Hostages | Sam & Eva

[Sam O'Connor]

Another day in the life as Sammy the chef. Sam. Sam the chef. God, Eva had called him Sammy so much, even he was beginning to call himself by that name. It was quite late in the evening, and he was nearing the end of his shift. After a certain point in the evening, the crew had to make do with just the biosynthesisers or leftovers so he could get some sleep. Zoe had been by earlier for some food and chat, which was great. They'd giggled a ton like always.

The clock beeped at nine, signalling that Sam could escape. So he finished loading up the dishwasher (he was old fashioned like his Uncle, he always did things himself rather than let robots do it), he set it to wash and dry the plates in the early morning like usual, and headed out, turning left to go to the sleeping quarters to fulfil his plans for an early night. Only, he never got that far.

Two faces, both unfamiliar to him, came striding round the corner, and immediately, the male of the two drew a pulse pistol on Sam. Oh crap.
"It would be better for you if you came quietly,"

[/i] said the female.[/color]
"Heh, yeah," Sam said, putting his hands up which were shaking a little, "see, I'd rather not come at all, if you don't mind."
"Not the right answer."
The arm with the pulse pistol straightened, but before the man could do anything, he was flung fifty feet down the corridor over Sam's head, slamming so hard into the wall that Sam could have sworn his shoulders left a dent.
Evidently catching them both by surprise, Sam tried to make a run for it past the woman and away down the corridor, but she seized his arm, jamming something into his neck. Letting out a yelp as pain spiked through his whole body, he murmured, "Eva, before he went limp and fell unconscious.

~~~~

Though the telekinesis was a surprise, the young man now lying on the ground matched the pictures they’d been shown, making it inescapably clear that he was the one they were looking for. Louise cast a glance in Theo’s direction to ensure that he was conscious before looking back down at the boy with a slight lift to her left eyebrow. “You’re absolutely positive that she’ll come for this Samuel O’Connor fellow? We don’t have room for any errors here, Theo.” After pushing himself to his feet, Theo rolled his shoulders a couple of times and came back to stand by Louise’s side.

The smirk he offered her was mildly disconcerting, and his tone reflected that as he nodded and said, “Oh, believe me, Louise--Eva will come for him.”

Eva’s day had been spent, by and large, by doing as little as was humanly possible. She’d considered attempting to dig up more information on the Irvines--UGAP had to have something in their files, considering her brother had worked for them--but had then thrown them idea aside. What was the point in learning more about them if she never planned to actually meet them? And so, instead of that, she alternated between reading and knitting (the latter of which she was merely trying out, and in the end found nigh-on impossible).

It was nine before she bothered to glance at a clock, and with a quiet sigh she slipped a piece of paper between the pages of her book to mark her place. The fact that she had too much energy to even consider sleeping honestly wasn’t surprising.

A walk. That was what she needed.

Grabbing her gun, just to be safe, Eva made her way out onto the hanger and started wandering. The Venia was docked on Proxy 5 at the moment to refuel, and though the volcanic planet didn’t offer much in the way of tourist attractions, there was plenty of room for one to walk around. She was just looping around a collection of crates when she spied a flash of movement out of the corner of her eye, and only a second after did a familiar sensation wash over her.

Being telepathic, she was attuned to others’ thoughts and brain-patterns. Quite often, that was how she recognized people, rather than the sound of their voice or a picture of their face. And once you’d grown accustomed to someone’s “aura”, it was hard to forget it. And recognize them, Eva did. It was her foster mother, Louise, and her old partner Theo. The fact that they were here when Venia was couldn’t be coincidence, and pulling her gun she made to follow them. It was only then that she realized there was a third person with them, and her heart stopped dead when she recognized their aura, too.

Sam.

~~~~

The antibodies in Sam's system fought away ferociously at the sedative he'd been given, determined to eradicate it from his body. Sometimes there were benefits to being part alien, perks if you like, and the stronger immune system was one of them. Ilosian's had to deal with much harsher conditions on their planet; different, more dangerous bugs; so they were born with a natural defence against foreign objects being put in their system.

Sam awoke groggily, feeling like his brain had swelled so far that his skull was going to explode. "What the hell," he slurred in his accent, making his words almost indecipherable. "Where... what..." Nope, sentences were difficult right now. Closing his mouth so he didn't drool or do anything else embarrassing, he realised that he was moving. Being dragged, actually, along a cold floor. Nice.

