"Mr. Benson?"

Freddie looked up at the woman standing by his office door. Mrs. Delaware had been his secretary ever since he was promoted months ago. He loved her dearly because she reminded him of his mother – just less the crazy side. She was in her late thirties, happily married to an artist and a proud mother of two boys.

"Your lovely girlfriend's here to see you."

And she loved Carly so much.

His office face turned into an ear to ear smile as Carly entered his office with brown paper bags in hand, wearing a white dress that exaggerated her flawlessness and that breath-taking smile of hers. He immediately stood up from his seat to meet her halfway and envelope her in a warm hug that says you're the best part of my every day.

He leaned down to kiss her as if they haven't seen each other for a long time. Well, truth is that Freddie just returned from a three-day trip to New York to visit his mom and when he arrived at his apartment that morning before coming in to work, Carly and Sam had already left to open flower shop. He would have loved to drop by and see her but he was already running late for a meeting.

"I'll leave you two alone." Mrs. Delaware smiled sheepishly before closing his door but both were too busy and in love to hear her.

"What brings you here?" he asked sweetly, grabbing the paper bags from her before pulling her closer to him if it was even possible. "Miss me?" and he gave her his famous smirk that she couldn't resist.

"Maybe." Carly answered playfully that earned her another quick kiss on the lips. "I brought you snacks."

"Thank you." He smiled as they sat down on his little couch. "How did you get here?"

She took out the pasta she had bought out of the bag. "Gibby's delivering some flowers two blocks away. I asked him to drop me off because…" she put the straws in their drinks and everything she was doing, even the tiniest little things, never ceases to amaze him. "I know you missed me a lot."

He rolled his eyes then chuckled. "A bit conceited, are we?"

She raised her eyebrows. "Is it being conceited if it's true?" Freddie smiled at her. "And don't worry. I think I missed you more than you did. I was this close to having Sam kick my ass all the way to New York."

"That says a lot." He laughed. "Sam would never even dare to hurt you!"

"True." Carly said. "She's the best friend anyone could ask for."

He pretended to be hurt. "What about me, huh?"

"You're the best boyfriend anyone could ask for." She replied sincerely even though she knew he was just kidding. The tone in her voice made Freddie drop his soda and look at Carly. Her eyes were sparkling as she stared at him and he could see every bit of himself in her. "I can't even say how thankful I am that you've waited for me all these years, that you're still there to catch me and love me even though I've hurt you countless of times. I know I've always been unfair to you and the truth is, I don't even know why you've stuck around." She looked down and started toying with her dress. "I don't ever want you to leave, Freddie. Sam maybe my soul mate but you are the love of my life."

For once, he didn't know what to say.

"You want to know why I'm still here?" he took her hands and kissed them softly. "Because you're worth it. I don't care how many times you hurt me, Carly. I don't care how many times you push me away."

"I will never…"

"I know." Freddie smiled to assure her. "What I'm saying is, I will never leave you. I will always be here to love you, Carls. Even when I hate you because trust me, days will come when we won't be like this, when things just won't be perfect for us. There will be fights, ugly ones, and you're gonna want to stomp on my feet again or throw me shoes or whatever thing you can find…" she closed her eyes and smiled at the bittersweet memories "and I'm gonna want to scream at you at the top of my lungs and you're gonna cry and I'd hate myself for it."

She didn't know why her eyes were becoming teary.

"But I'm not gonna leave. I'm always gonna show up. I'm always gonna want to be there for you, to sleep beside you, to wake up and face every day with you. And that's why you don't have to worry about anything. That's how much you mean to me."

"That's how much you love me." She continued for him.

Freddie kissed away the lone drop of tear on her cheek and the next thing he knew, Carly threw herself onto him, making him almost lose his balance.

"I love you!" she cried against his shoulders. "I love you so much, Freddie!"

"I love you more." He whispered, kissing her hair as she continued to sob.

The moment was interrupted when Mrs. Delaware knocked on his door. Carly immediately sat up and fixed herself as Freddie just watched her with awe. He brushed her hair away from her face and kissed her on the forehead.

"Will you wait until my meeting's done? Let's go home together. It'll just take thirty to forty-five minutes."

"Sure." She smiled. "I'll be here."

"You can use my computer if ever you get bored. The password is your birthday." He smiled. "Love you."

She smiled back at him. "You too."

Before Freddie opened the door to leave, he turned back and grabbed the untouched lasagne from the glass table. "I'll take this with me and brag about how my girlfriend's the sweetiest."

