Disclaimer: I do not own the rights to iCarly. Nor do I have any experience in being a waterboy.

Chapter 26

"I can't wait to see what you got me for Christmas," Sam smiled excitedly.

Freddie smiled. He had been very eager for Christmas Eve to arrive so that he and Sam could officially have a first holiday together as a couple. And it was the first time they had really given each other gifts since they had started dating nearly 4 weeks ago.

He and Sam had done what his mom requested of them, and that was to study at his place every night after school. Sam actually enjoyed coming over to his place because she was able to get a home cooked meal every night, rather than Sam having to hope and pray that she could find something good to eat at her house. She also enjoyed the fact that she only had to go next door to hang out with Carly and Spencer. And Mrs. Benson always drove Sam back home at the end of the evening, so she didn't have to walk home on these cold December nights.

She and Freddie worked very hard on their term papers that were due before the break, and they actually turned them in a few days ahead of time. Both of them already had their papers graded, and the teacher let them both know what they received on that last day before break. Sam aced her term paper, while Freddie got an A- on his paper. Sam's been bragging about the higher score for a few days now.

Their relationship continued to grow strong. They tried not to get too mushy at school. Sam did have a reputation to protect. She was kinder to people now, but she still got the occasions to give nerds wedgies and lock them in their lockers every now and again. Freddie would only stand by and shake his head while his girlfriend took out her fun. He had to be careful himself at times; he often was the target of Sam's mischief. But he would normally get her back in one way or another. This was all fine with the both of them, as they felt it kept everything in their relationship exciting.

Freddie tried to use what money he had to spoil Sam the best way he could for Christmas. He filled a stocking full of beef jerky and a dozen gift certificates for free smoothies at Groovie Smoothies. His gag gift for her was a portable cooler which held little miniature hams in it that she could have. But the main gift was something he was a little nervous to give her. He kept that gift in his pocket until he was ready to surprise her with it.

"Well," he smiled brightly to Sam, "go ahead and open it while I get your stocking."

She sat down on the Benson's couch and began to tear the wrapping off. Mrs. Benson was in the kitchen preparing a green bean casserole, and baking a blueberry pie for the Christmas dinner they were going to have next door at the Shay's that evening.

Sam looked puzzled at the gift she had just unwrapped, "You got me a cooler?" She asked giving him a weird look.

"Silly," he smirked, "open the cooler."

Sam did so, and her expression brightened, "Wow," she beamed, rummaging through the contents of the cooler, "I should have known. You know my stomach well Fredward."

Freddie returned with her stocking, and handed it to her. The beef jerky was sticking out of the stocking, which cause her to smile. "So you gave me just meat for Christmas?" Sam smirked as she began to look through her stocking.

"And free smoothies!" Freddie grinned as he saw Sam pull the gift certificates out of the stocking. She grinned at him before laying the stocking down.

"Okay," she said as she got up and went into the other room, "it's time for your gift."

Freddie grinned as he waited for Sam to return. He thought about giving Sam the final gift when he had opened his gift.

Sam handed Freddie the package, "I hope you like this," she said as she sat back down on the couch and opened a package of beef jerky, "I'm hoping it's something you don't have already."

"Wow Sam," Freddie said when he took off the wrapping paper. He had received a web camera that operated by remote control so that it could zoom in and out with the touch of a button. It could also shift its image a complete 360 degrees from its frame. What made it cool was its small size, "this must have cost you a lot of money."

"Nah," Sam said smugly, "I paid for it mostly with the money my mom would leave on the counter when she wasn't home. Nothing is too good for my little tech nerd."

Freddie gave her a sour face; then he rose from his chair and decided to get her on the couch.

Sam grinned, "No you don't Freddie," She giggled as she got up from the couch and tried to dodge her boyfriend who was chasing her around the living room. He finally caught her, and had her wrapped up in his arms as he took her down on the floor with both of them laughing.

"Freddie, Sam," hissed Mrs. Benson from the kitchen, "will you settle down please?" She was busy trying to get the dished she used cleaned and put away so they could leave soon.

"Sorry!" They yelled laughing as they sat on the floor leaning on each other. They took some deep breaths as they began to calm down.

"I have one more gift for you Sam," Freddie said nervously as he grabbed a little black box out of his pocket and handed it to Sam.

