Many thanks to you readers, and especially to the reviewers; being exceptionally busy right now, and living in the library, I get the chapters written over a period of days during breaks. Your reviews are very inspiring during this highly stressful time. I truly appreciate you taking the time to review/ PM me your thoughts. I'm happy that you're enjoying the story as much as I enjoy writing it.

NOTE: Because Molly is 10 years old, Sam and Alexis have been forging a mother/daughter relationship for the past 10 years. Therefore, in conformity with NY State's Age of Consent laws, JaSam started when she was 18, until she was about 20; she "dated" Jax and Sonny, the cradle robbers, at 17…

UNEDITED

Chapter Twelve

Mayonnaise v. Tartar Sauce

Once her mother had all but admitted that Mathieu was her father, Sam stayed in her bedroom at the lake house until she was certain that he had left; she did not want to speak to him until she knew the story of why he had not fought for her. She knew her mother had no choice but to give her up, but she could not have done so without his consent; Sam wanted to hear from her mother first, the woman whom she trusted more than anyone in the world, what happened between her and Mathieu, that led to her being given up for adoption.

There was knock on her door.

--- "Yea?"

It was Maxie.

--- "What are you still doing here?"

Maxie rolled her eyes.

--- "I'm my father's prisoner; as soon as he got the call that there was some fender bender at your place, he turned the car around. So, right now, he's outside flirting with Alexis, while making your dad—"

Sam's mouth fell.

--- "How did you know?"

--- "Mac had an idea … Although I guess I wasn't supposed to say anything to you. Um, sorry? I mean wow, your dad is a Frenchmen—"

--- "It's fine. My mother basically admitted that was him—"

Maxie absentmindedly gazed into space as Sam spoke.

--- "Sam, your dad is SEXY! Oh my goodness, that thick French accent, those eyes, that dark hair… Goodness, if only his cork hadn't plugged into your Mom's wine bottle—"

Sam threw a pillow at her friend.

--- "Damn it, Maxie! Will you STOP!"

--- "I'm SORRY, okay? It just has me thinking that Mac needs to step his game up. I might have to give him a makeover or something… Like we got him to get a hair cut, but—"

Sam grabbed her jacket and headed toward the door. Maxie followed right behind her.

--- "Hey, where are you going?!"

--- "I need to go speak to Jason."

--- 'Well, take me with you! I need to see Spinelli!"

Sam walked outside toward her car when Alexis stopped her.

--- "Sam?"

--- "Mom, not right now—please?"

Alexis knew that her daughter was upset over the realization that her father was standing a few feet from her, and was, at that point, staring at the young woman.

--- "Honey, you can't take your car until the police report is written."

Sam threw her hands up.

--- "Mom, seriously! How long does it take—"

Alexis turned Sam around and walked her back into the house so she could speak with her without Mac and Mathieu staring in their direction.

--- "Look, we'll talk about everything later, okay?"

--- "Sure, we'll talk about how you and that Mathieu guy played leap frog until he leapt a bit to high, and feel on top of you—"

Alexis crossed her arms and shook her head.

--- "Honey—"

Sam rubbed her face and gave her mother and exasperated look.

--- "Mom, I can't stay here right now."

Alexis grabbed her car keys from the key hook.

--- "Take my car."

Sam sighed.

--- "Why? I don't even see the point of a police report; don't you know this guy?"

Alexis decided to ignore her daughter's question.

--- "You know me, I'm meticulous; I want everything to be properly done. And the reason I want you to take my car is because I know that way you'll have to come back here to bring it back."

Sam rolled her eyes and took the keys from her mother.

--- "Fine. Thanks."

--- "You're welcome, honey."

Alexis gave Sam a kiss on the top of the head, and walked out toward her car with her.

While Alexis was inside talking to Sam, Mac stared at Mathieu; he just did not like the man. Mac found him to be a smug, arrogant, jerk.

--- "Let me tell you something, French Fry—"

Mathieu was tired of Mac calling him names.

--- "Look, Mac, that's your name, right? Mac?"

