A/N: Thanks for the reviews! I hope the story continues to draw you guys in. I will do my best to keep it as interesting as possible, if the readers promise to let me know what you think! :) I can't write what you want if I don't know what it is... ;)

Enjoy!

Chapter 6

"She said there's nobody there by that name…"

She watched as her friend lowered the phone back to its cradle, "What do you mean? Like he moved out?"

"Like she didn't know who I was talking about."

"But that doesn't make any sense." She shook her head and began to pace the room, "Maybe she misunderstood you… or maybe she's new there?"

"She said she was the director. She is the owner of the house."

Now dizzy from walking in circles, she took a seat on the edge of her bed, "No… there's some kind of mistake. Maybe there is another place."

"Lex…"

"What?" She snapped and felt fresh tears sting her eyes at the realization, "Lisa, you don't understand. He told me he would call. He always calls. There is something wrong…"

"Lex, I told you." Her heart was breaking for her best friend, "I'm sorry… but I don't think he was being completely honest with you."

"No." She shook her head as the tears fell, "NO! He wouldn't lie to me. He loves me, Lisa. He told me!"

"I'm sure he does…" Lisa smiled as she shifted her seat from her bed to her friends, "What's not to love about you, Lexie?"

Her eyes rested on her friend as she was frozen with the realization, "He lied to me…"

"I'm afraid so." Lisa watched as her usually strong friend crumbled before her. She took her into her arms, "I'm so sorry…"

"He lied to me." She spoke softly over her friend's shoulder as tears streamed down her cheeks, "He lied to me…"

"Lied to me." Alexis stirred in her slumber, "He lied…" Rolling over, her eyes suddenly popped open and registered the time from the alarm clock by her bed; 4:47am. She sighed, turning on her back to stare at the ceiling. Why couldn't she just sleep? It wasn't enough that her mind ran a mile a minute all day long… it ran a mile a minute all night long too.

Taking a deep breath, she tried to calm her pounding heart. If she tried to force herself to sleep for the remaining hour of the morning, it was going to be hell to finally peel out of bed at 6. So instead, she made her way into the kitchen, while pulling her hair up in a pony tail and yawning as she pulled out the coffee pot and filled it with water to begin brewing. Glancing at the microwave clock, she rolled her eyes; 4:56am, "Of course time will move as slow as humanly possible."

Alexis sat at the kitchen table nursing her fourth cup of coffee and reading the morning paper when she looked up and smiled when she saw Sam entering the kitchen, yawning and pulling her hair up much like her mother had done over an hour earlier. "Good morning sweetheart."

"Morning." Sam forced a smile as she reached for the coffee pot, noticing its half empty state. She looked back to her mother, "How long have you been up?"

"Hmm?" Alexis questioned, looking at her daughter over the rim of her glasses to see her hold up the half empty pot, "Oh, that's not too fresh, honey." She looks back to her paper.

"I don't care about that, I make mud, remember?" Sam pours her cup and takes a seat at the table with her mother, "I asked you how long you've been up to drink that much coffee already?"

Alexis smiles up at her daughter, "Just a little while."

"Couldn't sleep again, huh?" Her daughter raised a knowing brow, prompting Alexis to remove her glasses, tossing them on the table, and pick up her coffee cup.

"Sam, I'm fine."

"Okay." She sips her coffee.

"I am! You know, for someone who hates being asked about how she is… you sure take it upon yourself to project that on to others…"

"And apple not fall far from tree, Mother." She narrows her eyes, bringing a smile to her mother's face.

"Touché," She places her hand under Sam's chin, squeezing her cheeks, "Good thing I adore you, my cookie face."

"Love you too, mom…" Sam laughs and once she regains full function of her face, grows serious, "But really, mom. I love you and I can't help but worry about you."

"Honey, I told you," She smiles, "I'm fine. I am just fine."

"I hate it when you do that."

"What?"

