A few days later, the three of them were settled into the routine of living together. Sam woke up the that day to the smell of bacon. She ran through the apartment and over to the couch and jumped on, squashing herself right next to Freddie.
"Oh… h-hey Sam."
"Hey, Freddie." Sam said slowly, running a finger down his chest. "That shirt looks good on you."
"T-Thanks…"
"I want some bacon." Sam ordered.
"It's… It's over there." Freddie got up in a daze, walking to the kitchen and getting it for her. Cat stared at the pair of them in shock. She'd never seen Sam act like that before.
"So… erm… I forgot to ask… how was Carly yesterday? Was she okay?" She asked, trying to break the stunned silence around them.
"Great… she just interrogated us about the pancake breakfast that you told her about!" Sam replied.
"Bacon for the princess." Freddie grinned as he handed Sam the plate.
"Thanks."
"Do you want any more, Cat?" Freddie asked, preparing more.
"I'll make it." Cat volunteered, getting up. "Sam and I have something to talk about anyway." She said, dragging Sam over to the kitchen.
"But I'm resting!" Sam complained, having already finished her bacon.
"What was that?" Cat whispered, referring to the moment between Sam and Freddie.
"Me getting what I want?" Sam answered, raising an eyebrow. "And since when do you know how to cook bacon?"
"Er, what happened to taking it slow?"
"Look, can we not talk about this here? The geek over there is clearly listening." Sam whispered.
"Please?"
"Look, I'm still in the process of trusting him, okay? But if I can manipulate him that easily to get food for me then-"
"Oh, cut the nonsense. We both know that's not why you did it."
"He's gorgeous, okay? Look, I'm just trying to ease myself into the idea of liking him again."
"Like you ever stopped." Cat laughed. "You're so-"
"Freddie! Cat needs some help with the bacon!" Sam called, cutting Cat off. "Cat, go your room."
"KK." Cat sang, turning on her heel and skipping to the room.
"So, what's up?" Freddie asked as the two sat down with more bacon.
"I couldn't deal with Cat anymore. She's giving me too much grief about you and I and I needed a break." The two of them moved over to the couch.
"I understand. This morning when you were still asleep she was playing 20 questions again."
"Yeah." Sam sat up straight the couch. "Hey, if we want to get back together, we will - there's no need to rush anything
when it'll happen eventually anyway and I thi-" Sam's eyes widened. "I've said too much."
"No you haven't. Sam, it's okay to be open about your feelings. You -" Sam cut him off with a kiss. It was short, only four seconds, but the passion felt in that time was enough.
"I'm not ready for a label yet." Sam frowned at him. "I'm not ready to go out with you… but I am ready to show you I like you."
"I won't do anything you don't want me to." Freddie smiled at her.
"I know you won't. You do take good care of me." Sam grinned. "I don't know what's up with me at the moment - I'm so sappy!"
"Hey, I like it!" Freddie grinned. "Hey, is okay for me to stoke you? Like your hair? I've missed that." He asked nervously. "But if you're not ready I can-"
"Knock yourself out." Sam smiled at him, moving closer to him and hugging him sideways, resting her head on his shoulder. Freddie put one hand around her waist and used the other to softly stoke her hair. Sam let out a sigh of contentment.
"Is- is this okay?"
"It's perfect, nub." Sam replied, grinning at him before laying her head back and closing her eyes. The two didn't speak, but Freddie hummed the tune of a song off the radio. The moment was only broken a few minutes later by Freddie's phone ringing. He looked at the caller ID.
"I swear your mother always know's when someones getting too close to her baby." Sam rolled her eyes.
"Hey, mum." Freddie opened the call, rolling his eyes at his friend.
"How are you?" His mum asked.
"I'm good. Great, actually."
"Oh, good. And how are things with you and Sam?" Marissa asked, getting straight to the point.
"They're great." Freddie smiled. Sam laughed at his mothers abruptness.
"Hey, Sam, can I speak to you?" Marissa asked, hearing Sam's laugh.
Now it was Freddie's turn to laugh. "Hey, Mrs B." Sam said into the phone.
"Is he treating you right?" Mrs Benson asked. "Is he taking you out and buying you presents?"
"He's treating me great." Sam confirmed. "He's being very sympathetic to my feelings."
"Thats's great." Marissa said. "Freddie, do you know when you're coming back?"
"A couple weeks or so, mum." Freddie said. "I'm just re-connecting with Sam right now, and I'll be looking at the college next week."
"You're so grown up now?" She replied. "Being in love and going to college…"
"Mum!" Freddie exclaimed, embarrassed. Since when did his mum know about his feelings for Sam? "I think it's time for us to go. I'll speak to you tomorrow."
"Okay, Freddibear. Love you!"
"Love you too, mum." He hung up.
"Hanging up on her as soon as feelings are mentioned?" Sam smiled. "Real, mature, Freddie."
"Like you're mature."
"I am too!"
"So now you're mature? Even if you are - which I highly doubt - I know you still can't resist this!" Freddie started to tickle her until the two of them were out of breath. Sam giggled, kissing him on the lips one more time, once again it only lasting a short time, before skipping back off to her room.
