So many thanks and support to my reviewers. I appreciate you taking the time to leave your thoughts; they're inspiring, especially in making me make my already long days longer to find the time to write. You rock. Others, please consider taking a minute to do the same.

UNEDITED.

Chapter Twenty-Five

Stronger Chances

After watching her sister nervously leave the house with their father, Sam flopped herself down on the den's couch beside her mother. It was clear by the way the woman blankly stared at the door, that she questioned if she had made the right decision in forcing Kristina out; the answer was clear.

- "You're not wrong, you know."

Alexis turned to look at her daughter. Although it had been nearly eleven months since Dani's birth, the maternal glow had yet to leave the young woman. She hoped it always remained in her.

- "Hmm—"

She was sure with all she had done to screw up her two eldest children, her own glow was more like a flickering bulb. As a mother, she was failing miserably.

- "I'm pretty sure if you ask you sister, she'll beg to differ. She's not ready for this, and I basically went and dropped her into the deep end of the pool—"

Sam hated the defeatist attitude that had infiltrated her mother's body. It was not Alexis Davis-Corinthos; she had to make her see that.

- "Krissy's a damned good swimmer, Mom."

Alexis rolled her eyes.

- "Sam—"

But the younger woman countered before any further argument could be made.

- "You don't give that girl enough credit, you know. She came into this world fighting, Mom. She's been to hell and back, but she's still smiling. She's seen the devil himself and in spite of her fears, in front of a roomful of people she stood up and recounted all that he had done to her. She—"

Thinking of her daughter, Sam almost became unraveled; but the mere thoughts of her sister tightened the loosened seams of her emotions.

- "She can look at Dani, Mom. She can look at her with so much love, more so than she had thought she ever could. God, she provides for her even though she gave her to me. Krissy might be broken right now, but she's not destroyed. She's stronger than even she believes she is."

She gave her mother's hand a squeeze.

- "Believe that everything you've instilled in her, Mom, is enough to pull her through."

Sam never ceased to amaze her with her infinite wisdom. She pulled her into her embrace.

- "When did you get so smart, Mushroom?"

She shrugged.

- "I guess I picked it up from a pretty smart and might I add gorgeous… redhead."

The remark made Alexis smile for the first time since she had decided Kristina needed to get some fresh air and a glimpse of the town she had left. She tapped the tip of Sam's nose.

- "Such a Pinocchio. Anything you picked up from Tina was related to being a smart ass. The rest, I'll gladly take responsibility for."

She paused for a moment as her train of thought shifted.

- "So, I spoke to Luke this morning."

Sam already knew where her mother was going with her conversation. It was the same since she learned that Lucky and Elizabeth had finally divorced for 'good.'

- "Mom, please don't start."

Flashback

She smiled when she noticed her mother already waiting for her at the busy restaurant. She was a few minutes late, but the woman did not seem to notice; she was speaking to one of her father's employees.

- "Hi Mommy."

She gave Alexis a kiss on the cheek before slipping into the booth reserved for their family.

- "Sorry I'm late—"

Alexis was used to her daughter's tardiness. To save herself the trouble, she often told Sam to meet her thirty minutes before she actually needed her; in that way, she was either unconsciously on time or early.

- "It's fine, honey. Your dad is joining us in a second; he's on the phone with a distributor right now. Molly's in there with him. Kristina called; she said she'd be about fifteen minutes late."

Sam let out a sigh of relief. She had wanted a few minutes to speak to her mother without her sister or overprotective father present. While she was usually an open book with respect to the things going on in her life, there were certain things she preferred not to disclose to anyone except her mother, Kristina, and aunt. This was one of those things.

- "I saw Lucky."

Alexis smiled sympathetically at the woman. Her daughter had been pining for the man for years. When she had had her chance at having him, she turned him away; two years his senior, an eighteen year old young woman had no use for a sixteen year old boy. Her daughter had needed and wanted more; she had wanted adventure. She was leaving high school behind and heading for college; Lucky would have held her back.

- "And what happened? He and Elizabeth—"

Unfortunately, she had turned to Jason. He was seven years her senior, living on his own, and making his own money; he was a far cry from Lucky's immaturity. It did not matter that Jason was part of the world from where her father had escaped; he was the man with whom she had fallen in love. She let out a sigh.

