Seven.

Freddie looked at the cart in front of him, scanning the items contained in it, comparing them with the list that he had taken from the fridge.

When they had first moved in together, Grace had the bright idea of putting a magnetic notepad on the fridge door. If you needed something, you wrote it down, and whoever was going to the grocery store would take the list.

It worked, although Freddie hated when a request for tampons would pop up on the list, though he'd gotten over the mortification of buying tampons after the first few times.

Freddie grabbed a packet of fat cakes as a last minute thought, and in an effort to cheer Sam up a little.

He joined one of the queues, all of them were long enough. It was a busy afternoon.

Freddie slipped his hand into his pocket absentmindedly, his fingers clenching around the platinum wedding ring he always had with him. He inched his cart forward, never letting go of the ring as he did so.

"Freddie!" a familiar voice squealed. "Oh my gosh, Doctor Freddie Benson, is that you?"

He'd recognise that high pitched squeak anywhere. It was Tamara Jonson, the only girlfriend Freddie had since he and Sam separated- or Sam left him, whichever you preferred.

The relationship lasted about a month before Freddie realized Tamara was not only the most annoying person in the world, she was dating him simply because he was going to be a doctor someday.

He didn't know she had moved back to Seattle, they had met in San Diego, he'd assumed, and well hoped she had stayed there.

"Tamara," Freddie forced a smile. "How are you?"

"I'm good," Tamara was standing uncomfortably close. "I was thinking, we should, rekindle what we had. It was a special you know,"

Freddie had to hold back a snort. So special that she didn't know anything about him?

"I'm uh," He had an idea. Slipping the ring on his finger, he took his hand out of his pocket, and held it up. "I'm married now."

It wasn't technically a lie.

"Oh," Tamara's face fell. "Okay then. Um, take care of yourself."

She practically ran away, and Freddie had to grin. The power of the ring was amazing.

He was still grinning like an idiot when he paid the cashier, and gathered up the bags of groceries.

Freddie hardly used his car anymore, but he loved to drive it when he did. He'd got it the summer before he'd gone to college, and he'd kept it ever since. It had too many good memories attached to it, mostly of him and Sam, and their drives to and from Seattle.

The good memories with Sam nearly always balanced out the bad.

He shifted the car into gear, and pulled out of the supermarket car park. It was a nice drive back to the house, along the highway that rang alongside the water. Seattle was surrounded by three sides by water, and it was a pretty awesome place to live.

While he'd loved San Diego, Freddie always knew he would come back to Seattle. It was home after all.

Freddie had just pulled into the driveway when his pager bleeped. He was needed back at the hospital.

Grabbing the bags, he slammed his way into the house, and dumped the groceries on the table. Quickly putting stuff like milk into the fridge, he ran up the stairs, and burst into his room.

Sam was curled up on his bed, fast asleep. His iPod headphone's were in her ears, and the music was playing gently. If he had taken the time to look at her closely, he'd have noticed that her arms were tightly wrapped around the framed photo of their wedding day- but Freddie wasn't paying close attention.

He bit the cap off one of the pens that littered his bedside locker, and scribbled a quick note on one of the sticky pad's.

I have to go back to the hospital, but I shouldn't be too long. I bought these to cheer you up (: There's more food in the kitchen, but try not too move around too much. There's movies and stuff on my laptop, I'll leave it on the bed for you.

He paused. Was he supposed to write love Freddie? From Freddie?

Freddie settled for simply signing his name, and stuck the note to the packet of fat cakes he'd bought for Sam, setting them down on the locker.

His pager bleeped again, and Freddie took off at a run for his car. It was faster to drive to the hospital, and he did not need Dr Fielding on his back.

Freddie completely forgot he was still wearing his wedding ring. He didn't remember until Grace pointed it out as they got ready to go out onto the pit, ready to deal with dozens of trauma cases from a bus crash that had happened that afternoon.

"You should probably take that off," Grace commented.

"Oh, yeah, thanks." Freddie slipped the ring off, and put it into the chest pocket of his scrubs, patting it to make sure it had stayed there.

