February-

"I'm counting on you to get me more employees. Before you know it, spring will be here and business will be back in full swing." Sam says to the manager.

"Yes sir. We have a few new applications. I'll start looking through them and giving people calls back."

"Great tony, thanks." Sam says as he unloads more boxes from the delivery truck.

"Sam, I think your lady is here." Tony says as he sees Jessica walking up to the truck.

"She May be looking for me, send her over!" Sam smiles

A few minutes later Jessica reaches Sam.

"Hey honey, it's Sunday, what are you doing out here working?" Jessica says as she begins to help him unload.

" Trying to stalk up the market." He says in a funny tone

"Look at my big business man working hard." Jessica smirks

Sam rolls his eyes and kisses her hello.

"It's just been very busy here. Getting ready for spring."

"Well, I hope you know that spring in Minnesota doesn't start until May." Jessica giggles

"Head start, baby."

"Alright... I would help but we are going to my moms for brunch. I'm guessing you're going to call a rain check?"

"I'm sorry. I have to unload all this." He sighs as he stops unloading the truck

"That's fine, I understand love. I'll bring you home some treats." Jessica says kissing him goodbye.

"I love you" He smiles

"I love you too. Be safe out here, it's freezing!"

"I'll be fine. It's just going to be me today. Tony just left." He says pointing to the car pulling out of the parking lot.

"Okay, I'll be home soon!" Jessica says waving goodbye.

Jessica went back to the house and drove over to Dorthy's with Olivia. Sam continued to unload the truck for a bit.

//-//

"Sam said he's sorry he couldn't make it. He's just been very busy with work and the farm." Jessica says

"It's alright, I understand. Luckily he's right across the street, so if he finishes he can head over!" Dorthy says happily

"I hope he does. Poor guy, I think he's stressed."

"Just let the season pass and he'll be fine again. Winter isn't his favorite season, especially in his line of work." Albert says giving Jessica a hug

Jessica smiles then turns to her sisters.

"So Jessie, wedding plans yet?" Ann asks

"No, not yet! Besides, there won't be a whole lot of planning when the time comes anyways. It's going to be simple."

"Simple, simple, simple! That's all we ever hear. Come on, loosen up and go crazy!" Jane exclaims

"Aunt Jane, you could pay her a million dollars and she'd still say simple." Olivia says

Jessica rolls her eyes "At my age, having a big fancy wedding isn't ideal. Especially when I still have college tuitions that will need to be paid." Jessica jokes

"Your wedding with Danny wasn't too simple. Maybe go that route." Ann says

Jessica clears her throat and shakes her head.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to bring him up..." Ann says nervously

"No, you're fine. I don't mind. Yeah Danny and i's wedding wasn't huge or small.... but I don't want my wedding with Sam to be the same. If that makes sense. I don't want to be overwhelmed with guest and impressing everyone. I was overwhelmed on my wedding day." Jessica sighs

"Well you did have a little baby too." Dorthy adds

"Speaking of my baby, his birthday is coming up!" Jessica smiles quickly drifting away from the wedding conversation

"It will be his first birthday away from home." Dorthy sighs

"I miss him everyday. But, he's doing good." Jessica smiles

//-//

Later that night-

"We brought you home some dishes!" Jessica says as she walks into the house.

Olivia follows after her and carries in some more food.

"Sam?" Jessica says looking around

Usually he greeted her at the door, but she didn't hear a peep.

"Is he here?"

"Yeah, I think so." Jessica sets down the dishes and walks around the house until she finds him passed out on the couch.

"Poor thing, he must be tired." Jessica says leaning down and kissing him

"Well, if sam's asleep and we aren't doing anything can I go over Cody's?"

Jessica crosses her arms and sighs. "Not today, it's a Sunday. You can go a day without seeing him."

Olivia groans "Fine."

"Go finish your homework, okay?" Jessica says

"Fine" She says running up the stairs

Once she gets to her room and closes the door Jessica sits and the edge of the couch and strokes her fingers through Sam's hair.

With Jessica's touch, he slowly begins to toss.

He opens his eyes and yawns. When he sees Jessica his eyes light up.

"Hi baby." He says sitting up and putting his arms around her hips.

"Hello, mister sleepy head." She giggles

"What time is it? I was working then I got cold so I came in. I was going to drive across to your moms but I must have been really tired." He chuckles

Jessica puts her hand on his cheek and smiles. "It's okay... want to rest some more?"

"No, I think im okay. How was brunch?"
He says

"It was fine. We brought you home some food. Nothing big though, little portions."

