"What time are you picking up Carly from the airport again?" Freddie asked as him and Gibby struggled to hang up a large 'Welcome Home' banner in Spencer's living room.
"Her plane doesn't come in until nine tonight," Spencer replied, looking up from the balloon sculpture he was making.
"Hey, what is that thing?" Gibby asked.
"Well you know how they have those people at circuses and fairs and stuff who make balloon animals?" Spencer grinned.
"Oh jeez," Freddie sighed.
"Well I decided to do even better than that and make balloon people," Spencer said proudly. "So I'm making balloon replicas of Carly and Sam. They're gonna be so surprised when they come in and see their balloon selves just floating around and-Ah!"
The balloons had suddenly burst into flames and Freddie rushed over with the fire extinguisher, quickly getting rid of the fire.
"Was that supposed to happen?" Gibby frowned.
"No!" Spencer exclaimed.
"Dude, let's try to not burn the place down before the girls get back and see the surprise party we've spent the past two weeks planning for them," Freddie said, rolling his eyes.
"It's not my fault! I had a pretty good track record with balloons!" Spencer defended.
"Well that record's gone now," Gibby commented.
"Gibby!" Spencer snapped.
"Maybe you should go down to the bakery and pick up the cake," Freddie suggested.
"Nah, it's not gonna be ready for another hour," Spencer said, flopping down onto the couch. "Hey, you're sure Sam will be back here at the same time as Carly?"
"She should, she left L.A. this morning," Freddie said. "And I told her to come here when she got back."
"Hey, don't you guys think that they would give such a big city a name with only two letters?" Gibby said. "I mean L.A. is just like, a set of initials or something."
"Um, Gib?" Freddie frowned. "You do realize L.A. stands for Los Angeles, right?"
"What? Pfft, no way," Gibby scoffed. "That's just ridiculous. Next you'll be telling me that MTV stands for music television."
"It does," Spencer said.
"Then how come there's no music on it, hmm?" Gibby smirked triumphantly.
"I-I don't know, actually," Spencer said thoughtfully. "Hmm, maybe you have a point…"
"Okay, if you two could snap out of it for five seconds, can you help me hang the rest of these banners?" Freddie said, shaking his head.
"Don't we have enough banners?" Gibby moaned.
"Come on, don't you want this place to look nice when Carly and Sam get back here?" Freddie said. "Put in a little effort here!"
"I said the same thing to you when I wanted to wallpaper my room last week, but did I get any elbow grease out of you? No!" Gibby said indignantly.
"Dude, the place looks fine," Spencer told Freddie. "And the girls won't be here for almost twelve more hours. Why don't you just relax or something?"
"I'm just…nervous, that's all," Freddie said.
"Nervous?" Spencer repeated. "Why?"
"I dunno, it's been over a year since we've all been together," Freddie shrugged. "I guess I'm just hoping that things will be like they used to be now. Even after all this."
"They will be," Spencer assured him. "You three were like, the best friends ever!"
"Wow," Gibby said, crossing his arms. "That didn't hurt…"
"You'll see," Spencer said, ignoring Gibby's comment. "It will be just like Carly and Sam never left."
…..
"-And when the Flynn twins come over, you hide all the spoons," Sam told Cat as the girls and Dice stood in front of their apartment building. "And remember, when Dora comes on the T.V. she's not really talking to you, you don't have to answer back."
"I just really wanted to help her find her way to the Chocolate Volcano," Cat said softly.
Sam gave her a small smile. "I'll miss you Cat." She turned to Dice. "You too, kid."
"You sure you can't stay for a few more hours?" Dice asked.
"Nah, I've got to go," Sam told him, playfully messing up his hair. "It's a long drive back to Seattle."
"You promise you won't get into any trouble or do anything illegal?" Cat asked.
Sam held out her arms and to hug the redhead. "No," she said.
"Well, here," Cat sniffed, reaching into her bag and pulling out her stuffed purple giraffe. "At least take this."
"Cat, this is your favorite stuffed animal," Sam said, staring down at the giraffe in disbelief.
"Yeah, I know," Cat nodded. "But I want you to have him now. So you never forget about me."
"Aw Cat," Sam said, rolling her eyes. "I'm not gonna forget you. I dealt with your antics for a whole year. I'm sure they'll come up at some interrogation."
"Well, just in case," Cat said. She handed Sam a slip of paper. "Oh, and here's all his allergy information and pizza topping preferences."
"Right," Sam chuckled.
"Hey, if you want to get on the road before the sun comes up, you should probably get going," Dice commented, looking up at the sky.
"Oh, right," Sam sighed. She looked down at him. "Stay out of trouble, kid. And keep an eye on Cat."
"I will," Dice nodded.
Sam turned back to Cat. "Well…thanks for letting me crash here."
"Thanks for saving me from that garbage truck," Carly smiled.
Sam gave her shoulder a reassuring squeeze. "See you later, guys."
And with that she stepped onto her motorcycle and gave Dice and Cat one last wave before she started her engine and headed out onto the road, back to Seattle.
