Bolt

"Alright, the sushi will be here in thirty minutes," Freddie said, hanging up his phone. "Want to pour the sparking cider now?"

"Give it a few more minutes to chill in your fridge," Sam said as she finished reapplying a layer of lip gloss.

"Hey, is that the honey melon flavor?" Freddie asked.

"Yes it is," Sam grinned. "Your favorite."

"Any flavor of lip gloss becomes my favorite if it's on your lips," Freddie chuckled.

"Aw," Sam laughed, lacing her arms around her boyfriend's neck. "You're really doing a great job setting the mood for tonight, aren't you, baby?"

"It's a big night," Freddie said. "I want to make sure everything is perfect."

"It will be," Sam assured him. She kissed the tip of his nose. "Don't worry."

"It's just…God, this is such a big step in our relationship," Freddie said, running his fingers through his hair. "This is the first time we're going to be…you know."

"Having sex?" Sam smirked.

"Shhh!" Freddie hissed.

"Dude, what are you being so prudish for?" Sam laughed. "Nobody's here but me!"

"I know, but I wouldn't put it past my mom to have some sort of recording device in here to spy on me," Freddie said.

"Well hopefully she doesn't have any in your room, or she'll be getting quite a show later tonight," Sam pointed out.

"Trust me, I've checked over my room a million times over the years," Freddie said. "We're good."

"And speaking of your batty mom, she's definitely working the graveyard shift tonight, right?" Sam said. "Because her barging in here in the middle of everything would kind of kill the vibe."

"Yeah, she won't be home until eight tomorrow morning," Freddie said. "Which means you, um, do kind of have to wake up and move over to Carly's by then."

"Gee, thanks," Sam said, rolling her eyes.

"Come on, you know I wouldn't ask you to do that if I didn't know for a fact that she'd explode if she saw you in my bed," Freddie said.

"Yeah, I know, I'm just messing with you," Sam nodded. "I don't mind."

"Oh, and speaking of Carly, I really hope she doesn't call us to ask to hang out tonight," Freddie said. "I suck at giving excuses."

"Relax, Carly is helping her granddad sort his records tonight," Sam said.

"Nice," Freddie said. "Well then I guess that's everything. Dinner's on the way, I have chocolate covered strawberries for dessert in the freezer-"

"Oh, the sexiest of desserts," Sam said approvingly.

"Of course," Freddie said. "Oh, and I have something else to show you too. Come here."

He took Sam's hand and led her back to his bedroom.

"What?" Sam asked, looking around. "I don't see-Hey! Wait a minute…your sheets! You got rid of your lame Galaxy Wars ones!"

"I did not get rid of them," Freddie corrected. "Those sheets are collectables. But I figured you wouldn't want to have your first time be on sheets covered in NugNug, so I bought these from Pottery Barrel yesterday. Plain old navy blue."

"They feel soft," Sam commented, touching the bed.

"Well they should, I just took them out of the package an hour before you got here," Freddie said.

"Huh…so we're gonna be really breaking them in then," Sam smirked.

"Oh yeah," Freddie nodded.

"Well…you know, I-I also picked up a couple of things special for tonight too," Sam said, her cheeks flushing a bit.

"What?" Freddie asked.

Sam flashed him a quick grin before pulling the waistband of her jeans down a couple of centimeters, revealing a band of black lace.

"Whoa…" Freddie said. "Is that…"

"A frilly, lacy, totally uncomfortable thong," Sam confirmed. "I got it at Schneider's Secret."

"Oh…" Freddie said, looking like he got hit over the head with a bat.

"Yeah, and I may or may not have gotten the matching bra," Sam said, pulling her waistband back up. "You'll just have to wait until after we eat to see."

"Can't wait," Freddie said. He reached over and took Sam's hands. "Listen, Sam. I-I just want to make sure that you're really okay with this. I-I love you, but I don't want you to feel like you have to do this for me. Really, I'm fine waiting if you want, or-"

"Baby, I've told you, I want to do this just as much as you," Sam assured him, squeezing his hands. "I love you too."

Freddie smiled. "I'm glad my first time is going to be with you, Sam."

"Probably not what you imagined, right?"

"Well," Freddie said. "Call me a hopeless romantic, but I always imagined my first time being with the woman I loved more than anything so…I'd say this is exactly how I imagined it."

Sam moved closer to him, allowing him to wrap his arms around her waist as she rested her head on his chest. "Well, to be honest, I never imagined my first time being like this."

