AN: Hello and welcome to chapter four! Enjoy this Monday update aha. I had my first day of college today and I honestly met some really amazing and accepting people. Although, it is a train journey and long walk away so I am absolutely exhausted. Today was a seven and a half hour day, hence why the late update but when I slowly adapt to my new sleep pattern and timetable, updates should be more regular. Anyway, anyway! Please enjoy the chapter. It may feel a bit hurried and fast-paced at times but please stick with the process aha and make sure to leave a review if you enjoy!

Chapter Four

Upon getting back to the Bushwell, they stepped through the puddles on the lobby floor. Lewbert was mopping and started yelling at the group for getting his floor wet, so they hurried into the elevator and were relieved when they got to the Shays' apartment door. Spencer was holding a large robotic arm, connecting it to a sculpture which looked like a mutant frog with glowing red eyes – it was clear what he had been doing while the gang were busy at the lock-in.

"Oh, hey," Spencer greeted the group. "So, who was right?"

"Okay, there's been no powercut—" The lights above them flickered, teasing them. "God, I swear if you go out, I will whack you with my butter sock." The universe must've heard her plea for sanity as she threatened an inanimate object, and the light didn't flick again.

Spencer sighed, having to drop his arm. "Carls, come hold this for your brother. I have to wait for the glue to dry." Carly did so, and Spencer went over to the kitchen. "I've been holding that for seven hours."

"Seven hours?" Freddie frowned with a light gasp. "What? What have been doing all that time?"

"All night telemarketing channels," Spencer said. "Oh, by the way, Carly, in the next two days, I'm having an arrival of two multi-functional blenders and a hundred rubber ducks." Carly wanted to facepalm, but she had her hands full with the heavy robotic arm.

"Does anyone want a blender?" Carly offered. She waved Spencer over and whispered, "How much?"

"Two hundred and eighty-nine dollars. Half price."

"Two hundred and eighty—" Carly repeated to the others as if she were a market seller, before pausing and looking at him. "YOU SPENT TWO HUNDRED AND EIGHTY-NINE DOLLARS ON TWO BLENDERS?"

"…each."

"Right, get out," Carly huffed, pointing towards his room and dropping the robotic arm. Spencer dropped his head and obeyed her, going towards his room.

"Oh, hang on, Sam, your sister is upstairs."

Sam frowned. "What, why?"

"Your mom is in Las Vegas again and the downstairs of yours flooded, so I picked Melanie up early this morning. She's been resting in Carly's room since, what, three am." Sam sighed, now understanding why her phone had been vibrating in her bag since three am. She went for the stairs and right to Carly's room just as Spencer left his room.

"Soooo, how did it go?" Carly asked Freddie. She had asked Gibby to clear out the fridge and freezer for her because the power cut would mean that the food would've gone off anyway. She grabbed her cooler bag that she usually took on picnics and managed to fit most of the fresh food in there. "You and Sam, I mean."

"Oh, right. We completed the app," Freddie shrugged. "Finished it while you were freaking out in Gibby's arms at around one am. Although…I do have something weird to show you." Freddie hadn't dropped his bags off next door yet because he knew that his batshit mother was going to freak out over the storm; he was just surprised she hadn't been calling him religiously since the storm had started to check he was okay. He unzipped his laptop bag on the coffee table, opened the laptop onto the Mood Face app and called Carly over.

"…oh." Carly rubbed her temples. "Let me guess, you did this on Sam?" Freddie nodded his head, causing Carly to groan. "Oh, Freddie. You really have to stop looking for trouble, man. I think of you as a brother but seriously, you can really dumb sometimes."

"What?"

"Sam…think about it. She's been hanging around you for days now, doing whatever you do. She even copies things you do and uses cutlery now. She even third-wheeled on that cinema date with you and Annabelle just so she could be close to you," Carly pointed out. "Don't you see it?"

His thought pattern matched hers and they both came to the same conclusion.

"You don't think…"

"Yes, Freddie, I think exactly that," Carly agreed, before telling him to close the laptop screen unless Sam came downstairs. Gibby then appeared, reminding the two of his presence, and he bid them a goodbye, claiming his mom was downstairs and waiting for him. Carly thanked him for his help and showed him out, and then she closed the apartment door. "Look, Freddie, you have to let her down gently, alright?"

"Wait, what? Why?"

