Chapter 11

As soon as Freddie woke up the next morning and got dressed, he took off for Taureen's place.

The skies were overcast on this Wednesday morning. Freddie was listening to the radio as he was driving. The DJ called for rain on and off today. Freddie had no problems with this rain until he reached his destination. It started to sprinkle when he pulled alongside the curb to Taureen's place.

Freddie got out of the car and walked quickly to Taureen's front door. He knocked, and waited for a response. After a couple of seconds, Taureen appeared at the door.

"Freddie Benson?" Taureen asked with a slight smile on her face.

"Hi, Taureen," Freddie answered smiling, "How are you doing?"

"I'm great," she answered grinning, "I haven't seen you since high school. What are you doing here?"

"I came by hoping that you could help me find Sam," he replied. Freddie was starting to get wet as the intensity of the rain began to increase, "Would you mind if I came inside? The rain is really…"

"Oh, I'm sorry," Taureen replied embarrassed as she beckoned for Freddie to follow her into the house, "come on in and have a seat on the couch."

"Thank you," Freddie responded politely as he followed her into the living room. He walked over to the couch and had a seat.

"Can I get you something to drink?" Taureen asked as she walked towards the kitchen.

"Uh…just a glass of ice water would be fine," Freddie replied as he sat patiently waiting for her to return. He looked around to see if Gibby was here in the house. But other than the TV being on, there was no other sound coming from the house. "Is Gibby not here?" Freddie hollered to her.

"Oh, so you know that Gibby and I are still seeing each other," Taureen said as she returned to the living room. She handed Freddie his glass of water; then she went to her recliner and sat down.

"I came by yesterday in the afternoon," Freddie stated as he took a sip of his water.

"Really? I wonder why he didn't mention anything about that," she inquired. "Anyway, he had some family business to take care of this morning. He'll be back later. So, you want to know about Sam, do you?"

"Yeah," Freddie answered, "I've just moved back to Seattle this past weekend, and I'm trying to see if I can locate her so we can catch up on things. I haven't seen her since I left for California after we graduated. What can you tell me about her?"

"Well Freddie," Taureen responded, "I don't speak to Sam much anymore. She moved out of here a couple of years ago when she was able to afford her own place. She was working for Lacy's when she moved out, and was really doing well. But after they went out of business, she had to move in with her boyfriend at that time."

"So," Freddie said as he took another sip of water, "Sam's seeing someone then?"

"I think they are still together," Taureen replied, "The guy works construction in the Hazelwood area. I'm pretty sure that's where she moved to as well."

"What more can you tell me about the guy Taureen?" Freddie asked hoping that this might be the break he needed to find Sam.

"I believe the guy was a bit younger than her…," Taureen replied as she began to think about her last few conversations with her friend, "I'm trying for the life of me to remember the guy's name. I remember that it starts with a 'T', because it's the same as mine. Travis? No…"

Oh Taureen, please remember, Freddie thought as he looked at her while she was trying to go through some guys' names that start with that letter.

"…Tyler? No, that wasn't it either…" Taureen was still going through names. "Trevor?" She said quietly to herself. Her eyes lit up. "Yes…Trevor, that's what it was; his name was Trevor Taylor."

"You are awesome," Freddie smiled at her.

"Whew," Taureen sighed happily, "I'm glad I remembered it. But I'm afraid that's the only information I can give you Freddie."

"You've been a great help Taureen," Freddie grinned at her. He finished the rest of the water; then stood up from the couch. "Well, I guess I better continue my search," he stated as he began to walk to the front door to leave.

"Well Freddie," Taureen said as she got up and followed Freddie to the front door, "it was really great to see you again."

"You too," Freddie smiled back, "I'm glad to see you as well. I hope that everything works out for you and Gibby." He paused at the front door to look outside. The rain was really starting to come down now.

"I hope so too," she replied, "he and I have definitely had our ups and downs through our relationship."

"Yeah," Freddie nodded, "that's what your mom told me when I went to see her yesterday. I don't think she'd be too thrilled about having Gibby as a son-in-law."

"You talked to my mom yesterday?" Taureen asked surprised.

"Yeah," Freddie answered, "I didn't know where you had moved to, so I went by her place hoping that she could help me out, and we talked for a few minutes."

"That's right," Taureen grinned, "I forgot that you and Sam used to hang out at my mom's place a few times during our senior year. Freddie, I sure hope you can find Sam. I hope she's doing okay. Will you let me know if you find her?"

"Absolutely," Freddie grinned, "Well, it doesn't look as though this rain is going to let up, so I guess I'll have to make a run for the car. Good bye Taureen, and thanks again." He opened the door, and began to run to his car.

"Take care, Freddie," she called out to him, "and good luck." When she saw that Freddie got into his car, she shut the door.

Freddie started the car and began to drive back to the Bellpeck.

