Here is Part Two. It is SIX IN THE MORNING. I'm not reading twenty-seven pages right now. Accept it with all its errors. If I have time, I'll read it tomorrow. I assume you'll tell me if it's riddled with them.

Enjoy.

(I pray this is coherent because my eyes are closing here… schoolwork all day tomorrow)

Chapter Twenty-Seven

Nostalgic Games of the Heart

Alexis laughed as she noticed the look of shock on her daughter's face; nothing amused her more than torturing her eldest child. It was like a sick game the two played with each other; Sam would do something outrageous to her mother, and Alexis would retaliate by raising the stakes. As it stood, of the two Alexis was clearly winning.

Sam followed her mother and Molly out of the bedroom.

--- "Mom!"

Alexis ran her hands through her hair as she walked, ignoring Sam's agitation.

--- "Molly, baby, what do you want for breakfast?"

--- "Oooh, can we have chocolate chip pancakes?!"

Sam rolled her eyes in annoyance.

--- "MOM! Molly always wants the same thing, and Krissy is going to want Belgian Waffles; they're predictable. Can we just order so you can tell me what you had for dessert last night?"

Molly looked from her sister to her mother.

--- "Didn't she have creamcicles? Isn't that what we were talking about last night?"

Alexis' face reddened as Sam crossed her arms across her chest.

--- "From the looks of it, Mol, it looks like she had a cannoli, creamcicle, éclair—"

Molly was shocked at her mother's… voracity.

--- "Mommy! You NEVER let us have all that stuff—"

She gently pushed her daughter toward her bedroom, and gave her a light swat on her bottom.

--- "Um, not til you're older. Now, go tell your sister to hurry up because I don't want you to be stuck eating cold breakfast or late for your activities."

When Molly was gone, Alexis turned to Sam with a pointed finger.

--- "You really need to stop doing that! It's not funny!"

--- "The hell it isn't; that kid doesn't know anything that I'm talking about. My gosh, she thought me making out with Jason on my couch was us having sex—"

Alexis walked to the kitchen and started to make coffee.

--- "Don't remind me, please."

Sam pushed her mother away from the coffee maker.

--- "I'm sorry, but I think you had enough bitter and thick things in your mouth last night—"

--- "Coffee isn't thick—"

--- "Yours is, Mom! For whatever reason, anytime you make coffee, it tends to have the consistency of mud, and actually taste like you go down by the lake with the coffee pot and just scoop some up—"

Alexis rolled her eyes as she dialed Kelly's to place the family's breakfast order

--- "It is NOT that bad, Samantha; you're being dramatic."

She finished putting the coffee into the maker, and hopped onto the island facing her mother, who was just finishing the breakfast order. Alexis gave her daughter a look; Sam jumped off the island.

--- "I swear, Samantha, you're just like a teenager; I hate when you and Kristina ignore the stools that are right here for your bottom's pleasure and choose to sit instead on my counter."

She pulled out a stool and sat down.

--- "Are you happy?"

Alexis grabbed the plates from the cabinets and set them on the island.

--- "Yes, very."

Sam counted the plates and cups her mother was setting; there were only four.

--- "Um, so last night was a drive thru?"

Alexis poured the coffee into a mug and handed it to her daughter.

--- "What?"

--- "Red light, green light, one, two, three?"

She poured herself a cup and looked puzzlingly at her daughter. Normally she was able to keep up with her daughter's colorful ways with words, but she was sincerely at a loss.

--- "Will you speak English please, Samantha?"

The young woman took a sip of her coffee.

--- "You only have four plates here. I thought you were regrouting my bathroom floor last night—"

Alexis laughed to herself as she noticed the look of disgust on her daughter's face, causing Sam to frown.

--- "Mom, are you pulling my leg here? Or did you actually milk the cow?"

Alexis nearly choked on her coffee as she laughed at her daughter's comment.

--- "Samantha, I'll have you know that your mother does NOT milk cows; the bull is my animal of choice, and I was at the rodeo last night."

Sam groaned at her mother's candor.

