Still
"Hey Spencer," Freddie said, letting himself into the man's apartment. "Carly and Sam here? They said we were hanging out here today."
"Yeah, they're upstairs," Spencer replied, looking up from his sculpture. "Hey, have I ever mentioned how great it is that you three still never leave and eat all my food even though you've all moved out and have your own places now?"
"Once or twice," Freddie nodded.
"What are you guys even doing here today?" Spencer asked.
"Carly's helping me and Sam figure out what color we want to paint our kitchen," Freddie said. "Sam wants red but I'm more of a blue guy…"
"Oh that's right, you guys moved in together," Spencer cringed. "Gross."
"It's not gross," Freddie said, rolling his eyes. "Sam and I love each other so we decided to take the next step and start living together so that we could-"
"Stop! I don't want to hear about your guys' love life!" Spencer cried, covering his ears.
"Whatever," Freddie chuckled. "I'm gonna go up with the girls. I'll see you later, good luck with that bear sculpture."
"It's a cow!" Spencer yelled indignantly.
Freddie headed up to the old iCarly studio, where the three still liked to gather, even though they were now in their early twenties.
The door was open, and as Freddie reached the top of the stairs, he could hear Sam and Carly's voices.
"I don't know how to tell him," he heard Sam say anxiously. "This is so big and unexpected…I don't know if he's ready for it. Heck, I don't know if I'm ready for it."
"Well Sam, you and Freddie will have to discuss this at some point," Carly said.
Freddie stopped in his tracks, listening intently. What was going on?
"I know," Sam moaned. "But I'm just worried he-he won't react well. I mean this is huge news that I'll be throwing at him. It will change out lives."
"But Sam, it's-"
"What if he's not okay with it?" Sam said, slightly panicked. "What if-What if he's worried about the money? Or the space situation! Our apartment's sort of small; it's only big enough for the two of us."
What in the world is she talking about? Freddie frowned. What would I not be okay with?
"Or what if he's worried about what it will do to my body?" Sam continued. "I mean it's gonna be going through all these changes if I-."
"Sam, eventually Freddie will notice," Carly said. "Within a couple weeks it's really going to be really hard to hide."
I'm lost, Freddie said to himself. What would involve an issue with money and the size of our apartment and Sam's body going through changes? And what did Carly mean that it would be hard tohide in a couple weeks? I mean it almost sounds like she's…oh-oh! Oh my God, she's not-No!
"I can't believe I wasn't more careful," Sam sighed sadly. "Who knew one little mistake could make such a difference…"
She is! Freddie thought, his eyes growing wide. There's no other explanation! Sam is…she's pregnant!
It made sense. Sam was talking about money struggles and not having enough space in their apartment, and that would definitely apply to a baby. And of course her body would be changing…
Oh man…I-I can't believe-I'm going to be-Sam's pregnant?
Freddie quickly turned around and ran back downstairs. He couldn't sit around and think about paint colors now. Not when he had just found out he was going to be a father…
"Hey, where are you going?" Spencer asked as Freddie returned to the living room, starting towards the door. "I thought you were picking a kitchen color."
"I can't focus on kitchens or colors or anything right now!" Freddie exclaimed. "My life is about to be turned upside down!"
"You mean like in that one movie where the actors found this switch that reversed the flow of gravity and-"
"No!" Freddie cried. "This is way more serious than a switch! It's like-like-I don't even know!"
And with that he stormed out of the apartment, leaving a very confused Spencer behind.
….
"I'm telling you, Carly, my life is over now," Sam moaned up in the studio, sinking into one of the beanbag chairs.
"Sam," Carly sighed. "Not that I'm not willing to be the supportive friend through this whole thing, but don't you think you're overreacting?"
"Overreacting?" Sam repeated. "Carly! This is huge!"
"It's Fat Cakes," Carly said simply.
"Eight thousand Fat Cakes," Sam moaned. "I can't believe you let me enter that online auction and use the money Freddie had saved to paint the kitchen!"
"Me?" Carly exclaimed. "I didn't know what you did until you already won the auction!"
"How am I going to get this money back?" Sam asked heavily. "And where am I even going to put all them? Can't I just store them at your place so Freddie won't notice them?"
"Sam, I can't have eight thousand Fat Cakes in my one bedroom apartment," Carly said. "Look, the shipment is being delivered in two weeks. That gives you two weeks to talk to Freddie about this. Just explain that you made a mistake and that you're sorry."
"He's gonna be all mad," Sam said. "I can't let him find out!"
"Well then eat them all before he finds out," Carly said, rolling her eyes. "Sure, it's eight thousand Fat Cakes, but you can finish that in, what, a couple days?"
"I told you, I can't eat them either!" Sam exclaimed. "If I could there'd be no problem here! But these aren't even normal Fat Cakes, they're the low-fat Fat Cakes! You know what low-fat does to my body. I get hives and rashes and my face puffs up like a balloon!"
"Well then you have to tell Freddie that you used the kitchen money and your apartment is going to be filled with Fat Cakes soon," Carly said firmly. "When he comes up here to look at paint samples, you just need to be honest with him. Hey, where is he anyway. I thought he was supposed to be here twenty minutes ago."
"Yeah, so did I," Sam nodded. "Oh well…if he doesn't come here then I guess I don't have to talk to him about this."