- "They're getting back together, Mom."

Seeing the look of disappointment on her daughter's face, Alexis moved to sit beside her in the booth.

- "Oh, I'm sorry, Mushroom. I know how much you had wanted to really give it a try with him since they finally started their divorce. But you know, sometimes—"

In the same way that her mother had gotten her father to change; Sam had hoped the same would have happened for Jason. She had wanted the happy life her parents had built for her sisters and her. She had wanted the home on the lake with the three beautiful children and extended family. She had wanted it all, but it was all taken from her overnight: she had been shot.

- "Please don't tell me that everything happens for a reason, and if it's meant to be, then it'll happen. Honestly, if I wanted to hear that, I would've gone to Tina. I don't want you to tell me that because I really don't think I believe in all that crap."

Alexis wrapped an arm around her.

- "Well, what do you want me to tell you, honey? I know that you don't believe it, but I do. I mean, a girl doesn't pine after a boy for so many years to just overnight give up on the idea of eventually having him."

Sam shook her head. Her mother was missing the point. She did not understand the problem.

- "Don't you get it? He's going back to his family. After we spent MONTHS trying to figure out if we could work since he was SUPPOSEDLY on the road to divorce, he tells me that he's going back to the woman who gave him two beautiful little boys. He's got his home with them. That's something that I can't give him—"

She immediately stopped her daughter from speaking. As tough as Sam might have portrayed herself to be, those who knew her well knew how much her past mistakes of being with a dangerous man ate her alive. Regardless of the hope they attempted to instill in her, the young woman threw it by the wayside.

- "Listen to me, Samantha. Whether or not you're able to have children one day does not make you any less worthy of having the man you love than any other woman. Do you hear me?"

Not truly convinced in her mother's words, Sam nevertheless obligatorily nodded her head. She allowed her to continue.

- "Lucky is not returning to Elizabeth because YOU can't have children—"

But she had to stop her mother.

- "Yes he is!"

Noticing the looks she received from the next table, she quickly lowered her voice and continued in Greek.

- "He's going back to her because, and I quote: 'he owes it to their children to give them a home with both their mother and father.'"

Alexis pinched the bridge of her nose.

- "Sam, that doesn't mean—"

Again, she cut her mother off; she did not need the woman to ease the harshness of her reality. She had accepted it; her family needed to follow suit.

- "That's what he said, Mom! What in the world does he want with me if he already has a ready-made family? Come on. They've been separated for about SIX months, and NOW he decides to go back to her? Let's be serious."

She put her head down onto the table.

- "I should've known better than to date a man who was still married. Separated or not, he was never mine to have in the first place."

There was nothing left to be said. Known only to Tina and Alexis, Sam had recently suffered a miscarriage; the pregnancy had been the result of a drunken one-night stand with the man. And so, her daughter was going to believe what she wanted to believe; nothing anyone could say would change that. Only time would tell.

End of Flashback

- "I'm not starting anything honey; I'm just letting you know that from what I know, the man you've been in love with for years, happens to be in love with you too."

Sam softened.

- "You think so? Really?"

Alexis nodded. There had never been a doubt.

- "Really."

Having just returned from Paris with his boys to see his mother, Lucky was pleasantly surprised that after such a long time away, Sam had finally returned.

- "Really?"

He stared incredulously at his brother. He had been waiting for her to return since the day she had left.

- "When?"

Nikolas saw the excitement in Lucky's eyes. He had watched his cousin and little brother tiptoe around one another for years… well, since they were young teens. Neither of them were willing to make the first move out of fear and intimidation, then the distraction of first loves- not necessarily true loves, but certainly first loves, rather than the like they had had for one another. But then came the unexpected pregnancy, the obligatory marriage requested by a conservative grandmother, another child, a long-standing relationship with someone no one deemed appropriate, a separation, a pregnancy, miscarriage, reconciliation, rape and abuse, another pregnancy, departure, divorce, and now present. Something had to give.

- "We came back with the entire family—"

Without interrupting his brother, Lucky smiled. He had seen the pictures of Sam's little girl. Like her mother, the child was beautiful.

- "Last week."

Nikolas smirked at the smile on Lucky's face. There was no doubt that the man was just as enamored with Sam as he had been the first day he had seen her.