--- 'I'm pretty sure I've just vomited in my mouth. Thanks for that LOVELY visual mom, ESPECIALLY if it's with my dad."

She smiled as she heard her daughter speak about her father. She almost regretted not having told her about him before, but the pain at having thought that he had abandoned her and causing her to have lost their daughter made the topic difficult.

Sam noticed a slight change in her mother's attitude.

--- "Mom, can I ask you something?"

Alexis nodded her head.

--- "You can ask me anything as long as it's nothing you know I wouldn't be too comfortable discussing."

Sam rolled her eyes at her mother.

--- "You sure seem to be more open than a 7/11 this morning."

Alexis smacked her daughter's arm.

--- "Hush you. Now, what is your question?"

--- "Well, Dad told me you were quite the risk taker when you were Krissy's age. I guess I'm just curious as to what happened to you."

The memories of her time with Mathieu flooded her thoughts, but were immediately stopped by the wall she had built to keep them from hurting so much. Her eyes began to water as she thought about the biggest risk she had taken and how unsuccessful it had been; she looked at her daughter.

--- "I lost you."

Sam hated that she made her mother cry. She never intended to cause her pain.

--- "I'm sorry—"

Alexis was a bit taken aback by her daughter's apology; she had no idea why the young woman would apologize for something she had no control over.

--- "Sweetheart, you have nothing to be sorry for; you were a defenseless baby."

--- "No, I'm sorry for making you cry."

She leaned in and caressed her daughter's cheek.

--- "Sam, I get upset every time I think about the time that I lost with you—"

--- "But you lost Dad, too."

Alexis clicked her tongue as she moved her head from side to side.

--- "You know, I did lose him, but it wasn't the same thing; I thought he left me. I thought he left us, honey. And then I lost you because I couldn't stand up to my father. That's when I realized that all of the risks that I had taken were for nothing; I didn't have you, I didn't have the love of my life, I was alone. I didn't even know where you were, Sam, or if you were loved. I knew nothing up until the moment I found out, or at least was told, that you had died… then Mati. That's when it really hit me: were the risks I had taken really worth it? The pain I felt in my heart told me that they weren't; so I stopped taking them."

Sam felt as though she was getting a clear understanding of the person her mother was; in her ten years of getting to know the woman and finally loving her, she had never felt more close to her than in that moment as they sat there discussing one of the most painful things that had happened in her mother's life.

--- "But I'm here, Mom; I mean, I've been here for the past 10 years, that has to count for something!"

Alexis took her daughter's face into her hands.

--- "It counts for EVERYTHING, sweetheart."

--- "But you haven't exactly been the daredevil—"

She laughed at her daughter's clear observation of her constant need for stability and order.

--- "What can I say? I'm a creature of habit! But, you know what, enough talk about me, let's talk about you."

Sam laid her head on the counter as she shielded her face from her mother's view.

--- "MOM! I don't want to talk about Jason or how you don't like him or anything to that matter."

She poked her daughter in the side before giving her a kiss on the top of the head; she took a seat beside her at the island.

--- "Honey, I'm not talking about that idiot—"

--- "MOM."

She put her hands up in innocence.

--- "Sorry. Jason—"

She said his name in a very snide manner that made Sam roll her eyes.

--- "Whatever; now what is it you want to discuss?"

Alexis took her daughter's hand into her own.

--- "I'm really sorry for embarrassing you yesterday; regardless of everything you did, you didn't deserve that."

Sam frowned at her mother; she was never one to apologize.

--- "You're actually sorry that you spanked me?"

The older woman scoffed at her daughter.

--- "Um, NO! That's what I said. I'm sorry I embarrassed you. I shouldn't have put you in time out, or at the very least, I should've waited until everyone was gone before I took care of you—"

Sam shook her head as she went to refill her cup.

--- "Wow, that's an interesting apology, Mom. I suppose I should take what I can get."

Alexis smiled, took a finally sip from her cup, and held it out to her daughter.

--- "Yea, I suppose you should."

Sam filled her mother's cup and retook her seat beside her at the island. Alexis continued speaking.

