Stumbling

Sam cringed as she heard a loud crash coming from her kitchen.

"That's it!" Sam yelled, leaving the stain on the carpet she had been trying to scrub out and heading into the kitchen, where her three children were running around screaming. "Everyone's going to time-out! What did you break?"

"It was an accident," three-year old Ashton said as Sam spotted several broken plates on the floor.

"Emma and Ashton did it," seven-year old Jason said. "I just tried to stop them."

"Sure you did," Sam said, rolling her eyes. "And Emma, what is all over you?"

"Chocolate syrup!" Emma said happily, licking the corners of her mouth as she smeared more of the gooey liquid on her new, white shirt.

"Emma!" Sam groaned. "Why would you dump half a bottle of chocolate syrup all over you?"

"I was hungry."

"She's dirty, mommy," Ashton announced.

"Yes, I can see that," Sam said, trying to keep her patience. "Okay, Emma, let's go get you in the tub, and Jason and Ashton, you two just-"

"Let's play tag!" Jason yelled suddenly.

"No!" Sam said. "No one's playing-"

"Yay! Tag!" the twins exclaimed, jumping up and down.

"I'm it!" Emma said. "I'm gonna catch you!"

"Ahhhhh!" Ashton shrieked, running out of the kitchen, knocking over the pitcher of iced tea that had been sitting on the table.

"Hey!" Sam yelled as Emma and Jason ran after her. "Hey! No running in the-Ugh!"

She looked around at the mess in the kitchen.

"Just had to have kids, didn't I?" Sam said, shaking her head.

She heard a car in the driveway, and she looked out the window, relieved to see her husband's car pulling in.

"Finally," Sam breathed.

The front door of the Benson's house opened and Freddie walked in, still in his work clothes.

"Daddy!" the three kids shouted, stopping their game and running towards him, nearly knocking him over.

"Hey guys," Freddie smiled. "I could hear you all the second I turned onto the street."

"Yeah, they've been real loud today," Sam mumbled as she walked over to Freddie, giving him a quick kiss. "And hyper and rowdy and insane and-"

"Er, Emma?" Freddie frowned, noticing a huge chocolate stain on his shirt from the spot his daughter had just hugged him. "Why are you all sticky."

"I wanted to eat all the chocolate syrup, so I dumped it on my head!" Emma said proudly.

"Oh…" Freddie said, looking around the living room, where tiny, chocolate-covered footprints could be seen.

"Yeah, this is what I've been dealing with all day," Sam sighed, picking Emma up, not even caring about the chocolate that now covered her own clothes. "I'm gonna go give her a bath. Can you keep an eye on the other two?"

"Alright," Freddie nodded as Sam headed back towards the bathroom.

"Daddy, I'm making a picture!" Ashton said, grabbing Freddie's hand and pulling him to the coffee table.

"Oh really?" Freddie said.

"Look!" Ashton said, thrusting a large sheet of construction paper into hands.

A shower of glitter fell onto Freddie's lap and onto the carpet.

"Ashton," Freddie sighed. "You know you're only supposed to use glitter if mommy or daddy is working with you. Now you made a mess."

"You don't like my picture, daddy?" Ashton pouted, tears forming in the corners of her eyes.

"What? Yes! Of course I do, sweetie," Freddie said quickly. "I was just saying that next time-"

"Hey dad, look!" Jason said, running over to his father, carrying Freddie's beloved miniature replica of a Proton Cruiser from Galaxy Wars.

"Jason!" Freddie exclaimed. "Is that my Proton Cruiser? You know you aren't supposed to touch any of my Galaxy Wars stuff from that shelf in my office!"

"But look," Jason said. "I figured out how to make it-whoa!"

Jason had stumbled over one of the twins' shoes lying in the middle of the floor, letting go of the Proton Cruiser in the process, sending it crashing to the floor.

"You broke daddy's toy!" Ashton gasped. "You're in trouble!"

"Er, sorry dad," Jason said.

"I-I-" Freddie stammered, looking at the remains of his beloved prop.

"What else broke out here?" Sam asked, returning to the room, her entire upper-body dripping wet from giving a squirming three-year old a bath.

"Daddy's toy," Ashton said.

"Oh," Sam shrugged. "I mean…how sad."

"Yeah, wait until they break something of yours," Freddie mumbled darkly.

"Way ahead of you, baby," Sam said, pulling out her Pearphone that now had a cracked screen. "They took care of this during lunch."

"Guess we're even then," Freddie said.

