Thirteen year old Freddie Benson Jr. sat on his bed and stared at the photo in his hand of his mother, his father, and a blonde woman his mom called Sam. Running is index finger over the left edge of the frame, where his father stood with his arms folded under his chest and his eyes locked on his mother who was standing next to Sam "What happened to you guys?" he whispered softly, "You look so happy here."
His thoughts were interrupted by a knock on the door and his best friend walked in "What're you looking at?" he asked.
"Nothing Kurt" he said and quickly hid the picture. Kurt and Freddie had grown up together and had quickly become best friends "How's your Dad?" he asked.
With a shrug Kurt plopped down on the bed "He's fine.. I mean, him and Mom have been arguing lately but I think that's just because Dad is.. Dad"
Nodding he laughed "But your Dad is awesome dude, I mean.. Uncle Gibby is like.. The funniest guy I know, besides maybe Uncle Spencer"
"Anyway, how's Aunt Carly?" he asked as he grabbed a small Galaxy Wars figure off of the night stand.
"She's fine, work has been crazy for her lately.. Or so she tells me, but we're doing good" he said. His mother worked at the local news station where she'd just been promoted. "I think she gets home in an hour, do you want to stay for dinner?" he asked, a grin finally appearing on his face.
"That sounds great! Think she'll make those tacos like Spencer does?" he asked.
"Oh Spaghetti Tacos? That's a great idea dude!" he said excitedly"Did you see the new Galaxy Wars game? It looks amazing"
With a nod Kurt grinned "Got it last night dude"
Walking over to his computer Freddie brought up the internet and typed in the name of the new Galaxy wars game "Jeez it's expensive, I just got a new pearphone though.. So I can't afford it"
"Wait, what happened to your old one?" Kurt asked and shook his head "Your cousin asked to play with it didn't she?" he asked.
With a sigh Freddie nodded "Yeah and she has her fathers ability to set things on fire.. I swear she touched it and it burst into flames!"
Shrugging Kurt grinned "Your cousin is hot though dude, no pun intended"
"Ugh, that's nasty man.. She's my cousin!" he replied with a shudder.
"Not my cousin man, besides man.. We're almost 14, we're growing up dude, we need girls"
Spinning around in his chair Freddie looked at Kurt like he was insane"Yeah.. That's next on my list, right after graduating and getting a great job, I'm not worried about girls. I mean sure it'd be nice to have a girlfriend but face it, I'm a nerd, a geek, whatever. I'm not going to get a girl in middle school or high school" Turning around to face his computer again he began typing "There's a new pearpad coming out dude, I gotta save up!" he said, his face lighting up as he read about the newest release from the pear company.
Finally after two hours of video games, making fun of their teachers, and watching an old episode of Galaxy Wars they were summoned to the kitchen by Carly who had just gotten home. "Oh Kurt, are you staying for dinner?" she asked.
"I planned to, if that's okay with you" he said politely.
"So Mom Spaghetti Tacos?" Freddie asked eagerly.
"Alright alright, go upstairs until I call you" she said and got out the noodles and a pan. When the boys ran upstairs she pulled out her phone and sent a text to Spencer inviting him over for dinner. She got a reply within seconds that he and Miranda would be over but Sasha couldn't make it.
Twenty minutes later Carly's voice rang through the house announcing dinner was ready. The boys ran downstairs and froze as the front door opened and Spencer and Miranda walked in.
"Uncle Spencer!" Freddie shouted and ran over to give him a hug.
"Hey buddy" Spencer said happily and hugged his nephew "How's middle school?" he asked.
"Schools good, I mean.. I can't wait to get out of there but it's going good" he replied happily.
"Okay okay, let's eat before it gets cold" Carly said as she served the tacos.
"You know" Spencer said as he picked up one of his tacos, "This was my invention.. I should patent this"
Carly rolled her eyes at her older brother "You've been saying that for years, You're getting to old to patent anything" she teased.
"Hey! I'm not that old!" he insisted and took a bite "Besides, I'm still a genius."
"Swallow your food before you speak" Carly said, an amused smile on her face.
After dinner, and some subtle flirting from Kurt to Miranda Spencer left with Miranda, and Kurt announced his dad had texted him, asking him to come home.
Carly looked across the table at Freddie and smiled "Mother son movie night?" she asked. Nodding eagerly he went over and grabbed Galaxy Wars.
"Pleaseeeee?" he asked as he held the movie up.
"Just like his father" she muttered and nodded "Alright alright, Galaxy Wars" she said with a dramatic sigh "I'll suffer through the nerdiness if it makes my son happy."
