Author's Note: Hellooo, Shoppers! I've always wanted to lead with a greeting like that ; ) A big thank you to Carl Rahl, sockstar, Fanfic-Reader-88, baronvonmilo and RemDiamond for reviewing last week's chapter, I'm very appreciative. Hope you all like this one : )
Disclaimer: I do not own iCarly or "17 Again". Pity, I could've been stinkin' rich by now...
Freddie walked down the hall on the second floor of Ridgeway, dressed casually in a short-sleeved button-down blue-green plaid shirt, a white undershirt, black skinny jeans and white sneakers, looking down at the time-table in the palm of his hand. According to his schedule, he was supposed to be in Health Class right now. He opened the class room door slowly and strolled into the classroom amidst his rowdy classmates.
Two guys were standing at different ends of the classroom, tossing a football in cavalier fashion to each other; another guy was flying paper planes across the classroom, one of which narrowly missed hitting Freddie in the face. Girls all around him were texting like crazy on their cellphones while another guy sped down the aisle past Freddie on a skateboard. And while this was all going on, their Health teacher, a short Asian-looking woman in her mid-thirties, was calmly seated on top of her desk, filing her nails.
But most disturbing of all was that Corrie was also in Freddie's Health class too. But unlike her classmates' shenanigans, she was engrossed in making out with Reed in broad daylight. They were practically bent over her desk, Reed's body covering hers while he kissed her ferociously. Freddie felt just about ready to lose his breakfast at the sight.
"Hey, guys." Freddie greeted the two of them brightly.
While greeting them, Freddie made sure to deliberately hit Reed in the back with his book-bag, causing his daughter's boyfriend to fall off of her desk and onto the floor in a heap. Reed got up from the floor a few seconds later, glaring at the back of Freddie's head while the latter found himself a seat in the middle of the classroom. Corrie stared incredulously after the new kid, who had instantly ingratiated himself seemingly out of nowhere into her family, wondering what his deal was.
"Ok, everyone. Settle down," Ms. Yee called out when the school bell rang for the start of class.
The students acquiesced and settled into their seats. Freddie reached into his backpack and retrieved his Health textbook from it, placing it atop his desk.
"Ok, let's begin. Today, we will be continuing our previous discussion on human sexuality. Now as you all know, Ridgeway's official policy on underage sex is abstinence," Ms. Yee began soberly.
Most of the class groaned in response while Freddie stared in dismay at his classmates. But then he changed his expression when he saw an opportunity to make his feelings known.
"Abstinence, excellent. See, that is a great idea. I'm glad that somebody is thinking sensibly." Freddie interjected vehemently.
He ignored the fact that he himself was sexually active with Carly when they were both 17 in light of his righteous indignation. Most of the class, including the product of his own recklessness in his senior year, stared back at him in awe.
"You know what I think we should do? We should make a pact together, all us seniors, to agree that we're gonna abstain from sex. Now who's with me, you guys?" Freddie asked eagerly.
The entire class laughed hysterically at this suggestion while Ms. Yee stared at Freddie like he had just announced that he was an alien in human form. Freddie ignored the class' response, turning instead to stare at the back of Corrie's head while she sat in front of him in the row to his immediate left, looking unmoved by the class discussion about safe sex.
"What about you, Corrie?" Freddie asked seriously of his daughter.
Corrie turned around sharply to stare at Felix. It was a little disconcerting to see the sudden intensity in his eyes while he looked at her. She wasn't used to seeing that level of disapproval in anyone's eyes, much less someone she barely knew. But mostly, it was because the action reminded her of someone that she just couldn't pinpoint for the moment. To appease her sudden anxiety, she gave Felix a non-committal shrug before rolling her eyes and turning to face the white board in front of her once more. Ms. Yee took charge of the situation again by addressing the class.
"However, let's get real, guys. I know that asking high school seniors to be abstinent is like asking a porcupine to poop out goat cheese. Yuck, right?" Ms. Yee asked light-heartedly, causing Freddie to raise an eyebrow at her.
"So since most of you are or will become sexually active at some point, it's also part of school policy for me to hand out free condoms to all of you to spread the campaign of safe sex. So here is a box of condoms; pass it around and everyone take a condom. Or two," Ms. Yee prompted rapidly.
