Sam sat up on the ambulance's stretcher with Kinsey right beside her, while Mandy and Seth stood off to the side.

Mandy was leaning up against the ambulance, to support herself, as she stood there sniffling as she tried to process everything and wiped a tear away.

"He- He held me after Jax, after he- " She choked out. "...and I let him...I stood there, sobbing over Jax into his murderer's shoulder, like an idiot!" She sniffled again. "God, I feel so stupid."

Seth reached a hand out to try and comfort her, earning a slightly hesitant though appreciative half smile from her.

"Mandy…." Sam sighed. "Mandy, I was living with Cory for a lot longer than you were staying with Colton, alright? Kinsey and I both were…...none of us could've known what they were capable of."

Mandy shook her head, unable to shake Colton's cold, final words from her mind.

"I should've listened to you. I should've taken your word about him and ran in the other direction."

"Mandy, I made the remarks about him that I did because he was an asshole, who annoyed the shit out of most of us, I didn't think he was capable of murder…..not really, anyway."

Mandy nodded and wiped another tear away

"...I'm just sorry I sent him to your doorstep in the first place." Sam continued with a sigh.

"I'm sorry I compared him to Shawnee Smith." Mandy replied with a slight chuckle.

This got a good laugh out of Sam, too.

—

Shortly after, they were interrupted when a blonde man, who appeared only vaguely familiar to Sam, came running up to Mandy.

He let out a sigh of relief. "There you are, are you guys okay? I was in your apartment, and I heard screaming coming from your neighbor's place, so I called 9-11."

Mandy attempted a reassuring smile. "We're okay, Dad." She looked over and pointed towards Sam and Kinsey. "This is my friend, Sam, the one I was telling you about, and her girlfriend, Kinsey."

Sam half smiled at the introduction. "Nice to meet you."

Kinsey gave a small, friendly wave.

Mandy's dad smiled back, returning the wave. "You too, even under the circumstances."

Mandy nodded and looked toward Seth. "Oh, and this is…" She paused. "...I'm sorry, it's been a day, I don't really…"

"Seth." He chuckled, offering his hand to shake.

"He's our honorary brother." Sam explained with a little smirk.

Seth smiled at that, as Mandy's dad took the offered handshake."

He smiled back and nodded. "And you guys can call me John."

Sam smiled back and nodded, just before looking over to see her dads finally coming out of the building, with Asami running excitedly ahead of them.

—

"Hi, Baby!" Sam greeted with a chuckle when Asami caught up to her and leapt onto the stretcher with her and began smothering her with sloppy kisses. "I know, I know. You can settle down now, it's okay."

Billy was still leaning on Stu for support, his arm up and wrapped around Stu's shoulders while Stu held him up from behind and had another hand on Billy's chest.

"Sorry, I could only hold onto one of them." Stu chuckled.

"That's okay." Sam laughed, giving Asami some more scratches. "That's Mandy's dad, by the way."

"John." He added.

"You can call me, Stu." Stu answered, just as a paramedic from another ambulance brought over another stretcher. "...This is my husband, Billy."

Billy gave a slight wave, wincing as he did, at his own wound.

"Babe, why don't you sit down?" Stu encouraged.

"I'll stay here for a minute." He insisted,

Stu rolled his eyes, but looked back to the paramedic. "Could you just leave it here a minute?"

The paramedic hesitated but decided to oblige.

"Thank you." Stu redirected his attention to Billy. "Would you just sit down here then, at least?"

Billy sighed, but begrudgingly allowed his husband to help him onto the stretcher, grunting slightly, in discomfort, as he did.

"You okay?"

"Yeah, perfect." Billy sighed, as he got settled. "...not the first time I've been stabbed, and at this rate, it won't be the last."

Sam just rolled her eyes, to which, Kinsey patted her lovingly on the shoulder, just as another paramedic was coming over, ready to wheel Sam the rest of the way into the ambulance.

"Wait, wait!" She urged. "Who's gonna take Asami from here?"

"I'll take her." Seth volunteered. "I didn't get stabbed this time, I can drive her back to my place and then meet you guys at the hospital."

"Thanks." Sam answered, giving Asami a couple more head scratches before Seth called her over.

"Happy to." He started patting the side of his leg. "Tsk tsk. Come on, girl!"

Asami whined, hesitant to leave Sam's side.

Sam chuckled. "Asami, go. Jump down."

Asami whined again, but eventually was convinced to get down and join Seth with a little more nudging and coaxing.

