AN-This chapter is sort of a sequel to ch497, where Sam tells Freddie when she REALLY fell for him. The roles are reversed here.

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Clearer

Sam rummaged through the items on her and Freddie's dresser, stuffing various lotions, creams and hair oils that Carly had bought for her over the past few months into her overnight bag.

"Ugh!" Sam groaned as she began rifling through drawers. "Where is that hairbrush? I can't be missing my hairbrush! What kind of person doesn't have a hairbrush the day before her wedding?"

"Um, baby?" Freddie said, stepping into the couple's bedroom, holding a brush. "This what you're looking for?"

"Yes, throw it in the bag," Sam said, nodding over to the bag on their bed. "And then make yourself useful and help me find my sparkly diamond earrings I picked up last week. I swear, if I lost those this whole wedding is going to be ruined!"

"Baby, relax," Freddie said, putting an arm around his wife. "The wedding's not going to be ruined over earrings. I think our biggest problem is going to be making sure my mom doesn't run up to the alter in the middle of our vows and tries to drag me back to her seat with her."

"Don't joke about that!" Sam snapped. "And seriously, the earrings! Come on, they match the necklace I'm wearing perfectly and-oh my God! This wedding has turned me into a girl!"

"Um…pretty sure you were a girl before the wedding plans started," Freddie chuckled. "But seriously, Sam, you need to relax. These past couple of days have been crazy for you."

When Sam and Freddie got engaged last year, Sam had been quite relaxed about the planning process. She delegated most of the tasks to the more-than-willing Carly and continually said that she didn't see the whole point of getting all worked up about every little detail like Carly did. But as the wedding date drew nearer and nearer Sam had suddenly began frantically double checking guest lists, menus, and even flower arrangements. Freddie figured it was just nerves.

"How can I relax?" Sam retorted. "It's the day before our wedding! Carly's gonna be here to pick me up so I can spend the night at her place any minute! I can't find my good hair pins, I have to get my nails and hair done today, I'm gonna have to deal with my crazy family coming in today, and I still don't know where my earrings are!"

"Okay, Sam, sit down," Freddie said, guiding his fiancé down to their bed. "Baby, the wedding is going to be perfect. There's nothing to stress about. Everything has been set for ages."

"But-" Sam started, but her sentence fell short as Freddie began to gently massage her back. She closed her eyes as she allowed the sensation to take over her body for a few minutes. But then her eyes snapped back open and she turned to Freddie.

"Hey, save it for tomorrow night," she smirked.

"Fine," Freddie grinned, but he kept his arms around her still. He silently played with the ends of her hair for a moment before speaking again. "You remember a few days ago?"

"What about it?"

"Well you remember how you told me when you started to fall for me?" Freddie said.

"Sure," Sam nodded. "So?"

"Well…aren't you curious about when I started to fall for you?"

"Dude, I know when you started to fall for me," Sam said, rolling her eyes. "It was when I kissed you at the lock-in. Duh."

"No it wasn't," Freddie said, his eyes sparkling.

"What? Yes it was," Sam replied. "I kissed you and then we started going out."

"Who's to say I didn't have feelings for you before that?" Freddie said, raising an eyebrow.

"Huh? Sam frowned. "You-You didn't like me before."

"You so sure about that?"

"But-But then why didn't you do something about it, nub!" Sam exclaimed. "Do you know how much stress you could've saved me? I locked myself in a mental hospital!"

"You know you're braver than me," Freddie told her. "That speech I gave you right before you kissed me in the courtyard…that was just as much for me as it was for you."

"But-You tried to hook me up with Brad," Sam pointed out. "Why would you do that if you had feelings for me?"

"Because I didn't know you had feelings for me," Freddie said. "I thought you loved Brad…and, well, I-I just wanted you to be happy. Even if it kind of destroyed me inside."

Sam stared at him. "Really?"

