Wow. Okay, this one was exhausting! It's rather Seddie-less in the beginning but I hope the second half will please you :)
Thanks for all the Reviews, by the way. You're very kind and sometimes just hilarious :D
Love, Milka. :)
It was one of those days. One of those days in the life of Sam Puckett that you'd like to scratch out of your memories - with a spoon if needed to. It was shortly after New Year's eve, she had been home - her real home, not at Carly's - with Melanie, when their mother, Pam Puckett, stumbled in through the front door. The girls winced as they heard their mother yell for them.
"Melanie, Sweetheart! Come down her' an' help ya motha! Sam, you lazy shit, you too!"
Melanie's eyes jumped to Sam's figure and saw the pain in her eyes for a split second, before it vanished.
"You know she loves you." Melanie whispered as she tried to grab Sam's hand, but her sister snatched it away and scoffed.
"Yeah, yeah. Only if she's not drunk. As in never." She said sarcastically and walked out the door of their room.
Melanie sighed and followed with concern.
"Ha!" Pam bellowed from the foot of the stairs.
She didn't look drunk, the girl's noticed. She looked even... well, clean.
"Ha!" She repeated.
"Ha, what, Mom?!" Sam groaned.
"I got you! Both of you!"
"And why's that?" Sam crossed her arms under her chest, putting her weight only on one leg.
"Don't be like that, Sammy." Melanie said from behind her, putting a hand on her arm. She shrugged it off.
"Yeah, don't be like that, Sam." Pam said. "I got you both into thinking I was totally drunk!"
Sam scoffed and Melanie elbowed her, a polite smile on her lips directed towards her mother.
"Yes, Mom, you got us." She smiled.
"Meh, don't be like that, Melanie. I know your fake-smile when I see it." Pam frowned.
"So, is there anything that you wanted from us or where you just tricking us?" Sam said with an exhausted sigh.
"I have an idea." Pam said proudly.
"Oh god."
"Ahh... Mom, are you sure that this is a good idea? I mean, your ideas are not always ... you know... the best." Melanie stuttered a little.
"Yes, girls, I am serious about this." Pam mirrored Sam's position.
"Oh god." Sam repeated herself.
"What do you have in mind?" Melanie asked and Sam was absolutely sure she heard a little fear and worry in her sisters words.
"We..." Pam started and made a long pause. "Are going to do an all girls day!"
The twins were flabbergasted. Melanie from shock because this was so unlike for their mother, Sam from shock what that this would mean shopping, manicure, pedicure and more super-girly stuff for her.
Pam frowned as her daughters didn't move an inch for several long moments.
"I'm really serious, girls! We're going shopping, eating at the best steak house of town - only for you, Sammy - and are going to the movies! How does that sound?" She smiled.
Sam and Melanie were still too shocked to say anyting, but their minds started working again. Eat steak. Steak. Only for her. Sam didn't know what to say or how to react. That was like the nicest thing her mother had ever done for her since their Dad had died. But ... Why was she doing this?
Melanie's eyes slowly filled with happy tears. After so many years of Pam being a... buttersock, she was finally regaining a little of her old self, her motherly self. They hadn't done this in ages since...
Since the day Dad died... She thought sadly.
"Thank you, Mom! I'm so happy!" Melanie went to hug her mother tightly.
Pam smiled and looked over Melanie's shoulder to Sam.
Sam caught her mother's look and stared back for a moment, before a slight smile creeped onto her lips.
"Yeah, thanks Mom, I guess." She said quietly.
The day was good. Really good. Even if Sam had to endure the mani- and pedicure and the endless shopping and gushing from Melanie and her mother on how cute she looked in the various girly dresses they picked out for her. Don't get her wrong, she had started wearing dresses and look like a girl, but not like a girly girl.
The steak was exellent and the movie was an action movie with a tiny love story behind it. It wasn't that bad.
But on the way home it happened. The thing that shattered all the happy memories of that day.
Sam saw it coming a splitsecond before they collided. A truck's blinding lights, the screech of breaks and a loud bang fused with the sharp scrunching sound of iron against iron.
And everything went black for Sam Puckett.
When she slowly regained conciousness her head was pounding. She wished she could go back to sweet nothingness instead of having to endure that terrible headache. She tried, oh yes she tried, but the headache only got worse.
