The doctor explained to Sam her options and she decided on having a laparoscopic myomectomy since it was the least invasive, most effective, cost efficient option she had. Plus the recovering time was faster than all the other options she had. A few days after the surgery and Sam was back home.

"Man. Hospital food is no good." Sam said heading for the fridge. "This place looks like new." She observed.

Carly had cleaned Sam's bedroom a couple of days ago, getting rid of the sheets and mattress that had blood on it and bringing in a new mattress and putting on new sheets. After doing that, she just started cleaning the whole bedroom, and then the entire dorm room which was more like a small apartment than an actual dorm room.

"Yeah, I cleaned some stuff. Moved some stuff around." Carly said as she walked in the door and sat some Get Well Soon balloons down on the counter.

Freddie came in, carrying grocery bags.

"Should I put this food up or just leave it here on the kitchen counter so you can have faster access to it?" He jokingly asked Sam.

Sam acted like she was thinking about it as she spread some mayo on a piece of bread. "Go ahead and put them away." She grabbed some bacon, and sliced a tomato to complete her BLT. "So, Carly today is your first game in the WNCAA tournament. Are you nervous?" Sam asked as she sat down on the couch and started eating.

"No." Carly said. "But I better be going or I'm going to miss the bus to airport."

"They won't leave without you." Sam said with her mouth full of BLT.

"Yeah. You're like Michael Jordan. Do you think the Bulls ever left Michael Jordan behind?" Freddie asked as he joined Sam on the couch.

"I'm not Michael Jordan." Carly laughed as she went out the door and closed it behind her.

Sam and Freddie sat on the couch and had a nice heart to heart talk while Sam also had a BLT sandwich.

"Do you want me to help you finish getting caught up with your classes?" Freddie asked.

"Sure. There's not much left. You could type this paper for me if you want." Sam said as she reached into her backpack and pulled out a few sheets of paper. "It's my English term paper."

Freddie reached for his laptop and grabbed Sam's paper.

"And thanks. You know. For everything." Sam added.

"You're very welcome."

While she was in the hospital, Freddie never left her side. He got both of their work via the hospital Wi-Fi and emailed each of their professors. They talked about what had happened then, during those long lonely nights with nothing but hospital food and the occasional snack that Carly would sneak in. Freddie wouldn't eat anything that Sam wasn't eating herself. He knew that she would probably attack him like a wild hungry animal if he did.

Those years where they tortured each other seem to be a distant memory, if it were not for the ever so often name calling that they now did in a teasingly loving manner, there would be no memory of those days at all. It was like true love had come to Freddie Benson and Sam Puckett. There was a certain unspoken bond between them that had been forged when they both realized that after spending all those years at each other's throats they were really after each other's hearts instead.

Now with Sam asleep, with her legs laying across his lap. He finished typing her paper for her and closed his laptop which lay across her ankles instead of his lap. He looked up at the clock. It was almost time for the basketball game to come on. Freddie lay his laptop on the table and woke Sam up, as instructed.

"I could go for a bowl of popcorn." Sam said as she woke up.

Freddie reached down to the floor and lifted up a big bowl of popcorn he had made earlier.

"You read mama's mind." She smiled.

"I sure did." He agreed.

They reached into the bowel, had popcorn, and started watching the game.

The Lady Trojans were ranked 1st in their region and playing in Phoenix at the American Airways Center against the 16th ranked South Dakota State Jackrabbits. It was what they call a no contest. The Trojans were just the better team this year and won easily 79-46. Carly scored 28 points and had 10 rebounds in only 28 minutes since the Coach Davis didn't want to risk her starters getting hurt, she pulled them all and got the bench players some playing time in the lopsided victory.

Carly checked her messages when she got back to the hotel. She have several. The ones she was looking for though came from Freddie and Sam.

Great game, kid. Good luck on the next one. Sam sent her.

Awesome showing Shay. Good luck in the rest of the tournament. Freddie wrote.

The next game for the Lady Trojans would be in two days against either 8th ranked St. Johns or 9th ranked Texas Tech depending on who won between those two tomorrow. For now Carly was happy with the victory and knowing that Sam was okay still. Later that night when she got settled in at the hotel and most of everyone else had gone asleep, she called Sam and talked to her for 2 hours while Sam and Freddie played Monopoly before going to bed. Sam won, of course.

The next day after practice, the Lady Trojans learned that they would face Texas Tech in the second round.

Back at USC, Sam had deemed herself ready to join the Track and Field team. She had already missed the first two practices but she felt ready, willing, and able to do what the school was paying her way to do. Freddie went with her to keep an eye on her. Sam ended up amazing everyone on the team and Freddie and the coaches. She finished all running events in either the top 3 or top 5 times in school history. And on top of that she scored the third longest throw ever in the hammer toss. Sam Puckett was more than determined to show what she could do after missing the first few meetings.

At the end of the day, everything was back on track at USC for Sam Puckett. She had dismiss any concerns with the team, and her classes were all caught up, and she felt great.