Crash and Burn

They had left a good hour and a half early for the airport, Fred hated being late if it could be helped, and it was a good thing they had. Washington State was just beginning to feel the effects of what the weather service said was going to be the "snow storm of the century", and it was already causing problems with everything from traffic to delayed or canceled flights. Fred, Noel, and Sam walked through the terminal till they saw the sign that a well dressed man was carrying that bore Fred's name.

"I'm Fred Benson," he told the man

"Welcome Mr. Benson, my name is George Flat and Mr. White sent me to make sure that everything went smoothly for you today. The Pear Corporation jet is standing by and we are ready to leave in ten minutes, so if you'll give me your luggage we'll get it on board and give a few minute to say goodbye and we'll get you to L.A. by two this afternoon."

"Thank you sir," Fred said, "I'll be right with you," Fred turned to Noel and took her hands and looked her in the eyes, I'll be back in two days Mon amour, God I'm going to miss you while I'm gone," He leaned down and gave her a passionate kiss and wrapped her in a huge bear hug.

He turned to Sam and held his arms out for her to give him a hug, "Take good care of my woman while I'm gone," he wrapped his arms around her and hugged her and picked her up and whispered in her ear, "Take good care of you princess."

Noel looked at the two of them and for the first time since she had been living with Fred, she found herself very shaken at how close Sam and Fred were. She had spent the last few days after the kiss watching them and had noticed the little unspoken, well, thing that went on between them. She knew that Fred wasn't aware of it and she could tell that Sam was in denial of it, but it was defiantly there. She loved Fred with all her heart and knew he loved her, but she wondered if he knew about how Sam felt about him and if he could feel the same for her somewhere deep down, some place that he didn't even know about. She had made her mind up to talk to Sam while Fred was away and get some answers, for her own piece of mind.

Fred then turned around and joined Mr. Flat at the gate and the two of them walked out and boarded the private Learjet of Pear Internationals. Once they sat down the pilot announced that they had been cleared for takeoff and they pulled away from the gate and disappeared into the blowing snow.

By the time Sam and Noel returned to the apartment Carly had arrived back from Christmas with Spencer and her dad. She knew within a few minutes that something was different. 'Oh shit, what happened while I was gone,' she thought, 'they still seem friendly, but there's more tension in the air than there was before. Damn it Sam, I told you this was not a good idea. What the hell did you do or say?'

"How about we go to the bar tonight and just have a girls night out?" Noel smiled at them, "We haven't done anything with just the three of us in quite a while."

"Sounds great Noel," Sam smiled, "We could be the "Three Musketeers" for the night."

"Alright It's a date," Noel grinned, "but right now I'm going back to bed for a while, I'm exhausted."

After Noel closed the door to their room, Carly got up from the couch and went into the kitchen where Sam was making a bacon double bacon sandwich, "Sam, what the hell happened while I was gone?" Carly asked, her hands on her hips, "I left with everything fine, weird, but fine. As soon as the two of you walked in the door I felt this little undercurrent of tension in the air. Not a huge amount, but it was nonexistent before and now it's here."

"Carly," Sam started, "nothing happened. Maybe your radar is out of whack or something."

"Please Sam," Carly tapped her foot on the kitchen floor, "My radar is fine and you know it. What the hell happened?"

"Carly, nothing really serious happened," Sam looked at the ground, "Dean showed up at the Christmas party and went by the "cheating bastards how to win your ex back" playbook play by play. He really thought I'd go back to him, anyway, Noel and Freddie helped me get rid of him by kicking him out. The party pretty much died after that. Dean said some truly nasty things about me and I was in a deep funk about it, so Noel said Freddie should talk to me and left us alone."

"Oh shit Sam, tell me you didn't sleep with him," Carly was now truly upset.

