Evening

"Alright, we've got a fire going in the fireplace," Freddie said, dimming the lights of his and Sam's house. "Romantic music, a lovely dinner prepared by the nice people at the Cheesecake Warehouse…I think we're all set for a perfect Valentines Day, don't you?"

"Looks like it," Sam nodded. "Wow baby, you really went all out. You have candles and everything."

"Hey, this is our first Valentines Day as a married couple," Freddie smiled. "You didn't think I'd miss the chance to go all out, did you?"

"Nah, you'd never pass up any opportunity to be a sappy nub," Sam laughed, giving her husband a kiss.

"So," Freddie said when they pulled apart after a moment. "Shall we start on our dinner? It's all set on the table?"

"Maybe we could wait just a little longer for dinner," Sam smiled, pulling Freddie over to the sofa.

"Wow, is Sam Puckett postponing food just to make-out with me?" Freddie chuckled as the couple sat down. "I must be a pretty good kisser."

"Don't get cocky," Sam said. "But, that may not be completely untrue…" She wrapped her arms around his neck as he pulled her closer to him, their lips pressed firmly against the others.

"Freddie!" came a sudden voice from the front door of the house. "Freddie, are you home?"

"What is your mother doing here on Valentines Day?" Sam hissed.

"I don't know! I didn't invite her!" Freddie replied.

"Oh, here you are," Marissa said, walking into the living room. "And what is this fireplace doing on? You could burn the whole house down!"

"Mom, the point of having a fireplace is to use it for fires," Freddie said, rolling his eyes. "And what are you doing here? It's Valentines Day."

"Yes, Valentines Day," Marissa nodded. "The day to spend with your loved ones. And I believe a son falls under that category. And well, since Samantha is here too…"

"Ugh, can't you just bug Freddie tomorrow?" Sam moaned.

"She means," Freddie said, giving his wife a warning look. "That tonight we kind of planned to spend the evening together…just the two of us. You know, since it's our first Valentines Day together since we've been married."

"And you are together, isn't that…nice," Marissa said, sitting herself down between the two of them. "And now that I've put out that dangerous fire you had going, why don't we enjoy this DVD boxed set of Family Ties I found at the vintage video store?"

"Dude, do something," Sam said to Freddie as Marissa got up and headed over to the T.V.

"Um, mom. Don't you have anything else you'd rather be doing?" Freddie asked. "Why don't you go and update your Aggressive Parenting website?"

"Don't worry, I've already taken care of that," his mother replied. She looked over at the kitchen table, where the food the couple had ordered to go from the Cheesecake Warehouse was sitting. "Is this food your dinner?"

"Um, yes?" Sam nodded. "What's wrong with it?"

"Please tell me this is not fast food," Marissa said, cringing.

"No, we got it from the Cheesecake Warehouse," Freddie said.

"Well this won't do at all," Marissa said, picking up the plates and heading to the garbage can. "That restaurant's portions are so big that you'll be getting triple your daily allowances of fat and cholesterol. You remember what I've always said, Freddie; a nice healthy dinner makes you healthy and thinner." And with that she dumped the food into the trash.

"Hey!" Sam exclaimed, running over and looking at her chicken sadly.

"I'll just whip us up a nutritious meal," Marissa said, getting herself a pan. "Samantha, where do you keep the baby greens in your kitchen?"

"I'll tell you where I'll be keeping my fist in a minute," Sam muttered under her breath.

"Um, we have some vegetables in the fridge, mom," Freddie said quickly. "So you just start cooking and Sam and I will wait patiently for it in the other room."

"Freddie!" Sam exclaimed as Freddie pulled her out of the kitchen. "Why are you encouraging her?"

"Look," Freddie said. "You know my mom…she's probably not going to leave here until we've forced down whatever it is that she's cooking in there."

"But what-"

"So," Freddie continued. "We might as well make the most of the night; even if my mom's ruined it."

"And how are we supposed to do that?" Sam asked.

"Well," Freddie said, smiling seductively. "While my mom's in there cooking, we could be in here…"

"Hmm," Sam said, stepping closer to Freddie. "Aren't you sneaky?"

But no sooner had the two began kissing did Marissa reappear in the room.

"Alright, while the dinner's cooking, how about we play a little game?"

"You're done in there already?" Freddie frowned.

"Yes, and in forty-five minutes we will be enjoying a nice squash and cucumber casserole," Marissa said.

"We didn't have any squash," Sam pointed out.

"I used my purse squash, dummy," Marissa said. "Now then, I have a travel size game of tidily winks and a deck of cards for us to play Old Maid. Or if you two aren't up for any games, we could watch the video of Freddie's birth I just put on my phone."

"No one wants to see that," Sam said. "And I mean no one."

"Well then I'll go set up tidily winks," Marissa said. "But everyone needs to go get a pair of gloves before we start."

"Why?" Freddie moaned.

"Because you might cut your fingers on one of the chips and get an infection," Marissa explained.

…..

After a less-than romantic dinner with Marissa and a round of 1960 show tunes, Sam and Freddie were beginning to feel as if they'd never salvage the rest of their Valentines Day.

"Oh my, it's already nine-thirty," Marissa said, looking at her watch as the three finished up their fifth round of Go Fish. "I'd better get going. I trust you two probably want to get to bed, too. It seems like we just played the night away, didn't we? Well, at least we had a good time."

"Yeah, this was a real blast," Sam said, her voice dripping in sarcasm.

"Okay, well, bye mom," Freddie said, quickly tossing his mother her coat. "Drive safe."

The second the door slammed behind her, Sam and Freddie were at each other's side.

"Well," Freddie said. "My mom threw away our dinner, took away the rest of our firewood, replaced our music with her soothing relaxation tape…looks like this isn't going to be the romantic evening we planned, huh?"

"Nope," Sam agreed. She rested her head on Freddie's shoulder. "Happy Valentines Day, though, baby."

"Happy Valentines Day to you too, Sam," Freddie said, giving her a kiss on the top of her head.

"You know," Sam said, looking up at Freddie. "It's not like we don't have anything left to do…"

"What? You really want to watch those Family Ties DVDs my mom left here?"

"Huh? No!" Sam said. She stood on her toes and whispered something in Freddie's ear.

"Oh!" Freddie said, his eyes widening. "Well shoosh yeah I'm down for that!"

"Good," Sam smiled. "Because we have a lot to make up for thanks to your mom."