A/N: This originally was going to be the final chapter, but I wanted to put something out before Christmas at least. Just been VERY busy with tests/quizzes every week (and I have NOT had my mids/finals yet, this state sucks). I very much appreciate everyone who reads, and would still love to have feedback. Still trying to work on staying in character. I actually didn't really intend for this chapter to have so much Cibby in it, but it kind of turned out that way. I'll have more Seddie in the next chapter for sure. Thanks again for reading!
Detroit, MI
"You need to intentionally burn this," Sam said as tall grass stroked her leg.
"You like it?" Spencer asked.
"No, it looks like somebody's been taking dumps in it for 400 years," She commented.
"It was built in 1961!" Spencer corrected.
"There's no way any of us are living in that," Sam said.
"How did you buy this anyway?" Freddie questioned.
"Found it online," Spencer said.
"How much was it?"
"A hundred bucks," Spencer shrugged.
"I wanna buy a hundred dollar house!" Gibby shouted.
"If you do, we're over," Carly said flatly.
"How do you live in a place like this?" Freddie asked incredulously.
"It needs a little work," Spencer reasoned.
"Like a million dollars in work!" Freddie exclaimed.
They all turned as they heard a thud, which turned out to be Mrs. Benson fainting.
"See what you do, Spencer?" Carly said as everyone except Sam rushed to her aid.
"We need to get to a hospital!" Freddie shouted.
"Fredwad's driving," Sam said as she picked up Spencer and started carrying him back to the RV, which as parked on the street.
"Hey! I wanted to start cutting the grass today!" Spencer objected.
"Not until you burn that place down," Sam told him as they boarded.
"Are those trees growing on top of that?" Carly asked, pointing to another dilapidated home out the window.
"Maybe I should grow soap on my roof," Gibby commented.
"They should tear that place down," Freddie said.
"They should tear every house on this street down," Sam added.
"No 'hey' from Spencer?" Freddie said.
"They're probably in the back," Sam grimaced.
"Doing what?" Gibby questioned.
"Growing soap."
Hamilton, ON
Freddie had driven the group to Hamilton late the day before, and stopped at a rather upscale RV campsite for the night.
The smell of disgustingly cheap liquid soap wafted through an open window on the RV. It was stronger than the scent of Sam's recently purchased Canadian Fatcakes. This woke Gibby up, and he immediately wanted to find the source.
It was 5:00 in the morning, still dark. He extracted himself from Carly's hold and rolled out of the sofa bed. Spencer had taken the time to oil all the door hinges, without telling Sam of course, and they opened without a sound.
Gibby noticed a dim, yellow light across the road, and two men using it to wash themselves. The shaggy haired men were standing in front of a brick building behind a fence that looked to have been recently renovated after being vacant for a long time. He attempted to sneak across the street by darting behind trees. The chain link fence went "CLANG" as he toppled over it. Both men's eyes went wide and they hastily tried to cover themselves.
"Shit, that's freaky, yo!" One man said.
"Yeah, let's get outta here!"
"Wait!" Gibby shouted, scrambling up. "Who are you guys?"
"We're parkour dudes, bro! But just get away!" The first guy said.
"Why?" Gibby asked. "What's parkour?"
"What has been seen cannot be unseen, man!" The first guy replied.
"Parkour's the most badass sport in Canada, bro! You wanna come with?" Man two asked.
"Sure," Gibby grinned. "What kind of soap are you using?"
"Yo, this place used to be a soap factory." The more accepting man said.
"Imagine how many soap brands I could add to my database," Gibby said.
"Yeah, bro. We're gonna start on the west side of town and end at the Lake Ontario shore. What's your name?"
"Gibby."
"Cool. Mine's Adam and his is Josh. Can you skate?"
"No," Gibby answered.
"No prob. We can take the van from place to place," Adam said.
"The van?"
"Yes, the van. Totally state of the art, bro. Greatest fifty bucks I've ever spent. Let's go," Adam smiled, walking around the back of the building to a rusty white van.
"Let me grab my soap first."
About four hours later, Carly awoke. She immediately noticed that Gibby was not in their bed, and assumed that he was washing. That assumption would soon prove to be wrong.
"Gibby?" Carly spoke, walking up the RV to the front. "Gibby?"
She peeked into the bathroom stall, relieved that she hadn't walked in on Spencer again. The soap loving boy was also nowhere to be found in the tub or shower.
"Where is that boy?" Carly asked herself upon seeing Sam and Freddie sprawled out on the master bed.
