A/N: A lot more happens in this chapter than I originally planned. Hope you guys like it, let me know! :)
Chapter Four
Sam walked in the door of her apartment carrying several bags of food. Freddie looked up at her from where he was wiping down the coffee table.
"Hi," he said. "How was your day?"
"Long," she answered. "Here," she handed off the paper bags, which Freddie struggled to balance in his arms.
"Where's my baby?" Sam said in her baby voice, making her way to the playpen where Charlie lay and picking her up. "There you are. Did you miss me? Did you miss me?" She nuzzled Charlie's nose and blew a raspberry on her cheek.
"Yeah, Charlie gets all the love," Freddie said, his voice sounding pouty.
"Take those to the kitchen and see what's inside," she told him.
He did so and Sam followed him to the kitchen, still holding Charlie.
"She smells so good. Did you give her a bath?"
"Yeah, a few hours ago."
Freddie pulled out the various food containers in the paper bags and opened them.
"Lasagna!" He looked up at her happily.
"Stole it from the restaurant just for you," Sam said. She used one hand to open another container. "And these are chocolate éclairs I made in my Intro to Pastry class."
Freddie reached for one and she slapped his hand. "Don't spoil your dinner!"
He rubbed his hand. "I didn't think I'd ever see the day that Sam Puckett would be lecturing me on spoiling my dinner. This mom thing is really rubbing off on you."
Sam kissed Charlie's cheek in response. "I guess it is."
Freddie took out plates from the cupboard, putting one in front of Sam. He took out the cutlery and distributed them before taking his place beside her.
"Are you going to put her down or eat one handed?" He looked at her in amusement.
Sam stuck her tongue out at him. "I'll eat one handed, thank you very much," she proceeded to put fried chicken and steak on her plate. She knew the steak would prove to be a problem but the chicken she could eat just fine so she started with that.
Freddie loaded his plate with lasagna and breadsticks. "So I was thinking today that we should start baby proofing the apartment."
"Why?" Sam said over a bite of chicken. "She's not moving on her own yet."
"Yeah, but if we put it off now then she'll be crawling around before we think of getting around to it."
"Okay."
He glanced at her, surprised at how easy that was. "Okay," he took out a piece of paper from his back pocket and checked something off with a pen that was on the counter.
"What is that?"
"Nothing." Freddie tried to shove it back in his pocket but even with a baby in one arm Sam was too quick for him, she snatched it out of his hand.
On the top it was headlined: Things to Tell Sam. Underneath was a bulleted list. Baby proof the apartment; Schedule furniture shopping for Charlie's room; Find a lawyer.
She laughed. "You're such a dork, Fredweird."
"I like to list things so that I don't forget," he mumbled.
"What's this find a lawyer business?"
"I was going to save that for after dinner."
"Well, what is it?"
"I think you need to get legal guardianship of Charlie," he said.
"Melanie left her to me and she isn't coming back. Isn't that enough?"
"You need the legal documents, Sam, otherwise anything could happen."
"Like what?"
"Like what if Melanie has a change of heart and wants Charlie back?"
Sam dropped the drumstick she was eating and looked at Charlie. A week ago, she would have said 'Great, she's her mom, about time she acts like it.' But now…Now it was hard for her to be at work and at school without a part of her counting down the minutes until she could see Charlie again. It was amazing how quickly she had wrapped herself around Sam's heart, how completely she had fallen for this baby. The thought of Melanie taking her away made her feel ill.
She shrugged her shoulders in dismissal. "That's not the way my sister operates. If she hasn't come back by now then she's not coming back. She's like our dad that way."
"That might be the case, but I don't think you should take the risk," Freddie said gently.
She didn't respond, just attempted to cut her steak one handed, which she wasn't having any success with.
"Okay, here's another scenario. Let's fast forward four years and Charlie's in preschool. She hurts herself on the playground, let's say she breaks her ankle, and has to be taken to the hospital. You're her emergency contact but they discover that you're not her mother or her guardian. They can take her away, Sam. They'll put her in the custody of Social Services until they can find Melanie and sort out the custody issues."
