This story picks up from when Sami decides to play
hard to get for Austin, Austin realizes he has been taking Sami for
granted, and Brandon still cannot get Sami off his mind despite several
attempts to move on with his life.
Austin decides he cannot lose Sami. So he starts paying her more attention, lavishing her with flowers, candies and presents both at home and at work.
Just when Brandon thought he was moving on without Sami, he happens to ask Larry about all the flowers that Sami has been getting and finds out that it is Austin's way of wooing Sami after she released him from all obligations toward her.
This, of course, gives Brandon new hope. It
now seems as though he and Austin are finally on the same footing where Sami is concerned.
Brandon starts stopping by the nurse's station to see
Sami during her breaks like he used to do. But it seems part of Austin's plan to win Sami back is to keep Brandon away from her. He drives Sami
to work in the morning and picks her up in the afternoon. He comes by to take her to lunch and calls her during her breaks. Brandon begins to feel frustrated that Austin seems to be beating him to the punch every time.
One evening, Brandon decides to call Sami at home. Much to his dismay, Austin picks up and tells him Sami cannot come to phone as she is putting Will to bed. Brandon decides to try again at work.
The following day, Brandon comes to work early to see
Sami before his shift starts. He finds it strange that she was not at her desk, even though he timed it so that it is not lunchtime or even her breaktime. Larry tells him that Sami called in sick. Larry looks like he wanted to say more, but finally decides to keep it to himself. Brandon is suspicious.
During a phone conversation with Brandon, Nicole mentions in passing that Austin took the day off, a Friday, to get an early start on his weekend trip with Sami to the Green Mountain Lodge. Brandon
realizes a weekend trip to the mountains most likely means romance and that Sami and Austin would be making love before the weekend is over. His frustration grows.
All weekend long, Brandon tries to keep his mind off of Sami and Austin, but he is unable to do so. He goes to the gym to punch the bag, picturing Austin's face, but it is a small relief to him. He remembers the time that he and Sami were at the cabins in Naples and all the times he had kissed her. He becomes more determined than ever to get to Sami before it's too late.
Monday morning, Sami goes to use the photocopy machine at the copy room at the hospital and finds Brandon there. She smiles at him and says hi, but he acts aloof. She asks him what's wrong. He
claims that nothing's wrong. She
insists something is wrong, and he lets her have it about
how she had called in sick on Friday when he knows that she really went
to the mountains with Austin. She teases him about being jealous. He
denies it and says his only
concern is how her playing hooky would reflect on him at
the hospital. After all, he went to bat for her to get Nancy to hire
her. Now, if anyone finds out that she lied, she would make him look
bad. Sami is hurt, but concedes
Brandon has a point. She starts acting civil and formal
with him, telling him she's sorry and that she will be careful to
remember next time how her behavior at the hospital may reflect on him.
Then she leaves. Brandon
realizes he just blew his first chance in a long time to
talk to Sami because he let his pride get the best of him. He goes
after her, but she is gone.
Desperate, Brandon calls Nicole to ask a favor. He needs
to talk to Sami to smooth things over, but he needs Nicole's help to
keep Austin at Titan until way past lunchtime. Nicole is not happy that
Brandon is still pursuing Sami, but Brandon claims it is important to
him. Nicole obliges and promises to keep Austin busy for lunch.
Austin calls Sami to cancel their lunch plans. Nicole
asked him to be present at a lunch party that Titan is throwing for a big
sponsor. Sami says it's okay because she has errands to take care of
at Salem Place anyway.
Brandon steps out of the elevator just as Sami was
stepping in and the two nearly collide. Brandon comments on Austin's absence
and feigns surprise when Sami tells him he canceled. Brandon asks Sami
to have lunch with him, but Sami is still smarting from his comments
earlier that day. She tells him she has errands to take care of at Salem
Place and that only leaves time for lunch at her desk. He tells her
she is entitled to a longer lunch every now and then. She tells him she
would not dream of making him look bad at the hospital. Then she walks
into the elevator and closes the doors on Brandon. Brandon tells
himself he really blew it this time.
This goes on for a while. Brandon tries many different
ways to see Sami alone, but Austin always seems to get there before he
does.
One day, Brandon overhears that Sami and Austin will be
dining at Tuscany that evening. He remembers how jealous Sami was when
he had to squire Angela around pretending he was in love with her. He
decides to give Sami a dose of
her own medicine and show up at Tuscany with a
hot-looking chick.