XxXxXxXxXx

Sam awoke to the sound of her cell phone ringing. She rolled over and saw that it was a few minutes after 7:00. She snatched her cell phone, "Hello?" She said yawning.

"Hey there girl," Brittany said from the other line, "Are you ready to drive over to your new place so we can start getting it cleaned up?"

"Yeah," Sam replied still struggling to wake up, "give me about a half hour to get ready."

"Okay," Brittany answered, "I'll be over a little before 8. I'll call Ashley and tell her to meet us there around 8:30."

"Thanks Britt," Sam answered as she finally crawled out of bed, "I'll see you soon."

After she ended her call, Sam went to the bathroom to shower and get dressed. She later went into the kitchen to get herself some cereal. Then, after she ate, she grabbed a light jacket and walked outside to wait for Brittany.

Sam had grabbed the jacket, because it looked as though it would rain at any time. Luckily, it didn't rain while she waited for her friend. Brittany pulled into the lot to pick up Sam. The two took off for Sam's new place.

They reached the apartment complex just in time for it to start sprinkling outside. Sam let her and Brittany into her new place. Sam shook her head sadly. Her new place was about 1/3 the size of her current place. It seemed to Sam that it was basically one large room which consisted of the kitchen and living room all together as one room. There was a small room near the back that was supposed to be her bedroom, and a very small bathroom next to it. Next to the bathroom was a closet, the only closet in the small place.

"Are we even going to be able to fit all your belongings in here?" Brittany asked as she was looking around the room.

"I think barely," Sam moaned, "I guess the one good thing is that the cleaning really shouldn't take real long. There isn't much of a space to clean."

"Ashley has the cleaning supplies," Brittany stated, "she should be here any minute now."

The two began checking to see what needed cleaning the worst. Despite the smallness of the place, Sam had a feeling that it would probably take the three just about the whole morning to clean the place up. The whole place was filthy. Sam was thankful that it didn't stink though.

Ashley arrived minutes later, and the three got to work cleaning. Sam began vacuuming all the carpets while Ashley began wiping the walls down. Brittany started cleaning the bathroom first; then made her way to the little closet. After Sam was through sweeping, she began to do some cleaning in the bedroom. They worked hard for about three hours. It was almost noon when they began to inspect everything they had done.

"Well Sam," Ashley smirked, "your place is starting to look like home."

"I guess," Sam replied, "I'm glad this is over with."

"Now it's just a matter of trying to get all of your stuff in here," Brittany commented as she continued to look around the place as she had earlier.

"Hey," Ashley turned to Sam, "Brian and his buddies said that they could be at your place early Saturday morning to help you get your furniture out."

"Cool," Sam smiled, "I think that if they can get the stuff over here, that Dana's guy friends can help get it inside. This is working out really well."

"I'm going to head out," Ashley said as she looked at her watch, "I need to get home and get changed for work."

"That's fine, thanks Ash," Sam smiled as she hugged her friend, "we'll probably see you as you're coming in for your shift. I'm getting hungry and I think we'll go over to the restaurant to eat."

"Yeah," Brittany added, "we should probably go look at the new schedule for next week anyway."

"Oh yeah," Sam nodded, "Tammy told me she had to make some changes to my schedule for next week. I hope this doesn't screw up my weekend."

"Okay," Ashley said as she got ready to open the door, "I guess I'll see you guys in a bit." She opened the door and moaned, "Man, look at it pouring out here."

Sam and Brittany watched as Ashley hurried to her vehicle. "It's a good thing I brought this jacket," Sam commented as she put it on. She and Brittany hurried to her vehicle and got in.

The two made it to Paula's Place and hurried inside the restaurant. As they walked in, Jacklyn greeted them. Sam and Brittany sat down and waited to be served. After a couple of minutes, Jacklyn came by to take their order. As soon as Sam told Jacklyn what she wanted, she asked her to get next week's schedule so that they could look at it while they waited for the food.

After a few minutes, Jacklyn returned with the schedule. She handed it to Sam before she went to deal with another customer. Sam grabbed the schedule and began to look at it. Her eyes began to grow wide right away as she read, and she slammed the paper down on the table in disgust.

"Sam, what's wrong?" Brittany asked as she grabbed the paper and began to look at it.

"Tammy has me closing Saturday night by myself for starters," Sam growled as she took a sip of her water, "Then, she has me in the next morning to open. I'm supposed to be moving this weekend, and this was the last thing I needed."

"Why are you the only one closing Saturday?" Brittany asked as she looked through the entire schedule, "And why is Jacklyn off all next week?"

Sam shook her head angrily and looked away. After a couple of moments, Jacklyn came to the table with their food. "Hey Jacklyn," Sam asked somewhat upset, "why are you off next week?"

"My husband and I have to fly down to New Mexico next week to take care of some family business," Jacklyn replied in her Latino accent. Jacklyn Gonzales was the oldest of Tammy Moore's waitresses being 35 years old. She was the only one who was married as well. "We didn't know anything about this until a couple of days ago." Jacklyn gave the girls their orders before walking off.

