Chapter 14: Game Over

Disclaimer: One day Fox was walking in the woods. He was hungry. Not hungry for food, mind you, for he had stopped and feasted on a field of cute and cuddly rabbits, who had not run, because all they knew to do was be cute and cuddly. No, Fox was hungry for entertainment. There was no fun in the woods, not even when Bear did his finger puppet show. Fox thought it was derivative and uninspired and did not care for the times he had been the finger puppet. But then high in a string of ivy, Fox saw it: hanging enticingly-iCarly. Fox jumped to get it. He took a running leap. Nothing. He tried climbing a tree and jumping. Without success. It's probably stupid, Fox said to himself, and sulked away, never noticing the ladder lying in the tall grass. But it wasn't stupid, and all the animals enjoyed it, except for Bear, who hadn't been told about it. But he had a special plan for finger puppeting that night, and he knew just the animal to help. Do you know who that was, Fox?

It had been two days since Freddie and Sam had slept together in his bed. When he woke up to see her still in his arms, he couldn't believe how happy it made him. He got up and made her breakfast and brought it to her. When he woke her, she called him her housemaid, but smiled at him.

She left, and Freddie didn't see her again until they had rehearsal for iCarly. She greeted him amiably when he came in, a strange occurrence in itself. Usually she made sure to insult him or was friendly. This time, she just nodded at him and said, "Freddie". They went through rehearsal, and as soon as it ended, Sam left. She didn't even give him a chance to talk.

"What did you do to her, Freddie?" Carly asked.

"What? I didn't do anything."

"She hardly spoke tonight if it didn't have to do with something we rehearsed. You must have done something."

"Maybe you did something," he said. "We haven't almost lost iCarly twice because I got into a fight with her." Great, now I'm snapping at Carly.

"Freddie-" She looked hurt.

"I'm sorry, Carly, but so she didn't talk. I don't know why you think that has anything to do with me."

"Because there's something going on between the two of you, and the two of you aren't sharing with me. I thought we said there wouldn't be any more secrets."

"No, Carly, you said there wouldn't be any more secrets, and you forced us to agree with it. I don't tell you everything that goes on in my life. Neither does Sam. And neither do you. The only time this 'secret' thing comes up is when you want to know something."

"Freddie, don't be mean to me, please. You know I just want-"

"Yeah, Carly, I know, you just want what is best for us. And I appreciate that, I really do. But that doesn't mean I necessarily want you to decide what is best for us."

"You really have been hanging out with her. You're starting to sound like her," Carly said. She had moved closer to him, standing with her hands on her hips. He knew if he hadn't proved to her a few years ago that he was stronger than her, she probably would have already held him down until he agreed to do whatever she said.

"I'm sorry if you think that, Carly. I just said what I feel."

"Freddie, won't you please tell me what's going on? You guys never talk to me about anything. I hardly ever see you anymore."

"What? Are you jealous?"

"Yes! You and Sam have something going on, and you're like Sam-and-Freddie, and I am just left out in the cold, and I'm afraid that somebody will get hurt, and then I'll have to pick up the pieces without really knowing what's going on."

"Well, it's nice to see how much faith you have in us, Carly. I don't know why we wouldn't want to share everything with you."

"Freddie! Stop. I just don't want Sam to be hurt."

Freddie looked at her. "You think I would hurt Sam?"

"I don't think you'd mean to, but you're stronger than Sam-"

"You obviously haven't been on the other side of her fist."

"I don't mean like that, Freddie. Bruises heal. The way Sam can get hurt won't."

"I know," Freddie said. "I have to go."

Well, that worked out well, Carly thought, throwing herself down on a bean bag. What was going on with her friends?

The next day, Freddie waited at Sam's locker for her to appear. She saw him and started heading the other way.

"Sam!" He ran to catch up with her. "Sam, what's going on?"

"Oh, hey, nub. Nothing going on. Just places to go, people to be."

"Sam," he said, bringing his voice to a whisper. "Why are you avoiding me?"

"Get over yourself, Fredward. Nobody's avoiding anybody. My whole life can't be about you, all right? Jeez." She stepped around him and walked away down the hall. He knew he should chase after her.

"What's going on, Freddie?" He turned to see Gibby looking at him. Freddie shrugged. What's going on? I wish I knew.

There were some other students in the hall. One of them, Phil Klassman, leaning against his locker, looked down the hall at Sam and turned to one of his friends, "I'd tap that ass."

Gibby frowned at him. Freddie looked at Phil and said, almost conversationally, "go fuck yourself."

Phil shot off the locker. "What'd you say, Benson?" He was about six inches taller than Freddie and leaned over him, trying to intimidate Freddie.

"I said that you should scoot up to that locker, bend over, and stick your fist up your ass...bitch." There was a giggling sound inside Freddie's head, which didn't surprise him, because he obviously had gone insane.

