Where Nate pops onto my screen in a white suit and aviator shades, lip syncing "I Just Want to Celebrate" by Rare Earth, I think. For a second, it's like they're saying, "This is how the show would end if it were 7th Heaven," but it's just Claire being woken up by the classic rock station on her clock radio. She hits the snooze button to go back to sleep, but Nate, who's in the room with her, wearing his jogging outfit and lacing up his running shoes, isn't having it. "Everybody's waiting," he says, and heads out.
Keith and David got a new sign for the front yard. It reads, "Fisher & Sons: A Family Business for Over 60 Years." Claire sets her purse on the porch railing and comes up the stairs, admitting to David and Ruth that "I have no idea how to do this." David does. He smiles and hugs her. "You say goodbye. And you say I love you. I'll miss you." Claire agrees with that last one whole-heartedly, and tells David to be happy. "I am," he says. Claire goes to Ruth in Sarah's embroidered bathrobe. "Don't let them work you too hard at your new job," she says. "I won't," Claire says truthfully, and adds that she hopes Ruth can come visit. Ruth says she'll try, and they hug. "I pray you'll be filled with hope as long as you can." Claire barely holds off the tears long enough to say, "Thank you for everything. Thank you for giving me life." "You gave me life," Ruth returns. Claire sobs that she doesn't want to go. "Yes you do," yells Late Nate Jr. from the bottom of the stoop, still in his jogging clothes. Keith and the boys come out, and Anthony gets a hug from Aunt Claire. Durrell asks Claire to get him something from the fire department museum in Brooklyn. "Durrell's going to be a fireman," David explains. Durrell proudly reminds Claire that "my dad Keith used to be a cop." Claire remembers that Keith "looked really good in his uniform." That earns her a sexy chuckle and a hug from Keith. Claire says she wants to take a picture, and takes up position on the sidewalk with her SLR. Nate appears behind her, saying over her shoulder, "You can't take a picture of this, it's already gone." Yeah? Then block the shot, smart guy. Claire clicks the shutter anyway, and cries as she looks at the five people who make up the current permutation of her family, bigger and yet smaller than it was at the beginning of the series.
Cut to Claire in her new car, which she starts with a power button instead of a key. She pops Ted's Deeply Un-Hip Mix into the CD player. Cue "Tubthumping" by Chumbawamba. No, not really. It's actually the song from the Season Five trailer, "Breathe Me" by Sia. It sounds a bit like a Tori Amos power ballad. If knowing this song makes Ted deeply un-hip, I shudder to think what not knowing it makes me. Claire pulls out of the driveway in a brand-new dark-gray Prius. As she drives down the street from the funeral home, Claire looks in her sideview mirror and sees Late Nate, Jr. running alongside her car. He drops out of sight as she picks up speed. How fitting that a guy who once thought his wife had been reincarnated as a dog now has to spend eternity chasing cars. With Nate gone, Claire sobs harder than ever. Or maybe she just realized what a horrible mistake she made by buying a brand-new car before moving to New York. ["Could have been worse. Could have been an Accord." -- Sars] She pulls onto the 10.