Uuuuuuuugh… Happy F'ing New Year! I won't even begin to tell you the condition I'm in after that celebration. SMH. Those of you on twitter are quite aware of my dire straits. Nonetheless, I've moved my head away from the toilet bowl long enough to write this for you. Enjoy and once again, many thanks for your reviews.

Chapter Four

Perfectly Happy Ever Afters

Sam sat in Alexis' room looking through the book of Fairytales Stefan had purchased for her, while Nikolas excused himself to use the bathroom. She looked at the pictures of Cinderella with her evil stepmother and stepsisters, then of Cinderella and her fairy godmother. She passed her little finger on the kind woman's face and smiled to herself; aside from being elderly and fat, it seemed to her that Alexis was her real life fairy godmother… actually, even better: Alexis was her mother.

When Nikolas came out of the bathroom and discovered her staring at the picture, he frowned; fairytales were not stories in which he had any interest.

--- "You sure like that story, Samantha."

Sam looked at the boy she was told was her cousin. She had never had a cousin before as, to her knowledge, neither Evelyn nor Cody had any family.

--- "I like fairytales; everyone ends up happy."

Nikolas moved to sit on the bed beside her. Although he was only five, he was highly intelligent and quite mature for his age. Being a Cassadine heir, he was privately tutored in English, Russian, Greek, and French, along with math and other subjects requested by his father. He was being brought up to have knowledge of the arts and literature. As Stefan put it, his son was to have the best education and represent the Cassadine name with honor and pride. As a result, Nikolas, was, at five, for lack of a better word, intellectually developed.

--- "You are aware that life is not like that; there is no such thing as a happy ending."

Sam bit her lip unsure of how to respond. Given the cards life had dealt her, she hoped that her life would turn out better than it had started. Sure, she did not know anything about going off to be married and living happily ever after with her husband; in her young mind, she wanted that fairytale ending to be with her new mother. Sam wanted Alexis to be her happily ever after.

--- "I don't think everyone is always sad like Cinderella was in the beginning with her stepmother and sisters. She was rescued—"

--- "By a fairy, Samantha. There's no such thing as fairies."

Her lips quivered at the thought that this carriage ride she was on might at any moment turn into a pumpkin, and she would return to the McCalls.

--- "I don't care! My new mommy can be my fairy godmother. She said she loves—"

Sam had to stop herself from speaking as she realized that in such a short period of time, she had managed to allow herself to believe in something an absolute stranger had told her. She felt stupid for thinking that she could not only believe that Alexis would actually permanently whisk her away from the McCalls, but that she loved her. She had to stop herself from speaking as she came to the realization that she was quickly believing in words she had taught herself to doubt.

Nikolas, not intending to make the girl cry, felt sorry for what he had said. He was not at all an ill-willed child; he was too impeccably well-mannered to purposefully hurt another's feelings. Seeing his new cousin cry because of something that he had said upset him. He immediately attempted to fix his error.

--- "Please don't cry. Cousin Alexis does love you; Father told me this himself! He never lies to me."

Sam turned her back to the boy as she wiped her fallen tears. He quickly stood up and ran for a tissue; he handed it to her.

--- "I'm sorry, Samantha! I wasn't trying to make it seem like Cousin Alexis wasn't your fairy godmother. I was just saying that life isn't always like that—"

The little girl turned around and looked at him.

--- "You're five. What do you know about life?"

He shrugged his shoulders at the petite girl one year older than he, but much so smaller than he.

--- "I don't know. My father reads me Greek myths; people die or get trapped in the underworld. Their lives are nothing like the stuff in your fairytales. There is happiness, but there is also sadness."

She sighed and walked to the door; despite her reservations, she wanted her new mother and even more, she wanted her reassurance. She softly spoke to Nikolas.

--- "Can we just go to my Mommy?"

He quickly went ahead of her so that he might open the door; he had always been taught that a gentleman always opened doors for a lady.

--- "Alright, although I don't know if Father and Cousin have finished speaking."

She looked down almost ashamed to admit her next statement.

--- "I just want to be with her."

He nodded his head as he held the door open for her.

