Amy
"Is Artie having an okay time with her family?" Sam asked that morning over breakfast. He knew she had talked to her brother the previous evening, while he, Will, and Emma stayed up late making s'mores, talking, and singing by the fire.
"Yes, and today he tackles the Grand Canyon," Amy said, giving the report from where she was presently bundled up under a thick blanket, clad in her cozy sweatpants and a hoodie, as they sat around the campfire and waited for breakfast to be ready on their first morning of camping.
"Can't believe he flew to Tucson with a girl," Sam remarked, settling into the chair beside her. "Doesn't sound like a thing he would've done a year ago."
He and Amy both knew how much Artie hated flying yet had agreed, for the sake of this girl, to get on a plane and fly to her hometown.
"My baby brother's growing up," Amy mused. "I hope he'll enjoy himself. I dunno, Julie's apparently done all the research about the Grand Canyon for people in wheelchairs."
For Amy Abrams, it had been an eleven-year habit of always worrying about her brother, wondering if people were treating him well, especially when he entered a new situation. Amy liked this Julie girl, sure, but she'd been worried that girl's family might not be happy about a boyfriend in a wheelchair. Then, as it turned out, they'd showered him with a little too much attention, gone overboard with the accommodations, and now he was left feeling weird about it.
"Ta-da!" Will jolted Amy out of her thoughts. Will and Emma, their camping companions for the next couple of days, had whipped up a breakfast of scrambled eggs, bacon, and "campfire flap-jacks," and Amy was glad she could stomach bacon again.
"Thanks Mister... I mean, ah, Will," Sam stammered, which had the other three laughing.
Ever since Will and Emma had joined them for the trip, Sam had been struggling to adjust to thinking of Will as a friend, rather than teacher. And, by nature of that mindset, he also struggled to call Will and Emma by their first names.
"And for lunch, we're having fish, but not the fish we caught in the lake last night," Emma said. "Much too unsanitary for us expectant mothers."
"Thanks, Em—" Amy had started to say, before catching the bit of information Emma had slipped in. "Wait, us expectant mothers? Does that mean what I hope it means?"
Will nodded enthusiastically. "Emma's pregnant, too!" he announced, happily. "We only found out a couple days ago, so please keep it quiet with us for now."
Amy squealed, jumping up and down and dancing around Emma.
"I thought for sure it was going to be another negative test this month," Emma added. "I mean, other than my missed period, I don't have a single symptom thus far."
As Amy continued fawning over Emma, she felt relief wash over her. Finally, she didn't have to feel so awkward around these two. She felt terrible that, while this happily married couple had been trying to have a baby, she and Sam had gotten pregnant by accident. As she filled Emma in on the woes of morning sickness, the guys helped the plates, starting with plates for the ladies.
"Who knows," Will said. "If you keep coaching the middle schoolers and if I keep coaching the New Directions, maybe someday our kids can keep each other company while we drag them to all the competitions."
"The middle schoolers," Sam interjected. "Need a name. Can you get them to name themselves something? Or make something up for them? Mr. Schue thought of New Directions..."
"Which I always kind of thought sounded like—"
"Oh, goodness, I thought I was the only dirty-minded person who heard that," Emma interrupted Amy, with a nervous giggle.
"I'll always remember Rachel's introduction, the first time they went to Sectionals," Amy said. And then, in a perfect impression of Rachel, "Ladies and gentlemen, the New Die-rections."
"I feel like I missed so much because I got here a year late," Sam commented.
"It's these kids that are missing something now," Will said. "They're so used to winning. They never knew what it was like to struggle like my first group did. The closest call we had was getting second at Nationals last year, only to wind up in first by way of a technicality..."
"One can hope we'll continue to trend upwards," Any commented, lowering her forkful of bacon. "It kind of feels like my job depends on it."
Sam gently patted her hand as Amy gave a huge sigh. It was true. She'd still have a teaching job, most likely, but a middle school glee club seemed pretty expendible, especially if they stopped winning.
"So, let's name this club," Emma suggested. "Ooh, I know, how about... One Direction."
"Taken," Amy and Sam said, in unison.
