Disclaimer: I am neither Nick nor Dan. I have no rights to the characters, plot similarities, concepts, etc. related to iCarly. I am just a fan writing it in little relation to the actual events occurring within the actual show. Thank You :)

Note: This may or may not be a multiple chapter piece. I am unsure. Depending on the number of reviews and the number of positive feedback depends on whether I want to take this story further. I hope you enjoy this.

Note Two: This takes place after iOMG and before iLost My Mind. This is my idea of what it should have been (Even thought I love what they actually did too).

TO: Freddie

FROM: Anonymous

SUBJECT:

Please meet me at the school an hour before class starts. We need to talk.

Freddie had read the email many times. He chose to walk to school that morning. It had only been two days ago that Sam had out-of-the-blue kissed him at the lock-in. He could hardly even believe it himself. Carly and he had been positive Sam was in love with Brad.

She was in love and there had been no question about that. Freddie had run multiple trials on himself and his mother unofficially before they brought it to the school. They were going to mostly run more trials that fateful Friday night, so that he could go join Carly and Gibby half way through and relax.

But then Sam's reading came back "in-love." Sam being in love was a strange concept to Freddie. It was great to Carly though, she couldn't have been happier. Freddie and Carly should have left Sam to do what she wanted. She had always handled herself quite well. Plus, if she was really in love with Brad she would have taken it into her own hands. Wouldn't she? That was how Sam was. She always had complete and total control.

Freddie chose to walk to school that morning hoping that Sam was the one who would be waiting for him. The kiss was such a shock to him that he hadn't responded. It felt kind of nice but he wasn't going to admit that out loud or anything. He had never thought about Sam being a potential girlfriend so coming to that conclusion now felt out of place.

Plus there was Carly to consider. She would be furious when he told her. She wants to know everything about Sam and Freddie, and he couldn't say that he totally felt comfortable with that. He liked Carly the day he met her but five years after that first moment he laid eyes on her those feelings seemed almost absent. Freddie was totally confused.

He was two blocks away from the school when he started to think about what Sam was going to say. What if she told him she didn't want to talk about it? Or what if she confessed that she was really in love with Freddie? Well that much is obvious, Benson. It was Sam's voice who scolded him for asking himself such a dumb question.

The issue wasn't whether or not Sam was in love with Freddie. It was whether she would give in to it or force it out of her life. Freddie considered what he wanted from this, debating whether he really liked Carly anymore and whether he would ever have a chance.

This isn't about Carly. That time it was his own voice speaking. This was not about Carly at all. Freddie would never have a chance with her and he had mostly come to terms with that. He had not dated in a few years, only liking girls from time-to-time. He wasn't even pursuing Carly anymore, even if the idea was somewhat appealing. Only now he had Sam to consider.

And he was considering her. He had known her for just as long as he knew Carly. She was just as funny. She wasn't as kind of welcoming in the slightest, but sitting alone with her wouldn't send him into a panic. She knew a reasonable amount about his weird mom. Sam didn't even really seem all that bothered by his nerd-tech-dork stuff. And, most importantly, being with Sam didn't require a lot of effort. It was comfortable.

Freddie was at the doors now and admitting very silently to himself that he would not be bothered by spending a little more time with Sam. He could test the waters. If she did love him then she wouldn't be a constant menace, although he was sure that would never truly disappear. He smiled and took one final breathe before going through the doors.

He knew nobody would be inside so it was nothing awkward when the only thing he heard was his own footsteps against the floor. He didn't dress any different than he normally would have. He had not thought of the situation as urgent or formal. He was just going to school, after all. He didn't see Sam anywhere and for a moment he wondered if it had actually been Carly. He wondered if Carly had seen the kiss. He hoped she hadn't.

"Benson." Sam's voice sounded strangely stripped down and empty. He had never heard such a softness to her. Freddie when to turn around but he paused for just a second. He felt as if he were dreaming. Sam wouldn't be this polite, would she? This might be a prank. Freddie had a lot of reason to believe that Sam would be doing something that would harm his person or humiliate him entirely. She hadn't given him any reason to honestly trust she was there to talk to him.

Except the kiss. A kiss that Freddie couldn't stop replaying in his mind. A kiss that left questions floating in Freddie's head. A kiss that made Freddie question the questions, question her, and even question himself. The kiss had completely shaken up everything he knew. It was just a mishap mix of thoughts and he didn't know what to believe.

He finally just pivoted all the way around. There stood Sam. A Sam he hadn't seen for several years. Her hair was pulled back with a hair tie and a stretchy headband. She wore a baggy black sweater with a goat on the front of it paired with bright red skinny jeans. On her feet she wore half-tied sneakers that were bulky and bright orange. Sam had not dressed that way in several years. Freddie could hardly trust the sight in front of him.

It dawned on him after a few moments of silence that Carly hated all of those things. She told Sam her head was too round of headbands. Freddie had accidentally overhead that comment one day before a show sometime when they had first started it. Freddie recalled disagreeing with Carly but not voicing it. Sam agreed to go downstairs and put her hair down before the show began.

Carly hated goats so naturally she hated the sweater. It was a shirt she had for a long time. Apparently her mother had picked it up when she was on some trip out of the state and brought it back for Sam. Even Freddie considered that fact that Sam's mother had not gotten her any real gift since then. Sam clung to the sweater until Carly started crying, claiming the birthday story was all she could think of when Sam wore the sweater. So she stopped.

