6 comments/ 26650 views/ 30 favorites 1. Racing From Love Ch. 07-09 By: inspirixis1 CHAPTER SEVEN Sam couldn't believe what an asshole he was. After calming down enough to drive he'd gotten back in his car and driven back to LA, thank god he hadn't had to face his parents. He had no interest in going back to Hortencia, but that situation took care of itself. He'd started drinking at night to escape the memory of that day and she quickly caught on that he was a sinking ship and bailed on him. He was barely managing to show up to half of his summer classes. His swimming had gone to shit. All he could think of was Brian fucking Emma and it was driving him crazy. He could see them in all sorts of places in all sorts of positions. Him ramming his big black cock into her, and her panting and moaning out his name. When he woke up it was the first thing he thought about, when he was swimming he saw them fucking, when he was in class he saw them fucking, when he was eating he saw them fucking, the only way to escape it was by getting drunk. He took to dialing her number from public phones and hanging up when she answered, then she changed her number. It was an awful summer. Somehow he managed to pass his classes and summer turned into fall. He hadn't spoken to her since the incident at the house. It had been 4 months. He hated himself. One Sunday night he was woken by his phone ringing. It was 11 pm and his head was spinning. It was his dad, Emma was missing. He sat up in bed, suddenly sober. She had gone to the Sierras that weekend to trail run and camp but she hadn't come back. Search and rescue had found her car at a trailhead but it was too dark out to start looking for her. Sam knew the trailhead, they'd backpacked out of there a couple of times when they were younger. He knew where she was headed. Damn her! He rifled through his closet looking for his camping stuff, found a heat sheet, water purifier, headlamp and first aid kit and stuffed them in a camelpack backpack. He threw his running shoes and some clean clothes in a bag, flipped through the folder of maps he kept in his bookshelves until he found the right one, and grabbed some granola bars from the kitchen on his way out. He was in the car in less than 5 minutes and at the trailhead by 3:30 am. He had driven insanely fast, he didn't want to think about the kind of danger he'd put himself and the other motorists in. He'd only stopped once, when he'd realized that he needed a walkie talkie, luckily the gas station had a hunting section where he found one. The whole way all he could think about was Emma hurt out in the wilderness. A knot of nervousness twisted in his gut and made him feel nauseous. What if she had died? He couldn't let himself even consider that, even though he knew it was a possibility. People die up in the mountains all the time. He saw her old beat up Subaru at the trailhead and knew that he was in the right place. He put on his running shoes and threw the camelpack on. He wrote a note and stuck it under the windshield wiper with the coordinates of where he was going, stuffed a couple of the granola bars down his throat and washed them down with an entire bottle of Gatorade that he'd picked up from the gas station. Shit, this was going to hurt. He wasn't in very good shape and hadn't been up in the mountains in ages, the altitude was going to be tough. It was cold, he hoped that she wasn't without shelter or proper gear, she'd probably be hypothermic if she was. That thought sent a ripple of nausea through his body. He was scared, the fear in his gut threw waves of panic over his body and made him feel weak. He had to keep telling himself to calm down. He wanted to find her, but at the same time dreaded what he would find. He'd never be able to forgive himself if she was dead. There was a half a moon so he opted to leave the headlamp behind, the sun would come up soon anyway. He started jogging, hoping he knew the way that she'd gone. She told him once before that she'd been back to the little lake with the cave on one of her runs because she didn't have to worry if it started raining in the night, of course she didn't carry a tent when she did her overnight trail runs. He just hoped that she went the same way that they'd gone when he'd been with her. He paced himself, resisting the urge to run too fast, knowing that he might have anywhere up to thirteen miles to cover. He could feel his heart beating in his throat. Fear pumped through his veins and he could hardly feel his legs. He called out her name every couple of minutes not really expecting to hear anything for the first ten miles, where there was an established trail. It was a remote location but it was a well used trail, hikers would have found her if she'd hurt herself on the trail. She must have fallen on the hike down to the lake, it was steep and unstable in parts. The trail was steep and rocky and his legs soon tired, but he forced himself on in desperation. His lungs were burnt from exertion, each breath its own painful dagger, and yet he pushed himself on, driven by the hope that she might be around the next turn, or over the next hill. Finally he