Chapter Five
Freddie had a little over twenty four hours until the party and panic was starting to set in. He knew that Sam was starting to suspect something and he could skirt around her and make excuses as long as she didn't start asking any direct questions. Freddie was a notoriously bad liar, especially to Sam.
With one last kiss to Charlie, Sam was out the door and on her way to work.
Freddie took out his cell phone and typed in a quick text: She's gone. Five minutes.
He took Charlie to Sam's room and got her dressed, then he got her stroller ready for her. He had just rolled her out to the living room when the knock on the door came, right on cue. Freddie opened it.
"Remember, you have until exactly five o' clock," he said to Spencer, standing on the other side. "I want everyone cleared out of here before Sam gets home."
"Gotcha boss," Spencer saluted.
Freddie stood aside as Spencer yelled "Forward Ho!" and he and a big crew of people, largely the same crew that had rebuilt Carly's room after the fire, walked by carrying paint tins, a ladder, and other equipment. When the last person had disappeared inside Charlie's room, he pushed her stroller out, leaving Spencer and his people to it. He had his own job to do.
"Vanilla milkshake and a corn dog," Sam said as she set down the food in front of Mr. Obermeyer. He was a kind middle aged man who lived on the fourth floor of Bushwell and had become a regular at Gibby's, coming in almost every day at the end of the lunch rush to sneak in a snack that his wife disapproved of since Mr. O had some weight problems.
"Thank you, Sam," he smiled.
"You know, when you're in the mood to be really daring, you should try the chocolate milkshake. I'll even throw in some extra whipped cream on top for you."
"Oh…" He laughed nervously, his eyes shifting guiltily. "Maybe tomorrow," he whispered.
"Atta boy," Sam winked.
She took out a rag and started wiping down the other end of the now empty counter. It was nearing one-thirty and the lunch crowd was clearing out, beginning the slow lull between two and four when only a handful of customers trickled in. Normally Sam welcomed this time of day where she could breathe and relax for a bit before she left for school. But today she had welcomed the distraction of the lunch rush just so she didn't have to keep thinking about how weird Freddie had been acting lately.
He was hiding something from her, she could feel it. First he had left abruptly when they got home from crib shopping on Sunday. They were going to watch an MMA match after they had put Charlie to bed but he said he had a headache and bailed. Sam might not have thought anything about it but the next day Freddie had arrived half an hour late to watch Charlie. Sam had begun to panic when fifteen minutes past eleven had gone by and she couldn't contact Freddie. She was about to call the restaurant to let them know she wasn't coming in and then call Mrs. Benson to see if that chip in his head still worked, when Freddie had shown up, out of breath and apologetic. Sam didn't have time to interrogate him and when she got home later that night he'd made an excuse about Spencer needing him and left right away.
Sam knew it was happening now. What she'd been expecting, and fearing, all along. Freddie was realizing that taking care of a baby was too much to deal with. Any day now he'll just bail on them completely. Maybe he'll make an excuse about how he had to focus on school and on work. It saddened her, more than she thought it would since she was expecting it all along. This was going to be it, the final nail on the Sam and Freddie saga. As much as she lo-cared about him, if Freddie couldn't accept Charlie as a permanent fixture in his life, then Sam couldn't be with him. She and Charlie came as a packaged deal now. Maybe it wasn't fair to ask a nineteen year old guy to pretty much be a dad to a baby that wasn't his but Sam didn't ask for this either. She'd just have to permanently bury that deep seated spark of hope she always had that she and Freddie would find their way back to each other. She'd have to erase him from her heart completely. Sam's hand clenched tightly around the rag that was now just circling the same spot on the counter over and over.
"I think that spot is as clean as it's going to get."
Sam looked up to see a customer, someone she'd never seen before, smiling at her.
"Unless you're planning to forgo plates and start serving food right here on the table," he continued.
"What can I get for you?" Sam asked, not really in the mood to banter with this dude. Although she had to admit he wasn't bad to look at. He was tall and lean, with light brown hair that stood up in short spikes. He had a bit of preppy look about him, wearing the same type of button down polo that Freddie usually wears, and black framed glasses. She'd put him in his early to mid-twenties.
