A few days had passed since they had received the news that their annulment had not been successful. Carly had hoped that time would calm her down, but that had not been the case. Every time Freddie spoke to her, even about something as trivial as asking what type of smoothie she wanted, her mind was sent racing. She would analyze every movement, every facial expression, every word, convincing herself that deep down he resented her over the situation. Her heart would beat faster, her skin would get warmer and she would feel like she needed to disappear and catch some fresh air.

The only problem was that they worked so closely together these days that she couldn't avoid him. So instead she found herself offering him small tokens in a desperate effort to secretly show him that she was sorry.

That was how she found herself walking to the Skybucks down the road from her apartment building at 8am in the morning. At this time of day she usually preferred to make her own coffee, saving herself from needing to wake up earlier then necessary.

But this morning was different. She had decided to grab his usual order so that she could pass it to him the moment he entered her apartment, ready to head out together to the meeting with his attorney he had scheduled for the both of them to attend.

That had been the plan at least until she stepped through the door and caught sight of Freddie at the front of the line, chatting to the same server she had noticed flirting with him the other day.

He was leaning forward, elbows planted on the counter and… Oh. My. God.

He was flirting back.

"Don't understand what he sees in her," Carly muttered to herself as she joined the back of the line. She realised that she was probably glaring rather obviously at the perky blonde employee so she pulled her phone from her pocket and started scrolling through Instagram.

"Carly!" Freddie called as he turned to leave, two coffee cups balanced on a cardboard tray. "What are you doing here?"

"I was going to grab us both something to help us through our meeting," she replied looking up from her phone and trying to smile casually at him, "But now I'm just here for me."

Freddie held the tray out to her and shook his head lightly. "Early bird gets the worm," he teased. "The one on the left is yours."

"What if I wanted something different?" She asked as she grabbed the cup with a nod of thanks.

"You never do."

Carly held the cup in both of her hands as they walked side by side back towards their apartment building, sipping on the sweetened caffeine. They chatted casually, going over their plan for the meeting.

As they reached the building she let one hand go from the cup so that she could hold the foyer door open for the both of them. But instead she tripped slightly over her feet as she noticed the sharpie scrawl along the side of her cup - a phone number.

"You alright?" Freddie asked before she had a chance to keep walking and play off her stumble.

"Fine," she said as she tried to smile at him. "Um, I think that barista thought this was your drink though," she gestured to the writing on her cup.

"Oh, Izzy" he said, blushing slightly. "She gave me her number?"

"No, it's clearly a secret message asking for help! She's been kidnapped and is being held hostage behind the counter at Skybucks" Carly rolled her eyes, annoyed.

Freddie gave her a weird look, her tone of voice evidently not as relaxed and joking as usual, but ignored the outburst.

"She's really pretty, isn't she?" He grinned.

"I wouldn't know Freddie, I'm not into girls" she spat back and then tried to cover her sudden annoyance with a laugh,

They walked the rest of the distance to the elevator in silence. Carly internally questioning her sudden irritation at Freddie showing interest in the blonde woman from the coffee shop. If it were anyone else Carly would accuse them of jealousy, but it was her, and it was Freddie. She wasn't jealous! Just under-caffeinated.

She held onto her coffee cup tightly, clutching it to her chest in hopes that the caffeine would seep through to her skin, waking her up sooner and shaking the cranky feelings from her system.

They walked quietly to her apartment and entered together, taking a seat at the kitchen bench as they still had some time to kill before they needed to leave. Carly found her usual ability to fall into casual conversation with him completely absent and sat silently, finishing her drink and staring over her cup at him. When she had finished drinking she wordlessly handed the cup to him, presenting him with the barista's number, and rose from her seat.

"Should we head off?"

Freddie nodded at her. His face falling with confusion for just a moment before he smiled and joined her.

Their appointment with the lawyer went off without a hitch. The older man seemed somewhat amused by their situation but told them that they were by far the simplest case he had dealt with in a very long time. Uncontested divorces with both parties utilising the same attorney and filing as joint petitioners was rare. The fact that they didn't need any mediation to split assets made them even more of a novelty. He would essentially be acting as a glorified secretary handling her paperwork and ensuring it was all filed correctly.

They wouldn't need to meet with him again, just work through a collection of paperwork and pass it on for him to double check and finally submit to the courts. 90 days later it would all be official. In three months their marriage would be over.