arrived at the place where she would have turned off to go down to the lake. He stopped and tried to catch his breath, the fire in his lungs causing him to cough in fits. His legs were aching and his stomach was filled with bile. He forced himself to focus, examining the ground for a few hundred meters. The sky was a faint blue-grey in anticipation of the sunrise, it had taken him 2 hours to get there. Finally he saw it, footsteps where she'd left the trail. She was so light she didn't leave much of an impression in the sandy soil, but it was enough for him. His heart picked up, she had to be close now. He followed her footsteps for as long as he could but they were light and he wasn't skilled at tracking. He'd just have to take the most logical way he could see and hope that was the way Emma had gone. He picked his way through the woods, calling her name continuously, stopping every couple of hundred yards to listen for her. Nothing so far. He was getting close to the lake. God he hoped she was down in the cave, it would have retained some of her warmth and kept the wind down. He jogged the last couple of hundred yards to the lake. It was beautiful down there, there sun was just rising and the big sugar pines and craggy peaks of the sierras were reflected perfectly on the surface. He called out her name, it echoed slightly and some birds took off in fright. No response. Please let her be in the cave, he thought. He ran around the little lake to where he could see the waterfall, he knew the cave was back there somewhere. It didn't take him long to see it, and thank god, there she was. She wasn't moving. Please let her be alive, he thought as he approached her. She was balled up in the fetal position with her arms and legs inside the down vest that she was wearing. He recognized it, it was his old one from high school. He leaned over and touched her neck, 'Em?' He felt her pulse, thank god she was alive. He didn't know what was wrong with her but she didn't look good. Her face was pale and her curly hair was matted with dirt and leaves. Her skin felt cold and clammy and there was a thin line of crusty salt at her hair line. 'Emma, wake up,' he tried to roll her over on her back and she opened her eyes and cried out in pain. Her eyes were blood shot. He didn't know how he was hurting her. She started shaking, it could be from pain or the cold, he wasn't sure. 'Emma, where does it hurt? Tell me where it hurts,' he begged. She wasn't coherent, she couldn't get any words out. He put his hand on her forehead, she was burning up. He undid the vest and could see what he hoped the major problem was. She'd broken her left leg. It was a compound fracture of the tibia or fibula, he couldn't tell which. It had broken so badly that it punctured the skin. She had tried to splint it. She must have fallen hard to break it this bad, he wondered if anything else was broken. 'S...ss..ss..Sam,' she was stuttering his name. 'Don't worry Em, I'm here, I'll take care of you,' he tried to soothe her even as his own heart was pounding in his chest. He scanned the rest of her body looking for other injuries. Her left arm was tucked under her shirt. He carefully lifted up her shirt and saw that she'd shoved her forearm under her bra so that her hand was resting on her chest. Shit, she must have broken it, too. He gently felt from her forearm up her biceps and to her shoulder where she let out a wimper. It must be her collar bone. God, she was so tiny. Was it just him or did she look emaciated? Emma had always been lean, but not skinny like this. There was no way he could carry her out of here, her injuries were too severe for that to be an option. For all he knew she might have internal organ injuries too. He was scared but he knew he had to stay calm. He covered her with the heat sheet and tried to make her drink some water, it mostly ran from the sides of her mouth. Her lips were cracked and there was dried blood on them. 'Emma, I'm going to go call search and rescue and see if we can get a helicopter over here.' He was pacing his words to keep the panic from his voice. He didn't see any sign that she had registered what he had said, she was looking at him but her eyes were glazed over. He left the cave, turned the radio to the emergency channel, and called in to search and rescue. He gave them their coordinates and asked for a helicopter. After a brief pause they confirmed the coordinates and told him that the extraction could only be done over the water at that location. 'Do you have a stretcher that can float?' he asked. 'Affirmative' 'Okay, what's your ETA?' '12 minutes.' 