Freddie's POV

Sam was finally beginning to open her eyes, and I saw them catch the glare from the sun in a way that made them sparkle with life. I had a feeling that this was not an unusual occurrence, but rather as if my own eyes were being opened for the first time, and I was able to see Sam in a whole new way.

Her eyes locked with mine and they seemed to search for something, but only for a second. She soon shot up from her lying position and spoke, "Morning, Benson," as if nothing had ever happened.

And I guess that nothing did happen. The dream had just seemed so real. I let a smile take over my mouth and replied lightly, "Morning, Puckett."

The blonde began to pace back and forth, rambling instructions at me, "So, today, I was thinking we would cover get all the way to Nevada. I know it's pretty far away, but if we don't rest, then we should be able to make it there in no time."

She had such determination in her voice and her every movement that anyone who tried to argue with her would get shut down with passion. "Okay," I agreed with her, "I believe you."

"Well then, good. We should go as soon as possible, so that we don't lose anytime, and I really don't want to be stuck in traffic."

She scampered off to Harley and got into the driver's seat, as if this were a routine thing to do after only one day driving. But, I was amused, so I just let her go. However, I would be sure to keep an extra eye on her.

After we were all settled into the car, Sam started the engine, and began to drive down the road.

"Slower, Sam. We're not in a race," I told her, trying to save our lives.

Sam just laughed lightly, "That's what you think." So, Sam did slow down in the slightest bit, and we continued on.

The wind was blowing Sam's hair back so that it was somewhat in my face, but it didn't matter to me. I could smell the natural fruit scent she had in it, or maybe it wasn't so natural, and she really was eating our fruit. But that was mixed with the smell of rain and the tiniest hint of grass, truly the outdoors were getting to her, and I had a feeling they were getting to me too.

But all of these circumstances only made her even more beautiful to me. She was a strong girl, probably the strongest I knew. I thought of Carly for only a fraction of a second and I knew that she would have quit a long time ago and demanded us to take her home, if she were with us.

I was thankful that Sam seemed oblivious to my thoughts, because I was afraid that if she somehow heard these things that she might slap me.

Yet, all we did was drive in silence. Sam's fingers trailed along the controls for the motorcycle, temporarily taking one hand off the wheel.

"Sam! Two hands on the wheel, pronto!"

"Wait, Freddison. There's a radio on here! How come we didn't notice before?" Sam reported excitedly as she went to turn it on.

Music blasted through the air, a sound I had missed so much that I didn't bother to get mad at her, if I even could.

A Mayday Parade song was playing, one of our favorite groups. "Yes, I love this song!" Sam shouted, and I smiled a knowing smile.

"Me too, just put both hands on the wheel, please."

"Fine, party pooper," was the response I got, but she did as I said.

The song was a nice way to break the silence, and we had soon been on the road for a few hours, breaking the silence often.

Suddenly, I spotted two spotted dogs up ahead, in the middle of the road. Sam seemed to notice too, yet I still shouted, "Sam! Stop!"

She was suddenly swerving out of control and we landed on our butts with the motorcycle lying next to us, seemingly unscratched.

Luckily, there was no one on the road, so the puppies were no longer in harm's way. But Sam and I still hurried to go pick them up. They were so light and fluffy that you just wanted to eat them up.

Sam and I sat on the side of the road in the grass as we cooed over our unexpected companions. They looked almost identical to each other: white fur with black spots all over their body, like a Dalmatian's.

"They are so cute!" I heard Sam say with wide eyes looking into the puppies own confused ones. I agreed with her, and the fact that we just crashed was put out of our minds. Sam was throwing the puppy up in the air and the puppy looked scared out of its wits, but Sam was laughing.

"That puppy is going to hate you already," I point out to her.

She just shakes her head and begins to cuddle the puppy close to her and tells me, "No she won't, we're just playing. Just look at her, she loves me."

