Warning: this story is rated T for adult language. In addition, I must stress that I do not own iCarly in any way (with the exception of a few original characters).


Carly never knew that there could be a sound associated with dropping jaws until that very moment. It was a sound almost akin to popping a cork (or in this case, three corks), followed by absolute silence. She, Taryn, and Dallas shamelessly stared out the window at the unfathomable scene that was unfolding before them.

Sam's eyes, frantic, yet unyielding, remained on the infamous Owen while he struggled to relax.

"I'm really sorry to just pop up like this, Sam," he began, his voice low as he unsuccessfully attempted to keep the conversation between the two of them.

"How the hell did you even find me?" Sam demanded.

Owen looked at her with an incredulous expression. "Seriously? Gainesville isn't a major town. I asked a lady at a gas station where I could find the nearest mansion-like cabin and she immediately knew what I was talking about. Surprisingly, there aren't that many palace-sized log cabins in the area. Go figure." He gave her a charming smirk as he ran a hand through his impressive locks. If Carly hadn't been so stunned by the sight of Sam's (unofficial) first love, she might have commented on just how gorgeous his hair was. Instead, she chose to finally close her mouth and remain perfectly silent so that she could continue to hear her friend's conversation.

"Stalking's not funny, Owen," Sam hissed. "You need to go!"

"Hey, I didn't exactly throw you out when you showed up at my bar the other day," Owen retaliated immediately. "I let you get out everything that you needed to let go of, can't you offer me the same courtesy?"

"What is there left to say?"

"A shitload, Sam!" Owen blurted out loudly. "You know there were things that we both left unsaid and I'm sorry, but I couldn't just stay at home and forget about it-"

"Yes, you could have!" Sam interrupted. "Seriously, I thought we had kind of wrapped everything up!"

The young man exhaled loudly and attempted to step closer to Sam, who took a step back as soon as she saw him approaching. The three occupants of the car allowed their gaze to follow the moving couple, but with every step backward they took it became harder and harder to hear what they were saying.

Dallas frantically slapped Taryn's thigh. "Bitch, open the window! We can't hear a thing!"

Taryn turned and hissed, "Right, let me just open the power window in a turned off car while the keys are dangling from Sam's hand…because I'm, apparently, Harry Potter." She paused, then added, unconvincingly, "Bitch!"

Dallas and Taryn looked at each other for a moment, then broke out into a brief giggle before Taryn shushed them and returned their attention to Sam and Owen. Carly took a good look at Owen. When you edited out the current arguing and wild looks, Owen and Sam looked like a much more compatible pair than Sam and Wesley. Owen seemed to fit the style that Sam used to be so into: a tight emerald green V-neck shirt, a closely-fitted pair of purple jeans, green-and-white checkered Vans slip-on sneakers, a slightly muscular arm covered in brightly-colored tattoos, and a subtle ear piercing. He wasn't the tallest guy, but his frame still towered over the petite blonde. Even with Sam in her flowery skirt, yellow cardigan, blue ballet flats, Carly was still able to imagine Owen with the funkier, more laid-back Sam. More importantly, the way he looked at her even as they argued, as if he ached to be nearer to her, spoke volumes of how much he cared for her. Carly couldn't recall a time when Wesley ever looked at Sam that way.

"Gosh, I wish we could hear what they were saying!" Taryn groaned in frustration.

As if on cue, a high pitched "JUST LEAVE!" cut through the silence.

"ARE YOU SERIOUS RIGHT NOW? I CAN'T EVEN GET FIVE MINUTES OF YOUR TIME?"

"JUST. LEAVE," Sam shouted again with a finality that was recognized by all. The air was completely still for, as Carly determined, an uncomfortable length of time before the man strode angrily to his car and flung the door open, slamming his body into the vehicle just before slamming the door shut. Owen quickly turned on the ignition and wasted little time peeling out of his parking spot and speeding away from the cabin. The girls stared at Sam, who stood there with a blank expression as she gazed in the direction of the disappearing vehicle. Carly, Dallas, and Taryn remained absolutely still, waiting for some sign from their friend that she was ready to be approached. When she stood there for almost a minute without moving, Carly unbuckled her seatbelt in order to exit the car and comfort her friend. Her efforts were thwarted, however, when a suddenly determined Sam stomped to the car and swiftly entered it, slamming the door and turning on the ignition in a flash. Without warning she threw the car in reverse and sped down the driveway before any of the other girls had an opportunity to secure their seatbelts.

