AN- This is a sequel to ch 656, where Freddie gives up taking his dream job at the Pear Company because it would mean he'd have to move away from Sam.

Traveling

"Why can't we ever go to the mall without having to stop at the Pear Store?" Sam moaned as her and Freddie made their way through the crowd of shoppers.

"Well why can't we ever go to the mall without having to stop at World of Butter?" Freddie smirked.

"Because I have to stay stocked up on hard butter for the butter sock," Sam explained, rolling her eyes as though it was obvious. "Besides, I like sampling the Norwegian butter. It has a nice kick to it."

"Look, I won't be too long," Freddie said as the couple entered the Pear Store. "I just want to look at the USB ports on the new Pearbook Masters. I heard a rumor that they're half a millimeter smaller than the old model, which means that old external hard drives wouldn't work with them."

"Wow, I wonder why the news station's not here," Sam mumbled. She watched her boyfriend dart straight for the computers, and she couldn't help but smile. He was like a kid in a candy shop here.

"Oh man, these new models are even better than I thought," Freddie said longingly as he fiddled around with one of the display laptops. "I bet I could finally using cutting room flow and Photobomb together!"

"Well gee, what a raging Friday night that would be," Sam chuckled. "So are you gonna get yourself the new laptop then?"

"Eh, I'll probably wait a few months," Freddie said.

"How come? You have a job; you're making money," Sam pointed out.

"Yes, but I don't want to just throw away my paychecks," Freddie replied. "I need to really start building my savings and putting a little away for retirement-"

"Retirement? You're twenty-two!"

"So? It's still smart to save," Freddie said. "A dollar saved is a dollar earned, after all."

"God, MIT made you even nerdier these past four years," Sam groaned. "If that was even possible…"

"Freddie! I thought I saw you come in!"

Sam and Freddie turned around to see a man in a red Pear shirt coming towards them.

"Hey, Steve!" Freddie greeted him. "I was checking out the new Pearbooks. Real impressive…"

"Sure are; you know they'll let you run cutting room flow and Photobomb together?"

"I knew it!" Freddie exclaimed. "The possibilities for digital editing are endless now!"

"Yes they are," the man nodded.

"Oh, Steve, I don't think you've ever met my girlfriend, Sam," Freddie said. "Sam, this is Steve. He's the owner."

"Hey," Sam said, shaking Steve's outstretched hand.

"Nice to meet you," Steve said politely. He turned back to Freddie. "So I hear you graduated from MIT a few months ago. Congratulations."

"Thanks," Freddie replied.

"So what are you doing now?"

"Oh, I just took a job down at the Klasy Splat T.V. company," Freddie said. "I do some of the editing for the shows there."

"Wow, impressive," Steve nodded. "Must be a pretty good gig. I head from Will over at the other store that you turned down the job corporate offered you."

"Huh?" Sam frowned, looking over at Freddie. "What's he talking about? When did you get offered a job in-"

"Um, it-it's nothing," Freddie said quickly. "So, um, Steve, we-we'll have to catch up later. But right now we're running late for um, our swing dancing class so…gotta run."

Freddie hurried out of the store with Sam at his heels.

"Freddie, what was he talking about?" Sam asked again.

"You know, I'm starving," Freddie said. "How about you and I go to the food court and get some of those churros that you love so much? I'll buy you three and-"

"Oh my God…" Sam said slowly, stopping in her tracks. "He's talking about that job you wanted. At the Pear Company..."
Freddie sighed. "Sam…"

"You-You said that job at the Pear Company was your dream job," Sam said, confused. "But-But that you didn't get it. But you-you did get it?"

"I-Yes, okay, they-they did offer me the job," Freddie admitted.

"Well why didn't you take it?" Sam demanded. "Why did you lie to me and tell me and tell me that you didn't get it?"

"Because I knew you would've wanted me to take it," Freddie said.

"Well duh!" Sam snapped. "Why wouldn't I want you to take your dream job? Why wouldn't you want to take your dream job?"

"Because the job was in Virginia, okay?" Freddie told her.

"Virginia?" Sam repeated.

"Yeah, I-I thought I was applying for a position out here in Washington," Freddie explained. "But…turns out I wasn't."

"But so what?" Sam said. "You could've just gone out to Virginia."

"I didn't want to," Freddie said. "I wanted to stay here! With you."

Sam blinked. "With me?"

"Yes, I-I hated the idea of moving so far away from you again," Freddie sighed. "I mean we just did four years of a long-distance relationship and, yeah, we made it work, but I didn't want to have to go through all that all over again."

"But-But I could've gone out there with you," Sam said softly. "I could've found a job there and-"

"But you had already gotten your dream job here," Freddie said gently. "At the magazine as a food critic."

"I-I could've given it up…"

"And how is that fair?" Freddie said. "You give up your dream job so I can have mine?"

"That's what you did for me, though," Sam pointed out.

"Sam, listen to me, the second I found out that the job at the Pear Company would take me so far away from you…I didn't want it anymore. It stopped being my dream job," Freddie said firmly. "I want a job where I can spend the entire day looking forward to coming home to you. And you know what? I'm never going to regret not taking that job."

"But you could've done so well there," Sam said. "You probably would've worked your way up to CEO of the whole stinkin' Pear Company. That's always been your plan…since you were eleven years old…"

"But now I have you, and, well, the only plan I have now is keeping you in my life," Freddie said.

"I just don't want you to ever hate me for making you give this up," Sam mumbled.

"Okay, first of all, I could never hate you," Freddie said, putting his hands on his shoulder. "Second, you didn't make me not take the job. Third…the way I see it, I'm not giving anything up. In fact, by staying here, I'm gaining more than that job could've ever given me."

Sam finally showed a small smile. "You-You really don't regret not taking that job? Not even a little?"

"God no," Freddie said. "Things wound up working out for me pretty well here. I have a great job, which, by the way, I love . My mom doesn't spam me with angry texts about being so far away from her anymore and, most importantly, I don't have to travel across the country just to see the girl I love."

He leaned down and kissed Sam.

"I'll never have any regrets about anything," he said softly. "As long as I have you."