Disclaimer: Mine belong to me, but the rest belong to Marvel. Please don't sue, I have no money. There...I disclaimed.

"Why me? Why does he want me there?" Tabitha asked Sam as they walked toward the hanger the next morning.

"Ah really don't know." Sam said.

"I don't like this. It smells like a set-up to me." Tabitha whispered as they reached the hanger and boarded the Blackbird.

"Ah know what ya mean." Sam replied, reaching to touch her hand.

Tabitha nodded her head, sitting down in the co-pilot's seat. Sam looked over at her from the corner of his eye and sighed. She looked so upset and lost.

"Everythin's gonna turn out alright, Tabitha." Sam promised her.

"You really believe that, Sam?"

"Ah have to."

Gideon had sent them the coordinates to the place where the exchange would be made. It was a small town in Iowa where Gideon had a country house of some sort.

"Iowa." Iceman had said before the two distraught parents had left. "The man took her to Iowa. Iowa! The dude is seriously lacking in the patent evil villain riff."

"Sam?" Tabitha asked after they had been aloft for awhile.

"Yeah?" He asked, looking up from the controls.

"Why are you doing this? Why are you giving yourself up to Gideon?" Tabitha questioned, looking at him with huge blue eyes.

"Because it's the only way to get Sami back, with out running the risk of putting her in danger." Sam explained.

"I know all that Sam. I meant, why are you doing this? Why do you care?" Tabitha asked before she could stop herself.

"Because, she's as much my responsibility as she is yours, Tabitha." Sam said, a flash of pain in his voice.

"I didn't mean that the why it sounded, Sam." Tabitha apologized, hearing the pain in his voice.

"Ah know girl." Sam forgave her.

For along minute they sat in silence, each lost in their own thoughts. Tabitha nervously twisted her hands in her lap, and occasionally risked a look at Sam out of the corner of her eye. Sam, for his part, just sat and glared at the controls, his face twisting with some inner turmoil.

"Sam�thank you." Tabitha whispered, reaching to put her hand on his shoulder.

"Tabitha�Ah�there's somethin' Ah've been meaning to tell you, ever since you came back." Sam said, flipping the autopilot on.

"What?" Tabitha asked, looking at him.

"Ah�Ah love you girl. Ah always have and Ah always will." Sam mumbled in a rush, his head down.

"Sam�did you just say that you still love me?" Tabitha asked, hope infused in her voice.

"Ah�yeah. Yeah, Ah love you." Sam nodded, his voice quivering.

"Tha-that's good." Tabitha sniffed. "Cause I love you too."

Sam looked up at her, his eyes shining. Slowly, his mouth twisted into a smile, not the shallow imitation that she had seen since she had come back to the mansion, but his beautiful true smile, the one that could light up a room�the one that Sami had inherited from him.

"Really?" He asked.

"Yes. I love you." Tabitha stressed the word love.

Suddenly, Sam seemed to remember what was going to happen, in less then an hour. He was going to be separated from the woman he loved for the rest of his life. Shaking his head, he felt tears slip down his cheeks.

"No�" He whispered to himself. "No!"

Forcing himself to look up into Tabitha's beautiful face, Sam realized that she had realized the same thing. Reaching out, Sam touched her face, and she grinned at him. That's when Sam realized her could see his daughter reflected back in Tabitha's clear blue eyes.

(Ah'll save you, Sami. Even if Ah have to give up everything to do it.)

*****

Gideon was standing exactly where he said he would be when they arrived. Sami was sitting at his feet, her little face tear streaked, but she looked unhurt.

"Alright Gideon, Ah'm here. Let Sami go." Sam growled, stepping in front of Tabitha.

"Mommy!" Sami screamed, trying to run toward the woman. Gideon held her back by yanking on her shirt. Sami yelped in pain, as she was drug back toward the immortal man.

"Sami!" Tabitha cried, starting forward. "Don't you hurt her, you bastard!"

"Do not worry, Tabitha. Your beautiful daughter will be restored to you as soon as I have this young puppy." Gideon laughed at the young mother.

"No. You give Sami back first." Sam snarled, reaching to put hand on Tabitha's shoulder, drawing her back.

"How do I know you just won't fly off as soon as you have the brat?" Gideon questioned.

"Ah give you mah word. Now give us Sami!" Cannonball said through gritted teeth. Gideon sized him up for a second, then nodded. He pushed Sami away from him, toward her parents. That was all the encouragement Sami needed.

"Mommy! Sam!" The little girl cried, racing toward the two. Sam and Tabitha met her half way, Tabitha scooping her up in her arms.

"My baby, my baby!" Tabitha sobbed, hugging the little girl tightly.

"Mommy!" Sami cried clinging to the woman. Sam watched with a sort of sadness in his eyes, until Sami turned from her mother and stretched out her arms to him. He looked at her in shock for a moment, then took her in his arms and hugged her hard.