Slowly she opened her eyes and closed them again immediately. Lights. Over her head. Great. Her head registered what that meant. Neither she nor Carly had lights directly over their heads in their rooms. She was somewhere different. Picture frame after picture frame she moved down the day that she had spent with her mother and sister. And then... Her eyes shot open as she remembered the truck that had most likely crashed into their car and her head put all the information into place. They had had a car crash and she was in the hospital.
Sam tried to lift herself up, but found it harder than she'd remembered it. A look to her right told her why: her arm was in a cast.
She bit her lip. Ugh. So much for How I Met You Mother's unbreakable-theory.
Her blue eyes searched the room. Melanie lay in a bed next to hers, a white bandage around her head, her left arm in a cast - this twins-thing was getting a little creepy. But otherwise, she seemed okay.
"Mom..." Sam whispered and searched the room a second time.
The door opened and a nurse walked in. Her eyes widened in surprise as she saw Sam sitting in her bed.
"Oh! Miss Puckett! You're awake!" She whisper-yelled.
"Yeah, hi. Do you know where my mom is?" Sam asked the nurse quietly as she approached and started to check her vitals.
"She's still in surgery. Do you remember what happened, Miss Puckett?"
"It's Sam."
"Sorry. Sam. Do you remember anything?"
"We got hit... by a truck." Sam said.
"By a truck?" Came a little voice from her other side.
Melanie was slowly sitting up in her bed.
"Hey Mel." Sam smiled warmly. She was glad that Melanie was more or less okay.
"Yes, Miss Puckett. You were hit by a truck. Your mother is still in surgery." The nurse summed the events up for Melanie.
She nodded slowly, her head too fuzzy to understand everything at once.
"How do you two feel?"
"Fuzzy." Melanie said.
"I got a headache." Sam answered.
"You two suffered similar injuries. A concussion and a broken arm, some bruises and you were hit by small pieces of glass. It's almost a miracle that you don't have any injuries worse than that. Your car looks terrible." The nurse blabbered away.
"How is our mother?" Sam asked concerned.
"As I said, she's still in surgery."
"Yeah, I got that, but how is she? Will she survive? The truck crashed into her side of the car."
"I'm sorry, Miss Puck- Sam. I don't know that. But I will send a doctor to you as soon as possible, okay?" She smiled apologetic.
"But-" Sam started to protest.
"Thank you very much, that would be nice." Melanie interrupted her and shot her a warning look."
"Sam you have to be polite to people who serve you your food!" Melanie scolded her as the nurse had left.
"Why? I hope we're getting out of here in a few hours! I don't need their hospital food!"
"You don't know that for sure, do you?"
"No..." Sam mumbled.
"See."
The doctor came to see them an hour after that. He was a middle-aged man with brown hair and an unshaven face.
"Hello, girls. I am Doctor Lecter." He introduced himself.
"As in Hannibal Lecter?" Sam frowned at him.
"I'm Melanie and this is my sister Sam." Melanie introduced the two of them.
The doctor laughed.
"Yes, Sam, as in Hannibal Lecter."
"Cool." The older twin grinned.
"Thanks. So, let's see your stats..." He looked into his papers. "Soo... it looks like you're okay and ready to leave, your mother though is still in surgery. She's suffered greater damage than you two. I'm sorry to say this, girls, but we don't know if we can get her through. She's got broken bones, crimped organs and a major concussion. One of her broken ribs pierced her lung, we got the top surgeons of this hospital on her case. We're doing everything we can."
Melanie's hand had shot up and covered her trembling lips, her eyes brimming with tears. Sam sat on her bed, paralyzed. So their mother was probably not coming back. This might shouldn't shock her, because she had been almost dead the past 10 years... But she still loved her and it was a shock to the young iCarly co-host.
"I'm sorry to break those news to you, but you might want to think about what happens when your mother is not surviving the aftermath of this crash." He looked sadly at the girls.
Sam started to nod slightly.
"Okay..." She said after a while. "You said... you said we could go home?"
"Yes. In a few hours we'll have your last test-results and if they look good we'll get your papers ready. Do you have someone who can pick you up, who you can stay with while your mother is still here?"
Sam nodded again. "Yes."
