HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO MY FAVORITE DEMON!!! I hope everything you wanted is in this, if not, well, I'll add it to the upcoming chaps! K?
Not ENTIRELY Edited… I've got to get UMR up as well… Stay tuned!
Chapter Twenty-Three
Protection
Before reaching the door, Alexis turned back to Mac. She did not know when her feelings for him arose, or what exactly they were; she simply knew that she enjoyed spending time with him.
--- "You know, Mac, I had a really good time. This is nothing like me, but I haven't had this much fun in a very long time. Thank you."
He looked at her with her hair hidden under a hat she had found in Kristina's room, and her nose red from the cold; he was astounded at how beautiful she looked in such an uncharacteristic way.
--- "You're very welcome, Lex. I enjoyed this as well. Believe it or not, I haven't played in the snow since that night—"
Alexis laughed again at the imagery from the story.
--- "Well, I can't say I blame you! I mean, why would anyone want to play in snow again after getting beat up for throwing a urine soaked feces filled snowball at the school bully! You would've been pretty stupid to not have learned your lesson!"
Mac shook his head.
--- "I thought I was protecting my friend! Don't I get points for that?"
Alexis shrugged before smiling at him.
--- "I guess so. I suppose you get an A for effort."
--- "That's all I ask!"
She smiled at him before quietly unlocking the door leading to Sam's part of the house.
--- "Now, make sure you don't say a word Mac, I don't want anyone realizing that we've left, or that we're going back out again."
As she went to step into the house, she slipped on an icy patch and twisted her ankle. She screamed out in pain.
--- "Son of a bitch!"
--- "Oh my God, Lex! Come on, let me help you."
Mac immediately attempted to help her up, but she screamed out in more pain, which caused everyone in the house to run to the direction of the noise. Sam, along with Kristina and Molly, were the first at the scene.
--- "Mom, are you okay? What the hell happened?!"
She sat on the ground holding her ankle.
--- "Unfortunately, sweetheart, when it snows, there's a high likelihood of ice. And when that happens, your mother, who was silly enough to play outside, managed to slip and fall and mess up her ankle."
Molly was astounded.
--- "You were playing in the snow, Mommy? I thought you hated it?"
She pointed to her ankle and smiled weakly at her daughter.
--- "And this, baby, would be the reason why."
The rest of the group ran to the back door to see what the commotion was all about. Diane shook her head when she saw her best friend on the floor cradling her ankle.
--- "Lex, I never pegged you for the Damsel in Distress. Somebody, get her off the ground and close the door; there simply aren't any ingredients in this house to make the cookie dough to accommodate the amount of chocolatish chips that are about to freeze and fall off our bodies. Oh my God, Lex, do you have any cream? Well I suppose we've an increased supply here—"
Alexis was in too much pain to be able to tolerate Diane's sick jokes.
--- "Di, seriously?!"
The woman shrugged.
--- "Sorry Lex, but I figured we could make cannolis—"
Sam pinched Diane's arm.
--- "Will you stop it?!"
Diane grimaced at the woman whose ice cream maker was standing in the room with her.
--- "Sure, easy for you to say! You've got your everlasting creamcicle right here!"
Sam rolled her eyes at the obviously horny woman.
--- "You know what Diane, why don't you call Max over here, and tell him to sit in the snow for a few minutes, I'm sure he'll be useful to you for a bit… you know, at least until he thaws out."
The sassy attorney pointed her finger at Sam, but Mathieu stopped the two from arguing.
--- "I'm sorry to stop your [ahem] informative conversation, ladies, but can we turn the attention back to Alexandra? Now, can someone help me—"
Maxie pushed Jason forward.
--- "You're used to carrying dead bodies and dumping them random places, why don't you—"
Mathieu turned in shock to look at the girl before looking from Jason to Sam.
--- "What kind of coffee importer are you? You carry dead bodies? Are you some kind of hitman?"
The group once again, including Mac in slight amusement, stared at the girl. Diane smiled and laughed nervously.
--- "ALLEGEDLY! Now, if you'll excuse us."
She pulled her from the hall towards kitchen.
--- "I swear, we're either going to find you some Pepto for that mouth, or a pacifier. Either way, you're not going to have much to say for the next few hours."