She threw a pink silk robe on over her pajamas and scribbled out a note, sticking it to the fridge in case anyone were to wake. Carly then ventured out of the RV, still in her rabbit slippers, and surveyed the field that was the campsite.
"He couldn't be in any of the other RV's could he?" Carly asked to no one. She looked into every window that wasn't blocked by a curtain first, and then went to every other mobile home to ask if they had seen her boyfriend. Carly walked back to the motorhome in disappointment and worry.
Carly threw her untouched note in the trash after entering the RV. Her heart sank when she noticed Gibby's PearPhone laying in between the seatback and cushion of a dinette booth. It dawned on her that they couldn't waste any more time, and they had to start searching right then.
Rolling her eyes at the small dark spot on the old tan velour, Carly tapped Spencer and Charlotte.
"Sako, I'm sorry I burned your only award winning s-sock," Spencer drawled. Carly jabbed him, making him yelp into consciousness.
"What was that for?" Spencer frowned. Charlotte sat up on top of her boyfriend.
"Gibby's missing," Carly informed.
"Missing? He's probably in the shower or something," Charlotte thought.
"I already checked everywhere in the RV, and everywhere in the campsite. I even knocked on some doors and nobody's seen him," Carly trembled.
"Where's his phone?" Charlotte questioned. Carly held up Gibby's PearPhone.
"Oh no," Charlotte breathed. "We need to search for him! My son! My son is-missing," She cried.
"Shhhh. Shh. We'll all go out and look for him. We'll find him. Everything will be okay," Spencer comforted, taking Charlotte into his arms. He signaled his sister to go wake everyone else up.
"Thanks," Charlotte sniffled, giving Spencer a short kiss. Spencer nodded.
"Uh...Mrs. Benson?" Carly said, lightly tapping her. Her eyes awkwardly popped open.
"Yes?"
"Uh...Gibby's gone missing and we're all going to look for him," Carly said. "I already looked around the campsite and the RV."
"What? Is Charlotte alright?" Marissa asked in worry.
"She's pretty worried, but Spencer's there for her."
"I'll help any way I can," Marissa said truthfully.
"Thank you, Mrs. Benson," Carly smiled. She then went farther back to wake up Sam and Freddie.
Sam and Freddie stirred as Carly tried to awake them.
"What?" Sam moaned, turning over.
"Gibby's gone," Carly said. "As in missing!"
"Huh? You're sure he didn't go try to order Chinese food?" Freddie asked.
"Yes! We're sure he's gone missing! He even left his phone here," Carly said, starting to break down again.
"I'll actually search for the kid, but only because he's your boyfriend," Sam said, hugging her best friend. "Fredstub! Get a move on!"
"Alright, I'm going!" Freddie said, picking up the keys and heading to the driver's seat. Marissa had joined in to comfort Charlotte.
He started the RV and drove out of the campsite.
"Where should we start?" Freddie asked no one in particular.
"Let's drive around here for a bit. If we don't find him here, we can search down town. We can go on out to Lake Ontario if we don't find him there," Charlotte said.
"Maybe some of us should get out and search on foot, while some stay and scour the main roads," Spencer suggested.
"That's a good idea, Spence," Freddie said as Charlotte kissed him again.
"Sam and I can search on foot," Freddie told him. "My mom can drive."
"Sounds like a plan," Spencer told him.
After repeatedly telling his mother that she needed to drive faster than normal, Sam and Freddie started jogging around the western side of Hamilton. They were nearing a three way intersection that didn't see much traffic.
"You just had to leave the car in Seattle," Sam complained.
"Someone probably would've jacknifed, which would've ruined your baby," Freddie teased.
"A soap bottle?"
"Wait, isn't this the super stupid high end kind that Gibby bought back at that mall?" Sam questioned.
"Yeah! I think they said it was exclusively sold there," Freddie said.
"Which way do you think they went?" Sam asked.
"Those tire marks look pretty new," Freddie said. "I think they ran the stop sign! Whoever he's with must not care about the law..."
"I'll text Carls," Sam said.
Sam: Yo, we found 1 of Gib's special soap bottles in the middle of the road. Howitzer and Ebenezer. So nubby.
Carly: GR8! Which way did they go?
Sam: West on Ebenezer. The nub jst said it goes into the city.
Carly: K, we'll come pick u up and go downtown.
Sam: Did Crazy bang up my RV?
Carly: No, its still in perfect shape lol.
Sam: Good. My nub wants to know if youve found anything.
Carly: Your nub? Nd no, this is the best news weve gotten all day.
Sam: Ya, my nub. We'll see ya in a bit.
Carly: U love Freddie so much.