"AAAAAAHHHH!" Carly screamed in surprise as she was thrown forward with great force. The jolt of the car gave her a nauseating reminder of just how many mimosas she had downed at lunch.

"SLOW DOWN!" Taryn and Dallas yelled in unison. Sam didn't appear to register anything that anyone was saying; she kept her blank stare forward and her hands appeared to be steering the wheel on their own accord. Carly could hear the clicking of seatbelts being secured in the backseat as she struggled with her own, trying very hard to trust her best friend not to kill or injure them in, what appeared to be, another classic escape.

"Sam?" she asked tentatively, unable to remove the nervousness from her voice. Sam kept silent, even as she called her name a little louder for a second and third time.

"SAM, snap out of it!" Dallas commanded, which seemed to effectively pull Sam out of her trance.

"Sorry, guys, I'm just-" she started.

"-making a run for the border?" Taryn interrupted.

"Don't tempt me," Sam replied tersely.

"Sam, you've got to tell us what this is about!" Carly pleaded. "More importantly, was that really Owen? How is that even possible?"

"And did he mention something about you being in his bar?" Dallas added. "What was that about?"

Sam kept silent for so long that Carly was beginning to think that she was in a trance again. Before she had a chance to call her name again, the blonde spoke.

"About a year ago Owen sent me a message on SplashFace," she began, her voice almost monotone. "He and a friend from Augusta moved to Georgia to open a music store and bar."

Suddenly, everything clicked for the other three girls. Taryn was the first one to speak.

"Is that were you disappeared to the other day?" she asked in a hushed tone. "When you were gone for hours?"

"I never replied to his message," Sam continued, ignoring her friend's inquiry. "I figured I could just ignore it and moved on. Things were going fine with me and Wes, so what was the point?" She sighed before continuing. "It was always gnawing at me, though, knowing he was so close and trying to reach out to me. Then the other day I just…snapped, I guess. I meant to go for a drive and the next thing I knew, I was on my way to Augusta before I could talk some sense into myself."

"Oh, my God," Carly gasped. "I can't believe…what did you say to him?"

Sam snorted. "So much that I can't even remember it all. I just stormed in while he was doing inventory and started to yell at him. I yelled at him for leaving, for never loving me, for killing any chance we had when he moved, just…everything. And he just stood there and looked at me like a fish out of water."

"Well, girly, you did kind of pop up out of the blue after not seeing him for years," Dallas reasoned calmly. "How'd you even know where his bar was, anyway?"

"I've Zaplooked it more than once," Sam admitted unabashedly. "C'mon, I'm human."

"So what happened after you yelled at him?" Taryn urged.

"Well," Sam continued, "after he got over the shock of seeing me, he came over and gave me the hugest hug I'd ever received, which is saying something, considering who my best friend is." There was a hint of a smile in her voice when she said that and Carly couldn't help but smile back. "Then I cried like an idiot. I don't know if I was happy or sad or what, but I just stood there and cried and he just held on. When I calmed down he sat me at the bar and made me some tea. After that, it was like word vomit. I vented about him, Wesley, life…I couldn't shut up. And you know what? He just listened. Didn't say a word as I spilled everything. When I finished the only thing he said was…"

The girls waited with baited breath as Sam trailed off into silence.

"What'd he say?" Carly pressed gently.

Sam blew a shaky breath and Carly could tell that she was fighting back tears.

"He just said, 'I missed the hell out of you.'"

Carly could feel her insides ache for her friend, and when she turned to the back of the car she saw that Dallas and Taryn were on the verge of gushing, as well.

"Oh, Sammy P," Dallas exhaled. "Did you tell him how much you missed him, too?"

Sam just shook her head. Carly looked around to try to figure out where they were, but nothing looked familiar. Though she was glad to see that she had slowed down, she hoped that Sam knew where she was going. "I thanked him for the tea and left before I could. I had so much pent up anger and resentment toward him and I was just happy to get it out. I thought that once I unloaded all of it I could finally move on and make everything work with Wesley. Everything was complicated enough, I didn't want to start feeling things for Owen again."

