Well that accounts for all of her kids...except Larry’s son, Sam. Sam had a hard time accepting Ally after his mom died. Jamie’s death took its toll on the whole family. Larry was feeling to blame for the whole incident even though subconsciously he knew there was nothing he could do. Mainly, her last words haunted him. “Take care of Sam for me.” Then she had started convulsing. That was it; it was that quick. Now Larry had a lot on his plate. He now had Sam full time and Ally had just given birth to their daughter Faith. They weren’t exactly on the best of terms either. Their marriage was on the rocks because of his behavior with Jamie, which he feels deep down he couldn’t control.

Ally on the other hand, was a nervous wreck. All she could remember was hearing Sam scream ‘If you hadn't shown up my mom and dad would be together! My mom wouldn't have gotten sick and I would have a family! I hate you!’ It was like a bad chorus, over and over in her head it played. Not to mention she was still very weak from having had Faith and then almost dying in the process.

Sam made every attempt to be rude as he could to Ally. He ignored her as much as possible and when he knew he absolutely had to talk, he was short, and he ALWAYS spoke with a harsh tone of voice. He wanted Ally to KNOW she wasn’t wanted anywhere near him. Larry, of course having his own mentality problems, did nothing to stop this behavior. Ally knew that if she got stern with Sam, she would just hear those words, ‘You’re not my mother! You’ll never be my mother!’ and THOSE would echo in her ears. All of this had been going on for about a month now.

“Well Sam, your birthday’s coming up isn’t it?” Ally attempted to talk to Sam while feeding Faith a bottle.

Sam was sitting in front of the television playing a video game. He didn’t answer.

“Sam?” Ally tried again. “I asked you a question.”

Sam paused his game and looked up at Ally, glaring at her. “And I chose not to answer you.” He un-paused his game and kept playing.

Ally had had enough. She finished feeding Faith her bottle and got up to burp her. When that was done, she laid Faith down in her playpen, who went straight to sleep, and went off in search of Larry. Larry was in his study, going over some paperwork, or at least trying. He hadn’t been able to concentrate for a while now and it amused him that he even tried.

Ally walked up to the door and knocked lightly on the doorframe. “Knock knock,” she accompanied with her physical knock.

Larry looked up, “Oh, hey, Ally. What’s up?” He looked back down.

“Larry,” Ally said softly, shutting the door behind her as she entered. “I hate to sound like the wicked witch here, but I’ve had it with Sam. It’s been a month now and he still treats me like shit, and I didn’t do anything wrong.”

“Oh Ally, he’s still missing his mom, that’s all.” Larry shrugged it off.

“No, Larry, it’s been too long. Sure he can miss his mom, but honestly, I don’t deserve this,” Ally insisted.

Larry sighed heavily. “Then what do you propose Ally?”

“Well he doesn’t listen to me, but he’ll listen to you. This can’t go on,” Ally said matter-of-factly.

“Well I can’t just MAKE Sam stop acting this way towards you-“

Ally cut him off, “Yes you can!” she raised her voice. “You’re his father, he’s only ten years old. He doesn’t have the right to treat anyone like that!”

“Calm down Ally!” Larry yelled back at her, feeling very frustrated with the present situation.

“Don’t tell me to calm down!” she countered. “YOU’RE not the one he’s treating like shit!” she exclaimed. Suddenly they heard Faith crying. “Dammit!” Ally yelled. “Oh yeah! And who’s helping me with OUR daughter?” With that, she pulled open the door forcefully and slammed it behind her.

Ally walked over to Faith’s playpen and picked up the screaming child. “Shhh, it’s okay honey,” Ally bounced her up and down, trying to subside her cries, somewhat succeeding. Ally looked at Sam who was still busily playing his video game, his eyes concentrating, his face looking perplexed as he pressed the buttons on the controller fast and hard making a steady clicking sound. “You could have picked her up you know,” Ally started. “You may not like me, but she IS your sister by blood.”

Sam didn’t avert his eyes, “But she has your blood,” he emphasized ‘your’ and left it at that.

“Now that’s enough Sam,” Larry said sternly. Ally looked to see he had emerged from the den and was leaning against the wall staring at Sam coolly.

Sam looked up from his game, pausing it again, glancing at Larry. “What do you mean dad?” he asked cheerfully.

“The way you talk to Ally. It’s uncalled for and I want it to stop.”

Sam looked at Larry in disbelief. “What are you talking about dad? She doesn’t matter to me,” he responded sardonically.

“She may not be your mother, but she IS your stepmother and you will show her respect. As far as I see it, she’s all you got,” Larry finished, narrowing his eyes.

“But daaaaaad,” Sam started to complain.

“Sammy, don’t argue with me!” Larry raised his voice. “Your mother is gone. I’ve learned to accept that, you need to as well. You don’t have an excuse anymore.”

