A/N - This was inspired by events that happened last week with my 3 year old daughter. Hope you like it. -Jenn

"What are you doing?" Sam asked her little sister. Molly waltzed through the room on a mission. She was in her third outfit for the day; a pink and white summer dress with white nylons. Too bad it was the middle of January.

"I'm looking for my panda's bubba…" the three year old announced as she pulled open a kitchen cabinet door and peered inside.

"I don't think it's in there, Mol." Sam let out a soft giggle as she cleared the breakfast dishes from the table before squatting down next to Molly.

"Yes, it is…" the little one replied as a matter of fact. "That's were panda put it."

"Oh, I see…well I think Mama probably put it in the toy box. Let's go look." Sam guided Molly through the living room to the playroom. She opened the door to see every toy thrown throughout the room.

"Krissy looked in here, already…" Molly announced.

"Yeah, so I see." Sam smirked, dropping to her knees. She began to pick up the toys and toss them back into the bin.

"No Sam…we need to find Panda's bubba, he's very hungry?"

"Okay, Molly, but if Mom comes home and sees this, we're all in trouble. And I don't know about you but I don't want a time out. I have a date tonight." She tried to reason with the young girl but Molly really didn't care. She only wanted Panda's bubba.

"Kristina," Sam yelled. "Come in here."

Right away she heard her seven year-old sister running down the hallway. "What Sam?"

Sam turned to Kristina who was standing in the doorway sucking on a lollipop. "Where did you get that?" Sam questioned.

"What?"

"The lollipop; where did get it?"

"From the bag of Halloween candy that's on top of the refrigerator."

"How did you get up there?"

"Quite simply…I pushed a chair next to the refrigerator then climbed onto the counter."

Sam let out a frustrated sigh. "Kristina, stay out of the candy, Mom put it up there for a reason."

"I know! And you wouldn't give me a piece, so I got it myself."

"I want a pop!" Molly exclaimed when she finally saw Kristina. "Pop, pop, pop, pop!' She yelled as she ran from the playroom back to the kitchen.

Sam gave Kristina a disgusted look, "Throw it away, Kristina.'

"You're not my boss, Samantha!"

"You wanna bet. Mom's not here, I am!" She argued. Suddenly a loud thump came from the living room followed by the hurt scream.

Sam quickly jumped up and ran for Molly. "Ahh, Molly, what happened?"

"I fell and hurt my ankle," Molly cried as she pointed to her knee. "Blow it out, blow it out Sammi."

Sam picked Molly up and sat the little girl on her lap. She leaned over and put her face real close to her knee and blew as hard as she could. She quickly pretended to catch to boo boo in her hand. "I got it, what do you want me to do with it?" Molly quickly quit crying and grabbed Sam's hand and pulled it to her mouth. Molly pretended to eat the boo boo. "All gone," she smiled. "Can I have a pop, now?"

"After lunch. Okay, peanut?"

"Awwww…Krissy has a pop…" Sam looked over to see Kristina standing at the third step still sucking on the lollipop.

"Give it to me, Kristina!" Her eyes widened when she saw Sam headed towards her. Kristina ripped the cherry lollipop from her mouth and quickly ran toward the sofa. She laid the lollipop on the back of Alexis' brand new suede loveseat.

"Kristina, I said throw it away!" Sam yelled as she quickly went to retrieve the lollipop but it was too late. It had already stuck to the fabric. "Kristina, I'm going to kill you! You better hope I can get this off or Mom is going to kill you too."

Sam hurried to get some hot water. Silently she hoped that a little how water is all that she would need to get the red sticky candy off of the couch. She had been scrubbing it for what seemed like an hour but was really less than five minutes when the phone rang interrupting her concentration. Kristina, who was intently watching her big sister, sprang up to answer the phone.

"Hello?….oh hi, Mommy, guess what Sam did…"

"Kristina, give me the phone." Sam yelled as she dropped the rag into the bucket of water. Kristina took off toward the back of the house with the cordless phone still in hand. Sam followed her twice as fast catching her just before she reached her bedroom. Sam yanked the phone from her hands, "Hello…"

"Hi, honey, it sounds like you have your hands full today."

"You have no idea," Sam answered. "What's up?"

"I'm going to be a little later than I planned. Mayor Floyd has called a meeting at 2:00. Can you handle the girls for a little while longer?"

Sam rolled her eyes and let out a sigh. "Sure, no problem."

"Oh, thanks baby, I'll make it up to you, I promise."

"That's okay, Mom. We'll be fine." Sam reassured her mother.

"Oh and by the way, the furniture store is sending someone out today to put the protectant on the loveseat." Sam's eyes widened.

"Ah…um...Ah…okay…gotta go…love ya…bye…." Sam hung up and dropped the phone on to the floor. She hurried back to the living room to finish cleaning the loveseat. She feverishly scrubbed the tiny spot that was left. It was down to just a faint pink spot.

"There," she mumbled to herself, "now, with any luck, Mom won't see it."

"Sam," she heard behind her. "I'm hungry."

Sam turned to look at Kristina. "Go get Molly and I'll make you some sandwiches that you can eat in the Kitchen." She said placing a strong emphasis on the word kitchen.

As Kristina skipped back to the playroom, Sam started toward the kitchen only to be stopped by the knock on the door. "Over there," she pointed out to the technicians from the furniture store.

"SAM!" Kristina yelled from the playroom.

"What!"

"I need you,"

"I busy with the furniture people." Sam yelled back.

