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Original Airdate: 9/30/96
| The family does a room switch to accommodate Annie's parents who are coming to town. Meanwhile, Lucy tries to think of ways to keep her father away from her date, Jimmy Moon. Annie says goodbye to her mother. |
Lucy reminds her mom that she has a date that night - and that she promised to keep Eric away from her date, Jimmy Moon. When Mary tells her parents about a party she was planning to go to with her boyfriend Jeff, Eric tells her she can't go. The phone rings, and Annie tells everyone their plans are canceled - her parents won't be flying in that day after all, so she decides to fly out to Arizona instead.
Ruthie spares no time and begins to move in all of her stuffed animals and dolls, resulting in Simon cringing at all of the "junk" being brought into his room. Trying to convince Annie to hold off for a while on the movie, Annie tells Simon it will be good for them to get used to staying with each other for a while.
While running around the track after school, Mary tells Jeff that she can't go to the movie tonight because she has to "run interference" for Lucy that night. Jeff doesn't understand and tells Mary she should have given him more advance notice. Mary runs off in anger, barging in on Matt and his girlfriend making out in the front seat of the car.
Arriving in Arizona, Annie is disturbed not to find her parents at home. Calling all of the hospitals in the area, she is relieved when her parents walk through the door - surprised to see her. Annie convinces her parents to fly home with her, and they accept - even though they have to cancel their hot balloon ride. When Annie tells her dad to stop goofing around, he tells her that he and Annie's mom want to have fun during her last days - who knows how long she will live with the leukemia.
With his driving privileges suspended for staying out all night, Matt eagerly volunteers to drive the Meals On Wheels van for Eric that night - a gesture Eric accepts so he can keep an eye on Lucy and her date. When Matt leaves, Eric prepares his own dinner: Combat Casserole, a dish even Happy won't eat. After Matt rushes through each of his deliveries, he stops to pick his girlfriend up at her place of work. When she cracks open a beer in the front seat and the two begin to make out, the van lurches forward and hits a parked police car.
Come nightfall, Ruthie holds a tea party for herself and her imaginary friend Huey - who snores. When Simon figures out there is no way for Happy to get into the top bunk, he tries to convince Ruthie to move to "the penthouse."
Jimmy Moon, Lucy's date, arrives with two videos: one for Lucy and himself to watch, and one for Eric to take upstairs to watch by himself. Saying Jimmy has won round one, Eric retreats to his bedroom to work on some church matters. When Jimmy puts his arm around Lucy, Mary takes it upon herself to make sure nothing else happens - and asks Eric to start playing country music songs on his guitar to break up the evening - which causes Lucy to be furious. After breaking up the date, Eric gets a phone call from Matt who tells him about the accident, and Eric takes off to give Matt a ride home.
Annie and her parents arrive home to find both Matt and Eric gone and make little headway into finding their whereabouts. Diving into the presents their grandparents have brought them, Simon shows his moon rocks to his grandfather who, at first, was unimpressed but then tells Simon how lucky he is.
When Eric arrives to question Matt about what happened, he is embarrassed when the father of Matt's girlfriend recognizes Eric and says it is always the preacher's son who gets in trouble. Eric has a hard time figuring out what is going on with Matt, and Matt likewise has a hard time talking with his father - especially when his father is mad at him.
Back at the house, Annie and her father dance while Lucy, Mary and their grandmother break out the ice cream in the kitchen. Explaining how Matt doesn't have anyone to talk to, their grandmother lets them in on the fact that at least the sisters have each other - and they both apologize for the way they have been acting recently.
Eric comes home and explains everything to Annie as they are going to bed. When the kids are all asleep, Eric is still trying to sort out how to deal with Matt. In the morning, Annie wakes up to a vision of her mother saying how much she loves Annie. Jumping out of bed, Annie rushes to her parent's door where she is told of her mom's death. Crying in the arms of her father and Eric, the family tries to do its best to cope with their loss.