"Good. I'll let you know when you can call them."
"Thanks, Dr. Lecter." Sam said and let her gaze drop into her lap.
The doctor left and Sam breathed in and out for some time, then she looked over at Melanie. She hadn't moved, but the trembling of her lips had gotten worse.
"Mel? Are you alright?"
She didn't respond.
Sam got up and climbed over onto her sisters bed, sitting next to her and putting her arms around her. Another proof of how close they had gotten over the past two years.
"Mel, what is it?"
Melanie seemed to snap back into live. She looked at her sister and bit her lip, hard. Blood showed around her withe tooth.
"What are you doing?!" Sam exclaimed.
"I will not cry. I will not cry until this is over and all hope is lost. We have to believe in our mother. She might not have the best medical record, but she's a Puckett, right?" Melanie managed a small smile that Sam returned.
"You're amazingly weird." Sam said to her.
"I'm your twin." She shrugged.
The two girls grinned weakly at each other.
"Come on, let's call Carly and Spence and tell them to bring us some clothes. I don't want to leave this place with this weird night-gown on." Sam said and Melanie nodded, hopping from her bed and started dialing.
"Oh my gosh!" The door burst open.
"Oh my gosh, oh my gosh, oh my gosh!" It revealed a rather hyperventilating Carly Shay and a breathless Spencer shortly after. Chelsea stepped in after him.
"Sam! Melanie! Are you okay?!" Carly flung herself at the twins.
"Woaaah! Carls! Relax!" Sam said to her best friend.
"Hello guys." Melanie smiled slightly.
"Are you hurt badly? Oh no! You broke your arms!" Carly spluttered.
"Shay!" Sam bellowed.
"YES!" All three visitors responded immediately.
Melanie giggled and Sam couldn't hide a little grin.
"Calm down now!" She continued. "Melanie told you everything when she called about half an hour ago!"
"Yes, but- Oh my gosh, you're hurt!" Carly blabbered on.
Sam rolled her eyes.
"What happened?" Chelsea asked as she sat down on a chair next to them.
"A truck crushed into our car-"
"Oh my gosh!"
"- and mom's still in surgery." Sam explained.
"They said we'd might want to think about what happens if she doesn't - doesn't make it." Melanie said quietly.
There was silence for a moment. Then Chelsea stood up and hugged the twins.
"I'm so sorry." She whispered into their ears.
"Thanks." They mumbled back.
"You can stay with us of course." Spencer said.
"Thanks Spencer." Melanie smiled weakly.
"Did you bring clothes? I really want to get out of here." Sam said.
"Of course! Here you go." Carly handed her a huge back and she and Melanie vanished into the bathroom.
Two hours later they opened the door to the Shay residence.
"I'm so glad to be back here." Sam sighed.
Spencer had just closed the door when it burst open again and three young, very concerned man stormed in.
"Sam!"
"Melanie!"
They yelled as they stormed towards the twins and burried them in an extremely weird three-way-hug, showered with "Oh my gosh, you're save"s and "we were so worried"s.
"Woah woah woah, guys, I know we did three-way-random debates on iCarly, but that doesn't mean we need to do everything like that!" Sam's voice could be heard from the huddle.
"Sorry." They stepped back awkwardly.
"Thanks guys." Melanie smiled. "We appreciate your worry."
"So, what happened?" Freddie asked, his gaze fixed on Sam.
"Carly only texted us that you two were in the hospital." Brad added.
Melanie looked over to Sam who sighed and excused herself with a "I need bacon".
The younger twin sighed as well and started to retell the story.
"What are you going to do now?" Brad asked, casting a worried look towards the bacon-devouring girl.
"We wait." Melanie said sadly.
"You should call Chester down." Sam said, her mouth full.
"Who?" Asked Carly.
"Chester. Her boyfriend." Sam stated.
"Are you sure? I mean, we're staying here and Spencer-"
"It's okay. Since he is your boyfriend and you're almost 18, he is allowed to sleep in your room - if you want to." Spencer nodded smiling.
"Thanks, Spencer!" Melanie hugged him. "I'll call him at once!"
After she had hopped away, everyone turned to Sam.
"What?!" She asked, a piece of bacon hovering half way to her mouth.
