Welcome back to the KTR Universe, and thank you for sticking with this story for yet another adventure. For this story, which will serve as the connecting piece from KTR2 (where it immediately picks up after) and KTR3 which I hope to start publishing by the end of the year. This will be posted in real time, a chapter nearly every day as events unfold, which is new for me. We'll bounce to LA a little over the course of this piece, but most of it will be following Sam and Freddie in Seattle. Hope you enjoy.

"We both know you're not ok, so you might as well just talk to me…"

"I'm fine…" Sam muttered, rolling her eyes for the 20th time since they boarded, which shouldn't have bothered Freddie as much as it did, but somehow, he still felt he needed to talk to her.

They had just shut the cabin doors when Freddie had finally had enough of his silent travel partner and her one and two word responses. If he had to spend the next couple hours with her, followed by the next few weeks, he wanted them to at least be friendly. His mind was already racing to what he could have done to have caused this. She and Cat had left together just before lunch the previous day but until she sat down next to him in the waiting area, they hadn't shared a single word. And only maybe ten words since then.

Sam's actual seat was a couple rows back in the aisle, but thanks to a light crowd, she had moved over to sit next to him at the window. In fact the most words she had strung together were to ask 'Can I sit here?' Freddie didn't want to stop her, especially since he could tell that something was bothering her, but he wondered now if it was even worth it.

"Look, we're stuck on this plane for the next hour and I know that you're upset," he whispered, reaching to touch her knee when she recoiled from him. "Did I do something?"

"No…"she said with a sigh. "It's just… stuff."

"We've always been good at talking about stuff and-"

"Look," she said, gritting her teeth, not even turning from the window to face him. "I get that you're trying to do your perfect guy, have to save everyone, thing… but I need to think."

"Ok…" he said, a slight feeling of defeat in his voice. "You change your mind, you know where I'll be. You know… because we're trapped in a flying metal tube uncomfortably sitting next to each other."

Freddie had hoped his awkward joke would work, but she appeared wholly unfazed by it. She just took a deep breath and stared out the window, locking eyes with the glowing light of the wing. The blonde felt a mild jump as the plane finally began moving, though not nearly as fast she was hoping.

The former tech producer had seemed to give up on trying to get his former girlfriend, deciding to break out a sci-fi novel he foolishly expected to read on during his trip to LA. And while his attention appeared to be on the book, he was almost constantly watching the reflection of her face in the glass over the next several minutes. It was strange to see Sam so vulnerable while she was trying so hard to not be. Perhaps it was arrogance but he thought she'd be all over him by this point, excited that she got to be with him since that was usually how she reacted when he was around. But something had taken the wind out of her sails.

"I'm sorry…"

Freddie paused for a moment as his ears had just popped, so he wasn't entirely sure he had heard the apology that she had just given and just looked over at her quizzically, but she was still facing the window. "Did you say something?"

"Don't be an ass…" she said with huff, mildly fogging the window she stared out of. "You know how hard this kind of stuff is for me."

"I wasn't…" he started, but realized it was better to just take the hit and let her finally open up than to make this into another argument. "I'm sorry…"

"It's whatever…"the blonde said, still focused on what was outside, which in the dark of the late evening, wasn't much. "I'm just… in a place. It's not anything you've done I guess… it's just…"

"I'm listening," he said, pressing his palm into her shoulder, which she didn't flinch away from but eased more into his hand. "We may not always see eye to eye on stuff but we've always been able to talk, you know."

Sam looked back at him, and he could swear he saw the twinkling of a tear in her eye, but she turned back to the window and just stared for nearly minute. Finally, she released a long heavy breath and unloaded her 'secret.'

"Cat and I broke up," she said almost wistfully. "Right before I left."

"Oh, Sam…" he said, rubbing her shoulder and sliding a touch closer so he could try and get her to focus back on him. "I'm so sorry for you two."

"Don't be…" she quickly cut off. "Cat's the one who dumped me."

"What?"

"Yeah…" Sam said, shaking her head, knowing if she looked back into his eyes, she might say or do something stupid, which was surprisingly adult for her. "Decided that I didn't really love her if I would just up and leave when Carly came back. And that while she loved me, she knew I was in love with someone else… someone who she could never be."