Freddie nodded. "But, well…it wound up working out for us. You didn't love Brad, you got out of the mental hospital and now we're going to be married tomorrow. Happy ending for everybody."

Sam laughed. "Some fairy tale…So when was it? When did you start to fall for me?"

"No, no, no," Freddie said. "You drove me crazy making me try to guess when you started having feelings for me. So you have to give me three guesses to see if you can get it before I tell you."

"Dude…" Sam groaned.

"Guess number one, let's here it," Freddie said stubbornly.

"Fine," Sam conceded. "Was it…was it when you found out I used to do pageants?"

"Nope," Freddie said at once. "Guess number two."

"Was it…was it when we spent the entire day redoing Carly bedroom when Spencer set it on fire with his lamp?"

"Nah," Freddie smiled. "Though I have to admit, when you jumped on me on Carly's bed when we were showing the room to her…I wasn't that annoyed."

"Cute," Sam chuckled. "Okay…oh! It was when we teamed up to try and get Spencer out of his pranking bit."

"Sorry, baby, but you are wrong," Freddie said.

"Yeah, yeah," Sam said, lightly shoving his arm. "Alright, I played your little guessing game. Now tell me."

"Okay," Freddie agreed. "Well…you know how you told me you falling for me was a gradual thing at first, and then there was that one thing that really made it clear to you? Well, it was like that for me. I thought the way I felt after our first kiss was just the way you felt after any kiss. Like you. And-And then there was that time you dated Pete for a little bit and I felt a tiny bit jealous, but well, at the time I didn't realize it was jealousy. I thought the feeling was me being a little weirded out by how girly you were acting. And then there was that week I dated Carly…That whole time I kept wondering why I wasn't thrilled to have her as my girlfriend. I mean, she was Carly. And when you told me I was Carly's bacon, I thought that as why I wasn't enjoying it as much. But it wasn't that. Now I know I just didn't like her that way, no matter what the reasoning."

Sam gave him a small smile. "So what's the thing that made it click?"

Freddie chuckled. "It's gonna sound stupid…"
"I'm used to you sounding stupid."

"It was…It was Jodi and Gordon's wedding in Wisconsin," Freddie told her.

"What?" Sam scoffed. "How could such a lame wedding have made you fall for me?"

"Because," Freddie explained. "That's when I finally realized what love was."

"Oh jeez," Sam said, though her cheeks were reddening. "This is sounding a lot like a chick flick now."

"Before, I-I thought love was two people who were pretty much the same sitting around being all nice and never fighting or disagreeing," Freddie said, ignoring her comment. "I thought to love someone you pretty much had to be a couple from the movies. You know, always agreeing, never being weird or crazy together…But then I saw those two. And-And they were so different from each other. She was loud and crazy, he was shy and timid."

"Oy, you did not just compare us to those two," Sam cringed.

"I have a point," Freddie assured her. "See, even though they were so different, and they weren't exactly a traditional couple…you could tell how much they loved each other. And that's when it hit me. To love someone, it doesn't have to be a simple, bumpless path. The person you love doesn't have to be someone just like you who you'll never have arguments with or different opinions. It doesn't have to be traditional. It can be crazy and wild too. And as I realized that, while Jodi and Gordon were up there at the alter, I looked over at you. You were standing there with Carly, looking amazing in a hideous dress, and I knew…I knew all those feelings I had that I never understood about you…they were love."

"Wow," Sam whispered. "And to think…I didn't even want to go to that wedding."

Freddie smiled as he leaned down to kiss her.

"I love you Sam," he said. "And tomorrow, we're going to have a wedding of our own."

"Can't wait," Sam said softly, kissing him again. "It's going to be perfect…even if I can't find my earrings."

Freddie laughed. "It would be perfect to me even if a herd of elephants went stampeding through. As long as I get to marry you."
"Me too," Sam nodded. "But…maybe I should call the zoo now and make sure their elephants are securely locked in their cages…"