Disclaimer: I own nothing.
iAm a Father
Chapter 8
After we collected Ryan's stuff we headed over to the hospital, I drove because Carly was too upset. I told her to come in the room with me, I definitely didn't want to leave her alone at a time like this.
"Hey" I whispered to Freddie who was sat by Ryan's hospital bed.
"Hey" He replied, and Ryan looked over to me and Carly, Freddie hadn't noticed her because she was behind me, not wanting them to notice she'd been crying.
"Hey Aunt Sam, Hey Aunt Carly" Ryan grinned.
"Hey Kiddo" I smiled, while Carly gave him a wave still looking down. I walked over to the bed and put down Ryan's stuff, giving him a hug in the process.
"Hey Sam, I'm just gonna go to the bathroom" Carly told me before bursting into tears and running away, I sighed throwing my head back.
Freddie looked at me confused, "What's with her?" I motioned for him to go outside so I could tell him, and Ryan wouldn't have to hear. Freddie stood up, "We'll be back in a minute buddy" He said ruffling the little boy's hair. Freddie walked out and I followed, shutting the door carefully behind me.
"What's going on?" He asked.
"Gibby" I replied.
"What did he do?"
"I didn't get many details just that he cheated on her. I need to talk to her, but I don't know if I should yet."
Freddie looked shocked, "Gibby cheat on her? Wow. I think you should go talk to her, make sure she's okay. She needs to talk about it, it's not good to keep things bottled up inside"
"Yeah okay, Sir." I said mock saluting him and curtseying; he patted me on the head.
"Good girl." He smirked and I narrowed my eyes at him, before spinning around on my heel and walking away. I wasn't mad at him; I just wanted to create a dramatic entrance. I made it into the bathroom and noticed Carly in a corner, she wasn't crying; just staring into space.
"You okay?" I asked, sitting down next to her.
She shook her head, "I'm not that upset anymore. Just mad, why would he do something like that to me? Am I that bad of a person?"
"You're not a bad person at all Carly. Don't blame yourself, it his stupid fault. You deserve better, and you will find someone better. I promise. But for now, tell me what happened. It's not good to keep things bottled up, get it all off your chest."
She took a deep breath, "A week ago, he got drunk with his other friends. Then he said it was a blank after, but this girl called him up the other day. He's gonna be a father. He's moving to England to be with her and the baby."
I shook my head, "Like I said you can do better, you're too nice to deserve that. Now come on." I said getting up and holding my hand out for her.
"Where we going?"
"Well first I want to get off the bathroom floor, then we will go see how Ryan and Freddie are and when he'll be home, then we seriously need to go grocery shopping." Carly accepted my hand and laughed a bit.
"Thanks Sam"
"For what?"
"Cheering up and making me feel better." She replied, hugging me.
"It's no problem. Your my best friend."
We walked out the bathroom, and straight to Ryan's room, when we got there Freddie immediately stood up.
"Carly, are you okay?" He asked her.
"Yeah, I'm okay. Thanks to Sam" She grinned putting an arm around my shoulders, and Freddie smiled back.
"We're going to the store, you need anything?" I asked him.
"Well, actually..." He started and my phone started ringing.
"Hold that thought" I told him putting one finger up, I looked at my phone and the ID read, 'Melanie'. I pulled a face and wondered what she was calling for. (Sam: Normal Melanie: Italic.)
"Hello?"
"Sam?"
"Yeah, why are you calling?"
"I need you, Sam." Her voice sounded distant, like she was choking back sobs.
"Are you crying?"
Silence. I knew it must be serious. So, I motioned to Freddie and Carly I'd be back soon and walked out the room.
"What's wrong? Melanie, c'mon talk to me"
"Someone's after me"
"What do you mean?"
"Well, I was going out with this guy, Mike, and he got pushy and violent. I was so scared, when he came back drunk and he..." more sobs. "He hurt me. He beat me up, really badly. I ran out the house and finished him. I thought I had finally got rid of him, but I was out the other day in the supermarket and I seen him, he whispered to me, 'I own you now. There's no getting away from me, Mel. You belong to me' Sam, I'm so scared. I don't know what to do or who to go to." She cried down the phone to me.
"Melanie listen, you need to pack up your stuff and catch the first flight to Seattle. I want you to ring me as soon as you have your luggage at Tacoma International airport, Can you do that for me?"
