AN-Okay…3000 reviews? You guys are the best! Thank you all so much for all the support you've shown this story!

Stress

"Tyler, come on, work with me here!" Freddie begged as he sat in front of his eight-month old son's highchair. He tried once again to put a spoonful of the green peas into the child's mouth, but Tyler quickly turned his head.

"You have to eat, Tyler," Freddie said. "I know these peas might not taste good, but they're full of vitamins and nutrients that you need if you want to grow up big and strong."

But Tyler continued to pout irritably.

"You know," Freddie said, rolling his eyes. "My mom fed me this stuff until I was nine. You've got it easy, pal! All I'm asking from you is a few more months. Then you can have real food. But you have to eat these peas first!"

Tyler kept fussing.

"Tyler, I am your father!" Freddie said, trying to put on his best stern voice. "And I am ordering you to eat these peas!"

Still nothing.

"Eh, I guess that only works if you actually understand what I'm saying to you," Freddie sighed. "Alright, plan B…tricking you into eating this. Now I know all the parenting books say you should never trick your kids because it 'ruins the foundation for a trusting relationship', but if I don't have you fed by the time mommy gets home she's gonna yell at me."

So Freddie gently began to tickle to bottom of one of Tyler's feet, causing the baby to shriek with laughter.

"Yes!" Freddie cheered as he took the opportunity to stick the spoon into Tyler's open mouth. "One spoonful down! Now to just-"

Tyler cut him off, though, as he spit the peas right back onto Freddie's face.

"Well…" Freddie said, his face dripping with green goo. "Should've seen that coming."
He stood up and grabbed a towel from the sink.

"You know, this difficult streak in you comes from mommy, not me," Freddie said. "I hope she's proud of herself…"

"What am I proud of?" Sam asked as she stepped into the kitchen, carrying a few bags.

"You made our son spit peas on me," Freddie said simply.
"Hmm, nice," Sam grinned as she kissed the top of Tyler's head. "And by the way, he likes the carrots more, just give him some of that. He'll actually keep it down."

"Alright," Freddie nodded, heading to the cabinet to get another jar of baby food. "So, how was the mall?"
"Not horrible, actually," Sam smiled. "I got new clothes for Jason and the twins to wear to school next week, I found you a phone case I thought you would like since I sort of cracked yours, the yogurt store was giving out free samples, I got to beat some guy up, and then Pottery Barrel had these cool pillows that-"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa," Freddie frowned. "Back up there. You beat up a guy? Sam!"

"Well I had to," Sam said. "He was trying to steal my purse. Anyway, back to the pillows-"

"What?" Freddie exclaimed, almost dropping the jar of carrots in his hand. "Some guy tried to steal your purse?"

"Yeah, in the parking lot," Sam nodded. "I had it around my shoulder and he tugged at it but obviously I holding on too tight. And then he tried to hit me in the stomach but, pfft, I was faster. I had him on the ground in about three seconds crying like a baby."

"So you were almost mugged?" Freddie cried.

"Yeah, I guess that's the technical term for it," Sam shrugged. "Anyway, these pillows were heated so in the winter you can-"

"Are you okay?" Freddie asked, putting his arms around his wife as he quickly looked her up and down, searching for any injuries.
"What? Dude, I'm fine," Sam said. "I told you, I beat him up."

"We've got to call the cops!" Freddie said, pulling out his Pearphone. "Now, Sam, are you sure you're okay? You know what? Let's just get you down to the hospital to be safe. I'll drop the kids off with Spencer and then we'll-"

"Freddie!" Sam said loudly. "I'm fine!"

"You are not fine!" Freddie snapped. "You were mugged!"

"Almost mugged," Sam corrected. "And it's no big deal! The guy didn't steal my purse and now maybe he'll think twice about going after anybody again."

"But-But you could've been hurt!" Freddie pointed out.

"Yeah, and last week I could've won the lottery," Sam said.

"Sam, I'm serious!" Freddie said. "This isn't a joke! What-What if that guy had attacked you from behind? Or-Or what if he had a knife. Or a gun?"

"Okay, you're overreacting now," Sam frowned. "He didn't have any weapons. He was just some moron who thought he'd make a quick buck by-"

"I'm not overreacting!" Freddie exclaimed. "This is how a guy is supposed to react when he finds out his wife was ambushed!"

