Beg

"Okay, so Freddie, you'll pick up the wet cement for the show tomorrow night, right?" Carly said, looking down at her Pearpad as her, Freddie and Sam sat in the iCarly studio.

"Yeah, from the hardware store, right?" Freddie nodded.

"Yup," Carly replied.

"Better give him directions, Carls," Sam smirked. "Frednub's probably never stepped foot in a hardware store."

"Oh very funny," Freddie snapped. "Well we know we can't send you. You're probably banned for throwing hammers around the store like a maniac."

"Hey!" Sam snapped. "That was one time and-"

"Guys, come on, stop fighting!" Carly said. "Seriously, you two used to date. You'd think that month would've helped your insane arguing!"

Freddie and Sam both quickly diverted their eyes away from the other.

"Alright, so if Freddie gets the cement, we should be covered for the show," Carly said, looking back at her Pearpad.

"Cool, so are we done with this dumb meeting?" Sam asked.

"No," Carly said. "We have to rehearse that Idiot Farm Girl bit once Gibby gets here."

"Ugh," Sam moaned, throwing her head back in her beanbag chair.

"Oh calm down," Carly said, rolling her eyes. "He'll be here any minute, he's just grabbing a smoothie. Hey, speaking of smoothies, T-Bo told me that tomorrow night he's going to have a special on those curly fries we all love. We should go down after the show and get some."

"Um, can't," Freddie said quickly.

"Yeah, me neither," Sam said. "I have plans."

"Both of you have plans?" Carly frowned. "Together?"

"Oh God, no," Freddie said at once. "I'm going to a Training Bros meeting."

"And I'm meeting Wendy to go egg Ms. Briggs' house," Sam said. "Why on earth would I want to hang out with Fredwad?"

"Well I wouldn't want to hang out with you either," Freddie said, crossing his arms.

"Alright, I need a break from you two," Carly said, getting to her feet. "I'm gonna go grab a popsicle. Either of you want one?"

"Yes," Sam nodded at once. "Cherry. And grape! Oh, and a lemon one too!"

"So the whole box?" Carly chuckled.

"This is why we're best friends," Sam grinned.

"Just try not to kill each other while I'm gone," Carly said, heading towards the door. "Please?"

"No promises," Freddie said.

Once Carly had left the studio, Sam and Freddie looked at each other and both grinned.

"Very nice," Sam said as Freddie quickly scooted his beanbag closer to hers. "Good work, Benson."

"You too, Puckett," Freddie smiled. "You were very convincing."

"Carly totally has no idea," Sam said as Freddie reached for her hand and took it in his. "And I told you we needed to have those excuses ready to cover for our date tomorrow night. Carly always likes hanging out after iCarly."

"I know," Freddie nodded. "Very smart, baby."

"I'm starting to feel kind of bad, though," Sam sighed. "You think maybe we should just tell her we're back together?"

"We'll tell her," Freddie said. "Eventually…But I thought we agreed that it'd be best not to mention it to anybody right now. I mean we just got back together a week ago. You know if we tell her she's gonna freak out and obsess over it."

"Yeah, you're right," Sam agreed. "She means well, but sometimes she can be kind of-"

"Intrusive?" Freddie smirked.

"Well…yeah," Sam nodded.

"Don't worry, like I said, we'll tell her soon," Freddie assured Sam, squeezing her hand gently. "But for right now I think it's nice that we have this secret relationship. It's kind of romantic."

"Yeah, it is," Sam chuckled. She looked up at Freddie and slowly craned her neck up. She expected to be met with Freddie's lips on hers, but instead Freddie simply wrapped an arm around her and hugged her, somewhat awkwardly.

Sam frowned. Did Freddie just snub her?

She opened her mouth to say something, but just at that moment the studio door opened and Carly walked in with an armload of popsicles.

Freddie quickly scooted his seat away as Carly dropped several popsicles onto Sam's lap.

"There you go, Sam," Carly said to her best friend. "Fourteen popsicles. You can go for a new record."

"Um, thanks," Sam said, still looking over at Freddie.

Why didn't he kiss me? Sam thought to herself. That's weird…He always-Wait a minute…Holy chiz! We-We haven't kissed at all since we got back together! Not once! We've just held hands and hugged! Oh my God! What's going on?

"You alright, Sam?" Carly asked.

"Huh? Oh, yeah," Sam said quickly. "Yeah, I'm fine…"

…..

"Alright, there has to be something up," Sam said to herself the next morning as she paced back and forth in her bedroom. "Freddie and I have been back together for eight whole days and we haven't kissed once!"

She turned and looked at herself in the mirror.

Are my lips chapped? Sam thought to herself. Is it my breath? It has to be something. It used to be hard for Freddie to go more than an hour without giving me a kiss…

This had been bothering Sam since it had come to her attention the previous night, and since then she had been going over every possible reason for her and Freddie's lack of kissing.

