A/N: I think I'm going to write a series of one-shots, under this title. It just works, you know? If you have any requests, or ideas, I'll be happy to include them :) Hell, make an OC and I'll put them in :)
In this one-shot, the iCarly gang are twenty/twenty-one.
And my polyvore is http: poly vore .com/ cgi/profile?id =2433691. Just remove the spaces :)
iAm Surviving Life
"Spencer! Get the door, would you? I'm trying to change Gabe!" Chris yelled to her fiancé from their bedroom. The man, who was in the shower when she called him, shouted back 'Fine' and rushed through the apartment, only with a towel wrapped around his waist, dipping wet, his hair still full of shampoo bubbles and holding a loofah. He slid along the floor, falling onto his back. Groaning, his dragged himself to his feet, and limed to the door, in pain, and opened it to see Freddie standing there with an overnight bag. He blinked.
"Yo Freddie... what are you doing here?" Spencer asked, scrunching up his nose. Despite the fact that the iCarly trio had spent pretty much their entire teenage years on his couch in his apartment, it kind off surprised him now when they turned up. Probably because they had all just... left, so he had really hoped that they might stay gone for a while. Just until he got the feel of his apartment back at least. He was beginning to think it was a hopeless cause really...
"Sam kicked me out. Apparently I'm to 'nubby' to be in her presence," Freddie rolled his eyes, still inwardly fuming. The fight had been about nothing really, her manners towards his mother, her leaving her stuff lying about, him always studying, him always being at his extracurricular and moving all her stuff about. In the end she had shoved his bag at him and pushed him out the door, claiming he could come back when he 'stopped being a nub'.
"Uh... so why'd you come here?" Spencer asked, knowing what was coming next. He was going to ask to stay the night. He just knew it. The first night in ages that he had a chance of getting anything, and Freddie needed a place to crash until Sam cooled off. Freddie looked at him sheepishly, scratching the back of his neck.
"Can I stay here? Just until tomorrow? Please? Just to give Sam time to cool off..." he asked, nervously as if Spencer might actually say no. Spencer stayed quiet for a moment, thinking, before he sighed and nodded.
"Sure. But you owe me one, seriously. Dump your bag on the couch and let me go tell Chris... and finish washing my air, cause it's all soapy. Though it smells awesome! Seriously, smell my hair," Spencer pointed to his head and bent down. Freddie just blinked at him, before saying 'It's cool'. Spencer pout, shrugs and then disappeared down the hallway to he Chamber of awesomeness. Freddie rolled is eyes at the older man, and walked into the apartment, shutting the door behind him. He dumped his overnight back on the couch and fell down next to it, his head falling into his hands.
Chris bounced Gabriel on her hip, the dark haired boy chewing on his teething ring happily as she carried him through to the living room. Now that he was older, and didn't vomit on her clothes after nearly every meal, Chris was happy to say she was able to wear some relatively nice looking clothes. She had on light, sand coloured top with frilled hedges, under a grey cashmere, twisted front sweater, with straight leg stretch jeans. Around her waist was a thick squinted floral belt, and she had matching floral Mary Jane shoes on her feet.
Gabriel had only grown more adorable as he got older, with permanently large brown eyes, like his Aunt Carly, and a messy mop of brown hair. His skin had darkened slightly to a tan, like Spencer, and he had freckles dotted along his nose. His head rested on Chris's shoulder, as his eyes drooped. It was nearly his bed time. Dressed in a blue romper suit, with an attached hood that had ears, he looked every bit the adorable fourteen month old boy he was.
"Freddie," Chris greeted, as she walked past the couch to where Gabriel's travel cot was. Laying the sleepy boy in it, she sat next to it in the large black chair. Freddie looked at her, bobbing his head in acknowledgement. Chris rolled her eyes. "Spencer told me you are crashing here. Another fight with Sam, I'm guessing?"
Freddie almost reluctantly nodded, looking at his hands. "I don't get why though... We always fight, but this time... I don't know... It felt like there was something else going on," he said, and then he flushed, embarrassed. This wasn't stuff he usually spoke to Chris about. Most of the time, he spoke to Spencer, got some really bad advice on what to do, and then did the exact opposite. Chris hummed slightly.
