Hello again. It's been a while, this chapter took so long to write. It's slightly shorter than the other ones, and it's a bit more of Samtana/Lopevans (I honestly don't know what their ship name is, so) and a bit less brittana, but I hope you like it anyway.

I have a lot of ideas recently, and I'm doubting to use those ideas in this story. If I do, the story might become a lot longer than I had planned on. Or I could just stick to my original plan. It's up to you guys, honestly, so let me know what you'd like to read.

I hope you like the chapter, even though it's maybe a bit depressing at times, you get to read a bit more about the relationship between the three of them now, instead of just the two girls, and I find that interesting haha, I don't know about you guys.

Oh yeah, I'm going to start posting previews of my stories and stuff on my Tumblr account. Also if you want me to write a prompt or anything, just drop it in my inbox :) for anyone who is interested, fanfiction Tumblr is maanofanfic, and if you're sure you can handle my personal account, go to imsoundercoverrr, it's full of glee, brittana, pll, girls, and other fun stuff. I'm pretty much always on there, so.. I swear, I kind of have a life besides fanfiction and tumblr. Kind of ..

Anyway, if you're feeling kind, drop a review in the box, and let me know if you'd like to hear about my new ideas :)

Now, on with the story ..

It had been a month.

A month full of kisses, a month with cuddles, and love, and goofy smiles.

One month.

A month full of awkward looks, "I'll be right back"s, apologising smiles and guilty sighs.

He had said that he understood, he had told us he was okay with it. I knew he wanted me to be happy, for us to be happy. But I knew it was hard for him, and I knew he wasn't okay, too.

He was holding strong, but I saw the bag with empty bottles when I took out the trash. And I saw him gulp whenever we'd steal an innocent kiss, thinking he wasn't watching.

But he was.

He always was.

We tried to be subtle, we tried to be discreet. We tried to act the same way as before. But it was hard. It was harder then. Because he knew, and he was still there, everywhere.

I knew by the frown on his face, and the way he narrowed his eyes, and slightly bit his lip, that he was thinking. Deeply lost in thoughts, debating whether or not this was his fault. This situation.

I knew we couldn't stay like this. Him, her, and me.

I talked to her, and she had agreed. But what could we do? We couldn't just leave him like that. We couldn't kick him out. There weren't many options.

We had to speak with him.

We were at the dinner table, me next to her, he across from me. I absent mindedly stared out of the window, thinking about what to say. But she knew.

Sometimes it was like she could read my mind. Like she was inside of me, or could read me like no one else.

"Sam." She said. Her voice made us both look up. She sounded like she was about to tell us something important. Important, and scary.

And it was.

I knew it was coming, I knew we were going to talk. We discussed it, we agreed on breaking the news during dinner.

But when she looked at me, my throat felt sore, and I couldn't say a word. She gave me a small smile, barely visible, and I knew what she meant. She would do the talking, she knew that I couldn't. She knew that I wouldn't.

So she spoke. Told him that she knew he wasn't okay, even though he said he was. She told him that we all knew we couldn't all live in this house like this, that things had to change. While she was talking, she started sounding more determined. She sounded more sure of what she was asking for.

When she was done, he bowed his head down and studied the little drawings on the placemat. He was speechless, not knowing what to say. Eventually, he looked at me. He looked me straight in the eye when I least expected it and the look in his eyes broke me. He looked at me, so lost, so doubtful.

"Is this what you want ..?" He asked me.

His voice was raspy, tired. Like he hadn't been sleeping for a month.

One month.

I knew what he meant with those words. He didn't only ask, if I agreed to her proposal. He didn't only want to know if I wanted things to change.

He wanted to know if I wanted to leave him, divorce him, and start a new life somewhere else. He wanted to know if this was my decision, too. He needed to know, I really loved her. More than I've ever loved him.

I swallowed down the urge to say no. No, this was all just a joke. A big misunderstanding, something we would be laughing about years from now.

No, of course not. We weren't planning on leaving at all.

But we were.

I took a deep breath, and I knew that was enough. But even then I looked at him, bit my lip, and softly nodded yes.

Yes, I'm leaving you.

Yes, I'm moving away.

Yes, I love her more.

I didn't try to explain, we knew he wouldn't understand. He knew it too. He just closed his eyes, and released the breath I felt like he was holding ever since she called his name.