Maxie rolled her eyes as she allowed the woman to take her away from the group.
--- "Yea, you clearly aren't looking for something hard for your own mouth, Diane."
Alexis cleared her throat so the attention returned to her, instead of on the man she felt had no business dating her daughter.
--- "Excuse me, but can someone get me up. This might seem rather ironic to my girls, but I think the fall has resulted in a bruise on a place I'd prefer not discuss, and this hard ground is not conducive to it. So, can someone please help me up?"
Mac and Mathieu seemed to push each other out of the way so that they might be the one to help the woman from the floor, but Sam used her two fingers to whistle for attention from the men.
--- "If you two insist on fighting, take it someplace else. Jason, can you please carry her to her room?"
Jason quickly and easily lifted the injured woman from the ground and brought her to her room on the other side of the house as Sam, Kristina, Molly, Mac and Mathieu followed. He gently placed her on the bed, and quickly walked out; he was not comfortable being in his girlfriend's mother's bedroom.
Sam bit her lip as she took the boots from her mother's feet, and lifted her leg onto the pillow Kristina had placed for her. Now that her father was in the room looking at her, she quickly grew uncomfortable.
--- "Um, I'm going to get you some ice."
Alexis, knowing her daughters like the back of her hand, and through her ankle pain could tell that something was bothering her eldest daughter. When she looked at her two younger daughters, she noticed that they were staring from Sam to Mathieu; she immediately knew that whatever was upsetting her daughter, it had something to do with her father.
--- "Sam—"
She noticed tears in her daughter's pleading eyes.
--- "Um, can you get me a bottle of water?"
She nodded her head indicating to her daughter that she should take her time to compose herself.
--- "Sure, Mom."
Sam quietly left the room, grateful that her mother realized her increased discomfort as not only were her sisters obvious about the tension between she and her father, but Mathieu appeared to be splitting his concern between her mother and her; his stares were burning a hole into her forehead. While she wanted to speak to him about her past, she could not help but feel embarrassed around him. She knew that what Molly had said was right, and although she did not know much about the man, she knew enough to help her realize that he truly cared about her.
Mathieu figured that now was as better time as ever to speak to Alexis about what he had discovered about Sam. He cleared his throat.
--- "If you all will please leave the room for a few minutes so that I can examine Alexandra."
Mac scoffed.
--- "Examine Alexis? You're looking at her foot."
Mathieu smirked at the man. It astounded him how such a man could possibly be someone Alexis would like.
--- "I'm sorry, but when you passed the donut eating contest, did you also become a connoisseur of the human body? I believe that the lady said that she might have bruised herself; I'm sure that she'll appreciate an examination."
Alexis interjected as Kristina and Molly, who were seated on the bed beside her, snickered to themselves.
--- "I'm sorry, Mati, but in regard to my bruised bottom, I'm perfectly capable checking that out myself; there certainly is no reason to have an embarrassing examination of the type—"
Mac smiled at the man.
--- "Yes, I'm sure you heard the lady."
Mathieu wanted to smack the smile off of the man's face.
--- "Alexandra, there's nothing to be embarrassed about; I've seen—"
She covered her youngest daughter's ears while glaring at the man.
--- "I'm sorry, but that was a VERY long time ago. Anyway, in regard to my ankle, I will allow you to look at that. Now, Krissy, Mol, and Mac, can you please give me a few moments?"
Both girls began to protest; they had a feeling that their mother was going to speak to Mathieu about Sam and they wanted concrete details.
--- "Mommy, we always take care of you when you're sick!"
--- "Yea Mom, and what's so private about your ankle? We've seen you looking worse!"
She rolled her eyes at her daughter.
--- "Thank you Kristina. You may now leave."
Molly stuck her tongue out at her sister and attempted to suck up to her mother.
--- "Mommy, I think you're always pretty!"
Alexis gave her youngest daughter a kiss on the cheek.
--- "Aren't you sweet, but why don't you go take a shower? Aren't you tired of being in your pajamas?"
Molly shook her head.
--- "No. I like being in my pajamas. They're comfortable."
Alexis pursed her lips; considering how much the girl was fighting to be in the room, it was evident that she had missed something significant. She tapped her youngest daughter's leg so that she could get off of the bed.
