Chapter Nine
The Upsides and Downsides of Babysitting
It was clear to Sam and Laura that, after narrowing escaping the wrath of a very angry store manager, they were going to get no where when it came to looking for Erika. Splitting up was out of the question, since one of them alone wouldn't be able to handle the children. And so, with no other choice in sight, they headed back toward the apartment with six children in tow. Tessa didn't waste any time harassing her sister for her decision, walking along side the eldest Chapman daughter with a smug smile on her face.
"I can't believe you're just going to give up, to not even look for her." Tessa remarked as she kept step with Laura. "What are you going to tell her mother?"
Laura didn't answer, her shoulders slumping; she didn't have an answer to that question anyway. She had no idea what she was going to tell Erika's mother, what excuse she was going to give for allowing her daughter to turn up missing. Sam offered her a faint, supportive smile and took her hand, entwining their fingers and offering the brunette the only support he could.
As they headed back to the apartment, it became clear to Sam that the children were losing their energy. It was almost too good to be true, he almost couldn't believe what he was seeing. The twins were yawning and rubbing their eyes and Stevie was dragging his feet like they were made of led. It seemed impossible that the little monsters were growing too tired to cause trouble but Sam wasn't going to look the gift horse in the mouth. If they could get the children back to the apartment without any more disasters, then at least one miracle had happened.
With a heavy heart, still dreading the confrontation that was surely on the horizon, Laura unlocked the door to the apartment and ushered the children inside. With a final burst of energy, Stevie went running into the living room and jumped onto the couch. He quickly decided, however, that jumping on the cushions weren't nearly as fun as laying on them and he flopped down, covering his face with a pillow.
"I don't believe it." Sam mumbled. "Now they get tired."
Laura sighed. "They must have worn themselves out looking for Erika." She pointed out, looking pretty worn out herself. Sam wished that he could take Laura into his arms and keep her safe from all the worries that were plaguing her mind.
Mia grabbed Sam's hand and tugged, catching his attention and reluctantly taking his gaze away from Laura. "I'm thirsty." She informed him, sticking out her bottle lip. "I want juice."
With a weary sigh of his own, Sam headed toward the refrigerator, hoping that there was some sort of juice inside so that he wouldn't have another screaming child to deal with. As he opened the refrigerator door, something caught his eye, causing him to turn away from the frozen foods and toward the kitchen table. A smile spread across Sam's face and he turned to look over his shoulder. "Laura, come here." He said and, without a word, she headed over to do as he said.
Laura saw what caught Sam's attention and her reaction was very much like his. Lying across the chairs under the dining room table was a sleeping Erika, sprawled out and exhausted, unaware of everything that had happened in the past hour. Instantly, Laura felt all the stress and tension leave her body; all that time she had been so worried about finding the child that she hadn't searched the entire house, hadn't looked in the obvious places. Erika had been right under their noses all along, sleeping soundly while they had searched for her.
"Unbelievable." Sam muttered, shaking his head with a smile still on his face.
Laura had knelt beside Erika and was shaking the girl awake; the redhead opened her eyes grudgingly, blinking and looking at the oldest girl. "What's the matter?" Erika asked groggily, yawning and looking like she just wanted to go back to sleep.
"Didn't you hear us calling for you?" Laura questioned and Erika blinked, still clearly confused. "We were looking for you."
Erika yawned again. "But why?" She questioned. "I've been right here the whole time."
Sam couldn't help but smile. The girl did have a point.
Once the last child had been laid onto the makeshift pallet on the floor of Laura's room without protest, Sam felt an immense wave of relief roll over his body. It seemed impossible that after the huge debacle that he had been battling for the past several hours, everything was over and done with. Within the next hour, the parents would return to collect their children and he and Laura would be off the hook and leave the little demons to the care of their parents. All Sam knew for certain was that he was never going to baby sit again.
Now that the children were all sleeping, Sam thought that they actually looked cute, even a little angelic. There was no sign of the devil streak that ran through them, the energy and malice that had caused them to destroy most of Laura's apartment and run their babysitters ragged. All he could see at that moment was a gaggle of tired children and he thought that he might even be able to like them...as long as they were still sleeping.
A faint smile playing on the corners of his lips, Sam turned and left the room, leaving the door cracked so he and Laura would be able to hear if any ruckus started once their backs were turned. But he doubted that they would have to worry about putting down any miniature uprisings; it seemed that the chaos had ended for the night.
Laura was still in the living room, where she had been since Sam offered to get the children situated and asleep, scrubbing the floor with a damp sponge, attempting to get the ice cream stains out of the carpet. She looked up when he entered and offered him a half-hearted smile that seemed to suggest just how tired she really was. Sam knelt down beside her, his eyes scanning the living room that had once been an absolute disaster but now didn't look half bad.