"But I really need you now."

"Hold on, Kristina."

"Ma'am?" The tallest guy stopped her as she began to go to her little sisters.

"Yeah?"

"Ma'am, what is this?" He asked pointing to the wet spot on the loveseat.

"It's a wet spot. My little sister put a lollipop on it early and I cleaned it."

"Ah, I see." He scribbled something on his work order then ripped off the customer copy. "Come on, Steve, let's pack it up."

"Wait, whoa whoa, where are you going?" She asked.

"SAM!" Kristina yelled again.

"Hold on, Kristina. Where are you guys going?"

"Ma'am, your warranty is voided. You got something on the loveseat before we could put the protectant on."

"No, no, no, no…Oh no you don't. You guys are not leaving here until you do your job."

"I'm sorry Ma'am, you cleaned it with…"

"With water…nothing else."

"It's wet, Ma'am."

"It's only a little spot, if it's going to cause a problem then dry it with a blow dryer. Alright? Just put the crap on the damn couch." Sam argued.

"Ma'am, if we…"

"SAM!" Kristina called again.

"Quit calling me Ma'am. Just shut up and do your job. I'm coming Kristina."

"What is so important, krist…." Sam stopped dead in her tracks. "Oh my God. Molly what did you do?" Molly was standing in the middle of the room with a big chunk of her hair lying at her feet.

"She cut her hair." Kristina answered.

"I can see that, where did she get the scissors?" Sam asked.

"From my art set." Kristina offered.

"Great. This is just what I need. Come on you two. I'll make you each sandwich, then we have to find someone to fix Molly's hair. Before Mom gets home."

"Excuse Me, Miss?" The tall guy said careful at to not call Sam ma'am. "Can you sign off on the work order?"

"Not if is says that my Mom's warranty is voided. And besides, you can't be finished yet. I don't smell anything. Surely that stuff has to have some smell to it."

The tall guy screwed up his face. "That's what I thought. I'll be back in two minutes to make sure you guys do your job."

Sam ushered the girls into the kitchen and made each of them a PB & J sandwich with a glass of milk. Next she watched every move the furniture guys made. She was right; the protectant that was put on the couch had a horrific odor. "How long is this stuff going to smell?" Sam reached for the clip board finally willing to sign off on the work order.

"The smell should clear out in a couple of hours. Thank you Miss." Tall guy tipped his ball cap.

"Hey, hey, hey," Sam yelled. "Give me a copy of that…"

"What?"

"The work order, give me a copy of it for my Mom's records."

"She can get a copy of it from the store."

"Hey, you were more than happy to rip off a copy when you were voiding the warranty." Sam blocked the door and held out her hand.

"Just give her a copy, Guy, and let's get out of here." Sam stepped out of the way when she finally had the paper in hand.

"Thank you, gentlemen," She yelled closing the door behind them.

"Alright you two little hooligans…Kristina go clean up so we can go get Molly's hair fixed." Kristina jumped from the table and ran to the back of the house. Within 20 minutes all three girls we headed to the set of Everyday Heroes. The hairdresser owed Sam a favor and she was cashing in.

The girls were angels for the rest of the afternoon. Of course, a little bit of big sister bribery always helps. The hairdresser had to cut about 4 inches off of Molly's long hair to even out all of Molly's snips. Sam silently prayed that Alexis wouldn't be too upset about the new hairdo. Sam later took the girls to the park and bought them each a tall cup of Hot Chocolate. It was the perfect bride to keep them tame for the rest of the afternoon.

When they pulled in the driveway of the Lakehouse, Sam was relived to see that Alexis was not home yet. "Okay, girls, naptime when we get in the house."

"Will you lay with me for a couple of minutes, Sam? Please?" Kristina pleaded.

"Me too?" Molly mimicked.

"I have to clean the mess you guys made before Mom gets home. So you'll just have to lie together."

"Alright," Kristina moped as she padded down the hallway toward her bedroom. Molly was just 3 steps behind mumbling over and over "Panda still needs his bubba...he's starving to deaf."

Sam listened for Kristina bedroom door to close. She sat down on the couch for a minute and rubbed her eyes. Before she knew what was happening she was asleep herself.

"I'm awake," Sam yelled when she was startled from the sound of the front door closing.

"Sam, Relax. It's just me." Sam smiled when she saw that her mother had just walked through the door.

"Are the girls napping?" Sam nodded. "Good, why don't you go to your room and lay down. I'll start dinner."

Sam walked over to her mother, kissed her cheek and gave her a big hug. "I don't know how you do it, Momma? I love you," She said to Alexis with a wide smile.

Alexis watch with confusion as Sam walked toward her bedroom. She shook her head and went to check on the little ones. Both girls were quietly asleep on Kristina's bed. She closed the door then made her way to the playroom to turn off the light. When Alexis saw the room her eyes widened for a couple of seconds then she closed the tight. She took a deep breath, held it for a moment then let it out, "SAMANTHA!!"

Sam sat straight up in her bed. She quickly picked up her cell phone and dialed a very familiar number. "Lucky, it's Sam; I have to cancel our date tonight. I know I'm 27 but I think that I am about to be grounded." She stopped for a second as she thought back to her horrible childhood. She thought about the abuse and neglect. But it was all different now. She had her REAL mother. The mother who has loved her unconditionally; she smiled warmly to herself. Sure she was an adult but every adult has that inner child that still needs their Mom. "But I wouldn't have it any other way," she finished.