The beach scene is for Marimar. Great suggestion that they have a family day at the beach! Some light stuff before all hell breaks loose!

Chapter 45- A New Davis Girl

Sam smiled watching Willow and Scout sleeping on the couch as Kristoff sang to his reindeer on the screen.

The front door opened, and Drew and Danny walked in.

"That hole in one you made was fabulous, Danny," Drew said.

"Not as good as your hole in one on the volcano course," Danny said.

"Well, isn't that what they say?" Drew messed up Danny's hair. "Like father like son?"

Sam smiled. "Well it looks like you boys had some fun."

Danny stared at her for a moment then looked up at Drew. "Thanks… goodnight."

"Goodnight buddy."

Without a word to Sam, Danny darted up the stairs.

Sam sighed, then looked up at Drew. "I'm glad Danny had a good time. Thank you for that."

"Looks like you've had a fun night too."

"Yep, good old Frozen night with my girls."

"Say, I thought maybe we could go to the lake tomorrow as a family. Thought it would be a good way to end the summer," Drew said. "Willow's welcome to come too."

"That would be fun. Willow's finishing setting up her classroom tomorrow, but we can take Danny and Scout."

GHGHGH

Sam couldn't believe how much construction there was through town and most of it seemed to be on the outskirts. They finally arrived at the lake and set a blanket on the sand next to their bag of sand toys.

"I'm gonna swim really really far in the deepest part!" Scout said confidently as Sam pulled on her yellow floaties.

"Is that so?" Sam smiled.

"Uh-huh and I'm gonna find Dory and Nemo and Sebastian and Flounder."

"Well, it's good we brought our snorkeling gear then." Drew said as he pulled out a swim mask and snorkel. "We don't want to miss Dory."

Danny grabbed a mask and snorkel and ran to the water.

Sam sighed and grabbed a pair herself. "Scout, stay with Daddy."

She followed Danny into the water and swam out to him.

"What sorts of fish do you think we'll find?" Sam asked.

Danny just stared at her as he treaded water.

"Or do you think we'll find some salvage?"

Danny pulled the mask over his face.

"You know… I taught Aunt Krissy and Aunt Molly to swim in this water. We used to live in a house on this la—"

Danny lowered himself in the water, snorkel sticking out, and swam away.

Sam looked back where Scout stood calf-high in the water with Drew. Scout giggled as the waves splashed up on her.

Sam pulled on her mask and propelled herself towards Danny. She lowered her face into the water as a light green fish with black spots and a streak of pink on each side swam slowly below her. She lifted her head above water and saw Danny's head bobbing in the distance.

"Hey Danny!" she called over to him. "There's a rainbow trout over here. Come check it out."

He stared blankly at her for a moment, then treaded his way over. They lowered into the water together and watched the fish as it swam away.

They both rose to the surface and Danny smiled. "That's so cool."

Sam smiled. "It is, isn't it?"

He nodded.

"What else do you think we can find?" Sam asked.

"I saw a turtle over there," Danny said.

"Can you show me?"

He started swimming in the direction he was before, and she swam beside him.

"It was here somewhere…" Danny dunked his head, then popped back up. "Right here."

Sam dipped her face in and watched as a tiny turtle slowly walked across the floor of the lake.

They found a number of lake creatures including a school of goldfish then made their way back to the shore.

Drew laid flat on his back as Scout sat on his abs scooping and pouring sand on his chest as she giggled.

"Mommy!" Scout said brightly. "I'm burying Daddy!"

Sam laughed. "I see that."

"Help me!"

Sam and Danny made their way over.

"Oh sure, team up on your old man," Drew said.

Sam grinned and poured some sand on his feet. "It wouldn't be a day at the beach if we didn't bury Daddy in the sand."

Danny packed some sand around Drew's arms.

"You look silly, Daddy!" Scout chuckled.

"Rawr!" Threw his arms out from under the sand and made bear claws at Scout and she squealed. Then he pulled himself up and started tickling Danny and Scout. Danny and Scout laughed loudly.

Sam smiled at them. "Oh no, Daddy Bear caught Brother and Sister Bear."

Drew lifted Scout off himself and crawled over to Sam. "And now he's going to trap Mama Bear…"

He tickled her around her waist, and she busted out laughing and tried to wriggle free. They rolled over on the sand, then Drew leaned down and kissed her.

"Eeeewww…" Sam was surprised to hear Danny say and it made her smile against Drew's lips.

"Mommy and Daddy love each other," Scout said.

"You guys are gross," Danny said.

Drew and Sam sat up.

"I wanna make a sandcastle!" Scout bounced a little in the sand.

"How about you and Mommy make a super awesome sandcastle?" Drew suggested. "Daddy wants to talk to Danny."

"Okay!" Scout grinned and grabbed the shovels and pails from the bag.

Drew and Danny sat side by side next to the shore while Sam and Scout started filling their pales with sand.

"I wanna make it as big as Cinderella's castle, Mommy!" Scout lifted her hand high in the air.

Sam grinned. "Let's see…" She turned her pail upside down and removed it from a heap of sand.

"Danny…" Sam heard Drew say. "You've been through a lot in your short life. More than anyone should have to go through. I know you're in a lot of pain and that's not fair. But we all have a choice in life, we can either let our pain destroy us or we can use it to do good in the world. I know it's hard to see right now, but there are a lot of broken, beaten, and damned people in the world."

"Daddy said a bad word!" Scout shouted.

