AN-This chapter is a sequel to chapter 402, where Sam and Freddie realize they're having a baby while they're in college.

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Sunshine

"Will you stop that? You're not supposed to be doing any sort of physically daunting tasks, you know," Freddie said, jumping to his feet as he watched Sam, who was currently eight-months pregnant, try and lift a heavy box that was sitting in the middle of her and Carly's shared living room. "Here, let me do it."

"It's not heavy," Sam snapped, though stepping back to let Freddie lift the box. "It's just a bunch of my old textbooks I'm selling online. Figure I can make a few bucks from them."

"You don't need them anymore?" Freddie frowned.

"Nope," Sam said simply, sitting down on the sofa. "It's not like I'm going to be finishing college or anything, remember?"

Last semester, Sam had taken a temporary hiatus from her classes at the University of Washington. With her condition, she knew it was going to be very hard to keep up, especially since she wasn't exactly a natural student in the first place.

"Baby," Freddie sighed, sitting down next to her. "We've been over this. You can go back to school after you have this baby."

"With what money?" Sam said bitterly. "Every penny I've made has been funneled into this kid. It's not like that's gonna stop once it's born."

Freddie didn't reply. He felt guilty, sometimes, that Sam had dropped out of college while he was still currently enrolled at MIT. True, his grades had taken a definite hit with him flying out to Seattle every other weekend and working twenty hours a week as over-the-phone tech support, but he still had the chance to go, and thankfully, with him taking courses over the past summer, he was set to graduate early at the end of the semester.

"This is what everyone expected, though, isn't it?" Sam sighed. "They probably all just thought it would happen in high school."

"Sam," Freddie said gently. "It-It's not too late…I know we decided on-"

Sam shook her head.

It had been one of the toughest decisions her and Freddie had ever had to make in their lives; whether to keep this baby or give it up for adoption.

Both of them knew they clearly weren't ready to be parents.

Freddie had dreamed of getting a developing job at the Pear Company for years, and he was closer than ever, and Sam was actually hoping to go to law school after she graduated.

They were both young. They were adults, yes, but that didn't mean they were ready for the responsibility of raising another life all on their own. Sam barely knew how to do her own laundry and Freddie had almost burned down the kitchen the last time he tried to cook.

And then of course they were both broke, one of the side effects of choosing to further their education after high school.

It seemed like the easiest decision, to give their child up for adoption, and that's what Sam and Freddie had decided to do five months ago.

But then they went to Sam's doctor, and they saw their child's small figure appear on the ultrasound monitor and heard its heart beat from within Sam. And suddenly, neither of them cared how hard it would be or about how much they would have to sacrifice.

This was their child that they had created together, and they couldn't bear to be separated from it.

"No," Sam said firmly. "I'm not giving up my baby." She slowly reached into her pocket and pulled out an envelope. "I got paid today…It's not as much as my last check, because I had to take off to go to the doctors a couple weeks ago, but, well, I'll add it to the pile."

"We're doing good, baby," Freddie said, taking the envelope. "We have the crib bought, the changing table's almost paid for, we found a bunch of clothes at the second hand shop, plus with everything Carly's bought for this kid…we're not completely in the red, you know."

"Just wait until our first bill from the new apartment comes in," Sam mumbled. "Then you won't be saying that."

Freddie bit his lip nervously. He knew Sam was right.

Since the couple obviously couldn't live in the small, two-bedroom apartment Carly and Sam currently shared, they had started to look for a new place. They found a reasonable place in the same building, though, only a few floors down. They weren't moving in until after Freddie graduated and moved back to Washington permanently next month. Even with everything the two of them were making working and saving, though, they both knew the apartment wasn't going to be cheap. Carly's father paid for the one her and Sam shared now, but Sam knew exactly how much the rent was, and it almost caused her physical pain.

"Look," Freddie said, trying to make Sam feel better. "Once I graduate and have a degree from MIT, I'll be able to find a decent job. Maybe even a really good job. I can make more money so paying for everything won't be such an issue anymore. I mean, it's not like we're in the worst position for this; things could be worse. This could've happened when we were in high school, or neither of us could've found jobs, or our parents could've disowned us…we're twenty, Sam. That's not exactly the youngest age anybody's ever had a baby at."