--- "You know what honey, it's rude to walk around in pajamas and unbathed in front of company—"
Molly pouted slightly as she stood beside her sister.
--- "It's rude to show up unannounced, and yet here most of them are."
Kristina decided to try her hand at being allowed to hear the conversation.
--- "Mom, you know, Molly and I share a bathroom, so maybe I should just shower here?"
Molly punched her sister in the arm.
--- "You're such a traitor! You just want to hear them talk about Sam!"
--- "Says the girl who made sure to try and gain cool points with her by telling her she looks pretty all the time!"
Alexis cleared her throat.
--- "Molly, no hitting. Kristina, you have the option of waiting for Molly, IN YOUR ROOM, to finish showering, or using Sam's bathroom. I don't care which option you choose, the only thing is that neither of you are staying here. Now, I don't want to say this again, but you two need to leave."
Kristina and Molly begrudgingly left the room as Mac and Mathieu laughed to themselves at how amusing Alexis' household was. For both men, this was a different side of the woman, a side neither had ever seen.
In Mac's case, while he had known her for years, he never spent such time in her household to see her truly interact with her daughters, and them interact with her; he smiled at the way her personality brightened when they were in the room. Mac felt the same way about his girls. He appreciated that Alexis knew where he was coming from when he spoke about Robin and Maxie; much like Sam, Kristina, and Molly were the lights of her life, his girls meant the same to him.
For Mathieu, on the other hand, this was how he envisioned his life with Alexis and Sam, and hopefully children Kristina and Molly's ages. His thoughts about the scene he had just witnessed were those of regret over opportunities lost and stolen from him. As he looked at Kristina and Molly, he almost imagined Sam at their age. He could just see her as equally precocious as Molly, and sassy as Kristina. Although he knew he would never get those moments, he simply enjoyed capturing them with a different lens.
Alexis looked over at Mac and smiled apologetically.
--- "Mac, I'm sorry, but I'm going to have to ask you to leave as well."
He nodded his head and walked over to her; he gave her kiss on the top of the head.
--- "Don't think that this is over, Lex. Just because we can't sit in the car and listen to music and chat, doesn't mean we can't do the same here. I'll be back."
She smiled at him.
--- "I would hope so."
Sam's face burned as she walked out of her mother's room. She wanted to go speak to Jason, but Maxie walked out of the kitchen just as she was walking passed.
--- "Hi Sam."
Sam rolled her eyes and continued on to the living room, but the younger girl grabbed her by the arm.
--- "Sam, I'm sorry!"
She scoffed.
--- "Yes you are, Maxie. You seem to have a way to run your mouth about everything concerning everyone else, but for whatever reason the faucet stops running when it's your real business."
Maxie had no real answer for her best friend. She knew that she was wrong in blabbing not one, but two personal details about Sam's life that she had no business revealing.
--- "Look, you're right. You're completely right about it all. I'm selfish and I know it. I'm a loud mouth; I know that too. The only thing I can do is say that I'm sorry. I don't know what happens between my brain and my mouth, but things just come shooting out like a messy hose."
Diane stepped out of the kitchen holding an opaque cup.
--- "Well, I know one hose that isn't working—"
Sam took one look at the woman, grabbed the cup from her hand and took a sip.
--- "Diane! It's nine in the morning! What in the world is wrong with you?!"
She grabbed her cup back from the young woman.
--- "Excuse me, don't judge me! This is juice!"
--- "Yea, of the fermented kind, you wino!"
Diane took a sip from her drink.
--- "You know what, Samantha—"
--- "Sam—"
--- "WHATEVER. It's five o'clock in the country from which this loveliness came, and considering that we're stuck here for a while—"
Jason walked into the hall to join the ladies.
--- "Actually, I'm not—"
Sam was shocked.
--- "WHAT? You can't leave!"
He held up his phone.
--- "Business—"
Maxie laughed.
--- "Ha, you've got another grav—"
The three others stared at her; there was nothing that would keep the girl's mouth shut. She blushed.
--- "Sorry! I'm working on it! It takes time!"
Jason stared at her for a moment before turning his attention back to Sam.
--- "I'm sorry, but I really have to go."
--- "Well, I'm going too."
Sam moved toward the living room, but Jason grabbed her.