And it was true, the dog was now looking up at Sam with happy little puppy eyes. They already looked like they cared about each other, and my heart melted. I had never seen something so pure and innocent in my entire life, especially from Sam Puckett. I was sort of scared at my sudden overwhelming emotion for this girl. Was I falling for Sam?

I gazed down at the puppy in my own arms. He was a little different from Sam's puppy, for he had black paws, where Sam's dog's paws were white, and his ears were folded down, whereas his female counterpart's were pointed.

The boy dog rolled over, and I found myself rubbing his belly, which was surely what he wanted. "Aw, Cookie, don't go for the cookie," I heard Sam's voice say, so I directed my attention on her. Sure enough, the dog was going into Sam's bag and had found a cookie.

Sam successfully got the cookie away from the dog when I realized what she had called it. "Did you just name the dog?"

Sam didn't see a problem with it, so she nodded her head nonchalantly. I made a frustrated sound, "Don't name her. If you name her, you'll want to keep her."

Sam was shocked, "We are definitely keeping Cookie and Bouncer!" and she stamped her foot for effect. I shook my head, "Bouncer? And what are we going to do with them? We can hardly take care of ourselves, so how are we going to take care of dogs?"

"Well I was thinking about that," Sam began, "We could build a basket, or make one, or buy one. And then we can put it on Harley and drive like that, a la Dorothy and Toto."

I was shaking my head, "I don't know how we're going to do that."

"Leave that to me," Sam said confidently. Then she pointed to the grass. I waited, expecting her to explain. When she didn't, I asked her why she was pointing at the ground.

"I'll use this grass to make a basket."

"Wow, you might need a lot of grass for that," I informed her.

She plopped down quickly and yet gracefully and began to get to work as she muttered, "I'll be done in no time."

And she wasn't lying. I must have sat there and stared at her for a good forty-five minutes, both puppies in my lap, as she effortlessly put together the basket with nothing but her bare hands like a pro. She never ceased to amaze me with the things she could accomplish.

Cookie left my grasp and ran straight at Sam, and plopped in her newly made basket. "See?" she made me notice, "Cookie knows where she belongs."

Sam lifted up the basket, came over and snatched Bouncer, and got back onto Harley, with both the puppies in the basket. She turned around for a second and cocked an eyebrow at me, "Are you coming? We don't have all day."

I shook my thoughts of amazement away and sat on the motorcycle behind her. Like a professional, she sped out onto the highway again.

Cookie was fidgeting in the basket and stomped all over Bouncer to try and jump into Sam's arms. "No, bad Cookie," I yelled at the puppy with a light voice, but Cookie whimpered all the same.

"Awww, you don't have to yell at the little girl, she's just a baby," Sam protested with me in defense of the dog.

"Sam, I'm trying to save all our lives here. If she jumped on you, you'd crash."

"Do you doubt my natural driving talent?" she asked in a mock hurtful tone.

"Well…" I hesitated, "yes."

Sam huffed and shook her head in dismay. "I'll show you who can drive."

And with that, she slammed down on the gas, and we kept going faster and faster. I watched the pedometer on the bike as I fell on her and held on for dear life. It was showing 60, 70, 80, 90 and counting. Cookie and bouncer would have flown out if they had not been pulled down by the building air pressure.

"Whoa, slow down!" I had to yell at her so she would hear.

"Admit I'm a good driver," Sam shouted back at me.

Sam was being completely ridiculous. Did she really have to nearly kill us to be proven right? "Okay, you're a natural Sam, better than me," I told her with my fingers crossed.

This seemed to satisfy Sam enough to slow her down. "Ha," she said as she drove at a normal pace. I laughed, and I don't know why. I don't know how many times she had put us in life or death situations, and then just blew it off right afterwards. But, I loved her anyways.

Wait, what? I think I'm getting my girls mixed up, I should really get some more sleep. Or maybe there really is nothing wrong with me.