Sam: Shut up.
"They're coming to pick us up," Sam informed. "We're going downtown."
Freddie nodded. "Wait, did the campsite have any cameras?"
"I'll check," Sam said, fishing out her phone again. "Give me the camp's number."
"How am I supposed to know the camp's number?" Freddie asked incredulously.
"I thought you were doing all that worthless research on all the places we stayed," Sam said.
"My mom doesn't know I stopped," Freddie shrugged.
"Ugh, I've got it," Sam sighed, calling the camp.
"You guys have any cameras on site?"
"Good. Can we see the tapes?"
"A member of our group has gone missing."
"I'll make sure no one ever enters your camp again if you don't let me see those tapes."
"What did you threaten this time?" Freddie sighed.
"You don't want to know. Trust me," Sam said. "The people who run that place are a bunch of stubrags."
"Hopefully we'll be in Massachusetts soon enough," Freddie said.
"You actually want to stop road tripping. What a surprise," Sam mumbled. "And I thought you were enjoying this..."
"Hey, I am enjoying this. These past few months have been the best few months of my life. I got to see a ton of North America with the girl I love, who I got to marry, and I'm now seeing the sights with the people I love. Sure, there have been bumps like any other day in our lives, but this has been a truely memorable experience," Freddie told her. He wrapped his arms around Sam and kissed her. She slowly reciprocated, wrapping her arms around his neck. After what seemed like several minutes, Sam and Freddie finally broke apart.
"Wow," Sam said softly, touching a finger to her swollen lip. Freddie gave her a kiss on the cheek.
"I love you," Freddie said quietly.
"I love you too," Sam replied.
Freddie mentally saved the intersection name, as a part of their relationship.
Just seconds later, Spencer came to a hard stop in the RV.
"She just couldn't handle driving fast," Spencer said as Sam and Freddie boarded.
"It's a danger to others!" Marissa shouted from farther back.
Charlotte sat in the front passenger seat. She seemed to be more composed, but she was obviously still very worried.
"Do you think he could've gotten Chinese food this early?" Charlotte questioned.
"It's almost noon, so it's possible," Spencer told his girlfriend.
"They can't have very many Chinese restaurants here," Freddie thought. "Not as many in the US."
"There's only like three in town," Sam said.
"Where's the nearest one?" Charlotte asked.
"Ottawa Street North," Freddie told her.
The gang had visited two of the three restaurants. Nobody knew anything about Gibby, despite Sam's threats. They were getting more and more worried, but it would all be over soon.
Charlotte's phone rang as she cried. Spencer nearly swerved into another car as he fished it out and answered.
"This is Charlotte's boyfriend," Spencer said a ilttle too loudly.
"Hi, this is the Hamilton Memorial Hospital calling. Your girlfriend is the mother of Orenthal Cornelius Hayes Gibson, correct?"
"Yes, she is the mother of Orenthal Cornelius Hayes Gibson," Spencer confirmed.
"We have her son in one of our rooms. He has a broken left arm and right leg," The receptionist said.
"Where are you located?" Spencer asked, unintentionally brake checking another car.
"I don't know, Zaplook it," The receptionist said. "I'm new here."
"Well," Spencer huffed, hanging up.
"Who was that?" Freddie questioned.
"The Hamilton Memorial Hospital," Spencer answered. "They have Gibby."
"What happened?" Carly asked, sitting bolt upright in Sam's lap.
"I don't know what happened. We just need to get there," Spencer said.
"They didn't give you the address?" Marissa frowned.
"She said to Zaplook it," Spencer shrugged.
"I am definitely posting a bad review!" She declared.
The very same receptionist jumped as the iCarly gang burst into the lobby.
"Orenthal Cornelius Hayes Gibson?" Charlotte breathed.
"Room 122," The receptionist sighed.
Everyone rushed to room 121. Carly and Charlotte were able to enter.
"Gibby, what has gotten into you?" Charlotte asked, starting to cry again. She was more disappointed than angry.
"I-I smelled this glorious high quality soap outside this morning and I wanted to find the source," Gibby explained. "It turned out to be two dudes washing themselves, and they let me do parkour with them. That's how I ended up here."
"Don't you ever do that again," Charlotte told him. "Just look at your poor girlfriend over here. She was just as worried as I was."
Carly nodded through her tears.
"We all thought we'd never see you again," She sobbed. "I was a wreck."
Gibby hinted to his mother that he wanted a moment with his girlfriend, and she left the room, partially composed.
Carly just fell onto Gibby's hospital bed and sobbed into his chest.