"Yeah" She whispered. "I need to go, I wanna get away as fast as I can"
"Okay, I'll see you soon."
Melanie put the phone town and I put a hand to my forehead, I couldn't believe this. My own sister had been beat up, and now her psycho ex is after her. I slowly walked back into Ryan's room, and they all looked up at me.
"What's going on?" Carly asked.
"Nothing, Melanie just wanted a talk. You ready for the grocery store? What was it you wanted Freddie?" I asked, trying to avoid all questions. I couldn't really answer any with Ryan in the room.
Freddie and Carly shot each other a look but let it go. "I was just going to ask if you could get some ice cream for Ryan"
"Yay, Ice cream!" Ryan grinned.
"Okay sure," I smiled. "C'mon Carly, before it gets too late." I said before walking over and kissing Ryan on top of his head, then walking out.
"So... What did Melanie want?" Carly asked me, when we got to the store.
I blew some air out, "She's coming home."
Carly looked surprised, "Really?"
I nodded trying to hold my tears back Carly noticed this because she stood in front of me, making me stop in my tracks.
"What's wrong? What's the matter with Melanie?"
"Someone's after her Carly. She had this boyfriend, who beat her up because he came home drunk one night. She finished him, and now he's after her" I said, and Carly wrapped her arms around me.
"It'll be okay Sam, once she's here we can all forget about it and she'll be safe."
I just nod knowing there's not much point in arguing. We finished the grocery shopping and went back to the hospital, to get Freddie. Ryan was leaving hospital tomorrow, but for tonight Freddie was staying over at ours in case something went wrong with Ryan and he needed to get to the hospital fast, Bushwell was nearer to the hospital than Freddie's house. We'd just got home, and it was only half an hour before I got a phone call.
"Yellow?" I asked answering my phone, and instead of saying hello normally, I spoke adding a Y to the front making it sound like I said 'Yellow'.
"Hey Sam, its Melanie."
"Are you at the airport?"
"Yeah I just got my luggage, Sam please hurry. I'm scared to stand alone"
"I'm leaving as we speak. I'll be as quick as I can Mel"
"Okay, thanks. Bye" And she put the phone down. Poor girl. She's scared to death, I needed to get to her and fast.
"Guys, I'll be back soon. I'm going to pick up Melanie" I said then ran out the door.
I got to the airport in half an hour and noticed Melanie straight away. She was dressed in a pink ruched, stretch, jersey top and a black tube skirt. She had on beige trench coat, and had slipped on a pair of black opened toed kitten heels. Beside her she had three suitcases. I stepped out the car and ran over to her.
"Melanie!" I hugged her and she hugged back crying.
"Hey sis"
"I'm so glad your okay. C'mon, you must be freezing. What possessed you to dress like that when you came to Seattle?"
"I have no idea" She replied smiling a little and wiping her tears away. I rolled a suitcase over to my car while she got the other two. The ride home was pretty much silent, apart from the occasional, how's life talk. When we got back home, we got in the elevator and went straight to Carly and I's apartment.
"We're back" I said as we came through the door, I noticed Freddie sitting on the couch watching TV while Carly was in the kitchen.
"Hey guys. How's it going Melanie?" Freddie asked.
"Uh. I've been better" she replied. "Can I go take a shower?" Melanie asked me.
"Sure. You can stay in my room tonight, Freddie has the guest room" Melanie nodded and Freddie looked up.
"No don't be silly I'll take the couch."
"No, its fine honest." Melanie tried.
"Nonsense. That's your room from now on, so I'll take the couch. It's quite comfortable."
"Well if you're sure..."
"I am" Freddie replied,
"Okay, thanks. I'm gonna go shower then head to bed. Jet-lag" She smiled and hugged me. Melanie then took her suitcases to her room. I sat down on the couch next to Freddie and Carly came over and handed us both some hot chocolate.
"I'm gonna hit the sack, I'm really tired." She said.
I nodded, "At least your feeling better."
Carly smiled then bent down and hugged me, "Thanks again Sam"
"Its fine." I replied and she headed off upstairs, so that just left me and Freddie. Wow, this was awkward. There was silence and nothing could be heard apart from the TV, and the occasional slurping of hot chocolate. Our silence was suddenly broken as a loud crack of thunder erupted the room, followed by the rain on the window and a bright flash of lightening. Freddie jumped about half a mile in the air, and I laughed.
