Carly grinned and held up a jug of suspiciously coloured liquid.
"I made some of my special lemonade!" she announced. Sam and Freddie looked up from the couch with slightly panicked expressions, pulling apart from each other.
"You made more?" Freddie said slowly. Carly nodded happily as Sam and Freddie exchanged glances.
"I'm... not really... thirsty..." Sam replied hesitantly. "Buuuut I'm sure Freddie would like some!" She smiled and patted him lightly on the cheek. Freddie's eyes widened.
"Uh, yeah, sure," he muttered. He raised his head and looked at the door, pretending he could hear something.
"Coming, mom!" he shouted, quickly jumping to his feet. He shot Carly an apologetic look before almost leaping out the door, pulling it shut behind him. He leaned against the wall and checked his watch. Five minutes should be long enough. He felt bad lying to Carly, but her lemonade was... Well, it was certainly different to most lemonade he'd tasted.

Sam pouted and glanced at the now Freddie-less space on the couch next to her. With a sigh she leant back on the sofa and glanced at Carly, who was staring after Freddie with a raised eyebrow.
"Did you hear his mom calling?" she asked. Sam nodded.
"Oh yeah, you know what Crazy's like," she lied casually. "Didn't you?" Carly frowned and shook her head slowly.
"No..." she muttered, putting the lemonade down on the kitchen island. She shrugged.
"Give me a minute; I gotta go get something from my room." Sam waved a hand as Carly made her way up the stairs. Her eyes darted to the kitchen.
"Aww, man," she groaned. "Why can't Carly have her fridge within reaching distance of the couch?" She made a grabbing motion in the direction of the fridge before letting her arm flop back down into her lap. She tilted her head back.
"BENSON! BRING ME SOME FOOD!" she shouted. She paused but he didn't respond. She rolled her eyes and waited.
"...ah, ah, ah, need water!" Spencer cried, bursting out of his bedroom and sliding half-way across the floor. His eyes hit upon the jug of lemonade and he grabbed it, quickly pouring half the contents down his throat. Sam smirked and watched as his face paled. He glanced at her.
"Did Carly make lemonade?" he asked weakly. Sam nodded and he gagged.
"Then I will be going." He spun on his heel and dashed back to his room, slamming the door behind him. Sam winced at the sound of vomiting.
"Well, that's ruined my appetite," she muttered. Her eyes widened as she heard the door swing open behind her. She turned expectantly and was faced with Freddie holding a plate of ham. Her eyes lit up.
"For me?" she asked flirtatiously. He laughed and sank onto the couch next to her, holding the plate out.
"Who else?" he replied. She grinned and snatched the plate from him.
"Thanks," she said, pecking him on the lips. He nodded and slipped an arm around her shoulders as she got to work on the ham.
"You're lucky I'm not the jealous type," he noted. "Sometimes I think you love the ham more than you love me." Sam swallowed her mouthful and put the empty plate down on the coffee table before turning around to face Freddie.
"Don't worry, Fredbag," she whispered, leaning closer to him. "I don't do this with the ham." She pressed her lips onto his and he tightened his grip around her, holding her to him as they kissed.

Carly came down the stairs two at a time and paused as she found Sam and Freddie locked in a kiss on her couch. She coughed politely and they both looked at her.
"Having fun?" she asked with a smile. Sam smiled and put a hand on Freddie's cheek.
"Don't we always?" she replied. Carly laughed.
"Only every day for the past month," she said, sitting down on the other end of the couch. "I almost regret hooking you guys up." Freddie raised an eyebrow.
"Would you prefer us to go back to hating each other?" he asked with a grin.
"I can't help it if I feel a little left out," she muttered. Sam's face fell slightly.
"The Nathan thing?" she said quietly. Carly nodded and looked away. Freddie glanced between the two girls.
"What happened with Nathan?" he asked, concerned.
"We... broke up," Carly told him sadly. "We had a fight about... well, we had a fight, and he broke up with me." Freddie sighed.
"I thought you guys agreed on everything," he said, slightly confused. "What were you fighting about?"
"Don't worry about it," Carly groaned, waving a hand irritably. Freddie opened his mouth again but Sam elbowed him in the ribs and shook her head. His mouth shut again and the three sat in an awkward silence.
"Sorry," Carly said quietly. "I didn't mean to bring that up again." Sam waved a dismissive hand.
"You were too good for him anyway, cupcake," she assured her. "You should've let me beat him up." Carly shot her a disapproving look.
"You can't solve all problems with punching, Sam!" she said. Sam rolled her eyes.
"I would've kicked him too!"