"No, God Carly you know better than that," Sam got a little upset with her friend over the thought, "we just talked and then he wanted me to dance with him, you know to help me chill out. After the song was over he pointed up and I saw mistletoe above our heads and he said it was a tradition, so he leaned down to place a chaste kiss on my lips and I snapped and gave him a long, deep kiss. Freddie pulled out of the kiss and said he couldn't do that to Noel, at which time she said something to us and we turned to see her in the doorway. She was very cool about the whole thing and said she knew I was just hurting and it was just one friend helping out another."

"She may have said that to the two of you, but she looks anything but ok with it in real life," Carly whisper shouted at Sam, "this is exactly what I was afraid was, I told you nothing good would come of this."

"Shit Carly," Sam's eyes lit up with a fire, "You're not the goddamn housemother around here, everything isn't up for you to make the call on. Yes, I'm in love with Freddie and I want him so badly that if being the other woman is the only way I can have him, then I'll take it. Only Freddie isn't that kind of guy, so I basically got a snowballs chance in hell of being with him and I don't care anymore Carly. I am so far gone that if staring at him from a far is all I can get, I'll take it. Noel and I both know that Freddie loves her and that is all that really matters. So quit being all judgmental and just try being my friend for once instead of my keeper!"

"Well excuse me for wanting to try and protect you from all of this," Carly whisper shouted at Sam, "I'm being your friend when I tell you to get off this ride before it kills you. There are other guys out there and not all of them are going to be like Dean or the others. Get out there and find them and get on with your life Sam, Fred isn't going to happen!"

"I just don't care anymore Carly," Sam looked at her and shook her head, "I'll take nothing rather than not having Freddie. So just get off my back!"

Noel heard the whole conversion from her room. She wasn't trying to listen, but her two friends hadn't been nearly as quiet as they should have been. Noel had never really known till now just how deep Sam's feelings for Fred had gone, but she found herself shocked at them. Fred had no idea that Sam felt that way she was sure, but now she began to wonder if he had known, would he have acted on them, would they have gotten together if he had or would he have gone after Sam instead. She knew Fred would stay with her no matter what, but would he ever be all hers or would there be a small part of him that would be Sam's?

She felt the wave of nausea sweep over her and had to run to the bathroom, almost not making it, as she lost the contents of her stomach. For the first and only time since she had met him, Noel wondered if Fred would be hers forever. She felt the walls close in on her and her heart began to hurt. She felt faint and the room began to spin around her. 'Oh dear God,' She thought, 'what will I do without him, how do I survive if I lose him?'

The pain in her stomach intensified and she threw-up again, only this time blood came out and she passed out. As she fell back her head struck the counter with a loud thud and she then sank to the floor.

Sam and Carly heard the noise and rushed to the bathroom. After forcing the door open, Noel's body was blocking the way, they were shocked at scene.

"Carly call 9-1-1 now," Sam snapped, "we don't need to move her till they get here. Shit this is really bad, it looks like she threw up blood before she passed out, Christ, hold on Noel we got people on the way."

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Fred stepped off the jet and was greeted by an eighty-one degrees temperature and bright sunlight. Mr. Flat led him into the corporate hanger and straight to the limousine that they had waiting for him and they got in.

"Mr. White is going to meet us for lunch at Gino's, and he is very interested in talking to you about your ideas for the future."

"Wow, I feel like a superstar with all this treatment," Fred laughed at Mr. Flat.

'Well you are a superstar Mr. Benson," Flat smiled at him, "Mr. White has never met with a person who was being hired for a temp position, ever. So you should feel special."

Fred raised his eyebrows and turned to look out the window. He was surprised that his life had taken such a huge turn in the last year. He had thought that when his mother died that he was going to be lost in the grand scheme of life and then he had gotten to go to England, met Noel, and was now about to meet the man who ran the company he hoped to work for, he was truly blessed and he felt that for once he was on top of the world.

