AN- So this is a sequel to chapter 539, where Sam and Freddie gave each other their stuff back after the break-up and Freddie lets Sam keep one of his old sweatshirts. I actually really enjoy writing oneshots like this that deal with the direct aftermath of the break-up since we never got to see that on the show. Hope you enjoy!

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Sam rested her head in her knees as she stared out her window. She was curled up in Freddie's oversized hoodie, and even though it was hardly a substitute for his arms wrapped around her, she supposed it was the best alternative she could have.

Eventually, though, she knew she'd have to give it up. After all, you couldn't keep wearing your ex-boyfriend's jacket after you broke up.

"It was for the best," Sam told her self softly. "If we hadn't broken up, we'd have just made each other miserable…"

Still, though, she couldn't help but wonder if it was actually possible to feel even more miserable than she did now.

Maybe I should've waited a few more days to give back all his stuff, though, Sam thought to herself. For now all that she had left of Freddie was that hoodie.

She hugged the material tighter to her body.

After her and Freddie had had that more-than-awkward exchanging of possessions, Sam had retreated. She knew she'd be getting a call any minute now from Carly, asking her why she had bailed on iCarly rehearsal. She'd have to come up with some excuse…

It'll get easier, Sam told herself firmly. It has to.

Just then her phone began to ring, and sure enough, when she looked down at the screen, Carly's name was flashing across.

Let out a long sigh, Sam pressed the phone to her ear, ready for Carly's reprimand. "Hello?"

"Hey, where'd you guys go?" Carly asked on the other end. "I thought we were gonna start on some iCarly stuff once I got back from getting Spencer."

"Yeah, um, right," Sam said lamely. "I-I just had to-"

"You and Freddie ran off to make-out again, didn't you?" Carly said knowingly.

Sam squeezed her eyes shut. She supposed one of them should really get around to telling Carly they broke up.

"Um no, we-we didn't-"

"Look, it's fine," Carly laughed. "I get it, you guys are in love. But can you just come back over soon so we can get some work done? We have the show airing in three days."

In love? Sam repeated. That's not what you seemed to be getting at last night when you were talking with Spencer…

"Sam?" Carly said, bringing the blonde back to reality. "You still there?"

"Um, yeah," Sam said quickly. "Yeah…I-I'll be right over."

"Make sure you have Freddie with you," Carly said brightly. "Though I'm sure he hasn't left your side this whole time."

….

A short whiles later, Sam dragged her feet down the hallway of Bushwell Plaza. Pretending to be happy and energetic for iCarly was just about the last thing she wanted to do right now. She figured she would just have to get through it all as quickly as possible though.

She was about to let herself into apartment 8C, when she suddenly realized that she was supposed to bring Freddie over with her.

She's torturing me, Sam thought bitterly as she stepped towards the door of apartment 8D, and for the first time since she could remember, she did not simply barge in or pick the lock.

She knocked.

She heard movement inside and a moment later Freddie stuck out his head.

"Oh, um, hey," he said, evidently surprised to see her at his door.

Sam gave him a small smile. "Um, Carly called me a little while ago. She-She just got back and she was wondering where we were. She wanted to um, still do that iCarly stuff, I guess…"

"Oh, right," Freddie nodded. "Yeah, okay. Um, that-that's fine."

He stepped out into the hallway. "We should really get that done anyway…show's in three days."

"Yup," Sam said, quickly turning towards the Shay's apartment. "We should…we should really get it done."

She opened up the door and stepped into the apartment, where Carly was sitting on the couch, flipping through channels.

"Finally," she said, though giving the two a friendly smile. "Where were you guys? Being all couply over at Freddie's?"

"Um…" Freddie frowned, looking over at Sam.

"Carls, listen," Sam sighed. "Freddie and I-"

"So I think we should get the Super Bra clip all shot today," Carly said, cutting her off. "And if we have time after that, we can get to the corn ship bit. I'll go finish setting upstairs, you guys bring up all the props. I have them all organized in those boxes on the table."

Freddie waited until Carly had retreated upstairs before turning to Sam. "Um, so, I-I take it-"

"She doesn't know we broke up yet," Sam finished.

"I guess we should probably tell her, huh?" Freddie sighed.

Sam shrugged. "Guess so."
She started towards the table and picked up one of the boxes of props.

