Disclaimer: I don't own this show. If so...I would have made some major changes.
Freddie glanced at the numbers. He looked up at Carly's eager expression and Sam's fried chicken-filled one.
"We beat last week's view numbers by about fifty," he announced. Carly and Sam high-fived each other happily.
"I'm going to celebrate with ribs!" Sam announced, walking downstairs.
"Those are Spencer's!" Carly called down.
"I'll make the bones into a necklace!" she yelled back as she walked down the stairs. Freddie rolled his eyes and began to check his email. Spencer came up the elevator.
"Hey Carly! Check this out!" Spencer called out, wheeling something out of the elevator on a flat cart.
"What is this?" Carly half-chuckled as she stared at it. It was another one of his sculptures obviously, a can of Peppy Cola that was about three feet tall.
"A giant can of Peppy Cola!" Spencer told her. "The owner of the company wanted a sculpture of a can of Peppy Cola to put in their main office in New York! He's coming Saturday morning to pick it up!"
"Is there real soda in here?" Carly asked, pointing to a tap where you could get yourself a cup of Peppy Cola.
"No," Spencer admitted. "But, it's just a molding over one of those giant water things at football games and made it so you can open the can top and pour Peppy Cola in! You can either just use it as a sculpture or a drink dispenser!"
"Sweet!" Carly commented, admiring the sculpture.
"I got an email from Dan!" Freddie suddenly exclaimed, eagerly clicking on the message.
"Dan?" Carly questioned.
"Dan!" Spencer yelled loudly.
"Who's Dan?" Sam asked, standing in the doorway as she wiped off the BBQ sauce with Freddie's jacket.
"My older brother," Freddie said as he read the email his brother sent him.
"I thought you were an only child," Carly said, looking curiously over the techno-geek's shoulder.
"You know him Carly. Dan and I used to hang out all the time, remember?" Spencer reminded her. Carly strained to remember.
"Not really," she admitted.
"It's okay. You and I were five when he ran away," Freddie explained.
"Why did he run away?" Carly asked, immediately becoming a little worried.
"Just look at their mom!" Sam called out.
"Sam!" Freddie exclaimed, taking his jacket and looking at the new stain. He glared at her before letting his jacket fall to the floor.
"He never really ran away," Spencer said thoughtfully. "It was technically his eighteenth birthday when he climbed out of his window, took seven buses to Yakima before managing to beg enough money from strangers to fly to Japan."
"My mom's the way she is because of Dan," Freddie reminded Spencer.
"How so?" Carly asked, plopping into a bean bag chair.
"Oh Dan was a bad boy," Spencer explained.
"Like worse than Sam could ever dream," Freddie added. "He made her look like an amateur."
"Hey!" Sam exclaimed, hitting him in the shoulder.
"So what did he say?" Spencer asked, pushing Freddie out of the way slightly to read the email.
"He's coming to visit this weekend!" Freddie chirped, eagerly letting the subject change. "He said he's bringing a surprise."
"I bet it's Pocky," Spencer determined.
"Hey Spencer? Mom and Dan are obviously going to be...on not-speaking terms. Can Dan stay here?" Freddie asked.
"No problem!" Spencer exclaimed.
"Yeah, it'll be cool!" Carly agreed.
"I need more fried chicken," Sam commented.
Early that Saturday morning, a man slipped into the front doors of the apartment building. He glanced at Lewbert, who was napping on top of his desk. Lewbert whimpered before screaming in his sleep. The man stared at Lewbert as Freddie walked down the stairs, holding a bag of trash.
"Fredward?" the guy asked. Freddie panickedly looked around before noticing his brother. His brother changed from what his brief, foggy memories of him held. He was more muscular, taller, and his hair wasn't the green and pink dyed, but his natural dark brown styled in a nice short hairstyle instead of in a long ponytail. His brother also had stubble and everyday normal clothing instead of the punk-Goth.
"I go by Freddie now," he told him, grinning and dropping the trash as he rushed down to hug him. His brother hugged back, briefly messing with his hair.
"What are you doing up this early?" Dan asked him as Freddie fixed his hair.
"I forgot to take the trash out last night, and the garbage runs today," Freddie explained, walking over to grab the bag again. "I'll take it out then take you upstairs."
"I got a room at the hotel across the street. I'm not staying with you and Mom," Dan informed him.
"No, I asked Spencer and Carly if you could stay with them in their apartment and they're pretty cool with it," Freddie explained.
"Spencer still lives here? Figured he'd move out by now," Dan said with a shrug of his shoulders.
"They should be up. It's seven, and Spencer's expecting company," Freddie told him.
"Okay. Is it some lucky girl?" Dan joked.
"No, it's some man," Freddie said before walking out of the building to take out the trash. Dan looked briefly confused.
"So you lived in Japan this whole time?" Spencer asked Dan. He nodded. He and Dan were sitting on the couch, Carly was getting lemonade in the kitchen and Freddie was sitting on the nearby chair.
"Yeah man. It was so confusing at first, cause I knew no Japanese or anything, but I eventually learned," Dan replied.
"Why Japan?" Carly questioned as she gave Dan a glass of lemonade.
"Thanks, and cause it's so culturally rich. I've always admired the culture."
"Meet anybody special?" Freddie teased.
"Yes, in fact. What about you Spencer? I figured you'd be married and on your own by now," Dan commented.
"I'm still single," Spencer groaned slightly. "But I'm taking care of Carly since Dad's overseas."
"Yeah, I'm still living in Japan."
"You should move here," Freddie tried to convince him. Dan shook his head.
"Nah. Japan's my home now. I only came because I wanted to talk to Mom about-"
"Freddie! Freddie are you in here!" Mrs. Benson began to freak out on the other side of the apartment door. Before any of them could move to open it, or Dan to hide, Mrs. Benson had unlocked it and came in.
"How did you-?" Spencer began.
"I got a key," she said and stared hard at Dan for a few moments before dramatically gasping. "Danward Benson!"
"Danward?" Carly questioned, nearly bursting into laughter.