Author's Note: Hello my dear readers, I have the next story for you in the continuing journey of Carly and Freddie that started in iCarly's Father. There is also plenty of more story left for Steven and Taylor. I hope you enjoy.
i18(ish) to Life
By OneHorseShay
Disclaimer: Don't own, don't sue. For God sakes, don't sue.
Summary: Some say life starts after college, others say life starts at 18, but maybe it starts at 18ish. That is the case for all Shays involved, okay except for Spencer. Pairings: Carly/Freddie, Steven/Taylor, Sam/Brad. T for future strong language and a little bit of violence
Chapter 1
Tuesday, February 14, 2012
Carly yawned and blinked open her eyes as she heard the alarm clock buzzed signaling that it was time to get up for the day. She reached over to turn off the alarm then sat up in bed and allowed a loud yawn to escape her mouth. She stretched her arms and shoulders for a moment before brushing some of her hair out of her face as her eyes focused waking up. The brunette looked over at her nightstand and she smiled as she saw the picture of her mother seemingly smiling back at her then her wakening eyes caught a surprise: a vase with a dozen red roses.
She immediately jumped out of bed and picked out the card sticking out of the arrangement. On the small envelope was written in red: CARLY. She immediately opened it and pulled out the card. She read: To my Carly, I hope these brighten your day as much as you brighten mine. Love, Freddie.
She covered her mouth over with a hand. If this was how Valentine's Day was going to start, she couldn't imagine how the day was going to end. She took a moment to smell one of the roses and smile from the sweet scent. The brunette realized she couldn't spend too much time admiring the bouquet of flowers, so she took one last smell and began her morning ritual of getting ready.
After about a half an hour later, Carly came almost bouncing as she walked down the stairs. "Morning Spencer," she greeted her older brother with a smile plastered on her face.
"Morning kiddo," Spencer replied with a grin as he was preparing breakfast. "How's your morning so far?"
"Great," she answered as she took a seat at the kitchen table.
Spencer raised an eyebrow and smirked. "I wonder why?"
Carly giggled in response. "I'm not going to ask how the roses got on my nightstand without noticing."
"And I'm not going to tell," as Spencer finished cooking breakfast. He then started dividing up the breakfast between him and his little sister.
After a few minutes of eating their breakfast with sibling banter and teasing about Valentine's Day, there was a knock at the door. Carly turned her head to look at the door and immediately jumped up. Spencer blinked at how fast Carly seemed to cross the living room to reach the door, almost as if she glided above it. The brunette opened the door with a smile on her face of barely contained joy of knowing who it must be on the other side of the door. She wasn't disappointed.
"Morning," Freddie greeted with a smile, but before he could say anything else, Carly immediately palmed his cheeks and pulled him into a kiss. He was caught off guard for a moment, but leaned into the kiss and gently rested his hands on her hips. After a moment or two, she pulled back and smiled contently at him.
Freddie grinned as he replied, "What was that for?"
"Do I need a reason?"
Freddie shook his head. "No," he whispered then kissed her back with a tender short meddling of their lips. After a moment or so, Carly pulled back and whispered, "Thank you for the flowers."
The pair then heard the sound of someone clearing his throat behind Carly. They looked to see Spencer smiling. "I'm sorry to interrupt, but you two need to get going if you are going to pick up Sam before school."
"Right," Carly replied with a hint of blush on her cheeks at being 'caught' in her affections with Freddie.
Freddie cleared his throat before speaking, "Hey Spencer."
Spencer waved with a smile on his face. "Hey Freddie. You two need to get going. You can't keep Sam waiting."
Freddie rolled his eyes and Carly shook her head. The brunette looked to Freddie, "I'll meet you down stairs?"
He nodded. "Yep, see you in a minute."
After a finishing her breakfast and a quick trip to the bathroom, Carly was riding down the service elevator to meet Freddie in the parking garage. Freddie was leaning against his used, but thoroughly inspected, on Mrs. Benson's insistence, dark blue car waiting for her. "Ready to go?" he asked with a hint of a smile.
