Chapter 51

The next evening Sam's dad and his new family showed up at the Bensons' apartment door. Melanie knew from the text that they were on their way up and opened the door to them. She was nervous about her sister and father actually being in the same room for the first time in many, many years. Despite the fact that Sam said she was willing to move on from his abandonment during their childhood, she was still not sure how long her sister's new found attitude would last.

"Melanie!" Her father hugged the blonde. "You're more beautiful than ever."

"Hi, Dad. Hi, Sylvia." She hugged her step-mother after him. "Oh, and Jimmy." She grabbed at a boy of about 11 for a hug. "My gosh, you're getting tall."

"Jim, please. I'm not a little kid anymore." He pensively hugged his step-sister and glared at his older brother as he side-stepped the perky young lady and entered the apartment uninvited.

"Damn, nice place." The 15 year old quipped under his breath. "You must be Sam." He approached the carbon copy of the woman he already knew. "'Sup?"

"Meh." Sam shrugged, mirroring the kids actions which wasn't hard, he was a male version of her at that age. "Uh, this is Freddie." She grabbed him by the hand and pulled him next to her. "I guess he'll be your step, brother in law once removed or some chiz. This is Curtis."

"'Sup?" The teen nodded as Freddie the same as he did Sam.

"Nice to meet you, Curtis." Freddie extended a hand.

He got no response from the teen other than a simple. "People call me Curt. Except teachers. I hate teachers. You look like a teacher." As he played with his phone.

"Come on, let's get this over with." Sam mumbled to Freddie and pulled him closer to her father and step mother once Melanie was done with them.

"Sammy!" The middle aged man threw his arms around her. "I'm so glad to see you."

Sam groaned and returned his embrace with little enthusiasm. "Hi, Pops. Uh, how was your trip."

"Sammy, this is Sylvia, your step-mother. And this is James, it looks like you've already met Curtis."

The teen rolled his eyes, standing behind his step-sister. "Say, you guys got any Wahoo punch or Pepi Cola?"

"Of course." Melanie jumped at the opportunity and headed for the kitchen. "Come on, let's all sit down. You must be tired after driving all that way." Melanie pointed to the living area before leaving the room.

Sam grumbled something under her breath, heard only by Freddie and apparently Curt, who smirked and followed Melanie to the kitchen to see what kind of snacks they had.

"Where's little Alex?" The man asked. "I thought she'd be here."

"Oh, she's across the hall with our friends. She'll be back in a few minutes, sir." Freddie responded.

"Now, you're almost family for the second time, you can skip the sir stuff. Call me Larry." The man smiled warmly at the younger man.

Before long, Carly followed Alex in the door.

"Grampa!" The kid shouted and hugged the man.

"So where are you all staying?" Sam asked. She had no idea what arrangements had been made and really didn't care. She was just making awkward small talk.

"The Chilton over on 4th Avenue." Ralph replied. "We've already checked in before we came over here. Sam, I'd like to thank you again for inviting us all. It means so much to me to be part of your big day."

Sensing the awkwardness, Sylvia spoke up to make the conversation shift. "Tell me, where are you two going for your honeymoon?"

"We're not really going anywhere right away." Freddie replied. "Because of school and all, we don't want to disrupt Alex's routine. But we are both taking next week off to have a little time to ourselves."

Sam now spoke up. "And start looking for a place of our own. We're all going to go on one big road trip next summer after school's out, right Freddie?"

"That's the plan." He agreed. "We were going to head down to L.A. where Sam used to live and see the sites down there."

The next day, the ceremony was short and sweet and the few dozen people present moved to the back of the room, where the reception buffet was set up.

"This was a beautiful wedding, Sammy." Her dad walked up to her and Freddie, Alex clinging to him and Melanie not far away talking to her step mother. "Thank you again for allowing us to be part of it."

Sam just smiled slightly and nodded, not wanting to admit it wasn't at all her idea to have him there.

"I suppose it's time to get working on a bother or sister for this one, huh?" He asked, picking up Alex, causing Sam to flush. He had no idea of her problems. This was the intention but it was going to be a long road ahead.