"Sam," Freddie said suddenly, hurrying after her. "Um, listen, before-before we go up there…I-I just wanted to make sure that we were, you know, okay."
"Why wouldn't we be okay?" Sam asked, determined not to make eye contact.

"Well, you know, I just wanted to sure that we were, well, um, alright after everything that, er, happened last night," Freddie said, his face flushing crimson.

"Oh," Sam said. "Um…yeah, yeah we're alright, aren't we? I mean we-we said it was mutual."

"Right," Freddie agreed quickly. "And-And we were friends before we became a couple so…so how hard can it be to stay friends now?"

"Exactly," Sam nodded. "You did it after you and Carly broke up, didn't you?"

"Er, yeah, that's-that's true," Freddie said.

"Hey, you guys coming up?" Carly called from upstairs.

"Yeah!" Sam yelled back, picking up her box again and heading towards the stairs. "We're coming!"

As Freddie picked up the second box, he watched Sam disappear up the steps.

Yeah, things went back to normal right away between Carly and me, he thought as he stared after her. But I didn't feel this crushed when I broke up with her.

….

"So Spencer had this really cool idea the other day while we were cleaning out our storage unit," Carly said as the trio sat around the studio in their beanbag chairs. She clearly didn't notice that unlike usual, Sam and Freddie's seats weren't scooted so close together they were practically on one another's lap. In fact, they seemed to be sitting further apart than they ever had even before they started dating.

"What was it?" Sam asked.

"He was thinking we should make a theme song for Super Bra," Carly said. "You know, since Batman has one and Superman and that guy who shoots webs out of his hands-"

"Spiderman," Sam and Freddie both corrected simultaneously. They glanced over at each other, each showing small smiles, before quickly looking away.

"Yeah, him," Carly said dismissively. "Anyway, don't you think it'd be fun for us to write Super Bra his own catchy little song?"

"Yeah, that could be fun," Freddie replied. "If we get it written by tomorrow I can even get it edited for this week's show."

"Sweet," Carly grinned. "We can start on it later. But first we do need to actually get the Super Bra bit shot. Did you memorize your lines, Sam?"

"Uh-huh," the blonde nodded.

"Great," Carly said, jumping up to her feet. "Then let's get started. You have the cameras all set up, Freddie?"

"Oh, um…I-I forgot," Freddie mumbled. "Give me a minute."

"You forgot?" Carly chuckled. "Wow, I never thought I'd see the day when Freddie Benson forgot about anything tech related."

"It just…slipped my mind," Freddie mumbled, scrambling over to his tech cart.

"That's okay," Carly assured him. She turned to Sam. "Let's just practice going over the script a few times and then we'll bring in the props, okay?"

"Um, yeah, okay," Sam replied, slowly getting up from her seat, wishing for nothing more than to be back in her room, where she could mope around in Freddie's hoodie in peace.

"Alright, we're rolling," Freddie announced, pointing his camera at the two. "In five, four, three, two, one."

"One?" Carly frowned. "Did you just say the one? You never say the one!"

"Oh, um, my bad," Freddie said, shaking his head.

"You alright?" Carly asked, somewhat concerned.

"Yeah, just…let's do this," Freddie said. "Um…action."

"Well isn't this a mighty purty day!" Carly said, putting on her idiot farm girl voice. "It's the perfect weather for me to sit here in this abandoned field and count my toes without any interruptions! One, two, three…shoot! I lost count! Oh well, time to start over! One, two, four…"

As Carly recited her lines, Sam looked over at Freddie. She had always thought she looked sort of cute when he was busy concentrating on his cameras and tech equipment. His nose would sometimes scrunch up as he hurried to readjust the white balance or re-angle the camera for a better shot.

"I said," Carly suddenly said loudly, snapping Sam out of her daze. "Who is that mysterious stranger approaching from way yonder?"

"Um, hey there, idiot farm girl," Sam said, quickly recovering. "Um, what-what are you doing in this here farmland? I need to take my buffalos for a walk, er, stroll…no, a walk…and I don't need you getting in the, um, getting in the…getting in the way."

"Hiiii!" Carly said happily. "I like your hat. It looks like a churro. Can I have a bite?"

"Um, I don't know what object has recently collided with your cranium, young missy," Sam said. "But upon my head is a hat, not a, um, not a-"

"Churro," Carly whispered under her breath, giving Sam a strange look.

