Ceremony

"Wow, you look like a zombie, baby," Freddie grinned as his fiancé let herself into their shared apartment.

"You try wedding planning with Carly for six whole hours and we'll see how you look," Sam mumbled, collapsing onto the couch next to him. "How come you don't get dragged to these meetings? It's your wedding too!"

"Hey, I tried," Freddie defended, giving Sam a quick kiss. "I wanted to be involved in the wedding planning. But Carly kept knocking down all my ideas and kindly told me that 'wedding planning is a complex activity that traditionally revolves around the bride and her maid of honor and really has no place for the groom until the actual wedding'. And I did write, address, and send out all the wedding invitations and I made sure my tux is all set."

"Yeah, well I just had to endure making up seating arrangements and finalizing the flower arrangements for the reception," Sam said. "I don't know why that had to take six hours! Just slap eight people at each table and shove a vase of flowers in the middle of each. Done!"

"Eh, give Carly a break," Freddie said. "Sure she might be, er, overbearing right now, but think of how great our wedding ceremony is going to be thanks to her."

"It better be, after all that time I spent looking at tablecloths," Sam said, rolling her eyes.

"It's all going to be done in a week," Freddie said, wrapping his arms around her. "In one week all this wedding chaos will be over and you and I will finally be husband and wife."

"Yeah," Sam smiled, looking up at him. "I guess that will make all this chiz worth it."

She leaned up and kissed him again. "Hey, I'm gonna go take a shower and then you wanna watch a movie in bed and just relax?"

"Sure," Freddie nodded. "I'll go make us some popcorn."

"Sweet," Sam grinned, getting to her feet. "Make the extra-butter kind."

Freddie watched as Sam disappeared into their bedroom.

He really couldn't wait until he could officially call her his wife. He loved her so much and he couldn't imagine spending his life with anyone but her.

He headed into the kitchen and popped a bag of popcorn, drizzling a bit of melted butter on it for Sam. Then he went into their bedroom and lay down on their bed, hearing the shower still running in the adjoining bathroom.

He began flipping through the channels of the television, trying to find something they'd both enjoy.

"Hey, get off the sci-fi channel right now," Sam said, stepping out of the bathroom in nothing but a towel. "I am not putting up with that."

"Alright, alright," Freddie said. "I think there's some comedy on this channel…"

"Fine," Sam agreed, grabbing her pajamas out of her drawer. "Let me just get dressed and-"

"Er, baby? Could-Could you do me a favor and, um, get dressed in the bathroom?" Freddie said slowly, trying not to stare at her.

Sam raised an eyebrow. "What? Dude, we've lived together for a year now. Trust me, you've seen everything."

"Yes, but if I see everything now I'm gonna probably explode," Freddie told her.

Sam grinned. During the wedding planning, Sam and Freddie both decided that even though they had done it plenty of times before, they wanted their first night as husband and wife to be special. So exactly one month before their wedding date, they vowed that they wouldn't do anything until that night.

Sam had been ready to quit after the first week, and by the second week, even Freddie was beginning to regret this decision. But so far neither of them had cracked and at this point it was only their wills that kept them following through with their agreement.

"You could close your eyes," Sam told him.

"Like I wouldn't be tempted to peek," Freddie pointed out.

"Fine, whatever," Sam said, going back into the bathroom.

"Thank you!" Freddie called after her.

Once Sam was dressed, she crawled into bed next to Freddie and began popping popcorn kernels into her mouth, resting her head on his shoulder. "One more week, baby," she told him, squeezing his hand.

"One long week," Freddie mumbled.

"I know," Sam said. "But hey, I was the one who said we should forget about this thing weeks ago. You had to be the reasonable one. If it wasn't for you, we could be doing a whole lot more than watching a movie right now."

"Yes, I was very stupid, thank you," Freddie snapped.

Sam laughed, kissing his temple. "It will be worth it though…just keep telling yourself that. Hey, maybe the movie will get your mind off everything."