The pants and shoes were a style that Sam would sneak into her wardrobe but coyly wear with other things that Carly did like. Red, Carly concluded, was not a color for pants. It was bright and attention-getting. And Sam "can't afford any more attention being brought to her." The shoes, Carly always complained, weren't tied. And "why weren't they tied if you know how to tie your shoes?" Freddie was surprised after realizing how large of an influence Carly played in Sam's life. There was not a thing Sam had not done for Carly when asked. Suddenly she didn't seem like a bully or a prankster. Sam was more alike a good friend and a silently hurting girl. Freddie took a moment to correct himself because Sam was a woman. She wasn't just a girl.

"Good morning Sam." He finally uttered something. His thoughts had been going nonstop but his lips had been stuck. He thought a lot of things but couldn't even begin to get them out for Sam to hear. He wasn't sure she would listen to anything he would have to say.

"I just wanted to say that I didn't mean to kiss you." Freddie knew it was a lie before it even came past her lips. Sam had definitely meant to kiss Freddie. She lingered much too long for it to be an accidental kiss. Some people have momentary brain lapses and kiss people, but Sam did not. She had fully intended to kiss him.

"Sam, we both know that's not true." He heard himself and could hear the same soft emptiness that she had. They both were in a sort of zone. Neither of them were sure what was going to happen. In a way Freddie felt that this might bring them closer together. Perhaps that was where they belonged. Together.

"Alright. I meant to kiss you but I know it's not going anywhere. I don't want it to go anywhere. You and Carly had built up this big thing with Brad and it was getting on my nerves. I wanted to kiss you to prove that I didn't like Brad and to confirm for me that it wasn't going to happen. I don't want you feeling obligated to me or feeling like you have power over me because you don't. There's nothing here for you to blackmail me with because I don't want anything to come of that stupid kiss." Sam's words were rushed and panicked. Freddie couldn't tell if she was serious about wanting it to stop at that one kiss. This was the second kiss he shared with her, or at least the second one he was sure about. They had their first kiss ever with each other. There was the possibility that it might have meant something from that day forward, and neither of them knew it. Maybe Freddie had a soft spot for Sam after all and he just never realized what it meant. Had Sam been feeling the same way? Freddie wanted to get answers.

"How do you know there's nothing to build off of here? You don't even know what I feel like." Sam wouldn't care what he felt like either. That just wasn't how Sam worked. Even back when he first met her, when she was the person who now stood in front of him, she didn't give Freddie a chance to give any input. Sam had always had to care and fend for herself, something he learned from Carly's horror stories, and it was hard for her to consider anyone else in her 'master plans.'

"You and Carly are a perfect match. Carly doesn't see it because she's stupid. I don't need any proof, Benson. You melt like chocolate on the sidewalk in the summer when Carly comes by. It's always been about Carly for you. I want it to stay that way. It's better for you. That's all I want, really, is for you to be happy with Carly. Then I can put this stupid chiz behind me." Sam was kicking her foot back and forth on the step, he had barely noticed she was standing on the step. Freddie didn't really care where she was standing. It was what she was saying that bothered him. He was supposed to be with Carly in Sam's mind even though Sam wanted to be the one by his side. Freddie couldn't comprehend what would possess Sam to give away someone or something that she wanted. Probably because she had never done it before. Or maybe she's been doing it for a long time.

"Why do you say that?" It was obvious what he was asking her about. Sam frowned at him before kindly answering him, something he was simply not accustomed to.

"It's always been about Carly, Freddie." The way his name sounded on her lips felt right. However, the sentence itself was wrong. Not in actuality but in theory. It had, in fact, always been about what Carly wanted. They did everything Carly suggested. Carly was the head of their group. Even on the way over Freddie had considered how Carly would feel and how she would factor into his decision. He wouldn't let that happen this time because it wasn't supposed to always be about Carly. Something about the kiss woke Freddie up Friday night. He went to bed thinking about Sam. He ate breakfast thinking about Sam. He fell asleep…thinking about…Sam.

"This is about us. It doesn't matter what Carly wants. This is about what you want and about what I want. That is what we need to be talking about." Neither of them had moved from their respective spots, but now Sam was lowering herself to see on the steps. Twenty minutes had passed by between the awkward silences and the spurts of conversation. In around another fifteen minutes people would start showing up for class, the early birds who didn't do homework or the ones who had nothing better to do. Freddie traced the seam of his pants up and down before he went and sat next to Sam. He felt her tense even from a distance.

"Carly will realize what there is to like about you, Freddie. I'm not going to be in the way when it comes to that." Sam's voice trembled just a tiny bit. Freddie jerked his head to see if she was crying. Her lip quivered but her eyes were locked on the tiles and they were completely dry. Sam had convinced herself that there was no way for her to date Freddie because of Carly.

Freddie opened his mouth to speak but didn't have the opportunity to get it out before Sam stood up and took off out the same doors he had entered in not too long ago. He watched her legs carry her away, probably somewhere that had fried chicken. Freddie took a moment to consider how many places could serve fried chicken in town. There were sure to be plenty but only one of them would have Sam. Freddie didn't care about school that day. He rushed his bag to his locker around the corner, nearly slipping as he did so. A rushed combination and a quick shove was all it took before Freddie started chasing Sam.

Sam was the only person that mattered in Freddie's mind now. She may have been the one to kiss him but he was the one who was going to have to be the one to make the first move. He didn't care if it took him the rest of his life. Sam was going to be it for him. It was Sam or nobody.