AN: Chapter 49! We made it, guys! Today, it's my one year anniversary of posting Fanfiction. Can you believe that? I know I can't. I'm like fangirling right now. I just wanted to say a massive thank you to each and every one of you. Every time you click on my story, my views go up. Every time you click the favourite button, my favourites go up. Every time you click the follow button, my follows go up. Every time you review, my heart melts. And every time you recommend my story to a friend, I want to cry with happiness. I love you guys so much. I love you so much that I'm posting two chapters of this story, finishing another story, and starting a new story today. I'm beaming so bright right now. I even bought a cake to celebrate. (There will be a picture on Insta later hopefully.) Let's see if we can make it to two years, guys. All your endless support is my oxygen now, and I'm so glad I have such loyal readers like you all even when I take four months to update. So, I hope you enjoy this chapter. x

(For the purpose of this chapter, iCarly never happened, and the show Catfish The TV Show have different co-hosts.)

Disclaimer: I don't own iCarly, Catfish The TV Show, or the Taylor Swift songs I know I was listening to while writing this. (Some things never change.) x

….

"OMG, guys! You're actually here!"

Laura Ainsworth and Jamie Gardner laughed at the blonde's reaction. They watched in wonder as she bounced up and down, before gesturing for them to come in. The apartment was very large and modern. Sam Puckett had made a lot of money after finishing her seventh novel, and she decided it was time to pay for a bigger place since her old apartment was getting too cramped after years of living there.

"Come in," Sam told the TV stars. Jamie held the door open for the two, and they all sat down on the plush white sofa in front of the TV. Sam's laptop was already loaded with the social media page on the coffee table.

"It's nice to see you in person," Laura told Sam with a smile. She flicked her brown hair over her shoulder. "Other than over a computer screen."

Sam nodded her head. "You too."

Jamie looked at Sam. He had seen this desperate, miserable look before, and he was determined to help her find answers. It wasn't fair. And he knew that after going through those exact feelings and questions himself. "Now, I hear you have a lot of explaining to do."

Sam gulped, before deciding to explain in full detail everything that had happened in the last few years. "Three years ago," she began. "I had a miscarriage. I think I told you this part on the video chat yesterday. The baby's dad, and my boyfriend of six years, left me after that. I was broken inside and physically couldn't get out of bed in the morning. My friend, Wendy, recommended a website called SplashFace. And I met this guy."

Laura smiled knowingly. "And that's where all the trouble starts."

Sam rolled her eyes amusedly, before sighing and continuing. "His name's Freddie. He works in the Massachusetts as a tech engineer for a TV company. He's sweet, kind, motivational. And better of all, he's hot. His pictures practically scream 'hook up with me'. Any girl would become weak at the knees in his presence. We started talking, and he charmed me with his personality. He was the reason I got out of bed in the mornings and the reason I wasn't heavily depressed anymore. I knew within only a few weeks of talking with him that I was falling in love with him." She paused for a moment to collect her posture. Her previously slumped back straightened, and she made sure to plaster a smile across her face. "And then, he disappeared six months later."

Jamie blinked. "Disappeared? Like, completely disappeared off the face of the Earth?"

"Yeah," Sam replied. "Completely. He wasn't on SplashFace or any of his other social medias. He wasn't answering my texts, calls, emails. Nothing. He was gone. Two months later, in which I had found out that my ex-boyfriend had been cheating on me for four years within those six years we'd been together, Freddie returned as if he'd never been gone."

"Ooh, it's getting juicy," Laura said. She had been on the show for a long time now, and she hadn't seen a case as simple as this one. They were usually so complex that she sometimes lost her head in all the drama and came close to giving up. But she didn't want to leave someone without answers when she promised she'd help them. Her and Jamie had started the show for that one reason: to help people. "But maybe, in all honesty, he felt guilty so that's why he left. Have you ever, like, video called him?"

Sam shrugged her shoulders limply. "I've requested calls a million times, but he never accepts. He just lets it ring, and ring, and ring. Then he acts like I never called. I just don't get it, you know? I've seen your show a lot, and I think this is a big red flag."