"Wow…" Freddie said, pulling his hand from her shoulder and sliding it up and down her arm, unsure of what to do or what to say, but he had a feeling that he knew who the 'someone else' was. "That's really rough."

"No… that's not what's rough…" she whispered cryptically, pressing her head against the thick window. "What's rough is knowing that she's right. Knowing that I'm never going to be happy because… I can't help who I am. Or how I feel. Cat was the best person I had ever met. Sweet, optimistic, and I could always count on her because she had infinite patience for me. Guess even Mother Teresa has her limits."

"She wasn't exactly Mother Teresa, Sam…" Freddie said, alluding to the moment he met the redhead; a moment that they tried hard not to think about. "I'm sure she just needs some time and-"

"No… she doesn't," Sam said coldly. "And neither do I. It's done."

"Sam…"

"Don't try and reason with it…" she fired back, looking him in his brown orbs with her flaming blue ones. "It's already finished and we've left it at that. She says she wants us to be friends and for me to be happy. I told her she could go fuck herself. Not much of a way to come back from that. Last image of her is just bawling her eyes out in the car. Doesn't seem right… but that's me, right? That's the Sam Puckett way, right?"

"The 'Sam Puckett way' is being loyal to a fault. I know that better than most people, and I bet she does too. Cat knows you were upset and you didn't mean-"

"I meant it when I said it," she snapped. "Besides, I don't want or need her forgiveness. I was with her for months and you know how many times she did something that hurt me? Twice. You know how many times I hurt her? Literally every fucking day. At least once. I got a kick out of it half the time. Ugh…"

"You can't beat yourself about stuff like that. She-"

"The hell I can't…" she said, clenching her jaw and starting to make a fist. "You can fucking watch me."

"Or…" he said, grabbing her hand, forcing the clenched fingers apart to weave his fingers between hers, "I can help you. I'm not going to just watch you do this to yourself. I can't comment on what went down between you and Cat, but she was the one who decided to end things."

"So that I could be happy…" Sam shook her head, starting to pull from his hand but he just held harder. She'd be lying if she said there wasn't a part of her that loved the feel of his hand holding hers once more, gripping and fighting for her. "She's still in love with me, but she didn't want to hold me back anymore."

"Sound familiar?" he asked, raising his eyebrow and earning a burning stare from the blonde until it seemed like a light went on behind her eyes.

"Fuck…" she whispered, clenching her eyes and shaking her head. "Us…"

"That's what you told me the other day at your place…" he smiled, and held her hand tighter. "You knew we were doomed because while you loved me, you didn't want to be what held me back."

"But that was about your career… your life…" she muttered, annoyed that she failed to see the connection until Freddie practically fed it to her. "I'm in love with someone who will never love me back."

"Sam, you know I love you…" Freddie whispered, holding her hand and using his other hand to tuck some hair behind her ear.

"Yeah… been through this…" the former babysitter rolled her eyes. "You love me but you're not 'in love' with me… not like Jade."

"Well… you know, it's complicated…" he sighed. "I don't know where anything stands anymore."

"What do you mean?" she nearly choked, her heart beating fast that somehow this might be the moment that Freddie Benson finally gave in to her prayers. "Where what stands?"

"The last time we talked… really talked… at your… well, Cat's place… I thought I knew everything and had a plan for my future and was just friggin' confident, you know…" the former tech producer whispered, now being the one to look away, focused on the air and call buttons above him. "Me and Jade. Just the two of us. Pure and simple. But then… that changed."

"Because of Tori…" Sam finished, with a slow nod. "Third wheel…"

"I guess…" he took a deep breath, knowing he should be thankful for having two loving and beautiful women to call his own, but now that he had some time away, his mind was clearly troubled. "I guess I never put much thought to having extra people. We did that thing last time I was here with all four of us and that was… fun. But it was a one-time thing. And I was fine with Jade and you guys having a good time because I wanted her to be happy when I couldn't be there. And then I came back and there's this other girl and Jade's clearly in love with her, and when I see her, I can't lie, I felt something too. So to have this insane whirlwind thing that just… baffles me, but I am so obsessed with supporting the two of them, I guess I just forgot how I'd feel once I was away from it all…"

"Do you… well, are you… you know…" Sam said, clearly feeling uneasy about everything and it was rare that Freddie would open up like this about anything that didn't involve Galaxy Wars or some other nerd thing, "in love with Tori?"

