I have three things to say this A/N, so it's going to be a tad bit longer than the usual (I try to keep them short). One, I'm sorry for the wait. I've just been uploading faster than writing and I'm scared that if I catch up with myself I won't have any incentive to write at all hah. Laziness at it's finest...

Two, thank you to the people who have reviewed, favorited, and alerted my story. You're my drive to keep writing (and, thus, update sooner!)!

Three, I don't usually do this but I'm going to review-beg lol. The sad truth is that the stories with more reviews often get more views/hits. So, with that in mind, I'm hoping I can inspire you (yes, YOU!) to click the Review button at the end of the story and leave a comment: bad, good, short, or long. I love hearing from you guys, seriously.

That being said, enjoy the chapter! It's pretty long by my standards, and there is a bit of Seddie in it, so we can treat this as a Holiday gift! (Posted on Dec 28, 2011)

Chapter 04 – Week 3

"And what's the circle of life without pie?"

"A circle of life where I just ate some pie!"

"So tune in next week and maybe you'll get to see Sam eat some pie!" Carly said with a final wave to the camera.

"And that's a wrap! Nice one guys," Freddie said with a smile as he set his camera down.

"I wish the zoo had let us bring the turtle, though. It would have been way more authentic!" Sam said as she took a bite of the pie they had been using as a prop. She had been eyeing the thing all night and it was time it took its rightful place in her stomach.

"It wouldn't have fit through the door, Sam! It's ten feet wide!" Freddie said reasonably. Always the buzzkill, thought Sam.

"That's what the window's for, Freddie," Carly said wisely.

"Ahh, I knew I was your friend for a good reason! Always plotting some great chizz! So when are we stealing the beast!" Sam asked excitedly, actually sounding serious.

"Sam, that's, like, a crime." Freddie's eyebrows were up to his hairline.

"It's only a crime if we get caught! Besides, Limbo will make a good addition to iCarly!"

"Limbo?" Freddie said in confusion.

"The turtle." Sam took another bite of the pie.

"I like it!" Carly said enthusiastically. "But I don't think we can take him, Sam. Freddie's got a point. You've been in handcuffs too many times, anyways. Isn't it once more and they keep you for real?"

"Yeah… I guess…" Sam said, looking a bit downcast at the idea of leaving Limbo alone in the zoo. Lucky for her the pie she was currently holding was the perfect food to make her feel better.

"Pie?" she offered, holding out the pan to her friends. Carly just made a face, looking at the disaster that Sam had created when she attacked it. Freddie just shook his head.

"More for me!" she shrugged happily, enjoying not having to share.

She was having a great day so far. It was Saturday, she didn't have school the next day, she was with her best friend…s, and she had gotten a boatload of sleep last night. In Sam's world, that definitely meant that it was time for some fun.

"Let's do something," Sam suggested, looking between her friends.

"Like what?"

"I don't know… skydive!" Clary's eyes went big. Obviously that's a no.

"Okay, not skydiving… bungee jump?" Sam tried again. Freddie gave Carly a look.

"Ugh. Ice skating?" Sam said less enthusiastically, but still optimistically.

"Okay!" Carly said happily, and she hopped up off of the chair she was sitting in.

"I guess…" Freddie agreed reluctantly. Sam gave a little 'whoop!' and the three of them headed downstairs to grab a ride from Spencer.

"This is so unfair, you two know what you're doing!" Freddie complained from his position on the ice – sitting. Carly laughed and skated forward to help him up for what seemed like the hundredth time since they got there.

"You'll get the hang of it! You're sort of learning how to stop now, that's good!" Carly's pep talk seemed to reassure him a bit and Freddie nodded.

"And it's not like we're doing anything to make it worse for you," Sam said innocently as she glided towards him and started making circles around him. He tried to keep her in his sight, circling around unsteadily until he fell right back down onto his butt. Sam laughed.

"Sam!" Clary cried as she reached back down to help Freddie up again. Sam continued smirking as she skated away and did a few skips and jumps, stuff that she had learned when she was younger and took lessons. Carly watched, impressed. Freddie just huffed in annoyance.

"I think I'm going to sit out for a few minutes… save my butt from some pain." Carly nodded as he unsteadily made his way to the stands.

"You're not helping him much, it can't be very fun for him, ya know."

"It's not my job to keep him entertained," Sam said lazily as she skated backwards and did some fancy footwork stuff.

"Well, you could be a bit nicer…" Sam stopped skating and shrugged her shoulders.

"I guess…" Sam said as she began to skate backwards again, swirling around as she did.

"Why do you keep treating him like this? I mean… you never even told me why you two broke up in the first place." Carly skated forward to keep up with Sam, who was moving away (probably on purpose).

"It just wasn't working out," Sam said simply, looking down at her feet for a second. "We fight too much."

"No. You don't really fight at all anymore. You two just kind of sit there. It's boring," Carly said simply.

