Tea
"You know Sam, I've been thinking," Freddie said as Sam sat at the kitchen table, occupying herself by shooting rubber bands at a bottle on the counter. "You and I should take a trip."
"These rubber bands suck," Sam frowned, stretching one between her fingers as she aimed at the bottler. "You need to start stealing better ones from work."
"Are you even gonna pretend to listen?" Freddie sighed.
"Sure, baby," Sam said, not looking away from the bottle. "What's up?"
"I was telling you, I think we should go on a-"
"Direct hit!" Sam exclaimed, cutting her husband off as she hit the bottle with the rubber band, sending the bottle falling to the floor. "Mama's still got it."
"You know, after almost three decades of marriage, I guess I should be used to this," Freddie said, shaking his head.
"Alright, what were you saying?" Sam asked, finally giving Freddie her attention.
"You know how we've been saying for years once the kids all grow up and move out, we'd take that trip we've been talking about for years. You know, all around the country?" Freddie said. "Well the kids have all been out on their own for awhile now, so what's stopping us now?"
"Hey, that actually doesn't sound too lame," Sam replied. "It even sounds…cool."
"Loving the tone of surprise," Freddie chuckled. "Anyway, there's a ton of cool stuff we could check out! There's this tea tasting in Vermont that we can go to, and this museum of presidential eye glasses in Maine, and in Florida we can go to this little flamingo habitat, and then in Alabama we can-"
"And it's lame again," Sam said loudly. "Look, Fredwad, just because you are now of the older crowd-"
"You're two months younger than me, Sam," Freddie pointed out.
Sam glared at him.
"Which of course makes all the difference," Freddie said quickly, knowing from years of experience that that look meant pain for him.
"Smart," Sam smirked. "Anyway, can't we do something more fun? I mean nobody goes to Florida for flamingos! That place is crawling with roller-coasters!"
"We're not gonna go on some crazy roller-coaster trip!" Freddie said.
"Why not? It beats some trip to go sip tea! We're not British!"
"You don't have to be British to drink tea!"
"Yes you do! Didn't you pay attention in history class, nub?" Sam snapped. "That's why the pilgrims dumped all the tea into a pond or something during the Civil War."
"There are too many historical inaccuracies there for me to even begin to count!"
"Good, then why don't you-"
"Jeez, I can hear you people yelling from outside," Sam and Freddie's grown daughter, Emma, said, letting herself into the house through the back door.
"Emma!" Sam exclaimed, getting up to hug her daughter. "What are you doing here? We didn't know you were coming up from Oregon."
"Yeah, what a great surprise!" Freddie grinned, hugging Emma as well. "Where are Quincy and the girls? Are you guys going to stay? We can get the guest rooms ready in just a few minutes and-"
"Yeah, about that…" Emma said. "I was kind of hoping you guys could do me a favor."
"What sort of favor?" Sam asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Well you see…I sort of promised Eileen and Jason a few weeks ago that Quincy and I would watch Cole for them when they went to Vermont to visit Eileen's sister," Emma explained. "Apparently there's some big tea tasting up there."
"Ha!" Freddie said triumphantly, turning to Sam. "It's not an old people's thing!"
"Oh shut up!" Sam snapped.
"Um…anyway," Emma said, deciding to ignore her parents' outburst. "So they dropped Cole off with us a couple days ago. But yesterday Clarissa called Quincy and me up and told me that she won some raffle at the hospital she works at and got four tickets for this amazing cruise! She wants me, Quincy and Ashton to go with her; it will be just like the old times!"
"Still not seeing where we come in," Freddie said.
"Er, did I mention the cruise sort of leaves tomorrow?" Emma said, smiling sweetly.
"Oh now I see," Sam said. "You drove all the way here to have us watch the kids so you and Quincy can go off and live it up on a cruise."
"Well…sort of," Emma admitted. "But come on! We need a break! We've barely had anytime to ourselves since Katrina was born; we're exhausted!"
"And you don't think your mom and I weren't exhausted when all you guys were young?" Freddie said. "But we were responsible parents and dealt with the exhaustion."
"Oh come on, don't you want to spend the week with your three adorable grandkids?" Emma said. "What kind of grandparents are you?"
"Oh don't try that on us," Sam said.
"Yeah," Freddie nodded. "You think we've got nothing going on over here and you can just waltz over and hand us off your kids for the week to go on a cruise? What if we had plans?"
"Fine," Emma sighed. "I guess we'll just have to ask Quincy's parents then. I just thought I'd ask you guys first since, you know, you are their favorite grandparents. But whatever, I'll just tell the kids grandma and grandpa Benson were too busy for them and-"
"Okay!" Sam conceded. "Okay, we'll watch them!"
