Above
"Sam, wake up!" Carly said, shaking her sleeping best friend's shoulder.
"Carly, it's the crack of dawn," Sam mumbled, burying her head deeper into her pillow.
"It's almost ten," Carly said, rolling her eyes.
"Exactly!" Sam said. "You know I'm not a morning person."
"But it's not just any morning, Sam," Carly said excitedly. "It's the morning of your wedding! Today's the day you finally become Mrs. Samantha Benson!"
"I know," Sam yawned. "So can I go back to sleep now?"
"Sam!" Carly exclaimed. "How can you possibly think of sleeping? It's your Wedding Day! If this was me, I'd have been up since six jumping around like crazy!"
"Oh, I know," Sam said, kicking the covers off of her. "And believe me, I just can't wait until your wedding."
"Well come on," Carly said. "The wedding starts at four. That gives us six hours to do your hair and makeup, get you into your dress, get to the church, make sure everything's in order for the ceremony, and call and confirm the caterers for the reception. Plus I pretty much have to shadow Gibby too, and make sure he's doing all his Best Man duties."
"Carly, chill out," Sam said. "The last thing I need is for my Maid of Honor to have an aneurysm."
"You're right, you're right, I'm calm," Carly said. "Now come on. Let's start getting you ready."
"Can't I eat breakfast first?" Sam asked.
"Yeah," Carly nodded. "And I'm already ahead of you on that. I've got bacon and eggs waiting for you in your kitchen, nice and hot and ready to be devoured."
"You know me well, Shay," Sam said, getting out of her bed.
"But seriously, though," Carly said, following Sam out to her kitchen. "We do need to get moving. So after you eat, go ahead and take a shower, and then I can start getting you ready. In the meantime, I should call Gib and make sure he remembers to tell Freddie to wear the new dress shoes I dropped off for him."
She turned to Sam, who was sitting at the table, staring at her bacon but not eating it.
"Yo, Puckett-soon-to-be-Benson," Carly said. "Eat your breakfast! You've got a wedding to be in!"
"Actually…I'm not really hungry," Sam mumbled.
"What? You're always hungry," Carly pointed out. "And I even made sure I didn't accidently use low-fat bacon like last time."
"It's not that," Sam said.
"Then what is it?" Carly asked, sitting down in the chair across from Sam.
"I'm…I'm freaked out, okay?" Sam sighed.
"Why? Because you're getting married?" Carly asked.
"No, because it's supposed to rain today; yes because I'm getting married!" Sam said.
"Aw, Sam, I've read all about this in Bride Weekly," Carly said. "The pre-wedding jitters…classic. Look, the important thing for you to realize is that you have no reason to be nervous. It's the happiest day of your life, for crying out loud!"
"Yeah, yeah, I know," Sam said. "But…come on, Carls. What if something goes wrong? What if I forget my vows, or my parole officer shows up and decides I've done something to make me go to jail, or-"
"Hey, hey, hey," Carly said. "Are you forgetting who your Maid of Honor is? Trust me; nothing is going to wrong at this wedding. And anyway, you recited your vows to me about forty times last night; you've got them down pact."
"Yeah, you're right," Sam nodded, though she still looked nervous. She picked up her pearphone from the counter.
"Who are you calling?" Carly asked.
"Freddie," Sam replied.
"What? No!" Carly exclaimed, quickly grabbing the phone.
"Carly!" Sam frowned.
"You can't talk to your groom on your wedding day!" Carly said. "Everyone knows that. You're not allowed to have any contact with him; that means no seeing him or talking to him."
"Ugh, fine," Sam said, rolling her eyes.
"Thank you," Carly said, putting Sam's phone in her pocket. "Why'd you need to call Freddie anyway?"
"We always call each other in the morning," Sam shrugged.
"Really? Every morning?" Carly said.
"Well, other than the mornings after we-"
"Ah! For the ten millionth time, I never want to hear about that!" Carly said, covering her ears. "You may be my best friend, but Freddie's practically my brother, so gross!"
"Sorry," Sam laughed. Then her expression turned serious. "Hey…you don't think-you don't think Freddie would, you know, not show up?"
"You mean ditch you at the alter?" Carly frowned. "No, of course not. Freddie's in love with you! Why would you think he would do that?"
"I don't know," Sam sighed. "It's just…well, no one in my family really has any luck with relationships. I mean, my mom's been engaged at least a dozen times, half my cousins only got married to keep from going to prison, and you know my Aunt Maggie's been left at the alter four times."
