Victoria
"Mr. Baker, I need your help with a problem." Victoria said to Julian's father.
"What can I do for you?" He asked.
"As you must have noticed, I had to cover for Brooke's deadbeat father for the wedding, but I think we can both agree it would be weird if I did the father daughter dance with her. You are the best choice, will you fill in for him."
Julian's father pensively stared past Victoria. "You know I wasn't the best father to Julian." He confided. Then looking into her eyes said. "I want to be a much better father to him and your daughter. It would be an honor to dance with Brooke. As far as I'm concerned she is a Baker in my book."
"Thank you." Victoria said. A little uncomfortable with how much he had told her. "Brooke will really appreciate that." She added before walking away.
His comment drove home the actuality that B. Davis had been replaced by B. Baker. Victoria liked the ring of B. Davis better for the magazine. B. Baker sounded like something off of Sesame Street. Once the company got back on its feet she would somehow have to convince Brooke to keep her professional name as B. Davis without making her think she disliked Julian because he had a blue-collar surname.
Victoria was actually quite surprised by how much she did love her son-in-law. He was the one who motivated her to "play nice" with Brooke. Julian gained a lot of respect the first day they met. He not only displayed good taste in women, but he showed a unique combination of backbone and charisma. He managed to deliver her a sobering reality check without even raising his voice.
Julian was a good asset to have on her team. Almost as importantly he was in love with her daughter. Victoria was pretty certain he wouldn't leave her when she got pregnant. Of course the pre-nuptials she asked him to sign would ensure he got nothing if a hot little tart cured his love sickness over Brooke ten years from now.
He actually signed the pre-nups without too much fuss. The words he said to her that day were burned in her mind forever.
"I signed those for your peace of mind Victoria." Julian said handing the signed documents to her. "The worst part of marriage to Brooke is the unfortunate truth that it will only last until one of us dies. I wish I could bind her to me forever."
Not that his signature was necessary. She would have just forged them if he refused, but his actual signature did-
"Hey there hot granny?" called a voice from behind her that she never thought she would hear again. Joy erupted in her chest.
Samantha has come back!
Victoria quickly wiped the joyful smile from her face, assuming her cold corporate composure before turning to face the closest thing to a granddaughter she ever had.
"Samantha." Victoria stated hoping the shock at how beautiful the girl looked hadn't shown. She extended her hand to the young woman as she drew near.
"Victoria." Samantha shot back in the same expressionless tone which starkly contrasted her sunny grin. Samantha took Victoria's hand and surprised Victoria by transforming the handshake into a hug.
Victoria uncomfortably returned the hug, not quite sure how to manage the delicate balance between rudeness and weakness. Usually she heavily erred on the side of rudeness, but she actually loved this girl and didn't want to push her away.
One of the prices Victoria paid for emotionally protecting herself from others was a famine of physical contact. The girl's embrace warmed her frigid soul; reminding her of the pain of loneliness she so diligently ignored. How could she have let this girl get away? For the hundredth time she scolded her carelessness in disposing of Rebecca's letters.
Victoria felt her aching sense of loss converting into tears. Hold it together Bitchtoria, Hold it together. You will not crack. You will not show weakness. Her self-talk didn't push down the pain, but the tears were gone. She could talk again without fear of vulnerability.
"I am glad to see the baby shower dress still fits you. I still think the green dress looked better though." Victoria said pulling away from Samantha.
"That's just because you have a secret crush on Kermit the Frog." Sam countered.
"So how do you dress when you aren't going to a wedding?"
"Leather miniskirts and skanky half-shirts."
"I'll be sure to send you some old inventory from the store to help compensate for your style handicap."
"That would be great! Just make sure they are skimpy enough to show all my tattoos and piercings."
Victoria allowed the tiniest of smiles to grace her face. "You look lovely Samantha, Brooke will be ecstatic to see you."
"Yeah." Sam said. "I was just kind of hoping you would be too. Seeing as I am on the very short list of people you are nice to."
"I see you are still sassy as ever." Victoria observed. "And just so you know, I have added a couple of new people to that list."
"Satan and Skeletor?"
"Julian and Brooke." Victoria said.
"You were nice to Brooke the whole time I was with you." Samantha reflected.
Victoria almost smiled. She was glad someone had noticed.
