AN: Here it is. The long awaited iWin Her Back. Seriously I have been working on this since May - and this used to be the first fanfiction I ever wrote back in 2017 and at the start of the summer, I made it my mission to rewrite it and give it the ending it deserved. For some clarity, the first seventeen or eighteen chapters are from the original iCarly and then there's a clear switch into the new rebooted universe (which, no, I unfortunately did not know about back in 2017 aha and those chapters were written from scratch after a very good friend of mine, who I will give my sincere thanks to later on in the story, helped me to refine the main idea for the overall plot.) This also does not follow entirely how some iCarly events in the show went towards the end of the original series, but that's mentioned and cleared up in the relevant chapters.

Now, without further ado, I introduce to you my actual pride and joy: iWin Her Back.

Chapter One

With a week until the senior lock-in, it had almost been officially a year since the two had started dating. Except, Sam and Freddie had broken up after only a few weeks. So, Carly intended on making sure neither of them were reminded of that time during this lock-in, which involved having to keep them apart. This year's topic was "the environment," meaning each senior group had to do something relating to that topic or they automatically failed. Freddie, however, had other plans than Carly and had his heart set on working with Sam.

"Hey, Sam," an enthusiastic teenage boy said, bravely sitting down beside her while she was eating. With one glare from her, he was gone. Freddie chuckled from a distance before making his way over, sitting down in his place. Upon realising it was Freddie, Sam greeted him in her usual "hey, nub" manner and continued to eat. He rolled her eyes at her actions, no longer affected by her words. He'd grown out of being upset by her words a long time ago.

"How are you on this fine day?" Freddie asked.

Sam looked at him. "And you wonder why I make fun of you." He rolled his eyes for a second time and asked again. She just shrugged her shoulders. "I'm fine. The lock-in's soon."

"Yeah, I've seen," he said, hinting to the posters plastering almost every empty wall in the school. It was supposed to be big this year – the school had even pushed their budget for them to have a dinner beforehand. "Do you want to work with me?"

Her eyes widened. "Really? Me?"

"Yeah," Freddie said with a nervous laugh, rubbing the back of his neck. "Is that weird? You can punch me if you want." His comment made her smile in a sadistic way; he knew her so well, making her question for the first time in a long while as to why they'd broken up in the first place. She, however, shook the feeling away and reminded herself that he had a new girlfriend, Annabelle.

"You know, I won't contribute or do anything at all, right?" Sam asked, finishing off her small pot of jelly.

"I counted on it," he teased, opening his own lunch. Sam raised an eyebrow; she had never realised that he ate a packed lunch. "My mum thinks some school food contains ticks, okay? So, she doesn't let me have Meat Monday or Tater Tot Thursday."

Poor boy.

Carly joined the group shortly after, finding her seat opposite to the two. Her and Brad had been dating a month now, but they weren't quite "sit and eat lunch at school together" level yet. Though, as she got to the table, she could've been convinced if she didn't know better that Sam and Freddie were on that level – all hunched close to each other and laughing. "Hey, guys, what did I miss?"

"We're going to be working on the lock-in project together," Sam shrugged, informing her best friend of the development.

Carly was shocked at this. Her plan to keep them apart was already failing before she'd even started it. She just didn't wish for another bloodbath – or better yet, a make out session between the two, like last time. "Oh, really?" she said, acting surprised. "Have you decided what to do yet? Gibby and I have already thought of an idea for ours."

"No idea," Sam said nonchalantly.

Carly looked at Freddie. "Freddie, you got any ideas for yours and Sam's project?"

"Nope," Freddie hummed. "It's still early days, though. We have at least a week to figure it out and get the right stuff. What's with the hurry?" Carly just shrugged her shoulders and ate her own lunch, watching as Sam made fun of Freddie for having his sandwiches cut into triangles with the crusts chopped off. "She thinks I'll choke, okay?" he defended.

.

Two days later, the first sign of tensions began to rise. Freddie had invited Annabelle for that night's show, upon Carly's request. She wanted to get to know her guy best friend's new girlfriend and well, she'd heard rumours she was a huge iCarly fan and Carly wanted to talk to someone who enjoyed her show who wasn't trapped in the part of the fandom who were obsessed with shipping them together. So, Freddie had shot his girlfriend a quick text, inviting her for the show, knowing she was visiting family nearby anyway. She had messaged back an hour ago saying that she'd make it for seven. It was currently six pm when Sam stumbled through the Shays' apartment door, unaware of Annabelle's guest invitation.

