Everyone's Waiting - Plot

Plot

The episode begins like no other episode—without a death—but with the birth of Willa Fisher Chenowith. The baby is born prematurely and Brenda is plagued by visions of Nate who conveys her internal fears that the child will not survive and insists that he cannot accept it if she does make it and that she is "damaged". Ruth stays by Brenda's side and comforts her and tells her Maya can now live with her. Brenda awakens to see Nate and Nathaniel holding Willa, where Nate shows his love for his daughter.

After Brenda brings Maya back home, it sends Ruth into a depression. George tries to comfort her and promises he will help her get through it. Ruth is helped by a phone call to Maggie, after she tells her that Nate was happy the last night he was alive.

Claire gets back into photography with the help of Ted and later receives a phone call from a stock photography company in New York for a photographer's assistant position. She later finds out that Olivier recommended her for the position. After finding her mother crying, she says she will stay at home to help her, but Ruth insists that she move to New York, so she will not regret it later on. Ruth also unfreezes her trust fund set up by her father. Claire later finds out that the photo company consolidated its operation and her position is no longer available. When thinking of calling off her trip, Nate's ghost tells her she needs to go to start a new life in New York anyway.

Rico encourages David to sell the funeral home, but David refuses to sell, and instead he and Keith buy out Rico's 25% share. Rico and Vanessa begin to plan their future and find a small funeral home where they can start up their own business.

David agrees to temporarily leave home and returns to the funeral home with Ruth. During a nightmare, he is confronted by Nathaniel about considering leaving the business and for his sexuality; he is forced to fight his mysterious attacker back and finally sees his own face. David and Keith along with the boys move into the funeral home and redecorate it. Ruth moves in with her sister in Topanga.

The extended Fisher family has a farewell dinner for Claire where they reminisce of Nate telling stories and toasting Nate's memory. The next morning, Claire has a tearful goodbye with her family and drives off into her future.

The episode ends with flashforwards to some milestone events in the main characters' subsequent lives and, ultimately, their deaths; the montage (set to Sia Furler's "Breathe Me") is intercut with views of Claire driving down the literal and figurative 'road of life', its literal incarnation becoming progressively less crowded, ultimately leaving her alone on the highway concurrently with the depiction of her eventual death.

In the flashforwards, Ruth is seen enjoying life in Topanga; David teaches Durrell about embalming; the extended Fisher family celebrate Willa's birthday; David and Keith get legally married. Ruth dies of old age in the hospital with David, Claire, and George at her side. She sees her deceased husband Nathaniel and son Nate before she passes away. At Ruth's funeral, Claire sees Ted; they later get married. Keith is shot and killed by robbers in his security vehicle. At a family function, David dies from a stroke after seeing a vision of a young Keith smiling at him. While on a cruise with his wife, Rico has a heart attack and collapses. Brenda dies of old age in her home with her brother Billy. Finally Claire is shown dying of natural causes at very old age.