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Sammy had decided to talk to mom about boyfriends....

After getting in the house and thawing out for a while, Sammy wanders into the same room with her mom and starts helping out with whatever it is her mom is doing.

Some small talk later, Sammy raises a topic that has been actively occupying her thoughts since last Saturday -- well, ok, much longer than that, but Saturday was the first time that there was something vaguely like an explanation available to her.

She's a little pink and uncomfortable when she starts, but she plows through.  "Mom? Can I ask you some questions about boyfriends?  Not the birds and bees stuff, not exactly, but... something about me and boyfriends.  And maybe you too, since I'm like you.  Did you ever, um, have trouble with uh, getting, lets call it crushes on lots of guys, sometimes at the same time, even though the one you were officially with was great?"

Mom looks over from making a pie crust.  It's obvious that she is not normally the same shade of red as her daughter.  "Oh my."  She grabs a towel and wipes her hands.  "Ah, is it really bad?  Like kissing them all the time bad? or just thinking about them bad?"

"Uh... mostly thinking?  Except for when I do wind up kissing one, like Nick, or go out of my way to spend a whole lot of time with another, like John.  Or go dancing in the sky with this guy Dylan from Fenwick.  You've never met him.  I do kiss and cuddle El a lot, but nothing that breaks any of your rules or state laws.  I haven't..."  She turns a deeper shade of red, if its possible.  "You know.  I'm still...  I haven't done anything that's going to earn me a special trip to a doctor."

Mom comes to stand next to Sammy.  "I had the problem too, in a way.  Only worse.  Maybe it's less intense with each passing generation."  She kisses Sammy's forehead.  "My problem was with kissing.  Boys were just so...kissable."  She shivers slightly, "And they found it hard not to kiss me.  something about the smell of me they said.  It just stuck in their heads.  I sort of thought you were free of that though, since you didn't have any problems.  Well, no more than the other girls have."  Sammy has grown up in a home where mom and dad have a healthy sex life, and sex was not as taboo a subject as in some houses.  It was always treated with seriousness.  when it comes to sex, the girls have never had to hide from mom and dad.  Dad generally prefers they talk to mom though.

Sammy gazes wide-eyed at her mother.  "They said you smell like the air after a rainstorm, didn't they?  I get that all the time."  She starts reeling down a list.  "El's always kissing me on the head or the cheek or the neck, whatever he can reach, any chance he gets.  Nick had trouble holding off too, before I went all wrath of Sammy at him.  John planted one on my cheek Saturday night, and seems entranced by my hair sometimes.  And Dylan seems utterly fascinated by me.  I think the only thing holding him back was a promise he made.  Hoo boy...  Mom, I think the only thing that stops it from happening more is me.  I make myself back off, because it seems like the right thing to do; I don't want to hurt anybody, especially El, but as much as I try, I drift back into portioning out my time with different ones..."

She sits down heavily.  "How did you keep from hurting them?  And how did you pick just one?  I mean, I try, but its hard!"  She studies her mom's face, trying to understand how this all works.  "Daddy must have been something special.  I mean, really special."

"That's exactly how they described it.  Well, one of the many points of friction with my mom and me was the boys.  And it's what eventually led me into the mess that became my life."  Mom pulls up a chair and sits next to Sammy.  "Your father."  She pauses.  "Your father was very understanding."  She seems reluctant to go on, but takes a deep breath.  "We, if you're like me.  We love a lot.  Easily.  It's like an addiction of sorts.  It's why we have three children.  We sort of thought that if we had kids, that it would help.  and it did really.  you guys mean so much to me."  He leans in and hugs Sammy.  "He was just another crush.  They always get angry when they find out they're not the only one in your life.  and then they hurt you when they leave.  Except your father.  He started out as just another crush.  and then he walked in on me and his roommate.  It wasn't the first time something like that had happened.  And so I went to see him later at work, and expected him to tell me to stay out of his life, and to be angry.  But he kissed me.  We went on like this for a while.  He was there every time I bounced back from a breakup, or two.  He told me that if he could only have part of me in his life it was better than living without me.  So we got married.  It was hard.  I never cheated on him, but I came so close so many times.  Then, I got pregnant.  That changed everything.  I had someone else to love, that needed me.  and then we had a second, and finally a third.  All these hearts that I was tied to.  I still have moments, but I think motherhood changed me in some special way.  Now only your father seems to smell the spring rain on me anymore.  I still wonder what kissing someone might taste like, but it's not nearly so potent."  He puts a hand on Sammy's arm.  "I'm not saying get pregnant."  she says with a smile, "Your dad isn't ready for that.  I'm not ready for that."  He brushes Sammy's hair back from her forehead.  "You might never be able to find just the one.  But the world is changing, you might not need to either.  I never thought it was part of my abilities.  I always just thought it was my rebelion against mom that had somehow damaged me."

"No,"  Sammy breathes.  "You weren't... you aren't damaged.  John... hinted... it might be part of being part djinn.  It might be their nature. It made me feel so much better when he told me that... I was so afraid I was turning into something horrible."  She hugs her mom close.

"A slut?"  mom says with a chuckle.  "Sorry, my mom used the term all the time.  It got to be annoying.  I'm sorry."  she says holding Sammy tightly, "I wish you didn't have to deal with these problems honey."

Sammy cringes when she hears what her Mom endured.  I'm going to tell Colin to stop looking for her.  I don't need any words of wisdom from someone like that.

"Maybe it'll be easier for me.  You've been through it.  You were able to choose how you wanted to be, so I know I can too, if I have to do it.  We both understand now why it happens.   And when I come home in love with three boys, or dumped by three boys all in the same day, you'll get it. That'll all help, I think.  I hope."

"I ate a lot of ice cream.  I stole a lot of ice cream, but that was all tied into the rebellion thing."  she says with a smile, and goes back to her pie crust.  "You think Consuelo and Jack would get along?"

"No!" Sammy spits out.  "I mean, they're both really nice people, sure, but... no.  Alicia... god, today went from bad to worse.  Its like she can't breathe without antagonizing someone,  and she has such a short temper... there was an argument at lunch.  I've been backing her, sort of, but then she gets offended and goes on the attack about something, and people yell back at her saying the only reason they accept her is me, and well, I got up, said what I had to say, and left.  I can't help her if she won't try to help herself too.  That's why I didn't get wet, I wasn't in there when the sprinklers broke."

"Wow.  That sounds more serious then I thought.  Jake mentioned to Consuelo that he'd be willing to train her, try to help her get herself in a better place.  Maybe he's better suited to help her?  He certainly didn't fit in with the rest of us, but he made a good effort."  she smiles.  "Certainly not the type I'd imagine sitting in the kitchen with a wife while I demonstrate Pampered Chef tools."

"If anybody can get through to Alicia, I'd bet on Jack.  But I'd let him decide if he wants to get mixed up with her mami.  That could get ugly and uncomfortable in so many ways, I don't even want to think about it."  She shudders.

"Well, if he's going to be working with Alicia we should discourage him from working on Consuelo."  Mom says, trying not to grin. 

"Mom, he's about a hundred years old.  I hope he's figured some things out by now."