"No?" Freddie frowned. "What-What's missing? Do you want candles? I can go get candles! Or should I cancel the sushi order and get something else? God, I knew it! I should've gone with Greek food! Hold on, let me just get my phone and-"

"No, Freddie, I-I don't care about the food," Sam said.

"You don't-you don't care about food?" Freddie said, absolutely flabbergasted.

"Surprisingly…no," Sam said. "Of course I'll still eat half of your sushi when it gets here, but what I was talking about is…I-I never pictured myself ever being with somebody like you. Somebody who makes me feel so special and all that….I-I kind of always feared I'd take after my mom in this whole romance department and wind up dating strings of guys who couldn't even remember my last name. I figured my first time would, I dunno, be in a gas station bathroom or something."

"Sam, you deserve so much more than that," Freddie said at once. He kissed the top of her head.

"Thank you," Sam said. "For everything. Really, you-you went to so much trouble to make sure tonight will be perfect."

"It wasn't any trouble," Freddie said. "Baby, I'd do anything for you."

Just then there was a loud knock at the front door.

"Oh, that must be our food," Freddie said.

"Good," Sam said. "The sooner we eat…"

"The sooner we get to break in those sheets," Freddie said, beaming.

The couple headed to the front door and opened up. Instead of seeing a deliveryman, though, they were greeted by the sight of Spencer.

"Spencer? What are you doing here?" Freddie said as the man let himself into the apartment.

"I need to use your Wi-Fi!" Spencer said frantically, sitting down on the plastic-covered couch and pulling out his laptop.

"What the heck is wrong with your own Wi-Fi?" Sam demanded.

"I forgot to pay for it this month," Spencer said simply. "And I need to beat this level of Tetris!"

"Tetris?" Freddie repeated.

"It's this game where you have to fit these falling blocks into-"

"I know what Tetris is!" Freddie snapped. "But come on, you-you can't play it here. Not tonight."

"I have to!" Spencer moaned. "I'm in an online tournament with fifty other players!"

"Dude, just go down to the Groovy Smoothie and mooch off of their Wi-Fi," Sam said.

"I can't, me and T-Bo aren't exactly on speaking terms," Spencer explained.

"What happened?" Freddie asked.

"We had an argument about which Stooge was the funniest," Spencer said. "That moron thought it was Curly, but anybody can tell you that Moe was the glue that held those three together."

"Oh my God…" Sam said, massaging her temples.

"Okay, look, Spence," Freddie said, trying to be reasonable. "I understand that you need to play your game, but-but me and Sam were kind of in the middle of something here and-"

"What?" Spencer asked. "What were you doing?"

"Um…" Sam said lamely. "We were gonna…We were-"

"We were gonna play Monopoly," Freddie finished. "Yup, the classic board game of finances and corporate greed."

"Hey, I love Monopoly!" Spencer exclaimed. "I call bring the racecar!"

"But you just said you were playing Tetris," Sam said.

"Pfft, I'll play that some other time," Spencer said, closing his computer. "How often do I get a chance to play Monopoly with two of my little sister's best friends? So where's the game?"

"Um…Oh shoot, my mom must've thrown it away," Freddie said. "Yeah, bummer. Oh well, since we can't play Monopoly and you gave up on Tetris, looks like you should just go back home and-"

"Oh no worries, I have Monopoly too," Spencer said. "Just give me a quick sec and I'll go grab it."

"No, that's really-"

But Spencer had already run out of the apartment.

"Quick, lock the door behind him," Sam said.

"Sam, we can't do that," Freddie sighed. "That's so mean."

"We'll buy him a corndog or something to make up for it," Sam said. "Come on! Did you forget what I have on under these clothes?"

"Er…well, I'm sure Spencer will get over it," Freddie said, quickly starting to the front door. Before he got a chance to lock it, though, the door opened again and Spencer re-entered the apartment with the board game.

"Alright, I call going first!" Spencer said cheerfully.

Freddie looked helplessly at Sam.

"Okay, well…maybe this will be a quick game," Sam said. "And then we can try kicking him out again."

"Yeah, a quick game," Freddie nodded. "And then we can get on with our evening."

"What were we thinking?" Freddie sighed four hours later. "There is no such thing as a quick game of Monopoly."

"God, it's already after midnight," Sam yawned as she placed a hotel on the board.

"Well I'm almost out of money so hopefully we can wind this thing down soon," Freddie said. "Alright, Spencer, your turn….Spencer? Spencer?"

Sam and Freddie looked over at Spencer, who was slumped back in his seat, snoring.

"He fell asleep?" Sam frowned. "After he stole that last railroad from me? He has some nerve! Well, at least now we can stop playing this dumb game. Wake him up so he can leave."

