Sam sat nervously in the witness stand, trying not to look out into the crowd at Carol's cold eyes.

"And so after you heard the gunshot while you were protecting your daughter in her bedroom, what did you do?" the district attorney said to Sam.

"I told my daughter to stay in her room, in the closet, and I went to go see what had happened to Aiden," Sam said, trying to block out the images that were resurfacing in her mind.

"And what did you see?"

"I saw the front door open and Aiden lying on the floor with a-a bullet through his head," Sam said, looking down at her lap.

"Was he alive or dead at that time?" the district attorney asked gently.

"He was dead," Sam whispered. "They-They told me he was dead before he hit the ground…he didn't suffer."

"Thank you, that's all," the district attorney said, giving Sam a small smile.

"Your witness, Mr. Darenson," the judge said to the lawyer on the other side of the courtroom.

"We have no questions for this witness," the lawyer said simply, and Sam felt a sense of relief. The ADA had told her the defense most likely wouldn't question her, for any attack on her would make the lawyer look even more cold and heartless than he was, and the jury would eat that up.

Sam went back to her seat, still avoiding looking at Carol who was sitting behind her.

She was thankful that the rest of the trial moved quickly. Within an hour, the judge had released the jury to their chambers to make a decision.

Sam hurried out of the courtroom, glad to be free from its stuffy walls. She found a small bench and sat down, pulling out her phone.

It's gonna be over soon, she reminded herself. It's all gonna be done…

"Your testimony was rather short, don't you think?"

Sam looked up and saw Carol standing in front of her.

"I said what they wanted me to," Sam mumbled.

"Well you could've added some stuff," Carol said simply. "You could've said you saw that Tomas guy hanging around your neighborhood earlier that day or that you had seen his face as he ran from your house after he shot Aiden!"

"I couldn't lie on the stand, Carol," Sam said.

Carol didn't reply, and simply spun on her heel and stormed away.

I really can't stand her, Sam thought as she watched her sister-in-law turn the corner. Then again, she never could.

….

"How big is this place?" Sam gasped as she stepped out of Aiden's car, staring at the huge Connecticut mansion in front of her.

"Big," Aiden said modestly. "Maybe after dinner I can give you a tour of the place."

"I wish you told me your sister lived in a mansion," Sam mumbled, looking down at her own outfit. She was wearing a simple dress that could pass as formal at any normal place, but not here.

"Hey, you look fine," Aiden assured her. "More than fine…stunning. As usual. One of the many reasons I asked you to marry me."

"But your sister lives in a mansion," Sam said again. "This place screams fancy! I can't walk in there like this!"

"Hey, this is the place I grew up in," Aiden told her. "And I don't want my fiancé and future wife to feel like she doesn't belong here."

"Wait, you used to live here?" Sam frowned.

"Yup," Aiden said. "Born and raised…technically…technically I own half the place now. My parents left it to me and my sister in their will."

"But you don't live here."

"Nah," Aiden chuckled. "I gave up my half of the property when I moved to New Jersey."

"Why?" Sam asked. "This place makes your apartment look like a shed or something…no offense."

"I just wanted to get away from it all," Aiden shrugged. "You know, see if I could make something of myself without my parents money and house hanging over me."

"Wow," Sam said softly. "Sounds like some story right out of one of those cheesy inspirational movies."

"Yeah, I'll be selling the rights to my story any day now," Aiden smirked, rolling his eyes. He took her hand. "Seriously, Sam, just be yourself. Don't be intimidated by the big house or all the fancy things in it or my sister."

"Well I wasn't planning on being intimidated by your sister until you said that," Sam said. "What's Carol like?"

"She's…nice," Aiden said lamely. "Deep down. But don't worry too much about her. I've told her how crazy I am about you."

"Aw," Sam grinned, standing on her toes to give him a quick peck. "I'm kind of crazy for you too."

The couple walked up the long driveway to the front steps of the house. Aiden rang the bell and gave Sam's hand a reassuring squeeze.

The door was opened by a man wearing an expensive back tuxedo.

"Evening, Master Anderson," the butler said curtly.

"Come on, Ralph, you know Aiden's just fine," Aiden said, smiling politely at the man. "Ralph, I want you to meet my fiancé, Sam. Sam, this is Ralph. He's been my family's butler since I was born."

