"Have you decided on sleeves or no sleeves yet?" Carly asked over their web chat a week later. "Personally, I'm a fan of no sleeves, but I have seen a few dresses with those really nice lace ones that-"

"Er, honestly Carls, I haven't exactly decided on anything about a dress yet," Sam admitted. "I-I haven't actually started looking yet."

"Sam!" Carly exclaimed.

"Well I've been busy!" Sam defended. "I have work and the twins…and my hatred of dress shops. They don't let you take food in those places, you know."

"Come on, Sam, this is your wedding dress," Carly said. "It needs to be perfect."

"Can't I just give you my credit card and have you buy it?" Sam moaned.

"Doesn't work that way," Carly chuckled. "But you know…a bunch of dress stores in Seattle are having huge sales next week because there's some wedding expo coming to town. Why don't you fly over and look here?"

"I dunno," Sam said slowly.

"It will be fun," Carly said. "You and I can go dress shopping!"

"Yeah, but that's a long trip," Sam pointed out. "I'd have to bring the twins and find a hotel and-"

"Please, you don't need a hotel," Carly scoffed. "You know how many people you have to stay with here? Let's see, there's me, your mom, Freddie's mom, Spencer-"

"Fine, fine I don't need a hotel," Sam said, rolling her eyes. "But I still can't just jet off to Seattle for a weekend. The girls have school-"

"It's a weekend Sam, as in no school," Carly commented.

"Yeah, but-"

"You done with the excuses?" Carly asked, raising an eyebrow.

Sam sighed. "I guess."

"Great!" Carly said happily. "It's all set then. I can't believe it, you're coming home in just one week!"

Sam chose not to burst her friend's bubble and remind her that New York was now her home.

"Yeah, well, now I've got to go book a flight," Sam said. "Taking away my precious wedding planning time-"

"We both know you weren't about to do any wedding planning," Carly said knowingly. "You were probably about to watch reruns of America Sings."

"Goodbye, Carls," Sam smiled, closing her computer.

She supposed there were worse things than heading back to her hometown for a weekend. Freddie would be thrilled and as much as she dreaded dress shopping, doing it with Carly was sure to make it slightly less miserable.

"Mom?" Leah said, walking into the living room. Thankfully the doctor had been right in saying that Leah would make a full recovery after the infection scare. She had been released from the hospital a day later and was already back in school. "Mom, I was thinking and I think you were right to ground me. I betrayed your trust by going behind your back and asking Freddie to cover for me. I should've known better and I've learned my lesson."

"Fantastic," Sam said simply, turning on the T.V., knowing there was more coming.

"And since I've reached such a mature conclusion all by myself," Leah continued. "Don't you think I should be rewarded by, oh, I don't know, going to the dance tonight?"

"No I do not," Sam answered at once, not looking away from the television.

"Mom! This isn't fair!" Leah moaned. "I need to be at that dance! I was potentially going to get a boyfriend."

"Well that wouldn't do you much good, you can't date yet," Sam replied.

"Ugh!" Leah groaned just as Freddie walked into the apartment.

"Hey, what's going on?" Freddie asked cheerfully, hanging up his jacket.

"Oh nothing, just my mom destroying my life!" Leah said as she turned on her heel and stormed back to her room.

"And that's how you do it," Sam said proudly as she got up to greet Freddie.

"I see…" Freddie nodded. "Now what just happened?"

"Eh, Leah was bugging me to go to the dance," Sam shrugged. "But since she's grounded, neither of are going to let her go, right?"

"Um…right," Freddie said.

Sam gave his hand a squeeze. "See? You can be tough too."

"Yeah, sure," Freddie scoffed.

"Well…you'll learn," Sam said. "Anyway, you wanna order some pizza?"

"I could go for that," Freddie replied.

"Cool," Sam said. "Oh, and by the way…you up for a trip to Seattle next weekend?"

"Wait, what?" Freddie frowned. "You want to go to Seattle?"

"Yeah, Carly talked me into going over there with her to go dress shopping," Sam sighed. "I mean, you don't have to come…you can always just stay here and-"

"Are you kidding? Of course I want to come!" Freddie said. "I've really missed Seattle. I love it here with you and the girls but I don't think I'll ever get completely used to the city. This is great…my mom can see the twins again! She barely got to meet them the last time you went to Seattle last year. Oh, and we can show the twins where we both grew up! And we can take them to the space needle and-"

"You can do all that," Sam said. "Do you know what it's like to shop with Carly? I'm gonna be spending my whole weekend in stores."

