Ok, so I wrote a nice portion of this chapter while I was absolute sick as a dog… For that reason, you're getting this earlier than normal. I simply didn't have a funny bone in my body when my head was in the toilet for days to write LAEE.

This chapter contains some GRAPHIC VIOLENCE and is therefore Rated M. Be WARNED and ADVISED.

UNEDITED.

Chapter Eleven

Visiting Pasts

Alexis locked up the apartment after Stefan and Nikolas departed for the evening. She needed to clean up the dinner plates, but after her confrontation with Mikkos on the line, she found herself emotionally and physically drained. The hatred that filled her toward the man was enough to compete with the raging fires of hell; she only prayed that one day soon, the man would find himself wandering alone in its pits. In that way, he would have some inkling of the pain he had caused not only her, but her daughter in his acts of… she did not even know the word to describe his acts: selfishness… hate… indifference to human life?

Flashback

Alexandra mourned the loss of her daughter. It had been two weeks since she had given birth, and still every night she expected to feel her movement and her kicks inside of her. Her body felt like an empty nursery, and her still enlarged stomach, the crib in which her child spent the first nine months of her life. Walking around with her baby in neither her arms nor her womb was the cruelest joke life had ever played on her.

She slept every night wondering where her child was and what she was doing. She imagined the people who had her beautiful girl, and prayed that they recognized what kind of treasure they had. Her baby was a miracle; she was her diamond… in the rough.

She walked down the long steps of the castle to the dining room for dinner. She ensured to arrive five minutes early so as to avoid any conflict with Helena over tardiness; she did not think she could handle such an argument on the day in which her daughter turned fourteen days old at exactly 8:01 pm.

Unfortunately, as she entered the dining room, Stavros was already seated as though he had been awaiting her entrance. At his sight of her, he smiled coyly.

--- "Ah, and here is our resident slut. And how are you today, Alexandra? Are we still leaking like a cow's udder?"

The sight of the man made her blood run cold; she often wondered who was more evil, he or his wretched mother. It was as though from the moment she moved into the house, he had set his sights on making her as miserable as he could. She was tired of it.

--- "What exactly have I ever done to you, Stavros for you to treat me the way you do? The way you have?"

He stood up from his spot and approached her in his slow, yet confident gait. It was almost a strut that meant to terrify the person who dared not realize with whom they were conversing.

As he approached her, her heart began to race as she grew terrified of what he may do to her. She should have known better than to speak to him in such a manner, but having lost her child, she had nothing more to lose… except her life. With her baby, it was pointless.

He smiled his smile that would lead an unsuspecting person to believe that he was… human.

--- "Oh, Alexandra, you care to know what it is about you that makes me sick to my stomach? You dare ask me what it is about you that I detest more than the common peasant in the street?"

She knew better than to answer him; it was a rhetorical question. He, nevertheless smacked her hard across the face causing her to stumble backwards.

--- "YOU ANSWER ME WHEN I SPEAK TO YOU!"

The tears stung her eyes, but she dared not allow them to fall.

--- "I'm sorry."

He sneered at the girl before throwing pushing her against the wall as he listened for his family entering the dining room. He stuck his hand under her shirt and gave her breast a hard squeeze causing some milk to spill onto his fingers.

--- "Hmm, looks like that worthless maggot of yours is going hungry tonight; her cow is all the way in Greece, mooching off of the kindness of this family, while it—"

She wanted nothing more than to correct him and tell him that her baby was a beautiful girl. That she, despite everything, was perfect. She wanted to tell him that her baby was the best thing that could have ever happened to her. She wanted to scream in his face that he standing before her groping her in a way only a husband should do to his wife, and despite every other time he called her a whore, or a slut, a bitch, or any other deplorable name he could think of, could not take away from the fact that her baby meant the world to her and that she was grateful for her existence. No one would make her think lowly of her child.

But she did not. And so he continued.

--- "—is living off of the crumbs from the plates of others. That thing is no better than its worthless, piece of trash mother."

He would have continued insulting her, but he heard the grandfather clock chime, and his family's footsteps moving toward the dining room. He released the girl and returned to the place he previously occupied.

Stefan walked into the room followed by Helena and Mikkos. Looking at his cousin, he immediately knew that something had occurred between Alexandra and his… brother. The thought that he was related to the "man" repulsed Stefan.

He took his cousin aside to question her, but Helena glared in their despicable direction.

--- "Unless you two lovers—"

Mikkos slammed his hand on the table to get the attention of his wife for such a comment.

--- "HELENA! That is a disgraceful thing to suggest. Only animals and the uncivilized would think to do such a thing."

She pursed her lips as she placed her napkin on her lap.

--- "If you two would care to join us; as your father and cousin has just well pointed out, this is a home of the civilized; we dine at eight."

