AN- Alright, so here is the final piece of this story; the epilogue. I just wanted to thank everybody who has followed this story and I hope you have all enjoyed it!

…..

Three years later

"Mommy!" five-year old Heather exclaimed, rushing into the kitchen where Sam was currently making lunch. "Tell the twins to stop following me! They won't leave me alone and it's annoying!"

Sure enough, a moment later three-year olds Shay and Bradley ran into the kitchen after their big sister.

"Heather, let's play house!" Shay said excitedly. "You can be the mom and me and Bradley can be the kids."

"I want to be the dog!" Bradley said.

"I don't want to play house anymore!" Heather moaned. She turned back to her mother. "Mommy, make them stop!"

"Alright you two, it's time for lunch," Sam said to the twins. "Go wash your hands and give Heather a break."

"But we want to play," Bradley pouted.

"I made hot dogs," Sam smiled knowingly.

Both twins gasped happily and hurried out of the kitchen.

"Finally," Heather sighed, relieved, and Sam couldn't help but chuckle.

"You know, they're just hanging around you so much because they love you," Sam told her. "You're their big sister. They look up to you."

"That doesn't mean they have to bug me all the time," Heather muttered darkly.

"You know," Sam said, kissing the top of Heather's blonde curls. "Lauren said the same thing about you when you were the twins' age."

"She did not!" Heather replied indignantly.

"Sure she did," Sam laughed. "When you used to follow her around driving her crazy."

Heather didn't reply.

"You don't really mind them, do you?" Sam asked.

"I guess not," Heather admitted.

"Daddy's taking them to the park later," Sam said. "While they're out, you'll be able to have some peace and quiet if you want."

"The park?" Heather repeated. "I want to go to the park with daddy and the twins! Last time we were there I showed them how to swing really high and I have to see if they remember!"

"Oh, so you want to do something with the twins?" Sam grinned.

"They're not that bad," Heather said just as they heard the front door open.

"Where's my laptop?" eighteen-year old Lauren demanded as she ran into the kitchen, grabbing her computer that had been sitting on the counter. "I have to check my email!"

"Jeez, slow down," Sam said as she quickly got out of the teen's way. "Why are you so excited to check your email?"

"She thinks one of her college decisions might be in," Freddie explained, joining the family in the kitchen. He gave Sam a quick kiss. "As we were driving home from the grocery store she got a text from one of her friends saying she had heard back from Stanford."

"Ah," Sam nodded as Lauren quickly typed away on her keyboard.

"I really hope I got in," Lauren said anxiously. "I thought I'd have heard by now…oh, I probably got rejected, I just know it!"

"Honey, don't stress yourself out like this," Freddie told her gently.

"Yeah, I know Stanford is your top choice, but remember, you have already been accepted to a ton of schools," Sam reminded her. "Really good ones too that all have great biology programs for you to go into and have awesome campuses and-"

"-are much closer to home," Freddie added.

Sam rolled her eyes. "Dude…"

"Sorry, just putting that out there," Freddie said, sitting down at the table next to Heather. "So how have you been, Heather?"

"Can I go to the park with you and Shay and Bradley?" Heather asked. "I want to swing."

"Course you can, sweetie," Freddie nodded, scooping her up and placing her on his lap. "Hey, I know! Why doesn't everyone come and we'll make it a big family outing!"

"Can't baby," Sam said. "I'm taking Lauren out to go look at more prom dresses. You know, since she couldn't find anything in the thirty stores we've been in so far."

"I need the perfect dress," Lauren said, not taking her eyes off her screen. "Prom is one my one-year anniversary with Trent. It's a double occasion."

"You remember my requirements for the dress?" Freddie asked Sam.

"Freddie, they don't make dresses out of burlap sacks," Sam said, shaking her head.

"Well they should," Freddie pointed out as the twins ran back into the kitchen.

"You guys washed your hands?" Sam asked.

Both three-year olds nodded.

"I bet the bathroom looks like a war zone now," Freddie commented.

"That's okay, you'll get to it later," Sam smirked.

"Should've known," Freddie chuckled. "Good thing I picked up some new cleaning sprays at the store so-"

"Oh my God!" Lauren suddenly cried out. "It's here! My message from Stanford is right here in my inbox!"

"Well what are you waiting for?" Sam said excitedly. "What's it say?"

Taking a deep breath, Lauren slowly opened up the message on her computer.

For a moment, the entire kitchen was silent. Even Shay and Bradley seemed to understand what a critical moment this was.

"No way…" Lauren finally whispered. "I-I don't believe it."

"What?" Freddie asked. "What-what did it say?"

"I'm in," Lauren breathed, looking absolutely stunned. "I got in…I'm going to Stanford!"

"Lauren!" Sam exclaimed, jumping up and wrapping her arms around the girl. "That's amazing! Congratulations, I'm so proud of you! I mean obviously they'd accept you, with your grades and everything, but this still huge!"

"Good job, Lauren!" Heather beamed, jumping off Freddie's lap and hugging her sister.

"Yay Lauren!" Shay said, clapping her tiny hands together.

"Lauren's smart!" Bradley echoed.

"Thanks," Lauren said, still looking shocked, yet ecstatic. "I just can't believe it…this is my dream school!"

She looked over at her father, who was still sitting down, looking flabbergasted. Freddie quickly recovered, though, and got to his feet.

"Lauren, I-I'm so proud of you," he said, pulling his daughter into a tight embrace. "Stanford…that's incredible. You-you're going to do great there."