"Tell me what happened. Maybe I can help," Chris suggested. Freddie eyed her cautiously, before exhaling heavily.
"I came back from my AV group late, but that's because we are working on this big project that's been keeping me busy for the last three weeks, and she hadn't cleaned up her mess like I asked her to do yesterday, so I got a bit mad. Then she said to me 'surprised you even noticed' and I asked what she meant by that and she ignored me. So I started to clean up and she complained I was getting in the way of the television. I said that if she had done it herself, I wouldn't have to. Sam just looked at me with that blank expression she gets, and said that she didn't know I cared so much and if she had known when I would back she would have done it. And I told her that I was busy with school and forgot to call and she said that's not all you forgot."
"Okay, I can see where you get the impression something is going on. But that doesn't explain why you are here," Chris scowled to herself, looking at Freddie with a pondering expression. Freddie shrugged.
"Well after that, I asked her what her problem was, and she made a comment about my mom, and the whole thing kind of just blew up in my face. She called me 'nubby' and kicked me out," Freddie explained. Chris bobbed her head slowly, thinking. She opened her mouth to say something, when Freddie threw his hands into the air. "She kept on saying I had forgot something. But I don't know what!"
xOxOx
Carly was half way through her essay on different aspects of law, when her Pearphone rang. She groaned and reached over her desk to answer it, squashing the phone between her shoulder and her ear. "Hello? You got Carly here," she spoke, saying the same thing she always did when she picked up her phone.
"Carly! It's Spencer!" her older brothers voice came from the other end, and Carly instantly felt herself start to panic. It was after eight o'clock. Spencer would only call after eight o'clock if something was wrong. What if something had happened to Gabriel?
"Spencer? Oh my God! Is Gabriel okay? Why are you calli- Is that running water? Spencer, are you calling me from the shower?" Carly admonished, and Spencer laughed nervously on the other end, before replying 'That's not the point!' loudly. Carly began to get irritated. Okay, it obviously wasn't serious, because Spencer was calling her from the shower. Her eyes narrowed when she heard a slurping noise. "Spencer! Have you got milk in the shower?"
"No... anyway, that's not why I am calling. Freddie's here. At the apartment," Spencer told his baby sister, and Carly blinked, frowning.
"What? Why? Shouldn't he be spending the day with Sam? It's her birthday," Carly stated, confusion obvious in her voice. She had been upset that she hadn't been able to be in Seattle for Sam's birthday, but Sam had said it was cool, that she would just spend the day bugging Chris and Spencer and the night with Freddie. Carly had still felt guilty, but she had a test that morning that she just couldn't miss. And she knew Spencer, Chris and Freddie would take care of Sam, and she had sent her birthday present ahead of time to make sure Sam got it on her birthday.
"That's just it, kiddo. They had a fight! She kicked him out," Spencer told her. Carly had to restrain from groaning. Why, why, why would Freddie fight with Sam on her birthday? He should be buying her presents and taking her for a nice romantic dinner and treating her like a Princess. Almost as if he read her mind, Spencer exclaimed 'I know!' on the other end of the phone, causing Carly's eyebrows to shoot up in surprise. "You were thinking out-loud again, kiddo."
"Oh. Well did she get my present? And my apology for not being there? I still can't believe I'm not there for Sam's birthday, it's so not fair," Carly pouted, chewing on the end of her pen. It was a bad habit that she had developed when she first started her Law course, and realised how hard it actually was. She could understand why Spencer had left after three days. It was far too serious for his personality. Her older brother groaned.
"Yes, she got your present and your apology. We went to lunch with her, bought her meat. She had fun. I swear, her and Gabe are two peas in a pod. I don't think I've ever seen two humans eat as much as they did," Spencer chuckled, and Carly furrowed her eyebrows.
"Gabriel's fourteen months old..." Carly trailed off, wondering if it was possible for someone that small to eat as much food as Sam. Was he even able to eat solid food? Carly was shocked out of her thoughts by the door to her dorm room opening rapidly, and Tori Vega rushing in, holding her seven month old son in her arms. Carly blinked, standing slightly and twisting to look at her panicked friend. "Tori? What...? What's wrong?"
