Story Info:

Rebecca did not give Sam up for adoption. She kept Sam and had another child, Seth. She's a good mom. Sam is fourteen and Seth is five when Rebecca is in an accident. Her children are placed in foster care. Brooke eventually takes them in and they work to become a family. Haley and Nate have Jamie, who is five. Haley teaches, and Sam is in her class.

Pairings:

Haley/Nate

Sam/Jack

Eventually Brooke/Julian

Friday

"Sam! Breakfast!" Rebecca called from the kitchen. As usual, the fourteen year old wasn't up. Sam could sleep through an earthquake. Rebecca turned to her five year old son, Seth, and smiled. "Hey, do you want to go wake your sister up?"

Seth raced into Sam's bedroom and jumped on her bed. Sam groaned and opened her eyes. Her brother was bouncing up and down on her bed. She pulled Seth into her arms and tickled him. Seth giggled and tried to get free from her.

Rebecca, Sam and Seth ate breakfast together at the kitchen table. "Sam, are you excited for the assembly today?" Rebecca asked. Sam had won an essay contest and would be reading her essay aloud at a school assembly.

"Excited? Try nervous. I have to read my writing in front of like two thousand people," Sam replied.

"Just imagine everyone in their underwear," Seth suggested. Rebecca and Sam looked at him and smiled.

"Where does he get this stuff?" Sam wondered. She smirked. "There are definitely some people I would not want to see in their underwear."

"I'm so proud of you, Honey. I traded shifts so I can come," Rebecca said. Sam smiled.

Rebecca dropped Sam and Seth off at school on her way to work. She worked at a cafe.

Sam's boyfriend, Jack, was waiting for her by her locker. "Hey." He grinned.

"Hey yourself." Sam smirked. She kissed him and they went to class.

The day dragged on for Sam. She half-wished she would have faked sick so she could just stay home and skip the assembly. She had butterflies in her stomach. The thought of food made her stomach do flips so she picked at her lunch without actually eating. Jack noticed. There wasn't much about Sam that he didn't notice. "Are you scared?" He asked knowingly. Sam nodded. "You know what scares me? The king. You know, from Burger King. That guy creeps me out." Sam cracked a smile. After lunch the principal made an announcement for all students to go to the auditorium for the assembly.

Sam sat on the stage with the other award winners who were being honored. There were so many people in the auditorium. She searched the sea of faces for her mom, but she didn't see Rebecca. When she heard her name called, her mom still hadn't shown up. Sam's face fell. She really wanted her mom to be there.

Sam's feet felt heavy as she made her way to the podium. She felt everyone's eyes on her. She opened her mouth to speak and her voice came out higher than usual. She looked down so she didn't have to see all the people staring at her. She finished reading her essay as quickly as she could and hastily returned to her seat. She just wanted this to be over with.

When the assembly ended, Sam's English teacher, Mrs. Scott, stopped her from leaving. "Sam! You need to go to the office."

Sam looked up in surprise. She was a good student. She'd never been called to the office before in her life. She didn't have a clue what she could have done. "OK," she said nervously.

When Sam got to the front office, Principal Rimkus was waiting with a police officer. Why was there a police officer? She couldn't even think of anything she'd done that was bad enough to be called to the office much less something that warranted the police being called. Sam's heart was pounding in her chest.

"Samantha, you should sit down," Principal Rimkus said.

Sam sat down. The police officer approached her. "Your mother was in a car accident."

The fear Sam felt about whatever horrible fate awaited her in the office vanished. In its place was fear for her mom. Sam had never been this scared before in her life. She stared at the police officer with wide eyes. "Where is she? Is she OK? Oh my gosh, is she at the hospital? I have to go to the hospital!" Sam couldn't even think straight. She didn't know what to do. Panic took over completely.

"Samantha, I'm sorry…your mother didn't survive," Principal Rimkus said gently. She put her hand on Sam's shoulder, but Sam jerked away.

"No. No!" Sam shook her head as though denying it would make it less real. Her mom couldn't be dead. Rebecca had dropped Sam off at school a few hours ago. Rebecca had been fine. How could she just be dead?

The police officer nodded as if to confirm that Principal Rimkus wasn't making it all up. "The other driver ran a red light and hit your mother's car. She died upon impact."

Sam stared at him in horror. She couldn't even grasp the fact that her mom was dead. Why would he tell her how Rebecca died? She didn't want to hear the gruesome details.

Sam didn't even realize she was crying until Principal Rimkus offered her a tissue. Sam dabbed at her face to no avail. As soon as she wiped away her tears, fresh tears welled up in her eyes. She felt like she was drowning in grief. She didn't know how to swim to the surface.