"Well, maybe they didn't have guys like Freddie," Carly said. "I mean for crying out loud, you two call each other every morning when you wake up!"
"But what if-"
"Sam, look you're not thinking straight; you're just stressed out from your pre-wedding jitters," Carly explained. "Once you and Freddie are married later today, you're going to look back to this whole think and laugh. Believe me, Sam."
Sam smiled. " Thanks, Carly. And hey, when it's your wedding, I'll make sure I do this for you too, if you need it."
"I know you will," Carly said. "Now let's move it! We have a schedule to stick to!"
…..
"Spencer, no eating in your tux!" Carly said, hurrying over to her brother and yanking the bag of potato chips out of his hand.
"Oh come on, I'm starving!" Spencer said.
"Well you can eat at the reception," Carly said. "And anyway, you need to go get Sam; it's almost time for you to walk her down the aisle."
"I was heading over there now, before someone cut me off," Spencer said.
"Not in the mood, dude," Carly said. "Wait, were you just with Freddie?"
"Yeah," Spencer nodded.
"How is he? Is he as nervous as Sam?" Carly asked.
"Probably even worse," Spencer said. "Gibby and I had just calmed him down; you know, telling him he wouldn't forget his vows, that he didn't look stupid in his tux…but then like, ten of Sam's uncles and a bunch of her cousins came in and told Freddie that if we did anything to Sam, they'd hunt him down and stab him all over, so now he's a freaked out mess."
"Well, I'll go tell him to pull it together," Carly said. "You go find Sam. And whatever you do, don't let her tell you I told her it's okay for to eat ribs in her wedding dress!"
…..
Freddie tried to act calm as he waited at the alter. He watched one of Sam's cousin's young daughters walk down the aisle with her basket of flowers, and Guppy, who insisted on being the ring bearer even though he was fourteen, come down after her. And then Carly and Gibby came down, Carly hissing at Gibby to stop humming show tunes as they did so.
And then the guests all stood up, and Freddie knew what was coming next…
Nothing could've prepared him for how absolutely breathtaking Sam looked when she walked down that aisle. Freddie thought she was beautiful everyday, but today she looked…unbelievable. He knew he probably had a lame, goofy grin on his face as he watched her, but he didn't care. All he cared about that in just a few moments, that woman walking towards him with Spencer was soon going to be his wife.
Once Sam and Spencer reached the aisle, Spencer gave her a quick kiss on the cheek before she stepped up and stood next to him.
"Wow," Freddie whispered to her, grinning like an idiot still. "You look…wow."
"Glad to see you're so articulate on your wedding day," Sam smiled.
Freddie barely listened as the minister began to talk. He just wanted to look at Sam forever.
"And now the couple will recite their vows for one another," the minister said, finally getting Freddie's attention.
Sam took a deep breath.
"Freddie, I've known you since I was ten, when you were just the nerdy little nub who moved in across from my best friend," Sam began. "And you're still a nerdy nub, but you're also my nerdy nub, and even though I'm sort of…aggressive towards you, I love you. You make me laugh, you treat me like a princess, you're always there for me. That's why I couldn't imagine getting married to anyone else in the world other than you."
Freddie wanted to kiss Sam right there and then, but he found the self-control to keep from doing so as he cleared his throat to recite his own vows.
"Sam," he said. "I have about fifty bruises across my body from you. But if someone came to me and asked me if I wanted to get rid of them, I'd tell them no, because each of those bruises or marks has always made me feel closer to you. I know it's probably really cliché of me to say this, but I know that today is going to be the best day of my life because I'm marrying the best girl I could ever imagine. You're beautiful, funny, smart, and even tough you try not to let people know, you're sweet and kind too. All those things are reasons why I cannot wait to marry you today, and why I've wanted to marry you for such a long time. But above all, they're the reasons that I love you more than I ever thought I could love someone."
"Aw!" Carly said loudly, causing everyone to turn to her.
"Sorry," she said quickly. "But come on; that was precious!"
Sam and Freddie could barely contain their excitement as they said their I do's, for they both knew what was coming next…
"Then by the power vested in me by the state of Washington," the minister said. "I now pronounce you husband and wife. You may now kiss the bride."
The guests all cheered, but Sam and Freddie barely heard them and they pressed their lips to one another. Neither had ever felt this happy in their whole life.