I don't think that I wanted to know the answer to that one, so I shook my head and tried to think of something else. I noticed that we were driving over a bridge and that the late afternoon sun made the water below us glisten with what seemed like a thousand crystals. "Beautiful isn't it?" Sam asked me, noticing that my gaze had turned onto the water beneath us.

"Yeah, I've never seen anything like it. They don't have these waters in Seattle."

"I know," she said nonchalantly. "You know, I've been a lot of places, but I always liked the Oregon waters the most."

"Really? I didn't know you traveled," I mentioned.

"Oh well I used to when I was little, but then my mother stopped caring."

"Oh right…" I remembered our conversation a few nights ago and about Sam's bruises and her refusal to get help.

"You know Sam, if you ever…" I started, offering my comfort.

"I know, you'd help me. But Freddie, we're really not going back there."

I couldn't tell her how I felt. The truth was my pain for her was unimaginable. Someone so beautiful should never have to go through this much pain. I was going to fix this, whether Sam liked it or not.

I don't know how or when it happened, but suddenly, the sun was setting, and I had the spent the entire day on the back of a motorcycle holding on to Sam. I hadn't noticed, but I never let her go after I fell on her when she was going so fast. "Nevada," Sam said out of nowhere.

At first, I was lost and not sure what she was talking about, but I found her pointing at a sign that read "Welcome to Nevada!".

"Wow, you actually got us here alive," I teased her. "Don't act so surprised," she warned.

"I'm just kidding," I assured her.

"I know."

"Uh oh," Sam barely whispered.

"What's wrong?" I asked, assuming the worst. She was already wearing off on me, for I was right.

"The police, on my left. Don't make eye contact Freddison, they're looking for us," She advised me. I didn't even respond, because I didn't want to mess this up for us.

Part of me wanted to tell her she was just being paranoid; there was not a whole legion of police out there looking for us surely. But as soon as the thought crossed my mind, I saw a huge missing poster on their car with our faces on it, saying "Have you seen these children?"

Children? We were sixteen, and perfectly capable to take care of ourselves. But I didn't correct them, because well, that would obviously get us caught. Sam was sneaky, barely pushing harder on the gas pedal to not make a scene, yet not to dawdle there long.

Luckily, the police officer was happily eating a donut and didn't notice us go by, plus it was dark.

"You know I'm almost kind of jealous of that donut, it looked tasty," Sam laughed.

"I'm impressed you can go this long without food."

"Me too. But seriously, that was a close one," Sam sighed.

"Yeah, you don't think that will happen often do you?" I asked her hopefully.

"Freddie, it's your mother," Sam stated obviously, "If she wasn't so obsessed with you, we'd be free."

Sam did have a point, but there was no way my mother would ever loosen up. "Actually, I'm surprised she's not dead yet," I confided in Sam.

"Yeah, you think the lady would have had a heart attack or something."

I nodded in agreement and then there wasn't even thirty seconds of silence before Sam pulled up in front of a hotel, grabbed Cookie and Bouncer and started to walk in. Once again, apparently I wasn't informed of the plan. I sat on the bike and made a face that screamed, "What the heck?" except no one was watching.

I stupidly left the bike unattended but I had to see what Sam was up to. I ran and caught up with her. She was just meandering around in a lobby until she found her breakthrough and ducked behind a big wall. "Sam, what..." I started to yell at her before she pulled me down too. "They can't know where here," she said as she slapped my mouth.

"Then why are we here? What's wrong with sleeping in the woods? "

She rolled her eyes in a very Sam like fashion. "I'm tired of that. So here's the plan. You go up to the desk and pay for one person for one night here, you come back here very sneakily, and give me the room key where I sneakily rush up there with the dogs so that no one notices me, then you can meander up there and I'll let you in," she explained to me, making hand motions the entire time for emphasis.

I stood there staring at her for a second, amazed by her plan, "This is never going to work," I pointed out to her. She shook her head, "You know, Freddork, you've come a long way, but you have a lot to learn still."

