"Well, that sucked," Sam said between sniffles. Brooke walked over and hugged her gently, careful of her broken collarbone.

"Our happy little nuclear family just imploded," Brooke observed dryly. She was too upset to cry just yet. Upset and angry, actually. Both parents had bounced off the walls like superballs and it was somewhat unexpected. She had thought at least one would act civilized. (Hoping too much, I guess) she thought to herself.

"What do we do now?" Sam asked. Brooke shrugged.

"I don’t want to stop our relationship. I love you too much to do that, so I guess we pack up and start looking for somewhere to stay," she said sadly. "And hope they come to their senses soon." Sam nodded.

"We’d better go pack. And call Nic and Lily, too. They’ll want to know what’s going on."

"Yeah. Know any good hotels?"

**

"Well, I know four parents not getting nominated for Parent of the Year," Nicole said coldly from the couch in Sam and Brooke’s hotel room. Thanks to the Julian name, the two girls had a very plush place to stay as long as they needed it which they all hoped wasn’t long. Nicole had called in some family favors to get the room and Sam and Brooke were very grateful. Of course, they figured their parents would spontaneously combust if they knew they were staying in the Honeymoon Suite together.

"Ain’t that the truth," Sam snickered. She and Brooke had all they needed for an extended stay and had left in the middle of the night with nothing more than a short note to their parents telling them what hotel they were in and hoping that they could work through this soon. It was scary being out on their own like this but if it was how their parents wanted to play it, they had no choice. The other option wasn’t viable.

"Man, did things get out of hand or what?" Lily asked from the table nearby. She hated seeing Sam and Brooke so torn up and things with her own mother as well as Nic’s weren’t getting any better.

"Unfortunately," Brooke agreed. "Four homosexual girls and four homophobic parents. Has a sad symmetry to it."

"I’d prefer it crooked," Sam said dryly. "I would have liked at least ONE of our parents to have looked at us and said `Are you happy? Because that’s all I care about’. You know, the important stuff."

"Well, at least the truth’s out now, Sam. What they chose to do with it is up to them, now. We don’t have to hide or sneak around anymore," Brooke said. Sam shot her a look.

"What about school?" the question was directed at all of them. "Are any of us ready to `out’ ourselves to the populace of Kennedy High?" No one answered her. "Yeah, didn’t think so. Our parents might know, but the four of us are still very much in the closet."

"Are you ready to smack people in the face with the closet door, Spam?" Sam shook her head.

"No, I was just seeing if anyone else was, Satan."

"Knock it off, you two," Brooke snapped. She really didn’t want to listen to Sam and Nicole get into it right now.

"Brooke, I’m just saying, yes, be proud that we told our parents but don’t get ahead of yourself. We’re still closeted and probably will be for a while," Sam explained.

"I get it," Brooke sighed. "Do you think Mom and Dad are going to come around anytime soon?"

"Can’t say. Wasn’t really expecting the total flip out that we experienced to begin with so I’m at a loss," Sam admitted. She really had expected her mother to take the news better. She wasn’t sure what bothered her mother more; the fact that she was gay or that she loved Brooke.

"Well," Lily said in resignation. "All we can do now is wait. For all our parents to wake up and get a clue."

"I wonder if we can get a group rate on family therapy?" Nicole wondered outloud.