"You know what? Sam would have loved this."

She snapped out of her reverie. She huffed a bit in annoyance. "I'm sure that Sam's having fun playing with her cat. She's fine."

Freddie had a bewildered look on his face as she stomped off. She could not help but be a tiny iota perturbed by the fact that he was thinking of Sam when he should have been focused on her. Then a bit of guilt struck her. They were best friends, right? She shouldn't have been jealous. She walked a ways over to a clean patch of snow, and lay down on it. Moving her arms and legs furiously, she began to make a snow angel. He eventually came over to watch her process.

"Something wrong, Carly?" Concern creased his face.

She shook her head. "No, yes, it's nothing."

"You sure?" He watched as she continued her work. "You can tell me anything, you know."

"I know. I'm just… not ready, that's all."

"I understand." He looked down at her. She had stopped. "Are you finished?"

"Yes."

"Okay, then." He held out his hand. "Want to go get some hot cocoa back at home?"

"Sure." She took his hand and he pulled her up. They began to walk out of the park.

"You know, I've never seen an angel making an angel before."

They took the long way back to their apartment building. It had become dark by then, and everything in sight was coated in snow. Her breath was even thicker than it had been earlier. The two of them eventually made their way over to Bushwell Plaza once again. She turned around, looking at her footprints in the white powder. The older ones further down the walkway had disappeared, and the freshly made ones were already beginning to vanish. It seemed as though the things behind her eventually went away. He asked her if she were all right. Turning, she gave him a smile to assure him things were fine. She went to catch up to him, listening to the sounds the snow made under her feet.

"Crunch, crunch, crunch," she said aloud as they walked up to the front of the building. He could only smile at her as he held the door, giving a small bow. In the lobby, Lewbert was napping. The two snuck as silently to the elevator as possible. Managing to make it up to their floor without any fuss, she unlocked the door to let them both inside. She could hear clanging in the kitchen as she took off her coat.

"Little sis, is that you?" Spencer sashayed out into the living room holding a hand towel. Wiping his hands, he greeted the two. "How was your day out? Alone."

Grabbing the towel out of his clutches, she slapped him with it. "It was fine, thank you for asking. How is the turkey?"

"Turkey?"

"Yes, the turkey! You know, the big dead bird that you were supposed to put in the oven!"

"Relax, sis! I already put it in. It's almost done." He patted his brunette sibling on the head, taking back the rag. "I have the potatoes mashed, the gravy gravyed, and the rest of the food… um, fooded."

She was relieved to say the least. "Great," she sighed. "everything's ready."

"Yeah," Spencer walked over to the tree. "I even set up the hooks for the stockings."

She slapped her forehead. "The stockings! I forgot to get the new stockings!" She had told herself the night before that she would get new stockings for the group. The year before, she had mentioned how she wished that they could have a fireplace in order to hang Christmas stockings on. Her brother, being the artist that he was, had decided to make a fireplace. He also had the idea of making it more artistic by putting it together with a tree. Needless to say, the entire… whatever it was, went up in flames. Including their stockings. They had all decided that it would be best to forgo the fireplace and just hang them on the tree itself. She had been so preoccupied with purchasing the camera lens for Freddie, that she had forgotten that morning to buy new ones. Then, she was too preoccupied with Freddie himself that she had forgotten to buy new ones. Picking up her coat, she made to put it on. "I'll be back in a bit."

"Where are you going?" Spencer asked.

"To go get stockings, of course." She made her way over to the door when Freddie stopped her.

"The stores are probably closed by now, Carly."

"There might be one still open."

"Not one with stockings that are any good."

"But…" she protested.

"Don't worry." Walking to the door himself, he opened it and walked out. "I'll be right back."

She looked to her brother, who shrugged. A few moments later, he was back, and he had something in his hand. Shutting the door, he came over and handed them to her. They were beautiful red stockings, with each of their names embroidered on them. She looked up at him in amazement. "Where did you get these?"

Scratching the back of his head, he looked at his feet. "Well, I made them."

"You?" Her voice was filled with disbelief. "Seriously, where'd you buy them?"

"I didn't buy them!" He flustered. "I really did make them, okay?"

"But, how?"

"I… I took a Mother-Son crafts class with my mom a while back. I thought you might forget, so I made them for you just in case." His face was red with embarrassment.

"Awww, Freddie!" She threw her arms around his neck. "That was really sweet of you."

"Yeah, well." His face grew redder than before. "Just don't tell Sam, okay? I would never live it down."

"I won't."

"Besides, I would do anything for you. I mean it," he whispered into her ear. She blushed. She could not help herself. She felt her heart race and palms get clammy. She nuzzled his neck and inhaled his smell. She did not want the moment to end. In her head, it all sounded like some corny romance novel. Sometimes, though, corny is good.