"Alright, seriously, lower your voice before the kids hear you and you wind up freaking them out," Sam said. She put an arm around Freddie. "Look, baby, yes it could've turned out worse today. But it can always turn out worse. Things like this happen all the time; you can't predict them. And you can't dwell on them either. Today was lucky. Or, well, not for that jerk…but my point is you can't just think about the 'what ifs'! Those are people who are so busy worrying about stupid things that they don't even get a chance to live their lives! Or, as I like to call them, the Marissa Bensons of the world."

"But Sam, how can you expect me not be upset by this?" Freddie said. "I love you and the kids love you. If anything happened to you…"

Sam gave him a gentle kiss. "Don't think about that. It's just gonna freak you out even more."

"But I-"

"Just don't think about it," Sam said again. She gave him another kiss. "I'm gonna go call Carly and tell her about the pillows since you don't want to listen. Oh, and when you finish feeding Tyler put him down for a nap. He was fussing this morning and I think he's pretty tired."

Freddie stared after her as she left the kitchen, knowing perfectly well that there was no way he was going to be able to 'just not think about it'.

The next morning Freddie was downstairs, making the kids breakfast.

"Daddy! Emma's sticking her tongue out at me!" Ashton complained.

"Dad! Ashton keeps kicking me under the table!" Jason said.

"And Jason took my napkin!" Emma said loudly.

"What is this circular tattling?" Freddie said, rolling his eyes as he slid plates of eggs in front of his children. "Now let's go. Eat your breakfasts."

"Morning," Sam said brightly, coming into the kitchen. "Sweet, eggs!"

"Morning, baby," Freddie replied, giving her a quick peck on the lips.

"Mommy?" Ashton said. "Emma keeps-"

"Guys, no tattling until after I've had my coffee," Sam yawned. She looked over at Freddie. "So you said you were good to watch the kids again today, right? I need to go pick up my mom from her therapist at ten and then Carly somehow managed to get a copy of the school supply list yesterday so I figured I'd go and buy them all the junk they need to start next week."

Freddie frowned as he handed his wife her coffee. "You-You mean…you're going out shopping again."

"Yeah, like I enjoy it," Sam scoffed. "But unfortunately our kids sort of need stuff, so I don't really have a choice. Hey, if you made plans, though, I'll just take them all with me."

"No, it's-it's not that," Freddie said. "It's just…why don't I do the shopping? And I'll pick up your mom!"

"Why?" Sam asked. "You hate shopping just as much as me."

"I-I know," Freddie said lamely. "Or-Or hey! I have an idea, I'll go with you!"

"Dude, it would make more sense for you to just watch the kids," Sam said.

"No it wouldn't," Freddie said quickly. "Come on, we were just saying the other day how we haven't gone out too much lately since Tyler was born."

"So you want to go to the store for a date?" Sam said, giving Freddie a strange look. "I mean I know I've never been picky, but-"

"Or does anybody really need to go out at all?" Freddie continued. "It's Sunday morning! We should be lounging around in our pajamas all day, relaxing!"

"I'm in my pajamas, daddy," Emma said proudly.

"See!" Freddie said, rustling Emma's blonde hair. "At least somebody here knows how to enjoy a Sunday morning properly."

"Hey, last Sunday when I lounged around relaxing all day, you gave me a lecture!" Sam reminded him. "Now why are you-wait. You're not acting weird because you're still thinking about-about what happened yesterday, are you?"
"No, of course not," Freddie said at once. "I-I forgot all about that. Oh, by the way…I found this in the garage. I thought you could put it on your keys."

He handed Sam a whistle.

"Um…what?" Sam frowned.

"It's a safety whistle that my mom gave me years ago," Freddie explained. "See, you blow it and it emits the loudest sound ever created from a whistle."

"What am I gonna do with a whistle? Throw it as someone?" Sam scoffed.

"No, I-I-"

"Freddie, it's really sweet that you're all worried, but trust me, I'm more than capable of taking care of myself," Sam assured him as she finished the last of her breakfast and got to her feet.

"Yes, but-"

"Please, just forget about what happened yesterday," Sam told him. "You're stressing yourself out over it."

"But-But-"

"I'm gonna go pick up my mom," Sam said. "I should be back in a few hours."

She turned to the kids. "Have fun with daddy, guys. Make sure he doesn't act too crazy."

"Sam, I don't think-" Freddie started, but Sam had already left the house.

