"How far along did the doctor say you were?" Freddie asked as him and Sam got ready for bed that night.

"He told me I'm just about two months into it," Sam replied.

"Wow, that only leaves us seven months to get ready," Freddie pointed out. "We need to clean out the spare bedroom…we can move in Heather's old crib from the garage, though I guess it would be smart for us to do that after we paint the room."

"I need to call Carly and tell her," Sam said. "She's gonna freak."
"We need to make another appointment, don't we?" Freddie asked.

"Already did," Sam nodded. "First of next month. Think you can make it?"
"Of course I can make it!" Freddie said. "Sam, I wouldn't miss it for the world."
Sam smiled. "You're really excited?"

"Sam, getting to add another child to this family with you is the most exciting thing I can imagine," Freddie whispered, kissing her softly. "I can't wait for our new son or daughter."

….

"Come on, Heather, time to wake up," Sam said a few days later, turning on the light of her daughter's room.

"I up!" Heather said happily, looking up from her stuffed animals she was playing with on her bed.

"Course you are," Sam chuckled, grabbing some clothes to start getting the two-year old dressed.

"Baby here now?" Heather asked.

"No, sweetie, daddy and I told you," Sam said. "The baby has to grow before it comes. You'll get to see the baby towards the end of April. That's about seven months from now."
"That's long!"

"Sorry, kid," Sam smiled. "But hey, you can help us get ready for the baby while you wait. Soon we can start going through some of your old toys and things for you to pass along."
"My toys?"
"Not ones you still play with," Sam assured her. "But the ones you've gotten to old for."
"Cause I big girl?"
"Exactly," Sam grinned as she finished pulling on Heather's clothes. She picked her up and kissed the top of her head. "Alright, daddy went to go pick up donuts for breakfast so he'll be back soon. Let's go try and wake up your sister."

Sam headed down the hall to Lauren's room and opened the door.

"Alright, Lauren, time to get up," Sam said. "And I know all the tricks in the book; I invented them. No 'ten more minutes' or 'resting your eyes'. Let's go and-"

Sam frowned as she realized that she was speaking to an empty room. Lauren's bed was already neatly made and the curtains were pulled back, allowing the sun to shine in.

"Morning!" Lauren said brightly, coming out of the bathroom, fully dressed.

"You're up already?" Sam asked, surprised. "What's going on? This is the third day in a row that no one's had to drag you out of bed."

"Well Scott's football practices are in the mornings way before school, so I like to tell him good morning before he starts," Heather replied. "I already made the coffee downstairs too. I made a pot of decaff for you, Sam."
"Oh, thanks," Sam smiled. "Wow, if this guy can actually manage to get you out of bed at a decent hour, your dad may not have too big of a freak attack about the two of you going out again."

The three headed down into the kitchen just as they heard the front door opening.

"Sam, how are you doing on getting Lauren out of bed?" he asked, carrying two donut boxes into the kitchen. "She needs to be ready to go in forty-five minutes or she's going to be late and-"

He stopped talking as he suddenly spotted his oldest daughter sitting at the table.

"She's up?" Freddie commented. "Again? Wow, three days in a row."

"Morning, daddy," Lauren said sweetly, kissing his cheek as she took a donut from him.

"Impressive," Freddie said as Lauren headed back upstairs. "You know, I was hoping she'd grow out of that sleeping in till noon stage. Guess she's really starting to mature and-"

"You do realize she's waking up early so she can text with Scott, right?" Sam smirked.

"Scott? What the-Come on!" Freddie exclaimed, his smile dropping at once. "In that case I'd rather he still be trying to sleep through the morning!"

"Dude…"
"You know, we don't know anything about this Scott kid!" Freddie continued. "We've never met him! I for one don't like the idea of Lauren gallivanting around with some stranger. I'm going up to tell her right now that if she wants to continue to associate with this boy, I want to officially meet him and see if I approve of-"

"Daddy? Sam?" Lauren asked, coming back into the kitchen. "Can I talk to you about something?"
"Well what a coincidence," Freddie said, crossing his arms. "I was just about-"

"Can Scott come over for dinner on Saturday?" Lauren asked. "Please? I want him to meet you guys so you can get to know him better."
Freddie blinked. "I-Oh…Yes. Yes, that's-that's fine."

"Don't you love it when your rants fall flat?" Sam asked.

"Cute," Freddie said, rolling his eyes.

….

"Pregnant? Are you serious? Oh my God Congratulations!"
"Thanks, Carls," Sam beamed at her best friend through the computer screen.

She hadn't talked to Carly in ages. It wasn't because the two weren't still best friends; they were. But living in two different time zones did make things a bit complicated. Carly and Sam had always managed to work around this, though, and despite the fact that it had been over six months since they last talked, it was as if nothing had changed.

"You guys must be so excited!" Carly continued.

"We are," Sam nodded.

"Have you told the girls yet?"
"Uh-huh. Heather's ready for the baby to be here tomorrow," Sam chuckled.

"Aw, that sounds adorable," Carly laughed. "I need to go down there to see her again; I haven't seen her since her first birthday. She probably has no idea who I am."
"Eh, sure she does," Sam said. "Freddie and I talk about you all the time."
"Is Lauren excited too?"

"Yeah, she can't wait either," Sam replied. "Oh, speaking of Lauren…guess who has her first little boyfriend."