"Good group, though," Sam added. Amy grinned. She'd heard stories from Artie about Sam's weird interest in boy bands, specifically his idea that they form a group called 'The Justin Bieber Experience.' She kind of thought Sam looked like he could be in a boy band. He'd be the cute one.
"Next Direction?" Will suggested.
"Oh, I like it," Amy commented. "Like because they're the up-and-coming members of the New Directions? I could get behind that one..."
Once that was settled, they polished off breakfast and, much to Amy's delight, Sam suggested a hike. He'd been talking to her the day before about being careful, but being in the sweet spot of her pregnancy where she suddenly felt like doing things again, Amy wanted to enjoy herself. Hiking and camping was one of the things they did before — as in, before Artie's accident. It was one of the things they dropped without so much as a conversation, just something they didn't do anymore, since he couldn't.
"Will took Emma down to the waterfall this morning," Sam was saying, as he held tightly to her hand the whole time. "He told me to be careful not to let you slip on the rocks when we get there."
"Okay, okay," Amy said, as she focused excessively on not tripping, hoping not to wreck the whole thing with one wrong step. She gave Sam's strong hand a squeeze. It was strange how the relationship could still feel so new sometimes, with so many new experiences and firsts still ahead of them, yet here they were, expecting a baby at the end of the summer.
"Friday of the week after spring break, we find out if it's a boy or a girl, right?" he asked.
"Right, but I had to get a morning appointment for the sonogram," she said, as she carefully stepped over the mossy-looking rocks that would be slick, finding the safer surfaces as they crossed a river. In the distance, you could hear the waterfall that they were headed towards.
"I'll be sure to be home Thursday night then," he said, and she felt bad, because she knew he'd be missing a class to get there. He was still maintaining decent grades, which he would need if he were going to be eligible for any kind of transfer scholarship to community college. But he'd shared how much harder it was for him to do that than the average student.
"The following Tuesday's Artie's birthday," Amy reminded him. "We should probably do something for him over the weekend. Maybe we can put the baby's gender in an envelope and just wait a little bit longer, so we don't steal his thunder."
"Wait longer?" Sam's disappointment over that idea was pretty cute. Amy liked the fact that he was just as excited as she was about finding out. She knew, from talking to the handful of friends that already had babies (most of them older than she was), that the guy was not always as excited as the expectant mother during all the milestones of pregnancy. Sam was already proving to be the exception to the rule.
"Well, maybe he'll share the spotlight," she reasoned. "But, you know, he's turning twenty... that's a big deal. Though I'm sure he wants to pretend he's nineteen this year." She laughed, as she recalled what Kitty had done for her brother the year before, by letting everyone think he was just eighteen.
Sam laughed. "Well, I'd like to pretend to be older," he said. "Watch it... it's slick..." He took both of her hands as she stepped carefully on the rocks to cross the shallow part of the river. "So that people don't know you're having a baby with an eighteen-year-old..."
"You'll be nineteen in May," Amy said, as she cautiously watched her steps. "Anyway, you know I don't care about that. I love you, and I'm proud that this is your baby."
Sam blushed. "I love you too," he said. "C'mon, just a little further, I can hear it, so we must be getting closer..."
Sure enough, just around the bend, was a breath-takingly gorgeous waterfall. It had been so long since she'd done anything like hiking, that she'd forgotten how amazing nature could be. Sam continued to take extra care that she didn't slip, as he seemed to be finding the exact right spot to stand. Once he'd ensured she was steady on her feet, though, he dropped to one knee.
Her heart started beating quickly and something fluttered in her stomach, maybe in response to the change her her heart's pace, something she'd just started to recognize as the baby's movement. She felt tears prick her eyes when she realized what he'd been planning to do all along. He produced a tiny box from his pocket.
"I-I didn't buy it," he stammered, staring up at her from where he'd knelt. "I have to save for a car. And I'm going to. In-in fact, Burt Hummel's got some work for me to do, when we get home from this little trip. But I'm... I'm rambling, obviously that's not what I planned to say..."
Without another word, he opened the box to reveal an older-looking ring, a gold band with a sapphire stone. Amy brushed it with her fingers, loving how funky and vintage it was and instantly not caring at all that he didn't buy it.
"It belonged to my grandmother," he explained. "Mom said I could give it to you. I... hope it's okay. Someday, I do want to buy you a real ring, but in the meantime, I-I hope you like it."
