A/N hey guys. I have nothing much to say except i wrote this for pleasure not profit. In sams pov.

Sammy was always daddy's little princess. He bought her pretty dresses and plastic tiaras and they played pretend in the backyard. Sammy was the trapped princess and her daddy was the brave knight. Melanie never had time to play such 'silly games'. She would study and practice piano while daddy would teach Sammy how to ride a bike. Mommy would always be the mean dragon, here to spoil their fun. She would make Sammy come in from the castle and set the table for dinner.

When Melanie and Sammy's school was over (Kindergarten was only for the morning) daddy would take them to the beach. They would splash in the waves or play in the sand. Or they went to the park and hung from the monkey bars and slide down the twirling slide. But when they got back home, the fun stopped. Mommy yelled at daddy because he was supposed to clean the house and she would yell at the girls for being so muddy. After mommy yelled, daddy wouldn't want to play anymore.

Sometimes, mommy and daddy fought. Sammy didn't understand what the fights were about. They used big words like 'addicted', 'alcoholic', 'unemployed', and 'poker'. But then the house would get silent. So quiet a mouse would be heard if he tried to walk around. Sammy would find her daddy at the computer again and her mommy in the shower. Mommy always took a shower in the silence after a fight. Sammy tried to play with daddy but daddy would always say he was too busy. So Sammy played alone.

One day, Sammy and daddy were watching TV after school. Mommy wasn't home yet from work and Melanie was studying. A commercial came on for the Super Deluxe Princess Barbie Dream Castle Complete with Moat. Sammy begged and begged her daddy to buy it for her. He agreed and went to the store. Sammy was supposed to be a good girl and wait here and never tell anyone her daddy let her stay alone. She waited. And waited. And waited. But her daddy never came back. Finally mommy came home with water running down her cheeks and her face as pale as snow. She took one look at Sammy and collapsed on the couch and cried. Sammy didn't know what to do. So she sat beside her mommy and petted her hair like mommy would do for her.

Later Sammy found out what really happened. Her daddy was driving and someone ran through a red light and hit his car. He wasn't wearing a seatbelt and flew through the windshield. Her daddy wasn't coming home. Now the house was always silent. Sammy packed her princess stuff away because there was no point in being a princess if there was no knight to rescue her. Sammy was alone. And very scared. She didn't know what to do. Melanie and her mom cried all the time. And when they went to that party where everyone was dressed in black, everyone was crying. It wasn't a party. Her daddy was laying at the front of the room with flowers all around him. That was wrong. Her daddy hated flowers. She tried to tell someone that but no one was listening to her. She ran up to her daddy and grabbed his hand. She said something to him but he didn't answer. She yelled it but still no reply. She shook his shoulders and touched his face. He was ice cold. She was screaming and felt someone lift her up and carry her from the room but she was still screaming and screaming and screaming. Only later did she feel the tears on her face.

Sammy became Sam and Melanie moved away. Sam wanted her sister to stay with her but didn't want to have to ask. She didn't want it to look like she needed her sister. Needing someone made you weak. Because people always go away and then you hurt so bad. Sam started her new school alone. She acted tough and tried to hurt people so they couldn't hurt her first. She saw a little girl eating a sandwich alone. Sam wanted that sandwich. But so did the girl. They became best friends. Sam was glad she had someone to talk to. Mom worked more and they had to move from their big house to a very little house on a scary street. Sam found out that her father was an alcoholic and addicted to gambling poker on the computer. That's why he was always home in the afternoon. They were left in so much debt (that means money for things that daddy never paid for so now mommy has to) that mommy worked non-stop. Sam realised why her mommy took so many long showers. The sound of the water hid the sound of her sobs.

Carly was very nice and kind to Sam. She had a funny older brother and a colourful house. They had plenty of meat in the fridge and Sam loved meat. But the boy across the hallway was an idiot. He was kind of cute but too hopelessly in love with Carly to notice anyone else. He was gentle and soft and made Sam want to hit something. So she hit him. Repeatedly. She figured life would trample him if he stayed that weak. And eventually, he did toughen up.

iCarly was the best thing in Sam's life. Her mother over worked herself and when she got home, drank herself into a stupor. Sam wasn't close to her so Spencer, Carly and even Freddie were her family. They were loud and bright and funny and so unlike her mother and her own house with its dark emptiness stretching down every hallway, reaching around every corner...

Sam never cried. Ever. Only when her dad died. But not when they were evicted from their house and sent to a closet in a dumpy neighbourhood. Not when Melanie left, never to return (only on Christmas) and not even when Carly and Freddie started dating. They never knew how much those few days hurt her. But then again, Sam was good at hiding her hurt. Freddie was her first kiss and she'd be lying if she said she hoped nothing would come of it. So she told him of a guy and a box of bacon and he dumped Carly.

Melanie came back after graduation. She was living at Sam's house until her University started. Then she would probably never come back. Sam was glad. She hated her sister. Because Melanie left when Sam needed her most. Sam worked at a diner during her years at community college. She had a tiny little apartment far away from her mother's house and was happy. But then her mother was shot on the street by a mugger and Sam's life was black again. Because no matter how much she hated her mother, she was still her mother.

She moved in with Freddie because she couldn't stand to be alone and Carly was getting married. She fought with Freddie over the littlest things and purposely made his life hard. But they slow danced at Carly's wedding and shared a kiss over a slice of the cake. They began a tentative relationship. They were awkward and quiet but then it got easier and then it came as naturally as breathing. He asked her to marry him. She was ecstatic except who would walk her down the aisle now that her brave knight was gone? She told Freddie these secret fears and he promised that he would walk her down the aisle.

A year passed and she found out she was pregnant. She was so scared that she would be as bad of a parent to the baby as her parents were to her. But Freddie pinky-promised that he would always be there for her and help her when she needed it.

Her little baby was born Ella Joy Benson. She loved her little Ella with all her heart. She thought she was no longer a trapped princess but rather a princess awoken from a deep sleep by a handsome prince and a beautiful angel baby. But, she told herself, if Ella ever wanted to be a princess in a castle, Sam would always be her brave knight.

A/N so what did everyone think? loved it? Hated it? Thats okay just please tell me!