"Oh no, you're not getting out of it that easily," Carly said. "You live with him. You can tell him later tonight."
"But can't I just-"
"Nope."
"What if I-"
"Uh-uh."
"How about I-"
"Absolutely not."
"Fine!" Sam conceded. "I'll talk to him! Jeez!"
…
That afternoon, Freddie paced anxiously back and forth in the small living room of his and Sam's apartment.
"I can't believe she's pregnant," Freddie mumbled. "What do we do? I-We're only twenty-two! We graduated from college only three months ago, we're still paying back loans, we both work weird hours at our jobs, our apartment only has one bedroom…"
He wondered how long Sam had known about this, and why she hadn't told him yet, when she clearly had talked to Carly about it.
"Aw man, she must be so scared," Freddie sighed. "And here I am freaking out when I'm not the one who's going to have to go through this pregnancy. Maybe this is why she hasn't told me yet…because she was afraid of me reacting exactly like this; only thinking about the negatives. I mean sure, I-I guess this baby wasn't exactly anything we planned, but it's happening and there's nothing we can do to change that. Maybe-Maybe it's not as bad as I think. If we start saving everything we make from work, we should be set for a little while. And-And I am close to that promotion at work thanks to my new app updating service. And we did want kids at some point. Sure, I planned on that being after we were married for a few years, but-but this could work too. And it's our baby…"
As he said those words, a smile crept onto his face. "It's mine and Sam's baby…we're going to be parents together. What could be better than that?
….
That night, Sam returned home to the apartment, greeted by the smell of her favorite meal cooking; ham.
"Hey," Sam said, walking into the kitchen where Freddie was busy cooking. "You made dinner?"
"Yup!" Freddie said, turning away from the pot he had been stirring and hurrying over to her. He wrapped his arms around and kissed her passionately. "God, you're beautiful," he said breathlessly when they pulled apart. "You really are practically glowing."
Sam raised an eyebrow. "Um…thank you?"
"The food will be done in a few minutes," Freddie told her. "But here, while we wait, I got you something."
"What?" Sam asked as Freddie pulled out a large paper bag.
"I found this at the mall," Freddie said, pulling out a stuffed bear. "I thought it seemed pretty cute."
"Er, yeah, it is I guess," Sam nodded. "But why did you buy me a teddy bear?"
"I figured it would be nice to have in a few months," Freddie smiled, kissing her again.
"Why?" Sam frowned, confused.
"Well…because," Freddie said. He took a deep breath. "Look, baby, I know this must be scary for you. It-It was hard for me to process too, at first, but I really think we'll be okay."
"Um…huh?"
"I know we didn't plan for this, but it happened, and there must be a reason for that, right?" Freddie said. "We-We can start looking for a bigger place, we'll make a few budget cuts…we're strong enough to handle whatever comes our way, Sam, including this."
"What are you talking about?" Sam asked.
"Sam, it's alright, I know," Freddie said gently.
"You-You know?" Sam said, her eyes widening. "How?"
"I overheard you and Carly talking earlier," Freddie explained.
"Aw man," Sam moaned.
"Baby, I told you, we can handle it," Freddie said, stroking her cheek. "And don't be afraid. I know you're worried about money and how your body's going to be changing, but that's completely natural."
"I don't think my body will change too much if I just don't eat any of them," Sam shrugged. "I'll probably break down and eat a few, but hopefully that won't do anything too funky."
"Sam, you have to eat, you need your nutrients," Freddie told her. "We should take you to the doctors too. He can start you on some of those vitamins. But you seriously need to eat; I mean, you do have a little baby growing in you and-"
"What?" Sam exclaimed. "I have a what in me?"
"A baby," Freddie repeated slowly.
"No I don't!"
It was Freddie's turn to be confused. "Huh? But-But you're pregnant!"
Sam gasped. "Excuse me, nub? I am not pregnant!"
"But-But I heard you!" Freddie said. "You-You were talking to Carly about being worried about money and not having enough space and how your body was going to change from something!"
"Um…that-that was about something else," Sam said slowly. "Not about me being pregnant."
"So-So you're not pregnant?" Freddie said.
Sam shook her head. "Nope."
"I-Oh…" he said softly. "Oh, well, that's-that's good then."
"You okay?" Sam asked, noticing the crestfallen look on his face.
"Yeah," Freddie said quickly. "It's just…I-I was sorting getting used to the idea of us having a baby. I was starting to actually look forward to being a dad."
"Aw," Sam said, squeezing his shoulder. "We can still have a baby…someday."
Freddie sighed. "Yeah. Yeah, you're right. Someday you and I will have a cute little baby to raise together."
Sam smiled and gave him a short kiss. "I'm sorry."
"No, it's not your fault," Freddie shrugged. "Hey…if you weren't talking to Carly about being pregnant, then what were you talking about?"
"Oh…" Sam said, giving a nervous chuckle. "That. Well, um, you-you remember how you said we were strong enough to handle whatever comes our way?"
"Yes…" Freddie nodded.
"Well…cling to that," Sam said slowly.
"Sam…? What's going on?"
"I, er, sort of used the money we saved to paint the kitchen to win an auction for 8,000 Fat Cakes that I later found out were the low-fat kind that I can't eat, so now we have a huge shipment of them coming in two weeks," Sam said quickly.
"Sam!" Freddie cried. "How could you-why would you-Sam!"
