Of course I don't own GH or any of its characters. I am but a lowly fanfic scribe making them do what I want for a few colorful pages. No lawsuits please… no infringement intended.

Please read, enjoy and most of all review. Any ideas for mischief will be well received and credited if used.

……………………………………………………………………………………………

Somehow Sam had survived the weekend in the fortress. The longest 48 hours of her life seemed to drag on with her only entertainment being trying to come up with a word worse than GROUNDED to describe her predicament. Sure Sonny said he loved her when he came home that night, but aside from detailing her punishment he barely said anything else to her at all. She had witnessed her parents being petty with one another during an argument, but this seemed out of character for Sonny to be so harsh toward his own daughter. And then it struck her that maybe he was able to pull it off because she really wasn't his. Lucky for her Alexis was there to squash all of those crazy thoughts from taking root and sprouting up in her psyche.

Talking to her mother had been her only solace. Apparently Alexis had made the cut of approved company, which was good because Lucky, Nikolas, Emily and all of her other school friends had not. She wanted to stomp around and behave like a real 5-year old, but if she had any chance of making things right at home and with Lucky she knew she had to play by the boss' rules. The boss' rules were plenty too. They had ordered take-out that night and had eaten in relative silence.

……………………………………………………………………………………………

(Flashback… Friday Night)

Michael desperately wanted to know the details of Sam's trouble with dad and the twins jabbered on and on about some play-date they had the next morning. The whole while Sam could barely swallow because she knew the big talk was coming. It didn't matter that things were smoothed over with her mother or that Alexis really did seem to understand. Samantha had to get through to her father and that was a whole different ball game. When dinner was over and the little ones were off to bed Sam sat ramrod still and watched her parents go about trying to put the kitchen right.

After a few minutes she knew she wasn't going to be gagging any more dinner down. "I can finish up in here if you want."

Alexis smiled, but it was Sonny who spoke, "I think we have it under control."

"Then may I be excused?"

He kept rinsing dishes without making eye contact and what at first just annoyed her was starting to hurt Sam's feelings. "Go to your room Samantha. We'll be up to talk."

So Sam left the kitchen and never said a word. Her silence was well reserved because when she got to her room she needed all of her words. The place had been ransacked… cleaned out… picked over by a flock of vultures. Her phone was gone, her television, stereo, cell phone, computer and i-pod were conspicuously missing. When did this all happen? Samantha was in shock. Okay, obviously the whole house wasn't robbed, but whom and how did all of her stuff get carted out without her knowing it. A better question was where it all get took. Since there wasn't much else to do she showered and changed then took up her English book. She looked through the table of contents to find an appropriately depressing story to fit her mood.

He had every intention on making her sweat. Sonny left Alexis to finish up the kitchen and took some calls in the study. When she finally came out she told him the twins were knocked out and Michael was watching a movie. She was also a little shocked that Sonny hadn't already been up to speak with Sam. Alexis wasn't sure, but she got the sense that Sonny's hurt far outweighed his anger and the hurt was a lot harder to get past.

"So, did Bernie find anything new out for you?" She walked behind him and placed a hand on his shoulder. His body visually relaxed and he turned around to face his wife.

"Nothing concrete, so I'm sending Jason out there to handle things. I can't keep waiting for the great paper shuffle and numbers to add up. Jason knows how to expedite results."

"Should I be brushing up on my international law? Frankly I don't have the energy to fly to South America anytime soon." Sonny leaned in and kissed his wife on the cheek.

His smirk mirrored his words. "If things go wrong down there Jason won't need a lawyer he'll need an undertaker."

Not really finding his humor appropriate on the subject matter Alexis sidled past him and sat on the couch looking up at him, her face a mixture of expectation and admonition. "You can't keep avoiding her Sonny. You're going to have to deal with this head on. She has feelings for a boy and I know you hate to think about this no less hear it, but she's growing up. Lucky may be the one or the first of many, but boys will keep being interested in our daughter and from what I can tell she's ready to return the feelings."

"She's too young to even think about this. You don't have serious feelings at this age. What you have is lust! Her priorities need to be school and her family, period."

"Oh, yeah that's perfectly reasonable. That wasn't either one of our focus at her age, think about it." Alexis was trying to reason with the father of a teenage girl. She could almost hear the 'audience' in her head laughing at that silly notion.

"Well, she'll have plenty of time to think about it this weekend and to figure out if that kiss was worth it all." Sonny grabbed his half finished drink from his desk and faced his wife.

"What does that mean?" she asked.

"Follow me." Sonny took off for upstairs and Alexis was on his heels as they hit the second floor landing and made the left to their oldest daughter's room. As they approached they could hear voices. In her desperate need to talk to someone Sam had finally given Michael entrance and was filling him in on the day's drama in the most G-rated version she could muster.

When Sonny and Alexis reached the open door Sam stopped speaking abruptly which caused Michael to turn around, his eyes meeting his father's and knowing a hasty retreat was required.

"I'm going to finish my movie. Night Sam..." Michael cleared the room faster than a rat off a sinking ship.

Sonny took a seat at his daughter's desk and Alexis sat at the foot of her bed noticing, as Sam had, the conspicuous emptiness of the space. When her eyes met Sonny's she just breathed out the slightest of sighs and left the next move up to him. She was no wilting flower or second hand citizen in her own house, but she and Sonny had established an understanding early on that they'd show a united front when it came to things regarding the kids and if they didn't agree they'd battle it out in private.

"Let me guess I'm grounded… how long?" Sam wasn't a wilting flower either.

"Keep that tone going and the words indefinite and until further notice will spring to mind." Sonny said. Alexis reached over and rubbed her daughter's foot to settle her down.

