~*Chapter Twenty-Three : Another Surprise*~
As Freddie listened to Sam, it finally dawned on him. "Wait! What?" he gasped. "Sam...but...we...and..." He didn't even know what to say.
"How are we going to do this?" he asked finally.
"I honestly don't know," Sam said quietly. "I didn't want to believe it was true. But I kept getting sick a lot... and I've been incredibly tired. Things haven't been quite right the past few weeks, but I just kept denying it to myself... I guess thinking that if I wished it away, that it wouldn't be true. But a couple of times at work last week, I got really dizzy. I almost passed out and scared poor T-Bo to death."
"After the GED test today, I found myself at the Women's Clinic... just telling all this to your dad..." Sam said with heavy sigh. "He wanted to do a test... and of course, I didn't want one."
"But he insisted... and the test came back positive. So... I guess I am..." Sam said as she was looking into Freddie's eyes. He looked totally shell-shocked by the news.
"I'm sorry," she said very softly.
"It takes two to get pregnant," spoke Freddie. "We'll just have to make this work." He had no idea how they would do that as they could barely manage with just one baby right now, plus they'd have work and school to contend with as well.
Sam nodded quietly, because she really didn't want to talk about it right now. It seemed like maybe Freddie was taking the news better than she had. Just thinking about it gave her a splitting headache. "I'm going upstairs now to have a little nap. It's Gibby's turn to fix dinner and he should be home soon," Sam told Freddie. "Maybe after supper, you and I can study awhile." With those words, Sam left the kitchen and went upstairs. She slipped quietly into the bedroom and lay down on the bed. She hugged the pillow close to her chest as she fell almost instantly asleep. Lately it had been like that for Sam. She was always so tired.
A few minutes later, Gibby arrived home. He walked into the kitchen to see Freddie sitting at the bar. "Where is everyone?" he asked as he was looking around. "Where's Sam? And Guppy?"
Gibby knew it was his turn to cook supper, but he wasn't that great at cooking meals. He liked eating, but cooking wasn't really his thing. They were about to have a special guest at supper, so he hoped he wouldn't mess up their meal.
"Sam's tired." Freddie responded. "She's taking a nap. I haven't seen Guppy today."
"I suppose he's in his room. Want me to look?" Freddie offered.
As if on cue, Guppy walked into the kitchen. He approached the bar where Freddie sat, looking at the hotdog on Sam's plate. He turned his nose up at it. "That's so gross," said the little boy.
Gibby too stared at the peanut-butter smeared weiner. "I agree," he spoke. "I better cook some real food."
He went to the fridge and started taking ingredients out of it so he could prepare the meal. "I hope you and Sam don't mind, but I have a lady guest coming over for supper tonight," Gibby announced.
"Gibby loves Carly," little Guppy said, giving his brother a smirk.
"Hey, how'd you know it was Carly?" Gibby asked his little brother, a look of shock upon his face.
Freddie laughed. "It's fine..well, with me at least. I'm sure Sam won't mind; she loves Carly, too." Hmmm... Carly and Gibby? Everyone was falling in love lately. How strange! *Ohhhh well, as long as we are all happy, what does it matter?* Freddie thought to himself.
"You think she's pretty," Guppy teased his older brother.
"Yeah... so? She is," said Gibby as he was tossing some ingredients into a bowl and mixing up dinner. He was actually blushing a little when his younger brother was teasing him about Carly. Lately, Carly had been hanging out with him on a daily basis and he loved spending time with her. He was gradually getting over his fiasco relationship with Tasha, although it had been difficult. Tasha was his first girlfriend and she had really meant a lot to him. Their break-up probably would have gone more smoothly, had Tasha not dumped him at the same time his mother had passed away.
Gibby had just put dinner in the oven with the doorbell rang. "That should be Carly. Gup, you go answer it," Gibby encouraged, not wanting to look too eager.
"Okay," the little boy said happily, skipping away.
A couple of minutes later, Carly entered the kitchen, accompanied by Guppy. "Hi Gibby. Hey Freddie," Carly greeted, looking around. "Where's Sam?"
Sam walked into the kitchen just after Carly, but she didn't look too hot. She was pale, had dark circles under eyes and looked extremely tired. Carly did a double-take when she gazed at her best friend.
"Sam, are you sick?" Carly gasped. She hadn't seen Sam look this horrible since Carly's ex-best friend Missy had given Sam an expired box of chocolates and Sam had devoured the entire box. Sam had spent many hours throwing up after Missy's terrible trick.
Being pregnant, working long hours, and also nursing a baby had all contributed to taking it's toll on Sam. "No, Carls, I'm just peachy," Sam said in an annoyed voice. She then looked at Gibby.
"What's for supper, Giblet? I'm starved," Sam asked as she went to sit next to Freddie at the bar.
