"Hey, you guys all packed for tomorrow?" Sam asked, walking into the twins' bedroom.
"Yup," Leah nodded, looking up from her textbook. "I can't wait. We get to go dress shopping!"
"At least one of us is excited," Sam said.
"You don't want to find a dress?" Leah asked.
"Eh, maybe a little," Sam admitted, giving her a small smile. She turned to Kira, who was sitting on her bed, texting on her phone. "Kira? You packed too?"
"Huh? Oh, um, yeah," Kira said, finally looking up.
"Who are you texting? You haven't let go of your phone since you came home," Sam asked.
"Just some friends," Kira replied simply. "Hey, when we're in Seattle tomorrow, Freddie said he'd take us to some old smoothie place you guys used to go to always hang out at. Is it any good?"
"The Groovy Smoothie? Huh, I haven't been there since I was a teenager," Sam said thoughtfully. "Yeah, those were the best smoothie. New York may have the market on bagels and pizza and stuff, but I haven't been able to find a decent smoothie joint since I moved here."
"Sweet," Kira grinned.
"Okay, well, Frednub booked us the earliest flight tomorrow," Sam said. "So you two should probably get some rest." She gave them each a quick kiss on top of their heads. "Night."
"G'night," the girls replied, settling in under their covers.
Sam closed their door and headed into the kitchen to the medicine cabinet. She reached for a bottle of nausea medicine. Ever since the news about Marshall, she had been feeling sick; the stress was really eating at her.
"Hey," Freddie said, walking into the apartment as Sam popped two tablets into her mouth.
"Hey, where have you been?" Sam asked.
"Oh, just out," Freddie said brightly, giving her a quick kiss. "Where are the twins?"
"They just went to sleep," Sam said. "And I'm about to too, since somebody insisted we take a flight that leaves at five in the morning tomorrow."
"Do you think they fell asleep yet?" Freddie asked.
"I dunno," Sam shrugged. "Why?"
"I-I need to tell you something," Freddie said, his face looking as though he was trying to hold back a smile. "I don't want them to overhear…yet. Come on."
He took her hand and led her into their bedroom.
"What's going on?" Sam asked as Freddie closed the door behind them. "Why are you acting weird?"
"Okay, well you know the other day at the hospital? When you told me that that I'm the closest thing Kira and Leah have ever had to a father?" Freddie said.
"Um…yeah," Sam nodded. "But what does that have to do with anything?"
"Well I was thinking…" Freddie said, taking a deep breath. "I love those two, Sam. Even though I missed so much of their lives, I-I really do think of them as my own daughters sometimes."
Sam smiled. "You do?"
"Of course," Freddie nodded. "You and them…you guys are the best things to ever happen to my life. And that's why I can't wait to be married to you soon. But I really want to make this official. I don't want to just be 'the step-dad' for Kira and Leah. I want them to know that I really do want to be there for them all the time, no matter what. So today…I talked with an adoption lawyer."
"Adoption lawyer?" Sam repeated. "Why?"
"Because," Freddie said slowly. "I-I want to adopt Kira and Leah."
Sam blinked. "You-You what?"
"I want to adopt them," Freddie said again. "I've heard of some couples like us doing it with each other children. I've researched it a lot online and there have been a ton of reports that say it's really the final step in building that family unit."
Sam didn't say anything.
"Obviously you have to agree to it," Freddie continued. "And I wouldn't want to do it if it would make the girls uncomfortable. It's a pretty big step, and I get that you'd probably need to-"
"Freddie," Sam cut him of. "I-I think that's an amazing idea."
Freddie grinned. "You do?"
"Yeah," Sam said. "I'd love for you to actually be legally allowed to call yourself their father. And I know the girls will love for that too. Why don't you talk to them about it in Seattle? You can take them out for dinner or something while Carly and I are shopping."
"You really think they'd want me to do this?" Freddie asked.
"They've gone pretty much their entire lives without a dad," Sam said softly. "If my mom was marrying someone like you when I was their age…I'd be thrilled."
…
"It's still dark outside," Kira yawned, looking out the plane window the next morning. "Wasn't there a later flight we could take?"
"Yeah, there was," Sam mumbled as her and Freddie took their seats in the row behind the twins. "But that wasn't part of the Freddie Benson Travel Plan."