"Nothing, nothing..." They all mumbled and headed their different ways.
Gibby headed to the kitchen, Spencer and Chelsea into their bedroom and Carly grabbed Brad and followed Gibby to give Sam and Freddie some privacy. She knew exactely something was up with her two best friends.
"Soo... Are you okay?" Freddie asked as he sat down next to Sam.
"I have a broken arm and can only eat my bacon half as fast. No, I am not okay, Benson." She said calmly.
Freddie eyed the blonde intently. She refused to look back at him and was fixed on her food. She looked... controlled. And tired. Freddie sighed, put his arm on the back of the couch and sat a little closer to Sam.
"Sam, you know, if you want to talk about anything - or not talk and just... I don't know... hang out or something, you know you can always come to me, right? I mean-"
"Yes, Benson, I know what you mean. Thanks, but no thanks. Could you leave now? I'd like to eat my bacon in peace." Sam interrupted him flatly.
Freddie's eyes widened. He was a little shocked, to say the least. She was back into middle-school-Sam-mode. He frowned but listened to her and stood up. The brunette boy was about to leave, when he changed his mind and turned once more.
"Promise me? Promise me if you need anything you come to me?"
She raised her gaze and looked at him, an emotionless mask over his face.
"Fine, Benson." She said and returned her attention to her snack.
Freddie sighed. Poor Sam. She wasn't doing too well... But what was he expecting? Her mother was in danger of losing her life, her sister and her had endured a terrible car crash and they were hurt. He cast one last long look at her, before he walked into the kitchen where he could hear Carly, Gibby and Brad chatting loudly. Sam could need some privacy and who was he to deny her what she might needed most at the moment?
Melanie's boyfriend Chester arrived the next day. He was a nice, dark blonde boy but... well, let's just say he was not the kind of boy you'd expect Melanie to like. He was dressed casually, had his hair not gelled or anything and was rather reminding everyone of... well, of Sam. It didn't surprise anyone that Chester and Sam got a long as well as they had known each other for forever, although Melanie and him were dating for only a year.
Chester and Melanie shared the Shay's guest room, while Sam shared with Carly or inhabited the living room couch, like usual. Freddie, Brad and Gibby were there with them even more often and more than once stayed over night to sleep in the iCarly studio.
Pam Puckett was after four surgeries still alive, but was now in a coma that nobody knew if she'd ever wake up again. It had been hard on Sam and Melanie, but Melanie still refused to cry until it was all over and Sam had agreed with her after a few days. The question who would care for Melanie and Sam was still a big worry on Sam's mind. Sooner or later the youth welfare office would come for them and in the worst case they would have to leave the Shay's. This was actually Sam's greatest worry. She could live without her mother. It sounded rude, but she had prepared to get a phone call telling her she died in a car crash or in the aftermath of excessive drug consume or something like that for years. Her one real help for that had been the Shay's who had always welcomed her and her sister. Sam sighed as she sat on the couch, watching reruns of Girly Cow with Carly and Melanie one evening.
Spencer and Chelsea stepped out of their room and stood beneath the couch.
"Carly? Could you leave us alone for a few minutes?" Chelsea asked the brunette girl who frowned in confusion and glanced at her two blondes mirrored her actions.
Spencer winked at Carly and she slowly got up and walked up the stairs, turning around numerous times to cast a confused glance at her friends and family.
Spencer turned off the TV and sat on the coffee table, while Chelsea took a seat in the armchair that she had pulled next to them.
"Sam, Melanie, we know that this might not be the best time for this, but you both know that sooner or later someone from the youth welfare service will come and decide about your guardians until you are eighteen." Spencer started.
"It's only about eight months, but still." Chelsea said quietly.
"We know you love your mother and what we're about to say doesn't mean that we declare her lost or that we've given up on her." The man said.
Sam and Melanie frowned and shot each other a short glance. This could turn out a rather unpleasant conversation. Were they too much for the Shays? Would they ask them to search for another family member to take them?
Sam could feel Melanie stiffen and her hand search for hers. She took it and held it tightly.
"You don't need to be scared," Chelsea said, her observation of people was as good as always. "We'd like to ask you, if you'd agree if Spencer and I applied to be your guardians. We're a newlywed couple and you're almost living with us anyway."
