A few things you might need to know... Peyton is still on Tree hill. I forgot about Julian( see author notes below for reason) so, If your a Julian fan then he off making a movie, if not she broke it off with him. Your choice. One of real important thing! I would like to dedicate this story to Snowfox3 whom she took the time to BETA this story even if she doesn't watch the program, also for finding and understanding all of my mistakes! Without her this story would be completely different... R&R.
Samantha stared at the refrigerator with hungry eyes: it was completely empty. Sad thing was Sam was getting used to the feeling. It turns out that while Rebecca seemed like a down to earth, reasonable adult. She wasn't. She had a gambling problem and an even bigger drinking problem. Rebecca wasn't an abusive drunk; however she was a forgetful drunk. She would forget to put grocery in the house, pick her up from school or come home at night. Samantha was starting to realize that living with Rebecca was not going to work and that made her sad because she really did want to get to know her birth mom. Suddenly the word "mom" made her think of Brooke. She missed her terribly, she also feel like she abandoned Brooke all for genetics and a stupid white fence. But for some reason, she stayed. Every time she talked to Brooke, Sam wanted to tell her to come and get her, take her away from this place and this Rebecca nonsense. But she didn't.
Abruptly, the door open and two figures walked into the kitchen. One of the figures was Rebecca, the other was Travis; he was a construction worker with red hair and a long beard to match. In Sam's opinion he never bathed and it gave her the creeps how he looked at her. He also was Rebecca off again on again boyfriend and to put it nicely… Sam didn't like him.
Before the two adults entered the kitchen Sam could tell they were drunk: they reeked of alcohol. Not in the mood to deal with two drunks, she rolled her eyes and went to leave the kitchen, heading to the sanctuary of her room. Just as Sam was a little past the drunken adults, someone strong grabbed her wrist.
"Where do you think you're going?" He slurred almost every word, but luckily Sam knew drunk.
She pulled her arm back, "My room. You have a problem with that."
Travis grabbing her forearm this time, making it harder for Sam to pull away, and he then pull her up to his face. "Yeah, I do."
Frantically, Sam surrendered an instant to look at Rebecca for help. Rebecca met Sam's eyes for a slip second, before becoming very interested in the floor. And you picked her over Brooke! Smart Sam, real smart!
"Get your filthy mugs off me." There was a small struggle, which ended badly for Sam. Travis lost his grip on Sam; Sam, still trying to pull away, lost her balance, falling face first into the coffee table. Instantly she felt something wet on her lips and her right eye burned. Intently, she brought her hand up to her nose then drew it back again. Seeing the blood she was pretty sure she broke it. Picking herself up quickly, she run to the door. Stopping just short of the knob, she looked at Rebecca for what she hoped was the last time. "I'm going home." And then she slammed the door behind her.
Even those twenty miles down the road it only took Sam about two hours to get there; of course, thumbing a ride helped.
Sam didn't have house keys anymore so she had to knock. It wasn't that Brooke wanted the keys back; just that Sam had left them at Rebecca's. After three knocks Brooke opened the door. By the expression on Brooke face she was shocked to see her.
Sam put as much hair as possible in front of her face so Brooke wouldn't notice her injuries. "Got anything to eat." Sam pushed past Brooke to get into the house.
Brooke was more than a little surprised to see her foster daughter as her door at eleven o'clock at night. "Sam, does Rebecca know you're here?" She asked closing the door and turning toward her foster daughter as Sam raided the fringe.
"Sure." She added, still inside the fringe.
"Sam, get out of there" she called to the teen. She had a feeling something was wrong, the moment she saw the girl-- call it a mother intuition " And tell me… what going on?" She asked, pulling the young girl out of the fridge. As she turned Sam around to face her, Brooke noticed something on Sam shirt. Slowly, her gaze traveled up to Sam's face—and immediately, she noticed that Sam hair covered most of her face like a thick curtain. Brooke knew that Sam would never wore her hair in such a fashion: hair in Sam's face was something that irritated Sam to no end.
Carefully, she moved Sam's hair away from her face, revealing a large bruise coving most of Sam's right eye. She also noticed the swelling in Sam's cheek-- she was worried that the girl might have broken it. Gently, she ran her fingertips over the bruise. " Honey, what happened!?" Brooke's voice was thick with concern.
Sam pulled her head away from Brooke's touch, and Brooke, to keep Sam from pulling away, grabbed Sam forearm. Sam hissed in pain, pulling her arm back protectively to her side. Tenderly, Brooke took hold of Sam's arm and pulled up her sleeve showing a bruise in the shape of hand. Suddenly Sam spoke. " She has a boyfriend named Travis." Sam found her shoe very interesting as she spoke. "I just wanted to go to my room." Tears overflowed her eyelids. She didn't want to cry, but Sam couldn't control them. "He grabbed me…pushed me… s-she did nothing." Sam confessed, openly crying now.
