A/N: (throws on shades) Let's finish this.

*Disclaimer blah blah*

Epilogue: Promise?

"Days turned into weeks. Weeks turned into months. And by that time, three years had already gone by. Danny and I are graduating, leaving behind our memories, our teenage dreams, our frustrations… and sooner or later we made a mark to where we wanted to go next and took off.

My father knew of what was going on, as was Danny's parents… and they understood. I thought they would be pretty heated, but I was wrong. They were understanding, supportive, even. I didn't know what was wrong with them personally; normal parents would yell at you and scream their heads off. It was scary seeing them so nonchalant about it; even scarier seeing them so excited. They scrambled to put everything together, since I had been a couple of months by them time I spilled. They hosted a baby shower for me, my cousins and aunts and uncles came into town to congratulate me… I had all the attention while Danny smiled sheepishly. I couldn't decide whether to feel sorry for him or to give him the attention he was getting, but he merely whispered, "this is all for you, not me. Don't let me bother you. Enjoy it."

We were all waiting.

We were all jumping for joy.

We were all yearning for the due date...

"...but I still wake up every night at 2AM with the same god damn nightmare racing through my head. Danny cradles me, hushes me and tells me everything is fine… but it's still so vivid. Everything about this nightmare… it's not just that. It's a suppressed memory, something that I've tried to keep hidden deep within my mind, but as far from my subconscious as possible. Still, it fights its way down.

God, do I remember it. I was screaming, ensuing pain just lighting my entire lower region on fire. Nurses would wheel in EKG machines and fluids and everything that was needed for an OB-GYN to deliver a newborn. Then there was the dilation process, and that was Hell. It took a while, but Danny had finally came into the delivery room, and I cried so hard I thought my eyes would slide out of their sockets. He was holding my right hand, his left arm draped over my shoulders, muttering words of optimism into my ear.

And I believed him.

Why wouldn't I?

Then came time to push and, long after the epidural had set in, I did what I had to do. Everything from the waist down was completely numb, but I still felt the sensations. There were a mix of cries, grunts of effort and heavy breathing coming from my mouth, mustered up from my lungs. There was no in between. Everything was pretty much happening at once. While delivering your child, the only thing going through your head is exactly how long can it take before a baby is finally out of the womb. I guess for me, I had expected the average, but got the opposite.

"I saw one of the nurses grab a cloth, which was completely covered in blood, and moved it from the end of the bed to a little metal tray table off to my left. I no longer felt anything, but I didn't hear anything either. Was I done? Was I finally finished? If that's the case, what's going on?

That's when my eyes caught the doctors, and to this day I wish they hadn't. I wish I could've just fallen back and passed out like every other mother does. Instead, my blood ran cold. Regardless of what I had learned in child development, this was just pure common sense: the first thing a baby does after leaving the room is cry. It cries and it cries and it cries… but that's only to let you know that they're breathing. They're alive and well. They're scared, mind you, but they're alive and well.

I knew why I didn't feel anything.

I knew why I didn't hear anything.

And after Danny caught onto the situation as well, he knew too, and all the color left his complexion.

"The doctor tried to hand the baby off to one of the nurses as fast as he could've without allowing me to see what was going on, but he wasn't fast enough, for my eyes traveled to my child, lying still as a stone in the hands of the man. He wasn't moving. He wasn't even breathing. And his umbilical cord was wrapped snugly around his neck so tight that the skin near his esophagus contained a hint of purple. Upon the sight, I completely lost it… hit the wall hard.

"No… no… no," I began to chant, each word growing in intensity. And as the nurse wrapped the baby up in a white blanket and quickly carried it out of the room, the doctor looked at me with sympathetic eyes.

"I'm so sorry, Samantha."

"Don't say that," I shook my head, my voice strangling a sob. "Don't you dare say that, you son of a bitch!"

I was practically screaming now, and if I didn't pipe down soon, I'd alert the entire floor. Danny was shushing me (how on earth was he so calm over this?), and I thought I'd bust a nerve. Finally, within a minute, the nurse came back in, mentioned something about "valid authorization" and the next thing I knew, the doctor was inserting a needle into my neck, injecting a sedative, and I felt my heart-rate go from 200 to 150. And then my vision went blurry, and then everything went black.

That's when I wake up, each and every time. I felt like time had stopped and I was stuck in a warp, with no way to get out. I cried every night for time that came after it, and seeing how upset I was, Danny had shed many tears as well. I had became distant to those around me. To my family, who had tried so hard to comfort me, and to Danny, who had tried to be my outlet. I refused to be touched, to be kissed, to be hugged, or to be talked to, and I became a slave to my misery. I gave it the one thing that it loves: company.

"Until I turned 21, I hadn't done much except go to school and finish what I had to to get a good job. By then, Danny and I were on a new chapter, and we tried to become stronger from had happened to us. We told ourselves that everything happens for a reason, and I believe that wholeheartedly. Maybe we weren't destined to be parents so young, and we both knew that. Maybe I wouldn't have been able to provide for my first child. After all, I was a child myself. I was scared, terrified even, and so was Danny. But as we grew older, at around age 23, we were ready. And we tried again.