Lauren smiled up at him. "Thanks, daddy."

…

"-and I think that acceptance from Stanford made her more decisive too," Sam said later that evening as she climbed into bed next to Freddie, who was staring intently at his laptop. "Because she finally picked a prom dress. It's actually really nice and she looks good in it. I have some pictures on my phone I'll show you in the morning. Oh, and while Lauren was in the changing room, I ordered her an ice cream cake online that I was going to pick up for her tomorrow as a little treat for all of this. I'm gonna be at work when it's supposed to get picked up, so can you just do that, Freddie? Freddie? Frednub?"

"Huh?" Freddie frowned, looking up from his computer. "What is it?"

"What are you doing?" Sam asked.

"Just some research," Freddie sighed. "You know it's thirteen hundred miles from here to Stanford?"

Sam gave him a small smile as she put an arm around him. "Lucky we live in the age of technology."

Freddie didn't reply.

"She doesn't leave for another five months," Sam reminded him gently.

"Four months, three weeks and five days," Freddie corrected.

Sam squeezed his shoulder. "It's her dream school."

"I know," Freddie sighed. "And I'm so happy for her. She deserves this. But…this is it. She's all grown up. She'll be off on her own soon and she won't need me."

"She'll always need you," Sam assured him. "I mean she'll be asking for money from us for another eight years at least."

Freddie simply shrugged.

"That was supposed to make you laugh," Sam said.

Freddie sighed. "Am I a terrible father for wishing, just a tiny bit, that she hadn't gotten in and would be going someplace closer?"

"Nah," Sam said. "You're just an over-emotional nub, that's all."

Freddie couldn't help but laugh at that. "You know we'll be visiting her a lot, right?"

"Duh," Sam nodded. "We'll go up at least once a month her first semester. She'll probably love that…"

"Think it will ever get easier?" Freddie grinned. "Having her living so far away?"

"We'll probably get used to it eventually," Sam reasoned. "Especially once we see her kicking butt up there. But we're always gonna miss her. Course we're gonna have to do this all again in thirteen years with Heather. And then two years after that with the twins."

"Ugh!" Freddie moaned, falling back against his pillows. "Why are our kids so smart? Why do they have to go to college and leave us?"

"Oh come on," Sam said, rolling her eyes. "You're the one who has been promoting college to all of them since before they could talk. You were discussing SATs with the twins when they were one! You have only yourself to blame for all of this."

"It wasn't supposed to come back to bite me," Freddie pointed out.

Sam gave him a kiss. "Now you know how your mom felt when you left her for college."

"You did not just compare me to my mom," Freddie said indignantly.

Sam smirked. "Well if the shoe fits…" She suddenly got a more serious expression. "Hey, does Sarah still live out in California?"

"Pretty sure," Freddie nodded. "But I don't think she's near Stanford. Still, wherever she is she's still a hell of a lot closer than Texas."

"Is she excited that Lauren will be moving closer?" Sam asked softly.

"Who knows," Freddie said darkly. "I sent her a text earlier telling her the news."

"And?"

"I still haven't heard a reply," Freddie replied, shaking his head.

"Seriously?" Sam frowned.

"You really that surprised?"

"Unfortunately no," Sam sighed. "Still…how can anybody just do that? I mean she basically abandoned Lauren at this point. Do you even know when the last time she talked to her was?"

"No idea," Freddie told her, squeezing Sam's hand. "But at least Lauren has always had a mother right here with her. Baby…you know she does think of you as her mom, right? I mean…you're the one who has always been there for her. You're the one who held her hand when she got her ears pierced and had all those fun chats with her and the one who endured a combined nine hours of prom dress shopping with her."

"Ten," Sam corrected.

"Well either way," Freddie said. "You've been there for her in so many ways…she loves you for that."

"Yeah, well…I love her too," Sam said softly. "She's a great daughter."

"She really is," Freddie nodded. "All of our kids are really great. We must be doing something right, right Sam?"

But Sam didn't respond. Freddie looked over and followed her gaze to the picture of Conner that was sitting on her nightstand.

Freddie felt a pang of sadness. "You okay?"

"Yeah," Sam whispered. "Yeah, I-I'm fine."

"He would've been heading off to college right around now too, wouldn't he?" Freddie asked gently.

"Yeah," Sam nodded. "Yeah, he was only a few months younger than Lauren. They'd have been in the same grade."

She rested her head on Freddie's shoulders. "Wonder if he'd have wanted to go away for school or if he'd he'd have stayed close to home. He was pretty smart, you know. He liked to read…well, he never learned how to read, but he liked it when I would read to him. And sometimes he would pick up a book and just flip through it while he made up his own story. You know…he always said he wanted to be a doctor someday. I don't know if that's because he was always surrounded by them or what, but he seemed to like the idea."

Freddie kissed her temple. "He would've made a great one."

"I know," Sam sighed sadly.

"You sure you're okay?" Freddie asked.

"Yeah," Sam replied. "It's just, you know, big things like this sometimes get me thinking."

"That's normal," Freddie reasoned.

"I know," Sam said. She squeezed his hand. "You know, sometimes I also think about what would've happened if…if you hadn't come along. After Conner, I don't know if I would've been able to gone out without you and the kids…"

Freddie smiled at her. "I think you've done pretty well."

Sam craned her neck to kiss him. "No," she corrected. "We've done great."