Author's Note: I posted this story on a message board awhile back and just recently came across it again so I thought I would post it here. It's an AU Sam/Carly friendship, Sam/Alexis, Carly/Bobbie story, that kind of fits into the story lines of the late 90s. It also features Alexis/Jax as a pairing. Ages have been adjusted and it features a lot of my favorite GH characters, again from the late 90s. You can easily find scenes and such on youtube if you want a refresher. :) It is the 50th Anniversary and it's always fun to revisit GH's past. Anyway, I hope you all enjoy. Reviews always welcome :)
State run group homes were a special kind of hell. They were more like mini-prisons and nothing like a real home. The adults that were suppose to look after the kids were not parents but administrators who kept themselves at a distance. There was no love, no caring, and very little compassion, empathy or sympathy. The adults did their jobs and went home at the end of their shifts to their real families. This left the kids to create their own ways of getting the simplest of basic needs. They clustered together for support and crumbs of affection, or they became hard in order to survive the loneliness. The kids who lived in-group homes learned to adapt quickly or they got chewed up and spit out by the experience. The tough kids got tougher, the weaker kids got tough or they got used and abused. Caroline "Carly" Benson had come to the home a sad kid who had just lost her adoptive mother to a heart condition, but she was a fighter and quickly adapted to the situation. She learned the ropes and used what she could to her advantage.
Carly had been twelve when the social worker pulled her away from Virginia Benson's hospital bed, forcing the girl to let go of her mother's cold, lifeless hand, and dropped her off at this place. After her mother's funeral it took Carly three months and a pretty bad beating from one of the older girls to snap her out of her grief and depression and into survival mode. Three years later and everyone knew not to mess with Carly Benson. They knew she was either an ally or your worst nightmare. Carly, unlike a lot of the kids, was not violent, she was manipulative and scheming, she didn't kick your ass unless she absolutely had too, no she got you in enough trouble to be sent to another home or to detention center or worse.
For the most part Carly had been a loner, looking out for herself and on occasion some of the younger kids, but all that changed six months ago. She'd been on her way out when she spotted a girl she'd never seen before trying to sneak out the way Carly herself snuck out. Carly had been impressed that this new kid was able to find the unused and long forgotten little delivery door in the back of a basement storeroom. The girl had long dark hair and the biggest brown eyes she'd every seen. Samantha McCall was nine, though she was small for her age easily passing for seven, and quite the little spitfire. The girls connected almost instantly once their natural weariness and defenses were let go of. Carly learned that Sam had been abandoned by her father after a con he was running went south, and that normally when something like that happened Sam was suppose to stay out of sight until Cody could come back for her, but Sam had gotten sick and was busted when she was found sleeping off a fever on a church pew. For the first time since loosing her mother Carly had someone to care about. She also realized that this was no place for a kid like Sam, so Carly came up with a plan.
Walking down the hall of the home Carly saw one of the older boys pinning Sam to the wall, using his size and hers against her, and even though Sam was fighting as hard as she could she couldn't push the boy away. Carly quicken her step to reach them and pulled the boy away from Sam with such force he landed on his rear end. "Get lost Brad." Carly hissed at the boy. "Come near her again and you'll regret it." Brad was relatively new and didn't know any better. He didn't know that the tall fifteen year old with long dirty blonde hair and bright blue eyes was someone to be weary of. But one look into those expressive blue eyes told him what he needed to know and the boy scurry to his feet and run off. Once he was out of sight Carly turned to Sam. "Are you ok Sammie?"
The younger girl nodded while trying to catch her breath. She'd been ready for a fight and now that the fight wouldn't be happening she needed a moment to come down from the fight of flight that gripped her a moment ago. "I could have handled him Carly."
Carly smirked; it was a cute smirk with one side of her lip curling upwards a little more then the other side. "I know you could have." She told the small dark haired girl. "But I didn't have the patience to wait." She took Sam by the hand and led her to her room. Once they were sitting on Carly's bed, Carly took her beat up old backpack off her shoulder and removed several small brightly wrapped packages from its depths. She handed them to Sam. "Happy Birthday Sam."
Sam always tried to act tough. She had been terrified when she'd first arrived but Carly help her through that. It was easier to act tough knowing that someone had her back. Sam looked up to the older girl and being with her helped her miss Cody and Danny less. When she felt her eyes burning with tears she quickly blinked it away, not waiting Carly to see her act like a baby. She smiled up at the older girl as she said, "You remembered."
