Disclaimer: If I owned American Dreams, it would still be on TV with Sam and Meg together.

A/N: Crawling out of hibernation once again, this time posting a (funky-written) AD Sam/Meg fic, because recently I was rejuvinated after re-reading a story post-series finale I had partly written. This was sort of an experiment to test out a different way of writing- with lots of continuing sentences and repeated words and italics. I don't know... it was fun. Hoepfully you enjoy it nonetheless (and hopefully you don't get annoyed by the word repition!).

Once there was…

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Once there was a bubbly blonde girl and a dark-skinned determined boy.

She had a good life in a big house with a backyard. He had a hard-working life in a small apartment not big enough for four.

They both lived in the same country in the same state in the same city in the same years but their lives were complete opposites. Her family was loud and successful and white, and his was quiet and hard-working and black. She attended upstanding, private Catholic schools along with her three siblings, and he went to poor public schools with his sister. They both obeyed their parents, and it just so happened that his father worked for hers.

Life went on like this (she sparkledsparkledsparkled and he workedworkedworked).

Until he didn't go to poor public schools anymore, and she started rebelling against her family (and that's how it began).

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In all the years his father worked for her father they had never met.

But then they did (and it went from there).

She found him quiet and reserved and proud and intriguing for some reason. He found her eager and laughing and nosy and compelling for some reason.

And soon they had no choice but to be friends.

There was something about him that piqued her interest. He was nice (different) and polite (knowledgeable) and helpful (good-looking) and determined (just the person her parents didn't want her to befriend).

There was something about her that forced him to really look at her. She was sweet (rebellious) and naïve (very smart) and cute (beautiful) and determined (just the person his parents didn't want him to befriend).

She decided that she would stick with him because he seemed to need it. He decided to get to know her because she seemed to want to.

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It was hard for them because it was the 1960's and times were hard and they couldn't do much except live. Her family made their friendship difficult to keep and sometimes she wondered if it was worth it (the answer was always yes).

He went to school and ran on the track team and helped at the store and (alwaysalwayslalways) did his best. She went to school and played her clarinet and danced on Bandstand and (almostalwaysalmostalwaysalmostalways) did her best.

They traded records at the Vinyl Crocodile and talked about anything and everything (and sometimes he thought the way his heart thudded louder when she was near meant he was falling in love and sometimes she thought the fluttering in her stomach when he was near meant she was falling in love).

And then she did fall in love.

But not with him (because it was the 1960's and the times were hard and they couldn't do much except live).

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He was with a girl and she was with a boy and it was okay because their friendship was important to them (except sometimes he didn't want to go into the record store where he knew he'd see the guy she was with, and sometimes she didn't want to go to those small performances where she knew she'd see the girl he was with).

But then he broke up with the girl and she broke up with the boy (and was on-and-off with a college student) and his mother died of cancer and they almost went on a date but it didn't work out (but he had been hopinghopinghoping it would and she had been prayingprayingpraying it was going to go well).

And then their friendship faded for a while as he got closer to his cousin and she fought with her parents about her older boyfriend and then they reunited again at a protest and got arrested together (and it all seemed too much to take and his palms still got a little sweaty when she was around and her stomach still sort of tangled into knots when he was around).

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He had never been a bad-boy and she had never completely been a good-girl so when she met the bad-boy (she fell in love) and he met the good-girl (he fell in love) their lives changed in a lot of ways.

They still had their friendship and his girlfriend noticed the subtext of the relationship more than her boyfriend, so his girlfriend became jealous. Soon though his girlfriend was too wrapped up in other things to care and her boyfriend was too wrapped up in anti-war protests to even see anything so it wasn't a problem (and he could finally tell his heart that his girlfriend hadn't actually noticed anything-nothingwastherenothingwastherenothingwasthere).

He broke up with the good-girl (and his heart broke a little) and the bad-boy skipped town (even though she gave him everything she had) and she had no date for prom and he had no plans and they found each other at The Lair and shared a dance (and that was their second beginning).

She could actually, honestly think about him now (there were no other boys around to divert her attention) and she flushed as she realized what an adventure it would be with him.

He could really, truly think about her now (there were no other girls around to make him feel guilty) and he grinned as he realized how amazing it would be with her.

And then something changed (their families ended up ruining it, they had seen it coming- knewitknewitknewit).

All she got was tears and all he got was a kiss on the cheek (and they both had a week of their lives they could really say was one of the best).

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The bad-boy came back and this time he had been drafted and she didn't know what to do because somewhere there was a dark-skinned boy (man) she still cared about (always so confused), and his cousin had a date with whom he hit it off with so well that he thought maybe there really was someone else out there for him instead of a white girl (woman) he still cared about (but his heart beat to the time of thereisn'tthereisn'tthereisn't).

And then she was given an ultimatum (nofairnofairnofair).

And then she made a decision (stupidstupidstupid).

She was gone before there was any chance to warn him, and he only found out because after two weeks he noticed her absence and asked her best friend. She had run away with the bad-boy (the opposite of him) and he was with another good-girl (the opposite of her) and they thought they'd never see each other again.

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Six weeks later he heard she was home again (and his heart thudded thankGodthankGodthankGod) and she saw him from outside the window of their fathers' store (and her heart thudded thankGodthankGodthankGod). He knew she had left the bad-boy behind and before they had even met up again he had broken up with the good-girl and when they saw each other she ran into his arms and cried for a long time (and he cried a little too because he almost lost her).

She went to the community college and he kept going to the university (and it was like another new beginning again). It took her family time to accept her back and it took his family time to accept how his smile grew and his eyes brightened whenever even her name was mentioned.

And it took the two of them time to accept what was happening between them (because it was the 1960's and times were hard and they couldn't do much except live, but now they wanted more than that).

And when they kissed for the first time when the leaves were crackling under their feet and the crisp wind was whipping her curls around it didn't matter what was going on around them or what they would face (and their hearts beat together finallyfinallyfinally).

Once there was a bubbly blonde woman and a dark-skinned determined man (and they made it to the end together).

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End.