"What is this?" Sam asked nervously with her eyes wide. She had a pretty good idea was usually comes in boxes such as this one.

"Don't worry," he tried to reassure her as he saw the nervous look on her face, "it's not 'the' ring. But I hope you like it."

Sam opened the box and pulled out a beautiful 14 carat gold ring. It had two stones in the middle of the ring that were shaped like hearts melded together. One stone was a purple color, and the other was clear. "Freddie…" she said, her breath being taken away from her as she gazed at the ring.

"Do you like it Sam?" He smiled softly at her, "it's a promise ring. The two stones are amethyst; which is my birthstone, and diamond; which is yours. I was afraid I wouldn't get this in time for Christmas. I ordered in online a few weeks ago, and I just received it in on Monday."

All Sam could look at was the ring. She had never been given a gift like this before. Sam wasn't fond of wearing jewelry, but she really loved this ring. "Freddie," she said gently, "this must have cost you a fortune. How on earth did you afford to pay for this?"

"The last of the money from the Daka payout went to paying for this ring," he said smiling. Freddie reached across and touched Sam's cheek with his hand, "You are worth every penny."

Sam quickly slid the ring onto her left ring finger; then bent over and kissed Freddie gently on his lips. She wrapped herself around him in a full body embrace with the two of them still sitting on the floor. "I love this ring so much," she sighed happily, "and I love you very, very much."

Freddie held her tight. "I'm so glad you like it," he sighed in relief, "as I said, it is a promise ring; therefore, I promise I will always be with you forever." Freddie and Sam released their embrace and began to get up off the floor.

Mrs. Benson came out of the kitchen, "Are you two ready to go next door?" She asked.

"Ready when you are, mom," Freddie replied.

"Fredward dear, would you help me by taking the food over?" Mrs. Benson asked.

"Hey," Sam intervened, "I can help carry the food over." Sam followed Mrs. Benson back into the kitchen.

"Sam," Freddie smirked, "my mom needs someone to carry the food, not eat it."

Sam gave Freddie a look. "You're lucky it's Christmas," she snapped. Sam put her hand in the whipped cream that was lying on the kitchen counter, and smeared Freddie's nose with it.

"Ugh, Sam!" He hollered as he went to the bathroom to wipe his face off.

Sam smiled as she followed his mom out the apartment door and walked to the Shay's front door. "Hurry up, Fredro!" She yelled back at him still grinning.

XxXxXxXxXx

"I'll get the door," Carly hollered to her brother and his new girlfriend Amanda, as she was heading downstairs to respond to the doorbell ringing, "It's probably the Benson's and Sam."

"Thank you!" Spencer hollered back, as he and Amanda were dashing around the kitchen trying to get dinner prepared.

Carly opened the door, "Hey," she smiled as Sam zoomed by with the food, "Merry Christmas…" she said faintly as her friend was already in the kitchen. She looked back at Mrs. Benson, "Here, let me help you with some of those gifts," she said as she grabbed a few gifts out of the arms of Mrs. Benson.

"Thank you, dear," Mrs. Benson replied as she followed Carly to the tree to put down the gifts.

After setting down the casserole dish and pie, Sam went over to the tree to join her friend. "Merry Christmas to you too, cupcake," she smiled as she reached over to give her best friend a hug.

"Thank you," Carly smiled as she hugged Sam back. Mrs. Benson smiled at the two girls; then she walked into the kitchen to see if Spencer and Amanda needed help getting dinner ready.

Carly was comforted by a hug right now. December had not been a very good month for her. They had to cancel two iCarly episodes that month. One was due to her coming down with strep throat a few weeks ago which caused her to miss three days from school. She was in no shape to do the show. The other cancellation was this past Friday, which was the last day of school before the holiday. That Friday was just a horrible day altogether for her. First, her alarm hadn't gone off, and she was late to school. Second, she and Danny finally ended their relationship. It had really gone sour most of the month anyway. Finally, that evening, she went with Spencer and Amanda to do some Christmas shopping at the mall. When they had finished, they came outside to see traffic gridlocked due to a four car pileup at the entrance to the mall. It took so long for Spencer to get them home, that by the time they reached Bushwell Plaza, it was nearly bedtime. Sam and Freddie had covered for her by trying to do a show which updated Carly's whereabouts on the road, but in the end they signed off early when they realized it would be late when Carly would come home.

