Author's Note: Thoughts are still in italics; Hand written notes are in bold print; and in this chapter I have Freddie and Sam sending text messages. What they type on their phones is in bold print, and after each statement, I put what it is they are seeing in brackets. – kwags74

Chapter 24

"Mom," Freddie said to his mother on the phone, "I have detention tonight, so I'll be home about an hour late."

It was the end of first period the next day. He and Sam were told during history class that they were receiving detention for ditching class the day before.

He was standing alone at his locker. Sam was at her locker getting her algebra stuff, and was going to meet Freddie at his locker so they could walk to algebra together.

"I got it because I missed history class yesterday," Freddie said to his mom.

"How could you miss class?" His mother had asked.

"There was a confrontation between Sam and I, and with Carly's boyfriend," he said, "and it lasted past the bell."

"That's no excuse Fredward. I expect you home immediately after your detention, and I don't want anyone over, or you going anywhere tonight. Come straight home young man; Understand?" His mom barked at him.

Freddie sighed angrily. He saw Sam approaching him with her algebra homework. "But mom," he whined, "we need to rehearse iCarly tonight…"

"I don't care what tonight is. Be home after detention. In fact, I will be at the school at 4:00 sharp. I expect you to find me when you get out." His mother interrupted, and spoke to him sternly.

"Fine," he growled, as he clicked his phone shut. He reached into his locker and grabbed his stuff, and he and Sam walked to class.

"Your mom is upset I see," Sam said raising her eyebrow as they walked to the classroom.

"She's not letting me do anything for iCarly, or letting me have anyone over tonight," he complained. He gazed at Sam, "I guess we'll have to study another night," he groaned.

Sam shrugged, "No biggie," she said simply, "I just hate that I won't be able to talk to you tonight."

"Yeah, me too," Freddie sighed. They entered the classroom and made their way to their seats. "What did you and Carly talk about before history class started?" He asked curiously.

"I just asked her if Danny had tried to call her last night," she answered as she took her seat. They pushed their desks together. They both got their homework out and started to look at each other's work.

"And?" Freddie asked without looking up from their papers.

"Carly said that Danny did call to apologize for the way he reacted yesterday, but he still insisted that he was right about the 'me and David' thing. He wouldn't apologize for that." She replied as she sat up and stretched a bit, "Carly then told me that she apologized to him as well. She said that she's going to sit down with Danny again today to make sure they have a better understanding of one another, but she said she isn't sure if this'll make everything okay or not though."

Freddie sat up. "I'm sure they'll be fine." The bell rang just then, and the two pushed their desks back to the position that they were supposed to be.

They started their lesson. Freddie had a hard time concentrating because of the fact that his mom is grounding him for the evening. This will be a much different evening than last night, he thought. He remembered how close he and Sam had got to doing something that they might have regretted. He began to feel guilty about not letting his mother know that he and Sam often studied at her place unsupervised. If his mother ever found this out without him telling her, his mom might forbid him from seeing Sam. I can't let that happen, he thought, I better tell mom the truth. If I tell her now before she finds out another way, we can probably work this thing through.

He knew that he needed Sam's help with this. He had the idea that Sam probably would freak if he told their mom about them studying alone, but he wanted to reassure her that it'll be better if his mom knows.

Freddie reached into his notebook for a piece of paper. Mr. Perry had just given the class the assignment, and he gave the class time before next period to get started on it. Freddie scribbled a note to Sam. I think when I get home tonight; I'm going to tell my mom about us studying at your place alone during certain times. He passed the note to Sam.

Sam grabbed the note, and while she was reading it, she turned white. She quickly and angrily scribbled back; then she nearly threw the note back to Freddie.

Freddie caught the note. He looked up to see if the teacher had seen anything. He turned back to read the letter. Are you out of your mind, dork? Your mom will freak if she knew that we were studying together alone, especially since you and I are dating now.

Freddie began to write back. My mom will appreciate the honesty. I want you to be with me when I tell her tomorrow night. I promise that I won't let her try to break us apart. He slid the note back to her.

Sam glared at him. She didn't want to take it at first, but she finally snatched it off his desk. She sighed as she read. She sat there a few moments tapping her fingers on the desk lightly. She wrote back to Freddie.

Freddie, I'm scared of what your mom might do if she were to find out I was being neglected at home. She might call Child Services or something. I'm not going to end up at a shelter or foster home, do you hear me? Sam angrily handed the note back to him.