"Are you mad at me?" Samantha asked.
The sudden seriousness of Samantha's question threw Victoria off balance, but she recovered quickly. She always recovered. "Why would I be mad at you?"
"Come on Victoria, play straight with me. You know exactly why." Sam said, her confident façade now gone.
"You made Brooke very happy. She-We wanted you to stay…And we never understood why you chose Rebecca over Brooke."
Sam's eyes misted over and she stared at her shoes. Then in a cracked watery voice asked "Does Brooke hate me too?"
Compassion filled Victoria and before she could stop herself she had the girl in her arms. Victoria's serendipitous show of compassion flooded her with shame, compelling her to step away until Sam's arms wrapped around her waist.
"I can't explain why I left." Samantha confessed. "It wasn't because I didn't want to be with Brooke though. It was more like…like I needed to know where I came from to understand who I am. I wanted to keep in better contact, but it just felt so awkward. I mean Brooke gave up everything and opened her heart to me, a-and I-I just walked away, b-b-" Samantha's sobs stopped her from finishing her sentence.
Samantha pushed away from Victoria and took a couple of deep breaths as she wiped her eyes with her palms. Then looking to Victoria said. "Don't think for a second that I didn't love Brooke. I loved you too. I know leaving after she pulled me out of hell was a bitch thing to do, but you need to tell Brooke it was a flaw in my character, it wasn't because of her." And with that Samantha turned and walked for the door.
Victoria's keen awareness of her inadequacy to comfort people nailed her feet to the floor. She could only helplessly watch as the girl fled from her life forever. "Sam please don't go." Victoria whispered.
Peyton moved to intercept Sam about ten feet from the door. She shot Victoria a vicious glare over Sam's shoulder as she held the girl close to her. For the first time in her life Victoria was happy with the backstabbing, parasite Brooke thought of as her best friend.
"What did you say to her?" Peyton angrily spat as Victoria got within earshot.
"I told you she didn't say anything." Sam cried.
"Peyton, no matter how hard life may try to snuff you out, you always manage to crawl back out of the toilet. I was really hoping a coma would work where the two psychos failed." Victoria smiled easily slipping into the cruel and calculated cover she had used to protect herself for so long.
"Bitchtoria, I was really hoping you would get your throat slit by a prison dyke."
"Stop!" Sam yelled silencing the blissful noisy buzz of the reception center and pulling all eyes to the three of them.
"Okay." Peyton whispered as she held Sam's head to her shoulder. Then to Victoria said "In spite of the fact that you are evil redefined I know you actually care about Sam, and Brooke in your own broken way. So let's declare a ceasefire until we convince Sam to stay for Brooke's sake. Then you can crawl back into the lonely bitter pit you've dug for yourself."
Victoria had to admit the parasite was right. Victoria nodded to her then gently said. "Samantha, let's go sit down at the table." She pointed to one of the empty four person tables near the wall. Sam didn't say anything but, she let herself be guided by Peyton. Peyton sat Sam in the chair facing away from the dance floor, taking the adjacent seat for herself. Victoria sat across from Peyton.
Sam stared at her hands. A few long locks of curled hair hung down past her face. The neatly done bun holding up the majority of her hair had become a little frayed from laying on Peyton's shoulder. Sam reminded Victoria of a brunette Cinderella at the ball. She ignored a strange urge to look at her feet to see if she was wearing glass slippers.
"So." Samantha started. "Did anything interesting happen while I was gone?"
"Well as Brooke's blessed mother so kindly pointed out I had yet another near death experience." Peyton answered.
"Oh yeah." Sam said starting to regain her composure. "Another psycho?"
"No, no that is so old hat." Peyton said with a dismissive wave of her hand. "The morbid and sadistic writers of my life chose to give me a coma this time."
"Oh that's right." Sam said "Well I'm glad you woke up."
"Well that makes two people at the table." Peyton said smiling sweetly at Victoria. "Anyway, I can't complain too much because the authors of Brooke's life are way crueler. I'm just glad she finally found true love. I didn't know if she ever would."
"Especially with friends like you." Victoria said in a tone that matched Peyton's sweet smile.
"Oh and I forgot to mention Victoria vacationed in prison for a while." Peyton said happily.
Victoria's response was interrupted by applause and cheers.
Brooke and Julian had arrived.