--- "I love waking up to having my three babies under one roof; and I especially love that they all slept like little angels on their Mommy's bed. I wouldn't mind having that more often."

--- "I know, I don't stay here very often."

Alexis hated that her daughter did not spend nearly as much time at home with her and the girls as she would have liked. Sure, she came over at least once a week for dinner, and they all met, either together or individually for lunch over the weekend or during the week, but it was not the same. She wanted her daughter around more often; despite the slight hiccup of the prior day's snowstorm, she enjoyed having all of her girls home.

She continued speaking.

--- "Well, I think that's something we should change."

--- "What is?"

--- "You staying here more often—"

Sam had a feeling she knew where her mother was headed with her inferred bout of nostalgia.

--- 'I'm not moving in here."

Alexis rolled her eyes at her daughter.

--- "I didn't ask you to."

--- "So what are you saying?"

She once again took her daughter's hand into her own and looked at them for a moment; she hated that she chose to wear black nail polish all of the time.

--- "Why do you wear black nail polish?"

Sam pulled her hand back from her mother.

--- "MOM! Seriously?! ADD much?"

She laughed at her daughter.

--- "I'm SORRY; I just don't get the black—"

The younger woman covered her face with her hands; she hated when her mother went on tangents whenever they were discussing something important.

--- "Can we please get back on target? PLEASE?"

Alexis stood up and began to fix the plates onto the table and retrieve the money to pay the deliveryman when he finally arrived with their breakfast.

--- "I'm just saying that I want you to spend more time here with your sisters and me. You have a room here that is never used—"

--- "Except for your romps on my bathroom and bedroom floors."

She once again laughed at the horrified look of disgust on her daughter's face.

--- "Well, like I said, if you actually used your bedroom and bathroom more—"

Sam smacked her hand on the island.

--- "Then you wouldn't have given it a coated polish last night?"

Alexis wrapped her arms around her daughter and gave her a sloppy kiss on the cheek.

--- "Exactly, my little sunflower seed."

After breakfast was over, Kristina and Molly left to spend the day with friends and Morgan, respectively, leaving Sam and her mother to clean up the dishes.

--- "So, Mom, can you tell me what happened last night?! I didn't make a single snide joke during breakfast."

Alexis laughed as she packed the left over food into Tupperware.

--- "I swear, honey, you're just like your sister sometimes—"

--- "Krissy?"

She smiled at her daughter.

--- "No, actually I was talking about Molly. She likes to bargain to get what she wants."

Sam rolled her eyes as she cleared the dishes.

--- "Come on, Mommy! Don't you want to share with your wonderful daughter—"

--- "Kristina's not here—"

--- "Very funny! Come on, Mom! You haven't let me go to my room, and so you've obviously banned me from my bathroom, so I want to know what you did."

Alexis took the plates from her daughter's hands. She stacked them into the sink with the previous night's dishes.

--- "Fine; I wash, you dry."

****

The Night Prior

Kristina closed the door behind her two sisters. She chuckled as she watched Sam and Molly have a seat on the blanket that remained on the floor from their mother's "date" with Mac.

--- "You know, Sam, you're totally going to get into so much trouble for what you did out there."

She waved her flag at her younger sister.

--- "Please! How much MORE trouble could I possibly get into?"

Molly laughed.

--- "Seriously, Mom totally spanked AND put you in time-out. That was hilarious—"

Sam scowled at the young girl.

--- "No it wasn't Mol, that was beyond humiliating."

Kristina covered her face as she laughed at her sister.

--- "I'm sorry, but it was really really funny; like REALLY funny. I mean, can we see if your bottom is all bruised?"

Sam grew annoyed with her sister; she intended to get her back.

--- "You know what, if I showed you my behind right now, it was simply be for you to kiss it, Kristina."

--- "Real mature, Sam."

Molly waved her hands.

--- "Truce! Sam I'm sure the memory of being spanked at nearly thirty is more embarrassing than the actual punishment—"

--- "Yeeea, no, I don't think so, Mol. I'm PRETTY sure that having you and Crocodile Dundee over there cackling—"

Kristina frowned at her sister.

