No pairings. No incest. Just a nice family moment. Occurs directly after "iSam's Mom".


Carly placed the last dirty plate into the dishwasher. "Whew!" Carly felt as though she had just endured a week in a special kind of hell. Sam had stayed over and left a huge mess; barbecue sauce was strewn on floor, clothing was draped over every surface, Carly's own room smelled like tacos. On top of that Freddie and his mom had moved in as well, Mrs. making her personal mission to rearrange the Shays' apartment to make sure some hidden pointy object wouldn't hurt her precious Fredward.

Carly threw her dish towel on the counter and flopped lazily on the couch next to Spencer, who was fixing a lamp.

"Done with the dishes? I can't get this lamp to work anymore. Sam and her mom really did a number on it." Spencer gave the lamp a little shake. It made a surprisingly loud bang. Carly raised her eyebrows and Spencer tentatively put it down on the floor and nudged it away with his foot.

"Hey!" he said.

"What?"

"It's quiet!" Spencer enthused. "And it's smells really good!"

Carly laughed. "Yeah, it does smell pretty good."

"What is that? Orange? It's zesty!" Spencer said, inhaling deeply through his nose.

"It's a Japanese air freshener. I picked it up last year when we were there last year."

"It covers up the scent of mushrooms and crazy quite nicely."

The two Shays sat in silence for a moment. Carly felt as though they were two soldiers who had trudged through the Great Puckett-Benson Housing Situation Battle and lived to tell the tale.

"You know what?" Spencer asked out of the blue. "I like this family. Our family! Me, you, and sometimes Dad. I feel lucky to have this family. 'Cause with the other families I've seen this week, I'm feeling pretty content."

"Isn't it weird? Well, not weird for them. But Sam and her mom are so..." Carly waved her around her head. "You know."

"And our Freddoroo. Mrs. Benson is totally nutters," Spencer said. He thought for a moment. "We're pretty normal, kiddo."

"Yeah not so much."

"What? We're normal. At least I'm normal."

Carly burst into a fit of giggles. It was the first time she laughed so much all week. "You sure?" she asked through tears of mirth.

Spencer leaned over and ruffled his sister's hair affectionately. "Well, fine. Normal's overrated anyway. But I'm glad we're not totally off the deep-end."

"Mhm." Carly nodded earnestly. "I love Sam and Freddie, a lot... but I don't think I'd wanna be them. You know, with their families. Especially when I have an awesome big bro like you."

Spencer was genuinely touched. "Aww! You remember that next time when I forget to put my clothes in the hamper, okay?"

Carly laughed again.


This is my first time writing iCarly. Can you tell? I hadn't read any fanfics either until today. Angsty writers aren't you? Kidding! A lot these iCarly fics are really good! Anyway, reviews would be appreciated. -MSND