Sam looked at him and held Charlie tighter, for the first time allowing fear to show on her face. "No…" She whispered.
Freddie put his hand over hers. "Don't worry. We're not going to let that happen. We just need to talk to a lawyer as soon as possible."
She looked down at her plate. "I have a juvie record, Freddie," she said, voicing her real fear. "What if they don't give me custody?"
"You were a minor and your record has been clean since you turned eighteen. You haven't been arrested or charged with anything, you're in school, you own and manage a legal business. We can get you numerous letters of recommendations that will testify your capability to be a responsible guardian…"
He lifted her chin and made her look him in the eye. "I know you have very little trust in our legal system. But you can trust me, Sam. I won't let anyone take Charlie away from you."
She nodded.
"Okay, I'll talk to Spencer when I get home, find out who the lawyer was that handled his custody papers with Carly."
"If it's someone related to Socko you'll find someone else?"
He smiled. "Definitely."
They went back to eating and Sam was getting increasingly frustrated with her steak. She was about to pick it up and eat it by hand when Freddie took the knife away from her. He cut the steak into little pieces and went back to his lasagna.
"Thanks," she muttered.
"There's actually something else I wanted to run by you."
"It's not on your list?" she teased.
Freddie flushed a little. "Well, it's not about Charlie. It's about Gibby's. Don't you think it's about time you guys got a website?"
"Gibby and I agreed we would put it on the agenda once we started making money. But I guess we haven't gotten around to it. We're doing fine without one," she pointed out.
"You are but imagine how much easier it would be to advertise Gibby's outside of Seattle if you had a website. You can get the attention of critics from national publications instead of just the local ones here."
"And you can set up online ordering," Freddie went on, his eyes shining with excitement. "Most restaurants are doing it these days. I know that you take pride in Gibby's being this old style diner-slash-restaurant but you need to utilize technology in order to be a truly competitive business in this day and age. You can also have an app that will let people order or make reservations on their phones."
"Yeah, but we'll have to hire someone to do all of that."
"What about me?"
"You?"
"I'm a tech guy," he said. "And I have a freelance app and web design business…"
"You do?"
"Sam! I told you about it when I first started it back in freshman year."
"Oh, you know that your tech babble just goes…" She made a whooshing motion over her head. "So you really want to do this? You want to make us a website?"
Freddie looked at her, full of eagerness. "Yeah, I do."
It was a great idea, Sam had to admit. But even if it wasn't, there really wasn't a way that she could say no to that face. Damn it, pseudo-motherhood was making her soft.
"Okay, we'll talk to Gibby."
"Great, I have charts and I've been working on various design options-"
"Hey, Frednerd!" Sam cut in. "Don't oversell it."
"Right. Shutting up now," he said.
Sam stood up, switching Charlie from one arm to the other. She left her empty plate on the counter, knowing that Freddie would take care of it, as was their routine. It was hard to believe they already had a routine after only three days of his becoming Charlie's official baby-sitter, but they did.
"You fed her already, right?" Sam asked.
"Yeah, about half an hour before you got home."
"Then it's time for bed, isn't it?" She cooed, pressing her forehead to Charlie's and kissing her nose.
"Is she sleeping at night yet?" Freddie asked.
"Until about one am then she wakes up and won't go back to sleep until three when I'm lucky and five or six when she's in the mood to make me really miserable."
He looked at her sympathetically and Sam wouldn't tell him this but it really wasn't so bad now that he was helping out. She was able to sleep in now after Charlie fell asleep and not wake up until about an hour before Freddie came over. All of his classes were in the morning (Freddie was a morning person), starting at seven thirty and ending at ten thirty every day. He came over at eleven and Sam would leave to work at the restaurant for a few hours and then she had classes on Mondays to Thursdays from two thirty until five forty-five. Afterwards, she dropped by the restaurant again on the way home to grab the accounting books and dinner for her and Freddie.
