Author's notes: Here's the chapter that's two-and-a-half years in the making. I'd like to present the last chapter of Insecure. I want to say thank you for everyone that has been patiently waiting, reviewing and rereading over the last two years. I had originally planned to split this up, but you know what? Life is too short, and my own therapy experience is coming to an end. This was a project to figure out my path in therapy and feelings about the process, and I think in the end, I've figured out my own message.

"I had never cried so hard in my life, but ultimately, I had a long talk with Carlotta Spencer."

"A long talk?"

"I told her my hopes, my fears, my dreams… Just a month or so before, Sam and I had discussed children after she finished grad school."

"I see. How does that relate, Carly?"

"I was terrified my children would grow up like I did… only instead of wondering where their mother was, would they wonder about their father?"

"That's logical."

"Well… the arrangement we have was inspired by what Daddy had with my moms."

"You consider them both to be your mothers."

"Yes… Carlotta Spencer was supposed to be my mother. After talking to her, I can't think of her as anything else. It's strange how a dead woman that I never met is now my mother."

"Elaborate?"

"Well… Dad told me about who she was, what she was like… She was a kind, generous woman. She was smart, driven, passionate. She was…actually a lot like Sam, and what I strive to be."

"You don't have to strive, Carly. You are."

"I know. It took me about six months before I could have that talk."

"I do recall. You spent six months ranting to me about how unfair life was."

"I'm blessed."

"That's a powerful statement."

"I have inspiration from sources I never imagined. I want to be the kind of mother she was supposed to be."

"You made peace with a lot really heavy stuff, Carly. I don't think that will ever be a problem for you."

"I know," Carly started with a smile as she stood. Dr. Burns followed suit. "I needed your guidance, and I needed her guidance. She's the reason we have the known donor agreement with Freddie."

"I must confess, I did not forsee that happening." Carly chuckled.

"I want my children to have all of their parents…biological and non. I don't want them to wake up in their mid-twenties and go through four years of therapy to be okay with someone who'd been dead for 25 years." Dr. Burns nodded thoughtfully. "Anyway… I want to thank you. Your guidance has meant a lot to me over the last four years." Dr. Burns smiled warmly as the young woman embraced him.

"Happy mother's day, Carly. Do you have plans?" The tilt to his head told her he already knew the answer.

"Yep. We're taking Taylor and Baby Shay-Puckett to visit my mothers. Did I show you the ultrasound picture?"

"He's going to be a wonderful young man someday. Now go. I think your girlfriend is in the waiting room."

Carly strode from the office with a sense of purpose, a soft smile on her face and a hand resting lightly on her stomach. Sam grinned when she caught side of her lover and nervously fingered the small ring box in her pocket. If anyone was to be the first to know about their engagement, it should definitely be Carly's mothers, she had concluded.

After all, her own long conversation with the tragically-passed young lovers told her life was just too short to not experience love.