The car fell silent for a while. Carly wanted to point out how obvious it was that her feelings for Owen had, in fact, come back, but knew that the timing was beyond poor. Sam Puckett was the most delicate she had ever been in that moment and it was not the time to usher her into harsh reality. She had a feeling that the other two passengers were on the same page.

"So, what are you gonna do now?" Taryn asked after a long silence.

"What do you mean?" Sam asked hoarsely.

Taryn shrugged. "I mean…shit, this is Owen we're talking about! Can you really just cast him aside like that? What if this is the time to make things work?"

"Taryn, I'm with Wesley," Sam replied, her voice a little elevated. "Owen and I are done. He should have never cropped up like that!"

"Sam," Dallas called gently.

"NO!" Sam yelled with a bang of her first on the steering wheel. She began to speed up a little, as well. "No, he should have NEVER shown up the way he did! Leaving that bar was supposed to mean closure! Who does he think he is, showing up and expecting us to rehash everything when I made it VERY CLEAR that we were never to talk or look each other up again! I can't handle this right now!"

The car fell completely silent with the exception of Sam's heavy, haggard breathing as she struggled to reign in her emotions. Based on the mere few occasions she had actually seen her cry, Carly knew the tears were close. She hadn't quite figured out how to comfort her friend during these rare occurrences because Sam would always hurriedly hide her tears before they could be addressed. Even now, she was working hard to steady her breathing and suppress her sniffling. It seemed like the only thing Carly could do, along with Dallas and Taryn, was sit silently and let Sam work through this by herself, no matter how many miles it took.


Freddie had no time at all to block the basketball that came hurling at his shoulders before it landed with a sharp thud. The contact seemed to have jolted him from the roaming daze he'd been lost in for the past few minutes. He grabbed his shoulder and looked around for the assailant.

"Ouch! Sorry, bro!" Gibby apologized sheepishly. He then chuckled lightly. "You know, the trick is to move away from the ball when it's sailing towards your face."

"Ha, ha, Gib," Freddie sarcastically responded over the good-natured laughter of Spencer and Jax.

"Aww, look on the bright side, Freddie," Jax said as his laughter died down. "At least you're not as bad as Spence."

At that moment, Spencer tried for the fourth time to launch the ball into the basket, only to miss the rim by a foot. He placed his hands on his hips and shook his head resolutely.

"Gentlemen, you are witnessing firsthand why I am an artist."

Jax laughed a little louder as jogged to fetch the ball. Freddie gave a half-hearted smile as his eyes settled on a nearby picnic table. Deciding that he could use a little time off his feet, he walked over to the table and sat on the surface. His vision dropped down to his shoes and unknowingly remained there as his thoughts drifted to his discovery earlier that morning. Maybe he was allowing himself to get too concerned by the e-mail, he considered quietly. 'After all, there's a possibility that Carly neglected to mention it because she had no intentions of taking the job in the first place.' But then there was this nagging voice - this annoyingly accurate voice - in the far corner of his brain that took particular pleasure in reminding him that this was the job offer she'd been waiting for since they graduated from college, and that there was no way she wouldn't at least consider it. He could feel himself getting increasingly upset, but he was unaware of whether or not he was more upset with Carly, himself, or just the concept of awful timing, in general.

His train of thought was interrupted by the soft creaking of the bench as someone had taken a seat just to the right of his feet. He looked up just slightly to find Jax smirking at him, though still somehow maintaining a look of genuine concern.

"Not that a friendly, unorganized game of ball requires all that much concentration to begin with," Jax began, "but it becomes pretty obvious when someone is just plain out of it."

Freddie couldn't prevent the small smile escaping from the left corner of his mouth as he imagined how silly he must have looked, between failing to block some easy shots and getting hit by the ball multiple times. Thus, he didn't bother to refute Jax's observation in the slightest. He kept his eyes trained on his shoes.

"Do you and Taryn tell each other everything?" he asked in a low voice. Being that Jax was the only one who was married out of their group (not including Brad, who wasn't present at the time), it only seemed natural to seek out his advice. Freddie looked up to find Jax seemingly surprised and confused by the sudden question.

"Well, it depends on what you mean by 'everything.' I mean, does she need to know that I dip into our spare change jar every Friday morning while she's in the shower so that I can play video games at the arcade near my job during my lunch break? No, I don't think that's confession-worthy, but…"

"No, no, not that kind of stuff," Freddie clarified laughingly.