He patted the pocket a few more times in the six hours he spent on the floor, treating dozens of horribly injured patients.

Maybe he was just overly tired, but Freddie, whether it was consciously or subconsciously, put the platinum band back on as he got ready to go home.

It wasn't unusual for him to spend days off back in the ER, but the day had really dragged for some reason.

"Do you need a lift?" Grace called as Freddie moved to leave the locker room.

Freddie shook his head. "No, I'm fine. I have my own car,"

Grace nodded, and watched him leave.

"Why is he wearing his wedding ring?" Sarah inquired, buttoning up her shirt.

Grace shrugged, she was already completely dressed and ready to go home. "He was when he arrived at the hospital."

"You don't think-" Sarah began before Grace cut her off.

"I doubt they made up, not this soon. She just got out of hospital, and from what Freddie says, they have a lot to talk about before they an even be friends again, never mind-"

This time it was Sarah's turn to interrupt.

"Lover's," She said in a sing song voice as they left the locker room. "Are you seriously okay with this?"

"Can you stop asking me that?" Grace sighed. By this stage, they were in the car and on the way home.

"I'm just being the concerned best friend here," Sarah raised her hands in surrender. "Are we going for a drink, or.."

"I'm really tired," Grace shook her head. "I'm going to go home, but do you want me to drop you at the bar?"

Sarah glanced at her watch. "Mm.. Yeah, a few of the other interns are going to be there tonight. Do you mind?"

"No," Grace shook her head, stifling a yawn. "Its no problem."

She switched her indicator on, and changed lanes, bringing them to the local bar where a huge majority of the hospital staff hung out, instead of the warm comforts of home.

"Thanks Grace," Sarah said, waving at the window before heading into the bar.

Grace backed out of the car park, and set off home again. It had been a weird few weeks, with Sam turning up out of the blue, and the while set of events that were set into motion because of it.

It made Grace realize that there was a whole different side to Freddie she didn't know, all these experiences, the heartbreak he was never going to open up to her about.

She would never know him the way Sam knew Freddie.

So, maybe she wasn't completely okay with Sam living in her house, but Grace knew Freddie didn't feel the same way about her. She just had to suck it up, and get on with it.

Grace switched off the car engine, and walked into the house. She had inherited it from her grandmother, and her intention always was to sell the place, until she found out she was doing her internship in Seattle.

Now, it was home and she couldn't imagine ever getting rid of it. A quick look in the fridge told her that Freddie had done the grocery shopping, and she happily found the tub of Ben and Jerry's she had requested.

Grabbing two spoons from the drawer, she pushed it closed with her hip, and made her way upstairs.

Grace knocked gently on Freddie's bedroom door, and when there was no answer, she let herself in quietly. There was a reason he didn't answer- he was fast asleep.

Sam was curled up on the right side of the bed, Freddie's shockingly red duvet pulled up around her chin. Freddie was sprawled on the left side, wearing the dark blue tracksuit bottoms and US San Diego t-shirt he slept in quite a lot.

He only had a bit of blanket, covering his feet, but he was dead to the world, snoring gently.

Grace felt a surge of jealously rise in her throat, and let the room. She was intruding, at least she felt she was. Returning to her empty bedroom, she kicked off her shoes and sat on the bed.

With two spoons in her hand, and no one to share the ice cream with, Grace felt incredibly lonely. She was always the single one, the girl everyone saw as a friend- and she hated it.

She hated being alone.

/

Author's Note: I know I'm not giving much insight in Sam and Freddie's past, but it will come, I promise. I wanted to introduce Grace a little more in the chapter, and in the not so distant future you'll find out why!

I watched Sweet Home Alabama last night again, (romantic comedies win over sleep all the time, who needs to be refreshed and ready for school?), and its literally the best movie in the universe. Plus, I kind of think Sam and Freddie are like Jake and Melanie.. Just a little bit at least! I'm not the only one, am I?

Thanks for the reviews, alerts, everything guys. You're all awesome, seriously!

As always, reviews are love and a great motivator :3