Sam POV:

I woke up the next morning. I looked to my side, expecting to see Freddie, but he wasn't there. I sat up and sighed. He was probably already getting ready or he decided to sleep on the couch. I got out of the bed and started to check the bathroom. He wasn't there. I checked the kitchen, and still no sign of Freddie. I shrugged and walked into the living room, expecting him to be on the couch, but he wasn't there.

Then my worry got the best of me.

"Freddie?" I said, trying not to shout to loudly. "Freddie!" I said a little louder.

I walked from each room and back into the kitchen. I glance at the table and see a piece of paper with my name written on it. "Stupid," I muttered to myself since I hadn't seen this before.

I walked over to the paper and grabbed it.

Sam,

I got called into work early. Liz is still feeling sick, so take her and Jena to Carly's with you. Jason will be at a friend's house. Also, bring Ruby to my office because I promised her I'd show her around today. I'll even call Carly and tell her why you're late and that it's all my fault.

-Freddie

P.S. I left some money for the bus tickets on the table.

I sighed. I grabbed the money and shoved it into my pocket and started to leave. I walked into Liz's room and knocked on her door. "I'm up," she grumbled.

"Get dressed. You're going to Carly's," I told her.

"Whatever."

I walked to Jason's room and started banging on the door. "Go away!" Jason shouted angrily.

"Are you awake?" I asked.

"No, of course not! I'm yelling at you in my sleep!"

"Do that again and you're grounded!" I shouted.

"Fine!" Jason said. I heard his bed creak and his feet stomping on the floor.

I sighed and moved onto the next kid. I knocked on the door. "Wake-up," I said.

The door flew open and Jena stood there. "What's up?" she asked staring up at me.

"Get ready because you're going to Carly's," I told her.

"Okay," she said.

Then I walked down the hall to Ruby's room. I opened the door and looked inside. Ruby was sound asleep on her bed. "Wake-up," I said to her. She grumbled and grabbed her pillow and held it tightly against her. "Wake-up, Ruby," I said again. She grunted and then put her head into her pillow. "If you don't wake-up, you don't get to go see daddy at his office," I said to her.

She slowly started to sit up. "That's today?" she murmured.

"Yes, it is," I said.

She sighed and sat up. "I'm coming," she said.

I nodded my head and left the room.

...~*~...

I stood up at the bus stop. "Liz," I said looking back at my daughter. "Make sure you and Jena get off at the right stop for Carly's. You both have your LimePhones and you have my number, so call me if you need me."

Liz rolled her eyes. "I know, mom," she said.

I looked at Jena. "Make sure your sister doesn't get sick on the bus and listen to Carly," I told her.

Jena nodded her head. I grabbed Ruby's hand and quickly left the bus. I glanced up at the large building and sighed. "Come on," I said to Ruby.

Ruby skipped ahead of me and into the doors. I followed her in and went to the receptionist. "I'm here to see, Fredward Benson," I said to her.

"Do you have an appointment?" she asked.

"I'm his wife."

She nodded her head. "He has somebody with him at the moment, but you can go ahead to his office area," she said.

"Thanks," I said. I looked over at Ruby who was studying something on the walls. "Come on, Ruby," I called to her.

Ruby ran over to me. "Are we going to an elevator?" she asked me.

"Well, yeah," I said.

She frowned. "I don't like elevators," she said worriedly.

"Why not?" I asked her.

"I'm afraid that I'll get stuck or they'll drop," she said. "It's happened before."

"To you?"

"No."

"Well, nothing bad is going to happen to you, hon. Trust me," I said to her. I grabbed her hand and started pulling her to the elevator.

"No!" she shouted. "I'm not going in there!" she pulled her hand away from and sat down on the floor. I looked around and saw people were staring at me.

"Come on," I said to her. I bent down and pulled her into my arms and started taking her to the elevator.

"I demand you put me down right now!" she shouted. She started kicking her legs in the air and beating the air with her fists. She started screaming angrily. "Put me down! I don't want to go into the elevator!"

I ignored her and started to carry her over to the stairs. "Shut up," I said trying not to loose my temper on her. "We're going up the stairs!" I slammed the door open and set her down on the stairs. "Come on," I said for the billionth time that day. I started to stomp up the stairs angrily.

And thus we started the long trail to the twentieth floor of the building. Just perfect. And of course, Ruby started to get tired so I had to carry her for more than half way! You can bet how much fun I had. Then I started to laugh.

"What's funny?" Ruby asked, her head resting against my shoulder.

"Oh, just that if you ever have to go downstairs and then come back, your dad's going to have to carry you. And you and I both know he can't do that," I said while laughing.