"Maybe I like it better this way. 'Boring' as you call it; maybe that's more relaxing for me!" Sam sounded annoyed. Sam was annoyed. She didn't like this stupid question-and-answer Carly had decided to start up.

"You guys fight, that's what you do! That's why you like each other!"

"No, that's why we hate each other. That's why I broke up with him," Sam said the words roughly. Carly looked at her, surprised she would say something so harsh.

"You don't hate him," Carly said, rolling her eyes at that.

"Yes I do. And I don't miss him either!"

"I never said you did." Carly smirked that one. One Carly, zero Sam. Sam narrowed her eyes, about to speak, but she didn't get the words out before she went falling forward towards the ice.

She managed to catch herself with her palms, but the rough ice against her bare skin caused a few nasty-looking scratches. Luckily, there was no blood on the ice, but the hiss Sam made proved that it had hurt.

"Are you alright!" Carly kneeled down and helped Sam sit up since she was currently without use of her hands.

"Yeah, yeah…" Sam said, annoyed that she was on the floor being picked up for the second time in two weeks. She was like some damsel in distress and Carly was her prince.

"Carly to the rescue again," Sam said with a laugh as she used Carly to help herself up onto her feet. Carly laughed, too.

"I should go wash off my hands, I'll be right back." She skated off the rink and headed towards the bathrooms. She made it a point to use the rink exit opposite the one Freddie was at, even though it meant a longer walk to the bathrooms.

When she got to the bathroom she checked to make sure no one else was in the room before slouching forward and leaning against the wall for support. Her stomach hurt so badly. She hadn't even landed on her stomach, but the jolt of falling must have done something to make it happen.

She used the wall to guide her to the sink, where she began to wash her hands. As the warm water hit her skin she watched as tiny traces of blood fell from her right hand and mixed with the water, causing a pink liquid to descend down the drain. Ugh! She had been having such a good day and now this. She slouched forward and let out a groan as a cramp ran through her abdomen. She drew her left, unscathed hand into a fist to try and suppress a moan but it just hurt.

"Sam?" Carly's voice rang out from the bathroom entrance. Sam cleared her throat, trying to regain her composure. She managed to stand straight enough by the time Carly was next to her that it didn't look like anything was wrong.

"We returned our skates. We both decided that we'd had enough fun for the day and assumed you had too." Carly motioned to her hands.

"Yeah, sounds good." As soon as she spoke she knew it sounded off. Like she had been holding her breath for hours and her chest was about to explode.

"What's wrong?" Carly looked surprised by the discomfort in her voice.

"I… It just stings. Bad. Not sure why," Sam took a few small breaths.

"As soon as it's clean enough it'll stop. Use some soap. It'll hurt at first but then go away after a few seconds." Carly nodded in encouragement and motioned to the soap dispenser.

"Right. I'll be right out, go hang with Freddie." She forced a smile and Carly knew that Sam wanted her to leave. Always trying to hide her 'weaknesses'. Nevertheless, she complied and left to go wait with Freddie.

As soon as she was out Sam let out a huge sigh and took a few deep breaths, trying to relax her stomach muscles to see if it would help. Luckily it did, and after a few minutes she was able to walk out of the bathroom as if nothing had even happened. She had wrapped her hand in some paper towel, which was just in case it started to bleed again.

"Whose stupid idea was this again?" Sam said grumpily as she left the bathroom, carrying the skates she had taken off.

"Yours," Carly answered easily.

"I told you we should have gone skydiving."

"Yeah, cause that fall would have felt so much better," Freddie snorted in response. Since she didn't have a good comeback, Sam decided silence would be best.

When they arrived back at Carly's house, Sam felt the onset of bile rising from her throat. She nearly ran to the bathroom, calling out 'dibs' on the bathroom so they knew where she was going and didn't suspect why she was going.

She didn't even know why she cared if they knew she was sick. Part of her knew that it wasn't a big deal, while the other part of her brain – the girly part that gets all worked up and over-analyzes things – told her something different. But none of that mattered right now, because if she didn't stop puking her guts out sometime within the next two minutes Carly was going to come looking for her and find her kneeling in front of the toilet anyways.

"She's being weird." Carly just looked at Freddie, trying to make sure that this conversation was okay to have. She didn't want to upset him, but she really wanted to talk about this to someone.

"Yeah," Freddie sighed, "I know."

"What do you think is wrong? Is it what happened… eh, a few weeks ago? I mean… she won't even talk about it when I ask her what happened!"

Freddie let out a dry laugh, "She wouldn't even tell me what happened."

Now that was not what she had expected to hear. After two years? She just… dumped him? But why? Rather than say this and make Freddie upset she kept the questions to herself, making sure she'd bug Sam about it later.

"She's been gone for a while I'm going to see what she's doing. Maybe she needs help with her hand." She went to stand up but Freddie beat her to it.

"I'll go!" Carly couldn't help but smile a little. She rolled her eyes and motioned her head in Sam's direction. "Go get 'er!" And Freddie didn't need to be told twice.