Phil stared at him. Then he turned to his friends. And then back to Freddie. If it had been somebody else, Phil probably would have already clocked him, but he was still trying to process that it was Freddie Benson who had just told him to fist-fuck himself.

"What's going on down there?" Mr. Howard yelled from down the hall.

Phil moved closer. "You're lucky, Benson. But don't think I won't get you for this."

Freddie nodded dismissively. "Maybe you will. Maybe you won't. But just think about this." He moved closer to Phil himself. "That girl you'd 'tap' has caused pain to me in ways a troglodyte like you couldn't even dream of, so if you think the thought of you beating me up will keep me up nights, think again. And think about what she'll do once she finds out what you said about her. I seem to remember you've had some experience with Sam Puckett's fists? I think the phrase 'crying like a bitch' came up."

Phil backed up. "You'll get yours," he said, pointing at Freddie, but his voice lacked conviction. Phil took a look at the witnesses who had seen him and Freddie interact, possibly weighing the embarrassment of Freddie Benson ranking him to the humiliation of another Sam Puckett ass-kicking. He left without looking at Mr. Howard's glare.

"Ouch," Freddie said. He turned to Gibby, who had pinched Freddie's cheek.

"Sorry. I just wanted to make sure you weren't an alien wearing a Freddie mask."

They walked down the hall a bit. "So, Sam, huh?" Gibby asked.

"Gibby."

"Hey," Gibby said, holding his hands up. "No need to threaten me. What you told Phil to do isn't in any of my volumes, and I'd be happy to keep it that way."

"Sorry, Gib. It's just-"

"Not a problem. Love makes us all a little crazy." Freddie shook his head. He needed to talk to Sam.

Sam skipped last period, Freddie found out. This might be his chance to talk to Sam without Carly around. He knew Sam would be at the Shays' apartment. So he left class early; the teacher never noticed him leaving.

Spencer wasn't home when Freddie got there. He went into the studio, and Sam was sitting on the bean bag with her eyes closed.

"Sam."

She didn't open her eyes. "Well, if it isn't Freddie Benson, Ridgeway High School's own hallway fist fucker."

"Sam, we need to talk."

"Come to collect your reward for defending the fair maiden's virtue. Although, I guess we both know there was nothing to defend. Just the way you like it, I'm sure."

"Shut up, Sam."

She was up and to him before he had even finished saying it. "You want to say that again, Benson?"

"I said for you to shut up, Sam. Stop trying to pick a fight with me, and talk to me."

She shrugged. "Nothing to talk about. It looks like Freddie's going to win. I mean, unless we go to the later volumes about 'spicing up your relationship'. So where do you want to do this? Bean bag? Floor?"

"I'm not going to let you push me, Sam." She reached out and put her hand on his chest, and did push him.

"Seems you are, Fredward."

"Sam." She reached out again, and he caught her hand and held it in his own. She yanked it away.

"Are we going to fuck or what, Benson?"

"Sam, no-"

"Then I'm out of here." She walked past him.

"I never thought you were such a coward, Sam." She stopped.

"Trying to use reverse psychology on me so you can get some action, Benson?"

"No, Sam. I quit. I'm not playing anymore. You win."

"Sure. You always say that. Freddie the quitter. How many times has it been now?"

"Sam-" He reached for her arm, and she pushed him away, spinning on him.

"Don't touch me." She sneered at him. "I get it now, Benson. You realized you're not into girls. You weren't threatening Phil today; you were making an offer." She waited for him to crack, and he wasn't going to do it this time.

"That's a pretty lame attempt, Puckett. You must be seriously off your game. It's a good thing I did defend you, because the state you're in, Phil probably could have taken you."

"Nobody can hurt me!" she said, pushing him again.

"That's not true," he said. When she pushed again, he blocked her. "Sam, stop trying to make me hate you. It's not going to happen."

"Well, I hate you." Freddie's heart sank at the words, even as he understood she didn't mean them, that she was attacking with everything she had.

"No, you don't, Sam. You know you care about me. You know that-"

"What, that we're friends? We're not friends. If it wasn't for Carly, you and I would never be...anything."

"So what about all those times we've hung out together without Carly. I'm not talking about the tagging," he said, stopping her protest. "We've gone paintballing, bowling, to the movies, to dinner-all without Carly, and all without this game. And we haven't even really been tagging recently. We've just been together."

He saw her trying to think, attempting to turn his words against him. She smiled, a small twist of the lips with no joy. "I get it now. You realize that once this game is over there's no possibility of you ever getting laid again, so you're trying to play on my sympathies. Sorry, nub, end game is end game, and no more for you."

"You know that's not it, Sam."

"Oh, so what is it, Freddork?" she asked, mockingly.

"I'm in love with you," he said, no hesitancy in his voice.

She took a step backward. "What?"