With everything apparently as stress free as possible Carly couldn't get over the fact that there was something in the back of her mind which still felt uneasy.

Late Friday night Carly sat on her couch, huddled up under a blanket, watching Law & Order.

"Oh no," Harper sighed as she walked through their front door and spotted her. "You're moping, why are you moping?"

Carly glanced up at her and shook her head, "I'm not moping."

"Then why are you watching crime dramas?"

"Nothing else was interesting."

"Exactly!"

Harper perched herself on the side of the couch and removed her heels, massaging her feet after spending the night standing in a bar with her cousin.

"C'mon Carly," she pushed her shoulder and despite the lack of force behind it Carly tipped to the side before righting herself.

Carly sighed and pulled her blankets closer around herself.

"The whole Freddie situation has me feeling icky."

"Icky?"

Carly screwed up her face in distaste and whispered the word again.

"Icky."

"But I thought you had everything handled?"

"We do! But now we have to sit around for three whole months while we wait for it to all happen and it just makes me feel…" she shrugged sadly and repeated the word yet again. "Icky."

Harper moved from her spot on the side of the couch and sat carefully beside Carly, staring at her intently.

"And this 'icky' feeling has nothing to do with the fact Freddie is currently out with the girl from Skybucks?"

"No!" Carly bit back, much too quickly.

Harper raised a single eyebrow at Carly, silently judging her for her defensiveness.

Carly tried to slouch more in her seat, trying to look relaxed as she spoke again. "Pfft, why would I care about that?"

Sure, she had spent half the night fantasising about crashing his date just so that she could walk up to the perky barista, stick her hand out expectantly until she shook it and introduce herself. Hi, I'm Carly, Freddie's wife, it's lovely to meet you. That would be sure to rub the cheery grin off the girl's face. But her feelings were strictly because there was something about Izzy that didn't sit right with her, the girl was up to something!

"Well," Harper begun "For one you seem rather down about a divorce for a marriage you claim has no meaning to either of you and the last time we went to Skybucks you looked like you were trying to murder Izzy with your mind."

"I just think any woman who writes her number on a mans cup when he's buying two coffees can't have good intentions. For all she knew he could have been buying the second drink for his wife!"

"Well, technically he was buying it for his wife."

"You know what I mean! Freddie's been through a lot, I have to look out for him."

Harper sighed. There had been a lot of back and forth between her and Carly since she had found out about the Vegas marriage and although she had always suspected her friend had some unresolved feelings for Freddie she was now convinced her roommate was in complete denial. Carly was lying to herself and she had tried to gently coax feelings out of her, but it was time for some straight talk.

"I don't know Carly, you keep claiming that everything is strictly platonic with Freddie, and sure, it used to be. Maybe you even still believe that it is. But friends don't just get married on a whim without it meaning something. I think you both had a moment that night and now you don't remember it, but it's unlocked feelings that you're too scared to address."

Carly scoffed. It was ridiculous. Things were more complicated now that they were navigating the consequences of their drunken actions and it made sense that it would bring up emotions but implying that those emotions were because she had feelings for Freddie was totally uncalled for.

Carly didn't say anything in reply and Harper chose not to speak again, letting her words hang in the air for Carly to reflect on. After a moment of silence Harper rose and made her way to the kitchen.

As she opened the fridge and grabbed the pitcher of water their front door burst open and Freddie barreled in.

"How was your date?" Harper asked, glancing at Carly who promptly turned away, ignoring Harper's insinuating looks.

"It was great!" He announced excitedly as he sat beside Carly and pulled at her blanket, unraveling it so he could sit beneath it with her. "We're going out again next Friday."

Carly's heart sank as her fingers grabbed for the ring she now wore around her neck everyday. For the first time she didn't put her reaction down to stress or nerves or tiredness. Hearing that Freddie had a second date hurt. Everything was becoming confusing and scary.

By the next Friday Carly was a complete mess. Harper's words had been ringing in her ears all week.

To make matters worse Freddie had upped his usual number of visits to Skybucks and since they both worked out of the iCarly studio together, she really couldn't avoid having to tag along with him.

It was sickening, watching him grin from ear to ear as he chatted up Izzy who would always go out of her way to make sure she was the one who took their orders. Carly would hang out silently by his side, counting down the seconds until their drinks were be handed over and she could finally leave.

