Toad
"Mom, I'm hungry!"
"Mom, these seats are hard!"
"Mom, my feet are all sticky!"
"Mom, I'm bored!"
"Alright!" Sam said loudly, sitting up in her seat in the corner of one of the airport's waiting lounges. "Next person to say 'mom' who isn't bleeding or has a bone sticking out of their skin is grounded! We've been traveling all day on Christmas Eve, the craziest travel day of the year! My feet are numb, my back hurts and I'm exhausted. We're finally one flight away from being back home so can we all please just get through the rest of this in peace?"
"But mommy," three-year old Tyler said. "I have to go to the bathroom!"
"Okay, well daddy will take you when he comes back with our tickets," Sam said. "Which should be any minute…I bet that nub's off in some corner taking a nap!"
"Santa knows to come to our house tonight even though we've been in New York with Aunt Melanie for the fast week, right?" Emma asked.
"Yes, Santa got the memo," Sam nodded. "Even though this means he'll probably be up until three in the morning getting everything together once we get back…"
"What?" Ashton frowned.
"Nothing," Sam said quickly.
"Hey, here comes dad now!" Jason said.
"Oh thank God," Sam said, breathing a sigh of relief as her husband approached. "Alright Fredward, take Tyler to the bathroom and then I'm going to go find myself a churro. How much longer do we have until we have to board the plane back to Seattle?"
"Um…okay…about-about that," Freddie said. "See, it's possible that-that we um, that we might not be getting back to Seattle tonight…"
"What?" Sam exclaimed. "It's Christmas Eve! We have to get back! Why can't we take the plane out the we had tickets for?"
"Because all planes are currently grounded because of the weather," Freddie explained. "There's a massive snowstorm going on outside."
"So?" Sam snapped. "Tell them I don't want to be stuck in some dinky Montana airport on Christmas Eve!"
"Baby, they're not going to change their decision because you want them to," Freddie said.
"Well you didn't even check!"
"Daddy, does this mean we're going to miss Christmas?" Emma asked anxiously.
"No presents?" Tyler gasped.
"Er, hopefully this will all be fixed within a few hours," Freddie said. "If this snowstorm passes through soon, we'll be on the first plane back to Seattle."
"So what do we do until then?" Jason moaned. "Just wait around here?"
"But that's boring!" Ashton said.
"Hey, it won't be that bad," Freddie said. "Right, Sam?"
Sam raised an eyebrow. "Would you like me to lie for the benefit of the kids or tell you how I really feel?" she whispered.
"Lie," Freddie whispered back. "That's what I'm doing…"
"Yeah, this will all be fine!" Sam said loudly, pulling a strained smile onto her face. "I bet we're out of here and back home getting ready for Santa to come in no time."
…
"How can you have nothing going into Seattle for another six hours?" Sam exclaimed angrily as she stood in front of a ticket desk. "What-What about any part of Washington?"
"I'm sorry ma'am, but I told you, the first flight I have going out there will be at eight in the morning," the woman told her.
"But that's Christmas!" Sam snapped. "We need to be home before Christmas morning. I've got four kids!"
"I'm sorry," the woman said. "But there's nothing more I can do."
"Yeah, yeah, whatever," Sam mumbled, turning away and returning back over to Freddie and the kids, who were all sleeping in the plastic chairs in the waiting area.
"Any luck?" Freddie asked.
"No," Sam sighed. "We're not gonna be able to get out of here until eight, and that's if there's no more sudden weather issues. And even if there's not, we're still not going to be getting home until at least noon, and when we walk into the house and the kids see nothing under the Christmas tree they're going to be devastated!"
"Well…we-we can just tell them that Santa ran a little late this year and had to stop at a few houses a day after instead," Freddie suggested.
Sam shrugged. "It's not gonna be the same. We're going to miss the kids bouncing into our room at six in the morning on Christmas. It's going to be all weird doing it the day after Christmas! And-And this was going to be the Golden Christmas too."
"The Golden Christmas?"
"Yeah," Sam said heavily. "See, the last few years, Tyler's really been too little to understand what's going on, but this year he's finally old enough to be properly excited. And the twins have been spending all month working on this adorable letter that they mailed to Santa, and I was going to type up this cute little reply from him and leave in between their stockings…and Jason's ten! He's not going to believe in Santa next year; not with all the other stupid kids spreading rumors about him being fake at school. This-This was going to be our last Christmas with all the kids still being super into it."
"Sam, they're always going to be into Christmas," Freddie told her gently. "I mean it's a day where they get a ton of presents."
"I know," Sam sighed. "It's just…we're still missing one whole Christmas. There's only so many we're going to have with the kids, you know. Before we know it, they're going to be all grown up and they're going to have families of their own, and they're going to all be doing their own things for the holidays…"
"Aw, baby," Freddie smiled, pulling his wife into his arms. "It-It's still going to be a great Christmas. I promise."