"For dinner, want to get take out?" He asks

Jessica laughs and shrugs her shoulders. "Why not?"

//-//

"Okay the food is ready so I'm going to head down to Palermo's to snag the pizza. Anything else while I'm out my love?"

"Maybe a case of water from Giant if you don't mind?" She smiles

"I'm on it! Be back as soon as possible!" He chuckles

//-//

SAM's POV-

Sam drives over to the pizza place then back to the grocery store.

As he's walking down the aisle a few people stop to say hello, one was a co-worker of his.

"Hey Mr. Shepard! It's great to see you!"

"You too Mike, how's it going?" He says throwing the case of water into his buggie.

"Great. Will I see you tomorrow at work?"

"Of course you will."

Then mike got a bit side tracked, he waved to someone behind Sam.

"Hey, Danny!
I'm telling you, I've seen everyone today." He chuckles

Out of curiosity Sam turns around. Immediately he wishes he never did. It was Danny, Jessica's Danny. His heart began to race as he walked up to mike.

"This is my PT, Danny Huston. He's a great guy. This is Sam." Mike says to Danny and Sam

Sam quickly noticed that Danny was a bit out of it.

"He knows me Mike, he's engaged to my ex."

Mike clears his throat and quickly becomes uncomfortable from the tension.

"Oh, Jessica?"

"Yes" Danny snaps

"Listen, it was nice seeing you, but I have to get home. Take care Danny. You too mike." Sam says quickly walking away.

Sam just tried to carry on and not think about it. Danny always gave him such a bad vibe.

He checked out, grabbed the case of water and walked back to his truck. It was pitch black outside and he was one of the only cars in the parking lot. As he heads to the truck he hears someone behind him. He turns around to see Danny, following. He waves then turns back to his car.

"Don't mind me." Danny yells

Sam ignores him. When he reaches his car he opens the door and throws the water in, but soon enough the door closes right on Sam's hand. Danny had closed it quickly.

The amount of pain that shot through Sam's body was unbearable.

"FUCK!" Sam shouts trying to go after Danny

Danny stands there in rage. Sam opens the door with his other hand and sees that his right hand is completely damaged.

"You stole everything from me." Danny says pushing Sam to the ground.

He was in too much pain to try to get away from Danny. He knew what was coming wouldn't be pretty. But he wasn't going to try to fight back.

"Get away from me you bastard." Sam says trying to shield his head with his good hand.

Then Danny strikes him in the side with his foot.

"You ruined my life! You stole my wife, my children! Do you know what that does to a man? How that feels?" Danny screams

Sam tries to sit up. His mouth and hand were bleeding terribly.

Before Sam could make a move Danny swings another punch, a much harder one. Then, second by second they keep coming. He couldn't stop. The rage that overcame Danny was unbelievable. Sam by this time was too weak to do a single thing. He just laid there on the ground as he was beaten.

Enough and been enough. After a minute or so Sam couldn't take it anymore. Barely being able to see, he got his foot and began kicking. Finally, he had kicked Danny just enough to get him off.

"This is what you get. This is how it feels. The pain you feel is what I've felt... I hope you like it." Danny says spitting on him.

Sam tries to speak. When he does, everything comes out soft and breathless.

"You- you ruined your life." Sam says with everything he has

Danny kicks him one last time on the side and runs off. Sam just lays there and cries in pain. His whole face was beaten up. But his hand hurt the most. He couldn't see his skin. It was obviously broken, in multiple places. Sadly, he was too weak to move. He just hoped soon someone would find him.

//-//

"It's almost ten! Where is he?" Jessica says trying to dial his phone again.

"I bet he's caught in traffic."

"Traffic in Minnesota on a Sunday night? No, sweetie." Jessica shakes her head and chuckles

"I'm starved, he better get here soon!"

//-//

Sam's POV-

10:30-

"It's okay, Sam, I'll go to the house and get Jessica. It will be okay. Just try to hang in there alright." Mike says as he follows the paramedics to the ambulance

Sam hissed in pain.

"Sir, do you know who did this to you? A name by chance?" A paramedic says as the cops stand by the doors of the ambulance.

Sam pauses for a moment. Immediately he was going to say Danny Huston. But he didn't.

"I don't know."

"Where you able to get a description?" The officer asks

Sam shakes his head. "No, I didn't see him."
He whispers

"We need to get him to the hospital now to save this hand. It's incredibly dismembered." The head medic says

"Save all questions for later." Another medic says closing the ambulance doors

As Sam quickly slides into a daze he hears a paramedic say - "whoever did this to him could he put away from a long ass time."

//-//