanishing. He gets off me and sits up giving me his undivided attention. He crosses his legs and I follow him.

"Is that all?" He presses

"His eyes are like coal. His teeth are the most terrifying things I've ever seen. They're as white as his skin with dagger-sharp ends. The second time something was oozing out of his mouth but it wasn't saliva, more like acid."

"Second time? How many times have u dreamt about this thing?"

"Only twice. Last night and when I was............unconscious." That also reminded me about Roger & Michael's inquiry. "And I also have an answer to Roger and Michaels question about whether or not I had eaten or drank anything new. I did have a drink with your mom one evening last week. She found me when I was walking home from work and she asked me to join her for a drink. I said okay but I got a call from Ella with an emergency so I had to leave. She insisted that I have my drink before I left."

"So when I picked you up from campus and you couldn't open the door, it was after you had a drink with her."

"Yes." I throw him the best apologetic look I can manage but he's poker faced, not giving anything away.

"Is that all?" He pinches the bridge of his nose in what could be annoyance.

"One more thing. I think it was the day after your mom first showed up. She came over to my house and-"

"How'd she find you?"

"I thought you told her."

"I didn't tell her anything about you. Not even your last name."

"Oh." Oh fuck.

"What did she say when she went over to yours?"

"Well, she asked me whether I cared about you and despite my answers I think she was unconvinced because she told me not to see you. Or try not to see you. I'm sure she was just being an overprotective mother."

"Not the most overprotective of mothers would poison their sons' girlfriend." He hisses, his anger almost tangible.

"You can't be certain it was her."

"Oh it was her. You don't know my mother, she's a terrible woman and her loyalties are to herself. I am her son but that means nothing to her. Why are you only telling me this now?"

"I didn't think the nightmares were relevant and I didn't want to get you worked up about your mom."

"You can't keep these things from me, Sam. Because its your safety involved and that's one thing I won't compromise on."

"Why would your mom want to hurt me?"

"I don't know. She hasn't followed me back yet."

"Oh I forgot about your weekend away with your mom."

"At least I know why she took me away now. Your description of the man in your nightmares. Is that it?"

"That's all I can remember."

"Have you ever seen this person in real life?"

"Never."

"Good because he could be dangerous."

"He's just a nightmare, Louis."

"But you've dreamt about him twice and nothings changed in his description from the first to the second time. I can't be sure about whether he's just your imagination or not. We should get going, you have to get to campus in a few hours."

He hops off the bed and makes for the door. Since my words have failed me I let him go resolving to conjure up an exceptional apology while I wash up.

When I'm done and still have not a single idea about what to tell Louis I put my shoes on from yesterday along with a pair of slacks and a t shirt. I jog down the stairs and creep soundlessly into the kitchen where I find Louis focusing very hard on his phone. My subby has begun her coward parade, hiding behind her self-made throne.

“Louis?” Where’d my voice go?

“You ready? Lets go.” His voice is clipped and void of all emotion.

“Are you mad at me?”

He turns to face me in his stool and I walk forward forcing myself between his legs. He frowns but doesn’t push me away – phew – so I take his phone and place it on the counter.

“A little.” He looks suspiciously at me

“I’m sorry.”

“Just promise never to lie to me again. Or keep anything from me. Promise?”

“I promise.”

He takes my hand and holds it up to his mouth to place a kiss on my palm. He holds my gaze with his.

"Hold on to my shoulders." He instructs and I obey slightly baffled by his request.

He uses his hold on my thighs to lift me onto his lap with a lightning speed so that I'm straddling him. I find that I've closed my eyes as if in fear I may fall or worse.
I feel Louis' lips press against my closed eyelids encouraging me to open them. I reopen my eyes to stare into the boundless depths of the most beautiful blue eyes I've ever seen.

"I really have to go home now. Nana's overly anxious as it is." I voice and disappointingly end the intimate moment.

"Are you sure? I mean you can miss one more day." He nuzzles my neck kissing my skin and making my blush.

"Louis! I have to go to campus, we have finals in a few weeks and I have an assessment due."

"But I'll miss you. Why do you even have to go to uni?"

