A/N: A lot of summary at the beginning of the chapter before dialogue begins. Sorry about that.

Chapter 17

Sam woke up the next morning to an empty house. That was typical for her, holiday or no holiday. She showered and got dressed; then she ate breakfast. All the while, she was debating on how to spend her Friday with no school.

She was annoyed with her mom, because her mother had made Sam come all the way home in the rain so that they could spend half an hour together before she passed out on the couch. Her mom's boyfriend picked her up early in the morning so they could do some "Day after Thanksgiving" shopping.

Sam had no desire to deal with those crowds that go to the stores on that day, but she did need to go get a dress for her dinner with David tomorrow.

After she ate and cleaned up, she came across the gym membership that Freddie gave her last night sitting on the dining room table next to her book bag. She had nothing to do at the moment, and she knew the gym was only a short distance away; she decided to go check it out.

It was still overcast from the rain storm last evening, and it was also very cool outside. Sam took some workout clothes in a backpack and made her way to the gym.

When she got to Bold's Gym, she went to the front desk so she could fill out some paperwork; then she went to the ladies' locker room. She changed her clothes, and walked into the weight room.

She tried to avoid seeing Freddie and his geek squad, but it didn't take long to find them. They were over by the bench press. Sam got a glimpse at the guys as they each got up from their equipment; as they were finishing their exercises for the day. She saw Gibby first, and she was amazed on how tone his tummy area was. I guess I won't be painting his tummy anymore, she thought as he walked to the guys' locker room. Then, Jeremy "Germy" got up and walked to the locker room. Dang, she thought, Freddie was right about Germy, he really does look good.

Finally, Freddie stood up from his bench, and walked to the locker room. Sam was so blown away over how nice Freddie toned arms and upper body looked, that she had to grasp on to a barbell, which was resting at its station, to keep from falling over onto the floor. "Wow…" she whispered to herself. She didn't take her eyes off him until he disappeared from view when he followed his friends into the locker room.

"I've got work to do," she muttered to herself as she went to find a trainer, so she could start working out.

She spent the remainder of the morning exercising and working her muscles. As noon approached, she went back to the locker room and changed her clothes and left the gym.

She grabbed her phone as she was walking outside and called Carly. Sam and Carly discussed going to the mall in a couple of hours to get a dress for Sam. The two met at the mall in the middle of the afternoon, and battled the holiday shoppers to get the dress Sam wanted.

It was a beautiful blue strapless silk dress with small ruffles near the top. Sam asked Carly if she would keep it for her at her place so that it wouldn't get ruined at her mom's. She also didn't want to take the chance that her mother might steal it from her. Sam would come by Carly's on Saturday evening to change into the dress. She was having David meet her there in the evening to pick her up.

Sam spent a quiet evening at her house watching Thanksgiving shows on TV. At times, her mind would wander over deciding who she would like to be with, either David or Freddie. She didn't want to go tomorrow if she felt David wasn't the right one for her. However, she also didn't want to be on her date with David, and have Freddie on her mind.

It was late, and Sam shut the TV off, and went into her bedroom to go to sleep. Since it was Friday, Sam knew her mother would either be very late coming home, or wouldn't be coming home at all. So, she lay there in silence, and made a decision about what she was going to do the next day.

XxXxXxXxXx

Freddie had a very interesting day on Friday. After he and his friends left the gym, they grabbed a bite to eat; then Freddie returned to the gym without his friends. Gibby went over to his buddy Rueben's house, and Jeremy had a date for the evening, so they took off after they ate.

Freddie missed Sam by about 15 minutes as she was leaving and he was returning. He spent a couple hours shooting some hoops before his mother called, and demanded that he come home so they could go shopping for him on the biggest sales day of the year.

Freddie had groaned, going shopping with his mother was the last thing he wanted to do on this Friday, but he returned home so he and his mother could go. He and his mother were out until the middle of the evening getting all kinds of clothes for him and her. It was a good thing Freddie had worked out earlier in the day, because he needed his muscles to carry all the department store bags that they consumed from all the shopping they did.