Freddie sighed as he heard the front door slam.

He tried to go back to doing the dishes, but he still couldn't get the idea of something happening to Sam out of his mind. Something that would be worse than yesterday…

And then, quickly turning the sink off, Freddie reached into his pocket and pulled out his phone and scrolled through his contacts.

"Hello?" he heard Spencer answer on the other line.

"Hey, Spence," Freddie replied. "You think you could swing by here and watch the kids for me for a little bit? I need to run out."

…..

Freddie walked through the aisles of the school supply store, looking up and down each one trying to spot his wife.

Where is she? he thought anxiously as searched the store. She has to be here….unless-unless something already happened to her and she-

But then, just as Freddie was about to go into full panic mode, he spotted Sam standing by a display of pencil cases with Carly.

He quickly darted behind a large shelf of binder paper, making sure that he could still see Sam without her seeing him.

Alright, Freddie told himself. Now I can be sure that nothing happens to her again.

And so for almost a full hour, Freddie continued to follow Sam around the store. He had a few close calls; he had to duck behind an elderly man's wheelchair when Sam turned around unexpectedly and he was almost spotted when he sneezed, but Freddie was determined to keep this up.

Man, how much school supplies could the kids even need? Freddie wondered as he checked the time as he watched the girls look through a basket of pens. I should've known this would take forever…it's all Carly's fault! She's the only one who could convince Sam to spend almost ten minutes looking at stupid pens and-

Suddenly, he felt the display of notebooks he was crouched down behind begin to lean forward from him pressing his weight into it, and before Freddie could stop it, the entire display toppled over, causing him lay sprawled out in the middle of the floor at Sam and Carly's feet.

The girls both looked shocked.

"What-What the-Freddie!" Carly gasped. "Are-Are you okay? What are you doing here?"

Sam narrowed her eyes as she crossed her arms. "Yeah, Freddie. What are you doing here?"

"I-Er…I-I was just…buying a notebook?" Freddie offered weakly, holding up one of the fallen notebooks.

"You were following me!" Sam exclaimed.

"Why would he be following you?" Carly asked.

"Because I happen to care about her, alright?" Freddie snapped, getting to his feet.

"I don't need you to tail me!" Sam said angrily. "I can't believe you! What kind of husband stalks his wife?"

"Um…I-I think I'll just give you guys some privacy to work this out on your own," Carly said awkwardly. "Oh…light up highlighters!"

As Carly hurried off, Freddie turned back towards Sam. "Sam, I wasn't stalking you-"

"What do you call following me around the store?" Sam demanded.

"Um…I-I-Look!" he said. "I'm sorry, but I can't just sit at home when the woman that I love is out here in danger!"
"I'm in an school supply store!" Sam cried. "They don't even sell real scissors here!"

"But that doesn't mean you won't get mugged again!"

"I wasn't mugged!"

"You almost were!" Freddie argued. "Some guy could've been lurking in this parking lot and he could've been much tougher than the guy from yesterday."

"Freddie, yesterday was like a-a fluke!" Sam said. "It's not like people get mugged day after day after day!"

"Yes they do!" Freddie retorted. "And-And they have lots of other bad things happen to them too. People can get hurt, Sam!"

"And in case you've forgotten, that includes you!" Sam said. "Freddie, what if on your way here you had been in a really bad car accident? Or what if there was some mugger waiting in the parking lot only this time he went after you? Or what if just now when you fell, you hit your head on the floor and cracked it open? Don't you see? Things can happen to anybody at anytime! But if you keep dwelling on them then what kind of life is that?"
Freddie didn't reply.

"Freddie," Sam went on, her voice softening. "I appreciate what you were trying to do. But there's no way for you to protect someone from everything in the world. It's just not possible."

"But I want to protect you," Freddie said quietly. "I told you…if anything happened to you, I-I'd…"

Sam squeezed his hand gently. "Following me around and being paranoid isn't the answer, baby."
"Well then how am I supposed to stop you from getting hurt?"
Sam shook her head. "You can't. And as much as I want to…there are going to be times when I can't stop you from getting hurt. But that's just life Freddie. The only thing for us to do it just…live it."

Freddie sighed. "I-I-You're right," he said heavily.

Sam smiled up and him as she kissed him. "We'll be fine," she promised him. "We're fighters, right?"

"You are," Freddie chuckled.

"So are you," Sam said. "You put up with me, after all."