AN: Hello, my loves. Happy Monday! Have an amazing week and I hope you enjoy this chapter (especially you, Fran as I know you'll be reading this.)

Chapter Seven

"Your clean clothes are hung in the other room," was the deadpan greeting Freddie received from his mother as he entered the room. He leaned down to her position on the sofa and kissed her cheek, to which she hummed and continued to sip at her coffee mug. "I have to leave for work in ten, so if you can do the vacuuming while I'm gone."

Freddie nodded and left for the small laundry room in the apartment. It was clinical white and tucked away beside the guest room. Last that he heard, T-Bo was about to move in with his Jewish girlfriend, who was trying to convince him to sell the Groovy Smoothie. He was hanging in there though and promised to no longer sell things on a stick if she'd let him keep it. "Where did you put my—Oh." There, amongst the dozen t-shirts, his only nice shirts as he called them, hung one article of clothing he had completely forgotten had been hidden under his bed the night Sam stayed over.

Her tailored leather jacket that Carly had got her for Christmas a year back.

Mrs Benson lingered in the doorway, eyebrows raised.

He turned around to meet her gaze. "Aren't you mad?" he asked, surprised to say the least. Why she hadn't docked his monthly allowance to four dollars yet he didn't know, but he did notice how sparkling the apartment was. She was clean usually, not allowing one stray hair to fall from his head without her using a vacuum to clean it up and wanting to bleach the carpet, but this was like "cousin tidy." But the cousins weren't expected for another week.

"No," Mrs Benson told him, seeing the surprised look in her son's eyes. "As you told me the other day, you're eighteen now." Their relationship had been strained lately to say the least. The usual Freddiebear attitude she had for her son had faded and she had started to treat him as more a guest in her home than her four year old son. "You're growing up now, and I've learnt to accept that. You can have girls over, but just not around me. I trust you." She opened her arms to embrace him. "Just please, be careful."

He agreed to her terms and allowed her to help him load the washing into the basket to transport it to his room. "Why did you finally accept it, mom?" he asked.

"You made some good points the other day," she told him. "I can't keep being in denial that you're growing up. You're going to have children one day, stepchildren even, and I can't keep putting hot milk beside your bed and making you sign shampoo contracts. But if you so much as make a girl pregnant, I'm shipping you off to Antarctica, got it?"

"Got it," he said meekly.

"Have you got any plans for the evening? I can take the evening off at work."

"No, no, you go, it's okay. I, uh, I have a date."

She didn't press anymore. It didn't take a genius to work out that he was talking about Sam. "Well, alright, but don't drive. Take some cash from the savings jar and get a taxi – dirty things but I won't let you drive with your arm still like that. Oh, and take some more for something nice for you both to eat." He nodded and did as she said, waiting till she'd left for work for him to start getting ready. He was going on a date with Sam Puckett – what the heck had happened to him? If he were to go back in time and tell his younger self this, especially the former self who thought Carly was his future wife, he would probably be thrown out of a window in disbelief. Deciding that it was better to go without a tie than to struggle tying it with one hand, he made his way to the front door, ready to leave. His wallet was tucked into his back pocket, along with his Pear phone slotted into the other one.

There was a firm knock at the door.

Freddie frowned. Were they expecting anybody? As soon as he opened the door, two twins ran through, fighting about one thing or another, followed by a pushchair and his flustered aunt, a smaller girl in her arms. The cousins. "Oh, uh, Aunt Cathy, hi. We weren't expecting you so soon."

"Oh, my gorgeous nephew!" she exclaimed, putting her child down so she could throw her arms around him. "You're so handsome now," she cooed, pinching his cheek. In his state of confusion, he almost forgot to awkwardly return the hug, his arm being crushed. "Let me guess, hot girlfriend, quarterback of the football team, and most popular kid in school?"

"A very hot almost girlfriend, president of the AV club, and one of the most famous kids in school. I think you're thinking of cousin Jeremy," he corrected, scratching his head. She pulled away from him, her gaze travelling to his arm with a gasp. "It's not as bad as it looks. Broken in two places, but I've had surgery."

"My god, how did that happen?"

"I, uh, pushed my friend out the road and fell wrong on my arm. No big deal, though. The pain's practically gone now, and I had a check-up yesterday. And should be fully healed in a few weeks."

"Saving a friend, my, how kind of you," Aunt Cathy complimented. "No, Christy! Put that down this instance! Aunt Marissa will go crazy if you break that!" She chased after her youngest of the twins, trying to get back the cookie jar she'd found on the dining table. Freddie quickly left the room, unsure on whether to call Sam to say he'd be late, if he even made it at all, or whether to call his mom first.

He settled on his mom and dialled her number.

"Freddie, what is it? I'm in the middle of—"

"Aunt Cathy, she's here, with the kids."

"What? I thought she was coming on the twelfth."

His history assignments were due on every twelfth of the month and he'd handed his in just that morning. "Uh, it is the twelfth."

"Oh, dear. I'm right in the middle of changing some chamber pots." He grimaced at the idea, but he did have to credit his mom for what she did. Being a nurse couldn't have been easy. "Can you stall her until I get home? I'll try and be as quick as I can, an hour tops, Freddie."

