A while back before Brooke had confessed her own feelings, running was how Sam dealt with hers. She would pour her hurt, longing, and love for Brooke into her legs and push them harder and faster than they were meant to go. Sometimes she pushed herself to the point of being physically sick. But at the time, she didn’t know what else to do with herself. Telling Brooke how she felt had never been an option and the silence was slowly killing her. Thankfully, that wasn’t an issue anymore.

She could trace her habit of running back to when her father had died. The house had been full of mourners. The tears and sympathetic looks were suffocating to her and Sam just had to escape. So she’d simply opened the back door and started running. It was the first time in her life when she could remember feeling free. The wind pulled at her hair, brushed at her face and whispered in her ears. She swore that she could hear her father’s voice. To Sam, running helped her work through her problems and it also brought her closer to her father.

So she ran down a side street near Terri’s searching for a solution to her current problem. How to get Mike, Maria and Gayle to act like civilized 21st century individuals. It was a daunting task and it seemed no matter how many miles she ran or how much she listened to her father’s voice on the wind, no answer was going to come to her. This was one problem too big for running to solve. But somehow, Sam thought if she just gave herself enough time and pushed herself hard enough, she’d find the ellusive answer.

"Sammy," Brooke’s voice came from somewhere behind her. Without breaking her stride, Sam glanced over her shoulder. Brooke was quickly gaining on her from behind. The blonde’s slightly longer stride brought her to Sam’s side in moments.

"Hey," Sam said simply in greeting without stopping. Brooke smiled.

"Hey," she responded. "You’ve been out here a long time, love. How far are you planning on running today?" Sam shrugged.

"Until I get tired, I guess" she answered. Brooke laughed and shook her head.