Chapter Nine/The News

The sight was blurry, but as she adjusted her eyes the view became clearer and clearer. It was hot -too hot, and it was dark out. The car was tipped almost on its side, leaving her trapped up in her seat helplessly hanging by her seatbelt.

She tried to relax and clam herself down to think of a way out of there but the fog was just barely lifting from her head.

She looked around desperately for anyway out. She could feel her heart pounding against her chest, she could feel that panicked feeling slowly creep up on her, she felt as if she was a five year old lost in a crowd of big tall people.

Smoke was everywhere, and she could feel the heat of the fire in front of her. The engine was engulfed in out of control flames. Tears burned into her stained cheeks, stinging her in the process, she didn't even realize she was crying.

Sam tried hard to push against the door to open, but it was no use. She was trapped.

Her body tensed up as she realized that if help didn't come soon- she'd die. She tried hard to take deep breathes and clam down but it didn't help, instead she just panicked more.

Then she saw him. And she froze with fear. She never realized there was another person in this car. He was at the bottom of car, in his seat -the seatbelt keeping him in place, and she got this sense of deja vu... it was strange... His eyes were open and his head was hanging down in front of him, but she could still make out his face.

"F-Freddie?" She coughed out, the smoke was getting into her lungs, she knew it was going to suffocate her slowly. Sam examined him clearly, and after a while of no response, she realized he wasn't breathing... his chest wasn't raising up and down, and he wasn't... he wasn't blinking...

"Freddie I need you to answer me." She cried, trying to hold into any hope she could but unfortunately she knew that he was dead... she could feel it. And he didn't respond.

She choked out an unexpected sob and cried... he was gone... one of her best friends... "Oh god!" She sobbed. And that's when the adrenaline kicked in. She wanted to get out of there-she needed to! She couldn't stand it anymore. So she kicked and pushed and slammed, and cried in frustration, until she could no more...

And as she sat there, hanging in the air by her seatbelt she heard a voice... It was far away, but she heard it...

"Sam stay with me!" The voice was strangely familiar-but then again, she swears she's never heard it before.

"Sam!" There it was again. And Sam frowned at the tone in the voice, it was clearly a female, but it wasn't Carly... nor her mother...

The smoke engulfed her leaving no more air to breath in and her body relaxed, having no more fight in it.

"SAM!"

...

Sweat dripped down her forehead, as the fog lifted from her mind. She was panting quickly trying to catch her breath. Her heart was racing and she couldn't calm down.

When she opened her eyes wearily, shock and almost panic swept through her body as she tensed. What the shiz am I doing here?

Then it struck her, she had walked there from Carly's the night before, and she expressed all that she felt inside to him. Thank god he was asleep. She thought as her eyes set on his still, sleeping figure. He would've thought I was a nut-case.

She rubbed her eyes and stood straight up in her chair to stretch her back. That defiantly wasn't a good position to sleep in... then again, it was a chair...

And here I thought the nightmares would go away... She mentally sighed, turning her head towards the door for a second. Her eyes then quickly set back on Freddie, he seemed the same from the last time she glanced at him. It was always like that.

As she watched him sleep in peaceful slumber she remembered one of the last normal times he had fallen asleep at her house while they were studying -well trying to study... Back when they were together.

...

"Remind me why I have to do this again?" Sam moaned in protest looking up to Freddie from the boring history book that sat on his desk.

Freddie looked up from his American History: Advanced Edition book and smiled at his girlfriend. "Because we want to ace this final to pass Junior year Sam. Do you wanna be Junior while your man is a Senior?" Sam made an annoyed face. "Correction, not man. You're my Nub."

Freddie rolled his eyes and set his book down on the bed where he was sitting up in. "Fine, nub." He mocked her playfully.

Sam then pouted. "No, I don't." She grumbled like a little child. "Then come here and give me kiss and get back to work." He said with a witty smile on his face."

Sam sighed and smirked as she got off the office chair and went over to Freddie. She hovered in front of him and gave him a quick peck on the lips. She could feel his heat on her face; it sent chills down her spine. She wanted more, but ultimately that wasn't going to happen. Tonight, they would study. So she got off the bed giving Freddie one last smirk and sat back down in her office chair.

Sam stared blankly at the History book that held useless words of boredom. "I can't believe your making me do this Benson..." She complained once more before starting to read the first paragraph on the page. Freddie just chuckled at her, amused by her efforts against not studying.

Hours Later…

Sam turned around in the office chair not taking her eyes off the American History Book in her hands. "Freddie oh my god, did you know Hitl-" She looked up and found him asleep on her bed. The book lay open, faced own on his chest, and his head was tilted backwards.

