Chapter Fourteen

"Okay, so I talked to Abby and she and Martin can help you put up the decorations tomorrow morning," Sam said. "Spencer and Gibby will be there as well. Charlie really likes bubbles and Spencer said that Socko has a huge bubble machine. Please, please, please make sure Spencer doesn't do anything to alter it or even touch it."

"How about I call Socko and tell him to bring it straight to the restaurant?" Carly asked.

"Yeah. That would be better. T-Bo said he wants to bring some stuff on a stick, can you make sure its nothing too crazy? And there are going to be kids there, so also make sure he snaps off the sharp ends before he brings them in."

Carly quickly jotted down notes on her notepad. "Got it." She nodded.

"Spencer has been trying to convince me and Freddie for weeks to let him hire some singing clown but Charlie really hates clowns. We took her to the fair a month ago and one gave her a balloon and she just cried and cried and we had to take her home."

"No clowns," Carly said. "Don't worry, I'll have a word with my crazy brother."

"Okay, music. Have you listened to the music that Ian put together? Will you remind him to only have kid friendly stuff? It's not like Charlie will understand but some of the people who are bringing their kids might be bothered."

"Ian knows, you've reminded him enough." Carly put down her notepad and pen. "Sam, I can't believe I'm saying this but you need to relax. You're being...well, you're being like me."

"I just want it to be perfect," Sam sighed. "It's her one year birthday party, Carls. My baby is a year old."

"I know." Carly smiled. "I should go, I need to stop by Spencer's and make sure he hasn't burned half the decorations or something. But you should get some rest, Sam. Don't spend the night obsessing. I'll take care of the little details and everything will be perfect tomorrow, I promise."

"Okay," Sam said, stepping forward to hug her best friend. "Thanks Carls."

She walked Carly to the door and looked around the quiet apartment. Freddie had a meeting with some new clients and he wasn't back yet and Charlie was asleep. Now that Charlie was moving around and talking, this apartment rarely saw any peace and quiet. Sam made her way to Charlie's room, carefully stepping over the hallway baby fence.

Charlie was sleeping in her crib. The beautiful wooden crib that Freddie had bought. It wouldn't be too long now that Charlie would be too big for the crib and they would have to get her a bed. She was growing so fast. Sam couldn't believe it, it was like the entire year had zoomed by. She could still remember the day she had first crawled, and when she took her first steps. She and Freddie had both cried. Now it wouldn't be long until Charlie could completely walk on her own and wouldn't need the furniture to help her or a hand to hold. But hands down, the best moment so far this year was Charlie's first word.

Since Charlie had started regularly babbling and making baby sounds, Sam and Freddie had been in a competition to try and get Charlie's first real word to be "Mama" or "Dada". Freddie had the advantage of being home with Charlie all day during her waking hours but Sam liked to think that she and Charlie had a special mother-daughter bond and she was determined to win. They would each spend hours with Charlie, saying "Mama" or "Dada" over and over again, trying to get the baby to repeat the word. Sam and Freddie had never made an official bet of it but they both knew that whoever won would get infinite bragging rights. They never would have predicted what Charlie's first word actually would be.

Sam had been practicing a complicated black forest cake recipe in the kitchen that she needed to perfect for her class, while Freddie sat on a stool with Charlie trying to get her to say "Dada".

"I hate working with shortening," Sam grumbled as she prepared the batter, dropping an entire stick of shortening into the mixing bowl.

"Dada...Come on Charlie, say dada..." said Freddie, as he held Charlie under her arms so that she was standing on his knees.

"Stop that," Sam snapped. "Don't force her, you're probably annoying her."

"You try to get her to say mama all the time! You spent two hours straight last night repeating the word to her."

"Her first word should be mama. I held her first, I have dibs!"

"That's not how it works," Freddie protested. "Dada..." He said to Charlie. All she did was smile and reached out to grab his nose.

"Yes, that's dada's nose," Freddie said. He lightly pinched Charlie's nose. "That's Charlie's nose. Can you say nose?"

"Now that's just pathetic." Sam rolled her eyes. "Her first word is not going to be nose."

"Aa...ba...ba..." Charlie cooed, stomping her feet on Freddie's thighs.

Sam dropped her spoon to stare at Charlie but was disappointed when the baby didn't say anything more.

Freddie grinned widely though. "She said baba! That's close to dada. She's getting there. He wrapped an arm around Charlie's waist and held her close. "Say dada..." He said to her. "Come on Charlie, dada..."

