Chapter Two

"Hey Greens, do you know where Brenton's stuffed dinosaur went?" Carly asked Greenlee as they tried to settle the daycare kids down for a movie.

Greenlee shook her head, "Sorry Carly I have no idea."

As they looked for the little boy's toy, Sam walked into the room and started 'The Little Mermaid' for the young children. After the movie had started and Brenton's toy was found and given to him, the girls settled down on the floor next to the kids.

Sam had started the daycare center two years after Jason and her got married. She had loved the idea of being able to take Melanie to work with her and Jason thought it was a great idea too. After Sam had bought the building she wanted for the center, she asked Greenlee and Carly if they had wanted to help her with it. They happily agreed and in no time the daycare was up and running.

Melanie sat outside of the school with her friend Kelsey as they talked about the Language Arts project.

"This is so lame," complained Kelsey, "I mean honestly, having to write about our family, that's...that's just wrong."

Melanie laughed, "Come on Kels. It shouldn't be that bad. At least it's not due for like what, a month?"

Kelsey looked at her, "Yeah true. Lucky you, it won't be hard for you to write the stupid essay. You've got an interesting family. You're mom has her own daycare center, not to mention an amazing singing voice that all of Port Charles knows about. That father of yours owns a coffee business. You're brother and sister are just so adorably cute. Then you've got Carly, Sonny, Greenlee and Leo. Plus their kids."

Melanie smiled, she did have a great family, "Okay, so I guess I have an easy essay."

"Easy? Well duh! You could probably write 20 pages on you're family," Kelsey said, laughing

"Come on Kels, lunch is almost over," Melanie said as she and Kelsey walked back into the building.

"Hey Carly, is Sam around?" Jason asked as he walked over to Carly who was outside in the play yard with the kids.

"Yeah, she's in the nursery with the new baby, Hope Bailey, I think is her name," Carly replied.

Jason nodded, "Thanks Carly."

He walked back inside and towards the nursery. He heard singing and stopped. It was unmistakably Sam's voice. She was singing 'Rock a Bye Baby'. Jason walked to the door and stood in the doorway watching her rock the baby back and forth, just as she had done with Melanie, Tyler and Lila so many times.

Sam knew Jason was there. She could always tell when he was near, but that didn't stop her until she saw that the baby in her arms was asleep. She carefully lied the sleeping child in the cradle and turned to look at Jason, "Hey."

Jason smiled as he walked over to Sam and kissed her softly on the lips and then whispered, "Hi. Carly told me you were in here."

Sam smiled as she grabbed Jason's hand and led him out of the room, to keep from waking the baby up, "What are you doing here? Aren't you supposed to be at work?"

"See Sam, that's the thing, I own the business. And as the owner, I am free to leave when I damn well please," Jason laughed as he bent down to kiss Sam again.

The kiss quickly turned from innocent to passionate. It was all Sam could do not to keep kissing him, even after13 years, his kiss was just as pleasurable as it was from the first time they kissed so long ago.

Sam pulled away, "Jason. I think you're forgetting that I own a daycare center and there are a lot of little kids."

"It's not like they'd know what a kiss was Sam," Jason whined.

Sam shook her head, smiling, "Seriously Morgan. What are you doing here?"

"Just thought I'd come and see what you're up to," Jason said, innocently.

"Yeah sure. Like you don't want something else," Sam laughed.

Jason shrugged and was about to reply when a cry came from outside. Sam immediately ran out to see what was happening. After a moment, Jason was there in time to see Sam turning back to go in.

"What happened?" he asked.

"It was nothing. Lillie just scraped her knee," Sam sighed.

"Oh," Jason replied, "Are you gonna pick the kids up from school?"

Sam nodded, "Yeah. I'm going to bring them back here."

"Kay," Jason said as he watched Sam get her purse, tell Greenlee she was going to pick up the kids and then walk back over to him.

"I'll walk out with you," Jason said as he put his hand on the small of her back.

Sam sat in her car outside of Melanie's school, thinking about Melanie. Sam had a beautiful 14 year old daughter who was loved dearly by Jason. The little baby that Sam had in her stomach for all those months had grown into a beautiful and intelligent young woman. Sam heard the car door open and she quickly wiped away the tears that had sprung to her eyes.

"Hey sweetheart," she quickly said.

Melanie looked at her mother quizzically, "Mom? You okay? Why were you crying?"

Sam turned her eyes towards the street and answered her daughter's questions, "I'm fine baby girl. I was just thinking about you when you were little and how much you've grown."

Melanie groaned, "Mom. Please stop calling me baby girl and things. I'm to old for that."

Sam sighed, "I know Melanie. I'm sorry."

Within minutes, Sam and Melanie were waiting for Tyler and Lila to get out of school. As Sam saw her younger children coming out of the school, she got out of the car and the two ran towards their mother and gave her a hug. Melanie looked on from the car, remembering when she used to do that and how happy Sam used to be when she'd hug her. Sam walked back to the car with a child on either side of her. She got them settled in the back seat of the car and climbed back in.

After a stop at Dairy Queen, Sam and the kids were back at the daycare center. Lila and Tyler ran inside and hugged Carly as Sam and Melanie walked in together. Before Sam could even set her purse down, Greenlee walked over to her with a screaming baby in her arms, "Will you take this kid? Please! She won't stop crying."

Sam took baby Hope into her arms and walked around the room. Lila and Tyler had gone into the play room with some of the other kids, while Melanie had gone outside to play with some of the toddlers. In just seconds, Hope had calmed down and was curling up next to Sam.

"Sam, Hope's mom was supposed to be here an hour ago. Should I call her or what?" Greenlee asked, concern written all over her face.

Sam's smile fell, this was the first time that a parent had not come back for their child, "Yeah, do that. If you can't get a hold of her, then we'll go from there."

Greenlee nodded as she went to call Hope's mom, Bridget. Five minutes later, she came back into the room with a grim look, "Bridget's phone number's been disconnected."

"Well shit," Sam cursed, "Call the police and see if they can track Bridget Bailey down."

"Sure Sam," Greenlee said as she turned around again to go back to the phone.

Sam walked away towards the nursery and looked into the baby's brown eyes, "Oh baby girl, it's okay. We'll find your mommy."