"Shame on you!" His wife scolded. "That's not something these young people want to discuss in front of their parents."

"Um, well, uh . . . " Freddie began.

"We were sort of thinking about maybe another one. Someday." Sam said quietly. "But maybe not right away. Who knows."


After their summer trip, meeting with Sam's doctor and a referral to a fertility specialist, lots of uncomfortable tests and awkward questions, Sam and Freddie were ready to begin trying. Not that they hadn't been doing things that might have resulted in pregnancy. They knew the odds were against them but they wanted to give it their best shot.

For many months, nothing happened, but after all those unsuccessful tries, they finally thought the fates were going to smile on them. Sam had been late for the first time since going on the treatments. For the first time, they had hope and she was having symptoms. This was all put to rest one evening when she went for a shower and she discovered blood.

She came out of the bathroom and Freddie knew immediately something was wrong. As she sat down, he could tell she'd been crying and he soon figured out what was wrong. The hormone treatments had her system all out of whack and she cried at the slightest thing the last week despite her embarrassment at doing so.

"I'm sorry, Sam." Freddie sat beside her on the edge of the bed and stroked her hair.

"I thought we had it this time, you know. It was almost two months I was late. I know the test read negative but . . . "

"I did too baby." He smiled and tried to take her mind off it. "But we can try some more."

"Psh, not for five days, Fredward. And if you even think of touching my boobs I will break your limp wrists. You know how sore they get during my period. Right now they feel like they're on fire. How the hell I'm ever going to wear a bra tomorrow is beyond me."

He simply chuckled at her threat and pulled her closer to him. "Only you could go from crying to threatening in ten seconds flat, you know that?"

The following Sunday Melanie and Sam had met up for brunch. It had been their tradition since before the wedding to get together every week or so for a little sister bonding time, no others around just them. Melanie was disappointed to hear that Aunt Flo had come to visit Sam. The last time the girls were together Sam was convinced she was pregnant.

"I'm sorry to hear that, Sammy. I know it's been months since you've been on that fertility treatment."

"Not that I'm gonna tell Freddie, but I think it's almost time to quit trying. I hate what those hormones do to me and the doctor said I can only take them for so long safely. It's time to say it's a lost cause because I am not going through some expensive and invasive in-vitro process. Maybe Marissa is right, it's just not in God's plan for me to have my own kid. I should be happy I have Alex and she is healthy and that she left me adopt her."

Melanie nodded in understanding. "You know, I hate it when Marissa talks like that. I mean, how insensitive. But I guess she doesn't know what else to say."

"It's like, Freddie and I, we have our lives together. We just bought a great house after months of searching. And we're finally all moved in. He's got a great career. Alex is a little angel. Heck, our cars are even paid for and I have a decent job. But I can't help but feel like there's something missing."

A few moments of silence and Melanie proposed an idea. "Look, I know this sounds weird, but have you ever considered a surrogate?"

"You want me to, like, willingly let Freddie do it with some strange woman and then raise the kid?"

"Um, that's not really the way it works, Sam." Melanie shook her head. "He doesn't really have to have sex with another woman, just spend a little time alone with a specimen jar, if you know what I mean."

"Well then how do they get his . . . wait, you mean? He has to . . . ? Oh gross, that's even worse!" Sam sneered.

"You seriously think Freddie is a stranger to working things out for himself? Besides, I'm sure they'd let you help him." Mel smirked.

"Not that part, I know he can handle that on his own, but he'd have to go to some clinic, sit alone in a room with a bottle, do his thing and then go and hand the jar to someone who would squirt it into some willing accomplice who's laying there spread eagle waiting for it like a dairy cow. The whole thing sounds icky. And then what's to say this random woman, whoever she is, would be willing to give up the kid after she carries it for 9 months? What if she changes her mind? And if she does, what kind of liability is there down the road? Could he be sued for child support?"

"Gosh, but you don't trust anyone, do you?"

"The number of people in this world I trust is pretty small. Freddie, Carly, Spencer, Alex and maybe Marissa on a good day if I'm feeling really generous. Definitely not Mom."

"What about me?" Melanie replied.

"Present company excluded, of course I trust you."