Ruby giggled. "Can I not mention it to him so that I can throw another fit and draw attention to us?" she asked.

I smiled. "Yes, please."

Ruby sighed happily. "I enjoy plotting evil plans," she said.

I kissed her head. "Me too," I said.

Finally, we got to the twentieth floor. When we got there, I set Ruby down and took a deep breath. I stretched my muscles and groaned. "Ugh," I said. "My body aches so bad," I said.

"Sorry, momma," Ruby said. "You know I love you, right?" she asked. I looked down at her. She was staring up at me with her big blue eyes and the most innocent smile plastered on her face. Her red hair was partially covering parts of her eye. "Right?" she asked again.

I smiled. She was way too cute. "Yes," I said to her.

She grinned and skipped off. I sighed. "I have an evil daughter," I muttered.

We finally got into Freddie's office. I looked through the glass and saw Freddie sitting at his desk talking to a dude who's face I couldn't see. Abigail was standing behind Freddie, her arms folded across her chest and she looked as if she were glaring at the man.

I looked around for a secretary person. No one was there. I didn't want to leave Ruby all alone because who knows what she would get up too. I heaved a deep breath and sat down in one of the waiting chairs. "What's daddy doing?" Ruby asked.

I shrugged. "Talking to some random dude," I told her.

"Can I go inside?"

"No."

"Why not?"

"You probably aren't allowed to and because I'm sure they're talking about adult stuff," I said.

Ruby sighed. "Can I look around?" she asked.

"Yeah," I said. I grabbed my LimePhone and dialed Carly's number.

"Where are you?" Carly asked.

"Didn't Liz explain to you-"

"Yes, but it's been about a hour Sam!" Carly said angrily.

"Ruby is scared to death of elevators and forced me to walk up the stairs with her. And then I had to carry her for more than half way," I told Carly.

"Wow. That sucks," Carly said.

"No, really?" I asked her.

"Whatever, but make sure you get here soon! And don't walk down the stairs!"

"I can't leave yet," I said.

"Why not?"

"I have to make sure Freddie gets Ruby. He's kind of busy and there's no one else here. I can't leave Ruby alone because she'd destroy the entire building in probably five seconds," I said to Carly.

Carly sighed. "Well, hurry up."

"I'm not fired am I?" I asked her.

Carly sighed again. "I'll give you an excuse since you're my best friend and you can't avoid this kind of stuff. Understand?" she asked.

"Yeah."

"Do you promise to not use the 'we are friends' trick ever again, unless it's something like this?" Carly asked me.

"Yes, I promise and solemnly swear and blah blah blah," I said to her.

"Good, now I gotta go."

"Bye," I said as I hung the phone up. I looked over at Ruby who now had a piece of paper and was drawing.

I glanced over into Freddie's office. I knew that he knew I was here, but I still couldn't leave Ruby alone. There were time when she would be out of his sight. Suddenly, I heard a shout and my head flew in the direction of the office.

"You're both stupid!" the man shouted angrily. "Don't you understand that people just can't get rid of their phones and buy new ones?" he yelled.

"We know that, but when they pay their monthly plan, we'll just have them pay a little-" Abigail started but the man interrupted her.

"Who the hell even thought of this idea?" the man shouted. "This is all just a monopoly! The economy is going to-"

"Leave right now!" Freddie shouted jumping out of his seat and pointing at the door. "If you don't leave, I will call security!"

"So?" he asked. "The court will get into this and I swear, the Pear Software will be back because this is unjust!"

Freddie was about to press the button, but Abigail stopped him. "Listen," she said looking over at the man. "The court will also realize that the Pear Software is dangerous. If you don't fix it and make it safer, then we'll ask to bring it back. But if you don't, go ahead and bring the law into this."

The man glared at Abigail. "The pear software is safe," he said threateningly. "And I will bring in the law. And just you wait, you'll all regret this so damn much."

The man stormed out of the office and I couldn't help but look at him closely. He was tall and very skinny. I looked into his eyes and they just so happened to be green. I held my breath to stop myself from gasping. But how could it be this guy? Wasn't he all into the court crap? Unless, he lost and. Oh my god! It had to be him.

"Sam," Freddie said looking over at me.

I jumped out of my thoughts and looked over at Freddie. "Ruby's here," I said moving my head in her direction.

Freddie nodded. "Thanks, Sam."

Abigail sighed. "I'm going to the bathroom," she said.

"Can I come with you?" Ruby asked.

Abigail smiled down at Ruby. "Of course," she said to her. Ruby smiled and skipped off in the direction of the bathrooms.

"I need to call Carly don't I?" Freddie asked.