"I'm in love with you, Sam Puckett."

"You...you're just saying that, so you can...so I will-"

"I'm not. I'm in love with you. I love you. I did before we even started playing this stupid fucking game. If anything, I've fallen more in love with you since." She opened her mouth, but nothing came out. "And it's not because of the sex that I'm saying that. I mean, being with you that way has been great, but do you know what my favorite part has been?"

She shook her head, her eyes wide.

"It was the other day, when I woke up and realized you were still there, that I had you in my arms. Sam, I've liked you for years, and I realized in the last year I loved you. Because nobody makes me feel like you do. You're the strongest person I know, Sam, and I admire that strength. But I also see below it, and see this really sensitive person who seems so fragile, and I do want to protect that person, even as I know she could easily kick my ass."

He starts pacing without realizing it.

"You're also like the smartest person I know, although you never let it be shown. And that like pisses me off, because I think if you would just apply yourself. Like when you found out about Gibby's DVDs-that was brilliant. You know, and you're just fun to be with. I know that no matter what, when we're together we'll have fun, even as I know there's a pretty good chance we'll get detention or kicked out of some place. Do you know that I've even started liking those stupid freaking nicknames. I mean, I start wondering what the next one's going to be, and then I start to think it seems like she puts so much effort into them, I wonder if that might just be her way to say that she likes me, too. And I do know you like me. I mean, I don't know that you like like me, or love me, like I love you."

He looked at her, but her face was passive. Her entire body was still. And he continued, somehow unable to stop now that he had started.

"And you're kind. Okay, no, not kind, not all the time. I mean, a lot of the time you're just selfish. You know, that's just Puckett, she just says whatever's on her mind. But then you just have these moments of kindness that I cherish, and then I think that's Sam letting me see the real her, and I feel like I can't say or do anything, because you'll realize you opened up and you'll need to do something like insult me or hit me. You know?"

He stopped inches from her, looked to her for understanding, shook his head when she did nothing.

"I love you, Sam. And I'm sorry if this game ruined our friendship. I'm sorry if me saying this ruined it. But I can't continue on this way. I can't continue having you in my arms and feeling like it's only a game that's keeping you there. And, yeah, I know, you're gonna say, 'well, you're just a girl, Benson. I told you I don't swing that way.' But I don't care if you think I'm a girl. All I care about is you." He stopped and looked at her. "I love you, Sam."

She looked back. "Uh-"

"Hey, guys, what's going on?" Carly came through the studio door. Sam turned to look at her, and then turned back to Freddie. He leaned over and placed a soft, chaste kiss on Sam's lips.

"There, a witness," he said. "You win."

And then he rushed past her and Carly.

"Sam, what was that? What's going on?"

Sam stared past her, at the place where Freddie had been.

A/N:

Thanks for reviews from: coiwy1, Jarik Kiray, zuni-yesi, LiTtLe-MiSs...SeDdIe, twelvex, Julefor, jesrod82, mamaluvsangst, axel100, Moviepal, Princess Starlight, Daniyell37, popcorn1001, Darsnider, Kechara7881, Geekquality, clarksonfan, and Cheruth.

LiTtLe-MiSs...SeDdIe: Okay, I'm just calling you LMS from now on; that's too hard to type. I might post two chapters today. I might not. But I may also be breaking chapter 15 into two chapters depending on how long it is. All I can promise (as much as I can promise anything) is that you will have at least one chapter to read by Saturday morning.

Julefor: I was trying to write this story without using some of the crutches I used in earlier stories (hence all the fires with Spencer in my last story do not appear here), but I just can't resist Mrs. Benson. She just makes everything more fun.

mamaluvsangst: I don't know. Do you think he's blown it now? Well, he's opened himself up to her; now all we can do is see how Sam will respond.

axel100: I hope I've shown that Freddie has serious doubts about the "just get it over with" thing, even as part of his mind still questions it. That's the thing about being in love with somebody like Sam; you're just not sure exactly where your footing is. Sometimes you have to make a stand and hope they appreciate it and you.

Princess Starlight: I read your sex scene in your story, and I have to wonder just exactly what was in this one that made you blush. I'm enjoying that some people are saying Freddie needs to realize what Sam is trying to tell him, while others are saying Sam needs to get a clue. Tag? Oh, that...uh, I doubt that three or four chapters back dropping it came to my mind. That seems wrong.

Daniyell37: Oh, man, did I forget the tag again? I can't believe I did that two chapters in a row. How reckless of me. I should go back and correct it. I'll get around to it.

popcorn1001: I know some people might not have her know that, but to me, even though she is often irritating, it's quite clear Mrs. Benson loves her son, and she knew about his infatuation with Carly. So it doesn't surprise me that she would pick up on the signs.

Darsnider: Mrs. Benson's rhymes were another thing I purposefully avoided in addition to Spencer fires.