Spencer burst out of his room for the second time that afternoon, waving a hand behind him.
"Fire extinguisher!" he shouted. Carly sighed and pointed to the wall bracket that held it. Spencer leapt across the room, grabbed the fire extinguisher, and vanished back through his door. Moments later he emerged again.
"It's empty!" he shouted. The three teens turned to look at him.
"How many times have you used it?" Freddie asked. Spencer counted rapidly under his breath.
"Only a few... hundred... I don't know!" He glanced back at his room. "This isn't the time for counting!" Freddie rolled his eyes and got to his feet, running out of Carly's apartment and into his own. He returned with a second fire extinguisher which he handed to Spencer. Spencer's eyes lit up and he raised the extinguisher like a weapon.
"Prepare to feel the wrath of Spencer Shay!" he announced dramatically, spraying wildly into his room. Carly leant back and tried to see inside his room.
"What's on fire?" she asked. There was a brief pause.
"My toilet!" came the reply. Carly shrugged and looked back at her friends.
"Groovy Smoothie?" she asked. Sam nodded and stood up.
"Freddie's paying," she said, putting her arms around his neck. "Giddy-up!" She jumped onto his back and he chuckled.
"Come on, Carly," he said, carrying Sam out of the apartment. Carly followed, pulling the door shut behind her.
"We're going out!" she called to Spencer.
"Bring me back a smoothie!" There was a pause. "And a new toilet!"

A few hours later, Sam and Freddie were on their own. Carly had gone back to make sure Spencer had a hot meal instead of just snack food, so Freddie offered to walk Sam home. She'd laughed and reminded him that the last time he 'walked her home', she'd ended up defending him from a mugger.
"Well yeah," he'd replied with a grin. "Why do you think I wanna stick with you?"
Before too long they were at Sam's house. Freddie looked at the dark windows and then at Sam.
"Is your mom home?" he asked. Sam shrugged.
"I doubt it. She's got a new boyfriend with HD."
"Do you have a key on you?" Sam snorted and pushed the unlocked door open, ushering him inside. He rolled his eyes.
"I should've guessed."

They whiled away the hours with pointless conversation, stopping only when Sam offered Freddie a meal which, naturally, he cooked and she ate. Before too long Sam was yawning, and despite her insistence that she wasn't tired, Freddie ended up carrying her through to her bedroom before dropping her unceremoniously on the bed.
"Hey!" she protested, rolling over to look up at him with a pout. He smirked.
"You would've done the same to me!" He laughed and sat down next to her as she pulled herself up into more of a sitting position.
"Come on, Freddie, get in the bed," she instructed. "I want someone to keep me warm." He raised an eyebrow and glanced at his watch.
"I can't stay, Sam, my mom'd go mental."
"More than usual?" They both laughed. There was no question of him not staying, but he always protested, because that was how it went. Sam stood up and winked at him.
"I'll be back," she said, heading for the door. "Make yourself comfortable." He nodded and pulled his shoes off, putting them under the bed before crawling under the covers and putting his hands behind his head to wait for Sam. She returned a few minutes later in a tight white tank top and a pair of boxer shorts. Freddie ran his eyes over her as she posed in the doorway. She jumped on the bed and straddled him, grabbing his shirt as she did so.
"My house, Benson, my rules," she said quietly. "No shirt." He rolled his eyes and allowed her to pull it off, throwing it onto the floor before slipping into the bed and cuddling up to him, resting her head on his bare chest. His arm snaked around her and came to rest on her bare thigh. She let out a breath as he began tracing small circles on her skin. She put an arm across his chest and smiled.
"You're really comfy, y'know," she murmured, closing her eyes. Freddie smiled as well and let his eyes flicker shut.
"I love you too, Sam," he replied.