Gino's was one of the hottest restaurants in L.A. at the moment, it had a three month waiting list just to get a lunch table, unless of course you owned the most popular computer company on the planet, then you could get a seat anytime you wanted. No one wanted to tell Stan White no, it just wasn't something you did. For the most part Stan White didn't use this power very much, he really was a simple man, but he had been beyond impressed by Fred Benson. The man was driven and very talented, hell the mood app alone would rate the lunch, but he like the boy's heart. He had stood his ground for his team on the app and made sure that they all got a cut of the money, even though it was obvious that the true hardware and code design were his alone and the others had just helped with minor things. It proved to him that this boy would always look out for the good of all and not just himself and that was the kind of man he needed for his company and the kind of man he wanted to meet in person. The fact that he was the tech producer on the iCarly webcast, his kid's favorite when they were young, meant that to not meet face to face would put in below the doghouse in their eyes.

White saw the Limo pull up and Flat and Benson get out. Benson was taller than White had thought he would be. He looked like a good kid, someone, if she were older, he would be happy for his daughter to date.

The two men walked into the restaurant and spoke to the maitre'd who nodded and escorted them back to the Table Mr. White was seated at. White stood as they approached and extended his hand, "You must be Fred Benson," White took Fred's hand and shook it. He was impressed with Benson's firm handshake, a man who had a firm handshake was a confident man who had nothing to hide, and it set the tone for the whole meeting.

"Yes sir and you must be Mr. White?" Fred asked in a very friendly tone.

"You hear that Barnes, "yes sir" and "Mr. White" you just don't get that from kids today," White smiled at the other man at the table, John Barnes, the head of Human Resources for Pear International, and Stan White's best friend since college, "Damn it, I like you already Benson. I hope my man Flat here has been taking good care of you?"

"Oh yes sir, he's been great," Fred blushed at the greeting that Stan White had given him.

"I like that, but you have got to start calling me Stan or I'm going to start feeling old son," White smiled and waved his hand for Fred to sit down, "what can I order you to drink son?"

"I'd like sweet tea sir… Stan," Fred caught himself and smiled at White.

"You're learning son, you're learning," White smiled at him.

The lunch was ordered and they began to talk business. "So young man, you created the mood app and made sure that everyone who helped got a cut of the money that we offered you, insisted on it actually, why?" White asked him as he looked him straight in the eyes, "I've looked over the program and the codes and it's clear that you wrote it yourself and any help they would have given you was minimal at best, but you make sure everyone gets a cut."

"Well we all worked on it together and what they did let me do my work, so everyone did an equal part in It," Fred answered the question as if it was a simple obvious thing to do.

"There, that right there is why we are meeting today," White said to him as he pointed and looked at Flat and Barnes, "This man gets it. He knows what it takes to make dreams happen. You take care of the whole and then it takes care of you. Benson, I didn't start this company by myself. John here and Sara, the head of Marketing and Research, who we will meet after lunch, And Max Carter my vice-president, we all started out working in my dad's garage during the weekends and summers with the idea of making the best and most cost efficient personal computer possible. Son, I could write code like nobody's business, but I couldn't get all the things I needed to build a computer, but Max could scrounge up anything I needed, John could build anything I needed built, and Sara could sell heaters to people in hell, so between the four of us we started this company with little more than a dream. I have kept those friends close and I learned to spread the wealth out to all the people who work for us. If you keep everyone working for you happy and they will do amazing things for you. I look for people who know that instinctively, something that is hard to find in this "what's in it's for me" world, but I found that in you. The reason we are meeting today is because I want you to be part of our team. We don't need another intern son, we want to offer you a job in Research and Development as our new vice-president, you still have to finish college, but we have a spot for you during the summer if you want it. We'll start you out at fifty-six thousand a year for now, with a raise after you graduate from college. I have a feeling that the mood app is just the start of your genius, and I want you to share your mind with us, how does that sound to you?"

"I'd love to come to work with you sir, this has been my dream for a very long time," Fred smiled at him.