After the movie he went upstairs and headed to bed, wishing the weekend wasn't over and that tomorrow wasn't school again.
The alarm went off at 6, like it did every morning, and he awoke to an empty house. Carly had to work the morning news so she had to be at work extremely early, meaning Freddie had to fix his own breakfast most mornings but he didn't mind.
Walking to school, like he did most days, he was joined by Kurt who simply grinned "I think your cousin likes me" he said.
Rolling his eyes Freddie looked at him "Dude, not cool" he said, "She's my cousin."
"So? She's not my cousin" Kurt replied dryly.
Freddie shook his head and they continued to walk to school.
At King5 news station Carly sat at her news desk and shuffled through her papers and mentally memorized important parts. Finally when she was satisfied she was prepared for the 12 o'clock news she headed out to lunch.
Even after all these years Carly still couldn't believe that after all these years she was a news anchor, it seemed like just yesterday her, Sam, and.. Freddie had done iCarly. Blinking she shook her head of these thoughts, she didn't like to think about her old web show because every memory was somehow connected with Freddie Sr.
After lunch she reported to her desk to do the noon and found a new co anchor sitting beside her, a familiar blonde she hadn't seen in years "Sam...?" she asked, her voice cracking a bit.
"Hey cupcake" Sam said and smiled "We'll talk after the show.. Okay?"
Nodding she turned back to focus on the camera and report the news, though her eyes would occasionally wander over to her old friend. After the broadcast Carly to the back and grabbed a bottle of water and took a sip before turning around to look at Sam who had followed her.
"Let me explain" Sam said quickly as she picked up her own bottle of water and took a large gulp.
"When did you turn into a fish?" Carly asked dryly.
Sam put the bottle down and crossed her arms under her chest "Alright I know I kind of.. Vanishe-"
"Kind of?" Carly interrupted. "You left without a word, I needed you and you were gone!"
Sam nodded "I just.. I couldn't handle being a third wheel" she said, "You and.."
"Stop" Carly interrupted and put her hand up "Listen, I don't have time for this.. I need to prepare for the show at noon, Can we go somewhere after and talk?" she asked.
Sam sighed "Fine" she said, "Is Galini's still open?" she asked curiously.
Shaking her head she sighed "No, they closed down.. But there's a Starbucks down the street where we can talk alone"
"Alright, after this?" Sam asked hopefully.
With a nod Carly put the bottle down and glanced at Sam before heading in front of the cameras.
After her news broadcast Carly headed outside the news station to think for a moment while Sam talked to their boss. She leaned against the building and closed her eyes, memories that she'd thought long buried began to resurface. Blinking back tears that had formed in her eyes as the door opened and out came the familiar blonde.
"Ready to go Cupcake?" Sam asked but stopped at Carly's glare.
"You don't get to come back after all these years and pretend like nothing's changed Sam, you left us.. You left me" Carly said.
Sam looked at her and sighed "I know I did, and I'm sorr-" She began but was cut off.
"No you don't get to apologize that easily" Carly snapped "You don't get to come back after all these years and pretend like I'm just going to forgive you.. We're not kids anymore Sam, you made a choice and now you have to live with the consequences! It's not like when we were kids and I just let everything you did slide!"
"You done?" Sam asked, her voice oddly calm, "I get it, I'm the bad guy and you're the good guy, it was always like this as kids.. Fr-"
"No" Carly said quickly "Don't you bring him up, Did you ever stop to think that maybe you were the bad guy because of all the stuff you put him through?"
"Well obviously I wasn't that bad" Sam snapped "He still ended up dating me and told me he love-"
She was cut off by a slap from Carly who looked ready to kill "He was settling for you and we know it" she said, "Luckily for me he realized that you aren't me and you never will be.. I'm just glad I came to my senses"
Narrowing her eyes Sam sighed "This was a bad idea Carly, I've been gone to long.. We're not the same as we used to be"
Carly's eyes softened and she sighed "Listen, I know there's a lot between us right now.. But we'll get through it I hope.. I have missed you Sam"
Sam nodded "I hope so Cupcake.. But for now I need to get home, I don't have to show up for the evening news tonight."
"Yeah me either" Carly said, "Thankfully, I'll get to spend time with my son." She said and smirked, "Explain later" she said at the confused look on Sam's face. "Bye Sam" she said.
When Carly got home she took a look at her house, she'd been so busy working she hadn't had a chance to clean up much. Looking at her watch she sighed and shook her head, it was one o'clock meaning she had two hours until Freddie got home from school.
At 3:10 exactly the door opened and in walked Freddie, "Hey Mom" he said tossing his backpack down by the door, "Did you get off early?" he asked eagerly.