After they returned home, Freddie hit the sack. He wanted to get up early so he could hit the gym again on Saturday morning. He spent the morning hours both in the weight room and on the racket ball court. When he got home, he spent the afternoon finishing an essay for English class; then spent some time on the internet. He planned to go over to Carly's early that evening to do some maintenance work on his equipment. They had decided not to do an iCarly episode the previous night because of the holiday, but he knew he wanted to make sure everything was in order the following week, because they were planning to do an extended episode the following Friday to make up for yesterday.

XxXxXxXxXx

Sam slept in pretty late Saturday morning. It was after 11am when she got cleaned up and ate. She called David, and told him that everything was on for the night, and that he should meet her at Carly's apartment around 5pm that evening.

She had indeed decided to want to be with the guy that wasn't afraid to tell her that he wanted to be with her, and who wanted to make things work. Sam actually tried to do everything she could not to get Freddie in her head for the entire day.

She stayed at her mom's during the early afternoon, and cleaned the house up. Her mom never did show up last night as far as Sam knew; the house looked the same as it did when Sam came home last night. Around three o'clock that afternoon, she took off for Carly's place. When she arrived, Sam was hoping she wouldn't bump into Freddie.

She rang the bell to the Shay's apartment. The door opened, "Hey Sam," Carly smiled as she stepped back to let her best friend through the door.

"Hey," replied Sam looking a little nervous about the date that was quickly approaching. "Is my dress ready?"

"Yes," Carly replied still smiling, "I have it hanging on my closet door in my bedroom." She noticed that her friend looked a little tense, "you look a little nervous, are you gonna be okay?"

"Me?" Sam answered trying to straighten out her expression, "cool as a cucumber, you know?"

"Chillax," Carly said to her friend as she grabbed Sam's shoulders, "you're gonna have fun tonight."

"I guess," Sam said uncertain, "I'm going to head into your room and start to get ready."

Carly nodded, "Oh, okay," she said as she began to head into the kitchen to see what her brother was up to, "let me know if you need for anything."

Sam went into her friend's room and began to get ready. Why am I so nervous, she thought, this is not like this is the first time we've been out before; we've been dating for several weeks. She put on her dress first; then decided to put on make-up and do her hair. Who am I kidding, her thoughts continued, I'm a nervous wreck. I better get some advice about how to handle myself for this dinner before I leave. Sam continued to get ready.

Carly sat in a kitchen chair and watched Spencer start a new creation. He had made an artificial Christmas tree out of nothing but round ornaments. He was doing all kinds of hooking and hot gluing to get this sculpture completed. She had sat for a couple of minutes watching her brother when the doorbell rang.

Carly looked at the clock, which only read 4:20. "Boy, David's early," she muttered to herself as she went to the door. When she opened the door, she found Freddie in the doorway, and not David.

"Hey, Freddie," Carly warmly greeted him, "did you come by to work on the equipment upstairs?"

"Yeah," Freddie replied; then looked to Carly nervously, "did I come at a bad time?"

"Oh no," she replied as she began to walk back towards the kitchen, "don't be ridiculous, I'm not doing anything until…"

There was a small crash in the kitchen, and the sound of broken glass hitting the kitchen floor. Spencer hollered in pain.

To Carly and Freddie's horror, Spencer approached them with his right hand badly cut. "Oh my gosh, Spencer," Carly shrieked, "Are you all right?"

"We-ell," Spencer tried to answer hopingly, "it appears that my hand is a little cut up," he answered trying to make a joke at a time like this.

"I need to get you the emergency room," Carly panicked as she ran to go get her and Spencer's jackets, "that hand is bleeding very badly."

Freddie had run into the kitchen, and pulled a bunch of paper towels to wrap around Spencer's hand. "Here," he said quickly, "keep pressure on the hand."