*****

After dinner was served and the "family" sat drinking their coffee, Mikkos looked directly at the quiet girl seated beside her beloved cousin. He took a sip from his cup as he contemplated the words to come out of his mouth.

--- "Alexandra—"

As she had been for most of the dinner, she was lost in her thoughts (in fact, she never spoke at Cassadine dinners at which she was in attendance; the conversation typically centered around Helena and Stavros). She continued to imagine what her daughter was doing, whether she was asleep, being fed, or being bathed for a walk in the park on a lovely spring day wherever she was in the States… or at least she assumed that her cousin had arranged for her adoption to be to an American family.

She thought about the cutest outfits that she had passed in the stores while pregnant with her baby and daydreaming of the time they would share together, of what she would teach her daughter, and what her baby might teach her… about herself, about being a mother… about unconditional love.

She had not heard a single word he had spoken to her. Stefan nudged her.

--- "Alexandra—"

She felt intruded upon to have been shaken from such a sweet daydream, but she quickly realized where she was and regained her composure.

--- "Yes?"

Helena pursed her lips as she stared at the girl, but chose to remain silent, as her husband appeared to be in his own contemplative mood. After a few moments, he stood and walked to the fireplace where an envelope had been previously placed on the mantel. He handed it to the girl.

--- "In light of everything that has happened, I think it best that you start afresh; that you close the chapter to this past, and begin life apart from this… error in judgment."

He had wanted to call her pregnancy a mistake, but he knew that it was a sore topic for the girl as she would not, even in her quiet ways, allow anyone to call the child such a thing. Much as a mother bear would for her child, she, even at the tender age of fifteen then sixteen, defended the baby growing in her womb as though her life depended on it. While he had not been pleased with her situation, it certainly gave him some semblance of pride to see that she showed a passion for something aside from her books. In that way, he was certain he had not failed her.

She opened the envelope and looked through its contents. She noticed that every page was marked with the name, 'Alexis Davis;' not one stated 'Alexandra Davidovitch.' There were new identification cards, birth certificates that replaced her previous name with this new one, her bank account turned over to this stranger; everything that she had had in her name was gone and replaced by this Alexis Davis.

She looked at the man in confusion. It was obvious that he was attempting to obliterate her entire existence, thereby erasing any association, regardless of how short, that she had had to her baby.

--- "What is this? Why are you doing this?"

Her tears felt like acid in her tear ducts; she had vowed that she would never allow this man, or any other person in that room to make her cry again. Except Stefan; he dried her fallen tears; he never caused them.

He heard the sound of her voice and knew that she was losing her battle of wills; he took her hand into his and gave it a squeeze.

--- "Father, what is the meaning of all this? Why are you changing her name? You've—"

Stavros cleared his throat. He turned to his father.

--- "Ah, is that what this is about? Father, pray tell, what lovely name have you chosen for our dear mouse? I must say that I've taken an absolute liking to the name, Whore? Wouldn't you agree mother?"

Helena leaned forward and gave her son a kiss on his hand.

--- "You are never wrong, my son. Mikkos, dear, what is this name you have chosen for this… thing."

Her distaste for her husband's ward increased since the announcement of her pregnancy, but tripled since she had given birth to her spawn. It sickened her that the girl would think she could feed off of the family for so long, and then bring into the world another being that would do the same to them. But for the protection her worthless son, and too generous husband provided for the girl, she would have ridded the earth of its impending problem.

Mikkos retook his place at the head of the table; he would have no argument as to the matter.

--- "Stavros, if you would like to continue to have dinner in this household, I suggest you refrain from such language at this table. I will no longer accept such a level of disrespect to be passed to Alexis—"

--- "My name is Alexandra."

She spoke matter of factly as she stood and walked toward the exit of the room. While taking her baby from her arms and handing her to be raised by strangers was the most unforgivable thing anyone had ever done to her, his current attempt to wipe out all memory of the person she was… is… was downright malicious.

--- "No matter what you try to do, Cousin, you will never make me forget my baby. She exists. And even though you've taken her away from me and given her away like some thrift shop item—"

Stavros went to interrupt her, but Stefan, with a threatening look on his face, which demonstrated his absolute desire to throw his hot coffee into the man's face, pointed at his brother.

--- "You let her finish."

Though Stavros was never one to back down from a good fight, he heard the ice from which each word and syllable of his younger brother's demand was formed. He smiled as he folded his hands in front of him.

--- "Please continue, pet."

Alexis looked from Stavros to Helena, then Mikkos and finally to Stefan who nodded his head in encouragement. She knew she only had a few words remaining before she melted into a puddle in front of the people she hated more than her parents for dying and leaving her in the hands of such inhumane brutes.

She swallowed hard as she finished her previous statement.

--- "I know I haven't a choice but to accept what you've done, Cousin, but she's mine. She'll always be mine."