"What's good here?" He asked, picking up a menu.
"Everything's good here."
"That is the word on the street. Bit of an eccentric menu you have. Tater tots on the appetizers, lasagna on the specials…Burgers, BLT made with Bolivian bacon…" He put the menu down and looked up at her. "Tell me, how did you choose the type of food you would serve?"
Sam shrugged. "I serve the food that my friends and I like to eat."
"It's also an interesting set up you have here, kind of a cross between an old fashioned diner and a restaurant."
"We have more of a diner atmosphere during the day and restaurant atmosphere at night," Sam explained. "The idea was that this could be a sort of hang out for kids during the day but also a place you can have a date at."
The guy's lips quirked up. "That's pretty cool. Was it your idea?"
"Yep. But really, dude, you need to order."
"I'll have the spaghetti tacos and red pepper lemonade. I hear those are original house specials."
"You heard right," Sam said as she wrote down the order.
"Spaghetti tacos…That originated on iCarly, right?"
Sam handed the order slip to Martin, who was passing behind her, and really looked at the guy. The hair on the back of her neck was prickling. This wasn't just a random customer who happened in here, this dude had an agenda.
"My best friend's brother invented it and we brought it on iCarly. Who are you?"
He laughed. "I'm sorry, I'm being so rude. My name is Garrett Anderson." He held out his hand and Sam warily shook it.
"No need to introduce yourself, I know you're the famous Sam Puckett."
"Some people might say infamous."
He grinned. He had really white teeth, Sam couldn't help noticing.
"I have to confess something," he motioned for her to lean in and she did. "I've eaten here before," he whispered.
Sam rolled her eyes and straightened up.
"Your food is delicious and I've been a bit of a fan since iCarly."
"You're not some creepy stalker dude, are you? Because I will put you in the hospital."
"No, not a stalker. Just a fan."
Martin came back with the food and Sam took it from him, setting it down in front of Garrett.
"Well, enjoy your meal," she said, preparing to leave him to it. She needed to be heading to school now.
"Actually, there's something that I wanted to propose to you."
"Propose?" Sam sighed. "You didn't recently try the BLT, did you?"
"No," he chuckled. " I don't mean that kind of proposal."
"Good. You wouldn't believe how many marriage proposals I've gotten just because of that Bolivian bacon."
"I'd believe it. But I wanted to ask you if you've ever thought of franchising?"
"Franchising?"
"Setting up branches of Gibby's in other places."
"I know what franchising is!"
"Okay, sorry. If you want to do it, I'm the man to help you," he said cockily.
Sam had heard enough from this guy. "I'm not interested."
"Wait, wait!" He took out a large envelope from a briefcase on the stool next to him. "Before you reject the idea out of hand, read this. It'll give you more information on who I am, the company I represent, and what I envision for Gibby's. This can be big, Sam. Really big."
"I'm happy with how Gibby's is now," she said. "I don't buy into that bigger is better philosophy. It was invented by hopelessly insecure men."
"That may be so. It doesn't mean that you shouldn't at least take a look at this. There's a lot of profit to be made in franchising."
"Of course there is, it's selling out!"
"It's making a name for yourself," he countered. "But wait. That seems to be the one thing you're afraid of."
Sam glared at him. Who did this guy think he is? If her patience ran thin, his face would be meeting her left fist.
"I'm not afraid of anything," she growled.
"iCarly? And now Gibby's? Why not call the restaurant Sam's? As I understand it, you're the heart, soul, and brains behind this joint. A lot of fans would say you were the soul behind iCarly as well. And yet you put your friends front and center, giving them the name and the limelight. Why are you so afraid to step out on your own, Sam? To make your name known, the first thing people hear and recognize?"
"Get out," she said through gritted teeth.
He smiled and it made Sam's blood boil. "I've struck a nerve."