Carly released her hug from Sam and started to look around, "Where's Freddie?" She frowned.

Sam suddenly started looking around as well, "He still doesn't have that whipped cream cleaned of him yet?" She grumbled, "I guess I better go get him."

"Whipped cream?" Carly giggled.

"I'll tell you later," Sam smirked.

"I don't think you have to explain," Carly continued to laugh as she shook her head at her friend.

Sam smiled as she began to run back across the hall to retrieve her boyfriend.

Sam walked across the hallway back to the Benson's apartment. The door was still sitting wide open from when she and Mrs. Benson left earlier carrying the food and gifts. She walked into the front room of the apartment, "Yo, Freddo," she called as she began to walk towards the bathroom, which where she had seen Freddie take off to earlier to clean up his face.

There was no answer from there, so she looked for him in his room. After not finding him in there, she walked towards the kitchen. "Freddie," she said slightly annoyed, "where are you hiding…?"

"Bah!" Freddie yelled from behind the kitchen door, as he leaped out from behind it.

Sam squealed, "Darn you Freddie!" She yelled tensely, although she began to smirk a bit. "What are you…whoa," she began to ask before Freddie swept her off her feet with his arms.

Freddie had Sam in his arms like he was about to carry her under the threshold. He smiled at her, while she blushed at him and giggled. They walked back out of his apartment, and Sam shut the door on the way through. She reached down and opened the door to the Shay's.

"Ho, ho, ho," Freddie sang as he came into the apartment, "look what I found." Sam was still blushing in his arms. She wasn't used to this kind of attention. Mrs. Benson rolled her eyes at Freddie, Carly just smiled, and Spencer and Amanda just laughed.

"Put her down Fredward," Mrs. Benson said sternly, "you'll mess up your back."

Freddie rolled his eyes, and answered, "Yes, mother." He took Sam over to the couch, and set her down on the cushions. Freddie sat down on the couch next to her.

Carly walked over to the couch and sat down next to Sam, "It's great to see you guys are in the Christmas spirit," she mused.

"Yeah," Sam smiled, "this has definitely been one of the best holidays of my life." She stretched back on the couch and relaxed. Freddie put his arm around her shoulder.

"Me too," Freddie grinned, "I'm sorry that this isn't one of your better holidays though, Carly," he frowned.

"Guys," she grinned, "I'm here with my two best friends and my brother and his new girlfriend, I couldn't ask for anything better."

Except, Carly thought, a boyfriend too. Carly, indeed, was feeling a little alone this holiday season. Mrs. Benson was the only one besides her that didn't have someone to share the holiday with. Carly was happy for her friends, and she was very happy for Spencer. Spencer had met Amanda while he was at a gallery function to display his ornament sculpture. They took to each other very well, and now have been seeing each other nonstop for the last two weeks. Carly hasn't seen Spencer this happy with a girlfriend for as long as she can remember.

"How are things going for Spencer and Amanda, anyway?" Sam inquired.

"Very well," Carly nodded as she turned to look at them in the kitchen busy getting the final preparations for the meal, "Amanda has been very cool with Spencer and I's living situation, and I've grown to like her very much. She makes Spencer very happy." She turned back around to face her friends.

"We want you to be happy too," Freddie stated, "has Danny even tried to call you?"

Carly shook her head, "He wanted to spend another holiday in San Francisco with his sister. It's just as well anyway," she frowned, "I knew the end for us was coming soon anyway."

"Why?" Freddie asked with concern.

"Ever since he got back from his last trip from San Francisco at Thanksgiving, he hasn't been the same guy. Attacking you Sam, the way he did, on the first day back to school, was a sign that something either happened on that holiday break, or he wasn't the guy I thought he was." Carly said grimly.

"I choose to think that it was the latter," Sam admitted, annoyed, "you know that I never cared for him from the beginning."

As Carly shook her head in agreement, the adults walked into the living room and announced that dinner was ready. The six of them all gathered at the kitchen table to say grace; then they dug in to the food. Spencer, Amanda, and Mrs. Benson sat at the kitchen table to eat their dinner, while the three teenagers ate on the couch in the living room.