Then to Freddie's horror, Ms. Yee handed a student in the front row on the far right of the classroom the box of condoms. That student took more than one condom, and so did most of the other students. Then it came to Freddie's row, where Reed sat in front of him. Freddie scowled when Reed reached into the box and grabbed as many condoms as his two hands would allow.
"What? I have needs," Reed retorted defensively, when this was met with several incredulous stares from his classmates, including Corrie.
Reed turned to hand Freddie the box of condoms, but stopped short and snickered instead.
"Oh, that's right. You don't need these after all," he quipped with a callous grin on his face.
"Reed, give Felix some condoms." Ms. Yee urged in a no-nonsense tone.
"No, Reed's right. I don't need any condoms because I'm currently not having sex with anyone. And you wanna know why? Call me old fashioned, but I figured that you have to be in love with someone first before you have sex with them. I mean, isn't that why they call it 'making love'?" Freddie questioned of the class at large.
A few people sniggered in response at Freddie's choice of words.
"At the end of the day, sex is an act reserved especially for two people who love each other and are preferably married. And when those two people finally come together in that one special act of union, it's usually because they're ready to take that love and turn into something more. Like a baby…a family." Freddie murmured while staring off into space.
In an instant, he was looking forward again and staring at Corrie, who was finally looking him in the eye. But Freddie wasn't seeing Corrie like she currently looked, but when she was still a baby.
His mind was racing backwards to the day she was born; racing Carly frantically to the hospital when her water broke; Carly's cry of anguish while straining with all her might to bring Corrie into the world for the first time. Even though her usually neat black hair was matted together and she was covered in sweat from head to toe, Freddie couldn't help marvelling at how beautiful Carly looked in spite of her obvious pain…
"Because that's what love is. It's that moment when you hold your baby girl for the first time in your arms. And you didn't know that anything could be so small or so delicate…and you look at those little fingers and feel that tiny heartbeat. And you know right then and there that you couldn't love anything or anyone more in the whole wide world." Freddie trailed off seriously, his mind's eye recapturing the moment with poignant clarity.
Corrie cried a lot when she finally came out of Carly and the doctors had cleaned her up and wrapped her in a little pink blanket. Freddie was as white as a sheet through his green mask and green smock as the doctor approached him slowly. But he had swallowed the remnants of his existing fear when he took his first born gingerly into his arms and held her for the first time.
He was still afraid to hold her, even when she was snuggled so close in his arms, her tiny hands balled into fists while she wailed loudly. But he was even more afraid to let her go, in case she vanished into thin air, like some elaborate hoax. He was surprised and relieved beyond words that she was finally here, but he wasn't ready for this weighty responsibility.
And then the unthinkable happened. Freddie murmured something incoherent under his breath and Corrie stopped crying abruptly. He felt the strangest pressure on his index finger. He looked down and realised that Corrie had grabbed hold of his finger with her tiny hand and looked intent on never letting go. From the very first day, she'd always wanted her way and seemed assured of always getting it. And while she stared up at him with her big brown eyes, Freddie thought fleetingly that she must know exactly who he is. And all he could do was smile weakly down at her in response.
Then Freddie found himself moving towards Carly with their baby in his arms, sitting down on the edge of the bed. In spite of her fatigue, Carly still smiled radiantly at him, shedding copious amounts of tears while she looked at Corrie with love and awe evident in her eyes. With tears already drying on his cheeks, Freddie leant forward and kissed Carly gently on the forehead before doing the same with Corrie, perfectly content with staying just like that forever…
"And you hope that you can do right by that little girl, and always be there to catch her when she falls, and make sure that nothing ever hurts her. Not a broken arm, a bad dream…or a broken heart. All you know for certain is that you'll do whatever it takes to protect her, always. That's what love does, it ties everything together." Freddie concluded sincerely, several unshed tears forming in his eyes while he spoke.
Then he took his seat and an unusual hush filled the entire room. Throughout his speech, Corrie had been unable to take her eyes off of Felix. He was so strange at the best of times and yet…she really believed what he had been saying about family. A part of her felt wistful at the thought, and she couldn't understand why it had struck an internal chord with her.
"You know what? I don't even want these, just take them," Lalita lamented painstakingly, tossing the condoms back into the cardboard box.
Most of the girls in class followed Lalita's example and threw their unopened condoms back into the box too, to the astonishment of most of the boys in the vicinity. Reed held the box again and grabbed more condoms than before, throwing them all over his desk.