Spencer did as he was told. He was in pain, but he tried not to show it. He was helped into his jacket by his sister. "Thanks, Freddo." He told Freddie.

"Freddie," Carly began, as she was leading Spencer to the front door, "I'll be back as soon as I can. Sam is in my room getting changed for her date. I'm going to try to be back before she takes off."

"Yeah, okay Carly," Freddie replied, "Go!" He saw the Shay siblings to the door, and closed it behind them.

Freddie looked at the blood that was on the floor in various spots, and decided to help clean it up. He went into the kitchen and got under the kitchen sink to grab some rubber gloves, a bucket, and a sponge. He filled the bucket with soap and water, and got on his hands and knees and began to clean up the blood off the floors.

After Freddie was done cleaning the floors, he emptied the bucket and put it away. He went into the linen closet and grabbed a broom; he began to sweep the floor in the area that there was broken ornaments.

Freddie had just gotten the broken fragments emptied into the garbage and was getting ready to put the broom away, when he heard Sam's voice coming from upstairs.

"Hey, Carly?" Sam hollered as she made her way down the stairs to the living room area. She paused when she got to the bottom because she hadn't heard anybody. "Yo, Carly, Spencer?"

"Carly had to run Spencer to the…" Freddie began as he walked out of the kitchen into the living room. When he saw Sam, he stopped in his tracks and stared at her, his eyes went wide, "Wow," he said softly.

Sam was all decked out in her dress. Her hair was wavy and flowing this evening, and her make-up made her look stunning.

Freddie needed air. The sight of her was taking his breath away, and he stumbled a bit as he began to walk towards her, "Y-you lo-ook great," he stuttered nervously.

Freddie wasn't the only one who was nervous. Sam was hoping not to run into Freddie today, because she wanted to get him out of her mind. Now, here he was gawking at her, and it made her very nervous. But she answered him, "Thanks," she quietly replied. She spoke up, "where did you say Carly was?"

Freddie snapped out of his trance he was in, "Carly had to run Spencer to the ER," he answered, "he cut his hand badly on some Christmas ornaments. She said they'd be back as soon as possible."

"Okay," Sam implied a little distastefully, "and why are you here?"

"I came over tonight to work on the equipment upstairs," Freddie replied ignoring how rude she asked him this question, "but the accident happened, and I've been helping clean up the place."

"Gee Freddork," Sam said smirking, "what a good friend you are."

Freddie continued to ignore Sam's sarcasm. He noticed she looked a little nervous, "You ready for your big date?"

"Yep," Sam answered and turned away from him.

"Sam," he asked concerned, "Are you okay?"

The last person she wanted to get dating advice from was Freddie. The only girl that he was involved with was Valerie. But Sam wanted advice about a formal dinner. She knew that Freddie and Valerie had a formal dinner on their first date at the Shay apartment last year. Sam remembered it well; she set up one of Freddie's little webcams up so that she and Carly could watch. She couldn't believe she was about to do this, but with no normal person around, it was time for the geek squad to answer her question.

Sam turned to face Freddie, "I was hoping to get some last minute advice about going on a formal dinner date," she sighed, hoping that Freddie didn't want to help her out.

Freddie looked at her thoughtfully for a second; then said, "I'm not sure if this will help, but I can tell you what Spencer told me when I went on my first date with Valerie."

Sam walked over to the couch and sat down. "This ought to be interesting," she said as she waited for Freddie to come sit next to her on the couch, "all right, shoot."

"Spencer told me that if you look into a girl's eyes, and say nothing, that it made the girl think you were all mysterious and stuff, and…" Freddie began before Sam interrupted.

Sam busted out laughing, "Are you kidding me?" She began roll back on the couch laughing. "Thanks Freddie, I needed a good laugh."

Freddie ignored her laughing and began to stare in her eyes, just as Spencer had done to him the previous year when he told Freddie the same advice. He locked his eyes on her and held her gaze.