"Wow, way to cave," Freddie said, rolling her eyes.
"Oh like you weren't just about to," Sam said. "Besides, you don't think it will be fun having the kids around for the week?"
"Yeah," Freddie said, smiling. "I guess that does sound fun."
"Great," Emma said happily, getting to her feet. She opened the back door. "Quince! Bring them in; they caved! I told you we'd be fine!"
"You just had them all waiting back there?" Freddie frowned.
"Uh-huh," Emma grinned as Quincy entered the kitchen. He was holding his and Emma's six-month old daughter, Katrina, and their six-year old daughter, Savannah, followed behind holding the hand of her two-year old cousin, Cole.
"Hi grandma! Hi grandpa!" Savannah said excitedly, running into Freddie's arms.
"Gamma! Gappa!" Cole squealed as Sam scooped him up in her arms.
"That only took five minutes," Quincy said. "Impressive, Em."
"Yes, yes, we know, we're suckers," Freddie said.
"You guys ready to have the best week of your life?" Sam asked. "I know exactly what we're gonna do. We're gonna hit up the arcade, play some miniature golf, break out the trampoline, go to the zoo-"
"Really?" Savannah gasped.
"You bet," Sam nodded.
"Candy?" Cole asked.
"Only after every meal," Sam grinned.
"See, told you you'd have more fun with grandma and grandpa than going on some stupid cruise," Emma said, giving each of the kids a hug and kiss. "Behave for them now, though. We'll call everyday, so will your mommy and daddy, Cole. We'll be back on Friday."
"Um, are you sure you guys can keep up with all that you've got planned?" Quincy asked Freddie as he handed him Katrina.
"Well Sam seems to think she can, and I've known her long enough to know I'm not gonna change her mind," Freddie said.
"Ah," Quincy nodded knowingly. "Well…good luck then."
…
"Look at how precious she is!" Carly cooed later that week as she smiled down at Katrina in Freddie's arms. "God…I can't wait until I finally have a grandchild. I miss having kids around."
"I know, this week was actually really nice," Freddie said. "I'm kind of glad Emma and Quincy sprung all the kids on us."
"Hey, where's Sam?" Carly asked.
Freddie chuckled. "Sam decided to take Cole and Savannah to the circus."
"The circus?" Carly frowned.
"Yup," Freddie nodded. "Since the kids got here she's taken them to the waterpark, the petting zoo, Funk E. Fester's, and horseback riding."
"All of that?" Carly exclaimed.
"Yeah," Freddie said. "See, I think she's having a little trouble coming to terms with the fact that she's not as young as she once was. She's trying to prove some point that she can still do all the wild stuff she once did."
"And you're letting her?"
"You think she'd listen to me if I told her she was too old to go horseback riding?" Freddie asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Er, no, she'd probably hit you," Carly said.
"Exactly," Freddie said. "Sam will see for herself soon enough that the time has come for her to slow down a little bit. Meanwhile, since I've long ago accepted a more calm lifestyle, have been staying here with Katrina who isn't old enough to go on her grandma's little adventures, and we've been having a great time, right Katrina?"
The infant babbled happily away in her grandfather's arms.
"Well, I hope Sam at least knows her limit," Carly said. "Hopefully she'll-"
"We got cotton candy!" Savannah suddenly exclaimed, running through the front door with Cole at her heels. "And candy apples and peanuts and popcorn!"
"So you had fun at the circus then?" Freddie grinned.
"We see clowns!" Cole told him.
"So where's your grandma?" Freddie asked.
"Up, nub!" Sam said, coming into house, looking absolutely exhausted.
Freddie stood up and Sam collapsed into his seat at once.
"So did you enjoy the circus, baby?" Freddie smirked.
"You're real lucky you're holding Katrina," Sam said, narrowing her eyes at him.
"What are we gonna do now, grandma?" Savannah asked. "Can we play tag in the backyard?"
"Tag!" Cole echoed.
"Um…" Sam said slowly. "Well-"
"Or can we swim?" Savannah asked. "Or can we play catch? Or-"
"Alright, how about we switch things up?" Freddie asked, handing Katrina over to Sam. "How about grandma stays inside with Katrina while I play a little hide-and-seek with you two out back."
"Okay!" Savannah and Cole both agreed.
"Alright, I'll count in here," Freddie said. "You two go find your hiding spots."
"No peek!" Cole said firmly.
"Don't worry," Freddie laughed. "I won't."
"Thanks," Sam sighed as the kids ran out to the yard. "Guess I sort of lost my edge."
"Nah," Freddie smiled, giving her a quick kiss. "You've still got it. I don't think you'll ever lose it."