Carly was un-ready for Tori suddenly handing her the baby boy, and she dropped her pearphone to the floor in her haste to hold him properly. Tori's blue flower print top was rumpled, her mocha crochet waistcoat hanging open and her distressed grey jeans riding up out of her brown cowboy boots. "I need you to watch Hunter for me, please, just for a few hours," Tori pleaded, and Carly gaped at her, stammering 'Why' with great difficulty. "Beck just called me, and Jade's in hospital. I have to get there and I don't want hunter in that place. Please, please, just watch him for me."
"Of course. Do you know what happened to Jade? Is she okay?" Carly asked, bobbing the young child on her hip. His dark eyes peered from Carly to his mother, not understanding what was happening. Even at his young age, the resemblance he had to Beck was already uncanny. He had dark, dark brown hair, it was almost black, and Beck's eyes and Beck's tanned skin, slightly darker than Tori's. But you could tell he was Tori's from his developing bone structure in his cheekbones.
"I don't know! I have to go, thank you so much for doing this Carly. Don't know what I would have done if you hadn't," Tori rambled, and Carly opened her mouth to reply, but the woman had already torn from her dorm room, the door slamming shut behind her. Carly looked at Hunter West, who sucked on his pacifier quietly, blinking to himself, before she realised that she was still on the phone to Spencer and quickly bent to pick it up.
"Spencer, I have to go. Something just came up," Carly said, and Spencer went to protest on the other end, before she hung up. She set her phone on her desk, looking at Hunter. "Well, it looks like I'm not getting this essay finished tonight, doesn't it," she cooed, and he gurgled, waving his hand in her face.
xOxOx
"What did you get her for her birthday, then?" Chris asked, and Freddie furrowed his eyebrows in confusion. Chris's eyes widened, before she laughed dryly, shaking her head. "Well then, we know what you forgot, don't we? Freddie, it's Sam's birthday today."
"What? No. Her birthday isn't until the... oh man... I forgot her birthday!" Freddie groaned, his head falling into his hands. Chris looked at him, disappointed before tutting. "I can't believe I forgot Sam's birthday! She's going to kill me!" Freddie grumbled, and Chris gave him a pitying look, before she stood and pat him on the arm comfortingly. He looked at her, and she shrugged. "What do I do?"
"Honestly... beg her to not kill you and make it up ten times over. And buy her meat. Lots and lots of meat. Be her servant for the next ten years of your life. Of course, it is Sam, so there is no guarantee that she isn't going to hold this over you for the rest of your life... or break up with you because of it. It's pretty messed up to forget your girlfriends birthday. Especially when you have known her since you were twelve year old," Chris drawled, picking a sleeping Gabriel up from his travel cot.
"I don't want her to break up with me... I love her," Freddie frowned, and Chris smiled sadly at him, shrugging one shoulder.
"Shouldn't have forgot her birthday, Freddie. It's one of the ultimate sins to commit when yo are a boyfriend. If I were you, I would go back tonight and plead with her to forgive you. Stop and get her a present, like meat, or jewellery or flowers. Anything that she would want," Chris told him and Freddie bobbed his head in response, thinking deeply.
"I have a present for her. I've had it for the last two months," he revealed, sounding small. Chris rose her eyebrows, as he reached into the pocket of his overnight bag and pulled out a dark blue velvet box. "It was my grandmothers, on my dad's side. I was going to give it to her on her birthday... today," he moped, and Chris eyed the box, before taking it from him and flicking the lid open with her thumb. Her eyes widened and she gasped.
In the box, resting in a white silk cushion was a Lucida cut diamond ring. It was platinum and had an open curved diamond band, delicately holding the large diamond in place.
"Freddie... this is... you were going to propose?" Chris squeaked, and Freddie nodded glumly. Chris suddenly looked determined, flipping the box shut and shoving it into his hand. "You should do it! Tonight! You should go and propose to her, now."
