I never thought when I first wrote a story that I'd ever do even a dozen, let alone so many. This is my 40th posted story. Honestly, I don't even know where some of these ideas come from but anyway. This one's been floating around in my head (and on my computer) for about 6 months now.

And just a warning this one does not contain Seddie coupling until quite a way in, but hopefully it's entertaining the way things play out for them. And this is a dramatic story so beware there will be some tragedy at some point and a few bad words here and there plus the typical references to physical interactions between characters (nothing too graphic or any lemons - for now), but enough that I'm rating it a T just to be safe.

The setup/prologue:

Five plus years after iGoodbye. Freddie has graduated from college and is now living back in Seattle working on his masters degree at the University of Washington. He has landed his dream job, designing software, working for the Pear company.

Carly is living in New York. She comes back to Seattle on occasion, but stays busy with her job at a New York fashion magazine so she has very little time for her old friends or her brother who has found a woman he is very serious about and intends to marry.

After Cat left L.A. to pursue her stage career, Sam quit baby sitting and took some classes at the local community college. She is now a teaching assistant at an elementary school in Los Angeles.

Melanie finished up her undergraduate work at NYU and took a year to travel in Europe. The Puckett sisters have actually become closer the last few years and talk or Skype on a regular basis.

Unfortunately, Sam and Freddie were never able to reconnect. With his attending college on the east coast and then moving back to Seattle and her job in L.A. they have little in common any more. Even still they are close friends, communicate regularly and have had the occasional hookup when their paths did manage to cross.

Chapter 1

Sam was on her weekly phone call with her sister and Melanie has just told her how she plans on returning to Seattle to work on her own post-grad schooling. Like Freddie, Melanie is a chronic over-achiever, at least in her sister's eyes. While Sam was content with a job that paid the bills, Melanie always wanted to challenge herself and go just one more step in her education and, consequently, career. Sam figured it was only a matter of time before her sister decided to become a doctor or something fancy like that.

"You know, I still can't understand why you want to be a nurse, Mel. Remember that time a few years ago when you came to L.A. and I was babysitting those twins? I asked you to change a diaper and you wound up puking in the trash can?. Well, that was a toddler, what's gonna happen when you've got to change some old lady's diaper that's been eating prunes or spinach or something? And I know how you always hide your eyes during slasher movies, what about if some motorcycle accident victim comes in with his arms almost ripped off or a tree limb imbedded in his chest? You'll pass out for sure."

"I'm going to be a nurse-midwife, Sam. I won't be dealing with any geriatrics or accident victims or gunshot wounds. I'll be helping deliver babies and making sure women take care of their health."

"Psh, like that's any better. You got all queasy the first time you got your period." Sam smirked at the memory. "And you told me what happened when you watched that video in health class in tenth grade. The same thing happened to Frednerd. We had to get the school nurse to give him smelling salts." Sam still smiled to herself at the memory of her friend blacking out and falling out of his desk.

"That maternity video was made before we were even born, it's just beyond gross. I swear they made the thing as nasty as possible so teens wouldn't even think about having sex. In fact, I'm pretty sure it turned a couple of girls in my boarding school off of guys all together because they were so afraid of getting pregnant. And I wasn't even twelve when I got my period, Sam. Thanks to our worthless mother not telling me about the facts of womanhood, I didn't know what was going on. Besides, a lot of women get dizzy and light headed around that time of the month, it's from lack of blood flow to their brain. It's a scientific fact."

"Heh. I know a guy or two that's tried that excuse, too." Sam cracked back. "No blood flow to the brain, just to their crotch."

Melanie just clicked her tongue at Sam's crude reference. Not that she was prudish, but she just didn't have that much 'experience' with boys and Sam always seemed to say things just to make her squirm. It was one of Sam's guilty pleasures.

"So you're really serious about moving back to Seattle, huh? Please tell me you're not planning on living with Pam are you? Believe me, you'll regret it. Oh, and I'd highly recommend a lock for your bedroom door. She staggered into my room more than once when she was drunk. One night she even took a wazz in my trash can because she thought it was the toilet."

"Only as long as necessary, until I can find a place of my own and I wish you'd consider coming back, too. I don't know if I can handle mom on my own and I won't know anyone here at all. Most of our friends from when we were little are long gone and even people I knew when we were teenagers aren't around anymore. It's not like I even knew that many of your friends to begin with. Just basically Carly and Freddie and there was that odd chubby kid that always ran around without his shirt. What ever happened to him?"

"Eh, you makes friends easy. You'll be fine. Besides, Seattle's too damn cold in the winter." Sam had considered going back herself a few times, mainly to be near one person in particular. Somehow, she always talked herself out of it, though. "And I've got a pretty sweet job here. Regular hours, lots of vacation days, every weekend and all summer off. I mean, where else could someone like me get a job where I only have to work 180 days a year and still get a regular paycheck plus health insurance?"

"So, you mean to tell me you really like working at a school? Now that's something hard to believe." Melanie chided.