"Nice to meet you, Madam," Ralph said, taking Sam's hand and kissing it briefly.

"Um, you too," Sam said, a bit shocked that people actually did that in real life. She had always thought it was only something you saw on movies.

"Is Carol down?" Aiden asked. "I'm ready to get to the dinner part of the night. We just drove all the way from Trenton and I'm starving."

He turned to Sam. "Hopefully she serves lamb tonight. The cook, Wilma, makes the best lamb. When I was a kid I used to sneak into the kitchen and she'd always let me have the first taste before she served the rest to my family."

Sam laughed, still looking around the place.

Aiden had told him that his family was pretty wealthy, but she still hadn't expected this. This mansion looked like it would hold the queen or something!

She looked up at her fiancé and suddenly felt a great surge of respect for him. It probably would've been real easy to get taken up in all this; the butler, the chef…everything, and become something of a snob who thought he was better than everybody else just because of his money.

But Aiden wasn't like that in the slightest. After all…he was with her, a girl who could never even dream of fitting into this lifestyle.

"Hello, Aiden," a voice said, floating down the stairs.

Sam turned around and saw a tall, thin woman with long, dark hair coming down a curling staircase.

"Hey, Carol," Aiden smiled, hugging his sister once she reached them.

"I'm glad you could come, it's been quite some time since we've seen each other," Carol said, and Sam had to refrain herself from laughing at overly-dignified tone in her voice.

"Well I told you, I wanted you to meet my fiancé," Aiden said, putting his arm around Sam. "Carol, this is Sam. Sam, this is my big sis, Carol."

Carol looked down at Sam with pursed lips. "Ah…Sam. Short for Samantha I presume?"

"Um, yeah," Sam nodded.

"But she goes by Sam," Aiden said.

"Right…how modern," Carol said, extending her hand and shaking Sam's briefly. "Well, supper is awaiting us in the dining room."

Sam and Aiden followed Carol into a large room with a massive table filled with covered trays.

Sam made to pull back her chair to sit down, but another man wearing a tuxedo quickly rushed over and pulled out her seat for her.

"Oh…thanks," Sam said. "So, um, Carol, it smells really good. What are we having?"

"Braised game hen with a red wine sauce," Carol replied, taking her own seat.

"You'll love the sauce," Aiden told her. "It's Wilma's specialty."

"Wilma no longer works in the kitchen," Carol said, unfolding her cloth napkin.

"What? Why not?" Aiden frowned. "Did she get sick? I know she used to struggle with her Asthma."

"No, I just let her go," Carol said. "She was getting to be a bit too slow. She wouldn't have dinner out until five minutes after I called for it and she was getting quite old. She was becoming more of a liability than an employee."

Aiden gripped the arm of his chair tightly but said nothing.

The dinner was a disaster, to say the least.

There must've been at least fifteen different utensils in front of her, and Sam had no idea which one to use, though that didn't keep Carol from correcting her at every turn.

She spilled her wine all over the white tablecloth and she accidently put her elbow into the butter dish.

When desert came Sam wound up getting blueberry tart on the front of her dress.

"Well," Sam said under her breath to Aiden as the dishes were cleared away. "That was a disaster…"

"You're exaggerating," Aiden chuckled. "Just relax and enjoy yourself here."

"Sam," Carol said, getting to her feet as the servers continued to clear the table. "A friend of mine is in the wedding dress business and I have a few of her catalogues in the drawing room I want to show you. Can you come with me?"

"Um…" Sam said, looking over at Aiden, who gave her an encouraging nod. "Okay."

She followed Carol out of the dining room into a small room down a long corridor.

How many rooms does this place even have? Sam thought to herself, looking around this new room, which was set up to look like a reading area.

"So," Carol said, looking through the stack of magazines on the coffee table. "I hear you're a waitress."

"Um, not exactly," Sam said. "I own a restaurant with two of my friends. I guess I do wait tables sometimes…but, um, I'm not just a waitress."

"I see," Carol said. She pursed her lips. "You know my brother was all set up to marry a young girl from the Branton family? You know them, they have chains of office stores all around the country."

"Oh," Sam frowned. "No, I-I didn't know that."

"Yes, it was pretty much all arranged from the time Aiden was fifteen," Carol said. "But then he told our parents he didn't want to be forced to marry someone just to protect our family name, and well, they allowed him to end the agreement."