'Okay, see you in 12 minutes.' He was relieved but he knew the worst was yet to come. Moving Emma was not going to be pretty, it was going to be excruciatingly painful for her. Back in the cave he took out the first aid kit and went to work stabilizing the injuries that he could see. Emma whimpered quietly. He felt sick to his stomach knowing that she had been waiting for him in such pain for so long. He could see streaks of dried blood and dirt on the rocks from where she must have dragged herself into the cave. When he had done all he could to stabilize her leg and collar bone he poured some water on a piece of gauze and washed her face. She was passing in and out of semi-consciousness, one second she seemed to focus on him and then the next she was out of it. Finally Sam heard the helicopter. He took off his shoes and socks and picked Emma up as carefully as he could, cradling her right side to his body so as to avoid her broken bones. She was so light, she couldn't have weighed more than 80 pounds. She was moaning from the pain. When Sam emerged from the cave the helicopter was already hovering over the lake, the pilot saw him and started to lower the stretcher. Once the stretcher was resting on the surface of the lake Sam started walking into the water towards it. The water was cold but luckily the bottom was sandy so it was relatively easy to keep his balance. The turbulence from the helicopter blades beat down on them and Emma shrank into his chest, he could feel her sobbing against him. The water was creeping up around his ribcage and he lifted his arms to try and hold her out of the water. He gently set her on the stretcher and strapped her in. She was crying and babbling his name over and over again. He leaned in beside her ear, 'I love you Emma. I'll see you at the hospital.' He was sure that she didn't understand what was happening, she was looking at him, but she was babbling as if her brain wasn't working properly. He stepped away from the stretcher and gave the pilot the thumbs up. He watched as the stretcher slowly ascended into the helicopter and the EMT inside pulled her inside, safe. The pilot waved, Sam waved back, and they were gone. Sam walked back out of the lake and sat down on the bank, exhausted. He started crying, big sobs that wracked his chest. He knew that he had done everything he could but he felt somehow responsible for what had happened to her. He sat there like that until he became aware that he was thirsty. He pulled himself together, there was only one way out of here for him, he was going to have to walk out, and the sooner the better. He went back up to the cave and put his shoes and socks back on, stuffed the first aid kit and heat sheet back in his camelpack and threw it on his back. He downed the rest of his water and used the purifier to sterilize some more of the lake water. He walked the 3 miles up to the trail. He looked for the place where Emma had fallen along the way, but couldn't find anything. Once he was up at the trail he started jogging. He was really tired, he wasn't used to running like this. It took him 4 hours to walk and jog out of the wilderness. His legs were heavy and his feet ached with blisters. He'd met some of the search and rescue volunteers along the way but all they could offer him was food and water, they were in a designated wilderness area, and there were no wheels allowed. When he emerged at the trailhead his dad was waiting for him. Sam was relieved that he wouldn't have to drive. His dad hugged him for a long time, he had tears in his eyes. Sam wanted to sleep on the drive to Sacramento, where Emma had been airlifted, but he had to know what was wrong with her. 'Why is she so thin?' he asked his dad. His dad shifted uncomfortably, 'Sam, Emma's had a really tough time lately, she's been struggling with depression and anxiety. She's had problems eating.' Sam let his head fall back onto the head rest and closed his eyes, 'Why didn't you tell me?' 'She asked us not to.' He couldn't help it, he started crying again, big fat tears leaked out of his eyes and ran down his face, streaking through the dirt and crusted sweat. His heart was so heavy. He turned his head away from his dad. 'Son, she didn't want to worry you, she knows you have problems of your own.' Sam just nodded. He felt terrible, he was pretty sure he had something to do with Emma's depression. God he'd been such an ass, how could he have excommunicated her like that with no explanation. And then the incident at the house at the beginning of the summer, what had he been thinking? He'd spent the past year feeling sorry for himself without stopping to think what he might be doing to Emma. She might die. She might die and he would never be able to apologize to her, to make it up to her. She was burning up with a fever when she'd been lifted from the lake, her dying was a real possibility. He was so exhausted but he couldn't sleep. He watched blankly as the pine trees turned to oak and madrone and then the rolling golden brown hills gave way to the flats of the Central Valley. Finally they made it to the hospital and found his mom in the waiting room. Emma was being prepped for surgery, they'd gotten her fever under control and rehydrated her. She had a shattered fibula, fractured tibia, 3 cracked ribs and a broken collar bone, but amazingly all of her internal organs were fine. She was going to be okay. Sam was relieved beyond belief, finally his exhaustion took over him. He had to sleep, his dad checked him into a motel nearby and he fell into a long deep sleep. CHAPTER EIGHT Emma had just been given the bad news. She would be in a cast for six weeks and remain on crutches for at least four more