"Right, um, a churro," Sam said.

"Okay," Carly said, dropping her farm girl voice. "Cut! Sam, what's going on? I thought you had your lines memorized."

"I do," Sam defended.

"Well you've stumbled over nearly everything you've said," Carly pointed out.

"Well this script is difficult!"

"You wrote it!" Carly reminded her.

She looked back and forth between Sam and Freddie. "I've never seen you two so off your games before. What'd you do on your little make-out break? Smack your heads together or-"

"We weren't on a make-out break!" Freddie suddenly interjected.

"Sure you weren't," Carly said, rolling her eyes. "Look, it's okay. We'll just take it from the top again and-"

"No, we really weren't, okay?" Sam snapped, catching Carly by surprise. "And you wanna know why? Freddie and I, we…we broke up, alright!"

Carly blinked. "Wait, what?"

"We broke up!" Sam repeated. "Last night."

Carly turned to Freddie. "Is this true?"

"Um, yeah, it's-it's true," Freddie muttered.

"Oh my God!" Carly gasped. "I-I'm so sorry. I didn't know!"

"It's fine, there's nothing to be sorry about," Sam said at once. "We just decided that-that we weren't really meant to be a couple."
"Yeah, we didn't click that way," Freddie added. "And it was all mutual so no harm!"

"But still," Carly said, giving her best friends sympathetic looks. "I'm sure you guys need some time to really let all this sink in. I bet the last thing you want to be doing right now is iCarly rehearsals. Why don't we forget all this for today and we'll pick up again tomorrow."
"Huh? No, we don't need to do that," Sam said.

"Yeah, we're okay," Freddie nodded. "Seriously, this isn't a big deal."

Carly gave the two a knowing glance, realizing that both were too concerned with their own pride at the moment.

"Well, I'm actually feeling a little under the weather," she said, giving a loud yawn. "I didn't get much sleep last night. Spencer was fuming about the ending of some Pudgy Monkey book. So I think I'm gonna call this rehearsal so I can go take a nap."

"Um, well, alright then," Sam said slowly. "I guess if you need to take the rest of the day to rest…"

"Yeah, we-we'll just get out of your hair then," Freddie nodded.

"Great," Carly smiled. "I'll see you tomorrow. And um, let-let me know if you guys need anything."

Sam and Freddie trudged out of the studio, neither saying a single word as they exited the apartment.

"You realize she was totally faking up there, right?" Freddie finally said as they stepped into the hallway.

"Duh," Sam mumbled. "But, hey, I'll never pass up on a break from work. Even though I was fine up there."
"Yeah, me too," Freddie echoed.

The two stood there for a moment, neither knowing exactly what to do or say next.

"Well then," Sam said, clearing her throat. "I guess I'll head home …watch some T.V."

"Yeah, and I'll catch up on some homework," Freddie said.

"Right," Sam nodded. "Well…bye."

She turned to start walking off, but before she could take more than two steps, Freddie opened his mouth.

"Wait, um, Sam?" he said, causing her to stop in her tracks. "I, um, have something for you."

"What?" Sam asked curiously.
"Um, just-just something of yours that I-I still have," Freddie said, digging in his pocket.

"I thought you gave me all my stuff already."

"Well I sort of…I forgot about this," Freddie said, pulling his keys out of his pocket. Attached to them was a fuzzy blue rabbits foot keychain. He took it from the keys, staring at it for a moment before handing it back to Sam. "Here. You loaned it to me last week, remember? I was running for AV club president and I was really nervous, and you said that keychain has always been lucky for you, so you told me to bring it with me for the elections so some of its luck would rub off on me."

Sam said nothing as she simply looked at Freddie.

"Of course, that was just some silly superstition," Freddie continued. "There's no such thing as good luck charms…but, well, I won that election so maybe it's not such a crazy idea."

Sam squeezed the charm in her hand gently. "Um, actually," she said, handing it back to Freddie. "If you want, you can, um, keep it. I have a whole bunch of these at home. My mom's dating a guy who owns a magic shop so we have tons of these things lying around."

"You serious?" Freddie asked.

"Yeah," Sam nodded. "I mean, you could use all the luck you can get…you're kind of a nub, remember?"

Freddie gave a small laugh. "Fair point. Well, um, thanks, Sam."

"Anytime," Sam said. She turned and headed around the corner. "Anytime…"