"Now? We just had a fight. What if she says no?" Freddie asked, causing Chris to roll her eyes, hit him on the head. "Ow!" Freddie winced, hand going to the spot that she had hit and rubbing it.
"Then you ask again. Freddie, you keep asking until she says yes. You spent all those years waiting for Carly when you thought you loved her. Now you have to do the same for Sam," Chris told him. Freddie looked unsure for a moment, furrowing his eyebrows, before a hard look fell onto his face and he nodded once, saying 'You're right'. Chris smirked, resisting the urge to say 'Of course'. Freddie stood, his fist clenching around the ring box.
"I'm going. Yeah... I'm going. To ask Sam to... marry me..." Freddie started to pale, as nerves began to bite at is stomach, making him feel sick and woozy and that niggling feeling of imminent doom seeped into his mind. Seeing that he was starting to get affected by the nerves, Chris grabbed his shirt, holding Gabriel carefully, and dragged him to the front door. She let go of him, only to open the door and push him out. "Good luck, Freddie!"
"Wha-" she cut him off by kicking the door shut, with a loud bang. Spencer came through the hallway, and looked at her happy face suspiciously, then around the living room for Freddie. He took a slow step towards her, pointing to the couch.
"What did you do to the Fredster, Chris?" he questioned suspiciously, and Chris gaped at him in mock-offence, before getting a secret smile on her lips and waltzing around the coton clad man, ehr chin held high as she flounced up the stairs to Gabriel's bedroom. "Chris? Chris!" Spencer called after her, and she turned at the top of the stairs putting her finger to her lips. "Spencer pouted, and went to reply, when he noticed something out the corner of his eye. "Ooh... wonder what's in here."
He opened Freddie's overnight back, and then snorted when he pulled out a Galaxy Wars t-shirt. "What a dork..." he said. His eyes shifted around, and he quickly pulled his t-shirt off and pulled Freddie's over his head. "Oh no... it looks like this is mine now. Whoop, Galaxy Wars!"
xOxOx
It took Freddie twenty minutes to get back to the University Campus. And another five to get to the dorm room that he and Sam shared. He opened the door slowly, expecting a shoe or random fobject to be thrown the minute he entered the room, but instead found the room dark apart from the flickering screen of their television in the corner. Sam was sprawled out on their bed, her blond hair surrounding her head like a halo of gold. On her stomach rested a half empty bowl of popcorn, and in her hand was an empty fatcake rapper.
The white t-shirt that she wore, that had 'I can't stand you' printed over the front, over a long-sleeved blue tee shirt had ridden up her stomach, and she had undone the top button of her skinny jeans, probably after she had stuffed herself with the fatcakes. Her blue eyes stared listlessly at the television, not acknowledging his presence. Freddie felt guilt slice through him, leaving a painful tug on his heart. Closing the door behind him, the light from the hallway was gone, meaning the room was completely dark.
Sam's form was only visible because of the light from the television, giving her a cold, ethereal look as she lay there, stock still. Freddie swallowed the lump in his throat, and made he way across the small room to the bed, sitting on the end of it. Sam's eyes flickered from the television to him, before going back to the soundless movie she was watching.
"What are you doing here, Freddork," she grumbled, her tone holding no bite. It was dangerously calm, and neutral. This was the worst Sam to deal with. The quiet, uncaring Sam. It was her putting a wall up, to prevent herself from getting hurt, even though she only she did it when she was caused the most pain. Freddie stared at his clasped hands around the box in his lap, before he exhaled heavily.
"I'm sorry I forgot about your birthday, Sam. It was a really chizzy thing to do, and I'm sorry," he started, turning on the bed to look at her, crossing his legs under him. Sam shrugged, huffing slightly, but didn't say anything to him. "Sam, I really am sorry. I would do anything to make this better. I can't stand the fact that I let you down like this," Freddie told her. Sam looked at him, shifting and pushed herself up, so she was sitting up with her back against the headboard, bowl in her lap.
