Another challenge from Challenge King has been completed. Enjoy the two-shot, my lovelies!:)


Freddie closed his eyes, tilted his head back, and took a deep breath, one that was intended to clear his depressed thoughts. He was in New York City now, though, which meant that the only air he breathed in was full of smoky gasoline fumes from the highway and sticky cooking oil, thanks to a nearby food truck. Not the best quality of air to find in a kids' playground, but the guy who owned the food truck was smart to come to a place full of whiny kids with nannies who were willing to shut them up with hotdogs and fries.

Like that young woman, Freddie mused, catching sight of a pretty redhead who was trying to corral her charges – four of them, if Freddie had it right.

"Jessie, Mrs. Kipling has discovered the glory of wading in the fountain and refuses to come out," an Indian kid told the nanny, and though Freddie hadn't meant to begin eavesdropping, he became curious at that.

"Jessie!" a blonde teenage girl complained loudly from Jessie's other side before the nanny could say anything about whoever Mrs. Kipling was, "Luke and Zuri are trying to sell my phone to a hobo!"

"Luke! Zuri!" the exasperated young woman exclaimed towards the direction of two other kids, who did indeed look to be trying to do business with a homeless man. "Stop it! Now!"

"Why?" the kid who must've been Luke asked casually. "It's not like Emma doesn't lose her phone every other week anyway; Mom and Dad will just buy her a new one."

And then came the statement that no one had expected from the "hobo."

"Well then, in that case, I think I'll just take the phone for free." Then suddenly there was a gun in Zuri's face and everyone who saw the piece screamed as the man sneered, "Or the little girl… Which do you think your parents would pay more to get back, little girl?"

Freddie wasn't exactly known for his physical prowess, but being around Sam so much – at least in the past – had taught him some things about fighting, and he sprang for the man nearly without thinking. Somehow no one was killed in the ensuing fight, and only the duo involved were even hurt. After Freddie managed to get in a few solid slugs to his opponent, he saw that there was a cop running towards them who had apparently seen the whole thing. That was going to save him some trouble.

He was breathing deeply as the cop skidded to a stop and took over where he had left off, slapping cuffs onto the guy and hauling him onto his feet.

"Thanks for your help there, man," the cop said to Freddie.

Freddie nodded, catching his breath.

"My partner's going to be here in a couple of minutes; until then, I think I'm going to sit in my patrol car with our gunslinger here, if everybody's okay?"

Freddie, Jessie, and the kids nodded, though the youngest girl was shaking and was hanging with a death grip onto her nanny.

"Gosh," Jessie gasped, kneeling down in front of Zuri to look her in the eye as she asked, "Are you sure you're okay, sweetie?"

Zuri nodded.

"Alright," Jessie said, pulling her in for a tight hug before she stood and addressed Freddie, saying, "Thanks a ton; you rescued us there."

"It was nothing," Freddie said modestly. "I did what any decent person would've done."

"Well, still," Jessie said, "Surely we can repay you somehow; my bosses are loaded."

Freddie needed the money rather desperately – having something of a midlife crisis when he was just barely out of high school and impetuously moving to New York City because of it didn't do much for a man's pocketbook – but he wasn't about to say so.

"How about we buy you lunch, at least," Jessie suggested, "Once the cops take our statements and everything?"

"Well… alright," he agreed, giving in with a shrug of his shoulders.

Something about the apparently plucky young woman in front of him made him want to get to know her better, so why not take the chance if she was offering it?


"Oh my gosh, oh my gosh, oh my gosh!" Emma exclaimed suddenly looking at him with wide eyes later on in the afternoon when Freddie was sitting at an outdoor bistro eating lunch with Jessie and the Ross kids. "I know where I recognized you from! You're Freddie Benson from iCarly!"

Freddie paused, releasing a deep sigh before he answered, "Yeah, I was… but that's kind of a thing of the past now."

Because Carly was in Italy, Sam was in L.A., and Spencer and his mother had both gone a little crazy here recently. Therefore, Freddie had almost lost it as well and fled to New York in hopes of keeping his sanity. Not that his plan was currently working very well, of course.

"Well, still," Luke said. "You're kind of impressive, man."

Freddie smiled weakly when Jessie and Luke's siblings agreed with the statement. "Thanks, guys."

But he didn't know just how thankful he was going to be for these guys later that evening.


It had been a good day, Freddie told himself as he looked out the dinky window in his horrible apartment – the place really did remind him of the one he had stayed in that time he had moved out of his mom's apartment a couple of years ago. It really had been a good day… but maybe that's what had put him in such a bad mood.

He didn't trust good days anymore; they just made the bad days that came far too often that much worse. He sighed, opening the window and sitting precariously on the sill as he looked out at the skyline, dangerously alone with his dark thoughts.

He wobbled on the window sill and braced a hand against the wall to steady himself.

And then came the thought.

Why? Why hold on? Why keep living like this? It wasn't like there was anyone around who was going to miss him anymore. Why not just let himself go? Why not stop holding on to whatever he had left and fall?

He looked down at the street far below, judging the likelihood of living or dying if he hit the ground from this height as the thought took root.

Why not just jump?


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