iStand By You
The following Saturday was a very special day for the twins. Their parents promised them that, were they good girls the entire week, they could spend the day in the studio with their Auntie Melanie, as she worked on her new album, her third studio release since winning America Sings in college.
The twins were all whipped up with excitement. As much as they loved their large extended family, time with Freddie and Melanie had to be among the little girls' most enjoyable. Sure, their Uncle Spencer was fun, goofy, and let the girls express themselves through paint and clay, but Auntie Mel was… she was like rolling both of their parents up into one person.
"Girls! Time to go!"
Carly called from the kitchen, where she busied herself doing Mommy Things – the type of things she remembered from her own childhood, in the days before her mother had gotten sick. She packed a wonderfully overindulgent picnic lunch. Life with Sam was always wonderfully overindulgent in its own ways. Sam spoiled all three of them something fierce, but Carly had simply grown accustomed to it, chalking it up to Sam just being Sam. She smiled, packing half a dozen peanut butter sandwiches, two with the crusts cut off, into her thermal tote bag.
"Girls!"
As if on cue, Carly's little ones meandered into the living room, holding hands, as usual. Carly adored this. What Carly adored more was the fact that, in an effort to foster a feeling of individuality amongst her identical little mini-Sams, her partner had made the girls tiny little penny tees. They matched larger versions that Carly and Sam still wore, much to their daughters' confusion.
Carly nearly burst from the inside with laughter. Her girls were just too precious. Carly had loved Sam nearly all of her life, and today she had confirmation of yet another reason why. Sam had a wickedly adorable sense of humor. Ashley wore an orange t-shirt which read, in bright yellow letters, 'BACON CUPCAKE'. Melanie was wearing a bright green shirt with purple letters. It said, not surprisingly, 'NOT MYTHICAL'.
The original Cupcake smiled again. She loved then so much. She wanted them to stay nice and small like this forever. She didn't want to deal with what she knew was coming in only a few years' time. She wanted to savor the moments before hormones, before dating, before boys. She wanted to savor the time that her own mother had missed out on. She knew that she was now a conflicted mess of emotions. She felt a lump rising in her throat. She choked it down and cheerfully corralled her little ones towards the front door.
"Come on… first, we go get Mama, then we can all enjoy the rest of the day…"
The two little blonde princesses followed Carly obediently, never stopping to ask what else their parents had planned for them.
AN HOUR LATER…
The two tiny blondes were completely in awe. Uncle Freddie had done a nice job with the studio he'd built in their home, but it had nothing on this place. Two sets of bright blue eyes scanned the entire room, completely unsure of what all those little blinky lights in the other room did, but they knew this was where music got made. They both said, simultaneously what each other was thinking.
"Whoa…"
Carly and Sam laughed. Melanie Benson chuckled to herself, taking her nieces through the paces.
"Kinda cool, huh?"
She could tell that her favorite tiny people were clearly soaking it all in. Freddie mumbled something under his breath, inaudible to all but his wife. She fussed at him, only half seriously.
"I HEARD THAT, FREDWARD BENSON… AND WE'LL DISCUSS THAT LATER, THANK YOU VERY MUCH…"
Her husband was such an insecure child at heart. Whenever he came and noticed that the studio had installed a new piece of recording hardware, he instantly wanted to add it to their setup at home. Usually, Melanie relented, knowing instinctively that a happy Freddie meant, in the long run, more opportunities to record on her own, which meant more creative control. More creative control meant that she enjoyed what she did that much more. It was, she decided, an investment in herself.
A FEW SHORT MOMENTS LATER…
Melanie shared a few quiet moments with her sister as Carly took the girls to the bathroom.
"They really are beautiful, amazing, little people, Sam…"
Sam knew very well what her sister was playing at, but wanted to be delicate.
"They're us… basically…"
Melanie smiled at her sister. She knew Sam was being gentle like this solely to spare her feelings. She touched her sister gently on the arm. The two of them could carry on entire conversations with nothing more than a glance or a raised eyebrow. They'd had this very conversation more times than Sam cared to remember, of late. She didn't want to hurt her sister, so she said what needed saying in her own way.
"Still no?"
The slightest shake of her twin's head told Sam the truth.
"Oh, Honey…"
Samantha Puckett did the only thing she knew. She took her sister into her arms and held her. Their foreheads met. For a brief moment, Samantha was back inside her sister's mind. She spoke to her without saying a word. It was what they'd always been able to do.
"It's alright… I promise… it's alright. I know you're hurting, but I promise you, it'll all be okay… We're family, aren't we?"
Melanie looked to Sam, clearly wounded. She knew that her sister would've taken this pain away from her if she could've done so. She wanted to say so many things, but only a single word escaped her lips.
"Sam…"
Sam Puckett held her close.
"Shhh…"
Without another word, Sam did, publicly, something no one else had seen her do in years. She leaned close and kissed her sister gently on the cheek.
"I love you, Mel… I'll be over tonight, after they're in bed… we'll talk… just us…"
Sam knew her sister was fragile, but that she'd pull herself together and finish this session and go home. She heard something that made her blood run cold. It was the engineer working the booth today. He was a young kid, probably no older than she was.
"Excuse me, Missus Benson…"
Sam spun around and glared at him. She wanted to say so many things, but the look on her face said it all. There was nothing to say.
WE'RE – BUSY – HERE! COME – ANY – CLOSER – AND – I – WILL – KILL – YOU…
Melanie was, by far, more diplomatic.
"Five minutes, please?"
LATER THAT AFTERNOON…
The girls loved the park. Carly and Sam brought them here regularly, but they never tired of hearing all of their parents' stories, especially the story of the day when Carly had taken Sam's name as her own. The two little girls played less than a hundred yards from the spot where their parents had exchanged wedding vows. Carly and Sam made small talk with another woman, a working single mother, from what they'd been able to gather. The woman was Asian and somewhat older. She was polite, but clearly didn't know what to make of these two women who doted on one another in a way that made her somewhat uneasy. She wasn't prejudiced. She simply had no frame of reference, culturally speaking, for what their relationship meant.
Carly extended her hand gently, making a polite introduction.
Sam poked Carly gently in the ribs. She wanted her attention.
"Cupcake, Look…"
Carly turned to see her little girls playing in the sandbox with a tiny, raven-haired Asian girl of similar age. Carly watched as the new girl wrapped her little blonde into a hug, green t-shirt and all.
Carly flushed with pride. Melanie had made herself a new friend.