"I think so…" he said, looking like the words tasted incredibly bitter leaving his tongue. "I thought it would lessen how I felt about Jade, but that didn't happen either. There was suddenly this smart, beautiful, and sweet extra person who somehow just made it work and made things with Jade so much better, and didn't take hardly anything away. I never thought it was possible to love two people at the same time, and while I still feel stronger about Jade, especially after this morning, I believe that in time, that might be going to level out. And I was good with it… but now, I know they are out there, as a couple. Happy. And I'm not there. And it's not just fun and games I'm missing, but the bonding between two people that love each other."

"You seriously think they will forget about you?" Sam said sardonically. "C'mon… you know Jade's not going to do that. And I seriously doubt Tori will forget you either."

"I'm not worried about the memories…" he whispered, holding her hand tighter without even realizing it. "I'm worried that they will realize they can be happy together without me complicating it as some extra piece… I'm actually the 3rd wheel. I just keep thinking to myself… I thought Tori would be the one that would always feel like that the odd man out, but… maybe it's me."

"Look," the blonde whispered, clenching her teeth as the thought of someone else truly having Freddie so completely, that once again wasn't her, made her stomach turn, "we all heard you this morning. You and Jade were just going at it and sharing those moments and those feelings that people who aren't meant for each other never feel. That shit is a thousand percent real."

"I hope so…" he said with a minor sigh. "This morning made me so happy and I just felt like it was maybe the greatest connection I've ever had with anyone, let alone Jade, but part of me just nags that it was more of a goodbye thing…"

"Did you talk to either one of them about it?" Sam asked, trying not to focus too much on how she could feel his pulse and all her senses were going into overdrive in desire for her former beau.

"Yeah, I brought it up to Jade as I was packing, and she told me not to worry. In fact, she was a little bothered that I would have questions after what we shared in the bathroom. And she's probably right… everything about today felt right… but I can't help it," Freddie continued, his neurotic side clearly coming out since it had somehow been in hibernation for the last few days. "She even equated it to giving me the hall pass with you while I'm in Seattle… as if that would somehow be ok, or the same thing."

"Oh really?" Sam said, her eyes widening. "Jade gave the go ahead for us to get it on?"

"I assume she thought Cat was fine with it or whatever…" he said, hoping that the mention of the redhead wouldn't throw Sam into a tizzy. "Probably didn't realize how she really felt. Kinda changes things."

"So the hall pass doesn't stand… not because your girlfriend changed her mind, but because I'm single now?" Sam narrowed her eyes as if she was looking through the former tech producer. "How the fuck does that make any sense?"

"Maybe this breakup would change Jade's mind…" Freddie said, with a shrug he knew, the moment he did it, was going to simply enrage the blonde, and the flare of her nostrils proved him right. "Maybe knowing that you don't have anything to tie you down would make…. This… cross a line. I'd have to ask her, I guess. I just don't want to screw things up, but maybe it's already too late for all that. All this open, 'do what feels good' type stuff seems to be coming back to bite me…"

"You are sooo full of shit, Benson…" Sam almost growled, looking back out the window and jerking her hand from his. Once she realized there was nothing to see besides the reflection of her face and, unfortunately, his, she gritted her teeth and grabbed a magazine and shoved her face in it. "Just leave me alone."

"How am I full of shit?" he fired back, with an exasperated breath. "Because I don't want to upset Jade… you know… my girlfriend… the woman I love?"

"The woman you love so much is probably diving face first between Tori's legs at just this moment, so I am not sure I'd worry that much to be honest."

"Why do you feel the need to be such a bitch sometimes? It's no wonder Ca-" he started, trying to control his temper, as her eyes met his with a fire he hadn't seen in a very long time. He refused to be reduced to Sam's level because if he played hard and took cheap shots, he knew she would beat him. Playing dirty was Sam's forte. So he took the high road. "I can't help but think you'd be a lot happier if you could lose the chip on your shoulder."

