* * * * *
Karen paced in the waiting room. Samantha was still in the trauma room, and the doctors wouldn't let the hysterical woman near their work.
"She's going to be alright. Right?" She would sometimes ask Jeff.
"She's Sam of course she's going to be alright." Jeff assured. He turned to Sydney. "We love Sam as if she was our own daughter. Of course she thinks that we're her parents. We can't have her knowing the truth. Not yet. She's not ready. That's why Irina sent us here to Hillside, because no one would find us here. You have to understand, when your mother took it upon herself to raise Samantha, it was because years after she left you, she was still aching for you. She didn't try to raise any of the other kids. There were a couple of kids that the inner circle tried to raise. But she didn't want that robot life for Sam. She wanted to let Sam grow up normal. And she didn't want Sam to remember any thing. She's not 18 yet. She can't." At this point Vicktor broke down into tears, sobbing into Sydney's shoulder.
"It's ok Mr. Daily. What little I have heard about Sam, tells me that she is a strong girl. I am sure she's going to be just fine."
"Call me Uncle Vicktor. Because that's who I am after all."
Sydney wanted nothing more than to make sure that her 'Uncle' felt the cool of the metal handcuffs Vaughn had in his jacket pocket. "Of course Uncle Vicktor." She replied with her best smile.
"It's all my fault." Karen suddenly said, spinning around.
"What's all your fault?" Jeff asked.
"This." Karen replied. "She wouldn't be in the hospital if it wasn't for me."
"Don't talk like that Love. Sam made this choice all on her own. Now it pains me to see her like this. As a father, as a human being, I never wanted her to make this choice. But it was Sam's. She made it. We gave her all the love, and care that we had to give. Every night she was sick, we were there. These past couple of weeks, we have barely left her side as she has grieved. We did what we could. Now Samantha has her task. To overcome her choice."
Karen got very quiet, and sat down next to her husband. "She didn't choose this." She suddenly got very quiet, so that only the surrounding party could hear her. "I force fed her those pills." Sydney looked over at Karen, and wanted to throw up. No mother could ever try to kill their daughter, if they loved her that much.
"What!" Jeff asked, jumping to his feet.
Karen began to sob hysterically. "Let me explain." She begged while Jeff turned away, still furious with his wife. "Please. Let me explain." Jeff took a look at his tear-stained wife, and sat down next to her. She took his hand. "I thought it would be better for her. She just was in so much pain, and we couldn't help her. And I couldn't have her live until she was 18. I don't want her to remember what we forced her to forget. And she's going to spend the rest of her life, fleeing from people that want to kill her. I thought it was best."
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