Jamie grinned. "The catfish victim is spotting obvious signs now," he said happily. "Why can't all people be like you?"
Sam smiled. "I'm one of a kind." She then cleared her throat and allowed her face to go back to an impassive expression. "Then, only a few weeks after we began to talk again, he told me he couldn't do this anymore. I ignored him after that, even all his apologies and excuses that it wasn't him who messaged me that day."

Jamie let out a breath of air. "Many red flags. Everybody knows that."

"But I decided to take him back," Sam said, hoping the two didn't blow. They were quiet as they hinted for her to continue. Laura knew that there was more she hadn't told them just yet, such as the real reason that she had taken him back. "He made me feel like I was the only girl in the world. I couldn't risk ruining that if it really was a friend on his phone. He was still the one person in the world I loved the most."

"And then what happened?" Laura asked. Anybody could tell she was now sucked into the story, and she was desperate for a happy ending even though she knew there currently wasn't one. There wasn't even an ending at the moment.

"We spoke for a year or so," Sam told them. "And I found out I wasn't able to have kids. Freddie was comforting to say the least. He told me he'd be there whenever he needed to talk, but not once did he offer to fly here to Seattle to meet me. Not once. I wasn't sure what was more hurtful. We stopped talking for a while - I had asked him to give me some space after the news. And then I reached out again a few months ago. We agreed to meet finally. I even flew out to the Massachusetts. But Freddie didn't turn up at the airport to pick me up like he promised. He messaged me later that night apologising and saying that he was held up at work, but it was too late; I was already on the next flight home. Then, a week or so after that, he said he was doing a TV movie job here in Seattle. And so, once again, we set a time and a place to meet. I was held up with a book signing myself, but when I finally got there, he wasn't there. I messaged him, but he didn't reply. He hasn't replied since. And so, I reached out to you guys."

Laura let out a soft chuckle. "Well, I'm glad you reached out to us, Sam. We'll do whatever we can to help."

Jamie looked at Sam, who nodded her head, and then he reached over to scroll through the social media account that was open on the laptop. "So, this is Freddie's SplashFace?"

Sam nodded. "Yeah," she said. "It's all here. I can pull up our messages, too, if you'd like." She pulled her phone out and scrolled mid-way through the messages as she watched out the corner of her eye the two who were now intrigued by the laptop screen. She handed her phone over to Laura, while Jamie continued to scroll through the profile.

"Hot guy with abs," Laura noted with a playful smile. Her eyes flickered as she read left and right through the messages. She could tell that Sam was falling in deep for whoever this guy was. "But, Sam, you do know there's a chance that this guy isn't who he says he is, right?"

"Yeah, I know," Sam said heavily after a moment. "I knew this when I signed up for it. If the red flags and hot profile weren't evidence enough, the refusals to meet and video call just added to my suspicions and gave me the impression that something bigger than fraud was going on."

One picture of Freddie flashed up on the screen as Jamie scrolled through with Laura watching him. Freddie was with a brunette girl on the picture, and they were both smiling while in their caps and gowns. It was posted seven months ago as a Throwback Thursday memory. Another picture showed next of him taking a selfie while shirtless at the gym.

Laura turned to Sam. "So this is when you fell for him?" Sam blushed, but she didn't reply. The crimson red cheeks were enough of a response to Laura.

Suddenly, snapping the three of them out of their thoughts, a baby monitor from beside Sam blasted loudly, a loud cry ringing around the room.
Sam got to her feet. "And, um, the thing I didn't tell you yesterday," she said, feeling the slightest bit guilty that she hadn't mentioned it sooner. "I adopted a baby girl just after Freddie hadn't turned up to meet me. I now have a daughter called Millie."

Laura beamed, giving the blonde a hug. "Aw!" she cooed. "That's amazing, Sam."

"Thanks," Sam said with a big smile.

Jamie stood up from his seat. "Right, while you attend to your daughter, why don't we go back to the hotel and see what we can find out?" he asked. "Would you be able to send us all the information you have?"

"Of course," Sam nodded, heading for the stairs. "See you guys tomorrow."

….

"Hi," Sam greeted, opening the door to the two the next day. Her mind had been spinning all night, and she struggled to get to sleep between the four hour gaps Millie allowed her before she began crying again.

