~ * Small Beginnings * ~

Dressed to the nines in light of recent events, she must attend a rather unorthodox hell-storm meeting, hoping against hope that it ends well for her. Clearly she was put in charge of the ever frustrating Carly, but she couldn't truly be held accountable for her actions the other day, could she? Letting out a deep sigh, she decides to get the most obvious part of the punishment out of the way, pulling into the parking lot of the local diner.

"Got a minute?" Sam asks Elizabeth when she gets to the counter.

"Depends," Elizabeth counters. "You here to pick up where Carly left off?"

"In a sense," Sam concedes. "This won't take long."

"Fine," Elizabeth says before turning to her co-worker, Tammy. "I'll be on my break if you need me."

"Sure thing, love," Tammy says with a soft smile before turning to eye Sam firmly. "Cops on speed dial. Don't try anything."

"Right," Sam gestures at her gown. "Can't exactly cause too much trouble in this get up."

"You'd be surprised," Tammy counters before walking off to tend to customers.

"Come on," Elizabeth instructs her, taking the talk outside on the off chance that this is a Carly kind of situation. "We can talk out here."

"You know, I'm kind of surprised you didn't just tell me off the moment I walked through the door," Sam voices as they take a seat outside.

"I'm not in the habit of being rude to people," Elizabeth states. "Hell-storm or not."

"Yeah. I got that from your acceptance of Johnny," Sam admits. "One of the many reasons Carly can't stand you."

"Meaning?"

"Things are pretty much cut and dry where she's concerned," Sam explains. "Hell-storm on one side, the rest of you on the other."

"Right," Elizabeth scoffs. "Trust me. My problems with Carly run a lot deeper than hell-storm."

"Color me intrigued."

"You want confessions, call Carly," Elizabeth says firmly. "Look, I don't have much time left, can we get this over with? Whatever this is."

"Right. Sure," Sam shakes her head. "I just came here to apologize for Carly."

"Apologize?"

"You know, say sorry," Sam pushes further. "It's my job to keep her out of trouble. I shouldn't have let that fight happen. So...sorry."

"Your job, huh?" Elizabeth counters with a slight smirk. "You must be exhausted all the time then. Can't imagine she's easy to keep track of."

"You have no idea," Sam chuckles. "So...apology accepted?"

"Sure," Elizabeth says as she rises to her feet. "Guess that's that then."

"Out of curiosity, what would it take for you to tell me about your history with Carly?"

"We'd have to be friends," Elizabeth says simply. "You'll have better luck getting it out of Carly."

"Right, of course," Sam says with a wave of her hand. "I mean, the idea of us ever being friends...insanity."

"For what it's worth, Sam, thanks for coming by," Elizabeth says as she pulls open the door. "I appreciate the apology."

"Sure," Sam says with a slight smile. "Just doing my job."

"Right," Elizabeth shakes her head. "Take care."

"You, too."

Staring at the door for a moment longer, Sam lets out a soft chuckle before walking off to get to the meeting, knowing full well that a friendship between them is pretty much laughable. With her track record in hell-storm and Elizabeth's track record despising the group, it's not likely that they'll be able to form any kind of friendship. No. Her apology is complete and she'll have that under her belt as she faces the others in the meeting. Making her way into the estate, Sam walks over to the logbook, smiling slightly as she takes in all the names. To think that this group was founded by none other than Sonny Corinthos himself just five years ago.

"Hey, Sam," Johnny greets her as he walks over to where she's standing. "Thought you'd be here earlier to do damage control."

"That's exactly why I'm late," Sam counters with a shrug. "Went to see Elizabeth."

"Ah," Johnny shakes his head. "That's good."

"Yeah," Sam agrees. "It was very...enlightening."

"How so?" Johnny asks as they walk together to the meeting room. "You trying to recruit or something?"

"Elizabeth? Yeah, right! I'd have better luck recruiting the police chief," Sam laughs at the thought. "No. She just helped me see things a little differently. That's all."

"She does have that way about her," Johnny agrees, pulling open the door. "Guess it's time to face the music."

"Guess so," Sam smiles slightly. "Thanks, Johnny."

"Sure."

Bracing herself for the meeting ahead, Sam decides to take things as they come, the first part of the meeting being a delectable dinner. That's the part she couldn't wait for. After dinner, the meeting commences and she could tell that things were not going to end well for Carly. When Sonny created hell-storm, he created it to stand against authority, unfairness on a larger scale, but it turned into something entirely different after he graduated from high-school. It was one of the reasons he convinced Jason to take over the crew. It kept most of them in check, but Carly was always the wild card. From the look on Sonny's face now, it was clear that she played one too many of her wild cards.

"Can you believe that guy?" Carly blurts out in anger as she and Sam make their way out of the meeting. "How dare he threaten my place in hell-storm?! I've been a part of it since the beginning!"

"Which is why he's giving you one last chance," Sam reminds her, wishing she'd lose the hot head. "I suggest you take it and lose the attitude."

"Just because you folded and apologized to that muffin face doesn't mean I'm about to change my ways," Carly scoffs. "I mean, honestly, how much of a wet blanket can you be?"

