She got her daddy's tongue and temper
Sometimes her mouth could use a filter
God shook his head the day he built her
Oh, but I bet he smiled.
Lee Brice, She Ain't Right

She sank down onto her hotel bed and let out a few long and deep breaths. She'd spent almost all afternoon and over half the night talking to and silently watching her oldest child and she'd come to one conclusion currently, and that was that she'd thought she could just quietly check in on the girl, but now that she'd checked in on her, now that she'd done this, opened this can of worms, she wasn't sure if she wanted to close it again or not. She did know that Adriana, or at least she sensed this, needed her as much as she probably needed Adriana to know the truth and for the two of them to get things out in the open and Adriana either hate her for good or want to get to know her more.

Somehow, just going on the way Adriana acted about certain things, she had the feeling that for a while, at least, Adriana just might choose to hate her. Hopefully it wouldn't be permanent. Maybe she could get through to Adriana and make her see why she'd done back then. She knew now, without a shadow of reasonable doubt that she needed (and wanted, probably selfishly) her daughter to be a part of her life. That just simply checking in and seeing if Adriana were okay wasn't going to ever really be enough for Sam.

Knowing she was out there now, knowing that she'd seen her, knowing that Adriana seemed to be in some kind of deep and dark pain or something, knowing that her choice when Adriana was born might have some how caused this pain.. Sam couldn't let things go unsaid, she couldn't let this die. So she took a few deep breaths and she picked up her cell phone, dialed her mother's phone number. Right now, more than anything, Sam just needed to hear her mother say that she supported whatever decision Sam might make. And she needed to know that her mother knew how it all felt before, that she could identify with what she was feeling right now, the overwhelming rush of emotions that came with Sam's having seen and spoken to Adriana earlier, having gotten to know her.

Alexis answered on the second or third ring and Julian eyed her as she mouthed that it was Sam to him. He nodded and Alexis put the phone onto speaker phone mode as she asked, "Well? How did it go?"

"I want to tell her, Mom. I came here thinking I could just be happy with checking on her, seeing how she'd grown up, seeing for myself that she was happy, that she'd had a good life.. Now that I've seen that, now that I've actually spoken to her without her knowing who I am I just.. I can't just leave and let things go unsaid. But I know if I do tell her there's a big chance she'll hate me forever because I basically abandoned her on strangers and walked away as if she meant nothing to me. She won't understand the pain and anguish that went into my decision, she won't understand that I had to do it for her.. Because I was still a child myself basically, pretending to be an adult. I couldn't have taken care of her back then, I barely took care of myself."

Alexis nodded and Julian spoke up from the background to point out, "And then there's you not knowing how to deal with what that man did to you. If you explain things to her, Sam, maybe there's a chance." which Alexis nodded and agreed with whole heartedly, adding "And if you feel like it's something you need to say and do, you need to do it now. This has affected you for a really long time. Maybe some good will come out of it." as she shifted Danny from one hip to the other and then said calmly, "Take as long as you need. Julian and I have Danny, we're enjoying the time with him. You're too stingy with my grandson and it's nice to hear little feet around the house again."

Sam nodded and then said quietly, "It's just.. I know that she'll react one of two ways and the way I suspect she'll react is going to hurt us both."

"That's when you keep on trying and you don't give up, Sam." Alexis said quietly as Sam added, "Like you did with me?"

"Exactly that way. I didn't give up on you a fter the truth about you being my daughter came out, did I? Do the same for her. Maybe you two can still have a relationship. If it's possible, I'd like to see her." Alexis said as Sam smiled and said "Check your text messages, Mom. I figured you'd all want a few pictures of her and I took them when she wasn't really watching me do it." as she hit send and sent a few pictures of her oldest child to her mother, smiled a little to herself.

"Logan called from your office. He said you've got three cases lined up and that he assumed it was okay that he went ahead and did the groundwork for one of them on his own. He's bored lately. Said that one of the cases is being looked at by Spinelli from Seattle, remotely. But things are being taken care of at work too." Alexis said as Sam said quietly, "Thanks.. If they call back tell them I'm doing my best to make this as quick as I can. I just.. I have to get all this behind me or out in the open."

"I know, Sam. Just be careful out there by yourself." Alexis and Julian both said as they hung up with their daughter. Sam gazed at the photo album she kept copies of all of Adriana's pictures, all of the letters Angel sent to her over the showing her she had mourned and regretted her decision would help things in her favor.

She grabbed her keys and headed out of the hotel room, intending to go to Adriana's house and talk to her there. She had this really strange feeling as she walked through the doors of the hotel lobby and out towards her rental car, but she put it off largely to nerves. The closer she got to Adriana's house, however, the more her maternal 'spidey senses' seemed to tingle and the more on edge she became.

The flashing blue lights and the broken guard rail on the bridge just a half mile from her daughters place had her panicked by the time she parked and ran to the crime scene tape, shoving through the small crowd of people gathered and talking, stating assertively, "What happened here?"

"Car went over the guard rail and flipped down that ravine there, ma'am. Harper's girl, I'm afraid.. She's always driven that damn Z28 of hers wide open.. Just never think that will happen to somebody you know." the officer said as he shook his head then added, "You might wanna get back, ma'am. They're bringing her up."

"She's alive.. Right?"

"And damn lucky to be alive. Got thrown through the windshield so she's cut up and mad as hell, but she's still alive.. You know Adri?"

"She's my daughter." Sam said quickly, not realizing what she'd said until she'd actually said it. The officers looked at her and one of them leaned in, whispered something to the others. A few moments later, one of them walked over to where she still stood and said "You wanna ride out to the hospital with her?" as he studied her intently.

"Yeah.. I'm going." Sam said firmly as she ignored the look the cop gave her and got into the back of the ambulance, looking at the girl with worry and fear in her eyes. Adriana tried to say something but Sam held a finger to her lips and said quietly, "The less you talk right now, Adri.."

"The hell are.." Adriana wheezed, finally finishing, "The hell are you doing here, Sam?"

"I'll explain when we're at the hospital and you're stable again, okay? For now, just rest and try to stay awake." Sam coaxed her oldest daughter as she wondered what happened tonight, why Adriana had wrecked and how fast she'd been going because according to the officers at the scene, she liked to drive her car wide open, full speed ahead, all the time.

Knowing this new little tidbit of information concerned Sam even more.

And deep down, her intuition was telling her that telling Adriana the truth, while hard, was the best thing to do for both of them. Maybe they could heal and bond.