She was sitting on the floor, her back against the wall, head resting on her knees. Why wasn't this stupid flu she had going away? She had felt fine two hours ago before she had fallen on some stupid ice! She needed to go home and go to bed, because now that she had puked out the contents of her stomach her head was killing her and she was tired as hell. This sucked. This week sucked. No, this entire month had sucked so far.

"Sam?"

But it wasn't Carly. It was Freddie. Stupid Freddie. Why wasn't it Carly? She let her head fall back against the wall, intentionally letting it hit a little harder than necessary. Stupid wall, stupid head, stupid headache…

"What do you want, Freddie?" She didn't even try to sound angry or happy or anything for that matter.

"You've been in there for a while…"

"Nice observation." Okay, that time she was being a little snarky. But could you blame her?

"Well do you need help or… uh, something? Are you okay?" He sounded like a lost little boy. Sam sighed and cursed the stupid sensitive part of her.

"No I'm okay, I-," And of course at the worst possible time in the world she started to cough, feeling that all-too-familiar feeling, and the next thing she knew she was throwing up.

It only took a few seconds for Freddie to come in, sit next to her, and then rub her back soothingly. He was kneeling beside her as she gasped for air, doing this gross throwing-up thing, and he wasn't even her boyfriend anymore!

When she finally stopped she choked on air as she tried to breathe easily and her eyes began to water without her consent. And, seriously, she wasn't crying. It just happened… stupid watery-eyes…

She flushed the toilet as soon as she could. Since Freddie seemed to be taking this all pretty well Sam decided that she'd be grossed out for him.

"That was gross, sorry," she said with a raspy voice. She stood up and rinsed her mouth out with some tap water, grabbed some toilet paper, and wiped her mouth just in case she had anything on her face.

"No it's okay. Think you're done?" Freddie stayed on the floor, waiting for her answer. She ended up just shrugging and reclaiming her seat in front of the toilet.

"I thought I was done five minutes ago and apparently I wasn't. You coming in probably sparked it this time…." Freddie rolled his eyes, but stayed put.

"So… what's wrong? Flu?" he asked as casually as possible. Sam just shrugged.

"I don't know. It won't go away. Its been happening since last Tuesday. I feel like crap."

"It must be the flu. I mean, what else could it be?" Freddie looked at her seriously, as if he wanted her to say something. Sam knew what he was thinking and her eyes locked with his. And then she was trying really hard not to smile, because he would be Mr. Drama King, wouldn't he?

"You probably gave me something," Sam said in the most serious voice she could manage. Freddie's face turned from confused to shocked to absolutely white in the matter of seconds.

"I did not!" he said loudly, as if being obnoxious would make it true. But it was okay, because Sam was laughing now. And it felt good to laugh, especially after the crappy hour she had been having. Of course, Freddie's non-laughing made her laugh even harder.

"I'm being serious, Sam." He still hadn't even cracked a smile. Sam rolled her eyes and sighed.

"Look, I'm sure its nothing like that. I just have the flu, that's it," she said sternly, trying to convince him almost as much as she was trying to convince herself.

"But… You're like… throwing up and stuff. And you're all moody! And you're eating weird, that is, if you even eat at all…" He was obviously nervous because he was looking anywhere but at her.

"Look, Freddie, I know what you're saying and I promise you that's not happening." Sam looked at him seriously.

"How do you know? Did you, like, test it… or something…?" Now she was getting frustrated, because no she hadn't tested it but… she just knew she wasn't. She would know, she's a girl. She would know! But apparently the silence answered his question because he went into some weird freak-out mode that she had only seen him in a few times in the many years she had known him.

"Look we'll go tomorrow, or-or later today and then we can find out and make sure you're alright and stuff, and then-,"

"No," Sam interrupted, shaking her head as she did so.

"What do you mean 'no'? It's just up to you if this is happening," Freddie said as if that was something he had a right to say.

"What do you mean, it's not just up to me? It is up to me because there isn't anything to take care of because there is no thing inside of me!" Even if she was going to be sick again, she didn't care. She stood up angrily, quickly, getting a wonderful head rush in the process that was so totally Freddie's fault.

"Stop, please, just, okay." Freddie stood up too, looking stressed as hell, running a hand through his hair. "I'm scared too, okay?" And he looked at her, like he seriously wanted her to answer.

The look in his eyes was what made her nod though, not the stupid words he was spewing out of his mouth. He looked like he cared, like he still might love her a little, even after she had smushed his heart into pieces threes weeks ago.

"So we'll go later?" he asked seriously, but supporting a look that said she didn't really have the option to say no, even though he was giving it to her.

"Ye-yeah." And for some reason she agreed, because this was Freddie and she trusted him. Trusted him to not be a 'guy'. One of the guys you seen on a television show that walk out and are never seen again when something like this happens. Even though she was scared (yeah, he had called it, alright), she knew he would be there the entire time: scared with her.