"It's possible that I might be going home tomorrow!" Sam told her friends excitedly.
"What? Really?" Freddie asked.
"Mhmm." Sam nodded in response. "That is of course if I can make it through the night and nothing stupid happens in the morning..." She added jokingly.
"Sam, that's great!" Carly replied.
"I know! Right?" Sam couldn't help but smile once more. "That deserves a fist bump, don't you think?" She exclaimed, holding out her right fist to her friends. Freddie gently bumped his with hers, as did Carly, making sure the motion was light so they didn't hurt their friend. The kids smiled at each other.
"Aww, I'm so happy for you!" Spencer replied.
"Thanks!" Sam replied as she looked over at him. Although she realized she had something important to tell him and her good mood faltered. "Oh yeah.." She looked down slowly. Everyone noticed the quick change in her excitement. "There's something I kind of have to ask.." She stated, not making eye contact with Spencer.
"Ask? Me?" He wondered. She nodded her head. "Ok, shoot."
"Well...when I was talking to my mom, she told me how it may be possible that she won't be released in time for her to come home with me, so she uh...kind of put me in your care." Sam looked up at Spencer cautiously. Just as he was about to open his mouth to say something, she quickly cut him off. "But you don't have to take me in! I mean, I have this Uncle Herman and he could take care of me and stuff, so you don't really have an obligation to take me home if you don't want..."
"Whoa! Motor mouth! Slow down!" Spencer gently told her. "Of course I'll take you in! How could you even question that?"
"But..." Sam trailed off looking down. "I feel like I'm imposing.." She replied sadly.
"Since when have you cared about that?" Freddie joked.
"Yeah." Carly nodded as well. "You barge into my apartment every day." She gave a small laugh. Sam looked up at them.
"I know...but now...I can barely even walk. At least when I barge into your house, I know I can pick myself up off your couch when I'm done sleeping." She gave a weak laugh.
"Oh Sam, is that what's bothering you? If you need help getting up and stuff, that's no problem!" Spencer replied. "Do you know how many times I've had to pick Carly up off the couch?" He looked over at his sister.
"Oh yeah?" Carly replied, looking her brother straight in the eye. "Well, remember all the times I've had to drag YOUR butt off the couch?" She asked as Spencer looked at her sheepishly. "And you're twice my size!" She exclaimed.
"See?" Spencer turned back towards Sam. "We have the capabilities to take care of you!" He replied happily. Sam couldn't help but chuckle. Picturing Carly attempting to drag her brother off their couch was a pretty funny mental image.
"But still..." Sam sighed. "I keep getting sick...and can't keep anything down. That's a pretty big inconvenience.." She started to say but was cut off.
"Stomach flu of 2006." Spencer stated firmly. Sam looked up at him oddly.
"What?" She didn't understand.
"The stomach flu of 2006." Spencer restated once more. "Carly and I were hit with it the same time that winter, remember?" He looked over at his little sister. She let off a small shiver.
"Yeah...not a fun time.." She added.
"Uh.." Sam replied cautiously, unsure of his point. "...So?"
"So..." Spencer imitated her tone. "We've dealt with tons of puke before. It's no problem. We can take care of you! Now stop worrying that little head of yours!" Spencer reached over and gently ruffled the hair on top of her head. "Because I'm taking you home with me, whether you allow it or not."
"Thanks Spencer." Sam smiled up at him.
"No problem, my little couch potato." He stated softly. Both of them let off a small chuckle. Just then there was a small knock on the door. Everyone looked over, wondering who it was.
"Uh...I'll get it." Socko replied as he and his brother were the closest. He turned around and opened the door to reveal Mrs. Benson. "Oh hi." He responded, recognizing her as Freddie's mom.
"Hello Mr. ..." Mrs. Benson wasn't sure of his name.
"Socko." He replied. "Just Socko."
"Uh hello Mr. Socko.." Mrs. Benson stated carefully. Freddie couldn't help but smile in the corner as he watched his mom try to stay polite although he knew she was confused at such an odd name.
"Samantha?" Mrs. Benson called over as Sam looked at her.
"Yeah?" She replied.
"There are two visitors out here to see you." Mrs. Benson stated as everyone looked at her oddly.
"Huh?" Sam replied. She then pointed to everyone in the room, silently counting her friends. 'Four, five...and my mom makes six..' She thought for a moment. 'That's all the visitors I should have..'
"They were wondering if they could see you now? Is this a good time for you?" Mrs. Benson asked.
"Uh sure, let them in." Sam replied awkwardly, looking over to Carly and Freddie and shrugging, showing them she had no clue who it was either. Mrs. Benson nodded in response as she disappeared from the room. There were a few seconds before two people walked in slowly. Sam strained her eyes to see who they were.
One of them was a man, she could obviously tell that. He had a beat up baseball cap placed over his loose brown hair and wore a standard gray jacket on top of a plain blue t-shirt. He had blue jeans and brown boots on. Next to him stood a small boy. Sam quickly deduced that the man was most likely his father. The little boy stood cautiously behind his father's leg. He had black hair and was wearing a red t-shirt with a race car on it, and black jeans with white sneakers. He was roughly six or seven years old.
"Come in?" Sam offered weakly.
