Some may love you, some may hate you. But one thing is for sure, whether people care about you or not, you only let them see the side you want them to see. Some may accept it, some may not but either way only you know who you are and what you go through. They say that people shouldn't judge a book by its cover, but then again there is always ONE person that does. Everyone has a secret, but only a few have the guts to say it out loud; others are not strong enough or stupid enough to let it out. However, there is one thing everyone has in common…we all need someone to show us that we matter in what we call life. Not everyone wants the sympathy, and they may even put everyone down because they believe it isn't fair how others get to have a good life when they themselves live a living hell. Others may want to help each other out because they believe that they deserve the best even though they might be living in a nightmare, they want people to live a happy life because they know what it's like to be unhappy and depressed. They know what pain feels like and they want others to avoid it. Life would be a lot better if pain didn't exist wouldn't it? No one knows that better than Samantha Puckett herself.
Sam Puckett was your everyday bully. She wasn't the nicest, or the politest person you meet in a school campus, no she was one hell of a tough girl that can beat anyone in anyway. She only had two friends, well if you count her everyday punching bag Freddie Benson as a friend. Her best friend was Carly Shay, one of the most popular and wanted girls in school. Sam wasn't the type of person to socialize, but when she met Carly at the age of eight fighting her over a tuna sandwich, she knew right then and there that they would become good friends. Sam trusted Carly with her life, and she knew that she was the only one that wouldn't judge her no matter the situation. Now she was a sophomore in high school and still hung around with the same people. She wouldn't change it for the world. Sam and Freddie were a total different story thought, she would constantly beat him because he "irritated" her, call him names, slap him, give him wedgies, any other thing you normally see a bully do to its victim. However, despite all the bickering that they do Sam trusted him and he trusted her. When they reached the age of fourteen they softened up on their constant arguing and eventually began to form a unique friendship, unique because only they pulled off the hate/friend relationship. They still teased each other, still got under each other's skin, and sometimes still wrestled over the remote control because they both wanted to watch their favorite shows, despite all of that…they still cared about each other the way best friends should. Some loved her two friends more than anything, but she still had that ONE secret she still couldn't say…not even Carly knew about it. She never told anyone that she was being abused by her mother her entire life. Pam Puckett was a smart woman, despite her drunken days, she constantly hit her daughter for no reason, mainly to release the stress she had but she always made sure not hit Sam's face so no one would suspect anything. She knew that Sam would never say anything because she hated sympathy, so she would aim for the places that no one would dare to look because of Sam's ability to pound anyone that dared so. However, everything has its limits and sooner or later either Carly or Freddie will find out, whether Sam wanted them to or not.
One Saturday afternoon while the iCarly crew were getting ready to shoot their latest episode of their famous web show, Carly noticed that Sam was nowhere in sight, she was never late for iCarly, being late for the show was like running out of ham in Sam's personal book. She looked at Freddie who only stared back with the glint of concern in his eyes.
"Carls are you sure you reminded her last night about the show?" Freddie asked stepping away from his laptop, and sat on one of the bean bags.
"Yea I told last night before she left, and send her a text message this morning. I'm getting worried Freddie, Sam's never late for the show." She muttered as she began to pace back and forth in the studio.
"Yeah I know, Maybe we should try to call her." He suggested as he took out his cell phone and began to dial her number. He held it up to his ear and waited patiently while it rung.
'Sup this is Sam, if I don't answer it merely means that I'm asleep or not in the mood to talk, so leave a message if ya want. See ya.' BEEP! Freddie groaned and put his phone back into his back pocket.
"She's not answering." Carly was losing her mind, this was not happening.
"Freddie what if she's hurt! What if she got kidnapped! Oh my god what if she's dead!" Carly began to panic over her best friends safety and was on the verge of tears.