When she thought about it, Freddie did tell her only two days ago that he didn't mind staying with Charlie for practically the whole day because he was able to get his work done. She assumed he meant school work but now she knew he was likely talking about his web design stuff.
Sam brought Charlie into her room and changed her diaper before putting her into her onesie. She placed her inside the bassinet and tucked her blanket around her and started rocking it gently. It wasn't long before Charlie's eyes closed and she was breathing evenly. Sam crept away, closing her bedroom door gently behind her.
Freddie had finished with the dishes and was sitting at the counter munching on the éclairs.
"These are delicious, Sam," he said.
"Thanks. It was my first time making them."
"Charlie's asleep?"
"Yeah. It's getting easier to put her down, thank God."
He nodded. "For me too. She doesn't get as fussy anymore."
"Hasn't Spencer been wondering where you are all day?" She asked.
"He has."
"What do you tell him?"
"I change the subject. I don't like lying to him, Sam."
She took an éclair and bit into it.
"You know you're going to have to tell him and Carly."
"I know, alright?"
"Don't you think the longer you keep it from them, the more upset Carly will be?"
"I know that too," she glared at him.
"Spencer told me that Carly's coming home tomorrow. He's making spaghetti tacos for dinner."
Sam groaned. "You're such a nagging wife, you know that?"
Inexplicably to her, Freddie smiled.
The next day Sam came home early, forgoing her trip to the restaurant because, as Freddie pointed out, they'd be having dinner elsewhere. When she walked in the door, Charlie was already in her stroller, wearing her jacket and hat, and Freddie was packing away his laptop.
"Hey," he smiled at her. "You ready for this?"
Sam sighed. "Not really."
"It'll be fine," he reassured her.
"You think so? With Carly, queen of the freakouts?"
Freddie paused. "When she calms down, then it'll be fine."
"Come on, let's just go and get this over with."
She opened the door again and Freddie pushed the stroller through.
When they got to Bushwell Plaza they were greeted by Lewbert's screeching.
"Aaahhhh…When did you two have a baaaaby?"
Charlie started crying, her poor ears assaulted by Lewbert's voice reaching unpleasant decibels.
Sam glared at him and reached into the stroller to pick up Charlie.
"Stop it!" Freddie said. "You're upsetting Charlie!"
Lewbert climbed over the counter, falling on his hands and knees but clambering up and staggering over to Freddie. Lewbert poked at his chest. "Does your mom know that you're a daddy? I think I'll tell her!"
Freddie shoved his hand away. "She's not our baby, alright? Don't tell my mom anything!"
"What are you going to do to me?" He taunted.
"I'll show you what I'll do to you," Sam handed the baby to Freddie and tackled Lewbert to the ground.
"Sam, don't kill him in front of the baby," Freddie said, his voice getting drowned out in Lewbert's screams and Charlie's crying.
He rubbed Charlie's back and rocked her while Sam pinned Lewbert face first onto the ground. She was sitting on his back and had his arm twisted behind his back, her other hand clenched in his hair, keeping his face pressed to the floor.
"Oww…Let me up!" Lewbert screeched.
"Say you'll keep your stupid gob shut!" Sam yelled.
"Nooo…"
Sam twisted his arm harder.
"Ahhh…I'll keep my stupid gob shut!"
In all of the chaos no one noticed the lobby doors opening behind them and Carly and Ian walking in.
"Freddie?" Carly said. "What's going on here?"
Freddie turned to her, his eyes wide. "Uhh…"
Sam let Lewbert go and he went running and screaming into his office.
She stood up, brushing back her hair. "Hey Carls, Ian," she smiled. "What's up?"
Carly looked from her to Freddie to the crying baby. "What's going on?" She yelled.
"Hold on a moment," Sam told her.
She took Charlie from Freddie and whispered soothingly into her ear, rubbing her back. Her cries gradually grew quieter until it stopped completely.
Carly watched this, her jaw open. She turned to Freddie, clearly wanting an explanation and he just smiled sheepishly, rubbing the back of his neck.
"Is anyone going to tell me whose baby that is?" She asked.
"Melanie's," Sam said.