"Um, do I even want to know why you are covered in pink glitter?" Sam frowned.

"Nope," Freddie said. "No, you do not."

The next morning, when Freddie's alarm went off, he buried his face in his pillow, too tired to move.

"How can it be morning already?" he moaned, turning off the alarm as he slowly sat up. "I feel like I just laid down, don't you? Sam?"

He looked over at his wife's side of the bed only to find it empty.

Before he even had a chance to wonder where she was, though, he heard a loud gagging sound coming from the bathroom.

"Sam?" he called, getting out of bed. "You okay?"

"No," Sam mumbled as he poked his head into the bathroom to see her kneeling by the toilet. "I think I'm sick. I must've caught a stomach virus or something, I just threw up."

Freddie silently cursed. A sick Sam meant he was going to have to handle the three kids on his own today. He didn't want to seem insensitive, but he really needed her.

"Want me to get you anything?" Freddie asked.

"No," Sam said, wiping her mouth. "I'll feel better after I shower…I'm already starting to feel better."

"Kids get to you yesterday?" Freddie asked knowingly.

"They're nightmares," Sam said. "I love them and everything, but they're-"

"I know," Freddie said. "But no one ever said three kids under the age of eight would be easy."

"Nope," Sam agreed. "But speaking of the kids, they're probably up and running around already. Can you go start breakfast while I get ready?"

"Yeah," Freddie nodded, helping her to her feet. "Though I'm a little afraid to see what's waiting for me out there…"

Sam waited until Freddie closed the door behind her before she walked over to the medicine cabinet and pulled out the small package she had bought the day before.

This wasn't the first morning she woke up sick; Freddie was just usually already downstairs by the time she would come rushing into the bathroom.

She looked down at the pregnancy test in her hands, taking a deep breath. She didn't even want to know what she was going to do if it wound up being positive. Her and Freddie were already at their rope's end with three kids…how could they expect to survive a fourth?

"Well, congratulations, Mrs. Benson," the doctor said later that day as Sam stared at the monitor by her bedside. "It looks like you're a little over six weeks pregnant."

"You-You're sure?" Sam asked slowly.

"Very," the doctor nodded.

"Oh," Sam said, feeling completely dazed. "Oh."

After taking the pregnancy test that morning and having it show up positive, Sam decided to get professional confirmation.

"Everything looks very good here," the doctor continued, continuing to look at the ultrasound. "All you need to do is start taking the prenatal vitamins I'll prescribe to you in a moment and get plenty of rest."

"Yeah…rest isn't really something I can get a whole lot of right now," Sam said.

"Well just try and take it as easy as possible," the doctor told her. "But of course, I'm talking to an old pro at this, aren't I? You've been through this before with your other three kids. You know exactly what to expect."

"Uh-huh," Sam nodded, still staring at the monitor.

"I'll go get you that prescription," the doctor smiled. "And some pictures from the ultrasound. I'm sure you're very excited and can't wait to start telling everyone the great news."

….

Sam returned home shortly after, the news she had just received still circling around in her mind.
She couldn't believe she was pregnant again. How were her and Freddie going to handle four children in the house?

She walked through her front door, where Carly was so busy chasing around the twins she didn't even notice her come in.

"Emma! Or are you Ashton?" Carly said, slightly out of breath. "Well, whoever you are, you can't play with your mom's lipstick like that! She's gonna flip out! You better hope I can get this all cleaned up before she comes home and-"

"Relax, Carls," Sam said, causing her best friend to spin around in surprise. "I've seen worse."
"Oh thank God you're back," Carly breathed. "I mean…they were a delight while you were gone."

"Yeah, sure," Sam scoffed.

"Mom, can I go try and find fossils in the backyard?" Jason asked, running into the room with a shovel.

"Whatever," Sam sighed.

"Um, didn't you guys just plant a bunch of expensive plants out there?" Carly frowned as Jason ran outside.

"I don't even care," Sam said. "If it will keep him busy for an hour…"

"You okay?" Carly asked.

"Huh? Yeah, I'm fine," Sam nodded. "Why?"

"You just look a little tired and out of it," Carly shrugged.

Sam laughed. "Carly, Carly, Carly…You have one kid. Trust me, this is the normal look when you have three."

"Ah," Carly nodded understandingly. "Well, I should get going. If you need to babysit again, give me a week to recover and I'll be here."

"Thanks," Sam grinned.

As Carly left, Sam's focus wandered back to that fourth child growing inside of her.