Alexis smiled when she saw her daughter walking back into the room, but noticed that she had been crying. She immediately walked over to the girl who buried her face into her mother's leg. She bent down to Sam's level and wiped away her tears.

--- "What's the matter, honey? Why are you crying?"

Sam moved into Alexis and rested her head onto her shoulder.

--- "Nikolas said there's no such thing as happy endings."

Alexis looked to her young cousin for a better explanation of what had happened. Nikolas moved next to his father, who was also curious as to what was said to the newest member of their family.

--- "Samantha was looking at the book of fairytales Father purchased for her and said that she liked them because everyone ended up happy. I simply told her that life was not like that. I didn't mean to make her cry."

Stefan put his hand on his son's shoulder.

--- "It's alright, Nikolas. I'm sure Cousin Alexis knows that you did not intend to hurt Samantha's feelings."

Alexis nodded as she lifted her daughter.

--- "Stefan is right, Nikolas. You're a nice boy; I know that your intentions were good. Sam will be fine. Now, would you care for a bowl of cereal? I'm sorry that I don't have much to offer you, but you know I can't cook."

Stefan chuckled and answered for his son.

--- "That's quite alright, Alexis. We have already eaten knowing that we would not expect five star service here."

She rolled her eyes at her cousin.

--- "Thank you, Cousin."

--- "I know that you must have a busy day ahead of you, would you like me to watch Samantha for you? I'm sure she and Nikolas would enjoy a day at the zoo or aquarium."

Alexis considered taking her cousin up on his offer, but when Sam tightened her hold on her, she thought better of the idea. Luckily it was a light day as she only had one class and a few hours to spend at her internship; she figured she would take her daughter with her. In addition, she needed to figure out how she would handle the remainder of the semester, and her responsibilities to the law fraternity, the law review, and the moot court competition, while raising Sam; she knew something was going to have to give as her main priority would be to ensure the girl's well-being.

--- "Thank you so much for the offer, Stefan, but I think I'll pass. Sam is going to spend the day with her mommy. That should be fun right?"

Clearly, she intended the last statement for the child who nodded her head unaware of how tedious a law class could actually be.

Stefan moved to his cousin and gave her a kiss on the cheek and passed his hand along Sam's back.

--- "Well, please allow me to take you two lovely ladies to dinner tonight?"

--- "Stefan, thank you very much, but—"

He put his hands up as her interrupted her.

--- "Dear Cousin, I will not allow you to have this child live on cereal and popcorn as you do. She's quite small as it is; she needs a proper meal. I will not take no for an answer."

Alexis smiled and rolled her eyes at the man who knew her just as well as she knew herself.

--- "I would not have fed my child popcorn."

Stefan made a face at the woman. She laughed and poked him in the arm.

--- "Well, I also have pop tarts. Plus there's take-out."

He shook his head as he took Nikolas' hand into his and walked to the door. He stopped just before stepping out to leave.

--- "I will be by at seven forty-five; please be ready on time. Have a good day ladies. And Alexis, please remember what I said."

He smiled and left Alexis and Sam to the rest of their day.

Alexis gave her daughter a kiss before putting her down on the stool. Since she had ruined the first bowl of cereal, she laid out two clean bowls and poured some more cereal. She looked at her daughter who still looked downtrodden. She set the milk on the counter and sat down beside her.

--- "Chipmunk, are you still sad over what Nikolas said? You know he did not mean to hurt your feelings right? He's a very nice boy; I think you and he will get along very well once you get to know him better."

Sam looked at her mother with tears once again welling in her teardrop shaped eyes.

--- "Is there a such thing as a fairy godmother?"

Alexis wanted to give her daughter the answer that she wanted to hear, but she knew that she could not; all she had to offer her was her care and support. She pulled the girl into her lap and poured milk into the two bowls of cereal, careful to not once again overfill them. She handed Sam a spoon.

--- "Sweetheart, there are no such things as fairy godmothers, that's just in the fairytales."

Sam had hoped that Nikolas was wrong, but her mother had reaffirmed what he had said. Her little heart hurt.

--- "So there's no such thing as happy endings, is there?"