"Listen buddy, I'm this close to punching you in the face repeatedly and pouring that red pepper lemonade over your open wounds. You seem to think you know me. If you do then you know this isn't an empty threat. The only thing stopping me right now is the lawsuit you could slap on me, so you better get out of here before I just stop caring."
He nodded but he didn't look scared at all and Sam clenched her hands very tightly together in front of her. Garrett took out his wallet and put a twenty on the counter beside his untouched food and stood up.
"It was nice to finally meet you, Sam," he smiled and walked away before she could say anything else.
Sam put her hands on the counter and breathed and out, fighting the anger boiling in her veins. He had left the envelope on the counter and the spaghetti tacos were untouched.
She took one of the tacos and bit into it. No sense in letting good food go to waste.
Freddie had just stepped off the elevator onto the eighth floor of Bushwell and was pushing Charlie's stroller down the hall to Spencer's apartment where he was meeting Carly to go over the last minute preparations for the party, when he ran into the last person he wanted to see at the moment. His mother.
Marissa looked at him, looked at the stroller in front of him, went around to look inside of it. And then fainted.
"Mom! Mom!" Freddie said as her body made a big thud on the floor. He kneeled beside her and shook her shoulders. "Mom, wake up!"
She opened her eyes, looking dazed. She caught sight of the stroller again.
"Fredward Benson! Tell me you did not have a child with that-that delinquent girl!"
Freddie sighed and helped his mom up. "She's not a delinquent anymore, Mom. You know that. And no, that's not mine and Sam's baby. Not biologically anyway."
Marissa didn't seem to hear him. "I knew it!" She wailed. "I knew something like this would happen if you moved out!"
Freddie looked at Carly's door and reluctantly opened the door to his mom's apartment. He pushed Charlie's stroller through the doorway while simultaneously pulling on his mom's arm.
"Explain this Fredward," Marissa demanded once she had closed the door behind her.
Freddie looked down at Charlie, sleeping soundly in her stroller. He tucked her blanket tightly around her and stroked her hair. He still couldn't get over how beautiful she was, and how much she reminded him of Sam. His mom cleared her throat and he looked up at her, remembering that he was in pretty hot water at the moment.
"I'll explain everything, Mom, but you need to keep your voice down so that we don't wake Charlie."
"Who is that baby?" She cried.
"She's Melanie's baby. Melanie is Sam's twin sister."
Marissa rolled her eyes. "Oh give me a break, Freddie! Sam doesn't have a twin!"
"Yes, she does."
"Then how come I've never seen this twin?"
"She's been in boarding school since the fourth grade and she hardly ever comes home to visit. Look, I know how it sounds, okay? I didn't believe it either when Sam first told me back in high school but Melanie is real and she had a baby with her boyfriend who abandoned her when he found out she was pregnant. She brought the baby here and left her with Sam to raise because she can't do it herself."
Marissa sat down on the couch. "And what about you? Where do you come into this?"
Freddie sat down beside her. "I've been helping Sam. I stay with Charlie after my classes so that Sam can work and go to school."
"I always knew that girl was trouble," Marissa said, rubbing her forehead. "I always knew she'd lead you astray."
"Mom, none of this is Sam's fault!" Freddie argued. "She didn't ask for a baby. She's stepping up and taking responsibility for her family. I thought you, of all people, would respect that."
"I do. I commend her for it. I just don't know why you have to be dragged into this. A baby, Fredward? Do you even know how much responsibility this is?"
"Considering that I've been feeding her, bathing her, and changing her diapers for the last week? Yeah, I think I do."
"You are nineteen, Freddie. You are not ready for this. Raising a baby is work, it's expensive, and it's a lifetime commitment," Marissa explained, desperation coating her voice. "I'm glad that Sam is taking responsibility for her niece but that means that she is essentially a single mother-"
"She's not," Freddie interrupted.
"What?"
"Sam's not a single mother," he said. "She has me."