--- "No, Sam. You need to stay here and talk to your father."
She did not want to face her father in light of her past actions and now, with regard to Jason's 'occupation,' but she knew she did not have much of a choice. If she left, her mother would undoubtedly come after her regardless of her twisted ankle. She did not want to deal with Alexis in that scenario.
--- "Fine."
Jason gave her a gentle kiss on the lips.
--- "I'll be back, okay? I'll bring lunch and dinner."
Diane pursed her lips at her client.
--- "As long as the meat you bring is of the animal species, and NOT the alleged human kind… unless of course it's Max holding a very large—"
It was Diane's turn to be stared at. She waved a dismissive hand at the group.
--- "I said ALLEGED!"
She shook her head and walked back into the kitchen, dragging Maxie with her.
Sam pressed her head to Jason's chest.
--- "You're leaving me here with these people?"
He lifted her head to face him. He did not want to leave, but he received an urgent call from Carly. He figured that he would take the time to go see her as a means of having a break from the lunacy in his girlfriend's mother's house. In addition, knowing that the house was lacking in food, he thought it best that he would pick up something for them all before Diane ate everyone first, starting with the men, of course.
--- "Look, go hide in your room, take a long bath—"
She rolled her eyes.
--- "Clearly you don't know my mother and sisters and their inability to get a clue in regard to privacy."
He kissed her once again on the lips.
--- "I love you, Sam."
Despite her problems, she could not help but love hearing those words coming from his lips.
--- "I love you too, Jason."
With that, he was gone.
When Mac left she looked at the man she had loved so many years ago. It astounded her how much he was still able to make her heart beat to what seemed like a well-timed love song. It seemed too good to be true that the man was standing in front of her. So many years had already passed between them, and she was not yet sure if they had anything in common outside of their connection to their daughter. Nonetheless, Alexis was happy that he was in her life if but for Sam.
She attempted not to wince in pain as he looked at her ankle. She decided that now was as good as any to speak to him about what was clearly bothering her eldest daughter.
As no one was around, she spoke to him in French.
--- "So, what's going on Mati?"
He pulled up a chair and sat down beside her.
--- "Well, your ankle appears to be twisted. You should be fine in the next few days."
She put his hand over his; she realized that Sam's deflection of obvious questions came from him, while her tendency to ramble was definitely inherited from her.
--- "Mati, what happened to our daughter?"
He covered his mouth for a moment before looking at her.
--- "Alexandra, why didn't you tell me that she had such a difficult life? Con artists raised her? She was herself was a con-artist?"
Her heart sank; someone had let Sam's past out of the bag. This explains her daughter's subdued attitude.
--- "Oh God. Mathieu, I wanted to tell you, but honestly, it isn't my past to tell. Sam was and is, actually, afraid that if you find out about some of the things that she's done in the past that you would lose respect for her and no longer want to get to know her. Even worse, she feels as though you might not love her—"
He shook his head.
--- "I already love her. How could I not? I fell in love with our daughter from the moment she kicked me in mouth the day you and I decided we would run away together."
Alexis smiled at him as the memory flooded her thoughts and her doorframe.
--- "Mati, I know this, but perhaps I'm not the one you should be telling this to."
She pointed her chin toward the door; Sam was standing there with a bottle of water, and Diane beside her holding a bottle of wine.
Mathieu looked at his daughter and smiled. He walked over to her, gave her a kiss on the side of the head, took her by the hand and led her to her mother's bed; Alexis painfully scooted over to allow her daughter to sit beside her.
Diane smiled.
--- "Aw, isn't this sweet."
She began making herself comfortable on the chair Mathieu had previously occupied, while opening the bottle she had in her hand. Alexis looked at her best friend.
--- "Uh, Di—"
The woman looked at the three people, Mathieu who was staring at a clearly nervous Sam, and Alexis who gave her a knowing stare. She stuck her bottom lip out as she placed the wine bottle down.
--- "This is totally unfair Lex! The way I'm feeling right now, you might not want to send me into that warm and toasty living room with a man who speaks softly and carries a big stick!"
Alexis reached over her daughter to smack the woman.
--- "DIANE!"
--- "I'm sorry Lex, but at this point, I think sitting on a washing machine would turn me on."
