A/N: Requested as a siblings drabble focused on Samantha; "Four times they did something special for her, and one time she did something special for them."

Yay!

"Wait, why can't we get a cat?" Jack asked one day out of the blue.

"What?" April closed her eyes, groggy and barely awake, unsure where that even came from.

"Sam said she can't have a cat," he explained quietly, "and I wanna know why we can't get a cat?"

"This isn't the conversation I need to be having a six in the morning, dude," April massaged her temples and opened her eyes, wondering why the hell he was such a morning person. Neither of them were, even remotely, and he always got up at five to run.

"We should get her a cat."

April took out a coffee cup from the cupboard and walked over to their little Keurig. Pressing the small cup, she took a deep inhale of the bitter liquid pouring into the cup. She really didn't need to be doing this at this hour.

"C'mon, mom, it'll make her so happy," he whined.

April turned her head and he had that pleading look that she knew so well from so many years with Andy. "You think?" she asked evenly, because April knew it would. Really, the only reason April would want a cat is because Sam kept slipping in hints, as subtly as she could, about one.

"Well, it wouldn't hurt?" he shrugged. "I dunno."

"Did she ask you to talk to me?" April thought about getting sugar and creamer out but just didn't have the energy, instead sipping the black coffee and appreciating the bite.

"No," he shook his head. April already knew the answer, anyways.

It wasn't that April was distant from her children, and far from it in all actuality. She went to every football game she could for Jack, and she tried to be interested In Robbie's love for science but God that was difficult, and the twins were tiny, monstrous versions of herself as a middle schooler. Sam, however, was a quiet, soft kid who withdrew really early and didn't seem to want to come out so April knowingly spent a little more time being around her. Whether that was reading, watching her paint, or just lounging around in the living room with her, April liked the settled atmosphere with her daughter. Besides, when she wasn't busy with work the only things April wanted to be around were her kids and Andy.

"I'll think about it," April nodded, taking another sip and grimacing at the taste. Still, it was working. "D'you want a cat?"

"Not really," Jack shrugged.

April smiled, walking over to give him a kiss on the cheek before heading to her home office to get an early start on something. Or, more likely, ignore her work to mindlessly browse and wait for Andy to get up for a little morning rendezvous when they'd have time alone.

Hours later, on the way back from a grocery trip April took a brief detour to the little animal shelter she knew was just a block away from the store.

"You should try out for a sport," Robbie suggested brightly, lying on Sam's bed and bouncing up and down on it with giggles every time she launched herself in the air.

"Ew," Sam retorted, picking up a pencil and quickly sketching out the wireframe for the next figure on the page. "Why are you in my room?"

"Because... dad said I'm supposed to watch you," she bounced her hands on the bed once more before settling into Sam's pillow.

"Please stop messing with my stuff," she requested, looking up from her sketch for a second before sighing and returning. "What're mom and dad even doing anyways?"

"Said something about going on a date," Robbie grimaced and Sam let out the same noise of disgust.

"At least they're not, going out on a date-" Sam made air quotes, shivering in discomfort, "in the house anymore."

Robbie bounced on her bed again, and Sam winced again. She didn't like people in her room in the first place, and she didn't like that someone was on her bed either even if it was her sister. There were some boundaries she liked to have, and usually they were kept up, but her skin started to tingle and itch and she feared breaking out in hives from this.

"Can you please leave me alone?" Sam said in a soft voice, griming up her thumb by smudging the graphite mixture on the paper. "Please, Bobby?"

For a second she just got a confused look and then that wide smile, the one that looked eerily like her dad's, and Robbie hopped up from the bed and closed the door behind her as she made her way out of the room.

"I'll let you know when the pizza's here!" she heard her sister shout from outside.

Sam just smiled to herself and went back to drawing, suddenly alleviated from the strange, crushing feeling.

Stirring a glass of lemonade, still not convinced the sugar's dissipated properly because both her dad and Robbie are impatient when it came to these things, Sam glanced out the sliding door at her mother relaxing in the sun and reading a book while two monsters attacked the torn up yard. Walking back to her room with her drink, she brushed aside the mewling cat on her desk chair to sit down. Not long after, the large ginger leapt onto her lap and curled himself up there.

"You are so fat, Jasper," she chuckled, scratching his chin before clicking on her lamp.

Without her hand even touching a pen, the door bursts open behind her and Jasper skitters off and under her bed. Turning around, one of the twins entered with clean hands as the other dropped came in with a shoebox and much more mud and dirt covering her arms.