--- "Crocodile Dundee?"

Sam rolled her eyes; as far as she was concerned, her sister was the most overly dramatic human being to walk the face of the earth.

--- "Yea, Krissy, that would be you. Anytime you get into a smidge of trouble, you turn on the waterworks to get out of it. 'Oh Mommy, I'm soooo neglected by my daddy;' 'Oh Mommy, you want me to be perfect;' 'Oh Mo—'"

Molly interrupted Sam as she noticed that the conversation could not possibly end well between her two sisters.

--- "Hey, speaking of dads, I see that you and the totally debonair Mathieu are getting close! I'm so happy for you!"

Sam loved how mature her youngest sister was; she almost wished that Kristina would be a bit like Molly. Then again, she loved each of sisters for their distinctive personalities. Despite the fact that she found her middle sister to be immature and spoiled at times, there was no doubting the fact that she felt a closeness toward the little girl who had embraced her with open arms when it was discovered that she was Alexis' daughter. Regardless of the amount of times she butted heads with the teen, she knew that a lot of her problems truly did stem from a desire to be noticed; most importantly, noticed by her father.

--- "Thank you, Mol. I'm pretty happy as well. It's weird because two days ago, I didn't now anything about my father—"

--- "How come you never asked Mommy?"

Sam shrugged.

--- "I don't know. I figured that if she wanted to tell me, then she would have. You know how Mom is; she's always got something to say—"

Kristina nodded her head in agreement.

--- "Yea, I see what you're saying. If she had something to say about him that she wanted you to know—"

Sam finished her sister's sentence.

--- "She would have. I mean, I wasn't sure what happened."

She did not want to continue with her train of thought as she did not want to get into a conversation with her ten year old sister about sex and worse, rape. But it was true, Sam never wanted to approach the subject of her parentage with her mother because she was terrified of what she might find out about her conception.

Molly smiled widely.

--- "Well, look at what happened! It was like Romeo and Juliet—"

Kristina rolled her eyes as she took a bite out of her chicken.

--- "Yea, except no one killed themselves in the end—"

--- "True! But, Mom was like a Capulet, while Mathieu was a Montague! Their families were enemies—"

Sam shook her head.

--- "Mol, they weren't enemies—"

--- "But neither parent wanted the other with their child—"

Sam covered her face, as Kristina sighed in agitation. Neither sister could ever really talk Molly out of her illusions that every life story correlates to some tale that she had read.

--- "You know what, Mol, you're right. Okay?"

The littlest Davis shrugged and continued to eat. Kristina looked at her sister in almost envy; Sam had had a father for one day, really, and the man was highly attentive to her. She had had Sonny for her father, all her life, and yet he seemed to not be too concerned with her existence. It broke her heart.

--- "So, what's he like?"

Sam smiled as she thought about the conversation that she had with her father.

--- "He's great. He really is. He's everything that I could have imagined in a father growing up—"

--- "Is it from him that you got your danger junkie side?"

Sam scoffed at her sister.

--- "I am NOT a danger junkie!"

Kristina and Molly gave their older sister a look, which caused her to put her hands up in defeat.

--- "Okay, FINE; I will admit that I have a curious side—"

--- "Yea, that's what they call that."

Molly put her chicken down and looked at her sister.

--- "You know, you're just like—"

Both Kristina and Sam stopped Molly before she went into another synopsis of one of her books.

--- "You know what, I'll completely admit that I am an absolute junkie for anything and everything that's dangerous. And you know what, I think I get that from my dad, BUT I'll admit that I think that I might actually also have a smidge of it from Mom."

Kristina shook her head in disbelief.

--- "Mom is NOT a thrillseeker, Sam. She's as straight-laced as they come."

--- "She is NOW. But apparently, she took a walk on the wild side."

Molly pursed her lips as she thought for a moment.

--- "I suppose she would have to be to have had you, Sam."

--- "Gee, thanks Mol!"

