Chapter 43

So this next bit is going to include a version of the weekend getaway girls' trip from the reboot series. Of course Sam is involved and there's no Harper. Oh, and Brooke has a little bit different role and she doesn't try to hook up with Freddie necessarily, but she is involved. Nothing too descriptive but we are going to get a little more mature here sort of like the new series with a few suggestions before their weekend is over.

We start off with the aftermath of the Seddie date from last time.

Carly returned from Spencer's soon after Freddie left her and Sam's apartment. "Where's Freddie? I thought sure you guys would be hanging out all day the way you talked this morning. You two arguing or something?" She asked.

"Nah. He has to pick up Alex at six." Sam said shortly, still staring at her phone. He had sent a text with several suggestive emoticons. She giggled in a very un-Sam like way that Carly had only ever seen on rare occasion before.

"Ohh-kaay." The brunette couldn't quite get a reading but she knew something was off and Sam was definitely not herself.

"Sam soon spoke without looking up from her phone, sending a message to Freddie. "Oh, before I forget. We need you to sit with the kiddo Monday evening."

"Why? I thought we were all going to Spencer's for his patented six meat meatloaf." Carly asked.

"Shoot. I forgot. Well, this is more important. I guess I'll have to miss six meat meatloaf."

"What could possibly be more important than six meat meatloaf? Did something come up at her school? Or with your mom? Hey, isn't Monday the day they're signing their official divorce papers?"

"Yep. And Monday evening Fredbag and I are going out on a real, actual, official, honest to God date."

"I'd say it's about time." Carly smirked. "But seriously, you guys couldn't even wait a full day?"

"Nope. But we're gonna wait for other stuff. We talked a while ago."

"Annd?" Carly motioned for her to elaborate.

"No ands. We just agreed that we'd go out and that we weren't going to go hopping into anything too much right away, like we did years ago. Because we're not horny teenager anymore, we're mature adults and we don't want a relationship that's based on nothing but sex. Not that I really want to wait, but it's probably best. And you know how he is."

"That's good." Carly agreed. "There's nothing wrong with waiting. I always wait. Except with Wes." She sighed and looked dreamily off into space. "Wes."

"Oh, and I told him I love him."

"You what?" Carly gasped, snapped out of her trance thinking about her latest boyfriend. "Sam! That's the biggest step."

"I sort of thought the biggest step was sex but I said it because I do." Sam said with a blush. "It's not like I can help it. Or hide it."

"OMG! Did he say it back?"

"Yes. Why wouldn't he?" Sam looked funny.

"He did kinda get screwed over by love a few times ya know. I just thought maybe he'd have trouble saying it out loud."

"Well, he said it, no hesitation no stumbling, so I guess he really means it."

Carly grabbed Sam by the shoulders. "Of course he means it. He's loved you since, I don't know, that time you kissed him on the fire escape when we were all just dumb kids."


It had been nearly two months since Sam and Freddie reconnected as a couple. They were taking things slow, painfully slow. Neither of them wanted a relationship based on nothing but the physical, at least not that they'd admit in front of the other. Carly knew about them dating and so did Spencer and, much to Sam's displeasure, Mrs. Benson. To anyone else, they were simply best friends, especially Melanie and Pam. They were also very careful to keep things low key around the little girl, there was no kissing or pet names in her presence, not even hand holding. They had agreed not to tell Alex until they were sure and both thought that meant once they had went all the way.

Sam was beginning to get frustrated with the lack of physical interaction. Little was done beyond kissing and petting when they had their private moments and to say they parted with her being frustrated more than once was an understatement. Even so, she understood the need to wait and even though it was painful, she would not push Freddie for more, at least not hard, until he was ready. She was not afraid to drop a few suggestions here and there but, clueless as he was, Freddie failed to take the hint.

Carly and Sam had been talking about a girls' weekend trip for months. Not that they didn't already share an apartment, but the idea of taking a weekend away from a big brother, needy friends, a secret boyfriend and a seven year old niece was welcomed by both of them. There was a nice, posh hotel that offered complete pampering not more than an hour drive away and the girls decided they owed it to themselves to splurge.

It was all set up: a swanky hotel room paid for with Carly's bonus from work, the freedom from emails and texts with sincere pledges by all their friends and family not to call unless someone was headed for the E.R. or in a box and two days of pampering with room service, expensive wine, massages and mani-pedis was in store for the best friends.

Thursday evening, all their plans came off the rails when Spencer burst into their apartment uninvited. "Carly, Carly, Carly!" He shouted and nearly fell over his own feet as he ran inside.

"Spencer. What is the rule about knocking?" Carly scolded from the kitchen, hands on hips, in the midst of loading the dishwasher.

"My name is not Kramer, I will knock unless someone's in danger." They said in unison.

"Very good." She praised, like she was talking to a pre-schooler who just recited the alphabet song on his very own.

"I need you!" He shouted and ran toward her.

"OK, what the fudge is all the shouting about. I'm trying to pack my chiz for our trip." Sam walked into the room, clearly annoyed. Not that she didn't love Spencer like he was her own brother, but his antics wore thin on her patience by times.

"What's the matter this time?" The brunette huffed. "What's burning? . . . or overflowing?"

"It's not that!" The artist shouted back, practically jumping up and down. "I just got a call from the curator of the Washington Museum of Modern Art."

Sam made a clearly not impressed expression and propped her hands on cocked hips.

"Wow. You've been trying to get your sculptures in there for years. Congrats." Carly nodded and popped a grape in her mouth. "What's that have to do with me?"

"They want my stuff." He said and grabbed his sister. "Isn't that great?"

"Yep. Awesome. Now go home." Sam deadpanned and turned away to go back to her bedroom.

"Yeah, awesome." The brunette agreed. "But I have to ask again, what's this have to do with me?"

