Freddie:

It was hard to watch Sam break down like that. She'd always been strong, tough, and enduring of everything and anything life had to throw at her. It was like the world was crashing down to see her cry so hysterically, because no one ever thought they'd ever see her like that unless life as we knew it was coming to an official end. I wanted to comfort her, but I had no idea how. I just stood by her, and tried to give her silent support, though she didn't show any signs of noticing it.

I had always secretly admired Sam for her shameless pride, and self confidence. It was on a level that was border-line obnoxious yet somehow still in check. It was one of the things I liked about her.

It was incredible to me, how all that she was could just shatter, in an instant. Everything that was Sam had just disappeared in a flash, and she was left raw and broken inside with tears streaming down her cheeks. It was almost as though she had never been strong in the first place.

"She can't be dead! She can't! She's not! You're all lying!" She shrieked wildly.

She was in a state of denial, she wouldn't look at Spencer, or me, or even Carly… It was like she was trapped in her own little bubble of pain, where all those trying to help her didn't exist. Where though she was surrounded by friends, she was still all alone trying to comprehend the internal agony she had to have been feeling.

I looked up to Carly for a moment, who seemed to be just as lost as I was when it came to consoling Sam. Carly met my eyes and blinked twice before giving her full attention to Sam. She sat down by her, and attempted to stroke her hair softly inan effort to calm her down. Sam just slapped her hand away, and continued sobbing. Carly tried again. This time Sam was too busy convulsing on the floor to put up a fight.

I hated seeing her like that. I loved her. Whether I pretended to be in love with Carly or not, my actual affections would never change. They were still just as strong as I saw her crying on Carly's living room floor weakened with despair and suffering.

I wondered what would happen to Sam now that her mom had been killed in the accident. Her dad was probably a bum, or a thug in prison. Most of her relatives were locked up or already dead from one too many bar-fights. Her mom had for the most part been a hermit with no friends that would be willing to house Sam, and probably none that were capable at attempting to.

Would Sam be taken to foster care? What would happen to her if she never saw her home, Seattle, again? Would it tear her up even more inside than she already had been? What would something like that do to her? What would never seeing us, her best-friends, again, do to her?

I gazed at her silently from beside Carly, and wondered what would happen to me if I never saw her again. I knew it would probably kill me even more than it would her.

Spencer:

The social worker that had dragged Sam into the apartment observed the situation unsympathetically from the corner of the room, until he cleared his throat and gestured to me to come near.

I had known this was coming. I had gone to law school for three days.

This was the part where they took Sam away to live with strangers, where they ripped her away from all of the ones who loved her. I knew it would devastate her to leave her friends at all, but after the recent tragedy it would throw her completely over the edge.

I nodded politely as I stared into the cold eyes of the social worker. He looked almost like a robot.

When he'd first shown up at the door, I had been hesitant to answer. Normally, when men in suit came banging on the door it meant I was in big trouble. Then I saw Sam's hysterical form by his side and threw the door wide open. Sam hadn't spoken a word, instead just running in and collapsing onto the floor sobbing like a maniac. It wasn't long before Carly had come down summoned by the commotion, and after about five minutes of trying to calm her down called Freddie. Strangely once Freddie came over she started to get a little better, though she was still shaking and wailing it was less intense than before.

While her friends tried to help her, the man introduced himself to me as Mr. Burns, a government mandated social worker. He explained to me that when he asked her where to take her, she managed to blubber out our address. He asked if I was her father, to which I replied that I was her best-friend's older brother, Spencer Shay.

That seemed to surprise him a little bit, but any emotion was quickly replaced once more by his solid poker face. When he didn't have anything else to say I went to stand by the kids, though I kept one eye focused on him constantly. There was something about him that I didn't like.

"I see you have two other children here, are they yours?"

"The boy's not. The girl is, but isn't."

"Explain."

"Our Dad's in the Air Force, so he's not around that much. Once I turned eighteen he made me her legal guardian, though if he comes back before she turns eighteen guardianship will return to him. So I am her guardian, but she is not my daughter." I said in my most lawyer-esque voice.

"I see, I see."

He began tapping on a PearPad, so fast I could barely see his fingers.

Suddenly a picture of Sam popped up on it, one of her mug shots from juvie.

He scrolled down the page, reading very fast.

"According to her files she has no living relatives that aren't currently being held under criminal charges, that we can contact. Please tell the girl and boy to move aside, so I can take her out of here and down to the office until I can find an appropriate foster family."

"Wait! What if I were to take care of her?"

"You? You're not related to her, Mr. Shay."

"But I'm closer to her than most of her relatives! She's like another little sister to me. She's here all the time. I've practically raised her since she was thirteen!" It was true.

"Well... this is your father's house right?"

"Technically, yes. He pays the rent."

"I suppose if you were to get him to agree that she could live here, then it's a possibility. You'd also have to do a lot of paperwork, and build us a good portfolio of refrences to make sure you're who you say you are and an appropriate guardian. There would definitely need to be someone else of legal age we could temporarily put her in the care of while it's all sorted out though and since she has no adult relations besides you, it's probably not going to happen."

"Um... Could you give me a second?"

"I guess we can wait a little while longer, but make it quick." He replies.

I walked away from him slowly. There was only one person I could think of, and I was almost afraid to ask her for fear she'd say no, and even more fear for Sam that she'd say yes. But she had to go somewhere, and I didn't have many options. It was a do or die situation.

I went up to Freddie and tapped him on the shoulder. He didn't seem to notice me, he's so enveloped into Sam's hysterics. After another moment, I resorted to shaking his shoulder lightly. He snapped back to reality instantaneously.

"What, Spencer?" Freddie questioned after looking at me in disoriented confusion for a few seconds, like he couldn't remember who I was. That showed just how absorbed he was in Sam. Whether he admitted it or not, he cared about her quite a bit.

"I need you to go get your mom." I said, quietly.

"Why?"

"Just do it, okay?"

He reluctantly left his friend's sides, though as he walked out the wooden door he looked back at her with a concerned expression. Less than a minute later he came back with Ms. Benson at his heels. She apparently was yet to be informed about Sam, because when she saw the kid crying on the floor a look of surprise, confusion, and shock mingled together flashed across her face.

"Oh my gosh! What happened?"

Freddie whispered a hurried explanation to Ms. Benson leaving her to gasp at the end. Ms. Benson looked at me, and "Is what he's saying true? Sam's mom is dead?"

I nod. Her mouth gaps as she stammers "But-but-!"

I stop her mid-stutter.

"Listen, Ms. Benson. I know as well as anyone here that this is horrible, but we have to help Sam. The social worker says I can take custody of her but it's going to take a while what with all the legal stuff I'll have to go through, and they need another adult of legal age to temporarily take care of her. She can't stay in Seattle, if no one else is willing. I know this is a huge favor but please could you take her on, just for now? It won't be a permanent situation. Please…" I begged.

I doubted she would say yes. She'd never liked Sam much.

"Of course I'll take her, Spencer, how could I not?" She said like I was an idiot for even having to ask.