A.N-Oh Lord. I feel like I write a bad oneshot for a kids show. Blame it on the fact that I'm home with my family and all my eleven year old sister will watch is Nickelodeon and Disney. On another note, I apologize for any mistakes I've made as I've only seen about seven episodes of ICarly, one of which being the IGoodbye episode, which inspired this.
Sam clenched her fists together anxiously, Freddie flicking her on the cheek.
"What the hell was that for?" She yelled. "Don't you make me tackle you."
"Don't you dare!" Ms Benson exclaimed. "Airports are disgusting. Here Freddie, take a wipe."
"Mom," He groaned. "I'm twenty years old!"
"That doesn't mean you can't get sick, dear." She shook her head, grabbing her son's hands and rubbing the wipe over them. Chuckling, Sam snapped a picture.
They were all in the airport awaiting Carly's return home. It had been 2 years since their friend had gone off to Italy and the webshow had ended. Freddie was eager to start it back up again, maybe filming from his new dorm room at the Seattle Flim Institute this time. Even Ms Benson came, although she was more eager to keep her son free from germs than in seeing Carly.
The last few years had been a big change for all of them. Freddie had moved into an apartment just outside of his campus, eager to get away from his mother. After Carly left Sam tried to move in with her mother, but that didn't last for long. The abusive woman had driven her crazy for long enough, and for a little while she tried living at her own place. That didn't feel right though and it cost more than working at Urban Outfitters could afford; she ended up back at Spencer's anyway.
For a little while, the thirty-three year old had a girlfriend too. Her name was Amanda and she was gorgeous and kind and a really good cook, plus she loved spaghetti tacos. But Sam was always around and things were just too complicated for Amanda, so Spencer broke things off. he never blamed Sam though, no matter how much she blamed herself.
Sam and Freddie hadn't seen each other in a while either, not since last summer. But they fell into a familiar pattern quickly, like old friends do, and anxiously awaited for Carly to return and for things to go back to normal.
Spencer was the first to see her. He ran over, shoving through the crowds, to hug his baby sister. Ironically he'd seen her only six months ago, when he flew to Italy for Christmas. For a week Sam had the apartment to herself, and she hated it more than she thought she would. It was too big and empty for one person to fill-she wondered how Spencer had done it the year after Carley left, before she moved in.
Spencer eventually pulled back and let the rest of them hug her, Freddie going in first. Carly didn't look like herself, lots of makeup and bangs, she had bangs for the first time ever. She looked so much older, more mature. It made Sam uneasy.
She gave Carly a quick hug, pulling back and standing beside Spencer and Carly and Freddie, who didn't seem bothered by her change at all, had an animated conversation about Italy.
"Shit," She heard Spencer curse. "I didn't think she would bring him."
"Huh?" Sam said, but her answer came soon enough when a large Italian man rounded the corner and pulled Carly into a heated kiss.
"Il mio amore," He muttered, making Sam roll her eyes.
"The hell is he saying?" She muttered to Spencer.
"All i caught was love." He said, faking a vomiting sound. In the year they had lived together, the two had formed their own little bond.
"Guys, this is Riccardo, Ricci. He's my fiance." She grinned, holding out her hand so Sam could see the ring, as if the blonde would be impressed. "Spencer already knows him, they met at christmas."
"You two were just dating then..." Spencer said, defending himself. "Didn't think he would last too long."
"That's great," Sam smiled, pretending not to notice how Freddie's face fell. He'd had other girlfriends, sure, but none of them measured up to Carly. The poor kid probably thought this was his chance to get back with her, since she's coming home and all.
"Yeah, a lot has happened since I last talked to you guys. What was it, last summer?" Carly sighed.
"About then," Freddie swallowed, hard. "We've been busy."
"Well, I can't wait to fill you all in on what you've missed!" Carly squealed, something else that was totally unlike her.
"Let's just get you home."
"About that," Carly blushed, looking towards Ricci. "I wanted it to be a surprise, but Ricci and I got an apartment of our very own at the Bushwell!"
"I thought you were staying with me and Sam?" He said quietly.
"We would, Spence," Carly blushed.
"She's shy about it, but we're trying to have a baby." Ricci said, his voice deep and lined with a thick italian accent. He looked like an underwear model-where had Carly picked up this one?
Spencer choked on his tongue and Freddie started to cough, Ms Benson began to laugh.
"That's great!" Sam said, trying to cover for them all. "You two can get a taxi back to the Bushwell then, I'm sure you want to show Ricci around some. Maybe we can grab dinner tonight?"
"Maybe," Carly nodded. "Now that I'm back, we'll have plenty of time to catch up."
"And start wedding shopping," Sam said, glad that years of awkward run-ins with her mother's one night stands and talking her way out of bad situations had prepared for this.
Carly walked off with Ricci, suitcase in tow, and the quartet looked at each other.
"That was an epic failure." Sam sighed.
"I would've warned you guys about Riccardo, but he didn't seem like the type to stick around for so long." Spencer shrugged.
