AN-So in chapter 292, Sam and Freddie told Carly of a little tradition they had between themselves of playing Battleship out on Freddie's fire escape after dates that they started when they both realized they had never one a game. This chapter shows that scene. It's loosely based off of my own horrific experience with Battleship…Hope you enjoy!

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Reserve

"So then my mom realized the guy wasn't even a real farmer," Sam told Freddie as the couple sat cuddled together on the Shay's couch.

"Well duh," Freddie said, absentmindedly playing with the ends of her hair as she rested her head on his shoulder. "No farmer can grow cans of Mocha Cola like he claimed."

"No," Sam sighed. "But how cool would it be if they could?"

"But why do you need to grow Mocha Cola cans?" Freddie said. "Isn't that what a vending machine is for?"

"Yeah, but it would be so much more awesome if you could just go outside to your Mocha Cola tree and pick a can," Sam said, nuzzling in closer to her. "Hey, I'm bored."

"Well what do you want to do?" Freddie asked. "Carly and Spencer are visiting their granddad for the weekend so you're stuck with me, baby."

Sam rolled her eyes. "Oh yay."

"I'll pretend I didn't notice the sarcasm there," Freddie said. "Why don't we go to the movies or something?"

"Nah, there's only stupid chick flicks playing," Sam said.

"Well the Groovy Smoothie then?"

"No, T-Bo said his blenders are down so he's only serving plain old fruit or juice today," Sam replied.

"Huh…maybe we should find more places to hang out around here then," Freddie said thoughtfully.

"Hey," Sam said, looking over the set of shelves by the stairs. "What's that?"

"What's what?" Freddie asked as Sam got to her feet and went over to investigate.

"Whoa, Spencer actually has some pretty decent games here," Sam said, looking at the several board games housed on the shelves. "Wanna play Monopoly?"

"With you? Ha!" Freddie scoffed. "Not after last time."

"It wasn't that bad," Sam said, rolling her eyes.

"You threw the board at my face!"

"Well you knew I was trying to get all the railroads!" Sam snapped. "You were just being a jerk!"

"Yeah, sure," Freddie said.

"Whatever, we won't play Monopoly," Sam conceded. "Wanna play Scrabble? Actually, no, I don't like spelling when I don't have to…Hmm, what else does he-Hey, Battle Ship!"

"I haven't played that game in years," Freddie commented.

"Me neither," Sam said.

Freddie gave a small chuckle. "You know, this might sound kind of lame-"

"I'm used to it," Sam smirked.

"-But I've never actually won a game of Battle Ship," Freddie continued. "Not once."
"Seriously?" Sam laughed.

"Yeah, yeah, laugh it up, Puckett," Freddie said.

"No," Sam said, still smiling. "I'm not laughing at that. It's just…I've never won a game either."

"Really?"

"Yeah, I used to play this game with Melanie all the time when we were little but she'd always beat me," Sam said. "And then, well, I would flush her dolls down the toilet."

"You don't handle losing well, do you?" Freddie said.

"Oh shut up," Sam said, picking up the game from the shelf. "So, wanna play this? I mean, if we play each other…one of us has to win for a change."

"Hey, that's right," Freddie said thoughtfully.

"So you in?"

"Okay, but you have to promise you won't throw anything at me this time," Freddie said.

"Dude, I-"

"Promise, Sam."

"Fine," Sam gave in. "I won't throw anything at you."
"Thank you," Freddie said happily, giving her a quick kiss. He looked out the window. "Hey, you know, it's a really nice day out…why don't we play in the fresh air?"

"You want us to go outside?" Sam cringed.

"Sort of," Freddie said. "Why don't we go out and play on the fire escape?"

Sam looked up at him, her eyes sparkling. After all, Freddie's fire escape was their favorite spot to just be with one another.

"Alright, Benson," Sam said. "I can stand to beat you out there too."

"Alright, B4," Sam said as the two sat out on the fire escape, immersed in their game.

"Miss," Freddie said triumphantly. "C8?"

"Ugh! I hate this stupid game!"

"So is that a hit or a-"

"Hit!" Sam snapped. "And you sunk another one of my ships!"

"Yes!" Freddie cheered.

"A2," Sam mumbled bitterly.

"Miss," Freddie said. "Wow…I've gotten pretty good at this game. I just need to sink your little ship and I'll win!"

"Well then go already!"

"Okay, okay…E7."

"Dude! You're cheating!" Sam exclaimed.

"I'll take that as a hit," Freddie beamed. "Oh man…one more and I-"

"B7!" Sam cut him off.

"That would be a miss," Freddie gloated. "Alright, for the win…E8!"

"No!" Sam moaned. "Hit! You-You sunk all my dang battleships!"

"You mean I won?" Freddie cried. "I won!"

"Don't rub it in," Sam said, rolling her eyes as Freddie jumped up and threw his hands in the air.

"Sorry, baby," Freddie said. "I just…I never win when I play games against you. I guess there's a first time for everything, right?"

"I guess," Sam sighed.

"Hey, that was still pretty fun though, don't you think?" Freddie said. "You wanna go for best two out of three?"

"Sure," Sam agreed, giving him a small smile. "Now that I'm all warmed up it's time for me to kick your nubby butt."

"I'll go get us some snacks first," Freddie said, heading towards the window ledge to get back into his apartment. "I stashed some cookies in my room so my mom couldn't find them."

"Sweet, I'm starved," Sam said.

"When are you not?" Freddie chuckled, leaning down to give her a quick kiss. "I'll be back in a sec."

Sam watched Freddie climb into the apartment before she looked down at her battleship board.

Wow, Freddie really sucks at these games, Sam thought to herself as she picked up the red pegs from the two hits that Freddie actually managed to get. Still, I guess it was worth fake losing…he was really happy he won.

Sam stared out at the city, loving the view she had from the fire escape. Freddie was the only person in the whole world who she would actually lose on purpose for. And even though it had been a definite blow to her pride, she didn't mind.

It had been for Freddie, after all.

"Alright, here we go," Freddie said, returning to the fire escape with a box of cookies and two glasses of iced tea. "Ready to play again?"

"Yeah," Sam smiled, taking a sip of the iced tea. "Ready when you are. Hey…you think Spencer would notice if this game was to, you know, just stay out here?"

"I-Well…I don't think he's played it in awhile," Freddie reasoned slowly. "But we can't just take it. Maybe…maybe if we were to just borrow it though…that wouldn't be so bad. I mean Spencer does owe us…we gave up our reservations at Pini's last week to help him with that laundry detergent crisis."

"Exactly," Sam said. "Because you know, baby…I think we just found our new Saturday night activity."