"Hey," Jamie said, giving the blonde a hug. That woman had been through a lot. He pulled back and held the door open for Laura. "How are you holding up?"

Sam shrugged. "As well as I can be."

Laura nodded her head understandingly, a laptop under her arm. "Are you ready to see what we've figured out about this guy? We have a lot to tell you."

Sam let out a sigh. "Yeah. I'm ready for answers."

The three situated themselves on the two conjoined sofas. The laptop was placed in front of them all, and the camera crew along with sound and lighting were scattered around the lounge room.

Laura held a camera in her hand as Jamie clicked on a few open windows on the laptop. "So, first," Laura said, gesturing to the screen with one hand. "We went through his social media profile." She clicked on a picture which showed him with the same brunette girl Sam had seen in the graduation picture. "This girl appears a lot in pictures. Our suspicions were that maybe - as hard as it would be to hear - she's a girlfriend, or maybe a sister or best friend." Sam tried all she could to stop her face from dropping, but she couldn't help it. She felt deflated at the fact Freddie could've had a girlfriend all this time yet he never felt the need to mention it. "So, then, we reached out to her. Her name's Carly. She called us after we left her a message, and she confirmed that she does in fact know Freddie from back when she lived in Seattle. The two graduated here and then moved to the Massachusetts for college. The two have lived in the same apartment complex ever since."

"So he's real?" Sam couldn't help but ask. It was a surprise to say the least that there was a chance that he was real.

"Well," Jamie said. "And then we did some more digging." He dragged the image of Freddie at the gym into the search bar. Only Freddie's social media pages came up. That was a good sign, right? "His photos are originally, meaning Carly is probably telling the truth. But for all we know, Carly could be the catfish. That wouldn't be completely out of the question. She could've stolen the pictures from a friend or family member or old school friend."

"But what did I ever do to her to cause to want to catfish me?" Sam asked curiously. She honestly didn't get it. She wanted to believe that he was real and that this was all overthinking, but she had some doubt that she had managed to push back to the back of her mind.
"People have their different reasons," Laura told her. "And maybe Carly was lonely or maybe she...Oh, I don't know. All we know is that there's a chance that Freddie could be real." She clicked to another open window and found the phone number search her and Jamie had done the previous day. "Freddie's phone number is registered under Carly's name."

Sam was silent as she read the name on the screen.

"But we've learnt that most people do share phone plans," Jamie added. "It's not exactly uncommon, especially when they've been friends since high school." He watched as Laura pulled up Freddie's social media again. "And now, there's only one thing left to do."

Sam gulped, taking a long heavy blink. "To call him," she finished. She had seen the show many times, and she knew exactly what was coming next: they'd meet, and she'd realise how stupid she was for even believing he was real when it turns out it wasn't him this whole time.
Jamie left the room to call. His voice was heard faintly, telling the two that someone had indeed answered the phone, and then he walked back in the room with a light smile on his face. Sam looked up, hopeful. She watched cautiously as he sat down on the sofa again. Her mind was restless. What on earth had just happened? Had he agreed to meet?

"He's in Seattle," Jamie said quietly. "He's been here for the past two weeks for a job." Sam closed her eyes, and then when she opened them again, Jamie was looking right at her as well as Laura. Their eyes were both pleading. "We-We can meet him today."

….

Sam was silent during the car ride to the park where they were planning to meet. The fountain came in view, but nobody was standing there. Laura got out the car first, then Jamie, and the two waited patiently for Sam to get out, too. She didn't move right away. She wished to have her daughter in her arms in that very moment, but she knew she couldn't until this was all over when she got home. Millie was currently being attended to by Sam's twin sister, Melanie, back at the apartment.

She sat for a few minutes, circling her head around her neck to the point that it was now beginning to ache. Her stomach was tied up in knots as she finally stood up and closed the car door behind her.

"Are you okay?" Laura whispered to her, as they neared the fountain. "We can do this another day-"

"No," Sam said. "I need answers now more than ever."

Sam needed closure. And they all knew that.

The three stood, hugging their jackets closer to them. It was cold, harsh winter in Seattle. And Sam couldn't wait until she got home and could wrap herself in a warm fuzzy blanket with a hot chocolate to comfort her. The water from the fountain rushed down, and Sam found herself counting in her head the minutes as they passed by with anticipation.