"Because I'm going to need a job and you can see me after campus. In fact, you can have the honor of picking me up."

"No you don't."

"What do you mean?"

"You can stay here. You won't have to do anything."

Talk about change of topics. What the Hell does he mean? Is he asking me to.......move in with him? Woah, that makes me both shy and uncomfortable. I pull back to look into his eyes hoping to find an indication that he may be lying but he looks at me with complete honesty and sincerity. "Are you asking me to move in with you?"

"I guess I am." I can tell he's trying to hide his fear. So am I.

"Louis.......we've been together for-"

"Eight months, Sam. I've been in love with you for eight months since we first met and.......I want you here with me all the time."

He looks me in the eye from start to finish leaving me thrown and nervous. Has it been eight months? Holy cow that's a long time. I thought it was five at most.

"Eight months is a long time but are you sure about this?"

"I'm know how I feel about you. So yes, I've never been more sure about anything."

"I don't know if I'm ready to move in with you yet. I do love you, more than anything."

"Will you think about it?"

I take a deep breath debating on whether or not to shoot down the hope I see in his eyes. Hope that resembles that of a little boy.

"I most definitely will." To ease the tension I plant a soft kiss on his nose and he laughs.

"Let's get you to school, baby."

After getting into the car the atmosphere between us is lightened a bit. Louis turns on the radio while I pull my knees up to my chest wrapping my arms around them. I stare out of the window catching only flashes of passing houses and pedestrians while I hug my knees and the music drones on. My peripheral vision catches a glimpse of Louis tapping his fingers against the steering wheel in tune with the music.

Did this man of both physical and internal beauty really just ask me to move in with him? What am I going to do? I've never been in a relationship that was this intense before. You've never been in a relationship period. My subby's feisty as ever, she and I were never close.
She isn't wrong and its because of that lack of experience that I don't know what to do in this case. I love him, I won't deny that ever. But is this moving too fast? Is it moving too slow? What if he gets irritated at my hesitancy and constant fear to move forward?
Louis knows me well enough to write a 100% factual biography about me, he knows me better than I do. He's made me feel and experience things I never knew I could. He's the first person I've been with physically - ever. Not to mention what he's told me about his world although he never brought up his personal past. I make a mental note to ask him about it one day.

We pull up in front of my house after a ten minute drive and it feels like I'm seeing it for the first time. Hopping out cautiously I flinch at the sudden shock of pain in my leg that travels from my ankle up to my femur. Another wave of a mild soreness hits me deep in my belly and I know the cause of that. Never again will I disobey the doctors' orders.

We walk up to the front door and its unlocked. I enter first followed by Louis and I brace myself for the tidal wave that is my grandmother when I step inside.

"Nana?" I call out hearing Louis close the door behind him.

She appears instantly in the doorway, a look of instant relief is physically visible as she hurries over and hugs me tightly. I flinch again as the shock reaches my thigh but I'm glad she doesn't see it.

"Oh, Sammy. I was so worried. Your phone was here so I couldn't call and Louis didn't tell me anything so you both put an old lady in a very tough spot." She scolds us bearly looking at Louis.

"Sorry, Nana. I'm perfectly fine, it was just a bug." I reassuringly lie to her.

"Are you sure? Honey, you were gone for three days and I was terrified."

"Don't worry, Nana. I'm alright, I promise. Where Jase?"

"Dropped him off at school. Sam, there's someone here I'd like you to meet."

She looks at me wearing a mask of both worry and joy. I hear heavy footsteps coming from our kitchen and Louis steps closer to me, his hand settling on my waist.
An elderly well-built man appears before us wearing a suit with no tie. He has a bald patch at the top of his head and it's framed with dusty grey hair. He stands up straight and walks right up to us grinning as he holds out his hand.

"Hi, Sam. I'm Tom Greene. Aggie's told me a lot about you and I'm glad that we're finally meeting." He has a clear husky voice that's suitable for his age - that number could be just a little bit more value than Nana's.

"Hey. Nice to meet you." I keep up my cool-blue voice.

"And you must be Louis, Aggie's mentioned you a lot too." He looks at Louis who's currently pressing me against his side.