"Great," Sam muttered as she took a bite out of her sandwich, "but that still doesn't explain why I'm the only one closing Saturday. Saturday is usually one of my days off. This means that I now have to close both Friday and Saturday now."

"I wonder why Tammy couldn't have Dana close Saturday with you." Brittany pondered.

"I know that Dana won tickets to see Good Charlotte in concert Saturday night, so that's why she isn't able to close with me." Sam answered her friend.

Brittany turned a little pale, "Did you just say that Dana is going to see Good Charlotte too?" She asked.

"Yeah," Sam muttered softly; then she did a double take, "Wait a minute, what do you mean 'too'?"

"Ashley and I have tickets to see them as well," Brittany gulped.

"All three of you guys are going to see Good Charlotte?!" Sam exclaimed.

"Ashley and I bought tickets a few weeks ago," Brittany replied, "I didn't know that Dana had tickets to see them."

"She got them last night," Sam muttered. She sighed heavily. She was upset about the fact that she was going to have to close the restaurant by herself Saturday, but she couldn't be upset with her friends. All three of them have been helping her with this move, and she didn't know what she would do without their help.

"Sam, we're sorry," Brittany said feeling guilty.

"Don't worry about it Britt," Sam tried to grin, "You guys have a good time. I'll manage somehow. I'm sure Tammy is going to have to help me." She continued to eat her sandwich.

The two finished their meal and got up to leave. They bid farewell to both Jacklyn and Dana as they walked out of the restaurant. The rain was starting to stop a bit as they hurried to Brittany's car. Just as they got inside, they saw Ashley pull in to the restaurant's parking area. Brittany honked at her, and they waved to her as she ran inside the restaurant to begin her shift. Brittany pulled on to the road and began to drive to Sam's current place.

When they got there, the rain was picking back up in intensity. After Sam took off her seatbelt, she reached over to give her friend a hug, "Thanks again for your help again Brittany," she smiled as she then opened the car door and hurried to her front door. Brittany waited until Sam walked inside her place before she pulled away.

Sam set her apartment keys down on the kitchen counter when she got in. She took her jacket off, and put it away. She sat down on her couch and turned on the television. She spent the rest of her day off just relaxing.

She knew she was going to need it, because she had a long weekend ahead of her.

XxXxXxXxXx

Freddie was spending the first part of the afternoon on his laptop browsing the internet. He was trying to find out how he was going to get a hold of this Trevor Taylor guy.

He searched the Seattle White Pages trying to obtain a number, but he had no success finding it that way. He remembered that Taureen had told him that he worked construction, so he got into the Seattle Yellow Pages, and began to search for construction companies in the Hazelwood area. There were 6 listed construction companies in the Yellow Pages website. Freddie tried calling those companies work numbers to see if any of them had a Trevor Taylor working for them. Unfortunately, none of them did.

Freddie next choice of action was to check the maps in the MapLegend website to see what the communities were that were next to Hazelwood. He figured that Trevor was probably not going to work for a construction company that was too far from home. Freddie feared though that there was the chance that Trevor might be working for a more private construction company that wouldn't be listed. Freddie was hoping for the best.

He had just pulled up the maps he was wanting, when his cell phone began to ring. Freddie picked up his phone, "Hello?"

"Hi Freddie," a voice came back a little stressed, "this is Judy."

"Oh, hi Judy," Freddie responded. He noted the tension in her voice when she spoke. "Is something wrong? You don't sound very chipper right now."

"I'm not Freddie," Judy replied very upset, "it's George; he was involved in a very bad car accident earlier this morning."

"Is he all right?" Freddie asked very concerned. He stopped what he was doing at the computer, and focused more on the call.

"We're at St. Joseph's Hospital," Judy answered, "he is currently in critical condition. The doctors aren't totally sure if he is going to make it."

Freddie got up from his chair and shut down his laptop. He quickly grabbed a light jacket and began to walk to his front door. "I'm coming down," he said as he walked out of his apartment, "It might be after visiting hours when I get there, but I'll be there to join you guys tonight."

"Freddie, no," Judy replied, "There's no need for you to drive 9 hours to come to the hospital. I'm sure everything will be okay…at least I hope so."

"No, I want to be there for moral support," Freddie responded as he hurried to his car once he got outside the lobby doors, "this is no problem at all. I'll be there as soon as I can."

"Well Freddie, if you insist on coming down, please be careful," Judy pleaded.

"I will," Freddie answered as he ended his call and pulled away from his apartment building.

Author's Note: I enjoy writing about Freddie. I could seriously picture him putting everything in his life aside just to be there for his friends. There is a purpose for the things that are happening in this chapter. The next chapter begins to set the stage for the meeting between Freddie and Sam. I appreciate the reviews I'm getting for this story. I know I've been dragging this a bit, but please hang in there. Thanks to all.