He just about heard the swooshing of a door, and as his eyes refocused properly on his surroundings (as best they could in his current state), he realised that he was on a ship. Not the Venia, but another ship, one with completely different decor. It was dark, and grimy, and just looked like it could be crawling with all sorts of nasty things which made him shudder.

Another swoosh, and his body was deposited on the floor. He almost went cross-eyed as a man's face practically pressed itself close to his. "This is for throwing me down the corridor earlier." Theo pulled back, delivering two hard blows to Sam's face. Sam's mouth opened in silent pain, blood beginning to drip from his nose, his eye smarting. As if that wasn't enough, what he could only assume was the man's foot drove itself into Sam's stomach, and he let out a harrowing cry, tears leaking from the corners of his eyes. What had he done to deserve this?

"And now," Theo rubbed his hands together before spitting in Samuel's direction, "we wait."

~~~~

All of Eva’s rationality had gone out the window, leaving nothing but a terrified haze behind. Sam. They had Sam. And she knew, she just knew, that it had something to do with her. If any harm came to him on her account, if he died because of her… Oh God, please let him be all right. Thankfully, all her training with R4 hadn’t been a complete waste, and her feet were able to carry her after Theo and Louise swiftly and silently despite her panic. She came to a stop behind a collection of barrels, crouching down and peering out.

There was a ship docked just around the corner, and she arrived in time to see Louise glance momentarily in her direction before heading inside. Eva couldn’t understand it. The woman had been like a mother to her once, so why was she a part of this? How could she have grown to hate her so much as to join Theo in whatever his twisted plans were? Making sure the coast was clear, Eva re-established her grip on her gun and crept toward the boarding ramp.

It was dark inside the ship, due both to the distinct lack of anything but cheap fluorescent lights as well as the grime that covered almost every available surface. At first she didn’t understand why they could possibly be travelling in such a disgusting vessel--but then she realized that even the smallest amount of color on her (even as blandly dressed as she was today) stood out in stark comparison to her surroundings. They’d be able to see her from a mile off. Hopefully, the reverse would be true as well.

Hearing Theo’s voice up ahead, Eva slowed and kept close to the wall as she edged toward the only open door she could see. Before she could even hope to gain the element of surprise, however, Louise’s voice chimed out clear and calm. “Evangeline, dear one, you’re not the only telepath here. Trying to hide is pointless. Now come inside.” Biting back a rather uncouth remark, Eva brought her gun up and stepped into view.

“I’d put that down if I were you, traitor,” Theo purred, his expression malicious as he glanced up at her. It satisfied him to see the horror in her eyes when she noticed that his own gun was aimed directly at Samuel’s head.

This was bad. No, this was really, really bad. Sam looked terrible, blood on his face and his focus waxing and waning. And now, he had a gun to his head. “Let him go, Theo,” Eva growled, “he’s got nothing to do with this.” It would have been more impressive if her voice hadn’t started shaking part way through.

“Oh, but he’s got everything to do with this,” Theo argued, grinning caustically. “He’s our leverage, you see. We know you’ll do damn near anything to protect this mutt--”

“Including leaving him behind,” Louise tossed in smoothly.

“In other words,” Theo explained, jabbing Samuel roughly with his gun, “if you want your little boyfriend here to live, you’ll agree to come with us. If you disagree? He gets a bullet to the head and we take you with us anyway. Your choice.”

~~~~

Sam's whole body ached. Theo certainly hadn't decided to be gentle with him, there was an anger there that said there was something more than just kidnapping Sam to use him as leverage. If that was the case, then they would have left him well alone, or just roughed him up a little to show they meant business. Right now, it was hard for Sam to focus on anything else but how much he hurt, and how pathetic he felt.

Then Eva entered the room.

That was when he first noticed the gun to his head. When had that got there? The exchange of words going on seemed to wax and wane in his ears, fluctuating in volume. No, no, no, stay awake! He had to at least do that. If he passed out now he wouldn't be able to help if need be, that was what little courage he had left told him anyway.

Sam sucked in his bottom lip as Theo bashed the gun against his already pounding head. Without lifting a finger, he tried to enact a repeat performance of earlier, the move that had pissed Theo off in the first place, but nothing happened. Huh? Wait, wait. Louise couldn't do that, could she? Block his ability? Oh ho, we're in trouble.