Sam didn't reply.
Freddie let out a soft sigh. He knew how much the holidays meant to Sam. Every year she went above and beyond to make sure that their children had the best possible experience, and he knew she was going to be more crushed than they were if this Christmas didn't pull through.
"Hey," Freddie said gently. "I'm going to go find some hot chocolate. Why don't you stay here and rest with the kids and I'll bring you some."
"Alright," Sam mumbled.
….
A couple hours later, Sam was still sitting alone with the four sleeping Benson children, waiting for Freddie to return absentmindedly playing Floppy Toad on her phone. She knew the airport was currently packed with delayed travelers like them, so she figured he was simply having trouble getting through the crowds.
She looked down at her clock and saw that it was five-thirty on Christmas morning.
This is the first Christmas these guys aren't going to be knocking down our door begging Freddie and me to let them go downstairs, she thought sadly, glancing over at the kids. Some Christmas….
"Hey," Freddie said, finally returning. He was carrying a large bag with him.
"What's all that?" Sam frowned. "Where's the hot chocolate?"
"Um…I didn't get any," Freddie said, a grin sneaking onto his face.
"Well then what did you-"
"Hey, kids!" Freddie said, stepping over to the four and gently shaking their shoulders. "Jason, Emma, Ashton, Tyler…wake up! It's Christmas!"
"But we're still in the airport, daddy," Ashton yawned as her and her siblings slowly sat up.
"Yeah, but I have a surprise for you guys!" Freddie said excitedly. "I was just checking on our luggage and you know what? We had an extra package sitting with our stuff!"
"An extra package?" Jason frowned.
"Yeah," Freddie nodded. "And look at the letter that was on top of it!"
He pulled a sheet of paper out of the bag and handed it to Jason.
"Dear Jason, Emma, Ashton and Tyler," he read. "Merry Christmas! I'm sorry that you have to spend Christmas morning in an airport, but that shouldn't stop you all from enjoying the day, so I made a special stop here during my trip last night and dropped off a few presents for you all just to tide you over until you get home, where the rest of your gifts will be waiting for you right when you walk through the door. Love, Santa Clause. Whoa! This stuff's from Santa?"
"No way!" Emma exclaimed.
"Santa!" Tyler gasped, jumping up and down. "Mommy! Santa came!"
"Y-Yeah," Sam nodded, giving her husband a curious look. "He-He did."
"So we get presents?" Ashton asked.
"Looks like it," Freddie chuckled, opening up the bag and handing each of the kids a wrapped gift with their name on it.
"This is so cool!" Emma beamed. "Can we open them now?"
"Shoosh yeah you can!" Sam smiled. "Go ahead."
The four kids eagerly ripped off the wrapping paper and revealed their gifts.
"Whoa!" Tyler cried, holding up a large, stuffed bear with an 'I love Montana' t-shirt. "Look at my bear! He's so cool! Thanks, Santa!"
"Look at my present!" Ashton beamed, showing her parents the Bambie doll she had received that was dressed like a flight attendant. "I don't have this Bambie! I can't wait to play with her!"
"Neat! I got this soccer ball that looks like a globe!" Emma gasped.
"This is the coolest!" Jason beamed, holding up a model airplane kit. "I can make this and put it next to your trains, dad!"
"I can't believe Santa brought us our presents here!" Emma said. "This is the best Christmas ever!"
"Yeah, I love Santa!" Tyler nodded.
"Freddie…what-what did you do?" Sam whispered, pulling her husband a few steps away from the kids, who were still engrossed with their new gifts.
"I might've hit a few gift shops instead of finding that hot chocolate," Freddie grinned. "You're right. It's just not Christmas without watching these guys get all excited first thing in the morning."
"You-You're really amazing," Sam smiled, leaning up to kiss him. "You know that?"
"I've been told," Freddie chuckled. "Oh, and don't worry, I managed to get ahold of Carly, Spencer and Gibby, and they're all going over to our place before we get back and they're going to set out all of the presents so we can continue this celebration the second we get back home."
"Wow," Sam said softly. "So-So this Christmas isn't going to be a disaster…you-you saved it, Fredwad!"
"It was nothing," Freddie said modestly. "Oh…and before I forget…Santa left a little present for you too."
He reached back down into the bag and pulled out an 'I Heart Vegas' t-shirt and handed it to his wife.
"Wow," Sam laughed. "You know what? Even though this is incredibly tacky, I love it, baby. Thank you."
"You're welcome," Freddie replied, giving her a quick kiss. "I figured it would match well your 'I Heart Vegas'-"
"Dude!" Sam hissed, playfully swatting his shoulder.
Freddie chuckled, leaning back down to kiss her. "Merry Christmas, Sam."
"Merry Christmas, Nub," Sam smiled back.