She realized that this sort of relationship problem was something that one would normally discuss with their best friend, but seeing as Carly was under the impression that her and Freddie hated the others guts, that wasn't exactly an option for her.

Maybe he's starting to regret getting back together, Sam thought suddenly. Oh God…that's got to be it! That's why he hasn't kissed me! He wants to make sure he can still get out of this if he needs to!

Sam sat down on her bed, deep in though.

She'd never admit it to anybody, but the six months her and Freddie were broken up were extremely hard on her. There were days when she would see Freddie and want nothing more than to run into his arms. When they had gotten back together last week she finally felt truly happy again, and she never wanted to have to go through losing Freddie again.

Our first official date is tomorrow night, Sam thought slowly. It has to go perfectly…otherwise…otherwise Freddie's going to realize he made a huge mistake getting back together with me.

…..

"So remember, Sam, we're gonna do the grilled cheese bit before we burry Gibby in pennies," Carly told Sam the next evening as the three teens prepared for iCarly.

"Got it," Sam nodded.

"Freddie, did you finish up that new intro graphic?" Carly asked.

"Yeah, couple hours ago," Freddie replied. "It looks awesome."

"Awesome, then we're all set," Carly said brightly. "I'm just gonna go check to see if Gibby's done getting ready. He's putting on protective padding."

"Why?" Sam asked.

"Pennies are heavy," Carly replied. "And after the incident with the rocks last month, this was the only way he'd agree to do this."

"Ah," Freddie nodded.

"Be back in a sec," Carly smiled, turning and hurrying out of the studio.

Freddie watched the door close behind Carly before turning to Sam and smiling. "Our reservations at the steak house are all set for after the show."

"Cool, I can't wait," Sam said. "Um, thanks for setting everything up."

"Of course," Freddie said. "I'm just glad we're doing this. I've really missed you, Sam."

Let's just hope you keep that feeling, Sam thought to herself as she looked down at her feet. "I've missed you too," she said softly. "Oh! I almost forgot!"

She grabbed her bag and pulled out a box of chocolates. "I got these for you."

"You did?" Freddie said, surprised as he took the chocolates.

"Yeah, um, I figured since you went to all the trouble of planning our date tonight…"

"All I did was call and make a reservation," Freddie chuckled. "But…wow, Sam, this is really thoughtful of you. Thank you."

He was about to pull her into a hug when the studio door opened and the two quickly jumped apart from each other.

"Sam, what are you doing at Freddie's tech cart?" Carly asked as she walked in, followed by Gibby. "You're not messing with his stuff again, are you?"

"Um…no, why-why would I want to touch his dumb tech stuff," Sam said lamely.

"Hey, are those chocolates?" Carly asked, looking over at Freddie, who was currently trying to stash the box in his backpack.

"N-No," Freddie said quickly. "They're…vegetables."

"They don't sell vegetables in heart shaped boxes," Gibby said. "Believe me, I've checked."

"It is chocolate," Carly smirked, taking the box from Freddie. "You trying to get out of sharing?"

"Um…"

"Don't worry, Sam won't eat them all," Carly said knowingly, looking over at her blonde best friend. "Right, Sam?"

"Um…sure," Sam said. "Sure…"

"I was starting to get really worried we were gonna lose our table," Freddie said later that evening as him and Sam sat at the steakhouse, looking over their menus. "Of course Gibby picks today to get his head stuck in a bucket."

"Yeah, that doof," Sam said, rolling her eyes. "He should've kept the bucket on. It was an improvement." As soon as the words left her mouth, she mentally kicked herself.

Come on, Puckett! Be nice! Freddie's not gonna want to kiss some rude gutter girl!

"I mean…it was an honest mistake," Sam said quickly. "I'm just glad Gibby's okay now."

"Um…what?" Freddie said, giving Sam a strange look.

"Nothing," Sam mumbled, looking back down at her menu. "So…you know what you're gonna get yet?"

"I think I'm leaning towards the sirloin," Freddie replied. "I mean that's what this place is famous for, after all."

"Oh yeah, their sirloin is delicious," Sam grinned. "It's like heaven in your mouth! I dream about it sometimes."

"I bet," Freddie chuckled.

Just then Sam caught sight of the price next to the sirloin and saw it was thirty dollars.

That's one of Freddie's biggest pet peeves, Sam reminded herself. He hates spending money.

"So I take it that's what you're getting too," Freddie smiled at her.

"Um…actually, this salad looks pretty good," Sam said. And cheaper, she added to herself.

"Wait…you're actually considering getting a salad at a steakhouse?" Freddie frowned. "Um, are you alright? If you feel sick we can reschedule this and-"

"No, I feel fine," Sam said quickly. "It's just that I've um, really been craving salad."

"Oh, well, okay then," Freddie said, still giving her a strange look. "If that's what you want."

"It is," Sam said, giving him a reassuring smile.