Sam smiled at the two of them. "See you in a little bit, then."

—
Seth waved, as the ambulance doors shut behind Sam, just before it pulled away, after which, Billy finally agreed to go in the other ambulance, with Stu at his side.

"Nice meeting you." Billy said, as they did.

—

"Likewise." John chuckled, after which, he turned to his own daughter, helping her stay on her feet, and called after the paramedic, "Hey, can we get another one over here?"

"Right away, sir."

"Dad, I'm okay. Really." Mandy tried to insist.

"No, you need to get that looked at, at least." He insisted anyway, as some paramedics from the last ambulance were coming over. "You want me to go with you?"

"No, I'll be okay." Mandy sighed, allowing herself to be helped onto the stretcher "I'll just meet you there."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes, Dad." She chuckled.

"Alright, then." He sighed, waiting til she was in to leave.

Back at the hospital, and after Billy had been given the clear, he went to go check on Sam.

"Hey." She greeted when he cracked the door open, her expression becoming slightly more curious when she saw that Stu wasn't there to follow him in. "Where's Dad?"

"Ah, he stopped by the bathroom on the way over here."

Sam nodded.

"What about you, Kiddo?" He asked with a half smile, as he took a seat by her bed. "How are you holding up?"

"Well, I mean, this time around they gave me even better painkillers, so, there's that." She chuckled.

"That is something." He chuckled.

Sam smirked a little. "What about you?"

"Oh, not too bad." He shrugged. "I've been stabbed worse."

"Thanks for the reminder." Sam scoffed.

"Sorry…'

Sam just shrugged, getting interrupted when Mandy practically barged in the room.

"Hey." She greeted. "How are you- " She stopped mid sentence when she noticed Billy. "Oh! I- I'm sorry, I didn't mean to interrupt anything, or….anything.

"You're fine." Billy chuckled, turning back to Sam, as he started to stand back up. "I'm gonna go see what's keeping him."

"Alright." Sam chuckled, watching him go.

Mandy smiled, taking the seat he'd been sitting in, after he was gone.

Sam half smiled back at her, sighing as she looked back at Kinsey, who was sitting right beside her. "Kins, would you mind giving us a minute too?"

"Uh, yeah, sure." She read the look on Sam's face, smiling sympathetically back at her and holding her hand in hers, just before she stood up from the bed. "I'll just go check in on what Seth's getting himself into."

"Thanks."

Kinsey nodded as she left, taking out her phone as she did.

Mandy watched curiously as Kinsey went, then looked back at Sam.

Sam sighed, taking a long pause before she spoke again.

"Look, Kinsey already knows this, but you have to swear not to say anything to anyone else about what I'm about to tell you."

"Sam...after what you did for me, of course. I would never."

Sam nodded, looking over at the door, before looking back at her.

"Alright well, I don't know what, or how much Colton told you about before, but uhh….." She sighed. "...He was right about one thing."

Mandy looked at her curiously and somewhat suspiciously, now.

"...Mandy, the reason I know how it feels to feel so incredibly stupid, like you were feeling about Colton earlier- "

"Still do." Mandy sighed.

Sam nodded. "...it's not just because of having lived with Cory, or because of what Nat and Leslie did….." She sighed again. "...it wasn't Cotton Weary who murdered Maureen Prescott, and it wasn't Neil Prescott who killed the rest of those people in Woodsboro a year later…...it...was in fact..my dads…" She paused again before finally looking up to see the look on Mandy's face. "...theeyy admitted it to me, themselves…...after Nat and Leslie did what they did."

Mandy couldn't even bring herself to ask how that would've even come up, as she normally might've, as she was needing the time to process this.

"...Wh- umm…. w-why are you telling me this, Sam?"

"...Because, I can assure you, no one could possibly feel any stupider about anything than I did when I found out the truth about my own fucking parents, after almost 18 years…." She answered, painfully honestly. "...and, to be quite honest, I just need you to know that, if you're gonna be my friend, because for one, my other dad…." Referring, of course, to Stu. "...doesn't have a fucking filter, and me, selfishly, I just can't be stressing myself over what I can say around Kinsey and Seth, who do know, and how careful I'd have to be around someone who doesn't."

"You're not selfish, Sam. In fact, you're one of the most selfless people I know."

"Right. Who set the bar so low?"

"Well, I don't think you would've told me any of that, if you were….and you wouldn't have done anything you did back at the apartment if you were."