She laughed at her sister.

--- "NO! You know what I mean, Sam! She had so many insurmountable odds with Mikkos and Helena, and feeling unloved, that she took a chance at love with this other foreign kid, who happened to become the love of her life, and then look at what happened! They made you! It's really a lovely story. If that's not a risk, I don't know what is. The risk on love is the greatest someone can take, you know."

Sam and Kristina looked at each other and threw their chicken bones at their sister.

--- "Shut up!"

***

Alexis sat uncomfortably at the head of the oval dinner table with Mathieu and Mac to either side of her glaring at each other.

--- "So, um, this chicken is pretty good, don't you think?"

Mathieu shrugs nonchalantly.

--- "I can't say that I care for this greasy type of food, but I like the pleasure of having you back in my company."

She smiled at the man.

--- "I suppose it isn't the greatest meal ever; I was never a KFC fan, but hey, this is better than nothing."

Mac looked at the woman. It amused him how vastly different they were; they were like night and day.

--- "You know, I love KFC—"

Mathieu scowled at him.

--- "You would."

Mac put his chicken down and glared at the man.

--- "And what is that supposed to mean, French Fry?"

Mathieu returned the man's threatening stare.

--- "It means that you cops are known for poor eating habits. While you sit around in your squad car waiting to arrest an innocent person—"

--- "Oh, you're still mad about that—"

Mathieu smacked his hand on the table.

--- "Of course I'm mad about that. If you're stupid officer wasn't so busy stuffing his fat, unfit body with donuts, he would have noticed that I was rolling a cigarette and not some marijuana stick. And by the way, perhaps if some of you would smoke some, you wouldn't be so high strung all of the time."

Mac pointed at the man.

--- "That officer is very well decorated—"

--- "Yes, I'm sure he is, with jelly stains on his tie, Chocolate on his shirt, tomato sauce on the side of his mouth—"

Mac pushed his chair back as though he would stand up to fight, but Alexis loudly cleared her throat. She let the two men argue previously because she was starving and was, quite frankly, too busy filling her belly to be too concerned with their pointless and juvenile argument. However, once the argument escalated to what appeared to be an actual fight, she would not have any part of that.

--- "Okay, I think it's time to end this. I already told you two that I'm not some kind of trophy you can win. This is ridiculous!"

Mac immediately began to apologize.

--- "Look, you know how much I respect you Lex, I don't ever want you to think that I find you to be like a piece of meat; we've been friends for way too long to have that be the way I look at you."

Alexis smiled at the man; if there was one thing she loved… liked… about Mac, it was his sincerity; he was always thinking about others. After years of getting to know the man, she knew his weaknesses, but found that his strengths far outweighed them.

--- "I know you do, Mac, and I respect you as well. I just don't like this constant bickering. I have three girls, I get enough from them—"

--- "Tell me about it, Robin and Maxie can get the same way."

She nodded in agreement.

--- "See! So stop it!"

Mathieu reached for Alexis' hand.

--- "I'm truly sorry, Alexandra. I never meant to insinuate that you were worth but a piece of meat. I always want you to know that even next to the most valuable work of art, you are worth more to me."

He always had a way with words that made her weak to her knees.

--- "Wow, Mati, thank you."

Mac rolled his eyes.

--- "Dear God, this is ridiculous. This man only wants to get in your pants Lex, how are you falling for his poetic lines?"

Mathieu laughed at the commissioner.

--- "Well, seeing as I've already been with Alexandra, and know her body better than the Lord who made her—"

--- "Highly doubtful—"

Mathieu pointed at Mac.

--- "She is built like a Goddess! Her body is unflawed—"

--- "Well CLEARLY you haven't seen her recently—"

Mac immediately turned red as soon as the words came out of his mouth; he once again put his foot mouth. He looked over to Alexis who rested her fists on her forehead as she looked down at her plate attempting to control her increased frustration with the two men.

--- "Lex, I'm so sorry—"

Mathieu scoffed.

--- "You have insulted the woman beyond words you idiot!"