"Uh yeah," I said in a duh voice. "She's really ticked off at me. So get it shakin', bacon," I said to Freddie as I walked into his office room.

Freddie rolled his eyes at me and started to call Carly, but stopped. "Listen," he said looking over at me. "Sorry about last night. I guess I was just mad about Zeke, the guy you just saw, and I took it out on you."

I nodded my head. "You could have just told me," I said.

"Yeah, sorry." Freddie leaned over and kissed my forehead. "Forgive me?"

I rolled my eyes and playfully punched him in the stomach. "Yup."

Freddie smiled and then was about to dial Carly's number when I stopped him. "Freddie, what is Zeke's last name?" I asked.

"Carter. Why?" he asked.

"No reason."

...~*~...

Work was over and I ran over to Carly. "Carly," I said to her. "We need to talk."

Carly sighed. "I kind of have-"

"Freddie thing," I said looking her in the eye.

She nodded her head. "Sorry, Sam," she said. "I'd love to hear it, but I need to pick up Matt from Art Club. Maybe tomorrow?" she asked.

I sighed. "Yeah, I guess that's good enough," I told her.

She smiled. "Perfect." She grabbed the keys to her car and started to leave. "Oh yeah! I forgot to tell you, but Melanie called! She needs to talk to you about something important!" Carly yelled as she left. "And can you lock up when you leave?"

"Thanks and yeah!" I said to her.

I walked into her and Gibby's house (well, the part that was an actual home and not the restaurant). "Liz! Jena!" I yelled. "Time to leave!"

"Coming!" Jena shouted.

"Coming," Liz groaned loudly.

I waited for them both to show up and then we left.

...~*~...

I sat down on my bed and dialed Melanie's number. "Hello?" Melanie asked into the phone.

"Hey, it's Sam," I said.

"Oh good! You called," she said.

"So, what do you want?" I asked getting straight to the point.

"I was wondering if we could visit you guys this weekend to congratulate Freddie. We could have a party and-"

"Sure, whatever," I told her.

"Okay!" she said. "And you can also let Freddie invite any of his friends from the office who helped out. We'll congratulate them while we're at it. And we can have tons of food and drinks. I could probably even-"

"Melanie," I said.

"Yes?"

"Just do whatever and I'll be fine with it," I told her.

"Oh. Okay. I guess I can do that," she said her voice trailing off.

"What's wrong?" I asked her even though I didn't really care.

"Well," she said. "I just thought you'd be a little more excited. I mean, we're going to have all sorts of exotic foods and stuff."

"I'm excited, just not in the mood at the moment," I told her.

"Well, what's wrong with you?" she asked.

"You know about that whole stupid Puckett family thing, right?" I asked her.

Melanie snorted. "Uh yeah. Mom thought it was me, so she told me before you," she said.

I sighed. Yeah, I remember that. "Well, let's just say, bad things are going to happen. I don't exactly want to talk about it on the phone, so..."

I knew Melanie was nodding her head just by listening to her voice. "Okay, I totally understand. Anyways, I gotta go and get ready for everything. Catterina also said hi!" Melanie said.

"Tell Catterina I said 'sup.' And tell your stupid husband that I called him stupid," I told her.

"Alright! And tell the whole family hi for me and congrats to Freddie!" Melanie said.

"Whatever," I said.

"Bye, Sam."

"Bye, Melanie." I closed my phone and looked around me. I fell against the bed and started to take a nap.

"Mom!" Liz yelled. "I need a bucket!"

I groaned and got up to go help her out.

*insert scary background music here*

So, what'd ya think? Was this a good chapter? Bad chapter? Okay chapter? Please comment and review! Also, don't just favorite/alert this story. I may or may not type your username just to let the whole world know. It may or may not embarrass you(probably not, but it'll be fun). lol.

So, we've learned exactly who Sam thinks is going to kill Freddie. Emphasis on the word thinks. Why? Because I still have no idea who kills him. I've already got like ten people in mind, so don't go guessing just yet. But I'm trying to write two different stories for each bad guy person. In one story, they're the killer. In the other, they're just whatever I want em to be. lol.

And that's it. And time for the completely random fact. I got bored and went to (proves how bored I get) and I typed in my last name (Yeah, I'm not about to tell you what that is). I learned that my family most likely comes from Germany, and it's true. My dad's always told me he's part German. And another fact, there were 121 Veterans with my last name that were in the United States Civil War (I'm calling it that cuz not everyone lives in the US of A). 76 were Confederates and 45 were Union soldiers. That I can also believe because there's a rumor that my ancestors were slave traders. And no, I'm not proud of my ancestors because I hate racism.

But, that's it for random fact of the day! lol. Bye ya'll!

~InsaneBlueberry~