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Alexis got the letter first and tears cascaded her eyes as she looked at the stunning pictures in the envelop. Her eldest daughter, her baby was alive after all, alive and well. She was only fifteen when Samantha was born. But given her age, her little bundle of joy had to be given away for adoption. It nearly killed her to carry her precious little girl for nine months and only see her once, and not even for five minutes, before she was ripped out of Alexis's arms by the nurse.

Knowing by law that she couldn't track her daughter down, she worked her butt off to become a lawyer in the hopes that one day she could challenge that silly law. Or if that didn't work, she would have the legal maneuvering and know how to break that law and not get caught. Of course, Alexis never got around to challenging or breaking that law. She kept telling herself that if was because she didn't have the time with her booming career or her established family, but really it was guilt and fear of rejection. How could her daughter accept her as a mother figure when Alexis abandoned her after just a few minutes together.

One fateful day, Samantha McCall stormed into town. She was a criminal, a jailbird. She stole married men, dated some of her less innocent clients. And then Sam got pregnant, and that was the biggest scandal in town. After Sam's baby girl was born stillborn, Sam blamed Alexis for all the stress she caused in the last trimester of her pregnancy.

It was a shock to everyone when the news came out that Alexis and Sam were mother and daughter. They hated each other, on some level they both wished that the truth would never have come out. And after some time, they learned how to care for each other, they learned to forgive each other, and forgive the other ones faults. After a while, they learned to love each other.

They became a family. But then one day, Sam simply vanished. All of her worldly possessions were where they had always been, her bank account had a small sum of money in it. There was no body found, no death threats before she vanished. Sam was happy before the disappearance. Alexis had always suspected that it was Sam's past that disposed of her, some of those lowlifes she loved over the years. How else could anyone explain the fact that Sam's police officer boyfriend had vanished over that same night. The one thing that really puzzled Alexis was the fact of Sam's bank account. How could she survive on such a small amount of money? And better yet, where did the money from all of her various jobs go? Was she really that big of a spender?

At first, Sam's disappearance was considered to be just that, a disappearance. It wasn't until six months later that everyone gave up on looking for her and accepted the fact that she was dead. Somewhere deep in her heart, Alexis still felt the beating of Sam's heart but she only thought it was her endless hope that her daughter was still alive. It wasn't until now when she held that letter in her hands and looked at those pictures that she realized her heart was right, Sam was alive. She was alive!

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All along, Luke knew better. When it came to Lucas Lorenzo Spencer, everyone knew that he was a smart man, but no one believed him when he preached that his son was still alive somewhere. No, everyone had to think of the worst, all those pessimist of Port Charles. Everyone thought that whoever killed Samantha McCall had probably killed Lucky too. Did anyone know any better? That sometimes, people simply left the dump of Port Charles behind. Was he the only one who knew the exit roads?

While the whole town mourned a death that had never happened, Luke celebrated in joy that his son was probably happy somewhere. Old senile Luke, that's what everyone thought of him. But now he had proof that he was right and everyone else was wrong all along. He read the letter first, saving the photos for later.

It had been a year since Lucky and Sam "disappeared" and as he read the letter he realized just how much time can do. It can heal old wounds, create new ones, it can take a life or create a life. It can give you something or take it all away. Time was of the essence. And now, time showed him something he suspected all along.

He laughed as he read the letter, thinking just how much he had predicted everything. He was happy, his heart filled with joy for the first time in over a year. Then he looked at the photos that were enclosed in the letter. He studied them, enjoyed them. He wanted to show them all off to everyone he knew, he wanted to frame them all over his house. And then one photo caught his eyes, one photo made his heart jump faster in his chest. He got up and practically ran to his bedroom where he nearly tripped down the stairs and then nearly fell over his bed in order to get to the dresser where instead of storing clothes, he stored memories. In the drawers, along with home videos, photos, and other sentimental knit-knacks, he searched for the two pictures. He was frustrated with not being able to find it at the drop of the hat. He wanted to pound his head on something just to make those photos magically appear. But then, after about two hours at it, he finally found them.

Luke looked at the two photos that he found, he studied them, and then he compared them with one of the photos he received in the mail.

"I'll be damned," he said in awe as he realized his heart was right about everything. Then he smiled. He laughed. "I'll be damned"
He fell onto his bed with the photos in hand and studied them more, compared them more. "Laura," he said. "Luke," he said and laughed.