"So what? You think this is going to be easy?" Sam said, narrowing her eyes.

"No, of course not," Freddie said quickly. "But I just think we've both been dwelling on the negative too much and-"

"Well sorry for being realistic!" Sam snapped, getting to her feet. "Maybe you don't realize how stressful this whole thing is since you're not the one carrying our baby around!"

"How can you say that?" Freddie retorted, his voice rising. "You think I'm not stressed? I get maybe three hours of sleep a night! I'm barely passing my classes right now and I have to spend half of my days on the phone with idiots to try and make some cash!"

"Did you have a bunch of people staring at you your last day of classes, whispering behind your back when you could barely fit into your seat to take your final exam because you were six months pregnant?" Sam yelled loudly. "Do you feel like you're about to puke every ten minutes? Do you have to work at some disgusting restaurant where you're on your extremely swollen feet for eight hours a shift? Huh?"

"Sam…" Freddie said, trying to calm himself down before he said something he knew he'd regret. "Sam, please. Let's-Let's just stop. I think we're both trying to outdo one another on the pity scale, and that's ridiculous. Obviously this has been hard on both of us, but if we just talk-"

"You can talk to yourself," Sam said coldly, turning around and heading to her bedroom.

Freddie sighed as he heard her door slam behind her.

Honestly, he was used to this. He knew that this late in the pregnancy, Sam's mood swings would be getting worse. He just wished he knew what to do about them.

Suddenly, he heard the front door to the apartment open and Carly walked in.

"Hey," Carly said brightly. "I thought I heard you come in last night, but I needed to get to sleep for my morning classes today. Where's Sam?"

"In her room," Freddie said heavily as Carly set her bag down.

"Is she asleep?"

"No," Freddie said. "We had a fight."

"Oh," Carly frowned. "I'm sorry. Sam's had a rough week. He morning sickness was really bad, her boss made her work an extra shift, and, um, she got her LSAT scores back."

"Her LSAT scores?" Freddie repeated. "Sam took the LSAT?"

"Yeah," Carly said. "She took it awhile ago…back when you guys were planning on giving the baby up for adoption. She just found out the scores had been posted online."

"Did she do bad or something?" Freddie asked.

"No," Carly said. "That's just it…She did really good. Her scores were in the top twenty percent from our university. She-She could've pretty much gotten into any law school she wanted with them."

"Oh man," Freddie mumbled. "And now she can't go…poor Sam."

"I think she was more upset than she let on," Carly told him.

"Yeah," Freddie sighed. "I'm gonna go talk to her."

"Want me to leave you two alone?" Carly asked. "I can go back out if you want me to."

"No, you just got home," Freddie said. "Besides, this is your place too. I'll talk to her in her room."

Freddie walked back to Sam's door and knocked twice before pushing the door open.

Sam was lying on her bed, staring up at the ceiling. She had one hand rested on her swollen abdomen, gently rubbing circles on it.

"Sam?" Freddie said softly.

Sam looked over at him, slowly sitting up. "Sorry," she sighed. "For yelling at you…stupid hormones."

"It's okay," Freddie said, sitting down next to her. He put an arm around her shoulders as he leaned down to give her a short kiss. "Carly, um, told me you found out your LSAT scores…I'm really proud of you, Sam."

"It's not like they're gonna do me any good," Sam mumbled.

"Sam, I really wish you would stop thinking your life is over," Freddie said gently. "It's not. Tons of people go back to school after they have a kid. It's doable. It may be challenging, but you definitely know how to rise to the occasion."

Sam looked down at her lap. "I guess I've been kind of…snappy lately. And-And you've been so nice to me still."

"Of course, I love you," Freddie said, kissing her again. "And you have a right to be snappy. You're carrying our child."

Sam gave him a small smile.

"But-But I do have to ask you this," Freddie said slowly. "Do you regret deciding to keep this baby?"

Sam looked up at him, her blue eyes sparkling.

