AN: I've finally finished the third part of this story. I hope you enjoy! Disclaimer: I don't iCarly, if I did the show would have been a lot cooler.
Sam awoke in the studio, looked over, and saw Freddie still passed out. She moved over and shook him on the shoulder.
"Hey nub, wake up." She said as she continuously shook him.
"Mmm, no, I thought you were big on sleeping in Sam." Freddie groaned as he resisted being woken up.
"Yea I am, but we need to be up nub. We ended up crashing at Carly's." Sam replied as she finally managed to get Freddie out of his sleepful stupor.
"Wait, what?" Freddie yawned as he rose up rubbing the sleeping out of his eyes. He looked around to confirm that Sam was correct. Their planned 'nap' had turned into them sleeping the whole night away on the beanbags in the iCarly studio.
"We need to go downstairs dude. We ended up staying the night in the studio." Sam explained.
Freddie's eyes rose in acknowledgement, and he grabbed Sam's hand following her out of the studio. She dropped his hand right before they were about to go down the stairs.
"What?" Freddie questioned.
"Seriously? C'mon Frednub, have you forgotten we need to hide the fact we're dating in front of Carly?" Sam retorted.
"Yea, you're right." Freddie sighed in disappointment.
"Hey, you'll be in for a real surprise late tonight, ok?" she said as she leaned over and kissed him.
"Can't wait Sam." he said grinning as he broke away from the kiss.
They walked downstairs to see Carly brewing up a pot of coffee. She turned around as they made their way into the kitchen and sat at the counter.
"I see you two have finally woken up." Carly greeted as she passed over two mugs of coffee.
"Thanks Carls, hey I got a question to ask you. It's about a potential new iCarly bit." Sam said as she sipped on her coffee.
"Yea sure, what is it, Sam?" Carly replied.
"I think we should get the band Infant Annihilator to play a set on the show." Sam said with a huge grin.
Freddie looked over at her with a confused face. Carly stared straight at her with a disgusted look. Short of telling Carly that Freddie and she were dating, Sam couldn't have created a more awkward silence if she tried.
"Sam, why on Earth should we go out of our way to book a band that would start a riot from overly-concerned parents?". Carly asked earnestly.
"Ok, ok, so you're not down for Infant Annihilator. That's cool. I've got other ideas. What about Thy Art Is Murder?" Sam asked, smirking.
"Hey, I actually know that band! They're pretty cool." Freddie piped up.
"Oh, right on! Up top Freddison!" Sam exclaimed as they high fived.
Carly looked at both of them with disappointment "Look, I'm glad you two have some common interest here, but can we think of a segment that won't get negative attention for iCarly?"
"Negative attention? Carls, we'd be known as the sickest internet show in all of Seattle if we booked one of these bands to play! C'mon it'll be so cool." Sam pleaded.
"Yea c'mon Carly, it'll be fun. You haven't even heard the music yet." Freddie chimed in agreeing with Sam.
"Oh, so now you're taking Sam's side on an iCarly bit? What's gotten into you?", Carly asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Of course, Freddie should be taking my side, he's my b-.", She immediately cut herself off realizing what she was about to reveal.
"Freddie's your what now?" Carly asked, smirking.
"He's my best friend duh! That's all I was going to say Carly." She replied as threw her arms around Freddie and gave him a rough noogie.
"Ah! Alright Sam, get off me. She gets the point.", Freddie pushed Sam off him.
"Yea we're just really good friends Carls. I guess Fredwad here is not too lame to like some heavier music.", Sam smirked.
"Yea, Carly I'm actually into this idea too. Trust me you'll get behind it when Sam actually shows you a song." Freddie replied, grinning.
"Well alright, if you guys really think it's a good idea, show me their stuff, and let's hear it.", Carly replied thinking she may as well give the band an actual listen.
"Sweet, I know just the track to show you. It's called 'Soldiers of Immortality'" Sam replied eagerly as she bolted onto the computer and pulled up the music video off Splashface.
Carly instantly began to regret her decision the moment she heard this track start playing. She glared at Sam and Freddie in disappointment.
