Hello everyone.

Sorry this chapter took so long to post. Had some writers block. I knew what I wanted to happen but not quite how to put it down on the screen. Hopefully the next chapter won't take me nearly as long to crank out now that I have my plot line completely thought through. Please enjoy and please don't be afraid to leave a review.

It was getting late and Freddie knew he needed to go to bed soon. He was sure he would feel the jet lag in the morning. He just couldn't bring himself to lay down in bed yet. He got his clothes unpacked, his laptop set back up, and his books rearranged back on a shelf. He still had things coming to him, but he had shipped them to himself and they were still in transit. He had gotten all that done, but his mind was still a flight, so he found the old lawn chair his mom stashed in his closet when he moved away, opened his window, and set it up in it's old spot on the fire escape.

He sat down and his body seemed to relax. He was home. He pulled out his pearphone to let his mind wander. He had a few texts he missed as he was trying to keep his mind busy. One from a girl named Elle that he had gone on a few dates with before getting the job offer back home.

ELLE:

Hey Cuteness, give me a call whenever you get a chance. I've got some news. Hope you had a safe flight

Even though it was still a decent time on the east coast, he would call her later. He just wasn't in the mindset. Two were from his friends at school making sure he had gotten home ok. And one was from Carly.

CARLY :):

Are you okay?!

Oh Carly, of course she already knew his world had been turned upside down. Go figure. She probably knew Sam was back in Seattle too and didn't tell him. After all, he knew she still kept in contact with Sam. Plus, Sam was apparently living with her brother now. Maybe she, like Sam, assumed he knew already.

Me:

I will survive

He flipped through his phone. The internet wasn't seeming to hold his attention, neither were stupid little games. Then he got to his pictures. He scrolled through some graduation pictures. Some more from his past few years in college. Some projects he built for school. Pictures of a trip to Miami they took for Spring Break. All great memories. He really did have a great four years in college.

He kept scrolling through the years and slowed down as he realized what he was coming up on. Pictures from the last Christmas that he was home were coming across the screen. Pictures of Sam and Carly doing a reunion web show. Spencer putting out yet another Christmas Tree Fire. Gibby chasing Freddie's mom out from under the mistletoe. He then came across it.

A picture of Sam. Just Sam. No make-up, hair a mess from their previous activities, surrounded by the big fluffy blanket covering all the right spots in a hotel bed. She looked absolutely perfect. The night before everyone got to town for the holidays, Sam and Freddie rented a hotel room for just the two of them. They drank cheap beer, ate take out Barb-B-Que, and enjoyed each other's company while all their friends and family still thought they weren't due in town till the next day.

He smiled at the picture and got lost in Sam's perfect features that he almost didn't realize the real Sam had joined him on his fire escape.

"I knew I would find you out here," she said quietly, sitting down on the steps next to his chair. Freddie jumped, quickly exiting out of the picture app on his phone.

"Sam!" he said.

"I figured I'd come see if you were awake. See how you were doing, break the silence," she told him, "I owe you an explanation."

Freddie looked at Sam and tried to hold back a snort.

"You think?" he jabbed.

Sam looked down at her feet. She had showered. Her hair was still damp, and she had changed out of the scrubs she was wearing and exchanged them for sweatpants and a long sleeve penny tee. Even with as angry as Freddy was with her, he still couldn't help but think she looked just as perfect now as she did in the picture, he was looking at a few moments before.

"Sam, I don't know what I did, but to completely ghost me?" he asked.

"You didn't do anything, Freddie, I promise," she reassured him, "this was entirely on me."

"So, what, did you meet someone else in school or something? I mean, I know we had a, a thing going on, I don't know what to call it, but we lived on two opposite ends of the country. I would have understood," he asked, "but we were always friends first and I hated not knowing what was happening with you."

"No, of course not, there has been absolutely nobody. Like ever," she quickly said.

"Then what was it, Sam. We talked all the time. You started school and I was so proud of you and then it was almost BOOM! Sam doesn't talk to you anymore," he said, his irritability growing.

"That was it," she mumbled looking back down at her feet.

"What was? School?" he asked.

"No, Not really. It was that you were proud of me. No one has ever been so proud of me then that Christmas when I told you I was going to college. And I was so scared that something would happen, and I would flunk out and then what. I was scared I was going to disappoint you because school was never my strong point. So, I figured if I just fell off the face of the earth, at least then if I failed, I would only disappoint myself," she explained softly. Freddie simply stared at her. This was not the answer he expected.

"I knew it would hurt you, and I am so sorry. I know I can't expect you to forgive me anytime soon. But not worrying about disappointing you is probably what helped me succeed. I was able to dedicate everything to passing my classes."

Freddie was speechless. This was the same girl he had to always stay on top of about her schoolwork in high school. He even caught her up on her online schoolwork when he visited her the first time in LA so she could actually graduate high school on time. Yet here she is, the same Sam he grew up with, telling him she concentrated on school.

"Sam, I could never be disappointed in you. I mean look what you accomplished! Shit, I think Mom said you were top in your class. No wonder I didn't realize she was talking about you," Freddie joked. A smile spread across her face and she laughed.

"Yeah, well maybe, it was because I didn't have a handsome nub around to distract me," she teased, bumping her knee against his.

"Like I said Freddie, I know what I did was not good for us, and I hated doing it. I missed you, so much. I missed our escapes. I missed checking on you every day. I missed our conversations the most." She told him, "but I didn't have the pressure of keeping up with you or Carly, which let's face it is impossible. I also learned how to take care of my own responsibility, which let's face it, I was good at running away from but never taking care of it. I learned to make my own way."

"Sam." Freddie says quietly.

"I know I can't expect you to pick things up where we left off. I don't deserve that. Plus, I mean, your mom made it pretty clear you had moved on when I started working with her. But I do hope, whenever you are ready, we can start over, as friends again. I miss that more than anything."

A silence fell between them. Twenty-four hours ago, Sam was off in Los Angeles living her best life. Twenty-four hours ago, he was coming home to nothing. Twenty-four hours previously, Freddie couldn't even imagine he would be sitting here, having this discussion. Yet here he was, faced with the decision to let someone who used to be the most important person in his life back in.

"I think I would like that, being friends again," he said.

Thank you for reading!