"Carly calm down! Don't talk like that, look she's probably down at Groovy smoothie or something and she's probably-"
"She would've told one us Freddie!" Carly shrieked, Freddie sighed and knew she was right, Sam may be reckless but she did always give them a heads up if she was about to do something stupid or just to simply tell them she didn't feel like going to school because she was tired. Now HE was getting worried, sure Sam wasn't the nicest person, but he cared about her more than anyone could imagine. He wasn't exactly sure how or when it happened, but somewhere among the lines he began to develop feelings for the blonde headed demon. Of course no one knew about that since he really wanted to live at least until he reached retirement and telling Carly would eventually lead to having the entire school know about it. So he never said anything. He shook his head to come back to reality and concentrated to trying to figure out the reason behind Sam's absence.
"Let's try to find her, we'll split up and whoever finds her first will have to call the other okay? I'll update my blog tonight and apologize to the fans because of our cancelled episode." Freddie said already putting on his jacket and walking towards the door. Carly nodded and followed behind already beginning to search for their meat lover best friend, and in Freddie's case secret loooooove.
Once they split up Freddie began to walk around searching for any signs of the blonde, he searched in Groovy Smoothie no Sam, he tried the grocery stores where he knew Sam often shopped for her beloved ham and nothing. He really couldn't think of any other place besides her house, but he knew she wouldn't be there. Sam was hardly ever home, he never knew why she hated it but decided not to ask considering the fact that Sam would literally make him a woman if he butted into her business. He yanked a bit of his hair in frustration and tried calling her again but was only greeted with her voicemail once again. He was beginning to lose it himself, Sam has never done this before and it scared him to no end, he rushed back to Bushwell and hit the elevator button to his floor and ask his mother if by any chance she'd seen her around, his mother would constantly stalk all of three of them to see if he was hanging out with the "appropriate" people, but he didn't tell Sam nor Carly since he didn't want to freak them out. Once they elevator door opened he jogged through the hall way but stopped at dead tracks when he heard quiet sobbing. He turned towards his right and noticed that it was coming from the Fire Escape, his heart beat faster by the minute since only two people used that Fire escape… himself and Sam. And right he was, there hugging her knees to her chest and forehead pressed against her knees was Sam herself, sobbing lightly her shoulders shaking. All the years he's known Sam he had never seen her cry, in fact he thought it was impossible for her to shed tears, but there she was pouring her eyes out unaware of his presence. He quietly stepped into the fire escape and slowly crouched down beside her and placed a hand on her shoulder, he was expecting a smack on the arm, or at least a "get lost nub!" but the reaction he got was nowhere NEAR to what he expected she immediately stiffened and quickly coward away from him exclaiming "Don't hurt me!" but then realized who it was and looked down at her feet looking embarrassed. Freddie felt heartbroken at the sight of her beautiful blue orbs, they were red and puffy from all her crying and she looked pale and fragile, but what caught her eye was the slight dried up blood she had on her bottom lip.
"Sam it's me, I'm not going to hurt you." He said softly as he reached over and wrapped his arms around her. Surprisingly she didn't push him away or threatened to break his arm like she usually would. He took the risk and softly began to rub her hair affectionately letting her know that he was there for her. Sam didn't say anything but let him hold her, and for once in her life Sam actually felt safe.
"Sam?" he asked quietly.
"hmm?" she mumbled not really wanting to speak afraid that her voice might still crack from her sobbing.
"What's wrong? Why are you crying?" he asked, he knew that he was most likely going to get it for sticking his nose in her business but he couldn't help it, seeing Sam this way completely broke him.
"Nothing…" she tried to answer but her voice was mildly a whisper.
"Don't give me that, YOU Sam were crying five minutes ago. You never cry so something obviously happened and I need to know. I hate seeing you like this, I want to help you." He said releasing her only to hold her face in his hands wiping away her tears with his thumbs, Sam sighed and nodded.
"It's my mom's new boyfriend… I don't know if I can take it anymore Freddie, the constant abuse, the verbal insults from my mom, everything! Yesterday when I came back from school, my mom came home drunk, that isn't anything new but she brought that guy with her and they…" she took a deep breath to calm herself afraid that she might burst into tears again, Freddie was shocked by where this was going, he knew her mother wasn't a nice person but he didn't know that she abused her.