Sam and Freddie, on the other hand, were having the time of their lives forming an impromptu two-person mosh pit. They "danced" their way closer to Carly and started pulling her into the mix. Carly resisted at first but gave in and joined them in the pit. They had now formed a 3-person circle pit absolutely giving in to the rhythm of their moshing. The Thy Art is Murder song had ended, but the Splashface mix Sam pulled up earlier had slammed into Chelsea Grin's "Recreant", and the circle moshing continued. When "Recreant" faded out the mosh ended and they all collapsed into laughter.
"Alright guys, I'll give you that one. That was really fun." Carly said when her laughter had died down.
"So, you're down for me to book a band for the show?" Sam asked, smiling.
"Yea for sure. I'd rather hear that second band live though. I think the name will get less of a knee-jerk reaction from parents." Carly said.
"Alright, Chelsea Grin it is! I'll have this all figured out before the next show Carls. Don't even worry about it." Sam replied grinning mischievously.
"Sam, what are you planning to do?" Carly frowned.
"Don't worry about it Carls. You don't want to know.", Sam had a Cheshire Cat-like smile on her face as she said this. Carly shivered and chose to take Sam's word not to inquire further. Freddie gave her a concerned look but decided it would be better to talk to her later.
"So, what are you guys planning to do today?" Carly asked.
"I don't know. I still have another day before my mom gets back from the work conference she went out of town for." Freddie replied.
"Your mom went out of town?" Sam raised an eyebrow.
"Yea, she's over in Tacoma attending a dust and cleanliness conference.", Freddie answered, rolling his eyes.
"Dust convention? Man, that seems lame even by Mrs. Benson standards." Sam laughed.
"Yea, well that's my mom for you. Anyways, I have the apartment to myself another day and I plan on enjoying that." Freddie replied.
"Sam, what about you?" Carly asked.
"Oh, I've got to help my mom with a break-up issue. Her latest boyfriend dumped her and now she's going to want me to spend a couple hours with her watching tv and complaining about her ex."
"Huh, well I'm glad you and your mom seem to be getting along better." Carly replied, smiling.
"Yea I don't. Anyways, I'll see you guys later.", Sam replied dismissively as she headed out of the door, down the hallway, and towards the elevator. Freddie followed suit. Carly stood there and watched as he walked out, shutting the door behind him.
"They totally ditched me to go on some date, didn't they? Sam would never console her mom after a break-up." Carly chuckled to herself. She sat down on the couch and turned on the TV being greeted by a local Seattle news report.
"Good morning, Seattle, I'm Jane Valderrama with Channel 12 News and today's big story comes out of the Seattle Aquarium. One of the local staff reported finding the penguin colony engaging in cannibalism. Although we were given footage of this incident we won't be showing you folks at home. This is far too graphic for television. It's suspected that this occurred shortly after an incident where a man was caught feeding the penguins some sort of human snack food. Security intervened and the man was put under arrest. He was bailed out by Seattle's local internet web-star Carly Shay of iCarly fame. Anyway, that's all for this morning's news. Keep tuned with traffic and weather updates with Shawn McNeil later on. This is Jane Valderrama signing off." the tv blared.
Carly fumed with anger and shut the TV off, "I knew it! I knew those Cheezy Penguins would cause cannibalism!" she shouted at the now silent TV. It was at that moment that Spencer walked through the front door.
"Hey Carls, I hope you didn't watch any-." Spencer tried to say before he was interrupted by Carly.
"Spencer, I knew this would happen! Darn you and those cheesy penguin crackers. Now you've really done it! The entire Seattle Aquarium's penguin population is going to be a bunch of cannibals now. I hope you're happy with yourself." Carly yelled, throwing out her arms in anger.
"C'mon Carly, calm down. Look, we can totally fix this kiddo. No big deal.", Spencer attempted to defend himself.
"How in the world do you expect to fix this situation Spencer? You can't stop the penguins from being cannibals now." Carly was exasperated.
"It's simple little sister, we'll find out what a penguin's usual diet is, purchase food at the local fish store, feed it to the penguins at the zoo, and restore balance to their dietary desires. We'll call it Operation Penguin" Spencer explained, looking ecstatic at the sound of his plan.
Carly rubbed her temples in frustration and sighed in resignation, "Spencer, you better be 110% crystal clear this plan will work or there will be blood."