"You have a girlfriend," Carly frowned. "Remember? Annabelle? Ring a bell?"

"Oh, right…I didn't tell you, god," Freddie sighed, head in his hands. "Carly…you might need to sit down for this." Carly gasped but did sit down.

"You broke up, didn't you?"

"I broke it off with her because I just, I don't think she's the one I like. I think I was just trying to replace my idea of my perfect girlfriend with anything but what she is…and I think I have to accept the truth now." He rubbed the back of his neck nervously. "I just don't think it'll be that easy, you know? Sam isn't just going to be like "oh, of course, Frednub, yes, I love you too," is she? She'll probably ask if it's a joke and whether I find it funny and it could result in my arm being broken."

"Surprisingly, I don't actually think she's as harsh and violent as when we were in middle school. She can be rather…lovable."

Freddie smiled at her comment. Yes, yes, he was fully aware of how brash Sam could be but also how caring and soft she could be. One time, he remembered when they were laying on his bed, his mom working the afternoon shift, and she blew an eyelash off his face. He had laughed softly at her action and then she kissed his cheek, then the other one, and then his lips. Then of course, in a Sam-fashion, she had threatened to break every bone in his body if he ever told anyone what had happened. He didn't see how it was a big deal that people would know she was soft and that she liked kissing his face, but then as he laid in his bed alone that night, he had realised that she didn't want anyone to know that really, she was a vulnerable and soft girl who broke down her walls occasionally to show her boyfriend some love. As she always told him, loving someone was the biggest weakness you could ever have.

And in this moment, Freddie felt the weakest he ever had.

"So…what do I do?"

Then said blonde came bolting down the stairs, but she didn't stop. Instead, she slammed the door open with such force that it was a surprise the door didn't fall off its hinges. She ran through it and out of sight down the hallway, followed by her sister calling her name down the stairs, before the other twin appeared at the bottom of the stairs.

"What happened?" Carly frowned.

"I—I don't know," Melanie said, her voice shaky. "She just, she just bolted. Got a text and then—then ran out."

Freddie went right to the door, threw his jacket on, and then left after her, his car keys clattering in his hands. He was gone before Carly could remind him of the storm outside. Ignoring Lewbert's rude yelling, he was out of the lobby at a record speed and got into his car, pulling out the parking lot before he could even realise what he was doing. His seatbelt clicked in place, and he used the speed limit as a target, driving through the streets in search of the girl and her blonde locks. His head was spinning truly. What could've caused her to run like that? That is, if what Melanie had told them were true. And more to the point, where was she going?

.

The sky had clouded over, rain relentless. She watched the puddles form on the pavement. As she ran through the streets, the streetlights had been turned on to help the few brave enough to coordinate their ways down the street with the current weather, making her feel less lonely, despite the absence of people. Ever since her sister had left, she felt lonely. She had Carly and of course Freddie, but the absence of her family growing up…was starting to catch up to her. Everything was catching up, so she ran faster until it wasn't her running anymore; the air wasn't fighting her and moved out of her way.

The light grew dimmer, as she felt everything blur around her. The cars splashed through the puddles with their headlights blinding, her few tears disappearing amongst the small rain drops. She couldn't tell whether she was crying or if it was just rain running down her face. She crossed the street, hair dripping wet and clothing drenched – she had left her jacket on Carly's bed.

Another car passed her by and came to a stop ahead of her. "Sam…"

Freddie. Of course, it was. But right now, she couldn't face him, so she turned back around and ran back the way she came, hearing the heavy footsteps which seemed to be following her. She took the next right onto the main street, shops passing her in a blur, and the downpour almost knocked her to the ground as it pounded on her back and hair. Everything felt heavy. She felt like a water-damaged laptop which couldn't be used anymore; she felt like she wasn't needed. Freddie had moved on and got a new girlfriend – granted, they were no longer together, but he was a good-looking guy, and it wouldn't be long till it was someone new. Carly was going to be going to an ivy league college mid-august, and her sister would be going again, too. Everything was moving too fast for her.

She came to a standstill in the middle of a road, to which Freddie quickly ran to catch up with her. She was just standing there, eyes closed, either not caring or failing to move as a car came racing towards her, the windscreen wipers not being fast enough to clear the way. Then as her eyes opened, her body froze, shocked. She couldn't move. The driver would've easily missed her and gone right over her if Freddie weren't to do anything.