"Yeah…that's probably true," Freddie said.

"What's for dinner, I'm starving," Kira said, coming out into the room.

"Pizza," Sam replied. Then she frowned. "Hey, you're not grounded. Aren't you going to this dance thing at school?"

"Oh right," Freddie said. "I can give you a ride if you need me to."

"Pfft, like I'd be caught dead at some school dance," Kira said.

"You don't want to go?" Freddie asked.

"No," Kira snapped. "It's just a bunch of kids wearing ugly outfits and dancing around with each other. The food's not even going to be that good. I'd rather stay here and watch T.V. anyway."

"Well I'm sure it would be fun-" Freddie began, but Sam cut him off.

"Okay, well, the pizza should be here in half and hour," Sam said. "I'll call you and Leah when it gets here."

"Alright," Kira said, grabbing a can of soda from the fridge before retreating back to her and Leah's room.

"Huh, I wonder why she doesn't want to go to the dance," Freddie said. "Leah's practically dying to go."

"Dances aren't really here thing," Sam shrugged. "You know she isn't exactly as…popular as Leah. I was the same way, remember? The only reason I went to our stupid dances was because Carly forced me to."

"Oh," Freddie said. "Well, I guess that's true. Still, I think she'd have a good time if she went."

"Maybe, but you heard her, she doesn't want to go," Sam said. "No use forcing her. So what do you want on your pizza?"

"Pepperoni's fine," Freddie replied. "Here, why don't I order? I'll get one pizza for me and Leah to share and I'll get you and Kira your usual Triple Meat Slam."

"You really know how to woo me in," Sam said, giving him a quick kiss. "I'm gonna go run and take a quick shower, okay?"

"Your pizza will be awaiting your return," Freddie smiled.

Sam headed into her and Freddie's bedroom. She had just thrown the shoes she had been wearing into the closet and was about to go into the bathroom when suddenly her Pearphone began to ring. She looked down at the screen and saw it was an unfamiliar number.

"Hello?" Sam said, answering.

"Hello, I'm looking for a Samantha Puckett?" the voice on the other end said.

"This is her," Sam said, curious. "Who are you?"

"I'm calling from city hall," the woman said. "I have notice here that you're to be notified when a Marshall Pewter is released from prison."

Sam froze at the mention of her ex-boyfriend and father of her children's name. "W-What? He's being released?"

"In one week from today," the woman told her.

"I-No," Sam said. "No, he-he can't be."

"Ma'am, I'm afraid the release has been finalized already," the woman said. "If you would like, I can assist you in filing a restraining order if you see fit."

"I-I need one for my daughters, not for me," Sam said. "Could I do that?"

"You can certainly come into the office and talk to someone about that, yes," the woman replied. "Can I help you with anything else?"

"N-No," Sam replied softly. She could feel herself shaking.

"Okay, have a great night," the woman said cheerfully, clearly not aware that she had just delivered the news that Sam had been dreading for years.

Sam hung up her phone and slowly sunk onto the bed.

She knew this day would come eventually…Marshall wouldn't stay in jail forever. She had just hoped that maybe if she tried to push him out of her mind, she could pretend that he could. But it looked as though her ex-boyfriend was going to be free once again. She couldn't suppress a shudder.

Would he contact her again? Would he try to contact Leah and Kira?

Leah and Kira…what was she going to tell them? They had only been three when their father had been sent away. And even before then, he had never been a true father for them. Most of the time he was too drunk to even notice them. Sam had told them that he had left when they were younger…what would they say if she told them there was a chance that he would be coming back?

Sam shook her head. No. She wasn't going to let that happen. She was going to make sure of that. She didn't want that man anywhere near the twins.

Suddenly she felt a surge of pain from the scar on her left shoulder; the mark of the knife Marshall had used to-

She sat up. She didn't want to think about that night. She had done everything to try and block it out since it happened. She couldn't afford to worry about herself anyway. She knew she could protect herself…She was worried about her daughters. She needed to make sure they stayed safe.

She felt sick to her stomach, like she was about to vomit. She wanted to go back to an hour ago, where her biggest problem was going dress shopping with Carly.