iWill Wait For You
By PD31
Disclaimer: I still don't own iCarly, any of the episodes or any of the characters.
Rating: T
Pairing: Creddie
Summary: Post-iGoodbye. Freddie and Carly have gone their separate ways for the summer; he hopes that things won't change between them before she gets back.

AN: Hello everyone and happy Creddie Friday. Please enjoy this one-shot as a prelude to some new works that I have planned (I'll explain more at the end).

"Hi," Carly called from the doorway of the studio as she saw Freddie dismantling the equipment that had brought iCarly to life over the past five years.

"Oh hey; how goes it?" he put on a forced smile knowing the love of his life was soon to depart for another continent.

"I'm leaving in a few minutes." The words sounded so real and final to her as they left her mouth. The brown-haired boy nodded in response.

"I know, you'd better not be late or your dad's gonna be wazzed off!" he joked.

She smiled. "You know, you don't have to take all your tech stuff home tonight." It made it just so conclusive if he did – that iCarly, and her life in Seattle, really was over if he no longer had a reason to be in her apartment.

The brunette lost his next words in a fog of mixed emotion; she vaguely recalled something about weasels before she silenced him by gently placing her left hand on top of his right. The innocent little gesture caused him to turn his gaze to their hands, then quickly to her face. She put her right hand on his left shoulder and closed the short distance between their faces as she leaned in and kissed him. His left hand found its way to her waist as he kissed her back.

Their lips parted and Freddie looked to the heavens in partial disbelief that the moment he had dreamed about for so long had actually happened. The brown-haired pair both cleared their throats uncomfortably as they stood awkwardly in the aftermath of their moment.

"So I'm gonna get my bags and head downstairs," Carly told him.

"Why don't I help you with those?" he offered casually.

"That'd be nice, yeah."

She left the studio with Freddie hot on her heels; out of the corner of her eye she saw him celebrate the kiss with a double fist pump. She grinned at the sight and was still smiling when they arrived in her room. Her eyes fell on the bags on the floor before tracing the route to her bed. She turned to look at Freddie, who had entered the room behind her, before rushing out "Dad can wait a few more minutes." She seized his hand again and pulled him down with her onto her bed.

The couple left the room a few minutes later straightening each other's clothing as they did and dragging their bags behind them to the freight elevator. They kissed once more as the door closed and the lift began its descent to the living area of the Shays' apartment and pulled apart reluctantly as it came to a halt.

They were suitably attired as to not attract suspicion as they left the elevator. Carly said her last goodbyes to her brother, Spencer and to Freddie; Sam volunteered to head down to the ground floor with her.

"I love you guys," Carly choked out, looking directly at Freddie as she did.

"I love you too," he replied sincerely before the door closed and the elevator took him out of her life, maybe forever he thought In horror. He bowed his head at the thought, wondering just how much the few minutes they had just shared meant to her. The tech producer headed back up to the studio, finished packing up his equipment and moved it across the hallway back to his own home, thinking back on the day they started iCarly as he did. He smiled at the memories before his face fell again as thoughts of what was happening between him and the brunette, and thinking about how much he would miss her, continued to swirl around his mind.

The boy came home from school just after 4 a couple of days later; he was surprised when, within seconds of logging on to his pearbook, he had a video chat request. He answered it and the face that had occupied his thoughts and his dreams ever since she left filled his screen.

"Carly!"

"Hey Freddie, how are you?" She stifled a yawn and he mentally did the sums.

"Carls, it's like one in the morning where you are. How come you're up?"

"Jet lag," she said simply before sighing, "well partly… ok, the main reason is that I wanted to talk to you."

The boy smiled but didn't dare to bring himself to believe she could want to talk to him for a good reason, so he asked casually, "How's Italy so far?"

"It seems ok," she shrugged, a little disappointed that he had headed her off so quickly, "I'm still settling in really but yeah, there's a few kids our age around here and I've enrolled at the international school. I don't speak the language but most people speak enough English that I can just about get by while I learn a little."

"Any cute guys there?" he asked, recalling her father's words with a little sourness in his tone.

She smiled coyly. "There's a few," she saw his face flicker for a moment and smiled as if in thought, "but not as cute as the guy I left behind."

Freddie's eyes widened at her words. Still not daring to believe it he began, "You mean…"

"Yes Freddie," she cut him off, "I mean you. You're the guy I want and I can't wait until I'm back in the fall for college when I can be with you again."

"You're still going to UW?"

"Well yeah," she said casually, "it's got the course I want to do – and, y'know, my boyfriend is gonna be starting there," she finished with a smile.

She stifled another yawn and Freddie smiled. "I would love to talk a lot longer but I think someone needs some sleep."