"Spence?" Freddie said, nudging the older man's arm. "Spencer, come on, get up. Go back home and sleep in your own bed."

"Don't let the pigs lick that," Spencer replied sleepily, his eyes remaining shut.

"Ugh! I forgot that he's an insanely deep sleeper," Sam said, rolling her eyes.

"Well…" Freddie said. "I guess this is karma for all those Wake Up Spencer bits we used to film. Looks like he's spending the night here."

"Looks like it," Sam said.

The two were silent for a moment.

"You know…" Sam said thoughtfully. "He is a heavy sleeper. We can probably go back to your bedroom without him ever figuring out a thing."

"I dunno…" Freddie said. "Wouldn't it be kind of weird doing anything with him just out here?"

"Come on, after a few minutes we'll forget he's even out here," Sam said.

Just then Spencer let out a loud snore.

"Or not…" she sighed. She shook her head. "I guess tonight's off then."

"I'm sorry," Freddie said.

"It's not your fault," Sam shrugged. "You're not the middle-aged man snoring in the middle of your kitchen."

"We can push this back to tomorrow night," Freddie said. "We can-No, wait…that won't work. My mom's going to be home. What about if we move this to your house tomorrow night?"

"Yeah…that's not a good idea," Sam said.

"Why? Is your mom going to be home too?" Freddie asked.

"No, but she just started dating the manager of some exotic pet store," Sam explained. "And as a one-week anniversary gift, he gave her three snakes, and one of them may have escaped his cage and has yet to be found."

"Okay…so that's definitely ruled out," Freddie shuddered.

"When's the next time your mom has the graveyard shift?" Sam asked.

"This weekend," Freddie replied.

"Well," Sam said heavily. "We'll just have to wait until then."

"That's four days away," Freddie moaned.

"I know, but I promise, it will be worth the wait," Sam grinned.

Freddie chuckled. "I know it will be."

…..

That weekend Freddie pulled a tray of chicken Parmesan out of the oven, taking care to sprinkle additional Parmesan cheese on Sam's piece.

He could hardly keep himself from jumping up and down with excitement. Sam would be arriving any minute.

Alright, I think everything's al set, Freddie thought to himself, setting a plate of breadsticks on the table. Dinner's ready, I'm wearing the cologne that Sam loves, I stretched…Now all I need is

Just then there was a knock at the door and Freddie nearly knocked over a lamp as he raced to answer it.

"Hey, baby," he said, opening up. "Perfect timing. I just finished with dinner."

"Sweet!" Sam said, stepping into the apartment.

Freddie frowned. Something seemed off…

"Oh, chicken parm," Sam commented, looking over at the table. "Nice. Hey, you even put extra cheese on mine! That's so-achoo!"

She let out a loud sneeze that nearly sent her to the ground.

"Whoa, you alright?" Freddie asked, helping Sam regain her balance.

"Oh yeah, totally fine," Sam said quickly, grabbing a tissue from her purse. "Now come on, let's eat so we can head back to your bedroom. And good news! Spencer is out with Socko, so hopefully we won't have any-"

Her sentence was cut short, though, by a loud series of coughs.

"Um, Sam?" Freddie said, helping Sam down into a nearby chair. "Are you-"

"I'm not sick!" Sam said at once.

Freddie sighed and felt her forehead. Just as he suspected; she was burning up.

"It was hot outside," Sam said. "So if it feels like I have a fever, it's just because-"

"Baby…you've got the flu," Freddie said gently.

"No I don't!" Sam said, wiping her nose.

"Yes, you do," Freddie said. "If you want, I'll go get my mom's flu testing kit to prove it to you…"

"Ugh, no, don't do that," Sam said, rolling her eyes. "Fine, I'm a tiny bit under the weather…Seriously though, I'm not too sick to-"

She let out another long series of coughs.

"Sam," Freddie said, rubbing her shoulder comfortingly. "You're too sick for us to have sex."

"I am not!" Sam snapped. "Are you telling me you don't think I'm sexy? Is that it?"

"Sam, come on, you know I think you're sexy no matter what," Freddie smiled. "But you can't seriously tell me that you feel your best right now."

Sam shrugged, but didn't say anything.

"This is kind of an important event," Freddie said. "I don't want it to be any less special for you because you don't feel well."

"But we already had to push this back once," Sam pointed out. "I don't want us to have to do it again just because I got sick."

"Hey, it's not your fault," Freddie said, putting an arm around her. "Look, I'm totally eager for us to finally do this too, but I don't want to rush it either. We can wait until your feeling one hundred percent."