"Of course I did." Carly said as she ruffled Sam's hair. "Go ahead and open them."
The gifts were simple. A small beanie plush turtle, Sam loved turtles; a package of Swedish fish, Sam's favorite candy; and a small star on a little gold chain, Sam absolutely loved the stars. The younger girl threw her arms around the older one's neck and hugged her tight. No one, not even Cody, had ever given her a birthday present before. Danny had drawn her pictures, which she carried with her in her old battered up bag, but these were her first real gifts. "Oh, thank you Carly, thank you."
Carly beamed as she hugged the younger girl back. "You're welcome half pint." After she helped Sam put on her necklace she warned, "Keep it hidden under your shirt."
Sam nodded. No one really owned anything in a place like this because stuff was so easily stolen. She would have lost everything she owned if Carly hadn't hidden her bag away like she did her own.
"I got you something else." Carly said as she pulled something else out of her bag. "Its not really a gift though." She handed the girl a couple of thin metal rods that she'd lifted from a hardware store. "Will these work?"
Sam's big brown eyes lit up. "These are perfect."
"Great." Carly replied. "So tonight after everyone's asleep I'll come get you. You know what to do?"
"Pick the lock on the file room door." Sam said with a nod. "And then keep watch while you're inside."
Carly nodded. "If I can figure out who my birth mother is maybe I can figure out a way to get some real money for us."
"What if you can't find her?" Sam asked. "What if she doesn't have money?"
"Then we go to plan B." Carly said as she tried to reassure the girl.
"What's plan B?" Sam asked.
Carly didn't have one yet so she replied, "I'll tell you if we need it." Like most kids, because despite everything Carly was still just a kid, she had this over fantasized image of what her birth mother was like. In her imagination the woman had money and she'd been using some of that money looking for Carly all these years, so now Carly was going to help her out by finding her herself. "Don't forget to keep those well hidden."
Sam beamed up at the older girl. "Don't worry Carly. I know. Cody taught me all about hiding our tools and stuff." She slipped the little rods into her sock and then opened her candy and offered some to Carly who smiled as she accepted one of the little red fish.
That night Carly snuck out of her room and down the hall to Sam's. She and the younger girl made their way through the dim and silent halls, avoiding the night staff, to the part of the building that was used for administrative stuff. Sam had the lock picked in less then a minute and Carly quickly slipped inside. She needed the girl to pick the lock on the file cabinet and then sent her to keep a look out. Carly quickly found her file and started going through it. She wished she could make proper copies but someone might have heard the copy machine so she had to hand write the information she needed. Once she had that she put her file away and was about to close the drawer and leave but she had a sudden idea and quickly found Sam's file. Carly frowned, as she looked it over. Sam had been adopted too? And why did Sam's records look so different from her own? Finding her file again Carly compared the documents. Hers had things like the name of the lawyer who handled her adoption, the name of the hospital she was born at, the name of the adoption agency, but Sam's had none of that. Even at fifteen Carly knew something wasn't right in Sam's records, she just didn't know what. Grabbing another piece of paper Carly took down Sam's information as well and then put everything back the way it was. Slipping out into the hall she closed the door and smiled at Sam.
After putting Sam back to bed Carly looked over the information she had and tried to think through her next step. It was late when she finally went to sleep herself. All the kids at the home went to the local public schools and it wasn't a surprise that Carly decided to skip. After making sure Sam was in school she hopped on a bus and headed over to a block of run down apartments that she knew a bunch of former home kids were crashing in. Part of being part of the foster care system was that kids aged out everyday and that gave a resourceful kid like Carly access to stuff others wouldn't even think of using. It took a couple of hours but Carly was able to learn that one of the boys who use to live at the home had a job working in the very hospital she'd been born in. So the next day she hopped on a bus to Jacksonville.
"Hey," Carly called out to the tall string bean of a young man. "Billy Gather."
The young man turned. "Carly?"
Carly smiled brightly at him. "Been awhile."
"Yeah." The boy agreed. "What are you doing here?"
"Do you remember that favor I did for you?" Carly asked as she put her arm around the young man's shoulders. "Well I need one in return."
The young man looked a little nervous. "What did you have in mind?"
She handed him a slip of paper. "I need copies of an old medical file."
