(Sorry, I'm just getting this out to you guys. Last week I was not feeling good, so everything to longer than expected.)
AN: This is the final chapter in this story.
(Joss and Jake are the same age, but they are just best friends.)
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5yrs later...
Jake had taken his time driving back from university after his last test before summer break; he was looking forward to seeing and hanging out with his siblings for a few months. University was a lot harder than he had thought it was going to be. The last year living on his own was a lot different. At the end of the day he like the structure and freedom of his life. As Jake pulled up to the house he killed the engine just in awe of the work his dad had done over the years. Slowly Jake got out of the car coming around to head for the front door. He hadn't gotten far before there was a squeal as a little blonde girl came running for him.
"Jakie! Jakie!" Bailey bounded into her brother's arms like every time he came home.
Not far behind Jake saw his stepmom with a knowing smile.
"Can I get a hug too?" Sam asked her boy.
"Of course," Jake smiled as he pulled her into a hug.
"Aiden and Danny are both still at school... This one had a checkup today, so we played hooky from school. You got this one all to yourself for a while. Unless you have some visiting to do; I know Joss would love to see you," Sam replied as she let go before they walked into the house.
"Joss and I have plans tomorrow. Something about old scary movies that are really bad playing at The Old Town Theater," Jake shrugged because it wasn't really his thing, but he was going to go just for the fact it was for his best friend.
"Can we play tea party with real tea, Mommy," Bailey pleaded sweetly.
"Since Jake is home... I guess we could," Sam agreed to it.
With that, Sam went off to the kitchen to make tea for her little girl.
"Down, please," Bailey smiled at her brother.
"What you up to?" Jake eyed her.
"I got to go get set up for the tea party," Bailey said like duh.
"Okay," Jake put his sister down watching her scurry off towards her room.
Alone Jake headed for the kitchen to talk with Sam.
"Want some coffee?" Sam offered as she was about to get up from the kitchen table to refill her own cup.
"Maybe in a minute... Can we talk?" Jake asked as he sat down across from her.
"Always," Sam agreed as she could see there was something on his mind.
"It took you and dad a while to figure things out, but you stepped in never treating me, my sister, or brothers different. You never tried to take the place of... Still, you were there for all of us. I know I didn't make things easy because I was afraid to trust anyone really," Jake opened up to Sam.
"It's not your job to make things easy after everything that happened. It was a gift to get the chance to love you," Sam reached out taking Jake by the hand.
"That's why I want to ask you if I can call you my mom," Jake looked into the eyes of the woman who had been a mother in every other way in the last five years.
"Yes," Sam agreed without hesitation.
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In the back office at Luke's which Jason had bought off of Luke about 4yrs ago along with Carly; he was going over the weekly books checking that every i was dotted and every t was cross as it should be. When Carly had come to him with the idea of reopening a place he didn't remember; Jason didn't know if he wanted a place that needed so much work to get back up and running.
"You look happy," came Carly's voice making him look up to see his best friend.
"Well we are making a profit which is nice to see," Jason said as he put the books away.
"When are you going to join the rest of the world and use a computer?" Carly asked as she took a seat in front of the desk.
"I like it this way... Plus if you want to take a crack at it... Be my guest," Jason smirked knowing she'd never do it.
"You're not funny I'll have you know. Plus I have to stay stress-free for the next seven months," Carly eyed him as if she was trying to tell him something.
"Why seven months?" Jason questioned her as she looked like she was going to jump out of her skin with excitement.
"I'm pregnant," Carly whispered almost as she couldn't help telling her best friend.
"Are you sure?" Jason asked a little worried for Carly.
"The doctor confirmed it," Carly teared up as her emotions were all over the place these days.
"That's great, but... I've heard about how things were with Joss," Jason spoke cautiously.
"Everything is good right now... Which means I get to have you do whatever I want for the next seven months," Carly teased him a little bit.
"Anything I can," Jason promised as he got up and went around the desk to Carly's side.
Gently Jason reached out pulling her up on her feet into a hug.
"We so weren't looking to have another kid... I mean Avery is about to be 9yrs old this year, and it was like we were halfway to an empty nest. Sonny is really worried about all of this," Carly started to ramble.
"Breathe just breathe; then count to 10," Jason tried to calm her down.
"Am I nuts for wanting this?" Carly asked as she worked on her breathing and counted to 10 in her head.
"No, I don't... However, I think you want to reclaim a piece of Morgan with this baby. You can't do that to this little one because nothing will bring him back," Jason pulled back a little to look her in the eye.
"Even without remembering you know me too well... I know I can't do that to her," Carly sighed as she went to lay her head on Jason.
"Her?" Jason questioned Carly a little.
"I know it's a girl.. I just feel that it's a her, and she's going to be a handful. This little one will be a perfect mix of me and Sonny," Carly said with a knowing look in her eyes.
"You won't find me betting against you ever," Jason replied knowing better than that.