"A baby-" Was all Freddie could say.
"Let's just get out of this disgusting airport."
Sam was alone in the apartment.
Spencer was meeting with a curator about getting one of his pieces on display, and Freddie had gone back to his apartment straight from the airport, probably to cry in the shower.
Carly and Riccardo were home. Sam could tell because she could hear them in the apartment next to Spencer's, headboard thumping the living room wall, again and again.
When she couldn't take it anymore, she turned the radio up all the way.
She had her head stuck in the fridge when Freddie walked in, without even knocking, like in the old days. He threw himself down on the couch..
"What do you want, Fredward?" She groaned.
He turned the radio down to hear her better, but then made a face of disgust.
"Is that Carly and Riccardo over there?" He shuddered, turning it back up a few notches.
"Sure is," She nodded, pulling out a bowl of cold spaghetti and grabbing a fork. "Want some spaghetti?"
"Nah," He shook his head. Sam shrugged, sticking a fork into it. "You eat it cold?"
"I"m too lazy to warm it up."
"Just like the old Sam..." He smiled at her. "Did you know Carly doesn't want to do the show anymore? She thinks we're too old."
"Maybe we are," Sam shrugged.
"C'mon Sam. Our fanbase has grown with us, you know. Those kids who watched us at seventeen and eighteen will still watch at twenty, even if it's just for the memories. We should at least do a goodbye show."
"It died out, Freddie." Sam shook her head. "Carly grew out of it, we should too."
There was a moment of silence before Freddie spoke again.
"Twenty's too young to have a baby." He sighed. "She's got a whole life ahead of her and she's throwing it away on some model named Riccardo."
"Is he a model? He looked like one, I just wasn't sure."
"Yeah. I called her when I got home from the airport to talk. All she can think about are models and baby names, Sam. It makes me sick."
"She's not the Carly we remember," Sam shrugged. "But we're probably not the Sam and Freddie she knew, either. People grow apart, Freddie. It's a hard lesson to learn, but we all do it."
"How do you know?" He said, almost bitterly.
"I'm sorry, have you met my mother? I used to think she hung the stars in the sky, but the older she got the more uncomfortable she was with the idea of getting old, of being fat or frail or anything but beautiful. That's when the drinking started, and she wasn't the mother I knew anymore."
"I'm sorry, Sam." Freddie said.
Sam sat down on the couch, the bowl of cold spaghetti in front of her. Freddie leaned his head on her shoulder as Spencer walked through the door, paper bags in his hand.
"Why's the radio so loud?" He shouted.
"Don't ask!" Sam and Freddie said in unison.
Spencer shrugged, emptying his bag. Inside was bottles and bottles of PBR, Margarita Mix, Rum, and Whiskey.
Three of the beer bottles were already empty, and you could smell it on Spencer's breath.
"You know," Spencer laughed. "The guy asked me if I was having a party. I told him that no, my twenty year old sister was trying to have a baby with a swimsuit model. He took one look at me and handed me another thing of Jim Beam, said it was on the house."
"He's a good man," Sam said, cracking open the Malibu rum and sipping from it. Spencer had probably brought it especially for her, knowing her love of coconut.
Freddie looked around nervously, and Sam started to laugh.
"What's so funny?" Spencer questioned.
"Fredward, have you never been drunk before?"
"Pssh, I have!" And to prove his point he grabbed a bottle of PBR, choking on the taste. "This is disgusting!"
"You said you've drank before!" Spencer said through tears of laughter.
"Yeah, wine at dinner!" He shook his head. "You two are nuts."
Freddie left, leaving Sam and Spencer to their vices.
"I'm sufficiently drunk," Sam shook her head, trying to head upstairs to Carly's bedroom. She'd make it a few steps up though, and then fall down in laughter.
"C'mon," Spencer said, picking up the tiny girl and attempting to carry her upstairs. He was too dizzy though, both from drinking and having Sam in his arms, and he gave up and carried her towards his room. "Sam, I have an idea."
"What?" She groaned. "Sleeping? Because I'm exhausted."
"Let's get some revenge on Carly."
"Huh?"
"You said they were banging on the wall before, where at?" She pointed to a spot beside the TV. Spencer ran over, pushing his artwork out of the way and motioning Sam over. "Jump up."
She bit her lip, turned on my the directive tone in his voice. She jumped, wrapping her legs around his waist to find that yes, he was turned on too.
He leaned in and kissed her, she found she liked the taste of Jim Beam more than she thought. They'd kissed before, but never like this. It was a goodnight kiss or something brotherly or even parent-like, when he kissed her forehead after a bad break up she'd had last year. But this was explosive and adult and she couldn't get enough of it.
Spencer pressed her back up against the wall.
"What're you doing, get me in bed!" She giggled.
"Nope, I'm going to fuck you right up against the wall." He grinned, leaning down to whisper in her ear. "Scream my name real loud, baby. Maybe we'll wake up Carly."