Sam went back to her cake, pouring the rest of the ingredients into the mixing bowl. She turned the stand mixer on but let out a yelp when the batter suddenly sprayed all over the place. She quickly turned it off but most of the cake batter was splattered all over Sam's apron and a good deal was on her face and hair.

"Chiz!" She yelled as she attempted to wipe herself off with a towel.

Freddie and Charlie both stared at her, and Freddie was trying really hard to hold in his laughter.

"I think you turned the speed on too high," he said.

"You think?" Sam glared at him.

"Hey, Sam, you've got a little something here..." He pointed at his face, no longer able to contain his laughter at his girlfriend's chocolate smeared face.

"Yeah, laugh it up Benson," she growled. "We'll see how funny it is when you're sleeping on the couch."

Freddie stopped laughing.

"Sorry," he said, his lips still twitching. "No, really, I'm sorry!" He said when Sam kept glaring at him. "Why don't you jump in the shower and I'll clean up here?"

Sam looked down at the messy counter and her nearly empty bowl. "I guess I can't salvage much from this," she sighed.

"Try again tomorrow," Freddie encouraged. "You were tired anyway, since you've been at work all day."

"Yeah all right," Sam agreed, taking off her apron and tossing it on the counter.

She had just turned away when a little sound caught her attention.

"Chish!"

Sam turned back. "Did she just say...?"

"Chiss..." Charlie gurgled happily, smiling up at Freddie.

Sam and Freddie looked at her and then at each other.

"She said her first word!" Sam cried, rushing over to take Charlie.

"Yeah...but..." Freddie weakly protested as Sam kissed Charlie's cheek, smearing chocolate on her.

"Who's a big girl?" Sam cooed. "Who can talk now?"

"Sam..." Freddie tried to cut in.

"I should call Carly! What are you just sitting there for? Get your video camera! Isn't it practically glued to your hand? Why didn't you have it for this?"

Freddie opened his mouth but Sam quickly pushed the baby back into his arms.

"I'm going to get my phone, try to get her to talk again so Carly can hear!" Sam ran to the bedroom and was back a minute later, her phone up to her ear.

"Carly!" Sam cried. "Charlie said her first word! Yeah, she did! Just now. Hold on, I'm going to try to get her to talk again." She pressed the speaker button and held the phone near Charlie's face.

"Come on baby, can you talk again? Let Aunt Carly hear you..."

Charlie turned her face away from the phone, her hand fisting on Freddie's shirt collar.

"Is she saying something?" Carly asked. "I don't hear anything."

"No, I don't think there'll be a repeat performance tonight," Sam said. "Sorry Carls."

"Well, who won then? Did she say mama or dada?"

Sam and Freddie looked at each other, it seemed to dawn on Sam suddenly exactly what Charlie's first word was.

"Um, she didn't say either," Freddie answered.

"What did she say then?"

Freddie raised an eyebrow to Sam, silently telling her to answer.

"She said chiz..."

"What?" Carly asked.

"My baby's first word was chiz," Sam said, sitting down on a stool. "Her first word is technically a bad word..."

They could hear Carly laughing through the phone.

"Yeah, that sounds about right," she said.

"Technically, it was your fault," Freddie told Sam.

"Shut up, nub," she snapped.

"Naabb..." Charlie said.

Freddie's eyes widened, Sam slapped her forehead and Carly laughed hysterically through the phone.

Sam had felt horrible for hours afterward, but Freddie convinced her that it wasn't a big deal, Charlie was just repeating sounds she heard and there was no big hidden meaning to a baby's first words despite what the parenting magazines in the pediatrician's office said. Sam felt better after Freddie's talk but what really cheered her up was when Charlie said "mama" two days later. Whenever anyone asked, that's what Sam claimed her first word was. Or even when they didn't ask. Of course, she also said "dada" a few minutes later but Sam didn't let Freddie forget that she came first.

Sam stared at Charlie, sleeping so peacefully. She was so big now but it felt like just yesterday when Sam had held her for the first time. How did time move so fast? Charlie was quickly leaving infancy now; she was walking, talking, eating baby food, and outgrowing clothes almost faster than Sam could buy them. Soon she'd be potty training and then going to daycare and she wouldn't be a baby anymore. The thought made Sam's heart clench painfully and her eyes sting with tears.