Sam didn't know what to say to that.

"Yes…you're quite different from the girl my parents planned on seeing their son marry," Carol continued. "You don't come from a family like ours, you didn't go to an Ivy League school, you're not particularly ladylike, you lack any grace…"

"What are you saying?" Sam asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Nothing," Carol said. "Just that my brother seems to have a very different idea of what characteristics the girl who he's planning on spending the rest of his life with should have than I do."

She pulled a thick magazine out of the pile she had been rifling through and handed it to Sam. "There you are. Some of the best dresses of the year are in there. Maybe you can find something you like…if you don't mind at least looking decent for one day of your life."

….

One of the good things about this trial coming to an end was that it would also mean the amount of time Sam had to deal with Carol would dwindle. She knew it would be wrong to keep her from seeing her niece and nephew, so she supposed she'd have to suck it up and deal with Carol at holidays and birthdays, but that would be it.

After about an hour, the ADA walked over to Sam and told her the jury was out and the judge was about to deliver the verdict.

"You did great on the stand, by the way," he told her as he led her back into the court room. "You really got to the jurors."

"Hopefully they made the right decision then," Sam mumbled, sitting back down in her seat.

"Alright," the judge said loudly once everyone was seated. "On the charge of murder in the second degree, how to find the defendant?"

"We the jury," said the first juror, getting to her feet. "Find the defendant, Louis Tomas…guilty."

The knot in Sam's stomach loosened slightly at those words.

She watched the face of Louis Tomas contort as he yelled out his protests, but it didn't matter.

Than man who had taken her husband away from her was going to get what he deserved.

Everybody had been telling Sam she would feel closure and relief once this moment came, and Sam did feel a bit better leaving the courthouse than she had felt walking into it this morning, but it wasn't at all as if she suddenly spring in her step and a whole new outlook on life.

I guess there's really no excuse for me not moving on anymore, Sam thought to herself as she got into her car to drive back to the restaurant. I've got to at least start trying.

…..

When Sam got back to the restaurant, Garry had Liam in his arms as he wiped down the bar, and Roxy was following Kenna as she waited on the few tables that were filled.

"Hey," Sam said to Garry, holding out her arms for her son. "Thanks for watching them. Did you have fun with your Uncle Garry, Liam?"

"Ba!" Liam cooed, drooling a little bit on Sam's shoulder.

"Is-Is everything done now?" Garry asked softly.

"Yeah," Sam nodded, stroking Liam's hair, noticing it was starting to take on the exact same shade of brown his father had. "Tomas is going away for a long time."
"That-That's great," Garry said. "That's what he deserves."

"I know," Sam said as Roxy ran over and hugged her leg. "Hey honey, I missed you."

"She's been helping me all day," Kenna said, joining everybody at the bar. "Right Roxy?"

Roxy nodded proudly.

"Good job, Roxy," Sam smiled. She looked back over at Kenna and gave her friend a small nod, answering her unspoken question about the trial.

"There's some barbecue chicken in the kitchen if you want it," Kenna told Sam. "Some dude ordered it but then he changed his mind just as I was about to bring it out to him and he decided he wanted ribs instead."

"Sweet, I'm starved," Sam said. "I'll go back there in a minute and-"

Just then the door to the restaurant opened and Freddie walked in.

"Hey!" Sam grinned, glad to see him. "How's it been, Benson?"

"Oh, um, good," Freddie said, and Sam noticed he seemed to be a bit…preoccupied. "Just got off of work."

"Oh that's right, you started a couple days ago, right? How is it?" Sam asked. "I was gonna go work in the kitchen, you want to come back and tell me all about the spy business while I-"

Her words suddenly left her mouth as the door opened again, and none other than Carly Shay walked in, looking absolutely ecstatic.

"Sam!" Carly exclaimed. "Surprise! I'm here in New Jersey!"

"Um…yeah-yeah I can see that," Sam said, still in shock as Carly ran over to her, hugging her tightly.

As Freddie watched the two girls embrace, he looked over at Kenna and Garry, and noticed them exchange glances. Kenna's arms were crossed and she looked like she had just smelled something awful.

"This is great! I was so excited when got Freddie's message saying he was back!" Carly beamed as she pulled away from the blonde. "Now we can all catch up together! It's gonna be just like old times! Oh my God…is that Roxy?"