weeks after that. No running for at least four or five months. Because she had also fractured her collarbone she wouldn't be able to use crutches for at least four weeks, so she'd be in a wheelchair for the next month. To top it all off she wouldn't be able to take her anti depressants while she remained on the pain killers for the next couple of weeks. To say she was feeling low would have been the understatement of the year. She'd seen her family that morning. Sam had stood quietly beside the bed hardly looking at her the entire time. Her mom had explained how he had driven from LA in the middle of the night and run the whole way out to the lake in the dark to find her. She felt like such a dick. She knew Sam didn't want to be here, he wanted to be back in LA in his own life, with his girlfriend. She couldn't believe how dumb she'd been to go on that run by herself, and she felt guilty for dragging him up there to rescue her. When she saw him again she would tell him to go back to school, back to his life. She didn't have to wait long, that afternoon he came in to see her, she was surprised that he didn't have their parents with him. 'Where are mom and dad?' 'They're at the hotel, I wanted to talk to you alone,' he was speaking quietly. She knew what he was about to say so she made it easy for him, 'I know Sam, don't worry about it, you should go back to LA now, I understand,' she was sitting up in the bed looking down into her lap. He sat on the bed. 'No Emma, I want to stay here and help you to get better.' She looked up, surprised. 'Why?' His brow was wrinkled, his blue eyes filled with regret. 'Emma, I... well I'm sorry for being such an ass lately.' She was silent, not knowing how to respond. 'I don't know what my problem was. I've been confused. Let me make it up to you, let me take care of you.' His eyes were begging her. Emma was confused, she hadn't been expecting this. Of course she wanted him to stay, but she was afraid, what if he rejected her again after she got used to him being around. 'I don't know Sam, don't you want to get back to your life in LA?' 'There's nothing for me down there Em, nothing more important than you.' She scanned his face for some hint of sarcasm, but found none. There were purple rings under his eyes and he sat perfectly still waiting for her to say something. He was wearing clothes but Emma had the distinct impression that he was naked. 'What about school and swimming, and your girlfriend?' she asked. 'I can take some classes remotely and just go down for the exams. I'm sure I can work something out with my coach for swimming, and I don't have a girlfriend, I haven't for a while.' His head dropped when he made that last comment. Emma's mood improved dramatically with that revelation, but she was still wary. She wanted to say yes but she also wanted to protect herself from him, she knew he could crush her heart so easily. 'Sam, can I ask, why the sudden change in heart? I mean, I thought you hated me.' That comment hit him hard. He wasn't sure how much he should tell her, if she was depressed and he told her that he was in love with her it might just make things worse. Right now what she needed was a steady dependable brother. 'I've never hated you, I was just being selfish. I wanted to make my own way in life and I thought that it would be best if I were on my own. I'm sorry Em, I never thought about how it must have seemed from your point of view.' He was ashamed of himself, he'd been such a selfish asshole. He knew that he would do whatever it took to make it up to her. If it meant driving her to dates with Brian he knew that he would do it. He'd do anything for Emma. 'When I thought I might lose you I realized that I have to have you in my life Emma, let me stay and take care of you,' he begged. There was a pause. 'Okay,' she seemed tentative. 'Okay?' he was hopeful. She nodded, 'Okay'. Sam was happier than he had been in a long time, he felt optimistic. He would win her over eventually. He needed to regain her trust, help her to become healthy again, and then he would tell her. They'd taken her home from the hospital the day after she had agreed to let him stay. His parents seemed to be happy enough about him staying and went back to their jobs without too much bother. That was the good thing about have two career professionals for parents, they pretty much stayed out of your business. 1. Racing From Love Ch. 07-09 Her friends had been stopping in all day with flowers and balloons. The whole track team had cycled through, women and men, and some other people that he assumed she must have knows through work. Sam watched the guys with interest, but there didn't seem to be anyone who was more than just a friend. It was late in the afternoon when Brian showed up. He had a bunch of sunflowers and was holding a bound manuscript of some sort. Sam had been dreading this, but he controlled himself, he knew he would have to get used to it. He let Brian in and shook his hand as he introduced himself. 'She's up in her room,' Sam said. Brian looked unsure. 'Ahh, where's that?' Sam was surprised that he didn't know the way. 'Aren't you her boyfriend?' 