It is my understanding from several readers that the new process on FF of shortening private messages has eliminated my ability to send long review replies. Hence, I guess that my outtakes will become chapters of the story, instead of individual replies.

It is also my understanding that FF has begun the process of removing many stories off the site, so if I disappear, please know that all my stories are over on Twilighted as well under the same penname.

Please accept this short POV as a thank you for your reviews!


Samantha POV outtake – from Father Knows Best

"Okay, Samantha, you're next," Ms. Rosalie said, patting the chair in front of her.

She'd just done something pretty with Emmie's hair and held up the brush letting me know that she wanted to fix mine. Slowly, I hobbled over. I didn't like brushes. They hurt…your head, your arms, your legs…

"You fell down the stairs, do you understand."

Sitting slowly in the seat, I closed my eyes and waited. I tried not to cry.

"It's going to be nice outside today, why don't we braid your hair away from your face and let the curls hang down in back. Your hair is absolutely beautiful. It'll look great that way," Ms. Rosalie said.

I didn't know what the word "braid" meant, but I wasn't going to say anything.

"Be quiet!" Smack.

"Is that okay with you?" she asked

I felt sick at my tummy. Was she really asking what I wanted? Or was this a trick?

"Tricked you!" he said, pulling the sandwich away. "Did you really think you were going to get this?"

"Samantha, if you don't want your hair braided, we can just leave it down." She sounded upset. People hit when they were mad.

"Please!" I begged, asking her to do whatever she wanted. I sounded like a mouse, like the one he'd stomped on that time.

"Good!" she grinned.

Her hands were gentle, pulling the brush through my hair. When she ran into a tangle, instead of jerking it free, she used her fingers to work it loose.

"You have a lot of hair. We need to get the ends trimmed, and that'll help with the tangles." She ran the brush through my hair one more time. "Ok, I'm going to braid it now."

She parted my hair and then pulled gently at it. I'd frozen when she started, expecting it to hurt, but it didn't. It actually made me sleepy.

"Okay, go see what you think," she said nicely a few minutes later.

Jasmine jumped into the chair when I stood up, and Ms. Rosalie began brushing her hair next. Alistair and Ross smiled at me as I passed them to get to my room. They were playing Battleship, and I couldn't help but jump a little when the game made a loud noise. I almost lost one of my crutches.

Just get to your room and look, I told myself. You'll be safe there….

I had a bathroom, and it had a bathtub big enough to swim in. Meme had put a stool in front of the sink that I could use to brush my teeth, so I climbed up to look at what Ms. Rosalie had done.

Someone else looked back at me. I was a princess!

Ms. Rosalie had done something nice with my hair; she'd made me…pretty. I'd never been pretty.

You are so ugly. Nobody would want you!

Putting my fingers to one side, I followed the pattern. My hair looked like a basket, and then it hung down my back in curls. Even my ugly red hair looked nice like this. I began to cry and didn't know why.

My heart hurt.

~SOMP~

I'd been following Mr. Jasper, hiding behind stuff so that he didn't see me, but he'd caught me anyway. I guess it was the crutches that'd given me away. I'd been staring. He was really pretty.

"Hello, Little Bit." He smiled at me, and I wanted to hide my head.

My cheeks felt hot. "Hi!" I squeaked like that squished mouse again.

"Dada!" Jasmine ran by me and then stopped.

Grabbing my hand, she pulled me from behind the chair where I'd hidden toward where her daddy stood. "Mama said you have to 'tain us 'till Carlie gets the movie ready."

"I can do that," he told her, then smiled. "Emmett!" he yelled causing me to jump behind Jasmine. "Bring Emmie, we'll talk about something important like how boys give girls cooties."

I heard the Teddy Bear Man laughing from the kitchen.

~SOMP~

Carlie put the movie in and then came to sit by me. Meme brought in bowls of fruit and juices, but she quickly left, but not before kissing everyone's forehead.

"She's running Aunt Alice and Aunt Rosalie crazy trying to get everything done," Carlie explained to us all. "We just need to stay out of the way."

Putting a grape in my mouth, I snuggled back into the soft couch. Meme seemed okay to me. She fed me constantly, and I'd come to expect her to touch me. And…her cookies were yummy.

The movie was about a girl named Alice. At first, it made me think about Jasmine's pretty mama. She was so nice, bringing me clothes to wear. I'd tried to give them back because they were new, but she'd just grinned and cut the tags off. The outfit I was wearing…it had kittens and yarn sewed on the sleeves…was one of my favorites. But as the movie continued I forgot about Ms. Alice.

Because, the girl was me.

Looking around at the other kids, hearing the laughter coming from the house and outside, smelling the food that Poppa and Bella were cooking outside, and knowing the Dr. Edward was getting better and that he'd promised I'd be okay…I realized I was the girl that had fallen down the rabbit hole.

It was a wonderful place, full of funny people who seemed to like each other and me.

I kept waiting to wake up…

"Wake up you lazy bitch. We gotta go…"

…and was praying that I never did.