"Come on baby pick up. " Brooke mumbled.

Sam got off the bus and walked, she was almost to Nicholai's house, when she felt her phone vibrate. She looked at the screen. It said the word Mom. She stared and stared, resistant to pick it up, but right at the last ring she answered.

"H-heey Brooke." She said unsure of herself.

Julian sat up, "Sam?"

Her father's voice made her feel a rush of anger all over again, "What?" She said tersely.

Julian took a deep breath, and continued, while Brooke looked on nervously.

"Samantha where are you?" He said authoritatively, though not forcefully.

Sam wasn't giving in, "I'm gonna go have sex Julian, so I can get pregnant, leave a pregnancy test for everyone to see, and wait excitedly for you to burst in and make a spectacle of me in front of everyone."

Julian felt a pang of guilt at her words, "I get it Sam, and I'm sorry, I really am. It was a mistake, a stupid mistake. I know you've been going through a lot, and you didn't deserve that sweetheart. Please, you have to come back. It's getting late."

Sam made herself cold, "I need time to myself." She simply said.

Brooke could hear everything; she snatched the phone from Julian, who was getting impatient. "Samantha." She said quickly.

"Brooke." Sam said mimicking Brooke's voice.

"We're not asking you to come home. We are TELLING you to come home."

"I will, but first I want time to myself!" She said a little louder.

Brooke decided to play along, "Okay. And how long will that be?"

Sam stayed quiet, unsure of what to say.

"SAMANTHA, WHERE ARE YOU?!" She said in a last burst of exasperation.

"What's it to you Brooke?! Isn't this better? Now you and Julian can get it on and have ALL the babies you want." Angry herself, with their inability to just leave her alone.

Julian then grabbed the phone, angry that Sam could act so cold with Brooke. "Sam!" He barked through the phone, so much that she jumped a bit. "WHAT." She responded.

"We're done playing with you. How can you be so cold with the people who care the most about you? Huh, Sam?!"

Sam felt his reprimand rip through her.

"You have ONE option." He said through his teeth, "To get home by tomorrow morning. We're giving you the day. If I don't see you in your bed tomorrow, then that speaks volumes of what you think about your mom and I, as well as the family that you have here, but don't you worry, we will find you."

Sam was spent, her emotions too drained, "Whatever." She said and clicked.

She was at the steps of Nicholai's house. Her old foster father. He was young, probably 30. He wasn't much of a father when she was in his home a couple years back, but he was married to her old foster mother, who dominated everything, so he could afford to be wild, and free.

She knocked and the same familiar face greeted her. "Sammy! I can't believe you actually came!" He said. His breath reeked of alcohol. She steeled herself. "Yeah Nick, I told you I would. Ummm could I crash here for like a week or two?"

Nicholai looked at her in disbelief, "Yo little Sam, you know that it can get crazy here right? Your old momma ain't here to control me!"

She shook her head, "It's fine. I want to de-stress, wild can be good for me right now."

His smile widened, excited at the prospect. "A'ight then, come on in little Sam."

Sam felt her heart skip a beat, she finally felt free of problems.

'Distance will do me good.' She thought.

….

Brooke looked straight ahead as Julian drove on, "She's never happy." She said as a final point. Julian turned to her, "Brooke, stop that. She's just acting like Sam. We're gonna find her, get to the bottom of this, and MOVE on.

She stayed quiet a moment and then started to hold her stomach. She was thinking about the baby that was growing inside of her, and of her other baby, the one running away from her. It tore her up. Julian grabbed her hand and squeezed it.

… …. ….

That night Sawyer called Brooke.

"Hello?"

"Hey Aunt Brooke, it's Soy."

Brooke smiled weakly, "Hey sweetie. What's up? Have you heard from Sam?"

Sawyer cleared her throat, "Yeah, she umm, she said that she's okay, and not to worry about her."

Brooke knew that Sam wasn't coming home tonight, "Sawyer do you know where she is?" Her voice sounded increasingly desperate.

Sawyer sighed, "I'm sorry she doesn't want to tell me. She just told me that she's fine, and that she has a roof over her head, and food to eat, so you don't have to worry about her being homeless. Her words not mine."

"Sawyer she's probably going to be communicating with you. PLEASE, makes sure to tell me and Uncle Julian everything."

"Aunt Brooke I'm a little scared."

Brooke sighed, "Me too sweetie, but Sam's a stubborn girl. We're gonna keep looking don't you worry. She's coming back home."

Sawyer gulped, "Is she in trouble?"

Brooke laughed at the statement, "HAH. Hell yes she is. But I won't worry about that just yet."

Sawyer laughed nervously, "Alright. Well I'll keep you posted Aunt Brooke. See ya."

"Goodnight sweetheart. I love you." Brooke said to her, imagining Sam on the other line.

"Love you too Aunt Brooke."

Brooke picked up her phone and called Sam once more, leaving her a long voicemail. She was surprised at how angry she sounded,

"Samantha. This is probably one of the most irresponsible things you've done. You CANNOT just leave this house without telling me where you're going. Sawyer relayed her message. I get that you're not coming home, but if you don't check in with us, I'm calling the police! So I suggest you call by tomorrow. I'm EXTREMELY disappointed in you."