Tabitha watched with pure joy in her eyes, a few tears of happiness slipping down her cheeks. Sam continued to hug Sami with one arm, and reached the other one out to Tabitha. Smiling, Tabitha allowed herself to be brought into the small circle.

"Sam...how come you came to save me?" Sami asked after the trio had pulled back.
"Ah�well...sweetie�" Sam started, his eyes dancing to Tabitha.

"Sami, sweetie. He came because he's your father." Tabitha said, smiling at her daughter.

Sami stared at Sam with big blue eyes for a long second. Then she squeaked "You're my daddy?"

"Yes, honey, Ah am." Sam nodded, a tear slipping down his cheek.

Sami continued to look at Sam for a long minute. Then she flung her arms around his neck and cried "Daddy!"

Sam began to cry in earnest now, hugging the little girl tighter. Tabitha looked on, tears also streaming down her face.

But they had forgotten Gideon, in their few minutes of joy.

"Isn't this sweet? I hate to break up this little family reunion, but you belong to me now, Samuel Guthrie." Gideon snarled, stepping forward.

"No!" Tabitha sobbed, putting herself in between the two men. "NO!"

"Yes. Now move aside, eyeblink." Gideon commanded.

"NO!" Tabitha screamed louder. "I won't let you take my family from me!"

"You time confined bitch. I don't want you family. I just want Cannonball." Gideon raged, stalking forward.

"No. You can't have him." Tabitha sobbed angrily.

"Tabitha, Ah gave mah word�" Sam began, putting a hand on her shoulder.

"So what?" Tabitha asked through her tears. "You have more of a responsibility to Sami�and me."

"Ah know, girl�but�" Sam said, putting Sami on the ground. She ran a few steps away from the fighting adults to watch from a safe distance.

"Enough of this! Samuel�" Gideon snapped, reaching out toward the young man.

"NO!" Tabitha shrieked, slapping his hand away. Gideon snarled and reached for a pistol on his hip. Tabitha did not see him move for it. Fortunately, Sam did. Unfortunately, he didn't yell out a warning fast enough.

"Tabitha, look out!" He screamed, but it was too late.

The bullet hit Tabitha square in the chest. With a startled gasp, Tabitha fell back into Sam's arms. Blood was already staining her close and her breathing was labored.

"Sam�Sami�" Tabitha gurgled.

"Hush�" Sam whimpered, supporting her head.

Sami was watching this all with huge blue eyes. It had taken the small child this long to figure out what had happen to her mother. She still wasn't quite sure, but she did know her mother was hurt. And that scared her.

"Mommy! Daddy!" The small child sobbed, running toward them.

Gideon looked up, his eyes flashing, Whirling around he fired yet again�directly at Sami.

"No!" Cannonball howled, struggling to get up, to save his daughter, to do something.

The bullet sped directly at Sami. It was going to hit her dead center in the forehead. Or at least�it should have.

The bullet reflected off of� something. A brilliant, a fiery orange light surrounded her. For some reason, the bullet had just�stopped.

"By the Seventh Plague!" Gideon cried staring at the small child in amazement.

"Sami! Come here!" Sam screamed to his young daughter. Obeying quickly, Sami was soon clinging to her father behind his own protective blast shield. Tabitha lay shaking in his arms, blood staining the front of his uniform.

Sam glared at the man for a long second, before turning to his daughter. "Sami, hold onto mah neck okay? Have you ever ridden piggyback?"

Sami nodded her head, tears slipping down her dirty face.

"Alright, then, hang on, and don't under any circumstances let go, alright?" Sam told his little girl, kneeling so she could clamber up.

"Kay, daddy." Sami said, clinging to his neck. Sam slowly stood up, and adjusted Tabitha, in an attempt stop some of the bleeding.

"Gideon�cross me again�and you'll regret it." Sam snarled, right before he blasted off towards the waiting Blackbird.

"Oh, will I, Samuel Guthrie? Will I?" Gideon asked the empty air.

****

Several hours later, Sam and his daughter were standing outside the infirmary waiting for any word at all on Tabitha's condition. Hank and Cecilia had whisked her away the moment Sam had stepped off the plane with her in his arms, and had been working feverishly to save her life ever since.

"Daddy? When can we see Mommy?" Sami asked her father, pressing her face into Sam's leg, just like she had done with Tabitha�lord could it have only been yesterday morning? Less then twenty-four hours and his entire life had changed. He had a daughter, and he had gotten Tabitha back�but was he on the verge of losing her again?

"Ah�Ah don't know, sweetie. Soon, Ah hope." Sam said, lifting his daughter up into his arms.

Suddenly the door slid open, reviling the fuzzy blue man known commonly as the Beast. He wore an unusually sober expression as he faced Sami and her father.

"How is she, Hank?" Sam demanded.

"Stable, but still in very serious condition." Hank told him softly.

"What does that mean? Is she gonna� die?" Sam asked, his voice breaking. Hank looked at him for a long second.

"I truly do not know." Hank told him.

"Can't you do something?" Sam pleaded

"I've done all I can, Sam. It's out of my hands now."

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