Disclaimer: The characters of iCarly do not belong to me. I got this idea when I noticed Freddie seems to be in love with Carly again. I am, as a rule, not a shipper of Creddie, but I am not bothered by it either. So I had to do Sam's thoughts from the Cam pov. I hope I don't offend any Creddie shippers. 'Cause really, I borrow the ship sometimes for Cam vids. :) So I hope everyone likes this!

iFreddie In the Middle

By Julia

When I saw Freddie acting like a damn fool over my girlfriend, I was ready to kill him. This was crazy. I thought we were done with the whole being in love with Carly thing. At least, from him. We all know I've been in love with Carly Shay since grade school. But when I heard him talking like he had a crush on her, I was really mad. I concentrated on helping Gib with his restaurant, because if I had to deal with Fredwad having a crush on Carly again, I was gonna probably lose it. I loved Carly. She and I were secretly dating. She was afraid of what Spencer would say, so we couldn't tell anyone. But we were definitely together. I didn't want Freddie to think that he had a chance with her. I wasn't sure how to let him know he didn't. What I was unclear about was why we couldn't tell Freddie and Gibby. They were our best friends. If we couldn't tell them, who could we tell? I wanted to at least tell Gibby. And I couldn't figure out why Carls was so worried about Spencer, either, I was pretty sure he already suspected something anyway. I was more inclined to believe that she was afraid of what the school was going to say. I just didn't know why it mattered, I loved her and I didn't care who knew it.

I was at Gibby's. For whatever reason, I agreed to be his partner. We were making a lot of money, though. So it wasn't such a bad thing. Plus, Gib's not as weird as he used to be. So I wasn't as embarrassed to be seen with him. I was chilling out, it was pretty empty. That's when Freddie came downstairs. He was looking like he did two years ago when he was all in love with Carly. I just felt like we had gone back in time. I had already had a talk with him about how he wouldn't have Carly for long. Apparently he'd forgotten it. I was going to have to try again. I folded my arms and leaned on the table he sat down at. My long curly hair fell over my shoulder. "So, Fredwad." I said, as I set my glare on him.

Freddie looked at me. "Sam." He said. One of the waiters we'd hired came and set a glass of water down in front of him. He wasn't sure what I was going to say. He was watching me kind of warily. "What's up?" He asked. He was fingering the menu.

I tucked my hair behind my ear. I hadn't figured out exactly what I was going to say, but I was most certainly going to say something. "So, Freddie. You think you got a crush on Carls?" I asked. I still wasn't sure this talk was going to work. It didn't really work before, I didn't have high hopes for it now.

Looking at me, Freddie wasn't sure how to respond. He looked like a deer in the headlights. I didn't know what he was going to say, but I wasn't sure I wanted to know. If it was yes, I was going to have to tell him why he couldn't without telling him Carly and I were together. I still wasn't sure how to do it. Freddie was still looking like a deer in the headlights. "Sam, don't start." He finally said.

Arching my eyebrows, I looked at him. "Excuse me?" I said, debating whether I was going to fold my arms or not. It would look more menacing if I folded my arms. I wasn't sure if I wanted to look that scary. "We've had this talk before, Fredweiner." I told him, choosing not to hit him or anything because I was trying to be a little less violent. Besides, I could hit him later if I thought I needed to. "You know that Carly is not into you and she never really was. You are barking up the wrong tree." I hoped I didn't sound like a jealous girlfriend or something, because I did trust Carly. It was Freddie I didn't trust.

He was still fiddling with the menu. I knew in the old days he'd be scared right about now. But Freddie wasn't scared of me anymore. He didn't know what was good for him if you asked me. But he also shouldn't be going after my girl. "Sam, I don't want you to take this the wrong way, but do you ever notice that the way you act around Carly is not like a normal best friend? You act a lot like a jealous girlfriend."

I looked at him. I shouldn't have been surprised that he noticed. Freddie spends a lot of time with Carly and me. He had had a lot of time to notice things. I didn't really know what to say. Carly didn't want it out in the open. "Look, Freddie, it doesn't matter how I come off. Carly just doesn't want you and I know it for a fact. I'm not doing this to hurt you. It's for your own good. You can get someone who likes for you." I was hoping to get his attention away from the jealous girlfriend comment.

No such luck. Freddie met my gaze, something he hadn't done very often. He looked serious. "Sam, I want to ask you something. You don't have to be honest I guess but I would appreciate it. Do you... are you in love with Carly?"

I could only stand there at first. I knew Carly would possibly kill me if I answered honestly. I didn't know how to answer. I supposed it didn't matter if I said I did, it didn't mean that she and I were together. I decided to stall. "Why do you ask, Freddie?" I asked, making sure to keep eye contact with him, I didn't want to give him the impression that he was getting to me.