"Yeah… you'd think that…"

And that was it. At least an hour to go before they'd be landing and they were clearly at each other's throats. Made too much sense why they could never work as a couple when this was how it would go. She'd be needlessly cruel, he'd be condescending, and she'd cut deep, and he'd make a comment regarding how much better he was than her. A vicious cycle that couldn't be broken as long as they were the people that they were.

But as each began to reflect and the minutes passed by, they slowly began to accept the fact that who they were when they were a couple didn't have to be who they were to always be. She'd spent nearly a year away from him, and away from her life that had routinely left her unsatisfied, venturing out on her own to make her own way and gaining a couple new friends that were more than a little helpful in helping her deal with her issues. Freddie had lost his two best friends in a single night, and was forced to face life after iCarly in a town that continued to question when it would be back. He'd gotten closer with Spencer as well as picking up shifts at work.

One weekend had thrown their new worlds into a complete spin, bringing them crashing back together where relationships were formed, and the cracks in others became much more obvious. They had been forced to face their faults and admit that they needed to change. But admitting there was a problem is only the first step and neither had quite reached the point of apology or knowledge on how to fix those particular issues.

So instead of talking and bonding and working on becoming closer friends, like Freddie wanted, they remained silent for nearly half an hour. And instead of growing physically closer, holding one another and sharing in all the affections their current situation would allow, they moved away from one another, leaning in their own directions.

They had become the very definition of thunder and lighting, full of power and fury and capable of doing so much together, but their timing seemed doomed to be just slightly off.

"I have no idea why I'm still fucking reading this…"

Freddie looked over as Sam threw the magazine on the ground, and while he wanted to make a comment about how dumb it was to do that on a plane, he suddenly found himself a little awestruck.

"Wait a second…" he said, his eyes completely changing focus onto the magazine she was reading. "It can't be… Sam, let me see that."

"Jesus Christ…" she rolled her eyes. "It's on the ground. You can pick it up. Or do you need me to read it to you too?"

"No…" he whispered, reaching down to the magazine and arching his neck to try and see the cover, but it was away from where he could reach it. Finally the former bully just picked it up and threw the book at him, crossing her arms and putting her head back to close her eyes.

"There… now leave me alone."

"It is her..." he whispered cryptically.

"Who?" Sam said, interested deep down about what could have been so important, but did her best not to show the faintest interest on the outside. "That's just some tech magazine somebody left in the seat I guess. You see some new Silicon Valley virgin guy you're obsessing over now?"

"Not quite…" Freddie said, point to the cover, which was made up of seven young people, trying to pose like the Breakfast Club, with two extra people standing by, with the headline 'The Tech-fast Club: Seven Brilliant Minds Under 25 to Watch For The Future.' In the position of Ally Sheedy, there was a redhead in a dark blue sweater with a bob like haircut with a faint colored streak, and Freddie's finger was pointing right at her. "That… is Mindy Crenshaw."

"And should that mean something to me?" the blonde huffed, feeling like the name rang a bell of some sort, but she couldn't exactly figure out why. "Might as well just tell me. Who is she?"

"Well, according to this article," he flipped through the pages to show her profile piece, "she's essentially the next Zuckerberg… the Facebook guy. Combining social media with virtual reality apparently. But I knew her a couple years ago and we… well, we knew each other."

"Uh huh…" Sam said, trying to resist the twist in her gut from the way he was talking about her. She opened her eyes and began looking at the much larger individual piece on the girl, and was shocked at how she seemed to be a strange mix of Cat's body and Jade's style. The red hair was real, but there was a blue streak in the side. She also wore a leather jacket over a tank top and some black jeans. She looked more in place in a rock band than anything like science. Somehow it was a little surprising that Freddie would have been associated with this girl at all. "Care to… elaborate?"

"We went to the same two week science camp in Portland back that summer between freshman and sophomore year," he said hurriedly as he read the article, for a moment, not giving Sam any real attention, which did nothing to help her mood. "She was about to be a senior, but we were in the same grouping and we just kinda… hit it off. Arguably one of the coolest and most laid back people I'd ever met while still being way smarter than me. I had just gotten healed up from the truck incident, and emotionally almost healed up from Carly destroying my soul, and she had just broken with her boyfriend who was supposed to be there, but apparently there was a thing with his brother and-"

"Can you please get to the point?" Sam muttered, trying hard not to let her mind wander about what happened between the two. "Or at least something interesting."