"I have a da—" She was already gone, the line going dead, so he just sighed and decided to break the news to Sam. It was half six – their reservation was for half seven. He could still make it if his mom got back soon, but by the sounds of it, she was elbows dead in faeces, so he wasn't too confident. So, despite the evident disappointment in her voice, Freddie had to cancel and promised that he'd take her out another time. He wasn't sure whether the disappointment was because of her not getting any fancy food or was because she couldn't see him – knowing Sam, it would be the former of the two.

"I'm not keeping you, am I? You look too fancy to be strutting around the house in that on a normal day," Aunt Cathy inputted, after getting her children settled on the sofa. She despised the plastic covering on the couch, commenting on how annoying the noise was when her children jumped on it. Freddie couldn't do much to help with his arm still in plaster, but he did unlock the children's cartoon channels for his cousins.

"Oh, no, it's alright," Freddie dismissed. "Was supposed to take my, uh, kind of girlfriend on a date, but she understood. Family always comes first to her." Of course, that last line was the biggest lie he had ever told. It wasn't that Sam detested family; she just didn't have a close relationship with her mom, dad, or sister. Her family in prison, however, considering how often Sam seemed to visit them back when her and Freddie were dating, she seemed to get along with them like a house in fire – maybe that was a stupid phrase to use in context with the Puckett family with how many house fires seemed to be on their records.

"She sounds lovely. How did you meet?"

"Our best friend across the hallway from me introduced us a few years ago and we do a webshow together," he explained.

"Oh, yes! I think your mom mentioned something about that," his aunt told him. She asked him to help him with dinner, taking out numerous salad bags from her luggage. "Salad and chicken slices? Don't worry, I know how your mom feels about chicken. I'll let you into a little secret." She waved him over, grinning, and she leaned up to whisper in his ear, "I make two separate salads – one with chicken and one without."

He laughed at her comment and helped her with the chopping. "Mom thought you were coming next week, hence why she's not home."

"Typical of my sister, forgetting the days. She can be so organised but at the moment, days seem to be rolling into one. You're old enough to know now that your uncle's divorcing me, wants custody of the kids. Doubt he's going to get it when I'm the one keeping the house, but he still can't keep his hands off my inheritance."

"I'm sorry to hear about that."

"It's not your fault, Freddie. Some people can just turn out to be, mind my language, idiots." He smiled at her choice of word, knowing that she would've used something stronger to describe her husband and probably would later when explaining the situation to her sister when her children weren't around. He loved his Aunt Cathy and her kids, despite how chaotic they were. Hard to believe that they were also Bensons sometimes. "How's Simone settling in at Ridgeway? I know she only started today, but you must've seen her around."

"She seems to be doing alright," Freddie told her. "Is she living with him then?"

"For now, yes. Although, it was her choice. Just remember that if you are to ever get married, stalk the heck out of them beforehand to check they're the right person for you. Don't get kids involved in the mess."

"Noted, noted."

With Freddie's help, the dinner didn't take long to prepare. Cathy had asked Freddie to invite his girlfriend over, eager to meet her, and with it being so early, she suggested that they take her two youngest children to the park. Marissa scoffed, disliking the idea. Of course, she had agreed that Freddie was no longer four, but she didn't like the idea of him and the Puckett girl taking out her youngest niece.

"It's only quarter to eight, Mar," Cathy persuaded. "Come on. The playground is, what, only two minutes down the road. We were out later than this at their age. I'm sure Freddie and Sam will look after them. Plus, Simone's taken them out numerous times back in Indiana."

"You live in a small neighbourhood in the middle of nowhere – we live in a city with busy cars and loads of people," Marissa huffed. "No. My answer is no. Something is going to happen." She began to list the possibility of things that could go wrong. "One of them could attract ticks. They could get lost; worse, they could be kidnapped. Someone could get hit by a car, slip over, fall off a swing. Anything, Cathy, anything could happen to our sweet innocent children and well, Samantha."

Sam rolled her eyes. At least Marissa cared about her…as little as she did. "If I may interrupt, my sister and I used to babysit the neighbour's kids when my sister came home from boarding school in the summer."

"What a shame you couldn't both be sent to boarding—"

"Well, I think it's a wonderful idea," Cathy interrupted her sister with a sharp glare in her direction. She stood up. "And as they're my children, I feel that it's my decision as their mother, so I will go and ask them if they'd like to go to the park with their favourite cousin and his gorgeous girlfriend."

"Oh, we're not—"

"You should be," she inputted, before leaving the room in search of her kids.

Marissa glared at the two of them, mainly Sam. "If you lose one of them, I will never forgive you. Guard them with your life. You know how dangerous it can be around here, but with most of your family locked up, Samantha, it makes me feel a lot better—"

"Excuse me, what did you say about my—"

"Time to go," Freddie quickly interjected, leading Sam out the room before it could get violent. His mother was being rude, he knew that, but he'd have a firm word with her later about that. For now, he had to thank his aunt for giving him and Sam the benefit of the doubt – something his mom never had the ability to do. They walked into the guest room, where Cathy was struggling to calm her children down. The twins were squabbling again, fighting over a brightly coloured toy, the youngest girl was drawing, and the youngest boy was being handled gently by his mother while she put a coat around him.

