"So how have things been going down here?" Carly asked later that evening as she sat with Sam on the bed, taking a slice of pizza from the box Freddie had brought up for them.

Sam shrugged. "It's been alright. Well I mean…I'm guessing Freddie told you what happened a few weeks ago?"

"All he told me was that you had to stay in bed until the baby's ready to be born for both of yours' health," Carly said.

"Yeah, well that's true," Sam sighed. "Apparently this pregnancy is putting all sorts of stress on my kidneys. They were already kind of bad from all that drinking I did…"

Carly gave her a sympathetic smile, knowing the direction this was going in. "But the point is you and your baby are going to be okay, right?"

"Um yeah, as long as I stay in bed the doctor said there should be no more complications," Sam nodded.

"Then you need to just dwell on that," Carly said firmly.

"But if I hadn't sat there and drank all day everyday for-"

"It happened, and you moved past that time in your life," Carly said softly. "You haven't touched a drop of alcohol since. It's not fair for you to keep beating yourself up over something that you can't change now."

Sam didn't reply.

"Conner wouldn't want you to do this to yourself," Carly added gently.

"I know…" Sam whispered. She looked up at Carly. "You realize this means that I can't go back to see him this year on his birthday, right?"

Carly frowned. "Oh…"

"This would've been his fifteenth birthday," Sam said heavily. "Crazy, huh? That means its been eleven years since…"

Carly said nothing as she simply wrapped her arms around her best friend.

"Should've known this would have to happen eventually," Sam mumbled. "But still-"

"There's really no way you can drive down?" Carly asked. "What if-What if you drive up instead of fly? Isn't that supposed to be less strenuous? Especially if you were to get like an RV or something so you can lay in bed the whole time still and-"

"My doctor said it would still be too risky," Sam told her. "And-And I can't chance anything happening to this baby, Carly, I-I couldn't handle it."

Carly nodded.

"But, um, do you think you could do me a favor?" Sam asked.

"Sure. What is it?"

"Can you go out there to the cemetery on his birthday?" Sam questioned. "I-I just don't want to have no one there. It would feel wrong. And-And you were his godmother and he loved you a lot and-"

"Of course I'll go out there with him," Carly said at once.

Sam smiled. "Thank you, Carly. That means a lot to me."

…..

"You sure you don't mind sleeping down here on the couch?" Freddie asked later that evening as he set down a pile of blankets and a large pillow at the foot of the couch. "We can always put you up in Lauren's room."

"No, this is fine," Carly said. "I don't want to push her out of her own room. Hey, where is Lauren?"

"At the movies with her little boyfriend," Freddie sighed. "Speaking of which, her curfew is in five minutes. She better be home soon."

"Oh, that's right!" Carly grinned. "Sam told me she was dating someone. His name is Scott, right? Sam says he's a nice guy."

"Yeah, he's great," Freddie mumbled darkly as he rolled his eyes. "Anyway, I just wanted to thank you again for coming out here for the week, Carls. I think you're really going to help Sam a lot."

"I hope so," Carly said. "It's just so sad that she's not going to see Conner this year."

"Believe me, I wish there was something I could do to make that happen," Freddie said. "I just feel so helpless; like I should be doing more for her."

"Hey, you're doing plenty," Carly said. "Sam knows how lucky she is to have you by her side though all of this."

"Yeah, but still," Freddie sighed. "I always just feel like I don't know how to help her whenever it comes back to Conner. I-I mean I was absent from her life through all of that; when she needed me the most I was hundreds of miles away here in Texas, married to Sarah."

"But you're here for her now," Carly said. "That's all that matters."

Just then the front door opened and Lauren walked into the house. "Hi daddy, hi Carly."
"And where have you been?" Freddie demanded. "Your curfew is eleven, young lady. And it is now…eleven. Oh."

"Were you waiting up here for me just to yell about me being on time?" Lauren asked, rolling her eyes.

"Ha, ha," Freddie said.

"Your dad was just helping me set up my bed down here," Carly said. "And he told me you were out on a date."
"Oh, yeah," Lauren grinned. "Scott and I went to go see that new movie with the monkeys that take over the world. He was so sweet; he bought me a slushie."

"Pfft, that's nothing," Freddie scoffed. "When Sam and I dated in high school, I used to buy her half the concession stand."

"You'll have to tell me all about this Scott," Carly continued. "I don't know if your parents have told you, but I love this romance stuff."

"You'll see when you have a meal with her," Freddie told Carly. "She'll mention the name 'Scott' at least twenty times."

"I don't do that!" Lauren defended. "What? Do you keep a tally?"

"That wouldn't surprise me," Carly chuckled.

"Moving on," Freddie said, shaking his head. He turned back to his daughter. "Do you have plans tomorrow, Lauren? I was going to do some more work in the baby's room and I could use an extra set of hands."

"I was going to go to the coffee shop with Danielle to study," Lauren replied. "I want to get some more work done on my extra credit assignment."

"Oh, that sounds cool," Carly said. "What's your assignment about?"

"About my family history," Lauren grinned. "It's so neat. I've traced dad's family back six generations already! I want to see how far I can get."

"It's actually pretty interesting for me too," Freddie said. "I'm finding out all sorts of things. Apparently my great-great-great grandfather was a train conductor. Man I wish I could've met him. We could have talked trains together!"

"And it's really cool now because in my biology class, we're learning about how traits are passed down from one family member to the next," Lauren continued. "So I'm going to see if I can trace handedness through dad's side of the family. I mean he's left handed, I'm right handed, there's got to be a nice mix."

"You can find all that?" Carly asked, impressed.

"Maybe," Lauren shrugged.

"Hey, she's pretty savvy," Freddie said. "She got her dad's Internet skills, after all. I'm sure she can handle this. Hey, I can always give you a hand, sweetie, if you ever need-"

"That's okay," Lauren said quickly. "I think I can finish everything up on my own."

"Oh, well, alright then," Freddie said.

"I'm gonna go to bed," Lauren said, giving her father a kiss on the cheek. "Night daddy. Night Carly."
"Night, Lauren," Carly smiled.

"Good night, honey," Freddie said.

"I still can't get over how grown she's gotten," Carly said. "When I met her she was just five years old and now she's driving and dating. Crazy."

"You can say that again," Freddie agreed.