AN-Fanfiction decided to not let me upload anything, yesterday, so sorry about that? What did you all think of Sam & Cat? I really liked it, and I think it's definitely going to turn out to be just as successful as iCarly and Victorious.

Spice

"Hey, Sam?" Carly called, walking into the Benson's house. "I thought you were going to meet me at the mall a half-hour ago! You know I hate shopping alone!"

"Huh? Oh…sorry," Sam mumbled from her spot on the sofa. "I forgot…"

"What's up?" Carly frowned, sensing that something was wrong. "Is everything alright?"

Sam shook her head. "No."

"Well what is it?" Carly asked, concerned, sitting down next to her best friend.

Sam sighed. "Freddie's mom died."

Carly gasped. "What?"

"The hospital called a few hours ago," Sam told her heavily.

"What-what happened?" Carly whispered.

"She went into her doctor about this bad headache she'd apparently had for a few days," Sam said. "And, well, she-she never left."

"Oh my God," Carly said softly. "That's terrible!"

"Yeah, I know," Sam said, shaking her head.

"Sam? Where's Freddie?" Carly asked softly. "How is he?"

"He's at the hospital right now," Sam replied. "Doing paper work or something…I offered to go with him, but he said he just wanted to be alone for a little bit."

"Yeah, that's understandable," Carly said.

"I can't believe she's really gone," Sam said. "I mean, I know we never really got along and all, but it's still so…strange now."

"She loved you like a daughter," Carly told her. "Deep, deep down."

Sam showed a small smile.

"Have you told the kids yet?" Carly asked.

"Yup," Sam sighed. "They're all upstairs…this is the first major death we've had in the family. I think they're still kind of in shock. I'm gonna go up and check on them again in a little bit."

"I'll give you guys some privacy then," Carly nodded. "Do you think I should call Freddie tonight or wait until tomorrow?"

"It might be better to wait," Sam said.

"Okay," Carly said. "Let him know I'm really sorry, though."

"I will," Sam told her.

After Carly left, Sam went upstairs and had all four of her and Freddie's kids come into their bedroom.

"Okay, you guys," Sam said to them all. "How you doing?"

Tyler, who was only four years old, and didn't really understand what as going on, stared blankly up at her. Emma and Ashton looked as though they had been crying, and twelve-year old Jason gave a small shrug, and Sam noticed that his eyes were red and puffy.

"Come here," Sam said, pulling all of her kids into a hug. "I know you all miss your grandma a lot. That's okay."

"Is she really not going to come back?" Ashton asked weakly.

"No, baby, she's not," Said gently. "That's what happens when you get older…But you guys, I just wanted to let you know that daddy…daddy's going to be feeling very, very sad for awhile."
"Why?" Tyler asked.

"Well because grandma was his mom," Sam explained.

"I miss grandma, mommy," Emma said sadly.

"I do too," Sam said, stroking her daughter's hair. "I do too."

….

Later that evening, Sam was laying in her and Freddie's bed, trying not to worry. It was past midnight, and Freddie still wasn't home, and he wasn't answering his phone.

Sam sighed. After the call had come in about his mother, Sam remembered Freddie standing still for a moment. Sam had put an arm around him, but he quickly shrugged it off and mumbled that he needed to get to the hospital…

Just then Sam heard the front door of the house open, and a few seconds later she heard footsteps coming upstairs.

"Oh, I-I thought you'd be asleep by now," Freddie said when he saw his wife, awake, on the bed. "You didn't need to wait up for me."

"I wanted to," Sam said softly, getting up and pulling him into an embrace. "Baby…come her. How-How are you doing?"

"I'm okay," Freddie sighed. He kicked off his shoes and pulled off his jeans, carelessly tossing them onto the floor instead of putting them into the hamper like he normally did. "I had a ton of paperwork to fill out at the hospital."

"Is that where you were this whole time?" Sam asked as Freddie pulled back the covers to his side of the bed.

"No…I went back to her apartment," he answered, not meeting Sam's eye as he climbed into bed. "Went through some things…I guess tomorrow I should call the funeral home and-"

"I'll do that," Sam quickly volunteered. "Don't worry about it."

"No, it's alright, I can handle it," Freddie told her. "And I need to make some phone calls too…Did you tell the kids yet?"

"Of course," Sam nodded. "Tyler doesn't really know what's going on…I'll sit down with him by himself tomorrow and talk to him again. Jason and the twins were crying all night, though."

Freddie didn't say anything.

"Baby," Sam said, putting her arms around her husband. "I know how hard this has to be for you. Just-Just let me handle the funeral arrangements and everything, okay? I think you should just focus on you and-"

"No, Sam, really, it's okay," Freddie told her. "I can plan my mom's-my mom's funeral. Besides, I'm gonna have to pack up her apartment too…"

"I'll help you," Sam told him firmly.