As they were eating, the house phone rang, and Spencer went to pick it up. It was Carly and Spencer's granddad calling from Yakima. Spencer was on the phone for a little while; then gave Carly the phone for a few moments. She returned the phone to Spencer, and sat back down to finish her dinner.

"How's your granddad doing in Yakima?" Sam asked as she was completing her meal.

"Great," Carly answered as she grabbed her plate to continue eating, "he said they've almost got a foot of snow in town, but he's doing just fine." She took a bite of the green bean casserole; then turned back to Sam, "I couldn't help notice that you jumped when the phone rang," Carly said, grinning.

"Yeah," Sam replied, as she finished her last bite of her meal, "I was afraid that my mom was calling to ruin another holiday for me." Sam set her plate down on the coffee table, and sat back and stretched out on the couch.

"I thought you told me that your mom was going to spend the whole day with her new boyfriend today, and spend time with you tomorrow?" Freddie asked hastily.

"You know my mom," Sam answered sarcastically, "if there's any way she can ruin me having a good time; she'll find a way to do it."

Sam got up from the couch and took her empty plate in the kitchen. She grabbed some dessert, and walked back into the living room, "I think I'm going to eat this in the studio," she declared, "anyone going to join me?"

"Well, of course, sweet thang," Freddie said humorously, as he took his plate into the kitchen as well.

"Such a dork," Sam said shaking her head, "Carls?"

"I'll be up after awhile," Carly answered as she was trying to hurry and finish her meal, "I told Spencer I'd help him with the dishes." She looked at her friend, "I suppose you wouldn't want to help, would you?"

Sam gave Carly a face that Carly understood very well when it came do asking Sam to work. "Not really," she said kindly.

Carly shook her head, "That's okay," she sighed, "I'll meet you and Freddie upstairs later." She watched as Freddie came back into the living room with a plate of pie. He and Sam went up the stairs to the studio.

Sam is so lucky; Carly thought to herself, what on earth was I thinking all this time, when I kept telling Freddie that all I wanted to be was friends. I guess I was just tired of him being so pushy about wanting to be with me. Now look at him, he's with my best friend and they are in love with one another. That could've been me if I wouldn't have rejected him. Freddie is such a sweet guy, and has a very good heart. I would've been lucky to have had him as a boyfriend. I'm glad Sam is happy, but…

Carly's thoughts were interrupted by her brother calling out to her from the kitchen.

"I'll be right there to help," Carly sighed as she got up from the couch. She took her dish into the kitchen and placed it in the sink.

"You ready to clean up?" Spencer asked as he got the dish detergent bottle out of the cupboard.

"Sure," she smiled; as she let her thoughts continue. She had just grabbed a dish towel so she could help Spencer dry the dishes when she saw Freddie reenter the kitchen. Carly smiled at him.

"I just came back down for a few sodas," he said as he opened the door to the fridge.

Carly stared at Freddie. She wanted to tell him what was on her mind. "Hey Freddie," she said softly, "can I talk to you for a minute?"

Freddie looked at Carly as he grabbed two soda cans out of the fridge, "Yeah, sure," he replied politely.

Carly set her dish towel down and had Freddie follow her into the living room. "I'll be back in a second Spence," she called to her brother.

"Go ahead and talk to your friend," Amanda called to her, "I'll dry the dishes for you."

"Thanks Amanda," Carly smiled to his brother's girlfriend. She and Freddie had a seat on the couch.

"So, what's going on?" Freddie asked as he set the soda cans down on the coffee table.

Carly paused for a moment collecting her thoughts. "I just want to apologize to you again for the way I hurt you this past fall," she said rather sadly.

Freddie stared at her, "Hey," he responded, "I told you that everything is cool."

Carly nodded, "I just feel like I owe you this, because I told you that I wanted to look for somebody that was different from me. Danny wasn't all that different from you, at least not in the beginning."

Freddie shrugged, "I think he was a little more different than that."

"Freddie," she continued, "I've watched the way that you and Sam act around each other. I'm especially watching you. I'm amazed at how truly nice and sweet you are to my best friend."

Freddie felt like Carly was holding something back, "I love Sam very much." He said gently. "I feel there's something else on your mind though."