Thankfully Louis shakes his hand and returns a heartbreakingly beautiful smile. "I'm the boyfriend." He says it loud enough that I bet Paul and Pam down the street can hear him.

"Would you two like to eat something?" Tom offers.

"No, no thank you. I have to get to campus right now." I shrug and smile apologetically.

"Oh well, another time then. I have to get going so see you soon." Tom smiles at Louis and I before looking at Nana.

Deciding to give them some privacy - and grill Nana later hehe - I take Louis' hand and run upstairs. I close my bedroom door behind him and let out a loud breath.

"He kissed her." Louis says nonchalantly before sitting at my desk.

"Shoosh! Don't tell me that." I go into my closet and fish out some clothes for 'school'.

"Why not?"

"It feels strange that Nana's........dating, I think."

"She didn't tell you?"

"Nope and I plan on getting my revenge after I get back from school." I go over to him and kiss him quickly. "I need to get ready."

"So get ready."

"But you're sitting there."

"Its nothing I haven't seen before. Or kissed." He winks at me and I get that wave of embarrassment again making me all cherry.

I go into the bathroom instead and lock the door - just to be safe - and get ready.
When I get out I see that Louis isn't at my desk, or in my room. Maybe he left. The first thing I do is grab my phone to meet my inbox, Zack's called over fifteen times, Ella over thirty times - dear God - and even Mr. C called twice. I have a dozen voice messages and triple that amount of text messages. No time now.

Tucking it into my jeans pocket and restraining my hair with a hair band I resume Louis' spot at my desk and start making a list of everything I have to do:
• Start and finish final assessment - poster, write-up & dictation.
• Get complete list of all hospitals in the area - residencies
• DISSITATION***

The dissitations were supposed to begin next week Tuesday, the day after our final assessments were due and our residencies are currently underway. The residencies don't have much to do with us but we'll only find out if we've been placed in a hospital after our dissitations if it's successful. The dissitation is the terrifying part, I'll be seated in front of fifteen to twenty accomplished MD's and professors as they shoot quick fire questions at me that I have to answer.

***

*LOUIS POV*

"Louis?" Aggie calls from downstairs and for the first time I get a strike of fear.

"Coming." Sam's still in the bathroom hiding herself from me so I leave her room and go down to the kitchen where Nana is armed with a dish towel - currently more scary than a machine gun.

She smiles warmly at me and gestures for me to sit opposite her at the counter. I cautiously slide onto one of the bar stools careful to return her smile as well.

"Do you want something to drink?" She offers and for a nanosecond I think it's a pun, that she knows what I am.

"No thanks. Aggie, what happened the other day -" She holds up her hand to stop me.

"Isn't important. I never saw anything. But does Sam know about whatever that was?"

"Yes, she knows."

"Good. And is she safe with you, Louis? She spends a lot of time with you which I'm cool with but I need to be certain that she's safe."

"She is safe, Aggie. I'll keep her safe. I promise you."

"She's a fragile girl, Louis. Not a thrill-seeker, no adrenaline crap, no risk-taking and no nonsense. She's innocent and still quite naïve in the world. But she loves you, I see it every time she looks at you and vice versa. You're the first guy she's been out with and ever since she started seeing you, there have been changes in her. She never spoke much because of her parents' death but now she laughs and talks with all of that in the past. I owe you thanks for that. But when you two had separated for whatever reason she was broken; she cried every night and it took a physical toll on her. I never want to see her like that again, Louis."

"I had reacted badly to an argument and didn't expect her to leave me.......but she did. And believe me, I'll do anything and everything to prevent feeling that way again."

"I like you, Louis and that's the only reason I'm not asking you to leave Sam alone. When she fell sick, do you know what it was?"

"It was a bug, Aggie. Its gone now."

"I get the feeling you can't tell me the whole truth which scares me a little but I'm willing to keep to a need-to-know basis."

"I think that would be best. Thank you, Aggie, for trusting me."

"You seem worthy of my trust."

There are hurried footsteps jogging down the steps and I can hear Sam's fast breathing. She's focusing on her phone when she comes to the bottom of the stairs and talks to Nana without looking up.