"Melanie's?" Carly cried and Sam quickly gestured with one hand for her to keep her voice down.
"Melanie's?" She whispered-yelled.
"How about we talk upstairs?" Freddie cut in. "We'll explain everything, Carls."
Carly sighed. "Fine," she said, taking Ian's hand and following behind Sam and Freddie. Sam still held the baby while Freddie pushed the stroller.
"Hey guys!" Spencer greeted them as they all stepped out of the elevator. "Whoa, whose baby?"
Carly sat down on the couch and crossed her arms. "Okay, explain."
Sam put Charlie back in her stroller and sat down beside Carly. She started the story.
Carly, Spencer, and Ian all looked suitably horrified when she was finished.
"But…" Carly said. "Melanie can't just abandon her baby!"
"Well, she did."
Carly stood up and started pacing. "How are you going to raise a baby? You're Sam Puckett! You barely remember to bathe yourself everyday let alone a baby!"
Sam looked like she'd been slapped.
"Carly!" Freddie barked.
Her head whipped over to him and she seemed to realize what she said. She put her hand over her mouth.
"Sam, I didn't mean-"
Sam stood up. "Yeah, it's nice to know what you really think of me, Carls."
She took Charlie's stroller and pushed it to the elevator, pressing the button. Freddie moved to follow her as the doors opened but she held up a hand and he knew that she wanted to be alone. She stepped in and the doors closed again and she was gone.
Freddie turned to look at Carly who was sitting on the couch with her head in her hands.
"That was out of line, Carly," he told her.
"I know!" She looked up at him miserably. "I'm sorry."
He shook his head. "It's not me you need to apologize to. And for the record, Sam has been nothing short of amazing with the baby."
Carly's eyes teared up and she ran upstairs. Ian moved to follow her but Spencer put a hand on his arm.
"Just let her be alone for a little while," he said.
Ian nodded and sat back down.
The three guys sat around awkwardly, none of them knowing what to do.
"So Spencer," Freddie said. "I wanted to ask you who the lawyer was that took care of your custody papers with Carly."
"Actually, it was my dad who took care of that. Right before he left on his first long deployment."
"My dad can help you," Ian spoke up. Freddie and Spencer looked at him.
"He's a lawyer. He specializes in divorce and custody cases. I know it doesn't sound like your situation but he does know the ins and outs of legal custody and adoption."
"Do you think he'll agree to see Sam and me?" Freddie asked.
"Yeah, absolutely. I'll talk to him."
"Thanks, man."
Spencer jumped up and put his hands together. "So, how about we don't let those spaghetti tacos go to waste?"
Freddie and Ian looked at each other and shrugged, they followed Spencer to the kitchen.
When a knock came at her door at nearly nine pm, Sam expected it to be Freddie. Instead it was Carly.
"Hi," Carly said timidly. "Can I come in?"
Sam opened the door wider and let her through.
"I'm sorry, Sam. I didn't mean what I said."
"It's fine," Sam sighed.
"No, it's not. I was way out of line and it wasn't true at all! You've changed so much and become so responsible. Of course you can be a mother, Sam," Carly took her by the arms. "Of course you can. There's no one better that Melanie could have left her baby with. It's just…Why didn't you tell me sooner?"
"I don't know," Sam said. "I guess I was afraid of how you'd react. And I'm just not sure if I can do this at all…"
"You can, Sam."
"It's just so hard! If Freddie wasn't helping me so much I just…I don't know. I'd be losing my mind."
"And there's that. You and Freddie seem to have this tag team parenting thing going on already. It makes me feel so left out, like I'm the last to know about everything in your life."
Sam rubbed her forehead and sat down on the couch, pulling Carly down beside her.
"And you don't think I feel the same way? You have your own life at U Dub that I don't feel a part of."
A tear fell down Carly's cheek. "I miss you, Sam."
"Don't cry kid," Sam said, wiping her tear away, and then laying her head on her shoulder. "I miss you too."