"Sam, you look awful," Carly complimented, to which Sam replied with a sarcastic "thanks." "Have you showered?" She shook her head. "Did you even sleep last night?"

"Melanie's coming home," Sam said bluntly. "So, no. I did not sleep last night."

"Wait, really?" Carly grinned, getting excited at the news. She hadn't seen Melanie since the group were freshmen. At Sam's reaction, though, she paused her excitement and frowned. "Hang on, why aren't you excited? Your sister is coming home!"

"Yay," Sam said dryly. "Everyone expects me to be excited, but honestly, Melanie and I do not get over at all, Carly. She's such a prissy princess who just wants to come here for Build a Bra. I do not want to spend four hours in there and do not want to be on a first name basis with all the staff members again. And mom always tries to pretend she's actually a good parent when Melanie's around. She actually cooks and cleans – why doesn't she make that kind of effort for me, huh? She goes all "ooh, yes, Melanie, I'll do anything you want." God, sometimes I wish I were the one who went to the la-dee-da posh school."

Carly sighed. "You know you're still free to crash here whenever, right? But I don't think I'll be able to refrain from seeing Melanie at least once while she's here."

"Go ahead. I won't stop you."

Carly stepped out the way of the stairs and gestured to them. "Go take a shower and run a comb through your hair. It looks like something died in there." If it were anyone else who had said to her, they would've received a broken arm in response, but Sam grinned and high-fived her best friend.

"I've taught you well, Shay," were Sam's parting words, before she went towards the elevator.

"It's still jammed," Carly told her, so Sam headed for the stairs instead. Carly followed behind her and found a clean towel in the cupboard at the top of the stairs, placing it by the door for her.

"Why didn't you shower at home?"

"Mom hasn't paid the water bill again. Seventh time this year."

"Don't take too long," Carly said to her, turning to leave the room. "We have to start the show in less than an hour."

"Okay, okay, mother." Sam hurried herself in the shower, before changing into some clothes of Carly's that said friend had laid out for her. The top didn't fit right over her bust but she made do anyway and went up to the studio, expecting Carly to be there waiting for her. She wasn't. Although, she set her eyes on the brunette boy setting up the tripod. "Hi," she said gently, not to scare him.

He turned around and smiled at her. "Oh, hey. No nickname then?"

"I'm too tired," Sam told him with a shrug. "My sister's coming home."

"Oh? Your imaginary twin sister?"

"Oh, not this again," Sam scoffed, having to bite her tongue to stop herself being ruder to him. "She's real, alright, Frednub? We dated for crying out loud. My mom told you about Melanie. I would not dress up in pink and tie my hair back for any kind of money, so why would I do that just to prank you?" Freddie had to admit that she had a point. "Plus, we swore never to kiss again, so why would I have kissed you while pretending to be her?"

Freddie frowned. He hadn't told anyone that Melanie had kissed him. "Hang on, how do you know we kissed?"

"Because you said, "we swore we wouldn't do that again" to her," Sam huffed. "Bit of a giveaway that we kissed. She came home and interrogated me for an hour until I told her what happened. Then I had to give up my day to go to Build a Bra with her so she wouldn't tell Carly."

"Okay, I'm sorry, I'm sorry."

Sam hummed to herself and flopped back on the beanbags quietly, minding her own business while Freddie continued to set up, occasionally looking at his watch to see when his girlfriend was due to arrive. He had another twenty minutes until the show was supposed to start anyway, so he took his time in testing the TV screen to check it was moving okay and that the laptop could switch between both cameras, something like that – Sam had asked but wasn't really paying attention to his response.

Meanwhile, Carly was heading up the stairs when she saw the two in the studio. They were getting on well, surprising her hugely – they hadn't bitten off each other's heads yet. That had to be a good sign, right? Then she was hit with an idea better than her idea to construct an entire replica of the ocean and all the plastic cluttering it for the lock-in project, but she knew her plan had only a thirty percent success rate and a seventy percent she would be killed for what she was going to do rate.

