"What do you mean you'll be here tonight?!" Sam lowered her voice, but her face still showed the extreme panic from before.

"Uh, yeah. Mom and I got a good deal on some earlier plane tickets! We're boarding now."

"Boarding now?! And you tell me this last minute because?"

"Because we just got the tickets like an hour ago. Anyways, I gotta go darlin! See you tonight!" The phone call ended and Sam just stood in the middle of the living room frozen. She was lost in her own thoughts, numb from the panic.

"…Tonight. They'll…uh, be here tonight."

"Samantha?" Connor approached her and gently placed his hands on her shoulders. She collapsed into his arms.

"I…have the absolute worst luck." She closed her eyes and let Connor drag her back to the sofa to sit. "James. You have to help me."

"Usually, I would say that you dug this hole yourself, but…under the circumstances…" He shrugged and sighed again. "Yeah, of course I'll help you."

"You're the best brother ever."

"Yeah, yeah." He waved her off. "I'll pick them up from the airport and call you when we're on our way back."

"Samantha?" Connor crinkled his eyebrows and looked over at her. "Why not just remove the LED? Without it, you'll look human."

"I wanted to leave it there." She frowned, running a finger over the light on her temple. "As a reminder to myself."

"A reminder of what?"

"Of what once was. A reminder to…move on." She gave him a quick smile before frowning again at the thought of her parents coming over. "This is gonna be a shitty Christmas."

They chatted away for the next few hours until James had to leave to get to the airport. He left and Sam went back into panic mode. She sped off to the second bedroom of the apartment to clean it up; she was currently using it as a storage space. Connor joined her in moving all of her miscellaneous things from the bed and shoving them into various closets. Her LED began flashing yellow with a call from James. "Yeah?"

"I'm on my way back with mom and dad. Is the guest bed cleaned off?"

"Yeah, it's ready. But hey…I'm not!"

"Don't worry about it. I'll be there." The call ended and Sam locked herself in her bedroom until James returned. Susan let him and their parents into the apartment.

"Connor, my boy!" Sam's dad quickly pulled the man into a tight hug. If he wasn't an android, he would've had a hard time breathing. Connor awkwardly returned the embrace and tried to shuffle away but was taken by her step-mother as soon as her father let go.

"Oh, it's so good to see you again, sweetheart!"

"Uh, yes. You too, Mr. and Mrs. Blume." He finally took a few steps back and rubbed at the back of his neck.

"Where is my Sammykins?"

"Oh she's in the bedroom. She was changing." James lied, only to stall them a little bit and give Sam more time to calm herself. She needed it as she was pressed against the bedroom door trying to get her stress level back down.

"It's ok, James." Sam's voice called from the bedroom again. "I uh…I'm calmer. I think."

"You sure?" Her brother furrowed his brows in disbelief.

"Calmer?" Her dad asked. "Sammy, are you nervous about something?"

"Oh. My. God! Are You Pregnant?!" Her step-mother squealed out in joy and the men all covered their ears.

"Jesus Christ, mother! NO!" Sam burst out from behind the door, a big giant scowl on her face at the stupidest question that had ever left her step mother's mouth. "How the fuck would I even get pregnant anyways?! I'm sleeping with an android! It's not biologically possible! And even if I wanted children, I can't have them! Because I'm…"

"An android…?" Her father looked her over as her step-mother's mouth just hung open.

"…Yeah. An android." Her voice was so much smaller now.

"Sammy?" The older man approached her, looking her up and down before running a hand over her cheek and up to her LED. He brushed her hair out of the way and behind her ear, running his thumb over the yellow light. "Junebug? …I…How? Why?"

"It's…a long story." She pointed to the couch. "Sit and I'll tell y'all all about it…"

"Alright." The older man did so, lightly tapping his wife's shoulder on his way over. "Martha, sit down."

"R-right." Her step-mother answered, still dazed and sat quietly next to her husband. "Bill, what's happening?"

"Sammy is going to tell us. Right, Junebug?"

"Yeah." She looked quickly over to her brother and Connor. They nodded and exited the apartment to take a walk. Sam was scared, but wanted to do this on her own. She had to. She left them in the dark this whole time and they needed her to be completely honest with them now. She sat in the chair next to the couch, angling her body to face them. "Dad, you remember how momma died, right…?"

"How could I forget?" He narrowed his eyes a bit, looking her over before frowning. "Is that what happened, Samantha?"

"…Yeah." She nodded, sniffling to hold back her tears just remembering the whole ordeal. She brought up the memories with mix of telling them what happened and projecting a few of the harder to explain ones on her hand. "It was the only way. Ha, you'd think they'd have a cure for this shit by now…"

"So…what happened to your body?"

"I donated it to be used in scientific research and as an organ donor."

"Oh, Junebug…" Bill stood from his place on the couch and knelt in front of Sam, taking her into his arms. "I never thought…in a million years…that you would suffer the same fate that your mother did. I am so sorry that I didn't do anything about it sooner. I should have had you tested or something at a younger age. I'm your father and I failed to protect you."

"No, daddy. It's not your fault." She let the tears fall down her cheeks, thankful that she could still cry. "And I'm alright now. Connor helped build this body for me. I'm alive. I'm still me. Just…a little more plastic than before."

"Darlin' why didn't you tell us about any of this before? We could've been there for you." Martha frowned, something that usually didn't find itself on her face.

"I was scared. And…overwhelmed. I didn't really know what to do. But…all that is over now. It's in the past. Right now, Christmas is in a few days. And…I think that my apartment is looking a little too…bare." She wiped her tears away and gave them both a shining smile, motioning to a large box of decorations that Connor had found shoved into the corner of the second bedroom.

When Connor and James came back from their walk about the neighborhood, the whole apartment was decorated in colorful tinsel and twinkling lights. The tree was set up in the corner of the living room and awaiting further decoration. Sam smiled and ushered them back inside, handing them each a small box of trinkets to hang on the tree. They each shrugged and got to it, catching little glimpses of Sam and her parents chatting or smiling as if nothing had changed. Towards the end of the night, Sam poured herself and the android boys cups of Beerium and her parents some whiskey that she had acquired last year. They clinked their glasses together.

"You'll always be my Junebug, darlin'. No matter what." It was then that Samantha decided she was never going to keep her parents in the dark again. Especially her dad.