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Not even reread, therefore not remotely edited.

Chapter Thirty-Eight

The Patriot

- "Oh, for Christ's sake!"

Diane attempted to push passed her so that she could reassure Alexis that she had not had any dealings with Mathieu, but Sam quickly grabbed the woman by the arm.

- "Oh, I don't think so."

- "Sam!"

She shook her head in disgust.

- "Of all people for you to fu—"

Mathieu stepped forward.

- "Samantha!"

However, Sam took a step backward; she was in no mood. There were certain lines that friends, or friends of her mother, simply did not cross; sleeping with your best friend's daughter's father was one of them.

- "Like seriously, Diane! Weren't you lushing it up in my car last night about how sore you are because Max has been riding you like a Merry-Go-Round? Weren't you the one saying how you don't have any other holes or crevices Max can slip through? How you're beginning to feel like some kind of Slip N' Slide—"

Turning an unflattering shade of red, Diane interrupted the irate woman.

- "I haven't the slightest clue what you're talking about!"

Sam rolled her eyes.

- "Yea, I'm sure you don't, much like you haven't the slightest clue how you ended up on Mati's bean stalk—"

When Mati attempted to step forward, Diane placed her hand onto his chest. When she realized that her mind began to wander, she quickly began to play with her hair.

- "Look Sam, as of this morning, although I know your father as well as Eve knew Adam—"

Sam covered her ears.

- "You know what? After the morning I've had, I do not need to hear this—"

However, Diane pulled her hands away.

- "Listen here, you little garden gnome, you're the one throwing a fit over this! So you're gonna have to stand here and listen to what I have to say! "

She relented.

- "FINE! Make it quick."

Diane looked down at the man's pants before continuing.

- "He was a mere lump on a log—"

She could not help the smile that formed across her lips.

- "A mighty large, protruding and—"

Mati let out a groan of annoyance.

- "Samantha—"

However, yanking her wrist from the woman's hold, Sam let out a sigh of exasperation. Of all people about whom the drunken ginger to gloat, her decision to do so concerning Mati was… disgusting.

- "Ok, I know I joke about my mom and all, but that's something entirely different. When it comes to my father, I do NOT need to know, have an idea, or the image burned into my brain of what he's working with… in his pants, Diane!"

Pursing her lips, the redhead ignored her.

- "I assure you that there'll be no Cain or Abel emerging from my—"

Mathieu grimaced as he listened to the woman speak. Recalling bits and pieces from the previous evening, any doubt he had had that Diane might have been lying to him concerning the mysterious way in which they had landed in bed together was quickly quelled; there was no way he could have had relations with her.

- "Samantha, Diane and I have not… you know. We might have been drunk, and well, we woke up undressed, but—"

As the couple continued to speak about their drunken night, Sam felt her headache quickly returning.

- "Wow. I'm just… this is a whole lot of… wow—"

She needed to sit down… somewhere far away from the two people in front of her. She would have gone inside the apartment, but her mother's predictable pacing of the room would have caused her to lose her breakfast… whatever that had been.

- "This is really a lot more information I needed to learn about a man I've only known for about a month. This is just… like… overload."

Leaning against the wall, she slid onto the floor.

- "I think I'm going to be sick."

- "Cherie—"

He knelt by her side.

- "Ca va?"

She looked up at the man in confusion.

- "I'm fine… okay? I just… while I don't exactly want to know about… last night, BUT, I need to know how in the world you two found yourselves… there—"

She pointed to the penthouse Sonny had once occupied.

- "How the hell did you two end up in there and clearly—"

She gagged as she made air quotes.

- "'Undressed.'"

With her arms crossed against her chest, a finally emerged Alexis stood at the apartment's entrance.

- "Yea, that's a really good question. I'd like to hear the answer to that as well."

Flashback

Watching Alexis walk out of Jake's with a man unfitting for her, Mathieu flagged Coleman over to his table.