Brooke hugged Sam tightly, whispering in her ear. " It's okay sweetie, I'm here, I got you." While holding Sam, Brooke realized that the young teen had lost some weight… actually, a lot of weight, too much for the brunette's liking.
After a few more minutes of confronting, Sam settled down, and by then Brooke had a plan. Brooke gave the girl a kiss on the head before speaking in a motherly tone, one that she had learnt from Karen.
"Here's what we're going to do sweetheart. First you're going to take a shower, while I go put one of those frozen pizzas you like so much in the oven. Then we're going to put some ice on that eye. Tomorrow we're going to the cops. Okay?" Sam nodded in agreement, but then suddenly remembered she didn't live here anymore and she didn't have anything to wear. " I don't have anything to wear," Sam said. "Don't worry. I have a pair of extremely comfortable but ugly pair of sweat pants, and a large shirt that will no doubt fit you. Now scoot," Brooke said ushering Sam towards the bathroom, but Sam stopped short of the door. " I'm sorry."
"For what?"
Sam's eyes found Brooke's. "For leaving you." Sam voice sounded so child like that it amazed Brooke and broke her heart at the same time.
" Don't be, she's your mom, Sam. Wanting to know her is only natural."
"She's not my mom," Sam mumbled quietly to herself as she walked into the bathroom, thinking Brooke couldn't hear her, the teen was wrong: Brooke heard every word. Brooke waited until she heard the water running before she dialed a familiar number.
Twenty minutes later Sam walked out of the bathroom feeling clean and refreshed. Her nose caught the scent of pizza and her mouth watered. "It is done?" she said walking into the kitchen.
"Just." She handed Sam a piece of pizza and an ice pack for her eye. "But wait a few minutes it's…" Sam picked up the pizza and shoved it into her month, cheeses dripping off the sides. "Hot." Brooke rolled her eyes. "I don't want to hear it when you burn your taste burns off."
"Hungry don't care." She mumbled with food in her month.
"Alright, but at least--" She grabbed the ice pack of the counter where Sam had discarded it. " -put the ice on your cheek." Brooke noticed the swelling had gone down after the shower; maybe it wasn't broken after all.
Brooke went back into the kitchen, filled a glass with water and handed it to Sam, along with two red oval pills. "It will help with the swelling and the pain." After that, Brooke sat down next to Sam on the barstool and waited for the teen to finish her dinner; they still had to talk.
Around the fourth piece Brooke realized that Sam was going to eat the whole pizza if she didn't stop her, and Brooke really didn't want a sick teen on her hands. Taking the fifth piece out of her hands, she spoke. "Sam we need to talk about your mom."
"No we don't." Sam jumped off the barstool and headed towards the couch.
"Sam, honey."
"Look, Brooke, there's nothing to tell!"
Brooke got up and walked over to the couch, sitting next to the Teen. "Yes we do. We need to talk about your mom and what that man did to you." Brooke gently placed her fingertips over Sam's face. "Nevertheless I won't make you. If you don't want to talk right now that's fine. We can watch T.V. " Brooke went for the remote that was on the coffee table and pointed it on the TV. On.
It didn't last long: not even before the first commercial, Sam sighed heavily. "This is some mind trick is it? Not talking to get me to talk."
"No tricks Sam," Brooke said.
"Well, I'm not playing."
"Okay." She laughs a little.
The second commercial hadn't even rolled around when Sam spoke once again. "She was okay at first you know."
Brooke turned her head to look at Sam, but didn't say a thing.
"But she drank…a lot. Before work, after work, she never hit me; I guess you could say she forgot about me."
"Why didn't you tell me this Sam?"
The Teen shrugged, unsure. "I hurt you by leaving. I'm not stupid: I could see that. And I remember when foster family would do that to me. When I was older it didn't bother me, but when I was younger I actually liked some of the families. But when I got over being sad, I was mad, at every single family that didn't want me. I guess I was afraid you'd be mad at me, and wouldn't want me back. So as long as I didn't ask you, couldn't, wouldn't, say no. I would stay with Rebecca, and talk with you on the phone weekly. Pretend everything was going great and Rebecca wasn't drinking. And I could live with that as long as you were mad." Sam finished.
Okay. It was official: Brook felt like the worst parent in the world, and couldn't help but pull Sam into a hug. "I was never, never mad! Not once." Brooke said in the most sobering voice she had. "I want you to understand something, Sam. I only wanted what was best for you. And at that point in time what was best for you was getting to know your mom. None of this was about me, it was all about you and what made you happy. However if you would have called me asking to come back, I would have came and got you because that would have made you happy. It would have just been a nice bonus that it would have made my day as well."
"Brooke."
"Yeah."
"You're hurting me."
Brooke let Sam out of her hug. "Sorry sweetie… Sam?"
"Huh."
"How long were you going to keep Rebecca drinking a secret from me?"
The silent from the teen spoke volumes.
