It's too much for Sam. She can't listen to him talk to her baby in that voice. It hurts and it's too much and she can't look at them together. She'd finally healed from losing Jack, she managed to keep it together when Daniel disappeared, but this is too much because it makes her ache badly for everything she's lost. "Sorry," she says, and her voice is thick. "I have to--got to check on William. Sorry."

Sam makes a hasty retreat to William's room, where he's curled up on his bed with his favorite blanket. He's only recently moved into a 'big boy bed' and this one, with this apartment seems bigger, making William seem even smaller and more vulnerable--and that forces her to pull it together, because he needs her to. "You okay, kiddo?" she asks, and sits beside him on the bed.

"Uh-huh," he says, and curls up close to her. He looks tired and a little sad and Sam worries about him.

She pets his hair and sighs. "I know, it's hard, honey," she says. "It'll be okay." She feels like a hypocrite telling him this when she's not sure of it herself, but what else is she going to say? She can't even promise him that she won't disappear and reappear. "I need to talk to Uncle Jack for a while. Help him figure stuff out. I haven't forgotten about your story, though. Before bed. I promise."