At Tuscany that evening, Sami is enjoying her dinner with
Austin when she notices Brandon arriving with a bombshell hanging all
over him. Brandon looks directly at Sami, but she looks away and smiles
at Austin instead. Later, Sami finds it hard to concentrate on Austin
while Brandon and his date are dancing very closely together. She
remembers when she and Brandon danced the night away at Tuscany. To
herself, she concludes that Brandon must have moved on with his life and
tries to convince herself that she is happy for him.
The music stops and Brandon and his date are forced to go
back to their table. Suddenly, two violinists come out of nowhere and
stops to serenade at Austin and Sami's table. Brandon looks disgusted
at the lengths that Austin will go to impress Sami. His date asks him
what's wrong. He says nothing's wrong.
When he looks back at Sami and Austin, he watches (in
slow motion) as Austin gets up and walks over to Sami's side. To
Brandon's horror, Austin gets down on one knee and retrieves a little velvet
box from his pocket. Brandon
continues to watch as Sami begins to tear up, smiles and
nods her head vigorously. Then he watches as Austin puts the ring on
Sami's finger and they hug and kiss.
Bottles of champagne are delivered to each table,
courtesy of the newly-engaged couple. Brandon sends their bottle back, saying
they were just leaving. This surprises his date who says rather
seductively that the night is still young, but he tells her that he is not
feeling well. He apologizes that he has to cut their date short.
Sami catches a glimpse of Brandon as he leaves the
restaurant. She has this longing look on her face and Austin asks her if
she's feeling okay. She says she's fine.
Back at his apartment, Brandon continues to be plagued
with memories of Austin proposing to Sami and Sami accepting. He decides
this is too much torture, that he tried and it is now time to give up.
One last memory of Sami comes back to him, of the two of them dancing
on the rooftop on
Halloween. He shakes himself out of his reverie and
says, "Goodbye, Samantha."
Weeks later, Brandon is taking a walk at Salem Place,
congratulating himself that he has finally gotten over Sami. No sooner
than he utters her name that he spots her through the window of the
Bridal Shoppe, trying on her wedding gown. To Brandon, Sami looks more
beautiful than ever and he begins to imagine watching her walking down the
aisle towards the altar where he, not Austin, was waiting. Looking at
Sami again through the shop window, he vows
that he will not let her go without a fight!
Brandon finds out from Larry that Sami's wedding day is
this coming Saturday. Brandon can't believe he wasted all this time and
now he's going to have to think of something fast.
Sami receives an invitation in the mail. It seems a
bridal shower is being thrown for her by a secret friend. It will be held
at the Bridal Suite at Salem Inn on Friday evening. Sami had hoped she
would rest early on the eve
of her wedding, but since she does not know who to call
to cancel, she decides to show up and leave early. Besides, she does
not want to disappoint her secret friend.
Sami arrives at the Bridal Suite at Salem Inn expecting a
big surprise from a bunch of women, but instead she finds an empty
room. As she looks around, she finds presents stacked on the table, a cake
and a punch bowl, decorations
galore, and... Brandon standing there with a huge bouquet
of flowers saying, "Surprise!" She stands there, not sure how to greet
him. It seems such a long time since she last saw him. He walks
toward her slowly, hands her the flowers and plants a gentle kiss on her
cheek. He congratulates her and she thanks him.
Brandon acts as the perfect host. He does not hit on
Sami, acts like they are just friends and he makes her feel very relaxed.
Of course, the punch she has consumed helped relax her too. Sami says
she's having more fun with
him than with all the ladies that came to the bridal
shower that her mom threw for her. Sami is amazed that Brandon seems to
have done his research about bridal showers. He even has a list of
parlor games for them to play. The object of one of them is to try and
make a wedding gown out of toilet paper. Brandon pretends to be a gay
couturier as he puts the finishing touches on Sami's toilet paper wedding
gown.
Then it's time to open the presents. Brandon makes a
list of what Sami received. Of course, his list shows that each present
was from Brandon, Brandon, Brandon. Sami is somewhat embarrassed that
he gave her lingerie, some of them even kinky-looking. But he claims
it's all in the spirit of a real bridal shower. He also makes a wedding
bouquet out of the ribbons and bows from the giftwraps. Sami is really
having fun.