"It's still all about you, isn't it? It's my birthday, Fredward. Carly, who lives over a thousand miles away, remembered my birthday and got me something, she called three times to apologise for not being here. Your MOTHER came by with flowers and soap to give me as a present. Chris and Spencer took me for lunch, and spent all their money on me! But you couldn't even be bothered to remember that it was my birthday. Why should I even care about what you have to say?" Sam ranted, waving her hands in the air. Through her rant, Freddie had felt his stomach dropping even further, and he closed his eyes, bowing his head in shame. Sam grit her teeth, shaking her head. "You would never have forgotten Carly's birthday."
It was said bitterly, and harshly. Freddie winced when she said it, but looked up at her, his eyes darkening slightly. Was it always going to come back to Carly? How did she always end up the cause of their fights? He was over her. He had been for a while before he and Sam even got together. "Sam, I don't love Carly. I love you. I always will love you. You are th one I want, not Carly," he insisted, and Sam narrowed her eyes at him, scoffing.
"Yeah, sure. But it doesn't change the fact that you forgot my birthday, Freddie," Sam drawled, jerking her head at him angrily. Freddie grit his teeth, before speaking.
"Sam, I had something planned. I was going to make tonight a big deal, and do anything you wanted. And I am sorry I forgot, and I'll spend the rest of my life trying to make it up to you... if you'll let me," Freddie stated, and Sam looked at him sharply, her eyes narrowing slightly. Freddie steeled himself for the imminent rejection that was away to come, and slid over to just in front of her. He held out the small blue box. "I wanted to do this right, because everything else we do is kind of messed up, but I screwed up, and once again, nothing is like I wanted it to be."
"Freddie..." Sam growled, in warning, but Freddie powered on, flipping open the box and showing the ring. Sam, despite her disgust with anything feminine, had to gasp.
"Samantha Puckett... will you marry me?" Freddie asked, and Sam blinked, opened her mouth, before smirking. Freddie's shifted, and he wriggled uncomfortably at her smirk, swallowing nervously. That smirk always meant trouble.
"You are asking me to marry you? Seriously. While we are still in an argument? Takes a brave man to do that, Benson," Sam told him, and Freddie's heart began to thump in his chest, getting faster as he waited for her reply. "You sure you want a lifetime of trying to make this up to me? I mean, that's like a lifetime of servitude, Fredalaupe."
"I know... but I wouldn't ask, if I wasn't ready to do it. Sam, I want to be with you. I want to spend the rest of my life with you. So please... marry me," Freddie was almost ashamed to say he was begging, but to be honest, there probably wasn't anything he wouldn't do for Sam. That included, it seemed, begging. Sam's smirk widened, and she snatched the box from him, taking the ring out the box and casually throwing it off the side of the bed. She bought the ring up to her face, eyeing it carefully, before slipping it onto her finger and seeing how it looked in the light of the television.
"I suppose I could do you the honour of becoming Mrs Puckett," Sam toned dryly, and Freddie scowled.
"I'm not a girl, Sam. And you would become Mrs Benson. Freddie Puckett doesn't sound right," Freddie argued, and Sam cocked an eyebrow, before gagging in mock-disgust.
"Benson, I am not sharing a last name with Crazy," Sam pushed, and Freddie smirked, grabbing her hand and pulling her to him. Sam rose her eyebrows at the move, but let him push her down and lean over her. Lightly, he pressed his lips to hers, almost cautiously, and Freddie smiled as the familiar warmth pooled in his stomach and his heart beat that little bit faster. "This doesn't mean you'e forgiven, you know that right, Fredwich."
"I hadn't thought for a moment you had," Freddie breathed against her lips, and Sam closed her eyes at the hot air that blew over her face. It was comforting, and soothing, and made her feel tired. At least until Freddie kissed her again, and every part of her body went on edge, her nerves tingling and lips burning. Her mind clouded over, and she pulled her arms up and around his neck, digging her nails into his back through his shirt as she gripped onto it. He bit her bottom lip playfully and she growled, rolling him over onto his back, the bowl of popcorn emptying out on the bed.
"Mama is always on top, Fredward. Remember that," she rumbled and Freddie groaned when she bit his neck, before trailing kisses to his mouth.
"With pleasure," Freddie mumbled, before she mercilessly attacked his mouth.