"I almost lost my virginity to her…" he said, raising his eyebrow, knowing that would be something that would catch her attention, and from the way that her face was twitching as it processed that information, it worked. Her eyes slowly opened again at him and narrowed.

"You care to fucking repeat that?"

"Yeah…" he said with a slow nod. "We were hanging out after this bonfire, and we snuck off and just started making out, and we were just inseparable for almost a week. We would make jokes about the same movies and books and I was just super… enraptured with her. She was also the first non-related breasts I had ever seen in person, and she was the first girl I'd ever touched… there."

"I suddenly feel a lot less special…" Sam said, trying not to choke on the words. Freddie was her first everything and to know that he had shared a couple things with someone else really cut her deep. "And a little like a slut."

"It never went past touching. We never even saw each other's… plumbing." Freddie had been with a few girls now but outside of the bedroom, or those bedroom moments, he just wasn't comfortable with the discussion of body parts. "She taught me a lot about kissing and touching. I was trying to make her feel good and she literally grabbed me, looked me dead in the eyes and said, in the most supportive yet clearly impatient voice, 'Freddie, you can't just finger me like you're franticly looking for a song on an iPod…' She was helpful with the finesse there- never bitchy or mean, and I did my best to repay her…"

"Sounds like a real winner… and some wise words," the blonde was starting to churn deep inside. The beautiful touches and techniques he had used on her that seemed so natural now seemed tarnished in a way. "So what happened?"

"We snuck away, and she mentioned wanting to do… it… and I was just so caught up in this whole whirlwind romance thing, that I was basically her slave. I don't think she took advantage of me or anything, but I was just so wrapped up in this older girl who was into me, who was doing things with me I definitely wanted to keep doing… Mindy was never not in control. So anyway, we were in her empty bunk, and we took our shirts and pants off, ready to get started and I was ready to become a man… and about that time, a counselor named Rusty caught us…"

"Bummer…" Sam said, knowing it was an 'almost' from the very beginning but the lack of details made her feel a slight touch of relief.

"Yeah… he was cool enough not to tell anyone what we were doing but strict enough that we had him watching us pretty much anytime we were together," Freddie breathed a bit of a sigh, as he clearly went through the 'what might have been's' of the moment but snapped out of it quickly. "We kissed a bit more and had a great time at the dance. We went our separate ways for home, and talked on Slapbook for a while but within a month, she was back with that Josh guy and we just kinda faded out. Guess she's doing ok for herself if she's on a magazine cover."

"You do know you were on a web show that millions of people watched, right?" Sam said, still shaking her head, unsure what to do with all this information. "I know you must have liked her to do that with her after a week, and I had to beg you to touch my butt when we dated…"

"I know… I was just wrapped up in everything and she was just so take charge…" he shrugged. "In all honestly, I know I wasn't in love with her like I am with Jade, or Tori, or you… probably kinda like how I feel about Cat… I just really liked spending time with someone who seemed to like me for me. I was like a puppy and I'm sure she knew that. Maybe she was just looking for a summer fling with no real strings attached but I don't regret much of anything there. If I'd been thinking clearly, I probably would have second guessed everything like I did when we dated. We saw how well that worked out."

"You didn't use the past tense…" Sam said, focused entirely on the middle of his message. Normally Freddie would say that he was in love with her, or mention when he felt the same way she did, but this time he had said it. Using her name just as he would Jade's. "You said you ARE in love with me... not were."

"Sam…" Freddie started, realizing what he had done. "I just-"

"Tell me right now…" she said, turning toward him and locking eyes with him, grabbing the magazine from his hands and tossing it on the floor. "Was that a slip of the tongue or did you mean what you said? You know how I feel. I need to know because I just had my soul ripped out because of how I feel about you… and I need to know if there's a chance."

"Yes…" he said with a sigh, rolling his head back.

"Yes? Yes what?" she said, starting to clench her jaw, on the verge of rage once more, reaching and pulling his head down to meet her gaze once more, looking more serious than he'd seen her in a while. "Yes, it was a mistake, or yes, you're still in love with me."

