"Why don't we go sit down?" "I'm sure the chairs would be more comfortable than the floor is."

Sam nodded as he put one arm around Sammy and gently squeezed, ‘This feels to weird’ thought Sam. After their moment was over Sam got up lifting the boy… his son a little off the ground and realized he was extremely light. “Your light Sammy….” Said Sam quietly as he let go of his soon who lightly touched down revealing a tail that had been swaying back and forth.

Sammy loved it his Dad was here at last, well he was always here but this was the first time he met him. Normally Sammy would have been a little more hesitant about the tackle hug but Chelsea deemed it all right by tackling him first and from what he could tell his father was a kind person, which raised the question why he wasn’t there to save mommy?

Sammy eagerly nodded to his dad, “it’s cause I can fly!” said Sammy trying to impress his new father. Sammy jumped and slowly floated off of the ground and then leaned forward as his stomach was parallel to the ground. Sammy started to float around his dad then flew over and around Lee and Alice and then backs to his dad. Chelsea all the while ran under him barking excitedly trying to catch him.

Sam looked at his new son as his jaw dropped, ‘he can fly…’ thought Sam in disbelief. As he flew around Sam noticed his tail was slightly swaying as he turned and maneuvered. ‘My kid has a tail…’ thought Sam almost laughing to him. He then smiled and said, “Kid do I have things t show you…” Sam of course meant his abilities if he was really his kid he would love to see what others could do.

Sammy laughed as he saw a smile on his dad’s face at the sight of him flying, ’he thinks it’s cool!’ thought Sammy as he flew around and then landed next to his dad only to be nudged by Chelsea who had finally caught up to him.

After finding a few chairs Sam sat down Chelsea ran up to him and jumped up on his lap, Sam of course laughed and petted her and then asked, She isn’t much of a lap dog is she?” Sam then looked over to the boy that flew to the closet chair to his dad. Sam then looked to Sammy and said, “So Sammy, ummm how’s Haley doing?” Sam was a little hesitant about asking this question but he had to know.

After Sammy landed in the chair he started to tear up at the question his father asked, “…..she died….” Sammy’s smile faded as he began to cry again covering his face in his sweatshirt. Chelsea jumped from Sam and then jumped into the chair with Sammy and started to whine as she licked his ear trying to comfort him.

Sam’s jaw dropped once again as he looked to Lee for answers for he had none. Sam only put his hand on his kid’s shoulder and said, “I’m sorry, she was a great woman.” Sam’s eyes felt a little watered up to wondering how his old girlfriend and the mother of his child died.

Alice hadn't gotten an answer about why she hadn't been told Sam was a real super hero, so she wasn't about to let her mum push her back into the room she had just tried to sneak out of. Not when it didn't look like the two guys were going in there any time soon; their huggy reunion was far more interesting than the room she did her piano lessons in.

A fact that was confirmed a moment later.

"You can fly?!?" Alice exclaimed in excitement, bouncing past her mother and out into the hallway to see better.

"Alright, inside Alice," Lee said, placing her hand on her daughter's shoulder and gently directing her back into the room. It didn't take long for Sam, Chelsea, and Sammy to follow into the room and sit down. Lee was just lowering herself onto the piano bench after making sure that Alice had sat down and wasn't bouncing around the whole room, when she heard Sam ask about the boy's mom.

In the moment that she saw the kid's reaction, saw the tears starting, three things clicked in her head. Why he was looking for a father who had not even known about him so suddenly. Why him and his dog needed a place to stay. Why he had shown up here all on his own...

Instantly, Lee was back up on her feet and moving over to the chair Sammy was sitting in, now joined by his dog. Lee knew that Sam had dealt with students before, how could he not have at some point, with how much time he had spent at the mansion over the years? But very few of the students were as young as Alice and Sammy, and Lee could tell just by how Sam simply had his hand on Sammy's shoulder, that he wasn't used to dealing with young kids.

Kneeling down in front of the boy, Lee reached her hand out to rub his back, ready with a hug should he want one, though she didn't just pull Sammy to her like she would have with Alice. "It's going to be alright, Sammy," Lee said softly, gently. "Your dad's here."

"It's going to be alright, Sammy," "Your dad's here."