"Sam," Laura said. The blonde snapped her head around to look at the brunette questioningly. Jamie's eyes were focused on the figure that was now making their way to them. "Someone's coming."

It was only as the person neared closer that Sam couldn't help the tears that rushed down her face all at the same time. "Oh my God!" she gasped. And then she found herself being embraced.

"Holy crap!" she heard Laura exclaim. "You're real!"

Sam pulled back, tears still fogging up her vision. But standing right in front of her was indeed the guy she had fallen in love with. "Freddie," she said softly, her voice a mere whisper. "It's really you."

Freddie smiled at her. "Hey," he greeted. "It's nice to finally see you in person, Sam. You're beautiful."

"So are you," she promised him, before being pulled into his embrace once more. She breathed in his scent of cinnamon and clean clothes. "You're really real. I'm still trying to get over this." She wrapped her arms around him tightly, and she silently hoped that he'd never let her go. Pouting when he finally pulled away, she watched as he shook hands with both Laura and Jamie.

"We spoke to a friend of yours," Laura told him. "Her name was Carly?"

"Yeah," Freddie said, nodding his head. "We've known each other since we were five." He then turned back to Sam, who was still struggling to register the truth of the situation. Freddie was a real person, and he was standing right in front of her. "I'm sorry for everything, for all the crap I've put you through."

Sam swayed back and forth, her hands on his hips. "Yeah," she said. "I'm sorry, too. That last time we were supposed to meet, I was held up at work, and then my sister called and told me that my daughter wasn't well and-"

"Daughter?" Freddie asked, raising his eyebrows. He hadn't heard this piece of information before.

"Yeah, um," Sam said nervously, playing with a loose string from her blouse. "I have a daughter called Millie. I adopted her a few months ago. I was meaning to tell you but the time never seemed right, and now, as you stand in front of me, I'm wondering what the hell I ever did right to deserve you."

Freddie frowned as he grabbed her into his arms. He lifted her off the ground, and she wrapped her arms around him affectionately. "Never say that," he told her quietly. "I fell in love with you, and I love you so much, Sam."

"I love you, too," she whispered.

….

It was later revealed as the two sat down in a restaurant as a first date, which was a gift from Laura and Jamie and the rest of the crew, that Carly had been involved in a car accident; and that was the reason why Freddie hadn't spoke to Sam for two months. Sam accepted that reason, and they agreed to no longer dawn on the past when they had a future to live.

The two moved in together a month later. Freddie decided that it'd be best if he moved back to Seattle, and so he moved into Sam's apartment with her and her daughter. Carly then moved across the hall of the apartment complex, and they were neighbours. Sam and Freddie then adopted a five-year-old girl called Claudia, and the family went on a trip around Europe. Freddie proposed to Sam on top of the Eiffel Tower, and the two got married in a converted barn which Carly's older brother, Spencer, owned and used to use an art gallery. Millie and Claudia were both bridesmaids along with Carly and Melanie and Wendy who were made co-maids of honours. Laura and Jamie came to the wedding, too, and they made a speech to the happy couple.

….

"I love you," Sam had whispered to her new husband, once the two had been pronounced now married and they had got the opportunity to kiss.

"I love you, too," Freddie had whispered back.

AN: So, what did you think? Did you love it? Did you hate it? And why can I all of a sudden smell vegetable stew? Oh, wait, yeah, I'm having stew for dinner. Sorry for such a random comment. :) I'm still beaming, by the way. I'm so happy that I've made it this far, and I'm so proud of myself. Thank you all once again for everything. I couldn't have done it without you. I started writing while I was in a dark place in my mind, and writing and reading is what got me through it. And then when I thought of that place again, it was like I was back there in the dark and alone. Writing is what got me through my days, through the days I didn't want to get out of bed, through the days of threats and mean texts from bullies at school, through everything. And I'm more grateful and thankful than you could ever imagine that I have you guys supporting me. I'm almost in tears now. It's getting too sappy and sentimental. Emotions aren't my strong point, that I can admit. I love you guys! Now, remember, reviews to me are like Sam and her ham. (Some things never change.) x