"Hey," a voice said softly behind her.

Sam quickly tried to wipe away her tears but she wasn't fast enough for Freddie's eyes.

"Hey, what's wrong?" He asked, walking up behind her and wrapping his arms around her waist.

"Nothing," she said.

"Sam..."

"It's just...Charlie's getting so big."

"Yeah, that's generally what babies do." Freddie smiled.

Sam sighed. "It's just happening so fast! One minute she was this tiny baby and now she's a year old. Soon she'll be potty training and going to school and then she'll be old enough...well, she'll be old enough to know that we're not her real parents. What are we supposed to tell her, Freddie?"

Freddie turned Sam around to face him. "First of all, we are her real parents. Granted, we're not her biological parents but Charlie is our daughter in every way that matters. When she's older, we'll have to try to make her understand that. But that's still a long way away. We have time, Sam," he said, pushing a strand of hair behind her ear and caressing her cheek.

Sam nodded, wrapping her arms around Freddie's waist and resting her head on his shoulder.

"Carly told me you've been obsessing about the party."

"I want it to be perfect," Sam mumbled into his neck.

"And it will be. You've done everything you can to make sure that it will be an amazing birthday party. Tonight I want you to just relax. How about I draw you a bubble bath?"

Sam leaned back to look at him. "You like bubble baths more than I do and that's because you're the girl in this relationship."

"I like bubble baths when I take them with you! It's not like I take them by myself," he defended. "And how about I make you a ham sandwich to eat in the bath?"

"How about three sandwiches?"

"Of course." Freddie smiled, kissing her nose. "Come on." He took her hand and led her out of the room.

"Are you sure you're not just trying to get me naked, Freddifer?"

"Well, there is that..."

X

Freddie rolled over expecting to find a warm body to cuddle into, instead he was met with empty space. He opened his eyes. It was still dark in the room but Sam was nowhere in sight. He sat up and looked at the bright red numbers of the clock. It read 3:17.

Freddie pushed the comforter off of himself and got out of bed. He had two guesses as to where Sam could be. After a quick stop to the bathroom, he made his way to the place of his first guess. Charlie's room.

The door was wide open and sure enough, there was Sam sitting in the rocking chair, a small blanket in her lap. She slowly rocked backward and forward, staring into the crib where Charlie lay, fast asleep.

"Sam," Freddie whispered, coming over to kneel next to her. "What are you doing?"

"I wanted to be here when she turned one," Sam said softly.

"You've been here since twelve?" He asked incredulously.

Sam nodded.

"And she hasn't woken up?"

"Just for a diaper change. But I got to say happy birthday."

"Then how about we go back to bed?" Freddie asked. "Charlie won't be up for hours yet."

Sam looked down at him, running her hands through his hair gently.

"Go back to bed," she said. "I think I'll stay."

Freddie shook his head but positioned himself so that he was sitting indian style at Sam's feet and leaned back to rest against her legs. He may not understand Sam's whims sometimes but it didn't mean that he didn't want to be wherever she was, no matter what.

"What are you doing, Freddie?"

"Same thing you're doing," he replied. "Watching our one year old baby sleep."

Freddie couldn't see Sam's expression but he knew he must have done something right when he felt Sam leave a lingering kiss on the top of his head. She continued to run her hand through his hair as they sat there watching Charlie. Freddie had to admit, this was just as nice as lying in bed with Sam. As long as he was with Sam and Charlie, he could be happy anywhere.

And that was why he was thinking of doing the most insane thing he could possibly do. But he tried not to think about that as he sat there and enjoyed the feel of Sam's fingers lightly massaging his scalp. He just kept his eyes on Charlie and watched the gentle rhythm of her breathing.

X

Carly couldn't believe her eyes. Gibby's had been completely transformed. The tables and chairs had been set aside and decorations were up. Charlie loved animals so the party had a safari/marine theme, with pictures and banners of all of Charlie's favorite animals: elephants, giraffes, dolphins, and otters. It was hard to find this mixture of animals at party stores and when several sales clerks tried to force princess themes onto Sam at several of the stores they went to with the result of Sam threatening bodily harm on them with the use of said princess decorations, Carly thought up the solution of having Spencer draw the animal designs and they would just custom make the decorations.

When Carly set out for the restaurant she thought she'd have her work cut out for her but Sam was already there, supervising her staff, as well as Spencer and Gibby, as they put up decorations.