Carly shook her head, "I just really feel lonely right now. I'm trying to be happy for everyone, but…"

Freddie grinned, "I am so sorry you have to spend the holidays feeling lonely. But you know that Sam and I will do everything in our power to help you be happy again." He reached over to give his friend a hug.

Carly hugged him back. She felt better knowing that her friends would never stop trying to help her find happiness again.

"Hey, what am I missing here?" Sam asked as she stood behind the couch. She had wondered what was taking her boyfriend so long in getting her a soda. She came down the stairs and stopped behind the couch just seconds before Freddie hugged Carly.

Carly turned a little pale. "I was just telling Freddie about how much I enjoy watching you guys together, and basically how much I miss enjoying that feeling with a special guy in my life." She explained.

Freddie nodded, "I told her that we would do everything we could to help her find a special guy."

Sam nodded and turned to Carly, "I know you're feeling lonely, cupcake," she said softly, "but Freddie's right, we will help you find somebody that makes you just as happy as what my dork makes me."

Freddie wrinkled his nose at his girlfriend, and Carly smiled. "Thanks you guys," she said somewhat happily, "I am so lucky…" she paused as she heard her cell phone beep indicating that she just received a text message. She opened her phone and read the message.

"Who did you get a message from?" Sam asked as she walked around to the front of the couch and sat down next to her boyfriend.

"Danny," she replied, "he wants me to give him a call so we can talk."

"Are you going to?" Sam asked her.

"I don't know," Carly replied with some uncertainty, "Should I?"

"Absolutely," Freddie responded as he got up from the couch. This caused Sam to get back up as well. "You guys dated for three months before you broke it off. It seems to me that if he's trying to communicate with you on Christmas, that he must be feeling just as lonely as you are."

Carly nodded, "Yeah, that makes sense."

"You'll never know unless you call," Sam grinned, "Remember how close you guys were at one time? I believe you might be getting a Christmas miracle here."

Carly smiled at her friends, "Wow, I can't believe I'm having you two of all people trying to encourage me to call Danny."

"Well," Freddie grinned, "we want you to be happy. It doesn't matter how we feel about him, as long as we know that you are happy."

"Thanks you two," Carly grinned, "I guess I'm going to call him then."

"Good luck," Sam replied as she grabbed Freddie's hand and they walked back towards the stairs.

Freddie grabbed the two soda cans just before grabbing Sam's hand. "We're going back up to the studio," he called as he and Sam began to ascend up the stairs.

"I'll be up after awhile," Carly called back to them as she began dialing Danny's number on her phone, "hopefully with good news!"

XxXxXxXxXx

Sam and Freddie took a seat together in a bean bag chair in the iCarly studio. They ate their dessert and were sipping on the sodas as they were relaxing in the chair.

Freddie was softly stroking Sam's hair, as she was lying on his lap looking up at him, "Well Sam," he said, "did you think at the beginning of the school year that there would be any possibility that you and I would be sitting like this by Christmas?"

Sam gave him a weird look, "What kind of dorky question is that?" She asked slightly annoyed, "You ought to know that I wouldn't have thought that considering at the time you were in love with Carly." If she wasn't so relaxed, she would have gotten up from his lap.

Freddie frowned at her, "Yeah," he replied, "I guess that question didn't come out right. And I told you before, that I just crushed for Carly; I wasn't in love with her."

"Alright, fine," she sighed, as she rolled her eyes at him, "but no, I never would have guessed that you and I would have ended up together at the beginning of the school year." She looked away from him, and closed her eyes.

"Honestly," Freddie spoke, "I wouldn't have guessed it either." Freddie let go of her hair when he saw that Sam had closed her eyes. He began to massage her forehead and around her temples with his fingers.

Sam started taking deep quiet breaths as Freddie was massaging her. She loved it when he did this. It relaxed her so much that she often was put to sleep. Today was not going to be one of those days though. "Freddie?" She asked softly.

"Yeah," he replied.

"If Carly wouldn't have rejected you like she did this fall, would you still have wanted to be with her?" Sam asked faintly.

Freddie stopped massaging, and began to caress her cheeks and her chin, "I guess the reason that I never gave up hope to begin with, was the fact that she was always so nice in letting me down. I guess I always thought that she'd come around sometime and we'd date. It was when she told me that there would be no chance, and told me not to have hope, that I finally gave up on her."