…..
"Sam's in Seattle!" Freddie said excitedly that evening as him and Gibby waited anxiously in Spencer's apartment. "She just texted me! She has to fill up her bike with gas and then she'll be here!"
"But Spencer's not back with Carly yet," Gibby pointed out.
"He should be here any minute," Freddie replied. "Carly's plane got in an hour ago so that means that-"
"Hey guys!" Spencer said suddenly, poking his head into the apartment. "Guess what I just picked up at the airport…"
He opened the door wider and Carly stepped inside, beaming.
"Carly!" Freddie exclaimed as she ran over and wrapped her arms around him. "Carly, I've missed you so much!"
"I've missed you too!" Carly grinned. "Wow, this place looks great!"
She turned to Gibby. "Gib, come here! I can't believe I've gone a whole year without your kaki pants and rubber head replica. Hey, where is your head replica? Don't you still carry it around everywhere?"
"Yeah," Gibby said, returning her hug. "But a buddy of mine down at the day spa is getting rid of a few spots on him for me."
"Aw Gib, you haven't changed a bit," Carly chuckled. "Now…"
She turned back to Freddie and thumped him hard on the back of his head.
"Ow!" Freddie cried indignantly. "What was that for?"
"What was that for?" Carly snapped. "Dude! I thought it was implied that when I left you got the task of keeping Sam out of trouble! And what do you do? You let he skip town and move to L.A!"
"I didn't let her," Freddie defended. "She left without telling me."
"Oh same thing!" Carly said, rolling her eyes. "How could you have let her just leave? Is she okay? I've talked to her on the phone and she said she was fine, but I don't know if that's true or if she was just telling me that so I wouldn't worry."
"Carly," Freddie started. "Sam really is fine. She-"
"Well, you know what we're gonna have to do," Carly said firmly. "Tomorrow we're gonna go down to L.A. and I'll talk some sense into once and for all and bring her back home. Spence, you think we could borrow Socko's RV?"
"Um…" Spencer said lamely.
"I just hope she hasn't gotten into too much trouble there," Carly sighed. "L.A.'s probably crawling with cops, what with all the celebrities, and she's apparently living without any adults so who knows if there's anyone keeping her from doing something stupid! Man…now I'm all stressed. Hey, is that cake over there?"
"Um, yeah, it is," Freddie said as his phone buzzed. "But you can't have any yet."
"Why not?" Carly asked. "I'm starving. That flight didn't serve dinner."
Freddie glanced over at Spencer and gave him a quick wink.
"You can't have any," Spencer told Carly as Freddie inched towards the front door. "Because our other guest isn't here yet."
"Other guest?" Carly said, curious. "Who? T-Bo?"
"No, T-Bo's away at a smoothie convention in Manhattan," Gibby replied.
"Well then who's the other guest?" Carly asked. "Oh no, it's not-please tell me it's not Mrs. Benson. Er, no offense Freddie."
"It's not my mom," Freddie chuckled as he heard footsteps coming from the hallway.
"Then I have no idea who it could be," Carly said. "I mean apart from you guys, who else would-"
"Mama's back!" Sam suddenly said, bursting into the apartment.
"Sam!" Freddie smiled as Sam dropped her bags on the floor.
"'Sup, Freddison?" Sam grinned as she hugged Freddie. "Hey, I found this little shop at a rest stop on my way here that sold fancy soaps. I picked up some for everybody. They had some that looked like presidents and old movie stars and-"
"Sam?" Carly gasped. "Sam! Sam, it-it's you!"
Sam spun around and when she saw Carly, her eyes widened and she dropped the bag of soaps.
"Carly!" Sam exclaimed, her face lighting up. "What are you-when did you-I thought you were in Italy!"
"Well I thought you were in L.A!" Carly cried.
"Surprise!" Freddie said as him, Spencer and Gibby watched the two girls.
"Wait, you-you knew Sam was coming home the same time as me?" Carly asked.
"Uh-huh!" Spencer nodded.
"Well why didn't anyone tell us?" Sam demanded.
"Because then it wouldn't be a surprise, duh," Gibby said.
Carly and Sam looked back at each other. They simply stood there for a moment before they simultaneously ran towards the other and hugged each other tightly.
"I can't believe you're really here!" Sam said.
"I can't believe you're really here!" Carly chuckled. "Hey, did you cut your hair? I love it."
"Thanks. Hey, you're wearing your hair in a ponytail! You never used to do that!"
"I decided to try it out down in Italy and realized it was actually pretty nice not having my hair in my face all the time. Oh my God, Sam, I have to tell you about all the boys in Italy. They're way cuter over there then they are here."
"Duh," Sam grinned. "It's the gelato, it's magic. Oh! You remember that girl we hated from America Sings three seasons ago? I saw her in L.A. and she looks horrible now, total train wreck. Hang on, I have some pics on my phone…"
"See," Spencer said to Freddie as Carly and Sam continued to catch up. "Just like old time."