Sam sat in the Tree Hill Social Services office. She didn't really know how she'd gotten there. She vaguely remembered the police officer ushering her into his car. It was all a blur.

A middle aged African American woman sat across from Sam. "Samantha, I'm Fern." She extended her hand.

"Sam," Sam corrected harshly. She realized she was being rude. "I'm sorry."

"It's OK. Do you have any family we can call for you?" Fern asked.

"My brother. Where's Seth?" Sam said quickly. She'd been so overcome with grief she hadn't even thought to ask about Seth. He was only five! What kind of sister was she?

"A police officer is getting him from school. He'll be here any minute," Fern replied.

"Did they tell him? I should be the one to tell him," Sam said quietly.

"I believe they told him," Fern replied. She clasped her hands together. "Are there any adults we can call?"

"No. I…there's no one," Sam mumbled. Her mom was all she had. Now she had no one. Her mind wandered and she imagined herself on her wedding day with no one to help her get ready or walk her down the aisle. Here she was feeling sorry for herself when her mom was the one who died. Sam knew she was being unbelievably selfish.

Fern nodded. "Your mom didn't have a will. She didn't specify who would get custody of you if anything were to happen."

"She was only twenty-eight! Nothing was supposed to happen!" Sam shouted.

"I'm sorry," Fern said gently.

A police officer led Seth into Fern's office. His eyes were red and swollen from crying. He looked so scared. Sam wanted to tell him everything was going to be OK, but she knew she couldn't. Nothing would ever be OK again. Their whole world had just come crumbling down around them.

"Sam!" Seth cried out. He hurried toward her. Sam scooped him up into her lap. She hugged Seth close and rubbed his back comfortingly.

"I'm going to try to place you in a foster home for tonight," Fern said.

"Foster care? No! We're NOT going to foster care!" Sam cried out.

"I'm sorry. There really are no other options," Fern said. She searched available foster homes in her computer and frowned. "There's only one bed left at Tree Hill Group Home."

"We can share," Sam said quickly.

Fern shook her head. "That's not an option. One of you-"

"You can't split us up! He's my brother! I'm all he has!" Sam said with a hint of anger.

"I will do everything I can to place you in a foster home together, but tonight one of you will have to stay at Juvenile Hall," Fern said.

"Juvy? Isn't that like for criminals? We didn't do anything wrong!" Sam said angrily. Why were they being punished? This was so unfair!

"It's temporary. As soon as I can place you, we'll move you to foster homes," Fern said.

Sam swallowed a lump in the back of her throat. She knew she had to be strong for Seth. She couldn't break down in front of him, but she just didn't know how much more she could take. She'd been at her breaking point when they told her that Rebecca was dead. Now she had to try to process that she was being separated from the only family she had left and sent to juvy like a common criminal. "I'll go to juvy. Seth can go to the group home."

Fern nodded. She excused herself to make the arrangements. Sam turned Seth so he was facing her. "You're going to stay in a group home with other kids."

Seth looked up at Sam. His eyes were filled with fear. "I don't want to go!" He said thickly.

"It'll be fun. It'll be just like summer camp," Sam said gently.

"Where are you going?" Seth asked.

"I'm going to…a different home, but I promise I'll see you as soon as I can," Sam replied.

Fern dropped Seth off first. He said a tearful goodbye to Sam.

Seth stretched his little arms out as far as he could. "I love you this much."

Sam smiled and did the same with her own arms. "Oh yeah? Well I love you this much."

Fern dropped Sam off at juvy. It looked pretty much how Sam imagined. It was a large institution with no frills.

Sam was instructed to shower in a locker room style bathroom. She felt exposed. She showered as quickly as possible. She was given plain pair of grey sweats to change into after she showered.

Dinner was unrecognizable mush served in a cafeteria. Sam carried her tray to a table and sat down. The girl across from her looked at her with pure hate in her eyes. "That seat is taken."

Sam stood up immediately. "I'm sorry."

"Not as sorry as you're gonna be," the girl replied. The girl lunged at Sam, knocking her down. Sam couldn't breathe. She felt as though the wind had been knocked out of her. As Sam struggled to breath, the girl on top of her punched her face over and over again. Where were the guards? Why weren't they doing anything? It felt like it took hours for the guards to break the fight up when it really only took a few minutes.

After dinner Sam was given a bed in a room with another girl. The room looked and felt like a jail cell. Sam didn't know what she'd done to deserve this.