She walked out praying that she might not hit the waterfall until she entered her bedroom.

End of Flashback

She looked at her daughter sitting on the floor at the coffee table attempting to color in her coloring book of fairy tales, with one casted arm bent against her, while she painstakingly attempting to hold the crayon with her other casted hand. She watched as Sam attempted to hold the book in place by slowly coloring the picture; but having the use of only one hand, she became frustrated as the book continued to move in tandem with her own strokes of the crayons. The sight of her child unable to do such a simple task made Alexis sick to her stomach.

She walked over and sat beside the girl.

--- "Would you like Mommy to color with you, pumpkin-head?"

Sam shyly nodded her head. She put her crayon, which had taken a minute to sit comfortably in her little obstructed hand, down on the table and reached for the box. As she painstakingly attempted to lift the opened box to hand to Alexis, the crayons spilled all over the table. She looked at her mother with her tear-shaped big brown eyes that emoted the deepest pain and sorrow; like a well filling up with the afternoon rain, Sam's eyes did the same.

--- "I'm so stupid."

Her words were so soft and nearly said to herself, but her mother heard every word. Alexis gently lifted her daughter and sat her on the lounger so that she could better look at her. She wiped the fallen tears from her face before covering it with kisses.

--- "Let me tell you something Samantha—"

Sam, who had begun to sob at her inability to do the simplest task of passing a crayon, looked away from her mother. Alexis took her face in either hand and turned it to face her once more.

--- "I want you to look at me."

Her words were stern, yet loving; she needed her daughter to understand her. Slowly, Sam lifted her tear-filled eyes to meet her mother's.

--- "Baby, you are not stupid. You're hurt. You can only do so much right now, but you know what? When you get the casts on your arms taken off next week, and then when you get the one off from your leg a couple weeks after that, you will be back to normal again—"

Sam shook her head in disagreement.

--- "I believed."

Alexis frowned as she wiped the child's nose.

--- "Believed what, sweetheart?"

Her heart beat quickly as she realized her daughter was beginning to speak. She was unsure what Nikolas had done, but his visit seemed to have broken a portion of the wall Sam had built around herself. While she was not certain if she would ever see again the smiling and chatty child that existed just hours before their worst nightmare was brought to life, she was grateful to see an improvement after two weeks in absolute unresponsive silence.

--- "That."

Sam pointed to the picture she had been coloring; it was an image of a queen holding the hand of her little princess. Alexis' heart broke.

--- "Baby, I told you; this is a fairy tale."

When she noticed her daughter begin to cry once again, she lifted Sam up from the lounger, lied down, and placed her on top of her. If there was one thing that she appreciated from having a petite daughter, it was that she could hold her as much as she wanted, and for as long as she was allowed.

Sam hid her face in her mother's neck as she cried at her disappointment… her disillusionment with what she had hoped could be, but never was… most of all, she cried for the pain that it all had caused her… and her mother.

Alexis continued to speak as she made circular movements on her daughter's back.

--- "But that doesn't mean that the picture isn't entirely true. You're my little princess. I know everything is difficult right now for you, but you're mine. That's no lie. That's nothing for you to feel stupid about for believing because, my love, it is the truth."

Mikkos locked the door behind him after entering his office. He had gone to the bank and retrieved from a private vault paperwork for which only he had access. He placed the thick envelope on his desk before moving to the bar to fix himself a drink. His mind was reeling over the conversation he had previously had with Alexis. While he had created a world for her, never had he imagined that such would have been created for him.

There were many things that happened in his life for which he had no answers: things that had been done to him, things that had been said to him, things that had been given to him… people. Regardless, through it all, he took them all and made the best of the situations in which they had come about. He questioned them and the reason for their existence, but he accepted them nonetheless. That was the type of person Mikkos Cassadine was.

In his world, there were people; some did continuous good, while others did continuous bad. Regardless of their faults, Mikkos accepted them… in his way. Yes, some might say that he was cold, callous, or indifferent to the existence of others, but one could never say that he was judgmental. He allowed a person to do as they pleased without judgment, as long as it did not have a direct effect upon him, what he stood for, or his family name; such acts were unforgivable.

Flashback

While sitting in his study reading that night, Mikkos received a phone call that changed the present course of his life. He listened carefully to the caller on the line before summonsing the pilot to get the jet ready; he needed to fly to England at once.

As the servant held the front door open for him to leave, his wife descended the main stairs; he had not bothered to tell her that he was leaving.

--- "Mikkos, it is nearly ten o'clock; where could you possibly be going at this hour?"

He wanted to tell her, but he knew that she would only be angry; he would tell her if need be. For now, a lie would have to suffice.

--- "I have just received word that are Japanese counterparts have requested a meeting with me first thing in the morning at our Tokyo offices. The jet is waiting; I should be back tomorrow evening."