Obviously, her and Freddie loved their children more than anything else in the world; that was never a question. Despite how destructive and rambunctious they could be, they were still their kids.

But her and Freddie hadn't discussed having a fourth child. They certainly hadn't been planning on having one now. If they ever were going to try for another child, Sam figured they'd at least wait until the twins were in second or third grade.

But now they didn't have a chance to plan. They were having another baby whether they were ready or not.

Sam looked down at her flat stomach, placing a hand where she knew the baby rested.

"I love you, you know," Sam whispered. "Even if you act as crazy and out-of-control as your brother and sisters.

….

"Well," Freddie said bitterly, slamming the front door of the house closed later that night as he tossed his briefcase aside. "That was a bad day."

"What happened, baby?" Sam asked, turning off her T.V. show.

Freddie came home late a few nights a week, this being one of them, so the kids were already asleep.

"You know how I had that huge presentation today?" Freddie sighed.

"Yeah," Sam nodded.

"Well, about half-an-hour before I had to give it in front of all my bosses," Freddie said irritably. "I go to upload it from my USB onto the server, and guess what I find?
"What?"

"One of the kids must've decided it would be fun to decorate my USB," Freddie said, pulling the small device out of his pocket and tossing it to Sam.

Sam looked down and saw the USB was covered with stickers, dry glue, and paint.

"Oh…" Sam said. "Did-Did it still work?"

"Barely!" Freddie said. "Luckily I was able to get my presentation off of it, but I wound up being five minutes late to my meeting and my bosses were pissed!"

"I'm sorry," Sam said, rubbing his shoulder. "I'll talk to the kids about not touching your stuff…again."

"These kids are going to give me gray hair before I turn forty," Freddie mumbled. "I can't wait until they're out of this stage of destroying everything they put their hands on."

Sam frowned. "Come on…they don't destroy everything."

"No?" Freddie said. "In the last twenty-four hours, your phone wound up cracked, my Proton Cruiser replica was smashed to smithereens, the bathroom wall looks like a box of crayons threw up on it, our rug has a giant grape juice stain on it, and now my USB is ruined."

"Yeah…" Sam said slowly. "But, they didn't mean to do any of that. They're just kids."

"I know," Freddie sighed. "Still, though, I don't know how three kids can be so much work."

Sam didn't say anything. Freddie wasn't exactly setting her up for the perfect moment for her to tell him that she was pregnant.

"I mean, I thought the kids were supposed to get easier as they got older," Freddie continued. "But it looks like ours are doing the complete opposite."

Sam looked down at her lap. He's going to flip out when I tell him, Sam thought sadly. He's not going to be thrilled like when I told him I was pregnant with Jason or the twins…

"Sam?" Freddie said, looking over at his wife. "Sam, you okay?"

"Fine," Sam mumbled, quickly getting to her feet. "Just tired. I'm going to bed."

"Wait, Sam-" Freddie started, but Sam had already made her way up the steps.

She went into her and Freddie's bedroom and lay down on their bed, burying her face in her pillow.

She didn't know how she was going to tell Freddie the news now…He was already at his capacity with three kids. He seemed dead set against adding any more to the equation.

Perhaps it was the exhaustion of finding out about the pregnancy, or the pregnancy itself, but Sam felt her eyelids grow heavy soon after she hit the pillow. She was passed out by the Freddie came up a few moments later to talk to her.

….

The next morning, Sam slowly opened her eyes, feeling the weight of yesterday still pressing on her. She made to sit up, but the second she shifted, her husband next to her jolted up as well.

"Good, you're up," he yawned.

"Did I wake you?" Sam mumbled.

"No," Freddie said. "I couldn't really sleep…Baby, what was bothering you last night? I came up after you but you were already asleep by the time I got up here."

Sam didn't respond.

"Come on, you can talk to me," Freddie smiled, taking her hand. "We have been married for eight years."

Sam took a deep breath, looking right into his eyes. "Okay," she said. "But first, just…just promise me you'll try not to get mad, okay?"

Freddie frowned. "Is everything okay?"

"Yeah," Sam sighed.

"Are the kids okay?" Freddie asked.

"Yes, yes, they're fine," Sam said quickly.

"Then what is it?" Freddie asked.

Sam gripped his hand tightly. "Freddie, I'm pregnant."

Freddie's eyes widened. "Wh-What?"

"I'm pregnant," Sam said again. She looked down at her lap. "We're going to have four kids."

Freddie continued to stare at her, not saying a word.