"As I said, this doesn't mean that we want to replace your mom or-"
He wasn't allowed to say anything else. Sam and Melanie had flung themselves at the couple and almost squeezed them to death.
"Thank you thank you thank you!" Melanie spluttered into Chelsea's ear in a deafening audibility.
"You're the best!" Sam yelled as she and Spencer fell from the coffee table to the floor.
"Are you serious?!" Came a cry from the stairs.
Everyone turned and saw a certain peppy brunette stand there, her mouth hanging open, forming a perfect 'o'.
"Well, yes we are, Carly." Said Chelsea. "Sorry we didn't tell you before, but we wanted to give Sam and Melanie the chance to decide this for themselves."
"If you're mad-" Melanie started.
"Are you crazy?!" Carly stopped her immediately. "I'm not mad! I'm furious!"
Everyone looked at her in shock.
"I could've planned a little party to welcome my two best friends into the family and YOU DIDN'T TELL ME ANYTHING!" She screeched.
There was a short silence before laughter filled the living room.
"What's the matter with you down here?" Asked Chester who had emerged from behind Carly together with Freddie. The boys had been up in the iCarly studio, checking something for the next iCarly.
"I just got two sisters and nobody minded telling me beforehand so I could throw a welcoming party!" Carly told them disappointedly.
"You just - what?!" Chester said and turned his face towards his girlfriend. Freddie too looked at the weird scene before them in confusion. Sam still lay on Spencer beneath the coffee table and Melanie and Chelsea were still clutching at each other.
"Spencer and I asked the girls if they'd be okay with us applying to be their guardians until they turn 18." Chelsea solved the confusion. "And they said yes."
Smiles immediately spread on Freddie's and Chester's faces.
"That's awesome!"
"Congratulations!" They stormed down the stairs, Carly trailing after them and hugging the girls, as well as Spencer and Chelsea.
"You're feeling better now, don't you. Now that such a big stone is lifted from your shoulders." It wasn't a question that Freddie whispered into Sam's ear, but she answered him anyway and nodded. She was startled at first that he knew her so well, but on second thought she should've known that he knew. He was still able to look right through her, he had been since they were thirteen and it had never changed.
Sam smiled into Freddie's shoulder. It was nice that some things actually never changed.
"Thanks, Benson."
"For what?" He asked confused, pulling back a little to look at her.
"Hm." Sam shrugged. "Seeing right through me, I guess."
He grinned. "Well, it is a skill I do not want to miss."
"A skill, huh?" She laughed and let go of him. "Sure."
Freddie watched her walk over to Carly and get almost crushed. He grinned. Yes, it was a skill that not so many people possessed. Not Carly, not Gibby, not Spencer... He wasn't even sure if Melanie possessed it, but he was sure that Brad possessed it and that bothered him. He was jealous. He wanted to be the only one who knew Sam in and out.
The brunette shook his head. He shouldn't think about that now. It was a happy day for all of them. And it wasn't like he could do anything about it, so he focused on the people in front of him, happily chatting.
Freddie woke up a little confused. He usually never woke up in the middle of the night. Something must've woken him up.
Suddenly, he saw something move next to his bed and froze.
"Oh, nice that you're eventually awak, Benson." A sharp voice said.
"Sam?"
"Yes, Sam, who else would break into your home in the middle of the night?" She said sarcastically.
"What is it?" Freddie asked with his sleepy voice and stretched his limbs. A look at the clock told him it was 2:35 AM.
"Can I sleep here?"
"Huh?"
"Can. I. Sleep. Here." She repeated as if he was stupid.
"Er - Sure." He shuffled over and held the covers up for the blonde girl to climb in next to him.
Sam hopped in and lay there for a moment, before she turned and snuggled up to the quarterback, clenching her fist in his shirt.
Freddie hesitated a little before he put his arms around her - it was not usual for her to sleep in a bed with him and cuddle up to him.
He noticed once again that her hair smelled like strawberries and the remnants of her perfume were sweet and flowery - so nothing like her. Her warmth made him shiver under the covers.
"Sammy?" He murmured softly against her haid. "What happened?"
"Carly's still on her date, Melanie's with Chester and Brad's out of town with his mom for the weekend, as you very well know."