Although she did not necessarily believe him, and she was certain that he may have been carrying on an affair with another woman as it had been months since they had had any relations, she did not question him. After fifteen years of marriage to the man, Helena knew the truth always had a way of being revealed to her.

--- "Well, have a safe flight dear."

He stared at his wife for a moment before nodding and stepping out to the awaiting car.

******

Upon arrival at the hospital, Mikkos was quickly ushered to the appropriate room in the emergency room. The doctors informed him that he had arrived right on time as it was simply a matter of time. He thanked the men for doing what they could before taking a deep breath and stepping into the room with a man he had not seen in several years.

--- "Hello Andreus."

The man removed the oxygen mask from his face as he opened his eyes to focus on the man who had spoken his name. In truth, he did not need to see his face, as his voice had not changed in the many years that they had been separated. Yet, he needed to see him; he needed to look into his eyes and in his last few minutes of his life, ask this man to look into his own heart and, despite everything of the past, to protect the most valuable thing he possessed.

--- "Mikkos—"

Speaking was difficult, but he had to make an effort; he did not have much time remaining.

--- "Thank you."

Mikkos stood at the door almost paralyzed. He always wondered what this day would be like, the day when he would see his younger brother dying, but this was not all that he had thought it would be. He remembered the last time that he had seen him, then more a boy than a man; he thought about the words of hatred that came out of his mouth as he told him that he was dead to him and banished him from his life. His mind was flooded with the memories of the numerous letters sent to the castle addressed, 'My Dear Brother;' he sent them all back unopened. There was nothing to be said to a dead man.

And yet, there he stood in the hospital room with a man who had been dead to him for over a decade, dying before him. He was not happy. He was not relieved. He always thought that he would be dancing on the man's grave the day the Lord took him, undoubtedly before himself, and casted him down to damnation where his soul would burn for all the days of eternity. He was certain that the moment he saw his brother lying near death if not already dead, he would feel a sense of relief for all that he had done to him, for everything that he had cost him… nearly cost him. Instead, he felt as though a piece of him was vanishing along with the younger man's life, never to return again. He did not know how to reconcile this sense of loss with the anger that still raged within him.

After what felt as though lifetime had passed, he finally gained the strength to lift his feet and move toward the dying man. He took his hand into his own and kissed it.

--- "Brother."

For the first time since the day he kicked the man from his life, a tear rolled down Mikkos' cheek.

--- "I'm here. I'm here for you."

Andreus opened his eyes once more as he felt the man's hand holding his own. He felt as though he was dreaming; never would he have imagined that he would be in the presence of his older brother again. He looked up toward the ceiling of the tiny hospital room and breathed a word of thanks.

--- "I-I know that I hav-haven't a right to—"

Mikkos noticed that it was difficult for the man to speak, so he attempted to interject, but Andreus shook his head in disagreement. He needed the words spoken; he needed his brother to listen to his last request for which he was undeserving.

--- "Please… I have no… right to ask any-anything of you especially because—"

His words were slow, but Mikkos held onto each. He created a memory of the last things his brother would ever tell him; replacing the pitiful apologies of the past.

--- "of what I have done, and… for which… I am—I am, and will always… be apologetic. While your forgiveness may be a result of my current state… I know that judgment is with God, and I can only hope… that he will forgive me my trespasses."

Mikkos wiped the tears from his brother's cheek. As Cassadine men, it was quite unbecoming to cry and show emotion, but they were not men of ice and stone; they were human.

--- "I forgive you. I forgive you, Andreus."

Andreus began to cough as he became overcome with emotion. He had waited years to hear the words come from his brother's mouth.

Mikkos placed the oxygen mask over the man's mouth until he once again regained his composure. Andreus smiled in gratitude.

--- "Thank… you."

He felt his life slipping from him, but he had so much he still needed to say. He had to fight.

--- "My daughter… Na-natasha. Take her… please."

Prior to that evening, Mikkos was unaware that his brother had had a family: a wife and a young child. When the doctors contacted him, they informed him that there had been an accident involving his brother and his entire family; the wife died on impact, while the child suffered a head injury for which they were currently running tests. Despite the anger within him, it had hurt him to learn that his brother was suffering such a loss; he had never wished such pain on the man.

--- "Take her?"

Andreus looked him directly in the eyes as he nodded his head.

--- "Please. Help her forget… forget about me, her mother, our life together. I don't want her thoughts about herself to be of the sins of her father. Please Mikkos, she's an innocent child... no matter how much you may hate me… it's not her fault."

Pain surged through Mikkos' heart at his brother's words. He was right. It was not her fault. It was never the children's fault; they are blameless for the acts of their parents. It was true.

He nodded as his tears reopened his old wounds.