Nodding she smiled "Yep, so what do you wanna do?" she asked, "Take out and a movie?" she asked.
"That sounds good!" he said grinning, "It's awesome you got off early, I mean you just don't get enough days off" he said.
Carly nodded "I know, And I wish I could change it but my new promotion is keeping me extremely busy"
"I know" Freddie said, "And it's cool Mom, I promise" he said, "I enjoy Kurt's house" he promised her.
"Alright so what do you want to rent tonight from On Demand?" she asked.
"Oh! Chronicle is on here" he said as he plopped down on the couch and turned on the TV to scroll through the list of movies "And other movies I've never heard of" he said.
"Alright alright, how about a comedy?" she asked rolling her eyes, "I can only take so much science fiction and Galaxy Wars last night was my limit"
"Aww Mom.. Alright here's something.. It's supposed to be funny, and it's rated PG-13" he said, scanning the list.
Carly looked up and couldn't help but smile at how much he looked like his father "Alright we'll watch it, you want the usual?" she asked.
Nodding eagerly he couldn't help but lick his lips "I can taste it already" he said grinning.
"Down boy" she teased playfully as she called in the order "Okay order the movie so we can start it before the food gets here."
Nodding he hit okay on the remote and Carly walked over to sit on the couch beside him, twenty minutes later the doorbell rang and Carly reluctantly got up to get the food. Freddie hit pause and watched as his mom pulled out her purse to grab some money.
After she got the food she sat back down and handed him his food "Smells amazing" he said grinning and grabbing a pair of the chop sticks.
"You eat with Chopsticks?" she asked, sounding almost amused.
He shrugged "No better time to learn" he replied as he dug in.
Twenty minutes later, and a lot of giggles from Carly, and Freddie had managed to wear most of his food "Get a fork" she said shaking her head as she finished her food "They gave us plastic ones" she told him, pointing at her own plastic fork.
"Yes Mother" he said dryly and grinned as he grabbed the other plastic fork.
After the movie, which both Mother and Son agreed wasn't that funny, Carly looked at her watch "Well, we got plenty of time.. What next?" she asked.
"Want to play a game or two?" he asked, an evil looking smirk on his face.
Groaning she sat back " I always lose at those!" she complained.
"Exactly" he said grinning excitedly "It's fun constantly winning against you."
Rolling her eyes she nodded "Alright but do up the dishes before we play any games, I cleaned the rest of the house but I didn't feel up to doing the dishes"
"Aww.. Do I have to?" he asked, "I hate dishes"
"Yeah so so I" she replied dryly, "But I cleaned everything else, all you have to do is dishes"
"Fine" he said picking up the dishes from their takeout and tossing them in the trash "I vote we get a dishwasher or paper plates" he called from the kitchen.
"We have a dishwasher, you" she called back and closed her eyes, the days events replaying through her mind like a movie.
What seemed like only moments turned out to be minutes as she was jolted out of her own home movie by Freddie waving his hand in her face "You okay?" he asked concerned "You spaced out there."
"I'm alright Freddie" she promised, "Just a tiring day at work... Let's play a game then you need to do your homework" she said.
He nodded and headed upstairs, soon to be followed by Carly.
After four straight matches of Carly losing and Freddie winning she put down the controller "Homework time" she told him.
"Alright" he said, a satisfied smirk on his face as he headed downstairs to get his homework. As Freddie did his homework Carly headed downstairs and tried to decide if she should call Spencer, she could use some advice now that Sam was back, but decided it was probably to late and she should let it go.
Two hours later she headed up to check on him and found him asleep at his desk. "Wake up" she whispered and shook him gently.
"huh.. What?" he asked tiredly and rubbed his eyes.
"Go to bed" she ordered, "You're exhausted" she said.
"A'ight" he mumbled and walked over to his bed and collapsed "Night Mom" he muttered before going back to sleep.
Carly smiled and walked down the hall to her room and sat on her bed. Picking up the picture of her and Freddie on their first date she laid down and looked at it, the familiar ache in her heart returning as she studied the picture "I don't know what to do anymore Freddie" she whispered to the picture, "I thought I had finally moved on from all this.. Put the hurt behind me.. But Sam comes back and mentions you and I'm ready to fall apart again."
Putting the picture back down on the night stand she took a deep breath, closed her eyes, and let sleep wash over her.
Note: This is my first story with OC's being so important to the plot, so I hope you like it. I don't own iCarly and such. I promise I'm working on a new chapter of Trust for those who are waiting for me to update it but I just haven't had inspiration hit me to work on that story. I hope you enjoy this chapter and leave me plenty of reviews!