"You've almost got it all cleaned up." Sam remarked, since there was little else for him to say. Even though he had definitely made progress in his tentative relationship with the beautiful brunette beside him, he still found it difficult to say something of actual importance to her. Laura still managed to tie his tongue into knots and cause his heart to rabbit about in his chest and Sam had discovered that it was still best to fumble about with small talk because that way he could manage to get a word or two out of his mouth.
"Yeah." Laura said with an exhausted sighed, setting the sponge aside. "It wasn't as bad as it looked."
Sam smiled slightly. "Well, it looks fine now." He leaned over and kissed the girl beside him. He couldn't believe that he was actually able to do the very thing he had always dreamed of doing and knew he would never grow tired of feeling Laura's lips against his. But the thing that truly baffled him was the fact that Laura was willing to kiss him and the thought that she actually cared for him like he did about her was inconvincible. Except for Sam knew he wasn't living in a dream every time he looked in her chocolate colored eyes and saw the truth reflected in them.
When the kiss was broken, Sam offered the girl another smile that easily melted Laura's heart. "So, we've finally got some alone time."
Laura's cheeks flushed slightly as she thought about just what could be done with such alone time. But instead of verbalizing any of her thoughts, she simply raised an eyebrow. "What are you suggesting Sam Hall?" She questioned.
Now it was Sam's turn to blush and he dropped his gaze to the floor momentarily. "Well I was just..." There he was again, suddenly tongue-tied. "We could..." He looked up and saw Laura giving him a somewhat amused smile. "Study." Sam finished lamely.
"Right, study." Laura somehow managed to keep the disappointment from her voice and off her face. "Of course, for the decathlon tryouts." She nodded once, unable to figure out just what she had been expecting Sam to say. And no one had ever said that there couldn't be a few kisses exchanged in between questions.
Sam seemed oblivious to Laura's disappointment and got to his feet, helping her up as well. "I'll get some books." He said before disappearing down the hallway once more.
"Books." Laura mumbled with another faint nod, though there was no longer anyone around to see it. "Because you study with books." She sighed and flopped onto the couch, closing her eyes and laying her head back against the cushion. Get a hold of yourself, Chapman, her mind advised in a scathing tone. He did come over to study, after all. Well, she had never planned on actually being able to kiss Sam tonight so it seemed like not all plans were meant to be kept.
Sam returned shortly with several text books he had no doubt procured from her bedroom and Laura narrowed her eyes, hoping that Sam didn't notice her reaction. Since when did she, Laura Chapman, not want to study? Since she discovered that there were better things that could be done. She closed her eyes once again and sighed deeply, thoughtfully, wearily.
"Okay," Sam said, setting the books on the coffee table in front of them as he sat down on the couch. "Where should we start?"
When Laura provided no answer, Sam turned to look her and his expression softened instantly. In the moments he had taken to get the books from her room and sat down she had managed to drift toward dreamland. And looking at the brunette, who was hovering peacefully between deep sleep and waking, Sam realized that this was as close as he was ever going to get to seeing an angel on Earth. Not that he was complaining.
The fact that Sam was growing increasingly interested in the plight of Marlin to retrieve his son, Nemo, did little to fight off the exhaustion that was threatening to claim him. He knew that at least one of them needed to be awake if one of the kids needed something or if the parents returned and he wasn't about to wake Laura up; she looked so beautiful, so adorable in her current position, with her head resting against the side of the couch and her mahogany locks trailing down her cheeks that he couldn't bear to disturb her. And so, Sam forced himself to attempt to concentrate on the gang of sea turtles directing Marlin and his fishy companion toward the EAC in an attempt to fight off the fatigue that made his eyelids heavy and was constantly reminding him how nice it would be to finally go to sleep.
With a sigh, Sam attempted to blink the heaviness from his eyes. It would only be a while longer until this night would come to an end and he might as well enjoy it while he could. After all, how often did he get the chance to have the girl of his dreams sleeping so close to him? He wasn't about to tempt Fate by trying to discover an answer to this question.
The front door opened and voices drifted in from the chilly air outside just as Marlin and Nemo were finally reunited. Sam cast a glance in the direction of the foyer before returning his attention to Laura, knowing that he would have to do the unthinkable. He was certain that her mother wouldn't exactly approve of finding her daughter asleep for reasons that he attempted to convince himself had nothing to do with him so the only possible option, he knew, was waking her up. But that didn't make it any easier.
A gentle shake brought Laura out of whatever pleasant dream she had been immersed in and she blinked her eyes in an attempt to focus her vision and chase away the grogginess that wanted to pull her back into dreamland. She smiled faintly when she saw Sam beside her and pulled herself into a sitting position. Before either one of the teenagers could say anything, Laura heard her mother's voice and cringed inwardly; how could they be home all ready? And, more importantly, how had she fallen asleep and thrown away the remaining time she had with Sam?