Alexis kissed the girl on the top of the head as she thought of a proper answer for her. She knew that Sam needed to hear that in the end everything worked out for people as it did for Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, and Snow White. Unfortunately, her five year old cousin was right; life did not always work out that way.

--- "You know what, honey, we just never know. Sometimes people end up happy, and sometimes people end up being sad. It's just the way things happen. Just because someone is sad at one time, it doesn't mean that they'll always feel that way. Life is always changing."

Sam put her spoon back into the bowl of cereal.

--- "Does that mean because I'm happy now, that I might be sad again?"

It warmed Alexis' heart that her daughter had openly admitted that she was happy with her; such an admission was a clear sign of progress. At the same time, however, it hurt her to realize that she had just helped open the door to the child's doubt that the happiness was permanent; she needed to find a way to prove to her that even if she were to ever again be sad, it would certainly not be because they were once again separated from each other and she was out of her care.

--- "Baby, there are times when you'll be happy and times you'll be sad; that's just that was life is. I can't promise you that you won't ever be sad, because you know what? Mommy gets sad too."

Sam looked up at the woman. She saw how beautiful her home was and how nice her family was; to Sam, Alexis was the prettiest woman she had ever seen. She did not understand how it could be possible that someone who obviously had so much could ever be sad.

--- "But your life is perfect—"

In comparison to what Samantha had grown accustomed, it would certainly seem that Alexis' life was perfect, alas, that was not the case; this woman's life was far from perfection.

Flashback

Dinner at the Cassadine household was always served promptly at eight o'clock. While Stavros was usually late, and Mikkos frequently absent from the dinner table, Helena demanded that her barely tolerated son and the freeloading orphan arrive on time.

One night, however, having been suspiciously locked in her room, six year old Alexis and fourteen year old Stefan, who managed to free her after finding a servant to unlock the door, arrived one minute late.

Helena sat at the dinner table with her fork planted into piece of steak, with the knife at the ready to slice through it, when the children arrived. As Mikkos was once again on a business trip, she reigned the house as she saw fit. She looked at the young girl and adolescent boy, then to the grandfather clock in the corner of the room.

--- "Stefan, would you care to tell me what time it is?"

The young boy glanced at the clock.

--- "It is eight o'clock Mother."

Helena cut a piece of her steak and looked to her beloved son who sat to her right.

--- "Stavros, my love, would you care to tell that ignorant child the time?

Stavros smiled sweetly at his mother before sneering at his brother. He, even at sixteen when son's long left their mother's bosom's for that of girls' their own age, was what one would call a mama's boy. He adored Helena and worked to emulate her every action. What she liked, he liked; what she hated, he hated as well. In the household, being that the two children before them were at the top of her list of persons for whom she had little patience, Stavros made it his life's goal to torture his brother and cousin to the best of his ability hoping to gain more favor from his mother. It worked.

--- "Mother, I believe the clock states that it is one minute after eight."

Helena took a bite of the piece of steak hanging on her fork as she thought of how she would proceed. She could have the children sit to dinner, but be denied dessert, or she could be much more cruel and send the children to bed without a meal. The latter option was far more appealing than the former as she had already earlier denied the little waif of a child lunch for coming to the lunch table soiled. Of course, the young girl was, while out on a walk with Stefan, knocked down to the ground by Stavros, which resulted in her torn stocking and scraped knee. Helena, living to make the child miserable, remained unconcerned and enjoyed the look of sorrow in the orphan's eyes.

--- "Well, considering that it is past eight o'clock and we have already begun to eat, it seems quite disrespectful and unfair to us to allow you two to dine with us. We managed to come to the table on time; there was no reason—"

Alexis, being so hungry that her stomach was loudly growled, uncharacteristically interrupted the woman.

--- "But I was locked in my room."

Helena's blood boiled at the child's audacity to interrupt her as she spoke. She quickly got up from the table, approached the young girl, and smacked her hard across the face causing Alexis to stumble backwards. Stefan moved to ensure that she did not fall. Being so protective of the girl, he screamed at the woman.

--- "Mother, that was uncalled for!"

