Author Note: Another long absence, I am really sorry, real-life got in the way. I really appreciate you readers and this is still a story I am committed too. Hopefully, a few long chapters will help make-up for it. Thank you to anyone who's still reading!

Reminder: Everything in between /these/ are Lindsey's thoughts.

The drive started off silent once Sam instructed him where to go. They still had a few hours before the stores closed, and they wanted to try and fit as much in as possible. "So, your family's nice," Lindsey eventually broke the silence. "Do you think she's nice?"

"Who?"

"My newly-discovered kid. I mean Kristina was so…"

"Bitchy?"

"More like bratty, actually. Her parents were decent enough but then again they raised her. Do you think she's some spoiled rich kid, too? What if we don't get along?" he asked her. "What if I don't like my own kid?" he fired off the questions with the intensity he usually reserves for the inside of a courtroom.

Sam let out a 'hmm' sound as she took in the questions, and eventually put up a hand in protest. "I don't know, under different circumstances I would say it's something to be concerned about, but, being ditched doesn't scream 'get's everything she wants', to me."

"Yeah, true," he agreed.

"Personally, I'm more interested in whether or not tantrums are a genetic trait. Boy you better hope not," the young woman lightened the tone of the conversation with a perky voice, and hitting her elbow into his.

"What's that suppose to mean?!"

"You're kidding, right?"

"I don't throw tantrums!" he exclaimed, like an irritated child.

"If you were Teresa you'd be living in a corner," she countered. "People are still talking about what you did in the Boardroom…"

"I had an evil hand!" he yelled. "You get an evil hand and see how you react!" he muttered. " But anyway, as I was saying before, Kristina's parents were Okay and they created her. I have no doubt they've been living with them, she probably leaves her with them regularly..." /Could I have put my foot any more in my mouth?/ "Not that that's a bad thing to live with-," he quickly added.

Sam laughed. "That didn't offend me. After all, I'm only with them because a) I want too and b) even if I thought about moving out, just the two of us, my dad wouldn't hear of it. No way Well, maybe eventually they'd let me go… but they would watch the news for my face every night. They'd have heart attacks if they knew what I did for a living as is."

"Right, who would get the gun while the dogs attacking?"

"Usually he doesn't get that upfront with people he doesn't know very well, you must be special." Sam paused for a second, before turning in her seat to look at her boss, with a serious look on her face. "How the hell can someone just abandon their kid to a stranger? Where were her parents during this? I can't get my head wrapped around it."

"I know," Lindsey agreed. "People ditch their kids every day," that didn't surprise him –or Sam with her first-hand experience- in the least, "but yeah, she had options. Hell, how many people do we work with, with money, stick their kids with a nanny all the time or send them to boarding schools? If she's in magazines, she must still have her money."

"Uh-huh. She made the attempt to let you have her now so why not go to you directly? What if you didn't take her in? She just took a gamble with her daughter's life. She could have ended up making her go who knows where! At least-" she stopped herself mid rant and didn't continue.

"At least what?" Lindsey questioned.

"Nothing, forget it."

Since they were at a red light he took his eyes off the road completely to look at her. The young woman with the habit of cheering up his days was visibly upset, and he didn't think it was all on his behalf. "Samantha…"

She turned away from her boss and focused on the outside scenery. "At least when Teresa's father made it very clear he wanted nothing to do with her, he knew she was going to be a part of a good family…"

"Oh. So he was never around?" /Stupid little bastard./

"I tried to change his mind once. After… after she was born I took her to his house," she paused and shook her head at the memory, "I even dressed her up really pretty, which was so much easier to do then than now," her expression softened for a moment "she always looks like a little doll when she's dressed up. I thought…I didn't know how he and family could not, not change their mind. They didn't open the door," she finally admitted. She didn't know why just admitted that. He was more than a boss to her, she did think of him as a friend, but she hadn't even told her best friend that. In fact the only people that did know… Suddenly a small smile crept on her face, "I never contacted him again. Pauly, Chris and Danny didn't do the same since he continued to go to the same school. I was told there was a trashcan-stuffing incident when Uncle Vito came to meet her…"

/My kind of guys./ "Understandable," Lindsey said. "I would have done the same…." /Depending on the sibling…/ Now when you say Pauly, you mean your brother, not dad, right?"

