Sam poured his third cup of coffee and yawned. It was after four before he was able to go to sleep. Each time he almost drifted off, he would look at the watch his father gave him and grin. He intended to ask Rahne to marry him.

First, she would need to meet his mother and family, but that could be done at Thanksgiving. And then, he would propose. With any luck at all, they could be married on Valentine's Day. That goofy grin crossed his face again.

Tad walked up to him and grinned, "Me thinks this man got very, very lucky last night." He smiled and pointed towards a chair. "Details, man, details."

"Rahne and I nearly broke up." Yes, he and Rahne got very, very lucky. "But she came back."

Scott sat down on the desk. "Sounds like you were lucky."

Sam nodded and ran a hand though his hair. "Very." And then he turned to the men beside him. "Ah need help though." He quickly explained his problem.

***

Moira hung up the phone with a disgruntled sigh. That was the third time she'd tried to call Rahne only to get a busy signal or no answer. She could call the hospital where Rahne worked in the morning, but this was a personal call.

She smiled at herself, worrying like a mother hen about her foster daughter. But Rahne had needed someone to take care of her, and Moira had needed someone to take care of. In her heart, she had dropped the word foster when she looked at Rahne. They were mother and daughter where it counted.

Amanda came in the lab, smiling serenely. She was just beginning to show the world that she was carrying Kurt's child. "Talk to her yet?"

Moira shook her head and took a sip of her coffee. "She managed to call last week and just catch me up on the basics." She dropped her cup and sighed. "How her research was goin' and how it was livin' with Paige and Sam."

"This must be a girl," Amanda said with a grin as the baby kicked. "I've had chocolate cravings for weeks. Last night, I even wanted chocolate bread." She sat down and Moira started to draw blood. "I hope it is."

Moira nodded. "Ye get tae shop with girls, talk aboot boys with them, lose them when they fall in love." The last part slipped out without the doctor noticing it.

"Why haven't you made it official and legally adopted Rahne?" Amanda asked after Moira got her last sample.

"Rahne's too old for me to adopt here in Scotland." Moira motioned for the younger woman to sit on the examing table.

"But what's the law in Pennsylvania?"

Moira stopped to think about that one, "A'd have tae call Cable and find out."

***

When Jake got the call from his brother Tad, he quickly agreed to help and enlisted Allie's aid. "You want me to do what, Martin?" Allie asked, her green eyes flashing.

"Just call Rahne up and pretend to have car trouble. She'll come out and help." Jake smiled at his best friend and best enemy.

"And why do I get to be the one with trouble?" Allie loved the verbal sparring she did with Jake. Heck, she loved just talking with him. Even when he made her want to tear his lips off, she couldn't help but think of a better use for them.

"Because I'm taking this shift so we can can take the kids from the cancer ward to see Hercules this weekend." Allie had been wanting to do that for a long time, but hadn't had the help when she was off duty.

That made a big difference. "Thanks, Jake!" She smiled at him. "It's a date."

"Thought you didn't date doctors," Jake teased his friend. A brief, troubled look crossed Allie's face, warning him he was in dangerous waters.

"Ten sick kids watching a movie isn't romantic," she told him.

***

Liza looked at the blue stick again and squealed. "Adam, get in here!" Her husband was downstairs in his office, and ran to check up on his wife. "Mother, get in here!"

Adam and Marion met at the bathroom door and saw the usually cool, calm, and collected Liza crying. "We did it!" She waved the stick in front of them. "We actually did it."

Adam quickly understood what she was talking about. "You mean— we did it?" He kissed his wife. "We made a baby?"

"Liza, darling," Marian beamed. "I'm so happy for you!" Adam fixed a powerful glare on her, ordering her to leave. "And I think I'm going to go buy the crib right now..." She left to let the couple celebrate their good fortune.

***

Allie called around six to ask Rahne for her help. When Rahne pulled up at the spot she had described at Willow Lake, she was surprised to discover Sam waiting for her.

"Hope ya don't mind," he explained, "But Ah took some advice from the guys at work about how ta surprise ya." He gently blindfolded her.

Rahne was surprised, but took Sam's hand as they walked deeper into the woods. Finally, Sam removed the blindfold. Rahne smiled as she saw the carefully prepared candle light picnic supper in front of a raging fire at a campground. The sun was setting, reflecting off Willow Lake. The fireball nearly touched the waters. It was very, very romantic. "Oh, Sam!" she whispered, and then kissed him.

***

Angelo walked out of the guys dorm and saw his friend Ariel walking across campus. He waved and ran to catch up to her.

"Where are you going?" he asked. She shrugged. "You and Celeste get into another fight?"

Ariel let a tear slide down her cheek. "All I did was ask her about Nina and she just... I don't know, freaked." Angelo motioned for her to sit on a tree stump. "Why did she give her up for adoption?"

That he didn't really know. "She said she had no other loving choice." He wondered about that too. Surely, Celeste could have gotten government help and kept her daughter.

Ariel reached into her jacket and pulled out a small flask. "Want some?" she offered to Angelo. Politely, he took a sip of the vodka. "Do you think she might feel like she got the short end of the stick? Me instead of her daughter?" Ariel took a long drink from the container.

"Not at all," he assured her. "If she had no choice, she had no choice." A brief frown crossed his face as he noticed the initals on the flask "MDB", Matthew Daniel Brown, Celeste's boyfriend.

***

The couple took their time eating supper, talking uninterruptedly for the first time in a long time. And their talk wasn't about figuring out who was behind the FOH or what to do about some problem. It was honest talk about their dreams and hopes, favorite childhood memories, plans for the future. It was the kind of talk they had given up on having lately.

As the stars started to come out, Sam pulled out his portable stereo and pulled her up to start dancing. Finally, he whispered, "There is something Ah've wanted ta do with ya since we first kissed." Rahne looked up, not sure what to say. He strapped on the portable radio and held his hand out to her. "Trust me?"

"With my heart." Rahne answered just before Sam picked her up.

"Ah've wanted ta dance on air with ya," he confessed as he held her. Rahne smiled contentedly as they blasted silently higher and higher. She laid her cheek against his chest as the music started. "Ah've picked this song out for a reason," he told her, his voice husky with emotion.

Rahne smiled, remembering the way Sam had described his family. One day she wanted to meet them. Suddenly, she became aware of the fact that he was singing with the singer.

The look in Sam's eyes told her he meant what he was singing. He was pledging himself to a future with her. And she nodded, taking his promise.

He bent down and kissed her before continuing to sing the words.

Tears came to Rahne's eyes. "Sam-" she started before he cut her off.

"Rahney, gal, Ah need ta say this." He looked her straight in the eyes. "For weeks, Ah've known Ah love ya. But Ah've been selfish, thinkin' only of the pain that Ah would experience when Ah out-lived ya. Last night, when ya walked out, Ah realized that Ah wanted as much time with ya as Ah could have. Ah was more afraid of yer livin' without me than Ah was of livin' without ya." Sam smiled. "Ah try ta be the man in yer life that God would have me be, cherish ya and love ya. And Ah don't want there ta be another man in yer life, doin' what Ah do. Ah love ya."

Rahne started to cry. "A love ye, Samuel Guthrie," she whispered.