Ok, so maybe she was jealous. But it wasn't anything groundbreaking. Clearly the whole marriage thing had sparked a stupid crush and the moment everything was finalised she would be able to go back to her old life. The knowledge that they were technically married had simply made her mind begin to play tricks on her.

Carly and Harper had headed over to Spencer's for dinner around the same time she knew Freddie was leaving for his second date. Rich people were always so much more willing to order all the extras from takeout food restaurants. Plus, she needed a distraction to keep her mind from continuing to dig itself down into its jealousy hole.

Carly was sitting on the floor of Spencer's living room, going through a box of old photos that he had found in the storage unit in the basement.

"You were all so little!" Harper laughed, picking up a photo of Freddie, Sam and Carly from their early iCarly days. "What I would give to know you all back then, the shit I would have given Freddie for being so short."

"He's still short," Spencer said, looking up from the book he was reading.

"Not all of us can be giants like you," Carly retorted as she reached for another old photograph.

As she glanced down at the picture - her and Sam dressed as the farmer and the idiot farm girl - Spencer's front door opened and Freddie floated in.

"Another fantastic date," he sighed exaggeratedly as he sat down beside Spencer and kicked his feet up on the coffee table.

Carly, unable to stop herself now that she had at least acknowledged that she was feeling some jealousy, frowned and bit her tongue, choosing to ignore Freddie's gloating.

She dropped the photo and stood, walking towards the kitchen. Freddie sat, unpacking his date and chatting happily with Spencer and Harper. Carly remained silent, watching the interactions but never participating. Carly could feel herself getting more and more frustrated.

"Hey Carly," Spencer called, interrupting her from where she had been caught up in her thoughts. "I need a hand with part of a sculpture upstairs, can you come help real quick?"

"What, right now?" She asked, confused by the sudden request.

"Gotta act when inspiration hits," Spencer shrugged.

She followed him up the stairs and as they reached the landing of the next level Spencer stopped and turned to her, not walking any further.

He looked at her carefully, his eyes narrowed.

"So, what do you think about all that?" He asked, nodding his head back in the direction they had came from.

"Wh-what?" Carly spluttered for a moment before collecting herself. "Freddie and Izzy? If Freddie's happy I'm happy!" She shrugged, trying to appear calm but already knowing that Spencer had clearly picked up on something.

Spencer's next words shocked her, he clearly wasn't bothering with subtlety.

"You know, I used to think that you and Freddie would end up together."

Carly laughed, caught off guard by the comment.

"I think you're delusional Spencer."

"I think he's the first guy that ever meant something real to you."

"Well of course, we've been through so much together, but that doesn't mean…"

Spencer cut her off, talking over her excuses. "You're always happiest when you're with him."

"I was happy with Wes, and Beau before that…"

"They didn't last. Freddie's lasted, he's always been around."

"He's my best friend." Carly shrugged, hoping she could find a way to get out of this interogation and head back to her appartment.

"Shouldn't your partner be your best friend too?" He asked simply.

"You already know I agree with Spencer." Harper added, standing just below them on the stairs.

Carly pursed her lips and shook her head at both of them, pushing past Spencer and back into the living room where she sat silently, sorting through the old photo's again.

Looking at the photos of her and Freddie as kids didn't feel relaxing anymore, it felt stressful, pressure was building deep within her and she had an unnerving feeling if anyone said anything else to her again she would probably burst.

Spencer and Harper had a point.

It was Freddie, it had always been Freddie. It would probably always be Freddie.

And she was too damn scared to do anything about it. Because the alternative, it not working out, their friendship suffering as a result. That would destroy her.

It had been a month since the Vegas trip. Freddie was still seeing Izzy and Carly was becoming more and more irritated.

It had only taken her two days after Spencer's ambush on her in the stairwell to come to terms with her emotions and feel calmer about her realisation, but it took longer to swallow her pride, tuck her tail between her legs and let anyone else in on her feelings.

"You were right," she said over breakfast as Harper ran around the lounge room looking for her keys.

Harper paused and looked up at Carly. "I'm always right… what was I right about this time?"

"I'm in love with Freddie."

Harper stopped her search and instantly strode over to Carly. She wrapped her arms around her and held her tightly.

"Everything will be ok." She whispered.

Carly nodded but she didn't believe it.

Everything was not ok and she couldn't possibly understand how that would change.