The words hit Sam hard, she was dead and he was all the kid had left… ’I am going to be the worst dad ever…’ thought Sam as he said to Sammy, “That’s right I am here.” Trying to put on a tough reassuring voice for his crying son. Sam had a lot more experience with kids a bit older in their teens than kids Sammy’s age, ‘this is gonna be tough’ thought Sam.

Sammy continued to cry as his tail wrapped around his waist like a belt. He didn’t want to cry in front of Daddy he didn’t want to look weak, after hearing all those stories from his mother why would he want to cry in front of a hero…”I want mommy here tooo….” cried Sammy as he wrapped his arms around Lee. ‘She is so nice…’ thought Sammy as his tail wrapped around her wrist that was around his back. Sammy didn’t know what he was doing at the time it was something that he did so many times with his mother when ever some one this nice hugged him it just happened.

Sam was a little surprised with how Lee was handling this, ‘only makes since she does have a kid’. Sam wasn’t the emotional type when it came to situations like this, he didn’t know how to respond so he thought of when he cried like this… which in turn caused Sam to frown, cattle prods and beatings would not cover it, he wasn’t going to hit his kid ever… Sam thought for a second and took his hand from Sammy’s shoulder and aimed it at the ground. Concentrating Sam made a giant replica of ice as best he could remember of Haley, it was difficult but Sam had remembered almost everything about her. “Sammy…” called out Sam to his son.

Sammy looked up from Lee’s shoulder to see his dad threw the tears, and then looked to see what his hand was pointed at. Sammy sniffed as he loosened his tail from Lee’s grip and stopped hugging her to see his mom made of ice. Sammy got up from hugging Lee and flew over to his mom who was made of Ice.

Sammy smiled for a second as he saw his mom again only not his mom. Sammy’s face lit up as he put his hand on it to feel it was cool to the touch. Sammy smiled as the Ice mom started to move as it waved to Sammy and then hugged him. Sammy started to cry as he hugged his mom and then let go of his mom and went in for another hug but this time instead of Lee it was his dad who would get the hug.

Sam smiled to his son then to Lee giving a ‘how was that’ look to Lee. He had a small smile as he hugged his son and said, “Gotta be tough now right?” Sam looked to Chelsea that was running over the ice Haley and started to lick the ice that made up her legs.

It didn't take long after she started to rub Sammy's back, not long at all, before he moved forward and wrapped his arms around her. Lee's reaction was instinctive, automatic, after the last six years with Alice. Lee's arms wrapped around Sammy in return, one around his back, the other gently holding his head against her shoulder so he could cry there, as she shut off her siphoning. It was always weird when she did this, this feeling of not feeling energy, but it was necessary at times like this, at least in her mind.

"There, there," Lee whispered in Sammy's ear as she rubbed his back. Then she felt something wrap around her wrist, and Lee looked down to see the kid's tail there. It was weird, that was for sure, but the grip on her wrist wasn't tight. It was almost as if he were simply holding her hand back, as if he planned to hold her hand there if she ended the hug before he was ready, but nothing more than that. Nothing more than Alice had ever done by keeping her arms locked around her neck pulled away from a hug too soon for the child's liking. "It's going to be alright, Sammy."

The tears hadn't slowed down yet, so Lee was still hugging the boy when she heard Sam calling his name beside them. Loosening her hold slightly so the boy could move, Lee turned to look at Sam. Then turned to see what he was pointing at.

Frowning slightly at what she saw standing there, at how Sammy rushed over to it, Lee turned to look at Sam. It had worked to get the tears to stop, but Lee couldn't help but wonder if it was a good idea. Would this actually help the kid get over his mother's death, or would it end up making things worse?

Lee honestly had no idea; she had never had to go through anything like that, her own issues with her parents had been very different, and Tarin had never much liked talking about his father's death, though then again, that probably wouldn't have helped much since he had had to deal with a totally different set of problems than anyone else from that point on.

"Is that your mum?" Alice asked. She had stayed back in part because she knew her mum and knew that was what she would have been told to do if her mum had said anything, and in part because there really hadn't been any room to get closer to Sammy. But now she rushed forward, stopping beside Sammy as he hugged the ice person. "Wow, she's really pretty."