Alexis looked up at both men; she took a deep breath to curb the rage that was filling her. Despite the fact that they both claimed to not think of her as property or a piece of meat, the fact that they were discussing who had her made her stomach turn in disgust.

--- "You know what, I'm tired of this. This dinner is over, this day is over, I want this done. You two are sitting here playing quien es mas macho with me, and I don't appreciate it! This is ridiculous! I'm sitting RIGHT HERE and you're talking about my body like it's nothing but a cheap blow up doll that you've managed to blow up. I don't appreciate this, not one bit! I think you should leave."

Mac nodded and stood up; he could not exactly blame her for being upset. This was clearly not the first time that he had managed to say something without thinking; this was by far the worst thing that he had said.

--- "Okay, I'm going to go, but I will call you in the morning."

She nodded her head and watched as he walked out of the house. She turned to Mathieu.

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

He smiled at her as he took her hand and gave her a kiss on the back of it, before kissing the bottom of her palm; this had always put her in the mood. She pulled her hand from him.

--- "You know what, you need to stop, Mathieu—"

--- "Alexandra—"

She stopped him before he could continue speaking.

--- "Can you just call me Alexis, like everybody else?"

He passed his hand along her jawline.

--- "But, I'm not everybody else."

She shook her head at him.

--- "No, you're not, Mati; you happen to be the last living person, aside from that witch of a stepmother of mine, who happened to know Alexandra. She's my past; just like you."

--- "No—"

She nodded her head.

--- "Yes. I'm not that girl anymore, and the sooner you realize that, the better."

--- "You'll always be my Alex—"

She stepped away from him as he once again reached for her.

--- "No, Mathieu, I'm NOT YOUR Alexandra; I stopped being your Alexandra when you left—"

He felt as though had been punched in the gut by her last statement.

--- "You know that wasn't my fault! I never wanted to leave you! I wanted to be with you, to raise Samantha with you—"

She felt the tears welling in her eyes.

--- "I know that NOW, Mati, but I didn't know that then. When you left, I became someone else. When I had to give my baby up, by myself without her father to hold my hand, Mati, I ceased being YOUR Alexandra. To be honest, I stopped being Alexandra entirely. When I handed Sam off to another family to love her, I wanted to forget any of this, you, me, Sam, existed."

His heart was breaking as he heard for the first time how Alexis felt about him.

--- "You couldn't forget me… tell me you didn't!"

She wiped the tears the rolled down her cheeks.

--- "Not in the beginning. When I wasn't thinking about you, I was thinking about Sam, and then I thought about the life that we could've had together—"

He cut her off.

--- "The life we should have had together."

She nodded in agreement.

--- "Yes, but it didn't happen that way; we can't change that—"

--- "But we can make it happen now; have new memories."

She moved about the room when she felt him getting to close. She could not allow herself to be too close to the man that had held such a large part of her adolescent heart.

--- "Look, I think that what you need to focus on Mati is Sam. You and I were in the past; like I said, I'm not that girl anymore."

He wiped his own fallen tears; this was beginning to feel like the conversation they should have had all of those years ago when everything they had planned was taken from them.

--- "You don't love me anymore?"

She sighed and looked at the man who had managed to still retain his youthful and handsome looks.

--- "A part of me will always love you, Mati; I see you in our daughter, while you stand here, I can see you as that teen who swept me off of my feet—"

He moved close to her and grabbed her hands; he held them to his heart.

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

She took her hands from his, and held his face. She felt the stubble of an unshaved beard emerging onto his well-defined cheeks.

--- "The problem is that that is all I see, Mati! I don't know you. I don't know anything about you. And you don't know anything about me. We're just two people who shared a wonderful part of our lives together, and created something beautiful from that connection. For that I am eternally grateful because that girl is one of the three best things that I have ever done in my life."

She spoke to him in French.

--- "But Cheri, we're two strangers."

He did not want to hear this; he wanted to be with her. His heart and body yearned for her as though time had stood still for the twenty-nine years they had been apart. He loved her as much as he ever had.