Sam lost her train of thought as she smiled at him in admiration. She closed the book in her hands and placed it on the desk behind her as she got up and sat on the other side of the bed.

She chuckled at him and gently took the book off his chest. "You work too hard sometimes baby." She whispered then kissed his cheek.

...

Sam looked at him now, and her heart just fell into pieces. And she didn't know where to being to pick them up. She wanted to help him, help him remember. But she didn't know where to start.

She sighed and leaned back in her chair. Just then Dr, Baits walked in, clipboard in hand, smile on face.

"Good morning Sam." She said in a hushed tone. "Mornin'." Sam greeted. "Here to check on Freddie?" She questioned.

Dr. Baits nodded. "Yeah, I'll be a moment -oh, Carly and Spencer called asking if you were here, I told them that you were. I hope that's okay."

Sam nodded. "Yeah, thats fine... hey so uhh... is he getting any better?" Sam asked curiously. Dr. Baits looked up from the instrument she was recording data from and looked her in the eye.

"Oh defiantly, he's improved lot from when he first came here." She explained. There was a moment of silence before Dr. Baits spoke once more. "When they rolled him in, I honestly thought he was a goner. But he's proven me wrong, he's proven all of us wrong."

Sam's eyes rested back on Freddie. "When do you think he can come home?" She asked timidly. Truth was, she was almost scared to know.

Dr. Baits looked at Freddie as well, and smiled. "I'm not sure, his clavicle surgery is Friday night, maybe a day or two after that. If he's okay, and feeling up for it, I'll discard him."

Sam nodded. "Cool." She exhaled.

"What about you Sam? How have you been holding things up?" Dr. Baits completely caught her off guard with this question.

Sam stared at the floor in hope it would give her a plausible lie to tell. "Good. I've been fine."

Well, you know what fine stands for right?" Dr. Baits said it as if it was a puzzle; one of Sam's eyebrows went up in question. The blonde shook her head.

"…freaked out, insecure… neurotic, emotional." She finished. Sam continued to look at her in question, but stayed silent. She was waiting for her to finish.

"My mother told me that when I was little… it's actually been proven right by my experiences…" She trailed on.

Sam stared at her in wonder and couldn't help already comparing their mothers. My mom never gave me useful advice… She thought sadly. Then Sam frowned even deeper as her eyebrows arched. Actually, I bet she doesn't even know what happened…

Her heart sank even deeper, if that was possible. Her own mother doesn't even check up on her. She could be dead and Pam wouldn't know.

"My mom never gave me good advice…" Sam started, taking her eyes off the floor and onto Dr. Baits. "The only advice she ever gave me was to find a rich man to marry, because Pucketts aren't worth it," Sam said every word in utter disgust; angered by her mother's lack of instinct and love for her. "at least to her."

"Sam you know there are people you can talk to about this here." The doctor spoke writing down in her clipboard some data off a machine.

Sam shook her head. "I don't need help. I have all that I need, I have Carly, and I will have Freddie back." She spoke those words which such confidence, she almost believed it for a moment. But she knew the harsh reality; she knew that there was a chance he would never remember. And that was the unsettling truth.

"Sam don't you ever do that again!" Carly scolded Sam as she brought her in for a hug. Sam just smiled. "I know, I should've left a note or something—" "No you shouldn't have gone at all! And in the middle of the night too! –do you know how many dangerous men are out there in Seattle?" Carly cried.

Sam smirked. "—and you do know I'm Sam Puckett… right?" She joked. Carly rolled her eyes and hugged her once more. "God Sam, I was so freaked –it was like the waiting room all over again!" The last sentence slipped out subconsciously.

And Sam's face turned white. "Oh god…" She mumbled. Carly's eyes widened. "Oh Sam, don't –it's okay. It's okay now, and—"

But Sam shook her head and let go of her. "No, it's not okay Carly… I-I didn't even think about—"

"Can you tell me about it?" Sam's voice seemed to echo off the walls of the long narrow hospital hall.

It took Carly a moment, but she nodded a yes and spoke. "But first let's see Freddie."

When they entered his room, Freddie was still asleep which was expected from the amount of morphine in him.

"So you slept here?" Carly asked in disbelieve. Sam nodded. "Yeah –I didn't mean to, bu I just fell asleep."

"What made you come?" The brunette asked in wonder. Sam shrugged. "I don't even know actually, but… I don't know, I feel safe around him…" Sam just realized what she said and her eyes went wide. "Share that with anyone else Shay-!" She threatened. Carly rolled her eyes. "Who would I tell? Gibby?" She joked.

There a moment of silence, before Carly spoke once more, not taking her innonce eyes off Freddie. "But… I think it's sweet you feel that way… shows the love."

