A/N: Yes, another chapter! Considering this chapter is mainly character development, I worry that some of you will find this boring. It will get better, I promise! Since this takes place several years into the future, I thought you all needed to see what the characters are like as adults. Also, I changed the rating because of language. Just like last chapter, I apologize for spelling and grammar errors! Enjoy!

Diclaimer: I don't own iCarly. Obviously.


Sam's POV

It was only seven a.m., and my day was already horrible. First, my alarm didn't go off until six, when I clearly remember setting it for five. Then, I had to take a cold shower because-according to the hotel-their water heater was broken, and would continue to be for the rest of my stay. Upon brushing my teeth and getting dressed, I realized I had forgotten my hair straightener at home. So, now, I had my natural curly hair back, I was absolutely freezing from standing in negative ten degree water, and I was running late for registration.

"Samantha Puckett," I said to the tall girl standing behind the desk. Without her huge, thick glasses and tangled hair, she had the appearance of a model. She was pretty-and skinny-enough, but with her dorky sense of style she looked more like a librarian. Speaking of models, I realized I had forgotten to call Darcy.

"Here is your name tag and a laptop, which you will return back to me at the end of every day." She put special emphasize on the last part, obviously sensing a trouble-maker. Yep, I thought. Definitely a librarian. "Your table number is eleven. Have a great day!" She smiled, and I walked away without returning the gesture.

Who was she to judge me? I wasn't going to just steal a laptop. Maybe six years ago when I wasn't a successful business owner I would have, but not then. I had too much pride-and money-to steal something from a business meeting. If I had to put up with that loser librarian for the rest of the week, I might have had to whip out my old-but still trustworthy-buttersock. The more I thought about it, the more the plan got better and better.

Of course, I still had my buttersock. Even though I changed my attitude a lot when I moved, Mama still knew how to make a grown man scream in pain. I didn't beat up random people on the street anymore, which was good, but those who knew my name also knew not to mess with me. That's why my seven siblings had such nice school teachers; before school started, I made it pretty obvious what would happen if they messed with my brothers and sisters. So far, so good. Which reminded me yet again that I still had to call Darcy.

"Hello?" The voice on the other line sounded tired, so I knew that it wasn't Darcy. She was never tired.

"Hey, Hope, it's Sam. How's everything going?" Hope was only seven, though she tended to act much younger. Her pity parties and useless tantrums were enough to drive anyone crazy.

"Hey, Sam! Everything is good."

"That's great. Is Darcy around?" Just then, I heard Darce ask for the phone. It took a lot of convincing and bribing, but Hope finally let her have it.

"Sam!" And there's Darcy. Never tired, and always overly-excited to see-or in this case, hear-me.

"Darcy!" We both laughed into the receiver. "How are you?"

"I'm okay, but I really miss you. Can you come home?"

I giggled to myself before answering. "I just got here, baby. I'll be home in about seven days, though. The time will fly."

"I doubt it," she sighed.

"It will probably go faster for you then it will for me. You get to go to school and have fun. I have to sit through meetings all day."

"Fun?" she replied. "During school? What are you talking about?"

I laughed out loud this time. "Oh, Darcy. You are too much like me. I still think it's ridiculous that you had to start school in the middle of August. When I went to school at Ridgeway-"

"What's Ridgeway?" she interrupted. Oh, yeah, I thought. The kids know nothing of my life prior to leaving Seattle.

"It's nothing," I replied, not wanting the memories to spring up in my mind.

"Okay, then!" One of the many great things about my nine-year-old sister was that she didn't pry. "How has your trip been so far?"

"Awful," I replied. "Everything is going wrong."

"Like what?" Scratch that, she did pry sometimes.

"Just little things like smearing my eyeliner. By the time I get out of here, I'll be wishing I had never come."

"Maybe you'll meet a boy!" She suddenly perked up at the thought of me meeting someone. For some reason, Darcy had this strange infatuation with my love life, and I didn't even have one. Whenever we took walks or went to the mall together, she would always point out cute guys and insist that I talk to them. For a nine-year-old, she knew a thing or two about dating. Where that came from, I had no idea.