- "Don't worry, Lucky—"

Having been lost in thought at the idea that Sam and her daughter were back in town, the younger man failed to hear his brother's mock concern. He only knew he had to see her… but like that twelve year old years ago, he was nervous.

- "Is she still with—"

But Nikolas answered his question before he could finish it.

- "No. When she—"

He hesitated before continuing; his lines of loyalty began to blend. He needed to choose a side. Quickly.

- "When she decided she wanted to have a baby, she realized she couldn't be with Jason. So, they're not… together… anymore."

The way Nikolas phrased Sam's situation perplexed Lucky. His brother had chosen an odd combination of words.

- "Wait, what do you mean 'she decided she wanted to have a baby?' Did she plan this? She and Jason?"

Not a single member of his family would have planned any of this; not even Sam.

- "Well—"

He had to do as he had been told.

- "Without divulging my cousin's privacy too much, she finally got the baby she always wanted—"

He cleared his throat before speaking. He was uncomfortable speaking about the cousin he viewed more like his sister to his brother.

- "Tina agreed to be her surrogate. And um, Jason… he well… you know he provided the… and Sam… she… you know."

Disregarding his brother's nervousness, Lucky thought once again of the baby's image.

- "I guess it's no wonder why she looks so much like your aunt."

Nikolas shrugged.

- "I think that's more like genes; Tina and Alexis' mother had red hair. And Dani looks quite a bit like all of them when you see her in person. Her personality is very much like Sam's. She might be ten months, but she's walking and finding trouble."

Lucky chuckled; he was not surprised.

- "She is her mother's child."

His thoughts went once again to Tina.

- "Tina really is incredible; it was really nice of her to do that for Sam. I know how much she's always wanted a baby."

So that he would not have to say much more about the topic, with a raise of his brow, Nikolas took a sip of his water. His throat suddenly felt dry.

- "Uh-hmm."

But Lucky did not notice a thing. He was simply concerned with when he would be able to see her again. He would not lose his chance for the umpteenth time.

Kristina remained fidgety even as she remained in her father's office at the restaurant. Even though there had only been a handful of patrons (none of whom knew her) when she had quickly entered, she nevertheless felt judged.

- "Princess—"

Sonny did not want to force her to do anything she was not yet ready to do. In the past, to earn extra spending money, the teen would play hostess or waitress, whatever needed. It was clear that out going girl was hiding in the shell before him.

- "Do you want anything to eat? I can have Angel make you some pasta or something."

He was not sure of the last time she had eaten. Since she had returned from Greece, she ate smaller and smaller portions of food. He worried about her.

- "Krissy?"

She shook her head.

- "I'm fine, Daddy. Um—"

She looked at the wall clock.

- "When can we leave? I need to—"

She blushed. She was not comfortable with her father knowing that she needed a few minutes of privacy.

- "Dani's waking up from her nap soon. Um… I don't think Sam has enough—"

He stopped her; Alexis had checked the fridge before telling her she needed to leave the house for the day.

- "She's fine, honey. I'm not going to force you to go outside to interact with the staff or the patrons; but we're not leaving. You can't stay—"

She rested her head against her fist.

- "I know—"

He gave her a kiss on the top of her head.

- "We're not going home until tonight. You can't stay in the house for the rest of your life."

The phone rang.

- "Hold on, Princess—"

He answered it knowing, without looking at the display, who it was.

- "Lex."

While Sam left to change Dani's diaper, Alexis stood at the kitchen island swirling the baby's bottle in a bowl of warm water.

- "Hi. I promise I'm not checking up—"

He smiled as he turned to look at their daughter. Despite her disappointment in her parents' decision in forcing her out of the house, her face brightened slightly at the knowledge her mother was on the line.

- "You do realize that you're breaking your promise just by saying that, right?"

He knew her too well.

- "How do you know I wasn't calling to speak to you, Sonny?"

It was partially true. He knew that.

- "We're fine."

He meant them, not Kristina and him. She knew that. She placed the bottle into the water.

- "I just want you to know that I'm sorry I ever made you feel like you don't matter, honey. Or that you mattered less than you do because of my brother."