"Well, if you're talking about important stuff - feelings, fears, wins and losses - I mean, yeah, we pretty much tell each other everything." He thought for a moment, then he continued, "I guess that's one of the main reasons why I married her, because I felt like she was the only person in my life that I felt safe being one hundred percent open with."

Freddie felt his heart drop just slightly. He knew he felt that way about Carly - he had always felt that way about her, even well before they had gotten together - but what if she hadn't felt that way about him? What if this offer was all it took for her to realize that she wasn't as comfortable with him as she had previously thought?

His concern must have manifested on his face, because Jax gave him a slight nudge.

"What's goin' on, buddy?" he asked carefully. "Are you hiding something from Carly?"

"Never," Freddie replied blankly.

"What, do you think she's hiding something from you?"

"No, - I mean, wh- uhh," he sputtered for a second, then sighed resignedly. "I don't know, man."

"Hmph," Jax grunted, then leaned forward on his knees while he thought for a second. "If it helps, Carly's never really struck me as 'the women with a million secrets,', know what I'm sayin'? In fact, I always imagined Carly as the kind of girl who, when she was little, would steal a cookie from the cookie jar, then immediately tell on herself because she felt so darn guilty."

Freddie laughed at what he considered to be the best description of Carly he had heard from anyone outside of himself, Sam, Spencer, and Gibby. "That's my girl, alright."

"So, if that's the case," Jax reasoned, "then I doubt that she's keeping something from you in order to purposely hurt you. If you ask her about it, I'm sure she'd be honest with you."

There was a brief silence before Freddie mumbled a half-hearted "maybe." The main question was: how was he going to be able to bring this up to Carly, basically admitting that he was (unintentionally) snooping on her laptop, and not look like the bad guy?

"Is it at all possible that this weird, paranoid funk you're in has anything to do with cold feet?"

"No!" Freddie rushed to deny. "Everyone knows that I've wanted to marry Carly since we were kids. It's just…" He didn't know how to explain it to Jax without revealing too much. "Look, I trust her. I swear, I do. It's just that…maybe…"

"You're afraid that she doesn't trust you?"

"Exactly," Freddie sighed, grateful that his friend was able to put in words what he could not.

"Ah," Jax nodding sympathetically. "Well, I found early on that the best way to handle moments like that with Taryn wasn't to get pissed off, but to just remind her that I was one of the good guys that she could trust. Whether it was out of relief or guilt, she would eventually end up opening up to me. Maybe you should do the same with Carly."

It seemed so clear to him now. Getting mad at her this close to the wedding simply wouldn't do. He would just talk to her and let her know that he was on her side, no matter what. Freddie was suddenly very happy he had gotten the chance to speak to Jax. There's no telling how he would have reacted, whether he would have clammed up or lashed out, had he not talked through his feelings first. Not only had he figured out his approach, he had realized just how good of a friend Jax had become.

"Thanks, Jax," Freddie said, clapping his back thankfully. "What you're saying makes a lot of sense."

"Hey, anytime, brother," Jax replied with a smile, standing to his feet. "We're some lucky fudgewads to have landed the women we've landed, so we better do all we can to keep it that way, right?" He extended his hand to a laughing Freddie, as he helped him off the table.

"Yeah, you're right about that," Freddie agreed. "Alright, I think I can focus now. Don't tell Gibby, but I do plan on nailing him with the ball a couple times. Payback, y'know?"

"I didn't hear a thing," Jax replied with a laugh as the two men made there way back on the court.


The girls pulled into the long driveway for a second time that day, about two hours after Sam's encounter with Owen. They had driven in absolute silence and the entire time Carly's texting finger positively itched to inform Freddie of everything that had happened, detail by detail. Each time, however, she had thought better of it and left her phone in her purse. She did seriously consider stealing Sam away from the group at some point and having a true heart-to-heart with her, along with Freddie, and really talking some sense into her, just the three of them. It was obvious to her that the main source of Sam's anger was confusion, like the confusion you feel when you're unexpectedly confronted by the only person with whom you've ever experience true love while positively trapped in a relationship with someone else. If she was in her shoes, she'd probably react the same way. Luckily, Carly was fortunate enough to be marrying that one person in a short matter of time. She was beginning to see that not everyone could be as lucky.