"No," she whispered. "I know I've been complaining about how hard everything is going to be, but-but it's gonna be worth it, right? We're going to have a baby. He or she is going to be our very own."

"Yeah," Freddie smiled, placing his hand on her stomach on top of hers.

She gave a small wince.

"You okay?" Freddie asked, concerned.

"Yeah," Sam nodded. "The baby's just been moving around like crazy in there the past few days. Anyway…you were right before. We've been being too pessimistic. You're about to graduate from MIT, you'll get a good job with no problem. And once the baby starts preschool, I can start going back to school. And our parents have been helping us…your mom agreed to pay for all the medical bills, my mom-well, she bought us some baby clothes. And we have the apartment all ready to move into when you graduate! We're actually gonna be a tiny little family."

Freddie chuckled. "Hey, speaking of the apartment…I got bored on the plane ride here last night so I started playing around on my Pearpad…"

He reached for the device that was lying on Sam's bedside table and hit a few buttons.

"Look," he said. "I made a rough design of the baby's room."

Sam took the Pearpad from him, staring at the image on the screen.

"I remembered the room dimensions and just went from there," Freddie explained. "I thought we could put the crib by the window, so the baby will get plenty of sunshine and be able to look outside. And we could the changing table here, next to that rocking chair we found at that garage sale last month. And I thought we could paint the room yellow, since we don't know if it's a boy or a girl."

"It's amazing," Sam breathed. "The baby will love it."

"I figure I can paint it next weekend when I come down," Freddie said. "Hopefully I'll be able to squeeze in some time to study for my finals then too…"

"Well why don't you just do it after your exams," Sam suggested. "I mean, the baby isn't due for another week after that, so you should have plenty of time to-ow!"

"What's wrong?" Freddie asked as Sam gripped her sheets in pain.

"I don't know," Sam said. "Maybe I've been laying down too long…sometimes during the night my back starts to hurt and I have to get up and walk it off."

"Here, let me help you up," Freddie said, taking Sam's hand as she struggled to her feet. "You feel any better?"

"Not really," Sam said. "The doctor told me it's normal to start to feel all crampy the last month, but I didn't think it would be this-Ah!"

She gripped Freddie's hand tightly.

"Do you want me to call the doctor?" Freddie asked. "Maybe there's something we can do to make the pain go away at least a little."

"No, I can handle it," Sam said, slightly out of breath. "I'm not gonna go crying to my doctor about a little-"

Suddenly, she stopped talking and her eyes grew wide as she felt something wet run down her leg.

"What is it?" Freddie asked.

"I-I think my water just broke," Sam whispered.

"What?" Freddie exclaimed. "But-But you still have another month! Are you sure?"

"Positive," Sam gasped as she gripped Freddie's hand again as she felt a contraction ripple through her body. "Freddie, I'm going to have the baby. Now!"

"Okay, okay, don't panic," Freddie said, though feeling more terrified than he had been in his whole life. "Let's get you to the hospital and-"

"Ow!" Sam yelled, almost losing her balance. "Ow, ow, ow!"

"Carly!" Freddie called as he held Sam steady herself. "Carly! Help!"

"What's going on?" Carly asked, rushing into the room.

"Sam's in labor," Freddie told her. "Can you drive us to the hospital? Now?"

"Y-Yeah, of course," Carly nodded. "But are you sure? I thought the baby wasn't due until-"

"Will everybody stop asking me if I'm sure?" Sam said loudly. "Trust me, you know when another person is coming out of you!"

"Alright, let's go," Carly said, helping Freddie guide Sam out of the room. "Let me just go grab my keys."
"Freddie?" Sam said quietly. "I'm scared."

"I know," Freddie said. "So am I. But just remember, you can do this, Sam. I love you so much."

"I hate you!" Sam screamed two hours later in the delivery room, her face dripping with sweat as she clenched Freddie's hand. "You did this to me!"

"Sam, baby, it's almost over," Freddie said, trying not to think about how many broken bones he probably had in his hand. He looked over to the doctor at the foot of Sam's bed. "It is almost over, right?"