"Great, fine, wonderful. Plenty more for me, right?" he asked in an uncouth manner.
"Now I've got enough for the whole weekend," he added in a seedy tone.
Then he leant forward and kissed a very surprised Corrie full on the lips, slipping his tongue in vigorously just for good measure. Something snapped inside of Freddie, and before anyone could stop him, he leapt from his own chair onto Reed, knocking him to the ground and falling on top of him, bringing his fist down hard onto the blond-haired boy's face.
"Boys, stop it! Put those phones away!" Ms. Yee barked, trying to bring an end to the brawl and the spectacle that was forming.
"Reed, stop hitting him! You're gonna go to jail again!" Corrie cried desperately.
Just when Freddie thought he had the upper-hand, Reed managed to disentangle himself from the firm grip over his throat and pinned Freddie onto the ground instead. Some of their classmates began laughing hysterically when Reed grabbed Freddie's head in an unmistakable chokehold and began giving him a very unpleasant noogie. Most of the students instantaneously began pulling out their cellphones to record Freddie's moment of utter humiliation.
People were still laughing a good 20 minutes later. The entire school had found out about Freddie and Reed's fight in an impressive amount of time, predominantly through text messages and impromptu video footage taken from a multitude of cellphones all around the building. Students couldn't seem to get enough of 'The New Kid' getting his ass kicked by Reed, replaying the footage on their cellphones over and over again amidst raucous laughter.
Freddie was currently sitting in the main office on a hard plastic chair, holding an ice-pack up to his bottom lip, which had a small cut on it and was swelling rapidly.
"Yo, Dude. Check this out. My cousin in New York just sent me this video." A student in close proximity to Freddie said to his neighbour seated beside him.
Sure enough, it was the footage of Reed giving Freddie a noogie on repeat. Freddie was still giving the two high school boys the evil eye when Gibby walked into the main office, spotted him and sat down next to him.
"Hey, I hope I'm not late for our 'meeting'. By the way, great timing on that whole 'getting into trouble' thing. Nice lookin' out there, Kid." Gibby praised airily.
"Don't mention it," Freddie remarked dully.
"You ok though? No broken bones or anything?" Gibby probed in concern.
"Nah, I'm good, Gib. Just a fat lip." Freddie answered stoically while gesturing towards the ice-pack.
"So who came off second best in the fight?" Gibby inquired conversationally.
"Oh…it was pretty even actually." Freddie answered in what he hoped was a nonchalant tone.
"Really?"
"Uh huh."
"Weird, 'cause it looked like you got your ass kicked on Youtube. I saw it a couple of times." Gibby pointed out drolly.
"Thanks for the newsflash, Gibby. It means a lot." Freddie retorted sarcastically.
In the midst of scowling, Freddie finally took in Gibby's appearance while he sat beside him.
"Gibby, what are you wearing?" Freddie asked in horror.
For his meeting with Principal Baxter, Gibby was sporting a most bizarre collection of clothing. For starters, he was wearing a beige rodeo hat over his light-brown hair. This was accompanied by a peculiar black jacket with fur around the neck, an effeminate button-down blue dress shirt underneath, black and grey pin-striped pants and black boots.
"What, my cologne? It's 'The Beat', by Burberry." Gibby offered calmly.
"Not your cologne, your clothes, Gibby." Freddie replied impatiently.
"To the untrained eye, I look like a complete idiot." Gibby began conspiratorially.
"Gibby, you look like a complete idiot to every eye in this room, untrained or otherwise." Freddie retorted.
"But that's the whole point. I'm pea-cocking." Gibby responded triumphantly.
"Am I supposed to know what that is?" Freddie questioned wearily.
"Pea-cocking is a tried and tested seduction technique. My clothes serve the dual function of ice-breaker and attention-getter."
"And this is your brilliant plan for getting Ms. Baxter to go out with you?"
"Precisely. Watch and learn, my friend."
"Believe me, there's not enough money in the world to make me miss this." Freddie quipped dryly, shaking his head at Gibby's latest plan.
And Gibby had the audacity to accuse him of ridiculous schemes.
"Ms. Baxter is ready to see you, Felix and Mr. Gibson." The secretary announced soberly.
Freddie nodded his thanks as he and Gibby got to their feet and walked into Ms. Baxter's office. Ridgeway's principal sat at her desk, perusing the contents of a memo through a pair of stylish reading glasses. She looked up from her work at the sound of footsteps, frowning at Gibby's particular attire that he had chosen to wear for the meeting that she had set up. She continued watching in confusion as he made a great show of placing his foot on top of her desk while striking a pose.