--- "But don't we owe it to ourselves, to Samantha, to work to get back what was stolen from us?"

She released his face and smiled sadly. She spoke softly as she sat on the couch. She took a picture of her eldest from the console table and looked at it.

--- "And there lies the problem, Mati. You think that this is going to be some instant family; it doesn't work that way."

She held the picture out for him to see.

--- "Sam is an adult. We don't have to be together for her sake. Look at her; She's a big girl."

He took the photo and passed his finger over his daughter's image.

--- "I know she is—"

She cut him off.

--- "Do you really Mati? Because I think more than anything you want to treat her like a newborn and have that 'Daddy protects his baby from the world' relationship with her—"

--- "Isn't that what you have with her? Weren't you the one who put her over your knee like some child? Didn't you put her in time-out to embarrass her?"

She rolled her eyes at the man.

--- "I didn't embarrass her."

He pointed an accusatory finger at the woman.

--- "Yes you did! Why do you think that she did not want you touching her after the fact? She told me that she was completely humiliated!"

Alexis felt horrible at thought that she had caused her daughter such pain. That was not her intention; she loved her children too much to deliberately do something of the sort.

--- "Well, I'll speak to her and apologize. But the point of the matter is that Sam and I have been at this for TEN YEARS, Mati. I've known her since she was seventeen, and she's been my kid since nineteen. She's not that kid anymore. We've had out ups and downs; believe me. Sam has grown up immensely in all of these years."

He once again looked at the picture of his daughter.

--- "And I missed it all."

She reached for his hand and pulled him to sit beside her on the couch.

--- "No you didn't, Mati. She's still here, but she doesn't need a complete nuclear, mommy, daddy family. She's already had ten years of mom and sisters. Now, I think you need to focus on giving ADULT Sam a father, not the family she was supposed to have. Mati, add to the one that she already has."

He felt as though he were become aggravated; he needed Alexis to understand what he was saying, but she did not appear to.

--- "This isn't only about Samantha! I love YOU, Alexandra."

She shook her head.

--- "Exactly. You love ALEXANDRA—"

She stressed every syllable of her former name.

--- "I'm not her. You need to let go of her because she's not coming back. Alexandra died. She ceased to exist when I lost what was supposed to have been my family with you and Sam, but she officially died when she thought that Mathieu le Gros had also died all of those years ago. That chapter has closed."

--- "So let me get to know Alexis."

She smiled at his calling her by her name for the first time.

--- "I'd like that very much, Mati, but I think we need to be friends as you sort out your feelings for Alexandra."

He sighed.

--- "And you, do you love le poulet—"

Alexis covered her face at Mathieu's overt disdain for Mac.

--- "Will you stop?! He's the commissioner, not some kind of street cop. I've worked with him for years. I know Mac very well—"

--- "But do you love him?"

She bit her lip.

--- "It's way to soon for all of that. I love him dearly because of our history together, but we're not at the stage in our relationship to say I'm in love with him."

He let out a sigh of relief, but she put her hand up to interject his clear celebratory excitement.

--- "I want to make this quite clear to you: I love Mac because of the time that we've known each other, and the things he's helped me through. He's a dear friend that I happen to like in a romantic way. But, I also love you for the same reasons, but more so because of the things we've shared, and most important the thing we created: Sam. But, even though I love you, you have to understand Mati, I'm not IN love with you anymore. Right now, Alexis is IN love with her beautiful daughters."

He smiled at how happy she was. While he hated having been separated from her, he was happy that she had found something, three somethings, to live for. His heart filled with joy at the sight of her when she spoke about her daughters; he wanted that.

--- "So what does this mean? We're on the same level? Mac and I?"

She shook her head causing his smile to fade. She scooted over onto the couch and placed both hands on his shoulders.

--- "No. I owe it to myself and to Mac to see if what we have going is something special. I'm not going to drop this because some ghost from my past came back into my life."

He nodded and accepted defeat. He pressed his forehead onto hers and stared her in the eyes.

--- "Je t'aimes toujours."