"...okay, to be fair though, I'm pretty sure we'd all be dead, if I didn't do anything I did back there." Sam pointed out.

"Okay, fair." Mandy chuckled. "..but, STILL."

"Well, the sentiment is STILL appreciated, then. Happy?"

"Very." Mandy chuckled.

"Good….Just one more question, though."

"Shoot."

"How much did you believe about what Colton told you, anyway?" She asked. "...about my dads, anyway. Because, you were pretty quick to believe what I just told you about them."

Mandy sighed. "...the truth?"

Sam shrugged. "I told you the truth."

"That, you did." Mandy sighed. "...okay, the truth is, that I was always more on the fence, when it came to whether I thought your dads did it or not…..and I didn't wanna say it before, but a lot of what he was saying about the whole case was starting to make sense."

This had Sam genuinely curious now.

While Billy and Stu had fully admitted the truth to her, when it eventually came out, in the time it took her to process that and come to terms with how not knowing up until when she had affected her life and how knowing would affect it going forward from finding out, and on top of everything else that had and would likely come from it, she never actually stopped to think about how the people who believed in the so-called "conspiracy theories" came to their conclusions.

"...alright, now I'm biting." She finally said. "...What all was he saying?"

"Things liiiike, how it was weird that almost every time someone tried to copy them, there were two killers…" She elaborated. "...how there were differences in their kill styles, how all the stab wounds inflicted on each of your dads, supposedly from Neil Prescott, all missed vital organs….I don't know I guess, at some point, it just stopped adding up for them to actually be innocent"

Sam nodded, thinking to herself as she took it all in. "...Makes sense.."

"...I'm sorry…." Mandy finally said.

"For what? You're not the one who killed those people and kept it from me."

"I know, but, I mean, it's one thing to know about what happened, it's another thing to know the actual details of what happened."

Sam shrugged. "I guess, but I'm also bound to find out even more little details like that from other so-called theorists...besides, I did ask."

"True." Mandy smiled back at her. "...And for the record, I do hope, by the way, that you don't think this is any kind of a dealbreaker for me….this whole thing with your dads, I mean…..I mean, as we just established, I always kind of had an inkling that they might've done it, and I still wanted to be your friend. Knowing the kind of people you came from doesn't change the fact that you're one of the coolest people I know."

Sam's face lit up considerably more when she said that. "I really appreciate you saying that. Cause, as long as we're being totally honest here, I am running out of people that I can trust…...and it's really, really starting to suck."

Mandy smiled back at her, sympathetically. "Yeah, you and me both, here."

"Sooo, friends, then?"

"You know it."

Sam smiled back at her.

"So, in that case, what do you say to helping me burn….say, a couple dozen or so Cult of Colton shirts, when you get out of here?"

"A couple dozen?!"

"What, you knew I was a fan!" Mandy laughed.

"Mandy!"

"Oh, cut me some slack, I think I've earned that today!"

"Fiiine" Sam laughed. "...and it would be my pleasure."

"Good." Mandy laughed.

—

Sam shook her head to herself and they had another good laugh about it, til there was a knock at the door.

—

"Uh, come in." Sam called out.

"Hey!" Stu called out, peering his head in, getting laugh from both of them. "...hope we're not interrupting anything."

"Not at all." Sam laughed. "You can come in."

Billy, who was following closely behind him, playfully smacked him from behind.

"Ow, what did I do now?" He whined.

"Baby." He snickered.

He went in ahead of Stu, who was now following behind him, as he glanced around the room.

"Where's Kinsey?" Billy asked.

"Points for actually using her name." Sam teased. "...and she left to go check in on Seth. Plus, Mandy wanted to talk to me about something." She half lied.

"Mmhmm.."

"Oh, what is mmhmm, now?" Stu laughed, taking a seat in the chair that was across from Sam's bed. "Hmmm? We know who the killers were, Babe."

Billy rolled his eyes, both of which got a laugh out of Mandy as she got up to leave.

"Well, on that note, I think I'd better go check in with my dad again, make sure he doesn't have a heart attack." She chuckled. "I'll see ya around."

"See ya." Sam chuckled, sensing Mandy just really wanted an excuse to not get caught in the middle of anything.

—

Billy watched as she left, waiting for her to shut the door behind her and until he knew she was probably out of earshot.

"Does she know?"

"Does she know what, Dad?" Sam asked, knowing the answer.

"Yeah, Billy...what?" Stu chimed in.