"That's what I wanted to hear," White's face lit up, "after lunch you can meet the rest of the team and we'll talk over how this is going to work. I want you to join us tonight at a fundraiser for C.A.R.E. S., Computers Are Really Essential to Schools, our charity to raise funds to make sure every school has enough computers for all their students. It's a causal affair, a bowling tournament, and I think it's time you get use to being seen as an up and comer in the company, does that sound ok to you?"

"I'd be honored to join you," Fred beamed at the table.

"Good. Then tomorrow we'll all fly back to Seattle to show you around the office there and get you acquainted with the staff since that's going to be where you're going to work from now on," White loved the way this kid wasn't afraid to jump in. This kid would be running the company in less than ten years was all that kept racing through White's mind.

The rest of the day was fantastic. Fred met the "Group" as they were called and the four of them accepted him into their fold as one of their own. The charity event was a huge success and he had a ball. Stan had caught him off guard when he pulled him in front of the cameras and news crews on the red carpet and told the crowd, "Ladies and gentlemen I'd like to introduce you to Pear's new vice-president of Research and Development, Fred Benson. Benson here and his team invented the newest Pear app which will hit the market next week, Mood App, and we are looking forward to a whole new range of products from this young man's inventive mind over the years to come."

Fred was stunned and then scared as microphones were thrust in his face and the questions began to fly in from all directions. Stan saved him by dragging him on into the alley and laughed at the wide eyed look on his face, "Better get used to that son."

Fred had a ball, he even won a round and got a trip for two for a six day seven night stay in Hawaii. He slipped out at one point and called Noel's cel phone. After about three rings she picked up, "Hey Mon amour how are you doing?" he asked her is a very seductive tone.

"I'm doing fine amant, how's the trip going?" she asked him as the doctor walked into the room. She held up a finger at him and asked for a minute.

"You girls need to turn on CNN at ten and see for yourselves," he told her, "Listen I can't talk long, but we have a lot to talk about when I get back. We leave at nine in the morning and will be back in Seattle by lunch, which you are invited to, and then I have a meeting at the Pear offices there in Seattle. I didn't get the summer intern job that I thought I was going to get, but just watch the news and you'll all see."

"Darling, I've got something important that has come up and I can't meet you at the airport, I'm sorry, but I'll explain after you get back. Sam and Carly are going to meet you is that ok?" Noel wasn't ready to tell him about what had happened and she wasn't sure, but from the look on the doctor's face, she didn't think she would feel like talking about it tomorrow.

"Sure babe," Fred began to notice that she really sounded strange, "Is everything ok?"

"Things are fine Mon amour, I'll fill you in after you get home," She forced her voice to sound giddy and happy.

"Ok babe Je t'aime de tout mon cœur, sommeil serré et goodnight," he almost sang to her, his voice was so happy.

"Vous aurez toujours mon cœur, et j'aime vous plus que c'est moi la vie," she whispered to him, "goodnight."

She hung up the phone and looked at the doctor, "I'm pretty sure I know why you're here and what you want to tell me. You're an Oncologist aren't you?" she never took her eyes off his.

"Yes Ms. Channel, I am, do I take it you have expected this? My name is Dr. Jim Wilson, by the way."

"Yes Dr. Wilson, I've had this problem before and had hoped it wouldn't return, but since you're here, I guess that I'm not going to get my wish, am I?" she seemed resigned to the talk and even smiled sadly at the doctor.

"I take it then you know what I'm going to tell you then?" the doctor looked down at his shoes; this was the worst part of the job.

"I'm afraid so," Noel looked at him, "what kind of time frame are we looking at?"

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Sam knocked on the door and She and Carly walked in to find a doctor walking out and Noel sitting up in the bed looking like she was in pretty good shape, maybe a little sad, but otherwise ok. Sam thought to herself that the blood must have meant that Noel had been pregnant and had lost the baby. It explained the sad look and the rest.

"Everything ok kid?" Sam smiled at her.

