The Longer Engagement

55: Party

Saturday, February 17th, 2024

3 PM

Third Person POV

"Hey, cutie!" Rachel cooed when she walked in with Finn, Julia, and Randy. Finn was holding Randy. "Can I hold her?" She asked Sam. He nodded and let her pick Brooklyn up." Happy birthday." She told him.

"Thanks, Rach." She sat next to Brenda on the couch with Quinn and Santana. Santana was holding Santiago. Santiago saw Sam, so he held his arms up and started repeating,

"Dada! Dada!" Sam had a kind of shocked look on his face. He picked him up and kissed him on the side of the head.

"When did he start sayin that?" He asked, sitting beside her.

"A few days ago. I wanted to surprise you." She answered.

"Well, I'm very surprised." He said, and tickled Santiago slightly, causing him to giggle. A little while later, as soon as Jenna saw Sam holding Brooklyn, she ran over to him and squished herself between him and Puck. She hugged his arm and put her head on his shoulder, looking at Brooklyn. He laughed and held her up a bit so she could see her better.

"She's little." She said, looking at him.

"You were too."He said. She looked at him weird and he laughed."Happy birthday squirt."

"You too!" She said happily, and then went and sat with Chord. Sam laughed and shook his head. Tina came and sat on Sam's knee without any hesitation so that she could look at the baby.

"Do you want to hold her, Tina?" He asked, laughing. She nodded and picked her up.

"She's so cute! She looks like you." He nodded, grinning. She was still sitting on him for some reason."She has a lot of hair."

"I know. It's like, the only thing similar to Brenda. And the fact that she has chubby cheeks like her."

"I can't help that-What the hell?" Brenda asked, walking in. He held his hands up and shrugged.

"I don't know. She just came and sat on me."

"Because I wanted to see her." She said, grinning at Brenda, who shook her head.

"Whatever you say. Anyway, Sam, Chord, and Jenna need to come in the kitchen to blow out the candles on their cakes." She said. Tina stood up with Brooklyn. When Sam stood up, Mike put a hand on Sam's shoulder.

"She has baby fever." He said.

"Are you two trying for another baby or something?" Sam asked.

"We have, but we haven't had any luck yet."

"Sound like me and Brenda before she got pregnant. It'll probably happen soon." Sam told him.

"Sam!"

"I'm coming woman! Chill out!" He said, and walked in the kitchen.

"Don't tell me to chill out, I have a weapon right now." She said, pointing the open part of the bag of icing at him. He held his arms up in surrender. She kissed his cheek and then lit the candles. All three of them blew out the candles at the same time.

"I can't believe you're 26 now." Brenda said, looking up at him and wrapping her arms around his neck. He grinned.

"I'm old, I know." She rolled her eyes and kissed him. They stopped when Brooklyn started crying. Sam took her from Jake and she stopped crying and looked up at him.

"Ha, she doesn't like you." Jake rolled his eyes at him."I don't really blame her." He said, and stood beside Brenda. She wiped Brooklyn's mouth since she'd spit up some. Sam swayed back and forth a bit and she fell asleep in his arms.

"I'm gonna go put her in her crib. I'll be back in a minute." He said and went upstairs. A few minutes later, he came back down, talking on his phone. He looked at Brenda and motioned for her to go to their room with him.

"Who is it?" She asked. He shut the door and put it on speaker.

"Hey Brenda!" An overly happy voice nearly yelled.

"Oh my god, really Mallorie?" Brenda asked, laughing.

"Yes, really! Where do you two live? I have a surprise for the both of you."Brenda told her, and then they hung up.

"That girl is insane, I swear." Brenda said.

"You grew up with her, didn't you?" Sam asked as they went back down stairs. She nodded. By the time everyone had eaten some cake, and Jenna opened presents, along with a few for Sam and Chord, there was a knock on the door. Brenda answered it and Mallorie was standing there. She raised an eyebrow and pointed at her stomach.

"Why aren't you pregnant anymore?"

"I had the baby Wednesday, Mall." Brenda said, shaking her head at her.

"Oh, makes sense. Why didn't you tell me!" She exclaimed, and the two hugged. Brenda introduced everyone to her, and then took her to see Brooklyn. After she just gushed over Brooklyn for at least ten minutes, they went back downstairs, and everyone except for Sam's siblings and parents left.

"So, what was that surprise you were talking about?" Brenda asked as they sat in the living room.

"Well, I heard about how you broke your record deal with Matthew on the news." She said at first, and Sam nodded, raising an eyebrow."Well, I don't know if you two know this, you probably don't because I haven't talked to you guys since we were like, teens, but, I have my own records or whatever you want to call it. It's called Southern Harmony." She said, grinning.

"Uh, okay?" He said, confused.

"I've worked with your cousin, Sam, and Josh Turner, Carrie Underwood, Chris Young, and many other singers, not just country. Nick Jonas and Megan Trainer for example."She said. He nodded, and still didn't understand." For God's sake, Sam! I'm offering you a record deal here!" She exclaimed.

"Oh. Wait, seriously?"

"Yes. You too Brenda. And you won't lose your job if you don't do something I want you to do. You won't have a certain deadline for anything you have to record." Sam and Brenda looked at each other.

"I'm going to email Matthew as soon as I can and break the contract."She said, and Sam grinned, hugging her.