"Aw, group hug!" Spencer started to approach them, arms wide open. Carly waved him away. It was a two-person-only hug.

Freddie told them that he needed to get back to his apartment, and that he would see them at dinner. Carly, with an excited glee, rushed up the stairs the moment he left. She still needed to wrap his present. She took her time with it, making sure that everything was done perfectly. In fact, she took a full forty-five minutes wrapping her beloved present. Tying the bow, she left it on her bed as she went to change. It took her quite a while to decide on what to wear. She went through dress after dress, finding something nice that Freddie would like. She had finally picked the perfect Christmas Eve dress, and rushed to put it on. While putting on the matching earrings, she heard the door open downstairs. She came down to find the door open and no one in sight. Hearing something in the kitchen, she came to find blond curls and a munching sound.

"Sam! Stop eating the food, there needs to be enough left for everyone."

Sam, turning around, smiled at her. There was ham in her teeth. "Hey Carls. What's up?"

"Nothing, just dinner on Christmas Eve." She walked across the room and closed her front door. "But you won't get to have any if you keep eating it before everyone gets here."

Sam came out of the kitchen, licking her fingers one by one. "Technically, Carls, I've already had some."

"You know what I meant."

"Yeah, fine. I'll stop. At least until the nub gets here."

"Good. He should be here soon…" She smiled a bit. "I hope."

Sam turned to her with a suspicious look on her face. "What's with that smile?"

"What smile?"

"That smile you just smiled when you were smiling."

"There was no smile."

"Carls, I saw a smile. Any reason you're looking forward to seeing the nub?"

"No, of course not."

She watched as Sam stared at the ground, fidgeting. "Nothing's going on right? Nothing I should know about?"

"No. I just want everyone to get here soon so we can have Christmas dinner."

"Oh, okay." Sam turned back to the ham, and began picking at it once more.

"Sam."

"Right! Not until the nub gets here."

There was a knock on the door, and it opened to reveal said nub, with said nub's overbearing mother. "Hello children!" she greeted them. "Merry Christmas!"

"Merry Christmas, Mrs. Benson," they called in unison.

Freddie walked up to the pair of girls. "Hey Carly, hey demon."

"Hey, Freddie," Carly answered. She had high hopes for the evening.

Sam turned around and headed towards the kitchen once again, not even acknowledging his presence. "Dork's here. Let's eat!" She threw her fist in the air.

Everyone made their way to the kitchen. "Wait," Carly had realized something. "where's Spencer?"

"Don't know," called Sam from the kitchen. "He wasn't here when I got in." That very moment, Spencer barged through the door.

"Where were you?" she asked.

He held out a tray. "Groovy Smoothie. Getting smoothies. That were groovy."

"You were buying smoothies?"

He pushed the tray into her hands as he went to put away his coat. "Yeah! Eggnog smoothies!"

"Eggnog?"

"Yeah," Spencer came back and took the tray from her. "I thought it would be a good idea to get one for everybody. It was only for today that they had them."

"How did you even know they were selling eggnog flavoured smoothies?"

He held up his Pearphone. "I'm on the mailing list." He took the tray into the kitchen.

Sighing, she followed her brother to the dinner table. All the food had been set, with the turkey in the middle, surrounded by delicious side dishes. Spencer must have set it before going out. They all sat down, preparing to eat. Freddie was mentioning the sight of the multiple ambulances earlier.

"Yeah, that was probably Frothy."

"Your cat?" Freddie unfolded his napkin.

"Yeah, I took it to get a picture with Santa."

"It?" Carly laid her napkin in her lap.

"Yeah, I thought I knew what it was, but I'm just not sure anymore." Sam started piling mashed potatoes onto her plate. "Anyway, so I took Frothy there, then he just went berserk on Santa's face." Everyone else at the table stared. She continued. "The elves get it off of him, but then Frothy just starts attacking everyone in sight. They had to call a bunch of police, and ambulances. After it was all over, I couldn't find Frothy. Cat just up and disappeared." She poured approximately a gallon of gravy on the potatoes.

"Well," Spencer said, getting up and taking hold of the carving knife, "let's hope it's okay, and somewhere warm. Now, who wants some turkey?" He stuck the carving fork into the turkey and was about to begin carving when it started to move.

"Goodness, what's going on?" Mrs. Benson scooted back from the table. Everyone else followed suit.

"It's possessed!" Spencer held the knife out in self-defence. The turkey shook more and more violently, until something large and furry burst from within it.

"Frothy! There you are!" Sam stood up and picked the cat up. The cat hissed, and true to its name, white froth came out of its mouth. At least, it started out white, and started out in the mouth. Then came various colours, from various places.

"Ew." Spencer choked back his bile.

"Gross." Freddie just stared.

