No foreword, just the post. Enjoy!

Disclaimer: Last chapter, still don't own any of the characters.

Epilogue

To someone who was older and with a few years under their belts, 45 days wasn't actually that long. Sure there might be some simple psychology to it, and perception of time always came into play, but there's one type of person that time will always speed by for. Someone who was truly, truly, in love and enjoying every moment of their lives.

When Monday came around, Sam and Freddie felt an odd sense of loneliness the moment that the chain holding them together was removed. The weight of the chain that had hung between them having become just a part of who they were over the last month and a half. And as they left the court house under their new probationary punishment, Mrs. Benson couldn't help but notice that they instinctively fell into place side-by-side and within a chain's distance from each other.

That was probably a side effect of habit, those positions having become so natural for the two teenagers that they didn't even consider it as they walked behind her toward the car. Mrs. Benson still couldn't say for sure how comfortable she was with her son's girlfriend effectively living with them for the foreseeable future. After all, they were teenagers and even with her knowingly uptight attitude and protective nature, Mrs. Benson knew very well just what was going through the mind of budding teenagers.

It would take careful observation, a little bit of cunning, and, of course, a whole lot of trust before she was sure that she wouldn't come home one day and find that her son had accidently done something to ruin his future and his prospective college education. It was something she had resolved herself to be the watchdog of in the coming years. Mrs. Benson knew that with Sam becoming a permanent fixture in their house that her job was about to become immensely more difficult, even more so when the two were chained together. It would be her job to make sure that the two of them grew up to be more than a pair of horny, smitten, teenagers who lived in such confined quarters that they would believe they could get away with anything that they pleased to do.

Freddie certainly was smart enough to know that he couldn't slip everything past his mother, and Samantha had shown a certain level of cunning that Mrs. Benson hadn't actually known about prior to her living with them. Sam had certainly been wily and determined, there was never actually any doubt about that, but it was her innate level of intelligence that Mrs. Benson was truly shocked to see. With the right support structure, it was possible that she could rise up and get into a decent college herself, though granted it probably wouldn't be at the same level as Freddie could manage.

These were just a few of the things that had to be taken into consideration as the trio walked toward the car, at least, they were the things that were going through Mrs. Benson's mind. No, Freddie and Sam weren't having anything near as complicated of thoughts as they walked.

As Freddie walked he couldn't help but feel a slight sense of freedom, knowing that without the chain attached to his wrist he was suddenly free to once again do anything he could think of at a moment's notice. Not that he would of course, he had never been such a spontaneous person. But the fact remained that it was a possibility that he now had. That made it more strange that the one thing he really wanted to do, holding his girlfriend's hand, was something he had to be careful doing. Just because his mother had gone through all this trouble for Sam, didn't mean it left them an open door to do whatever they pleased.

The two would have to act more adult like now than they ever would have had to before. If the two were going to convince his mother that they could be trusted for her to keep living with them, they would have to show a level of responsibility that Freddie nervously wondered if Sam would be able to manage. He loved her, there was no doubt in his mind about that, but he knew just how strangely impulsive she could be. And one wrong move could spell the end of their precarious live-in relationship.

It was these thoughts that put Freddie into a daze as they reached the car and packed themselves in. If they wanted to be successful in this endeavor, if they wanted to prove that they could make this strange situation work, he was going to need a plan. It wouldn't have to be a complicated one, and with some time they might not need to follow it so exactly. But Freddie knew his mother, he knew that she was an observant and smart woman. They couldn't just get away with pretending while she was around, they would have to do everything as earnestly and perfectly as possible. It would be a stretch, Freddie knew that, but for Sam he would try. For Sam, he would do anything.

Sam wasn't having any major revelations, nor was she designing any intricate plans or strategies to tackle the next 45 days of her life or the months that would follow that. No, Sam was simply content. Content that in the last month and a half she had surprisingly fostered a new-found respect and trust from the mother of a boy she had once relentlessly bullied and tormented. Had Sam had any classes in psychology or actually cared in any introspective way, she may have known that her past attitude toward Freddie may have told her how much she had liked him back then. Hiding her feelings behind bullying and anger.

Yet the caring and oh so loving boy she had found herself in love with now held no grudge toward her for those actions, toward the torment she had put him through. It bears mentioning that none of this was actually going through Sam's head at the moment. No, the only thing going through her head, was wondering when she would be able to kiss her boyfriend again, and maybe how she would sneak over to his room in the middle of the night tonight to give him a proper good night kiss. After all, it would be even more suspicious if she didn't try to do that. That's what Sam told herself as Mrs. Benson turned the car on, ready to drive all of them to what was their little piece of home in this long and frankly odd life that they lived.

6 Months Later

"Freddie where's the Ham at?!" Sam called loudly from the Kitchen. Summer had come and to many of her teacher's surprise, Sam didn't have to attend even a single day of summer school. Of course, this was largely thanks to Freddie's hard work and tutoring, plus their study schedule that Freddie had been adamant about them following. It had seemed that Freddie wasn't joking when he had told the principal that he wanted to get Sam into Advanced Classes for their next school year.

"We might be out!" Freddie called back from his desk in the living room. iCarly was still a growing show, and their popularity had demanded a more hands on approach to the website administration that had taken him to new levels of exhausted that he never dreamed he would reach. Even with the help of a few friends that they had brought on to do extra behind-the-camera work to make sure the project flowed smoothly, their job had become immensely more difficult the more popular they got.

Little to the knowledge of Sam or Carly yet, Freddie was in the midst of forging ad contracts that could possibly start making them revenue and turning their just for fun project into a viable business model. Something that surprisingly hadn't crossed their minds to the point of them trying to make a small amount of money off of the fun project that had turned into just a bit of a job for the trio. Once Freddie had realized the possibility he had reached out to Judge McGurthy for some legal advice, knowing that he was the only member of the law community that he had had any prior association with. Small Business law wasn't exactly the Judge's specialty, but he had known enough and had enough friends in the community that he was able to point Freddie in the right direction.

"Well what the hell am I supposed to eat if there's no ham anywhere!?" Sam yelled back, clearly distressed. She emerged from the Kitchen a few moments later and walked up behind Freddie, wrapping her arms lightly around his neck and setting her chin on the top of his head, "Baaaabe, feeeeeeed me!" Sam complained, really drawing the words out for added emphasis. Freddie couldn't help but sigh as he saved and closed his work before Sam noticed and started asking questions. He wasn't exactly trying to hide it from her, but he wanted it to be a surprise for the two hosts of their show that they would soon be making money from it. But that would come later, they had plenty of time to get all of the details straight and even though he and Sam effectively had the rest of their lives to spend together, he didn't want to look back on his teen years and realize he spent all of his time working. No this was time he could simply spend with his girlfriend and love her.

"Let's go get some Pizza, maybe a meat lovers," Freddie said with a smile, knowing exactly how to please his girlfriend's carnivorous stomach.

And that's that. It's been a hell of a journey folks, but instead of taking the space down here I've written an Afterword that you can see on the next page. As always, R&R, peace ZBixby.