"Come on guys, it's good to start trips early," Freddie said. "Besides, you can always just sleep during this plane ride. Look, Leah's already passed out again."
True enough, Leah had curled up in her plane seat and was fast asleep.
"She can always fall asleep anywhere," Sam said proudly. "The one thing she actually got from me."
"So," Freddie said to Sam as the couple settled in for the flight. "You excited to be going back?"
Sam shrugged. "I guess. I can visit my mom and see Carly. Oh, and Spencer. I can't believe he hasn't gotten to meet the twins yet. The last time we went to Seattle he had to fly off to some big art show and I only got to talk to him for an hour."
"He's seen pictures of them," Freddie pointed out.
"I know," Sam said. "But Kira and Leah are going to love meeting him for themselves."
"It's going to be nice staying at my mom's place too," Freddie said.
"Pfft, that's a matter of opinion," Sam scoffed.
"Baby, please promise me you'll try to get along with her," Freddie sighed.
"Why don't you tell that to her?"
"I did, last night," Freddie said. "I made her promise that she wouldn't criticize you or try to get you to go with her to any Bacterial Awareness meetings. So as long as you don't start anything, she won't start anything."
"Yeah, sure, we'll see," Sam said, resting her head against the plane window. She had barely gotten any sleep last night. She kept waking up from the same nightmare of Marshall showing up at her doorstep asking for the twins…
"Sam, are you alright?" Freddie asked.
"What? I'm fine," Sam mumbled.
"You sure?" Freddie asked slowly. "You've seemed kind of…out of it the past few days."
"It's called having to plan a wedding, Fredward," Sam yawned. "Not exactly a walk in the park. Besides, I'm just tired right now. It is five in the morning."
"Oh," Freddie said. "Right. Well you know if you ever feel stressed about the wedding, you can talk to me, right?"
"Sure," Sam said. "Now no offense or anything, Fredwad, but your now taking away even more of my sleep time."
"Sorry," Freddie chuckled. He kissed her quickly. "Get some sleep."
Sam closed her eyes, listening as the pilot announced they would be taking flight soon.
I wish the wedding was the only thing stressing me out right now, Sam thought to herself. Tomorrow was Marshall's release date.
Just let him stay away from the twins, Sam said to herself. That's all I want…
…
"Where is she?" Sam asked as her, Freddie and the twins stepped out of the gate at the airport in Seattle.
"She said she was here," Freddie said. "Maybe she just went to-"
"You guys!" Carly suddenly exclaimed, running over to the four. She threw her arms around Sam. "I'm so glad you're here! And for a whole week now!"
"Yeah, well, I figured we could all use a little vacation," Sam said.
"Wow, it feels good to be back in Seattle," Freddie said as Carly gave him a quick hug. "I don't hear any cab drivers screaming, no weird smoggy smell in the air…"
"Hey girls," Carly said to Kira and Leah. "Wait until you see Seattle. You two didn't really have much of a chance to see anything last time you came."
"Well yeah, we just came to make sure my mom was okay after that lazar hair removal," Sam pointed out. "Speaking of which, I should probably check on her today…She just got liposuction."
"So what should we do first?" Carly asked. "There are two really great dress shops in the mall. Oh, and I found some flower shops and-"
"We need to go drop our stuff off at my mom's place before we do anything," Freddie told her.
"Oh…yay," Sam said, rolling her eyes.
"Sam, you promised," Freddie sighed.
"I'm getting it out of my system!" Sam defended.
"Well we can go dress shopping later today then," Carly said.
"Can I come?" Leah asked. "I've always wanted to go wedding dress shopping!"
"You're so weird," Kira said, shaking her head. "Well, while you're doing that, I want to go to the space needle and throw paper airplanes off the top."
"Hold up, you need to find a bridesmaid dress," Sam said.
"What?" Kira moaned. "Let Leah pick them out. I'm fine with whatever she picks."
"Yeah, well, you and Leah aren't the same size, so you have to get it fitted" Sam said.
"Ugh, how long's that gonna take," Kira asked.
"Dress fittings are usually done in half-an-hour," Carly told her. "They just take some measurements."
"Oh," Kira said. "Well I guess that's not so bad then…"
"See," Leah smiled. "It will be real quick…once we figure out what dress to have fitted for you."
"Be lucky you don't have to go to this," Sam whispered to Freddie. "This is gonna be a long afternoon."