'Ha, I wish! Not that I didn't try, she let me kiss her once. Once! Nah man, she's too busy for a boyfriend.' Sam's heart leapt, so Emma didn't have a boyfriend. After Brian had visited and left Sam went up to her room, she was reading whatever it was Brian had given her. 'What's that?' he asked. 'Oh, Brian writes these screenplays in his free time, he's sure that an agent is going to pick him up and he's going to make his fortune as a screen writer. This one is actually pretty good so far.' 'Can I see?' She handed him the manuscript. 'The Security Team,' he read the title. 'Yeah, it's a cops and robbers action script. It's his specialty, he's a campus cop.' Sam sat beside her on the bed. 'Em, I'm sorry I flipped out when I saw you with him last spring.' Emma looked down into her lap. 'It's okay Sam.' She was silent for a second, then she looked up at him and said in a quiet voice, 'I didn't sleep with him, I've never, well... you know, with anyone.' Sam felt ashamed of himself, 'You don't have to tell me, it's none of my business. You can date whoever you like.' 'Sam?' She was still speaking quietly. 'Yes?' 'I knew you would come and get me.' Her deep brown eyes were locked with his, 'I wasn't afraid because I knew you would find me.' Sam's heart soared, he took her hand in his and squeezed it gently. 'Of course Emma. Of course.' CHAPTER NINE The first couple of weeks it was pretty easy for Sam to control himself, seeing someone you love in so much pain is not a turn on, and Emma was so painfully thin that he was afraid she would shatter every time he touched her. She was pretty much incapacitated, needing help with everything, including the most personal tasks like going to the bathroom. At first she even had difficulty pulling her underwear up after she'd been to the toilet, doing everything with one hand was difficult for her. Sam tried not to intrude, he would hold up her little body, being careful to avoid her broken ribs and collar bone and stand very still looking at the wall behind her while she fumbled with her underwear. She was restless and always wanting to go out. She wanted to go to the pool to watch him swim, up to campus to watch her team practice, down to the bay to breathe in the salty air. After about two weeks she wanted to go back to her classes. Sam obliged every request. He'd pack her wheel chair in the car, open the passenger side door and run back upstairs to carry her out in his arms. He loved carrying her, the feeling of her body pressed up against his chest with her good arm wrapped around his neck was the best thing he'd felt in a long time. She was in pain, that was obvious, but she seemed happy. Emma was happy. How strange it was that at the time in her life that she had every right to feel depressed and down in the dumps, she actually felt great. Well, not great physically, but mentally she felt great and that was a new feeling for her. After she finished with the heavy duty pain killers she had decided not to go back on her anti-depressants, she didn't think she needed them, and for the first time in ages she could actually eat without felling sick to the stomach. She was so glad to have Sam around, it felt like she had her other half back again. She loved going to the pool in the mornings to watch him swim. His coach sent him the next day's workout every night, and Emma sat in her wheelchair at the end of his lane with the workout to remind him what came next and to time him when that was required. He wasn't in very good shape, but he was training really hard. She wondered why he was out of shape, it seemed odd, Sam had never had a problem maintaining his fitness before, he was one of those people who loved to work out. After watching him for a few weeks Emma started seeing errors in his technique, he was trying to muscle it rather than working with the water. She wasn't any sort of swimming expert herself, but she was an athlete and she could see inefficiency in the water just as well as she could see it on land. Sam's specialty was the 200 fly, and she could see that he was tailoring his workouts to cater for that event, the thing was that by concentrating so hard on the butterfly he wasn't conditioning the rest of his muscles very well. One morning when he was in between sets in the pool Emma suggested that he should try switching events to the 400 individual medley. 'Are you kidding, I'd be eaten alive in the 400 IM!' he wasn't buying it. 'Nah, you'll be fine, obviously you can do the fly and freestyle and your breaststroke is awesome, you just need to work on your backstroke a little.' That was a little white lie; Sam had a lot of work to do on his backstroke if he was going to be an IM swimmer. 'Easier said than done with no coach around,' he scoffed. 'Well, I could help you,' she offered. Sam looked at her quizzically. 'How?' 