"Crap," Sammy said, as the batteries finally went dead in her CD player. She had the headphones around her neck, listening to the music and listening for Gabriel. She was in the middle of a song that Craig was singing, he had stuck the CD he used to get the baby to sleep down into Gabriel's bag. She turned the CD player over and opened the back and threw her batteries away. Jane probably had some in her room.

Sammy tossed her CD player to the side, throwing the headphones with it. She got up and walked down the hall to her mother's room. She opened the door and looked around at the room. Everything was in a certain place, candles were in one place, glass cats that Sammy got her for every Christmas, birthday, and Mother's Day since she was five were in another, and pictures of her and Gabriel were on a table. She walked over to her mother's dresser and pulled out the middle drawer which was known as the "junk drawer".

Sammy pulled it out and was surprised its name fit it perfectly. She shuffled through the junk and she saw her name on something and it caught her eye. She grew curious and pulled it out. It was her birth certificate. There was her full name, her mother's name, and the name of the man she had known as her father until he died. A piece of paper had fallen out of it when she unfolded it. "Wait a minute," she said. She looked at the name. "Oh my God."

"Sammy, I'm home!" Jane yelled from downstairs.

Sammy gripped her birth certificate in her hand with the other paper on it. She ran out of the room and walked down the stairs.

"Hey, sweetie," Jane said, smiling. She looked at Sammy, who wasn't smiling. "What's wrong?"

"What is this, Mom?" she asked, holding up the paper.

Jane took it and looked at it. "I don't know. How did you find this?" she asked.

"He's not my dad?" Sammy asked. "Why did you lie to me?"

"I didn't lie to you, Sammy."

"What did you do?" Sammy asked. "Just marry the next guy on your 'likely Sammy's father' list? Who's next Mom? A serial killer? Someone who would kill all of us in our bed?"

"Sammy," she said. "I wanted you to have a father, Sammy."

"So you marry a rapist?"

"Sammy," she said.

"What?"

"You're just like me, Sammy," she said. "Pregnant in your teens."

Sammy looked at her. "Mom, I can't believe you're calling me a slut," she replied.

"You're not a slut. Where did you get that?"

"You said I was just like you," Sammy replied.

"Sammy!"

"But you're right, Mom, I'm not a slut. I know who the father of my baby is." Sammy knew she had pushed it too far, but she wasn't expecting her mother's hand to crash like thunder on her face.

"Oh my God, Sammy, baby, I'm so sorry," she said. "Are you ok?" Jane stepped toward Sammy and she stepped away from her.

"Don't touch me," she whispered. Tears were glistening in her eyes. She looked up at her. "Just don't touch me."

"Sammy," Jane said. "Where are you going?"

Sammy shook her head. She didn't want to talk to her mother. She walked to Gabriel's room and rushed around his room, throwing his thing into a bag. She carried it to her room and lifted Gabriel out of his crib. "Come on, baby," she said, as he fussed. "Sh, don't cry."

Sammy carried Gabriel to her room and laid him down on the bed and grabbed the bag and put some of her things into it. She pulled it over her shoulder and picked Gabriel's jacket up that she grabbed before leaving his room and pulled it on. She caught a glimpse of her reflection in the mirror. The side of her face was bright red.

"Sammy, don't do this," Jane said, standing outside the door, crying.

"No, Mom," Sammy replied. "I can't stay here. You lied to me and you hit me."

"I'm sorry," she said.

"I can't stay here and think that the next person you hit could be Gabe," she said. She picked Gabriel up and pushed pass her mother. She walked downstairs and out the door and across the street.

She knocked on the door and Joey answered. He was wearing a white floppy hat, clip-on earrings, and long necklace. "Sammy?" he asked.

"Joey, does your stepson know about this?" she asked, looking him up and down.

"What are you doing here? Craig's out."

"Oh," she said. "Mom and I just had a fight." She turned her head toward Gabriel, bearing her red cheek to Joey.