She snapped her fingers and smiled.
--- "As a matter of fact, I'll allow you all to have your family time, I think I'll make myself useful and throw a load or two into the wash."
She stood up and walked toward Alexis' bathroom.
--- "Your hamper is right over here, right?"
She noticed a large hamper filled with clothes; she immediately grew excited.
--- "Ah yes, this should keep me occupied for a few hours. Um, don't come looking for me, I'll reemerge when I'm good and ready. I think she spin cycle might have to be run a few times. Oh Max had a wonderful move—"
Alexis threw her pillow at the woman. It was evident that she either failed to realize that Mathieu was still standing in the room as she was going through her fantasies, or she was drunk; whatever it was, the pillow took her out of her trance. She blushed as she noticed Mathieu's amused look.
--- "Oh, I was just joking! HAHAHA!"
She whispered in pig latin to her best friend.
--- "Etergent-day is-ay in-ay—"
Alexis rolled her eyes at the woman.
--- "YES! And make sure to use the gentle cycle on my undies. Thanks!"
Diane smiled and walked out of the room somewhat mortified at her oversharing.
Alexis immediately turned her attention to her daughter.
--- "So, um, was she drunk?"
Sam looked at her mother and nodded her head.
--- "Yup."
Alexis wrapped her arm around her daughter and gave her a kiss on the side of the head. She whispered into her ear.
--- "Honey, I think its time."
Sam looked at her father who was staring back at her. She tried to keep her sisters' words in her head, but her defenses had shot up when she saw him; she did not want to allow herself to be vulnerable if they had been wrong about him and his supposed love for her. In was clearly evident that he knew nothing about her; he did not even know her to say that he loved her. Therefore, there was no real love lost between them if he decided that he did not want to have anything to do with her after learning about all of the horrible things she did to herself, to others, and most notably to her mother.
--- "So, I suppose you want to know everything?"
He shrugged and looked at Alexis who clearly noticed that her daughter had gotten defensive before anything was discussed; she gave him a nervous smile. He looked back at his daughter and stared her directly in the eyes.
--- "Samantha, I want to know whatever you're comfortable telling me. If you don't want to say anything, I'm fine with that as well."
--- "Okay."
Sam moved to get off the bed, but Alexis held firm to her arm; she was not going to allow her daughter to run away from her problems.
--- "Mom—"
Alexis struggled to pull her daughter back onto the bed.
--- "Samantha, my ankle is twisted, don't fight me."
--- "So will you stop fighting with me?"
She glared and hissed at her daughter.
--- "Honey, if you do not want me to use your pants as an anchor to get you back on this bed, I suggest you sit down. I'm sure that while you want a relationship with him, you don't need him seeing your cute little tushy."
Sam returned her mother's glare before adjusting her pants and defiantly sitting down beside her mother.
--- "Fine. Where to begin, Daddy?"
Mathieu was not sure how to handle his daughter's defensiveness.
--- "Samantha, I won't judge you. I love you. Just, talk to me… please."
She looked at the man for a moment; she wanted to believe that he was sincere, but she needed to be certain.
--- " Okay, would you care to know about the amount of times I got arrested for stealing cars? The time I conned several people in this town, including Mac's daughter Georgie, just so I could steal playing cards to win a fortune? Or how about this one, the fact that I slept with—"
Alexis grabbed her daughter's arm hard enough to cause her to wince in pain.
--- "Mom!"
Alexis spoke to Mathieu quietly and in French.
--- "Mati, step out please."
He noticed the look of anger in the woman's eyes, so he nodded his head and stepped out of the room.
Once he was out, Alexis released Sam's pained arm.
--- "Geez Mom! First you 'spank' me, now you damn near break my arm—"
Alexis pointed at her daughter.
--- "Shut up, Samantha."
Sam crossed her arms and leaned into the headboard. She noted the tone in her mother's voice; this was not the time for her to, even at twenty-nine, back talk.
--- "What the hell is wrong with you?! Don't you see that Mathieu wants to get to know you? He loves you. He wants to be a father to you—"
--- "I'm twenty-nine Mom, I think it's a bit late for that."
Alexis shook her head.