"Carly I…"
She cut him off. "It would really suck if someone, say the police, ever found out about…"
"I was a kid!" Billy said quickly. "You know my foster father made me…"
"Still," Carly cut in. "it would be sad if someone…"
"Ok!" Billy agreed. "Ok, I'll get what you need. I'll meet you in the park during my lunch hour, by the lemonade stand, one o'clock."
Carly reward the boy with a smile so bright it lit up her eyes. "Thanks Billy, you're the best."
Barbara Jean Spencer, fifteen, of Jacksonville Florida gave birth to a baby girl on November 5th. Her custodial guardian Ruby Anderson signed the papers to put the child up for adoption since Barbara was underage. Carly read and reread the information Billy had gotten her all night long. Now she sat at a computer in the public library staring at the search screen. For some reason she just couldn't make her fingers type in the name that was now burned into her memory. She had a name, her mother's name, and it was a little over whelming.
"Carly." Sam said as she tapped the older girl on the shoulder. "Carly."
Carly blinked her bright blue eyes and looked at the younger girl. "Hmm?"
"Are you ok?" Sam asked with concern in her big brown eyes.
Carly smiled. "I'm fine half pint."
"Did you find where we have to go?" Sam asked.
"Not yet." Carly said. Looking at Sam reminded her why she was doing this. She was going to find her birth mother and somehow get enough money off her to help Sam. Sam who had no clue she too had a birth mother out there somewhere; Sam who didn't have a clue she'd been throw away and abandon more then once. Who the hell did these women think they were? How dare they just cast them aside without a second thought! Carly looked at the computer screen and typed in the name Barbara Jean Spencer. Well these women would pay for tossing them out, Carly was damn sure of that now.
Half an hour later Carly looked at Sam and asked, "Ever been to New York?"
To Carly's surprise Sam nodded. "We lived there for awhile, but we never stayed in any place too long."
"Well, it looks like you're going back." Carly said as she grabbed the print outs she'd made and logged off the computer. "Because that's where we're headed."
"Is that where your mother is?" Sam asked.
Carly nodded. She was kind of disappointed because as it turns out her mother wasn't anything like she'd pictured, but she was still sitting pretty with a good life in her little harbor town. "I need a couple of days to work out all the details. Don't say a word, Sam, just get your stuff together as quietly as possible and be ready to go at a moments notice."
Sam was beaming. This was kind of like being with her dad again and it was a rush. "Ok Carly. I will."
It took some time for Carly to get enough money pulled together. She'd been saving some for a few weeks now but a trip all the way to New York would cost more then she had saved. It was a good thing no one ever really paid attention to the petty cash funds at the home. Sam helped. She was really good at snatching wallets and those jars at counters that Carly was fairly sure were scams anyway. Two weeks after finding out who her mother was Carly and Sam were sitting in the back of a bus on their way to Memphis Tennessee. She didn't think anyone would bother looking for them, sure the home would file a police report, but she knew no one really cared about two group home runaways. They were just two less people the state of Florida would have to foot the bill for. But Carly was being cautious nonetheless, so they weren't taking a direct route to New York. Sure it was going to cost more this way, after Memphis they'd take a bus too Indianapolis, from there Pittsburg, then finally to New York City, but Carly couldn't take the chance that some moral dumbass in the police department would actually make an effort to find them.
"You ok half pint?" Carly asked in a whisper since most of the other bus passengers were sleeping.
Sam nodded. "This is better then being in that place." But she sighed softly. "I was just thinking though, what if Cody comes to find me and I'm not there?"
Carly put her arm around the ten year old. "Sweetie, I don't think he was going to come back this time. Has he ever left you for so long before?"
Sam shook her head as tears welled in her eyes. "No."
"It'll be ok, Sam." Carly said as she gave the girl a one armed hug. "You and me, we'll be ok, you'll see."
Sam gave Carly a watery smile. "I'm glad I have you Carly." She looked out the window for a while, watching as the moon followed them, or they followed it Sam couldn't tell which it was. But that didn't stop her from whispering to the bright silver orb, "I wish I had a mama out there to find too."
It hadn't been meant for her to hear but Carly heard it anyway and it broke her heart. She pulled a slip of paper out of her pocket and looked at it. Sam was born May 11th in Maine and was adopted by Cody McCall and Evelyn Bass. It had taken some digging but Carly was able to find out the name of the clinic and the name Carter Tate. Something about this still didn't sit right with Carly, but she'd have to wait to figure it all out. She and Sam had a long road ahead of them so Carly was going at this one step at a time. First thing first, she had to get them to some place in upstate New York called Port Charles.