Chapter 33
Freddie retreated to his room and closed the door to handle his work duties, even if only for a little while. Sam and Alex were playing a card game in the living room when the computer made a tone signaling Melanie was calling. Sam was sitting right beside Alex when the kid opened the screen and accepted her mom's call. "Hi, Mommy!"
"Hey baby girl. Oh, uh, Sammy? What are you, um, doing there? Is Freddie alright?"
"Yeah, he's fine." Sam answered short. "I'm sitting with Alex, he's doing some work chiz. Marissa fell on the ice this morning and he spent the day at the hospital with her." She failed to mention she was at his side.
"Oh my gosh! Is she OK?" Melanie gasped.
"She's gonna be laid up for a bit, she bruised her back something fierce and twisted her ankle." Sam explained. "But I'm sure she'll be back to disinfecting everything in sight, cooking tofu and holding fire drills before we know it, right kiddo?" Sam nudged her niece.
The conversation continued for a short while before Sam decided it was time for the little girl to get her bath and prepare for bed. It was clear that Melanie and Sam were not speaking directly to each other much.
"Tell Grandma I'm thinking about her and to feel better soon." Melanie told her daughter before signing off.
"Alright, kiddo. Time to get ready for bed. You want to go to your room and find your pj's?" Sam asked her. "I'll go start the bath water."
One bath, a few light snacks and three stories later, Alex was settling in for sleep. "Isn't Daddy coming in to say goodnight?"
"I'll see if I can tear him away from what he's doing." Sam told her. "You know he is when he's working."
She knocked on his door and with no answer swung the door open a crack. He was sitting at his desk, his head down, fast asleep. Sam sighed.
"Must be nice." She huffed from the doorway, rousing him. "Wake up, Mr. Ambition. Your kid wants you to tuck her in."
"Huh? Oh, uh, right. Sorry." He yawned. "Chiz! What time is it?"
"Eight thirty, hence, Alex is going to bed. That is her bed time, right?" Sam crossed her arms over her chest and stood there glaring at him.
"What about her bath? Why'd you let me sleep like this?" He grumbled.
"I wasn't staring at you. Besides, you had your door shut, I had no idea what you were doing. I'm just glad all you were doing is sleeping."
Freddie rolled his eyes at the implication. "We'll be up till ten at this rate."
"She's already got her bath, a snack, brushed teeth, used fluoride rinse, got out clothes for tomorrow and read several books. I picked up the slack while you were in here napping, sleepy Joe. At least I hope that's all you were doing."
"Sorry." He begged. "Listen, Sam. I really appreciate your help today and not just with Alex. I mean, I know you're not that fond of my mom but you really took that bull by the horns, helped her, sat with me in the hospital. It means a lot to me, to all of us."
"Well, I hope you realize you owe me big time." She smirked. "You go tuck your daughter in, I'm going home, alright. You want me to check in with you in the morning before I go to work?"
"No, you have your job to worry about. I'll text you if I need anything and when I have any news on Mom."
For the next several days, Sam began to spend more and more time with Freddie and his daughter. She cooked a couple of meals for them and invited them up to her and Carly's over the weekend for movies and popcorn.
Freddie was only too happy for the distraction. Of course, his time was divided between his responsibilities at work, his child and visiting his mother who had been recently transferred to the physical therapy facility until she regained her strength and was able to walk properly.
Carly and Sam, along with Spencer became Alex's keepers when her dad was busy. Sam even took her to see Pam once at his request, although she regretted it not long after arriving and vowed not to do it again. Everyone noticed how Sam inserted herself into the Bensons' lives, except Sam who was just being a good friend and attentive aunt in her mind. She stopped by to visit Marissa a few times when she'd be on the way home from work or out running errands. The older woman repeatedly thanked her for the help the morning of the accident and for helping her son and granddaughter.
"Hey, Marissa. How you feeling today?" Sam asked walking into Mrs. Benson's shared room at the rehab facility. She was carrying a box of organic, over-priced, gluten free, sugarless candies that she picked up in the hospital's gift shop on the way in.
The woman was as surprised to see her as she was the first time she stopped, but tried not to let on. "Tired. I've had 2 sessions this morning and they're insisting that I do occupational therapy this afternoon yet."
"You want me to talk to them?" Sam asked with a look that Marissa knew as 'give them hell'. "I can have them push it back till tomorrow."
"No, dear. It's quite alright. They're correct, I need to work hard to get out of here and return home. Oh, I do hope Fredward is keeping after the apartment. I am so worried he's not going to keep it clean and Alexandra will get sick."
"Yeah, I know these places are rough. And Freddie, he's actually doing a pretty good job. Carly's helping with that kind of chiz, er, um, stuff, housework. And before you ask, yes they're all eating properly too. I've been helping him with that and I was actually thinking of coming down tonight and making them something. And I promise they will eat their veggies."
"Thank you, Sam. I am so taken by your kindness. I know when you and Freddie split up the other year, you were hurt and I just want you to know that I think it is so wonderful that you've been able to put all that in the past and be his friend again. And for being so kind to me in my time of need, I don't know how I'll ever repay you."
"Eh, what can I say. What's past is past. Besides, it wasn't your fault he lied to me. And we had been getting along pretty good before the breakup." Sam shrugged and changed the subject. "Say, did Freddie ever tell you Lewbert got in a lot of trouble for your fall. Apparently he was supposed to have some kind of door mat down but he got rid of it so he didn't have to keep cleaning it. And get this, he's on crutches. I guess I tore something in his knee that day. Plus the building manager won't give him time off since it was his fault. So he's hobbling around on one leg, trying to do his usual job. But seriously, who tries to move someone with a back injury? He could have really done serious damage if I hadn't stopped him from trying to make you stand. He was too dumb to even call 911."