"Maybe," Freddie sighed.

So for almost a full hour, the couple sat on the bed in silence, wrapped in one another's arms, enjoying the movie.

"Hey," Freddie said suddenly. "Can I ask you something, Sam?"

"What?" Sam replied, curious. "Are you as lost with this flick as I am? Because why in the world would that chick try and sell her sister's computer for-"

"No, it's not about the movie," Freddie said quickly. "It's-It's actually about something that's been on my mind for awhile now."

"Oh," Sam frowned, muting the television. "What is it then?"

"Well…like we've said, we are going to be married in a week," Freddie said.

"Yeah…" Sam nodded. "And?"

"And, well…I've-I've just got to know once and for all," Freddie said. "When did you start to fall for me?"
"What?" Sam scoffed. "Dude, I've told you before."

"No you haven't," Freddie replied.

"Yes I have!" Sam nodded. "Years ago. When we were first dating and we were at the Groovy Smoothie. I told you-"

"Yeah, I know what you told me," Freddie said. "You told me it was when you pushed me into a bike messenger and my head hit the fire hydrant."

"Right," Sam said. "There you go."

"Sam," Freddie sighed. "You and I both know that wasn't the truth."

"Sure it was," Sam said, though not making eye contact.

"You may be able to lie pretty good, but I always know when you are," Freddie said, giving her a small smile. "Come on, why won't you just tell me when you really fell for me?"

"Hmmm...no."

"Sam!"

"Alright, maybe…how about this?" Sam said. "So there might be a bit more to me starting to fall for you than I ever told you. If you can guess when it was, I'll tell you if you're right."

"You're going to make me guess?" Freddie exclaimed. "What kind of fiancé doesn't tell her future husband these things just off the bat?"

"Come on, it will be fun," Sam told him. "And it will distract you from certain other things."

"But what if I don't guess it?" Freddie said.

"Well," Sam said, leaning back on the bed. "We're gonna be spending the rest of our lives together, baby. You've got time."

…..

"Alright, I got it," Freddie said the next morning as Sam poured herself some coffee. "It had to be after our first kiss on the fire escape."

"Nope," Sam said simply. "And you guessed that last night already."

"Well then…I know!" Freddie continued. "It was when I had all those girls chasing after me because of that vampire video we did on iCarly!"

"As if," Sam said, rolling her eyes.

"What about after we spent all that time crammed in the space simulator?" Freddie tried again.

"Dude, after being crammed in there for you, I wanted to punch your eyes out, not love you," Sam replied.

"Can you at least give me a time reference to work with?" Freddie moaned.

"Sure," Sam smiled. "It was between the time I met you and the time you proposed to me."

"Oh, that's helpful!"

"Well you should've just stuck to my story about the bike messenger," Sam shrugged, taking one last sip of her coffee. "Okay, I have to go to work. I'll see you tonight."

"Can you just tell me?" Freddie asked for the tenth time.

Sam grinned, giving him a quick kiss. "Not a chance. Later, Fredweiner!"

"Sam! Sam just-ugh!" Freddie slumped down at the kitchen table, hastily pouring himself a bowl of cereal. He just had to fall in love with the most stubborn girl out there, didn't he?

"Ugh, my boss is a nut job," Sam said that evening when she returned home. "So me and Carly were on our lunch break, and she just comes-"

"Was it when we went camping to try and find Bigfoot?" Freddie said at once.

"Well hi to you too," Sam said, rolling her eyes as she kicked off her shoes.

"Hi," Freddie said quickly, giving her a short peck. "So yes or no to the bigfoot thing?"

"No, nub," Sam said. "Please tell me you haven't been obsessing about this all day. I mean you texted me a dozen times while you were at work."

"Well then was it when we went to Wisconsin for that stupid wedding?" Freddie asked anxiously. "Or when we went to Webicon? Or-"

"Baby, calm down," Sam said, a bit concerned. "Let's just eat dinner and-"

"No! I've got to be close now!" Freddie said. "Was it when you and Carly were fighting and you both quit iCarly?"

