A/N: Hi! I'm so sorry it's been so long! I've been swamped, and I know this is short, but I'm trying! Please review with constructive stuff, it really keeps me going! :) Love you all!

Sam slipped out of bed that night, once she knew Freddie was asleep. Unwrapping herself from his grasp, she pulled on a robe and quietly went into Lucy's room. The two year-old was still awake, lying there staring at the mobile above her crib.

"Hey Luce," Sam greeted, picking up Lucy with a grin and sitting down in the rocking chair. Lucy stared up at her mother with her light blue eyes, grinning toothily.

"Mama," Lucy muttered, reaching up. Sam grabbed her finger and wiggled it, smiling back at the little girl.

"You're amazing, Lucy," she whispered. "I hope you know that. You're gonna grow up to be amazing and all the boys are going to chase you around. Don't you let them get you, though, unless they're the one. You'll know when you find him, cause he doesn't give up on you no matter what the hell happens. He might be a dork, but that'll be okay, so long as you love him. He might be your best friend, or an enemy, or both. But whoever he is, hold him tight and never let him go, okay?"

Lucy gurgled as Sam started to cry, holding Lucy closer than ever. "And Lucy, he's gonna love you more than anything," she continued. "And when he tries to hold you tight, don't let him go until you have to. Until it's gonna kill him to hold on. God, Lucy, I love you. Please, please promise me you'll take good care of Daddy for me."

"I'll help her," Carly said tentatively from the doorway. Sam whipped around, pressing Lucy to her chest before she realized who it was and she relaxed. Carly walked in softly, sitting on the couch opposite the rocking chair. "She's gorgeous," Carly agreed, stroking Lucy's beautiful brunette curls that already resembled her mothers.

Sam nodded. "I'm gonna miss everything," she told Carly, letting the tears fall freely. "How am I supposed to be alright with this? With leaving them? Freddie, Lucy? And what about you? How am I supposed to leave you?"

Carly laughed bitterly. "You aren't," she replied. "This is not how it's supposed to happen. But it is happening. Do you know how many nights I've stayed awake with Lucy, praying and teaching her how to say 'dear God save my Mama'? It's like I've spent all this time wishing for one more moment, and when I get it, I don't want it because it's the one last moment and I don't want it to be?"

"It is happening, isn't it?" Sam asked. "I'm dying."

Carly nodded with a sad smile. "But you're living right now," she pointed out. "We have to be happy about that."

"Do you have a pen and paper?" Sam asked. Carly fetched a pad of paper from beside Lucy's crib, handing it to her best friend. "I want to write a letter to Lucy. Give it to her for me? When she's older? If she ever misses me?"

Carly nodded. "Anything, anytime," she told Sam. Sam spent that night writing, scribbling as Carly stood by, just being there for Sam. At the end of the night, she handed the tear-streaked paper to Carly.

"This is just in case," she said quietly. "If she's ever missing me a lot, just give her this and tell her I'll always love her. If not, just give her when she graduates and I'm not there."

"What if you are?" Carly asked, trying to be optimistic.

Sam shook her head. "You and I both know I won't be."

The next morning, at breakfast, Carly made an announcement. "We're going to go visit some places today," she informed Sam and Freddie.

Sam rolled her eyes, but went along with it. "Where might we be visiting?" she asked.

"Well, we're going to start with Ridgeway," Carly said to them. "It is, after all, where you guys met."

Which is how, 20 minutes later, Sam carried her daughter into her old school, grinning as she saw Ms. Briggs still there bossing teens around.

"Hey Francine," she greeted, holding Lucy up. "Luce, this is where you'll go to school. That's the awful annoying teacher, Francine Briggs."

"Hey!" Ms. Briggs snapped. "I'm still Mrs. Briggs to you! Respect your elders! Either way, what are you doing back here, Puckett?"

Freddie frowned, wrapping an arm around Sam protectively. "Her name is Sam Benson now, Mrs. Briggs," he countered.

Mrs. Briggs rolled her eyes with a scoff. "Oh, and that's Benson Jr. is it?" she asked sarcastically. "Well, little lady, I hope you know that you'll probably spend your life being carted between houses, with the way your parents act."

Sam's eyes darkened. "That's over the line, Francine. You have no right to insult my family or my marriage like that," she said firmly. "Freddie and I are happily married, and you will not say things like that to Lucy."

Mrs. Briggs shrugged. "What are you gonna do about it? Tell the principal? You have no control over me, honey," she said with a smirk.

"Actually, I do," Sam told her. "Lucy will be going to this school, and we will also be donating a scholarship for a student to come here who has cancer. We can get you fired. So shut up about my husband and daughter."

"Why a kid with cancer?" Mrs. Briggs asked. "What has cancer ever done to you? You two are healthy as horses, unfortunately. Damn. I was hoping I'd never see you three back in my hallways."

"It's not what cancer has done to us," Freddie said quietly. "It's what cancer's doing."

He ran a hand through Sam's hair, pulling her flush to him. Carly looked on, horrified as a curl fell out into Lucy's hands and a tear fell from Sam's eye onto her daughter's head.