When he opened his eyes again, he nodded back.

"Okay"

Soft and quiet.

"If that is what you want."

He then stood up and left the table, she showed me a little smile.

You did good, her eyes said. This will all be better for us. She then took my hand and held it to her lips, kissing it softly. I smiled, gave hers a little squeeze, and thanked her for doing the talking. I couldn't have done it.

She nodded, told me that she knew. She knew me like that. I knew her like that.

We stayed at the table for a little while longer, I leaned back in her embrace while she wrapped her arm around me and absent mindedly drawed small cirkels on the palm of my hand.

I was so grateful for her, in that very moment. I was so thankful that she knew me, like no one else did. I didn't even have to say a word, or make a sound, for she knew what I meant.

He returned to the table, and I automatically sat up straighter. He asked us if we wanted dessert, we both shook our heads, and he disappeared again, leaving us alone in the room.

A soft sigh escaped my lips, and she pulled me closer to her. She slowly ran her fingers through my hair and gently kissed me on my forehead. Those simple, sweet gestures, were the things that made me love her even more. Whenever she took my hand in hers, or caressed my skin, or briefly pressed her lips against mine, whenever I felt her gaze lingering on me for just a second longer, and I saw the loving look in her eyes, those were moments when my heart skipped a beat, and my body heated up. Those were moments when the warm, fuzzy feeling in my stomach returned. Those were the moments that made me whisper I love you, over and over and over again.

And everytime she said it back. Over, and over, and over again. Even though she didn't have to, because I knew, and she knew.

She softly squeezed my shoulder and I looked up. She asked me if I wanted to get up, and I shook my head.

"No," I said. "You can go, if you want."

I could see her bite her lip, slightly, before loosening her grip on me to face me. A hint of a small showed on her face, but it didn't reach her eyes. She nodded her head a little.

"Don't stay up too late." She said, leaning in to kiss me goodnight, before standing up and walking away from me. I watched her leave, she didn't look back.

I was laying in bed, barely under the covers, her arm draped over my waist. I felt her chest rise against my bare back, and her warm breath tickled my neck. I was attempting to blindly reach for my phone when I heard the noise again. It was sharp, yet quiet. It sounded like someone didn't want anyone to hear them. I knew it was him, this wasn't the first time he had been up in the middle of the night.

Another muffled sound, followed by a loud thud and an obvious series of curse words. I closed my eyes and sighed. He was drunk.

As I had said before, Sam Evans was a decent man. Raised right, always polite, always speaking with respect. He only cursed when he was drunk.

Really drunk.

Extremely drunk.

Knowing him like that, I already knew what I was about to deal with when I softly removed her arm from my waist, trying not to wake her, slid out of bed, and searched around for some kind of light source. I eventually located my phone on the ground.

After putting on a pair of shorts and one of her sweaters, I tiptoed over to the bedroom door. My phone clutched in my right hand, I opened the door, as quietly as possible, and slid out of the room. I didn't turn the lights on in the hall. I attempted to avoid the squeeky steps on the stairs, while making my way to the bottom floor.

It was silent and dark in the living room. I didn't see him anywhere.

And then I heard a sniffle. It came from a dark corner of the room. I shone the light of my phone in that direction, and let out a silent sigh. He was curled up in front of the couch. His body was slightly shaking. Another sniff. I walked up closer to him, avoiding the empty bottles on the floor.

He looked vulnerable, like a kicked puppy, and I felt my heart break. My stomach turned in knots when I saw the damage I had caused. Because this was on me. This was my fault. He was broken, because of what I did. I think he knew that I was there, suddenly he looked up, slowly. His eyes found their way to mine.

I could see him gulp to swallow his tears, he didn't want me to see him like that. I bit my lip and walked even closer, before kneeling down in front of him. His eyes were still locked to mine when he whispered that he was sorry. I shook my head.

I was sorry, I said. I shouldn't have lead him on. I shouldn't have made him believe that I loved him. A tear rolled down his cheek. I moved and sat down next to him. He sat up straight, and stared into the dark, not knowing what to say. I think he didn't want to talk. Not to me, not to anyone. He was too proud for that. But sometimes even he could break down, and until that night, I didn't know.

I let my hand slide into his, and he finally looked at me again. It was hard to know what he thought, I couldn't read him like I could read her.