There was a knock on his office door. He moved to answer it while continuing to listen to his wife apologize. For what felt like the seventy-fifth time since this ordeal had begun. It infuriated him how a woman who had always put her children first, could have so much guilt for something she had not caused while people like Kiefer and Warren remained unapologetic for their outright faults.

- "He means the world to me, Sonny; but I would never intentionally put his role in my life ahead of yours."

And on the other side of the door was that man.

- "Because I love you."

With a handshake, Sonny ushered his brother-in-law into his office. He watched as the man embraced Kristina, who had begun to fiddle with the items on his desk. Any annoyance he had with his wife and Stefan's connection dissipated as his middle daughter rested her head onto the man's shoulder. It was clear she needed them all.

- "Excuse me, Stefan, Krissy."

He stepped out to have some privacy.

- "I know that, Lex. I do. I don't blame you, and I'm not angry. I just want you to decide with me first, consult with me first, before we speak with your brother about what we've decided… on anything. There are two people in this marriage, not three."

She nodded in agreement. She recognized her error. While the way the decision to send Kristina to Greece had arisen had not been planned, she should have given him a chance to work through his own guilt and grief that night.

Flashback

- "I tell you what, Sonny; when you're not hammering back shots of scotch, we'll talk about this, okay? Screaming about how you're going to kill Kiefer and Warren is NOT going to help Krissy through this."

He squeezed his eyes shut as he slammed his glass onto the table. Because they had left shortly after her testimony two weeks prior, for the first time at the trial, he had seen the extent of the damage to his daughter's body. The prosecuting attorney had shown to the entire courtroom the images the officers had taken of her. It made him sick.

- "Did you see those pictures, Alexis? Did you see what that animal did to our daughter? Did you see—"

She had seen it all. He did not need to remind her.

- "Of COURSE I've seen it, Sonny! It's been a month, but her arm is broken, her ribs, her spirit… of course I've seen what he's done to her. I'm the one who's caring for her! I'm the one helping her in the bathroom everyday and dressing her. I've seen WORSE than those pictures could ever show. But killing people isn't going to change all that's happened!"

He screamed at the top of his voice. He felt out of control. He had kept his cool on their drive home from court on that second to last day of the trial, during dinner, and while he had tucked in his broken daughter, but the moment she had shut her eyes to go to sleep, he needed to escape. He had driven blindly until he found himself at his restaurant.

- "IT WOULD MEAN THAT THAT SON OF A BITCH WON'T BE ABLE TO HURT HER AGAIN!"

She could not deal with him when he was out of control; there was no reasoning with him in that moment. He needed to cool down… they both did.

- "You know what?"

When she had finished showering to wash off the despair of the day, she was not shocked to find that her husband had left. Leaving Sam in charge, she left to find him at the only place she knew he would be. Unfortunately, he had already begun drinking.

- "Give me your keys."

He knew better than to argue with her. He stood up and grabbed them from his pocket.

- "If he walks tomorrow, Alexis, he's dead."

She stared at him in disgust, but she knew it was the alcohol and his anger talking.

- "Sober up. I'll send a car to get you in the morning before opening so you can get dressed and ready for court. If you're still drunk, I swear to God, Sonny, you had better just tell the driver to leave. You're not coming home or going to that courthouse like this."

She grabbed her purse from the coffee table; she threw his keys into it.

- "And if you go to the Bauer home and threaten Warren, don't bother coming home, EVER."

With that, she slammed the door behind her as she headed the short distance to her sister's house. She needed to calm down before she went home to deal with the stress of… being a mother. She needed to go somewhere where she could just… cry… without guilt.

Upon arrival, not bothering to ring the bell, she used her key to let herself into the apartment.

- "Kris—"

She smiled at the sight of her sister and brother sitting in the living room playing a game of Scrabble. The man had always enjoyed such a pastime with the sister he had raised as his daughter given the difference in their ages and the sudden death of their inattentive and disinterested father.

- "Oh, hi Stefan. I'm sorry for just stopping by like this Kristina—"

Seeing the red and swollen eyes of her sister, Kristina immediately pulled Alexis into her arms. After separating at the courthouse earlier that day, both she and Stefan decided it best to allow Alexis and Sonny some time alone with the girls, especially Krissy. They knew she would reemerge when she needed them.

