DISCLAIMER: I do not own iCarly, blah, blah blah...

I stared for a moment, watching the couple with curious eyes, as if this was the first time I'd ever seen someone kiss another person. Then, snapping back into my senses, I coughed, trying to alert them that I was in the room, but it didn't work. I coughed again, and still, nothing. So I clapped my hands together as loudly as I could and shouted, "Hey Spence! Easy on the lips for a minute!"

My big brother looked great. He had a classic black tuxedo on with a white collared shirt and plain black tie. He'd cut his hair short again, but at that moment he'd spike it up in the front.

"Carly?" He shouted confusedly, running to me and attacking me in a Spencer bear hug.

"No, it's your cousin Pat from Rhode Island." I joked in a deep voice. He spun me around twice before setting me down and smiling hugely.

"What're you doing here?" He asked.

I smiled ad shrugged. "I wanted to come back and surprise you."

"How come you didn't tell us?"

"That would defeat the purpose of surprise." Nudging him with my elbow, I pointed to the woman in the kitchen saying, "Want to introduce me to your friend, Spence?"

"Oh, right!"

He ran over to her and wrapped an arm around her waist.

"This is my girlfriend, Aubrey."

I was shocked. "Aubrey? Like, your one true love Aubrey?"

He smiled sheepishly. "Well if it wasn't I would be pretty embarrassed. But, yes."

The woman, Aubrey, smiled and held out her hand.

"It's nice to see you again Carly. You were just a kid when I first met you and now… You're all grown up!"

'Yup,' I thought. 'I approve.'

"So, what's going on? Where are you both going?" I asked.

Spencer looked back and forth between us awkwardly.

"Well, Aubrey has a music gig tonight at the Olive Pitt. I was going to go watch her, but Aubrey, if it's okay with you-"

"No. You go and enjoy yourself. I'm not going anywhere. I'll bug you some other time."

Spencer smiled but bit his lip cautiously. "Are you sure?"

"Absolutely!" I confirmed. "Besides, I'm jet lagged. I need to sleep for…" I glanced at my watch. "The next fifteen hours to get back on schedule."

The happy couple watched as I made my way into the kitchen and grabbed a can of peppy cola.

"Spence, I'll go grab my purse from our room." Aubrey said, barely loud enough for me to hear, but I did. Once she had left the living room, I turned to face him with my shocked expression plastered to my face.

"Our room?" I questioned. He scratched at his gelled up hair nervously.

"Yeah, I guess you should know… Aubrey lives here."

Well. That's a great way to say it. (Not.)

"What? For how long?"

Spencer took a drink of my peppy cola and tilted his head.

"Um… Forever?"

I swear, my eyes bugged out of my head a little bit.

"Aubrey and I… We've been going out since you left."

"I thought she lived in a different state."

"It was long distance. But she decided to move back to Seattle a few months ago. It was going to be temporary, but now-"

"Okay." I said, a little frustrated. "But why didn't you say anything when we talked on the phone? Or you could have emailed…"

"We haven't really talked since then."

Aubrey came back into the living room with her clutch in hand.

"Carly, are you sure-"

"Yes! Go!"

For good measure, I grabbed my two suitcases and my backpack and made my way to the stairs. I heard them mutter a few happy words as they made their way out of the front door. I worked on dragging my bags up to my room. A few curses were said, and a lot of grunting, but I made it up. When I did, I froze in my doorway.

It was exactly the same. When Spencer said it had been untouched, it was 100% true. It was perfectly clean, perfectly organized, and decorated funky ; just the way I liked it.

I set my bags down, ran down and grabbed the rest of my bags, dragging them behind me again. Once upstairs, I brushed my teeth, tugged on a pair of sweatpants and a T-shirt, and jumped into my bed. (Yes, I jumped using the trampoline.)

I swear, once I fell onto my bed, I passed out. Being back in my old bed was amazing. I slept without dreams, and without waking up all night.

But when I did wake up, things were oddly quiet. There wasn't the familiar sound of metal clashing, drills running, and screams that said, "Carly! Call the fire department!"

I pulled my hair up into a bun and checked my pear phone. No texts, no missed calls. The clock read 10:15 AM.

I ran down the stairs and towards the unfamiliar silence. But I was greeted entirely differently.

"Welcome back Carly!"

I stepped backwards on the stairs, looking down at Spencer, Aubrey, T-bo, Gibby, Mrs. Benson, and Guppy. But where Sam and Freddie were, I wasn't sure…

"I missed you guys so much!" I screamed, running and tackling Gibby in a hug. T-bo gave me a coupon for a, buy 10 smoothies, get the 11th one 20% off!' coupon, Guppy told me, "Happy birthday!" And Mrs. Benson wouldn't hug me until I confirmed that, yes, I did get my shots before crossing over the border to America.