"Nothing a week in Hawaii wouldn't cure I guess?" Noel laughed and then stopped as she grabbed her head, "still got a hell of a headache."

"I talked to Fred and he said that we need to watch CNN at ten and it would explain a lot of things, he didn't get the intern job like he thought." Noel reached for the remote and turned on the T.V.

"Tonight on the ten o'clock business report Pear Corporation CEO Stan White introduced the world to Pear's new vice-president of Research and Development, twenty-two year old college student Fred Benson at a Pear fundraiser tonight. Little is known about Benson at the moment, other than he and his "team" created a new app for Pear, and that this appointment makes Benson the youngest executive in the Pear Company, which controls a vast part of the world computer and software market."

The three of them screamed and giggled as the story ended. Noel broke into tears of joy, Sam whooped and danced, and Carly just laughed and clapped. When the excitement died down, Noel turned to Sam, "Sam, could I speak to you alone for a few minutes, before they have you guys leave?"

"Sure honey," Sam shot Carly a look and walked toward the bed.

"I'm sorry Carly do you mind?" Noel looked at her friend and smiled sadly, "I hope you don't think me rude, but this is something I need to talk to Sam alone about."

"Not at all honey," Carly smiled back. 'Shit, it's about to hit the fan,' she thought, "I'll just wait outside."

After the door closed Noel grinned at Sam and asked her in a very nonchalant tone, "So tell me Sam, and please know I'm not mad or unset with you, just curious, how long have you been in love with Fred?"

Sam's face went white and then bloomed bright red, but she answered truthfully, "I don't really know. The first time that I acknowledged it to myself was just before he left for England and met you," Sam felt a release inside herself at saying it out loud to Noel, "but I guess really I've loved him since kindergarten, I just didn't know it. He's been a constant in my life, I made his existence a living hell for years, but he took it and even gave it back to me, and somewhere along the way, every time I needed him he would always be there for me. No questions, no "I told you so's", he would just be there and take of whatever needed taken care of, and I took him for granted. Noel, he has no idea how I feel, he loves you, even if he knew how I felt, he loves you and would never leave you and you have my word I won't do anything to mess you guys up, but I need his friendship in my life and hope that you're ok with that."

"Sam, I have a tumor the size of a pineapple in my stomach," Noel blurted out, "Fred never told any of you because I asked him not to, but as a child I had cancer and they thought I might die. I got treatment and after a year I went into remission, which is where I have been till recently. I thought I might be pregnant at first, I even bought a test, but I think I knew it wasn't that. It would kill me if they tried to remove it, and they can't treat me with it still there. If I'm lucky, I have two years left, max. I most likely have a year to a year and a half."

Sam stood with her mouth wide open and silent, she had no idea what to say, or if she should say anything at all. She found herself wanting to hug her new found sister and felt her eyes begin to tear up, "Oh Christ Noel, can't they do anything at all?"

"No, I'm afraid that we're well past that point," Noel smiled sadly at Sam and held out her arms to hug Sam, "I need you to do me a favor Sam, Fred is the best thing that has EVER come my way, and I have seen how he handles death, and I know what's going to happen to me. He'll stay by my side till the end, and if the truth be known, I'm going to need that. Sam after I'm gone and he's had a reasonable amount of time to grieve, no more than four months, I need you to keep him from sliding back into his shell and closing himself off from the world. I want you to be there for him and love him Sam. I know how much you love him and that he loves you also, so keep him by your side and please never let him end up alone. I think the two of you will make a fine couple and will have a great life together, can you do that for me please? I need to know that he won't be alone and that he will be loved, please it will make the time I have left better knowing he'll have you to love him after I go."

Sam began to cry, something she never did in front of people, but she cried as she hugged Noel and spoke to her, "God you don't know how many times I've wanted to hate you since I saw you kiss Freddie at that airport, but I never could, you were just to sweet and you loved him so much, I just couldn't hate you and then I fell in love with you and the way that you made him feel. I'll do what you want me to, but I don't think he'll ever love me as much as her loves you."