"Macaroni and cheese, ham, and green beans," was Gibby's reply. Sam just smiled. She could live with that. Ham was her all-time favorite food.
"Good boy, Gibster," she praised him.
"Leave it to Sam to come around when we start serving food," Carly joked with a smile.
"Careful, Carls... I'm not in the mood," Sam said in warning. She was feeling extremely hormonal. Carly looked at Freddie. Whoa, Sam was in one of THOSE moods.
Freddie just shrugged. "Rough day for her," he said simply. and said nothing more. He snuggled up to Sam and kissed her cheek. "Are you okay?" he whispered in her ear. He knew the ham would cheer her up.
When Freddie moved closer and kissed Sam's cheek tenderly, she began to calm. He always had that sort of effect on her. She whispered back to him that she was fine, but truthfully she was not. She was sort of dangling at the end of her rope, but continuing to push herself onward.
~*~o~*~
"Dinner's ready!" Gibby announced, taking the dishes from the oven and carrying them over to the table. Everyone went to sit down at the table for dinner and Sam took her seat next to Freddie.
"Ohhh Gibby, all this looks great!" Carly said with a gorgeous smile.
"Thanks," Gibby said, smiling back at her as everyone started enjoying the food.
The ham was absolutely delicious and Sam loved every single bite. It did help to improve her mood, but as as finished eating, she became increasingly sleepy again. She started nodding off in her chair. She was startled when her cell phone ringing abruptly awakened her. She sat upright in her chair, reaching into her pocket to retrieve it.
"Hello?" she spoke into the phone.
"Sam!" came Melanie's urgent voice. "Mom called... She said she needs us to come over... RIGHT AWAY!"
"Ohhhh God!" Sam gasped with annoyance. "I'm not in the mood to deal with Mom's shit right now!"
"SAM! We gotta go over there NOW!" Melanie insisted. "It's urgent!"
"Ohhh hell!" Sam grumbled reluctantly. "This is jank, but Freddie and I will head over..."
She ended the conversation with her sister, then looked at Freddie. "Melanie says something is up with Mom, and we should get over there right away."
"Gibby, Carly, could you keep an eye on the baby for awhile? And Carls, could we borrow your car?" Sam asked.
"Sure," Carly said worriedly. Just what was up with Sam's mother now?
As Sam and Freddie went outside to Carly's sports car, Sam was wondering the same thing. Sam feared this had something to do with Freddie's dad. Were the two of them about to announce they were getting married? Sam felt wave of nausea hit her at the sudden thought.
"Freddie, you drive," Sam said as she was in no condition to get behind the wheel.
Freddie took the keys from Sam and went around to the driver's side, entering the car. He waited until Sam climbed inside and they had put on their seatbelts before he started the car and backed out of the parking spot. "What happened?" he asked as he referred to the phone call she had received.
Sam shrugged as they were driving toward her mother's house across town. "I dunno... Melanie just said it was urgent and we had to get over there right away," Sam replied.
"I wonder if it has something to do with your dad," Sam spoke. "Like maybe they are getting married or something..."
Sam covered her mouth as she suddenly felt the urge to gag. She didn't want to start throwing up mass quantities of ham all over Carly's sports car.
Sam glanced at Freddie, trying to fight the strong desire to vomit. She really didn't need this crap with her mom right now, on top of everything else.
Freddie groaned. "God, I hope not," he said. "Because seriously that CANNOT happen." He drove till they got to their destination, then he parked the car and looked at Sam.
"Are you ready for this?" he asked.
"I'm as ready as I'll ever be," said Sam as she and Freddie exited the car. She held his hand tightly in hers as they walked up to the front door together. Melanie was already there as she came to the door, letting Sam and Freddie inside.
"What's going on?" Sam demanded, looking around for her mother.
"Sam, thank God you came," Pam called out, coming out of the bedroom and approaching Sam, Freddie, and Melanie as they stood in the livingroom, all three of them clueless as to what was going on.
"Mom, does this have something to do with Freddie's dad? I really need to know, cuz I-," Sam started as she was doing her best to remain calm.
"Jonathon? No, no... it has nothing to do with Freddie's father," Pam denied.
"Then what? What was so urgent you insisted we come over here? Melanie was freakin having a hissy fit, saying we had to get over here fast!" Sam cried out.
Suddenly the bedroom door swung open and someone entered the livingroom. "Melanie... Samantha..." came a voice.
Sam's face went white. She let go of Freddie's hand as her expression became one of shock. "Daddy," she whispered.
Before anyone could say another word, Sam sunk the floor at Freddie's feet. For the first time in her 18 years of life, Sam had fainted.
(Author's Note: So, what do you think, guys? Love it, hate it? Want to read more?)