In response to his upset, Helena smacked him as hard as, if not harder than, she had just hit the girl. Her disgust for her son increased tremendously in that moment; his overprotection of the girl appalled her.

--- "Get out of my sight… both of you. I don't care for your excuses. You will be on time for dinner, or you will simply not eat at all."

As Alexis and Stefan turned to leave, Helena called after the child.

--- "Alexandra."

The little girl wiped the tears from her stung face as she turned to face the woman. She had no idea what it was that she had ever done to the woman to be hated as much as she was. Despite her growling stomach, she almost felt grateful that she did not have to sit through dinner with her or her equally unpleasant son.

--- "Yes, ma'am?"

Helena smiled as she saw the look of despair on her face.

--- "If you ever interrupt me again, you will suffer more than a couple of missed meals. When I speak, you keep your ugly little mouth shut. You do not speak. Period."

Alexis unsure if she was to respond or not, simply nodded her head. Stefan took her by the hand and walked with her out of the room. He would steal something from the kitchen for them to eat after Helena and Stavros retired for the night.

End of Flashback

Alexis smiled sadly at her daughter before stealing a spoon of her cereal causing the girl to laugh.

--- "Chipmunk, the closest my life has ever come to perfection was in this moment right now: having you on my lap and eating frosted flakes."

After spending a few hours at her internship and then sitting through her Advanced Civil Procedure class with Sam coloring in the coloring book she had purchased for her earlier that morning, Alexis decided to stop by her moot court coach's office to drop out of the competition. She knew that there was no way she could dedicate as much time into the program as she would have liked if she had to take care of her daughter. As saddened, as she might have been to make such a decision, her daughter meant more to her than the competition ever could.

She held Sam's hand as she walked into the office.

--- "Good Afternoon, Professor Vincent."

The man looked up and smiled when he saw her standing in front of him; Alexis was the star of his team. The young woman was meant to be in a courtroom; he was grateful for her participation.

--- "Ms. Davis, how are you?"

--- "I'm well, thank you, Professor."

As he stood up to offer her a seat in the chair opposite his desk, he was shocked to see that she was accompanied by a very small child, who wrapped her arm around the woman's leg; she shyly hid her face from view.

--- "And who is this little one attached to you like a third leg?"

Alexis smiled at him. This was the hardest part for her; being that she was the youngest in her graduating class, no one knew that she was a mother, and certainly not to a six year old child.

--- "This would be my daughter, Samantha."

He, as everyone she told, was shocked.

--- "You have a daughter? I had quite a bit of respect for you before, Ms. Davis, but I believe it's tripled. How exactly do you manage your time and still get wonderful marks?"

She took the seat offered to her and placed Sam on her lap. The child leaned her head against her mother's chest and used a pink flyer she held in her hand to cover her face.

--- "It's a bit of a long story Professor, which I would rather not get into. I guess the short version would be that I just got her back last night."

He smiled at the painfully shy girl who peaked at him from above the flyer.

--- "That's the shortest version of a story if I ever heard one, Ms. Davis. That's fine. She's a shy little one, isn't she?"

Alexis passed her hand through Sam's hair.

--- "That she is. Samantha, do you want to say hello to Mommy's professor?"

Sam raised her paper once again and turned to whisper to her mother.

--- "Do I have to, Mommy?"

Alexis smiled from the professor to her daughter.

--- "Well, it would be the polite thing to do."

Sam lowered her paper from her face.

--- "Hi."

Her voice was barely audible, but the professor smiled at her and handed her a lollipop.

--- "Hello little lady. Aren't you quite pretty?"

She took the small gift from the kind elderly man.

--- "Thank you."

Sam blushed and recovered her face. Alexis gave her a kiss on the top of the head.

--- "That's my good girl."

She turned her attention back to her professor who had a feeling that he was on the verge of losing a valuable asset to his team.

--- "Well, this is what I came in to tell you. Now that I have my daughter back with me, I'm sorry to say that I can't continue on the team—"

--- "Ms. Davis—"

She cut him off before he could attempt to persuade her to the contrary.

