Hey! Sorry it took me so long to update. Turns out this story isn't going to be as long as I thought it would be though, because it was moving slowly and I'm trying to speed it up a little. I guess that kind of triggered my stupid procrastination. Forgive me?

Okay loves, there is something I would like to make perfectly clear before I start with this chapter. Coketree20 has pointed out to me that I shouldn't tell you to criticize. And I just want to say that if you don't want to, you most certainly DON'T HAVE TO CRITICIZE. If you have criticism for me: great, it helps me to know what you guys are thinking and unlike with TV shows, I will most likely listen to your ideas and try and do what you guys want me to do. If you want to tell me you liked it: also great. I like hearing that too. If you want to tell me you hated it and want me to die in a fiery pit of despair: okay, well, that's a little harsh, but yay for reviews! If you have NOTHING to say to me at all: YOU DON'T HAVE TO SAY ANYTHING. If I told you I had reviewed every single story I read on this site, I'd be lying. If I told you all of my reviews contained constructive criticism, I'd still be lying. And I don't want to be a liar or to seem pushy. If I did seem pushy, that was the sarcasm talking. What? I use sarcasm? Okay, I'll stop now.

I would however like to thank the people who did criticize: I thank iLet it Rock (awesome ideas, as usual; a lot of this chapter was influenced by your ideas), King-Hedgehog, and yes, even you coketree20, although your criticism wasn't actually about the story itself. Oh don't be mad coketree20. Hey, wait! Don't leave! I'm sorry! Coketree? Coke? Cokemeister? Come back!

Disclaimer: Sadly, I do not own iCarly, or the souls of the people who are reading this story. *Sigh.* Maybe someday.

A/N: This chapter takes place a couple days after the last one. Just thought I'd clarify that so you don't get confused.

Freddie's POV

The hotel room was already bright when I woke up. I thought at first it was the sun and that I had overslept, but then I noticed the light was coming not from the window, but from the small bedside table lamp. In fact, there was no light coming from the window. I checked the clock. 3:49 AM. I moved my gaze to the other bed to see Sam, fully awake and she was…no…she couldn't be…Sam Puckett was…

"Reading?" I said. Sam looked up suddenly, startled by the sound of my voice. "What the heck are you doing reading? And at three-something in the morning?"

"Ah, shut up Fredwart. I couldn't sleep."

"So you chose to read? And since when do you have insomnia? I've seen you sleep through an MMA fight on TV with the volume all the way up."

"I just have a lot on my mind, okay?" I saw a tear roll down her cheek and onto the copy of To Kill a Mockingbird that was clenched in her hands. Wow, seeing Sam reading and crying? Something had to be up. I got up and went over to sit on her bed.

"What's wrong?" I said.

"Nothing!" She was usually a pretty good liar but this time I could tell she was faking it.

"Nuh uh, you wouldn't be up this late reading a book and crying if something weren't up. Now spill Puckett."

"I wasn't crying."

"Sam…"

She sighed, clearly defeated. "It's just, well we've been searching for a few days now, and the last thing we found was that stupid mustache you found back in Montana. We already reached the end of the Missouri River today, and I just don't think we're going to have any more luck following the Mississippi. I-I'm starting to feel like this is completely hopeless."

"They could just as easily be somewhere along the Mississippi River. The Missouri flows right into it, remember?"

"But we just keep narrowing down the places where we might find anything out as we get further and further along. The chances that we will figure out what happened aren't looking too good anymore. And besides, what if we find out that they really are dead? Is that really going to make us feel any better?"

"At least we'd know what happened to them. Besides, what have we got to lose?" I said, trying to sooth her with my calm-sounding voice.

"But what if we..." she sighed deeply and shook her head. "Never mind."

"What were you going to say?"

"I was just going to say…what if we do have something to lose."

"Like what?" I was confused.

"Freddie, have you noticed something, or rather someone a little strange since we left Montana?"

I thought for a minute. "Um…the one-eyed hobo at that gas station in Iowa who kept talking to all the red cars?"

"No," she said. "I mean…have you noticed something…a truck you keep seeing over and over again?"