- "What can I get for you, Monsieur? Another beer? A glass of wine—"

The thought of what Mac was doing to the mother of his daughter left a nasty taste in his mouth.

- "Cognac… straight."

Coleman raised his eyebrows in amusement. He appreciated the expensive taste of his new favorite European patron.

- "You got it! Shall I start a—"

Unaware that the man had begun to question him, Mathieu held his credit card out for him to take.

- "Keep them coming."

And seeing the gleam of the plastic in the light, Diane casually – in her best ability given her drunken state – strolled over to the French patriot's table.

- "Why hello there, Monsieur Le Gros."

Hoping to catch a glimmer of truth to his name, she looked him up and down.

- "Voulez-vous—"

She stopped. That was the extent of her French without appearing crude.

- "A little company?"

There were two people with whom he would have liked to share company; unfortunately, both were preoccupied with their mates.

- "I suppose. What are you drinking?"

She looked down at her glass.

- "Liquor."

End of Flashback

Sam stared deer-eyed at the woman.

- "THAT'S what you remember? HOW is that ANY different than normal, Diane?"

Before the woman could respond, Alexis looked to Mathieu.

- "And what about you? Why were you drinking so heavily? I've never known you to be such a… a… fish."

Turning the tables on the woman he had once known like the back of her hand, he smirked.

- "Well, I suppose you do not know me as well as you once had, Alex."

From the moment she had fallen upon them, he saw the jealousy in her eyes at the thought that he had been with Diane. It was clear that the relationship she had with Mac was not as sturdy as she would have liked to portray. A woman could tolerate a dry spell for only so long.

- "Like you, I'm not the same person I once was as a teen under his parents' control."

With a smile on his face, and a whistle on his lips, he entered his house. He was finally beginning to feel a change in his relationship with Alexis. Although they had yet to do the deed, he nevertheless felt a stronger connection with her the previous evening and that morning than he had since they had begun to date. He was… happy.

- "Daddy! What are you doing here?"

Until he noticed his daughter lying on the couch with a wet cloth on her forehead.

- "Um, I live here. What are you doing here? And—"

He peaked into the trashcan placed beside where she lied.

- "Clearly hungover. Do I even want to know how much you had to drink last night?"

She accepted her father's kiss on her forehead.

- "Maybe not. Why'd you leave like that? We came together and you—"

- "My little cherry pop—"

Noticing that Mac had returned, Spinelli, holding a homemade remedy he had created for his non-wife, froze in his spot.

- "Um, this is a little… awkward—"

Turning to glare in the direction of her daughter's 'non-husband,' the commissioner's face reddened at the sight of the man dressed in nothing but his favorite apron.

- "WHAT THE HELL!"

Maxie grabbed her father's hand.

- "Daddy, please! Can't you see I'm in pain here?"

But he yanked it free from her grasped.

- "You want to explain to me why he's here—"

- "This was the closest place from the bar where I could vomit. And since Spinelli's a great non-husband, he decided to take care of me! You should be grateful he didn't leave me alone especially since you left me so Alexis could play Whack-a-Mole or whatever with your blink and you missed—"

As the man had not moved from his spot, Mac continued to glare in his direction.

- "WHERE are your PANTS?"

Unsure of how to respond, Spinelli nervously blinked at his father-in-law.

- "Um… well… Courageous Chief of—"

Maxie rolled her eyes as she responded for the man; her father did not care for the nicknames her husband had picked out for… anyone.

- "I threw up on them."

Mac squeezed his eyes shut as he rubbed his temples. He wanted terribly to physically remove the unworthy man from his home, but given his lack of clothing, he decided it best to control his temper.

- "And why exactly doesn't he have any boxers—"

Maxie bit her lip.

- "Um, I may have thrown up on those, too. And before you say anything else, Daddy, I would've given him a pair of your boxers, but I figured you wouldn't have appreciated that."

As he moved to sit in his favorite chair, he noticed the constipated look on the nervous young man's face turn into one of anxiety; he was certain a large bullet of sweat had rolled down his brow.