"Do you have any idea what you put me through this afternoon Samantha? Leaving school grounds without notice, without your phone and without a guard is never to happen again. I don't care about the reasons why. Then you make it worse by doing something… somewhere you know your mother and I would not approve of at all."

"Mama let me explain, why won't you? Why can't you accept my apology?" Alexis kept her eyes on Sam while Sam's never left her father's.

Great Sonny was on his feet and things were heading down a path of wrong too quickly. Alexis noticed his reddening ears and that large vein on the side of his temple beginning to throb. Keeping her hand on Sam's leg she silently pleaded with their daughter not to escalate.

"It's not about apologizing if you're not sorry for what you did, but just that you got caught."

Fuming on the inside the only outward response Sam could generate were tears sliding down her face and pooling on cheeks. "I didn't wake up thinking how I can disappoint my dad. I didn't think leaving school a few minutes early would have you looking at me with such anger and I especially didn't think kissing Lucky Spencer would happen or turn things so upside down. I know you want me to regret the kiss, but I don't. I'm just really sorry that the kiss made you so mad."

Alexis wasn't going to speak for Sonny or his feelings, but he wouldn't say anything and this level of stubbornness could have them all sitting there for hours. "Sam you knew your feelings were changing and you knew dad's feelings on the subject of dating, so the fact that this sort of blew up and got out of hand shouldn't be a big surprise. If you wanted things to change then you should have talked to us plain and simple."

His wife's voice brought him back to the moment. "You didn't think about anything in that moment in the alley except your wants and Lucky and that's why I don't want you dating. You're too young to set boundaries and priorities, so I will. That's why I had Milo take all the distractions out of your room. You're going to have the next two days to figure out what's most important. I expect to see you actively engaged with this family and not trying to run out the door at every opportunity. You're only around when it suits your wants and I don't like it."

"So if I stay at home and play with Krissy and Morgan and do what… some chores you'll stop being so furious with me? That doesn't make any sense. I wasn't going to ask to date Lucky in some big relationship way, I just wanted to go to the Spring Fling with him. It's just one night. I had no idea he even saw me that way until he kissed me."

"Just where was that kiss taking you next?" Alexis couldn't believe how blunt he was being, but she was curious about Sam's answer.

"Oh, my GOD… not there, it was just a kiss. We weren't ready to take it anywhere.

"Let me tell you exactly where it was going to take you. If it wasn't for Alexis you'd be spending your first night at St. Katherine's." Sam's blood ran cold. She could see how seriously he had considered the option. "We'll let you finish out the school year, but the tutoring job is finished, trips to Spoon Island are all done and you can forget about going to any Spring Fling. Now, if you manage to get through the next few weeks without incident then maybe this won't have to be your last year at Port Charles High."

Sam and Alexis were stunned. To think Alexis thought she had talked him down earlier. She didn't see it all as unreasonable in the scope of punishments, but they would definitely be discussing it some more. For now she figured it would better serve them all to leave it alone for tonight. It was unfortunate that Sam didn't see things the same way.

Sonny started heading to the door when Sam asked, "So when can I have my things back?"

"When I say so…goodnight Samantha."

Sam rolled onto her stomach and bawled like she'd just been told her dog had died. She was feeling trapped already and she was only a few hours into this hell. Alexis did sympathize, but didn't want her comfort to cross the lines making Sam think she could play her parents off of each other. Standing up she leaned over and rubbed her daughter's back. Getting no response and not hearing the sobs subside Alexis leaned over and kissed her on the cheek.

"Sam this will be alright, trust me, Sonny's bark is worse than his bite and he will calm down. It won't be that bad I promise. Goodnight sweetheart. I love you." Alexis exited the room and closed the door behind her. She made her way down the hallway and stopped to turn off Michael's television. Through the connecting bathroom she entered Krissy and Morgan's room and found them once again sharing a twin size bed. For the last few weeks when she came in to check on them she'd find Krissy snuggled up next to her four minute older brother. She never moved her, but she also knew it was something else she'd need to address soon.

When she finally got to their bedroom Alexis was ready to deal with her husband, but he wasn't there. Typical retreating Sonny she thought. Getting changed and ready for bed Alexis climbed in and got settled with some motions she was updating for a trial she was on next week. She was surrounded by paperwork and her laptop had taken Sonny's side of the bed.

Sonny worked on some things downstairs and after speaking with Jason and making sure his flight got off alright he finally headed upstairs. He knew Alexis was probably furious and thought he was being way over the top, but he just wanted to keep his little girl from making the mistakes he and her mother had. Sammie's well being had to come first. She'd thank them later. The problem was he didn't think Alexis would be thanking him at all. He had to face the music.

As he passed Sam's room he opened the door and peeked in. She was snuggled up with her Joey the way she used to be when she and Alexis first moved into the Penthouse years ago. Back then she would cry out with nightmares and Sonny would sit with her, letting Alexis sleep. Without planning on it making things alright for her had become one of Sonny's priorities. He just couldn't wrap his brain around the fact that things were changing. Whispering he said, "Goodnight princesa," and closed the door.

He took a deep breath and opened the door to his bedroom. All he saw when he crossed the threshold was his beautiful wife surrounded by work, that she wasn't supposed to bring to bed, glasses on top of her head and eyes closed. Fighting with Alexis would have to wait for another day. Gathering her things then placing them on the floor Sonny climbed in bed, slipped her glasses off and slid her down into an embrace. They fit together like a glove and in moments Alexis was pressed up against her husband lulled into a comfortable slumber by sounds of his heartbeat.