--- "I'm sorry Professor, but my mind has been made. I already have my internship and other activities, I cannot dedicate the time I need to my daughter if I'm busy preparing for the competition. It isn't fair to her. I won't do it."

--- "I thought you loved litigation."

She nodded in agreement.

--- "I do, sir, but I happen to love my daughter more. My life has been flipped upside down since she was dropped into my lap, but you know what, I'm loving it. She means more to me than any competition. Right now, my priority is her. I'm really very sorry, sir, but I simply can't stay."

The man was crushed. His team was due for a sure victory, their third year in a row; it was all because Alexis was on their team. Now, he was unsure of what he would do. Unfortunately, it was a decision he had to begrudgingly accept.

--- "Alright, Ms. Davis. As much as I will openly tell you that I hate your decision, I certainly understand it. There is nothing more important than your child and while I hope you'll reconsider, I wish you the best of luck."

She stood up and held Sam's hand in her own.

--- "Thank you for understanding, Professor."

Alexis walked out of the office feeling slightly less burdened than when she went in. She was grateful that she had freed up quite a few more hours of her days and weeks to dedicate to her daughter. The more time she was able to spend with her, the better.

As they walked across campus to the parking lot, she looked at her watch; it was already two in the afternoon. Aside from a yogurt and an apple, Sam had not yet had lunch. Alexis had a feeling that the child may have been hungry, but was afraid to admit it.

--- "Okay, sweetheart, are you hungry?"

Sam had never before been asked if she wanted anything to eat. Usually if there was any food in the house, Evelyn prepared it, and simply put it in front of her when she felt like it. However, when she decided that the child had misbehaved, the woman had no problems leaving her unfed; it simply meant more food for the rest of the family.

--- "I don't know. If you're hungry—"

Alexis stopped walking to bend down and look at her daughter.

--- "Samantha, if you're hungry, you can tell Mommy. It's my job to make sure you're fed. Do you remember what Mommy told you?"

She needed her daughter to believe that for once her life had taken a turn for the better. Alexis decided that if she had to continuously remind Sam every hour of every day that she would be well taken care of, fed, and loved, she would. She was not going to give up until the child believed her.

Sam silently nodded her head. Alexis passed her hand along her daughter's full cheek.

--- "And what did Mommy say?"

--- "That you would always feed me."

Alexis gave her daughter a soft kiss on the cheek before tickling the girl in the stomach, causing her to laugh.

--- "That's right, chipmunk. Now, is your little belly ready for some food?"

Sam bit her lip as she nodded her head.

--- "Yes, Mommy."

Alexis smiled at her daughter and took her by the hand as they walked toward her car.

--- "And what would my baby girl like to eat?"

The child thought for a moment; much like being asked if she were hungry, she had never before been given an option on what she would eat. This was proving to be a whole new world for her.

--- "I don't know."

Alexis buckled her into the backseat and smiled at her.

--- "Let's see; even though Cousin Stefan would disapprove, we can eat at McDonald's or Burger King?"

--- "What does disapprove mean?"

She walked around the car to the driver's side.

--- "It means that Cousin Stefan does not like that I like to eat what he considers to be junk food. He says it's a disgusting habit that I need to be broken of. But, you know what? I think I've thought of someplace that's really yummy that you might like. Do you like hamburgers?"

Flashback

Sam had been invited to a birthday party of one of her classmates. While Evelyn hated the idea of sending the child to another's party, which would undoubtedly meant that money needed to be spent on another child, Cody thought it would be good to send Sam.

--- "Ev, if we send her, that means that she can have something to eat there, and we wouldn't have to worry about feeding her. Plus, she could probably have some food to go if they have a lot of leftovers sitting around."

She crossed her arms in disgust at her husband who had not worked in weeks.

--- "And how exactly do you expect that we pay for this brat we don't even know's birthday present? Friggin Danny has been playing with the same broken toys for the past two years! Thank goodness he's retarded—"

Cody hated it when she spoke about their son in such a horrible way.

--- "Danny isn't retarded—"

She rolled her eyes and grabbed two beers from the fridge; she handed one to her husband.

--- "Well, he damn sure isn't smart. I guess that isn't too shocking considering his father."

