Sam stood in the hallway between two doors. Although her back was to the Shay's front entrance, she could feel Carly watching her through the eyehole, making sure she went through with this. Grinding her teeth, Sam let out a sigh as she knocked on Freddie's door – probably the first time in her life. When no one answered, she turned to the door Carly stood behind and shrugged in shoulders. Carly's muffled voice could be heard, telling her to try again.

"Shit," Sam muttered through her teeth as she turned back slowly. This time, she only tapped on the door once before it opened hesitantly. A falling sensation hit Sam in the stomach as Freddie greeted her coldly. He did not open the door anymore than the width of his own shoulders. Sam slapped fake grin on her face, eyebrows arched as she said, "I didn't break in this time. See, I knocked. I… I'm learning."

Briefly, Freddie's face softened as if a humorous note had hit him, but only briefly. He soon stepped to the side though, swinging the door open as he disappeared into his apartment. Sam swallowed. She almost glanced back knowing Carly would be watching her, but stopped herself. Taking a step inside, Sam closed the door. Now separated by two doors, Carly was no longer there, could no longer see anything.

Same was alone – with Freddie.

"So," Sam stood awkwardly in the doorway to Freddie's room, "how's it going?"

Surprisingly, Sam felt very much at ease as she watched Freddie. What made her uncomfortable was the fact that she didn't know if Freddie felt the same. Did he enjoy her presence or did he just want her to leave? He stared at the ground, deep in thought and killed Sam to not know what he was thinking. She wanted to tear open his mind to see if he was thinking about her or maybe the chick from last night.

Freddie looked up. "Are you only here because Carly sent you?" he asked accusingly.

A sharp, short breath of air escaped Sam's mouth as she scowled. "And what's that supposed to mean?"

"What it means is that you can leave if you don't want to be here."

"Do you not want me here?"

"That's not what I said –"

"Because I actually am here for a reason," Sam burst, cutting him off as irritation grew rapidly inside of her. "I'm here because I have something to ask you. And don't try to lie because I pretty much already know the truth; I just want to hear it from you. Did you hook up with some random last night?!"

Freddie rolled his head up to the ceiling, letting out a groan. That was not what he had been expecting, but as he walked towards the window, he couldn't help but ask himself if expecting anything better would have been realistic coming from Sam. "I need some air," he told her dryly.

Sam's mouth dropped. "Hey, I'm talking to you!" she snapped, "Look at you; you're avoiding the freakin' question. What's that all about? Freddie!" She stormed across his room, but stopped the second she reached the windowsill. Reminiscences of every other time she had climbed through the window filled her, but it suddenly didn't feel right this time. She stood there, glowering at Freddie as she waited for a response.

"No, I didn't hook up with her," Freddie finally answered, his response not what Sam had been expecting. "She kissed me, kind of, but I pushed her off."

Folding her arms across her chest, Sam squinted as she thought about the night before. Part of her didn't believe Freddie. She had been so sure she had seen them make out, hadn't she? "Well why didn't you?" Sam demanded, "Why'd you push her off?"

"Isn't it obvious?"

Freddie had his head tilted down, unable to meet Sam's eye. Nonetheless, a twitch of a smile played with his lips. At the sight of it, and at hearing his response, Sam suddenly felt like she was going to faint. Her mouth turned up in a lost, dreamy sort of smile, and she could have sworn her feet had floated off the ground. But then, just as she was about to climb through the window out on the fire escape, she had to come spiraling down with Freddie's next sentence.

"Not that you care," he uttered flatly, eyes deadpan as they met hers. "I know you don't give a damn Sam. This is all some game to you, isn't it? At Dawn's you told me you didn't care if people saw us - right before you tired to hide me like I was some sort of embarrassment."

"Come on Freddie –"

"And why the hell would you care if one girl kissed me? You just spent the whole day flirting with Anders as if I wasn't even there. I know you've always picked on me Sam, but that, ugh, I don't even know."

Sam's mouth hung open, actually unable to come up with the answer. She felt like a bird with a broken wing who naively decided to fly through a storm – completely helpless. Never having experienced the sensation of defenselessness before, Sam mumbled, "I didn't… I mean it was… that, t-that wasn't even r-real…"

"Real, right," Freddie shook his head in disbelief. The sun hit the side of his face, lighting up his eyes and making the frustration in them nothing but more obvious. "And what's real to you Sam? Are we –" He suddenly stopped himself, clenching his jaw before he finally decided to just ask, "Do you like me?"

Crash! Sam hit rock bottom. All that she had been hoping to avoid had smashed down onto her like a pile of rocks. She didn't want to breathe, didn't want to move unless it was to run out of the room. There was no way, absolutely no way; she was never going to be able to say it.

"Just give me an answer Sam," Freddie begged. "I mean, won't you just let me know already? After all of this - I just need an answer."

Sam couldn't tell if she was shaking her head or not. Her shoulders were hunched with tension. She felt her insides squirming with fear. Freddie was asking her, she had an answer, but she was never going to say it. There was no way in all of hell that she would be able to say it. And what if she did say it? What would happen then? Do you like me? What kind of question was that anyways? What kind of heartless, mindless human would form four words into a sentence as futile as –

"Yes."

They both froze. Freddie frowned as if he had misheard her. "What?"

Sam wanted to ask herself that, but instead she arched one eyebrow. "Shut up, you know what I said." After a moment's pause, she added slowly, "And do you like me?"

"Yes." Freddie responded without hesitation, sounding as if he had finally released something that had been kept up inside of him for some time now.

And the two of them stood there, unsmiling but not angry either. They both felt numb, as if expecting to wake up from some dream. Neither of them met each other's eyes, unsure of what would happen if they did. When the silence grew too unbearable, Sam nodded twice before she said, "Well… have a good day."

She waited a moment before she turned slowly and took her time leaving Freddie's room, then took even longer to leave his apartment. Sam was unsure why she did this, because it wouldn't have been like Freddie to run after her or anything. She would have been surprised if he did. As Sam finally closed the door to the apartment, Freddie was still standing on the fire escape, exactly as he had been when she left.

-

A/N – Last chapter coming up! Just so you know though, I'll be away for the weekend, so don't be surprised if nothing is up until Monday.

x0

Vintage88