"Don't worry Carly. It'll all work out according to 'ol Spencer. I've got it handled.", he reassured her.
"I'll trust you Spence. Anyways, let me go get cleaned up and we'll head out to the fish store soon."
"Sounds good kiddo." Spencer replied as sat down on the couch and turned on the TV.
Meanwhile, as Spencer and Carly were planning Operation Penguin; Freddie caught up with Sam over at the elevator.
"Where are you headed Sam? Surely not over to your house?" he inquired.
"Sort of, I did want to go back to my place with you, but my mom won't be home. I made that bit up.." She answered smiling as she looked at him.
"Well, I'm glad you did Princess Puckett." he smiled back and wrapped her in a hug. The elevator dinger, they separated, and both got in.
"So, what's the plan, Sam?" he asked as he pressed the elevator button for the lobby.
"We're gonna go smoke some bowls at my place and then grab a bite to eat somewhere. You down for Chili My Bowl?" Sam asked.
"I'm down for that. I haven't been there in a while." he answered.
"Sweet. We'll head over there after we smoke a bit."
"Sounds like a plan, Sam." he replied as leaned against the elevator waiting for it to hit the ground floor. He looked over Sam and admired her. He couldn't believe he'd gotten so lucky as to be dating Sam Puckett. A girl who he never would have imagined being more than awkward friends with years ago, was now his girlfriend, and Freddie could feel she'd be even more than that in the future. He felt connected to her in a way he'd never felt with anyone else. Maybe it felt premature to think (or say), but he felt he loved Sam. He loved her and just wanted to say it aloud. He wanted to shout it to the world. He took a mental leap of faith and turned to her.
"I love you" he said to her as the elevator descended.
Sam turned to him with a stunned look on her face. There was an awkward silence between the two before she replied, "Freddie, don't say things you might not mean."
Freddie was practically insulted at her response "I swear to you Sam, I mean it completely. I wouldn't have said it if I didn't."
Sam pursed her lips looking up at the elevator's ceiling. She didn't know what to say. She wanted to say she loved him too. She certainly did. There wasn't a doubt in her mind. She'd never stopped thinking of Freddie since they had met 7 years ago. She was just scared. There wasn't any guarantee this would last. Long lasting, positive relationships were a rare thing in Sam's world. She wanted to make sure this didn't fall apart. Finally, she spoke: "I love you too, Freddie. I really want us to last."
Freddie was taken somewhat off-guard by the seriousness of Sam's tone during this whole exchange. She used his real name, and any sort of snark was gone from her voice. It was perhaps the most genuine thing he'd ever heard her say. He moved closer to her, leaned in, and kissed her. She returned it eagerly and they broke apart as the elevator dinged as it hit the lobby.
"I can't believe it took so long for me to find you," he said.
"We've known each other for ages, Fredfruit; I think you 'found' me a long time ago," Sam laughed.
"I know, but this time it's y'know different? I never would have expected this", he replied, hugging her.
"I know and I wouldn't have it any other way now." She said as she hung her head in the crook of his shoulder. They wrapped each other's arms around their shoulders and started walking out of the elevator.
"NO HAPPY TEENAGE COUPLES IN MY LOBBY!" Lewbert screamed at them as they walked out of the elevator and through the lobby holding onto each other. He couldn't have shattered their tender moment any harder if he'd tried.
"Shut up Lewb! Go be a miserable wazzbag somewhere else!" Sam snapped back.
They walked out of Bushwell Plaza and into the surrounding streets of downtown Seattle. They had quite the walk ahead of them to Sam's house. Bushwell was centered in the Bellevue area of downtown Seattle whereas Sam's place was in the southside of town. After they had trekked through downtown for a while, they dipped into an alleyway.
"Let's smoke dude." Sam said as she dropped her backpack and pulled out her dugout.
"Sam, I don't want to smoke while we're in the middle of downtown. Screw that."
"Well, you don't have to smoke yet, but Mama is having herself some hits.", Sam replied as she loaded and took a hit out of her dugout pipe. She kept re-packing hits until she had cleared most of the container.