She walked over to Freddie and lightly hit his shoulder with the back of her hand. "Freddie! You were supposed to keep Sam away until the party started."

He held his hands up. "I tried! But I couldn't get her to stay home." He turned his attention back to the helium pump that he was using to blow up balloons.

"Well, where's Charlie?"

"She's with my mom. Sam's going to pick her up and get her dressed right before the party starts."

Carly sighed in resignation. "I guess I'll go wrestle my job from Sam..."

"I think she'll hand it over gladly. She's been eager to get to the kitchen, but she doesn't want to leave these, and I quote, 'doofuses' unsupervised."

"What about you?" Carly asked.

"I think I fall under the doofus category."

"Right." Carly laughed. "Well, I'll leave you to your balloons."

"Wait." Freddie grabbed her arm and looked over at Sam, who was facing away from them and talking to a couple of people. "Can I talk to you for a sec?"

"Uh, sure."

"Not here." He led Carly to the hallway, careful to keep out of Sam's sight, and into Sam's office where he gently closed the door behind them.

"Okay, what's with the secrecy?" Carly asked.

Freddie took a deep breath. "I want to ask Sam to marry me."

Carly's eyes bugged out. "WHAT?"

"Shhh!" Freddie looked towards the door.

"What?" She asked at a more normal volume.

"I know, it sounds crazy and maybe it's a bit soon-"

"Um, yeah! Freddie, you're twenty years old! You're both still in school!" She cried.

He gestured with his hands for her to keep it down. "I know all of that. And I know I've told Sam that this marriage stuff wouldn't be until one day in the future. But we've been together for nearly a year now and...this is it for me, Carly. I know Sam's the one. Why wait when I already know?"

"Because you're still young? Because you haven't graduated yet and...and..." Carly trailed off, trying to think of more reasons.

"And what? We're already living together, we're raising a kid together, we both have jobs. What would really change except that we'll be husband and wife, legally bound together? We're practically married already, you and Spencer tease us about it all the time, why not just get the piece of paper already?"

"Freddie, this is a huge decision," said Carly, still trying to think of ways to talk him out of this but she couldn't help but melt at the earnest, completely lovesick expression on his face. No, it was her duty as their best friend to talk Freddie and Sam out of doing crazy things. She was the voice of reason in their group, that was her job. But if they got married, she would for sure be the maid of honor and she could plan the bridal shower and pick out her dress...

Carly shook her head to snap out of it. She could see the triumph in Freddie's eyes. He knew that he had won her over.

He reached into the inside pocket of his jacket and took out a ring box.

Carly's eyes widened again. "You bought a ring?"

"Well, I can't propose without a ring, can I?"

"What, do you just carry it around with you?"

"No, I just brought it to show you. I'm going to bring it home later."

He opened the box and Carly was absolutely mesmerized by the princess cut diamond. It was a simple diamond set on a platinum band. It wasn't a large stone, just perfect for Sam's hand and it had two small diamonds set into the side of the middle stone.

"What do you think?" Freddie asked anxiously.

Carly put her hands over her mouth and blinked back a tear. "It's perfect," she said. "Oh, it's so perfect for Sam..."

He sighed in relief and closed the box, quickly putting it back in his pocket. Carly almost whimpered at the loss of the pretty stone. She didn't even get to touch it. But Freddie was talking and she had to pull herself out of her diamond induced haze to listen to what he was saying.

"...you have no idea how long I searched for a ring. I think I've been to every jewelry store in Seattle."

"Yeah yeah," Carly waved him off. "Freddie, I have a very important question and you have to answer me honestly."

He nodded seriously.

"How many karats is that diamond and how much was it?"

"Carly!" He admonished. "That's personal information!"

"That a best friend and a maid of honor should know. Frankly, I'm a little insulted that you didn't take me ring shopping with you."

"Because you would have fixated on one ring that YOU want, making it impossible for me to drag you out of the store and I would never have been able to find my ring for Sam."

"Well!" Carly frowned, trying to think of a counter to that argument.

The door opened and Freddie turned around quickly to face Sam, standing in the doorway.

"Carly, you're here!" She said happily but her expression quickly turned suspicious. "What are you guys doing?"

"We were uh..." Freddie looked to Carly for help.

"I was getting Freddie's opinion on my present for Charlie," Carly said, thinking quickly.

"And you need to do that in here?"

"It's just...a little loud out there," said Carly.