--- "Yes, yes, I will take her. I will protect her. She will not be harmed by the sins of the past. I promise you this."

Andreus smiled gratefully at his older brother. He closed his eyes as the memories of his life filled his thoughts like a video only he could view. All of the pivotal points in his life were replayed for him to see: his first word, his first step, his first birthday, his graduations, his honors, the death of his mother, then his father, his brother's wedding, birth announcements, his own marriage, the birth of his beautiful daughter. While certain parts played several times over, there were a few for which he felt both a sense of shame and pride; those defined the person he became… the person he was.

He opened his eyes and looked at his brother.

--- "I loved her."

Mikkos sat silently for a moment until he felt his brother give his hand one final squeeze before the machines sounded the alarm. Andreus Alexander Cassadine passed on to the other side.

End of Flashback

Looking at the contents of the envelopes, Mikkos shook his head as he wondered where he had failed. Where had he neglected to protect his brother's child? He changed her name, he gave her a new past, and he never informed her of their connection or of the existence of another Cassadine man. He treated her like the rest, yet differently because despite everything, through it all, Mikkos Cassadine showed mercy and she was an innocent.

Sam began to calm after several minutes of crying in her mother's arms. After spending two weeks in silence, she had not wanted to break in front of this woman, but she could no longer maintain the brick wall she had built around herself. Despite how much she had fought it, she loved this woman; she loved her mother. And while the prospect of being taken away again and perhaps given to the McCalls terrified her in more ways than she could ever say, being held and comforted by Alexis seemed to make everything better.

Alexis noticed that the girl had begun to calm. She was grateful; it hurt her more than she could have ever thought possible to see her child so lost and still unable to help her.

--- "Sammy?"

Her face was still buried in her mother's neck as her left arm was wrapped around her. She was not comfortable as her right arm remained in the sling unable to move and stuck between her mother's body and her own, but she did not want to lose her mother's embrace; she missed it.

--- "Yes?"

Alexis was relieved that her daughter was still speaking, she did not know how she would have reacted to find out that the child had again regressed to silence. She decided that she needed to do something to keep her stimulated and interested in speaking.

--- "How about you and Mommy have a movie night? Would you like that?"

Sam looked up at her mother with a smile on her face. She had always seen commercials for different movies, and while she had wanted to see them, the McCalls were uninterested in neither taking her, nor watching one as a family. This was a wonderful surprise. She nodded her head.

Alexis squeezed her daughter's dimpled cheek before covering her face with kisses.

--- "Good! Now, let's see, we're going to need popcorn, candy aaaaand…. water? Does my chipmunk want water with her popcorn and candy?"

Sam laughed as her mother tickled her belly.

--- "No!"

Alexis laughed with her daughter, happy to hear her replying to her questions.

--- "If not water, what does my baby girl want?"

Sam raised her eyebrows and she smiled and lifted her left arm to her mother's face. She tapped her little finger onto her nose.

--- "Juice."

Alexis took Sam's arm and pretended to bite her fingers.

--- "And I think I will have lady fingers and tomato sauce!"

The little girl laughed further as her mother began to tickle her once again. Any wall that had existed between the two was collapsing much like the Iron Curtain had in Europe all those years ago. The damage was not yet entirely repaired, but she certainly was exhibiting signs of reconstruction. Alexis could not ask for any more.

--- "Now, can you sit here for a moment so Mommy can get the food together?"

Sam nodded her head. Alexis smiled and gently lifted her daughter from her, placing her carefully onto the chair.

--- "I'll be right back."

She turned the TV on to a cartoon to keep her daughter occupied as she prepared the popcorn and gathered the candy and juice boxes. She felt as though Christmas had come early that year; she had a very special person to thank for his help with her daughter. Alexis dialed her cousin's number.

She smiled when he responded almost immediately.

--- "Alexis, are you alright? Is Samantha well?"

Her eyes filled with tears, but she kept them at bay for fear of frightening her girl whom she could see peaking at her over the side of the lounger. She spoke to him in French.

--- "Everything is wonderful Stefan, absolutely wonderful. She's speaking."

Stefan rubbed the back of his son's neck knowing that it was he who had gotten through to his cousin.

--- "My, my, it looks like my son has inherited my Midas touch!"

Alexis rolled her eyes at her cousin's response.

--- "Thank you very much King Midas. May I speak with the always handsome Prince Midas II? Or will he touching the phone simply turn it into gold?"

Stefan chuckled on the line.

--- "Now, Alexis, you are well aware that we are Cassadines; everything we own is gold. I'm afraid that the Midas touch in this respect simply heals the broken."

The ironic part of Stefan's joking statement was that it was in fact true; he always found a way to make her feel better, even in the most dire of circumstances. She would always be grateful for having him in her life.

