Disclaimer: I don't own iCarly
Sam Puckett walked into her house and saw her mother sitting on the couch. She was shocked to say the least, seeing her mother out of bed.
Her mother was reading what Sam believed to be a letter from the school and Sam panicked. "Mom, I did not push Gibby into the girls' bathroom!" she said quickly and sat by her mother on the couch. "He fell in then the door got stuck."
"What?" Lisa Puckett said looking up from the letter. "Oh, no…" she said and held up the paper. "This is from Chayna and Demarco."
"The ones who have Sara?" Sam asked, suddenly interested, it had been a while since she heard about her twin sister. She was honestly surprised that Sara had lived this long, she was born sickly.
"Yes." Lisa said and held up something. "They say that she's doing well, she's an honor student, and she has many friends and is an absolute joy." Lisa looked at the letter again. "They took her on another trip and they are now back home in Africa."
"Wow," Sam said. "Sara's really in Africa?" Lisa nodded and handed Sam a picture of a girl who was nearly identical to her, the only difference was the childlike innocence, the skin that was well tanned from nearly a life of living in Africa, and the face that the girl was wearing a dress.
Sam grimaced at the dress. It was a pretty yellow strapless one that looked like it flared when she moved and had white flowers stitched around the bottom. "You sure I'm related to her?" Sam asked. There was nothing wrong with the dress, it just wasn't something Sam would wear and it was kind of creepy to see someone who looked so much like her in the dress.
Lisa laughed at Sam's behavior; she was so much like her father. Lisa looked at the picture, last time she saw Sarafina she was skinny, deathly pale and looked so weak. Her blonde locks had no luster to them and her eyes looked hollow and dead and she had to be carried most of the time.
Even as a baby she was constantly coughing, feverish, or crying. Nothing seemed to stop the babies' mournful cries or Sam's agitated ones as Sara prevented her from sleeping, waking up and screaming as if she was in some horrible pain.
But the Sara in this picture looked like she had never cried once in her life. She had gained a healthy weight and her skin was now a slightly bronzed caramel tone. Her curly hair now shined as she posed for her picture, her eyes were the perfect bright blue and she smiled brightly for the camera. Her arms and legs looked stronger, her foster family had written that she loved running with her friends and when she was little climbed trees, now she played tennis and ran track at school.
Lisa supposed it was partially her fault. She rarely went to the doctors when she was pregnant with her twins and maybe if she did they would have been able to detect something. She also had her children on a bus, which didn't affect Samantha, but Sarafina whose body could barely fight germs was exposed to so many of them on that bus.
When Sam had cried it was a loud, powerful, attention grabbing cry that could wake the dead and it was only because she was hungry. Lisa fed her, bathed her, changed her and put her back to bed.
When Sara had cried it was a pain filled, weak cry, pleading for help. Sara wasn't feeling well and it was taking a toll on her body. Lisa tried to feed the younger twin, but she refused food and continued her anguished cries and when she did eat, she almost always threw it back up. Lisa bathed her gently, afraid to hurt the baby further and gently laid her in her crib, making sure she didn't cry anymore.
When Sam was a baby, she was fat like most babies, but Sara was smaller then her sister, you could see her ribs and feel her tiny bone when you held her.
Lisa looked at the picture, still surprised this was her daughter, this was Sarafina, alive and well.
Sam remembered Sara, but she didn't remember a lot. Sam remembered having to stay in the house a lot to watch her sick sister; Once Sara had told her to go while she took a nap. "Go take Gibby's allowance," Sara had said, "And get us smoothies."
Sam had done what Sara had said, brining Sara back a strawberry banana smoothie and when she came back in she found her sister shivering under her blankets with yet another fever.
When Sara had lived with them, it was the only time Sam had actually tried in school so she'd be able to help her twin with homework assignments.
Sara had always confided in her and Sam had done the same to Sara. Truthfully, Carly somehow made her think of Sara, only not as sickly. Sam's and Sara's private conversations were something Sam had always looked foreword to.
Flashback:
Sam walked into the bedroom she shared with her sister and looked at Sara who was awake with her nose in a book. "What are you reading about runt?"
Sara smiled, she was in bed with a little fever. "The world," She answered, "All the places I could go, the people I could meet, the food they have about the world sound delicious and there are so many things to see Sammy…wonderful things…"
"Sar," Sam started. "Have you forgotten you can barely leave the house without getting sick? If you got to another country you'll catch something and die."
Sara sighed. She knew Sam was right. She could hardly get out of the bed. "You're right…" she said. "But one day I'm going to get well and I'll be all around the world."
"Yeah," Sam said and sat on her own bed. "Just bring me something back."
Sara smiled. "I'll do better than that, I'll get a cookbook from every place I visit and when I get back I'll cook and make the food for you."
"Sounds good to me." Sam said.
Sara giggled, about to speak but was suddenly thrown into one of her coughing fits, Sam ran to her and offered her father, but Sam screamed so loudly it woke her mother from her nap.
Flashback Ends:
Sam looked at the picture once more. Could this really be her sister?
