"And this was iCarly! See you next week, nubs!" Sam yelled.
"Wow, guys. That went really well, considering I'm not actually there." Carly commented.
"Yeah, that reminds me, when are you coming back from Italy?" Sam asked.
"Not sure yet. It'll probably be a while." Carly shrugged.
"Any idea how long? Like, a guesstimation? We miss you Carly." Sam pouted.
"I don't know. But, hey, my birthday's in a week. I'll probably come back then, maybe not permanently, but for a little while, at least." Carly said.
"Awww, okay. But you will come back, right? And Spencer? My stomach seems so much emptier without you giving me free food." Sam joked
"We will. So what's-" Carly began
"Carly!" Her dad shouted from off camera
"Oh, sorry. I have to go." With that she switched off her webcam.
Sam sighed. That was how most of their conversations ended lately. Freddie and Gibby run over to the laptop.
"Carly? You still there?" He asked.
"Yeah, her dad called her and she's gone. But she said she'll come back-"
"She doesn't know when, maybe around her 18th birthday." They say in unison, sighing.
Sam goes to pull on her jacket. "Anyway, this was fun. Same time next week?" She smiles.
"Of course." Both boys say.
"Good, now I've gotta go. See you at school tomorrow." She goes to leave Freddie's apartment.
"Wait." Freddie commands. She pauses, hand on the door knob. "Sam, you're staying. We've got that science project due tomorrow. We still need to test the stuff and write up our results."
She sighs and turns around, walking in the direction of Freddie's room.
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"So the sock filled with soft butter that was kept in the freezer weighed more so it was harder to lift but easier to beat nubs up with-"
"Why don't we just say it was better at… fulfilling its purpose?" Freddie suggested.
"Come on, I don't wanna say all that, besides, everyone already knows what I use it for. Some even have scars to show it." Sam smirked.
"Sam, they think you caused Gibby brain damage." Freddie frowned.
"That would not surprise me." She commented.
"Well, the least you could do is apologize. You broke his nose the day before." He added.
"Well, I taught him a very important life lesson." She explained.
"Oh, and what's that?"
"When a hungry girl with a sock full of hard butter asks for money for a bucket of chicken, he'd better hand it over."
"Oh, I give up." He exclaims, throwing his arms up in frustration.
"Hey, what's that supposed to mean?"
"You're impossible!"
"Well, what do you want me to do? I apologized for the nose."
"And the brain damage?"
"It's Gibby. How can we tell?"
"Sam! He's my friend!"
"Yeah…"
"Don't talk about him like that!" Freddie shouted.
"Look," Sam began.
"Nope. Apologize or get out."
Sam shook her head. "It's not you I should be apologizing to."
"Out!"
She stormed out, fuming. She stomped over to the elevator, and punched the button. The lift arrived and she got in, punching another button to go to the ground floor. The doors closed. Sam reached into her pocket and took out her cell phone. As she was dialing the number the elevator doors opened and she stepped into the lobby. She put the phone to her ear.
"Mom, hi. I need a ride… Because it's almost midnight and I don't have my purse… I left it at Freddie's… We had a fight, I can't go back there… Mom, Spencer went to Italy with Carly… I left my bike at the house, can't you see it in the yard? Okay, see you in a half hour."
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"Mom, you're an hour late. You said you would be here an hour ago. I specifically gave you a half hour because it only takes you 20 minutes to get here so you'd think you were on time… No, I can't walk home… Have you seen where we live? I don't even have the buttersock, I'll get beaten up or mugged or something… Mom? Mom? You there? Oh, crap." She looked at her phone. "Battery's dead. Hey, Lewbert, mind if I use the phone?" She said.
"S'in the back." He muttered, gesturing to the door behind him. "Let me show you."
She opened the door and walked into the large room. He pointed to the phone attached to the wall in the corner. She walked over to it. It was an old phone, the kind where you push a button, and have to rotate the dial, then wait for it to go back before you press another button. She sighed, and started dialing.
The noise was so loud she didn't hear the lock click, and the footsteps walking towards her. She did, however, feel the hand going over her mouth, and she smelled the chemicals, and she saw the world going black.
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When Sam wakes up, she is tied to a bed. Her clothes have been removed, her limbs have been tied to the bedposts, and she has been gagged. When she opens her eyes she sees Lewbert standing over her.
"I'm gonna have fun with this one." He mutters. Her eyes go wide and she shakes her head.
Sam has been scared before. Scared of flunking school, scared of her mom's boyfriend, scared of losing Freddie and Carly, but she has never been truly afraid until now, knowing that she was about to lose her virginity to Freddie's creepy doorman who has had it in for her ever since they first met. She always thought Lewbert would take revenge on her one day, but never this. Anything but this. A single tear slid down her cheek.