"It's not really all that bad. I'm just a teacher's aide. I don't have to do anything hard. Make a few copies, help kids with their spelling words. It's kind of like baby sitting but with no diapers to change plus I get to go home at three thirty and forget the place exists." Sam certainly knew all the perks to her job.

"Oh, and I have to make sure the little boogers don't kill each other at lunchtime or on the playground. Man, there were these two girls got into a fight in the lunch line right before school was out last year, I thought the one was going to bite the other's nose off. It was so freakin' awesome, I hated to break it up. I'll tell you what, for a seven year old, that little girl was fierce. I bet when she hits high school she's in the MMA."

"Lovely! She sounds really familiar." Mel scoffed. "I just mean you always hated school and teachers especially. I remember how you made up all those obnoxious pictures of that one teacher you used to have and put her face on all kind of animals and stuff. What was her name, Miss Biggens or something?"

"Oh, you mean Miss Briggs. Man, I haven't thought about ol' pointy boobs in years. But she was a high school teacher. And basically she was freakin' nuts. Elementary teachers aren't that bad, especially now that there are security cameras in the classrooms and they can't get away with torturing kids like they used to. As long as none of 'em break out the bagpipes or look as freaky as Mr. Howard, I'm cool with it. And they all treat their aides like gold, basically because we do all the hard work for 'em while they lounge around the break room and compare stories about how 'bad' their students are."

Melanie suddenly remembered something. "Hey, didn't Carly tell me that Freddie was going to U-Dub for his graduate work since got a job at Pear? Maybe he'd be someone I could hang around with."

"Yeah." Sam's answer was short and Melanie knew she had hit a nerve. "I guess. Maybe."

Melanie had made no secret that she really liked Freddie when they were younger and rambled on for, literally, years after their date about how she kissed him and how much she wished she could go out with him again.

"I know you two have history, I just meant that he'd be someone who could show me around and stuff. At least he's someone I know, well kinda know. I haven't seen him since that time we went out years ago."

Sam rolled her eyes at her sister bringing that up again. Hopefully she'd outgrown the crush she had on him and not mention their kiss for the five hundred and tenth time. "The nub and I are just friends. If you want to hang with him, be my guest. I just hope his nerdish ways don't rub off on you, you can't afford to be any less cool, Sis." Sam joked to cover her real feelings.

"Are you sure. I thought you two had some kind of arrangement. Friends with benefits or something? That's what Carly told me. You guys have been hooking up since senior year in high school haven't you?"

"Yeah, well Carly has a big mouth sometimes." Sam couldn't believe Carly told someone about what she was told in confidence. "And yes, Freddie and me hooked up a few times, but I haven't even seen him since last summer when he came to L.A. on vacation and toured UCLA. I still think he'd have went there if he didn't get that job offer from Pear." Sam wished he would have chosen to live near her, she tried to give him a memory he wouldn't soon forget that week.

Still, Sam had to put up a tough front. "There's nothing exclusive between us. Mama doesn't like to be tied down. Besides there's this new technology teacher at the school that I've been flirting with. You should see him, he has the cutest brown eyes and he's a huge Cuttlefish fan."

"Are you telling me my sister has a boyfriend who's not Freddie Benson? Her first kiss, her first time. 'The only guy she ever loved' to use your exact quote. And yes, Cat told me about that one."

"He's not a boyfriend, we just had coffee a few times after school. But he's a decent guy. I don't really know if he's the relationship type, though. He's never really tried to make a move. He still lives with his mom for cheese sake. I think he's even into that larping chiz according to his Splashface page."

"Uh-huh" Melanie knew exactly what Sam was thinking. "A Galaxy Wars larper by any chance?"

Sam sighed. "I guess when I think of it he's kinda like Freddie."

"So you won't be all jealous and snippy if I hang out with Freddie some time? Just as friends, though."

"Hang out with him, kiss him, marry him for all I care." Sam huffed, she was getting mad at her twin and ready to hang up on her. As much as it pained her to admit it, Sam and Freddie just weren't meant to be and that fact tore her up inside. The simple fact was, she was happy with her life in L.A. and he had no plans on leaving Seattle and his dream job. There was just no point in deluding herself into thinking they could ever be together no matter how much she loved him and wanted to be with him, even though she'd never admit it to anyone else.

"Well, give me his number and tell him I'll call him sometime." Mel pleaded. "Just so I have someone familiar to talk to besides Mom. Please."

"Alright, but don't say I didn't warn you." Sam snarked. "He'll drive you nuts in no time with his nubbing around and talking about sci-fi movies and model trains and junk. Just consider yourself lucky he gave up on the fencing thing. And God help you if he takes a liking to you and tries to be all romantic and stuff. What a nub."

"Oh yeah, sounds absolutely terrible." Mel cracked. "Who would want a sweet, attractive guy to act romantic or anything. How horrible. Heaven forbid he'd offer to give a girl a backrub, either."

"Eh, he's actually pretty good at that. But like I said, don't say I didn't warn you." Sam reluctantly sent a text to Melanie with Freddie's number and promised her sister she'd let him know Melanie would be calling him.

Alright, so this chapter got a little bit long because of the prologue and all. I'll try to post chapter 2 over the weekend.