A loud yell from Spencer and a crash helpfully illustrated her point.

Sam looked out into the hallway. "Whatever," she said hurriedly. "Can you control your brother and the rest of the idiots out there, Carls? I need to go to the kitchen. And you," she pointed at Freddie. "Are you done with the balloons yet?"

"Almost," Freddie said.

"Well, hurry up!" She snapped. "Come on, people, the party starts in three hours! Vamonos!"

Carly and Freddie quickly walked past Sam and back into the main room of the restaurant.

"So that's what dictator Sam is like," Carly muttered to Freddie.

"Try living with her," he said.

"It must not be so bad. You want to do it forever."

Freddie grinned widely. "Yeah, I do."

Carly rolled her eyes at his goofy expression. "Get back to work or you might not live until tomorrow."

Freddie saluted and went back to his balloons and Carly turned around to see that Spencer had set part of a banner on fire. She grabbed a bucket of water that Sam conveniently had ready and waiting on top of a table. It was going to be a long day...

X

"Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you, happy birthday dear Charlie..."

Sam grinned as she held Charlie over her cake, the entire restaurant full of their friends singing to her baby.

"Happy birthday to you!"

She leaned over to blow out the candle for Charlie as everyone clapped.

"Cut the cake!" Carly said excitedly, putting down her camera for a moment to practically shove the knife into Sam's hand. "Freddie, get over here!"

Freddie handed his handheld video camera to Gibby beside him and walked over to the other side of the table.

"Okay, now you guys cut the cake as a family so I can take pictures," Carly said.

Freddie took the knife from Sam and positioned it over the cake. Sam adjusted Charlie's princess crown that was starting to fall over the baby's eyes and they smiled for Carly's camera.

"Mamaa..." Charlie said, once they had cut the cake and had started to pass it around to their friends.

Sam looked down. "What is it, baby?"

Charlie only cuddled into Sam's neck in response, rubbing her face sleepily against it.

"She's tired," Sam said to Freddie. "If I don't get her out of here and into bed, she's going to start throwing a fit soon."

Freddie smiled, knowing all too well how temperamental Charlie could get when she was tired and sleepy. It seemed to be a common trait among the women in the Puckett family, not that he would ever tell Sam about that particular observation.

"Take her home," he said. "Carly and I will hold down the fort here."

"But clean-up..." Sam protested. "I need to get this place back to normal for business tomorrow."

"Julie and Gibby will take care of it," he assured her. "And if you're really worried, then I'll go home once everyone leaves and you can come back here to check on how clean-up is going."

"Okay," Sam relented once Charlie let out a little whimper. "Thanks."

Freddie kissed her forehead and then the top of Charlie's head. "Go, I think the birthday girl has had enough excitement for one day."

After saying her round of goodbyes to her guests, which was starting to feel like it would take all night until Charlie started crying, Sam made her exit from the restaurant, the baby snuggled contently in her arms. Charlie had been the star of the night and as usual, she basked in the attention, happily smiling and jabbering in her baby talk to Sam and Freddie's friends. But the afternoon turned to evening and babies only had so much energy and Charlie was well and truly partied out. As they said goodbye and people tried to hug and kiss Charlie one last time, she absolutely refused to leave her mother's arms.

Sam quickly walked the two blocks to her apartment building and went straight up to her apartment and into Charlie's room. She changed Charlie out of her party dress and into her onesie and read her a story. She fell asleep much more quickly than usual and Sam tucked her into her crib, feeling her own exhaustion suddenly sweeping through her bones.

She turned out the lights in the room, leaving only the nightlight on, and went into the living room, collapsing onto the couch. The party had taken her two weeks of planning and careful preparation and she was more than a little relieved that it was over. But she also felt a little sad, it was the last first birthday party Charlie would ever have. Logically Sam knew that there would be many many birthdays to come but she couldn't help but think that Charlie would only turn one once.

A knock on the door interrupted her thoughts and Sam looked at it, wondering who it could possibly be. Everyone she knew was still at the party. She got up and opened the door, her heart stopping as she faced the person on the other side of the it.

"Melanie..." She muttered.

"Hi, Sam," her sister said.

A/N: Yep, Melanie's back. :) I know this is an evil place to leave off but my very last final of the semester is tomorrow and I'll have much more time to write. So I promise I'll try not to leave you guys hanging for long. Leave a review and let me know what you think. :D