Freddie cursed under his breath, and quicker than Sam could acknowledge, he had grabbed her waist and threw the two of them to the other side of the road. With a groan, the sharp impact caused Freddie's arm to whack the concrete – he could practically hear the bone breaking, but he didn't care and just held Sam to him while she caught her breath back. She stayed there for a second in his arm and tried to fathom what had happened; had she really just come that close to her death? Her head rolled to look up at him, and he had now sat himself up, trying to catch his own breath as he came down from his adrenaline rush.

He had saved her life.

Neither knew what to do next, didn't know whether to get up or say anything. So, Freddie had to take charge, but upon trying to put his hand down on the floor to get himself up, he wanted to cry in pain. Sam noticed this and managed to work up the courage to stand, before helping him up and allowing him to rest against her.

"Thank you," Sam breathed quietly.

He nodded his head, taking her hand in his unharmed one. "Wasn't going to let you die, was I, Puckett?" he said gently. She hummed in response and asked if he was okay. He just shrugged his shoulders, well, decent shoulder, trying to play it off. "I'm alright, Sam." Her name. "My car's parked just down the street. Let's go back to the Bushwell."

"No, Freddie." His name. They only ever said each other's names when it was serious. "I think you need to go to the hospital." She let go of his hand to touch his injured arm, trying to prey his jacket off him. He huffed and refused, claiming she was just fussing and that he'd be fine, but she pleaded with him for her to just take him to the hospital.

Much persuasion later with the threat of her calling his mother, Sam got him in the car and drove him to the hospital's emergency room. He checked himself in and was seen instantly, being considered high-risk.

"What happened?" a young nurse recited, and Freddie explained the situation to her. She just nodded and noted down the key information, before spinning her chair around to come closer to the two. She asked for Freddie's arm, feeling around on the skin and hearing his quiet hissing through his teeth. "Where does it hurt?" Once he'd identified where it was hurting, she referred him to the x-ray department and directed him and Sam down the hallway. She told him that if it were broken, he would put into surgery that day, making Sam's face drop and cheeks pale. "Your boyfriend will be fine," she told Sam, reassuring her with a kind smile. Freddie would've laughed if he could at Sam's shocked expression.

"Oh, we—we're not together!"

"Oh, I'm sorry," she frowned. "I shouldn't have assumed. You just look very scared. I can assure you that your friend here will be absolutely fine. Although I've only been a nurse for a short amount of time, a few years at best, nobody I have seen has had life-long injuries and struggles from a broken bone. Please don't worry. You did the right thing by bringing him here – I bet he put up a right fight." Sam agreed. "Men can be stubborn. My boyfriend is the same. Almost broke his leg last year while we were on holiday, but he refused to be a wimp and let me take him to the hospital, so I got his mom on the phone who threatened to drag him home by his ear if he didn't listen to me."

"Sounds like Mrs Benson," Sam snickered. Freddie had to agree. His mom was very protective of him and until he was around eleven, he was scared of her.

"Oh, why is that name so familiar?"

Freddie spoke up. "My mom works part-time here, not that you would believe that with the number of hours she works. Works in the emergency room actually."

"Brown hair, quite short, a very, uh, interesting woman?"

"Yes, that's her," Freddie nodded.

The nurse chuckled. "Yes, she talks about her son a lot. Calls you her little boy."

"Kind of embarrassing when I just turned eighteen."

The woman excused herself to speak to the consultants in charge of x-rays, and Freddie looked at Sam, seeing the pale look in her face. "You don't like hospitals, do you?"

"Smells like death," Sam told him bluntly. "But it doesn't seem like you like them either, considering how you reacted at the very idea of coming here."

"Just seems like a scary place to me," Freddie shrugged.

Part mocking, part genuinely caring, Sam put an arm around him and said, "I'll protect you."

Soon, he was called in, and Sam was asked to wait outside. Freddie hugged her, promising that he'd be okay, and then he disappeared into the x-ray room with the same nurse who had walked them there. In all honesty, he didn't want to leave her while she was in that state.

Sam waited for some news in the waiting room, and she watched as Carly and Melanie piled in, wet from the short journey from the car to the entrance.

"How is he?" Carly asked, biting her nails anxiously.