"You're right sister," Noel stroked Sam's hair, "he'll come to love you more."

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The ride home had been a quiet one for Sam and Carly. Sam had asked Carly to just not ask about what she and Noel talked about right now, but told her they would talk after Freddie got home, and even though she didn't like it, Carly had agreed. Sam slept very little that night. She was still in amazement at the strength that Noel had shown her and at how trivial her depression over Freddie seemed now.

Freddie called at nine to let them know that they were leaving the airport and would arrive in Seattle at eleven-thirty local time. The snow storm over Washington and Oregon had now become the worst winter storm in over fifty years. The girls went to see Noel and found out she would be released later that day and agreed to say nothing to Freddie until she called for them to come pick her up. They left at ten-thirty to get to the airport in time to see Freddie. As they waited the girls talked to the woman waiting for the plane also. She was Robin Welker, Sara Roberts's domestic partner, and the two had been together for almost twenty years. They all three hit it off and were having such a good time that they didn't notice that flight after flight was being canceled because of the weather.

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Fred knew something was wrong the moment the lights started to flicker in the cabin. The hostess had asked them to strap in and the pilot had informed them that there was a small problem. Mr. White, John Barnes, Sara Roberts, and Max Carter as well as Fred had all strapped in and sat in silence. Fred smelled the smoke first and then caught a flash of light as the rear of the cabin began to burn around the middle of the wall. Alarms began to sound and the power went out altogether. The plane went into a steep descent. As he saw his life pass by, Fred was surprised at how even as he thought of Noel, Sam dominated the majority of his life. He never found time to cry or scream before impact.

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"Would persons waiting for the Pear corporation flight please report to the first class lounge," the intercom announced threw the terminal.

Sam, Carly, and Robin all made their way to the lounge laughing that the plane must hve returned to L.A. and they were letting them know. As soon as the trio entered the lounge Sam knew something bad was wrong. A beautiful blonde woman came up to them and began to talk, "My name is Macy Bennett and I'm from the National Transportation Safety Board, may I ask who you are and what your relationship to the passengers on this flight are?"

"I'm Robin Welker and Sara Roberts is my domestic partner," Robin answered, all traces of humor gone.

"I'm Sam Puckett and this is Carly Shay and we are the roommates of Fred Benson, what's this all about?" Sam was now very scared and felt herself getting a little weak.

"I'm Sorry to inform you but the Pear corporation jet went down somewhere on or around Mount Hood in Oregon thirty minutes ago. We don't know yet about the cause or if there are any survivors. We wanted to let you know before the news outlets got a hold of it," Macy told them in the practiced manner of someone who had done this many times before.

Sam felt her legs give way and fell to the floor. Tears rolled from her eyes and she tried to speak or to breath but nothing came out. She couldn't think or do anything and she felt the world close in on her. 'Please don't take Freddie God, I can't live without him, PLEASE, PLEASE GOD WE NEED HIM!' were her last thoughts before she passed out.

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I'm so sorry this has taken so long to post. My health has taken a turn for the worse and I'm really having a hard time finding the energy to do even small things. I have one more treatment to go, but if I don't get better, I won't be able to survive it. I'm not scared about what may happen, I just want to finish all the stories that I have in my head. All the names that are used in this chapter are of good friends and people I've met in the hospital. Carol, who I wrote a one shot for, sadly passed away on Monday. She was beautiful, strong and very funny. She is very missed. In answer to some questions, Noel was real and I loved her very much. Had she lived, I planed to marry her one day. That was not to be. Macy has become a good friend here and has helped me very much. Noel would have like her.

Enough sad shit, I know this was a long one but It is the lynch pen of the story and everything else will spin off of this. I promise to try to update faster like I used to. Thanks for sticking with me on this journey and please let me know what you think of the story. Let me know!