Mac nodded his head, so Mathieu continued.

--- "Does it make you feel like a big man calling me names? Hmm? Like that Big Mac Sandwich you Americans like? Let me tell you something, Alexandra doesn't like small low quality pieces of meat hidden behind messy sauce and old lettuce—"

Mac raised his eyebrow to the man.

--- "I beg to differ—"

Mathieu smirked at the man.

--- "Well, I suggest you begin begging right now, because the Alexandra I know, the one born with the blood of royalty wouldn't—"

Maxie jumped into the conversation; she was not about to let this man attempt to talk down to her father.

--- "Look here MATHIEU! The way it looked to ALL of us who actually know Alexis, she didn't even know that you existed! PLUS, I might not understand a word of French, but I could tell that it didn't look like she was interested in seeing your turtle come out of its shell. Before you decided to make your grand entrance, she was enjoying her Bic Mac lovin'! The messy sauce was her FAVORITE part, you know! She licks her lips—"

Mac grabbed his daughter's hand to stop her from speaking.

--- "Maxie—"

--- "No Daddy, he needs to know that his Grey Poupon has no competition with your mayo—"

--- "Dressing."

--- "What?"

Mac sighed.

--- "Big Mac's have dressing, not mayo—"

Maxie rolled her eyes at her father.

--- "Daddy! I don't think that matters! The point is that your mayo is more appealing to Alexis than this guy's nasty tartar sauce!"

Mathieu was stunned by the girl's candor; he would never disrespect a woman by responding negatively.

--- "I apologize for offending you, Mademoiselle—"

Maxie held her hand out, showing him her finger.

--- "MADAME… Then again, calling me a Madam doesn't work that well in this country; it has a whole new meaning here. Although, that does give me an idea for me and Spin; Oh! And I think I have a really cute outfit from last Halloween! Oh my goodness, that would be totally—"

Mac needed to put a muzzle on his daughter.

--- "Maxie!"

She smiled innocently at him, while Mathieu frowned; he spoke fluent English, but the rapid pace at which Maxie commanded the language was enough to make an Anglophone's head spin.

--- "Sorry—"

He cleared his throat.

--- "Er, can you tell Alexandra—"

He stopped speaking when he noticed Alexis and Sam stepping out of the house. He found them to be the most beautiful sight, his former loved and the daughter he never knew; he stared as he watched Alexis wrap her arm around their daughter as she led her to her car.

Alexis saw that Mathieu was staring, but tried to take Sam's mind off of him for the time being.

--- "Honey, remember, you promised me you'd come back."

Sam nodded her head as she also noticed Mathieu staring in their direction.

--- "Mom, I told you I would."

Alexis turned her head and noticed that not only was her childhood lover staring at "their" daughter, but Mac and Maxie were as well; their ogling increased the young woman's discomfort. Alexis stepped around Sam, turning her to face her.

--- "Honey, ignore them. Just go to Jason's—"

Sam laughed.

--- "I never thought I'd live to see the day that you'd be sending me to Jason's."

Alexis rolled her eyes.

--- "Yea well, take this as a one shot deal—"

Sam smirked, much like her father did; Alexis never realized or noticed, until that moment, how similar her daughter looked to Mathieu. Outside of dark Cassidine eyes, and her lips, and the shape of her face, Sam resembled her father; in essence, she was a beautiful mixture of her two parents.

--- "And I'm sure that's what he told you, just before he shot the white ball into your hole—"

She looked over at Mathieu who was still staring in their direction. She took her daughter's face into her hands, and stared her in the eyes.

--- "Honey, regardless of what happened between Mathieu and me, his "scratch" might have been a shock, but I won the game, didn't I?"

She gave her daughter a kiss on the forehead.

--- "Now, go to that idiot boyfriend of yours—"

Sam opened the car door and stepped in.

--- "Mom!"

Alexis winked at her girl.

--- "I love you, honey."

--- "I love you, too, Mom."

Alexis closed the door, and watched as her daughter slowly back out of the driveway, stopping to allow Maxie to jump into the car.