"Freddie…"
"I mean it, mom. I love Sam and I've honestly fallen in love with Charlie." He looked towards the stroller. "I can't imagine my life without them. I know you think I'm too young to make this kind of commitment but it's not even a choice. It's just…it's Sam. I want to be with her, and if being with her means that we have to raise a baby then I'll love Charlie like she's my own. I already love her like she's my own."
Marissa studied her son, the determination in his voice, the softness in his eyes when he talked about Sam and Charlie. Whenever she looked at her son, she couldn't help but see the tiny toddler that he once was, his hair sticking up wildly despite her constant efforts to tame it, the way he wouldn't let go of his little toy laptop that she had bought for him. That was her Freddie, the image that she clung to. But now she couldn't deny that sitting before her was a man. He was no longer her little boy, he was a man who was ready to start a family of his own.
The baby started crying and Freddie immediately picked her up, cradling her to his chest and whispering soothingly to her until she quieted down. Marissa watched this and felt immensely proud. She had raised this man, after all. But a part of her couldn't help but be terrified.
"Come home, Freddie," she said desperately.
He looked up at her and smiled. "Not a chance, mom."
"Well I had to try," she sighed.
Sam was exhausted. She was so distracted that she completely botched the cream puffs she was supposed to make in her pastry class and she had to stay after class to fix them and salvage her grade for that project. Although for the life of her she couldn't figure out how her dough got so runny, she was sure she had measured everything correctly the first time.
She hadn't stopped by the restaurant so she didn't have dinner but she figured that Freddie would just skip out on her again (for the fourth night in a row, not that she was counting) and she could reheat last night's leftovers. Really, she just wanted to cuddle with Charlie and go to sleep. This had not been a good week and she was only halfway through it.
She opened the door to her apartment to find that it was completely pitch black. Her heart dropped, where were Freddie and Charlie? Before the panic could set in, the lights switched on and Sam found herself completely surrounded by her friends.
"Surprise!" They yelled.
Carly came running over and hugged her.
"What's all this?" Sam asked.
"It's your baby shower! And Charlie's one month birthday!"
Sam looked around, searching for Charlie. Because of her distraction at work and with Freddie, and the busyness of school, she'd completely forgotten that Charlie was one month old today. She felt so bad, how could she forget?
Freddie came over, holding Charlie, who was wearing a sky blue dress with a matching butterfly clip in her hair.
"Surprise," he said, grinning at her.
"You did this?"
"With a lot of help from Carly, yeah."
"So this is what you've been doing? Planning this?"
He looked sheepish. "Yeah."
She took Charlie from him, cuddling her and pressing her nose to her cheek.
"Happy one month, baby," she said. "You've gotten so big." And she has. She already felt twice as heavy as the first time Sam held her that night that Melanie left.
Sam didn't notice that she was crying until she felt the wetness on Charlie's cheek. She looked up to see Freddie watching her, concern etched across his face.
"Hey," he said gently, taking her arm and leading her to her bedroom. "What's wrong? Don't you like the surprise?"
She wiped the pesky tears away with one hand. "I do! It's great. It's just…" She looked down at Charlie, her beautiful, precious baby who was getting bigger every day. "I forgot. I forgot that it's her one month birthday today."
"Sam, that's not your fault. You've been busy and I know my acting weird these past couple of days hasn't helped. To be honest, I was hoping you would be distracted enough that you'd forget."
"But what kind of person forgets this sort of thing? What kind of…" She looked at Charlie. "What kind of mom?"
"Sam…"
"My mom always forgot my birthday. The one time she remembered was the year that she took us bowling in the parking lot of El Taco Guapo. And that was only because Melanie called and demanded that mom give her permission to go to the Hamptons for her birthday."
"Sam," Freddie stepped in front of her and took her by the arms. "You are nothing like your mom, trust me."
The door opened and Carly popped her head in. "Freddie! Why are you hogging Sam and Charlie? Get out here guys, we've got cake and presents."
Sam and Freddie followed her out to the kitchen where there was an adorable purple cake in the shape of a bunny sitting on the counter. It said 'Happy One Month, Charlie' on the bunny's stomach. Julie stood over the cake, grinning at her.