"Okay," Brooke sighed. "Why did you change your mind." She knew the answer: the black and blue bruise all over Sam face told the story, but she needed to hear it from Sam.
"His name is Travis, he started coming around about two months after I moved in. I didn't like him off the bat, he gave me the creeps and he always looked at me weird."
Brooke didn't like the sound of this. "Define weird."
"Like a hungry man looks at a stake."
"He didn't touch you did he."
"Yeah, Brook, look at my face."
"No, I mean- inappropriate touching." She prayed for a no.
"OH," Her eyes widened in understanding. "No, no, no, he never touched me that way. Trust me Brooke."
"I believe you." Good, I don't have to make any call to Nate or Luke.
"Thanks."
"Huh?" Brooke asked kind of lost in her thoughts.
"For believing in me. When no one else does, you know."
Brooke pulled Sam to her. "I love you Sam."
Sam nestled into Brooke's embrace, cherishing the feeling of being loved by her mother. "I love you, too."
Many hours later, right before dawn, Brooke pulled into a driveway in front of an unfamiliar house. After putting her car in park, but keeping the engine running, she stepped out. Brooke walked to the door in quick aggressive steps, and then knocked loudly twice. Five minutes passed before a woman, whom Brooke recognized as Sam's mom, opened the door.
"How dare you!" Brooke said in a low growl. Rebecca, surprised by the abrupt attack, took a step back. " Endanger my child!"
"Your child," Rebecca said suddenly getting a backbone. "Last time I checked, I gave birth to her."
Brooke laughed in her face. " Yep, you gave birth to her alright, but then what Rebecca? Eh, you gave her up without making sure she got a safe loving home. So thanks to your lack of, what was it Rebecca, reasonability, caring? Sam's childhood was being passed around from foster home to foster home, and how many homes did you think actually cared about what happen to her?! When I found Sam she was living in car… that should tell you something." But Brooke wasn't done with her tirade on Rebecca. "YOU let a man put his hands on her and hurt her, so, no Sam's not your daughter and you're not a mother either. A mother protects her child. Like I'm doing right now."
Rebecca angrily said. "You gave her up."
Brook spoke in the calmest voice she could muster, but the tone was deadly. "I let Sam make a choice, a choice I thought she made correctly at the time but apparently I was dead wrong to ever let Sam see that letter." With that Brooke turned and walked away but stopped halfway to her car. "Do me and my daughter a favor, and never contract her again."
Brooke was in her car about ready to shut the door and leave when a voice stopped her. "She's still alive right?"
Brooke was stuck somewhere between shocked and amused. "Peyton what the hell are you doing here."
"I got a late night phone call from Haley telling me you just called her. Saying, and I quote "I'm gonna kick that bitch's ass" unquote and a few other things. I just thought you might need some back up. And I'm kinda wondering why you didn't call me in the first place ?"
"Sawyer had that cold and was keeping you up all last week and I couldn't ask you to get up at five in the morning just to stay with Sam in case she woke up and I didn't want her to be alone while I went out to kick that bitch's ass. Which I didn't even do; I really don't think me being in jail would help anything, and I look horrible in orange. "
Peyton laughed. "Ah, Brooke you could have asked me anything and I would have said yes. Even if it means me getting up at five in the morning."
"So, what you're telling me is the next time I need to go out to kick someone ass I can leave you at home with the kids and bring Haley as backup. Okay, gotya."
Peyton threw her head back and sighed. " No, what I'm saying is after you call Haley I expect a call."
"Right."
"And Brooke?"
"Yeah."
"You do look horrible in orange."
After a few more minutes of idly talking, the best friends parted ways; both agree to call each other later…
Brooke entered her home just after eight, to see Haley sitting on the chair and Sam still sleeping on the couch where they both fell asleep watching TV the night before.
In a whisper: "Let's talk outside." Haley got up and followed her outdoors.
"Thanks Haley, for watching her, I mean after everything she went through yesterday I just didn't want her to be alone."
"I get it Brooke, honestly I do, but I have to get back. I told Nathan I'd be back in time to make Breakfast. If I'm late he'll try to make something and I'll have a huge mess to clean up." The two girls hugged and said their goodbyes.
Brooke walked back into her house once again, only to be greeted by a semi-awake Sam. She blinked a couple of times, before asking. "Where'd you go?"
Brooke smiled; this was her life, what could be better? "Breakfast" she held up a bag. " Figured I won't torture you with my cooking till tomorrow."
The end.
I orginial started writing this story before the end of season 6, I think, I really don't know. I got a bit of writer block about a third of the done and my first idea had Julian in it( I never got to write him in, and the idea of him just die) I also had Peyton in it(still do) but she had a bigger role, somehow Haley stuck in? Either way I put this story away till mid- November where I gave myself the choice to finished the story or trash it. I have too many story in limbo, didn't want another one. With a bit of luck and a lot of force I finished it. I hope you like'd it.