"They both beat me…I'm use to my mom beating the shit out of me, but when he did it…I swear I never felt so much pain in my life. I hated that I was so hopeless and wouldn't stand a chance against him he was such a big guy that I knew that I wouldn't be able to do anything rather than just let him do what he wanted waiting for it to end. The worst part was that while he was busy beating the living daylight out of me my mom kept throwing her insults saying how it was my fault my dad left her and how she wished she had aborted me when she had the chance. Honestly I think what she was telling me hurt more than the pain her boyfriend gave me. I just don't think I can take it anymore…I snuck out at three a.m. last night and came here, I…" she stopped and brushed a tear that slid down her cheek her shoulders slightly shaking. Freddie pulled her into another hug. He couldn't believe what he was hearing, Sam was constantly being abused by her mom and neither he nor Carly knew about it. Carly! Damn she must be going crazy right now. She would have to wait though, right now Sam needed him and he wasn't going to leave her.
"Sam why didn't you tell us?" he asked.
"Because! I hate it when people feel sorry for me, I don't need anyone's sympathy!" she groaned and began to make an effort to pull away from him but he held her tighter to his chest.
"You may not need anyone's sympathy but you do need someone to be there for you." He replied softly Sam stopped struggling when he said those words and let him continue.
"Sam…I know you're strong, hell everyone does! But even the toughest people in this world need SOMEONE to let them know that they aren't alone. There are things that you can't fight by yourself, and this is one of them. If you kept quiet about this who knows what would've happened to you!" he said hugging her tighter.
"You probably think that I wouldn't care, but I DO! Sam if anything happened to you I honestly don't know what I would do. Despite the constant arguments that we have, I care about you Sam more than you can possibly know, I don't care if you don't feel the same way but you ARE important to me and what you told me right now is HUGE! I promise that I will help you end this, I don't care how but I will pull you out of this hell hole." He swore, he felt Sam stiffen at his sudden confession but didn't pull away.
"You mean that?" she finally asked after a while.
"Every word." He confirmed not bothering to take back his love confession.
"I never hated you." She whispered softly. "As crazy as it sounds I care a hell of a lot about you too, just never thought I would ever admit it to you." She confessed. Freddie couldn't help but slightly smile despite the situation they were in, in all honesty he didn't think that their confession would be like this, but hey its better than nothing right?
"Guess we're both on the same boat, but come on. Carly is officially going to kill me for not calling her as soon as I found you." He said with a shrug.
"Crap I forgot about the show." Sam admitted.
"She send you a text to remind you." Freddie pointed out.
"I left my phone at the house along with everything else, I just left without thinking." She said shrugging.
"That's fine; by the way you're staying at my place tonight. I'm not letting you go back to that house until your mom breaks up with that dude or at least until we figure out a way to get you out of there for good." He said in such a determined tone that even Sam knew if was useless to argue with him. So she simply nodded in agreement.
"But wont your mom be mad?" she asked.
"She's out of town for the week." He answered. "But before we see Carly, let's get your lip fixed." He said as he pulled her up to her feet and led her to his apartment holding her hand. Once he fixed her up he smiled at her and pulled her into a hug. Sam breathed in his scent and placed her palms on his chest letting him cradle her.
"Thanks for being there Freddie." She whispered.
"Always." He replied kissing the top of her head. Sam smiled when she felt his lips on her hair and snuggled a little closer.
"And Freddie?" she began.
"Yeah?" he asked.
"Don't get used to this. I'm still Sam and I WILL kick your sorry ass if you try anything funny." She threatened. Freddie chuckled at that and nodded. Yup that's definitely the Sam he fell in love with.
A/N: Hello Seddie Fans! :D Yea I'm kinda new here in the iCarly Archive c: I'm usually an author for KFP stories, but lately my cousin has gotten me into watching her iCarly Vids that she recorded, and I have to say that Sam and Freddie are probably one of the cutest couples I've seen. Sooooo this has been in my head and I said to myself "why not? Let's give it a try." I mean come on, despite all her hardcore attitude even Sam needs a comforting shoulder am I right? I know Sam's mom doesn't abuse her in the show but for some reason to me she seemed like the type that didn't care about her own daughter so I thought this was somewhat something she would do to Sam :/ so please review! xD please no flames, it's my first iCarly fic so be nice please? And I don't own anything!