A/N: I have a lot of feelings about iLove You. I won't waste your time with all of them, though. This is obviously an iLY continuation. I don't know if I like it, but I'm uploading anyway. xD Enjoy!

Disclaimer: iDon't own iCarly. If I did, the arc would have been handled a little differently.

together

"I love you."

She played his words through her mind over and over and over and over again as they sat close together in silence on the breezy fire escape. She kept reliving every moment, every feeling, every sensation. She wanted to savor it—savor the Freddie-love. She'd never loved anyone like she loved him and, regardless of how "mutual" it was, she didn't want to let him go. She saw their time running out second by second in her mental hourglass. It was pitch-black dark—nearly midnight. She ran her thumb in circles against the back of his hand. They both stared into the blue-black sky, searching the stars for some kind of solace. They'd barely had a chance. Why did she have to lose him as soon as she got him?

She thought that she could handle it when she brought it up in the elevator. When she told him she loved him too and pressed her lips against his one more time, she thought she could handle it. Even as she followed him out onto the fire escape where they first kissed, she thought she could handle it. Now that she was about to have to do it, she didn't have the faintest idea of how she was going to be able to handle walking away from him. She felt a pang in her chest as she thought about their relationship—the good and the bad. Hearing him say he loved her at the very end made her feel like someone was ripping her heart out. She didn't think she'd ever feel like this about anyone else, and she didn't know that she wanted to. She didn't know she was capable of loving someone so intensely that she was ready to do anything for him. For him to love her back—even just a fraction of what she felt for him—was a miracle, a dream.

She wanted so badly to believe that they'd make it back to each other when they were "ready" to have a relationship, but something told her that this was it for them. Do or die. They were seniors now, and it was only a handful of months before they graduated. It was only a matter of time before they moved on and into their futures, and before life got in the way. She couldn't hold him back. He had a bright and dazzling future ahead of him. Maybe it really was best that they ended it now and not later when they were moving in opposite directions. They were condemned from the start, destined to fall apart. But why did it have to hurt so much? She'd sworn that she wasn't going to let herself cry, but her resolve crumbled and the tears welled up in her eyes anyway.

He didn't know what he was doing. What he did know was that he loved Sam—loved her so much that he didn't want to taint their relationship with fake smiles and forced happiness. They'd agreed that they didn't click that way, but he wasn't so sure. Maybe they didn't "click" because they were trying to be what everyone else thought they should be. When they were alone together, just Sam and Freddie, he thought they fit together perfectly. He felt her hair caress his face, and he was inundated with memories of running his fingers through the soft golden mane. He heard her muffle a sniffle and his heart broke with an audible crack. If this was the right thing to do, then why was it so impossibly hard?

They both knew it was past midnight, but they refused to look at a clock. Neither wanted it to really be over. There on the fire escape they could still be together, if only for a few more moments. Sam had finally cracked when she realized that their time had passed and her tears silently trickled down her cheeks. She was the first to break their silence.

"Oh, God, I love you, Freddie," she rasped out in distraught desperation, burying her tear-stricken face into his shoulder. All pretenses of her invincibility were shattered.

"I know, Sam. I love you, too," he whispered in her ear, his voice thick with unshed tears of his own. He inhaled deeply, committing her scent to memory.

"Why can't that be enough?" she choked out rhetorically. She didn't ever want to leave his warm, firm grasp, but she knew she'd have to because she couldn't ever have what she wanted. That wasn't how her life worked.

Her words struck him. He knew she wasn't asking him to explain anything, and he knew she wasn't expecting an answer. She was just lamenting—just expressing her bitterness to the world for being against her (again). Why couldn't it be enough? As far as he was concerned, it could be. They were two of the most stubborn people he'd ever encountered. If they really set their mind to it, they could make it work. They cared so much about each other that they would have all the motivation they'd ever need. Sure, they would have to make some changes, but in that moment he was certain that they could do it.

"It is enough," he said softly. Her head snapped up and she locked her gaze with his.

"What?" she whispered in disbelief.

"It is enough," he repeated more confidently, growing surer of himself the longer he looked into her glistening blue eyes.

"How?" she asked, searching his face for an explanation.

He brought his thumb to her face and wiped away her tears as he answered, "We can make it be enough. We are the most stubborn and determined two people in Seattle. I love you, Sam, and I'm going to fight for you. Screw the rest of the world and their expectations. We were trying to be something we're not—we were trying to meet everyone else's expectations of what we should be. We do click that way, but it's only when we're being ourselves. We can just be Sam and Freddie—together they way we feel we should be. We can do what's right for us, not what we think we should be doing. We've always been different, Sam. We shouldn't have tried to be like other people because we've never been normal. It's not going to be easy, but we can do it."

"We really aren't normal, are we?" she chuckled before growing serious again. "You're right," she agreed, resting her forehead against his. "We can just be Sam and Freddie." He grinned at her and captured her lips in a heated kiss. Sam loved Freddie and Freddie loved Sam. Together they could do anything.

They both smiled as they kissed each other, pouring their feelings into it. They knew it would be difficult, but they were going to fight for each other. They didn't know exactly where life was going to take them, but neither could be bothered to care as long as they knew could be together.

A/N: Let me know what you think! Reviews are much appreciated (: