About 30 minutes had passed and Sam was still collapsed on the bedroom floor beside the baby crib. When Jonathon came over to check on her and the baby, he found the apartment door wide open. "Sam? Are you here? Are you and the baby alright?" he called out.
When he got no answer, he got the sinking suspicion that something was seriously wrong, so he walked on in to check. He found Sam lying on the bedroom floor and she was bleeding from a bump on her scalp. He hadn't even had a chance to glance in the crib as he right away knew Sam was hurt.
Thankfully he had his doctor's bag which he always carried with him, so he was able to revive Sam almost immediately. Despite the wound on her head, he was thankful to find she didn't have any other injuries.
He cradled her blond head in his hands, tenderly looking down into her face.
"Sam, what happened? Was the apartment robbed? How were you hurt?" he asked her with concern.
"My baby... she took my baby..." Sam mumbled as she started to sob.
Jonathon looked horrified. "Who? Who took the baby?" he asked.
"Marissa," Sam replied. "She took Baby Freddie."
Moments later, Freddie got home from work seeing his Dad and Sam and looked confused.
"Hey, Dad," he said.
Then he went to Sam's side. "Is something wrong?" he asked with alarm as the house seemed unusually silent to him. "Are you sick, Sam? Or is Baby Freddie?"
Sam was yet slightly disoriented and her head was still bleeding despite the bandage Jonathon had applied. She sat up on the edge of the bed, holding her hand against the wound.
"No, Freddie, I'm not sick," she said as she stood up on wobbly legs and went into his arms. "But something - something happened. I don't know how to tell you this."
Sam's blue eyes filled up with tears as she then glanced over at Jonathon.
"Freddie, I came in a few minutes ago, and Sam was lying on the floor unconscious and the door was wide open," Jonathon spoke up. "I'm afraid -
I'm afraid that someone has taken your son."
"I'm so sorry, Freddie. I tried to make her stop. I didn't want her to take our baby, but she hit me!" Sam said almost hysterically. "I don't remember much after that... not till Jonathon got here." Jonathon let out a heavy sigh,
knowing Freddie wasn't going to take all this well. Afterall, it was Freddie's mom they were talking about.
"Don't worry. We'll find baby Freddie. I promise you both that..." Jonathon said to his son and the young woman he already regarded as his daughter-in-law.
Sam looked Freddie in the eye and said what she knew she must, although it would be painful. "Freddie, it was your mom who took our son," she said sadly. "She barged in here ... and she just took him. But not before she called me a slut and a whore and all these other awful names. She said I would turn out just like my mother and she HAD to take the baby from me."
"I can't believe she did that," Sam spoke as the tears started falling once again.
Freddie held Sam, listening to everything as a look of shock took over his face.
"My mom did this to you? Why would she take Baby Freddie? It's okay; I'm here now," he told Sam as he held her. He caressed her back, trying to calm her down.
He had always thought his mom was too over protective, but maybe she was just insane and he had never seen it before. He just didn't even know her; this was crazy. "We hafta call the police," he said.
"She said I stole you from her and now that she can't have you, she would take the baby," Sam explained, holding Freddie tight; so glad he was here.
Jonathon shook his head, looking at his son. "Freddie, I'm afraid I can't let you do that. Calling the police right now is a bad idea. Your mother is very unstable, and if she thinks the police are on to her, she will run with Baby Freddie. If she takes off with him, there is a chance that we will never see him again. You see, years ago, I realized she had some ... ummmm... problems.
She's obsessive/compulsive, neurotic... but after we had you, it only got worse," said Jonathon with a heavy sigh. "I couldn't take it anymore, so I told her I was leaving her and taking you with me..."
"The thought of losing you was too much for her, she began packing up, saying that she would never let me have you. She treated you like a possession or a pet, not like a child. She even threatened to have a tracking device embedded in your skull, so if I ever took you, she could find you again. Freddie, you were only four."
"I called the police ... and that's when Marissa took off with you. I never saw you again. I looked for you, but she took you to Seattle and I could not find you. She covered her tracks well. I don't know what she told you, but I never wanted to lose you. She stole you away from me, just as she has taken your son."