Billy rolled his eyes and looked back at Stu. "...that her little boyfriend and his psycho sister were the killers. What do you think?!"

"Jesus, have an aneurysm, why don't you?" He laughed.

"It's a wonder I don't have them on a daily basis, with you." He sighed.

"Oh, and I'm the baby."

Billy rolled his eyes and turned his attention back to Sam.

"...She might…" Sam sighed. "..she's not gonna say anything, if that's what you're worried about."

"Sam.." He sighed.

"Oh, like anyone would even believe her, anyway, Billy, lighten up."

Billy shook his head, refusing to humor him with a response. "..Well, did she believe you?"

"What would you have had me do, Dad?" She sighed. "Let her go on thinking she's just as stupid as I felt when I found out you'd been lying to me my entire life?"

Billy sighed and pulled up the chair he'd been sitting in before he left. "You're not stupid, Sam."

"Yeah, I'm getting there." Sam sighed. "...how the fuck was I supposed to feel, though?"

"Alright, you got me there…" He admitted. "...I'm sure you don't think your friend is stupid for not knowing about Colton though."

"That's a lot easier said than done when it's not you and it's more like a week and not almost 18 years, and you know it."

"Sam, we've said we're sorry for that. What more do you want?"

"Nothing, I'm just making a point."

"Right." Billy sighed again, scraping for an excuse to change the subject. "...so, how'd she react when she found out?"

"Horribly offended and like she was going to turn you in." She teased with a smirk.

This earned a proud laugh from Stu, prompting Billy to turn back toward him. "You know, why don't you two just go ahead and continue this conversation without me, since we all know damn well it's not me she gets that from."

"Yeah, well, you know damn well you love me for it." Stu snickered.

"I do know. I'm a man of many flaws. I thought we established this." Billy teased.

—

—
"What are they bitching about now?" Kinsey fake sighed when she entered the room, as if she weren't amused, as usual.

"Hi, Kinsey." Stu greeted. "You see what I have to deal with?"

"Right, what he has to deal with." Billy snickered.

Sam rolled her eyes, as Kinsey crossed the room to return to her spot next to Sam.

I swung by the cafeteria and grabbed sodas for anyone who wants one." She dug in her bag for the snack she picked up for Sam. ".aand….a little extra somethin for Sam."

Sam's face lit up at the gesture. "Have I ever told you, you're the best?"

"Mmm, might have to remind me." She answered with a little smirk, giving her a quick kiss as Sam took it from her.

She then reached for the sodas and tossed one toward Stu, after Sam had hers. "Here, catch.

She took another one out and gestured it towards Billy. "I don't know, should I? Wouldn't wanna hit you with it."

Billy rolled his eyes.

"Why not, it's not like he's a spider." Stu teased.

"That's my joke, and I stand by it." Billy sighed. "Just toss it."

"Yeah, but to her credit, she did hit you with a phone." Sam laughed. "And yes, she did tell me about that."

"Really?" Stu prodded, a little too eagerly.

"No, NO!" Billy warned immediately. "Don't you dare!"

"What?" Kinsey laughed, tossing the soda to Billy.

"Something that happened 21 years ago that he's keeping his mouth shut about." Billy sighed. "Thanks."

"Dad, is this about Dad hitting you with the phone?" Sam asked Stu with a snicker.

"Goddamnit, Stu." He muttered.

"What? I thought we were telling her everything now that she knows." He snickered, just before looking back over at Sam. "Consider it a perk."

"Oh, I do." Sam chuckled.

Billy shook his head again. "It was 21 years ago, the fucking thing slipped out of my hand, let it go."

"Hey, it's not our fault karma's a bitch." Sam pointed out,

Billy just muttered something incoherent under his breath as he got back up.

"Aww, where you going, touchy?" Stu teased.

"Going to the bathroom. Think you can manage not to bitch to our daughter about anything else I've done, while I'm gone?"

"You know there's one right there, right?" Kinsey pointed out.

"He knows." Stu laughed, watching him go. "And no promises!"

—

He waited til Billy was already out the door to get up from his chair. "The kicker is that the reason I won't is that he's not getting rid of me." He snickered. "Gonna be okay while I'm gone?"

"Oh, I think I'll manage." She chuckled as he left.

Kinsey peered over at the door after he'd left and looked back at Sam.

"...So, about how you were gonna remind me how I'm the best…" She remind Sam with a smirk.

Sam returned the smirk and leaned in to kiss her. "With pleasure."