AN-Hey, so this is a sequel to chapter 167, where Sam and Freddie decide to try and stop arguing in front of their kids after their seven-year old daughter comes to them thinking that they are getting a divorce.
…..
Cooking
"Sam, you left the stove on!" Freddie said, turning the knob on the stove as Sam set the pot she had just been heating down onto the kitchen table.
"I was going back to turn it off!" Sam said. "You act like I left it on all night; I literally walked away from the stove two seconds ago!"
"You've been away from it for more than two seconds," Freddie said. "See, if you would just let us get the stove that's motion censored and turns off automatically when you walk away from it-"
"Do you know how small that oven is?" Sam said. "You could barely fit any meat in there!"
"Well so long as you don't shove a fifty pound ham in there, I really don't see why-"
But just then, Sam and Freddie's four kids ran into the kitchen, obviously knowing by the smells that it was dinnertime.
"Well, Sam," Freddie said, calming his voice at once at the sight of his children coming into the room. "I respect your opinion about the stove."
"Um, yeah, baby," Sam said. "I respect your opinion about it too. Maybe later we can discuss it more."
"I agree," Freddie nodded. "I love you."
"Love you too," Sam said, giving her husband a quick peck on the lips. "Okay guys, who's hungry?"
"Why are you guys acting so weird?" eleven-year old Jason frowned, looking at his parents.
"What? We're not acting weird!" Freddie said as Sam began to spoon spaghetti onto the kids' plates. "Your mom and I were just having a nice discussion about the stove."
"Yeah," Sam nodded, sliding a plate in front of Ashton. "A pleasant, calm talk."
"Yup, because we love each other so much," Freddie smiled, putting his arm around Sam.
"Gross," Emma cringed.
"Mommy, I want some 'pasgetti!" three-year old Tyler said.
"Okay, here you go, Ty," Sam said, placing a small plate in front to the toddler.
"Well, doesn't this look good?" Freddie said, sitting down at his place at the table. "Your mom really has a gift for cooking."
"Aw, thank you, Freddie," Sam grinned. "I couldn't have done it without your help, though. You stirred the sauce for a whole three minutes while I made the garlic bread. If anyone deserves the credit here, it's you."
"Okay, this is too bizarre," Jason said, dropping his fork. "Seriously, what's up with you guys?"
"Nothing," Sam said. "What? Your mom and dad, who love each other very much can't compliment each other during dinner?"
"Yeah, nothing's wrong with that, right, Ashton?" Freddie said.
"Nope," Ashton said happily. "Mommy and daddy love each other, Jason!"
"Yeah, but this is just creepy," Jason said, shaking his head.
"Just eat your dinner," Sam said. "We have ice cream for desert when you finish."
"Yay! What kind?" Emma asked through her mouth stuffed with meatballs.
"I bought fudge nut swirl," Sam said.
"Fudge nut?" Freddie repeated. "They-They didn't have mint?"
"What's wrong with fudge nut?" Sam asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Well nothing, other than the fact that you know I hate ice cream with nuts in it," Freddie said.
"Well I like that flavor, and I was the one who went to the store," Sam said. "Because somebody was too busy polishing his new high-tech video camera."
"I had to polish it! You scratched it up when you-"
But then Sam and Freddie realized that their kids were watching them.
"See, this is more like it," Jason said.
"Um, I mean…I'm looking forward to trying that ice cream, Sam," Freddie said.
"Well, the store's open pretty late," Sam said. "I could just run out and get you your mint ice cream if you want."
"No, don't worry about it, baby," Freddie said.
"Are you sure? I mean, I love you, so I don't mind doing it," Sam said.
"Okay, now you guys are right back to being weird!" Jason said. "What the heck is going on here?"
Sam and Freddie exchanged looks. This no fighting thing was going to be harder than they thought.
…..
"Well, I'd say we completely over did it at dinner, wouldn't you?" Sam sighed, handing Freddie a stack of dishes to wash.
"Yeah," Freddie agreed. "Luckily I think Jason was really the only one who noticed how weird we were acting. Tyler's too young, Emma was more interested in making sure she got third servings of meatballs, and Ashton was just happy that we weren't fighting."
"But Freddie, we suck at not fighting," Sam said. "It's me and you! I mean, we never even really fought about anything serious in front of the kids, just stupid little things. Is that really that bad?"
"I didn't think it was," Freddie sighed. "But last night when Ashton came crying to us because she thought we were getting a divorce…That's not okay, Sam."
"Yeah, I know that," Sam nodded. "And we're going to work on not fighting as much in front of the kids."
"Definitely," Freddie said.
"But I don't think we have to be so…nauseatingly nice to each other either," Sam smiled.
"I think maybe we should talk to Ashton again," Freddie said.
"Yeah, that's probably a good idea," Sam nodded.
…..
Later that night, Sam and Freddie walked into the twins' bedroom.
"Can't we stay up later?" Emma pleaded, hopping onto her bed.
"The deal was you get your bedtime moved to eight thirty your next birthday," Sam smiled.
"But that's in ten months!" Emma exclaimed.
"Believe me, Em, there will come a time when you'd do anything just to be able to go to sleep early," Freddie said. He sat down at the end of Ashton's bed. "We wanted to talk to you about something."
"What?" Emma asked.
"It's about what we talked about last night, Ash," Sam said, sitting down on Emma's bed. "What did you guys talk about last night?" Emma asked.
"Ashton was worried that mommy and daddy were going to get a divorce," Sam explained.
"What's that?"
"It's when a mommy and daddy decide that they don't love each other anymore, and that they don't want to live together," Freddie explained.
Emma's eyes widened. "Are you and mommy getting one of those?"
"No, sweetie, don't worry about that," Sam said quickly.
"Okay, good," Emma said, relieved. She looked at her sister. "How come you think mommy and daddy are getting a divorce thing then?"
"Because they fight a lot," Ashton said. "But they're not going to anymore, because they love each other, right?"
"Your mom and I absolutely, 100 percent love each other very, very much," Freddie nodded. "And like we said, we're not going to get a divorce."
"But Ashton," Sam said gently. "We want you to understand something…Mommy and daddy love each other, but that doesn't mean we're never going to fight."
"That's right," Freddie nodded. "But you know what we always do after we fight? After every single time?"
"What?" Ashton asked.
"We make up," Sam said.
"Every time?" Ashton questioned.
"Every time," Freddie said.
"So you guys are sure you and mommy aren't going to get a divorce?" Ashton asked.
"Uh-huh," Freddie said. "And you want to know how we know that?"
"How?"
"Because my parents, and your mom's parents, both got divorced when we were kids," Freddie explained. "We both know what that's like. And believe me, we're not even close to being like that."
"You have a daddy, mom?" Emma asked, looking up at her mom.
Sam laughed. "Well, yeah. Everyone has one."
"How come I never saw him? We still see daddy's daddy sometimes," Emma said.
"My dad decided that, well…he didn't really want to be a dad anymore," Sam said, smiling as she stroked her daughter.
"Huh?"
"I'll explain it to you some day when you're older," Sam said, kissing the top of her head. "But the point of this whole thing is…no matter how much daddy and I fight, we love each other very much. And we love you guys very much too. And your brothers."
Ashton nodded.
"Alright, well, you guys have effectively managed to stay up an extra ten minutes," Freddie said, looking at his watch. "Time for you to get to sleep now."
"Night," Emma said, sliding under her covers.
"Night," Ashton yawned, laying down.