Carly noticed that the men where still gone, which was disappointing because she really wanted to fill Freddie in on everything that had happened. Sam parked and the women immediately ambled out of the car. As Carly walked towards the house, she felt a hand on her shoulder holding her back. She turned around and was immediately confronted with Sam's pleading eyes.

"Listen, I would really appreciate it if you didn't tell Freddie about today," Sam said quietly. Carly looked at her with wide eyes.

"But, Sam -"

"I know, I know," Sam interrupted in exasperation, "You never keep things from Freddie and, more importantly, the three of us have always been open books with each other." At that, Carly felt a twinge of guilt, allowing her mind to briefly remind her of the e-mail that was currently burning a hole into her laptop screen. "I just…you know how Freddie is and the last thing he needs is one more thing to rile him up and get him started on the whole Wesley thing. I just need to figure all this out on my own, okay? For the time being, can you just promise me that you'll keep this between us? I'll clue him in when the time's right, whenever that is."

As much as it pained Carly to have to keep yet another secret from her fiancé, she knew that this was Sam's fight and Sam had every right to call the shots in the scenario.

"Okay," she agreed. "Okay, I won't say anything. But Sam, you've got to handle this, and soon."

"I know, Carls, I just…I think the best thing for me to do is just talk to Wesley. Lay it all out for him."

"Sounds good," Carly nodded. "Do you need my help?"

"No, you have a wedding to be excited about," Sam insisted, giving the brunette's upper arm a gentle squeeze. "You just focus on your stuff and I promise to work through all my crap, alright?"

Carly smiled and leaned forward to give Sam a sisterly hug. "Okay. You know we all love you, right?"

"Yeah, yeah, enough with the mush," Sam answered, though the smile in her voice was evident. The pair pulled away from each other and made their way to the house in silence.

Forty-five minutes passed before Carly's bedroom door opened, revealing a slightly sweaty Freddie. The couple smiled at each other, both looking relieved to see one another for the first time in hours.

"Hey, stranger," Carly greeted lovingly from the deck entrance, where she had been lounging with one of her magazines.

"Hey, baby," Freddie replied, walking towards her and kissing her soundly on the lips. Carly hadn't realized how much she missed his touch until that moment. She felt a little silly for feeling that way after being separated for only a couple hours, but she couldn't help it. Seeing Sam with Owen made her thankful for what she had with Freddie.

"Good day with the girls?" Freddie asked as they both sat on the bed.

"It was great!" Carly replied, keeping her memories of the day limited to just before they had arrive back to the cabin the first time. "I really miss having 'girl time.' How was your day with the boys? Was Wes with you?"

"No, Wesley was not with us," Freddie replied with a roll of his eyes, "and I'm sure that contributed to it being a somewhat decent day."

Carly laughed lightly while wishing more than ever that she was able to tell him about Sam's run-in with her ex. Instead, she opted to babble on about the "awesome mimosas" and the much-appreciated quality time with her girlfriends. Freddie touched on Spencer's abysmal basketball skills and their satisfying lunch at a local barbecue restaurant, which he insisted that they visit sometime before they leave. Carly simply nodded as she tried to come up with something else to talk about. She thought about the wedding, the honeymoon, the weather, politics - anything that couple possibly distract her from thinking about Sam's predicament or the job offer that she still had yet to talk to him about. As they both finished talking Carly felt the heavy air of unfinished business surrounding them, like there was a big, tap-dancing elephant in the room that neither of them were addressing. She could feel her paranoia kick into high gear and it was causing her imagine Freddie glancing at her laptop out of the corner of his eye more than once.

"So," he began carefully. "did anything else interesting happen today?"

The look he gave her screamed that he knew something that she didn't. Maybe her phone had accidentally called him during all the drama? Even more like, she's pretty sure she saw Taryn texting furiously in the backseat during Sam's breakdown drive. She was probably relaying the full blow-by-blow to Jax, who was broadcasting the info to the rest of the guys. With that, she was certain that Freddie knew what had happened and just wanted to get the story from a key witness's perspective. Why didn't he just ask about the confrontation outright instead of waiting for her to bring it up? She almost opened her mouth to talk about it, but remembered Sam's request to keep it between them. She closed her mouth, feeling equally as bad about almost betraying one friend's trust while keeping something so important from the other. She looked down in her lap and tried her best to shake her head inconspicuously.

