Firstly, I want to thank you guys. I got the most amazing reviews last chapter, this story easily being my most popular. I'm so happy my writing is as powerful and a few of you said, as I don't get emotional over stories (or movies, for that matter) very easily. Only if it's truly amazing work. So again, thanks to those who said that. I don't know how many words this chapter is, but here it is. It's in first person, my preferred writing style, from Freddie's Point Of View. Enjoy.

*DISCLAIMER, FROM LAST CHAPTER TO THIS ONE TO THE REST OF THIS FIC: I'm not a man, and I don't have to check or anything, I just can tell you. Also, My name isn't Dan. Therefore, I can't possibly own iCarly, can I? Now I do own the plot, some of the spoof names to appear later on, the song in the previous chapter, and any and all OCs.

Now, enough delays! Read on, my lovelies 3

Freddie's POV:

I've never seen Sam cry before. Now I'm holding her as tight as I dare to while she cries her heart out into my shirt. I didn't think something as small as what happened would do this. It must be something more…

*FLASHBACK*

Sam, Carly, and myself were in the iCarly studio preparing for our next show, Carly going through the colored index cards she'd written out, Sam upside-down on her bean bag gnawing on a chicken leg, and me on my laptop.

"We could do a segment on me and Sam debating over chickens and turkeys while hula-hooping…" Carly offers, and Sam snorts.

"The only thing I know about turkeys is that Momma loves a nice fat one for thanksgiving." She says, and I look up from the screen, smiling to myself. Her blonde curls are strewn out from her head, giving her a halo effect. Her blue eyes are shining as she catches my gaze and smirks.

"Need something, Fredlumps?" She asks, laughing. I return her smirk.

"Depends, Princess. Do you have an off switch? You've been tapping your foot to whatever song you're listening to for the past hour." I shoot back, and she glares playfully at me, throwing her wadded up napkin.

I easily doge, nudging her head phone out of her ear with my foot. Reacting with lighting reflexes, she grabs my foot and tugs, forcing me to quickly shut my laptop and slide it off my lap and onto the floor as she pulls me off my beanbag completely.

Carly watches with amusement as Sam tosses her chicken bone off to the side, wipes her hands and face on a napkin and flips over her own beanbag. She lands on my legs, quickly twisting and pinning my wrists down. She's straddling my waist, her blonde hair hanging like a veil and tickling my cheeks.

She smirks, thinking she's won, again. I debate letting her win, like I always do, but decide against it this time. Granted, she's strong, but I've gotten stronger in the past two years or so. I free my wrists, grabbing her waist and flipping her over, suspending myself above her. Her eyes are wide in shock, small pink lips parted in surprise. I laugh quietly.

"You didn't honestly think, after all these years, I haven't gotten stronger at all?" I ask playfully. She jerks, trying to free her wrists, but to no avail. I let her squirm for a few minutes before letting her up. She's flushed, and I'm surprised to see how it looks like that wore her out.

She's been like that a lot, lately. Even little things wear her out, like she isn't getting enough sleep… I shook the thought away. She's Sam…strongest girl I know. She's fine.

She sighs, pushing her hair back and smiling tiredly at me. "Fine, Freddison. You got muscles. Happy?"

I smirked at her, and Carly laughed.

"Okay guys, enough playing. Time to-damn!" Carly had stood up and went to straighten her shirt, cropping her PearPhone in the process. She bent down and picked it up, groaning. The screen had spider webbed. "Spencer!" She called.

"Yeah, kiddo?" His voice replied, echoing from the stairs.

"I dropped my phone again! The screen's all messed up!" She called back. This is the second time this month. She can be so careless…Sam actually takes better care of her stuff then Carly does, it's weird.

"Just pull out the SIM, I'll order you a new one in a minute and go pick it up." Spencer must have bought her ten phones already this year…The Shay's don't really flaunt it or anything, but they're loaded. Spencer makes more on his sculptures then he lets on…

Sam frowned at Carly, seeing the other simply dump the expensive phone in the trash after she'd pulled the SIM card out. I noticed Sam was playing with the charm on her own outdated cell. Carly sighed, "It's so annoying how those cheap PearPhones just break. I want a Okien!"

She was naming the latest & greatest in cell phones, a paper-thin fully touch-screen, sleek phone with access to every website with super-fast loading, and the ability to see live streaming television, broadcast wifi connectivity to like four other devices, and still keep a full battery for like a day and a half. Of, course, this was made for the insanely rich…

Sam, who's expression had been getting more and more devastated, flipped a switch. She just completely blew up. "Are you kidding me?" She shrieked. "You have a PearPhone! I'd kill for a phone like that! I mean, come on, Carly! I love you, but you are such a spoiled brat! You have everything and you complain all the time! I struggle for everything I have and you're throwing your phone away because it has a cracked screen. How shallow can you be, Shay?

