A/N: Sorry about all the drama in the previous chapter…it's hard, because usually my chapters have a happier ending. But I've got to warn you. There's drama in this chapter, too. Be warned, mild sex refs and brief mild language are in this, as well as medical issues. Which are not explained graphically for the benefit of your sanity. The title of this chapter is a play on words…you'll see.

Enjoy!

"I can't believe you're making me do this." Sam grumbled.

Carly, in the spirit of her best friend having a daughter soon, had decided to throw a baby shower for Sam at the Benson's house. She had taken the time to invite Melanie and several of Sam's other friends to the shower as well. Freddie had offered to go, but Carly had assured him that baby showers were for women, and Freddie had been quite relieved to go to work on that day instead. Now Carly and Sam were seated in Sam's kitchen, waiting for everyone else to arrive.

"Why?" Carly asked, "Baby showers are fun."

"Yeah, if you're all girly and frilly…no offense. And I'm not. Can't you just call everyone and tell them the party was canceled?"

"No." Carly said flatly. "This is a big deal, so just-" She was interrupted by the sound of a doorbell; Melanie had arrived. "Just try to relax." Walking over to the door, Carly let Melanie inside.

She came over to Sam to squeeze her in a tight hug. "Hi, Sam!"

"Hey, Mel…" Melanie sat in the chair that was normally occupied by Freddie, and Carly took the one between the two where they would soon be placing a high chair.

"So, Sam," Melanie began, "You guys pick out a name yet?"

"Yes." Carly said excitedly before Sam could speak.

"Wow! What is it?"

Carly was opening her mouth to tell her when Sam shook her head.

"I'll be announcing it later, OK? I promise you'll get to hear it."

After a few minutes, each of the people Carly had invited was in attendance. Sam was relieved when she discovered that the other women didn't expect her to talk the whole time. Until, that is, Carly began to shout for everyone to listen.

"Alright!" she shouted over the talking. "LISTEN!"

Everyone turned their attention to Carly.

"Right, so we all know why we're here…we're here to celebrate the birth of the daughter of my best friend, Sam!"

There was appreciative clapping for Sam, who tried her hardest to not roll her eyes.

"So, the time has come for Sam to tell us…What are you guys naming her?"

Sam stood up grudgingly after a gesture from Melanie, and was taken aback by the excited eyes staring so intently at her. It made her feel almost self-conscious, given that she was rather fat at this point in her pregnancy.

"Right…thank you for putting me on the spot, Carls…" Sam said, the sarcasm in her voice quite apparent. She tried to remember exactly what Carly had told her to say. Turning to her best friend in a silent plea for help, Carly mouthed 'Freddie and I are honored to announce….'

"Freddie and I are honored to announce that…"

She turned back to Carly and received a second mouthed direction.

'The newest member of our family will be named…'

"The newest member of our family will be named Abigail Marissa Benson..." her speech became increasingly stumbling and awkward as she carried on.

"But just…Abby for…for short…and, uh…her due date is January the…the eighteenth and…and if you've got present for her than that would be fantastic and…I really appreciate it!" she said the last sentence in an overly rushed voice.

As she returned to her seat after her rather awkward speech, she became aware of a slight twinge of pain in her stomach. She was used to the baby kicking her, but…but that wasn't the way it's kicks normally felt. Strange.

The presents were alright; she received a handmade, multicolored wooden rattle with the words "Princess Benson" carved into it, a little chair that supported the baby's head, and a hand-woven little pink hat from Melanie; a fuzzy stuffed pig and a plastic xylophone from her cousin Annie; a pink ankle bracelet with little silver crowns on it from her Aunt Maggie; a wagon from Wendy; and a hand-crafted wooden highchair painted every color of the rainbow from Carly, who had received a lot of help from Griffin, who owned and ran his own woodcarving shop. The guest began to leave starting at 7 that night, and at last Sam had time with just her sister and best friend. It wasn't until eight that Sam suddenly became overcome by an incredible jolt of pain.

She had been standing, and she fell to a kneeling position on the ground with her hands on her stomach.

"Sam!" Carly and Melanie cried, rushing to Sam's sides.

"Are you alright?"

Sam gasped aloud in pain, unable to speak.

"Melanie, go get Sam on the couch!" Carly said firmly. "Sam, what can I do?"
Sam opened her eyes, which were screwed up in pain, and gasped out her only request to Carly.

"Call Freddie. Now."

Freddie was at work when he received a phone call from Carly. His assistant had rushed in just as he was seconds from snapping a perfect Halloween picture for a family of three. He was working overtime this week, as this was one of the busiest times of year for seasonal family photos.

"Mr. Benson!"

"Gaah!"

Startled, Freddie whirled around, only to find himself face-to-face with his young assistant Phoebe.

"Phoebe! Don't do that, you scared me."

"Yeah, I saw that…"

"What can I do for you?"

"Sir, Carly Peterson called from your house. She and Melanie Corvis were instructed by your wife to call you."

"Is Sam OK?" Freddie asked urgently.

"I don't know, sir. Mrs. Peterson says that your wife seems to be having some kind of complication-"

Phoebe never got to finish her statement. Freddie ran from the scene, barely remembering to snatch his coat before he rushed out of his studio.

He couldn't drive fast enough. He ran three red lights-his personal best-to reach Sam as soon as he could. It took ten minutes for him to get home.

Ten minutes too long.

