Disclaimer: I most definitely do not own iCarly.

Chapter Ten: iMissed This

Carly did not know what she felt. She could fly, she could dance, she could sing. But then, she could yell, she could pout, she could glare. She was such a mixture of emotions that when Sam entered the apartment Saturday afternoon, Carly could hardly form a sentence.

"Why didn't you—You should have—Phillip is so wonderful I can't even—I just- Ugh!"

"Uh, you okay there, Carls?"

"Why didn't you show up for the dance?!" She spluttered finally.

"Oh… About that…," Sam shrugged. "Well, for one thing, Jack stood me up."

Carly's jaw dropped, but before she could respond the front door opened again Freddie entered. "Hey Carly, hey Sam!"

Carly blinked, feeling more confused than ever. "Freddie, you can't—," She glanced at Sam, "It's her day to hang out here. We agreed Sam could have two days this week and you could have two next!"

"Did we?" Freddie glanced at Sam and smiled lightly.

"Yeah, out of here, AlFredo."

A frown passed across Freddie's face, but Sam half-smiled, and Freddie's frown vanished when he saw it.

Carly had been too long torn between her friends to immediately register what was happening, not to mention she was so flustered that her brain felt like it was about to explode from excitement and annoyance.

"Nah, you know what? I think I'll stay," Freddie dropped into a seat on the couch and reached for the TV remote.

"You!" Carly pointed at Freddie, "You didn't come to prom either! Neither of you stayed at prom with me!"

"Yeah, well," Freddie glanced at Sam, aware that she must not have had a chance to tell Carly that they were friends again, "Raylee and Gibby both like each other, so I let them spend prom together. I didn't have a date."

"You don't need a date to have fun at prom, you know!"

"And you didn't need us there to have fun, either!" Sam said, shaking her head and smiling. "I'm sure you didn't even notice we weren't there for a good two hours. So busy staring into Phillip's eyes."

Carly knew Sam was making fun of her: she ignored it, "You both abandoned me! Why?"

"I was thirsty. And the nerd was willing to get me a smoothie so…" Sam broke off, shrugging.

"Wait, what?" Carly looked between the two of them. "What nerd?"

"That one!" Sam said, waving one arm in Freddie's direction.

"You mean…," Carly looked between the two of them, and it finally clicked. Her eyes stung, and she blinked. "You… You two are…," She swallowed, wondering if she was dreaming. "You two are friends again?"

"Yep, we sure are." Freddie said, grinning.

Sam thought back to the night of the prom. The ride to the Groovy Smoothie had been a little bit awkward. Neither of them quite new what to say to the other, not after months of anger.

Finally, Freddie spoke, "Sam, you look really nice—"

"Don't." Sam interrupted, glad she was facing the window and he would not be able to see her burning cheeks.

"Just trying to pay you a compliment." He said, mouth twitching to a smile.

"You can pay me a compliment by getting me a smoothie."

"Fair enough." Freddie chuckled.

There was silence again, and Sam didn't like it. She wouldn't say it out loud, but she desperately wanted to make up for the months of silence between them. She didn't want to waste time. She wanted to be back to where they were, if never more. But she was scared that wouldn't be possible.

"So, how does it make you feel that Gibby stole your date?" She grinned, her voice was lighthearted.

Freddie chuckled, "I'm okay with it."

There was another short silence.

"I'd rather be drinking smoothies with you, anyway."

Sam grinned, feeling relieved. "I get it, Freddums. You're in love with me." It was wishful thinking, but she laughed to disguise the hope in her voice.

"That's what you're going with? I think you've gotten rusty with the insults, Sam."

"Yeah, well, I'm all out of practice."

Sam was brought back to the present, suddenly.

"We need to do something fun! You know, to celebrate!" Carly said, with enthusiasm.

There was just a short silence before Freddie spoke up. "How about we do an iCarly?

Carly and Sam were both silent for a moment. Carly's eyes welled with happy tears. Sam stood silently. That sounded great, but it almost seemed like a possibility that was too good to be true.

