A/N: Howdy, strangers! I have not forgotten about Kayla. I promise. It's been insane here lately. School started, and my workload is more intense than I was anticipating. We've also had a death in the family this week. It wasn't a close relative, but one that my mother was close to, so I've been with her a lot this week. Please bare with me as I adjust. Though chapters aren't coming as fast as I used to put them out, I swear I am planning to finish this story. In this chapter here, Samantha is having trouble adjusting to her mother being gone so often. She gives Sam a little bit of trouble, but more out of frustration because she wants to see her mother than real misbehavior. The end of the chapter's a little sad, but overall the message of it is that despite going through such a terrible loss, Sam's moving on with his life through helping Kayla with hers.

Here's some of the chapters I'm planning after this one:

-Kayla graduates and becomes a counselor/social worker, but Samantha does not appreciate that it takes up even more of her mother's time.

-Jesse deals with a bully at school, and asks his Papa Sam for some advice.

-Todd's family has an emergency of their own.

-Kayla thinks she may be pregnant again.

-Samantha starts to rebel against her Papa Sam's rules.

-An encounter Samantha has at her high school hits a little too close to home for Kayla.

That's not it, but that's the bulk of what's left. Anyway, I hope you guys enjoy and I hope you're still enjoying. My enthusiasm for this story hasn't gone away, it's just waned a little bit with everything going on right now. Stick with me and I promise it'll continue!

Thirty days had passed since Kayla started school, and she was adapting much better than she ever thought she would. She'd decided to only take one class at a time, even though it would take her longer to finish. It gave her just enough time away from home that she enjoyed it, without feeling like she wasn't spending enough time with Samantha and Jesse.

The problem came from Samantha. She tried, as hard as she knew how, to be okay with her Mommy being gone so much. She did her homework, did her chores, tried really hard to get along with her little brother. But she missed Kayla. Kayla always asked her when she got home from school how her day went, and Samantha missed that a lot more than she thought she would. She tried to talk to Kayla when Kayla got home, but was usually sent to bed before getting any real time with her mom.

"Sammie, go get your pajamas on. It's almost time for bed." Sam said.

"I wanna wait for Mommy."

Sam withheld a deep sigh. He'd told Kayla before she'd had children that she would have a child just like her. Maybe I should've made sure I wouldn't be living with that kid too, Sam thought wryly. "Sammie, get your PJs on. You've still got half an hour before you have to go to sleep. If Mommy's home, you can see her then."

"But she's been gone since yesterday!" Samantha whined, and saw her grandfather get frustrated. "I just want my mommy!"

Sam reached down into his memories of a younger Kayla, of her wanting her Mommy and grandmother and, occasionally, her daddy. Getting frustrated with her never achieved anything other than making Kayla frustrated and setting everyone onto an ugly loop. Sam wasn't able to kneel down anymore the way that he might have with a younger Kayla, so he sat on the couch and invited her to sit with him.

"I know you miss your mom. You know, she went through something like this, too."

"She did? When?"

"When she first started kindergarten. She didn't want to be away from your Nana all the time."

"How'd she get through it?"

"Your Nana sat her down and told her that being away from Mommy and Daddy sometimes is a part of growing up." Sam explained. "That no matter what, Mommy would always come back."

Samantha looked to be processing Sam's words. She hadn't doubted her mommy would come back. She just wanted to know when. Kayla putting her to bed and talking with her every night helped her sleep. She almost never had bad dreams when Kayla put her to bed, because she fell asleep feeling safe and like someone really loved her.

"Honey, I know it's hard." Sam said. "But…"

Before Sam could finish, the front door opened. "Am I interrupting something?"

"MOMMY!"

Before Kayla could put anything in her hands down, Samantha was wrapped around her mother's leg. Kayla set her books down on the couch and pulled Samantha into a hug.

"Hey, you. I'm sorry I didn't make it back home before bedtime."

"It's okay. You're here now. Can we read a book before I go to sleep?"