Later, out of sheer exhaustion, Brandon and Sami are
sprawled on the carpet in the shape of a V with their heads together, both
of them staring up at the ceiling. They talk about all the fun times
that they shared --- ice skating at the park, horsing around at the
Kiriakis pool, walking around Salem Place. As Brandon keeps talking, he
realizes that Sami had fallen asleep. He gives
her a peck on the forehead and bids her goodnight, then
closes his eyes to sleep too.
In the meantime, Austin is at his bachelor party and has
been trying to call Sami at home. He is beginning to worry about her
whereabouts and mentions it to Roman. Roman tells him that Sami left
Will with her grandmother at the
pub because she was going to be at another bridal shower.
Austin wonders why Sami did not mention it to him, but then he shrugs
it off and blames it on the whirlwind schedule leading up to the
wedding.
In the morning, Sami wakes up a little disoriented. It
takes a while before she realizes where she is. She sits up to find
herself still wrapped in toilet paper. She turns and sees Brandon asleep
beside her on the carpet.
She panics, checks her watch and sighs with relief that
she still has time to go home and change before going to the church.
She gets up slowly and starts to walk towards the door. Then she stops,
turns backs, kneels down beside
Brandon and plants a kiss on his cheek. Then she slowly
gets up again and walks out of the room. Lying on the carpet with his
back to the door, Brandon slowly opens his eyes as Sami closes the door
quietly.
Sami is getting ready at the church dressing room.
Austin knocks on the door and insists he has to see her. Sami claims it's
bad luck for the groom to see the bride just before the wedding. He
tells her bad luck can't touch
them now because they are in love and are going to
finally be married. She lets him in and he starts asking her where she was
the night before. She said she went to a bridal shower hosted by a
secret friend. When Austin asked who this secret friend is, she tells him
it's Brandon. Austin flies off the handle. He tells her he cannot
believe she spent the eve of her wedding day with Brandon, after all his
efforts to keep them apart. Sami cannot believe that Austin has been
controlling whom she can and cannot see,
and they get into a heated argument. In the end, Sami
tells Austin that nothing happened between her and Brandon, that it was
all just a wonderful bridal shower with a friend. Austin calms down and
realizes there was no harm done. They kiss and make up and promise to
meet at the altar.
At the altar, Austin is getting a bit restless that Sami
hasn't come out of her dressing room yet. He sighs with relief when
the wedding coordinator signals that everyone is ready and that the
procession is about to start.
Bridesmaids and flower girls begin walking down the
aisle. Then it's time for the bride. Everyone stands as Sami walks down
the aisle toward Austin. As she is walking, she has flashbacks of her
bridal shower with Brandon, of
him kissing her tenderly on the cheek as he hands her the
flowers. As she looks down at her gown, she remembers Brandon
pretending to be a gay couturier putting the finishing touches on her toilet
paper wedding gown. As
she looks at her wedding bouquet, she remembers Brandon
making a bouquet out of the ribbons and bows from the giftwraps. As she
looks at the altar and Austin becomes bigger as she draws closer to
him, her vision is blurred by
the tears in her eyes.
As Roman gives Sami to Austin at the altar, Austin senses
something is wrong. As the ceremony continues, Austin keeps glancing
Sami's way but it's a little hard to see through the veil covering her
face. Finally, as Austin
was supposed to repeat the vows after the priest, he puts
up his hand to interrupt the ceremony. He turns Sami around to face
him, lifts up her veil and sees she is crying. He asks her why she is
crying. She cannot answer
him. But Austin knows what's wrong. He stands up and
faces the crowd, tells them there will not be a wedding after all, the
bride has changed her mind, and he only wants her to be happy. Then he
turns back to a stunned Sami and tells her to get out of there before he
changes his mind. Sami hugs him and then runs out of the church.
Back at the Bridal Suite at Salem Inn, Brandon is pulling
down the decorations with a heavy heart. To himself he says aloiud
that he has made his last stand. He held nothing back last night to show
Sami he loves her. And if that wasn't enough, then she probably
should be with Austin. Behind him, Brandon hears someone say, "It was more
than enough." Brandon turns around and is surprised to see Sami
standing there in her wedding gown. She
goes on, "I love you too. Yes, as a friend, but also as
someone I want to share the rest of my life with. And if your offer
still stands, I would be honored to be your wife." Brandon smiles at
Sami, hugs her, kisses her,
lifts her up and spins her around.
And that is how I would like to end the story of Brandon
and Sami.