"I've been in love with you for years now, Sam… that doesn't just go away," he whispered, trying to find the right words. "I will always be in love with you because you are incredible and the most beautiful of disasters. But-"

"LADIES AND GENTLEMAN, THIS IS YOUR CAPTAIN SPEAKING. WE'RE MAKING SOME PRETTY GOOD TIME AND SHOULD BE TOUCHING DOWN IN SEATTLE IN THE NEXT FIFTEEN MINUTES."

Both teens looked up at the speaker, each feeling a very different emotion as Sam wanted Freddie to stop before any form of 'but' could occur, while Freddie knew he needed to keep going and explain that Jade was the one and, even if he felt unsure about where they stood with Tori joining them, that Sam needed to know that she couldn't be the priority in the face of that. But Sam had heard the 'but' already, causing a real crash to her emotions that had suddenly started feeling high, and Freddie couldn't find the words to explain himself now.

He could only look at Sam, her blonde hair framing her tired, and yet still slightly hopeful face, a vulnerability that he could never deny made him feel closer to her. She was beautiful in ways that she probably couldn't even begin to realize, and she was smarter than she could give herself credit for and a far better person than she believed she was at this low point. Telling her that she didn't matter as much as the girl sitting in LA with another lover tending to her desires just didn't seem right.

"You were saying…" Sam said, breathing deeply, and knowing that he was going to drop the soul crushing hammer like he always did when her hopes got up. But she needed to know. "Pretty sure there was a 'but' there…"

"Yeah… there was…" he whispered, trying to find exactly what he was supposed to say here now that his original message had been thought through. "But now, I-"

"Look, I get it…" she interrupted with a slow nod and wince. "I'm not ok. Not sure if it was the dad that ran off when I was born or my drunk whore of a mother or some other bullshit but I know I'm damaged. I know you love me, but I just can't really get why you… or Cat… or even Carly for that matter would. I'm seriously fucked up and I can't exactly blame you."

"You're not-"

"Let me finish…" she said, clearly digging deep as the words slowly started to come to her. "I don't like who I am. But I want to be better. You… Carly… Cat… hell, even Jade. You guys have helped me a lot. I'm not as selfish, or as mean, or as violent… I am doing better. I know we fell apart because I was a total fucking bitch half the time, but I'm getting better. And I need you to know that. I can be who you wanted me to be."

"Sam, didn't you go through this with Pete?" he fired back, hoping to quell this before she got too far out of hand. "Changing yourself for someone else will never end well."

"I'm not changing just for you…" she shook her head. "I'm changing because I don't want to be the bully or the bitch or just the bad guy all the time. Even now, I almost feel like I'm guilt tripping you into valuing me more than you probably should. I can't keep being that person and be happy. So, I'm trying something new. When I get to Seattle, I'm going to make some changes and I want you to help me. And if what you said was true… that there's still something there… maybe you'll see that."

"I fell in love with the person underneath all those defensive walls and anger and spite…" he whispered, taking her hand. "As long as you don't lose who you are deep down… who I've always known you were… I can support you. I don't know about things changing between us…"

"Right…" she muttered, knowing her whole speech was likely in vain, but she had to try it. "I knew that-"

"But," he interrupted with a squeeze of her hand before bringing it up to his lips to plant a small kiss on her middle finger, "I had no idea about Tori and what could have happened there, so I'd say anything is possible. Assuming Jade is good with us being close, I'm down for us having fun… just as long as we stick to what we talked about at your apartment. Friends first."

"Yeah, we did say that…" she said, with a slight smirk as she leaned closer and whispered in his ear. "But that was before you fucked my brains out in that bathroom, and then again the middle of your girlfriend's house. I don't think friends is all we can be anymore."