"No way!" Carly gasped. "You're kidding!"
"True chiz," Sam told her. "They went to the mall together, they're gonna go see a movie and they even had their first kiss."

"Wow…" Carly said. "It seems like just yesterday she was that sweet, little five-year old we were meeting for the first time."

"And last year she officially passed me in height," Sam sighed. "Crazy."

"Well I'm sure Freddie's loving all of this," Carly said knowingly.

"He's…dealing with it," Sam said. "We're actually gonna meet the guy this weekend when he comes over for dinner, so maybe that will help Freddie feel a little more comfortable."
"Hope so," Carly smiled. "Anyway, I need to get going. I have a meeting about the layout of next month's issue. But we need to see each other soon! In person; not through a computer screen. Maybe I can look into taking a weekend off and flying down there."
"Well I'll be up there in March," Sam reminded her.

Ever since Sam had moved to Texas ten years ago, she still made a trip to Washington once a year on March 4th, Conner's birthday, to visit her son's grave.

"Right," Carly nodded. "I'm still gonna try and come down there, though. It's starting to get cold up here so I could use some of that famous Texas warmth."

Sam laughed. "Hey, you're welcome any time. See you later, Carls."
"Later, tell everyone I said hi!"

….

"What are you working on?" Sam asked later that evening, stepping out of her and Freddie's bathroom, fresh from the shower.

"Huh?" Freddie said, looking up from the notecards he was writing on as he sat in the bed. "Oh, just…things. For-For work."
Sam tossed the towel that she had been using to dry her hair haphazardly over the bedpost and picked up a notecard.

"Where do you see yourself in ten years?" Sam read. "When was your last vaccination? Have you ever been convicted or charged with a felony? Oh my God! Tell me this is not what I think it is."

"It's not…" Freddie said lamely, avoiding her gaze.

"It is!" Sam said, rolling her eyes. "You're making up questions for you to ask Scott when he comes for dinner this weekend so you can give him the third-degree!"

"They're conversation starters!" Freddie defended.

"Baby…please don't embarrass Lauren," Sam said. "This is her first boyfriend and-"

"Exactly; she doesn't know what to expect from this whole dating thing!" Freddie said. "I have to make sure that this chump is qualified to take care of my daughter!"

"Well Scott probably doesn't know much about dating either," Sam said. "Remember, he did kiss her in front of Bed Bath and Bewilderment. Weren't you so happy about his lack of experience? You're gonna scare him out of ever wanting to date again."
"I'm not gonna scare him," Freddie assured her. "I'm just gonna get to know him…And if I so happen to come off as a tad bit intimidating then, well, we'll just have to deal with it."

"Whatever," Sam conceded. "Just don't be too big of a nub."

"Hey, you think if I email your Uncle Carmine he could overnight me a set of his brass knuckles?"
"Dude…"
"I was kidding!" Freddie exclaimed.

Sam raised an eyebrow.

"Sort of…"

Just then Freddie's phone began to ring.

"Who's calling you this late? It's almost midnight," Sam asked as Freddie looked at his screen.

He frowned. "Um, it's-it's Sarah."

It had been about three years since Freddie had last spoken to his ex-wife; that had been the last time he had taken Lauren and dropped her off with her mother for lunch at a small diner before picking her back up an hour later.

Sam's stature seemed to tense tightly.

"Well you should answer it," she said softly. "Might be important…"
Freddie took a deep breath before he picked up.

"Hello?"

"Hey Freddie," he heard Sarah's voice on the other line reply. "Listen, I'm shopping for Lauren's birthday present in this adorable boutique. It's where all the celebrities buy clothes for their kids. I could've sworn I saw Tom Cruise as I was walking in…Anyway, I need to know Lauren's dress size. I found the most darling pink dress for her."
"Lauren hates pink," Freddie replied simply.

"She hates pink…" Sarah repeated. "What? Is that something she picked up from that that tomboy wife of yours?"
Freddie didn't reply, but simply gripped his fist tightly.

"Then what should I buy her then?" Sarah asked tiredly. "What is she into now?"

"Well," Freddie said coldly. "The person you should be asking is Lauren. But seeing as you haven't seen her or even spoken to her in ages, I'm sure that'd be a little awkward. That's why you called me, isn't it, instead of her?"
"I-"

"Call Lauren, you should have her cell number," Freddie said. "Or if you'd rather not face her, just go back to ignoring her. But don't pretend you've suddenly took an interest in your daughter if you still don't care."
Sarah was silent on the other end.

"By the way," Freddie said coldly. "Lauren's birthday was four months ago."
And with that he hung up, tossing his phone down with a disgusted look on his face.

"What did she want?" Sam asked, putting an arm around him.

Freddie shook his head. "Nothing," he said. "She wanted to buy Lauren a pink dress for her birthday. You know, the birthday she already had."

Sam scoffed. "Nice."

"Lauren deserves so much better than her," Freddie said bitterly. He looked into Sam's eyes. "Which is glad she has you."

Sam smiled as she kissed him. "I'm glad I have her too."

That night, though, as Freddie lay in bed, his arms wrapped around Sam, he couldn't sleep.

He knew he was a better parent to Lauren than Sarah ever was. He knew he always had been.

But no matter what, Sarah would always still have one thing that he'd never have; an actual blood relation to his daughter.