Sam narrowed her eyes. "I thought you were sick."
"Sorry for missing work today, boss. I was commissioned to do something else."
"It looks amazing, Jules."
"It's a masterpiece!" Spencer said, looking down at the cake in awe. "Can we eat it? I wanna eat that little bunny head…"
"Not yet!" Carly pushed her brother away from the cake. "Not until we get pictures."
She held up her professional digital camera that she'd started playing around with after she'd taken a photography class in the second semester of her freshman year. Freddie had left her side but was now back with a small video camera in his hands.
Sam looked around the apartment, taking in the decorations, the big pile of presents in the living room, and pretty much all of her friends from work gathered around the small space.
Gibby came ambling over and pressed a kiss to Charlie's head. "Hope you don't mind we closed the restaurant a little early today," he said. "Everyone wanted to be here."
"I don't mind. But what if I had stopped by there before coming home? I would have seen that it was closed."
"Ah," he smiled mysteriously. "We took care of that."
Sam's skin prickled. "What did you do?"
Gibby's smile dropped and he held up his hands. "It was Freddie's idea, I swear!"
"What was it, Gibby?"
"He may have bribed one of your classmates into sabotaging your project today so that you'd have to stay late in class."
Sam looked over at Freddie where he was filming people with his little, but no doubt very high def, camera. Annoyance and pride warred within her. On the one hand, he could have made her fail that project. On the other hand, she was impressed and a little bit proud at the deviousness of the plan and how he had managed to pull this whole thing off right under her nose.
"Come on, Sam!" Carly said, pulling her around the counter. "I want a picture of you and Charlie with the cake."
Sam tilted her arms up a little so that Carly could get a clear shot of the baby's face and happily posed with her. Freddie stood beside Carly and filmed the whole thing. She took a tiny bit of frosting from the cake and put it on Charlie's nose and then licked it off, all while Carly's camera clicked away.
"Go over there and join them," Carly said to Freddie and pushed him. "I want pictures of the three of you."
Freddie obediently went around the counter and stood beside her.
"Oh you guys are so cute!" Carly cried.
"Carls…" Sam warned.
Freddie put an arm around her. "Come on, let her have her fun," he said into her ear.
Sam flushed as she felt his warm breath in her ear, the heat of his body pressing into her side, the comforting weight of his arm around her shoulders.
Eventually, the picture mania ended and they cut the cake, to Spencer's sinister delight. They then gathered in the living room where Sam opened the presents. Freddie had been right about baby showers, it seemed that everything she needed for Charlie was taken care of in the presents. She almost wished they had thought to do this sooner.
After the presents, the party started winding down with people leaving one by one until it was just Freddie, Carly, Spencer, and Gibby left. It almost felt like high school again, with the five of them just hanging out and talking, until Sam looked down at Charlie sleeping beside her in her new baby seat.
"I still can't believe you guys have a baby," Spencer said.
"We don't have a baby," Sam corrected, looking at Freddie out of the corner of her eye. "We're taking care of a baby."
"Good thing you don't live with your mom anymore, Freddie," Spencer told him. "I hardly see you around at the apartment and I was getting worried, imagine how much she would have freaked out."
"My mom actually knows about Charlie now," Freddie said.
Everyone looked at him in surprise. "I ran into her in the hallway at Bushwell and I had Charlie with me. I kind of had to explain everything."
"Man, I would have paid to see the look on her face when she saw you with a baby," Sam said.
"She fainted."
Sam laughed.
"How's the apartment hunting going, Freddie?" Carly asked.
"Not so well," he grimaced. "It's hard to find a place in my price range and close to this area. If only there was an apartment open here or in Bushwell but every unit is taken."
"You could always wait for Old Man Donnelly to croak," Sam said, referring to the eighty-seven year old man that lived two floors below her. He was bedridden and had a nursing aid taking care of him twenty four-seven. The doctors had given him three months to live, that was back when Sam had moved in to the building more than a year ago. There were bets going on around the building about how long it would be until the poor guy bit the dust. Sam had her money on two more years.