"I feel like if something happened, it would be like I was taking advantage of you…" he fired back, trying not to notice how amazing she smelled and how she always knew exactly how to get a rise out of him. "You just got dumped and I just-"

"I got dumped because I'm still in love with you…" she retorted, cutting his comment off quickly. "And all I could think before she sat me down was how much I couldn't wait to be alone with you. How I could spend this whole flight just stroking your cock… or how I might just blow you on the plane… or maybe get the wild Freddie that takes me to the mile high club. And then to think about what kinds of things we'd do together once we got to Seattle. And those thoughts are still there, but right now… I don't know what I need. You can't take advantage of someone who wants it… who wants you… this bad. I planned to spend the night with you since your mom's working… if that's cool. We don't have to-"

"Well…" he said, feeling some stirring beneath his pants at the idea of sharing in such things with Sam, but he knew he needed to be careful. Whether she knew how delicate she was at this point or not, she had still gone through a breakup and her feelings could get 'messy'. The bad part was… he really really wanted to let things get 'messy'- her hair, their bodies, and every part of his room… his primal side wanted them to get 'messy' in the worst way. "I don't have a problem with you staying over… it would be nice to have some alone time with you again like the old days- watching movies, cracking jokes, and all that… so we can do that, but I need to know everything is ok on the other end before I can let anything… you know, happen."

"So, again, we're back to getting Jade's permission for something? Great…" Sam returned to rolling her eyes and she considered calling the whole thing off, but there was something in his voice and that story about the nerd chick that she really needed answering. "I need to know something else… going back to that little camp romance of yours…"

"Sure…" he said, taking a deep breath and hoping that this wasn't a loaded question. "It was only like a week of just moving between first and second base."

"You talked about having sex with her as if it would have been something you knew you'd regret…" she said slowly, trying to work up to a question that had been hanging over her since he 'fell' for Jade. "Is that because you regretted how your first time played out?"

"No…" he said in an instant. "I didn't think I would have regretted it until the moment I realized that you were the one I truly wanted to be with. That night we… gave it all up… and we just let ourselves be together was one of the greatest nights of my life."

"You don't wish you were with Jade instead?" she whispered back, placing her head on his shoulder. "That you could have given yourself to your one true love?"

"In a perfect world, maybe…" he kissed the top of her head as he held her hand. "But I needed to experience you and she needed to experience Beck to allow us to happen. And I don't even know about the one true love thing now. I was sure three days ago that there was only one person in the whole world for me and it was Jade, and I was that way for her. But now, I see Jade, who is definitely at the highest point, and right behind her, I see Tori, and then I see how they are together and I wonder how I can compete with that… and that's not even counting how I feel about you. Maybe the fabled one and only is just that… a fable. A myth. I feel like I'm in love with three different people, two of which might just be the one for each other. I want to believe that Jade is my one, my rock and my center… but these orbiting people around us… I don't know what to do with those feelings."

"So do I rank above…" Sam asked, raising her eyebrow, knowing the question would make him more than a little uneasy but would be quite telling, "…or below Tori?"

"Well-"

LADIES AND GENTLEMAN, THIS IS YOUR CAPTAIN AGAIN. WE ARE JUST MOMENTS AWAY FROM OUR DESCENT INTO SEATTLE-TACOMA INTERNATIONAL. WE THANK YOU FOR FLYING GAMMA AIRLINES AND WE HOPE YOU HAVE A NICE EVENING.

"I'm waiting, Benson…" she smirked, hoping he was really stewing as he considered his answer. "Are we tied? We could break it down by area. I know my ass is nothing to hers, but I do have great tits. Just as good as Jade's if Cat was being honest. Who is better in bed? Who is the best at going down on-"

"Sam, stop!" he nearly growled, as he resisted a smile, knowing she was just trying to get under his skin. "My feelings are just really complicated about this whole thing. I want to feel like I can tell you the answer but I can't."

"If I was more like her… would-"

"Going to cut you off there," he said, pressing his finger to her lips to shush her which she simultaneously hated and found incredibly attractive. "Not a conversation for right now…"

She instinctually went to put the finger in her mouth, but he pulled away and she feigned a bite, and for a few seconds, none of the earlier conversations mattered. They were laughing and smiling and Sam couldn't help nuzzling up to his chest to take in his manly scent in just a little deeper. In fact she would have stayed like that all night if she could. But she only got around 30 seconds before there was a heavy bump as the plane landed, sending her head up into his chin, and causing instant, but not severe, pain to the former tech producer.