"I need to get to campus and I'll probably be back late because Zack says I have a truck load's worth of work to catch up on." She announces.

"I'll take you." I rise and walk over to her. She glances up looking surprised to see me.

"I thought you left." She says as I take her bag from her. Damned thing is so heavy, what is she carrying?

"Why would I do that?"

Sam goes into the kitchen while I head for the car. She's back out in about three minutes and jumps in.

***

*SAM POV*

"That's all you missed." Zack, Ella and I are at the local diner as they bring me up to speed on everything I missed.

It wasn't much, because of finals being around the corner there wasn't any serious work. We order pie and tea, coffee for me.

"So why didn't you show up for three days?" Ella quizzes and I go in search on my snarky subby.

"Vacation."

"In the middle of the week?"

"Yup."

"So I was thinking that maybe as a reward for surviving all that is to come in this week, we could go out. Just the three of us and do whatever we want."

"After next week?" Zack asks.

"Aha, over the weekend."

"I'm down." Zack says taking a bite of his pie.

"Don't say that ever again." I steal a chunk of his with my fork and he retaliates by stealing from mine.

"So we'll meet up on Saturday then. I also have something to tell you guys." Ella says nervously.

"What?" I ask

"Well, my parents had requested that my dissitation be moved up and I had it yesterday. My results came in and I've already been placed."

"That's awesome, El. Why are you sad?"

"The position is in New York."

Zack and I stop moving and sit back in the booth. She looks at us like we're wild animals and she's terrified of how we'll react.

"Take it. Go. Its an amazing opportunity and neither one of us could ask you to overlook it." I say feeling a little nauseous.

"I agree. Were you asking for our opinions?" Zack asks

"Yes. You two are my closest friends so I needed to hear what you had to say." She replies.

"We say go ahead."

"Thank you. I love you fools so much even though I only knew Zack for a couple months now."

"We love you too. When do you leave?" I say continuing to eat my pie.

"I leave the following week Monday. That's why I wanted us to hang out one last time."

"And we shall. Sam!" Zack shouts when I mess the side of his face with cream from his pie.

As random as it was, I needed that. I needed to remember who I was before all the intensity. He scoops us cream with his spoon and it collides with my cheek. Laughing like idiots we toss tissues of cream at Ella across the table ignoring the people who are staring.

We pay the bill and leave a big tip before leaving. I don't have my car so Ella has to drop us both off. On the drive home Zack and I sit in the back with our bags riding shotgun.

"How about a sleep over?" Ella asks out of the blue.

"I'm a guy." Zack holds up his hand and I high-five it. He laughs before hugging me from the side.

"Ella! Zack's annoying me." I whine.

"Zack. Let the child go. Now I'm serious about the sleep over." Ella reprimands us and we sit still.

"Well if Zack isn't too macho, he can come too." I tease him.

"Shut up. I'll come. When?" He asks Ella.

"Saturday. We can have the day out then you two can stay over at mine for that night and leave the next day." She explains. I sober up trying to process it and mentally create a PDA.

"Okay. Yeah, we can do that." I say.

"Me too." Zack says.

My suger-induced adrenaline begins to dwindle and I rest my head on Zack's shoulder while El puts the radio on. The three of us are like the completely oblivious three musketeers with the best relationship. Its purely friendship and nothing's more refreshing than spending a day with your friends to get some fresh air.

"Bye, Zack." Ella and I wave to him after he's left.

"See you tomorrow." He turns and goes up to the apartment building. Oh boy, apartment buildings.

I hug Ella from the back seat before getting my bag and jumping out in front of my house. The night is still and serene. I walk up the path and unlock the door before stepping in. Hanging my jacket up on the stand I go into the kitchen to hijack an ice cream - way too much dairy - then running up to my room. Nana's probably asleep so I'll just have to interrogate her tomorrow. Creeping into Jase's room I spy him snoozing in his bed completely tranquil. I plant a kiss on his forehead before stealing away into my room.

I jump into the shower immediately and come out tired and drained rather than more alive and jubilant. I climb into my bed basking in the feel of being home. Will I really be able to leave this? New beginnings, I guess.

Notes