She nodded then entered the passenger seat as Freddie got comfortable in the driver's seat and quickly went over all the basic checks his mother insisted on for safety. He wasn't as annoyed at that condition as maybe he should be, but he was carrying something very important to him and wasn't going to lose her to something as silly as not double checking a mirror.
As Freddie was pulling the car out of the garage, he asked hopefully, "So everything is still alright about going out tonight?"
"Everything is fine, I can't wait," she replied cheerfully.
Freddie spared her a glance as he pulled into the flow of traffic towards the direction of Sam's house, "I can't wait either."
After a few minutes of driving, they reached the curb in front of Sam's house. The blonde had an impatient look on her face as she stood outside waiting on the pair. Sam immediately hopped in the backseat of Freddie's car and complained, "You two love birds are late."
Freddie asked with a raised eyebrow, "You're concerned about being late for school?"
"No, but I don't like my mind wondering on what could keep you two from picking me up," she replied in an annoyed tone.
Carly shrugged a shoulder as she looked over her shoulder to the blonde. "I see your point."
The rest of the day couldn't go by fast enough for Carly, but fortunately her classes were entertaining today and they just seemed to end as soon as they began. Lunch was quite pleasant sitting with her boyfriend and best friend with a surprise chocolate treat somehow snuck on her lunch tray. She had stared at Freddie for a few moments, but he wouldn't admit to anything but to a half smirk.
The rest of the day after lunch went by just as quickly, so she and Sam were at her locker getting ready to leave for the day. Carly couldn't keep the smile off of her face as she packed her book bag.
Sam shook her head as she watched her friend's nearly giddy display of happiness. "Valentine's Day is just a pointless holiday to mama. All that girly mess makes me feel all…"
Carly turned with a concerned look towards her friend as she packed her last book in her book bag. "What?"
"Daffodillity," she replied in mild disgust.
Carly just smiled. "Fine, but don't miss out on the candy. You can't miss out on the chocolate; something has to balance out all the meat."
Sam snorted out a laugh. "I won't. I can always twist Brad's arm into making him bake some of his fudge for me."
Carly eyed her for a moment and gave her a half frown.
Sam sighed loudly. "I don't mean literally."
Carly returned with a smile. "Good. He's a nice guy and it won't take too much to convince him, unless he has a date for tonight."
Sam shrugged a shoulder. "Whatever, as long as I get my fudge."
Carly pointed at the blonde. "Just be nice, we need him to still be our intern. We can barely keep up with the iCarly schedule as it is now and I still haven't thought of what we can do for a Graduation Finale."
Sam waved her off. "You are worrying too much over it. We still have months to figure our something and put it together. So, is Freddie taking out somewhere nice?"
Carly took that as an indication that her suggestion was heard and for the most part would be followed, so she responded to Sam's question with a smirk and reply of, "Maybe."
"You know I'll just get the deets afterwards."
Carly sighed intentionally overdramatically, "Fine, but I don't know where he's taking me."
"He hasn't surprised you since your first date. Is he going to pull out all the stops again?"
Carly couldn't help but grin as she replied, "Maybe."
Freddie checked over himself one last time before knocking on the door to the Shay residence. He was wearing a black leather jacket with a button up navy blue shirt and medium shade of blue jeans. Finding that he was presentable to his own standards, he knocked on the Shay door sharply at seven pm and the door immediately opened with Spencer on the other side with a grin plastered on his face. "Freddie, my main man, come on inside," the older man invited the teenager inside of the apartment.
Freddie walked into the living room nervously and stuck his hands in his jacket just to keep his hands from fiddling. He turned to look at the tall man. "Any kind of speech you need to give me?"
"Nope, dad told me he already took care of that and that I'm not allowed to get all defensive big brother on you."
Freddie laughed nervously. "I'm not sure if that's comforting or not."
"With dad, I'm not sure either," Spencer replied with a nervous laughed and a nod of his head. "But I will ask you that you won't keep her out too late, okay? It's a school night."
Freddie nodded with a slight smile. "I won't Spencer."
A moment or so later a voice from the top of the stairs called out, "Hi."
