Author's Note: Like I said before, I wrote a short little scene about halfway through this chapter just for Frisco. It was maybe 6 weeks after he died yet I still cried while I wrote it. Luckily, I have a new dog now and he is crazy clingy.

CHAPTER 12

Saturday morning, Carlton was woken up by the shaking of his shoulders. Moaning, he turned away and buried his face into his pillow. The shaking continued a little rougher and a voice soon joined, "Carlton! Come on! I want to show you something!"

Recognizing Beth's voice and figuring that she wouldn't stop until he at least responded; Carlton turned his head enough to glare at her, glancing at the clock. "What? You had me out until almost 1am and it's barely 5 right now. The sun isn't even up, so why are you?"

Beth smiled as she got off the bed and headed towards the dresser. "I'll explain after you get up, and you don't even have to get changed. Although you might want more layers." She pulled out a sweater and threw it on the bed. "Alright, you've got 5 minutes to get downstairs before I throw Murphy on you."

"Not again!" Carlton moaned as he rolled over and started to get up. "You already threw him on me twice this week, once when I was fast asleep!"

"No! That was totally Salem's fault! If Salem hadn't taken a swipe at Murphy while he was sleeping on the back of the couch, Murphy might not have fallen on you. I just happened to be passing by when it happened."

Carlton sighed and rubbed his forehead. "Are you going to get out of here?"

"Yeah, sure. Met me in the kitchen with your boots on."

"Boots?"

"Did I stutter? Yes, boots. Now hurry up!" Beth shut the door as she left, muttering, "Geez, what does it take for him to just trust me, eh Frisco?"

Shaking his head, Carlton slowly got up and looked for his boots. Grabbing his phone, he quickly made his way downstairs to find Beth waiting for him in the kitchen with his coat. Taking the offered coat, Carlton noticed that she was only wearing jeans, boots and a long sleeved shirt. "You had me bundle up yet this is all that you're wearing?"

Beth just smiled cryptically as she went to the back door.

Getting no real response, he tried again. "So what are we doing?"

She sighed as she opened the door. "You'll see. What's wrong with a little blind faith?"

"I know you too well for that. And all the time you've spent with Spencer hasn't helped your case much." Carlton growled as Beth pulled him outside. The first thing he noticed was the cold wind whipping past them. Pulling his coat closer, he realized that it was lightly snowing. "You woke me up for snow?" Carl asked only to have any further remarks stop when he caught the very peaceful expression on Beth's face.

Closing her eyes, Beth tilted her head up towards the sky. After a few seconds, she sighed, "This is something that I'm gonna miss. Snow gently falling, crisp yet cold mornings…."

"Getting hypothermia after finally getting over a simple cold." Carlton mumbled.

Beth laughed as she turned to him. "Fine, if you'd rather go inside, then be my guest. I, on the other hand, am going to stay out for a little longer."

Carlton was worried about her health but also knew that this was good for her emotionally. "5 minutes, and then I'm dragging your ass inside."

"Ohh, kinky!" Beth smirked.

Carlton growled as he took off his coat and placed it over Beth's shoulders. "Wanna make it 2? Or I could bring you in right now."

"Fine." Beth sighed as she obediently pulled the jacket on correctly before turning back to the sky.

Once inside, Carlton poured himself a glass of water before settling at the window to watch Beth. At the 5 minute mark, he knocked on the window and waved her in when she looked over. Beth smiled as she headed to the door, calling Frisco as she did so.

As she came in shivering, Carlton asked, "Have fun?" He frowned as she came over and put her hands on his cheeks. "What the hell?" He exclaimed as he backed away from her cold hands.

Beth laughed as she took off the coat. "The point wasn't to have fun, although your reaction was highly amusing, but to enjoy the peace and quiet. In case you haven't realized yet, I'm not a conventional person. I needed that, especially with what's happening today. Amy still refuses to tell me how many people are coming or for how long."

"Well, are you good now?"

"Yep, for the time being anyways." She smiled as she kissed his cheek.

"Good. Am I allowed to go back to sleep yet?"

Beth laughed as she relocked the door and turned off the lights. "I guess. Amy is suppose to be here around 10 so that gives you a few more hours. I'm going to get started on cleaning and packing up my room. I have so many clothes in there that it's going to take me at least a whole day just to do that."

"Alright. You know where to find me if you need me, but please don't need me."

"Night Carlton."

After managing to get about 3 more hours of sleep, Carlton was walking back to his room after taking a shower when he saw Frisco laying near Beth's door. Tossing his stuff onto his bed, Carlton came back into the hallway and knelt down in front of Frisco. The dog immediately wagged his tail and lifted his head up.

"Hey buddy, how's it going?" Frisco just wagged his tail faster and nuzzled Carlton's arm. "I wonder how you're coping with all of this, hmm? You don't see Beth for months at a time, and then when she does come back, she's packing up. Don't worry, we won't leave you behind. The cats on the other hand, I wouldn't mind leaving, but you're a good dog. Calm yet very protective. Just like me, huh?"

Carlton rubbed the dog on the head before standing up. Frisco slowly got up too, pausing to stretch. Carlton chuckled when he heard the dog's joints crack. "Getting up there, eh? Don't worry, you've still got a few good years left in ya."