"I highly doubt that. The only guys that ever come to these meetings are dorks...and not the attractive kind." Darcy suddenly became over-joyed by the thought of an attractive dork. "They exist!" I defended myself.

Between laughs, Darcy replied, "Yeah, right! How many attractive dorks have you ever seen?"

One, I thought to myself. My muscles suddenly tensed up as my memories forced themselves into the front of my mind. Our first conversation, our first kiss, our first date; they were all there. I realized I must have been thinking longer than what I imagined when Darcy's voice rang in my ear.

"Hello, earth to Sam!" she shouted. "I know you're still there; I can hear you breathe!"

"Uh, yeah, I'm here," I replied nervously. "Hey, you should probably be going. School starts soon."

"It doesn't start for another hour!" she said viciously. She always found a way to argue.

"Do some studying then. I gotta go. Love you!"

"Ugh," she sighed. "Love you, too."

After I heard her hang up, I tried to turn my phone off, but it wouldn't even lock. I groaned loudly, which caused mutiple people to stare at me, but I didn't care. The dumb thing had been acting up for months. I am in a hotel full of nerds, I thought to myself. Maybe I can find one that will fix this free of charge.

After two short minutes of debating with myself-silently, of course-I decided to go on the quest to find a special geek to help me out. After all, the meeting didn't begin for another twenty minutes. What was the harm of politely asking a nice stranger to help a girl out?


Freddie's POV

It was only seven a.m., and my day was already great. After searching for a jewelry store online, I came across one that sold Harry Winston engagement rings, which was just what I was looking for. The only downside was, the store was in Miami. After debating for just a few small minutes, I decided to add an extra day to my trip and head to the coast. It would be a perfect ring for a perfect girl.

Upon arriving at the hotel where the meeting was taking place, I went to find the registration desk. The man behind the counter was short and bald with huge glasses sticking out from his head. His large belly protruded from the rest of his body, and I guessed he was either a cartoon character brought to life, or a librarian.

"My name is Fredward Benson, but I'm here as a teacher, not a business student."

"Obviously. As if your shirt didn't tell me that." I looked down at my bright blue polo shirt that read "Pear Team" on the top left shoulder, taken aback by the man's comment. Yep, I thought. Definitely a librarian. "You'll be working with table twelve. Have a great day!" He smiled though it didn't reach his eyes, and I hesitantly grinned back, deciding to be the bigger person.

Since I had about twenty minutes to kill before the meeting started, I headed towards the small hotel cafe to get a cup of coffee. Standing at the check-out counter was a tall girl with very high heels purchasing a large cappuchino and a small blueberry muffin. She had long black hair that was staightened beyond perfection, and I instantly remembered that I hadn't called Kyndal yet.

"Hey, baby," she cooed into the receiver. Like always, she answered just after the first ring. That girl never put her phone down.

"Hey, Kyn," I replied with as much enthusiasm as I could muster. "Sorry I didn't call earlier. It totally slipped my mind. The trip here was exhaust-"

"Oh, that's okay! Guess what?" I sighed, knowing she only heard bits and pieces of what I just said. That's Kyndal for you, though. She never listened and mostly cared about herself. I don't know why I was so drawn to her; we were complete opposites. I guess after a million failed dates and relationships you just have to go with what you can get.

"What?" I replied.

"I called that cute little photography place beside the bakery in downtown Seattle, and they said they could do my headshots any day! Isn't that fantasic?"

"Yeah! I'm glad! Your other ones were kind of out-dated." Innocent answer, right? Well, not in Kyndal's eyes.

"Are you saying you don't like them?" Kyndal snapped. What have I just gotten myself into? I thought.

"No, that's not it!" I sternly replied. "It's just...you've been using them for a while, don't you think? You deserve to have new ones all the time." I didn't mean it.