--- "I think you're right. I suppose that's why I keep you around. Now, before your head inflates any larger, please put your son on the phone."

Stefan handed his son the phone and gave him a kiss on the top of the head.

--- "Agoraki mou, you did a wonderful job for your cousin today; Cousin Alexis wants to thank you."

Nikolas smiled as he took the phone from his father.

--- "Hello, Cousin."

Alexis immediately switched into Greek when speaking to her sweet cousin. Much like Stefan viewed Sam as his niece, she considered Nikolas to be her nephew.

--- "Oh, my love, you did a wonderful thing for my today, you know that?"

He blushed on the line.

--- "I didn't do anything, Cousin. I just spoke with Cousin Samantha."

She loved his modesty; he was quite the gentleman.

--- "And what did you speak about?"

He tapped his chin as he attempted to remember what it was he had told the clearly frightened girl. He remembered that she had laid her head on his shoulder as she began to cry. Being only five and quite frankly, finding girls to be disgusting, he had not known what to do about her sudden show of emotion, but he had not wanted to run away as surely that would have made Sam cry further. So, he had done what his father always did for him whenever he was sad or scared.

--- "She told me that she was scared. I don't know of what because she was home with you Cousin, and you are very brave. So I told her that when I'm scared I like to talk to Father; he makes everything better. He tells me about the Greek Gods and all of the hardships that they went through in their lives… um… like Icarus and Daedalus."

Alexis smiled widely as she imagined the little man recounting the tale of the young boy who flew too closely to the sun and drowned in the sea. It was not the most wonderful bedtime story, but Stefan was always one to walk to the beat of his own drum; he clearly passed this rhythmic beat to his mature son.

--- "Well, Nik, you did a wonderful job, and I thank you for it; Samantha is feeling much better."

He smiled at his father.

--- "I'm happy to hear that Cousin. Please send her my regards."

She laughed at the five year old sending his regards to his six year old cousin; she needed to speak to Stefan about allowing the boy room to be a child. Hopefully, as Stefan decided to move to the States, both Nikolas and Sam would learn what it is to be a normal child.

--- "Now, I'm going to wish you and Cousin Stefan a good night."

--- "Good night, Cousin."

--- "Goodbye, my love—"

Nikolas interrupted her as Stefan reached for the phone.

--- "One moment, Cousin, Father would like to speak with you."

Stefan laughed as he took the phone from his son.

--- "Alexis, you dare bid my son good night, but deny me the ability to speak with the beautiful bird of yours?"

--- "Oh, I'm sorry, Stefan! One moment."

Alexis brought the phone to Sam. She sat on the edge of the couch.

--- "Baby, Cousin Stefan would like to wish you a good night, okay?"

Sam nodded her head as she allowed her mother to hold the phone to her ear. She spoke quite low, but spoke nonetheless.

--- "Hello, Cousin."

Stefan squeezed his son's hand in absolute gratitude for what he did for his cousin.

--- "I am so happy to hear your little voice Raven. I knew you would come around again. I will not keep you, but I simply wanted proof that you had in fact emerged from your little nest high up in the tallest tree of the forest. I will see you tomorrow, my girl. I love you very much. Good night."

--- "Good… night."

Sam looked up at her mother as she bit her lip. Alexis kissed her cheek before going back into the kitchen.

--- "Stefan?"

He cleared his throat before responding.

--- "Yes, dear."

--- "I love you."

He nodded his head.

--- "As I you, ma soeur."

They each hung up the phone and looked at their children. They were the most precious things in their lives.

She took the bowl of popcorn, the candy and the juice boxes and placed them on the coffee table. She popped in a DVD of her favorite movie, Annie, and pulled her daughter onto the floor and into her lap.

--- "You, my love, are going to love this movie."

After the movie Alexis carried her daughter into their room, gave her a sponge bath, careful to not allow any water to seep through the plastic bags she put around Sam's legs and arms. Afterwards, she put her in a fresh pair of pajamas, and laid her into the bed.

She sat on the edge of the bed and smiled at her daughter. She caressed the side of the child's face as she saw the light returning to the girl's once vacant eyes.

--- "I love you, chipmunk. I hope you always remember that."

Sam nodded her head; she believed what she had been told. She knew, or was beginning to once again believe, Alexis loved her, and she loved her back. The problem that weighed on her tiny shoulders was, however bigger than that: despite all of the love in the world, sometimes it was not enough.

Alexis brushed the stray hairs from Sam's little face.

--- "Did you have a good time tonight?"

She smiled at her mother.

--- "Yes."

--- "Good; that makes Mommy very happy."

She kissed her healing girl on the cheek before fixing the covers around her. As she stood up to move, Sam held, to the best of her abilities, her shirt; now that she was emerging from her shell, she did not want Alexis to leave her.