"Obviously."

"So, he didn't get in on…"

"No, he didn't," her short, serious, answer lead him to believe there was something more to that, but he did not want to push her. "Uncle Vito had it covered, anyway," she added, sounding like her regular self.

"Okay, the next time this Uncle Vito is in town, I really need to meet him," the lawyer replied with enthusiasm.

"Depending on how the kid turns out, maybe I'll have him bring you some carafes," she offered, trying to stay on the path of a lighter topic.

"I was going to say before we left your house maybe I should take some to go," he laughed.

Sam shrugged. "Well, it keeps him out of trouble…"

"Trouble?" Lindsey questioned, raising his eyebrow.

"Yeah. But it's not like he's ever done anything bad enough he'd need you as a lawyer," she said with a big smile and laugh.

/She's so pretty when she's hap-HEY!/ "Hey! Thanks a lot, that's just what I needed to hear tonight. You know, I would never speak to any of my boss' like that."

"I would never speak to any of your boss' like that either," she agreed. "Luckily my boss has a sense of humor. And a soul."

"Some would disagree…"

"The same argument could be said for me, technically. I willingly sit outside your office," Sam paused to sigh. "Don't argue back, we both know we'll go back-and-forth forever."

Lindsey accepted the change of topic suggestion. "It's been, about three years, since I've even watched a kid. That wasn't even a full night."

The only things Sam knew about Lindsey's family was that he had a nephew named Luke, who he had her buy/send Christmas and Birthday gifts too, as of a little more than two weeks ago he had a niece Emma, who she bought a teddy bear for, some toy for Luke upon her suggestion (wrapped and put into an unsealed postage box by her) as well as a New Baby Card so he could put a check with in it and that he would get mail on occasions from "Kelly and Amanda McDonald," Luke and Emma's parents. Not ever seeing each other on holidays, and his family not visiting when his hand got cut off, if they even knew it did, and Lindsey not having her arrange travel plans to see his new niece, still let her know it had to be a complicated relationship. After all, even complicated Uncle Vito made it to California before Sam was even finished with the labor of bringing Teresa into the world. "Was it Luke?" she guessed.

"Yeah. They came to LA when I settled into my first decent apartment here. Their wedding anniversary fell into the trip, so they went out on the town, and I watched him. He was two, hanging out with Fun Uncle Lins. Somehow, I doubt I can use that experience."

Sam pushed aside wanting to ask if he was "Fun Uncle Lins", then why doesn't he see them at least on holidays/important occasions. Something else caught her attention more. "Wedding anniversary? A real one?"

"Only grade-schoolers have fake ones," Lindsey countered, confused.

"Where were they allowed to do it?"

It made perfect, amusing, sense to Lindsey what Sam was implying. "Saaam… do you know that Kelly and Amanda are my brother and sister-in-law?" The look of utter embarrassment was all the answer he needed. The lawyer then sighed. Time to fess (something) up: "In birth-order Jamie, Lindsey, Charlie but really Charlotte, Kelly, Jo but really Joanne, and Fred but really Winifred. Longer names were on the birth certificates, not used." He left out the part where he would often call his sisters by their full name, out of pettiness. Mentioning who died and who was taken away wasn't even up for consideration to be mentioned. Not then. In Charlotte's case, maybe not ever.

"Well… it's good your parents were prepared," Sam teased to hide her surprise he actually shared that information with him. But so many siblings and only knowing of contact with one gave her a whole new set of questions in her head.

/They couldn't have been less prepared./ "Hang on! Where did you think Luke and Emma came from?"

