Sleep proved a questionable goal for everyone — more than the post-apocalyptic usual, even. At least this time it was for generally positive reasons.

Laura eventually left to talk with Walt before retiring, shooing Sue out of the room and closing the door. The girls knit and read until they thought they had a reasonable chance of drifting off, then cozied up. Rebecca ended up resting her head on Sam's shoulder instead of their usual opposite.

Without thinking about it, she idly ran her fingertips in circles where one side of Sam's shirt had ridden up, uncovering an inch of waist. That earned a sharp poke and complaint of tickling, accompanied with instructions to either "stop it or mean it". The resulting escalation to light, lazy necking fogged their brains with enough dopamine and oxytocin to still their thoughts for the night.

Rebecca remembered waking twice in the darker hours, but resettled well enough. The first time there was light outside when she opened her eyes, she knew her luck wouldn't hold. A light rain had moved in; she could hear its quiet patter and see streaks on the windows. Guess the effort to preload some stuff yesterday was worth it after all.

She glanced over at Sam's left hand, where it lay on the pillow between them. The bandage they'd applied late in the evening showed no stain on the pad, which felt like a great start to the day. When Rebecca shifted to roll onto her side, Sam stirred and opened her eyes.

She blinked a couple of times and smiled, then greeted Rebecca. "Good morning, cutie."

"Hey, you."

"Not gonna let me sleep in, are you?"

"If you can doze back off feel free, but I'm probably stuck awake."

"Mmm." Sam closed her eyes, but kept talking. "Bet you're happy about the rain, huh? Even if it means a colder morning for poor me."

"Maybe Mom can teach me to knit socks in time for fall."

"Ooooh." Sam snuggled closer for a moment. "I love you both more already. Between that and baking and you being happy, she's passing all my tests in quick form."

"Heh." Rebecca kissed Sam on the forehead before sitting up and pulling on her sweatshirt. "You know, the night before the SATs, I couldn't sleep either... I eventually got up for a drink, and ten minutes after I get back in bed, it starts raining."

"That's good timing, I guess?"

"Extremely, but it was only raining on our house. Mom literally went outside and aimed a hose at the roof for half an hour."

Sam started to shuffle upright and gestured for her own outer layer. "That's sweet. Maybe I'll talk to Leonard about putting an awning outside our room, just to give you a nice pitter-patter when it's not driven against the glass by the wind."

"Yeah, and when it's that stormy it's a totally different vibe. You're pretty sweet yourself."

Sam just made a brief happy humming sound, accompanied by a sleepy version of her trademark "you-know-you-love-me" smile, and shooed Rebecca out of the bed so she had a clear path to the bathroom.

While Sam was away, Rebecca glanced down at the insulated leggings she'd slept in the last few nights and decided they'd be fine for the drive home - it was even one of her treasured pairs that included the mind-blowing feature of pockets. As she pulled on shoes — the hiking ones were slightly heavier, but would be nicely puddle resistant — Sue flowed into the room and swirled around her legs.

Rebecca had the sleeping bags separated and partially stuffed into their cinch sacks by the time Sam returned with most of their toiletries and a loaded toothbrush for her.

"No point getting back home for all the hugs with morning breath, huh?"

Rebecca chuckled and let Sam pack, heading to the bathroom sink and leaving it on for Sue to get one last drink while she brushed. Bottles or dishware clanked in the front room, and she waved a good-morning to her mother on the way back to the bedroom. She followed up properly with a hug when she followed Sam out with an armload of their remaining gear.

Laura gave her a firm squeeze. "Sleep well, sweetheart?"

"Eventually. Maybe my body decided there wasn't any point to wasting time that could be spent getting home to our real bed?"

"Lucky for you, your poor mother is consigned to your couch for however many days!"

Sam patted Laura on both shoulders as she passed behind her. "Don't worry, Mrs C. The couch folds down, and there are some air mattresses around. Or there's always the RV, which is nicer than it sounds. I made sure to commandeer a fancy one."

"Well, thank you, Sam." Laura gave her a pointedly appreciative expression and quirked her eyebrow at Rebecca."

Great. The premiere of the Sam and Laura show. God help me. "Okay, stop kissing up as the good daughter-in-law and go get more stuff."

Sam mouthed an excited "Ooooh" at Rebecca and waggled her left fingers, pointing at the one missing a ring before gleefully disappearing back down the hallway.

Rebecca glared at her mother's jovial expression. "At least I don't have to worry about you pressuring me for grandbabies until society's functional enough for IVF to be a thing again."

"That's great motivation now that you mention it. How do I help?"

"Breakfast?"

Laura shook her head. "Tsk... thinking with your stomach. Just like your father."

There was a hint of sadness to both their expressions, but Laura's seemed colored by pride, and Rebecca's sense of mostly happy nostalgia was bolstered with thoughts of her mother's return.

Footsteps on the porch drew their eyes as Epstein shook off a jacket and hung it outside, then entered. "Good morning, Mrs. and Miss Clinton." He glanced at Rebecca in particular. "Sorry, I couldn't pass that up. Maybe next time. I just got through cleaning the wipers as best I could, hopefully that does the trick."

"Thanks, Lance," Rebecca answered. "I assume if anything was missing you'd have led with that?"

"Affirmative on both of those, Rebecca."