- "Yea—"

He decided instead to stand.

- "This is so much better. I think I would've preferred you have done that than had him walking around my house—"

He pointed to the man.

- "Like that!"

The hungover woman covered her face as her head neared explosion.

- "Daddy! Please, just lower your voice!"

Under normal circumstances, he would have felt badly for her and the obvious pain she was in; however, given the sight of Spinelli still frozen in his spot, his blood continued to boil. His daughters had a poor habit of choosing the most unworthy men as husbands and non-husbands.

- "I hope you know that you're paying to get my chairs cleaned AND recovered. "

- "Fine."

And when she merely nodded and placed her head back onto the pillow as she waved Spinelli back into the kitchen, Mac knew the young woman had truly not been well.

- "So you're not going to ask about my date with Alexis?"

She covered her head with the pillow as her mind replayed the events of the previous evening.

Flashback

- "Cooooooleman—" She sloppily tiptoed over to the bar where she saw the man preparing drinks for one of the three tables he was serving. "What are you doing?"

He held up the bottle of cognac along with the glass in which the contents of the bottle was to be poured.

- "Well, it's a Friday night, and I'm a bartender, pretty lady." He filled the glass. "And one of my customers happens to have deep pockets and a taste for the expensive stuff."

Turning around, she noticed her best friend's father downing, while seated with Diane, a glass of what she could only assume was cognac. For the first time, she found him likeable; he was nowhere near Alexis.

- "OH! That's awesome, Coleman. Uuuum…" a lightbulb flashed in her mind. "How about you pour us another round of tequila, huh?"

Coleman eyed her suspiciously.

- "Let me first bring—"

She stopped him.

- "No! I'll do that!"

But given her clear journey toward intoxication, he shook his head.

- "As turned on as I find a pretty blonde who can hold her liquor, I'm going to pass, darlin'. Now, I'll be right—"

- "NO! Wait! Just… um… you can't leave a lady waiting for her drink, Coleman! I'm sure Mathieu would agree with me on that! He's French! They have manners."

Coleman eyed her for a moment before relenting.

- "You talk men to death don't you?"

- "What?" She frowned.

- "Every woman has a superpower so that she can get her way. Some withhold sex for abnormal periods of time. Others give the silent treatment. And then there are the ones who shriek and talk a man's ear off until he passes out from blood loss." He took a sip from the beer he had under the bar. "That last one… that's you."

And before she could… shriek… he gathered eight shot glasses of which he was certain four would be taken by her, and the other four would be Sam's.

- "And since I don't want to be shut down for unhygienic whatever, I'm gonna just give you what you want." He reached for the top shelf. "Coleman, he likes to please the ladies."

Filling the glasses, he carried the tray to the table at which Sam was slumped over on Jason's shoulder, and Spinelli stared… in his constipated fashion… in Maxie's direction as she quickly took advantage of Coleman's abandonment of the drink he had prepared for Mathieu.

- "Thanks so much, Coleman!" She innocently smiled at him as she stumbled back to her seat. "You're quite the gentleman."

End of Flashback

- "Believe it or not, Daddy, I have bigger concerns than hearing about how you couldn't get it up for the…"She once again rolled her eyes. "Goddess Mother."

He lifted the pillow so that he could look at her. Her lack of enthusiasm for his evening was unnerving. She never tired of finding ways to help his love life with Alexis.

- "Are you okay, honey? What's wrong?"

And finally sitting up, she covered her face.

- "I think I did something REALLY bad… like really… really… bad."

Walking back into the apartment, Sam threw herself back onto the couch before bringing the trashcan closer.

- "This is just too much. I couldn't handle the one parent before, now I've got two… both of whom are running around having sex with—"

Alexis rolled her eyes as she pushed Sam's legs from the chair so that she could sit.

- "I don't know about your father, but you already know that I'm not going around sleeping with anyone."