- "Honey, you don't ever need to worry about that. Unless you see a tie on my front door, you know that you're always welcome to barge in. That's why you have the key."

Stefan reached for his breast pocket's handkerchief, but he realized that his jacket was on the couch.

- "Darling—"

He moved to the couch to retrieve the handkerchief; he handed it to her.

- "Has something else happened?"

She rested her elbows onto her knees as she covered her face. What had not happened?

- "My husband is on a warpath… a drunken one. A courtroom filled with strangers viewed images of my daughter's abused body. My kid just screamed like a dying animal because she threw up her dinner, but because of her broken ribs, she nearly passed out from the pain. Um, what else—"

Tina stopped her; with every word, Alexis sobbed harder.

- "Lex—"

But she had to let them know the latest development. It had been suspected, but that evening they had received confirmation.

- "Sam is going to be a mother."

They understood what she meant. Tina gave her hand a squeeze.

- "Alright, so this is good, right? Is she sure about this?"

She nodded.

- "As she says, 'I've never been more sure of anything in my life.' I hope she is. I don't want her to make such a big decision like this without understanding the emotional toll of it. God, this is just… a nightmare."

Stefan hated to see his sister in such pain. His niece was in pain. His brother-in-law. They needed a break from it all.

- "Unfortunately darling, this is reality. I wish it were not, but it is. And I believe now we need to discuss how this reality does not spiral down into a worse version of itself at the moment."

End of Flashback

She should have first allowed her husband to process everything, in his time, about their daughter. She might not have cared for his self-destructive methods, but he had a right to play a part in the life-altering decisions of their children's lives.

- "So we're good?"

He laughed. As long as they were together, they would always be good.

- "Yea, we are. I love you. I'll prove to you how much later."

Blushing, she handed the bottle to Sam as she entered the kitchen.

- "You have the worst timing you know, Mr. Corinthos."

Knowing how her parents could be, Sam made a face.

- "Gross."

Laughingly, Alexis swatted her daughter's bottom before placing a kiss onto Dani's smiling face. The little girl was always a ray of sunshine.

- "Anyway, Sam's gagging; I need to go. I love you. Tell Krissy the same please. Let her know we'll see her at dinner, okay?"

He re-entered the office to find Stefan and Kristina in the same position he had left them. It did not appear to him that a single word had been exchanged between them; the silence was enough.

- "I will. Bye, honey."

He placed the phone back into his pocket.

- "Princess, Mommy told me to tell you she loves you and will see you at dinner."

He then turned his attention to Stefan.

- "To what do I owe this pleasure? Where's Mol?"

Had he known Kristina would be with Sonny, he would not have stopped by to see his brother-in-law. Their conversation would need to wait.

- "Molly is at Wyndemere with Spencer. I was under the impression that you would be dining with us tonight."

It was Sunday, after all. It seemed that both he and Alexis had forgotten. Allowing Kristina to eat at yet another isolated place where she could hide from the world was not in their plans.

- "No, sorry about that. Lex and I decided we'd go to Kelly's. The girls haven't seen Mike since they—"

He paused.

- "Well, since he got back."

Nodding in both understanding and an inherent agreement that Kristina needed to re-enter society, Stefan placed a kiss on the girl's forehead.

- "Shall I bring Molly back, or—"

Sonny shook his head; he needed to first gage Mike's condition before allowing his youngest near him.

- "No. Why don't you keep her. Lex and I will come by for her in the morning."

He had noted Stefan's disregard for the reason of his arrival. Over the years, the two men had learned to read one another's unspoken cues. They would discuss it in the morning.

- "Excellent."

Preparing to leave, Stefan extended his hand to the man.

- "She has a riding lesson at eleven."

He looked over to his niece. While he usually spoke to her in English in the presence of her father, he decided to make an exception.

- "Anytime you are ready, darling, Sterling is waiting for you. If you aren't careful, Molly might take him right from under you."

And for the first time that day, she smiled at someone other than a ten month old child.

- "I don't think so Uncle."

Except at the mention of his daughter's horse, Sterling, Sonny did not understand most of what the man had said; it did not matter. The fact that the comment had elicited a smile from the girl was enough to know it was healing.

- "Wow—"

He patted his brother-in-law on the back.

- "Thank you."

They were a team. It they would get through this, they had to be.