"Next few pushes should do it," the doctor said.

"I'm so proud of you, Sam," Freddie said, stroking her damp blonde hair.

"It hurts so much," Sam moaned.

"I know, but you're almost there," Freddie said. "Just think about-"

"Ah!" Sam yelled as she felt another contraction.

"Okay, Sam, I need you to push as hard as you can," the doctor told her.

Sam nodded, and Freddie could tell she was in so much pain as she pushed with all her might.

"Why is this taking so long," Sam gasped once the contraction had run its course.

"Alright, Sam, this next one has to be it," the doctor said. "The baby's crowning. Mr. Benson, would you like to see?"

"Yeah," Freddie said, anxious to catch his first real glace of his child. Upon looking, though, Freddie felt queasy…there was a lot going on down there.

"Not all fathers can handle it," the doctor said as Freddie quickly retreated back to the head of the bed.

"No," Freddie mumbled. "I guess not…"

"I feel another contraction," Sam cringed, taking Freddie's hand again.

"Alright, this is it," the doctor told her. "Push harder than you ever had before. After that…you can see your baby."

Sam looked up at Freddie, who gave her a comforting smile. "You can do it, Sam," he whispered.

Sam pushed hard, feeling pain worse than anything she could've eve imagined. Still, though, she did not let up, and just when she thought she was going to pass out from the pain…a small cry filled the delivery room.

"Oh my God," Freddie whispered, craning his neck to see his and Sam's newborn child. "Wow…"

"Congratulations," the doctor said as a nurse stepped over to begin cleaning up the crying baby. "It's a girl."

Sam, still trying to catch her breath, smiled. "We have a daughter," she said to Freddie.

"Yeah," Freddie nodded. "We do. I love you so much, Sam. You did so good."

"Did I hurt your hand?" Sam asked.

"Don't worry about that," Freddie chuckled, ignoring the numb feeling in his left hand.

"Would you like to see your daughter?" the nurse asked kindly, coming over to the couple with a small pink bundle in her arms.

Sam nodded eagerly, holding out her arms.

She looked down at her daughter for the first time, her dark brown eyes staring up at her.

"Hi," Sam whispered, feeling as though she might cry. "Hi, sweetie. I'm your mommy."

"She's beautiful," Freddie said softly.

"I know, she is," Sam said.

And suddenly, all the fear and hesitations and worries Sam had seemed to disappear as she held her daughter. She looked up at Freddie. "You want to hold her?"

"Duh," Freddie grinned, holding out his arms.

Sam carefully transferred the infant go Freddie. "Make sure you have her head supported," she told him. "And watch her hands. And don't-"

"I have her," Freddie assured her. He smiled down at his daughter, feeling tears well up in his eyes.

"Hi," he said softly. "I'm your daddy. I already love you so much, honey. You're just so…perfect."

"Do you two have a name picked out?" the doctor asked, coming back over to the couple.

Sam and Freddie exchanged glances. For months, they had been narrowing down names, trying to figure out the perfect one. Finally, they had picked the perfect name for a daughter and a perfect name for a son.

"Yeah," Sam replied. "Her name is Carla. Carla Rose Benson."

"I'll go have the desk staff get that name on the birth certificate then," the doctor said. "And again, congratulations."

"I can't believe we have a baby," Sam said as Freddie handed Carla back to her.

"Me neither," Freddie said.

"Freddie?" Sam said, her voice soft.

"What is it, baby?" Freddie asked.

"Thank you," she said shakily.

"For what?" Freddie questioned, confused.

"For being there during this whole thing," Sam said. "I know how much you gave up."

"I gave up just as much as you did," Freddie told her.

"I know, but-but you could've easily left," Sam said. "A lot of other guys would've…but not you."

"I love you," Freddie said earnestly. "I would never leave you. And I'm never going to leave Carla either. You two are my world now."

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AN-In case anybody was wondering, the baby Sam and Freddie had was obviously not Jason, their first child in all my other oneshots and stories. This chapter, as well as the other two chapters in this saga involving their pregnancy in college, were completely unrelated to the rest of my stories with the couple having kids.