Suddenly, he was on top of her. "No talking, or I'll go to the manager and get your little boyfriend evicted, and I'll go to the police and tell them all about your mom. I hear the foster system isn't the best around here. If the police got any idea of what mommy dearest was doing, how she was treating her daughter, that's where you'll wind up. So, are we going to do this the easy way or the hard way? Either way, I get what I want." He quickly removed her gag and she drew in a deep breath, ready to scream. He covered her mouth and reached over to the bedside table, grabbing a knife from 1 of the drawers. Another tear fell from Sam's eye. "Easy way?" He asked, dragging the blade down her cheek. She nodded. "Good."
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Freddie woke to a knocking on the door. As he was walking towards the door he yelled;
"It's 3AM. Sam, if you're coming to apologize, don't bother. I should be apologizing. I shouldn't fight Gibby's battles for him. I'll see you in the morning."
He began to walk back to his room, but at the sound of his retreating footsteps the knocking got more urgent. He sighed and walked to the door. He opened it.
"Sam? What happened to you?" He asked. Her hair was messy, her makeup was smudged, her belt was missing, her shirt was ripped, and her shoes were on the wrong feet, with her foot half in 1 and her laces undone. Sam started crying and launched herself into his arms. Freddie wrapped his arms around her. In all the years he'd known Sam, he'd never seen her like this. She was distraught, for whatever reason. She was crying, and Sam Puckett never cries. Especially not in front of anyone. She looked so… broken. Someone had done this to her. He tightened his hold.
"Who did this to you?" He asked.
"I-I-I c-can't t-tell you." She sobbed.
"Tell me, and I'll find them and I'll get them back." He saw red. "Tell me! Was it your mom? Her boyfriend? Some random person off the street? Do I know them? What did they do to you? Can you just tell me that?"
She shook her head, and he sighed and picked her up and carried her inside. He had 1 arm under her knees and 1 on her back. She wrapped her arms around his neck and buried her head in his chest. He carried her over to his bed and laid her down, tucking her in. He was about to leave and go to sleep on the couch when he heard her speak.
"Stay with me." It was so un-Sam like. A whisper, almost. He'd never heard her speak like that before. She sounded so vulnerable, so scared, so in need of comfort, so he pulled back the covers on the bed and laid down next to her. She immediately wrapped her arms around him, and he did the same to her. She snuggled closer and buried her face in his chest again. He kissed the crown of her head. She sighed, and slowly fell asleep. He lay awake all night, a million thoughts running through his head. Who could have done did this? What could they have done to hurt her so badly? What can I do to fix it? Freddie had to wake Sam up a few times when she started sleep screaming. Every time he would say the same thing; "Sam, can you tell me who or what the dream was about? I can protect you, please?" She wouldn't answer and instead fell back to sleep each time. When the clock said 6:58AM he carefully untangled himself from Sam and got up, tucking her back into the bed. He kissed her gently on the forehead, and got dressed before silently exiting the room so when his mom went to wake him up at exactly 7AM like she did every morning she would see he was up and not go into his room and see Sam in his bed.
As he expected, at 7AM on the dot his mom came into the kitchen on her way to his room. She saw him and said; "Freddie, you're up. I have to get to work. My boss wants me in early. Are you going to be okay getting to school on your own?"
He rolled his eyes. "I'll be fine, mom. It's not that far and I have a cell phone. And bus fare. And keys to the apartment. And my school stuff. And basically everything else I need today."
She nodded. "Okay, I'll see you after school, then. You know the rules, don't you?"
He nodded. She gave him a kiss on the cheek and left. He could hear the shower start running. He started making breakfast for him and Sam, knowing that she'd be out soon, and she'd be hungry.
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20 minutes later, Freddie was dishing up breakfast as Sam walked in. Her face was clear of makeup. Her hair was brushed and blow-dried. Her shoes were on properly. She was wearing his Galaxy Wars t-shirt. It looked a little loose on her but he thought that might have been the point.
He put a plate in front of her and she accepted it with a wordless thanks. She stared blankly at her plate the whole way through the meal. When she was done she carried it to the dishwasher and went to put it in the bottom of the machine and as she bent down her shirt rode up a little, and from what he could see, her skin had been scrubbed red raw.
"Let's go." She said, grabbing her purse and jacket from where Freddie had put them after she left the night before.
He put his plate in the dishwasher, grabbed his jacket and followed her out.
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As the elevator arrived at the lobby Sam grabbed his hand and stood closer to him, well, closer than she already was. He raised his eyebrows, but then decided not to question it, and copied her actions. The doors opened, and Sam seemed to shrink further into him. When he tried to step out, she froze. "Sam, what is it?" He asked, concerned.