"Sure, that'll happen sometime soon," Freddie said sarcastically.
"Why don't you move in with Sam?" Gibby asked. "You practically live here anyway, don't you?"
Freddie looked at her and laughed nervously. Spencer and Carly both laughed.
"The potato has a point," Sam conceded. Freddie looked at her, shocked. "Too bad there's no room for you, Fredwich. Charlie already claimed the spare bedroom."
"Speaking of Charlie's room, I think it's time for your last surprise of the night," Freddie said.
Sam looked around at the eager and knowing faces of her friends, wondering what more they could possibly surprise her with.
"Come on." he stood up and held out his hand to her. Sam took it and he pulled her up from the floor. To her surprise, he didn't let go and simply tugged her in the direction of the bedrooms.
"Carly, bring the baby," Freddie said over his shoulder.
He took her to the door of Charlie's room, opened it and turned on the light. Sam's breath caught in her throat.
The crib from the antique store was there in the corner of the room, exactly where she imagined it would be. Across from it was the matching dresser and beside the window was a rocking chair that Sam didn't remember seeing but matched the crib perfectly. The walls were painted a very light purple with flowered designs stenciled in. It was all so gorgeous and exactly what she had pictured that day in the antique store.
She turned to Freddie, her eyes bright.
"Do you like it?" He asked nervously.
She threw her arms around him, hugging him tight.
"Hey!" Spencer said. "I helped too!"
Sam pulled away and smiled at him.
"He did," Freddie confirmed. "He painted."
"Yeah!" Spencer pumped his arm.
Sam leaned in close to Freddie. "He didn't put together the crib, did he?" She asked, her voice low.
"No, he didn't touch any of the furniture. I made sure."
She breathed in relief. Spencer's unusual talent for setting random things on fire usually amused her but she didn't want to take any chances when it came to Charlie.
Carly held the baby in her arms and Sam carefully took her, making sure not to wake her, and placed her inside the crib. The mattress already had a fresh purple sheet on it and was lined with stuffed animals. Freddie came up beside her and unfolded the purple blanket and tucked it around Charlie.
"She looks perfect in there," she whispered.
"She does," Freddie agreed.
"I can't believe you did this. How did you even afford it?"
"I do have a job, Sam. Consider it my present to both you and Charlie."
"But…" She shook her head. "Thank you," she said, leaning her head on her shoulder.
"Um, guys," Carly said gently. Sam turned around, surprised that there wasn't anybody else in the room now. "We're gonna go."
Sam walked over and hugged her. "Thank you, Carls."
They walked to the front door arm in arm, where Gibby and Spencer were waiting, and Sam hugged and thanked each of them in turn.
"You coming, Freddie?" Spencer asked.
"Uh yeah," he said, looking at Sam. "See you tomorrow."
"Are you going to start staying for dinner again?"
He smiled. "Definitely."
He leaned in and Sam thought for a moment that he was going to kiss her. She closed her eyes, her heart beating impossibly fast in her chest. She expected to feel his lips on hers, but felt them press against her forehead instead. She opened her eyes, trying not to show her disappointment.
"Good night, Sam," he murmured.
"Night," she whispered back.
She closed the door behind him and pressed her forehead to the door.
Apparently she couldn't have been more wrong about Freddie's reason for acting so strangely these past few days. Instead of pulling away, he was planning this wonderful surprise for her and Charlie. Sam had to stand there for several minutes, reminding herself of all the reasons that she shouldn't be with Freddie. Because, really, her willpower was getting weaker and weaker.
A/N: Hi! I wanted to thank you all for continuing to read and review. I can't believe this story has over 50 reviews already. School is about to get pretty crazy for the next two weeks as I head into finals and the final homestretch of this semester, so updates might not happen so frequently. I am devoted to this story, however, and have exciting plans for the next couple of chapters, so I don't want you to worry that I won't be seeing this through.
Also, I wanted to give a special thanks to the Cabal for welcoming me into their group of wonderful writers. It's truly an honor, I can only hope I live up to it. :)
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