--- "It's okay, baby; Mommy just needs to put on her PJs."

She released her mother's shirt, and allowed Alexis to move to the dresser for a pair of pajamas. As she removed the sweats and t-shirt she had been wearing, Sam saw numerous scars along her mother's stomach and back.

--- "What's that?"

Alexis frowned in confusion as she noticed her daughter staring at her.

--- "What's what, chipmunk?"

Sam pointed toward her mother's bare stomach. It was not the first time that she had noticed them, but she could never before bring herself to ask. She wondered if like she had been, her mother was beat as a child.

--- "That."

Alexis followed her daughter's finger and realized that it was pointing to her. She looked down and for the first time in years, she noticed the scars that seemed nearly invisible to her. She closed her eyes as the memory surged through her. Feeling her knees buckling beneath her, she held onto the edge of the bed. She took a deep breath and exhaled slowly so that she might remain calm and avoid a breakdown in front of her already broken child.

It had taken years to fully come to terms with it all, but in one innocent question, she felt as though she were catapulted to the past. She could not crumble, not in front of her beautiful girl. She took another deep breath before reopening her eyes to look at her daughter who now looked as though she herself might cry for having upset her mother.

Alexis quickly slipped a shirt over her head before moving to her daughter. She took the girl's face into her hands as she smiled sadly.

--- "Oh, Mommy got into a car accident, just like you, when she was a little girl."

Sam bit her lip as she nodded.

--- "Okay."

Alexis gave her a kiss on the tip of her nose. She pulled the pajama bottoms on before crawling into bed with her baby girl. She laid her head onto Sam's pillow and gave her a kiss on the cheek.

--- "I love you, Sammy. Sleep well."

Sam sighed and closed her eyes; she fell asleep within seconds. Alexis watched her daughter sleep for some time before allowing sleep to consume her.

Since the accident, sleep did not come easily; when it did, it did so with a price. While she slept in fifteen-minute intervals, those short naps were usually filled with the worst thoughts and images: the McCalls returning and snatching Sam from her arms, Evelyn beating her to a bloody pulp, and the worst: her daughter dead and alone on the side of the road after the accident.

At the end of each progressively worse nightmare, Alexis would jolt from her sleep terrified that her daughter might be further torn, tattered, bloodied, or dead. Her heart raced as she turned on the bedside lamp, and looked over her sleeping daughter for more bruises and cuts on her body. She cried in relief every time she realized that she had been dreaming. She would lay her head back onto the pillow and watch her child chest rise and fall as she slept peacefully; the only signs of distress in her otherwise peaceful face were the murmurs and cries for her mother, at which point Alexis covered the child in kisses as she held her in her arms.

This night was different; she slept longer, and more peacefully than she had in weeks as she snuggled close to her daughter who was finally showing signs of recovery. She took in the sweet scent from her body wash, grateful that Sam was beginning to trust her again.

At some point in the middle of the night, however, she felt a finger slowly tracing its way from her foot, passed her thigh, up her side, then around her breast. She heard a heavy breathing by her ear, causing her to open her eyes; gazing back at her were the eyes she had spent years trying to forget. They were large and terrifying, yet beautiful at the same time; they were the most oddly shaped eyes that she had ever seen. They reminded her of raindrops in the process of hitting a puddle; they were a magnificent sight as the moon's reflection danced within them. And still, they horrified her more than she could have imagined.

--- "Hello stranger."

She wanted to scream, but as she made the effort, it seemed as though someone had turned on the mute button toward her cries for help. She blinked furiously to get the image to leave her thoughts, as she knew that it was not real… it could not be… but there he remained in the spot her beautiful daughter had previously occupied.

--- "You're not here… you're not real… this is in my mind."

He touched her, thereby proving that he was there with her. As he touched her and felt his way underneath her clothes, with every movement he made, she felt as though millions of bugs were crawling all over her body. He began to laugh as he watched her squirm, releasing a cool air that turned her skin clammy; before long, she was covered in sweat.

--- "Please."

She mouthed the words to the violator, but he disregarded them and stuffed her mouth with an unfamiliar object she was unable to see or make out through the darkness. She felt as though she might choke. She continued to blink, hoping that he would vanish as quickly as he had appeared, but to no avail. He was there to stay.

She watched him kneel onto the bed and without care rip her clothing off of her until she was lying there exposed. He stared at her naked body; it was a long awaited meal for which he would enjoy. He licked her from one end of the shoulder to the other, tracing the clavicle, then down the center of her chest, in between her breasts, to the navel. He moved his hand inside of her before removing it; he licked his fingertips.

--- "Beautiful and innocent… hmm."

A fury and rage filled those unique eyes; he punched her in the belly causing the wind to be taken out of her. Attempting to concentrate on her surroundings as opposed to the pain in her abdomen, she looked around the room for her daughter; Sam was nowhere in sight. She felt a sense of relief; her child had no business seeing her like this.