Thoughts and ideas fluttered around his head, all of which both Eva and Louise could probably hear. None of them worked, this ultimatum was impossible to escape. Because, as much as he didn't want to die, he didn't want to lose Eva either. Not now, not after all that they'd been through these past months. He wouldn't be able to live knowing that they'd taken her, not knowing that she was okay, that she was safe.

He needed to use his ability, more than ever before. As much as he'd tried not to rely on it in the past, it would be really handy right now. The question was, was he powerful enough?

~~~~

Somehow, the fact that they wanted to take her back didn’t surprise Eva much. After all, no matter what context you took it in, R4 wasn’t exactly well renowned for “letting people go”. What surprised her was when Louise’s brow crinkled and her silver-blonde head turned toward Theo. “You said that no lasting harm would come to the boy,” she reminded him, her tone biting. “Correct me if I’m wrong, but death sounds pretty indefinite. I was under the impression that he was merely bait?”

“If he’s just bait, then why don’t you put more effort into seeing him released?” Eva spat, glowering at the other woman for a long moment before turning her eyes back on Theo. “You’ve got me here, all right? I’m more than willing to negotiate some way to work this out. But you’re threatening to kill my best friend, and that doesn’t sit well with me.” Especially considering how well she knew Theo. He was good at playing people, and she had no assurance that if she agreed, he wouldn’t kill Sam just on principle. “Until I know he’ll be safe, I’m not agreeing to anything.”

Theo’s whole mien soured, and he shook his head at her disgustedly. “You don’t get it. Either of you,” he added with a glance in Louise’s direction. “We have the vantage point. From here, we can get whatever we want out of UGAP.”

Though Eva was afraid she knew what he was thinking, she pretended not to notice the pit in her stomach as she snipped at him sarcastically, “Oh, yes. I’m sure that UGAP will give you anything you want for holding one of their chefs hostage.”

“Oh, they won’t,” Theo concurred with an uncaring shrug, “I’m no fool. I carry no pretences that they’d sacrifice everything for one life.” Eva’s mask of nonchalance fell away when he thumbed the safety and tapped his gun against Sam’s temple. “But you would, wouldn’t you? Especially when it’s the life of someone you care about. And you certainly do care about him, don’t you?”

She hadn’t registered when she’d started crying, but suddenly her face was damp with tears. This couldn’t be happening. She’d thought she’d been free, that she’d been safe--for a short time, she had actually thought she might be happy. But, just as she knew they would be from the moment she’d left them behind, R4 was back to haunt her, coming to take away everything she’d only just discovered she’d been missing. Worse than that, they were going to take away the person who had opened her eyes to it all. They were going to take away the person she loved.

I’m sorry, Sam.

Exhaling in something akin to a stifled sob, Eva lowered her gun and met Theo’s triumphant gaze with desolate eyes. “What do you want from me?”

~~~~

Curled up on the floor, Sam was only partly listening to the conversation going on. Deciding that Eva wasn't going anywhere, and that she wasn't going to sacrifice anything more for R4, he fought against his muddle of thoughts for a workable plan. Hopefully, the disorganised pattern was making it hard for anyone to hear what he was thinking, if they were indeed listening in. It appeared the group was focused on what was being said explicitly.

The sound of the safety clicking off, and the following knocks against his skull, brought him back to his senses. That was when he looked up to see the tears streaming down Eva's face. His heart was thumping against his ribcage, practically trying to leap out of his chest. He wanted to say no, to tell her not to do it. He wanted to go over there, forget about the pain, and just hold her, but he couldn't. Not with the gun to his head, it was too risky.

Sod the risk, Sam. Just do it.

"You're telling me you don't know already? That you haven't been reading my mind?" Theo tapped his own head with a harmless finger, "or are you going to make me say it out loud?"

As quickly as humanly possible, Sam slammed his hands into the gun. He heard it go off, but didn't have time to think before acting again. He smacked Theo's head against the floor and flung Louise off her feet before trying to drag himself up. "Evy, RUN!"