"I'm sorry, but I just can't handle it! You've become such a fucking bitch!" Sam never swears around Carly if she can help it… "And Freddie!" My eyes widen as she rounds on me, too. "You also get everything you've ever wanted! Your mom waits on you hand and foot because she loves you so goddamn much it's creepy! I wish my mom loved me! She's so out of it all the time she thinks I'm my sister!" At least I know why she hates Melanie now, even though her sister never did anything to her…

"I hate it! I'm done, okay? I'm leaving. don't try to find me, you won't be able to." She spun on her heel, her sapphire eyes filled with tears, and stormed from the room. Carly and I stared after her, both of us in shock.

*END FLASHBACK*

After Sam left, I'd gone home and locked myself in my room. I'd been sitting on the windowsill when I'd heard her stumbling down the fire escape, and glanced up to see her beautiful face soaked in tears and running make-up. I'd begged her to tell me, but she's just lied, saying she got "bored." I didn't believe her for a second.

I don't think she knew how easy it is for me to tell if she's lying. No one, not even Carly, knows. Except me. It's an honor, I guess, to be able to see through one of the best liars, if not the best, I know. I need to know what really made her so…vulnerable. This isn't a side of Sam I've seen before, and it's not something I like. Granted, it's nice to know she has feelings and isn't the blonde demon-girl like she has the world believe.

I know she's done things no one on this earth should have to, and also that if I told and tried to help, she'd run away. I hate that her mom does nothing and that it's gotten this bad and gone on for so long. Was it that, then? Did Sam, the Unbreakable…finally crack? Impossible as it seems, unless something else has happened, it's the only plausible explanation.

I placed a kiss on top of her disheveled blonde curls, rubbing her back and rocking slightly to calm her. I'd volunteered at enough preschools to know how to care for crying people.

Finally, after another fifteen or so minutes (Not counting, who would with the vivacious blonde in their arms, especially when she's crying?), Sam calms down and her cries fall to mere hiccups and sniffs, until…silence. I don't stop rocking or soothing, and she stays in my arms without a fight. Her hands relax, though, and she turns her face upwards to my own. I stop moving, just regarding her. She's pale, and it contrasts with the flushed cheeks and puffed, red eyes from crying.

She's speechless, she isn't used to this, I guess. She doesn't cry, she doesn't get held. She doesn't experience love, even in basic forms, from anyone other then Carly and I. She yawns, and I notice the bags under her eyes and how drawn she looks.

"Sam," I murmur, and she pauses, looking up at me almost fearfully. I run a hand through her hair, and she relaxes a bit, sensing I'm not mad. "Sam, let me ask my mom to let you stay over, okay? I'm not going to lie. You look like shit, and you clearly need sleep. Please, Sam?" I ask, and her eyes widen.

She fights me then, but I hold her still. "Freddie, no! My mother-"

I cut her off with ease. "Your mom will be fine for one night, Sam. You need sleep. Please let me help you. I'm begging!" I capture her chin, gently shifting her face so she can see the look on my face. Finally, after stifling another yawn, she caves, reluctantly. I smile, and she huffs, pushing on my chest lightly. I let her go for the most part, keeping only her wrist.

I climb in my window, calling my mom. She comes in, her eyes wide and alert. "What is it, Freddie? Did my baby boy see a spider? Mommy will kill it for yo-"

"Mom!" I say exasperatedly. Her overprotective, over-, well, everything attitude was annoying at best, and I wasn't in the mood to be four again. "Mom, relax. I need Sam to stay over tonight, I can use the pull-out bed in my sofa."

I can see my mom's expression turn from mild concern to borderline hysteria and anger, and I slam my hand down on my desk. The movement startles her, and the hysteria is lost. She's pissed.

"FREWWARD BENSON. DO NOT ACT ANGRY WITH ME!" She starts, and I close my eyes, pinching the bridge of my nose.

"MOM!" I shout, and she takes a step back, startled at my ferocity. "Mom," I begin more calmly. "I'm seventeen. I'm not your little boy anymore. I can move out in five months. I WILL move out in five months. I love you, but just stop. I can't deal with your crazy rules tonight." Her face is priceless, shell-shocked and angry.

I Turn my back on her, reaching up and taking Sam's hand, bringing her gently off the steps she waited on and pulling her inside. I can lift her way too easily, and I frown. My mom is still at my door, but she has a defeated loom about her. Finally, she sighs, closing the door softly and walking away.

I know how short this is. In my defense, it's like three pages in MicroSoft Word (not mine, just a copy...). Sorry. I wanted to post something, and the next part might be in either Sam's or Carly's POV. You guys decide, okay? Review! Haha. Also, take my poll! :D
I'll post the next chapter once I've decided who will be telling it, and I promise to make it longer. Also, ASAP. Haha, thanks for reading :)