Michelle entered the apartment, breezing into the living room, followed by the gaggle of middle-aged parents she had gone out with. Laura wished that they would all collect their demon children and leave her and Sam to the 'alone time' she had been craving ever since she had met him. And, this time, she wouldn't fall asleep.
But Laura knew that wasn't an option and managed to fix a smile on her face that suggested she hadn't just been woken from a rather pleasant dream. The very anxious Ms. Eva Gesner looked fearfully at Laura and Sam. "Where are the children?" She questioned as though boy teenagers had forgotten what they were supposed to be doing in the past few hours.
"They're asleep in my room." Laura said, getting to her feet and leading the group down the hallway toward her bedroom.
Upon seeing the children asleep, Jerri-Lynn Flowers, Erika's mother, gave the dark-haired girl an impressed look. "Wow, I can't believe you actually got all of them to sleep." She leaned closer, clearly about to confide something in the girl. "When they stick me with these kids, I can never get them to sleep unless I give them some of my husband's sleeping pills in their ice cream."
Laura raised an eyebrow. "Now why didn't I think of that?"
Once all the children had been collected and the parents had slowly and regretfully pulled out their wallets and counted out bills, Sam was once again reminded that his evening with Laura was about to come to an end. It was the look that Michelle sent him once the last couple and their child had been shooed out the door that suggested he had better take a cue from them and take his leave. And since he found Michelle's gaze to be both withering and quite frightening, Sam decided not to push his luck.
"I'd better be going," Sam said to Michelle's satisfaction and Laura's somewhat concealed disappointment, "it was nice to meet you, Ms. Chapman." The woman muttered something only fairly pleasant in response.
"I'll walk you out." Laura offered and followed Sam out the door before her mother could raise protest.
Once the teenagers were free from the oppressive and almost condemning stare of Michelle, they found that they could relax in some areas. Sam figured that the nervousness he felt when he was around Laura would take a while to go away and hoped that he had the chance to banish the butterflies in his stomach. Hopefully Laura would give him the chance to really get over the pleasant jitters that filled his body whenever he saw her.
Laura looked over at Sam and offered him a smile that succeeded in bringing the butterflies flocking in droves to his stomach and his heart beating in his chest. "So I..." She started uncertainly.
Sam was more then willing to fill in her sentence. "I had a really fun time tonight."
"Fun?" Laura repeated with a raised eyebrow.
"Well," Sam gave a shrug, feeling like a dork, "maybe not fun. But certainly interesting. What I mean is...I had a fun time with you."
Laura blushed pleasantly and looked down at her feet. "Yeah, so did I." She smiled slightly when she managed to meet his gaze again. "I'm really glad you came over tonight; I don't know how I could have managed without you." It seemed like she could never truly say what she really wanted to say.
Sam smiled. "Well, we could always do this again; we never did get that study time." He thought about what he was saying and restated his words. "Without the crazy kids, that is."
"Of course." Laura said much too eagerly, hoping that Sam didn't sense the enthusiasm in her voice. "I'd love to...study with you." She felt like an idiot and glanced down at the cracked sidewalk beneath her feet once more.
With a smile, Sam leaned forward and kissed her gently, resting his fingers against her cheeks. Once the kiss was broken, much too quickly as Laura was concerned, he gave her a smile that quickly melted her heart. "Of course." He told her. "We'll study anytime."
Much too soon, Sam and Laura were forced to part ways, leaving on promises of meeting again before the weekend was over to do a little study and perhaps a little something else. Before Sam got too far down the sidewalk, he turned back to look at Laura once more. "How much did we get paid anyway?" He questioned, though the last thing on his mind was the money. He just wanted the excuse to look at the brunette again.
In truth, Laura had forgotten about the money as well and seemed to notice the money in her hand for the first time. After counting out the bills, her face seemed to fall. "Sixty dollars." She remarked. "Sixty dollars for six kids." She rolled her eyes. "The truest definition of cheap."
Sam couldn't help but smile. "Well, the parents have to put up with them every day for free." He pointed out. "I guess they expect us to do the same."
They parted again and this time Sam could think of no excuse to turn back and study her again. So Laura watched him get into his mother's car, which he had parked along the curb and disappear down the street, much like a lady-in-waiting would watch her handsome knight ride off into the sunset.
For a moment, Laura allowed her thoughts to carry her back through the events of the night and it seemed impossible that she had even survived the demonic children and the chaos they had caused. And she figured the only reason she had made it at all was because Sam had been with her and somehow being with Sam made everything much better. She remembered what it was like to kiss him and couldn't wait to feel his lips once again and her heart gave a little jump.
Somehow, the disaster still waiting for her upon reentering the house, the ruckus the children had caused and the horrible hour that Erika had been missing was all worth it when she thought about the fact that she had been able to tell Sam how she really felt about him. And the knowledge that he felt the same way was worth so much more then the sixty dollars she felt in her hand.
But then, everything was worth it as long as she was with Sam.