"Insist that you are fine when you are so far from fine…"

Alexis raised a brow, "I'm sorry, how did you say… apple not fall…"

"Okay, okay," Her daughter surrendered, "I get it. But I just wish you would talk to me." She watches her mother carefully, "I know that you are afraid…"

"Oh, Sam…" Alexis scoffed. "Afraid? Afraid of what? I am not afraid!"

"Well you're afraid of coming between Garrett and I…" Sam knew if she pushed right to the heart of the matter her mother would shut down.

"Yes," Alexis nodded, "I just want to make sure that none of this affects your relationship, I told you that."

"But it's okay that it affected yours." Her daughter raises a brow.

"I didn't have a relationship with him, Samantha."

"You didn't?" Sam's eyes widen as she gestures to herself.

"Don't be smart," Alexis scolded. "But listen, I am so thankful that the truth came out when it did, because if it hadn't, I might…" She stops and simply takes a large gulp of coffee.

"You might what?" Sam pushed on, "You might have gotten more serious? You might have had a relationship… again."

"No." She stated simply, before leaning forward and taking her daughter's hand, "I really appreciate your concern… and you know I love you more than my own life… but I really don't want to talk about this anymore, okay?"

"Okay…" Sam gave in, "Only because it's 6:30 in the morning and I haven't finished this cup of burnt coffee yet…"

"Thank you." Alexis went back to her paper.

Sam smiled when she looked towards the door and found Danny wandering in, sucking his thumb and dragging his blanket across the floor. "Good morning, baby!"

"Mihk?" Danny stopped and pointed to the refrigerator.

"Whatever you do, don't pass go, Danny." Alexis shakes her head with a chuckle as her daughter rose from her seat, kissing her son on the head as she passed him and headed to the refrigerator. Alexis pushes her chair back and holds out her arms for the sleepy little boy, "Come here, love-bug." She kisses his cheek once he climbs into her lap.

"You slept in today." Sam glances at the clock before setting his cup in front of him.

Alexis smiles at her daughter's comment. Danny's usual early rising didn't bode well for her daughter's poor opinion of the morning. "What do you say to mommy?" She asks her grandson.

"Tan-too." Danny's morning voice was soft before he went back to his milk.

"You're welcome, baby." Sam smiled to her son as he cuddled in his grandmother's arms and enjoyed his milk. "Did you tell grandma we're going fishing with Papa today? Maybe you can get her to come with us!" She watched as her mother quickly recovered her surprised reaction and narrowed her eyes.

"No, I don't think I will be able to go fishing today… But are you excited?" Danny nodded when Alexis addressed him, "You get to use your new Nemo fishing pole, huh?" She kissed his cheek when he nodded again, his eyes a little wider that time.

"Aunt Molly's going too."

"Good, so you will both be able to keep an eye on this one and make sure he doesn't go overboard…" She hugged him a little tighter, resting her chin atop his head.

"He's not gonna go overboard…" Sam shook her head.

"And you will all wear life jackets…" Alexis raised a brow in warning.

"Yes, mother." Sam sighed before getting up to refill her coffee.

"Well, that boat is small." She defended.

"Mom, it isn't that small…" Her daughter retook her seat.

"It's small enough, Samantha. Wear your life jacket." She watched as Sam averted her eyes to her coffee cup, "Sam…"

"Mom," She chuckled, "You gotta let it rest."

"Fine." Alexis stood up from the chair, passing Danny to Sam's lap with a kiss to his head, "I'll be sure to get them all out of the garage before I leave for work."

"Okay." Sam humored her mother as she watched her leave the room. She rocked her son side to side, "Your grandma's crazy, Danny."

"Cayzee" Danny smiles up at her.

"Yeah." Sam laughs. Her son was catching on quick.

Alexis walked into her bedroom and laid her robe on the bed before taking a seat and pulling her nightstand drawer open, where she retrieved a bound journal from inside. As she opened it, exactly what she was looking for fell out and landed on her lap. She drew a deep breath as a wistful smile crossed her lips and she admired the photo of a young handsome boy standing at the helm of a boat, in swim trunks, with a gleaming smile on his face. Turning it over, she ran her hand over the inscription on the back, "My one love: August 1979".