"Heather, come on, finish your breakfast," Freddie said, trying once again to spoon oatmeal into Heather's mouth.

"No!" she said firmly. "Want mommy!"

"We're going to go see mommy," Freddie said. "But you have to eat your breakfast first. Lauren! Lauren, let's go! I have to drop you off at school before we go to the hospital."
"But I want to see Sam," Lauren said, pouring herself some coffee.

"We'll go after you get out too," Freddie told her. "But if we're not out the door in five minutes we're going to be late. What happened to this streak of you being ready on time? I thought you wanted to leave early to see Scott."

"He has a dentist appointment and won't be in until third period," Lauren replied.

Freddie rolled his eyes. "Of course. Alright, do me a favor and try and get Heather to finish her breakfast while I go grab Sam's stuff to give her. Maybe you'll have better luck."

Leaving his daughters in the kitchen, Freddie headed up to his and Sam's bedroom. He grabbed her favorite pillow, her laptop, her slippers and a few magazines. As he gathered everything up, he glanced at his and Sam's bed. He had spent all of last night trying to scrub Sam's blood off of their sheets, but he had no luck. He supposed they would just have to throw them away.
He sat down at the edge of the bed, wondering how he'd get through the next two weeks without his wife. In all their time as husband and wife, they hadn't ever spent a night apart. Last night he spent half the night tossing and turning, trying to get used to the feeling of not having Sam lying next to him.

You'll just have to deal with it, Freddie told himself firmly. Sam has it much worse than you do right now. If anybody has a right to complain about anything, it's Sam.

So giving a soft sigh, Freddie headed out of the bedroom, suddenly realizing how lonely the room felt.

….

"Mommy!"

The second Freddie stepped into Sam's hospital room with Heather in his arms, the toddler held her arms out and squirmed around, trying to free herself so she could rush over to her mother.

"Hi, sweetie," Sam said, shifting in her bed.

"Want mommy!"

"Hold on, Heather," Freddie said, readjusting his daughter in his arms. "You can't run over to mommy. You have to be very careful around her because of the baby and-"

"She can come," Sam said, patting an empty space on the bed next to her. "She'll be fine and sit still, won't you, Heather?"
"Uh-huh."
"Okay," Freddie said slowly, gently placing Heather down on the bed.

Heather wrapped her arms around her mother's arm at once. "Miss mommy."

Sam kissed the top of Heather's head. "I miss you too, honey. So, so much."
"Lauren wanted to come with us, but you know, she has school," Freddie said, setting down the bag of Sam's belongings on the empty chair by her bed as he leaned down give his wife a kiss. "I'll bring her by later in the day, though."

"Good," Sam nodded.

"I brought your stuff, though," Freddie said. "And I picked you up a few extra things. I got you a fluffy sweater since it's a bit chilly in here, some of your favorite chocolates, Mad Libs…just some things I thought would make you more comfortable here."

Sam gave him a weak smile. "Thanks."

Freddie frowned. Something was wrong. He knew Sam was less than thrilled when the family left her yesterday, but right now she looked far worse. There were circles around her eyes and several balled up tissues littered her bedside table. She had been crying.

"Sam?" Freddie asked softly, sitting down by the bed next to her. "Baby, are-is everything okay?"
Sam didn't reply as she absentmindedly stroked Heather's blonde curls.

"Sam?" Freddie said again. "You-You're not still blaming yourself, are you? Because there's no way-"

"It's not that," Sam whispered.

"Then what is it?" Freddie asked. "Talk to me. Whatever's wrong, I'll fix it."

"I'm on bed rest until May," Sam said shakily.

"Er…yes, that-that is what we established yesterday," Freddie nodded. "Listen, I know it's going to be hard for you, but I'm going to make sure everything is handled around the house and with the girls so you-"

"No," Sam said softly. "That's not what I mean…I-I can't go back this year, Freddie."
"Go back?" Freddie repeated, confused. "Where are you-Oh."
At once it clicked in Freddie's head. There was going to be no way Sam could go back to Washington to visit Conner's grave on his birthday as she always did in her current condition.

"I-I-We'll figure something out," Freddie said.

"There's nothing you can do," Sam said, and Freddie could tell she was trying as hard as she could to keep herself together for Heather's sake.

"We can talk to your doctor," Freddie offered. "Maybe-Maybe there's some way we can get you to-"

"They're not gonna let me on a plane like this," Sam mumbled. "And a car ride that's gonna take over a whole day can't be good for the baby."

"Well maybe-"

"I don't want to risk anything happening to the baby," Sam said. "I-I couldn't forgive myself."
Freddie said nothing.

"It just sucks," Sam said, her voice cracking. "It's like-It's like I'm breaking a promise to him…"

Freddie opened his mouth to respond, but suddenly realized he didn't know how to fix this.

Their entire marriage, Freddie had prided himself in always being able to be there for Sam, no matter what. Now, though, for the first time, he felt useless.

…..

"I can't believe it took me ten whole minutes to come up these stairs," Sam said two weeks later as Freddie and Lauren helped Sam down the hallway to her bedroom. "I should've spent more time downstairs. You know, since I'm not even gonna be able to see it for another four months."

"Dad has a bunch of his lame Galaxy Wars stuff set up down there," Lauren said. "So maybe it's a good thing you didn't."
"Nice, Freddie," Sam said, rolling her eyes. "I'm in the hospital for two weeks and you dorkify my house."

"I moved all that stuff down there so it wouldn't be up here with you," Freddie said.

"Oh…I guess that's sweet," Sam shrugged as she carefully sat down in the bed.

"Do you want anything to eat?" Lauren asked. "Daddy picked us up bagels for breakfast this morning and we saved you some."
"I could go for one," Sam smiled. "Thanks, Laure."

"Alright, well, I need to go pick Heather up from the sitter's soon," Freddie said as Lauren headed out of the room. "But before I go, is there anything else you need up here?"
Sam shook her head. "No. I'm actually pretty tired. I think I'm gonna try and take a nap."

"Alright," Freddie nodded, giving her a long kiss. "I'm glad you're home, Sam. I've really missed you."

Sam squeezed his hand. "I missed you too."

"When you wake up, maybe the four of us can watch a movie up here together," Freddie suggested. "That way you can have some company."
"Yeah, I'd like that," Sam nodded.

Freddie leaned down to give her one last kiss before turning to head out of the bedroom. Before he stepped out, though, he looked over his shoulder to give Sam one last look.

As Sam leaned back against her pillows, Freddie saw her staring sadly at the photograph of Conner on her nightstand.

He could've sworn he saw a tear sliding down her cheek.

Softly closing the door behind him, Freddie let out a long sigh. He desperately wanted to help Sam, but he knew that getting her out to Washington was simply not an option right now.

Still, though, there had to be something he could do…

And then suddenly, as if a light bulb had gone off in his head, an idea came to him.

He just hoped he'd be able to make it happen…