Unfortunately, Sam wasn't aware of just how high she was getting and Freddie was about to get a taste of seeing Sam higher than a kite. After she packed everything away, she looked at Freddie with an almost distressed look, and slowly closed the space between them. She pushed him up against the alley wall, leaned into his ear, and whispered: "Promise me you'll never disappear Freddie. You're Mama's boy. Never forget that. I'll always take good care of you as long as you stay. Promise me you'll stay? Ok?"
Chills ran down his spine as he heard this, and he felt uncomfortable at the sudden change in her attitude. He'd never seen this side of Sam and he wasn't sure how to feel. He put his hands on her shoulder and whispered back "Are you ok, Sam? What's wrong?"
"Nothing's wrong. I just need you to promise me you'll be here. You promise?" She replied, moving her arms up to link their hands.
"Of course, I'll be here, Sam. I promise. You'll never have to worry about that. I've always been here for you and I'm never leaving." Freddie replied as he engulfed her in a tight hug.
She hugged him back and then they broke apart. Sam took Freddie's hand and led him off away from the alley. She was walking much slower than she'd been before, wasn't paying attention to the direction she was heading in, and was spaced out completely. Freddie stopped her and said, "We're headed the wrong way, Sam."
"Oh chiz, are we? Man, it's my house. I should know the way to go." She laughed. Freddie felt relieved seeing that Sam's attitude had relaxed a bit. He decided they'd be better off if he just took the lead though. He'd been to Sam's house a few times in the past and knew the way. He grabbed her hand and started walking them. Sam was practically leaning on him so he wrapped his arm around her as they continued to walk. Freddie noted the dingier change in scenery and knew they had officially passed into the southside of town nearing Sam's house.
"We're near your place now, Sam.", he said, looking over to see her in a complete daze again. He shook her by the shoulder a bit; "Sam, c'mon let's get going." he pestered trying to get her to snap back into reality.
"Huh? Oh yeah, let's go Freddison. Yep. We're going to my place. We're moving.. We're zooming." Sam burst into giggles at this last bit. This was the highest Freddie had seen her so far. He smiled, grabbed her hand, and they continued on. Eventually, they finally found themselves at Sam's house.
Freddie helped Sam up the front porch steps, turned to her, and gestured for her to hand him her house key. He unlocked the front door, helped her inside, and shut the door behind them. She moved over to the couch in the living room and sat down. Mentally, she almost felt bad for how stoned she had gotten. She was supposed to be the rock of the duo. The one who kept her composure. She had to be more careful smoking herself out accidently. If not for her own sake, then for Freddie's. She felt she owed him that. Freddie took notice of her silence and spoke up: "Are you alright, Sam?"
"Yea, dude I'm good. Let's just go up to my room. We can just hang out there and smoke. My mom's not around and she isn't going to care either way.", She replied as she got up from the couch, grabbed his hand, and led him upstairs to her room. Sam's room was cluttered, but there was enough space for them to lay out and chill. Freddie sat on the edge of her bed, as Sam looked around for one of the pieces she had lying around.
"Chiz, dude where's my bong? I can't seem to find it." she said as she dug around her room in search of it. Freddie looked over near her TV, noticing a bright purple object that looked like a bong.
"It's right by your TV, Sam." he pointed at the bong resting on the table the TV was set up on.
"Fredduchini, saves the day!" Sam exclaimed as she rushed over to grab her bong and set it down on the floor near her bed. She excused herself from the room to run downstairs. Freddie could hear her rushing back upstairs as she came in carrying three bottles of water. She handed one off to Freddie, setting aside the other two for herself and the bong respectively.
"Alright, Freddipox, you're in for a real treat: your first smoke session with a bong." Sam said as she opened one of the water bottles and poured half of it into the bong. She passed it off to Freddie who held onto it while Sam got up to dig around more in her room, "Aha! I found the good stuff. AK-OG baby! This is gonna hit you hard Fredward!" Sam laughed maniacally, holding a jar of weed in her hands.
She pulled some large nuggets out of the jar, slapped them into her herb grinder, and got to work grinding it up. Freddie watched as she ground up the weed with a look of intense concentration. She was laser focused on every step of the process. After she finished grinding up the weed, she packed it into the bowl piece of the bong, and then removed the bottom part of the grinder emptying out the contents into the bowl too. Now, on top of the weed was a yellowish looking powder.
