Sheena

By: Alyson Tierney

DISCLAIMER: The characters of Samantha Spade, the psychiatrist, and Jack Malone are property of Hank Steinberg and the CBS network. I don't own them, I'm simply borrowing them. However, I do own the character of Sheena, so no stealing please!

NOTE: This is a continuation of the end of the episode "Moving On" from season two. I realize that now there are probably too many inconsistencies for this to be Samantha's secret, but I am still pretty sure it's something like this. Please let me know what you think!

"Does it bother you?" the psychiatrist asked.

'Duh! Yes! Look at me, of course it does! But, I-I can't tell people why, can I? Will they understand?'

"I-I don't know." Samantha stuttered out.

"Samantha?"

"Yeah?"

"I know this is completely personal, but do you have a connection to this? Do you—did you by any chance have a child?"

'Oh, God! It's clearly obvious, isn't it?'

"I-I...yeah, I have...a daughter."

"Is she—was it when you were a teenager?"

'Bing!'

"Um, yeah, it-it was."

"It must have been awful to let her go."

'What? Let her GO? Are you INSANE?'

"Oh! I-I didn't let her go. She lives with me. In our apartment. My daughter. For the last 14 years, she has. I-I kept her."

"You live with a daughter? I didn't know that."

"Yeah." She smiled then, whipping out her wallet, "Here she is. Sheena...my baby girl, Sheena."

"She's beautiful. She looks like her mom."

Samantha smiled, "She sure does."

"How old is she?"

'I just TOLD you! Idiot!'

"She's fourteen...and almost four months."

"And how is raising a child?"

"Oh, it's wonderful. It's challenging at times, I'll admit, but it's so wonderfully rewarding. Sheena's a great kid, she's so grown up. High school now, I can't believe it."

"So, not only have you been dealing with the shooting, but you've had to worry about your 14-year-old's well-being?"

"Yeah. The cases with young teenage girls, they sort of...get to me. I-I don't know, it's like I have a connection with me having a baby at fifteen, and now my baby's a teenager, you know?"

"Can you tell me about your teenage hood? About the time you got pregnant? What you did?"

'Personal, much?'

"Well, I used to live in Buchanan. It's a small town about 40 miles north of here; I lived there with my parents. I was an only child, and they pretty much spoiled me and suffocated me. I was fourteen when I got pregnant. They got very, very angry and my father almost kicked me out of the house, but my mother convinced him to let me stay. He-he wanted me to get rid of her, but I couldn't. I kinda needed someone...a companion. Sheena was born a week after my fifteenth birthday. We lived with them until Sheena was three, and then we moved to New York so I could go to NYU. We struggled a bit then, because I was out on my own with a small child and myself to support, but I got through college, and training. We lived in a small studio apartment on the Upper East Side for awhile, but we live in a larger complex in Greenwich Village. I guess, it was hard for me at first to adjust to being a mom, but I was so smothered and so...sheltered, it was a real wake-up call for me also. I was a mother, someone was dependant on me. But in another way...I really needed someone. Sheena gave me that feeling of being needed and having someone who will always be there. And now, Sheena's so great at reading me, she knows when I'm upset and I need her. I came home last night, quite late, it must have been nearly midnight, and she was waiting up for me. She knew I was upset even before I saw her. I'm the same way, I know when she's upset and needs me."

"Sounds like you have a great relationship."

Samantha smiled at that. "Yeah, we really do."

"Well, I won't keep you any longer; let you get home to your daughter. Thanks for telling me, Samantha that really helps me understand you better. Next week? You can bring Sheena along if you wish."

Samantha smiled and then shrugged, "Next week. I'll see what I can do."

Samantha crept into the house she shared with Sheena. It was getting pretty late, so she was quiet. She dropped her stuff in the entryway and then went down the main hallway to the bedrooms. She opened Sheena's door, and not too surprisingly, her bed was neatly made and the room dark. Sam didn't mind though, she just went next door to her own room. There Sheena was, cuddled under the quilt against the cold night. Sam crept over to her daughter, kissing her on the forehead and smoothing her blonde hair back, "I love you, Sheena." She whispered.

Sheena smiled in her sleep and mumbled back, "I love you, Mom." Sam smiled, she was so glad Sheena was in her life, even though she had never told anyone about Sheena, not even Jack. They'd gone to a hotel when they were together, Sam making up excuses about them exterminating and then painting her apartment. She wasn't sure why, but she wanted to keep Sheena away from her work life. Sam leaned down and kissed her daughter again, lying next to her and stroking her hair. Yep, she did love her life.