Sorry I didn't update in the past two days. It's just that my four angel/monster-cousins were staying with us. And, well... how do I say this nicely... they're tornado's. ;) I thought I'd be able to write once they'd gone to bed, but, truth is, once they finally did go to sleep I was just so exhausted I had no energy left to do anything anymore.

Okay, that's enough about my personal life. :p On with the story.

Chapter 15 –Stuck in between

I'm stuck in between caring too much, and not caring at all.

~Author Unknown

The days in Italy flew by, and Carly had not again mentioned the Freddie thing. Of course it hurt to finally acknowledge it, but that didn't spoil the lovely time I had with my family. Yet we hadn't been with them for two weeks yet, when our vacation was rudely interrupted.

It was a calm afternoon. Antonio had just left after making us a wonderful late breakfast, and Carly's dad was showing Spencer some Milan's art-thingy. Carly was teaching Freddie some Italian words, while I was watching TV. And just for a few seconds, I actually felt at ease. I almost felt like, for once, things were going smoothly.

It was at this moment that my cellphone started ringing. I checked caller ID before picking up, but it showed an unknown number.

"Hello?" I said. "Hello. Am I speaking to Samantha Puckett?" the voice on the other side of the line asked. "Yep, that's the one." I said. "This is the Northwest Hospital from Seattle. This is about your mother, Pamela Puckett. She was just brought in here this morning."

I immediately sat up straight. "My mom? What's wrong with her?" I asked, even though I knew perfectly well what the answer would be. Carly and Freddie quickly gathered around me, a concerned look on both their faces.

"I'm so sorry. She's in coma. She's had an alcohol overdose." The voice said. I closed my eyes. "Of course she had." I whispered sarcastically. "She had what?" Carly whispered, bursting with curiosity. I ignored her. "Who found her?" I asked.

"A neighbor." The voice told me. "Thankfully, she passed out in the garden. The woman living next to her saw her laying there." "Is she going to die?" I asked flatly. "We don't know." The voice said, seemingly unimpressed by my dullness. "Right now she's got about fifty percent chance. But we're doing everything we can." I was ensured.

"We do need you to get here as fast as you can." The voice said. "Right." I said. "Well I'm in Italy at the moment, but I'll get on the very next plane." I promised. "That's good." The voice said. "But in the meantime, do you have another relative who could take you're place as Power of Attorney, to make a few smaller -yet urgent decisions?"

I shook my head, before realizing that she could of course not see me. "No." I said quickly. "I don't have any other relatives. I wouldn't know who to ask for that." I said. "My mom!" Freddie hissed. "My mom can check in on her!"

"One sec." I said, before placing my hand over my phone. "Freddie, they need someone to make decisions! I'm the Power of Attorney –they need a replacement till I get there!" I told him. "Well my mom can do that!" he said. "She's a nurse, she knows a lot about this stuff, she can do this."

"Yeah, but would she want to?" I asked. "Of course!" Freddie said. "I'm sure she won't mind at all." "Okay." I said quickly before putting my phone back to my ear. "Hi, I'm back." I said. "Listen, I found someone who can do it, I'll give you someone who's going to tell you her phone number."

I handed over my cellphone to Freddie. "Here, I'll call your mom in the meantime." I said, grabbing Freddie's phone from the table. While Freddie rambled up his mom's phone number, I started searching through his contacts.

"Sam! What's the matter?" Carly almost exploded with curiosity. "My mom's in the hospital. Overdose alcohol." I wasn't going to waste any more time explaining.

After both the hospital and a more than cooperative Mrs. Benson had both hung up, we started making arrangements to leave. "I'm going to go packing." I informed them. "Freddie, could you please get me the earliest ticket to Seattle?" "Sure." He nodded.

"Get two!" I heard Carly say before she followed me up the stairs.

"Carly, you don't have to come if you don't want to" I said while emptying 'my' closet. "Of course I want to!" she said. "Carly…" I started, but she cut me off. "I'm coming –no discussion." I smiled at the certainty of my best friend. "Thanks kid." I said.

After a little while, all three of us met in the living room again. Freddie had also brought his bag. "So, the very next flight goes this afternoon at three. Now that's in two hours, so we got to hurry. Carly, we should call Spencer and your dad, tell them to come home right now." He said.

Carly grabbed her cellphone. "You call Spencer. I'm calling Antonio." She walked away to inform her boyfriend about her sudden departure. Freddie sighed before picking up his own cellphone. "Freddie, why is your bag packed?" I asked.

"I'm coming with you." He said. "There were three tickets left –I bought all of them." He told me. "Why?" I asked. Not out of sarcasm or anything –but pure out of curiosity. He shrugged. "I want to be with you right now." I looked the other way. "Thanks, but it really wasn't necessary."

"Sam, your mom was taken to the hospital. She's in coma! It's okay to be sad –even for you." He said. "I'm not sad!" I snapped. "I don't care about her!" It was silent for a few seconds. "I'll call Spencer." I told him.

Once they had been contacted, it didn't take Spencer and his father long to get home. And before I knew it, we were at the airport already, waiting for the plane to take us back to Seattle.

"O, Sam, I really wish I could come with you!" Spencer said. "I'll be there soon –I'll take the very next flight." I wanted to tell him that he didn't have to. That I didn't need any support or –worse- pity. That I didn't like my mom anyway, and that I wasn't at all affected. But all I could do was just lean into his embrace and try to hold back the tears.

Carly kissed her boyfriend goodbye, before hugging her father and brother. "I'll miss you guys! See you soon!" she said. "Carly, come on. We're leaving." Freddie said. And we left. But as I went into the airplane, Freddie wasn't the only one with feeble knees, this time.

Carly had immediately taken the only window seat of the three chairs, which were thankfully all next to each other, leaving me and Freddie to sit next to one another once again. I went to sit in the middle, leaving Freddie to sit on the aisle.

Just before takeoff, Freddie grabbed my hand. "Hey. We're here for you okay? It's okay to be a little sad." I tried to cut him off, but he wouldn't let me. "Now don't try to tell me again that you don't care!" he wiped my cheek. "Cause people who don't care, don't cry." He whispered. I tried to roll my eyes at him, but it only triggered more tears.

"Sam, we love you. We're not judging you. I just want to tell you that we're here for you." He paused for a second. "I'm here for you." I smiled just a little. "Thanks, nub." I whispered.

His eyes twinkled beautifully as he smiled at me. My first urge was to pull back, but for some reason I didn't. Instead, I laid my head on his shoulder. I closed my eyes, to push the tears away. Why was I crying, anyway? Not because of my mother. Because I didn't care about my mother.

I couldn't care about her. It was too dangerous for me too care about her. After all, she was family. My family. And my family never stuck around.

:O Pam Puckett is back! What will happen? ;)