Freddie shook his head. "You wouldn't want to, Sam. It's just gonna be either throwing a bunch of old stuff out or moving it into storage. Don't worry about it."

"Freddie, you can't-" Sam started.

"I'm really tired," Freddie said, turning off the lamp at his bedside. "I think I just wanna get some sleep right now."

"Okay," Sam said. "But Freddie…you know I'm here for you, right?"

"Yeah," Freddie nodded. "I know. Good night."

"Good night," Sam said softly as she watched her husband's eyes close.

…..

"Hey," Carly said four days later during the reception that was taking place at the Benson's house after Marissa's funeral. "This is a really nice reception. I'm sure Freddie's mom would've loved it."

"Thanks," Sam sighed.

"Where's Freddie?" Carly asked. "I barely saw him at the service."

"He's running around somewhere worrying about whether or not there's enough onion dip," Sam said. "I'm really worried about him, Carls."

"Why?"

"Because its been four days since his mom died!" Sam hissed. "And he hasn't really, you know, acted sad or anything."

"Are you serious?" Carly frowned.

"Yes," Sam nodded. "He's been going nuts trying to do everything. He cleaned out her entire apartment in one day, got all her affairs in order, refused to let anyone help him plan the funeral…"

"Wow…sounds like he's trying to keep busy," Carly commented.

"I know," Sam said heavily. She looked across the room and saw Freddie setting out more drinks.

"Hey, can you keep an eye on everything down here?" Sam asked Carly. "I'm gonna go talk to him."

"Sure," Carly agreed.

Sam slowly walked over to her husband and put a hand on his shoulder. "Hey," she said softly.

"Hey," he replied. "Do we have any more drinks in the kitchen? I think we're almost out in here."

"Carly will handle that," Sam told him. "Come up stairs with me for a second."

"But I need to go talk to the caterers about the-"

"It can wait," Sam said, taking his hand. Without another word, she led him upstairs to their bedroom, away from the crowd of people in their living room.

"Sam, I really need to get back down there," Freddie said. "There's still a lot-"

"Baby, I know what you're doing," Sam said as the couple sat down on their bed.

"What exactly is that?" Freddie asked, confused.

"You're trying to keep yourself so busy to try and keep your mind off of this whole thing," Sam said.

"That's ridiculous," Freddie said, a bit defensively.

"Freddie, it's okay, I get it," Sam said. "You're upset by-"

"No, you don't get! I'm fine!" Freddie snapped.

"Freddie! You haven't cried once since you found out she died!" Sam said.

"So what?"

"So? She was your mom!" Sam exclaimed.

"I know! And I've accepted that she's gone now!" Freddie said. "She wasn't exactly young, Sam! These things happen!"

"I know they do," Sam said. "But-But that doesn't mean you have to be okay with them."

Freddie didn't reply.

"You know," Sam said, squeezing his hand. "You're the one who always told me that it's not good to just keep all your feelings bottled up, that it's important to just let everything out sometimes."

Freddie remained silent.

"Your mom was a good woman, Freddie," Sam whispered. "I know that her and I…we were never had the ideal mother daughter-in-law relationship, but she was such a good mother to you. She kept you safe, and she dedicated her entire life to making sure you grew up well. And she did a really good job with that."

Freddie still didn't say anything, and continued to look down at the ground.

Sam showed a small smile. "Hey? You remember the time she totally interrupted that romantic night we were going to have for your birthday back when we first got married? I had gotten this really fancy, expensive wine and made your favorite dinner, and we were sitting on the couch, just about to head up here, when she burst in with her own birthday dinner for you."

"She didn't leave us until one that morning," Freddie said quietly. "She kept trying to shovel her homemade healthy dinner down our throats…"

"I never told her this, but that organic spice cake she made was actually delicious," Sam said.

"That's because she made a lot of her own spices," Freddie said. "So that they wouldn't be filled with-filled with-"

And then suddenly, four days worth of bottled up emotions erupted, and Freddie broke down.

"I don't want her to be gone, Sam," he sobbed as Sam put her arms around him. "But she is, and-and now I don't know what to do."

"That's okay," Sam said, rubbing his back, feeling his tears drop onto her neck. "It's going to get easier, okay? I promise. But right now you've got to let yourself feel sad. Don't worry about trying to get over it or being okay with it right now. She was your mom. You loved her so much, and she loved you."

"She loved you too," Freddie said shakily, taking the tissue that Sam handed him. "You know that? She told me…a-a couple of nights before she…she said I was glad that I had someone I loved so much to spend the rest of my life with."

"She really said that?" Sam asked softly.

Freddie nodded.

Sam smiled and kissed Freddie gently as fresh tears began to fall from both their eyes. "I loved her too."