Harper generally lived life with a no regrets attitude. She liked to live life to its fullest and getting wound up by things that had already passed didn't allow for that to happen. But realising that the wedding videos had been leaked to the public because of her, even if it was unintentional, was something to regret.

It wasn't something to sit and dwell on though, she needed to take action.

Immediately after reading the latest article and texting a string of apologies to Carly and Freddie she opened snapchat.

"Who even uses snapchat anymore?" She muttered to herself, shaking her head as she judged her drunken decisions.

It didn't take long to solve the mystery, it was an incredibly simple case, a third grader could probably do it. Her recent chat list had three names sitting at the top, all with identical open red arrows and a little bit of text which read 1 month ago sitting underneath, she had clearly sent these messages at the same time.

Carly.

Freddie.

And Roxy.

Roxy, her least favourite cousin.

But why had she sent Roxy, of all people, the wedding videos? It didn't make any sense.

She sent another quick text to Carly and Freddie, letting them know she knew who had leaked the videos, and opened the app again. She checked to see if any of the wedding photos or videos had been saved to the app, hoping that maybe she would find something she could pass on to her friends, but found nothing. Then she opened her chat with Roxy and counted the opened messages - there were definitely more open messages then videos which had been leaked to the public, clearly Roxy was sitting on more content.

She still had no idea what had prompted her to send the snapchats to her cousin but at least she now had some answers.

Harper opened her contacts app, selected Roxy's number and waited for an answer.

The last month had been difficult for Carly, but the last 24 hours had been a whole different ball game. iCarly had been popular since she was 13 so she was used to being recognised in public from time to time, used to having fans who would talk about her and her life online, even used to being the occasional topic of gossip magazines and blogs. But she had never experienced anything to the level of the reaction her and Freddie's marriage was receiving. The worst part was that fans were genuinely excited, sending messages of congratulations and she was sitting behind a computer screen reading them and knowing that not only was everything untrue, but that she wished that it was true.

Carly and Freddie were sitting on Carly's couch, scrolling through the multiple articles, tweets and videos which were currently circulating about their situation and jumped as her front door swung open.

"I knew it!," Spencer yelled as he barged into her apartment, brandishing his phone in the air. "I knew you were in lov…"

He froze before he could finish the word, noticing Carly's wide eyes and Freddie sitting beside her, instead he changed tact, feigning offense. "No invitation to your wedding? I raised you!"

"And you!" Spencer added, spotting Freddie for the first time, "I don't even know what to say to you! I thought we were friends."

Carly glanced at Freddie, giving him a resigned look as she stood and crossed the room, grabbing Spencer's arm.

"Nope," Spencer said, pulling out of her grasp. "I don't want to be touched by a liar." He hissed the last word as if it was dirty.

Carly ignored him and reached for him again, pulling her with him to the couch.

"Sit" she said, waiting with her hands on her hips until he obeyed her command.

Once he was sitting, arms crossed over his chest and muttering under his breath Carly launched into an explanation, detailing the accidental marriage, the failed annulment and the fact that they had already filed for divorce.

"We decided not to tell anyone because eventually this will all be over and it wasn't worth dealing with everyone's over the top reactions" she said the last part pointedly, gesturing towards him where he still sat with his arms crossed and a frown on his face.

"What over the top reactions?" He asked, slowly letting his arms drop to his lap and trying to look casual.

Carly rolled her eyes at her brother.

"Who else knows the whole story?" He asked suddenly, a glimmer of mischief crossing his face. "I'm the first right?"

Before Carly could answer, Freddie's phone began to ring.

"It's Gwen," he said before accepting the call.

Carly and Spencer watched as Freddie spoke into the phone in hushed tones, repeating the same story Carly had told moments prior. After hanging up he sighed, rubbing his temples.

"Well she's annoyed." He said.

She gave him an apologetic grimace and nodded.

He had a healthy relationship with his ex-wife, they had gotten to a point where they actually considered each other friends and worked well as a team to co-parent Millicent. Not informing Gwen about their situation had been a mistake. It wasn't that she was owed any information about his relationships, but raising a child together required honesty. Their whole day had been filled with reactions from friends and family upset that they hadn't been told about their relationship. And they were starting to realize that despite there being no real relationship to tell people about, not letting those closest to them know about the situation had been a mistake.

Spencer suddenly perked up, looking between the two of them. "Please tell me you had an Elvis impersonator officiate the wedding!"

Carly groaned and grabbed her brother's hand, pulling him off of the couch and then pushing him towards the door.

"Have you seen the videos?" She asked.

He nodded.

"Then you know just as much as we do." She held the door open for him and promptly closed it in his face.

"Well that's everyone I think." Carly said as she walked back to the couch and sat by Freddie.

"Not everyone." Freddie shook his head. "Izzy's been silent all day, and then there's Millicent."

Carly's eyes grew wide.

"She hasn't sent me any messages yet so I don't think she knows. I'll pick her up from school and it might be best if you steer clear of our place tonight."