'Well, for starters you're too flat in the water. You need to roll your shoulders in and out of the water more, it's more hydrodynamic, and you'd be able to access the big muscles in your lats better for the pull down that way.' Sam looked a little bemused but then a funny little grin started at the corners of his mouth, 'Okay, I'll humor you.' When he saw his times drop every time that Emma made a suggestion Sam caught on that she knew what she was talking about. She'd bring up something for him to work on at the start of a workout, sometimes it was something new, sometimes it was a reminder of something that she'd told him before. They concentrated on his backstroke for a while, and then when she sensed that he was fully trusting of her judgment she started talking to him about his butterfly. The way she saw it, his breathing was really slowing him down, she had a funny idea, she had him wear a snorkel and swim the 200 fly, as she had thought, he easily shaved off a few seconds. 'So now we just need to figure out a way for you to breathe that doesn't disrupt your stroke so much,' she told him. 'How about if you try keeping your eyes down on the bottom of the pool when you breathe, try and only raise your head above the water as much as you need to breathe air in, no more.' She loved the way he listened to her, when she was talking to him he looked straight at her with those lovely blue eyes. And his body, god she loved his body, how strong he was, how solid he felt when he carried her, how safe she felt when he was with her. She almost didn't want to get better just to keep him there with her. Sam couldn't believe how fast he was swimming. He still wasn't in peak fitness and he was getting close to his race times during practice. Emma was an amazing coach, how she could see so much without ever having any swimming or coaching training was a mystery to him. It also didn't hurt that he would do anything to impress her, he was trying so hard during his workouts, concentrating on her advice, and it was really paying off. Before too long Emma was out of her wheel chair, but the doctors advised her not to use a crutch under her broken clavicle, so Sam was her left-side crutch for a few weeks. He would walk in step with her while she pressed her left side to him and gripped him around the waist. It was slow going, but he didn't mind, if they were running late for something he'd just pick her up and carry her. She was making good progress, the doctors and physical therapists told her she might be fully weight bearing by thanksgiving. Sam drove her to campus and walked her to her classes every day, he would wait outside under a tree doing his own work until he started seeing the other students leave, then he'd go back into the classroom to get her. He could have done it forever, he was so happy. One day as they were walking back to the car from one of her classes she wanted to stop at a bench for a rest. They were in a grove of redwoods; Strawberry Creek trickled by in front of them. 'Hey I've been meaning to ask you how the social work internship went, you got one at a non-profit in Oakland, right?' Sam asked. 'It was good,' she replied. 'Just good? Did you like it?' 'Yeah, I liked it, the kids were awesome, I couldn't believe how cheeky and optimistic they were. They were probably what got me through last summer in one piece. You probably figured out by now that I was having some problems.' Sam shifted uncomfortably, she didn't mean to make him squirm so she kept talking, 'It's weird you know, when I was younger I'd look at black people on the train or on the street and wonder if I was related to them, you know, genetically related to them. I think those kids in foster care who don't know who they are or where they're going next are in some ways more my family than you and mom and dad are.' Sam was watching her carefully, she couldn't tell what he was thinking. 'I don't mean to downplay how important you guys are to me, it's just that I felt a connection with those kids.' 'So do you think you want to stick with it then? Become a social worker?' 'I don't know, maybe. It's just that the whole system is so screwed up. You could help a thousand kids, get them off the streets into safe homes, but there would be another thousand still needing help, and if you managed to help them, there'd be another thousand behind them. I can't decide if it would be better to work on the front lines trying to help one kid at a time, or if I'd be more effective by trying to change the system to give the whole population better opportunities.' 'So a social activist then?' 'Yeah, something like that. Maybe law school, and then politics.' She wasn't really sure how it would work but she knew she had more to offer than counseling for those lucky enough to be brought into her office. 'A lawyer or politician? You haven't mentioned this to dad yet have you? Those are his most hated professionals,' he grinned. Emma laughed. 'No, you're the first person I've talked to about it. What do you think?' 'I think you should go for it, you'd be a kick-ass lawyer. Not to mention that it would be good to have a lawyer in the family, it's like a get out of jail free card.' He grinned. She laughed and punched him playfully in the arm. 'Yeah right, like you'd ever have the guts to do something against the law.' It felt good to talk to him about her future, she didn't think she needed his approval, but it was nice to have it anyway. 