"What are you doing? Are…are you pea-cocking?" Tasha demanded incredulously, staring in a less than amused manner at Gibby's fingertips running over his chin while he looked at her.
"Really, Mr. Gibson? You really think that's gonna work?" she pressed in an annoyed manner.
"I think it just might, Ms. Baxter," Gibby returned with a slight southern drawl.
Then he made sure to put his posterior in her line of sight first before taking his seat in dramatic fashion. Freddie kept a straight face in spite of his mad desire to start laughing out loud. Tasha pinched the bridge of her nose in exasperation.
"This is gonna be a long meeting," she muttered under her breath before turning her attention to Gibby and Freddie.
After a long day at school, Freddie made his way over to his old home. He grinned when he caught sight of Carly's SUV parked in the driveway, the driver's seat door standing open. He surmised that Carly must be somewhere nearby.
Sure enough, he was just able to make out some of her silhouette bent over the trunk of the car, removing what looked like a large white bag filled with compost.
"Mrs. Benson! How nice to see you again! How are you doing?" Freddie asked cordially after making his way around the car.
Carly, who had been so intent on the task at hand, nearly bumped her head against the top of the trunk at Felix's sudden greeting.
"Hi…Felix. How are you?" Carly asked in a composed manner, trying her best to smile.
"I'm good, how are you?" Freddie questioned pleasantly in turn.
"Good." Carly answered promptly.
Freddie nodded in approval and Carly looked away momentarily before staring back at him. Her eyes immediately met his hazel ones and she sighed inwardly.
"Wow, this is gonna take some getting used to." She mused while looking intently at him.
Freddie feigned confusion, pretending not to know what Carly was talking about while smirking on the inside.
"You're really Gibby's son?" Carly asked in awe, causing Freddie to chuckle lightly.
"Yeah, I am. Gibby gave birth to me." Freddie answered rapidly.
Carly stared at him in bewilderment and Freddie realised his mistake.
"Well, actually…Gibby didn't give birth to me…I meant to say…you know what I meant." He added sheepishly.
"So what brings you by?" Carly asked quickly while bending over the trunk of the car to remove a few more bags.
"Actually, I was looking for Matt. Is he home?" Freddie queried politely.
"No, he's not. He's still at school doing research for a history paper." Carly answered coherently.
"Oh, ok. Is it alright if I wait here till he gets home?" Freddie asked slowly.
"Of course," Carly replied, feigning nonchalance to still her rapidly beating heart.
"Are you doing some gardening?" Freddie inquired casually while glancing down at the white bags resting near his feet.
"I'm redoing the backyard." Carly answered softly, seizing on this sudden change in subject.
"Oh, that's so cool."
"You wanna see?"
"Yeah, sure. I've got some time." Freddie answered with a small smile while picking up a white bag at his feet.
Carly opened the wooden door in front of her and led her son's young friend into the backyard. Unlike the day when she and Freddie had last argued, the space was now completely clear of debris and mouldy furniture. The ground had been raked, the sand beneath their feet now soft and smooth.
"Wow," Freddie murmured, marvelling at how clean the backyard looked.
"Yeah, I know. Obviously I still have a lot of work to do." Carly confessed self-consciously while staring at their surroundings.
"Should I put this over here?" Freddie asked politely, referring to the white bag draped over his shoulder.
"Yes please, thank you." Carly replied with a gracious smile.
"So this is it," she murmured pensively with a hand gesture at their surroundings.
"It sure is."
"It used to look a lot worse, trust me."
"Oh, I do." Freddie murmured cheerily.
"What I want to do is put a pond in here in the middle of the backyard. And I want the water to come streaming in from both sides," Carly began while gesturing with her hands.
"Ok."
"Then I want to put a huge wooden deck here in front of the sliding doors by the living room. And a flagstone patio here with sod in-between," Carly continued methodically.
All Freddie could do was marvel at Carly's ingenuity. Why hadn't he noticed any of it before? Carly had always been the one coming up with some of their most creative ideas for iCarly back in the day. Freddie should've instinctively known that Carly was made for greater things.
"…And finally, I want to install some twinkling lights above the whole thing. That way, every night will be a starry one." Carly mused in a dreamy manner while she imagined all of it in her mind's eye.