On the table, there was a stack of pancakes, two huge bottles of syrup, a house made out of bacon, and a bouquet of fruit.

"This is great." I told them, trying to sit down, but Spencer pulled me up by my shoulders and guided me to the chair Gibby was now tying a dozen balloons to.

We ate breakfast, talking about everything that had happened in Italy. And I mean everything. I told them about Europe, school, Abigail, dad, and basically, my general life. Until finally, I had to ask.

"Where's Sam and Freddie?" I asked nonchalantly. I assumed the group had done something stupid, like bake them in a pie.

But everyone looked at each other nervously. When Mrs. Benson asked Spencer to explain, I realized something was seriously wrong.

"Carly… This is hard to say."

I bit my lip.

"See, the thing is-"

"Wait, Guppy? Would you like to go to my house?" Mrs. Benson asked. "We can visit Freddie."

"Freddie's over there?" I said, standing. "Where?"

Mrs. Benson, without further word, turned and led Guppy out of the house. Spencer followed me to the door, holding me back from going across.

"Carles, wait. Something- something happened."

I looked up at him and tried to stop myself from freaking out. His expression alone was agonizing to see.

He shooed the other people out of the room. Gibby, T-Bo left through the kitchen door. Aubrey came and went into Spencer's- or sorry,- their bedroom.

We sat on the couch. 'Great', I thought. 'My first sit down since I got back.'

"Freddie… He changed after you left. He and Sam stopped hanging out after a month. All summer, we didn't see him a lot. He came and went, and the only times I talked to him was in the hallway when he was getting home."

"What happened." I asked again, my voice anxious and breaking.

"Five months ago, they busted him for buying drugs."

He gave me a minute for that to sink in, but it never really did.

"He was arrested, and cleared since it was his first offense. They put him in therapy for a couple of months, but that didn't help, I guess. They found some more drugs on him two months ago. He stayed in prison for a week before being released. And three weeks ago, he-"

Spencer's voice cracked a little. He'd always loved Freddie. He thought he was a good influence on me since Sam was so… Sam. Freddie was like the little brother Spencer never had.

"He OD'd on some depression meds, and when he woke up, he started to confess."

"To what?"

"To… Everything. They found Meth under his bed. He'd stolen some cash from a store with a couple of other high school guys. There were beer bottles in a mini fridge he kept in his closet, porn on his computer, and…"

"And..?"

"He's gotten a girl pregnant. She's three months along now. He's under house arrest for a year."

Carly felt sick. This was like some movie plot, not her best friend Freddie. Not innocent little 13 year old Freddie who'd never kissed a girl. Not 15 year old Freddie who'd saved her life. This was a different guy.

"Where's Sam?" She asked, crying. Spencer wrapped his arm around her.

"Sam's gone, Carly. She ran away after her mom died."

"Pam's dead?"

"I'm sorry, kid."

I couldn't speak.

Wow… First two chapters and two cutoffs in a row? I'm more ruthless than I thought I was. ;)

The magic number is 667. That's 667 viewers since early Saturday morning. 37 followers, 13 favorites, and 12 reviews. 12! Thank you all SO much who reviewed! I am seriously on cloud 9 here!

Anyway, it's Tuesday morning and I'm going to make sure I update every Tuesday morning at least, unless something crazy happens.

So was it not was you expected? Turns out innocent little Freddie isn't so innocent anymore. And where's Sam? And Pam's dead? How'd she die?

So I rated this story T for a reason. It's going to be dealing with some serious topics. Drug addiction, theft, alcoholism, bullying, teen pregnancy, and some mild sexual references. (VERY mild, but they will be there.) Also… I may or may not go in the direction of kidnapping.

Check out my other story! It's a Harry Potter fanfiction called, Red Snow. It's Dramione, which I know a lot of people hate, but could you try it? I'd love my IKEHC babies to convert to RS as well :)

Private Message me your ideas! I'd love to know if you have some crazy plot twist idea, and I know 2 chapters isn't a ton to go by, but there's a big chance if you send me an idea I'll publish it!

And one last thing… I'd like to know what you guys are thinking of the story, so REVIEW, REVIEW, REVIEW! Please! And what did you guys get at black Friday? Anything crazy? I got a HP Compaq computer J It's blue and I named him Harry. (Yes, Harry the laptop. Don't judge!)

Love you all!

~icywhisperingkiss