Joey reached out and pulled her into the house. "Come in," he said.

"Did you come to join my tea party?" Angela asked, wearing dress-up clothes.

"Angie, why don't you take your tea party things upstairs," Joey replied. He pulled his earrings out and put them in his hat and took off his necklace.

"Could I watch TV?" she asked.

"Sure," he replied.

Sammy sat Gabriel on the floor and took his jacket off. "Go play with Angela," she said.

"Angela!" he exclaimed. Angela grabbed his hand and they walked into the living room.

"Where did Craig go?" she asked.

He shrugged. "I don't know," he said. "He just said he was going out." He looked at Sammy's cheek. "That doesn't look good. Your mom did that to you?"

Sammy nodded.

"Ouch," Joey replied. "Do you want to stay here for tonight?"

Sammy shrugged. "I can't go anywhere else," she said.

"Ok," he said. "I'll let Craig know what we're doing. When he gets home."

Someone knocked on the door and he jumped up and answered it. "Hey, Caitlin," Joey said.

"Hey, Joe," Sammy heard Caitlin said. "What's up?"

Sammy heard Joey explaining to Caitlin the reason that she was there. "Oh my God," she said. "Is she ok?"

"Yeah," Sammy said.

Caitlin looked up and smiled. "Hi, Sammy," she said.

"Hey."

Craig walked into the house right after Caitlin. He caught a glimpse of Sammy in the window and he had stuffed the ring box in his jacket pocket. "What's going on?" he asked.

"I'll tell you later," Sammy said.

Craig nodded. "Could you tell me now?" he asked, after looking at her cheek.

"In your room," she said.

"Ok," Craig replied. Sammy walked pass Caitlin and Joey and Craig put his hand on her back.

"Craig," Joey said. "Could I talk to you first?"

"Sure," Craig said. "Go on up." He told Sammy.

Sammy nodded. He waited until she was in his room.

"Yeah?" Craig asked.

"Where did you go?" Joey asked.

"The mall."

"For what?"

"Is this 20 Questions or something?" he asked.

"Craig."

"I bought something."

"What?"

"Joey, don't be nosy," Caitlin said.

Craig sighed. "He's going to keep bugging me until I show him," he replied. He looked up the stairs to make sure Sammy wasn't looking. He pulled the box out of his pocket and opened it.

"Craig!" Caitlin exclaimed, in a quiet voice. "You're—"

"Do you have this all planned out?" Joey asked. He was getting upset again.

Craig nodded. "Yeah," he said. "I'm going to marry her and adopt Gabriel."

"What about the baby?" he asked. "How are you going to take care of all three of them?"

"I'll get another job," he said. "Plus, there's that money that Dad left me. I haven't bought one CD or anything since the whole Manny thing. I was ready to support Manny and our baby, then she went and stabbed me in the back."

"We're getting off track, Craig."

"One way or another, I'll find a way to take care of her. My new family." He had never thought of the last sentence but he liked the way it sounded.

Joey's face softened. "Ok," he replied. "Go on up and talk to Sammy."

Craig nodded and turned and ran upstairs to his room. Sammy was sitting on his bed and Craig walked in, closing the door. "So what happened?"

Quickly Sammy told him about her mom and when she finished she was almost in tears. "Craig, I can't believe she lied to me about something like that," she said.

"It's ok," Craig replied. He pulled her close to him and laid her head down on his chest. He thought this was the right time. He reached into his pocket and felt the ring box.

"Mommy!" Gabriel yelled from downstairs. "Come here!"

Sammy sat up and wiped her eyes. "I'm going to go…"

Craig nodded. It could wait until later. He had thought of the perfect time to ask her. Sammy stood up and left. Craig pulled the ring box out of his pocket and put it in a pocket of one of his jeans in his closet. He walked back over to his bed and sat down. He thought about what he had told Joey about "his new family", he couldn't wait!