Freddie snatched the note. He looked upset as he read what Sam wrote. When he was waiting for Sam to write, he was doing the homework that was assigned. Sam was likewise working on algebra when not replying to Freddie.

Freddie sat there for a few minutes thinking. He hadn't thought about the scenario that Sam described about her mom getting in trouble for not being around. Sam was stealing glances at him to see if he was going to respond.

Finally, he wrote a response. We don't have to tell my mom that your mom is never home, because that's really not true. She is home sometimes. We just need to say that your mom has been out at times when we've been there studying. I don't want anything that you're describing happen to you either. I'm just trying to cover my bases with her; you know how she gets.

Sam took the paper and began reading. She didn't look as tense when she finished as she had the previous notes. She wrote quickly. Before we talk to your mom tomorrow night, we need to agree on what we're going to say. We need to get our story straight.

Freddie felt better that she wanted to do this with him. He wrote six big letters at the bottom of the page and flashed the paper to Sam. The word was: AGREED. She grinned slightly and nodded.

They continued to work on their assignment until the bell rang. As they got up and gathered their books, Sam spoke to Freddie, "I'm very serious Fredward," she said firmly, "you and I have to have our stories straight about what happens at my place."

"When we walk home to my place from school tomorrow, you and I will discuss what we are going to do and say," Freddie stated as they began to head out of the classroom and into the hallway.

"Freddie," Sam asked, "you're not going to tell your mom about what almost happened last night, are you?"

Freddie grabbed her hand and held it. "Nothing did happen, and we talked over the situation. As far as I'm concerned, since you and I are beginning to learn more about loving each other the right way, you and I really have nothing to tell," he smirked reassuringly.

Sam smiled back at him, "That's my good man."

They reached Freddie's locker. "Besides," he added, "you and I are going to have things happen in our relationship that only you and I need to learn how to handle. I know that I can depend on my mother to help us with the situations that we won't be able to handle on our own."

Sam nodded as she watched him put his algebra books away, "So this is sorta why you want to tell your mom about us studying alone?"

"Don't get me wrong Sam, I'm nervous about doing this too," Freddie replied as he shut his locker door, "I just feel that if my mom knew that I was going to her about questions dealing with our relationship that she would feel more secure about us being together. She does like you Sam…" He smirked at her as they began to walk together towards her locker, "…but don't forget who loves you."

Sam smiled as she reached over and gave her man a quick kiss on the lips. "I'll see you at lunch," she called as she headed for her locker.

"Yep," he smiled as he headed for the gym, "I'll see you then."

XxXxXxXxXx

The rest of the school day was uneventful. Even detention was boring for Freddie and Sam (although I guess it really isn't supposed to be fun).

Sure enough, Mrs. Benson was parked alongside the curb at the front of the school when Freddie and Sam walked out of the school a few minutes after 4:00. This Tuesday had been overcast for much of the day, but now it had begun sprinkling.

Freddie walked to the passenger door of his mom's car and opened it. "Mom," he said with haste, "I know you're grounding me tonight, but could you at least drop Sam off? It's on the way there."

"Freddie, I can walk," Sam retorted, even though a ride would be nice since she didn't bring an umbrella with her today.

"Nonsense," Mrs. Benson called to Sam, "If it's on the way, I'll take you there…here, I'll unlock the backdoor for you." She pressed a button on her armrest and the backdoor became unlocked.

"Er…thanks," Sam mumbled as she got in behind Freddie. Freddie took his seat. After they shut the doors and got seat belted in; they took off.

Sam was worrying that her mom wasn't going to be home when Mrs. Benson dropped her off. And knowing Mrs. Benson, Sam was afraid she might get drilled a bunch of questions on the subject that she didn't want to answer until her and Freddie talked about it the next evening.

To Sam's surprise, her mother's car was in the driveway when they pulled up. Sam thanked Mrs. Benson, and got out of the car. She hurried out of the rain into her house. Mrs. Benson had waited until Sam was inside before she drove her and Freddie home.

Freddie had let Carly know in sixth period that he wasn't able to do a rehearsal for iCarly tonight because of his detention. Carly sort of freaked when she heard this because they were doing such a big show this week since they didn't air last week because of Thanksgiving. But she understood.

The evening was very boring for Freddie. He not only had to do his homework alone, but his mom had "punishment" chores for him to do. Freddie figured that a lot of this was so his mom could keep an eye on him. Mrs. Benson was afraid he might try to call, text, or IM his friends any chance he could get. So she was on him like hawk.