"Sam, what is that stuff?" Freddie asked, pointing at the bowl.
"Oh, the stuff I put on top of the weed? That's kief. It's the residue that comes off of the flower when you grind it up. You only see it on the top-shelf stuff though. Sometimes Wendy scores some high quality chiz and hooks me up with the really good stuff. You're gonna love this!" Sam explained. She was positively glowing from excitement.
"Wait, hold up: Wendy, is your pot dealer?" Freddie suppressed laughter.
"Yea, she's more than just Ridgeway's resident gossip queen Fredamame; she's also the school's resident drug supplier." Sam answered.
"That's just funny. I feel that'd be more Rip-Off Rodney's territory." Freddie replied.
"No, not at all, Rodney is a perfectly legitimate businessman. Sure, he'll overcharge you for some stale microwave burritos or concert tickets, but he'd never sell drugs.", Sam talked as she grabbed the bong and took the first hit. Freddie watched as she lit the bowl, inhaled, pulled the bowl piece out of the stem, and exhaled with a fat cloud of smoke filling the air. The bong and lighter were passed off to him.
"So, I just pull the bowl piece out when I'm ready to clear it and exhale?" Freddie asked, still somewhat confused.
"Yep, you've got it. Now hurry up and take your hit.", Sam said, eager to take another hit herself.
Freddie lit the bowl, sucked on the mouthpiece, inhaled, pulled on the bowl piece, and exhaled an even fatter cloud of smoke ending in a coughing fit.
"Dang Freddie, way to smoke out my room. Didn't know we were going to pull a hot box." Sam laughed.
Freddie calmed his coughing fit down, took a sip out of his water bottle, and passed the bong back to Sam. "I feel like I got punched in the throat, oh my God." he said, regaining his composure.
"I nicknamed it the Purple Goblin for a reason, Freddifer." Sam smirked.
"Yea, it certainly feels like my lungs got beat on by a goblin." Freddie laughed.
Sam took another hit and set the bong down in between themselves. She was already plenty stoned and didn't need a repeat of what had happened earlier in the alleyway. What the heck had even made her want to pull that move? She didn't know.
Freddie noticed as she was repeatedly combing her fingers through her hair. "You ok Sam? You seem a little off today."
"What are you talking about? I'm fine, nub. No need to worry about it.", she snapped. She sounded more irritable than intended. Shoot, wasn't smoking pot supposed to relax you? She shouldn't be snapping at Freddie for asking an innocent question. She rubbed her temples, took a deep breath, and gave herself a mental pep talk: Don't screw this up, Sam. You've got a really good thing going here. You and Freddie could do some amazing things. You can't let this slip through your fingers. That just isn't happening. You're not in a lame TV sitcom where the writers decide whether or not a couple works out. It's your life.
"I'm not in a lame TV sitcom. I'll make this work." she blurted out.
"Sam, seriously, are you ok?" Freddie asked. He'd never seen her so out of it before, sober or intoxicated.
"Yea, I'm alright, Fredamame. Mama is a-ok!" She gave him a double thumbs-up with a wide smile.
"Well ok, but what was that you were saying about TV sitcoms?" Freddie asked.
"Look, I need to take another bong hit before I can properly explain this." Sam said as she picked up the bong back up off the floor and lit the bowl.
"Be my guest." Freddie chuckled.
Sam took another large hit out of the bong, passed it off to Freddie, and laid down on the floor staring up at her ceiling. She noticed that her ceiling was textured similarly to the iCarly studio. She had to admit that Freddie was right after all: this drywall texture chiz was cool to look at! Still, that nagging feeling was still in the back of her mind. That horrible feeling that this would all vanish in a heartbeat and she wouldn't have this anymore. She didn't know why. She almost felt scared. Like her reality wasn't true. That she was really just a character in some sort of cheesy television show where couples were brought together and discarded on a whim. The thought gave her chills.
"So Sam, what were you going to tell me earlier?" Freddie asked, breaking Sam out of her thoughts.
Sam readied herself. She was certainly going to sound insane for saying this. Oh well, they were already both doing drugs anyways! Even if Freddie thought she was crazy for this, she could always blame it on the pot.