"Yeah, mine."

Sam picked up a pillow and hit my arm with it. "Don't be a smart ass. I meant a different truck. An old blue Ford pickup truck. I tried to ignore it at first, but I swear I keep seeing it everywhere we go, but I can never get a good look at the driver. His windows are tinted pretty dark, but I can tell he is always wearing big sunglasses and a baseball cap. What if…what if he's following us?"

"Nah, I don't think so. My truck's not so nice that anyone would want to steal it and if he wanted to do anything bad to some teenagers I think he could've found someone else instead of wasting his time driving all the way down the country."

"But…what if he's after us specifically. My mom, when I was little and she was sober enough to form complete sentences, used to tell me and Melanie how my dad always said how tricky Dougland Smiddy was. She said that he would go after anyone associated with your dad, and he would stop at nothing until he got what he wanted."

"Sam, you don't actually think that Dougland Smiddy is following us, do you?"

"Well, I mean, I think it's possible. And it's not like we really know that much about him. Didn't you say you searched all over the internet for information about him and you found almost nothing?"

"We know Smiddy is dead! He died years ago!" I realized I was shouting and took a deep breath to calm myself down. "Look, you don't have anything to worry about. The police found Smiddy's body and everything. He's dead."

"But what about the truck that's been following us? Even if it's not Smiddy, it could be one of his cohorts."

"I haven't seen anyone following us. It's probably all in your imagination. Lots of people drive blue Fords. You probably just saw more than one of them."

"Yeah, I guess…" she said, though she still didn't seem convinced.

"Don't worry. We'll be fine. Now try and get some sleep." I got up and went back to my bed.

"Alright. Good night Dish Rag," I heard Sam say as she and I both settled back into our own beds and she turned off the lamp.

"Night Sam."

Sam's POV

We had just finished our breakfast at a small diner called Maud's and we were about to get up and head out the door when I heard Freddie say my name.

"Hey Sam?"

"Yeah?" I said, sitting back down in the booth.

"I was just wondering…I mean, we've been working so hard at searching and everything…maybe we could take a little break? St. Louis is only about half an hour from here and we'd be passing through it briefly anyway. Why don't we take a little time off and spend the day having fun there?"

"Why? What is there to do in St. Louis anyway?"

"There's the Gateway Arch that I've always wanted to see. I think you'd like going to the top of it. Plus there's a big park and a whole bunch of cool museums…"

"Ew, who wants to spend their day in a stupid museum?"

"Come on Sam, please? I think it would be a lot of fun. And we could really use a break."

"Fine," I sighed. "Just don't think you're going to drag me into one of your geekseums."

Freddie laughed. "Deal."

Mystery POV

I followed the children all the way to West Alton, Missouri, the place where the Missouri River meets the Mississippi. They hadn't found any more clues since the one in Three Forks, so things weren't looking too good for them. But they were getting dangerously close to St. Louis. I didn't want to have to hurt them. After all, that might draw attention. But if they spent too much time there, I knew something would have to be done.

Freddie's POV

It was late in the afternoon and the sun was just about to start going down. Sam and I sat next to me in Forest Park, our legs dangling over the edge of an old dock as we dipped our toes in the cool water of some small pond there. I gazed out over the water, noticing how similar the color was to Sam's eyes. The rapidly setting sun even made the water sparkle like her eyes did when she was up to something. I suddenly realized I was day dreaming about Sam Puckett and shook my head to clear those thoughts.

"What are you doing Benson?" Sam asked, noticing me shaking my head.

"Uh…nothing. Just thinking."

"About?"

"How fun today was." It wasn't a complete lie. I had had a lot of fun today. And a lot of that had to do with Sam.

"Yeah, today wasn't half bad," she agreed. "That arch was pretty cool chiz. And I even kind of liked that art museum you ended up dragging me into even though I told you not to. But if you tell anyone I said that I'll bring you back here just to bring you up to the top of the arch and push you off." I looked at her and I knew she didn't mean her threat. Her lips were turned upward in something that was starting to look more like a smile than a smirk. I smiled back before looking back at the horizon. The sun was now about two thirds of the way hidden - one third by the horizon, the other by the giant arch that almost overwhelmed the city - and the sky was a mix of colors, dominated mostly by a soft purple. I looked down into the water which had changed color to match the sky and I got an idea.