Alexis stormed toward the two men who stood staring in her direction.

--- "You two idiots just made MY daughter quite uncomfortable!"

She made sure to stress the "my" for Mathieu's benefit.

--- "Alexandra, please honey—"

Mathieu tried to speak softly and sweetly to her in French, but Alexis shut him down.

--- "Okay, you know what, how about you speak English! Sam's not here anymore, and Mac already knows that you're an asshole—"

Mac nodded his head.

--- "Exactly! I just made him well aware of that."

She shook her head.

--- "You're no better Mac! This doesn't concern you! Why are you even still here? Where the hell are your cops to write this stupid police report!"

He was taken aback by her agitation with him.

--- "Lex, why are you mad at me? I'm just trying to protect you—"

Mathieu smirked once again.

--- "Yes, big bad policeman—"

--- "COMMISSIONER—"

--- "Does your gun size change with promotion?"

Mac stepped in Mathieu's face.

--- "I'm sure it's bigger than your thin stethoscope, DOCTOR."

Alexis was fed up with the men's arguing.

--- "Okay, I want you both off of my property! Forget the damn police report. Mathieu, seeing as you know where I live, send me a bill for the damages to the car."

The men turned to look at her.

--- "Alexandra!"

--- "Lex!"

She shook her head; she had a lot to think about, and dealing with the two men bicker like women agitated her.

--- "Nope, go!"

A neighborhood cat scampered past them.

--- "See, there you go! Now that kitty, you two have a fair shot at petting. Goodbye boys."

Alexis turned and walked toward the house.

After Sam and Maxie arrived at the penthouse, Maxie grabbed Spinelli and took him up to the regrettably pink room, leaving Sam to talk to Jason. He noticed her upset; he gave her a gentle kiss on the lips.

--- "What's wrong?"

She felt tears threaten to come to her eyes, but she blinked them away.

--- "Well, you know how you helped me find my mother?"

--- "Yea—"

She walked to the fireplace and looked at the pictures sitting on the mantle.

--- "Tonight, I met my father."

--- "How did that happen? I thought you and Maxie were trying to set Mac and Alexis up?"

Sam brushed a tear that managed to roll down her face.

--- "Yea, that was the plan. Alexis and I had a great day together; we went to the spa, got mani/pedis, I made her get a brazilian—"

--- "Sam, I did not need all of that information about your mother."

She rolled her eyes and sat on the couch.

--- "Jason, come on!"

He sat beside her, bringing her to him. He smiled at her.

--- "Did you get one too?"

She hit him on the chest and smiled.

--- "I just told you that I met my father and you're worried about whether or not I got a wax!"

He kissed her again.

--- "I know you did, but I just wanted to see you smile."

She leaned her head onto his chest.

--- "Thank you for that. Anyway, he just came up to our table and started speaking to my mother in French. She passed out, Maxie tossed iced water on her, he used smelling salts—"

--- "He had smelling salts?"

She smiled.

--- "Yea, apparently, my father is a doctor, and he just carries them on him because I guess people pass out when they see him."

Maxie came down the stairs looking quite disheveled.

--- "Well they should! He is sexy! Jason you should see him—"

Spinelli interjected as he followed right behind her.

--- "Maximista, my lovely cherry blossom, you have interrupted our pollination to interfere with the conversation of Stone Cold and Fair Samantha."

She sat on the chair adjacent to the couch.

--- "YES! Sam's father is this sexy French guy with a thick accent—"

Jason put his hand up.

--- "Can you two go… pollinate upstairs please? Let Sam and I have a chance to talk privately?"

Spinelli nodded his head.

--- "Oh course Stone Cold. Maximista, my beautiful tiger lily, will you allow this bee to taste your sweet nectar?"

Maxie smiled at him.

--- "Of course, but only if you promise to sting me afterwards."

Jason made a face.

--- "Seriously? You two need to leave. We don't need to hear this."

Spinelli lifted, with a bit of a struggle, Maxie from the chair and painstakingly carried her up the steps; he had never been known for his physical strength.