"That's absolutely correct, Sam. You never move anyone with a back or neck injury until they've been properly evaluated. Tell me, have you had medical training?"
"Well, I had to take a couple of first aid courses to baby sit in California. And I dated a guy who was a paramedic for a while so I picked up a couple of things. Plus, I thought it was kind of interesting, so I even did a class or two at community college. With the way my old room mate was, you never could tell when you'd need to perform, um, lets just say a little more than basic first aid. She was kind of accident prone. I'm glad I did, just so I'd know what to do if some kid fell off the playground or something. I guess it was a waste of time. A fat lot of good that does me working in the car dealership."
"I have heard this place needs help." Marissa told her. "It's obvious they're short staffed and I asked the one therapist the other day."
"Yeah, hard pass. I mean, no offense, you're great at being a nurse but I just don't think I could handle it." Sam sneered. "Hey listen, I'd better hit the road so I can see if Spencer helped Alex with her homework. Not that there's anything all that difficult in first grade but I just like to be sure it's all handled before her dad gets home. He's got enough to worry about without having to deal with all that. I suppose Freddie will be in after work. If you see him tell him to get his behind home by 6:30 for dinner, alright?"
"Thank you, Sam. For everything." Marissa smiled at the girl she once despised so much. "Especially taking care of my Fredward and little Alex."
Days later, Marissa was still quite far from discharge. Carly, Spencer and Sam along with Freddie and Alex had all banded together and were behaving more like one family as opposed to three separate households. They were all sitting down to eat at Spencer's apartment, it was his night to cook.
Typical dinner conversation, what happened at school, their respective jobs and Marissa's progress were discussed. When dinner was over, Carly decided to help her brother straighten up the kitchen.
"Hey, we'd better get going. Melanie's about due to call." Sam told Freddie before lowering her voice and whispering. "The kid does look forward to her call, a lot more than I do."
The three returned to apartment 8-D and before long Melanie was calling on Alex's laptop, requesting a chat session. She never missed a single day and had even shared the call with her dad a few times, allowing him to meet his only grandchild to date via online chat. Because of Freddie telling her this, Sam always kept herself scarce during the calls when she was in the apartment. She busied herself helping Freddie with laundry while the little girl talked to her mom.
"You don't have to do this, Sam." He told her. "I can get it. You worked all day, too. Probably a lot harder than I did."
"It's alright, Fredlump. I don't mind. I need something to do until it's time to get her ready for bed."
"You staying to help with bedtime again?" He asked as they sorted the kid's laundry into bright and dark colored things. "I mean I appreciate it but it's not necessary."
"Might as well. What else have I got to do? Sit around and listen to Carly moan about how she can't get a decent date. Like, seriously this girl just needs to relax and learn to handle things for herself if you get my drift." Sam cracked with a smirk.
Alex ended the chat session with her mother and skipped back to the bathroom to begin getting ready for bath time.
"I got the bath, Fredward. You finish up the laundry." Sam went to draw the child's bath water.
"Daddy, my throat feels funny." Alex stuck her head in the door of the laundry room and announced. "Mommy said I should ask you for a cough drop or something."
Freddie flushed. He knew what hell his mother would raise if the child got sick and he had promised to take her in to visit over the weekend. "Uh, sure honey. Let me go see if I can find a pack of them in the bathroom closet, OK."
"Whacha doing, Frednuts?" Sam asked as he darted into the bathroom and began digging through the medicines in the locked closet. "I thought you were doing laundry."
"Alex says she needs a cough drop."
"Yeah, I noticed her sniffling over a Spencer's. I figured it was just the spicy food." Sam answered nonchalantly. "She'll be fine in the morning."
"This is bad. If she gets a cold I won't be able to take her to see my mom on Saturday like I promised."
"Awh, your mom's surely had every vaccination known to modern medicine, I doubt if she could catch a cold if she tried. All she wants is to see Alex, she won't care."
"Do you realize the trouble I'll be in if Mom finds out that kid got sick?" He grabbed Sam's shoulders. "Especially with her health problems when she was a baby, I might as well make out my will right now."
"Aw, chiz! You're right. And I'll take the blame too, probably more so than you. I mean, she just got to standing the sight of me again, but deep down inside she probably still thinks I'm the spawn of Satan himself. This will give her the perfect excuse to never trust me again." Sam moaned.
He finally found what he was looking for and ripped into the packet. "Oh man, what do we do? Should I call a doctor?"
"No, they won't see a kid just for a sore throat and a stuffy nose. We've got to get her fixed up ourselves. I'm gonna go make her some hot tea, Carly always says hot tea with honey helps a sore throat. My mom added a shot of brandy, but I don't think we want to go giving a six year old booze. Do you guys have any honey?"
"You know where that stuff comes from, right? Can you picture my mom having a bottle of bee vomit in her house? Yeah, she keeps it right beside the skunk pee and dehydrated fox poop."
"You know, everyone like a little ass, no one like a smart ass." She swatted at the back of his head. "Alright. I'm gonna run up to my place. Carly's always dumping honey in something or another, especially during that time of the month. She says it helps with cramps and junk. Well, that and her menstrual crystals, whatever the chiz that's about. Keep and eye on the bath water, I'll be right back."