"Yeah… But we don't have anything planned." She said, slowly and after a pause.

"There's time for that." Freddie said, his smile full-fledged now. Sam thought, suddenly, that Freddie seemed really happy to be friends again. She found herself smiling now, too.

"I love you two," Carly's voice was high and weak. "Thank you for being friends again."

Freddie thought about the visit to Groovy Smoothie. When they had ordered their smoothies, another short silence fell between them. At first, Freddie felt frustrated. He wanted things to be back to normal. Then, it occurred to him it was only normal things should be weird now, but Sam was willing to be his friend again. He smiled at her.

They small talked for a couple of minutes, and then Freddie said suddenly, "I think we need to talk about it, Sam."

She didn't pretend not to know what he meant, which he had almost suspected. "I don't want to talk about it."

That response did not surprise him. "You don't have to say anything. I'm not mad. I just wanted to tell you something." He paused. "If… That's okay?" He spoke nervously.

"Go for it."

All his resolve from before that he needed to be the strong and proud one, and that she needed to apologize first faded and he said quickly. "I don't feel like I have to look after you, okay? At least, not in the way you think."

"Tell me that in a month when the charm wears off."

"No, I mean it. I'm not saying that a bunch of what I said wasn't wrong, because it was. But I've realized something after all this time. And it's this, for all the joking and making fun that happens between us, all the rude comments and fights and insults, all of it… I care about you a lot, anyway. You are my friend. And I didn't try to warn you about Hutchins because of anything but that I didn't want you to get hurt."

"Yeah, I shouldn't have been so defensive." She wasn't making eye contact with him, and that didn't surprise him. This wasn't normal for them.

Another short silence followed. Freddie wanted to reach across the table and take her hand, but he didn't.

"I know I make fun of you all the time and everything." Sam said, finally looking up at him. "And I probably won't stop. You aren't really that annoying though." She shrugged slightly, as she finished. "You're kind of cool."

"Seriously?" Freddie hadn't expected that much, and he didn't hide his grin.

"Yeah, well, I said kinda."

He chuckled, then his expression sobered slightly. "Can I ask you something else, before we go back to going without serious conversations?"

"What?" Sam said.

"Did he hurt you?" As Freddie looked at Sam , he noticed the relative calmness of her expression. He hadn't seen that look on her, not really, in the last few months. He didn't dare hope that he had much influence over her feelings, at least not as much as she had over his, but he realized now that he had hurt her. He, Freddie.

"Nah, I'm angry at the guy. I thought he kind of liked me." Sam shrugged, and Freddie must have made a face because she added quickly. "Not like that! I just mean, as friends, I thought he liked hanging out with me. Didn't think he'd try to pull one over on me. I guess I'm a little upset, but it's not like…"

Not like what I did, Freddie thought.

"Not like I'm really torn about it."

"Good," Freddie said, examining his hands now.

"I could've apologized sooner." Sam said, her tone casual, but Freddie recognized that her words were not casual. They were important.

"Me too." He said, looking up at Sam. He felt a little sad. Happy, too. It was bittersweet. They were friends again, and he was thrilled about it. He knew this was great. He also knew that this conversation, important and deep as it was, was not their norm.

Truthfully, he was really glad, when he thought of it, that they could talk like this. He just also wished that someday, they could laugh together again too.

"I have a proposition." Freddie said, "From now on, whenever you are rude to me and I am rude to you, we'll remember that we're friends who care about each other, and that the other doesn't mean it."

As his thoughts returned to the present, he smiled.

Carly and Sam were already hurrying up to the studio to start coming up with ideas for the show, and as he followed behind, his smile didn't fade.

Author's Note: I have so many things to say, but I don't want to make this note very long. I don't know if anyone is reading this who started reading when I posted the story so long ago… If you are, I am sorry I have been unable to post sooner. It has been an incredibly long time. I'm not sure I even know how to do this anymore! I am extremely thankful for the opportunity to write this chapter.

And thankyou if you are reading. Whether or not you are new to the story or have been so patient.