Freddie frowned. Of course he knew that. That wasn't what he wanted to know!
"You know what I mean." He said.
He felt her stiffen in his arms and held her breath.
"The hospital called."
Freddie's head jerked up. "What?!"
The blonde nodded.
"She's dead." She said, her voice a little hoarse at the end. He could feel her begin to shake.
"Oh Sammy, I'm so so sorry." He said quietly and pressed her small body tighter against his own, rubbing soothing circles on her back as she burried her head deeper into his chest.
And then she cried. Sam Puckett cried her heart out on Freddie Benson's chest. As weird as that might have sounded to them in their early teens, it was the most comforting that they could imagine. It was true what Sam had said, about the whereabouts of her friends, but she wasn't sure if she would've come to him anyway if Carly, Brad and Melanie had been available.
To her, it was his warmth and mostly his smell. This mixture of lemon grass and cinnamon that sounded so gross but was so soothing and smelled just like home in combination with the quarterback's skin. He was her safe haven and she wouldn't want it any other way. Slowly, Sam calmed down. She knew Freddie would always be there for her and she loved him even more for that fact. She knew, that she would be able to survive the weeks to come with him beside her and she was beyond thankful for that.
"Does Melanie know?" He asked after some time as he was sure she had stopped crying.
Sam nodded.
"Yeah." She croaked.
"How does she handle it?"
The blonde shrugged. "She hugged me and sighed. Then she thanked me for telling her and turned around and went back to bed. She started crying though."
Freddie nodded slowly, he had now changed from drawing circles on Sam's back to carefully stroking her hair.
"Do you need anything?" He asked after a while.
"Tomorrow we'll need loads of bacon. Puckett's tend to eat even more when they're sad."
Freddie couldn't help but chuckle at that. Those Pucketts...
He kissed her head. "I'll go as soon as the shops open."
"Mhm." Sam hummed.
There was a long silence between them. Freddie almost thought she'd fallen asleep, when she started talking again.
"I'm scared." She whispered almost inaudibly.
"Why?"
Sam bit her lip. "I - ... I don't know."
"Sam." Damn. Sometimes it was a pain that he knew her so well and could tell when she changed her mind at the last second and said something different.
She sighed.
"What if - what if Spence and Chelsea don't want to be our guardians anymore when they know about that. What if they can't afford three girls? What if they -"
"Sam. Spencer and Chelsea thought this through. It wasn't sure if your mom was ever going to wake up again. They asked you under the circumstances that they would take care of you and support you until you are adults and can afford your own lives. They wouldn't step back from their word now - or ever. You should know that."
"Of course, I should know that!" Sam blew up, whisper-yelling at him. "But I can't help it! I don't have a legal guardian, I'm turning 18 in a few months time and I have a little sister to take care of! I am scared out of my mind, Benson!"
She pressed her arms against his side and pushed herself away from him, her eyes twinkling angry in the street lamp's light.
Freddie held her gaze for a moment, then he sighed and averted his eyes.
"I'm sorry." He said. "I know you must be scared. But Sam, you don't need to be scared. Calm down. We're all going to be there for you - I am here for you and I won't leave you. If you need a place to stay, a shoulder to cry on or someone to afford college for you. I am here for you, I'll help you get through this - if you want me to, or not." He added as he saw her mouth open in protest.
"Thanks." She said quietly and cuddled back into his side.
"You're welcome. Now go to sleep, Puckett, you need it." He said as he adjusted his arms around her.
"Okay." She answered him with a tired voice and sighed contentedly. It had been an exhausting day and although she was still sad because of her mom, she felt safe in Freddie's strong arms and calmed down in a matter of minutes.
"Thanks, Freddie." She mumbled, almost half asleep, but managed to lean up and kiss his cheek before cuddling back into the pillows.
Freddie was paralyzed. She had kissed him. Sam Puckett had kissed him. On the cheek - but still! He could feel his grin widen until his face almost split into half before he nuzzled his nose into her hair softly.
"You're welcome, love." He whispered. It was risky, but he was positive that Sam was already asleep. She wouldn't hear him anyway. A last glance at the clock told him it was 3:55 AM. Freddie yawned and closed his eyes contentedly, drifting off into what he thought was the best sleep he had ever had.