“She is NOT my mom! She will NEVER be my mom!” Sam shrieked, tears starting to come down his face. “My mother is DEAD! She’s NOT coming back and it’s all HER fault!!!” he pointed to Ally who now had Faith cradled in her arms sucking on a pacifier.

Ally’s eyes got wide. **Not this again,** she thought, rolling her eyes in agony.

“She’s not trying to take your mother’s place. She’s just trying to be there for you and all you’re doing is being a little brat. I have to put my foot down,” Larry stood straight up, intimidating Sam.

“But Dad-” Sam made one last attempt.

“Samuel,” Sam knew Larry was mad at him. He rarely uses his full name. “Go to your room, right now,” he pointed towards Sam’s room. When Sam didn’t budge, Larry walked over to the television and pulled the plug on the video game. “NOW!” his voice bellowed, causing the baby to start bawling again.

Sam couldn’t contain his tears anymore and he ran to his room, full speed, slamming the door behind him.

Larry sighed, panting heavily. It wasn’t often he got that outraged. He walked over to Ally who was trying to calm down a screaming Faith. “I’m sorry baby,” Larry brought a hand up to Ally’s face and brushed it gently against her cheek. “Come here baby,” he carefully gathered Faith from Ally’s arms, gently cradling her while cooing soothing words. “It’s okay honey, shhh, it’s okay.”

Ally smiled at the image. It was the first time she could remember him actually catering to Faith. Usually it was always her who got up in the middle of the night to give Faith her bottle and change her, not to mention just give her some attention.

The latter part of the day went by with no word on Sam. Ally thought she heard him go to the bathroom once, but that was it. Other than that, it was almost as if Sam didn’t exist.

Later that night, when dinner was ready, Larry called to Sam but got no answer. He was about to walk into his bedroom when Ally stopped him. “No, let me go.”

“Are you sure?” Larry looked at her like she had gone nuts.

“Yeah, let me try,” Ally said confidently and she knocked on Sam’s door gently. When there was no answer, she knocked a little louder.

“What do you want?” came an angry voice from inside.

“Dinner’s ready,” Ally responded softly.

“Go away!” Sam hollered from inside.

“I won’t do that Sam,” there was no response. Ally slowly opened up the door and walked into Sam’s room, observing Sam on his bed, lying on his back and staring at the ceiling. Ally shut the door behind her and sat on a chair next to a desk, which was next to the bed.

“God,” he complained, glaring over at her once and then back up at the ceiling.

“Sam, I don’t know what you think I did, but your mom had a tumor Sam. It wasn’t me. You can’t catch a tumor from someone,” Ally tried to explain. Sam of course was non-responsive and so Ally decided to continue anyway. “I wouldn’t dream of being your mom, God knows how much of a little brat you are, but be nice to me for your dad’s sake. He loves you very much and he doesn’t deserve to be torn between us. I won’t make him choose because I know it would be the hardest decision he would ever have to make and I ALSO know that he wouldn’t make it,” Ally tried a little bit of reverse psychology on the little runt to see what the reaction would be. Sam’s vision shot over towards Ally. “That’s right Sam, you’re a little brat. I’m not going to deny the truth. You’ve been unfair to me and while I can’t say that I won’t tolerate it anymore, being that I’m not your mom,” Ally exaggerated that point, “Larry CAN tell you so. Don’t push him away. He loves you so much. Don’t make him choose,” and with that, Ally stood up and walked out of Sam’s room. When she shut the door, she saw Larry standing in the shadows, arms crossed, leaning against a closed door.

“Now I know why I love you so much,” he said, shocking Ally who thought he might be mad at her for the blunt ‘brat’ comments.

“And why’s that Mr. Larry?” Ally countered, a shy smile streaking across her face.

He pushed himself off of the wall, arms still crossed, walking towards her. “You have a way with people. You have a way of dealing with things. And I’ll tell you another thing,” Larry paused, wanting his next statement to make a dent into Ally’s soul. “You’re going to be a GREAT mother.”

“Oh Larry,” Ally reached out to hug Larry and Larry wrapped his arms around her, holding her tight, regretting how he had been acting down to every time he didn’t go get Faith in the middle of the night, making Ally go.

As the two of them stood there in an embrace, they heard a doorknob slowly open and they pulled apart at the sound of it. Sam opened the door fully and looked at them. There was a long silence of Ally and Larry exchanging a long stare with Sam. “I’m sorry,” Sam said after a while. He then made his way to the kitchen table and sat down, waiting for them. Ally and Larry looked at each other and Ally smiled her first real smile in days. Although it would take some time, it was apparent...everything was going to be okay.

Ally smiled. The relationship her and Sam had, after that day, had grown stronger and stronger, and it was a rule they made: Sam would never call her mom. From then on, the hard feelings slowly but surely vanished and now, Ally was happy with being Ally, not mom, just simply Ally; someone who was there for Sam when he needed a maternal figure. Then again, there were some places where a maternal figure wasn’t what Sam needed...like when he got married for example. It must be some sort of tradition for the Paul’s to get cold feet when it comes to commitment, but that’s what happened when Sam was ready to walk down the aisle with his long-time girlfriend Katie. He was having those feelings of possible failure and Ally knew this was one she couldn’t handle.