"Fuck…" she whispered, realizing what had just happened and immediately went to look at his mouth and chin to see if she'd actually hurt him. Once she realized he was fine, she grabbed his cheeks and pulled him over for a kiss, and whether it was the shock or what, he just gave into it, and shared a deep soft kiss with the blonde who knew the moment she felt his lips on hers once more, that she had everything she could ever want. "I love you…"

"I love you too…" he whispered, before kissing her once more. "Not sure how since every time I come in contact with you, there's an injury…"

"Because that's the nature of things…" she said, looking up at him, and remembering a passage from something she had read for class. "I hurt you, and you'll hurt me and we'll hurt each other… we have to go through winter to have spring. If having each other is important, we have to risk things that could harm us…"

"Holy crap…" he whispered back, taking her cheek in his hand and stroking his finger across it as he stared into her gorgeous blue eyes. "That was so deep and thoughtful… and I cannot lie… I think I may have just fell a little bit further for you."

"You mean it?" she tried not to sound too overjoyed at the prospect that his feelings were growing, so she turned it to humor like usual. "You know I'm in a fragile emotional state from this breakup and if you're taking advantage of me and using me, I'll be very upset."

"Oh I can think of a few uses for you…" he smiled as he kissed right at her earlobe, knowing it was a hot spot for her.

"Since out plane is about to kick us off, maybe we should resume this conversation in bed…" she smirked devilishly back at him, running her fingertip up his chest until she reached his hair and pulled it a bit. "My legs are getting pretty eager to hear what you have to say… and do…"

"That sounds fair…" he laughed as he reached in his bag for his phone, turning it back on at last. "I wonder what the others are up to…"

"No clue…" Sam said, her mind instantly going to the image of Cat crying herself to sleep as she hugged the blonde's former bed. "Hopefully nothing too serious."

"Or too much fun," Freddie winced, wondering how many times the girls had even thought about him since he left… probably too busy making love to one another.

"I'm stealing this magazine, FYI," Sam said nonchalantly, getting her bag together. "Kinda want to read up on little miss genius who nearly popped your cherry. Maybe cut out the picture and do stuff to it. Or you can have them… add those to the spank bank you've got hidden from your mom…"

"I hate that I shared that with you… and… hang on… got a text from Jade… and… oh shit…"

Freddie looked down at his phone and a look of dread spread across his face, and it was a look that Sam could identify fairly easily after so many years.

"What did your mom do this time?"

The former tech producer handed her the phone and showed it to her and the joy melted from her face as well.

-Missed my baby boy so I switched shifts with Rhonda so I could be home waiting for you.

"Fuck…"

"My feelings exactly, Sam…" he said with a gentle nod.

Sam couldn't help but see what Jade sent and was instantly a little worried about it since she was most of what it was about.

-Love and miss you. As you probably heard, Cat and Sam broke up… kinda hoping you know her side of the story because Cat hasn't stopped crying since you guys left. Hope the trip was good. Call me when you get home. Since your mom's not there, I was thinking I might have some ideas to help get over the distance. Also, you might want to check your camera before you show anyone any of the shots you took. Tori says she misses you. I'd be a wreck if she wasn't here. Please invent something to make time go faster.

"Reading something interesting?" Freddie asked, looking over her shoulder that she was in fact reading Jade's text. "Nosy is not a good look on you."

"Just a little pissed that I can't have you tonight…" Sam said with a grumble as he gave her a look to say that there wasn't a guarantee that she would 'have' him anyway, but she rolled her eyes. "I really wanted to have a night with you again… is that so bad? I can be catty about it if I want to."

"Fair point…" he smiled, as he prepared to get out of the seat. "But we have quite a ride home, and a long time that it could take us to get to the apartments… wouldn't be right to waste it, right?"

That flash of a smile was all if took for Sam's anger to melt away for the most part as she reached for her bag. He had that ability to just say and do just the right thing in just the right moment. As she headed up the aisle and past the attendants and out into the terminal, Sam reflected on what got her here. She had planned from the moment the call came that this trip would be great for them getting closer, but it wasn't until that stupidly charming smile of his hit her square in the heart that she knew for a fact that she wanted to be his. Just like Jade. Just like Tori. If he could love two girls, then three was more than possible. It was her destiny.

So Day 0 is now done and the stage is set, and a new character name dropped who may have some bearing in the future, but nothing too soon. I know it was a bit shorter than the usual fare, but many of these chapters will be shorter. Hope everyone enjoyed and please review/favorite/follow as my ego is exceptionally fragile, and thank you, as always, for reading.