Sam pressed her head into Jason's chest and laughed.

--- "Those two are a mess—"

He shook his head.

--- "Those two need to find their own place."

As if on cue, they heard a loud moan, followed by a loud buzzing sound.

The look on Jason's face was one of absolute disgust.

--- "They really have to move."

Sam smiled.

--- "Um, why don't you stop focusing on them, and take me upstairs. I think I'd like to see your bud blossom."

Jason leaned in and kissed her again.

--- "Don't you want to talk about your father?"

She straddled him.

--- "No, you know what, I spent the last ten years getting close to my Mom; I think I'll talk to her first."

He nodded his head as he stuck his hand under her shirt.

--- "I'm glad that I was able to help you find her."

--- "And I'll show you how grateful I am for that."

She stepped off of him, and walked up a couple of steps.

--- "Are you coming?"

He slowly got up from his spot, walked up to her and lifted her the rest of the way up to his room.

--- "Not yet, but give me a couple of hours."

Mathieu paced his hotel suite thinking about the events of the night. It was by chance that he had even seen Alexis, or Alexandra as he insisted on calling her, at the restaurant; he was in town for a medical conference at General Hospital. As he was sitting and attempting to enjoy what had to be the saddest excuse for Boeuf Bourguignon that he had ever had the displeasure of introducing to his French palate, he saw a vision enter the restaurant. He was astounded that the fates had brought him to that supposedly five star restaurant to once again see his first love.

Flashback.

Although it was forbidden for the students at the all-girls school to intermingle with the students at the all-boys school up the rode, Alexis and Mathieu consistently broke the rules and met under a bridge by the pond in the park that separated the schools from each other. While Alexis had not normally been, considering her upbringing in the Cassidine household, a child who broke the rules, there was something about escaping the confines of her dorm to meet with Mathieu that excited her; she had never been "bad" before.

Mathieu intrigued Alexis. She loved running her fingers through his dark brown silky hair, and gazing into his beautiful tear-shaped green eyes; his eyes were the most beautiful eyes that she had ever seen. Then his straight and thin nose complimented the slight fullness in his cheeks. And then there was that one dimple… on his face… that she was in love with. The more time she spent with him, the more she thought she loved him.

--- "I think you have the most beautiful smile."

He smiled at her remark.

--- "Well, I think you're wrong."

She frowned as she played with the frills on the blanket they were sitting on underneath that bridge by the pond.

--- "You do?"

He lifted her chin so that he might gaze into her eyes.

--- "I do. I think you do. Your smile lights up the room—"

--- "But we're never in a room together, only at this park—"

--- "Why don't you ever take a compliment?"

She looked down again.

--- "Because I've never really received one."

He leaned in and gave her a light kiss on the lips.

--- "Well, it seems to me that the sun shining is no comparison to the light that comes from seeing you smile."

He pointed to the pond.

--- "Do you see that?"

She tried to get a grasp of what he was pointing toward.

--- "What?"

He pulled her close to him.

--- "The reflection on the water… it's from your smile, not the sun's rays."

End of Flashback.

It bothered him immensely that he did not know his daughter; he needed to make things right with her… his Sam, who looked so much like his Alexandra.

Alexandra, the other with whom he needed to make everything right, remained on his mind; he thought about her once again. He did not know what he could do to stop her from being so angry with him; in fact, he did not even know why she was angry with him in the first place, if anything, he was the one who should be angry with her.

He took a sip of his wine and looked at the fire burning in the suite's fireplace.

Alexis sat in her living room staring at the fireplace. Mathieu had given her her first compliment, her first kiss, her first baby. He had been her first everything; he was her first heartbreak. She was not sure how, when Sam returned, she was going to speak to her. Alexis, herself, was not sure why Mathieu disappeared after she gave birth to their daughter. She did not want to tell her daughter that she thought her father was a complete jerk because Sam might actually be interested in getting to know the man.

As she reached for her cell phone to call her daughter to ensure that she was coming back, someone knocked on her door. Because the blinds were already pulled, she had to get up to check who it was.