He sat down and kicked his feet back onto the kitchen table. It was quite remarkable that for a pair who claimed to not have any money in the house for food, toys and clean clothes for the children, there was always enough to purchase their cigarettes and beer.

--- "Look, don't worry about the toy; I'll take the kid with me to a toystore and she'll lift one there."

--- "She'd better not get caught."

He took a sip from his beer and nodded at his wife.

--- "Don't worry about her."

Evelyn rolled her eyes as she walked out of the room; he clearly did not realize how very little she actually did worry about the little girl.

*******

When the day of the party arrived, Evelyn warned the girl that she better have her fill of food because if she was expecting to have a meal when she arrived home that night, she would be sadly mistaken. As a result, Sam ensured to eat as much as her tiny belly could fill, and then some. By the time the cake had arrived, she was not sure if she could eat another bite.

--- "Here's a piece of cake for you, Samantha."

The birthday girl placed the piece of cake in front of the child.

--- "Thank you, Ashley."

Hearing her mother's voice in her ear, and unsure of the next time she would have another meal, Sam ate every bite of the cake despite the sick feeling she had in her stomach.

Evelyn arrived to pick her up, shortly after the cake was cut.

--- "Did you eat?"

Sam nodded her head almost afraid to open her mouth to speak, lest the food come spilling out onto the ground.

--- "Good. For once, you actually did good."

Unfortunately, with each step they took back to their house, Sam felt her stomach churning. She stopped walking.

--- "Evelyn—"

The woman walked a few steps in front of the girl, and was in a rush to get back to the house as she left seven year old Danny to his own devices.

--- "Samantha! Let's go!"

The woman's voice was so shrill and loud that she scared the little girl causing her to vomit in the middle of the street, getting vomit all over her clothes and shoes. Evelyn was livid.

--- "You greedy little pig! You stuffed your face so much that you managed to ruin a perfectly new dress and shoes. You wait until we get home. You just wait."

She took the crying girl by the hand and practically dragged her to the remaining three blocks to their home.

End of Flashback

Sam shrugged her shoulders and looked down at her hands.

--- "I don't know."

Alexis looked at her daughter through the rearview mirror. The child was tiny. Of all the people who met her that day, not a single one had been able to accurately guess her age. She bit the corner of her lip as she pulled out of the parking lot.

--- "Well, I guess we're about to find out."

She and Sam ate at one of Alexis' favorite diner's in town. She bought her daughter a kid's sized burger, fries and milkshake. Unsurprisingly, Sam ate every last bite and even playfully stole a fry from her mother's plate as Alexis had previously done to her.

--- "Hey! My little thief, eat your own fries!"

Alexis pulled Sam into her lap and allowed her to help her finish her meal; it was obvious that she had been hungry.

--- "So, I guess it's safe to say that you like burgers, huh chipmunk?"

Sam took a fry popped it into her mouth as she nodded to her mother.

--- "Hmm-mm."

She laughed at her daughter.

--- "And I take it you also like fries."

Sam turned around and smiled at her mother before taking a fry, dipping it into ketchup and held it up to her.

--- "Here Mommy, it's good."

Alexis smiled and let her daughter feed it to her. She gave her a kiss on the side of the head.

--- "You're right, baby, it is!"

Sam laughed as she sat with her mother eating; this was the happiest she had ever been. Never before had the child sat down to a meal with her adoptive parents and smiled and laughed like she did with this woman she had met only the night before. To the child, it felt as though she had known her new mother all of her life.

She lay back against her mother, as the woman finished eating her meal.

--- "Mommy?"

Alexis wiped her mouth and put the napkin into the empty plate.

--- "Yes baby."

She took another napkin and wiped her daughter's messy hands and mouth.

--- "I'm tired. Can we go home?"

Alexis smiled at the girl and carried her out to the car.

--- "Of course we can, my love."

Sam smiled, as her eyes quickly grew heavy upon being seated in the back seat.

--- "Thank you, Mommy. I love you."

Alexis was mistaken. Nothing was closer to perfection than in that moment. She pressed her forehead against her sleeping daughter's.

--- "You are my happily ever after."