- "That's right," she rested her legs onto her mother's lap, "you can't exactly sleep around when the man you're supposed to be pledging your allegiance can't even get his flag to fly at half mast, let alone full—"

At Mathieu's entrance, Alexis playfully smacked the younger woman's leg.

- "ANYWAY, onto more important matters—"

Taking the hint, Sam looked over to her father.

- "So, did your love kitten leave?"

He cut his eyes at her.

- "Is it now my turn for this banter you have with your mother, Samantha?"

Alexis shrugged.

- "Better you than me, Mati." She looked from her daughter to the man. "I mean, it's about time. She's given you a month of her best behavior. It's time for you to realize what claiming this one as your own actually means!"

Sam kicked the woman's leg.

- "Will you stop? Dad, have a seat."

She turned her attention back to her father.

- "Diane? Of all people, Dad? You never did answer why you were drinking so heavily, and God, with a person who consumes more liquor in a day than… I don't know… Mom?" Using her foot, she gently nudged the woman. "Give me something to insult that ginger you call a best friend. I'm too hungover come up with anything witty."

But Alexis shook her head; she did not want to think about Diane or whatever it was she and Mathieu had done the previous evening.

- "You know what? Let's not talk about that, okay?" She smiled in Mathieu's direction. "I didn't have a chance to thank you for the way you handled the situation with Molly yesterday. Sam told me… albeit in the most inconvenient of ways…"

Sam interrupted the woman.

- "She was asleep in the tub and calling me… well" she made air quotes, "'the teenaged' me a pervert—"

- "About what happened—" Pinching Sam's thigh, Alexis spoke over her. "And I appreciate how you handled the situation."

Mathieu marveled at the women's relationship. While he was happy with the way in which his own relationship with Sam was forming, he could not help but feel slightly envious of the time the two women had already shared with one another. It was time he would never have with his daughter. It was a side of the woman he would never know.

- "It is not a problem, Alex. To be honest, I really did not do anything. It was Samantha and Kristina who took care of her. I simply acted as though I did not notice anything."

She patted her daughter's legs.

- "Yea well, like I said, I appreciate that you did that, Mati. It's not exactly something that's… I don't know, everyday in your life. I have three girls… I deal with this, but you—"

- "Alex! It is fine." He wished he could reach her and touch her. "I am a doctor. I have seen a lot of things."

Alexis ran her hands through her hair. She was not used to having an active hand in her children's lives; her children's fathers were not exactly a daily part of their lives. Having Mathieu around was something she needed to get used to.

- "I don't think Molly even realized that you're the one who noticed her… um—" she faltered in her words; it was not something she ever discussed with the opposite sex. "Her… you know."

- "Good grief, Mom!" Sam rolled her eyes, "It's called her period. It's just Dad here; you can say the word. It's not like we're asking you to say 'penis' or anything like that." She turned her attention back to her father. "It's like pulling teeth for her to say penis and vagina."

Alexis squeezed the bridge of her nose. Even with a hangover, Sam managed to be a pain in her… behind.

- "What normal person needs to have those words in their everyday vocabulary, Sam? And goodness, I'm sure Mati has better things he'd like to discuss than…" she still could not say the words. "That."

Sam amusingly shook her head at her mother's stuffy behavior. In spite of their ten year relationship, she had not been able to shake off every leaf from the woman's straight-laced tree.

- "This is a woman you claim was a daredevil or whatever when she was a teen? Because, I gotta tell ya, this one," she sat up so she could more easily poke her mother in the side, "this one's quite the prude."

- "Cherie, people change as they get older. I suppose Alex was a bit more reserved," he grinned like a Cheshire Cat at the woman he had once intended to marry.

- "Mati—" she pointed a finger in his direction. "Please do not give this fool any ammunition to use against me. She already makes my life a living hell every chance she gets."

Biting her nail, Sam batted her lashes at her father.