Sam's stomach made a nasty turn at the word love. "No… I loved him once, but know is too late." She mumbled sadly.

But Carly shook her head in disagreement as she took as seat. "No, it's never too late Sam. Not even for Freddie."

The rest of the day was kind of a blur; Freddie didn't wake up till noon and Dr. Baits explained the whole surgical procedure to them many times, ensuring them it was safe.

He hadn't improved much with his memory, and for Sam, it was hard seeing him that like that. It was hard watching him struggled around the people she loved.

Gibby came today. He was on vacation in Romania with his mother and little brother trying to figure out the tale of Dracula, but Carly and Sam didn't know that until he got back. To them, he just disappeared two weeks ago after they did a vampire skit for iCarly and didn't hear from him until he showed up at Carly's door. Spencer explained what happened and he went to the hospital.

When he walked through those doors the girls smiled.

"Gibby! Where have you been?" Carly asked giving him a hug. Gibby didn't smile he just hugged her back and kept on his serious Gibby face. "I went to Romania."

"Romania?" Sam asked. Gibby nodded. "Uhum…"

"What we're you doing in Romania?" Carly asked exaggerating on the Romania part. "I went vampire hunting." One of Sam's eyebrows went up in question, but then she was reminded this was Gibby, and he was an odd-ball of weird.

Gibby continued to nodded until he turned around and saw Freddie. "Hey Fredd-o!" He greeted.

Freddie smiled at him; the boy to him looked strangely familiar. But he swore he'd never seen him before. "Hi." Freddie lifted his unbroken hand up a few inches and waved.

Carly noticed the slight awkwardness in the room and spoke up. "So um Gibby… did Spencer tell you what happened?"

Gibby shook his head. "Nah, only that Sam and Freddie got in an accident and they're at the hospital –he actually took me here."

Carly nodded. "Well, you see Gibby… Freddie kinds lost his memory…" Gibby frowned and rolled his eyes in annoyance.

"Oh dude, did you leave that in your locker again?"

A smile appeared on the girls face, and Freddie looked at Gibby in question. "No Gibby, it's not something you can literally misplace… he hit his head and he can't remember anything." Carly explained futher.

Sam turned quickly to Freddie and spoke. "Gibby's like this… he doesn't really understand many things." Freddie nodded. "Uh okay."

"Oh memory!" Gibby realized. Sam rolled her eyes. "Well why didn't you say so?" He continued.

"Hey fruit-bag, we did say that." Sam mumbled. Gibby just looked at her in question. Suddenly a phone went off. Sam reached into her jean pocket and took her cell phone out. "Ugh, it's my mother. I'll be right back." With that she walked back into the hallway.

"Hey mom." She almost sounded annoyed. "Well, don't sound so happy to hear from me Sammy." Pam spoke. Sam could almost see her mother rolling her eyes over the phone.

"What do you want mom?" Sam asked in a hurry, ignoring Pam's rude comment. "What are you doing Friday?"

"Nothing… Freddie's getting his collarbone surgery that day." Sam explained. Pam frowned. "Surgery?"

"Yeah, he and i kind got into a car crash a couple days ago –I'm fine but Fredd—" "That's great that your fine! Clear you're schedule for Friday, I'm getting married."

Sam's eye's popped. "Married?!" She choked out. "Yes Sam, it's when two people how really love each other—" "I know what I means mom! Are you out of your freaking mind?!" Sam yelled.

"Sam I've been dating him since May, and I really like the man…" Sam frowned. "What's wrong with him?"

Pam sighed. "Nothing is wrong with him Sammy. He's a decent man… even has his own buissness company."

"Again, what's wrong with him?" She asked. "Sam, don't do this to me. I'm getting married Friday and I want you to be there, you can even bring your preppy brunette friend… hell, bring Freddie!"

Sam rolled her eyes. "Mom he's having surgery, he can't come!"

"Oh that's right he's cripple for the time being…" "—Mom!" Sam shouted. "Okay, that was rude, I apologize. But please come, you're my daughter and Melanie can't make it."

Sam shut her eyes to think for a moment, blocked out the world around her. "Fine, I'll be there."

"Thanks kid, see ya in two days." And with that she hung the phone up, leaving Sam to hear the dial tone loudly in her ear.

So there's gonna be a Puckett wedding, and theres gonna be a lot of things happening there! And Gibby's back! BTW for those of you that didn't know, I was born in Romania, and thought… why not add it into the plot as she back story for Gibby missing? Anyway I hope you liked it! I'm gonna upate soon starting with the wedding and ending with a MAJOR cliff hanger for Freddie! He gonna start to learn a few things soon… SO! Please REVIEW!

Give some ideas that can happen with Seddie to add to this story in a review! Thanks for reading!

-C