"Turn signal! Turn signal!" Freddie said, beads of sweat dripping down his face as Lauren drove around the neighborhood.

"Dad, the turn's like, two hundred feet ahead," Lauren pointed out.

"Well just get ready!" Freddie said. "Okay, now when you get to this stop sign-"

"Dad, we're only three blocks from the house," Lauren told him. "I know where to go."

"Sorry," Freddie sighed. "You're doing great, Lauren. It's just kind of weird suddenly being in the passenger seat."

Lauren gave him a small smile. "Don't worry. You'll get used to it."

Freddie couldn't help but laugh.

Half-an-hour later, after three circles around the neighborhood, Lauren pulled back into the driveway of their home.

"Well," Freddie said as Lauren turned off the engine. "I think I've aged ten years…But I have to say, you did better than I expected."

"So can we drive again tomorrow?" Lauren asked eagerly.

"I don't know about tomorrow," Freddie said. "But definitely soon."

"Okay," Lauren agreed.

The two sat in the car for a moment, both silent.

"Listen, sweetie," Freddie said, knowing exactly what was on his daughter's mind. "Don't let this family tree project get you down. I-I think I know a good chunk of your mom's family background. Let's see…she doesn't have any brothers or sisters…she has two aunts, a few cousins-"

"But I still need pictures," Lauren said softly. "And then I need to actually know about them for those little biographies I have to write about each person."
"Well…your teacher doesn't know what these people look like," Freddie pointed out. "You can just find random pictures off the Internet. And as for the biographies, well, it wouldn't be too hard to fake those."

Lauren grinned. "You want me to fake my homework?"

"Er…I wouldn't say that exactly," Freddie frowned.

"I don't know why I have to include her on my family tree at all," Lauren mumbled. "She's barely my mother. She doesn't care about me."

"Your mom cares about you," Freddie said. "She-She just never knew how to show it."

"Yeah, well, if you care about someone you could at least pick up the phone every once in awhile," Lauren said darkly.

Freddie didn't reply. He hadn't spoken to Sarah in years, but sometimes he wanted to call her just to let her know how much her absence had really hurt Lauren.

"Do I even have to put her on the project?" Lauren asked, staring down at the steering wheel.

Freddie contemplated this. "Well Lauren, you need to do this project for school."
"I know," Lauren said. "But what if…what if I use Sam as my mom?"

Freddie stared at her, speechless.

"Sam's more of a mom to me anyway," Lauren said. "I know she's just my step-mom and isn't related to me or anything-"

Freddie shifted uncomfortably in his seat.

"-But I still think of her like a parent," Lauren finished. "I-I don't think my teacher would mind. Do you think Sam would be okay with that?"

Freddie smiled. "I think she would love that."

"Good," Lauren said, looking relieved. She looked at the clock car. "Whoa, it's late. I was supposed to call Danielle to work on trig. Thanks for the driving lesson, daddy!"
"Any time, Laure," Freddie replied.

"You coming inside?" Lauren asked, opening the car door.

"I'll be in in a second," Freddie told her.

Lauren shrugged and closed the car door and headed back into the house.

Maybe she's finally old enough to understand, Freddie thought to himself, looking at the picture of him and a five-year old Lauren he had taped to his dashboard. That blood doesn't mean everything.

…

When Freddie returned to the house, he went up to his and Sam's bedroom, expecting to find Sam there. The bedroom was empty, however. Just as Freddie was about to go back downstairs and look for his wife, the door to Heather's room opened and Sam came out.

"Hey," he said as she gently shut the door behind her. "Is Heather okay?"

"She's sleeping," Sam replied.

Freddie chuckled. "Boy, she really got your sleeping habits. I think she's only been awake for about two hours today."
"She slept all day?" Sam asked softly.

"Yeah, she said she's really sleepy," Freddie said. "Must be the medicine."
Sam didn't reply.

"Anyway," Freddie said. "I'll have you know I successfully took Lauren out driving and only slammed on the imaginary brakes three times."

"Must've been hard for you," Sam said, giving him a small smile as she went into their bedroom, kicking off her shoes and crawling into the bed. "But I'm sue Lauren enjoyed it."

"Yeah, she did," Freddie grinned. "I'm glad you convinced me to take her out, Sam. I guess I was being a bit ridiculous about the whole thing."

"A bit?" Sam scoffed.

"And I think Lauren really needed it today," Freddie said, sitting down next to her. "You know she got assigned a family tree in school today."

"Really?" Sam frowned. "They still make kids do those things?"
"Apparently," Freddie said. "We did one in high school. Or, I did at least. You told the teacher your pet chinchilla ate yours."
"That wasn't a total lie," Sam said. "My mom had been dating a guy who always carried a gerbil around and that thing nibbled the corner of the poster board I was gonna use for the project."

"He carried a gerbil around?" Freddie frowned.

"You know my mom didn't date sane guys."
"Right," Freddie chuckled. "Well, anyway, Lauren was kind of upset because she realized doing a family tree would require her to get a whole bunch of information from Sarah about her side of her family."
"Oh," Sam said understandingly. "Yeah, that sucks. I remember the real reason I didn't bother doing that family tree project in high school; I had no idea who my dad even was. How was I supposed to put him in my family tree? Those projects are so stupid; they assume everybody has a 'normal' family and the kids who don't wind up feeling all sucky during the whole thing. See, this is why homework causes problems in schools."

"You had a real good case up until that last part," Freddie said, rolling his eyes.

"So Lauren's all bummed now?" Sam asked. "Poor kid."
"Well she was," Freddie said. "Until she sort of came up with a solution…she wants to use you as her mom on her family tree."
Sam blinked. "Me?"

"I mean it makes sense," Freddie said. "You are her step-mom. You've been there for her almost her whole life. She's seen you as a parent for so long now, Sam."
"That's-That's so sweet of her," Sam whispered.

Freddie didn't say anything, but he could've sworn he saw a tear in Sam's eye.

…..