She took the thirty percent chance and turned the key in the lock, before silently creeping away from the door and avoiding the few creaky floorboards, knowing how loud the sound echoed. She did it because she knew that if there was any hope of the two working together successfully for the lock-in project, they had to get along first. And locking them in the studio together seemed like a good idea to her. If Sam got mad at her at a later date for the event, she could just simply use the excuse, "I wanted to help you boost your GPA, so really, I did it for your benefit." That is, if the plan worked.

.

"Carly!" the blonde screamed, kneeling at the door with a bobby pin she'd found in the props box in the lock. She had been trying to pick the lock for the past five minutes, ever since she'd ordered chicken and tried to leave to pay the delivery man. Freddie also was desperate to leave after having received the text from his girlfriend he had been waiting for telling him she was outside.

"Have you tried the elevator?"

"No, Freddie, I haven't," Sam said, her voice dripping with sarcasm. "I've been trying to pick the lock for nothing."

"I was only asking!" Freddie defended, rolling his eyes, not understanding why she was being so harsh. He wanted to leave too but he wasn't being rude about it. Then, to his relief, and giving him a tiny ounce of hope that he wouldn't be trapped there all night with her, Carly appeared through the glass. He crawled across the floor for dramatic effect. "Carly! Please help me. Get me out of here."

"She isn't going to kill you, Freddie," Carly laughed, her voice pretty muffled. Spencer had installed soundproof glass ever since the incident with Sam overhearing about Freddie not having kissed anyone and her humiliating him in front of the entire internet, and well, after the incident of Spencer walking in on the two making out while they were dating. "Look, guys, I'm doing this for your own benefit," she said, her voice now raised. They had to squint and move close to the door to be able to hear her. "We have ten minutes till the show. In that time, I want you to be civil and talk whatever is going on out. Then, Sam, you'll get your chicken. And, Freddie, you'll get your chick." Carly mentally gave herself a pat on the back for that one, proud of herself. "Who by the way, is really cute. She's currently on the phone to her mom in the lounge."

With that, Carly left, leaving the two to drown in their misery.

Sam let out a loud moan. "I'm so hungry. I bet my chicken is getting cold."

"At least Carly paid?" Freddie inputted.

"Oh, Freddork, she was going to do that anyway," Sam said with a scoff. "Since when did I pay for my own food?"

"Right, should've expected that."

They were quiet again.

"I didn't know your girlfriend was coming tonight," Sam said quietly after a while. "You and Carly didn't mention anything. Is that why you're dressed so fancy? You never make that kind of effort just for the show, well, ever."

"Yeah. Annabelle and I, we had reservations to go to Pini's afterwards."

"Oh," Sam said, feeling her heart sink. "Okay." Even after the breakup, she still considered Pini's to be their place. It had always been their place. When she felt sad, she thought back to the exploding trains, cheese overloads, mental hospitals, first kisses, and courtyards. Those times with Freddie were her best times, and she just hoped his new girlfriend knew how lucky she was because she was dating a really nice guy, even if Sam never told Freddie that. "What's she like?"

"Really sweet," Freddie said, going off into a small rant. "And beautiful. She's just everything I didn't think I wanted in a girl." That used to be her, Sam thought to herself, biting her lip. "She has this cute nose twitch when something touches her nose. It's so cute. And her parents, they're the sweetest. They treat me like their son honestly. She also gets along with Carly, which is a huge dealbreaker."

Sam just nodded her head, not replying. She could see it in his eyes – he loved this girl. With everything he had. She'd seen this in him before: when he was dating her. "She sounds like a second Carly," she joked.

"Ah, no, she's too, uh, normal to be like Carly."

Another pause.

"Do you love her?"

"It's still early days, Sam," Freddie told her, chuckling. "I don't know yet. Maybe one day."

"Sounds to me like you do."

"Sam," Freddie repeated, sterner this time. "I don't know."

Sam raised her hands as if surrendering. "Sorry, was just trying to make conversation. Don't get your pants in a twist."

"Sorry."

Sam just shrugged and crossed the room in search for her hidden packet of fat cakes. She found it under the colourful sacks they had used for a fake commercial once. Without a second thought, she shoved a whole one in her mouth, much to Freddie's amazement. He had seen her eat quite a few things like that, but he could barely eat half a fat cake without feeling sick let alone a whole one all at once.