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This was the last thing Cam wanted to be doing right now, but he knew that avoiding things would only cause him trouble later. He didn't particularly want to be sitting a the cafe in Greenwich Village meeting with who he was waiting on today. With a cup of coffee in his hand, Cam looked up at the sound of the doorbells letting out a jingle announcing someone coming in.
"Cam?" She questioned as she approached his table.
"Elizabeth," Cam greeted her after taking a sip of his coffee.
"Please don't," Elizabeth started to say; as she sat down.
"Don't... I have my feelings which you don't get to dictate to me," Cam shut her down.
Slowly she gathered her composure as she thought about what to say next.
"No matter what I was going to be gone; my hope was to choose the lesser of the two. It was either 10yrs or 5yrs... I wanted to get back to my children as quick as I could," Elizabeth pleaded with him to understand.
Over the years Cam had thought about what he'd say to her when the time came. It had been a long hard road for him and his family...
"I wanted you to fight to stay with us. No, you weren't the mother you should have been, but you took the easy way out with the plea deal. Maybe, just maybe we'd forget everything in 5yrs," Cam almost growled at her in an almost whisper.
It was hard for Elizabeth to see how much anger there was inside Cam after all this time. More than anything she wanted to believe time was the answer for all of her children.
"Cam, I wanted to be there, and it's why I took the deal in the first place," Elizabeth teared up as she looked at her son.
"Your tears don't mean a thing to me. After I was on that stand I went to our home to see you, and you know what you did to me that day after everything. You slammed the door in my face, and it was over for me after that," Cam spelled things out for her.
"I was trying to protect you from a goodbye neither of us could have handled," Elizabeth sobbed as she couldn't hold back the tears.
"You took my choice away from me because it should have been my choice. I was old enough to make the choice. Over the last few years, I've made a few choices on my own. I married the love of my life Emma, and we just found out that there's a baby on the way. You will never be in my child's life or mine for that fact. Emma says I need to forgive you, but that doesn't mean I'll ever let you back in," Cam slammed into her as he put his cup of coffee down.
Done with her and everything Cam pulled out some money throwing it on the table before leaving her where she sat.
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The house was abuzz with the whole family together for a family dinner; Aiden and Danny both had insisted on cooking for the whole family. Everyone else was gathered in the living room just spending time together. Jason and Cam were playing with Bailey who had them wrapped around her finger. Then Emma and Sam were talking to each other about girl stuff. While Jake took to checking in on his little brothers every now and again.
"What is going on?" Sam asked as she noticed Cam and Emma giving each other looks.
"Nothing," Cam said a little too quickly.
"Cam keeps looking at Emma's belly," Bailey piped in.
"Are you?" Sam asked eyeing them both.
"What she said?" Jason asked curiously.
With a sigh, Emma nodded causing Sam to squeal as she hugged her daughter-in-law.
"Congrats," Jason said as he patted his son on the back.
"How far along? When you find out?" Sam asked in a hurry.
"A little over 2 months, and we found out about two weeks ago. For a while, I just wasn't having any symptoms that I noticed, but then I had what I thought was the flu that didn't go away," Emma explained as she pulled the sonogram out of her pocket.
Then she offered it to Sam who took it, and her eye went wide with what she saw.
"There's two!" Sam said excitedly as she saw written Baby A and Baby B.
"Can I see?" Bailey asked trying to see.
"Lookie here," Sam said
as she showed Bailey the picture.
"Where's the baby?" Bailey asked confused by the image.
"They're really small," Sam said as she pointed the babies out.
"I don't know... That don't look like a baby," Bailey shook her head unsure about this.
"Baby? What baby?" Jake asked as he came back into the room.
"Cam and Emma are having twins," Jason told his son.
"Wow, that's crazy! Good thing you live close enough to mom and dad," Jake was taken back by the news of his brother becoming a dad.
"Mom?" Cam questioned looking to Jake.
"What? That's who she is... Mom and Dad have been in the thick of it with us. Plus its mom who went with me to college because dad couldn't get out of jury duty," Jake shrugged a little.
With all this talk Bailey went and climbed in her mommy's lap.
"Am I still going to be the baby?" Bailey asked in an almost whisper.
"You will always be my baby no matter how big you get," Sam promised her baby girl.
"No matter how many babies come," Bailey snuggled up to her mommy.
"Forever and always you'll be my baby girl," Sam chuckled as did the others.
Cam knew he had to let his parents know that he had seen Elizabeth, but for tonight he just wanted to enjoy this time with his whole family. All he could do was hope that Bailey's best interest would be protected at all cost. His sister was a mommy's girl through and through; Sam was the only mother his sister knew or remembered. Of course, his dad talked about Elizabeth when it came to Bailey, but Bailey couldn't understand the concept of Elizabeth being her mommy. All Bailey knew was that she had a mommy who lived with her; who was like the mommies her friends had.
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(The End)