"Is this an ok time?" The man asked, stepping in slowly as he realized there were quite a few people in the room and didn't want to disrupt anything.
"Um, yeah it's fine...it's just that...I kind of have no clue who you are." Sam replied sheepishly.
"Oh sorry!" The man replied as he took his baseball hat off and walked over with his son to her side of the bed. "I'm.." he was cut off.
"Hey wait! I do know who you are!" Sam replied in realization. "You're the driver of the ambulance." She stated as she remembered sitting in the elevator with him while she was strapped to the gurney. He was the paramedic who told her that he and his son were fans of iCarly. She also remembered telling him he could drop by with his son after surgery. Apparently his shift at the hospital was over, and he made good on that call.
"Yep, that's me." He replied with a small smile, holding his hand out to her. "Name's John Steward."
"Hi John." Sam smiled, as she shook his hand gently. "Thanks for um...you know, driving me here." She replied awkwardly. "I'd say it was a nice ride, but.."
"Say no more..." He gave a small chuckle. He then looked down as he felt a tug on his pant leg. "Oh yeah, this is my son Chris." Sam looked down at the little boy.
"Hi Chris." She smiled as he poked his head out from behind his father's leg.
"Wow!" He replied in a soft voice. "You're real!" He exclaimed happily. Sam couldn't help but laugh.
"Yeah, I'm pretty real." She replied. "So's Carly and Freddie." Sam pointed out her friends. The boy looked over at them wide eyed.
"You're all here?" He asked as Carly and Freddie nodded with a smile. "This is so cool!" He squeaked. "I love your webshow!" He responded with a smile.
"Thanks." Carly replied kindly.
"Yeah." Freddie nodded his head with a smile.
"Though, 'Tech Time with Freddie' was kind of boring...sorry.." Chris replied bashfully. Sam couldn't help but bust into laughter at this.
"Hahaha, ow!" She remarked, stopping abruptly as a jolt of pain shot through her stomach.
"Oh! Does it hurt?" Chris asked as he looked back at Sam.
"Yeah, a little.." Sam replied.
"You know, I had to go to a hospital once too." Chris smiled. "They took out my ton-sills.." He tried to pronounce it right. "I didn't really like it, but they gave me lots of ice cream." He smiled a toothy grin at her. "Do you get ice cream?"
"Well, I suppose I could if I wanted." Sam smiled. Of course she'd most likely barf it out later but he didn't need to know that.
"That's cool!" Chris smiled. "Oh yeah..." He replied softly, pulling out a small notebook and a pen. "Would it be too much if you could, um, give me an autograph? Daddy told me you might not be feeling up to signing one though, so it's ok if you can't." He stated shyly.
"No it's fine. I can sign." Sam replied. Chris smiled as he handed the pad and pen up to her. She propped up the pad with one hand and attempted to write down her name with the other one as she still felt a bit weak. "Sorry if it's a bit messy." Sam stated, realizing the letters came out pretty sloppy. She finished up her last name and handed the pad back to Chris.
"That's ok." He stated. "My teacher says I have messy handwriting too! I especially have trouble with my G's." Sam couldn't help but smile at how cute he was. "Also.." he looked over towards Carly and Freddie. "Would you mind..?" He held up his pad and pen to them.
"Sure, no problem!" Carly smiled as she took them from him and wrote down her own name. Afterward she handed it over to Freddie and he signed his own. He then handed the notebook back to the little boy.
"Wow!" He beamed as he looked down at all three signatures. "My friends are never going to believe this!" He murmured happily. "Thanks so much!"
"No problem Chris." Sam smiled as Carly and Freddie nodded their heads.
"Alright.." John put his hand on his son's shoulder. "We don't want to get in your way, so we'll leave now. But thank you so much for allowing my son to visit. It really does mean the world to him." He stated as Chris nodded his head enthusiastically.
"You're welcome." Sam replied with a smile.
"Bye Sam, Carly, and Freddie!" Chris waved as his father led him towards the door. "Oh and Sam?"
"Yeah?"
"Eat as much ice cream as you can before the adults take it away from you!" Chris called out. Sam laughed.
"I'll try!" She replied back. The two Stewards smiled and waved before they left the room. As soon as the door clicked shut, Carly turned around towards Sam.
"Awwwwww..." She cooed. "What a cute kid!"
"I know right!" Sam exclaimed. "Now why couldn't he be our biggest fan instead of...ugh...Mandy!"
"Well..." Freddie started to say. "Even though I don't agree with his tastes..." He stated, referring to the boy's dislike of 'Tech Time with Freddie'. "...I have to admit. He was somewhat...kind of...really adorable." He smiled.
"Insanely adorable!" Sam corrected him.
So this was just a small chapter to show that things are still going good for Sam! xP
Also, I want to describe why I wrote Sam's characterization like that in the beginning of the chapter with her and Spencer. I always felt that if Sam's character was really put into a situation like this, she would actually feel more awkward about imposing on her friends this way, then when she usually does because she wasn't doing it of her own accord. Know what I mean? Like, she has no trouble barging into Carly's house and sleeping on her couch if she can be all aggressive and abrasive about it. But if she's weak to the point of not even being able to properly take care of herself, then she'd feel ashamed about being a burden to them. That's why I wrote that part in the beginning. It's just how I believe Sam would feel at that point. :P