Summary: When tragedy hits Freddie changes drastically and only his friends can pull him out of it. This will be a Creddie, rating might change, we'll see.

Hey everyone, this is my first story so constructive criticism is appreciated. I'll let you know right now, I've never written anything like this before, but I thought the hobby would be great for my summer. Hope you like it!

Disclaimer: I do not own iCarly or any of the characters. Sad, but true.

It was just a regular day for the iCarly team. They were on the set working on ideas for the upcoming iCarly episode. Summer was approaching and the end of their junior year was upon them. The thought of summer was bitter sweet as it would be their last one together before all the stress of college hit. Carly and Sam were laying on bean bags upside-down as they discussed ideas for the next show. Freddie was adjusting the cameras and checking the other equipment.

"What if we break soda bottles with jelly beans from a slingshot?" Carly suggested.

"I'd rather eat the jelly beans than sling them across the room." Sam said, she looked dreamily at the ceiling for a second, "Beans should only ever be made out of jelly…"

"There's ham downstairs if you're hungry Sam" Carly smiled.

"Be right back!" Sam yelled as she took off across the room and out the door.

Freddie glanced after her as she ran out of the room, and then returned to what he was doing. He had a sneaky suspicion that Sam had been messing with his tech cart. All of the modems and routers were in different spots and his laptop had the background of a monkey butt. He sighed as he looked at it again. His settings password had been changed so he could get rid of the picture.

"What's wrong Freddie?" Carly ask hearing his sigh from across the room.

"Sam messed with my computer again. She changed my background and my password, so I can't change it back."

"Have you tried all your nicknames?"

"Yes."

"What about all of Sam's favorite things? Ham, steak, meat, jelly beans?" She offered that last one with a small giggle.

"Not jelly beans…..No that doesn't work either." He groaned again in frustration. "I'm not going to let her do this to me anymore, it's not fair!"

"I have an idea." Carly said. She got up and moved over to his computer. She quickly typed in a password and hit enter.

"Hey, that was it!" Freddie grinned at her. "What was it?"

At that moment Sam came back into the room carrying a slab of ham and a knife. "It was Carly will never love you" she said taking her place on the bean bag again. "I may be mean, but I don't lie."

"Sam…" Carly sighed.

"It's ok Carly, I haven't given up hope." Freddie smiled at her.

"Freddie I-" Carly started, but was interrupted by the loud ring of a phone. The three teenagers all started to look at their phones.

"It's mine." Freddie said, he started to leave the room answering it on the way, "Hello?"

Carly and Sam turned back towards each other to start discussing more ideas for the show when they saw Freddie drop the phone.

"Freddie? What is it?" Carly said looking over at him.

He didn't answer.

"Freddie? Freddie?"

He slowly turned around to face his two friends, a look of complete shock on his face. His pupils were wide and his mouth was slightly open in surprise. "It's my mom…" He mumbled out, "She's got caught in a robbery and was shot. She's at the hospital."

Carly didn't waste any time. "Sam, find Spencer, hurry! Grab some water too!" Sam hurried past Carly giving Freddie a sad, but hopeful glance as she passed. "Freddie, I think you should sit down." Carly said calmly, turning her attention back to him. He looked completely unaware of anything around him.

"Freddie. Come on, just sit down," Carly took a few steps towards him and placed her hand on his shoulder. He blinked quickly and looked at her with the same blank expression. His eyes slowly met hers and he fell against her crying. She guided him to the floor as she held him trying anything she could think of to make him calm down.

"We're going to go to the hospital now. Everything's going to be okay. We're just waiting for Sam to find Spencer and then we're going. Everything is going to be okay" She repeated the phrase over and over as he sobbed against her. Sam called up saying that they were ready to go.

"Alright, come on, on your feet. We're going now." Carly pulled Freddie up with her and forced him into the elevator.

He seemed unable to walk and didn't respond to anything going on. He was rushed into the lobby and the out to Spencer's waiting car. Carly put him into the back seat and buckled him in. He kept staring ahead of him, tears silently rolling down his face. Carly took his hand and kept talking to him, but nothing she said reached his brain. It was all black inside his head with only one thought forcefully ramming around: Mom.

The group arrived at the hospital only a few minutes later. Freddie was still in a daze as they headed to the receptionist to find out where Mrs. Benson was. The lady behind the counter asked a lot of questions about why they needed to see her. After about five minutes of holding them up Sam stepped up to the counter with a look of pure fury. "Listen lady, if you don't tell us where Freddie's mom is in the next two seconds, you're the one that's going to need the emergency room." The woman looked shocked than mumbled out, "Third floor room 305."

They all hurried away practically carrying Freddie as they headed to the elevator. Carly took his head and gently forced him to look at her. "Freddie, we're almost to your mom, okay? Nod if you understand." Freddie nodded slowly and then went back to staring at the closed doors. He jumped slightly as they opened, finally realizing where they were he ran out to the room where is mother was.

As they reached the door a doctor came out a look of deep concern on his face. Freddie went straight to him, "Freddie…I'm Freddie… Where's my mom?" The doctor looked confused and glanced at the rest of the group for help.

"He's Marissa Benson's son." Spencer said, "We were told she's in room 305."

"Oh, I see." The doctor looked down at Freddie, "She's in critical condition at the moment; the bullet went through the main artery in her shoulder. We're doing everything we can, but we're not sure she'll make it. I'm very sorry. There's a waiting room down the hall you're welcome to wait there." He then turned and walked away.

"We just have to wait now Freddie." Carly was still trying to comfort him as he looked after the doctor. She never felt so helpless before, she was completely unable to help him in his time of need. He always knows how to make me feel better, why can't I help him? She thought to herself as she once again led Freddie to where they needed to go.

The hours passed slowly with very little update from the nurses. They would walk past and give small amounts on information at a time. "She's in surgery." A while later, "She's resting." Shortly after that, "She's run into trouble and she's going back into surgery."

It was past midnight, Spencer was staring at the wall, lost deep in thought as Sam snored against the wall. Carly was still holding Freddie as he slowly rocked back and forth through his stress. He'd been like this since the nurse had visited over two hours ago. Carly continued to hold him as she whispered what she hoped were calming words over and over. It was then, that the doctor returned.

Freddie jumped to his feet and looked hopefully at the doctor, but he immediately started to cry at the look on his face. "She's dead, isn't she." He choked out.

"Yes, I'm sorry son, we did everything we could. She lost too much blood. I'm sorry for your loss." He looked sadly at Freddie and then around at the rest of them. With a small nod of sympathy, he left them to grieve.