"Okay, I have an idea. How about every Sunday we call each other and we have to talk for an hour and update each other on our lives. And then once a month, we have a day, a Sam and Carly day where we just spend all day together, like we used to in high school. No boyfriends, no school, no babies. Just the two of us."
Sam looked at her and smiled. "That sounds pretty good."
"Good." Carly hugged her and Sam held on tightly, not realizing until then just how much she had missed her best friend, how it felt like she had been living with a tiny hole inside of her.
"So…" Carly pulled away, wiping away more tears, and Sam discretely dabbed at her own eyes. "What's going on with you and Freddie? Are you back together?"
"What? No…no! Why would you say that?"
"Gee, I don't know," Carly smiled. "Maybe because it looked like you two were playing mommy and daddy."
"It's not like that. He's just helping me out. He's like a baby-sitter except that I don't pay him, how can I not keep him around?"
Carly raised an eyebrow. "This is Freddie, Sam. Can you honestly tell me this whole situation isn't stirring up feelings?"
Sam let out a long breath and leaned back on the couch. "The feelings are there," she admitted. "And I think he may want to…Sometimes we get close to…Arggghhh…" She buried her face in a pillow.
"It doesn't matter," she said. "I can't do this again with him, especially now that I have Charlie. He's nineteen! Does he really want to be tied down with a baby that's not even his?"
"Do you?" Carly asked.
"I don't have a choice! She's my niece, my flesh and blood. If I don't take care of her, if I don't raise her, who will? Freddie can walk away at any time. I mean, he's being great about it now but one day, it'll be one dirty diaper too many and he'll realize he doesn't have to deal with this crap."
"This is Freddie we're talking about, Sam. Has he ever been the type to walk away from what he feels is his responsibility?"
"That's even worse! If he just sticks around because he feels responsible for us or obligated."
"I'm sure he doesn't feel that way…"
"Not now maybe, but he will."
"He's not your dad, Sam," Carly said gently.
Sam shook her head. "I don't want to talk about this anymore."
Ordinarily, Carly would have pushed it, Sam knew. But things were still too fragile between them that pushing the conversation further wasn't worth rocking the boat.
"Her name is Charlie?" Carly asked.
"Yeah. Melanie named her Charlotte Elizabeth but I call her Charlie."
Carly smiled. "Samantha and Charlotte. Sam and Charlie. It's cute."
Sam groaned. "I didn't think of it like that."
"And you guys have the same middle name. Can I see her?"
"She's sleeping so you'll have to be really quiet."
Sam led Carly to her bedroom, where they peeked into Charlie's bassinet.
"She's beautiful," Carly whispered.
"She is," Sam agreed readily. She was the most beautiful baby in the whole world. Not that she was biased or anything.
Carly looked up at her, her eyes shining. "I'm so proud of you, Sam. Charlie's so lucky to have you."
Sam swallowed the lump in her throat and hugged her best friend.
Freddie watched a mother struggling to quiet her crying baby. The baby was older than Charlie, practically a toddler, his face was red and snot was dripping out of his nose. He looked down at Charlie, lying serenely in her stroller, unbothered by the screaming of the boy five feet away from them.
"You act so well behaved in public just so you look like an angel in comparison," he said, grinning at her. She put her fist up to her mouth, getting saliva all on her fingers.
"Hey Fredward," Sam called from across the store. "Get over here."
Freddie pushed the stroller over to where Sam was looking at cribs. When he got to her, she picked up Charlie and placed her in one of them. Her eyes seemed to take in the bars surrounding her and she started crying. Sam picked her up and she stopped.
"Okay, you don't like that one," she said. "How about a white one?"
She walked to the next crib over and placed Charlie in it. She started crying again.
Freddie watched this in amusement. "Are you really going to make her pick her crib?"
"Why not? She's the one that has to sleep in it."
"We could be here all day!"
Sam looked at him, Charlie in her arms again. "Well, you can leave. Nothing's keeping you here."
"I-" Freddie was bewildered. "That's not what I was saying."
Sam turned her attention to Charlie, taking one of her hands and bringing it to her lips, pretending to bite it.