"Nothing." She snapped, face pale. "Come on, let's go."
Together they walked through the lobby. Sam was looking at the floor, with an expression like she was about to be sick, and Lewbert was watching Sam. They were so occupied with their focus points, that neither of them paid any attention to Freddie, who was slowly putting the pieces together.
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At lunch, Sam, who had spoken to and sat next to no one but Freddie all day sat down next to him at an otherwise empty table in the corner of the cafeteria with her lunch (that he paid for, as always) and suddenly spoke.
"So, I was raped last night." She said in a monotone.
He choked on his soup. "What?"
"Please don't make me say it again." She replied. He nodded.
"That's why you were so upset?"
She nodded.
"Can you tell me who it was?"
She shook her head no.
"Why?"
"He'll call the police and tell them about mom. He can say she's neglecting me. If he does that, she might go to prison and if that happens, I'll wind up in the foster system. I may be tough, but I wouldn't survive that. Not for long, anyway."
"You should still report him. He might do it to someone else, and if we think about it logically, who's gonna believe a man who just got arrested for rape if he says that a kid is being neglected. And besides, you're not neglected, just… independent."
Sam smiled at that. "I might steal that line. But if I tell…" She took a deep breath. "This guy has power. Not a lot, in fact, barely any, but enough to influence someone to hurt someone I love."
"Who?" He asked.
"You." She replied without hesitation, looking directly into his eyes.
"Sam, I can take care of myself." He defends.
"No, I know you can, but I don't want you to have to because of a stupid mistake I made. If I hadn't left my buttersock with you, and charged my phone, and if I hadn't had to borrow his, and if I had just apologized about Gibby, then I would have been safe. But oh, no. I was too proud to go back to yours, and I was dumb enough to total my phone battery. I had to go into the backroom, and I didn't hear him coming up behind me. It was all my fault. It's always my fault." She says, tears pooling in her eyes.
"Sam, it's not your fault, and it was my fault for starting the argument in the first place and… wait, did you say backroom? And this morning in the lobby… Was it-"
Her eyes widen, and she nods. "Please, don't say his name."
He nods, and grits his teeth. "Sam, tonight do you wanna come round my house and make a few more buttersocks?"
She smiles slightly and nods.
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"I swear, officer, I don't know how it happened. He just… fell." Sam and Freddie claim.
"Down three flights of stairs. Multiple times. And all of the bruises and breaks just happen to indicate he was hit with a rectangular dairy product." The policeman raises an eyebrow.
"Yup." They reply.
"I find that hard to believe." The officer responds.
"Almost as hard to believe that he is also a criminal?" Freddie asks. Sam's eyes widen. "I would like to report a crime, sir. The blackmail, kidnap and rape of one Samantha Puckett, aged 17."
The policeman looks at Sam, and she nods, burying her face in Freddie's chest as she has taken to doing as of late.
"Miss, we might need you to come down to the station."
"Can Freddie come, too?" She asks/begs.
The policeman nods. Sam takes his hand and together they get into the backseat of the police car and watch as the ambulance carrying the former doorman drives away.
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"On the count of the rape of Samantha Puckett we find the defendant guilty."
"On the count of blackmail of Samantha Puckett we find the defendant guilty."
"On the count of the kidnap of Samantha Puckett we find the defendant guilty."
"By the power vested in me by the state of Seattle, I sentence the defendant to 25 years in prison." The judge bangs the gavel. Lewbert is escorted away.
Sam and Freddie start cheering. Sam hugs Freddie and gives him a kiss on the lips. He kisses back. Sam's lawyer, Spencer Shay (flown in from Italy), coughs. They both pull back, blushing profusely.
"I knew it! Carly owes me 30 euros. I knew you guys would get back together! I so called it!" Spencer yells.
Sam and Freddie look at each other.
"Are we back together?" Freddie asks.
"Know what? I think we are." Sam smiles for the first time since the entire thing started, and Freddie loops an arm around her shoulder. They walk out hand in hand.
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"Aw, Spence. Thank you for… everything. I can't believe you're leaving tonight!" Sam pouts.
"Yeah, me neither, but I need to get back. Dad's getting lonely on his own." Spencer says.
"Wait, what do you mean on his own? Doesn't he have Carly there?" Freddie asks.
"Not exactly. " Spencer smiles, and opens the door. Standing on the other side is;
"Carly!" Sam, Freddie and Gibby all yell. They all engulf her in a group hug. Spencer smiles at the scene, and then slips out unnoticed.
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"Good evening, weirdos!"
"Sam! You can't just tell them they're weirdos."
"But they're watching us."
"Good point. Good evening weirdos and this is iCarly!"