Watching Sammy run over to Sam, to give him a hug, Lee shifted her weight, moved from kneeling on the floor to actually sitting in the chair Sammy had been in. "Come here sweetie," Lee whispered, wiggling her fingers at her daughter even as she shrugged in response to Sam's questioning look.

Sam held his son close to him until the tears seemed to stop, ‘hard to believe the ice mommy thing worked…’ thought Sam, ‘well it worked for me for a long time, hell it still does from time to time’. Sam picked his son out of his chest and held him up looking him in the eyes, “Lee said it, and I am here now…” Sam paused and took a deep breath and the said, “So that means you're the only family I got left, you and Chelsea!” hearing her name brought Chelsea running towards the father and son. Chelsea put her head on Sam’s knee as she whined to be petted. Sam pulled his son into another hug still not used to the idea as he petted Chelsea with one hand. Sam smiled and looked to Lee and Alice.

Sammy stopped crying as he held on to his dad with a smile on his face, ‘Mommy was gone but he found Dad… that's what she wanted she wanted me to be happy with Daddy and Chelsea’ thought Sammy as his grip tightened around his dad, his tail motioned up around the wrist as it wrapped around it Sammy started to laugh, “Yeah you me and Chelsea, we are all we got!” saying and hearing that made Sammy idolize his father even more, ‘he is so great!’ but as Sammy sat there hugging his father he wondered ‘why didn’t dad save mom? He is a super hero right? Why couldn’t he save her?’ Sammy looked up from his dad to look over to Lee and Alice as he said, “Yeah that was my mom.” Instead of crying again Sammy held on to his father even tighter before.

Alice smiled again from her perch on her mum's knee when she heard Sammy say that it was his mother standing there made of ice. "She's really pretty," she said again. Then turning to her mum, Alice continued speaking, her curiosity raging. "Does this mean daddy's going to see Sammy's mom now?" She asked.

Alice was far too comfortable and familiar with some things for a six-year-old, Lee couldn't help but think. Especially since death and spirits were one of those things. At least her daughter had had the thought to lower her voice as she asked the question, though Lee was sure it hadn't been enough that Sammy wouldn't be able to hear it.

"No sweetie, he won't," Lee said gently, glancing over at Sam and his son quickly before dropping her eyes back to the girl sitting on her lap. "She knew Sammy would find his dad and that his dad would take care of him, so she had no reason to stay. She's in heaven now."

Yes, Lee knew that that comment could very well be a lie, knew that it was very possible Tarin would end up seeing the spirit of Sammy's mom, but that was not something she wanted her daughter to know, never mind the boy who knew nothing about Tarin's powers.

Lee wasn't even entirely sure about her comment about heaven. But again, this was not the time to get into a theological debate with her daughter about it. Those happened more than often enough when Rupert was around.

Sam nudged his son to listen to Lee as she spoke about death. Sam wasn’t religious at all and he figured he would only make things worse. Sam wasn’t a firm believer in a god heaven or hell, he believed in something bigger and in control but he didn’t believe that praying or reading stories fro a book would get you to where ever you needed to go in the afterlife.

After so many years as a captive, how could someone believe in a god, one that watches his children and protects them? Countless times when Sam was a kid he killed people as they muttered prayers asking for help and nothing happened. If there was a god he wouldn’t let things happen they way they do. He would stop things like mass killings and the camps from happening.

Sammy listened to Lee as she spoke of his mother passing and smiled. Time after time Sammy went to church with his mother and time after time Sammy listened to his mother about how great heaven was. Sammy no longer felt like crying anymore, ‘Lee was right Mom knew Dad would take care of me…’ just the thought of Sammy’s mother in a place she talked so highly of made Sammy smile.

Sammy’s gripped loosened as Sammy felt his dad shift his weight. Sammy soon let go all together and looked at him and smiled as he said, “Here girl” almost instantly Chelsea left the ice statue of his mother and came to Sammy’s side as Sammy jumped from his dad and landed lightly by his dogs side only to hug and pet her. “Were home…” whispered Sammy to his dog as Sammy looked up to his dad.

Sam looked to his son and figured it was time to reach a cheerier subject Sam cleared his thought and said, “So Sammy tell me a little about your self…” Sam felt a little weird asking his son questions like this, it just made him feel even more like a bad father.