Noticing that her attention to him wavered, he removed his belt. But for blocked airway, she would have screamed in agony as she felt the belt buckle hit her hard against the rib reopening one of her scars.

--- "You thought you could forget me?"

She shook her head furiously. She had not forgotten; she had simply come to terms with it. He moved from the bed and unbuckled his pants. He slipped them off, tossing them aside without a care as to where they might land. He got back onto the bed and spread her legs apart.

--- "Even you can't ever forget your first."

As he forcefully entered her, slamming his hips into her, he pushed the muffle into her mouth further as her head jerked upwards shocked by the pain of her old wounds tearing open to his acidic-like touch. With each thrust, she felt bugs moving frantically inside of her. Even as she laid completely still praying that he would soon finish and leave, the sweat dripped from her body. She never thought she could once again be made to feel so dirty and violated.

Suddenly, feeling an impending eruption forming within him, he rolled off from her. He moved to the spot of the bed where she had first discovered him. He passed his hand along her jaw line and smiled.

--- "I'm always here with you."

He disintegrated before her eyes, just as the lava flowed forth. She blinked wondering if her eyes were once again playing games with her. They had been. When she reopened them, Sam was once again lying beside her.

Tears filled her eyes at the sight of her sleeping daughter. She wanted nothing more than to hold the girl, but she could not. She still felt his hands all over her, the scent of his flesh as he moved inside her, the sounds from his heavy grunts. Her scars from the beating he had given her burned from the sweat that covered her body. She felt the bugs crawling all over her, up her legs, moving inside of her, attacking her and making her feel as though some alien were growing inside of her. She wanted it out of her.

She ran into the bathroom and vomited the contents of her stomach. She prayed that whatever had been inside was also gone; she did not want it… she did not want whatever he had given her. She flushed the toilet and watched as the filth and waste moved counterclockwise down the mysterious abyss of the drain hopefully to never return.

She tore off her clothes, then looked her body over in the mirror while tracing her fingers over her scars. She never forgot. She scratched her sweaty skin as she turned on the shower. She stepped in and allowed the water to hit her; while it felt like millions of daggers piercing her skin in what seemed to be open wounds, she did not care. Nothing felt worse than the inability to stop the crawling sensation all over her. She needed it all to wash away.

After scrubbing her skin raw, she collapsed on the shower floor. She cradled her knees tightly to her, slamming her head against them, sobbing. She could not believe it happened again. For so many years she had shielded herself from men so that they might not hurt her the way she had been hurt that day; she had hidden her scars from the world. Yet, her own child, her innocent and beautiful child, reminded her that the past was never to far behind. She could not hide from it; that scared her. She sobbed a gut-wrenching sob as she felt the bugs move through her hair follicles. She wanted to die.

As she sat on the shower floor, she heard an echo of her own sobs. She calmed her tears, rocking and the slamming of her head, and listened; it was faint but she heard a continuous sob much like her own. She mustered enough strength to stand and turn off the water. Passing her hands through her wet hair, she listened as the crying grew louder… it was her daughter. The cries pierced her heart.

--- "Sam! Baby, Mommy's coming!"

She jumped out of the shower, grabbed her robe and slipped it on as she ran into the bedroom she shared with her baby girl. She crawled back into the bed unconcerned that she was considerably wet having not dried herself off before throwing on the robe. She turned on the lamp to get a better look at the crying girl. When she did, however she realized that Sam had not been crying at all; she was still fast asleep. Her ears were now playing tricks on her. She felt as though she were losing her mind.

She shook her head as she watched the child sleep. She adjusted the pillow underneath her broken foot, and the other pillow under her broken right arm. She passed her hand through the child's hair reminding herself that she would need to, with her cousin's help, wash it.

She then stared at her daughter as though it were the first time she had ever seen her. She began to cry once again upon the realization that those terrifying eyes that for months had haunted her dreams, were now her daughter's eyes... her gorgeous, but not so terrifying, eyes. Feeling a teardrop fall onto her own arm, Alexis smiled at the sight of her sleeping girl. She traced her finger along Sam's eyelids and long lashes.

--- "How can something so beautiful come from something so ugly?"

Her touch caused the child to stir in her sleep; she looked up at her crying mother.

--- "Mommy?"

It was the first time since the accident, that Alexis had heard those words from a conscious Sam. The sound of her daughter's voice caused the incessant crawling of her skin to stop.

--- "You're crying?"

Alexis nodded before lying down beside her; she gave her a kiss on the cheek. She wrapped her arms around her daughter, careful not to get the child's cast wet.

--- "Mommy's crying because she was just reminded that you are the best gift that she has ever received."

Sam sighed as she fell asleep in her mother's arms.

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