"That is no cat!" cried Freddie's mother. She searched her purse for industrial disinfectant.

"Sam!" Carly covered her mouth.

"What?" She held her pet out at arm's length. "I didn't know it was in there."

"Spencer?" Carly asked.

"Yeah?"

"How long do you think Frothy was in there?"

"I dunno."

"It couldn't have been before you put the turkey in the oven, right?"

"Right."

"Because then—"

"Yeah."

"It'd be—"

"Yup."

"Time to get the emergency turkey from the Benson's?"

"Yup." He nodded his head.

They eventually got around to having their turkey dinner. Only after Mrs. Benson brought over the turkey she made 'just in case', and only after she finished disinfecting them all. The rest of the dinner was uneventful. The food was wonderful, even if Sam horded most of it for herself, and even the eggnog smoothies were delicious. They talked and spent time together until midnight, telling stories, eating cookies, painting ornaments. One could tell how late it was by seeing how much of the ham was left, Sam's doing of course.

Then came the opening of the presents. Everyone was content with what they got. Spencer got some art supplies, Mrs. Benson got some books on how to be a controlling parent, Carly got some nice new outfits, Freddie got some Galaxy Wars statuettes, and Sam got some beef jerky. Freddie also got a bottle of experimental lice shampoo not yet certified by the FDA from his mother, but he was all right with it. After all, it was the thought that counted, he said. He also received a very strong punch to the arm from Sam. That he did not appreciate as much.

Spencer played Christmas music on the stereo as everyone lounged around drinking hot chocolate. Sam and Freddie were standing together, looking at the decorations on the tree. Every once in a while, she would give him a small nudge, and he would just smile back. It was then that Carly motioned for Freddie to follow her. She slipped up the stairs unnoticed; excusing himself, he followed silently behind. She led him to the iCarly studio, where she had him sit down by the window. She told him that she would be right back, and she was. She walked in, holding something behind her back. Sitting down beside him, she gave him a smile.

"Carly, is everything okay?"

"Yeah, of course it is."

"Then, what did you want to talk to me about?"

"Nothing."

"Then, why are you hiding something behind your back?" He tried to peer around her, but she twisted to continuously block his view.

"I just wanted to give you something. In private." She shoved it into his hands. "Here."

"What is it?"

"Just open it."

With a smile, he gently started to unwrap the package. Slowly, he untied the bow. Slowly, he peeled the tape off. Slowly, he unfolded the panels. Too slowly for her taste.

"Just open it, already," she pleaded with him. She could no longer stand the suspense.

"I'm almost done." He finally removed the last of the paper. Looking at it, his eyes lit up. "Carly, this is…"

"That lens that you wanted so badly the other day," she finished for him.

He looked up at her. "This must have cost you a fortune."

"Not really," she lied.

"Thanks." His eyes glowed as she had hoped they would. "But, why?"

"I wanted to."

"You already gave me a present downstairs."

"I know, I just wanted to get it for you. That's all."

"Thanks again." He set the box aside, and took her into his arms. He whispered into her ear, "You're the best, you really are."

Breathing in his scent, a scent that was just his alone, she tried to select her words carefully. Hopefully, they would come out like she had practiced while getting ready earlier.

"Freddie," She pulled away from him. "we need to talk."

"That's weird. Girls usually say that when they're going to dump me. So this can't be good."

"It's nothing like that, really." She was smiling in an attempt to calm him. "Quite the opposite, in fact."

"Then, what is it?"

"Freddie, in the last year, I really noticed that well… It seemed as if things had really changed in the last year."

"What do you mean?" He did not understand, and it was clear on his face.

"I mean, that a few years ago, you would always be going after me, you know? You were always telling me how you loved me, and that I was the only girl for you, and how beautiful I was..."

He interrupted her. "And how smart you were, how talented, how sweet, how kind."

"Yeah, all of that. I guess that I just got used to it all. I just got too used to it. I started thinking that, no matter what happened, you would always be there. Even when you started going out with other girls, I kind of thought that you would still want only me. I thought that you would always be there as a kind of, backup." She saw him frown at the word. "I know that that sounds bad, I know it does. I just thought that you were always a safe bet. I'm sorry. I really am."

"It's okay, Carly."

"No, it's not. You loved me, and I knew that. I just kept stringing you along. I was going to say yes to you one of these days, honest." She saw him raise an eyebrow. "You don't believe me, do you? It's true. I was. I thought that, if things didn't work out with other guys, that in the end, I'd still have you." Freddie opened his mouth to speak. She put a finger to his lips. "Please, let me finish." He nodded. "I realized that it was wrong after a while, but I was so used to it that I let it keep going. Things never seemed to work out with other guys, and you were the only dependable, decent guy there was. I always knew what a great guy you were, and I loved how you were always so sweet and caring. I started developing feelings for you after a while, but I really didn't know how to handle them. I had never felt that way about anyone before. I didn't know what I was feeling, so I never brought it up with you. I wanted to figure out what it was that I was feeling first.