Freddie sighed. "How about that big one in the corner?" He pointed.
Sam looked over and walked towards it. Freddie followed behind her, feeling confused. It wasn't the first time that Sam had made a comment like that in the past two days. He thought he and Sam had been making good progress in the past week, falling into a routine that more or less suited them. They hadn't talked about the almost kisses but Freddie thought he'd been on his way to breaking through Sam's carefully constructed wall. But now it seemed like Sam had re-cemented the walls overnight, covering all of the cracks and weak spots, rendering Freddie's efforts from before moot. He wished he knew what had brought it on, if he had done or said something that upset her. He would ask her except that he knew Sam Puckett well enough to know that trying to talk about it was the absolute worst thing he could do.
Sam lay Charlie down in the big crib and right on cue, she started crying again. Sam picked her up.
"Okay, that's it. Puckett's do not like being caged."
"She doesn't mind being in her playpen," Freddie pointed out.
"But these are bars. It probably reminds her of being in prison."
"How can it remind her of being in prison? She's a baby, she's never been in prison."
"Well, it reminds me of being in prison," Sam scrunched her nose. "Maybe she's reading my mind."
"You haven't been to prison, you've been to jail. Can we pick a crib already?"
"She doesn't like any of them."
"She doesn't like them or you don't?" He asked
"I don't know, none of these cribs look right."
"They all look pretty much the same," Freddie said.
"Exactly! I don't want her in one of these mass produced, exactly alike cribs."
Freddie looked around the store at the sea of mass produced cribs. "Well, then, we should start looking elsewhere. Is there anything else we need to buy?"
"You have the list," Sam said.
He pulled out the piece of paper from his back pocket and unfolded it.
"Okay, we can get the basic stuff. Pacifiers and some more bottles. I think we should save the new stroller for another time. You know," he said, as he looked at the various items on the list. "It seems unfair that you have to buy all this stuff, most moms get all of this as gifts from friends during her baby shower."
"Yeah, well, I guess the not getting pregnant part excluded me from the free stuff party." Sam put Charlie back in the stroller. "Can we go?"
Freddie gestured for her to go ahead, but the wheels in his head were turning.
They bought what they needed and left the baby store, stopping at a deli five blocks down to eat lunch. They sat down at a table on the sidewalk and several people passing by stopped to coo at Charlie and to tell them what a cute baby she was. He was impressed at Sam's restraint to not yell at them. But he suspected it was partly because deep inside, Sam was proud to show Charlie off.
"What is with people and babies?" Sam asked after an old couple had finished baby talking Charlie and had walked out of ear shot. "Complete strangers think they can just stop and drool all over them."
Freddie chuckled. "I don't know, cute things tend to lower people's inhibitions. Babies, puppies…"
"People should just mind their own business," Sam grumbled, biting into her extra-large, extra-ham sandwich.
A store across the street and one block over caught Freddie's eye. The sign said Rose's Antiques.
"Hey, how about we go over there?" He pointed.
Sam looked. "An antique store?" She scoffed. "What are you, an old lady?"
"You said you don't want mass produced furniture, what better place to find original, well made stuff?"
She shrugged. "Fine, whatever."
They finished their lunch and made their way to the antique store. Walking along the sidewalk with Sam, pushing a stroller with an adorable baby inside and shopping for baby things, this type of thing would terrify most college guys and send them running for the hills. But Freddie couldn't shake the feeling that this was it, this was what his life was supposed to be like. There was no place on earth that he'd rather be than right here with Sam and Charlie. If only he could get Sam to see it too.
The shop was small and filled to the brim with furniture and various knick knacks. But somehow it felt homey, like walking into your grandmother's living room.
The bell over the door rang as they walked in and an old lady looked up from behind the counter. She was tall and broad but her face was kind, her gray hair falling around her shoulder in soft waves. She smiled with her eyes, as Freddie's mom would say.
"Hello there," she said. "Welcome to Rose's Antiques, can I help you with anything or would you just like to browse?"
"You wouldn't happen to have any baby cribs, would you?" Freddie asked.