'Come on, lets get going,' she prompted. Sam stood up and helped her to her feet. 'God Sam, I can't believe I have to wait around for you all the time, you're lucky I don't leave you here,' she joked. 'I know, I know, I'm a lazy bastard. Now lets get home, I'm starving and there are at least three apple trees in our neighbors' yards that are ripe for looting.' An hour later Emma was leaning against Mrs. Guilford's fence, on the lookout while Sam was inside her yard pillaging her apple tree. When they'd gotten home from campus Sam had climbed the lookout tree in their back yard and watched as Mrs. Guilford had packed her car and gone out to run errands. 'Hurry up Sam, she could be home any second,' she urged. She felt the rush of being a little kid again, jumping fences to eat the fruit off the neighbor's trees. 'What's she going to do? Beat me with her walking stick?' He joked. Mrs. Guilford was by all accounts a little old lady, but she was a grumpy old lady. Emma giggled at the image of her beating Sam with her walking stick. He was holding his t-shirt out from his body and filling it with the illicit apples from the tree. He was reaching up as high as he could, picking the fruit that would be too high for the old lady to reach. He always did stuff like that, even when he was robbing a little old lady he was still being considerate. When he couldn't carry anymore he made his way back over to the fence. Now they were faced with a challenge, how to get him back over the fence without spilling the apples? Just as they were contemplating this they heard a vehicle pull up to the other side of the house. 'Shit! Duck!' Sam hissed. They listened as Mrs. Gilford exited her car, closed the door and they heard her footsteps slowly ascend to her front door. Being that she was old and practically disabled, everything happened at an excruciatingly slow pace. Emma was hidden in the neighbors yard, trying not to laugh too loudly, her sides hurt from the effort. 'Shut up Emma!' Sam whispered from the other side of the fence. Mrs. Guilford entered her house. 'Quick, stand up, we only have a few seconds 'til she goes into her kitchen and can see me,' Sam ordered. Emma stood, the tears of laughter streaming down her face. 'Hold your shirt out,' he told her. The fence was just under chest height, so it was a bit awkward as Sam poured the apples from his shirt into Emma's. Of course Emma's shirt couldn't hold nearly as many so some of them fell to the grass. Sam expertly jumped the fence and pulled Emma down into a sitting position, shielded from the view from Mrs. Guilford's kitchen by the fence. He had the hugest grin on his face, like he had just won the lottery or something. 'Do you think she saw you?' Emma asked through gasps of laughter. He twisted around and spied through a crack in the fence palings, 'Nah, she has no idea.' He grabbed one of the apples from her shirt and bit into it. 'Mmmm, it's good.' He held it out for her and she took a bite, the sweet tangy juice dribbling down her chin. There really was nothing like fresh fruit off the tree, so crisp and warm from the sun. She used the back of her hand to wipe the juice away. 'How are we going to get home with all of these? Remember I can't walk on my own.' 'How about you carry the apples and I'll carry you?' He suggested. Sam watched through the crack in the fence until he was satisfied that Mrs. Guilford had left the kitchen, then stood up. He gathered the apples from the grass around them and piled them into her shirt and the cradle she made with her arms and then he picked her up, holding her under her knees and back, being careful not to spill the apples. Their house was a half a block away, but Sam didn't seem to be in any sort of hurry. If she didn't know better she would have thought that he was purposefully parading, drawing out the trip. He looked downright triumphant. 'You really enjoyed that didn't you?' She asked. 'I didn't enjoy the part where you almost got me caught because you couldn't stop laughing,' he scolded her but he was smiling broadly, his eyes alight with fun. 'We've got a lot of fruit,' she commented, trying to ensure that she didn't drop any of their loot. 'Yep, how do you like them apples!' He gloated. She laughed, he looked down at her and grinned. That afternoon they made apple pie, Emma's favorite. She sat at the kitchen island and peeled and sliced the apples while he made the crust and lined the pan, then mixed the butter, sugar and spices. Soon the entire house was filled with the delicious aroma of freshly backed freshly picked apple pie. After dinner with their parents that night Sam warmed and served the pie for dessert. He served Emma first and gave her an extra large slice. Thanksgiving came and went and Emma was walking on her own again. She was working with her physical therapist on jogging , but was advised to keep it to a minimum so she still didn't have to go to track practice, which left her with plenty of free time to go to the pool with Sam. She started swimming for the exercise. She had gained quite a lot of weight and being so sedentary it was mostly fat, she was trying to convert some of it muscle. Having fat was