Sam watched as her phone rang, and waited for the voicemail to come. The ring came and saw the new voicemail. She opened it and heard her mother's angry voice. She sighed, and decided to send her mom a text:

Brooke, I'm fine. Trust me. I just need to get out of Tree Hill for a couple days. I'm at a friend's house. Her parent's are here, don't worry. Bye.

Her text was clearly a lie, but she pushed it to the back of her mind, and went back to the raging party that Nicholai was having in his home. The living room was filled with beer, weed, drugs of all kinds, as well as dancing and drunken fun.

"DAUGHTER!" She heard Nicholai slur.

Sam rolled her eyes, "Not your daughter anymore Nick."

He laughed, "A'ight. A'ight. You's was never much of daughter material anyways. I can't believe people actually adopted you!" His voice boomed, and Sam winced at his words, but she shrugged it off, "Shut up Nick." She said pushing him, and then jumping into the dance in the middle of the floor. All her problems dissipated. People offered her a blunt, and she hesitated for a moment, but realized this is what she was coming here for, to get everything out of her system. "Yeah I'll take a hit!" She said.

… …. …..

Brooke saw the text and felt like crushing her phone.

"DAMN IT!" She yelled, frustrated. Julian came in. "Babe what's wrong." She showed her the phone and he rubbed his neck feeling the stress.

"I called Jack." He said. Brooke's eyes widened, "What'd he say?"

"He said that they've been texting, and that she was gonna ask us today about going to a foster child convention with him, but that she texted him again saying that we said no."

"She's Lying!" Brooke said. "Ohh if I could get my hands on her."

Julian touched her, "Calm down Brooke. Don't get any ideas. Let's take this a day at a time."

…Four Days Later…

Brooke was getting updated by Sam through daily texts. Telling her that she was fine, healthy and eating. Brooke didn't respond, her anger was beyond any other emotion. She was on edge. Julian was getting tired of waiting and wanted to go out there and find her. Both were having trouble focusing on work. Brooke stayed cooped up in the office downtown, instead of going into her store. Julian worked from home coming up with new movie ideas. His ideas were grim, along with his mood. Both were increasingly getting tired of Sam's antics.

… … …

Sam was partying hard for the past two days. She was a wreck, even Nicholai felt a bit of concern.

Sam woke up and saw Nicholai passed out on the floor. She kicked him, "Get up Nick." She said lazily.

" 'The hell. Leave me alone." He grumbled.

"Get the hell up. It's like 2 in the afternoon."

"So?" He mumbled.

"Whatever fine. But you're the one that said you'd host the party tonight at your house, idiot."

He shot up, "You serious?!"

She shook her head in amusement, "Nick, are you fucking serious? How do you forget everything?"

He laughed, "Listen lil Sam. Can you go get some chips and stuff. I ain't got money, but you's rich now."

She rolled her eyes, "Fine." She responded. As she walked towards the store, she saw a mom and her young child, the mother saw the state that Sam was in and quickly grabbed her child's hand. Sam felt like flipping her off. She didn't think she looked that bad. When she got back she looked herself in the mirror, and saw the bags under her eyes. They were still red from the high she felt last night. "It's just weed." She thought. Hey hair was knotted and a bit oily, and her clothes were crumpled and dirty. "Damn." She thought, "I look horrible, kinda like before."

She was feeling a lot better, but couldn't help but feel at home in Nicholai's mess of a home. She could do whatever ever she wanted here. Sam was also hesitant to go back, well aware that she was dead when Brooke got a hold of her. She's missed two days of school already. She figured she'd go back by Friday. She was gonna stay for as long as she could.

…. …. ….

The party was great, at least to Sam it was. She was getting high and drinking. Nicholai wasn't with her for most of the time. One of his friends came up to him, "Yo Nick! That girl of yours is getting' CRAZY. She's all up on Brad and talkin' shit about everyone."

Nicholai was never the paternal type, but this sparked some form of protective instinct in him. He trudged through the droves of people and found Sam.

"Hey lil Sam!" He called.

Sam stumbled and turned to him, "Yo Nick! Tell this brotha Brad to kiss me!"

Nicholai blushed for Sam, "Sammy girl come on!" He tried to grab her but she pushed away. He brushed off the diss and let her go instead he told Brad to get up, "Brad, come on dude, she's off her ass. Get out of her way." Brad shrugged and slowly pushed Sam off him and got up.

Nicholai felt that it was time to get Sam out of here. He watched her, and knew that anyone could deteriorate in the environment he lived in. He went over to Sam's makeshift bed on the floor and found her phone. He found Jack's number. The only name he recognized.

"Hello? Sam!?" Jack said on the other line.

"Uhh Jackie boy. It's Nicholai."

Jack was confused, "What the hell? Is Sam with you?!"

"Yeah, yeah kid. But look, she's been here a while. She's getting a little bit too wild. You mind coming over and getting her? It's the same place I lived in before."

Jack felt a rush of adrenaline. "I'm on my way."

He got a jacket and went towards the bust stop. On his way he called the Davis household, and told them where she was. He knew that something was about to go down and it wouldn't be pretty, but they had to get her out of there.

Tell me what you think!