"I just want to know. You have always acted like you are Carly's very protective girlfriend. We know you've never really warmed to me. You've always been jealous, maybe. I don't know. But you act like you are her girlfriend and you are trying to keep me from her or something. We've all been friends for a long time, Sam. Are you in love with Carly?"

I was beginning to regret having this conversation with him. I was all mixed up and not sure how to answer anything. That's when Carly joined us. She came down the stairs. I knew she was there to meet me. We were going to have a sleepover at her place. I wasn't able to answer the question now. Freddie clammed up, too. She looked between us. "What's up, Carls?" I asked her, just a greeting.

"I was about to ask you the very same thing." She replied, looking wary. "You ready to go?" She asked me, and gave me a wink that only I was supposed to see. But Freddie caught her.

"What is going on?" He asked, looking back at us. "Tell me what is up. Why is Sam all over me and why are you two acting so weird."

Carly turned to me, as if she was going to start yelling. "Sam, what did you say?" She asked, folding her arms.

"What? I told him if he had a crush on you he was barking up the wrong tree." I said, meeting her gaze. "That's all I said, Carls, I swear." I didn't want to fight with her.

Sighing, she turned to Freddie. Her hand went and slipped into mine as she said, "Freddie, Sam is my girlfriend. We didn't tell you because I don't want Spencer to know. I'm not sure what he would say about it and I don't want to make him upset. I would appreciate it if you would keep it to yourself." She squeezed my hand, she seemed nervous. I knew she had been planning on telling Freddie today. I still didn't know why she wasn't going to tell Spencer.

Freddie was shocked, and he was taking it hard. His face was contorted in this weird expression. He looked like he was angry. We hadn't trusted him. "Why didn't you trust me? I wouldn't have told Spencer if you didn't want me to. How long?"

We looked at each other. I didn't think it was any of his business. I also didn't think I was in charge. If you tell anyone this, I'll deny it, but I definitely am whipped. I was hoping Carly would keep quiet. We had a right to our privacy. She seemed to be mulling. Finally, she said, "Not long. But really, Freddie, it doesn't matter. It's between Sam and I."

That made me feel a little better about everything. I was glad she was keeping some of it to us. I squeezed her hand, hoping to reassure her. I was glad that at least Freddie would know, I didn't want to hide it at all. Especially from Freddie. We saw him just about every day. "You see, Freddie? I was just trying to save you from being hurt." I said, I actually didn't want him hurt, whether he believed it or not.

Everyone was silent for a moment. Then Freddie said, "I'm sorry, Carly. I was... I had feelings for you again. Still. Sam was doing her duty as your girlfriend and warning me, I guess." He sounded bitter.

"Look, Freddie. I am not going to apologize for being with Sam. And she says she wasn't trying to hurt you. I don't understand why you are angry now. I was not your girlfriend so you don't get to tell me who I can and cannot be with." Carly said, I was surprised that she was being so forceful with him. I actually felt a bit bad for him, it wasn't his fault that Carly was a lesbian and not into him.

I could not believe that I was going to have to be the voice of reason. "Look, guys. We sound like our crazy iCarly fans. We don't want to let this come between the three of us being friends. I don't want it to. So, we should just table this conversation because it doesn't matter how Freddie feels. It's not going to change how Carls and I feel." I tugged on Carly's hand. "Come on, let's go." I called out to the waiters that we were closing, and all three of us left.

We separated from Freddie. He lived in Carly's building, he should have been right with us. When we got to Carly's, he still hadn't joined us. Maybe he'd gone to the Groovy Smoothie or something. I did feel sorry for him. It was a hard thing to be in love with someone you can't have. It had been that way for me with Carls for a long time until we had been 15 or so. We'd been sitting on her bed, watching tv. Then she'd leaned over out of nowhere, and kissed me. We made out mostly, and then had never really talked about it. We'd make out on the sly here and there for awhile after that. She never wanted to talk about it or tell anyone. I hadn't been sure why she had never really wanted to talk about it. I had wondered for a long time if she was ashamed of us and what we were doing. I had mostly just been glad that I had been getting somewhere.

I wanted to talk about Freddie. I wanted to know why all of a sudden it was okay to tell him and not tell Spencer. She had been a lot better about talking about things now that we were official. So I was hoping she'd want to talk about things now. "Hey, Carls. Why is it okay to tell Freddie, and it's not okay to tell Spencer?"

Letting us in, she checked for Spencer before she answered. "I just, he was upset, Sam. I didn't want him to think he stood a chance, 'cause I love you."