something that Emma was not used to, she wasn't sure how she felt about it. On the one hand it was kind of gross and jiggly, on the other hand for the first time in her life she had curves, and it made her feel womanly. Sam was sure he knew how he felt about Emma's weight gain, he was totally aroused by the sight of her. She had gained in all the right places, her hips and thighs were a little more rounded, she had a tiny little pot belly and her breasts and butt had filled back out to their usual plumpness. Most importantly she was starting to look healthy again. Keeping control was a daily struggle for Sam, but not a battle he was about to give in to. He was enjoying his rekindled friendship with her too much to let his sexual desires get in the way. He knew at some point he was going to have to tell her how he felt, but he was hoping he could put it off for a while yet. Emma seemed happy and relaxed but he didn't want to put any pressure on her while she was still in this fragile physical state, it wouldn't be fair to her. Before he knew it December had arrived and he had to go down to USC to take his finals. He swam with the team for the first time in months. His coach couldn't believe the improvement and Sam was pretty happy too, he was kicking ass. He was even keeping up with the backstroke specialists in their sets and nobody could touch him in the fly sets. By the time nationals rolled around in March Sam was in peak form. He was really excited to race, he'd qualified in the 400 IM, the 200 Fly, and to his surprise, the 200 Backstroke. The meet had gone really well for him so far, he just had one more race left and then he could relax. Emma and his parent's were there. He hadn't seen them yet but he knew they were there, he'd see them after this race. He'd made the final in the 200 back and come in 4th place, he was happy and amazed that he'd come so far in such a short amount of time, a year ago he wouldn't have been game to enter that event. The 400 IM had been an absolute dream, he'd kicked ass, he couldn't believe he'd won it, he'd never considered himself an IM swimmer. Now it was time for the 200 fly, his favorite event. He was standing behind his block, lane 4, he'd been the fastest qualifier. The roll call started, he stepped up and waved to the crowd when he heard his name. He squatted down to the water and splashed a little over his face and race suit, the water beaded off the hydrophobic surface of the black material. He spun his arms like a windmill to keep his muscles loose. The starter called them onto the blocks. 'On you mark,' he assumed his dive position. He was ready for his. The starting noise went off and he launched into the air. His legs were beating the second he hit the water. He started talking to himself, 'stay loose, breathe', as always the first 50 was over before he could even register it. The guy in lane 3 beside him had gone out really hard, he was a body length ahead. 'Don't panic, keep your head down, don't look around' he told himself, he was gaining on the guy in lane 3 at the 100, by the 150 he was even first place. His lungs were burning, but he felt strong, he picked it up to sprint the final 50. He felt like he was flying, his rhythm was so strong. 'Keep you head down, push out to your fingertips', he was concentrating on holding it together as his lungs and muscles screamed at him in pain. 1. Racing From Love Ch. 07-09 He knew it was a personal best when he hit the wall. He looked around, he was so far ahead of the rest of the field it was a joke. He looked at the board, holy shit, he'd taken over a second off his personal best, it was a NCAA national record. He couldn't believe it, the crowd was going crazy. He scanned it looking for her. She was jumping up and down waving with both hands, the same way she used to greet their grandparents when they were little kids. He laughed and waved back to her, his giant chest still sucking in and out the air rapidly. It was an excellent moment. He had to stick around for the rest of the day for the relays, but that night they went out to dinner. He wished his parents would go away, he wanted to talk to Emma alone. He wanted to tell her that none of this would have been possible without her, to tell her that he wanted to be with her, to make plans with her. But his parents were there the whole time, he had to settle for sitting across the table from her. She was excited and animated, her big eyes sparkling with enthusiasm. She kept on smiling at him, it was excruciating. When they said their goodbyes he hugged her close, he wanted to touch her face, to kiss her on her big soft lips, but his damn parents wouldn't go away. It felt so good to hold her close to him again, she smelled like Emma, a smell that reminded him of his childhood, happy memories. He kissed her on the forehead. Did she just sigh? He leant down to her ear 'I love you Em.' He let go of her and smiled. She had a confused look on her face, their family wasn't really the 'I love you' type. He couldn't explain now, 'I'll see you in six weeks.' He turned and walked into the team's hotel, waving back to them all as he stepped into the lobby.