"Calm down, Freddie." I smiled, and he mocked smiled back at me.
"I wasn't expecting it."
I nodded my head sarcastically, "Sure..." He narrowed his eyes at me.
It was about half one in the morning before I decided to go up to bed, "I'm gonna head off to bed. I'll see you in the morning?" I asked getting up.
"Yeah, night." He replied laying down on the couch and curling up. I stopped by the stairs and turned around.
"It's not exactly warm down here, and the storm is pretty loud. You can hardly hear it in my room, if you wanna come sleep up there?" I asked him, full of hope.
"What you mean? On the floor?"
"No, no. My bed is king size, I'm sure there's enough space for the both of us," I smirked.
"Don't be silly. I know how much you love your bed."He smiled, "I'll just sleep here."
Not as much as I love you, I thought. "No, you look cold here. It's freezing. Stop being difficult and come on." I said.
"Are you sure?" He asked one final time.
"Yes. Now come on, before I change my mind" I joked. He got up from the couch and followed me up the stairs. I went into my drawer and picked some random pyjamas out. I went into the bathroom to change them, only then did I realize the top I'd picked. It was a white vest top with a heart on it with glasses. And it said 'I heart nerds'. Great, just great, I thought. I put it on anyway and slipped on my black flannel pants.
I walked out the room and Freddie looked at me and smirked, "Nice top."
"I didn't even realize I picked it till I got in there" I replied, and he smirked again. I turned my lamp on and turned the big light off. I then got into the bed next to him. We laid there silent for what seemed like an eternity before he spoke.
"You know, I'm still scared of storms" He said, and I looked at him.
"I'm not surprised."
"I just. I try so hard, you know? To get over what happened but I just can't. Storms still frighten me so much" He said his voice sounding shaky.
I scooted closer to him, "You don't have to talk about it, if you don't want to." I said.
"I know, I just want to get it off my chest. And if there's anyone I'd talk to it about, it's you."
I gave him a sympathetic look, "You know you can talk to me. About anything." I said.
"I know which is why I'm going to now." He replied, I'd known a small part of his story, but not a lot.
He took a deep breath, "Well, it was my parents' anniversary and as a celebration they decided to go on a boat trip, they were so happy. When they were on the boat, it was a big one. Like a ferry. They argued, they had this big argument. Mom never told me what it was about. But, my dad had gotten really angry and hit one of the men there. At night, he was stood by the bars overlooking the sea. He didn't realize until it was too late. The man, who he'd hit, came behind him. The bars we're loose and weren't safe at all." He took a deep breath, "he pushed him and instead of banging into the bars like he should of, the bars came off and my dad... he was chucked overboard. The reason the bars were loose was because lightening had hitten them and as my dad went overboard the man, told us he'd gotten hit by lightening. That's why I'm so protective over Ryan." He said. I noticed one single tear run down his face.
"That's why your mom was so protective of you? Why she never let anyone in?" I whispered, and he nodded.
"She never made up with my dad. His last memory of her, and they we're in a fight."
"Freddie, I bet that he's looking down on you right now, and he'd be so proud! You have a son, an amazing fun son. And even though what happened with your wife..."
"Ex-wife." He corrected.
"Ex-wife... You didn't let her put you down. You carried on with your life, and now you're a great father. You've always been a good friend to Carly and I. Even to those you didn't like. You're an amazing guy Freddie, and I swear now, that your dad is looking down on you thinking, 'My son is truly amazing. He's great. He treats his son well, and his friends. He also did a brilliant job of looking after his mom.' Freddie, just because what you've put up with life, you didn't let that get you down. Even if someone did put you down, you got right up again. Even though you can't see him, he's still with you. In here" I smiled but whispered the last part, putting his hand over his heart.
He looked at me in awe. Then, he embraced me in a bear hug. "Thank you so much Sam. That made me feel ten times better. It was great to get it off my chest too."
"I'd do anything for you, Carly or Melanie. You know that"
He nodded and put his arm around me, so my head was on his chest. We laid in silence, and I could hear his heartbeat, it was such a soothing sound. He whispered, "Thank you" then kissed the top of my head. That's how we both fell asleep.
A/N: Longest chapter I think! You can catch Melanie's outfit and Sam's PJ's on my profile! I hoped you enjoyed chapter eight. Also, we have another surprise guest turning up in the next chapter.