- "She lies, Dad. Besides, this is just practice for when the true spawns get older. She thinks Kristina and Molly are innocent and sweet—"

- "No, I know Molly is… for now. Kristina, on the other hand, she's already been corrupted by your crazy influence." Standing up from her seat, she placed a kiss onto the top of her daughter's head. "Speaking of those two, we need to get going before they notice that I didn't make it home—"

Sam let out an audible gasp.

- "I KNEW it!"

Alexis' face burned of crimson as she realized that she had inadvertently and openly admitted that she had spent the night with Mac.

- "Damn it." She nervously laughed in Mathieu's direction before pulling Sam to a standing position. "Not a word."

- "Mom—" She amusingly looked at the woman.

However with Mathieu staring in her direction, she pulled Sam closer.

- "Remember, I've got years of embarrassing tales to share with your father. I could get him caught up in no time on Samantha of age nineteen all the up to the present."

Noticing the women's usual game of 'Gotcha,' Mathieu moved to their side.

- "After the way I woke up last night, I do not believe I have room to judge you, Alex. However, I do need a ride to my car, if you do not mind. It is at the bar."

And before she could respond, Sam's cell vibrated on the coffee table.

- "I bet that's Jason. I'm going to have to yell at him for letting me worry about where you were. He should've just told me that you were trying to ride Jack's beanstalk."

Alexis glared at the woman.

- "Sam!"

But Sam's attention was no longer on her mother as she looked over the message she had just received from Maxie. "You wouldn't happen to know where your Dad is, would you?"

- "Did something happen between you and Maxie last night, Dad?"

He rubbed his forehead. The night might have been blurry, but he was quite certain that to the extent of his 'relations' with Diane, he had not had such a thing with the hyper blonde.

Flashback

- "Oh Mati!"

She shrieked as she approached the glass-filled table at which he and Diane continued to sit.

- "How was your… cognac?"

Looking up at the woman, he was certain he saw two of her standing side-by-side. It was clear that he needed to stop drinking.

- "I suppose it was ok. Where is—" He remembered that he had had a fellow patron with him. "Where is Diane? Has she left?"

Maxie giggled hysterically as she pulled by the hair the inebriated attorney from the booth.

- "Whatever she's been drinking, it's obviously killed her pain reflexes, or whatever they're called. How doesn't she feel this?"

He waved his hand to the younger woman so that she might release his companion.

- "She will in the morning."

- "I guess you're right." Dropping the woman, Maxie watched as an unconscious Diane sloppily rolled from the booth onto the floor just at his feet. "Um, I hope she doesn't like… poke her eye out or something."

And noticing that his daughter's best friend winked at him before walking away, Mathieu bent forward to stare at whatever it was that had caused the girl's comment.

- "Putain!" He cursed under his breath as he failed to realize the cause of his predicament. "Merde."

As though, even in her unconsciousness, a magnet, Diane's hand immediately reached for his French flag at full mast awaiting the appropriate moment to wave to the tune of La Marseillaise.

End of Flashback

- "No. I don't remember anything." After waking up with Diane in the bed with him, he wanted to block out the entire evening. "Did she say something? Does she know what happened between Diane and me?"

Sam shrugged as she retook her seat on the couch. "Yea, he's here with me…. Why?"

- "I don't know what's up with her."

Alexis took her keys from her bag.

- "What isn't wrong with that one?" She playfully played with her daughter's ponytail. "Um, you're going home with me, right? Your car is still there."

Her phone once again buzzed. "Oh… um… no reason!" Sam's suspicions immediately increased; Maxie's guilt was written all over her texts.

- "Mom—" She took the keys from her mother's hands. "I'll be back."

Alexis attempted to stop her daughter, but the younger woman proved to be too fast.

- "Where are you going?" She called after her. "And how am I supposed to get home, Sam!"

And no sooner than Sam had slammed the door shut behind her did Diane casually stroll back into the apartment.

- "Looks like I don't have a car either."

She had also left her car at the lake house.

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