"You know, it's a dealbreaker that Annabelle gets along with you too."

Sam looked at him, dubious. "Why?" she asked, almost scoffing.

"Because you're my best friend too," Freddie said as if it were obvious. "Hey, don't give me that look. We've been friends for years, and heck, who cares if we dated and that it didn't work out? You're still just as important to me than Carly is." He whispered the last part in case there was a hidden camera nearby which was how Carly was making sure the two were being civil, "Even more so."

"Really?"

"Yes, Sam, really," Freddie nodded. "You're different, and trust me, I don't mean that in a bad. The best kind of different. I don't know what I'd do without you in my life." She sat down beside him near his tech cart, knees pulled up to her chest. "I must ask, is that Carly's?" He gestured to the red top, which Sam pulled up in an attempt to cover more of her chest. "Hey, no, it looks fine. Just isn't your usual style."

"It's tight and horrible," Sam said, scrunching her nose up in disgust. "I might just get in one of those sacks at this point – that would be more comfortable for me."

Freddie couldn't help but laugh at her comment. He had missed this truly: having a laugh with his best friend never felt this good until it hadn't happened for a long time. Since the breakup, it always seemed to Freddie that Sam considered hanging out with him as a chore. Then when they were kidnapped for a second time by Nora, and the fencing match commenced, Freddie had pulled Sam back in fear of them being sharp and hurting her. She had been harsh towards him for that trip, especially after he had said "at least Carly cares about me." He knew that wasn't true, but he couldn't take what he'd said back once he'd said it. So, he instead just acted coldly back for the rest of the situation. Then they went back to their usual ignoring each other's presences until just last week when suddenly, something had changed, and Sam genuinely wanted to talk to him.

Their thoughts seemed to be similar, as Sam piped up with, "I do care about you, you know."

He nodded his head. "I know, Sam."

"Things have just been…I don't know, strained, I guess, since the breakup," she admitted. "Shit's been so weird. Like, I don't know what I can and can't talk to you about now. Part of me wants to ask how your model train meetings are going, or how your Aunt Cathy is, and even what that little thing you plug into your laptop which connects to your camera is. But another part of me thinks all those topics are out of bounds now."

"Hey, you can ask me anything, okay?" Freddie told her with a smile, placing his hand over hers reassuringly. "Just be like, "yo, Frednub, what does this do?" or, "what's happening with that stain on your carpet? Has your mom got it out yet?""

"Okay, I feel like that stain question should be something you'd be asking me."

He laughed. "Okay, yes, true. Also, speaking of which, you said about your sister—"

"Did you compare my sister to a stain?"

"What, no! Your mom just reminded me of her."

"Aw, what a shame! Wanted to convince Mel she was adopted."

Freddie gave her a look. "I'm sorry to be the one to tell you this but you're twins – playing the "you're adopted" card is a bit harder when, well, it's genetically clear that you're not."

"Okay, Mr Smarty-pants. Don't dork up my pranks," Sam said, grinning as she lightly elbowed him in the side. He laughed again and allowed her to lean her head on his shoulder, like they did when they dated. Except, this time, she meant it in a friendly way – well, he thought she did at least. She looked up at him. "Has it been ten minutes yet? I am starving."

"Sam…I…I have something to tell you."

9:57

9:58

"Yes, Fredwad. Spit it out."

9:59

"I—"

The key in the door turned, and Carly came bursting in first, grinning. Annabelle soon followed but was gently pushed out the way by Sam, who ran downstairs for her bucket of chicken that she just hoped wasn't cold.

"So, how did it go?" Carly asked Freddie once he had stood up and greeted his girlfriend with a hug.

He shrugged. "She was the usual Sam," he told her. "Starving. But we got along well, so I think you're safe from a broken arm."

Carly let out a relieved breath. "Oh, thank god."

Sam returned shortly with a half-eaten bucket of chicken, as she swallowed a piece. "Alright, mama's done. Let's get this show on the road." She passed the bucket to Freddie, who just rolled his eyes and laughed, throwing Sam her remote, before she rushed to the front of the camera, not even glancing at Annabelle once. Not even acknowledging her presence.

Carly found her place next to her best friend.

"Okay, in five, four, three, two—"

"I'm Carly."

"And I'm Sam."

"And this is iCarly!"