Sam shrugged. "The scientific, non-Biblical way a woman can get pregnant without having sex… The first time I asked you who Kelly and Amanda were, you said your nephew's parents and showed me the picture they sent when you were getting your mail at the office. You said your sister-in-law was pregnant, which people do anyway to 'partners' of siblings, and I don't pry into those things. I've mentioned my friend Peter is gay, right? He hates when people have to 'confirm' certain things. Plus, they never write Mister and Misses on their mail."

"Yeah. They never really have, it's weird," Lindsey agreed, still amused. "A lesbian McDonald knocked-up with a test tube baby," Lindsey paused to laugh, "I'd find a way to resurrect Gram just to see her head explode, after her rampage."

Now it was Sam's turn to be amused. "Gram?"

"Hey!" Lindsey got defensive. "You leave a man and his Gram alone."

"I just always figured you to be the 'Grandmother', type."

"You know I don't like to be obvious."

The topic of Lindsey's family made Sam realize she hadn't asked him a very important question. "Hey! You haven't told me what your daughter's name is! Do you know?" she decided to ask. Lindsey stopped the car short mid-way down a street. "What the hel-"

"A-Angelica Lilah," he said with a wince. Sam looked like a kid who just came downstairs on Christmas morning.

"Really?" All he could do was nod.

Sam was still laughing when they entered their first destination, a furniture store, which was a quick trip. They looked through the booklet, and despite Sam's attempts to talk Lindsey out of ordering a Full size, bed with a canopy, he insisted on getting all the upgrades.

Next they hit up Bloomingdales. "Seriously?!" Lindsey questioned with slight disgust, as he held up a little pair of pants that had "Juicy" on the backside.

"You think there's only one evil corporation in the world?," Sam told him with equal displeasure.

"That's just wrong," he muttered as he put it back. "Oh how about this?" Lindsey pointed out a silk nightgown.

"A four-year-old doesn't need luxury sleepwear," Sam countered.

"Yeah but it's nice. After all, I'm sure she's accustomed to nice things…"

"And you're going to keep up with the spoiled lifestyle? I thought you…"

"I don't know what I'm thinking, honestly."

"Fine, get three really expensive things, then we're sticking to the sale racks, which still has good stuff because this is Bloomingdales, not Payless."

"Okay. What size?"

"Four." Sam gave Lindsey a once-over look. "Or maybe some three's, just in case…"

"You're fired!"

"Then I'll leave." She won. As the two searched the section Sam found herself wondering near infant clothes. Soon after Lindsey noticed.

"Okay, that's just taking height jokes too far."

Sam frowned. "You missed so much."

The principle of Kristina keeping his kid away from him angered Lindsey, really angered him. However, the emotional side, 'missing' what Sam was referencing, was not something he had really thought about. When she brought it up it still didn't have an impact on him besides the fact that he did have the choice and he did not want Sam to know that.

Sam was able keep Lindsey's spending moderately under control as they continued to shop for clothes, then bedding and bathroom supplies. However, when they went to the toy store there was no reasoning with him. Granted, he hadn't intended on getting a whole lot, after all he needed help in the first place. Yet he managed to walk out with two cartfuls of toys, stuffed animals, books, movies, dolls, coloring material, tea sets and a little play table. There was a dispute over certain books, made by the possibly evil corporation Disney, as Lindsey insisted many "give children unrealistic expectations of life always working out and teaches girls they need to just get married to be complete. It could be an attempt at mind control." Sam put them in the shopping cart when he wasn't looking. Despite Sam's protest, when they saw a giant stuffed dog that looked a lot like Buck (and was also $60), he insisted on getting it for her to give to Teresa, to show his appreciation for going with him when she has a family could have been with. He also mentioned it would look hilarious on the giant purple couch.

The rest of the weekend flew by. Between getting the office stuff out of his spare room and having the furniture delivered, some things needing to be assembled, and of course putting all the stuff away, Monday came before he could do everything he'd wanted to do. Oh well, he would find time for it soon enough.

/Well, today's the big day… /

A/N: Comments and even suggestions in reviews are appreciated and really considered if they can be worked in.