Apparently the conk on the head wasn't enough to stun Theo for long, before Sam could even get one foot underneath him the gun was pressed back against his temple, so harshly it was like Theo was trying to burrow through his skin into his brain. "Not a clever move," he snarled, not amused. "It wasn't supposed to be," Sam growled back, finally noticing the blood trickling down the side of his head, mingling with the tears on his face. The shot from the gun must have grazed him.

He looked up at Eva from his knees, his whole body shaking rhythmically with his heart beat. He couldn't bear this, seeing that expression on her face. He truly believed now that he was going to die, and all without telling Eva that she was one of the best things that ever happened to him.

And that...

He loved her.

~~~~

Just as Eva was about to throw a snippy--albeit lacklustre--retort back at Theo, something happened that chased the words from her mind. Sam attacked him. After that initial move, everything happened so fast that Eva was barely able to keep up. A shot was fired; Louise fell to the ground; Sam cracked Theo’s head against the floor; Sam screamed at her to run. Then, just as quickly as the mayhem had begun, it ended with Theo’s gun pressed to Sam’s temple once more.

The way Sam was looking at her… there was fear in his eyes. Fear and pain. And it was her fault. That Theo and Louise were here was her fault. That Sam had become a target in this was her fault. All of it was her fault. And now she had to find a way she could make it right. “Theo, I’m begging you,” she said, beseeching, “please, just let Sam go. You came here for me, right? Well, I’m right here! If I’m the one you want, then just let him go.”

“This isn’t necessary, Theo,” Louise’s voice cut in before he could respond. “Let the boy go.”

“Unless you want to take his place, I’d shut your trap,” Theo shot back.

Louise sent him a frosty glare, her hand going for the firearm at her waist. “I am hardly intimidated by a dog off its leash, you worthless--” But without even giving her the chance to finish her sentence, Theo pulled his gun away from Sam’s head and sent a shot at her instead. At that same moment, Eva took advantage of his distracted state to fire her own gun. When Louise dropped to the floor, Theo went down with her.

Dead.

Eva’s gun clattering the floor was the only sound in the room after the resounding bangs had settled, and she fell numbly to her knees. Louise Domino and Theo Bheur were dead. It was entirely impossible, utterly unimaginable, completely insane; and the honest-to-God truth. Very slowly, her eyes rose up to meet Sam’s, and she fought back a fresh wave of tears as blue met brown. He was alive, thank heavens, but he never would have been in danger to begin with were it not for her.

Shuffling over to him, Eva carefully put a tentative, shaking hand to his cheek. “Sam… oh, gods, Sam, I’m so sorry.”

~~~~

Everything happened so fast. His stunt sent everything soaring into a fast downward spiral, from Eva's begging, to Theo's threat, to the death of both Theo and Louise. He blinked, frozen to the spot as Theo's body dropped limp and lifeless beside him, the blood from the man's chest splattered all over his shoulder and face. It was hard to tell which was his and which was Theo's now.

Staring at Eva, her gaze met his, and Sam felt his knees begin to shake with a mixture of stress, terror, and strain. She made her way to him, placing her hand somewhat tentatively on his face. His legs gave up, and he fell back so he was sitting on his feet, his whole body quaking from the effort it was taking to hold it together. He reached clumsily towards her, brushing a hand against her waist before finally clutching her hand, the one that had been at his cheek.

"What..." he murmured, unable to finish his sentence. "That..." His mind devoid of proper thoughts, he briefly wondered if this was what shock felt like - for the first time in his life he'd just been through actual trauma, and he wasn't dealing well. He had never been good at difficult situations, not when the adrenaline wasn't flowing.

Clutching a hand to his face, he whimpered with pain, and unable to stop himself, broke down into full blown tears. "That was... horrible..." his chest heaved in and out, "I don't... understand... why..." Why they'd do something like that. But then, Sam hadn't been subject to any of R4's really horrible plans before, he didn't know what it was like to be on the receiving end of one till now. That was the thing about being a chef; you were kept mostly out of the harm’s way, where he liked it.