"I do," Amy answered, as tears spilled over. He jumped to his feet then, and in a burst of emotion, he wrapped her up in a hug. She wrapped her arms around him tightly as he lifted her part way off the ground. Sam was crying, too. It was just who he was. Every emotion, he wore on his sleeve, and she loved him even more for that. He paused long enough to slip it on her finger. It was a tiny bit loose, though, and he frowned.
"My hands will probably start swelling a bit soon," Amy said. "It's probably gonna wind up being perfect. But, uh, for now..." She slipped it off and carefully returned it to the box. "Just so it doesn't get lost."
"So, that's a yes?" Sam answered, chuckling as he deposited the box carefully into the pocket of his fleece, zipping it up for safe-keeping.
"Well, obviously!" Amy chuckled, hugging him again. She couldn't have been happier. She hadn't been able to admit it to herself, but it was what she wanted. She'd pretended not to care, a classic Amy Abrams defensive mechanism, but truthfully, she'd wanted assurance that his heart was hers.
"She said yes!" Sam called, to someone unseen by Amy. She quickly followed his gaze and saw that they'd been followed. Will and Emma took pictures from a safe distance. Amy turned back, impressed by his attention to details.
"I know how you like pictures," he said, blushing. Amy had shared her love of photography with him. She realized Emma was actually carrying her camera. Amy was thrilled that the pictures would be on her camera roll, and she could edit and enhance them to her heart's content.
"Thank you," she said, softly, tucking her head on his shoulder as she noticed those soft flutters had returned. She tucked a hand over her sweatshirt. Noticing, he rested his atop hers.
"But we don't have to get married right away, do we?" Amy asked, suddenly breaking apart and looking at him in alarm. "I mean, there's so much going on, with you in school and swimming and me and Nationals... and Artie having surgery... when would we even...?"
"Relax, relax," Sam assured her. "I'm good with just being engaged. As long as we need to be, just whatever works for us, okay?"
Amy did relax. And as they walked, she found herself reconsidering her stance on the idea of getting married while she was pregnant. She held his hand, feeling safe and secure as she carefully stepped over rocks and roots with him clutching her tightly. (Emma and Will had hurried off to let them be alone again, after they'd snagged pictures of the big moment.)
"Maybe..." she trailed off, trying to complete her thought and also trying to decide if she should say it. "Oh, I don't know, there's like a week between the end of your semester and Artie's surgery, I think..." She counted the weeks in her head. "Maybe just, like, a trip to the courthouse and a small reception or something? I never was one for big ceremonies..."
Sam grinned, as they walked. "Are you saying you want to go ahead and get married?" he asked.
"Well, I mean, if we can fit it into our busy schedules," Amy said, with a laugh. He stopped to kiss her, and she knew, given how traditional and romantic that he was, that it was what he really wanted. He was just trying to be patient, for her sake.
"It'll be nice to celebrate, while it's still just the two of us," Sam admitted, and Amy was glad he could finally say what he'd probably been thinking all along. If it mattered that much to him, to marry her now, then she'd go ahead and marry him. She just knew that, no matter the timing, she'd never been more certain of anything in her life.
"We need to tell Artie," Amy said, suddenly, and she knew Sam followed her train of thought. They'd already messed up by not telling him about the baby first.
They made their way back to the campsite, and once they were seated by the fire again, Amy decided to call him on FaceTime. He answered, where he was currently in a carload full of people, on the way to the Grand Canyon.
"Hey," he said, but the image of him on the screen promptly froze. Consequently, they weren't sure if he'd been able to see the image on his screen, of Amy's left hand.
Frowning, they hung up. "I'll snap a picture," Sam said. He did just that, then waited, hoping it had gone through.
Nearly five minutes passed, then Artie called them back. This time, the image of him on their tiny screen did not freeze. And they could hear him, loud and clear.
"That's awesome!" he shouted. "Sam, so she's got the ring, does that mean she said yes?!"
Amy looked at Sam in disbelief. Sam blushed. "I called him late last night," he confessed. "I figured it only right to ask his permission."
"It's a yes," Amy told him, with a laugh. "So, this is what it's like to be the last to know."