Disclaimer: don't own the show or characters except for Samantha…blah blah…you think if I did I would be writing this? Hello…think about it…

Summary: Samantha, a former cliffhanger that had to leave, comes back. How will everyone respond to her and what will happen when her rents finally find out where she is?

Rating: pg-13

The Return

By: crasygrl

Chapter 1

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The blue Ford truck slows. "Guess this is your stop, kid," a man says to a 16 years old girl. She is in the passenger seat and as the truck slows to a stop she finally looks back at him. Her eyes had been looking down toward the ground the whole ride. 'Why doesn't she look up? What is she thinking?' was all the driver could think. But finally, her eyes meet his for a moment and he can see the pain within them. She quickly turns away knowing that he is trying to understand, trying to read her. She wont let him. She can't let him.

"Thanks, you dunno how much this has helped me," she states as she jumps down to the ground. The sun hits her dark brown hair and the highlights glisten. The man really doesn't know how much he has helped her. He can't even image the pain that she has been through.

She walks down the dusty road. Fear has stricken her once too many times in her life and as the man's truck pulls away she knows that safety will not be far from her. She can see the lodges now and a sense of cool calmness comes over her. But she knows that she can't allow anyone to see her. She has to be discreet. She knows that the cops haven't started looking for her. Her parents probably don't even know that she is gone yet, but she has to play it safe. She can't allow anyone to see her, not yet anyways.

She walks around the back of the lodges, peering into them to see if she recognizes any of the residents. She does, she sees Auggie and Ezra. 'They are still here. Well, I guess I'm better than they are, but am I? If I was better than them, why am I running? And why am I running back to here? I feel safe here. That is why. Just standing here, even with no one knowing that I am here, I feel safer than I could ever feel back at my house. It's only my house; it's not my home. I should note that. I think it is important, but I can't, not now. I have to find Peter first.'

She walks toward the main house. She knows where everything is from her last visit. Her father had made her leave. She wasn't ready to, but he said he didn't have the money to let her continue. She didn't want to go, but they made her. She played it off that she would be fine. Everyone thought that she really was fine, but inside she was crying.

Her thoughts returned to Peter and what she would say to him. She hopes that she can convince Peter that her father sent her back here even though he didn't. He wouldn't send her back here. He hated it when she was here. He had no one to pick on and he had to do everything for himself. 'If I can convince Peter that my dad agreed to this maybe he won't call to check it out. Maybe he won't call him to see if it's true. It's probably hopeless, but it's my only chance I have,' she thought to herself as she entered the house.

She looked around and saw Daisy sitting on the couch across the room and Jules reading a book in the corner chair. They hadn't noticed her yet. She quietly walked across the room, trying to draw the least attention to her, but it didn't work. Whenever someone new entered the building everyone looked up. Everyone had to check it out. Everyone had to see who it was and place their bets on what group the new person would join or what their illness was. She knew this so she picked up her pace trying to make it to Peter's office before someone would call out to her.

No such luck though. She got about halfway through the room when some guy called out, "Look at the new screw-up! What's wrong with you sweetie? Drugs? Sex? What's your high? Come on, tell me."

She stopped and glared at him. "What's yours? Then maybe I'll tell you mine!" She couldn't allow herself to be put down without saying something. She just wasn't like that, but the sound of her voice caused Daisy and Jules to look up. She felt their eyes on her and she wanted to avoid a confrontation with them as much as possible right now. She ran into Peter's office slamming the door behind her.

Peter looked up, startled by the noise. "Samantha? What are you doing here?" he asked her shuffling the papers off his desk so that she couldn't see whose file he was looking at. "You were sent home 3 months ago. I thought everything was going fine."

"No! Nothing is fine! My dad sent me here. He said he was gonna call you and tell you that I was coming. Let me guess, he didn't, did he?" she lied to Peter hoping that he would just wait a couple days to see if her dad called him first.

"No, he didn't call. Maybe I should call him."

"No, he probably didn't think I would get here this fast. It probably just slipped his mind. Give him a day or two. He doesn't like it when other people call him to remind him of things that he was supposed to do. It will just upset him."

"Well, how do I know that you aren't lying to me?"

"Just trust me. Please."

Peter had doubts that Samantha was telling the truth to him. In fact, he believed that she was lying as soon as she said for him not to call her father, but he knew that something was up and didn't want her to run, like she normally did. 'I'll let her think that I trust her. It will be better for her to finally think someone is on her side.'

"Well, I guess you will be back with the cliffhangers. Mine as well keep you with people you already know, right? There are a few new members, but I'm sure you'll like them once you get to know them. I'll call a meeting so you can meet them now."

***

Jules and Daisy ran out of the main house and to Auggie and Ezra's room. "Guess what? You will never believe it!" Daisy cried out as they entered the room.

"What now?" Ezra asked unenthusiastically. He had been used to Daisy running into their room almost every other day with some big news that always was a sham.

"Sam is back!"

"Yeah right," Ezra responded, "When pigs fly. She isn't coming back. She never would come back. She hated it here."

"Hey, she didn't hate it here. Well, she didn't hate it completely," Auggie chimed in. He knew her best out of all of them. She was his girl, but he didn't really believe that she was there. He didn't think that she would ever come back even if her life was in shambles. But she could prove him wrong. She often did.

"No, she isn't lying. I saw her too. I swear. Right back at the main house, she ran into Peter's office. I saw it with my own eyes."

The crackle of the loud speaker ended their conversation as they heard Peter say, "All Cliffhangers please report to the main house. We are having a special meeting and don't dilly dally."

"Told you so," Daisy stated as they walked out of the boy's room and across the lawn into the main house.

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A/N: Well, tell me how you like it so far…give me some reviews too…I love reviews…