"Nope," she answered simply, feeling awful about lying to Freddie. "Nothing major."

Freddie's gaze drilled into her, making her increasing nervous. "Are you absolutely sure?"

She opened her mouth to say that she was certain, but couldn't bring herself to verbally lie to him again. She had promised Sam she wouldn't say anything, but this was killing her. She was surprised to see Freddie's reaction, as if he were absolutely crestfallen.

"Alright, well I'm going to head downstairs and grab something to drink," he announced in a low voice. Standing up slowly, he made his way to the door. Carly didn't understand why he was reacting so hurt about her not discussing Sam's drama with him, but all she wanted to do was pull him to her and spill everything. She hated making him so upset, no matter what the circumstances were. Just before he exited through the door, he turned around and looked at her with soft eyes.

"Just remember," he started, sounded slightly defeated, "that I'm on your side. We're on the same team, Carly. I wouldn't have dragged you all the way out here to make you my wife if I wasn't on your side."

Carly was so taken aback by such a serious statement that she didn't quite know how to respond appropriately. "I know that, Freddie," she said, a little more defensively than necessary.

"Good," he responded simply before leaving and closing the door quickly behind him. The room felt absolutely still and Carly felt more confused than ever.

"What the hell was all that about?" she asked aloud to herself. Should she chase after him? Was this a fight? She had no clue where any of this was coming from. She suddenly wished that she hadn't gone anywhere today. If she had just stayed in the cabin, there would be nothing to talk about, nothing to hide. She groaned and threw herself back on the bed, closing her eyes and rubbing the bridge of her nose. All she wanted was a stress-free wedding getaway. Now, all she wanted to do was getaway from the getaway. She wished she could someone conjure a mimosa out of thin air.

With a great sigh she rose herself up and decided that she was going to implement the best distraction from anything remotely productive or important: the Internet. She brought herself closer to her laptop and folded her legs under her in efforts to get comfortable. Reaching for the machine, she immediately noticed that it was not securely shut.

"That's weird," she said to the empty room. She was usually pretty good about shutting her computer until it clicked. It was an odd compulsion that she had acquired in college when a roach crawled in between the screen and keyboard of her old computer freshman year, surprising her when she returned and reopened it hours later. Frightened, she took off her shoe and bashed the bug until she was certain it had been killed, screaming all the while and ruining her keyboard. Since then, she had always made sure the laptop was closed shut. Gingerly lifting the screen, she was happy to not find any six-legged surprises waiting for her. Once the screen lit up, she notice something else odd: the e-mail from the Chuck Ambrose had been scrolled all the way to the end. Carly knew for a fact that she had left the screen scrolled all the way to the top when she made sure to add his e-mail address to her list of contacts. It was the last thing she did before closing the computer, she was certain of it. Between the laptop being open and the screen not being where she had left it, she was certain that someone has came back and used her computer.

And she was certain that somebody was currently grabbing a drink downstairs and thoroughly upset with her.

There's no way he didn't see that e-mail, she had decided. Carly couldn't help but feel annoyed by the fact that Freddie had been rummaging through her computer, but that feeling was immediately replaced by the shame that came with being caught lying, followed by the embarrassment she felt for thinking that his reaction had anything to do with Sam. She leaned forward and let her head fall to her hands as she let out a strangled groan. This trip was slowly turning into a big mess, and she had to be the one to fix it.


A/N: I'm sure many of you thought I had forgotten about this story and I'll be honest, for a while I wanted to. I had hit a mental road block, which led to me questioning my writing abilities and landed me into a bit of a self-pity party that lasted for three-and-a-half months. It's a slump that I'm sure everyone who attempts to write goes through and I'm happy to finally come to terms with it and to have located the energy to press on. I'm sorry to anyone who felt like they were left hanging. I think I just need a break to realize just how much I cared about these characters and about finishing this story.

In my absence, people still continued to read, favorite, and follow this story and for that, I can't express how grateful I am! You guys are wonderful! I hope that those of you who were reading before will come back and those of you who just started reading will stay tuned!

Again, thank you all so much. I missed you. :o)

Hollaatchyagirl,

Phunky