"I couldn't use my ability, and then the guy kept jamming the gun to my head, and I didn't want you to go, so I tried... and, but, it didn't work, and all I could think was how you couldn't go, and I thought I was going to... to die, without you," he babbled, unable to stop the jumbled words from spilling from his mouth now. Removing the hand from his face, he sniffed before lifting up his head, his swollen eyes looking into hers. He was such a mess.

~~~~

When Sam fell apart, it took all of Eva’s willpower not to fall to pieces with him. He hadn’t deserved any of this. All he’d ever done was been her friend, cared about her, and what had it gotten him? Drugged, beaten, and a brush with death that had shaken him straight to the core. Words ran rampant from his mouth between his heaving sobs, and when he finished Eva’s chest was aching.

“I’m so sorry, Sam,” she murmured brokenly, wrapping her arms around him. “This wasn’t supposed to happen. If I’d known that they’d use you to get to me, I would have done something, found a way to protect you. I’m so sorry…” Breaking off into a chant of, “It’s all right, it’s over now,” she took to running her fingers soothingly through his blood-matted hair and simply holding him close.

She didn’t want to let go. No, she wanted to keep him in her arms until kingdom come. But he was hurt, and she needed to know that he hadn’t suffered anything too serious. Thus she reluctantly pulled away and gently turned his head to the side. The shot she’d heard earlier, during his and Theo’s struggle, seemed to have grazed him, and he showed signs of the abuse he’d received. Beyond that, he was merely terrified.

“I wish I could have… I didn’t want… I’d hoped…” she searched for the words to express how sorry she was, but it wasn’t easy. Bowing her head, she took hold of his hands and wove her fingers through his. “All of this is wrong. They shouldn’t have come here, you shouldn’t have been involved. It’s screwed everything up. I don’t know how they found out I knew you, or how they knew I… and then everything went wrong, and I thought…”

She had to struggle to swallow against the lump rising in her throat. “I… oh Sammy, I thought I was going to lose you.”

~~~~

Sam felt so helpless, falling to pieces like this, and all over Eva for that matter. It was like he was a five year old boy again, and he'd just accidentally fallen off the bungalow roof, knocking the wind out of him. He'd cried so hard that, at the time, he'd thought he wasn't going to stop. Only this time, he'd been tortured and almost killed. He probably deserved to let it out, but he wished that it would just stop, or that it hadn't happened in the first place.

Managing to quell the sobs somewhat, till he was merely hiccoughing, he let Eva check that he hadn't been hurt too badly. He would live, he knew that now, but he was going to hurt for a long while. The fact that he'd been sobbing didn't help the pain in his ribs and stomach at all. For all he knew, he looked like a human punching bag right now.

"Don't... keep apologising," he managed to tell her, his nose stuffy and his throat clogged from the crying. "It wasn't... your fault." It wasn't, it really wasn't. It wasn't like she was the one who dragged him here and beat him up, threatened his life, and shot someone in cold blood. Well, apart from the last part, but when it came to necessity, Theo had to die for this trauma to end. He wouldn't hold it against her.

Somehow, he managed to unhook a hand from hers and reached up to brush a hair shakily behind her ear. Stroking the ear from the top to the lobe, he said, "I wouldn't be alive if it weren't for you," he said, as calmly as he could muster, which wasn't very believable right now, "I'd be there," his voice got caught in his throat as he nodded awkwardly towards Theo's dead body, "and I never would have seen you again. Which was... a thought I couldn't bear."

Sam broke off into a rasping cough, pulling away somewhat as he felt like he was hocking up his lungs. He rubbed his chest, screwing up his face in pain. God, it hurt like nothing he'd ever experienced before. "Let's," he choked, "get out of here." If nothing else, he wanted to get as far away from the dead bodies as possible. Those faces would be scarred into his mind for the rest of his life.

~~~~

“It wasn’t... your fault.”

How? Eva wanted to ask, how isn’t this my fault? He’d been kidnapped to lure her out. Beaten to get the point across to her. Threatened so that she’d co-operate. And yet, here he was, telling her not to blame herself. In fact, he was actually thanking her. Sure, she’d set out to save him, but if it hadn’t been for her he wouldn’t have needed saving in the first place. Surely that fact wasn’t lost on him? Oh, let it go. You can argue about it later, if you must.

“Agreed,” she said, nodding when Sam suggested they leave. “Can you stand? Here…” Pulling his arm around her neck, she carefully wrapped her own arm around his waist and helped him to his feet. She didn’t bother retrieving her gun--she was too busy trying to ignore the blood everywhere. Theo’s blood, Louise’s blood, Sam’s blood, it didn’t matter. All of it was making her stomach churn. The sooner they got back the Venia, the sooner they could have this messed cleaned up, and then she’d feel at least a little better.

She couldn’t believe that this had actually happened. Her mind kept pushing it back, repelling it, too shocked to accept the facts even though they were staring straight at her. In only half-hearted amusement, she wondered if she’d need therapy when it finally soaked in. On a more concerned note, she wondered if Sam would. Unlike her, he hadn’t been in all that many life-threatening situations before, and she wasn’t entirely sure how deeply this would rattle him. All she could do was hope that he’d make it out all right.

What felt like only a few seconds later they hobbled into the med bay, and after settling Sam down on one of the cots Eva glanced around in search of one of the medical officers. “Hello? We need some help out here.”