Like I said, I believe everything happens for a reason.

Some don't think so, but they do.

Fate and destiny is just a matter of coercion. As mere humans, we aren't perfect. We're scared to tackle things on our own. Therefore, these things are done for us, and we're expected to go along with it.

Funny… I intended for this to be a journal entry, but instead this turned into a philosophy."

Sam signed the bottom of the page and closed the journal, tucking it into the drawer of her nightstand and pushing closed gently, inhaling and exhaling smoothly.

"I'm sorry, but I've gotta see that baby!" Zonda waved her hand downward, doing a little dance.

"Here she is," Sam smiled. And as Zonda peered over the railing of the crib, she gasped in astonishment.

"Oh… she's beautiful, absolutely beautiful. She's got Danny's eyes."

"I know," Sam chuckled. "She got almost everything from him. Hopefully she didn't get his stubbornness too."

"Hey baby! Hello! Hi!

The baby chuckled, her eyes squinting as her smile grew, dimples bigger than the moon. She giggled and gurgled, the tip of her little nose flaring.

"What's her name?"

"Ebony."

"Ebony… what a gorgeous name for a gorgeous baby!"

She turned her head, peeking at Danny, who was sprawled out beneath the bedsheets, snoring lightly, which only made him all the more cuter. A picture of the two of them rested vertically upon his nightstand and she looked at it in bewilderment.

"I want to give you something," Zonda offered. "It's nothing bad, but I feel like it should belong to her."

Sam nodded and Zonda turned to Ebony, waving to hands over her, mumbling something that was ineligible to Sam, and then snapped her fingers, causing Ebony to let off a silver glow.

"What… what did you do to her?"

"Now, she'll have good luck come her way for as long as she lives," Zonda smiled.

"Oh, that won't be necessary. She'll be spoiled enough, don't you think?"

"Maybe. But good things should come to good people, and I believe that she'll be one, especially being raised by the two of you."

She was wondering when he'd wake up. It was already light outside, and they had quite the day ahead of them.

"But Zonda, I-"

"Please…" Zonda backed away from the crib and into the corner of the room. "Keep the gift. She'll need it."

"Wait… what do you mean?"

Before she gave her an answer, she disappeared in a cloud of black smoke, never to be seen again, leaving Sam in pure confusion.

Sam was snapped out of her trance with two little bodies jumping onto the bed. The little giggles were warm-hearting, and it blew Sam away knowing how blessed she was that everything had unfolded the way that it had.

"Mommy, Mommy, can we go now?!" Ebony cried.

"If you can manage to wake up you father first," Sam laughed. "Elle, will you do the honors?"

Elle smiled and jumped off the bed, rounding the way to Danny's side and using a pillow that had fallen to the floor as her weapon of destruction. She bashed it against his face, but he didn't even flinch.

"Daddy, wake-" another hit "up!"

He lunged upward, letting out a roar, which made Elle and Ebony jump back in fright. He laughed when he saw their reactions and both girls began attacking him. Sam laughed, calming everyone down.

"Girls, go get ready. We have a lot to do."

The two girls nod, saying "yes Mommy" before running off to their bedrooms. They both laugh, lacing their fingers together and sitting there for a second before going getting up and getting ready. As Sam was pulling a shirt on over her head, Danny behind her rummaging through a drawer, her cellphone went off and she knew by the tone what it meant. She rolled her eyes.

"Danny, can you please get me my meds from the cabinet in the bathroom?"

"Yeah, sure."

She heard footsteps trail off behind her and she exhaled deeply, pulling a pair of jeans on and securing them before the bottle and a glass of water came into view. "Thank you," she mumbled as she opened the cap and plucked a bottle from the inside, dropped it into her mouth, tightened the cap onto the bottle once more, taking a sip of water and swallowing it down. She felt Danny's hands wrap around her waist.

"I hate that damn medicine," she groaned.

"I know. But if you feel like it helps, you have to take it."

"Yeah," she sighed, grasping his hands. "One of these days… I'm gonna get through 24 hours without the help of a drug. And when I do, I'm rewarding myself."

He smirked. "Go ahead. You deserve one anyway for holding out as long as you did."

He kissed her cheek and nibbled at her ear a little bit before backing away and tending to his own business. She craned her neck upward, grabbing a gold necklace with a heart charm on its chain and clasping it around her neck.

"I want you to always remember Sam," Pamela said, her tone calm and serious, "that whatever battle that we face in life, there's always a winner and a loser. If you win, don't think it's a bad thing. Look at it as a way to see life from a whole new perspective. Look at it as a way to be stronger. Count all of the blessings in your life rather than the curses. Only then will it set you free. Promise?"

Young Samantha nodded slowly, focusing on her words as if they were her only light through the darkness.

Sam reached up and touched the charm, her eyes welling up with tears only a little bit.

"I promise Mom," she whispered.

A/N: Ladies and gentlemen, it's been an honor writing this story for you.

PleaseR&R,

Vivalandra :' )