Giving the dog one more pat, Carlton gently knocked on Beth's door. Not getting a response, he knocked again as he opened the door. "Beth?" He was met this time by a soft meow and music quietly playing. Murphy was laying in the only opened spot on an otherwise cluttered bed while Beth was sound asleep on the box-covered floor, some sort of stuffed animal under her head.

Shaking his head, Carlton carefully made his way over and pushed some clothes aside so he could sit on the bed. Knowing that Amy would be there in a little over an hour, and that it would take at least half that time to just get Beth up and moving, Carlton gently leaned over and shook Beth's shoulder. "Beth, time to wake up." She mumbled a little before turning away from him. Sighing, he tried a little harder. "Come on, you know you have to get up."

"Go 'way," Beth muttered as she blindly grabbed a tennis ball and tossed it at him.

Carlton raised an eyebrow when the ball painlessly bounced off his shin. "Was that suppose to hurt?" Getting no response, he turned towards Frisco, who was standing in the doorway. "Care to help?"

When Frisco just cocked his head, Carlton clicked his tongue and said, "Come here Frisco, come on!" The dog quickly came over and, after a quick pat from Carlton, started nudging Beth, eventually licking her face.

"Stop, that's cheating!" Beth giggled as she tried to push him away, only to have Frisco lay down in front of her and continue his licking on her arms. Beth rolled over enough to glare at Carlton, "Now look what you've done! He's not going to stop until I either get up or yell at him, neither of which I'm looking forward to."

"Good, now I know what to do next time," Carlton said smugly as he watched Frisco stretch his neck to reach her.

Beth sighed as she finally sat up, leaving Frisco to give up and lay his head on her leg. "Why can't I just sleep?"

"Well, first of all, your sister will be here in less than an hour and you still need to shower and change. Secondly, it's your own damn fault for waking me up at 5am and then not going back to sleep."

Beth whined as she picked up the stuffed animal, which Carlton now recognized as a Pooh bear, and hugged it in her arms. "Can we just skip the party and take naps instead?"

"All those people are coming just to see you before you leave, do you really want to disappoint them?"

"I'll probably see most of them at church tomorrow anyways." She huffed. "I don't even know why I agreed to this stupid thing in the first place! I hate parties, especially when I'm the center of attention. I just want to finish packing and leave."

Carlton rubbed his face and sighed. He so needed coffee for this conversation. "Look, it's just one day. You get through this, and then we can leave as soon as everything's packed up, okay?"

"Okay."

"Good." Carlton looked around the room before saying, "Are you going to clean up some of this crap?"

Beth laughed as she pushed some boxes out of the way and stood up. "Yeah, a bit. Not like people should be coming in here at all. I mean, we might use it for coats, but once Amy sees this mess, it should change to your room."

"What? I don't want people near my stuff. What about your other room, where all your books and computer stuff are?"

"And where would they put the coats?" Beth asked as she grabbed a trash bag and started throwing the clothes that were on her bed in it. "On the keyboard piano or the boxes of packed books?"

"I don't know."

"Fine. If you're so concerned, then help me pick stuff up and throw it in the closet." Beth grabbed some boxes and carelessly pushed them under her bed, ignoring the hiss that preceded the orange cat from coming out from under the bed and leaving the room. "Bye Salem," she called as she grabbed more stuff.

Carlton started putting the things that were on the bed into a box. When he got to the pooh bear, Beth snatched it out of his hands and placed it on top of her pillows. When Carlton raised his eyebrows, Beth just shrugged and continued to move stuff out of the way.

Once her room look somewhat respectable, Beth shooed him out with a, "You make breakfast while I shower and change."

Having learned not to fight her when she gets into one of her overly controlling moods, Carlton called Frisco after him, "Come on dog, I bet you need to go outside by now." Frisco barked as he hurried out of Beth's room and down the stairs.

They had just finished eating when there was a knock at the back door. Beth hurried to the door and excitedly exclaimed, "Hey Amy! Oh, and young Adam. How are you doing this fine morning?" Carlton heard Adam giggle before Beth continued, "I thought that Dan's folks were going to take him today?"

Amy sighed as she stepped into the kitchen. "They were until Dan's dad hurt his back this morning and had to go to the hospital. He's fine, but they wanted to keep him for observations." Amy passed Adam off to Beth as she took off her coat. "Hello Carlton."

"Morning Amy." Carlton replied as he finished loading the dishwasher.

"So, you're going to watch Adam while also setting up for a party? Good luck with that."

Amy smiled sweetly as she touched Beth's arm and Carlton had a feeling about what she was going to say. "No, I'm going to have enough on my plate keeping Frisco and Murphy out of my way. You guys are taking him."

"What? No! I wanted to go ice skating!" Beth whined as she tried to hand Adam back off to Amy.

"You can go ice skating tomorrow." Amy stubbornly crossed her arms. "Besides, you said just last night that you guys hadn't been to the natural history museum or the science center yet, and I know that Adam will enjoy them."

"Fine!" Beth sighed as she put a squirming toddler down, who immediately went after Frisco. "Come on Carlton, I guess we have to move a car seat."

"Thanks sis! I owe you one!"

"Of course you do."