Sam's laughing had begun to subside. "That's the most outrageous…thing…I've… ever…" Her eyes had caught his, and when they locked their gaze on one another, she began to forget what she was going to say. "That's the… most…" She tried to begin again, but Freddie continued to look into her eyes, and she couldn't break free from his gaze.

Freddie was literally looking into Sam's window into her soul. She's the one, he thought to himself, she's perfect; there will never be another girl that I will want to be with other than her.

Sam was indeed looking into Freddie's sparkling brown eyes. She had completely stopped thinking about David at this point. She felt that she was literally in a trance, but she liked what she was gazing at. She was hoping this wasn't a dream, and that there would be sparks flying if they would touch lips.

Sure enough, their bodies were inching towards each other. Their eyes were still on one another's, but they were slowly closing. Their heads began to tilt in opposite directions as their lips began to descend upon each other…

"Ow!" Spencer yelled from outside the door, as he was trying to open it.

"Let me get the door," Carly's voice came through the door as she reached for the knob.

At the instant they heard voices; Sam and Freddie opened their eyes, and snapped their bodies back to a sitting position. They both stood up from the couch just as Carly and Spencer walked in.

Freddie was wide-eyed from what almost happened on the couch. He drifted into the kitchen unnoticed, but his thoughts were running wild. Sam and I almost kissed, he thought wildly; at least I'm almost sure it was going to happen. I wonder what this means, and what she's going to do.

Sam went over to Spencer, and checked out his hand, "Spencer, are you gonna be okay?" She asked concerned.

Spencer smiled, "Yeah, the doctor said I shouldn't do much with it for a few days, but it should be okay by the middle of the upcoming week." He made his way past the girls towards his room.

"I'm sorry I wasn't here to finish helping you get ready," Carly said to Sam, but she stepped back to take in how well her friend looked, "you look great though. Is there anything I can help you with now?" She asked.

Sam slowly shook her head, "I don't believe so," she replied, "I guess I'm as ready as I'll ever be." Her face was still a little pale from what almost happened on the couch a few moments ago.

Carly noticed this, "Sam, you look really nervous," she said a bit concerned, "you're gonna be okay, right? Is something bothering you?"

Sam stole a glance into the kitchen where Freddie was. He had walked over to the ornament sculpture and was standing there appearing to be lost in thought. At times, he stole glances to the living room. Sam turned back around to face her friend, "I just want this night to be over." She told Carly.

"Are you changing your mind about seeing David?" Carly asked her, trying to pry something out of her friend.

The doorbell rang, and Carly went to open the door. David walked in wearing a very nice suit and tie. He saw Sam and smiled at her, "You look beautiful tonight."

Sam blushed slightly, and replied, "Thanks, you look good too." Her mind was a thousand miles away at the moment.

David asked, "Are you ready? My parents are waiting downstairs in the car."

Sam nodded and took David's arm. The two of them bid Carly farewell, and walked out the door.

Carly wasn't getting good vibes about this date. She began to walk into the kitchen. "Freddie, did something happen earlier…" She started, but found that Freddie was no longer in the kitchen.

She was about to holler for him, when she heard her own name called by her brother. She walked out of the kitchen and back towards Spencer's room.

As soon as David had walked in the door, Freddie had gotten into the elevator and taken it up to the iCarly studio. He didn't want to bear to see Sam leave with that guy. When he reached the studio, Freddie began to walk over to his equipment to do some cleaning and inspecting. It didn't help that he was doing this alone, because all he could think about was Sam. He spent a few hours going through every piece of equipment, to make sure it was functioning properly. All the while his mind was on one thing.

He wondered how Sam's date was going.

Author's Note: This is a bit of a long chapter, but hopefully an enjoyable one. No, this is the set up for Seddie, not the actual moment. The real action is in the next chapter. That chapter will start badly for Sam, but not end that way. Thanks again to all who've reviewed the story.