Watching her, she seemed to not be wanting to meet my eyes. I didn't know what was up with her, but I knew something was. "Carls?" I asked, hooking my arm around her waist and looking at her. I wanted to talk about things with her. I didn't know what her problem was. "Carls, are you... ashamed of me, baby?" My heart hurt at the possibility. I would never be ashamed of Carly.

She didn't meet my eyes, but she quickly hastened to say, "No, of course not. I love you. Why would I be ashamed? I'm just... I'm scared of what everyone will say."

I brushed hair out of her eyes. I didn't want to hurt her, and I didn't want to argue. I didn't know if she was being honest. I wanted to tell her that she was my whole world, and there would never be anyone else for me. I wanted to tell her all these things, but I wasn't sure if she felt the same as I did. She wasn't acting like she was. Despite myself, I said, "Don't you love me? I mean, you don't want to tell anyone, you don't seem to want to talk about being together... please don't tell me you're only with me because you want to experiment or something."

Her eyes filled with tears, as I slowly backed up in horror. I didn't want any of what I was saying to be true. Carly reached out for my hand. Once she was holding it, she laced her fingers with mine. "Sam, I'm just... I don't know what's going to happen if I come out. You know I am not ashamed of you. I love you. I really do. You know that I have never been interested in Freddie. I just thought I was for awhile. What do you want to me to say? You know I would never do anything to hurt you. I couldn't. It's just not in me. Please, tell me what I can say."

Shaking my head, I sighed and closed my eyes tightly. I did not want to actually be having this conversation. I hated arguing with Carly. It wasn't fun and I hated unpleasantness in general. "Carly, I want to believe you. I really do. But... I just can't get past the thought that you don't seem to want people to know that we're together. It just worries me is all." Crap. Why the fuck did I bring this up? I was happy. We were together. Finally. Why I was trying to mess it up now? I had to be insane. Although, I already was insane, so it just went along with my personality. I waited for her to tell me I was crazy.

She was crying. I felt like a jerk. I still felt I had valid reasons to speak up. Carly did not know what to say, I could tell. She was playing with the ends of her long black hair. She was keeping her eyes on her shoes. I waited for her to speak, I didn't want to put words in her mouth or anything. Carly wiped at her face. Carly is literally the most beautiful person I have ever seen. In all my life. I don't think that I was ever really straight. I kind of experimented with boys, but they never were my cup of tea. It was always Carly. There was this girl, Danielle. We used to make out on the sly. This was of course, after Carly had kissed me. I had wanted to keep in practice, I guess. But I knew as soon as Carly kissed me that I was never going to want to kiss anyone else. Just Carly. I wasn't sure that she felt the same way. She stared at me, finally, wiping her eyes. They were wide with tears. "I swear, I love you more than I ever loved anyone in my life. It's just, I am afraid of what people are going to say and do! You know it's hard out there for gays and lesbians, Sam."

Everything she said was true, but you would never be happy if you had to hide who you were to everyone else. I was trying to keep myself from panicking. Things would still be fine. They had to. That's when Freddie let himself into the apartment. "What are you doing here?" I asked.

He ran his hand over his hair. "I just, are you sure you're gay, Carly? I just feel like you never gave me a fair shot."

Rolling my eyes, I turned to him. "Seriously? You're trying this with me standing right here?" I really could not believe this. It was a good thing that Spencer wasn't here. I was going to kick his ass. "Freddie, you are seriously, you are doing this? I know you care about Carly, but you talking to her about this while her GIRLFRIEND is standing right here. I don't want to have to kick your ass, so don't make me. You seriously don't want to be the kind of guy who does that." I really couldn't believe his gall.

Carly looked between the two of us, and I could tell she was trying not to get in the middle. I turned to look at her. I gave her a look that hopefully said, 'Come on, speak up.' Carly looked at me, and then turned to Freddie. "I'm sorry, Freddie, that I never loved you like you wanted me to. I really am. But this thing with Sam and I, it's kind of permanent. I know it's not what you want to hear. Please, Freddie. Don't be like this. I want to be able to still be with friends with you. I can't if you aren't going to accept Sam and I."

That all sounded very well and good, but Carly couldn't accept us, how did she expect Freddie to? I arched my brow at her. "Carly, how do you expect Freddie to accept us when you don't?" I did not want to talk about this in front of Freddie, but I had no choice. She and I had to talk and he had come in here starting shit. "I want to know right now, are you going to admit you're with me? I swear, I will do my best to protect you. You know that no one will touch you because I'm the most scary kid in that school. No one will touch you in front me, okay?" I didn't think think I could be with her if she wasn't going to tell people. I thought I could but now I wasn't so sure. I could feel my heart breaking into a thousand tiny pieces. "I don't know why are you denying us! I know I said I could do this, but I can't, Carly."