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1 Week Ago

Sam sat at the desk with her wet hair all over her shoulders. Her white robe was open revealing the undies and bra that she wore. The sun was streaming in through the windows and the light breeze was fluttering the white curtains. Lucky was off in another room doing the same thing she was about to do. Lucky was writing a letter to Luke after a year of silence. She was about to write a letter to Alexis. She was about to share her happiness with someone else.

Dear Mom,

I'm sorry. Words can't explain how sorry I feel for running away from everyone and everything. I miss my sisters and I miss you. I hope all of you can forgive me for just packing my bags and taking off like that.

That has always been my way of life, to just pack my bags and take of running. I took off running every time life got hard. I've been all over the place.

Port Charles was the first place I started to think of as home. It was where I found a family and formed a family. I became a part of something bigger when I was there. But Port Charles had a lot of bad memories too. It had dangers and past mistakes. It had everything and anything that could haunt me and make me regret staying there. I know I acted rudely just taking off like that, but it needed to be done.

I can never logically explain it as to why I ran away the way I did, without informing anyone, not even you. I could never explain why I just up and left. But I did it for my own reasons that I will try to explain. I went in the search of home. Any place in the world that I could call home.

You see, a month before I left, I found out that I was pregnant. Before I could even tell Lucky, Jason had been involved in a shoot out, Sonny was shot, and survived yet again, and all of these different bad things started happening to the people of my past. I told Lucky that I was pregnant and he was happy to have a child of his own for once. We were planning on being happy together. But we both realized that Port Charles wasn't going to bring us closer to happiness. We both realized that to raise our children in a safe and happy environment, we needed to leave.

Lucky and I found a home in the Caribbean. We bought a big house with a nice back yard. We have great neighbors and bright blue beaches. Even the sun shines brighter here then in Port Charles. Funny how everything looks better when you are happy. When I look back, I'm so happy to have escaped the black cloud of Port Charles.

Well, after we left that winter, Lucky and I set up, found jobs, and started living our normal lives. We got married that same June. It was a private little ceremony on the beach. There were no guest, no one we wanted to invite. As our witnesses, we asked one of our neighbors to be there and she was happy to oblige. I wore a short, white summer dress and you will see in the pictures that I was really showing. You will also see just how happy I was. Lucky is the perfect husband to me.

Early this fall, I gave birth to fraternal twins, a boy and a girl. No need for a paternity test since the babies look like carbon copies of what Luke and Laura looked like when they were born. I'm so glad that Lucky packed copies of Luke and Laura's baby pictures along when we moved because it cracks us up sometimes to see just how similar they are in appearance to our babies. After seeing the babies, we named them Luke and Laura. It's so hard to believe that now they are three months old, slowly developing their personalities because I just can't wait to see who they really become.

And oh, yeah, Mom, I'm pregnant again. I don't know if it will be a girl or boy or both again but if there is a girl anywhere in that mix, I would like to name her Alexis, after you. Even if we didn't know each other our whole lives, you are my mother, and now that I'm a mother too, I appreciate all that you do for your daughters, Kristina and Molly. I hope I'm as good a mother to my kids. They are my pride and joy.

Maybe someday, we'll come back to Port Charles just to visit. But never to live there, never for long. We have a home, right here, where we got married and our children where born. We have a home here where we're happy.

I love you,
Mrs. Samantha Spencer

She put the pen down and inhaled deeply. Getting up from the chair, she walked into the babies nursery and lifted up Luke. Laura was asleep and Sam didn't want to wake her.

Luke giggled in her arms and smiled at her. He was the happy baby, rarely ever crying. Now Laura cried when she wanted something. Loving her babies more then she ever imagined possible, Sam's heart constricted at the joy she felt holding one of them in her arms and knowing that the other one was loved just as much.

She heard Lucky walk into the nursery behind her, felt his warm hands go up and down her arms, and then he wrapped them around her waist, drawing her to him. He kissed her shoulder and the back of her neck and she relaxed into him.

"I love you," he said to her.

"I love you, too," she answered, feeling the warmth coming from his body onto her back. She held her baby, their baby, and he held her. Luke started to fuss about being held, he wasn't one to enjoy much attention, and Sam put him down into his crib. As she covered him up with his blanket, she looked down at her wedding ring.

Now she was home, with her loves, all of them. Now she was happy and complete. In the letter to her mother, she explained how she had always been in the search of home. Now she had found it, here, with her family.