That evening, Sam and Freddie had a great time. Apart from Sam having to use all her will power not to drool as she watched Freddie eat his own steak, she couldn't stop smiling. But even though the couple seemed to be having a lot of fun together, Freddie still hadn't kissed Sam, and every time Sam would crane her neck up ever so slightly, he would find some reason to turn away.

It was driving her crazy!

She had been doing everything she could think of to make herself seem as attractive to Freddie as possible. When they went out for frozen yogurt after the steakhouse, she stepped in front of him at the register and paid for both of them and when they walked around the park she refrained from throwing a rock at a very tempting beehive.

The couple arrived back at Sam's house at a little before midnight. Freddie walked her up to her door, still holding her hand.

"I had a really nice time tonight," Freddie smiled.

And yet you couldn't even be bothered to kiss me, Sam thought to herself. She looked down. "Yeah, I had fun too."

Freddie looked at his watch quickly before looking down at her again. "I'm really glad we're back together, Sam."

"Well then why the heck haven't you kissed me yet?" Sam blurted out, catching even herself by surprise.

Freddie's eyes widened. "Um…"

Smooth, Puckett, Sam thought to herself. Well, there's no getting out of this now…

"We've been together for a week!" Sam said. "And we haven't kissed once!"

"Um, well, you-you see…" Freddie said lamely, looking at his watch again.

"I get it, you're starting to have second thoughts about this whole thing," Sam mumbled.

Freddie frowned. "What? Sam, no, I'm not-"

"It was dumb of me to even try to change your mind," Sam said, urging herself not let Freddie see how upset she was.

"You-You were trying to-"

"But whatever," Sam said, cutting his off. "It's fine. We tried. I guess it's a good thing we didn't tell anybody about this or-"

She was cut off as an alarm on Freddie's watch blared.

"What was-" Sam started, but she was silenced as Freddie's lips crashed against hers, finally capturing them in a breathtaking kiss.

When the too finally broke apart, Sam looked up at Freddie, confused.

"I'm so sorry," Freddie said. "I-I didn't ever mean for you to think that I-Of course I'm not having second thoughts about us getting back together."

"But then why haven't you kissed me before now?" Sam asked, still slightly dizzy from the effects of the kiss.

Freddie took a deep breath. "I-I really want us to work this time. I don't want us to break up after a month again because, well, being broken up with you sucks."

"Well being broken up with you sucks too," Sam said, still confused. "But then why didn't you-"

"I wanted our first kiss in this new relationship to be perfect, Sam," Freddie said heavily. "I thought maybe if we could have that perfect kiss, everything else would be, well, perfect."

"Okay…" Sam said slowly. "But I still don't get why you waited until right now to-"

"Do you know what today is?" Freddie asked, a grin creeping onto her face.

"Um…Friday?" Sam said, giving him a strange look.

"Well, it's technically Saturday now," Freddie explained. "But the date…you know what the date is?"

"I never know what the date is," Sam scoffed. "I try to avoid looking at the calendar at all costs."

"Today's January third," Freddie said, rolling his eyes. "The anniversary of our first kiss…ever."

"Whoa…you really remember the date of that?" Sam said, somewhat impressed. "That was years ago."

"I know it's totally and cheesy and illogical but, well, I figured having our first kiss back together on the anniversary of our first kiss ever…I dunno, it seemed like a good omen," Freddie said, his face reddening.

Sam stared at him. "So you purposefully didn't kiss me because you wanted to wait until this exact moment?"

"Um…yeah," Freddie said. "I know it sounds dumb, and like I said, there's absolutely no logical reason why having a first kiss on a certain day would have any impact on the quality of a relationship, but, well, I guess you bring out the illogical side of me."

Sam couldn't help but smile at that.

"Er, anyway, I'm really sorry if I made you think that I didn't want us to be together," Freddie said. "Trust me. That's all I want."

"Well…I guess I can't be too mad," Sam said. "I mean it's not too often you willingly do anything illogical. But…why didn't you just tell me you wanted to wait until today to have our first kiss back together? I've been driving myself crazy trying to figure out what was going on! I got salad tonight!"

"Yeah…that probably would've been a smart idea," Freddie admitted. "But I just didn't want you to, um, think I was some overly-romantic sap. I-I know you're not really a fan of that."

"I'm a fan of you, though," Sam pointed out, reaching for Freddie's hand. "And you know, even though cheesy romantic junk makes me gag in movies…I, um, kind of love it when you use it on me."

"Really?" Freddie said.

"It's one of the things I missed most about you," Sam nodded.

"Huh…good to know," Freddie smiled.

"Don't go overboard, though," Sam warned him. "I don't want love notes every single day and you know I'd rather have meat than flowers."

"Got it," Freddie chuckled. He looked down at her. "You know…it was really hard to keep myself from kissing you this whole week."

"Well it wasn't a picnic for me either, nub," Sam replied. "So…how about we go inside and make up for the lost time? It is our kissaversary."

"I can't think of a better way to celebrate," Freddie grinned, leaning down and kissing her once more.