Freddie was looking back and forth between us, this puppy dog look on his face. He definitely looked like he was sorry that he had caused us to fight. I held up my hand to him before he started speaking. I didn't want to hear anything he had to say. I didn't know if I would be able to not hit him if he started talking right then.

Carly was looking at me, her eyes wide. She seemed to be speechless. I didn't know at all what she was about to say. She ignored Freddie and tried to focus. I started to feel bad for her. I mean, I know she loved me. She may not be able to say it loud, (to other people) but I knew she loved me. I just wanted her to be able to say it out loud to other people. Carly looked at me. It felt like there was only the two of us. "Sam, I promise, as soon as Spencer gets home, I will tell him that we are together." She said this without flinching at all. It gave me hope.

I took her hands. I was glad to hear what she was saying. It made me feel a lot better. I leaned in and pressed my lips to hers softly. I was going to give her another chance because I loved her, and Spencer would be here soon, so I would be able to see if she really meant it. Of course, this meant that I might be able to see if she really meant it. Of course, this meant I might not be able to spend the night with her, but I was prepared in case Spencer had laid down the law. Growth, right? A couple of years ago I would have been ready to find my way around it. But I was older now, and I knew that if we fought Spencer too much, he wouldn't let Carly see me. That wasn't going to be acceptable. I was going to do what I could so I would be allowed to see Carly. "I love you and I will help you tell him if you want me to."

Laughing, she wiped her face. "I think if you're just here that will be just fine." Then she turned to Freddie, who looked a bit uncomfortable. She said, "Hey, Freddie, I'm sorry that your world just ended. But I need you to go. Sam and I have to talk to Spencer." This was his clue to leave.

He looked at us, and then nodded. Freddie looked like his best friend had died. I don't know why I still felt kind of sorry for him. I got closer to him. "Hey, don't come around for a couple of days." I wanted to try and get over my anger at him before I saw him again. Nodding, he left the room.

I took Carly to the couch, and put my arms around her. Now that we were telling Spencer, I didn't have to worry about getting caught with her. I pressed my lips to hers, brushing softly at first. Then it got deeper. She tasted so good. I could kiss her all day. She tasted good other places, too, but that might be a little tmi.

We were making out on the couch when we heard the door. Carly jumped and stopped kissing me. It was probably out of habit. But she kept her hand in mine. Then Spencer came into the apartment. He looked happy. His arms were full of groceries. "Hi, guys." He went to put the bags on the island.

Carly shared a look woth me and then we turned to Spencer. "Spencer, we have news." She was holding my hand tightly. When he turned to look at her, she said, "Would you sit down, please?" He gave her a funny look, but he nodded and sat down at one of the stools by the counter. Carly squeezed my hand tightly. "Spencer, Sam and I are dating now."

I think both of us were surprised when Spencer just smiled. "Finally." He said, and then knelt to kiss Carly on the cheek.

We both looked confused. Carly looked at me. Then she turned to Spencer. "Excuse me?" She asked.

Spencer had begun had begun putting away the groceries. "Sam, I got some extra bacon." He kept putting things away.

In her adorable Carly way, she said louder, "Excuse me?"

"Oh, I've been working for you and Sam to come out for years." He was deep in the freezer. I thought it was a little funny, and I was also good, because it meant he wasn't going to kill us. But especially Carly.

She just shook her head. She then asked, "So you're... okay with it?"

Spencer finished and put away the reusable bags. "Yeah. Just, Sam, has to sleep on the couch when she stays over." He said, and then he grabbed a water out of the fridge. "David Schwimmer is in a movie on Lifetime. Let's watch it." He went to sit on the armchair and then he turned on the tv.

We settled back on the couch, and I was never happier than I was at that moment. I was dating Carly, everyone would get to know, and Spencer was alright with it. I could not imagine anything better. Holding Carly tighter, I began to think as David Schwimmer acted badly in a horrible Lifetime movie. Spencer's fascination with David Schwimmer had always puzzled me. I had been wondering lately if Carly and I were going to end up together. It would be great. I could not believe how well things had ended up. Nothing could go wrong now.

Author's Note: I hope everyone liked the fic! I had to address the stupid thing they seem to be doing with Freddie and his crush on Carly. Sam needs to take her back her woman. Not to mention it's like setting Freddie back two seasons. Seriously. I don't even like Freddie anymore, and I need to to learn to write not in love with Carly, since I NEVER ship Creddie.