"I found out yesterday," Sam continued. "I took a pregnancy test…and then I went to the doctor's. That's why I was sick yesterday morning. I've been getting morning sickness for the past couple of weeks, but I thought I was just catching something."

Still, Freddie simply stared at her, flabbergasted.

Sam reached over to the drawer of her bedside table and pulled out the picture from her ultrasound the previous day.

"Here," she said, handing it to Freddie. "That's our baby…You know during the first visit, the baby doesn't look like a baby, just like a little peanut, but there it is…"

Freddie took the picture, staring hard at it.

Finally, Sam lost her patience. "Okay, can you say something?"

"You-We're really going to have another baby?" Freddie said, his voice shaky.

"Uh-huh," Sam whispered. "I-I know we hadn't planned on having another kid, but, um, I guess it just happened."

"Yeah," Freddie said softly.

"You're mad," Sam said quietly. "Aren't you?"

"What?" Freddie said, finally snapping out of his daze. "No! Sam, of course I'm not mad, why would you think that?"

"Because," Sam sighed. "Last night you were going on about how we're barely handling the kids now and how into everything they've been lately, and now I'm telling you that we're adding a fourth kid to that, and-"

"I didn't mean-Come here," Freddie said, wrapping his arms around Sam, kissing her. "I didn't mean it like that. I was just stressed from my meeting. Look, we both know that Jason and Emma and Ashton are a handful. But they're our kids, and they're pretty amazing, aren't they? They may destroy our house, give us practically no time to ourselves and never let us sleep in past nine, but they're three of the best things that have happened to us in our lives. And they do do more than just drive us crazy. Jason makes us all though books about dinosaurs or space or, my personal favorite, Galaxy Wars."

"Yeah," Sam grinned. "Try not to nub up this kid, okay?"

"And the twins have been so cute putting on those little plays for us during dinner lately," Freddie said.

"They have," Sam agreed.

"So we'll have one more Crazy Benson to add to our group," Freddie said. "We'll manage. I just hope that poor baby is ready for the family waiting for him or her."

"So you're really excited?" Sam asked.

"I am," Freddie said earnestly. "We've been so lucky to have three children together, I can't wait for the fourth."

Sam beamed up at him. "I can't wait either."

Just then the door of the couple's bedroom burst open and the three Benson children came rushing in.

"Wake up!" Emma said happily, bouncing onto the bed into her father's lap.

"Aw, five more minutes?" Freddie joked, kissing the top of his daughter's blonde head.

"We made you guys breakfast because you were taking so long," Jason said, setting a tray down on his parents' bread with very burnt toast and at least half-a-cup of butter.

"I made the toast!" Ashton said proudly.

"Wow, this looks…delicious," Sam said, trying not to gag on the smell. "Thanks so much, you guys."

"Yeah, your mom and I can't wait to eat this later," Freddie said. He looked over at his wife, his eyes sparkling. "And while you guys are here…mommy and daddy have some exciting news."

"You do?" Jason asked. "What is it?"

Sam took Ashton into her lap and put her arm around Jason. "Well you guys, it looks like you three are going to get a new baby brother or sister soon."

The three kids gasped.

"Another baby!" Ashton exclaimed. "Where is it?"

"It's growing inside of me," Sam explained, rubbing her stomach. "Just like you all did."

"Ick," Emma cringed. "Did you eat it?"

"No," Sam said, smacking Freddie's shoulder as he laughed. "All babies grow inside their mom's stomachs."

"Really?" Emma said in disbelief.

"Really," Sam nodded. "Jason, you remember when I was pregnant with the twins, right? You remember how they grew in there, right?"

"Yeah, you got really fat, mom," Jason said.

"Gee, thanks," Sam said, rolling her eyes.

"But how did this baby get in there?" Jason asked.

"Um…" Freddie said slowly. "What-What do you mean?"

"How do babies get inside a mom's stomach if that's where they all grow?" Jason asked curiously.

"Yeah, how do they?" Ashton asked.

"Yeah, if mommy didn't eat the baby, how could it be in her tummy?" Emma questioned.

"I, well, um-" Freddie stammered. "See, that's actually a complicated process that we'll discuss when you're much older. Right Sam?"

"Well, I'm gonna go shower," Sam said, getting to her feet. She gave Freddie one last kiss. "Have fun with them, baby."

"What? Hey! Don't leave me with their questions!" Freddie said as Sam headed off into the bathroom. "Sam! Sam, come back here!"