Spencer and Freddie both turned to see standing at the midway part of the staircase. Freddie smiled when he say her standing at the top of the stairs and he seemed to flash back nearly five months ago when they went out on their first date. She wasn't wearing a dress this time due to the colder Seattle night that was expected, but she didn't look any less beautiful to Freddie's eyes.
Her hair was slightly curled and resting on each of her shoulders. She wore black washout jeans with a very dark navy blue shirt with a slight frill that went just past the waist of the jeans. She had her sleeves rolled up on her black jacket was a waist length single breasted with two rows of gold buttons going down her left side and green trim at her shoulders.
Freddie walked over as Carly finished walking down the steps. She gave him a quick peck on the cheek as he wrapped an arm around her back.
"Hi," Freddie whispered with a joyful grin. "Happy Valentine's Day."
"Happy Valentine's Day," he replied warmly. "You look very beautiful this evening."
She raised a finger to tap his chin. "You look pretty handsome yourself."
Freddie chuckled and raised his eyebrows for a moment.
"I'm sorry to interrupt you two, but you do have plans for tonight?" Spencer asked with a raised eyebrow and smirk on his face.
Both teenagers cleared their throats, but it was Carly that spoke first, "Right, we have to go." She then looked to Freddie. "Right?"
"Right," he replied with a smile and slid his arm away from her waist to take her hand.
"You two have fun," Spencer instructed with a smile.
"We will," Carly called out as Freddie led the pair towards the service elevator.
Carly smiled in contentment as she enjoyed the quiet ride to wherever Freddie was taking her for the evening. She looked to her companion and asked, "So, what do you have in store for me tonight?"
He raised an eyebrow, but kept his eyes on the road as he answered, "It's a little surprise."
"I love your surprises," she replied with a laugh, "even if I have to wait for them."
"I'm glad," he chuckled in response.
A few minutes later, Freddie pulled up to a familiar destination: the Seattle Space Needle.
"You didn't?" she asked astonish as she looked out of the passenger window.
Freddie smirked as he asked, "Isn't this a special occasion where I can treat you? I know you loved it last time."
She playfully punched his arm. "You shouldn't have," she admonished playfully.
"You want us to leave?" he asked with a raised eyebrow.
"No!" she shouted at him playfully.
Freddie chuckled. "Okay, we'll stay."
Carly couldn't remember the last time she was this content as Freddie had an arm around her waist and his chin on her shoulder as the pair were looking out over the city from the observation deck of the Space Needle. A few times stood out in her mind that came close to what she was feeling at the moment: the first time she kissed Freddie after saving her life, the joy of him giving her a second chance in his bedroom and letting her fall in love with him, seeing her mother in her dream, and then telling Freddie she loved him.
To Carly, this was a fantastic ending to the couple's first Valentine's Day together. The chilly February air blew past and she shivered for a moment before Freddie wrapped his coat and other arm around her. She had fallen and he had caught her and she couldn't have felt safer. Everything made sense in life. She knew that this is what she wanted between them. This is how she wanted to spend the rest of her life: with him by her side.
"Would you marry me?" she whispered as she looked out of the city.
"What?" Freddie asked hesitantly, unsure if he had heard her correctly.
She turned her head to meet his eyes. "Would you marry me?"
Freddie smiled that reach up to and lit his eyes up. "I would love to marry you one day."
"No," she replied with a shake of her head and a desperate look. "I mean now, before we graduate, not years in the future."
His smiling face turned to one of shock similar to how he looked the very first time she had kissed him. "You're serious?"
She nodded. "Why wait?"
Freddie tried to speak, but his mouth seemed to gap open and shut like a fish out of water.
"Please marry me?" she asked in a pleading tone that stabbed at his heart.
That pain snapped Freddie out of his shock and he let out a slow breath. He cupped her cheek in his palm. In a soft and he hoped comforting tone, replied, "I want to spend the rest of my life with you."
Carly blinked and a tear rolled down her cheek. "Then say yes."
He wiped away the tear with the pad of his thumb then smiled as he replied, "Yes… I will marry you Carly Shay."
She grinned as the tears fell and leaned in to capture his lips with her own.