It wasn't until really late that night after his mom had fallen asleep that he was able to text Sam. He climbed into bed with his phone, and began to text.

R u stl up, he texted her. (Are you still up)

He waited patiently for several minutes. He hadn't got a response, so he lay back down. He just got situated when he heard his phone beep. He snatched it and read, Y, 2nit was boring. Mom wsn't home, just car was here. (Yes, tonight was boring. Mom wasn't home, just car was here.)

Freddie texted back to her, U rdy 4 2morrw nite? (You ready for tomorrow night?)

Sam returned his text, U sre u want 2 do ths? (You sure you want to do this?)

Freddie thought a second, then replied, I dn't lik hidin stuf from my mom. If we tel her, she mite treat us lik adults & we wn't hav 2 wrry bout bein' separated. (I don't like hiding stuff from my mom. If we tell her, she might treat us like adults and we won't have to worry about being separated.)

It took Sam a minute to read this, but she finally got back with him, Im putin my trust in u nrd, u r not goin 2 lik it if I gt hurt. (I'm putting my trust in you nerd, you are not going to like it if I get hurt.)

Freddie smiled, Id run away frm hom & tak u w/ me b4 I c u get hurt my luv! (I'd run away from home and take you with me before I see you get hurt my love!)

Sam giggled in her bed, but she was careful not to be too loud. Her mom was home now, and she didn't want to draw attention to her room. Sam began to close, U r such a DORK! But I luv u so mch! (You are such a dork! But I love you so much!)

Freddie grinned again, he also began to close, & I luv u 2 my lttle cretur. C u in the mornin. (And I love you too my little creature. See you in the morning.)

Sam typed three more characters; then she shut her phone down and went to bed, K c u (Okay see you)

XxXxXxXxXx

"You guys are coming by after school so we can rehearse iCarly, right?" Carly asked her friends as she got seated in sixth period science the next day.

Sam and Freddie looked at each other. They had forgotten about needing to rehearse for the show. They were so focused on this conversation they were to have with Freddie's mom that they had forgotten that they had an obligation to anything else in anybody else's life.

"Uh…sure," Sam answered Carly to reassure her. They both sighed. The initial plan for the day was to go over right after school and take care of this, and then they were going to study together. They kind of needed to do homework too. There were a lot of big projects being put on them from both history and English class. They all were given a huge term paper assignment for English that was suppose to take them until the Christmas break to get done. But the paper counted for over 80% of their grade this semester, and it was important that they try to work on it as much as possible.

But they didn't want to blow off their friend again. High School was making it more difficult right now to continue to do iCarly every week. It was easier last year when they were only in the eighth grade to have time every week to do the webcast.

Sam was already feeling guilty for not going over to Carly's last night as it was. She really didn't want to hang around Carly alone right now, because of what Carly was going through with Danny. Sam thought Carly would never shut up about Danny when they were first going out; now that they were having trouble, it was even worse. Danny was having trust issues with his girlfriend after what had happened on Monday. He still couldn't understand why she continued to back her friends. He didn't even want to be around Carly if either Sam or Freddie was with her. He was trying to get past this, but it wasn't an easy thing for him. Carly was having a hard time this week being normal around him. She just couldn't feel relaxed when she was with him. They were still communicating well, but the happiness that they both had felt before just wasn't there right now. Sam had to listen to Carly go on and on about this.

Sam turned back to Freddie, "What are we going to do?" She asked.

Freddie shrugged gently, "It looks like we have a very busy night tonight, don't we?" He sighed.

Sam nodded, "I guess we work on iCarly for a couple of hours; then we go have that talk," she said, her mind racing, "we'll eat, and then we'll study for as long as your mom lets us. I'll go back over to Carly's and spend the night when we're through."

Freddie nodded with agreement, "Okay," he said, "but will it be all right for you to spend the night at Carly's?"

"My mom left me a note saying that she wouldn't be home until very late tonight, and Carly and Spencer usually never have a problem with me spending the night…Watch." Sam turned to Carly.

"Okay to spend the night tonight?" Sam asked giving Carly a smile.

"Sure," Carly smiled back; then turned back to Gibby to discuss their dissection of the frog they were working on.

"See?" Sam smirked to Freddie.

Freddie smirked back, "I don't know how you do it." He laughed softly.

"I'm good," Sam smiled.

Author's Note: I figured I'd add a little bit more info in about the Carly/Danny story. I still want to know if I should have them together in the end or not. 2 chapters remain. As I send this today, I wish you all a very Happy Thanksgiving. Thanks for your reviews as always.