"What are you two doing in here? Get out-"

"We wanted to show you what we're putting in Amy Hamperdon's locker tomorrow," Lucy spoke up, closing the door with an even face.

"Look what we caught," Victoria said monotonously, opening the shoebox to quickly show the large spider, dirt, and various worms enclosed within. "You said she hated spiders right?"

Sam remembered saying something about that the first time she came home from high school after being bullied. It was annoying more than anything, but she really didn't need anyone to know about it. Somehow, the twins knew. They always knew weird things that no one ever told them, and once her mother gave them a ouija board for a joined birthday present and terrified their friends at a sleepover. Their friends and dad, who thought it would be funny but ended up running, yelling, to their parents' bedroom never to return.

So, yeah, they knew about the girl that no one really liked but still bullied and talked down to everyone. Most people could just deal with it, but for whatever reason Sam never got used to that.

"Yeah," Sam nodded.

Without another word, and not needing one, the twins left her alone and Jasper eventually found his way back into her lap. She might never say it, but Sam loved those terrifying little fiends.

"C'mon, Sammy," Andy walked her out of the bedroom, rolling her still on her desk chair while April held her hands over their daughter's eyes. "We gotta big surprise!"

"Andy!"

"Oh, crap. Forget you heard that," he laughed.

There were things that Andy loved in his life, and that was basically everything. Really, he was so full of excitement and joy for everything that he assumed his kids would be exactly the same. That wasn't it though, because the kind of love he had for them was beyond the ordinary. It was beyond, even, what he had for April. They were the single most important thing he'd ever know, and their happiness was tied for that, so when he heard Jack and Robbie conspiring for Sam's birthday it nearly made him cry.

Then again, the same thing happened when he heard that the twins dumped dirt and creepy crawlies in a bully's locker a few weeks before. All it took was knowing that his kids weren't miserable - and that time he went to go get a drink and heard Sam sniffling to herself in her room and refusing to answer him was the single most heartbreaking night ever - and he became a bright ray of sunshine. Well, brighter. He would never lose his love for April, and that became even more sincere when they discussed and talked about and she agreed to be the mother of his freaking children, but it was different with them and in a totally awesome way.

"Mom!" Sam protested but by the time they made it to the living room April had already removed her hands.

"Surprise!" the remaining children shouted, and April and Andy ran out in front of her to join in. "Happy Birthday!"

In front of her was a small pizza box and little stack of boxes. One rather large, wrapped box was at the bottom of the pile and she just glanced down at all of it then up to them.

"What's this?" she pointed at the pizza.

"We got you that gross vegan pizza you like," Andy propped open the lid for her and he was right, inside was the heavily decadent pepper and mushroom monstrosity she loved. "That was my idea. I'm an awesome dad, I know. Uh, and we all got you a cool present."

"And your brother and sisters have a present to give you. Don't they?" April spoke up, elbowing Jack lightly in the side.

"Yeah, we, uh, got Jasper a new bed," he scratched his cheek and pointed at the large, fluffy padding she must have missed before. "And we promise not to be mean to him anymore."

"I didn't raise my kids to hate animals," April said with a small smile.

"No you didn't, babe," Andy grinned as he crossed the distance to stand next to her and give her a brief kiss. "You're such an awesome mom, by the way..."

"Dad!" Sam interrupted loudly when he went in for another kiss and it was not brief whatsoever.

"Oh, yeah, um... sorry guys," he laughed, touching the back of his neck and taking to just holding April with his arm over her shoulders. "So, do you like your party?"

She took one look around at everything and then simply nodded at them. The kids watched her open an easel, more supplies, and the vegan pizza back to her bedroom before returning to their usual corners and rooms.

When the kids move out of the house, and years have passed so far and the gray had fully set into Andy's beard and hair (and April found she was a very big fan of that look) with April's following suit not long after, they cuddle on the couch and stare at the TV. Or, rather, above it.

There, an old picture hung and sat framed for everyone who passed through to enjoy. Usually it was just April and Andy, though sometimes when Jack or Roberta visited they'd look at it for a while before going back to whatever they were there for and Lucy liked to take dozens of pictures of it from various angles. Vicky just thought it was kind of bland but didn't dare say anything about it. Sam, however, never really saw it. Ever since she dropped out of school, she rarely paid visits back home. It was sad, but April got calls every few months that reminded her that she was alive and well and having the time of her life travelling across the country.

Together, April's head in his shoulder and Andy kissing the top of her head, they look at the little family portrait - of all of them - Sam painted not long after her fifteenth birthday. It was always a relaxing way to spend the night, at least when they were too sleepy for anything else.