Park
"Daddy, I don't like this," Emma pouted as Freddie sat with her at the kitchen table, going through her math workbook for school.
"I know, sweetie, but you need to do it and understand it," Freddie said. "Second grade math is critical. If you fall behind here then you'll be struggling all throughout your education."
"I don't care," Emma said firmly, crossing her arms.
"Well that's too bad, because you're going to do this," Freddie said. "Come on, it's just multiplication. Let's work on your sevens and then-"
"Dad?" twelve-year old Jason said, coming into the kitchen. "Where's mom?"
"She went to the store," Freddie replied. "Why? You need something?"
"Can you tell Tyler to leave me alone while I'm playing my videogames?" Jason said. "He keeps annoying me and making me lose!"
"I'll deal with him in a minute, Jason," Freddie sighed, turning back to Emma's math. "Alright now, Emma, there's a little trick that I picked up in my days in the math club-"
"Mommy said that club was the loser club," Emma smiled.
"No," Freddie said, rolling his eyes. "It was not the loser club. Anyway, the trick is to-"
Just then his phone that was sitting on the counter began to ring.
"Jason, can you answer that for me, please?" Freddie said.
Jason hurried over to the phone and answered. "Hello?"
"Hello, Mr. Benson?" he heard a woman on the other line say. "I'm calling from Seattle State Prison. We have your wife Samantha Benson in custody here. I'm going to need you to come down and bail her out; it seems she was involved in some sort of altercation at the park this afternoon."
Jason's eyes widened in shock as he quickly handed the phone to his father. "It's for you," he said, confused.
Mom's in jail? he thought as Freddie pressed the phone to his ear. But why? Mom's not bad…
"Hello?" Freddie said into his phone.
"Hi, yes, this is Samantha Benson's husband now?" the woman said.
"Yes, this him," Freddie nodded. "Is everything okay?"
"I'm afraid not," the woman said. "Your wife has been arrested."
"What?" Freddie exclaimed, jumping to his feet. "For what?"
"I'll have the arresting officer discuss the details with you, but if you don't get down here to bail her out within the next hour, she's going to have to stay here overnight."
"I'll be there," Freddie said quickly. "I just-Okay…thank you."
He hung up the phone and turned to Emma. "Emma, go get Tyler and Ashton and tell them we're going to Aunt Carly's. I need to drop you guys off there."
"So I don't have to do my math?" Emma grinned.
"You-You'll do it later," Freddie said.
"Yay!" Emma said happily, running out of the kitchen.
"Dad?" Jason said as Freddie grabbed his keys and wallet. "Was mom arrested?"
"Um, Jason, look," Freddie said. "I-We'll discuss this later, okay? I just really need to go pick up your mom right now."
"But why was she arrested?" Jason asked softly. "Did she do something bad?"
"No, no, I'm sure this whole thing is a big misunderstanding," Freddie said. "There's nothing to be concerned about."
….
"You what?" Freddie snapped an hour later as him and Sam stood in the middle of the bail office.
"Well how was I supposed to know the guy was a cop?" Sam defended, handcuffs still around her wrists.
"Sam, it doesn't matter if he was a cop or a hobo!" Freddie said, furious. "You can't just poor maple syrup on people!"
"He cut ahead of me in line for a pretzel at the park!" Sam said.
"I don't care!" Freddie cried. "Sam, you promised me when we got married you wouldn't do this stuff! You told me you were done getting arrested for these stunts of yours!"
"Yeah, and it's been thirteen years since I've been arrested for anything or gotten into any sort of trouble!" Sam said. "So I had one tiny relapse, big deal."
"It is a big deal, Sam, you're a mother now," Freddie said. "Do you want to have your kids visit you behind bars?"
Sam's face fell. "No…no of course not. But-"
"Alright, Mrs. Benson, you're free to go," an officer said as he came back and unlocked Sam's handcuffs. "You're going to have to pay a fine, but other than that, there won't be any charges pressed."
"Thank you," Freddie said relieved. "Look, officer, my wife is really sorry about this. Aren't you, Sam?"
Sam rolled her eyes. "Yes, I'm sorry. It won't happen again."
"It better not," the officer said. "Next time we might not be so forgiving."
The couple started out of prison, completely silent.
"Where are the kids?" Sam finally asked as they reached Freddie's car.
"I dropped them off at Carly's," Freddie said.
"You didn't tell them what happened, did you?" Sam asked softly.
Freddie didn't reply.
"Freddie…"
"No," Freddie sighed. "I didn't tell them."
"Thank you," Sam said. "I just-"
"But," Freddie said heavily.
Sam frowned. "But what?"
"Sam," Freddie said slowly. "When they called to tell me to come get you here…Jason-Jason answered the phone."
Sam's eyes grew wide. "What? He-He knows-"
"Yeah," Freddie said gently. "He knows you were arrested."
"Oh my God," Sam mumbled, shaking her head. "Oh my God…he probably thinks I'm a horrible criminal or something now."
"Sam, of course he doesn't," Freddie said at once. "You're his mom; he loves you."
"He knows I was in jail, Freddie!" Sam snapped. "Jail! I can't even imagine what's going through his head right now!"
"Sam, you just need to talk to him," Freddie said, squeezing her hand.
"He probably doesn't even want to look at me," Sam said darkly.
Freddie gave her a quick kiss. "Talk to him," he said again. "You really need to."
…..
"Alright Emma," Freddie said as the Benson family walked back into their home. "Let's get back to that math."
"No!" Emma moaned. "I don't want to, daddy!"
"Emma, listen to your dad," Sam said firmly.
As Emma and Freddie went back to the kitchen, Sam watched as her other three children headed into the living room.
"Jason?" she said. "Um, honey why don't you come upstairs with me?"
"Okay," Jason shrugged.
He followed Sam up to her and Freddie's bedroom.
"Um, sit down," Sam said, gesturing to the bed. "You, um, want some chocolate? I hide the good stuff up here."
"Sure," Jason nodded.
Sam grabbed a box from her dresser and opened it up as she sat down next to her son.
"So," she said slowly as Jason took a piece of chocolate. "So, um…you-you know that story your dad told the twins and Tyler about me having to be picked up from the grocery store because my car broke down was a lie, don't you?"
Jason nodded, looking down at his lap.
"Right," Sam sighed. "You know that I was-that I was-"
"You were in jail," Jason said softly.
"Yeah," Sam mumbled. "Yeah, I was. Listen, I'm sure you have some questions-"
"How come?" Jason asked, looking up at her.
"Um, well…I got into a little bit of an altercation with a police officer," Sam explained.
"Oh," Jason said.
"Jason," Sam said. "Look, sweetie, I-What I did today to get arrested was wrong. Really wrong. I know that and you know that. It was stupid and I wish I could go back undo it, but I can't. I just want you to know that-that just because I-I did this one thing, though…I'm still your mom, okay? But just because I'm your mom, it doesn't mean I don't make mistakes. Trust me, I make a lot of them, and today…well, today was a big one. But I want you to learn from my mistakes, so you don't have to make them yourself. I love you, Jason, no matter what. Just remember that, okay?"
"I love you too, mom," Jason said.
Sam gave him a small smile. "Thanks kiddo." She sighed. "I never wanted you guys to see me that way. You know, in jail. No parent does. I just hope-"
"You're still the best mom in the world," Jason told her, hugging her.
Sam opened her moth to say something, but found herself speechless.
So instead she simply hugged her son back, wondering how she had gotten so lucky to have such great children.