"Yes. I will be right there. But I need you to get into your PJs first, okay?"

"Can you help me?" Samantha asked.

Kayla sighed. "Honey, you can dress yourself. Please be a big girl for Mommy right now and go change into your PJs."

"Mommy, please. I haven't seen you all night last night and all day today. Please…"

"Okay. Okay, baby. Go on to your room, I'll be right there."

"You'll help me change? And read to me?"

"I will do both. I promise. Just let me talk to Papa for a minute. Okay?"

"Okay, Mommy."

Samantha ran back towards her room, and Kayla turned towards a clearly frustrated Sam. "How long has she been like that?"

"A couple of weeks now."

"Seriously? Why didn't you say anything?"

"She's not really misbehaving. She just wants you."

Kayla frowned. "Maybe this is a bad idea."

"Don't even think about it." Sam warned.

"Think about what?"

"Not going to school." Sam said. "You deserve this. Just go talk to Samantha and reassure her."

"It's creepy how you do that, you know." Kayla said.

"How I do what?"

"Know what I'm thinking before I do."

Sam grinned. "That's my job."

"Where's Jesse and Todd?"

"Jesse's already asleep. Todd got called to the ER."

"Okay. Let me go handle this."

Twenty minutes later, Samantha was lying down on her bed, listening to Kayla tell her for the second time about Clifford the big red dog. When Kayla closed the book, she turned back to Samantha.

"Time for sleep, baby girl."

"One more time. Please."

"No, baby. It's time for sleep." Kayla said.

"Will you stay till I go to sleep?"

Kayla sighed. She wanted badly to go to bed. But she had missed Samantha as much as Samantha missed her. "Sure, honey. But you have to go to sleep."

"Can I ask you some questions?"

"Mommy, please. I haven't talked to you in days."

"Okay. What's your question?"

"Why did you want to go back to school?" Samantha asked.

"Well," Kayla said, shifting in the bed a little, "I'm studying social work and psychology. Do you know what that means?"

"No."

"Well, when I'm done with school, I'm going to be able to help kids who need it."

"Help them how?"

"Help them with things that might be bothering them at home." Kayla answered, trying to keep what she wanted to do at an age-appropriate level for Samantha.

"Isn't that what mommies and daddies are for?"

"Well, some kids don't have very good mommies and daddies. I want to be there for them so they can maybe see what it's like to have a good one. Does that make sense?"

"Yeah. It does. You a good mommy, you gonna be good at that."

Kayla smiled. "Thank you, honey. I needed to hear that today."

"You're still gonna be our mommy, though, right?" Samantha asked.

"Yes, baby."

"I miss you a lot, Mommy." Samantha said.

"I know, baby." Kayla said, reaching over to put Samantha's hair behind her ears. "I'm sorry. I know it's hard when Mommy's away so much."

"If I ask you for something, you promise not to get mad?"

"I won't get mad. Ask me."

"Can we have dinner together sometimes? Just you and me?"

Kayla was intrigued by the question. "Why?"

"I just want to talk to you or play with you sometimes. Without your school stuff or Papa or Daddy or Jesse around." Samantha explained. "Without you, I'm the only girl here. Papa and Daddy and Jesse will play dollies with me or have a tea party with me, but they're not as good at it as you."

"I get it, honey. I promise you, once a week at least, you and me will have an hour to ourselves. Okay?"

Samantha smiled. "Okay, Mommy."

"You ready to go to sleep now?"

"I got one more question." Samantha said, holding one finger in the air to emphasize her point.

Kayla chuckled. "Okay. One more. Make it a good one."

"Will you promise to always say good night to me? Even if you have to call to do it?" Samantha asked. "I sleep better when you do it."

"I promise that too, baby." Kayla said. "I'm sorry about last night. Mommy lost track of time. But if I won't be home by bedtime, I'll set an alarm so I don't forget."

"Deal." Samantha said with a yawn. "Night, Mommy."

"You still want me to stay until you fall asleep?"