"I appreciate that but I mean what about me being the surrogate?"

"Sam nearly choked on her drink. You? Um, Mel are you sure you know what you're even saying? You told me about the labor part with Alex. You said it was like a level of torture reserved for only a special few in hell. That's really the only thing that scares me. Are you sure you'd want to go through that again?"

"I'd do it for you, Sam. And yes, labor was nothing thrilling but I've got to admit being pregnant wasn't so horrible. The worst part was that I was in my second year of college. And it's not like I stand any kind of chances of getting married and having kids of my own. Do you know how long it's been since I've even had a decent date? Besides, over the years I've come to realize that as much as I love Alex and adore our time together, I just don't know if I want to be a full-time mother. You know, things happen for a reason and the way things are for me, for us, all of us, it's all pretty perfect. This would just expand on that."

"Geez, Mel. I don't know what to say. Um, maybe. I'd have to talk to Freddie about all this of course. Are you really serious?"

Melanie nodded.

The girls finished up their time together and both returned home. It took Sam a couple of days to mention anything about their conversation to Freddie. She had no idea how to breech the subject and simply waited until after they had a little time to themselves to say anything.

He was still lying in bed, catching his breath and she was sitting up, preparing to get dressed. "So, uh, good work."

"Do you always have to say that after we do it?" He asked. "And you did pretty good yourself."

"I only say it when I really enjoyed myself." She smirked and kissed him. "I know the timing isn't right for conception but it was good practice."

"Did you get a new fertility test for this month?"

"Yeah I picked one up yesterday. And I want to keep trying. And practicing. But, uh, about that, you know it's been a long time and, well, I'm starting to think that we might have to think about plan b. Or, or is it c by now. I can't keep taking those hormones forever."

"Plan b? I thought you weren't all that fond of the idea of in vitro?"

"No, I'm not. And that's not the plan I was talking about. Freddie, we never talked about a surrogate."

"You mean, me doing it with another woman?" He asked. "Um, no not really. I mean, I don't know if I could do it with anyone else. You realize I have to be able to, um, get excited for whoever I'm with, right?"

"There's actually something a little more scientific that the doctors do to get it in there. And you don't have to get excited for someone just a magazine or your pear-pad or some video." She said with a giggle. "I suppose what you were thinking would work though and probably be a helluva lot cheaper."

"What, you mean . . . ew, I watch porn and then they take my, uh, stuff and inject it with some kind of device?" He sneered. "Uh, Sam that's kind of nasty to think about. I mean, first off how do they get it?"

"I'm not talking about you spanking it into a baggie and getting a turkey basting bulb. I'm talking about an actual scientific procedure, done in a lab with someone who has medical training and using proper equipment. But there's no doubt there is some degree of work on your part in obtaining the 'stuff' as you call it. But I know you can handle it."

"Uh, well, that's a relief. I guess. Still sounds kind of odd, but I, um, I suppose that would be an option to explore. Say we decide to do that, how would we go about finding someone willing to help us? Is there a database or something? Like, do we get to know about her family and her genetics, health history and stuff? Or do they just randomly assign some person like a temp agency?" Poor Freddie was clueless as to the whole process.

"Actually, I kind of already found someone." She said. "Kind of by accident, really."

"You accidentally hunted up some woman for me to get pregnant? How did that conversation go? Hey, I know we just met but you wanna get pregnant by my husband?" He snickered.

"Sam clicked her tongue at his crude insinuation and cut him off. "Actually, Mel and I had talked about it and she said she might be willing to help us out. If we wanted her to."

"Sam, I know you and Melanie have started to get along better but is this really a good idea? I mean, not only is she my ex-wife but do you really want to do something so permanent with her? What if she decides she wants to keep it?"

"Well, we've already got something pretty permanent going on with her because of Alex, even if her and I weren't sisters, so what's the difference. And wouldn't we get some kind of legal paper drawn up saying that she gives up parental rights or something?"

"I guess we would have to have some kind of contract." He acknowledged. "But you know, we still don't need to give up on trying for ourselves." A hand began to caress her thigh.

"Dude!" She gasped. "Settle down or I'll be too tired to make dinner."