She scoffed approvingly and reached to take half of Sam's approaching burden, helping stack things with their other belongings her the door. As she stood again, she was puzzled by the sound of a cracking egg and looked towards the kitchen.

Laura grinned at her where she stood in front of a bowl and small cardboard box, neither of which Rebecca had noticed on the way in. "Going-away present from one of the neighbors. Starting the trip off right, apparently."

Rebecca wouldn't say no to skipping yet another meal that involved rehydrating something or tear-open foil packs, that was for sure.

**

Sam drove herself into paroxysms of laughter as she ran Sue around the house one last time with the laser sight — that level of entertainment that feels almost embarrassing and shameful, which naturally only adds to the hysteria. Rebecca could certainly empathize, she'd spent hours of her life nearly wheezing because of his loose grasp of inertia and traction. Something about the frantic batting at the elusive dot as he chased it, then sliding by when it made a quick turn, always managed to get the giggles going.

Sue definitely either didn't come equipped with brakes, or had no idea how to use them.

Sam had donned her armor several minutes before, and Rebecca contemplated the psychological metaphor while she rinsed out an emptied tea bottle. Defenses up, keeping herself engaged in an activity, isolated from the social expectations she wanted to avoid. Fair enough.

Caffeine really did make everything easier. After refilling the bottle with water for the drive, Rebecca felt notably more socially competent as she joined her mother and uncle for a penultimate farewell.

At a break in conversation, she handed Walt a list of frequencies Epstein had jotted down. "We're leaving the antenna up, and one of the gas cans. If there's another fire or something and you need to evac, that should let you hook up someone's radio and generator."

"Thanks, kid. Hopefully all this shit will blow over one day and we can just drive over and visit, or pick up the phone again."

"Some day, right?" She leaned in to hug him, then stepped away. While Laura did the same, Rebecca shed her sweartshirt, picked up her armor from where she'd left the inner surfaces facing the stove, and pulled it on, followed by a baggy jacket. Sam smiled at her and handed the laser module back to reattach to the Tavor, and Rebecca heard Laura and Walt tell each other to stay safe.

Sue was so occupied with watching for the dot to reappear that Laura tidily scooped him up and deposited him into the sizable cat crate before he entirely realized what was transpiring. He was initially quiet, but sure enough, the mournful yowling started after Laura picked the crate up with a grunt.

"Oh, quit complaining," Rebecca chided. "You'd rather we carried you out there in the rain?"

The engines outside came to life with quiet rumbles as Epstein started each in turn, and she could see Patrick and Christine waiting on the porch after taking the last load of common gear to their rides. Laura turned back to Walt as everyone still inside began gravitating towards the door.

"Don't forget to move the pie pans in the next few days so the deer and birds don't get used to where they're hanging. And if you do start to run out of food or get hurt, please make contact, okay?"

Sam preceded them with Sue and his carrier, walking down to the vehicles with Pat and Chrissie. Rebecca lingered at the top of the steps to wait for Laura, who Walt patted on the back and gave a gentle shake.

"Don't worry. I'd been planning to retire up here in the first place, the timeline just got moved up a little and shopping is less convenient. Amazon Prime never delivered up the hill anyway." Walt grinned as he shrugged on a jacket hanging by the door. Laura chuckled, but Rebecca could sense an undercurrent of anxiety and smiled sympathetically at her.

She pulled her helmet on and buckled it loosely, as much to keep a little more rain off her head as for Ronnie's inevitable lecture if she somehow omnisciently knew she was heading "outside the wire" without it, and made for the driver's door of the lead SUV. Sam had left it and its rear neighbor hanging open along, so Rebecca flashed an appreciative smile while wiggling out of her jacket and hanging it over the back of the seat. It was completely unsurprising that Sam already had the temperature up and seat warmers turned on.

As Laura climbed in, Rebecca saw when she made a face at Tavor in the rear footwell. She was even more put out when Walt closed the door after her, and she discovered the rear window didn't go down. Rebecca lowered hers, and Laura slid over to the center seat to lean forward for a better view — Sue, of course, continued to let everyone know what he thought of his plight as she moved his carrier to where she'd been sitting.

Rebecca had her elbow away from the window so it didn't catch stray raindrops, but Walt patted her on the shoulder. "Drive safe, kiddo."

"I will. Thanks again, and, uh, retire safe, I guess?"

He laughed, waved to Sam, which she cordially mirrored, and then looked at his sister one last time. "Take care of yourself, Laura."

"Oh, I'll be fine, Walt. I can get back to work taking care of my kid like I'm supposed to. Thanks again, for everything over the years." She paused. "Love you, big brother."

He smiled. "Love you too, sis." Then, he stepped back and patted the roof.

Rebecca took the cue, shifted into gear, and started down the driveway. In the side mirror, she saw Walt wave one last time, then repeat the gesture towards the second SUV. She switched her gaze to the overhead center mirror. "You okay, Mom?"

Laura sighed and stopped looking over her shoulder. "I suppose. I just worry this'll be the last time I see him."

Rebecca knit her brow briefly, glanced at Sam, then back in the mirror. "Don't worry, Mom. We found each other, right? We'll see him again." She looked at Sam again worriedly, but received a reassuringly unfazed half-smile, and returned her focus to the curves leading up to the main road.