Title: Cross My Heart

Author: Alan Hitchen

Email: darkmere2000@yahoo.co.uk

Disclaimer: Popular is the property of Touchstone Television

Pairing: Sam/Brooke

Rating: R (angsty again!)

Summary: Just another quiet night in for the happy couple.

"How long has it been now?" Brooke asked, placing a glass tumbler next to the brunette hunched over her laptop.

"How long?" Sam replied absent-mindedly as she finished typing the final sentence of her script.

"Yes, how long have we been together?" the willowy blonde repeated.

Sam looked up at her girlfriend and grinned. "Well, according to your Snoopy calendar, I make it seven years, four months and three days."

"Seven years," Brooke echoed, "doesn't time fly when you're having fun?"

"Yeah," Sam agreed, taking a swig from the glass and grimacing slightly at the unaccustomed salty bitterness of the drink, "it's been fun."

"Well, for you anyway," Brooke replied with pursed lips and a sharp undertone.

"Whaddya mean, baby?" Sam asked with questioning eyebrows raised. "We're happy, aren't we?"

"If ignorance is bliss, then yes, I've been happy with you. But to go back to my original question: How long has it been since you started cheating on me?"

"Oh God, not the Lily thing again!" Sam exclaimed in surprise. "That was years ago. And it was a mistake. I was just comforting her after the break-up with Carmen, nothing happened beyond a drunken kiss. Anyway, isn't she saving lemurs in Borneo or something?"

"Did I say it was Lily?" Brooke responded cooly. She moved to the entertainment centre and pulled a Minidisc from the rack. "And, FYI, she's saving the lemurs in Madagascar."

"See, she's not even in the country."

"No, but Tori Miller is."

"Oh," Sam responded, shifting uncomfortably on her seat and taking another shot of her drink. "What's Tori got to do with this?"

"Everything!" Brooke snapped.

"Look, B, all that flirting we do is just for the cameras, it's good for the ratings. Besides, you know she's got a girlfriend."

"Had a girlfriend," Brooke corrected. "I bumped into Taryn the other day. She told me Tori was seeing someone else now, someone she works with. How stupid do you think I am, Sam? You've been screwing her in our bed and you didn't even bother to clean up properly afterwards."

She produced a plastic envelope containing the tell-tale evidence. "Which one of is a redhead?" Sam didn't reply. "Not enough? Okay, what about this?" Brooke put the Minidisc she was carrying into the machine and pressed play. "I put a sound activated recorder in the bedroom," she explained. "Oooh! That's so good... faster... more... harder... yes, oh yes! Nearly there... ahhh... I'm coming Tori. I'm coming... Toriiii!!" The angry blonde shut off the player in disgust. "Still say nothing's going on?" she challenged.

Sam hung her head in shame. "Okay, I'm busted," she confessed, "we've been seeing each other for the past three months."

"Do you love her?" Brooke forced out through gritted teeth.

Sam's head hung even lower. "Yes," she said almost inaudibly.

Brooke's hurt silence spoke far louder than words. "She loves you?" she asked at last.

"I don't know," came the agonised reply.

Shrill laughter greeted this statement. "Oh, I see, that's why you're still here. You're good enough to fuck, but not to commit to. Do you know why that is, Sammy? No? Taryn told me. The person she said Tori was now with, the one she works with, wasn't you. It's your boss, Sam. She's screwing your boss and she's screwing you, in more ways than one it would seem."

Sam looked up at Brooke in complete surprise, her mouth flapping open as she searched for something to say. "You're lying," was her eventual response.

"And you're pathetic," Brooke shot back with venom. "I forgave you for Lily, as you said, that was a mistake, but this is unforgivable." She grabbed her purse and headed for the door. I'm leaving. I'm going to help Lily save the lemurs. I'll be gone for three months, when I return I expect you to be gone."

"But..." Sam began to plead, but she couldn't think of anything to say.

"But nothing, Sam, we're finished." Brooke opened the door, then hesitated and turned back to Sam. "By the way, did you like the drink?"

"No, it tasted kind of funny," Sam replied without thinking.

"It would, I used a different mixer," Brooke informed her with a satisfied smile. "You pissed on me, now I've pissed on you. Goodbye!"

And with that parting shot she slammed the door behind her. Sam looked at her empty glass and shuddered.