"But..this..it.." I stammered, with a failed attempt to reason with her. "Go," she urged. I quickly got up and obeyed. I don't know what she does to me, but this happens way too often.

I arrived at the desk and didn't know what to say. The guy studied my face, and I figured I'd better make this quick. "Umm…I'd like a room please, for one."

He cocked an eyebrow, "Name," he ordered. "Nathan…Kress." I said, giving the alias Sam had given me in the grocery store and adding a random last name. "Uh-huh. That will be one hundred dollars."

Ugh, did Sam think I was made of money? She was going to take everything I had. I swallowed my dismay and handed over the money without a fuss, not wanting to blow my cover. "Thank you. Your room is number 239. Enjoy your night," he told me and handed over the key.

"Thanks," I said and whistled my way over to Sam and smoothly handed her the room key. She looked at the number as she jumped on a luggage cart and casually pushed herself along. Once I was sure she would make it safely with the puppies and all, I went back out to Harley to get the basket and park.

I found Harley right where I left it, surprisingly. I got on and started the motor, careful not to make too much noise at this hour. The parking lot was only a few meters away, so it didn't take long to get there and find a good parking space.

The night air was cool against my skin and I smiled to myself for no apparent reason. Well, I suppose I was excited to actually sleep in a real bed tonight. The hotel was much warmer than outside, and I didn't mind that either. I meandered my way down the hall to the room, and was happy that everyone passed me by like I was an ordinary nobody.

I got to Sam and I's door and knocked. "Freddork?" I heard her call in a whisper. "Yes, it's me, Sam. Let me in," I confirmed.

Sam briskly opened the door to reveal the nicely furnished room. The lights were on and there was a TV that was set to the news channel playing. In the corner of the room there was a small bathroom. I noticed that there was only one double bed in the center of the room.

Sam went and lied down on what was presumably going to be her side of the bed, placed her head in her hands and watched the news. I walked over to her and stood by the bed.

"Anything interesting?" I asked her.

"Not particularly, but I just wanted to keep track of things."

I turned my attention to the Television, where a news anchor was standing in the rain in what was presumably Eureka, Nevada, according to the words at the bottom of the screen. "Two murders have occurred here in the past two nights. Bystanders have described the suspects as 'drunk bar addicts who are tough, big, and dark, with dark eyes and they wear dark clothes. People have been asked to avoid this area for a little while until these troublesome men can be caught and imprisoned. Back to you, Frank," the lady finished speaking.

"Wow, we should probably avoid that city then, right?" I asked Sam.

She looked thoughtful but eventually replied with a shrug, "They don't really scare me."

"Nothing scares you."

Sam bit her lip hard and never responded.

"So…um..where am I going to sleep?" I asked her, my thoughts coming back to the only bed in the room.

"With me, silly. I don't bite," Sam replied.

"Are you sure?," I asked her tentatively. "Won't that be a little… I don't know..awkward..for you?" I stammered.

"I'm fine with it. You have to learn to be more appreciative. We have this bed here, and the next time we're getting a bed is probably not for a long time, so we should both use it," she informed.

I suppose that you had to think like Sam to survive out here, screw etiquette. Those were Sam's general rules for life.

"Okay, sure then."

I climbed into bed and Sam did the same. "Good night Sam, dream of ham," I told her, traditionally now.

"Good night Freddie, dream of techie," I heard the automatic response.

I expected to see Sam turn and face the wall, but she appeared to fall asleep instantly. Being on the run really takes a lot out of you. I was going to turn, but for some reason I couldn't take my eyes for her. I thought about my dream last night, and that maybe my psyche was trying to tell me something, or maybe I really needed more to eat, or maybe those puppies in the corner of the room coiled up together to keep heat were making me go soft, or maybe it's that I'm trying to replace the Carly figure in my life.

But I think it's that possibly, maybe, I'm falling for Sam Puckett.