She smiled down at the young girl, who was avoiding Carly's gaze. "Hi Roxy! I bet you don't remember me. Last time I saw you, you were just a little baby. Now you're so big!"

"Yeah, she-she's four now," Sam mumbled, looking over at Freddie.

Why'd he bring her here? Sam wondered to herself.

But then again, she knew Freddie didn't mean any harm. He just wanted to get his group of friends back together to try and live out the old days once again.

Too bad the old days were too far gone.

"And wait…who's this?" Carly gasped, looking at Liam in Sam's arms.

"This is my son," Sam replied. "Liam."

Freddie frowned. Carly didn't even know about Sam's second child? Sam hadn't been kidding when she said the two of them hadn't talked much lately.

"Oh my God…I can't believe you've had a baby in the time since we've last talked," Carly said. "I-I remember you saying something about you and Aiden thinking about trying for another kid, but I still can't believe this! He's so cute…you know, I think he looks just Aiden. Except for his eyes, but well, Roxy got his eyes, didn't she?"

Sam clenched her jaw tightly.

"Hi!" Carly said brightly to Kenna and Garry.

"Hello," Garry said politely.

"Hi," Kenna mumbled.

"Well you guys look great," Carly said. She turned to Kenna. "It's Kelly, right?"

"Kenna," Kenna corrected her.

"Oh right, right," Carly said quickly. "And this is…sorry, I'm really drawing a blank."

"Garry," Garry told her.

"Oh, I knew it," Carly chuckled. "It was right on the tip of my tongue."

"What-What are you doing here, Carly?" Sam asked.

"I told you, Freddie called me and I just finished up a big project over in Italy, so I thought I'd finally take some time to come catch up," Carly smiled.

"Ah," Sam nodded. "Nice of you to return his phone calls."

"Well, um, Sam, do you need any help around the restaurant?" Freddie asked quickly. "Carly and I can give you a hand and then maybe later we can all watch a movie or something."

"Sure," Carly agreed. "That sounds great! Oh, we should go out for dinner too, my treat, of course. I heard there's a cute little bistro uptown. Hey, why don't you invite Aiden to come with us?"

Freddie could've sworn he could've heard a pin drop after Carly said those words. Suddenly he realized just why Sam seemed to have grown less-than-fond of Carly.

"Um, Roxy, why don't you come back and help your Uncle Garry and I do some of the dishes in the kitchen?" Kenna asked quickly, taking Liam from Sam and grabbing Roxy's hand.

How could she not know? Freddie thought to himself as Kenna and Garry took the kids into the back.

"Where is Aiden?" Carly asked, clearly not realizing the tension that had built up in the air. "I thought he liked to hang around the restaurant with you guys in between his contracting jobs."

Sam narrowed her eyes. "Aiden's dead, Carly."

"W-What?" Carly frowned. "He-Oh my God, Sam. I-I'm so sorry."

"He was murdered," Sam continued, her voice as cold as ice. "Nine months ago…You remember that last time I tried to call you?"

"Oh…" Carly whispered, a few tears welling in her eyes. "Oh no…Sam, I-"

"I just really needed to talk to someone," Sam snapped. "You know, after I lost my husband and had a daughter who was so traumatized by it that she can't even talk! But you…you couldn't even give me two seconds! You couldn't take a break from your fabulous life in Italy to even speak to me after the worst thing that had ever happened to me!"

"Sam, I-I'm so sorry," Carly said softly. "I didn't know-"

"No, you didn't!" Sam yelled, attracting the attention of the customers at the table, but she didn't seem to care. "Of course you didn't! Ever since you left, Carly, you just forgot about everything you left behind! But even when you would go for months without calling before that, or when you would blow off the web chats were supposed to have, even when you almost missed my wedding, I kept making excuses for you! I kept telling myself that you're just busy or that it was no big deal…but that was the final straw! You know Spencer flew out here for the funeral? He tried to call you too, but you couldn't even give your own brother the time of day! Heck, even Gibby called me after he found out. But my so-called best friend couldn't even pick up her phone."

"Sam," Carly said again, tears streaming down her face now. "I-I feel awful. I don't-I'm so sorry."

"Yeah," Sam mumbled. "So am I."

And with that she stormed out of the restaurant, slamming the door behind her.