"I need your help!" He begged. "They need me to set my chiz up this weekend."

"Oh, no!" Sam turned to re-enter the room and argued. "We have this trip all planned. We've talked about it for weeks and we finally got it to work out. It's all paid for and everything."

"Aw, Spencer. Can't you get someone else to help?" Carly asked. "What about Socko. Or - or Freddie? Alex is with Melanie this weekend, he's got nothing to do."

"Socko's out of town for his cousin's wedding and come on, you know Freddie doesn't have an artistic bone in his body."

"What about T-Bo?" Sam asked.

"He's opening that new smoothie shop on Sunday. He's got a million things to do. Carly! Puh-lease!" He folded his hands in begging fashion.

"You really need more friends your own age." Carly snipped.

"We established that years ago." He agreed and gave his sister 'the look'.

Sam sighed, she knew Carly was going to cave. She tried to reason with him. "Spencer. Carly just spent her entire bonus on this trip. You can't do this to her. Can't you just hire a temp or a personal assistant or something? How about one of those task-rabbits or something? It's not like you can't afford it."

"I'll pay you back for your trip. Every penny." He shook his sister's shoulders. "This is the opportunity of a lifetime. I'll never get this chance again and if I'm on display there, the money will come pouring in. You think I'm well off now, wait until a month from now. Or a year."

Carly looked pleadingly at Sam.

The blonde drew in a deep breath. In her youth, she would have knocked someone senseless for lesser offenses. "Go ahead, Carls. We can do our girls' weekend another time. But you're paying!" She pointed at Spencer.

About that time, Freddie and Alex were knocking at the door.

"Come on in, Fredlumps." Sam huffed and grabbed the doorknob, clearly not in the best mood when she opened. "Hey, kiddo." She bent down to hug her niece. At least that made her feel better.

"Hey, Spence." Freddie greeted the artist. "What are you doing here?"

"Ruining our weekend." Sam snipped. "Let me get my shoes on if we're still going for ice cream."

Freddie nodded as Sam picked up her shoes from in front of the couch and mumbled under her breath. "At least Spencer can't muff that up."

"How's Spencer ruining your weekend?" The younger man asked. "I thought you guys weren't leaving until tomorrow after work?"

"Yeah, well Mr. Ar-tiste here has other plans. Right Spencer?" Sam poked at his shoulder.

"I just need Carly's help. You can still go, Sam." Spencer tried to defend. "And I'll still pay for you both to go together another time."

"Oh yeah. That'll be tons of fun. This was supposed to be a girls' weekend. Girl-S, as in more than one. Whee, I get a weekend by myself. I could literally break into an empty apartment and get the same experience. How can I stand so much excitement."

"Why is it guys don't get a girls' weekend?" Freddie asked. Spencer high-fived him in agreement. Sam looked at him like he was crazy.

"Well, other than the obvious, that we're not girls. You know what I mean." He clarified.

"Because guys don't have the stress girls do." Carly tried to explain to him. "I'm disappointed too, Sam. I need a getaway bad. We can do a girls' trip next weekend."

"Hey I know! Why don't you take Freddie?" Spencer asked.

"Because he's not a girl. At least in the most literal sense of the word." Sam smirked. She might have loved him, but she wasn't above taunting him.

Freddie looked embarrassed and stunned at the same time. The idea of spending the weekend in a hotel room with Sam would normally not cause such a reaction but when his daughter was present, this was a different story. Luckily the kid didn't realize the implication of what they were talking about.

"You know, this might be a good opportunity for you two to finally . . . " Carly began but was cut off by the young father.

"Hey, uh, you know what, the ice cream place is gonna close soon. Spencer, why don't you take Alex down and pick us up a big bucket of, uh, something? We can just eat it here. You better hurry!"

"Yeah. Good idea, Fredward. Butter brickle for me, please. Oh, and mint chip for Alex. Right?" Sam asked.

The kid nodded and soon she and 'uncle' Spencer were out the door.

"Carly! You can't say chiz like that in front of the kid!" Sam scolded, turning to her friend as soon as the door was closed. "She has no idea Freddie and I are, uh, like, a couple. We're waiting to tell her."

"And waiting for other things." Freddie interjected.

"Sorry. I wasn't thinking." Carly begged. "But she's ten, she doesn't realize what it means. What about it, Freddie? Why don't you go with Sam?"

"Well, it does sound like fun. I'd love to go but what about Alex?"

"Isn't this her weekend with her mom?" Sam asked. "It's why I wanted to put this off until next weekend, so we could have some time together."

"Yeah, but that's only Friday night. Isn't this thing of yours all weekend?" He replied.

"I'm sure Melanie wouldn't say no to her staying for two nights in a row. Tell you what, let me handle Mel." Sam volunteered. "You just worry about packing your chiz."

"You mean, you're OK with this idea?" Freddie asked her. "Like, a whole weekend in a hotel room with me? Don't you think it'll be too much, uh, temptation?"

"Relax, Frednuts." Sam snipped. "It's a girls' weekend. It's not like it's one of those honeymoon suites or something. Unless you think Carls and I were gonna be getting' jiggy with it. I'm sure it's like one of those fancy two bedroom suites like we had in Vegas. We'll have fun but not too much fun. Unless you want to." She teased and subtly adjusted her top to taunt him, unseen by Carly.

"Sam!" The brunette scolded, embarrassed on many levels. "I don't need to hear that." She was also hatching another idea.

"You know what. You're on. You get Melanie to take Alex for an extra 24 hours and I'm in. I'll even pay half." Freddie agreed.

"This one's all paid for." Carly nodded. "You two go and have a good time."

Sam just winked at Carly. "Oh I will. I just have to get Fredlumps on board with the fun part."