Once he entered his family room, he found Sam lying on their couch, Melanie sitting beside her, applying a cool wet rag to Sam's forehead. There was an open box of pain medication on the coffee table.

"Carly, what's-"

Carly rushed over and pulled him into the kitchen. He saw genuine fear in her eyes. He hadn't seen such terror on her face since he had saved her life almost eight years ago. Once they reached the kitchen, Carly informed Freddie.

"There's no right way to say this, Freddie, but her contractions are beginning and-"

"NOW?" Freddie cried. "That can't be right!"

"I'm no doctor, Freddie, but it's too early. Melanie and I called Sam's doctor and he's on his way with an ambulance and everything! I'm so sorry…"

"Don't be…"

Freddie re-entered the family room and took over taking care of Sam.

"Looks like we're getting to this sooner than we thought, huh?" He said, trying to smile.

Sam smiled painfully. "Damn you and your little 'this is the right time' speech." She said with the tiniest of laughs.

Freddie was impressed. "Wow. That's impressive."

"What?"

"You can still insult me while going into premature labor."

Sam gave him a very feeble punch in the gut.

Freddie smiled down at her and ruffled her hair.
"Stay strong…OK?"

Sam nodded. "OK…"

At that moment, Sam's doctor arrived in the room after Carly explained to her what had happened. "Mrs. Benson, when exactly did these contractions start?"

"About fourty-five minutes ago." Sam said. Freddie was shaken by the weakness in her voice.

"And how far apart are they?"

"Around ten minutes."

The doctor nodded. "Well. It's a very good thing your sister called us when she did."

"Can you take care of her?" Freddie asked anxiously.

The doctor nodded. "We can administer some medication to her that will hold off the delivery. However, it is also important that she has not been drinking any alcoholic substance of any kind. Has she, at any point during this pregnancy?"

Sam and Freddie simultaneously shook their heads.

The doctor nodded. "Good. Well, the good thing is that Mrs. Benson will not need to go to the hospital. However, she will need to stay on bed rest until she has her baby. Is that clear?"

Freddie nodded. "Of course. What kind of help will she need?"

"She needs to stay in bed at all times. The only exception will be when she needs to use the bathroom. Even then, she will require someone to take her there and back. She will eat soft foods only, and she may not take more than three pain medication pills each day. In addition, someone must be home with her and in hearing range of her around the clock in case this happens again."

The rather shocked Sam looked up at her doctor fearfully. "And if it does…?"

"We will administer medicine to you, but if it happens after you reach the second week of your seventh month we will go through with the delivery. It's not likely to happen again, but to be safe, you may not leave your bed until the child is ready to be born. Do you understand?"

Sam nodded. The doctor left briefly, and returned with a small shot needle.

He gave Sam a shot on her shoulder, and within a few moments her pains had decreased dramatically.

"Thanks…"

"Good day to you, Mr. and Mrs. Benson. Best of luck."

And with that, the doctor exited.

Melanie, Carly, and Freddie all turned to Sam at the same moment. They were all affected by the look of terror on her face. And it was clear to them that the fear wasn't for her; it was for Abby's threatened safety.

Freddie sat beside Sam and hugged her tightly.

"Carly, Melanie, thank you for your help. Would you mind leaving Sam and I alone?" he asked.

"Sure thing." Melanie said, her voice also tinged with worry. The two women departed the scene, leaving Sam alone with Freddie.

"What are we going to do now?"

"Well…I guess for now you're going to have to quit work at The Flaming Pigs until the baby's two months old…"

"That could be until March!" Sam cried. "And we really need the money that comes from it…"

"I know, Sam, I know…" Freddie took her hand in his.

"Try to go to sleep, alright?"

Sam sighed. "It'd be a lot easier if I wasn't so worried…"

Freddie used his free hand to shift the cool rag. "OK, then I'm going to cure you of your worry-itis."

Sam smiled slightly. "Give it a try, O Photo Master." She said with a small amount of sarcasm.

"Don't be vicious."

"Sorry."

"OK…name something that makes you happy."

"Fried chicken." Sam supplied immediately.

"OK, good, now close your eyes."

As Sam's eyes closed, Freddie put their entwined hands over the large lump that was their child. He sat on the free space of the couch (which wasn't much) and spoke to Sam again.

"You still thinking about chicken?"

"Mhm."

"Is your worry-itis still there?"

"Just a little." Sam said sleepily.

"Alright, now think about this. Right here beside you is your husband, who loves and fears you very, very much."

Sam smiled a little.

"And together, you two make up a super awesome team. A team that's gonna have its third member pretty soon. There's no one more up for the challenge than you are. And soon, we're going to have Abby with us. She'd be proud of you, Sam. I know she would."

Freddie and Sam sat in silence for a few minutes before Freddie realized that Sam had gone to sleep. Picking her up carefully, he carried her to their room and gently placed the covers over her exactly how she liked them. He bent down and kissed her forehead, which was damp from the rag that had been sitting there. Switching off her bedside table lamp, he headed downstairs and called his mother.

A/N: I warned you.

I'm very proud of this chapter. I worked really hard on it and hope you liked it! I edited some mistakes I missed before to improve it. This story is just a couple chapters away from its end. I am considering writing a sequel for this, let me know in your review! About the play on words: Sam's pregnancy has a COMPLICATION. It is therefore COMPLICATED . And that is the sad truth. Look who's creative xDDD

Thanks for reading:)