"Sweetiest?" she teased even though her heart's melting.

"Once a nerd, always a nerd."


When Carly was done with her food, she immediately sat down on Freddie's office chair and encoded her birthday just like he instructed. She minimized the open tabs for his work and started browsing the internet.

As she was updating and browsing her social network accounts and all random stuff, animal videos and celebrity gossips, she saw at the corner of her eye some magazines under his paper works. Out of boredom, she pulled out one and her eyes opened wide as her heart started to beat a little bit faster upon seeing what the magazines were all about.

She immediately dialled a number on her phone.

"Saaaam!" she almost shouted. "I'm here at Freddie's office and you wouldn't believe what I saw! NO! Freddie's not cheating on me with Mrs. Dela… SAM! FOCUS!" she scolded her best friend. "I saw some magazines on top of his desk and… NO, SAM! FREDDIE'S NOT INTO THOOSE AND CAN YOU PLEASE STOP INTERRUPTING ME!"

She wanted to strangle her best friend for laughing so hard on the phone but if she couldn't tell someone about what she saw, she'd freak out more.

"FOR THE LAST TIME, IT'S NOT CANDIES OR COSMO OR… I hate you so much, Sam! HE HAS THREE DIFFERENT WEDDING MAGAZINES ON HIS DESK AND I'M FREAKING OUT, SAM! FREAKING OUT!" She tried to calm herself just as Sam wanted her to do. "I know I shouldn't be making a big deal out of this… Yes, Sam. But three months?" she sighed. "I know. Maybe. But still. If only you could feel my heart right now… Scared? Maybe. Excited? A lot… Okay. I will… Thanks, Sammy! Say hi to Pete for me… and don't tell him… it's kinda embarrassing… Promise? Okay."

Carly browsed the magazines for a while to try to calm her nerves but it was no use. Breathing heavily, she opened his browser again and clicked on the history button just as Sam had suggested a while ago. Slowly, she scrolled down to check every single website he had visited for the last two weeks. Most of the sites were unfamiliar to her and she figured they were about work so she continued to scroll down and she swore she almost fell of her chair when she saw two three sites about wedding cakes and four engagement rings.

She opened the sites one by one out of curiosity and she loved everything she was seeing. She started to imagine her wedding with Freddie and how perfect it would be.

Carly was in her own world when she heard Freddie saying something to Mrs. Delaware so she immediately put the magazines back where she found them and covered them again with his neatly stacked papers. She closed the browser and opened Plants vs Zombies and tried her best to look bored as hell.

"Hey!" Freddie greeted her lovingly and she looked up to him and smiled. "Destroyed my files yet?"

"I think I've deleted them all." She teased back.

"What are you doing anyway?" he walked towards her and stayed behind her chair. "That game bores me to death!"

She chuckled. "Hey, it's pretty fun too. But nothing beats Pak-rat for me. Best game ever!"

"Tell that to Spencer and Sasha." He laughed. "Ready to go?"

"Sure!" she replied.


"Will Sam be able to run the shop by herself for at least two to three days next week?" Freddie said as they were driving towards Bushwell Plaza. "What do you think?"

Carly stopped texting and looked at him confusingly. "Why?"

"Me and my buddies are planning to meet up at Stanford next Friday. Tim wants a mini-reunion or something." He explained. "I think he just wants to brag about him competing at the Olympics next year." He smirked.

"Well, that's something to brag about!" she replied. "I never thought he'd continue his swimming career after college. That's pretty huge."

"Yep. So what do you think?" he glanced at her. "Is my girl up for some road trip?"

"YEAH!" she replied excitedly. "That would be awesome! Road trips are the best! Plus, I get two days off. I gotta tell Sam though and that would mean going over all the appointments and details with her and Gibby but I can do it!"

He smiled at how happy the news made her. "We won't be staying at a hotel though."

Her brows frowned in confusion.

"How about camping by the lake where we used to stay up and watch the stars together?" he asked. "I missed that place."

"Oh." Her heart started to torture her again. "Just us or will Tim and your buddies come along?"

"Just us." He replied seriously. "I want that night to be very special."

"Oh."

And Carly never found sleep that night.


AUTHOR'S NOTE

Sorry for making you guys wait! Hope it's worth it! And thank you so much for the positive responses about this sequel. 3

TWO to THREE CHAPTERS LEFT! :D

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I'm kidding, of course. :{P

-purpleheart10