"Could be a broken arm. He's in x-ray now," Sam told them, feeling unbelievably guilty. It was an unfamiliar feeling to her as she used to cause people pain and she couldn't count the number of times Mrs Benson had taken Freddie to the emergency room, following one of her son's Sam-caused injuries. "He'll be okay, won't he?"

Melanie sat the other side of her sister, Carly the other side. All three took each other's hands. "He'll be fine," Melanie promised. "How did this even happen?"

"I—I just, I froze in the middle of the road. Freddie threw me out the way and he must've hit his arm on the way down. We were both laying on the concrete for a bit before realising what had happened. I was really stupid, should've just stayed on the pavement. Now he's hurt all because of me."

"Hey," Carly said sternly, squeezing her best friend's hand. "This isn't your fault. It's nobody's fault. Do you remember when he jumped in the way of that taco truck for me?" Sam nodded. "For the longest time, I thought it was my fault. I blamed myself. But it wasn't either of our faults. Wrong place at the wrong time. So, don't start blaming yourself, Sam. Just be grateful he was there and saved you."

The rest of the afternoon consisted of the girls waiting around, Melanie filling them in on what was going on at boarding school. Sam barely listened ever since a doctor had informed them that Freddie was going into surgery – not only because it was her sister talking, but also because her ears were too busy listening to the argument going on in her head between her brain and her conscious. Of course, she blamed herself for what happened, and she was just praying that Freddie was okay and that it wouldn't be a permanent injury. If he were hurt forever, she would never forgive herself.

A different doctor approached the group long after six pm. "Immediate family of Freddie Benson?"

Carly had already had to persuade the nurse at the main desk not to call Freddie's mother, who was listed as an emergency contact. God knows what would've happened if his mother was to find about this before he had the chance to explain himself. "Kinda," she told the guy. "Friends, aha." She pointed at Sam. "Sam was the one who rushed him to the hospital when it happened."

The doctor gestured to the door. "I can allow you to go in to see him now." He opened the door for the girls, Melanie politely saying a "thank you." Sam even caught her twin winking at the poor young man who looked fresh out of med school – typical Melanie, she thought. "He's just woken up from surgery but he's still on some strong pain medication, so no overwhelming him or loud behaviour please."

Sam entered the room first, relieved when she saw Freddie sitting up in his hospital bed, eating a small cup of jelly. "Oh, thank god," she gasped, hugging him instantly. Surprised at the attention, Freddie hugged her back with his good arm, the other wrapped tightly in a white cast. "Are you okay?"

"I'm okay," he promised her. "I told you I would be."

She rolled her eyes, as the other two girls walked into the room, Melanie still batting her eyelashes at the doctor, who was now busy checking the clipboard at the end of Freddie's bed.

Carly hugged the boy too, glad he was okay. "You had us worried, Freddie," she scolded. "Next time, would you mind not getting into another incident involving a vehicle? I think you should just be wrapped in bubble wrap."

"If my mom got her way, I would be."

Sam scoffed. "That's about right."

"I haven't met the famous Mrs Benson yet," Melanie inputted. "She sounds very, uh, impulsive."

"Not the right word, Mels," Carly laughed.

A little while later, Freddie discharged himself, despite the numerous doctors telling him he had to stay overnight – he knew, though, that if he stayed overnight, his mom would "shit a brick" – and Sam drove him back to the apartments, promising to come back for a check-up in a couple of weeks. Melanie and Carly followed behind in Carly's convertible and took a small detour to the Chinese restaurant Carly knew that Sam and Freddie both liked. It was rare to find a restaurant that they both liked, so Carly was grateful for the small family business and picked up the takeaway she had ordered before they left the hospital.

"You think they'll get back together?" Melanie asked.

"Can't say for sure. Your sister is very, very, very stubborn when she wants to be and neither of them are letting up about all that's happened between them. The other day, at the lock-in, I think I interrupted a moment between them. They were inches away from each other but in my "I think I'm going to die" state, I just pushed the two apart. Damn, I'm really stupid. Should've just let them kiss and got it over with."

Melanie grinned. "You know, Carly, we just have to think reasonably here…they're clearly not going to do it themselves, so all they need is a little push, do you agree?" Carly matched her grin and agreed, just as they pulled into her usual parking spot. The rain had subsided, but the group had already been told to prepare for another downfall overnight. "Come on. Let's go inside before the sky decides to spit at us again."