Carly nodded her agreement reluctantly.

"Talk this weekend?" he suggested, "we can find a time that suits us both."

"I can't wait," she smiled.

The week passed slowly for Freddie; the prospect of a long chat with Carly, with his girlfriend Carly, was an alluring one and he found himself daydreaming about it in class, much to the chagrin of Miss Briggs and Mr Howard. The two mean teachers tried their usual criticisms and bullying tactics, attempting to focus on him now the two girls had both gone (Sam's whereabouts were completely unknown; nobody had seen her since Carly left). He ignored their complaints and focussed on his work, leaving others to pick up the battle with them. Gibby tried but a couple of lengthy detentions put paid to his efforts.

Friday night saw him receive a surprising call; Sam made it and explained to him that she was in Los Angeles, having left the same night as Carly. She told him how she didn't want to stay there once Carly had gone, that Seattle wasn't "home" anymore without her best friend and that she was looking for a new direction in life, a chance to put some of her old mistakes behind her and start afresh.

"What about school?" Freddie pressed.

"Dude I only went half the time anyway – and for most of that I was asleep," she reminded him. "Don't worry, mama's got a plan."

"I don't think I wanna know," he complained.

"I don't think I wanna tell you," she retorted.

They chatted for a short while longer before Sam hung up; she hadn't left a forwarding address for the moment.

The boy awoke on Saturday morning in very high spirits; he was eagerly awaiting the video chat he had scheduled for 9 a.m. local time (6 p.m. for Carly). Bang on time they both logged into the chat room and smiled as they saw one another. They began their talk by exchanging news of the week gone by; the brunette girl had also heard from Sam (the blonde didn't understand the concept of time differences and had woken her up a couple of days ago at 4 a.m.) so she knew her best friend was now in California. She was sympathetic of his continued troubles with some of Ridgeway's teachers; at the International School she was enjoying her lessons and the teachers were all fine (one or two, she commented with a mischievous smile, even recognised her from iCarly – as did a lot of the other kids and this recognition had eased her transition into the school considerably).

"The only thing missing," she bemoaned, "is you."

"I miss you too Carls," he whispered, smiling sadly at her as she brushed a tear from her eye.

Freddie sat nervously in Seattle Airport; the soon-to-be University of Washington student was waiting for Carly to clear immigration and customs following her return from Italy; she had spent the summer with her dad but was back a few days before school started to give her a chance to get acclimatised again before she and Freddie had to enrol in their new college.

One thought refused to leave the former tech producer's brain, "What if she's changed her mind and no longer wants to be my girlfriend?" He had tortured himself with the fear for days, weeks, months if he was honest with himself – ever since the kiss they'd shared before she left. The unpleasant panic this elicited just would not go away for him. He had signed off the first of their regular chats with "I love you," and she had responded in kind; every subsequent chat had also finished that way. Logically, rationally, there was no reason to believe that things weren't going to be fine for them and for them to be a couple when she stepped through the door and joined him in the waiting area – but logic and rationale, he mused, had little place in matters of the heart (especially when it came to the relationship between them over the years).

"Please don't shoot me down again," he thought over and over as he waited, "not after all this, not after those kisses."

Finally he saw her walk through the door and look around, she seemed equally nervous despite trying to exude a nonchalant, casual air as she dragged her comedically large bag through the airport. He watched as she scanned the waiting area before her eyes settled on him and she smiled, her warm, beautiful smile adorned her face.

He smiled in response and she abandoned her bag, much to the chagrin of the people following her out of the secure area of the airport, and raced over to him. Her arms are outstretched and she literally leapt into his arms, wrapping her own tightly around him. He hugged her, holding her close for a long time as tears of joy splashed down their faces. "I've missed you so much," he whispered.

She pulled her head back and sought his eyes; finding them she began to lose herself in them and was just starting to bring her face and lips to his when an irate airport attendant called to her,

"Hey, are you gonna leave your bag here all night in the middle of the floor?"

She grinned in embarrassment and Freddie reluctantly set her down. She left his arms and they walked together to where she had left the case. Freddie took the handle and began to drag the bag behind them.

Carly smiled and took his free hand in hers as together they began the walk out of the airport; the contact, and the return of the girl he loved, meant that Freddie felt on top of the world.

AN: I hope you all enjoyed that, just a little one-shot for the iGoodbye challenge and to celebrate Creddie Friday. However it is also the prologue for a story I plan to write over the coming months, charting the lives of Creddie as they go through college. That story itself will be something of a companion fiction for a Sam-centric story I will be writing once Sam & Cat airs. I hope you will all check them out once they appear.

Thanks for reading and please let me know what you thought of it by reviewing using the box below. PD31.