Carly nodded.

Millicent hadn't picked up on the news during the day at school, which was a relief, being able to tell her the whole story rather than unpacking gossip made things easier.

The truly shocking part had been just how well she had taken the news.

Carly had done as she promised, not leaving her apartment to avoid running into the child who already had a love/hate relationship with her. But maybe only an hour after the time she normally got home from school there was a short knock on Carly's front door.

"Carly," Harper yelled from the living room, "There's someone here to see you."

Carly threw the magazine she had been flipping through down on her bed and wandered out to the common area of her apartment.

She stopped short when she looked towards the door and found Millicent waiting expectantly, a very confused Freddie waiting behind her.

"I need to talk to you," Millicent said, arms crossed and all the attitude of a teenager radiating out of her. Carly really did feel for Freddie sometimes, the girl was only 12 but she acted like a mini adult.

"Sure," Carly answered, waiting for her to continue.

"Alone," Millicent added, glancing expectantly at Harper and Freddie.

Freddie shrugged and stepped back out into the hallway but Harper didn't move.

"It's my apartment," she said.

Millicent stared at her.

"You can't just kick me out of my apartment," she muttered as she also stepped out into the hall and Millicent closed the door.

"Just for the record, I'm not calling you mom." Millicent said as she strode further into the living room and came face to face with Carly.

Carly couldn't explain it but she felt a cold, uncomfortable sensation as the child looked up at her.

"Good," Carly shrugged, 'I don't expect you to."

"I don't know what exactly is going on between my dad and you but I need you to know that he may act all happy and carefree but he's still a little broken and if you break him any further… well, you don't want to know what I'll do."

Carly gulped, Millicent may have been small but she was intimidating.

"That's the last thing I want to do."

"I know, but sometimes it happens anyway," Millicent's face softened and she smiled at Carly. "For whatever reason you both spend all day working together and then spend all evening together too, so I know you're both really close and I guess…" her voice got quieter as she finished her sentence. "I don't want you to break either."

Carly had been about to speak back but bit her tongue, acknowledging the kind words Millicent had said to her weren't words she directed towards Carly often.

"By the way, I still think you're old and uncool."

"I wouldn't have it any other way."

"Just be careful with him please, you and I both know he can be pretty hopeless when it comes to relationships."

Carly watched as Millicent turned and left. She knew she should say something, to promise her she had nothing to worry about. Reiterate that they were just friends. Promise her everything was under control. But they all felt like lies and Millicent could spot a lie a mile away.

Instead she found a strange comfort in Freddie's daughter's concern. It almost felt like a glimmer of hope.

"I still haven't heard anything from her," Freddie said as he, Carly and Harper entered Skybucks. "Complete silence, surely that's a bad sign."

He was jittery, swaying on the balls of his feet as they stood still and surveyed the cafe, searching for a table to claim.

"Maybe she's given up on technology entirely," Carly suggested. "She hasn't seen any of the news and she hasn't been able to text you." Carly didn't believe a word of what she was saying, but she had to take pity on Freddie, he looked incredibly nervous.

"She's not here," he sighed as he took a seat at the table and Harper headed to place their orders. "I'm never going to get a chance to talk to her."

"Relax," Carly said, her hands wringing in her lap, she was feeling anything built relaxed. "You'll see her eventually, you'll talk eventually and you've only been dating a few weeks, if it ends it won't be the end of the world." If it ends maybe I'll talk myself into letting you know how I feel she added internally before she had even realised what she was thinking.

Freddie gave her a small grimace before tilting his head towards the counter, some of the staff were looking at them and whispering.

Carly groaned, "when will all of this be over! I'm sick of the whole world thinking they know what's going on in my life but having no idea."

Freddie nodded in agreement.

As Harper joined them, drinks in hand, Carly began regretting their choice to dine in at the little cafe, not only were the staff blatantly whispering about them but she watched a teenager out of the corner of her eye as she lifted her phone and clearly took a photo of the three of them.

Harper's phone buzzed and she quickly snatched at it, checking the notification and placing the phone back down on the table in disappointment.

"Still nothing from Roxy?" Carly asked.

"She's dodging my calls."

The trio finished their drinks in silence, uncomfortably aware of the attention they were attracting from the people around them.

"We should go," Carly sighed as she finished the last of her drink and stood quickly, keen to escape. As they walked towards the door it opened and in walked Izzy, clearly ready to start her shift.

She spotted Freddie and stopped.

Freddie froze too, staring at her, his face etched with apprehension.

Izzy glanced from Freddie to Carly, her eyebrows furrowing slightly at the sight of them both together, but to her credit she gave a small smile and nod towards Carly before she glanced back at Freddie.

"We should talk," she sighed.

A/N

I'm back, but still on holidays. it's so nice to be back in my home city, but I've been away for so long it doesn't feel like home anymore. loving catching up with family, but counting down the days until I fly back home!

Hope you all had a great Christmas if you celebrate it and that 2022 will proved to be better then the last two years!