"No!" Sam said. "And no more guesses tonight; you've gone insane!"

"Then just tell me!" Freddie said desperately. "It's killing me not knowing!"

"Dude, just forget about it for a little," Sam said. "Why don't you go sit and I'll order us Chinese food and-"

"I can't sit!" Freddie said, pacing back and forth. "Why are you doing this to me, Sam? Do you enjoy torturing me?"

"I'd say you're doing a pretty good job of torturing yourself right now," Sam said.

"Just tell me!" Freddie moaned. "When did you start falling for me? I'm running out of ideas here, Sam!"

"I'm gonna go order some eggrolls," Sam said, shaking her head at her fiancé. "You go de-crazy yourself!"

"Sam!" Freddie cried as Sam headed into the kitchen. "Tell me!"

That evening Freddie was getting ready for bed, the gears in his head still churning trying to figure out when it could've been that Sam had developed feelings for him.

"Okay," he heard a voice behind him. "I'll tell you."

He spun around and saw Sam leaning against the doorframe of their bedroom.

"Seriously?" he said, relief flooding through his body as Sam sat down on their bed.

"Yeah," Sam sighed. "I mean it would put a damper in the wedding next week if the groom winds up getting sent to a mental hospital. And after all this planning, there will be a wedding and you will be there."

"So when was it?" Freddie asked anxiously, sitting down next to Sam.

Sam gave him a small smile. "The bike messenger story wasn't actually too far off…you were pretty beat up when I realized I had feelings for you. But, um, it wasn't from hitting your head on a fire hydrant…it was a lot earlier….when-when you got hit by that taco truck."

"Taco truck?" Freddie repeated. "Oh right!"

"Yeah, I mean it was pretty scary," Sam shrugged. "You got hit by a truck. And you were just laying on the street in pain and everything. I-I sort of thought…I thought you were done for. I-I didn't know if you were going to be okay or-or if you were seriously hurt or what. But all I knew was that I-I couldn't handle losing you because-because, well, I liked you. A lot. I mean, I guess I had liked you a little before then, but I didn't even realize it. After our first kiss I couldn't stop thinking about it, but I just thought that was because I had finally gotten it out of the way. And a few months before you got hit by the truck, I-I had seen you dancing the Groovy Smoothie with Carly after that lame Sadie Hawkins dance and I felt like I got punched in the stomach, but I figured that was just because I was bummed about being left out. But after thinking I would never get to see you again for real…that's when I knew."

"Sam…" Freddie said softly. "After I got hit by the taco truck…that's-that's when I started going out with Carly."
Sam looked down at her lap. "Yeah. Yeah, that-that wasn't exactly fun to watch."

Freddie felt a pang of guilt. So right after Sam realized she had feelings for him, he had gone and started seeing her best friend…

"I mean I figured Carly was sort of just into you because you saved her life," Sam mumbled. "But still…So I tried for the next year to squash my feelings for you, and I was doing pretty good, too. But then that night at the lock-in I just, well, you know the story."

"Sam, I'm so sorry," Freddie said gently.

Sam looked back up at him. "Dude, don't be sorry. How were you supposed to know? Besides, it was like, ten years ago almost. We're getting married in less than a week."

"I know," Freddie said. "I just-I hate that I made you feel that way, even if I didn't know at the time."

"Well, you've more than made up for it with all the times you've managed to make me feel far from sucky," Sam smiled. "And now that you officially know when I lost all my senses and fell for you, will you stop obsessing?"

"Yes I will," Freddie grinned, giving her a kiss.

"Good," Sam said, getting up off the bed. "Now come on."
"Where are we going?" Freddie asked.

"Carly's," Sam replied. "She wanted me to come by and okay playlists for the reception and if I'm gonna suffer through that, you're gonna be right there with me. That's what marriage is all about, after all."