“Larry, if you don’t talk to him, he’s going to ruin Katie’s life as well as his own,” Ally said sternly, one hand on her outstretched hip, foot tapping, irritated.

“What do you want me to say Ally? What if this girl isn’t the one for him? I mean they have only been together for two years,” Larry shot back, a little frazzled with his thoughts, a perplexed look on his face.

“Larry Paul!” Ally rose her voice. “What kind of thing is that to say about your own damn son?” Ally was completely infuriated by now. Larry had crossed the line, letting his own personal thoughts on failure creep up on him. “You ran away from me once and you can honestly tell me that you want that to happen to your own son? You can honestly tell me that you don’t care about the pain and agony that’s gonna put him in and you can honestly tell me that you don’t care, for your son’s sake, what that’s going to put Katie through?”

Larry bowed his head. His wife was right; she always was when it came to relationships. “Okay, okay Ally, you’re right. I DON”T want him to hurt and I don’t want Katie to hurt. This just, it isn’t my,” he paused looking for the right word, “department.”

“Well you’re going to have to make it your department Larry. I don’t think Sam needs to hear from me on this one. You are my only marriage, you’ve been through one already and that will help more in convincing him,” Ally finished, talking very fast, as usual.

Larry looked back up at her, raising an eyebrow. “Okay, okay. Where’s he at?”

“He’s in his room,” Ally pointed down the hall. They were at a hotel in Boston because their house wasn’t big enough for the wedding party to stay and get ready.

Larry took off down the hall towards Sam’s room where he found Sam engulfed around his groomsman, in a panic.

“Okay everybody, it’s almost time, we’ll meet you downstairs.” Everybody exited the room quickly, hoping silently to themselves that Larry would talk some sense in Sam’s thick skull.

Larry pointed towards the bed and him and Sam took a seat. “So...having second thoughts?” Larry asked rhetorically.

Sam leaned down and put his head in his hands. “I just don’t know if this is what I’m meant to do. I mean,” He leaned back up and turned to face Larry, looking him in the eyes. “What if I hurt her dad? What if I cheat, or what if we fight and it’s unfixable or something?” Sam looked at Larry, his eyebrows raised in worry.

“Well Sam, take it from a three time loser, it’s worth the try. If you love her, and you do, and she loves you, which she does, then go for it. The best thing in the world can happen, and that’s happiness. Don’t you want to be happy?” Larry asked.

“Katie makes me happy, she makes me happier than anything or anyone else ever has. Even arguing with you and Ally,” Sam smirked, but that soon faded. “Maybe that’s the one thing that scares me...losing that happiness and what’s worse, ruining Katie’s life.”

Larry had had enough. Now he knew how ridiculous he had been when it came to Ally so long ago. “Okay Sam, this is how it is. Katie already agreed to marry you. She wants to spend the rest of her life with you. She loves you, isn’t that enough? You love her, isn’t that enough?” Larry didn’t wait for Sam to answer. “Well it is. When you go long enough without love, which I have, you realize it’s everything.” Larry admired how he finally stayed true to his own words when he went crawling back to Ally.

That expression, Sam didn’t want to ever go without love, especially the love that him and Katie shared. They got each other, and he adored that part of their relationship more than anything. She knew when to leave him alone and he knew when not to bug her about unimportant stuff. Sam stood up. “Ya know what dad? You’re right. I don’t want to be without Katie. I want to be with her for the rest of my life. That IS why I asked her to marry me if I’m not mistaken,” he laughed, Larry joined, breathing a hidden sigh of relief along with it.

Sam walked towards the door and opened it, he turned back to look at Larry who was still sitting on the bed. “Thanks a lot dad, I don’t know what I would do without you.” Sam smiled and Larry got up, walking towards Sam as he made his way down the hall. Larry took one glance back into the hotel room and shut the door behind him.

“Do you, Samuel Paul, take this woman to be your lawful wedded wife, to love, honor, and obey, for richer or poorer, through sickness and in health, for as long as you both shall live?” the presiding minister asked Sam as him and Katie eyed each other lovingly.

“I do,” Sam said without missing a beat or looking away from Katie. Upon looking in her eyes, he couldn’t believe he ever doubted doing this, marrying his baby.

“And do you, Katherine Bennett, take this man to be your lawful wedded husband, to love, honor, and obey, for richer or poorer, through sickness and in health, for as long as you both shall life?”

“I do,” Katie responded, adding a little sigh in it, causing Ally and Katie’s mom to gasp back a tear simultaneously in the two front rows, huge smiles on their faces.

Ally remembered being VERY proud of her Larry that day. He overcame his own demons to help his very own son in not reciprocating his mistakes. For Larry, that was huge. Ally knew that very well and admired it just as much.