"The only chance we have right now is returning to Seattle and catching her offguard so we can get Baby Freddie back," spoke Jonathon. "I have an idea...
and I can tell you on the way. But Sam needs to go to the hospital first. She might have a concussion."
"Ohhh no," said Sam stubbornly. "I'm going with you two. I'm fine ... and we gotta find little Fredward." She looked at Freddie, absolutely adamant about going with him and Jonathon to Seattle.
"Baby," Freddie said gently. "If you have a concussion then we can't take you with us like that. You hafta be treated and checked out, and it's for your own good." He tried to convince her, knowing Sam wouldn't agree to them going without her. Sam was very stubborn, so Freddie turned to his Dad for help.
"No, Freddie, I swear I'm okay," spoke Sam, shaking her head. "And we don't have time to argue about it ... we need to get to Seattle now and put your father's plan into motion so we can get Little Freddie back."
With a heavy sigh, Jonathon relented. "Alright, but as soon as we get the baby back ... you're going to the hospital to get checked out," he said to Sam as he helped her stand.
"We better get going," said Jonathon. "I bet Marissa is half-way back to Seattle now."
"Sam!" a voice called out. It was Melanie. She had tried to call earlier and when Sam hadn't answered, she had gotten worried. When she came in and saw her twin sister and her bandaged head, she got really upset. "OMG, what happened?"
Melanie demanded.
"No time to talk right now," Freddie said to Melanie apologetically. "We are on our way out. We have some things to take care of here." He started to usher everyone out of the apartment so that he, Samm, and his dad could get to Seattle.
As they walked out to the car, Sam, Freddie, and Jonathon, Melanie followed.
"Actually, Son, we do need Melanie with us. As Sam's twin, she can pretend to be Sam if need-be," said Jonathon as he got behind the wheel of his vehicle and started the engine. "Marissa isn't going to want to let go of baby Freddie, so we will need all the help we can get."
Once they were in the vehicle and on their way to Seattle, Sam began explaining to her twin what had happened. Melanie gasped, hearing the awful news. "What are we gonna do? How will we get the baby back?" she asked.
"I have a plan," spoke Jonathon as he drove. He then glanced over at his son in the passenger seat. "Freddie, I am aware that you and Sam are probably not ready for marriage yet ... you probably haven't even thought about it, but I am up on laws and I know that each of you only need the permission of one parent,
then you can get married. Once you're married, your parents no longer have "rights" over you, meaning your mother can't make you return to Seattle and she no longer has the right to say whether or not you can keep custody of your son."
"Melanie, that's where you come in..." Jonathon began.
"Whoa... whoa! Wait a second!" Sam cried out from the backseat. "Freddie and I are getting married?"
Sam didn't know what to think of that. She and Freddie hadn't even talked of marriage yet. But then again, they knew it wasn't even a possiblity until they were both 18, considering they would have both needed a signature from a parent.
Sam was about to turn 18 in 2 months... but Freddie's 18th birthday was a little over 4 months away.
"There is no way my mom is going to sign that marriage document," Sam pointed out, shaking her head.
"Melanie, you can pretend to be Sam, can't you?" Jonathon asked Melanie.
"Ohh yeah, we used to pull that trick on Mom all the time when were were little.
She never knew the difference," Melanie answered.
"Good, cuz while we are over talking to Spencer and Carly and getting ideas of how to outsmart Marissa, we need you to go visit your mother and have her sign the parental permission for marriage document," said Jonathon. "After you come back, I will sign for Freddie, then we can go to the courthouse, and Sam and Freddie can quickly wed. After that, Marissa has no legal grounds to take the baby. She'll have to give him back to his parents."
"But what if she doesn't?" Sam asked softly.
"She will," Jonathon said in promise. "I won't rest until Baby Fredward is back where he belongs - with mom and his dad."
Glancing in the front seat where Freddie sat beside his dad, Sam wondered what he was thinking of all this. Was he okay with marrying her? At this point,
Sam really couldn't think about the implications of her and Freddie getting married ... all she could think about was the baby. They needed to get Baby Freddie home ... and fast.
Freddie was listening, but it was hard to absorb all this. Married? He hadn't had much time to think about marriage.
"I'll do whatever it takes to get Baby Freddie back ... and to keep him and Sam safe," Freddie responded.