"I'm sorry," Sam sighed.

Freddie kissed her temple. "Don't be. Like you said, it's gonna be worth the wait."

"At this point it has to be," Sam smirked, getting to her feet. "Well…alright then, Benson. I'll see you around."

"Hold on, where are you going?" Freddie asked.

"Back to my place," Sam said. "We just said we were gonna wait to sleep together so-"

"Sam, just because you're too sick to have sex doesn't mean I'm kicking you out!" Freddie said. "I'll take care of you. Come here. I'll get you some pillows and blankets and start some soup."

Sam smiled. "You're really just gonna take care of me?"

"Of course," Freddie said. "I love you."

…..

A week later, once Sam's flu had finally gone away and Freddie's mother was once again working the graveyard shift at the hospital, Sam and Freddie arranged the perfect setting for their special evening. And so far, everything had gone according to plan.

They had finished a beautiful candlelit dinner, free from any interruptions, and had moved into Freddie's bedroom.

"We're finally here," Sam grinned as her and Freddie lay on his bed, their arms wrapped around each other. "Nobody's sick, nobody's barging into your apartment…"

"I know!" Freddie said excitedly, kissing her. He slowly sat up. "You really ready?"

"I've never been more ready for anything in my life," Sam told him. "I love you so much, Freddie."

"I love you too, Sam," Freddie said, leaning back down to kiss her.

The couple continued kissing passionately, their hands roaming the other's body. Soon Freddie's shirt was off and Sam's followed shortly after. Freddie, who was hovering on top of Sam, began kissing down her neck down towards her chest. Just as he was reaching around to unclasp her bra, Sam suddenly bolted up, looking alarmed.

"What?" Freddie said, slightly panicked. "Did I do something wrong? Was that too soon?"

"Oh my God…" Sam said, her eyes wide.

"I screwed up, didn't I?" Freddie said nervously. "Sam, I'm so sorry. I didn't-"

"No, Freddie, you-you didn't do anything," Sam said. "I-I forgot. Oh my God, I can't believe I forgot!"

"Forgot what?" Freddie asked, confused.

"You're gonna hate me," Sam said, shaking her head.

"Not possible," Freddie said at once. "Seriously, what'd you forget?"

"Um…I-I kind of forgot to, um, take my pill this morning," Sam said, giving him a sheepish smile.

"Your pill?" Freddie repeated.

"You know…birth control?" Sam said.

"Oh," Freddie said. "Well…does one missed pill actually matter?"

"Yes!" Sam moaned. "You have to take it once a day at the same exact time otherwise they're useless! I'm a complete moron! I always take it with my midmorning ham, but I guess today it just slipped my mind."

"Well…it was an honest mistake," Freddie said. "Don't beat yourself up."

"First time I forget the stupid pill in the six months I've been on it," Sam mumbled, shaking her head. "Well, whatever. I guess we can just use a condom. You have one, don't you?"

"Um…no," Freddie admitted.

"What do you mean no?" Sam frowned.

"Well I can't exactly have a box of them lying around here, can I?" Freddie snapped. "What if my mom finds them?"

"You knew what we were going to do here tonight!" Sam pointed out.

"Yeah, but you said since you were on the pill we didn't need to use it!"

"Well you know I'm irresponsible; you should've had a backup plan!" Sam defended.

"Alright, alright, we can still work with this," Freddie said, getting up and grabbing his shirt. "I'll just run to the drug store."

Just then a perfectly timed clasp of thunder sounded. Sam stood up and pushed back Freddie's curtains, revealing a massive rainstorm.

"Dude, you can't go anywhere," Sam told him.

"Sure I can," Freddie said, grabbing his keys. "I have an umbrella!"

"Freddie, it's a mini hurricane out there!" Sam said. "You could get struck by lightning!"

"I'm willing to take that risk!" Freddie said, determined.

"Freddie…" Sam said, gently taking his hand and leading him back to his bed. "You can't go out."

Freddie let out a long sigh. "Yeah…okay."

Sam put her arms around him. "I'm really sorry. I really messed up."

"No, you didn't," Freddie said. "Like I said, it was an honest mistake. We'll just have to wait a little longer…that's all."

"Why? So something else can go wrong?" Sam mumbled. "This was our third try here, Freddie!"

"I'm very aware of that," Freddie said.

"Why can't we just have our perfect night?" Sam said softly. "We keep creating these perfect set-ups, but something always comes up and ruins everything! Face it, we're never gonna have sex! The universe just doesn't want it!"