--- "One second!"

After everyone left, Alexis had changed into a pair of sweatpants and a t-shirt, she had her hair up in a pony tail since water had been rudely thrown in her face at dinner, and wore her bicycle wheeled glasses; she was not pleased that someone had come by her place uninvited.

She looked in a mirror before opening the door.

--- "Okay, let's just hope that it isn't someone important… then again, who's really coming by this late? They should expect to see someone dressed down in their own home… and Sam says I need to loosen up! I'm in sweats and a t-shirt! Then again, she bought them for me... this afternoon."

The person knocked once more. Alexis fixed her ponytail and opened the door.

--- "Mac? I thought I kicked you out?"

He nodded his head.

--- "Well, you did, and I left—"

She crossed her arms; she was not pleased that he had decided to bother her when she specifically told him and Mathieu to leave.

--- "And now you're back. What do you want?"

He lifted a big that was in his hands.

--- "I guess I figured that you might want something to eat since we never did actually have dinner."

She was so wrapped up in her thoughts about Mathieu and Sam that she had forgotten that she had not eaten in hours; for the first time that evening, her stomach growled.

--- "You're right. I guess you can come in then."

He smiled at her.

--- "Thanks. Nice outfit. I especially love that your pants have 'off the pole' written across the bottom."

Alexis blushed; she was going to kill Sam for purchasing those sweats for her.

--- "This is Sam's doing."

Mac smiled at Sam's satirical humor.

--- "Look Lex, I'm really sorry about everything that happened this evening. I didn't mean to make her uncomfortable."

She nodded her head.

--- "I know you didn't. I'm sorry I kicked you out; I'm not really mad at you, I'm just pissed at Mathieu."

She stepped aside to let him inside the house. She excused herself so that she could get two sets of table settings from the kitchen. While she was in the kitchen, Mac took the food out of the bag.

--- "What did you get us to eat?"

--- "The only place that wasn't packed at this time of night was Kelly's—"

--- "I love Kelly's!"

--- "— so I bought hamburgers and onion rings."

She came out with two plates and glasses.

--- "Onion rings?"

He nodded.

--- "Yea, I figured you had enough French things for the night… or a lifetime."

She chuckled to herself as she sat down.

--- "I guess you're partially right."

Mac handed her her hamburger; it was a thick sirloin burger with lettuce, tomato, and ketchup. She smiled gratefully at him.

--- "This looks great. Thank you for thinking about me."

He smiled back.

--- "I always think about you—"

She did not know how to take that statement so she let it pass; considering the big French coq… rooster… that was in the room, she was too preoccupied with Mathieu and Sam to focus her attention on Mac's supposed desire of her.

--- "Um, crazy night, right?"

He blushed slightly at the fact that he made such a bold admission to her, to only have it be ignored.

--- "Yea. How's Sam?"

Alexis put her burger down and looked at the man.

--- "I don't know, she's shocked, confused and angry, I guess? She wasn't ready to talk just yet; she was uncomfortable being here while Mathieu was outside. I just don't know what I can tell her; you know what I mean?"

--- "You're her mother, Lex, she trusts you; so tell her the truth."

She nodded her head.

--- "I have no intention of lying to her, Mac."

--- "So what's the problem?"

She sighed.

--- "The problem is that I don't know why Mathieu showed up! I don't know where he's been! Geez Mac, I thought he was dead!"

He put his own burger down.

--- "Why'd you think that?"

She looked down for a second.

--- "Because that's what I was told. Anyway, I don't want to talk about this anymore; I need to speak with Sam first."

Before he could question her more about that, she began looking into the bag of food.

--- "What are you looking for?"

She stopped searching to look at him.

--- "The tartar sauce. I like to eat my onion rings with it."

Mac put his burger down; he officially lost his appetite.

Hey minors whom I'm currently corrupting :o)… For "politically correct" purposes, I'm changing the rating on this story to M. If your list of fics is filtered and you don't have this story on your alerts, be sure to change it to "all stories" so you can see when I've updated. If not, sorry!