--- "That's not what you were saying yesterday or earlier this morning. Stop letting your fears about what people will think about you because of your past ruin your relationships with them before they're even started. You don't need to go into your sex life with him—"
Sam scoffed.
--- "What shouldn't he know this his daughter was like Grand Central Station? Or that a couple trains made the same stops into your obscure station? I mean really, shouldn't he know these things?"
Alexis closed her eyes, and began to count; she needed calm down. She hated that her daughter had so much emotional baggage. She wished that Sam could simply lose it as the years went by, but when it seemed as though she was finally letting certain things from her past go, she nevertheless picked up another set.
--- "Sam, those things are personal between you and me that happened in the past. I think even Maxie knows to not bring something like that up. If you want to bring up Lila, that's fine, but don't taint her memory by making her seem as the product of a lurid affair with your sister's father. My goodness, we didn't even know what we were to each other then."
Sam's heart hurt at the mention of her daughter. She never wanted to imply that her sweet baby was some kind of freak because Kristina and Molly would have been not only aunts to her, but sisters. She wiped a single tear from her face.
--- "And Ric?"
Alexis let out a deep breath.
--- "That's our past. I don't want to hear that being brought up? That's done and over with. It was a stupid and horrible thing that nearly broke us, but we made it through. Let's leave it in the past, okay?"
--- "Fine.
Sam grabbed the bottle of wine Diane left on the nightstand and attempted to drink from it, but Alexis took it from her.
--- "It's way too early in the morning for this."
Sam rolled her eyes and smiled at her mother; despite everything, it was not easy for her to stay upset around her. They had simply been through too much together.
--- "Maybe you might want to tell your friend that. She's not a good influence on me, whatsoever."
Alexis poked her daughter in the side and pulled her to her; she passed her fingers through her hair.
--- "Oh sweetheart, I really wish you would just stop judging yourself so harshly. Now, we're going to try this again, and I suggest you try to bring down the iron curtain. Give Mati a chance, I'm pretty you'll be surprised by his reaction. Honey, he wants to get to know you, the real you, flaws and all. If he loves you the way he says he does, what you've done previously doesn't matter."
Sam sighed and pulled away from her mother.
--- "And what about you?"
She frowned at her daughter.
--- "Honey, I think it's evident how much I love you."
--- "No, what about you and your feelings for Mathieu?"
Alexis bit her lip and looked at her daughter.
--- "Well, I think that's something I'm going to have to work through as I figure things out with Mac. I feel as though I'm being torn in two because honestly, I like them both. I have love in my heart for Mati, but it's an old love that never left. But, I've also space there for something new with Mac. I think time will tell if the old flame with Mati is just a flicker or a roaring fire. For now, I think I'm content with getting to know them both."
Alexis patted Sam's leg.
--- "Honey, I think it's time for you to go speak to your father."
Sam frowned at her mother. She was not sure that was a good idea; she was not ready to speak to the man alone about something so difficult. As strange as it may have sounded, but she wanted her mommy with her.
--- "Um, alone?"
She took the young woman's hand into hers and gave it a squeeze.
--- "As you keep reminding me, sweetheart: you're a grown woman. Now, go be grown."
Sam rolled her eyes at her mother as she got up from the bed.
--- "Yea, NOW you're allowing me to be grown. Every time before that, I'm Kristina's age."
Alexis corrected her.
--- "Molly's age, my gumdrop. And while you're out there, please send Mac back in; Mommy would like to finish her date."
Sam smiled evilly at her mother. She walked over to the dresser drawer and reached in the back. Alexis was mortified.
--- "Samantha, what are you doing?"
She laid the items on the dresser as she turned around to smile at her mother's reddened face.
--- "I just want to make sure my Mommy remembers the importance of having Mac wrap it up."
She walked toward the door as Alexis screamed after her.
--- "Samantha, come back here! I swear to you, you will not be able to walk straight for a week!"
She poked her head back into the room and smiled at her mother.
--- "Mommy, Jason left for a few hours, so no worries about that. Enjoy your date! And remember, in order to get a huge wave, you have to hold your surfboard! Okay?"
Alexis pointed a warning finger at her daughter.
--- "I'm warning you Samantha McCall, come back in here, RIGHT NOW!"
Sam winked at her mother before closing the door.
--- "Maaaaac! She's ready for you!"