Sam opened her eyes and stared at him. She reached up and touched his cheek. He bent over to kiss her hand. She laid her hand back down. "Freddie," she continued, "I know you gave me a promise ring and everything, and you and I have had an amazing month, but I have to know…"

Sam got up from Freddie's lap and sat up on the chair. She turned her body so she was facing his, "…if Carly were to ask you right now that she was wrong about you, and asked you if you were interested in her…"

"Sam, stop," Freddie said as he placed his hand over her mouth, "Carly Shay had her chance. She will only be a friend to me now. There is only one girl in this world that I live for, and it's the girl I'm gazing at right now." He moved his hand from her mouth, and watched as she blushed. The question had made Freddie turn a little pale though. He was thinking about the conversation he just had with Carly earlier, and it almost seemed as though Carly was sort of hinting about being wrong about him.

Sam nodded, "I'm just scared that something might happen to split us up, and…"

"Nothing or no one is going to break us up," Freddie said firmly, "you and I have too deep of a love for anyone to break. You and I both waited a long time for each of us to tell the other the truth about our feelings for one another. I don't want to be with anyone else, not now, not ever."

Sam reached across the bean bag chair and kissed Freddie passionately on the lips. He returned the kiss in the same way, feeling a great pounding in his heart as though it was their first kiss. Finally they released, and they sat back gazing at one another. They grabbed each other's hands and held them between their laps.

"Freddie," Sam said somewhat teary-eyed, "I always thought that I was going to be someone who would never express her feelings to anyone, and that I would lash out to people all of life. But you are the one person that made me want to try to change. When I continuously attacked you over the years, you gave me the attention that I craved. You showed nothing but compassion for me. When I needed you, you showed me your heart, and also what true love is. I know there were times you didn't want to do anything for me, but if you would have ignored me like everyone else, I probably would have wound up in jail or something."

Freddie grinned, "I don't know if you would have wound up in jail."

"Sure I would have," Sam continued, wrinkling her face as she said this, "I pretty much made after school detention a part of my daily life. I was on a path of self destruction. I didn't care about anything, whether it was school, home, other people; it didn't make a difference to me. You had the patience to tolerate me Freddie, like no other person would. You gave me a chance to try to better myself, and you helped me succeed."

Now it was Freddie's turn to blush. He couldn't believe that Sam was opening her heart out to him like this. He finally understood how she felt about him as a whole.

"Wow," he stuttered, "I don't know what to say. I had no idea that you thought that highly of me."

"Of course I do," Sam replied as she let go of his hands momentarily, "that's why I get a little insecure about our relationship from time to time. I'm just scared something might happen to ruin this good thing in my life." Her eyes were getting a little red and puffy as she was saying this.

"Oh Sam," Freddie said softly, as he reached across to hold his girl. She slumped down into his chest, and laid against him, "You are the most important thing in my life, and I want you to know something else that I don't want you to ever forget when it comes to you and Carly."

"What's that?" Sam asked as she lifted herself from his chest to face him again.

"When it comes to choices in my life, I found out that Carly never gave me a choice to be with her, and what I thought was love was all wrong. It wasn't until I looked at you as the person I was beginning to really know and care about that I understood what true beauty and love was. You actually wanted to have me in your life. Plus, there was the fact that you felt love for me in return. It was then that I realized that you were the ONLY choice for me." Freddie stated proudly.

Sam kissed his cheek, and smirked, "And I would have it no other way, Freddie."

Freddie smiled back as he held his girl in his arms and enjoyed a calmness that settled over the iCarly studio. He lied back in the beanbag chair as Sam curled up next to him laying her head on his chest. She caught herself looking at the promise ring on her finger and saw the two birthstones sparkling in the light. She smiled, for she knew that everything in her life was going to end up just fine.

Author's Note: Well there you have it. I did make a lot of changes to this chapter in the end and wound up adding over 800 words to the chapter. I know that this was a lengthy chapter, but I didn't know where to divide it, so I kept it all together. I hope everybody liked the story. I am curious about whether or not I should have written these last 8 chapters though. Let me know what you thought please. I want to thank all who reviewed this story, you guys rock! – kwags74