"I never thought that you would ever get serious with other girls, but then you did. I began to get scared. That I might actually lose you to someone else. Someone that treated you better. I actually started to get jealous. I even started to notice how you looked at me differently than before. As if, you were moving away from me, moving on. But, I've decided that I needed to do something. To tell you before you end up with someone else, before you really do give up on me. I know how I feel now. It's something that I realized I've felt for a long time, but could never really understand. I want to be with you. I want to give 'us' a shot. Freddie, I love you."

"Carly, may I talk now?" She nodded her head. "Carly, when I would tell you that I loved you, I meant it. But your constant rejections, they really hurt. I just took it, time after time. With all those guys you went out with, I kept thinking that maybe you'd come to your senses and see that I was the perfect guy for you. It seemed like you never did. You were the one that wanted me to start dating, so I did. It wasn't that bad. After a while, I actually started to give up on you. I figured that that was what you wanted. I stopped thinking that I had a shot with you; I was convinced that we would only be friends."

"Friendship's just not enough, anymore," she interjected.

He really did not know how to respond to that comment, so he merely continued. "The truth is, that I stopped trying to impress you so much. I decided that if I couldn't be your boyfriend, then I'd be the best friend you could have. Even with all that, it didn't stop me from loving you. I guess I just can't stop loving you. There were, a few times in the last year, that I thought there might have been something going on between us. I started thinking that maybe, maybe, it could happen. I really didn't want to jinx it by saying anything, though. I don't know." He bowed his head. "I still love you, and I always will. It's just…"

"There's someone else?"

"I love you, Carly, but that can't stop me from falling in love with someone else as well."

"I know that." She ran a finger across the back of his hand. "Does she have a name?" She thought that she might have an idea of who it was.

"I really don't think it matters right now."

"Does he have a name?"

He rolled his eyes. "It's a she."

"Oh. Does she love you too?"

"I never talked to her about it."

She looked out the window at the night sky. "Then she doesn't know…"

"No," He looked out the window as well, the stars twinkled. "I never told her how I feel."

She turned back to face him. "Do you love her more than me?"

His head whipped around. "What?"

"Do you want her more than you want me?" She tried to draw the answer out of him.

"No, I don't. I just… I love both of you. Just in different ways." Looking into his eyes, she saw no signs that he was lying. Maybe he really was in love with two girls.

"Is she, prettier than me?"

"Carly, don't be like that, please." She remained silent. "Look, it's just harder now that you say you want to be with me. Now I have to choose. I don't know how to do that."

"I told you I loved you first, and you don't know how she feels about you. You should be with me."

"It's not that simple, you know."

"It could be if you let it. Maybe you really don't want to be with me." Her head dropped.

He tilted her chin up. "That's not true. I want to be with you. I want to be with her too, though. I know that you were here first and everything, but that's not really how it works and you know it."

"I know."

"If you were in my position, you'd want to think about it too, right?" She nodded her head. "You'd want to make sure that you made the right decision."

"Is there any way to help you make your decision?"

His eyes conveyed sadness. "I can't think of anything. I just have to… figure things out myself."

"Have you kissed her?"

"What?"

"Have you kissed her?"

"What are you trying to do, Carly?"

"I just thought," She played with her fingers. "you could kiss me, and see if you feel more than when you kissed her."

"Carly, I'm not sure that would be a good way to judge who I want to be with more."

"When you kiss the girl you really want to be with, you'll just feel it."

"Feel it?"

"You'll just know."

"I guess."

"Besides, you'll kiss me anyway. You've wanted to do that since sixth grade, and there's that." She pointed upwards. Hanging directly above them, was something leafy and green. She had planted it before dinner.

"Mistletoe." He looked back down at her and smiled. "You planned this from the beginning."

"Well, everything except the other woman. Otherwise, yeah. I just thought that maybe, you know, you'd consider giving me a chance?"

"Whatever happens, Carly, I want you to know…"

"I know." She slid her hands through his dark brown hair, locking around behind his neck she pulled him closer. Their lips touched. It was a cold winter night in the city of Seattle, with the stars twinkling in the clear night sky. Snow lay on the streets, sidewalks, roofs, and window ledges. Behind a large glass window, covered in fogginess, two young people shared a moment. Neither were ready for what they felt.


A/N: Thank you for reading my story. I decided to leave it ambiguous at the end so that the reader could draw their own conclusions. Reviews and constructive criticism are always welcome. Thank you, for reading my work. I hope that you decide to read more of it in the future. Thank you.