"Yep. She'll be the death of me." He confirmed, laying back down on the bed. _
Cat Valentine was waiting for Sam and Freddie to arrive. The three of them were looking after some new triplets that they hadn't babysat before. They were one year old and had moved to the area recently. Their parents were going out for a meal for the first time since the triplets were born. The triplets were all girls, and were named Lily, Ruby and Belle.
Sam and Freddie came into the apartment together, fighting over who had the brownest hair. Freddie, obviously, had an argument that his hair was actually brown, whereas Sam claimed that her hair was browner, she just 'dyed it so I don't look like a nub'. Cat, who was used to these arguments, just let them carry on. A knock was soon heard on the door and in came a stroller carrying three babies.
After a 'thanks',' goodbye', and a 'see you soon', they were left alone.
After five minutes, the triplets were in tears.
"What are we supposed to do?" Sam asked when the noise got too much.
"I don't know!" Freddie said. One thing his mum had not taught him about was babies. Apparently, he was to never do 'that stuff' with a girl.
"Maybe we should let them out." Cat said. "How would you feel if you were cooped up in pram?"
"Good idea." Freddie agreed.
"Good idea." Sam mimicked in a girly voice.
"Is that really necessary?"
"Are you really necessary?"
"Are you-"
"Guys! Let's just put them on the floor with some toys and see how it goes." Cat, Sam and Freddie each unstrapped one child and let them free. At the age they were, the babies started to slowly crawl around. Cat placed two teddies, a toy car and a rattle on the floor.
Lily, who seemed to be the most active, picked up the toy car and hit Belle on the head. "Lily!" Cat scolded. She picked the baby up and took her away from Belle. "Do not hit your sister!"
Lily make a strange sound that went "Nwaa." And then crawled back over to Belle, and then hit her with the car again. "Mwaa."
"Lily!" Freddie said. He picked her up. "That's naughty!" Lily hit Freddie with the car.
"I like her!" Sam giggled.
"You can have her then!" Freddie said and he passed Sam the baby.
"She really doesn't like Belle, does she?" Cat laughed.
"Nope." Sam said. "But she does like me."
Lilly had now moved into a position where she was hugging Sam. Freddie smiled.
Sam was bobbing Lily up and down on her knee. "It seems the babysitting is paying off." Freddie smiled at her.
"I don't mind the kids." Sam said. "And they're cool when they remind me of me."
"You'd be a good mother, too." Freddie said.
"I don't know I could do that. I mean, I would be scared I wasn't good enough."
"You would be, though."
"You think?" Sam asked, continuing to bounce the baby on her knee.
"Yeah." Freddie said. The two of them were silent for a moment, looking into each other's eyes and then awkwardly looking away.
Cat spoke up. "Hey, so me and my friends are going to an Under 21's club next Friday." She said. "Jade suggested you two come. What do you think?"
"Yeah, that'd be cool. It'd be nice to get out." Sam said. "What do you think, Freddie?"
"As long as I won't be intruding." Freddie said.
"Robbie would like to see you again." Cat giggled.
Freddie groaned. "As long as he doesn't start singing his love songs to me again."
"He was only practicing for me." Cat giggled. "Robbie's sweet."
"Since when do you go to Clubs?" Sam asked. "And since when does Robbie?"
"Well, it's Jade's 18th." Cat said. "She's convinced us all to go since she absolutely loves it there."
"Ah right. So it's next Friday?" Sam confirmed.
"Yeah."
"We'll be there." Sam grinned. "Freddie could do with a bit of exposure to clubs to help him man up anyway."
Freddie rolled his eyes. "You do know there's no actual alcohol at the club, right? It's under 21's?"
"Yeah, yeah, I know. But hopefully just the whole club atmosphere will man you up."
"Right, right, okay." Freddie laughed. He looked at the baby on Sam's knee. "Hey, she must really like you. She's asleep."
"I told you Mama's a boss at this babysitting thing." Sam said.
There was a knock on the door. "Hello? It's Frank Shepherd. I've just come to check all is going okay with the new tenant?" He shouted through the door.
"One sec!" Sam said. She moved closer to Freddie on the couch, and he put his arm around her. Cat went to go and answer the door.
"Hello." He said, once he had been let in. "I'm just doing the rounds and wanted to make sure everything was okay?"
"Everything's great." Freddie said. "I love it here."
"Oh good, good." The manager nodded. He smiled. "I see the business is going well?" He looked at the triplets.
"Everything is great." Cat said. Sam looked up at the manager and smiled, but couldn't bring herself to say anything in fear that her voice would be shaky - she sure felt shaky. Freddie having his arm around her was doing strange things to her insides.
"Do you want to stay for a cup of tea?" Freddie asked. Sam wondered how he was able to remain so cool.
"No, no, I'd better get going. Thanks for the offer, though."
"Anytime." Freddie said. He removed his arm from Sam and stood up. "Thanks for stopping by."
"Have a nice evening." The manager said, letting himself out.
A/N - Please review!