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"You did what?" Sam frowned, putting down her ham sandwich.
"I got talked into it, okay!" Freddie defended.
"Dude, how can could you do that?" Sam moaned. "You know I hate parties."
"Yes, I know," Freddie said. "And I'm sorry, but-"
"I mean, for the love of bacon, we just had a huge party for our wedding two months ago!" Sam continued. "And now we're having a housewarming party? We're not even unpacked yet!"
"Well if someone would help me with that…" Freddie mumbled, earning him a punch in the shoulder from Sam.
"Hey, most of the junk in the boxes is your stuff," Sam pointed out.
"We're married, Sam, everything is ours now," Freddie reminded her.
"Yeah, well, there's no way all of your lame Galaxy Wars junk is ever going to be mine," Sam said. "And stop changing the subject! I can't believe you told Carly were having a housewarming party tonight!"
"I told you, she talked me into it!" Freddie said. "Besides, it's not really a party. It's just going to be Carly, Spencer, T-Bo and Gibby. We hang out with them all the time, so really, it's just like a normal night."
"Oh," Sam said. "Well then I guess that's not too bad…I can probably get Spencer to make spaghetti tacos for us."
"See, no big deal," Freddie smiled, wrapping his arms around his wife and kissing her.
"Yeah, I guess it's cool," Sam said when they pulled apart. "Sorry for freaking out on you."
"Don't worry about it, I've told you a million times, you look really hot when you're angry," Freddie laughed. "Scary, yes, but it's very attractive on you."
Sam grinned. "I can look attractive with any expression, Fredbug."
"I know," Freddie agreed. "Oh, and, one other thing…my mom might've heard me and Carly talking about the party and I might've, sort of, invited her too…"
"Freddie!"
….
"Man, this place is huge!" Carly said, walking into Sam and Freddie's new house.
"It's only three bedrooms, Carls," Sam said.
"Yeah, but it's still big," Spencer said, coming in behind his sister. "I mean look at the size of the kitchen!"
"That was the deciding factor for Sam," Freddie smiled.
"So who's ready to party?" T-Bo asked, wheeling in a large cart of smoothies. "I've got us fourteen new flavors of smoothies to sample, and I brought my darts so we can have a really fun time!"
"And I brought my cat!" Gibby said proudly, holding up a pet carrier.
"Gib, it's empty," Freddie said, looking into it.
"Aw, man!" Gibby moaned. "Ruffles escaped again!"
"This is going to be fun," Carly said. "We haven't gotten to hang out together in ages."
"Yeah, well, it's not going to be just us," Sam said. "Fredward decided to invite his crazy mom here too."
"What? Why would you do that?" Spencer exclaimed.
"Because she heard me telling Carly about it and then she guilted me into it, okay?" Freddie said.
"Man, every time I see that woman she gives me a lecture on proper nutrition," T-Bo moaned. "As if smoothies don't have all the daily essential vitamins and nutrients in them."
"Yeah, and she keeps trying to get me to walk around with an 'emergency pair of socks' in my pocket," Gibby said. "And I try to explain to her that with my emergency suspenders in there, nothing else will fit, but she just won't drop it."
"Guys, come on, I guarantee you she'll be gone in a few hours," Freddie said. "She doesn't like staying out late. So once she leaves we can actually have a good time."
There was a knock at the door.
"Well I'm not getting that," Sam said.
Freddie rolled his eyes as he headed to the door.
"What are we supposed to do while she's here?" Spencer whispered. "She hates everything enjoyable."
"Come on, don't exaggerate," Carly said. "Sure she's…not your first choice for a party guest, but she's not that bad."
"Try having her as a mother-in-law, Carls," Sam said, shaking her head. "Its only been two months, but I'm still ready to get out my butter sock…"
"Hello everybody," Marissa Benson said, walking into the living room with Freddie.
The group mumbled a less-than-enthusiastic hello.
"So, um, what do you have there in the container, Mrs. Benson?" Carly asked, nodding at the large container in the woman's hands.
"Oh I just brought us all some nice dinner for tonight," she replied. "Stuffed eggplant with a nice beat topping."
"Um, as…delicious as that sounds," Sam cringed. "Spencer made us spaghetti tacos, so we're actually good on food."
"Yeah," Spencer said, holding up a container of his own. "It has a new sauce and everything!"
"Oh, those won't do at all," Marissa said, walking over to Spencer and taking the container right out of his hands.
"Hey!" Spencer objected.
"Now, now, you'll thank me for this your next doctor's appointment and your cholesterol isn't through the roof," Marissa said, dumping the tacos in the trash.
"My cholesterol is perfect, thank you very much," T-Bo said.
"Yes, maybe," Marissa nodded, looking at him. "But I think somebody could stand to loose some of that extra blubber around his stomach."