"Shopping for the little one, I see," she smiled, leaning over the counter to peer into the stroller. "We have a few near the back of the store. They're well made from the finest oak wood and sturdy. They'll last you for generations."
"Thank you," Sam said and walked towards the back of the store.
The lady came around the counter. "She's an adorable little thing," she said, looking down at Charlie. "What's her name?"
"Charlotte but we call her Charlie."
"You and your wife make a fine couple," she said, patting his arm. "Let me know if you need any help."
"We-we're not," Freddie stuttered even as the lady turned away. "Thank you," he said instead and she turned around and smiled at him.
He pushed Charlie's stroller to the back of the store, a stupid grin plastered on his face.
He found Sam standing beside a crib, her hands clenched at the top of the frame, looking absolutely mesmerized. And it was a beautiful crib. It was made of a dark cherry oak with a rosewood finish and it had small and delicate rose engravings on the headboard.
"Give me her," Sam said, barely looking at him.
Freddie picked the baby up and handed her over. Sam lay her down gently in the mattress of the crib.
Charlie's eyes roved around and he held his breath, waiting for her cry. But it didn't come. She just lay there, gurgling happily, drool spilling down her lips and onto her chin.
"She likes it!" Sam rejoiced.
She turned to him, her eyes bright with happiness. "I told you she would know what she likes!"
He grinned. "She knows what you like. She reads your mind, remember?"
"Yeah yeah, how much is this thing?" She picked up the price tag near Charlie's head and her face fell.
"What is it? How much?" He went over to her and looked over her shoulder. It was eight hundred dollars. That was way over her budget, he knew.
Sam dropped the tag and picked Charlie up.
"How about we talk to that lady?" Freddie suggested. "Maybe we can talk her down on the price."
"Unless you can talk her down to three hundred, Fredward, I can't afford it."
She turned and gasped, quickly handing the baby to him. She walked over to a dresser that matched the crib perfectly. Sam ran her hand over the top of it and opened the top drawer.
"I can see the room," she said softly as Freddie came up behind her. "We could paint the walls a really light purple, the crib would go by the wall…" She picked up the price tag to the dresser. It was four hundred.
"Well, we can always try Okeo," she said and Freddie hated the resignation in her voice.
He looked at the crib, the idea that had started forming in his mind at the baby store taking an even clearer shape.
"Sam, Charlie's turning a month old, isn't she?" He asked.
"Yeah, in three days according to the birth certificate Melanie so kindly left me. Why?"
"Uh, nothing. I thought we'd get her a cake."
"Julie will want to make it. She's weirdly obsessive about cakes."
Freddie remembered the gag cake that Julie had made for Sam's nineteenth birthday. It was shaped to look like a certain part of a man's anatomy. He flushed in embarrassment just thinking about it. Sam read it on his face and burst out laughing.
"You have got to get over that, Freddie."
He remembered the knife that Sam had put through the cake, cutting it into strategic pieces, and shuddered. There was not one guy present at the party whose balls did not crawl up their body in protest and horror. Julie was an artist and that was a very lifelike looking cake.
"You alright? You're looking pale." Sam was still laughing at him.
He scowled at her. "Let's just get out of here."
Sam stopped laughing and took one last long look at the crib. "Yeah, let's."
Freddie had a plan but he had very little time in which to execute it, and that meant he was going to need all of the help that he could get.
Carly walked through the door of her apartment and Freddie looked up from where he was making various lists on several pads of paper on the coffee table.
"What is it, Freddie?" She asked. "What did you need to talk to me about that's so urgent?"
"What would you say if I told you that I need you to help me plan a party in three days?"
"I'd say you're insane and it can't be done."
"What would you say if I said that it's for Sam's baby shower and Charlie's one month birthday?"
She looked at him, her lips pursed in a way he knew meant that a million ideas and plans were running at rapid speed through her head. "I'd say, Freddie Benson, that you called the right girl."
He grinned widely and she sat down beside him, barely glancing at his list before starting her own.
Sam was going to get the surprise of her life.