"Why?" was all he said. It came out like a whisper, only for me to hear. I looked at the man next to me, and I didn't know what to do. What to do, what to say, how to act. Because in that moment, I realised I didn't know why. I didn't understand myself, how I could've done something like that. How I could've betrayed the man who had done everything to make me happy. The man who loved me, like I loved her. Like a sunset.

I swallowed and slowly lifted my shoulders. I couldn't do anything but to shrug. He looked down and softly squeezed my hand.

"It just .. hurts" He told me. His voice cracked at the words. I slowly nodded and shuffled closer to him. My eyes filling with tears, I told him that I knew.

And in the middle of the night, on the cold and bottle filled floor of our living room, we sat and we stared into the dark. Seconds, minutes, maybe hours passed by. He calmed down, his tears dried. When the clock striked three, he stood up. He softly tugged on my hand and I followed him, through the room, and up the stairs. That night, I fell asleep in his arms. Because he needed it, and I think I needed it too.

It must've been strange for her, waking up without me. Every morning, I would sleep in, but she would awaken before me. She would watch me sleep, before rolling over, and peppering me with kisses, until I finally opened my eyes. But not that day. It was the first time in a month, that I wasn't there. So I understood why she got up, out of the cold and empty bed. And I understood why she would open the bed room door, and tripple down the hall, all the way to his room. And I understood why she frowned when she saw me in his bed. Barely under the covers, dressed in a hoodie of hers.

What I didn't get was why she went downstairs, to clean up the mess he made. Why she didn't wake me, wake us, even though it was already way too late. Why she never asked about it, not even when we were alone. She just smiled at me, when later on, I slowly shuffled into the kitchen. She scanned the room behind me, to make sure he didn't follow, and she pulled me closer to her. She wrapped her arms around my neck and kissed me like she hadn't ever done before. I was surprised, barely awake, but I went along with it anyway.

"Good morning" she whispered, resting her forehead against mine. I told her the same, with a sleepy smile, and I kissed her once again. She didn't ask about the night before, and I didn't tell her either. I figured that she knew, and when I saw the way she looked at him, when he joined us in the room, I knew my thoughts were right.

Maybe she had followed me downstairs, maybe she just knew this was to come. But she didn't judge me, or him, or anyone. She just made us breakfast and smiled at us, and we didn't find it strange. She kissed him on the cheek, and whispered a few words, which he returned with a sigh and a slow nod. I think she asked him if he was okay. She seemed to believe him when he nodded, and when he later looked up at me and smiled, I finally believed him too. We never spoke of that night again.

The following weeks were hard, we had to start dealing with the paperwork, and the serious things. Meeting with lawyers and signing papers made it all feel too definitive. But when everything was arranged, my doubts started taking over. What if this wasn't the good choice? What if I was fooling myself, fooling everyone again? What if I would break her heart, too? Or what if she broke mine? Questions slowly started to drive me crazy, and I know she noticed.

One night, I was sitting on the porch. It was dark outside, and not much was to hear besides a few crickets and occasionally a car driving by. She sat down next to me and draped a blanket over my shoulders, before joining me under it. I didn't look up. She asked me what I was thinking about.

"Everything and nothing" I said quietly, staring into the distance.

A sad smile appeared on her face. "Who is your everything?" she asked. I looked at her. I took a deep breath and shrugged slightly. She showed a soft smile, shuffled closer and rested her head on my shoulder. I sighed and searched for her hand. She intertwined our fingers and gave my hand a soft squeeze. We sat there for a while, in silence.

"You know," she said, after a few minutes. "Soon this will all be over."

I let out a silent sigh. "That's what I'm afraid of," I replied.

She hugged me tight and told me there was nothing to be scared of. We would start a life together, and he would move on too. Maybe it would take us all a while to adapt, but in the end, we would all be okay. I listened to her talk, but didn't hear everything she said. I was too busy thinking. I leaned into her embrace and let her softly caress my skin.

I thought about my words and what she had asked me. She was my everything, I realised, but that didn't mean he was nothing. He wasn't nothing to me. I still cared about him, a lot. I wasn't really sure what he was to me, but he definitely meant something. I softly nodded to myself. That's what I would settle on, I decided.

I was thinking about everything, and something.

And everything, something, and I, would be okay.