"You know what, I'm so sick of this," Sam snaps, seriously growing tired of this back and forth. "You're never going to learn."

"Excuse me?!"

"Unlike you, I have a really good chance of continuing on in Sonny's business after high-school," Sam states seriously. "And I won't let someone like you put that at risk."

"Yeah, right!" Carly scoffs. "As if."

"You've seriously lost the entire concept for hell-storm's creation," Sam states angrily. "The crew was created to stand against authority, not to pound on other kids. Somewhere along the way that was lost in translation, but Jason's bringing it back to what it was meant for. The fact that you're putting it all at risk is just pathetic."

"One conversation with muffin face and you come out all high and mighty, seriously?! That's as ridiculous as you continuing on to join Sonny's business."

"This has nothing to do with Elizabeth!" Sam snaps. "The fact that you can't see that just proves how much you don't belong in hell-storm. I just wish I had the ability to strip you of your position."

"Well, good thing you don't have that ability!"

"But, I do," a voice sounds off from behind them, causing both women to turn around and see who joined them.

"Jason?" Carly looks at him in shock, unable to believe that he was standing there right then. "You...you wouldn't..."

"I would," Jason states. "And I am."

"You set me up!" Carly shouts at Sam. "This is all your doing."

"Sonny gave you a chance," Sam states plainly. "And you chose not to take it. You've only got yourself to blame."

"Do it, Sam," Jason states. "Then return to the meeting."

"Understood," Sam says as Jason turns away from them to walk away. "Be there shortly."

"Jason, you can't be serious! Jason!" Carly shouts, trying to go after him, but Sam stops her from pursuing. "Get out of my way!"

"Carly, it's done, your time in hell-storm is over," Sam states firmly, snatching the necklace that hangs around her neck before taking a step back. "From here on out, you're blacklisted from any and all hell-storm business."

Leaving Carly in her ranting glory, Sam makes her way back to the estate to finish off the meeting, a part of her saddened by the fact that Carly just couldn't learn. Even though it was her job to keep Carly in line, she actually came to care for her as a friend, truly hating that this is where things have gotten them. She had thought that, with some time, Carly would learn to embrace the true meaning of hell-storm and the opportunities that it presents once they graduate. Apparently not.

"You okay?" Jason questions here once the meeting comes to an end. "I know it was hard for you to shut her out."

"It is what it is," Sam says plainly. "I'll get over it."

"Right," Jason replies after a moment before handing her the necklace that she took off Carly. "Here. It's yours."

"I...I don't understand," Sam says as she takes the necklace from him. "Sonny wasn't happy with me either."

"Carly's responsible for Carly," Jason says simply. "I reminded him of that."

"And the promotion..."

"In order to fix hell-storm's reputation, we need people at the top that'll enforce the image," Jason explains. "Who better than you?"

"I..." Sam looks at him in disbelief. "I don't know what to say to that."

"Don't say anything," Jason replies. "Just do a better job than Carly."

"I will," Sam says without hesitation. "Promise."

"I know."

Securing the necklace around her neck, she thanks him once more before leaving the estate, needing time to get her thoughts together. When she had set off to attend the meeting, she had been so sure that she'd be getting kicked out of hell-storm right along with Carly. To not only still be a part of the crew, but also gaining a promotion atop of it...she just didn't have any words for what that meant to her. Having gone from foster home to foster home, she had found a home in the crew and it meant a lot that they would hold such faith in her. She won't make them regret it. Getting to the diner, she was surprised to find Elizabeth locking up for the night, a thought occurring to her.

"Hey," Sam calls out to her, taking a deep breath when Elizabeth turns to look at her with a confused expression on her face. "You got a minute?"

"Sure," Elizabeth replies, gesturing to the same table from earlier. "I can't stay too long...curfew."

"Right, of course," Sam accepts. "This won't take long."

"I guessed," Elizabeth smiles slightly. "Gonna make a habit of this?"

"Maybe," Sam chuckles softly. "Anyway...I was hoping to talk about the party you and your friends are hosting."

"What about it?"

"Relax, I'm not about to fight you over it," Sam says as Elizabeth gives her that skeptical look of hers. "I was hoping to wrangle a few invitations from you...if it's possible."

"You want invitations to our party?" Elizabeth looks at her in disbelief. "Don't you have a party of your own to attend?"

"Not this year, unfortunately," Sam concedes, but doesn't elaborate any further, knowing it wasn't her place to divulge Carly's fate. "So, what do you say? Unless you'd rather not have hell-storm at your party."

"Exclusion isn't my style," Elizabeth says after a moment of thought. "If you guys really want to come, you're more than welcome to, but on one condition."

"Name it."

"No trouble," Elizabeth says seriously. "Understood?"

"Understood," Sam says, reaching out a hand to shake on it. "Maybe that friendship isn't as crazy as we thought, huh?"

"Maybe," Elizabeth says before rising to her feet. "I'll print out your invitations when I get home. Come find me at lunch tomorrow."

"Will do."