"Of course! And since it was your idea, you can pay for them!" I really didn't want to pay each and every time she got her headshots, but I guess that came with marriage. Besides, I doubt she could pay for them, anyway. The few modeling jobs she had had weren't very big, so they paid very little. Unfortunately, to get a job as a model, you have to have up-to-date headshots, and to have headshots, you have to have money to pay for them. Which meant I, being the one with money, was the one to provide the cash.

"Right," I replied.

"Um, Freddie? What's up? You're acting really out of it."

"Nothing is up. It was just a very long trip here."

"Uhuh, sure," she said, and I could feel the anger in her voice. "Or you're just checking out all the other girls at the meeting."

"What? Why would I do that when I have you?" Kyndal was a beautiful girl. Certainly not the most beautiful girl I've ever seen, but still beautiful.

"Cut the shit, Freddie."

"Look, Kyndal," By this time, I was more than confused. "I have no idea what you're going on about. I'm here for work, not vacation. I highly doubt I'd find anyone here that would change my thoughts about you."

"Whatever." I thought our conversation was finished...until she started screaming at me again. "I've been a really good girlfriend to you lately, so you better not screw me over. If you piss me off any time in the near future, you're gonna wish you had never been born."

"Yeah, got it. Listen, I really have to go. Love you. Bye." I hung up the phone without bothering to hear her reply.

After buying a small coffee, I looked at my watch to see I only had about fifteen minutes left before the meeting began. I decided not to fool around any longer and go on ahead to the large ballroom where I would be spending the next seven days. Truthfully, I was kind of excited for the ordeal. I'd get to teach people about my favorite subject in the world: technology. It also felt good to know that my pupils would be able to take that information and better themselves and their businesses. Another plus: I was getting paid.

I quickly approached table twelve and noticed that all of my supplies were already set up in a nice, neat order. There was a PearPad 4, PearPort Extreme 3, and PearPhone XT 7. I also noticed five wooden chairs placed by the round table. The one closest to the Pear products was obviously for me, so I placed my phone there before going to explore the rest of the room.

It was a large room, with a big stage placed at the very front. There appeared to be about fifty round tables with an equal number of chairs at each. I suddenly spotted a wide square table towards the back of the room and noticed it was full of cookies and drinks. I ventured back there hoping to get a sugar cookie to go along with my coffee. After grabbing one, I spun around quickly, running into a girl along the way.

"Dammit!" she shouted, and I saw that I had spilled my coffee all over her. She bent down to pick up the belongings she had dropped, and I instinctively followed her.

"Oh, my God, I'm so sorry about that, ma'am!" I said while reaching down for an old, beaten-up PearPhone.

"It's alright. Shit happens." There was a familiarity about her strong, tough voice, but I decided to ignore it. Probably just a coincidence, I thought to myself.

The girl had long, curly blonde hair that was then covering her face. She was petite, yet full of muscle. She smelled very good, and I again sensed some familiarity. Her tiny hand reached past me and landed on a Ziploc bag full of ham before she gracefully stood up. Just a coincidence, Freddie, just a coincidence.

Standing up, I saw that the girl was wearing black converse high-tops on her little feet, and they looked years old. Expanding my knees further upward, I saw she wore dark colored jeans that hugged every curve below her waist. Her shirt was red and simple, but was still hugging her curves exactly as her jeans did. I knew that body.

Finally-after standing straight up-I looked at her now uncovered face. She had fair skin, not too tan and not too pale. Her lips were a perfect size, and they curved downward into a pink frown. Her nose was perfect, as well, and I suddenly had the absurd urge to place a small peck on it's tip. Finally, I looked at her eyes, and I suddenly lost breath. Her blue eyes were large and her pupils dialated, obviously realizing who she had just run into.

The puzzle pieces all fit together. The voice, the clothes, the body, the facial features. They were all something I once knew so well-something I hadn't seen in years-and definitely something I didn't expect to find here. The girl holding these features wasn't just any girl.

The girl was Sam Puckett.


A/N: Oh, my! What will happen next? And did any of you catch the significance of the shirts? Tell me if you did! Review, please! :D