Sam laughed a little. "Shh…"

"And there are also a lot of bad people too," Drew continued. "And I wish you didn't have to meet them, I wish they didn't hurt you, and I wish you could've had a normal life. But you haven't had a normal life and we can't change that. But what you can do is change the way you respond to things. You have a lot of demons you are dealing with, but you have the power to fight them off. Don't let them destroy your mind. Don't let the plans of all the people who don't believe in you destroy who you are. You are smart. You are brave. And you have a mother and two sisters…"

Danny lowered his head.

Drew sighed. "I know you're having trouble accepting Willow, but she's your sister too and means you no harm… You should be protective of them. And you have me, you have your grandparents, your cousins, aunts and uncles… we all love you and we're in your corner. You can use what you went through to have empathy for others who have been through similar things you have. Use it to stand up for them. Stand up to the bad guys in life and don't let them ruin you. You have our love inside of you…" he placed his hand over Danny's heart. "And you can carry that wherever you go. Because love is stronger than all of the evil in this world. And love is all you need to fight all of this off."

Danny looked up at him.

GHGHGH

When Drew dropped Sam and the kids off, they found Willow sitting in the living room with Annabelle the second as she stared at a framed picture.

"Willow! Willow!" Scout ran over to her.

Willow jolted when she realized they were home and set the photo on the end table. "Oh hi."

Sam looked at the photo and sighed when she realized it was a picture of herself with Danny and Scout.

"We built sandcastles and buried Daddy in the sand and Daddy said a bad word!" Scout said.

Willow smiled. "That sounds like a lot of fun."

"It was!"

Willow turned to Danny. "Did you have fun too, Danny?"

Danny took a deep breath and paused for a moment, then headed to the stairs.

"Danny," Sam said. "Willow asked you a question."

"I need to get ready for school," Danny said.

"But school doesn't start until Monday," Sam said.

"I know." He zoomed up the stairs and the dog followed him.

"Mommy, can I play with Annabelle the second?" Scout asked.

Sam smiled. "Sure, sweetie. Good idea."

Scout ran upstairs.

Sam pulled out her phone from her pocket and pressed on the camera icon.

"Scout is so cute," Willow said.

"She is…" Sam plopped down beside Willow and held her phone high with the screen facing them. "Selfie! Smile!"

Willow's face lit up and Sam wrapped an arm around her. She snapped the photo then brought her phone close to them.

"I like this photo…" Sam said. "I think I'll make it my profile pic on My Face."

Willow smiled.

Ring Ring. Spinelli's name showed up on her phone. "Hey, Spinelli."

"Sam… Fair Sam… she's gone. She left us. Something's wrong."

"Slow down…" Sam said. "What happened?"

"Maximista… she took James and Malcolm and moved to the V-Town Centre with Peter."

Sam placed a hand on her forehead. "I think she was mind-mapped."

"I think so too. She doesn't remember Georgie being her daughter."

"I wonder if Peter knows he's Malcolm's father…" Sam sighed. "Okay… have you talked to Curtis?"

"He's been trying to get Trina to go see Dr. Maddox."

"All right. Stay with Georgie. Protect her. The election is on Monday. Vote for my mom. She has to get in, she just has to."

As soon as Sam hung up the phone rang again. "Hello?"

"Sam… It's TJ," his voice came through brightly.

"Hi, what's up?"

"Molly just gave birth. It's a girl."

Sam smiled, then frowned. "Isn't it too early?"

"A bit, she's 5 pounds 4 ounces. Healthy. Strong, like her mother. Alexis and Kristina are on their way."

"Okay, I'm coming too. I'll be there soon." Sam tucked her phone away. "Willow… Molly just had her baby, it's a girl."

"Aww…" Willow smiled.

"Could you watch Danny and Scout so I can go meet her?"

"Yeah, of course."

"Thank you." Sam rose and started to head to the door but turned back to Willow. She bent over a little and kissed her forehead. "We'll take more pictures." She tucked some of Willow's hair behind her ear and Willow blushed a little.

GHGHGH

When Alexis, Sam, and Kristina arrived outside of Molly's hospital room, TJ was talking on his phone. "Yeah Aunt Stella, it's a girl. Molly wants to tell you her name in person."

Sam pushed the door open and they walked in seeing Molly cradling her baby girl in her arms. Her bushy black hair against her light brown skin and brown eyes melted Sam's heart.

Alexis breathed in deeply and placed a hand over her heart. "Oh, Mol."

Molly beamed with tears in her eyes.

"She's beautiful, Molly," Kristina said.

Sam smiled. "The newest Davis girl… Des… can I call her Des for short?"

"Yeah…" Kristina agreed. "Desdemona is rather long..."

"Actually," Molly said. "We decided on a different name."

"Oh," Alexis said. "Decided on Daisy from the Great Gatsby?"

Molly shook her head. "Let me introduce you to Alexis Stella Ashford."

Alexis started crying.

"But we thought we'd call her Lexie for short," Molly added.

Sam squeezed her shoulder. "I think that name suits her perfectly."

"I think so too," Kristina said. "Hi Lexie. I'm your Aunt Krissy."

"Oh, let me hold that baby!" Alexis reached her arms out and Molly passed Lexie to her. "Hi Lexie… I'm your grandma. And only you and your cousins are allowed to call me that…" She fake glared at her daughters. "Even though everyone else tries to call me that too."

Sam and Kristina gathered on either side of Alexis and Lexie and gushed over the newest little Davis girl.