She nodded and felt her tears fall freely from her eyes. She leaned into him and pressed her face into his neck, taking in his sent; he smelled like a cool summer's breeze on such a cold winter's day.

--- "I love you, too."

Present Day

Sam leaned against the counter as she dried the plate her mother handed her.

--- "So wait, you weren't with either one last night?"

Alexis smiled at her daughter.

--- "No, I WAS pulling your leg. I'm sorry, but regardless of my having already been with your father or partially with Mac, I was not about to either have sex with either one—"

--- "Or both."

Alexis rolled her eyes at her daughter.

--- "Definitely not that, Samantha!"

She laughed at her mother.

--- "Hey, I just found out my mother has a daredevilish side to her."

--- "Yes, a SIDE; I can't say I'd ever see myself doing… that!"

Sam nudged her mother with her shoulder.

--- "You don't want to have your cake, and get eaten to—"

Alexis dropped the sponge and stared at her daughter in disgusted amusement.

--- "GEEZ, Sam! Where do you come up with these things?!"

The young woman shrugged her shoulders.

--- "I have no ideal it just comes to me."

--- "Well you need shock therapy because this isn't normal, AT ALL."

Sam smiled at her mother as she put some of the dishes into the cabinet. They could have loaded everything into the dishwasher, but neither woman thought to do that; they bonded over an old fashioned routine.

--- "Hey, I must have gotten it from one of my wonderful parents—"

Alexis stopped washing the dishes to look at her daughter.

--- "You know, I can't even begin to tell you how happy I am that you and your father are getting so close. To be honest, I'm a little jealous."

--- "Why?"

--- "I don't know, I guess I just wish it would've been this simple for us—"

Sam bit her lip and nodded.

--- "Yea. But hey, look at us now! You and I are so close you abuse me in ways you never would the other two monsters you call children!"

Alexis laughed and flicked water from her hands at her daughter who retaliated by smacked her with the dishtowel.

--- "I told you that once they reach eighteen, there'll be no sparing them or their bottoms!"

Sam pointed at her mother.

--- "I'm going to hold you to that!"

--- "You may."

The two went back to washing and drying the remaining dishes. Silence filled the air but for the water running from the tap. Finally, as Alexis handed her the final dish, Sam thought of the most obvious question she had not thought to ask her mother.

--- "Um, so where's Dad?"

Alexis had been hoping her daughter would finally ask her that question; she had been waiting all morning for it.

--- "He's back at the hotel."

--- "You drove him there in the middle of the night?"

She shook her head.

--- "No, he left alone; and then I slept in your room because you three were hogging my huge bed."

Sam frowned at her mother.

--- "Wait, how'd he get there?"

She smiled at her daughter.

--- "In your car."

Sam threw the dishtowel onto the counter and glared at her mother.

--- "MOM! Is this your way to get me stuck here again?"

Alexis put her hands on her daughter's shoulders.

--- "You call being with your Mommy stuck? Am I that horrible?"

She feigned a broken heart, thus causing Sam to roll her eyes at her mother.

--- "Never! I love being held prisoner with my family! But SERIOUSLY, MOM!"

Alexis gave her a kiss on the forehead before handing her the still wet dish.

--- "Will you relax?"

--- "Are you driving me to get my car back?"

She shook her head at her daughter.

--- "Negative. I have plans with Mac. But don't worry about that, I've already taken care of everything!"

The doorbell rang. Sam eyed her mother suspiciously. Alexis once again flicked water at her daughter.

--- "Don't stare at your mother like that, Samantha."

--- "Mom—"

The doorbell rang again.

--- "Don't keep the person waiting, honey."

Sam smacked her mother with the dishtowel before going out to answer the door. She shook her head when she saw it was Jason standing at the door.

--- "MOM, I'M GOING TO KILL YOU!!!"

Alexis stood in the kitchen buckled over in laughter.

--- "CHECKMATE, AMATEUR!!! Have fun with Daddy!!"

So, we're at the turning point of our story.

Phase Two: New Relationships.

Are we excited??? Disappointed??? Air your grievances! I welcome them.