You all can rest assured that there will be a punishment for Kate. Jail time or ostracism or some horrible accident, I haven't decided yet, but she'll pay. I'm warning everyone here and now that there will be some bad language in this chapter. Which is understandable considering Lucas's predicament. If it bothers anyone let me know and I'll try to edit. Also, sorry it's kind of short.

Cautiously she moved further into the room.

"Is that…?"

His voice was calm and distinctly un-Lucas-like, "Yup, that's my mother."

Without another word he hit the rewind button on remote in his hand. He'd already watched and re-watched the moment so many times he'd lost count. Each time he willed the image to change, but each time he was disappointed.

He waited a few seconds and then pressed play again. There she was. His mother, his protector, the woman that he had tried so hard to please. He had done everything to make her happy. To make her love him the best. He went to the damn Military school, he worked for Victor, he had done everything for her. He had even killed for her. And it wasn't enough, it was never enough.

He was finally getting a real life. A life of his own. The one he'd been craving for years, but let pass him by because his stupid, fucking mother didn't like Sami. Sami wasn't good enough. She'd lied and hurt her baby.

He'd tried to escape her world. He'd refused to be her "baby." He didn't fulfill her expectations, so of course the answer would be to ruin his life. Bitch. Stupid, god-damn, no good, fucking bitch.

But she was his mother. His mother. She was supposed to love him and want the best for him. She wasn't supposed to do this to him. It must have been something he'd done. Something was wrong with him. He hadn't been a good enough son, so she had to teach him a lesson.

"Lucas?"

Her voice was whisper, so soft, and she moved into the living room like his saving grace, looking ridiculously small in his gym shirt and so out of place in this moment, yet she fit perfectly. Her blonde hair waved around her face and her eyes were wide with an unknown fear.

He'd never wanted to put fear onto her face again, but there was no mistaking it. He was scaring her. He was scaring himself and he couldn't even bring himself to care. Let her be scared. His world was destroyed, might as well have some company.

Sami settled onto the couch next to him, not quite touching, but enough for him to feel her presence. She hesitantly reached out to take his hand, but stopped before extending her hand half-way. He was scaring her.

His posture was tense in a way that she had never seen before. A half-crazy thought that she could poke him in the shoulder and her would fall over formed in the back of her mind. His silence was overwhelming, but it was his eyes that sent tendrils of fear down her spine. His eyes were completely blank and she didn't know how to draw him out of himself.

"How long do you think it took her to plan this, huh? A month? A week? Hell, for all we know, it could have been a plan she made up on the spur of the moment. We both know she's capable of anything, right? Stupid, fucking bitch."

His voice came out of no where, but she couldn't say that she was grateful for the sound of it. He sounded cold and hard and not at all like the Lucas she had let herself get used to. It was a Lucas she hadn't seen in a long time, and frankly, she hadn't missed him.

"Maybe we should…"

"I mean, look at her. She's perfectly calm. There's no remorse on her face. It doesn't look like she's thinking about what she's doing. How many people do you think she's drugged in her life. She doesn't even seem nervous."

He moved to press rewind again and Sami swiftly intercepted. Gently, she took the remote from him and clicked off the VCR and television, "We don't need to watch that anymore."

He wrenched the channel changer none too gently from her grasp, "I'd have to disagree."

Unperturbed, she lowered his hand before he could turn everything back on, "There is no reason for you to keep torturing yourself."

"Of course there is. I should have seen it coming. I bet you did."

She tried to ignore his babbling and squeezed his hand, "I know things look bad right now, but sooner or later everything will work out."

"You've always known what she was capable of. You kept warning me and warning me and I wouldn't listen. God, I'm pathetic."

"No, Lucas…"

"I am, Sami. I'm completely and utterly pathetic. What are you doing with me, anyway? Why would you want someone so completely worthless his own mother tries to make him suffer? You deserve so much more than me. I'm nothing."

"Don't you dare say that," with a fierce protectiveness rising up in her gut Sami forced him to face her, "You are everything that is important to me, Lucas. You're strong and you're loyal and protective. You make everything seem better. I love you. Will loves you. And that's not just because you're his father. He loves you for the man you are, the same reasons I love you. If your mother can't see that, then it's her loss."

He tried to look away, but her eyes seemed to be everywhere. She was willing him to hear her, to believe her. That was his Sami. Always ready to protect the people she loved, even when they weren't worth the effort.

Slowly he reached out and touched her face, "You're so good, Sami. No one's every really told you that before, have they?" he let an indulgent smile grace his features for a moment, "I can tell you actually believe what you're saying, but there's no other explanation. I've never been the son she wanted."

"Listen to me, right now, Lucas. There is nothing wrong with you. It's her. It's all her. There's is something wrong with her. She's not right in the head. No parent that is worth anything would have done what she's done."

While his mind acknowledged the validity of her logic, his loyal heart rebelled against the negative image of his mother. Mothers were supposed to be safe havens for their children. A beautiful, wonderful woman that he could love forever and know that she would always want the best for him. This was too much. He couldn't handle it.

Desperately he pulled Sami to him. She was his only anchor and he needed to hold on to stay afloat. She was the only constant he had in a insubstantial world. Willingly she wrapped her arms around him, trying to impart her strength to him.

She held him tightly, all the while whispering soft words of comfort. Lucas buried his face in her neck and fought against the tide of emotion threatening to take him under.

She stroked his hair and whispered soothingly, "It's okay to break down, sometimes. Everything will be okay. I promise, you will always have me. Our family will survive this, like we've survived everything else. You'll be okay."

They continued this way until the sun came up.