"The universe wouldn't be that cruel," Freddie said. "At least I hope it wouldn't be…"

He reached for Sam's hand and squeezed it. "We'll do this, Sam. It's gonna happen. And remember, it's gonna be-"

"-Worth the wait, yeah, yeah, yeah," Sam said, rolling her eyes. "I know. But this is one hell of a wait."

…..

A few days later Sam was sitting on the Shay's couch, playing on her Pearphone. Her, Carly, and Freddie were supposed to go to the movies that afternoon, and she figured she might as well wait for everybody in a place that had a well-stocked fridge.

"Hey," Freddie said, letting himself into the apartment.

"Hi," Sam smiled as Freddie sat down next to her and gave her a quick kiss. "Guess what? Spencer finally bought more pudding cups. I was gonna finish them all up but I was considerate and left you one."

"Aw, baby, you're the best," Freddie chuckled.

"Remember that when it comes time to pick the movie we see later," Sam told him. "I know Carly's gonna try to talk us into seeing some dumb romantic comedy, but I need you to stand strong and side with me when I suggest we see Zorbat IV."

"The zombie bat movie?"

"Yup," Sam nodded.

"Sam, those movies are terrible," Freddie said. "There's no plot!"

"So? There's blood and guts," Sam shrugged. "That's what a movie is all about."

"Yeah, that's what they look for when they hand out Oscars," Freddie chuckled. "Anyway, where's Carly? Shouldn't we get going?"

"She's with Spencer at Hey Foods," Sam said. "She should be back any-"

Just then her phone dinged.

"Who texted?" Freddie asked as she looked down at her screen.

"Carly," Sam replied. "She said that Spencer accidently steered their grocery cart into a grape juice display at the store."

"Huh…" Freddie said. "You know, Spencer is really bad at steering shopping carts."

"And since this is the third juice display that Spencer has destroyed this month, the Hey Foods manager is so wazzed off that he's making Spencer clean up the whole mess and put together another juice display. Carly says they're probably not gonna be home until later tonight."

"Well, guess the movie's out then," Freddie said.

"Darn, I really wanted popcorn," Sam said, putting her phone away.

"You can pop some in the microwave," Freddie pointed out.

"Nah, it's not the same without all that delicious artificial butter poured all over it," Sam said.

"Of course not," Freddie said, rolling his eyes.

"Well, what should we do now?" Sam asked. "Meat golf?"

"Sure, why not," Freddie agreed. "Hey, we can play at my place if you want."

"Won't your mom freak out?" Sam asked.

"Oh, crazy thing, actually," Freddie said. "She's gone for the weekend."

"She is?"

"Yeah, her cousin called her up last night with some ingrown hair problem," Freddie shuddered. "And you know my mom just couldn't resist that."

"So…" Sam said slowly. "What you're saying is you have an empty apartment? And nobody's around to keep us from it?"

"Yeah," Freddie nodded. "That sounds about right."

"Then why would we waste that on meat golf?" Sam exclaimed, jumping up. "Freddie, don't you see? This is our chance!"

"Chance for what?" Freddie asked, confused.

"Oh come on, please don't make me hit you," Sam sighed. "It will really kill the mood."

"The mood for-Oh!" Freddie said, finally catching on. "Holy chiz, you're right! But we didn't set anything up! I don't have a fancy dinner ready and-and I may have put my Galaxy Wars sheets back on and-"

"I don't care about that!" Sam said quickly. "All I care about is being with you!"

"Well all I care about is being with you too!" Freddie said.

"Then why the heck are we still standing here?" Sam said. "Let's move before something goes wrong!"

The couple bolted across the hall and Freddie quickly let them into his apartment. They ran back to his bedroom and wasted no time jumping onto the bed.

"Alright, this is it," Sam said as Freddie wrapped his arms around her.

"Oh yeah," Freddie nodded. "This is-Wait. Sam? Did you remember-"

"I took my pill, Freddie," Sam chuckled.

"Oh thank God," Freddie said, breathing a sigh of relief.

….

An hour later, Sam and Freddie lay next to each other underneath Freddie's Galaxy Wars covers, both still entwined and slightly out of breath.

"Wow…" Freddie said, grinning like crazy. "I can't believe we finally did it."

"I know," Sam said, also beaming. "We really did."

Freddie leaned over and gently kissed her cheek.

"Well...?"

"Well what?" Sam asked.

"Was it worth the wait?" Freddie questioned.

Sam rolled her eyes as she hugged Freddie closer, resting her head on his chest. "Absolutely."

Freddie smiled, kissing her again. "My feelings exactly."