Lisa smiled a little. She now saw that letting her daughter go was the best thing she could have done, but at first, she didn't want to let go of Sara, it was actually her sister, Connie who talked her into it.
"Come on," Connie argued with her older sister, "Let me take Sarafina with me."
"No," Lisa argued back, "She can barely stay alive in Seattle! If she goes to Africa, she'll die!"
"She's going to die anyways." Connie reminded her. "She can't eat, she doesn't gain weight, she can barely walk on her own…four and can barely walk!"
"So why should I let her go?" Lisa asked.
"Because she wants to travel somewhere she's never been to before." Connie said. "While she's alive, you have to let her live Lisa, let her do something she'll remember."
Lisa was silent. Connie was right, and she had promised to make sure Sara had gotten all of the necessary shots and medications she would need before they left, so she reluctantly agreed to let Sara go.
It was going well; Sara was enjoying herself and was very excited by everything she saw, constantly asking questions about what she saw around her.
Connie took her niece into lots of shops and bought her lots of things she could take home with her. She was happy, while she still needed to be carried, she moved more to look in the shop windows and the brightly colored clothes and dolls.
The biggest problem they had was Sara's fatigue and the fact that she became sick after eating something spicy, other than that, she was enjoying herself.
Everything was perfect so far.
After a few days of no contact from her sister, Lisa started to panic, she called and tried to see if she could talk with her, there was no answer, so she got on the internet and saw if anything bad had happened, just as she suspected, something happened.
Their hotel had burned down.
There was a list of names; anyone who had died in the blaze was on that list. Lisa felt her heart stop when she saw Connie's name on that list, she felt some relief, realizing her child wasn't caught in the fire, but when she looked at the list of the survivors, Sara's name wasn't there either.
What had happened to her daughter?
For weeks there was no news of Sara, she called everywhere, every church, every orphanage, but there was no sign of her daughter.
Sam had finally caught on that something was wrong and when she asked about it, her mother broke down and told about the fire and that Sara was missing.
Sam was really upset. She knew her sister wasn't strong, if someone had taken her, she could be dead now. Although she never said it out loud, she blamed her mother for what happened; she never should have let Aunt Connie take her.
After much waiting and worrying, the phone rang.
A woman was calling and said she had Sara. Sara had escaped the fire and was wandering around the city with burn on her arms and legs. When this woman found her, she had collapsed from smoke inhalation, after a while she finally gave up her phone number.
"If you have her let me talk to her." Lisa said, and Sara came to the phone, her voice weak.
"I'm okay mommy," she said, "Chayna and Demarco are taking care of me." Lisa sighed in relief, although her voice was small and weak, she didn't sound like she was in danger. She chatted for a while describing the house she was staying in.
Sara said it looked a lot like the presidents house and there was a swimming pool. The room they were letting her stay in had a big lavender canopy and Chayna had bought her toys and clothes to replace what was lost in the hotel fire.
After speaking to Chayna again, Lisa found out that she had taken Sara to the hospital, and just seemed to enjoy having Sara to care for. She also told her that she thought it best not to move her now, that she should stay there and rest.
"I need proof that she's alright." Lisa said.
"Alright." Chayna said, "Give me your email address and I'll send pictures." The same day, there were at least 20 pictures of Sara sent to her. Sara looked happy, her normally pale face was starting to turn rosy.
Lisa couldn't believe it, complete strangers were taking care of Sara and were able to provide for her better than she ever had. Sara was even starting to look healthier.
Every day since that happened, Lisa was getting calls to assure her that Sara wasn't hurt in any way. One day, Sara got a little sunburned, but was fine.
"I want her to stay with me." Chayna said over the phone. "I'll take care of her; she's getting so much stronger."
Sam who was eavesdropping over the phone yelled, "No! She needs to be here! We're her family!"
Lisa was quiet, Chayna was right, Sara was happier there, she was getting stronger and was being better cared for. Demarco and Chayna were a well to do couple and could easily supply Sara with all she wanted and needed, but she still didn't want to let her go.
"We can offer her expert medical attention." Demarco said, coming to the phone after seeing Chayna's worried expression. She was worried they might not be able to keep the little girl. He himself had also grown fond of her, and she needed the care she was getting.
He remembered the day his wife carried her into the house, she was the tiniest four year old he'd ever seen, her skin was so pale and her body was wracked with coughs. She was still sick, but she was making progress, and if they sent her back to America, all of her progress would be destroyed. "Her medical bills are high, and I'm sure with your other girl, you have trouble keeping up with them, but we only have her now."
There was no noise over the phone for a while and Demarco had wondered if she had hung up the phone, when he heard Lisa speak softly. "You win." She said. "I'll give up my paternal rights; you can adopt her and apply for citizenship there." After that Lisa said nothing, but hung up the phone.
Sara was still in Africa and adopted, but her new family had let her keep her last name. Lisa was so sure Sara was going to die that she let her stay where she would be happy for her short life, but Sara was alive and well today.
She pushed the thoughts of her other daughter away from her head and looked at Sam. "What's this about you pushing Gibby into the girls' bathroom?"
A/N: what do you think? My first iCarly fic, all reviews welcome, R&R please.