Sam nearly ran from the hospital room, his heart banging a mile a minute. His hands were shaking slightly, and he was having trouble breathing. Only one thought ran through his mind, screaming like a banshee.
A daughter? Ah have a daughter? That little girl is… mine?
He didn't want to believe it. How could it be possible? They'd, Tabitha and himself, had only…made love once. And then she had left him.
Now, she had called him and asked him to come see her, as she lay dying in a hospital. What was he supposed to think now? The woman he had loved was dying.
Sam shook himself, trying to stop from thinking about Tabitha Smith. But that little girl…
She had his eyes. That much he could see quite plainly. And that expression on her face…it was like looking in a mirror.
And Tabitha wanted him to become her legal guardian. She wanted him to be Sami, is that what she had called her? She wanted him to be Sami's father.
If he was Sami's father, what was he going to do? How was he going to explain to Rahne, his family?
Sam was so wrapped up in his thoughts that he didn't hear the voice calling his name, until a hand tapped him lightly on the shoulder. He turned around and nearly jumped out of his skin.
A young woman with blue fur and glowing yellow eyes stood there, her hands clasped before her as thought she was praying. A golden chain with a simple gold cross adorned her neck. Her face spoke volumes, as thought she didn't know if she wanted to speak to him or not.
"Hello, Mr. Guthrie." She finally said, biting her lip.
Sam stared at her for a long second, attempting to figure out who exactly she was. Then it clicked. "Demi?"
"Ja." She said softly, nervously brushing her hair back. "May I speak to you for a moment?"
"O' course." Sam said, following the young woman to a cafeteria on the second floor. She sat down at a table, and motioned for him to seat in front of him. He did so, watching her curiously.
She looked down at the fake wood table for a moment, as if trying to decide what to say. Finally, she looked up at him, and took a deep breath.
"Mr. Guthrie, I have know Sami from the time that she was a little bitty baby. I have known Tabitha just as long. They are-the only family that I know, and I could not stand to see them hurt." Demi began, fidgeting under his gaze.
"Ah'm very sorry about Tabitha." Sam said, lacking any other response. Demi reached up and fingered her cross softly, her glowing eyes dimming.
"Ja. It will be a great loss to everyone that loves her." Demi answered finally. "But the Lord will care for her."
Sam nodded his agreement, still wondering why Demona had sought him out. The young woman was obviously uncomfortable. He decided that she must be shy, and that talking to a strange man was upsetting to her.
"Mr. Guthrie," Demona began, but was cut off by Sam.
"Please, call me Sam." He asked politely.
"Very well. Sam," Demi was obviously uncomfortable calling him that, but she made the effort. "Have you decided what you are going to do?"
"About Samantha?" Sam asked, using the child's full name.
"Yes, about Sami. She needs someone to take care of her, some one that WANTS to take care of her." Demi stressed the word wants, her eyes flashing with meaning.
"Ah understand that." Sam said, a trifle put out that this young woman seemed to think that he didn't want to take care of his own child. That was, he immediately amended in his mind, if she WAS his child.
"Do you?" Demi asked, her fangs flashing in the florescent light of the cafeteria.
"Ah do. The child needs someone that will love her, and take care of her. She needs a family." Sam said evenly. Demi studied his eyes carefully as if looking for something. She apparently found it.
"And you think that you could not handle giving her that family?"
Sam looked at her with annoyance written on his face. "Ah love mah family very much."
Demi's eyebrows shot to her hairline. "Do you? If you love them as much as you claim, why is it that you are just now meeting your daughter?"
"She MIGHT be mah daughter." Sam corrected stiffly, his eyes flashing. He wasn't easily annoyed, but this young woman seemed to be pushing all his buttons today.
"You can look at Sami, look into her eyes, and still doubt that the child is yours?" Demi asked, surprised.
"Very much so." Sam said, but his voice lacked conviction.
"Or, do you wish to believe that she is not your daughter, because you don't want to have to deal with the duties that come with rearing a child?" Demi asked, her eyes searching his.
Sam gritted his teeth; the young woman was seriously grating on his nerves. "Ah don't see why mah reason for not believing Sami is mah daughter is any of your business."
"Ja, you are right, it is not my business. I am simply worried about my goddaughter's welfare." Demi said softly, looking down at her long fingered hands. Sam immediately regretted his sharp words.
"Ah'm sorry, Demi. This is just a lot to deal with." He tried to apologize.
Demona smiled softly, and reached to finger her cross once more. "I think I can understand where you are coming from."
"You think?" Sam asked, tilting his head to one side.
"Ja…it must be most difficult to care for a child you did not know about or even wish to have." Her voice was horribly sad as she said that.
"You say that like you know." Sam said.
Demi looked at him with sad eyes, and smiled gently. "I do. I was left at a convent when I was a baby."
"Your parents abandoned you?" Sam guessed. Demi nodded.
"I have always looked the way I do." She said by way of explanation.
"That's horrible." Sam finally said, looking at the girl in sympathy.
"That I look this way?" Demi asked.
"No, that your parents left you." Sam explained his comment.
"Oh. I am sure that they had a reason. But we are not talking about me…we are talking about you." Demi rapidly changed the subject.
Sam dropped his eyes to the table, and then looked back up at Demi. "Ah don't think that Ah can take care of her."
"Why?" Demi questioned.
"Because, Ah don't know anything about her. Ah don't know what she likes, what she's allergic too, what her favorite cartoon is." Sam finally voiced one of his major concerns of taking Sami.
Demi smiled at him widely. "You will learn. And I will help you."
"What?" Sam asked, looking at the girl in surprise. Demi pushed back a lock of her dark blue hair.
"I am a runaway. I have no home, except for with Sami and Tabitha. So I will go with you, even if I do not live with you. I told you, they are my family, and I will not give them up so easily."
Sam looked at the young mutant for a second. "You know, there is a school where you can learn to control your powers."
"A school for mutants?" Demi asked, surprised. "I have never heard of such a place."
"It's in Massachusetts." Sam told her.
"Is that where you…teach? Go to school?" Demi asked, twirling her cross around her fingers.
"No, Ah live in New York. But it's not very far away, and mah sister goes to that school. Ah would be down there a lot, seeing her." Sam said.
Demi nodded, lookin down at her watch. The young woman rose to her feet in one fluid motion, and smiled at Sam. "I must go. Tabitha and Sami will be wondering where I am."
"Think about the school?" Sam asked, looking up at her.
"Ja, I will." And then she was gone, moving like a shadow. And Sam was alone with his thoughts once more.
Demi was so sure that she's mah daughter, and she doesn't even know me. Is the resemblance that strong?
Sam didn't know. All he knew was that he needed to make a decision, and he needed to make it quickly.
Do Ah take the little girl, or do Ah not?
Sam couldn't help but think of the sad look in Demi's eyes when she had told him about her parents abandoning her. If he didn't take Sami, and Tabitha couldn't find some one else willing to take the child, Sami would become a ward of the state, he knew that.
Could Ah really let that happen to a child? To…mah child?
That was the first time that he had ever thought about her like that. Mah child? Is she mah child?
Could he run the risk of letting his own daughter grow up without ever knowing him? Could he let her become an orphan?
He knew the answer to that question.
Now all he had to do was come up with a way to explain it to his family.