"Hey," I said, looking back at Sam from the corner of my eye. "Want to go for a swim?"

"A swim? Are you insane Benson? We don't even have swim suits."

"So we'll swim in our clothes."

"I don't know…"

"Why not? When have you ever cared about messing up your clothes?"

"It's not that, it's just…I…I sorta, kinda…cmfff smfff." She turned her head to the side and covered her mouth as she said the last part.

"What?"

"I said I can't swim, okay?" She looked at me briefly and turned back away, folding her arms across her chest.

"Really?" She nodded. "Well, do you want to learn?"

"I don't think I can. To tell you the truth, I've always been a little afraid of the water."

"Nah, the Sam Puckett I know isn't afraid of anything."

"You don't know the half of it…" she mumbled.

"Come on, you only think you're afraid because you don't know how to swim. Let me teach you."

She bit her lip for a second before responding. "Okay."

I smiled as I took my phone out of my pocket and quickly dropped myself into the water, beckoning her to do the same. She still looked a little hesitant. "It's okay," I said. The water is shallow right here. You'll be able to stand." She then slowly lowered herself into the water beside me. Where the water only came up a little above my waist, it came all the way up to her chest. "Good," I said. "Now let's go deeper."

"What? But I thought we were going to stay in the shallow water."

"You can't tread water in water this shallow. Don't worry. I'll be right there the whole time."

"Okay…"

I grabbed her gently by the waist and we walked towards the deeper middle of the pond. Before long the water was up to my chin and I had to tighten my grip on her because her legs could no longer touch bottom without the water covering up her nose. "Okay," I said to her as I moved from facing her to her side, still holding onto her waist, "Now just relax and start pumping your legs like you're on a bicycle." She did as I said. "Good, now move your arms back and forth like this." I showed her with one arm as I kept the other on her back, just in case. She started to slip beneath the water but caught herself just in time.

"Hey! I'm doing it!" she said excitedly. "I'm…woah!" she screamed as she started to lose her balance again. This time she didn't catch herself and her head disappeared into the now very deep water that we had moved into while treading.

"SAM!" I yelled and dove beneath the water to get her. I had her up above the water's surface in a matter of seconds, my arms wrapped around her protectively as she coughed up water. Her body was pressed up against mine, and our faces were very close together. What happened next was all kind of a blur, but the next thing I knew, Sam and I were pulling our lips apart out of the kiss she had just given me. I stared at her for a moment. "I think that's enough swimming for one day," I said, and we made our way back to the dock.

We sat on the dock, shivering in silence before she finally turned to face me in the now dark evening. "Freddie...back there...I...I don't know why I did that. I didn't mean to. I guess I just got caught up in the moment with you saving me and all."

"Oh," I said, a little disappointed that what had just happened was only an accident. "Yeah, it's okay. No biggie." I was about to say something else when I heard a noise behind us. A car door slamming. We both turned around to see a man getting out of an old blue Ford truck. He looked familiar, but I didn't quite know why. Then he removed his sunglasses and baseball cap and I knew where I'd seen him before.

"Sorry to interrupt," said Officer Bob. "But you two need to come with me. You've been sticking your noses in where they don't belong."

"Isn't that the police officer from Montana?" Sam whispered to me. I nodded. "Didn't he have a southern accent?"

"Funny you should ask," said Bob. "You see, I only use that accent when I'm at the police station. When I'm after somebody, well, then my native New Jersey accent seems to come back." As he said this he reached behind his back for something.

"What do you want Bob?" said Sam, obviously aggravated.

"Just for you two to cooperate. But I think as long as we are having this little get together, you should call me by my given name." He then pulled out his hand gun and pointed it straight at my head. "Call me Dougland."

Dun dun dun! Sorry, that's all for now! You'll just have to wait 'till I update for more. See you later! Thanks again to iLet it Rock for all the great suggestions! You do indeed rock.