"It's just, remember how we said we love each other in the elevator earlier today?"
"Well, yes of course Sam. What's wrong with that?" Freddie frowned. Had he made a mistake in the elevator? Had it been too premature to say? He hoped not.
"Look Freddie, I don't regret it at all. I really don't. I'll say it again. I do love you. I'm just scared. I've got this paranoid thought in the back of my brain that us having that exchange on an elevator is a bad omen. Like, there's a different reality where we're dating, but it's in a weird way. We have Carly referee our dates. I end up going to a mental hospital. It all kicks off because of the annual Ridgeway lock-in project night. Carly thinks I'm into Brad, you guys confront me on it, and I end up kissing you after an argument. We date for a little bit, but it doesn't last long, and we breakup. During the breakup, we say we love each other in Carly's apartment elevator, and then it's miserable for us both. It's like we're characters in a TV show the writers gave up on." Sam explained with a look of near dread on her face. As if now that she'd announced these thoughts aloud, they would come true, and she was going to enter a nightmare world.
Freddie moved over so he was sitting right next to Sam, threw his arm around her shoulder, and looked at her. "Sam, I think you're just really stoned and imagining things. We're not in that reality. We're sitting right here in your room, smoking, and having a good time. I couldn't ever imagine wanting to leave you. Ever. Period. The 'Sam and Freddie' in that alternate reality are really stupid and so are those TV writers. Imagine how ridiculous it would be for that to actually happen. We hook up because of a love confession at Ridgeway's lock-in? We have Carly go on dates with us? That's just stupid and would never happen."
Sam said nothing and laid her head on Freddie's shoulder. He was right. It was ridiculous to think about all that. She should be focusing on what they were doing right now and not be so worried over that irrelevant chiz. "You're really something Freddie; I really lucked out with you." she said, wrapping her arms around him with her head buried in his shoulder.
"Hey, I'm just as lucky as you are. I get to be with Seattle's most amazing girl. Things couldn't possibly be any better than this.", he replied, leaning down to kiss her on the cheek.
"Y'know this mushy little couple's moment we had really made me hungry; why don't you and I go hit up Chili My Bowl now?" Sam asked untangling herself from Freddie.
"Same old, Sam. Sure, I'm pretty hungry too. Let's head out. Are we walking though? That's quite a trek." Freddie replied, dreading the prospect of having to walk all the way back downtown. He was feeling a little too stoned for that.
"Nah, screw that. We'll just take my car and drive over there instead." Sam replied with a huge grin on her face.
"You have a car? You can drive? Since when?" Freddie was bewildered at this revelation. Since when had Sam gotten her license? How in the heck did she even get her hands on a car?
"I've had it for a while. One of my uncles run's a chop shop near Seattle and I got it as a late birthday present." Sam replied.
"You've had a car for a while? Why didn't you just drive over to Carly's yesterday? You could have just driven us to your place instead of doing all that walking!" Freddie was exasperated.
"Enh, I didn't feel like it. Plus, cars pollute the environment so if I don't drive all the time I'll be saving the trees!" Sam smirked.
"Oy! I can't believe you sometimes Sam." Freddie sighed, rubbing his temples. He loved her to death, but that girl really knew how to push his buttons.
"Hey, you know you love me, Fredhead." Sam smiled as she gave him a peck on the lips. She walked over to her nightstand, grabbed her car keys, picked up a small garbage bag, heading downstairs, and out the front door.
Freddie was confused as to why she'd grabbed a garbage bag, but followed her out of the house. Sam's car was a dark blue sports compact. Freddie had to admit for a car that came out of a sketchy chop shop, it looked good. The paint job was immaculate lacking a single scratch. The trim, car body, and tires were in pristine condition. He was shocked Sam was able to get her hands on a car this nice looking. He'd ask her about it later. Freddie took a deep breath as he got into the passenger seat. He had a feeling he was going to become intimately familiar with this car. Little did he know, this was only the beginning of a series of road adventures that would culminate in the ultimate Seddie Road Trip Experience. However, for now, they needed to get to Chili My Bowl and satisfy their pot-induced cravings! Operation: Chili Time was a go!