"Please."

"You want me to sing to you?"

Kayla left the room after Samantha was asleep. She stopped in and checked on Jesse, then found Sam in the living room. Sam was looking through a scrapbook, and had his eyes on one particular picture. As Kayla sat down beside him, she saw the picture he was looking at and smiled. It was of Kayla, Mary, and her mother, on Mary's first day of first grade. Sam was behind the camera. Jess was kneeling down, having just tied Mary's shoe, and had been ganged up on by both girls. Mary had jumped on her mother's back, and Kayla was wrapped around her mother's waist. Jess was laughing, and in both Sam and Kayla's head, Jess's laugh rang out.

"What are you looking at?"

Sam looked up and smiled. Kayla was saddened every time Sam smiled since Jess and Mary's death. He never seemed completely happy anymore. Kayla had long accepted that she couldn't completely restore Sam's joy, but it didn't stop her from trying.

"Do you remember this?"

"Yep." Kayla said. "Mom had said we were getting too big to gang up on her like that. Mary and I wanted to prove her wrong."

"That was a few months after your mom and I moved back here with you."

"I remember." Kayla said. "Do you ever regret moving back?"

"Never. Not once." Sam said. He took a hand and touched Jess's face, then looked to Kayla. "You remind me a lot of your mom."

"Really? How so?"

"The way you take care of everyone. Everyone else comes before you. There's days I look at you and think you're her for a second…"

"Oh, Dad…"

Sam had choked at the memory of Jess. It had happened a few times right after Sam moved in with Kayla, but it hadn't happened in a few weeks. It occurred to Kayla that it might have happened and she didn't know it, but right now, that didn't matter.

"I'm sorry." Sam said when he'd calmed down.

"Don't be sorry." Kayla said. "I miss them both too."

"There's days I still think she's coming home."

"Me too. I still think Mary'll call and ask me a 'question'."

Sam laughed. After Kayla had moved out of the house, Mary would tell her parents that she had to call Kayla with a single 'question'. Even though Mary had only been ten years old when Kayla went to college, those questions often turned into hours long conversations that went well into the night. More than once, Sam had found Mary sleeping, with Kayla still on the phone talking.

"I almost forgot about those."

Kayla laughed and took Sam's hand. "I like that you can talk about them now."

Sam nodded. "Yeah. Me too. It still hurts, but I can think about them and not think it's gonna kill me."

"Good." Kayla said. "Hey, Dad?"

"Yep?"

"I'm starving. What's for dinner?"

Sam smiled. "Pizza?"

"Pizza." Kayla said. "Want to watch a movie?"

"Yeah. How about this one?" Sam pulled out a small box kept under the coffee table and produced a DVD labeled 'Mary's first year'.

"Sounds good, Dad. You put it on and I'll go order."

Thirty minutes later, as they were chewing some cheese and pepperoni, Sam and Kayla relieved some of their favorite memories. Mary coming home from the hospital. Kayla playing with a three month old Mary on a mat in the living room. Jess feeding Mary while Kayla sat beside them and rubbed Mary's head. Sam holding a six month old Mary on one knee and eight year old Kayla in the other, bouncing them both.

When the video ended, with Mary's first birthday party, Sam looked down at Kayla. She had been quiet for a few minutes, and he found her fast asleep, leaning on his shoulder. The menu on the DVD was a still picture of baby Mary and Jess. For a moment, no matter how artificial it was, Sam basked in having his three girls all back together. Rather than waking Kayla, he stood up gently, laid her down on the couch, and wrapped her up. She wasn't a fully mature adult as Sam kissed her forehead-she was five years old again, and had fallen asleep after begging to stay up "just a few minutes longer, Daddy, pleeeasse", complete with folded praying hands and a giggling Jess in the background when he found himself completely helpless to say no. Sam finally tore himself away from Kayla and turned to Jess and Mary, still staring at him through the television, forever out of his grasp, the missing half of his heart.

"Goodnight, my girls."