A/N: Hello everyone! Thanks again for your continued interest, follows, and reviews. I really appreciate the feedback!
Here is the next chapter. Again... it's a flashback chapter. I've decided that I wanted to get this important background chapters out there before we delve more into the "present" time. :)
Hope you enjoy it!
P.S. Was a quick edit... please excuse any errors.
Chapter Nine
"Sam?" Alexis knocked on her daughter's bedroom door a little harder when she heard the hair dryer buzzing, "Sam?"
"Yeah," She turned off the device so that she could hear her mother, "Come in… I'm in the bathroom."
"I'm looking for…" As Alexis let herself in the room she sighed when she heard the hair dryer turn on again. She poked her head in the bathroom, "I can't find the receipt for Danny's shoes…"
"What?" Sam yelled to her mother as she ran the curling brush through the front of her hair.
"The receipt," Alexis yelled, "For Danny's water shoes!"
"Um… did you check the garbage?" Sam asked innocently, knowing that it's exactly where she put it.
"Sam!" Alexis scolded. "I told you I was going to return them."
"I'm sorry… check the garbage," She continued to yell over the hair dryer, "My garbage!"
"No problem," Alexis rolled her eyes as she reclosed her daughter's bathroom door and picked up the small waste paper basket and began rummaging through a variety of papers a wrappers, "Don't worry about it… I'll just stick my hand in your garbage and find the receipt that I clearly told you to keep." She mumbled to herself, "I swear if any of my children ever listened to a word I said…" She pulled out a ball of paper and uncrumpled it.
"Find it?" Sam shut off the hair dryer and covered her eyes as she sprayed her hair, "Mom? Did you find it?"
Alexis stared at the paper in her hands and the name at the top.
"Mom?" She turned off the light and went back into her room in pursuit of her mother, "You know what, I think maybe it's…" She noticed her mom standing with the paper in her hands, "Mom?"
Alexis met her daughter's eyes, "What is this?"
"What?" Sam approaches as her mother swiftly holds up the paper.
"This, Sam."
"Mom…" She looked away, cursing herself for being so careless, "Shit."
"Sam… how did you find this person?"Alexis waited for her daughter to answer, "Sam. Answer me."
"Mom… please it's not a big deal." She watched as her mother's eyes widened.
"Not a big deal? How do you know what kind of deal it is?"
"Because I looked into it and I know that it isn't a big deal! What is with you anyway?! It's just a name!"
"Don't patronize me. It's not just a name, Sam. And you know that just as well as I do." Alexis was trying to stay calm, but the thought that her daughter went behind her back was making her furious, "Why wouldn't you say something to me about this?"
"Why?" Sam raised a brow, she was quickly losing her patience, "I don't know. Maybe because I knew you would react like this."
"So… what? You were just going to call this number or go to this address and find this person and never tell me?"
Sam shook her head before matching her mother's fierce eyes, "Last time I checked, mom… I had a right to know my father."
"Did you ever think of asking me first?" Alexis yelled, "Did you ever think that maybe there is a reason why I never have told you about him?"
"I don't know!" Sam shrugged, "But did you ever think maybe there was a reason why I didn't tell you! Why would I want to upset you like this?"
"Not telling me is upsetting me!" Alexis threw up her arms. It had been a long time since Sam had seen her mother so upset… especially with her, "You have no idea what you are getting yourself into! Do you know how dangerous this is?! Do you have any idea what kind of people you are dealing with?"
"What are you talking about, mom?" Sam was annoyed with this game, "You act like Gerard Moreau was some kind of serial killer or something. Why don't you just tell me what the big deal is?"She watched as her mother stared at her, and suddenly she was scared that maybe she was right. Unfortunately, her own anger prevailed over any guilt, "You know what? It doesn't even matter. I don't care. He's dead anyway, so you don't have to worry about it anymore."
Alexis felt like she had been punched in the gut and tears immediately sprang to her eyes, "What?"
Sam brushed her hand over her face, "I'm sorry…" She sighed, "I'm really sorry mom… I didn't mean to talk to you like that."
"He… He's dead?" She sat down on the edge of her daughter's bed and stared at the paper in her hands.
"Yeah," Sam nodded, her voice softening as she watched her mother, "I, um… I went to that address to try and find him."
"You did?" Alexis furrowed her brow, "You went to Manhattan? When?"
"Um… the other day… when I left early for work. I took the train." Sam approached the bed and sat beside her mother, "I'm… I'm really sorry I didn't tell you. And I'm even sorrier I told you like that."
Alexis nodded and looked back down at her hands as tears spilled to her cheeks, "What… uh… what happened to him?"
"I don't know." Sam shrugged and pointed to the paper, "The address on that paper… it's not his. It's his brother's office. And that's his brother's phone number."
"Oh."
"I went there looking for Moreau and found Garrett." Sam paused as her mother's teary eyes met hers, "That's when he told me that his brother had passed away. He didn't tell me how… he just said that he has always handled his brother's affairs since his passing, so that's why his address is listed."
"That's it?"
"I didn't push it…"Sam sighed, "I felt like I was making him uncomfortable. So I left after a few minutes."
"I'm…" Alexis choked on her tears when she looked into her first born daughter's face. Suddenly she saw him… she saw the man that left her so many years before, "I'm sorry, honey… I'm so sorry."
"It's okay, mom…" Sam reassured sweetly, taking her mother's hand.
"No, it's not." Alexis shook her head as the tears continued to fall and her breathing became erratic, "If, if I had told you about him sooner… maybe you could have found him… maybe you could have known…" She stopped talking when Sam shook her head.
"No… his brother… Garrett… he said he died a while ago. Many years ago were his exact words."
Alexis held back her tears and nodded before Sam continued.
"I actually called him back the other night. I left his office so abruptly that I thought maybe I could meet up with him again and tell him more about who I was and then maybe he would open up a little about his brother" Sam shrugged before taking a deep breath, "That didn't go exactly how I planned."
"What happened?"
"He didn't seem like he thought that was a good idea. He obviously isn't very comfortable talking about his brother…"
"Even to you?" She cleared her throat, her voice growing softer, "I mean… you're family..."
"Yeah, well…" Sam's gaze shifted her hand in her mother's, "he doesn't know that."
"You didn't tell him."
"No… I never got around to it and I didn't want to make him upset." Sam laughed to herself, "I guess I was pretty wrong all over the place in how to handle this." Sam felt her own eyes begin to fill with tears as soon as she felt her mother place a hand to her cheek.
"You did what you thought was best." Alexis bit her lip in an effort to maintain her composure, "I'm sorry that I reacted the way I did. It's just… I was a little shocked."
"I know, mom." Sam nodded, wiping her tears, "It's okay. I over reacted too… I guess I've been a little on edge about this whole thing and I didn't even realize it." There was no holding back her sobs once Alexis wrapped her arms around her, holding her tight.
Alexis leaned back, composing herself she looked into her daughter's dark eyes, "I think maybe it's time you learned a little bit about your father…"
"Mom… I…" Sam tried to protest. She didn't want her mother being more upset than she already was.
"No, no… It's time, Sam." Alexis nodded calmly, "It's time I get over myself and let you know what a wonderful person he was."