~~~~

There wasn't anything particularly wrong with his legs, but he didn't begrudge the help anyway, the pain elsewhere was enough to make him unsteady on his feet; it hurt to move. His mind mostly focused on putting one foot in front of the other and forcing the tears to dry up now he was going where people could see him. They'd have a lot of explaining to do later, that was for sure.

Easing onto the cot, Sam kept his body tense, not wanting to accidentally cause himself any more pain. At Eva's call, Darcy poked her head out of the office, where she had been safe from and oblivious to the commotion on board, and immediately raised her eyebrows when she saw the state that Sam was in. Striding over, she said, "what happened?" looking at Eva for an explanation as she gently handled Sam's face, checking over what visible injuries he had. Judging by his gait, his ribs were at least bruised too.

The first thing she did was key Sam into the scanner so that it would give her a full break down of all his vitals including a bio scan, then gave him some painkillers, anything to ease that look on his face - not that you could see much for the blood. "It looks like you went ten rounds with a brick wall," she told him, thankful that no ribs were broken, so she could set about stitching that gash on his forehead.

"That's one way of putting it," Sam mumbled, flinching when Darcy injected the painkillers into his arm. Within minutes, he felt woozy, he was barely able to stay awake the whole time Darcy was fixing up his head. "Stay with me, Sam, just a couple more minutes, then you can sleep, okay?" He looked about ready to drop. "Eva, keep him awake while I go get something to clean the blood." She scooted off round the corner, looking for antiseptic wash.

"Eva," Sam murmured, reaching out to hold onto her now Darcy wasn't propping him up, his mind was swimming, dizzy with blurred thoughts while he tried to stay conscious, "I wanted to tell you... back there when I thought... I thought I wasn't going to be able to tell you... I..." he could feel himself slipping, the drugs taking over, "I l-love you."

~~~~

“It’s… kind of a long story,” Eva replied to Darcy’s query, running a hand over her face and stepping back so as to keep out of the way. “The watered down version is that a couple of R4 members found him.” Yeah, the really watered down version. It wasn’t that she didn’t trust Darcy, she was a good woman, but she didn’t want to distract her by relaying every intricate detail. Sam needed her full attention right now. Besides, the Captain would doubtlessly want this explained as well, and it would be easier on her to only have to relive it once.

Suppressing her anxiety, Eva leaned against the opposite wall and watched as Darcy worked her magic. From what she could deduce from the doctor’s thoughts, it appeared as though most of Sam’s injuries wouldn’t have any long-lasting damage. The wound to his head would need stitches, but other than that, all he would need was a little R&R and then he’d be up and around again in no time. Eva just about melted to the floor in relief.

At Darcy’s words, she unhitched herself from the wall and was by Sam’s side in an instant, doing her best to keep him steady as the drugs attempted to drag him under. “I’m right here,” she murmured. Though he was obviously struggling to do so much as keep his eyes open, Sam was clearly determined to say whatever it was that was on his mind. Eva was just about to tell him to forget about it until he was properly conscious when he managed to get out the last three words. Three words--that was all it took, and her whole world lurched on its axis.

There was no hiding from the fact that she loved him, too. She had for a long time now. To admit it out loud, though… that would finalize Sam’s possession of her heart, and there’d be no taking it back. That thought scared her. But isn’t that was love is? Knowing what you can lose, and risking it anyway? Today had brought everything into sharp perspective for her. Now that she knew what could be lost, she also knew that she’d do anything to ensure that it wasn’t. And so, in spite of the drying blood there, Eva gave Sam’s cheek a quick kiss and whispered the words they both needed to hear.

“I love you, too.”[/blockquote]