At the sight of the new face, the youngest girl ran up to Sam, tugging at her jacket sleeve. "You look like a princess," she gasped.

Sam, switching from Sam mode to baby mode, kneeled down so she was at the same level. Her next words surprised Freddie, and so did her newfound attitude and enthusiasm. "Thank you," she smiled. "What's your name?"

"I'm Lily!" the small girl introduced cheerfully. "I'm only four."

"I'm Sam."

"That's a boy's name."

Freddie expected something, expected some kind of reaction, but Sam's smile just widened as she explained, "I don't like my name, so Sam isn't my real name."

"Sam is a pretty name," Lily complimented. "Mommy said you and Freddie are taking me and George to the park! Can you push me on the swings?"

"Yes, okay, but first, you have to behave for your mom and put your shoes on." Lily did exactly what she was told and ran off to the other room to find her discarded shoes. Cathy thanked her and pulled out the pushchair, placing George in there and putting the plastic covering over.

"The weather says it's going to rain at half past eight, so try and be back by then," Cathy told the two, who nodded and promised to be back on time. "Your mom, Freddie, might spit feathers if you're not back then." Lily automatically clung to Sam, not letting her go, until they got outside the Bushwell.

"Motorbike! Motorbike!" she pointed, gasping. "Never seen one in real life before!"

"It's mine," Sam told her, taking her over. She lifted her up so she was sat on the seat. The little girl imitated the noises she expected the bike to make. "When you're older, I'll take you for a ride."

Lily, excited, held her pinky finger out. "Promise?"

Sam interlocked their pinkies. "Promise."

He stood and watched them for a while, smiling, while he heard George babbling to himself in the pushchair. Sam interacting with children in a non-aggressive manner was something quite new to him. Last time he checked, she laughed in the food court when a baby started crying. He never knew that she had a soft spot for people other than him and occasionally Carly, but as he watched her acting like a mother to a girl she'd only known ten minutes, he found a new likeness to her. His heart smiled at the endless surprises which came with his future girlfriend. "Come on, guys, we don't have long," Freddie inputted, watching as the two ran back over.

"Park! Park!" George cheered in the pushchair.

Freddie whispered to Sam as they walked along to the park, "I think she likes you."

"I like her, too. She's sweet," Sam whispered back. "You must've got the short straw when it came to genetics though," she teased. He grinned at her, laughing gently. "How's your arm today?"

"Feeling a bit better. Still hurts like a b—bee sting," he quickly corrected, knowing that if he was to so much as burp in front of Lily, she'd go home and tell his mom and he'd be grounded for a week for trying to "attract ticks."

"Mhm," she grinned.

"What's it like being a princess?" Lily asked once they got to the park. She ran right to the swings and asked Freddie to push her. Sam did, though, knowing that Freddie's arm was in some pain as much as he denied it. She forced him to sit down on a nearby bench with George, where he settled with playing peak-a-boo while the two girls talked.

"It's very nice," Sam told her.

"Do you have servants?"

"I wish," Sam said with a laugh.

"Do you live in a castle?"

"Not really. I live in a normal house, just like you."

"Are you and Freddie going to get married?"

"Whoa, hang on a minute." Sam paused – how did the questions get into that kind of territory? "Freddie and I aren't dating, Lily."

"Mommy said you were. She told Auntie Marissa that you and Freddie are really cute together. Do you not love him?"

"Love is too complicated of a subject for you to know about at four years old," Sam dismissed, helping her out of the swing. "Where now? Do you want to go on the slide?" Her question remained in Sam's head, even as she chased the little kid around the park. Did she love him?

"Come on, it's time to go," Freddie insisted, approaching the two. George was long asleep in the pushchair. "Lily, hold Sam's hand until we get back, okay?" She nodded and did as told, putting her hood up and allowing Sam to hold onto her as they walked down the narrow pathway beside the gated playpark. The rain was just starting. "How was being a mom for the evening?" he asked Sam, teasing.

"It was nice," Sam admitted. "I used to be so against having kids, but honestly, it wasn't too bad. Might have to go to bed significantly earlier because of how exhausted I feel. Honestly props to your aunt for having so many children – I would only be able to have one or two."

"Being an only child is no fun," Freddie laughed. He let go of the pushchair briefly and "I'd have to have two kids just to make it fair."

"Do you think your mom will force me out the apartment when we get back?"

"Not with my aunt there. I think she wishes I were her son instead sometimes."

"She doesn't seem too crazy, surprisingly. When you said your cousins were coming, I expected mini Mrs Bensons running around with feather dusters and vacuums for hands."

"My aunt's quite chill. Her house is still perfectly clean, but that's to be expected. It must've been Grandma Benson who had the cleaning obsession. She wants me to spend the summer in Indiana with her."

"I feel a road trip coming on," Sam grinned, practically inviting herself along. "I've got some family near there from my dad's side. Would love to turn up and ruin that son of a bitch's new fam—Hang on," her smile dropped, as she looked down, "where's Lily?"