"Sounds great. It's gonna be amazing, Carls." Freddie murmured sincerely in a low voice.
Carly did a double-take at this, rounding on Freddie immediately.
"What did you just call me?" Carly demanded.
Freddie's eyes widened before he composed himself rapidly.
"Uh…I just said it's gonna be amazing." He offered weakly.
"You called me 'Carls'." Carly answered softly.
"My husband's the only person who calls me that." She added seriously.
"Could you use some help with this?" Freddie questioned hurriedly, deciding to change the subject instead of offering a reason for his faux pas.
Carly stared at Matt's friend in confusion, not knowing what to think about his strange behaviour.
"I could volunteer my services. I'm young and strong." Freddie offered in a winning voice.
Carly blushed ever so slightly at the smirk on the young teenager's face, which made him even more good-looking than she previously thought possible.
"Ok, I think I see what's going on here."
"You do?" Freddie asked in confusion.
"Yeah. I realise that the whole 'Lady Cougar Hunting' and 'Mothers I'd like to' shtick is really popular with you young high school boys, what with 'Desperate Housewives' and everything. But that's not gonna happen between you and me." Carly explained firmly.
"I didn't even mean it like that. No, I was thinking more along the lines of business experience…college applications. But if you wanna go there, that's cool-"
"You know what? I think I'm just gonna shut up now and go get you a shovel instead. Sound good?" Carly asked brightly, trying to cover up her embarrassment.
"Sounds great," Freddie agreed amiably.
When Carly returned with a shovel a few minutes later, Freddie had discarded of his plaid shirt and was left wearing his white wife-beater, black jeans and sneakers. She bit her bottom lip while trying to mentally compose herself. As the two of them started on the work in the backyard, Freddie began asking Carly more questions about her current endeavour:
"Do you mind me asking why you decided to turn your backyard into this…really cool tricked out backyard instead, Mrs. Benson?"
"Actually, it's something I've wanted to do for a long time. I've always loved working in the garden, working with different plants and flowers. I used to work in the garden with my mom when I was a little girl; she was always so patient with tending to the flowers and giving every single one her undivided attention. Matt and Corrie used to also help me trim the roses and water the other plants when they were really young. My husband, Freddie…never really had time for that stuff. He was busy getting his career started while I stayed home with the kids." Carly explained pensively, digging her shovel deep into the stubborn sand.
"Sounds like he missed out on something pretty special." Freddie replied knowingly.
Carly stopped digging momentarily, surprised by the young man's tone of voice and the sombre look in his eyes.
"Yeah, I guess you could say that." She agreed softly.
"Maybe I'm already counting my chickens before they're hatched by saying what I'm about to say. But for what it's worth, I think you're gonna do a great job with this project. And I think your mom would be really proud too, Mrs. Benson." Freddie declared sincerely.
Carly smiled radiantly in response, making Freddie's heart literally soar in his chest, feeling like he had finally done something right after the longest time.
"Thank you, Felix. That's really sweet of you to say." Carly responded genuinely.
"You're welcome." Freddie stated meekly, his eyes locked on hers.
While they continued staring at each other, they were snapped out of their mutual reverie by Matt suddenly entering the backyard, the wooden door swinging to close behind him with a loud thump.
"Hey, Mom. Felix, what are you doing here, bro?" Matt asked while staring at his friend in surprise.
"Looking for you, actually. Your Mom said I could hang out while I was waiting for you, so I thought I'd give her a hand with starting on the backyard." Freddie explained casually, feeling a little guilty for resenting the interruption made by his son's presence.
"Sweet." Matt commented casually.
"Honey, do you wanna give us a hand? We could use some help with digging a hole for the pond." Carly stated quickly.
"Sure thing, Mom. I'll just go change my shirt, be back in a second." Matt replied easily before disappearing through the patio door.
Carly turned to face Freddie once more with an apologetic air on her face, which was replaced by one of concentration.
"Let's get started." She suggested sensibly.
"Let's," Freddie agreed, matching her tone while bending over his shovel once more.
Author's Note: Et voila, I hope you all liked the Creddie interaction in this chapter. You can expect further Creddie embellishment like this in the near further ; ) A big thank you to PerennialKillJoy (ever the voice of reason) for his input in this chapter, particularly the 'Burberry' joke, you're swell : ) I hope you all have a fab weekend, mazeltov.