T-Bo gasped. "Hey! That's just baby fat!"
"Dude, there's no way we're eating your mom's eggplant chiz," Sam hissed to Freddie as Marissa headed into the kitchen to start setting the table.
"Yeah," Gibby nodded. "I was promised a night of fun and spaghetti tacos. I gave up quilting night at the community center for this, you know!"
"Guys, I can't just kick my mother out!" Freddie said.
"Why not?" Spencer asked. "She kicked my tacos out! Right into the trash…poor little guys."
"Hey, we can still have a fun little party tonight," Carly said. "Like Freddie said, she'll be going home soon."
"Were you born this optimistic, or did you just become this way over time?" Sam asked.
"And good news!" Marissa called, sticking her head out the kitchen. "I brought my overnight bag with me so I can sleep in the guest room! Isn't that great? You know I don't like driving at night, and I didn't want to leave all the fun early, so I thought this was the perfect solution!"
"So-So you'll be here all night then?" Carly frowned.
"Yes, stupid," Marissa sighed. "I just said that."
"Not so happy now, are we?" Sam said once Marissa was back in the kitchen.
"Tonight's going to suck," Carly mumbled.
…..
While Mrs. Benson seemed to thoroughly enjoy herself throughout the night, the others had a less pleasant time. After several rounds of bingo, not-so-crazy eights, and bridge, they were all resenting the woman very much in their heads.
"Man, I can't believe I have to call that nutbag of a woman my mother-in-law," Sam said to Carly later that evening as the two girls headed into the kitchen.
"And you guys have the same names; you're both Mrs. Benson," Carly grinned.
"Shut up, Shay," Sam snapped, grabbing a bag of chips. "This is your fault."
"I'm sorry, you know I like parties," Carly said.
"Samantha," Marissa said, walking into the kitchen. "I need to talk with you."
"Okay," Sam shrugged.
Marissa glanced over at Carly. "Alone."
"No problem," Carly said quickly. "See you two."
"What is it?" Sam sighed. "Are you going to lecture me on how much sodium these chips have or something?"
"Well, no," Marissa said. "But they are very unhealthy. I wanted to talk to you about something else, though. As much as it pains me, you and my Freddiebear are married."
Sam held her tongue, and let her continue.
"And as a married couple, you two have a long road ahead of you. And I would just like an estimate on when I can expect you two to take your next step."
"Next step?" Sam repeated.
"Yes, you know, children," Marissa said.
Sam nearly choked on her chips. "What?"
"Every other woman in my Germ Awareness group has grandchildren," Marissa said simply. "I'd like to know when I can expect mine."
"Freddie and I just got married," Sam said, hardly believing the conversation she was having.
"Yes, two months ago," Marissa nodded. "Plenty of time for you and Freddie to conceive a-"
"Okay, okay," Sam said quickly. "Look, Freddie and I do want kids-"
"Perfect!" Marissa said happily. "So just give me a rough estimate of when I can-"
"-Eventually," Sam finished. "We want to actually have a chance to be a married couple first, though. You know, do things just the two of us before we have to worry about taking care of any kids."
"But that's not fair to me!" Marissa exclaimed.
"What's not fair?" Freddie asked, walking into the kitchen.
"Your wife is trying to deprive me of becoming a grandmother!"
Freddie cast a confused glance over to Sam. "What?"
"I told you, we want kids," Sam told her. "But not now, right Freddie?"
"Oh yeah, definitely not now," Freddie said. "We're just starting out, mom. We'd both like to get a little further in our jobs before we start a family."
"So I'm just supposed to remain grandchildless?" Marissa frowned.
"Mom, I'm sorry, but it's mine and Sam's decision, not yours," Freddie said.
"Fine," Marissa huffed. "I'll just find some other couple to give the blankets I've been knitting to!"
"Wow," Freddie said as his mother stormed out of the kitchen.
"I know," Sam sighed.
"So," Freddie said. "I'm taking it we're still not telling her?"
"No," Sam smiled. "Let's just keep it to ourselves for now."
"Sounds good to me," Freddie said, wrapping his arms around Sam. "But you know she's going to have to know eventually."
"Yeah, I know," Sam said, putting a hand on her abdomen. "I was thinking in nine months."
"Sam, the baby will be a month old already then," Freddie laughed. "I think she'll notice you're pregnant a bit sooner."
"Not if we avoid her until the kid's born," Sam said. "And she'd be so excited to be a grandma that she wouldn't even remember to be mad at us for not telling her."
"Sam, trust me," Freddie said. "My mother can sniff this sort of thing out in a heartbeat. I'm just surprised she didn't figure it out know."
"We got lucky then," Sam shrugged. "Now come on, if we don't get back out there to the big charades game your mom's starting, we're going to have questions."
