Hey guys! I'm really, really proud of this chapter. I wanted to write it so bad that I actually took off my wrist brace to do it properly, which is saying something because even as I'm typing this my wrist is in some hella crazy pain right now. I love Seddie and this story THAT much.

To LyshaLuvsSeddie: I actually have no idea what happened to my wrist, I didn't fall or trip and land on it like I usually do. It just hurts like crazy no matter which way I move it and it's all swollen. Thank you for the get well wishes! And I love when people sleep all intertwined like that too! I fell asleep one time with one of my best guy friends and we woke up like that: my face was all pressed against his chest and his arms were wrapped around my back. I don't like him in any romantic way, I've been in love with the same guy (that's not him) for three years, but it was nice all the same.

To Celestial Rosie: Awwwww! Tell your little sister I said thank you, and that I love her now! And you're going to Delaware? I live in Delaware! I mean, I live in a little podunk town in Delaware, but it's still my home. Once again, your review made me smile. A loooooooot. And I love descriptive words! That's why they're there ;)

To Mayraah, DannySamLover20, Arocksprpl2, and princesscleo123: Thank you guys sooooooo much! I love all the nice things that you say! :)

Sam woke up snuggled in the blankets on Carly's bed, completely content.

"Thank god you're awake. I thought I was going to have to call a doctor." Sam barely heard Carly's voice through the thick cocoon of blankets.

"Chiz, Carly. How long have I been passed out?" Sam stretched her verious limbs and joints, totally surprised to find that the action hurt like crap. How long had she been out? Her last record had been two days straight, but that was after her and Carly had done iCarly for over 24 hours straight to get into the Jonas Book of World Records with the world's fattest priest.

"Over a day, Sam. Like, seriously. I was getting seriously worried. So were Freddie and Spencer."

"I'm fine, Shay. Can you leave? I need to get decent."

"Okay. Although we're best friends, Sam. It's not like I haven't seen you in your underwear and such before." Sam heard the soft sound of Carly's retreating footsteps, and the click of the bedroom door.

Although it was the last thing she wanted to do, Sam left her safe cave of comfort and went to Carly's adjoining bathroom. Because of her frequent presence in the Shay household, Carly always kept a large amount of Sam's clothes there, along with a toothbrush for her and Sam's favorite coconut-scented shampoo and conditioner.

The hot water of the shower helped clear Sam's head about the whole situation with Freddie, She loved him, that much she knew. But he was destined for great, wonderful things, and would probably wind up marrying some pleasant enough but bland girl, live in the suburbs and have two adorable little kids, one of each gender because his life would work out that perfectly.

Sam hated admitting to herself that she wanted to be who Freddie came home to after a hard day doing whatever complicated techie thing he would inevitably accomplish, the one who he kissed on the top of her head as he waled through the door, the one who he would look at with nothing but love.

She even wanted the kids that he would have one day, because she knew that if he married that nice but dull girl that his kids would be bland little nerds with no backbone, but that wouldn't matter because they would more than likely inherit his beautiful chocolate eyes, and that would balance out their eventual nubbiness.

But she, she was meant to have a somewhat mediocre life. Barely graduate high school with the knowledge that she could have done so much better if she cared enough to apply herself properly, not go to college because she's Sam and she just doesn't DO school. She'd wind up working some crappy, minimum-wage job at some terrible place like Chili My Bowl, marry some jerk just for the sake of it and have some bratty daughter, because fate is cruel and would stick her with the same sort of child she was. Sam knew she would be just as horrible a mother as Pam Puckett had been to her.

That's why she had to let Freddie go, even if it meant breaking both their hearts in the process. She loved him, she was IN love with him, but she didn't want to keep him chained to Seattle and do something he would regret and wind up hating her for later on in life.

Sam shut off the water and got out of the shower, slightly depressed but determines with the path she was taking.

She dressed in her favorite "Special Ham" penny tee and a pair of shorts that she was pretty sure actually belonged to Carly, because they were a little too short to have been something that she had bought. But she was Sam, and she was lazy, so she didn't change. The shorts weren't inappropriately short, but they were still a little less than halfway down her thigh, a length that she wasn't used to. Sam liked her Bermuda shorts, they were comfortable and less revealing.

Sam remembered something about Carly asking her if she wanted Carly to do her hair for her earlier. Normally Sam would flat-out refuse, but Carly was terrible when she didn't get her way. One look out of Carly's bedroom window told her that it was going to rain today, which made her happy. Whenever Carly offered to do her hair it always meant that she would straighten it, and then bombard her skull with various mousses and gels and hairsprays to hold the straightness in place. It worked...sometimes. But Sam's hair was stubborn, and if it was even a little humid and she went outside her hair would immediately begin to curl again. Since the chance of rain was impending heavily, Sam knew that Carly would leave her hair and its unruly curliness alone.

Looking around Carly's room, she grabbed her backpack. There was no school that day, which Sam was unbelievably thankful for (To everyone else, they thought that it was just because Sam was lazy and hated school. But to Sam, it meant a day free from the torture of seeing Benson in almost every class). Unfortunately, Carly and Freddie had seen Sam's last report card and were disappointed that she hadn't gotten a grade above a B. Sam was just proud that she wasn't failing anything this time around.

Between Carly, Spencer and Freddie, they had someone that excelled in every subject that Sam was taking. So they had sat Sam down a few days ago and told her that the next non-school day they would tutor her, because she really was smarter than that. Sam grudgingly made her way down the stairwell and to the Shays' living room, where the two of the three people that were closer to her than anyone in the world were waiting for her. Carly was sitting on the couch and Spencer was sitting at the computer. Freddie was nowhere to be found, although he was probably still over at his place. It WAS early, after all.

"We've been waiting for you, Samantha." Spencer said menacingly, spinnign around slowly in the red stool next to the computer.

"Well you're going to have to wait a little while longer, because Momma's not doing CHIZ until she gets some food in her."

Carly and her brother had obviously anticipated this, because there was a bowl of Fruity Pebbles and a plate loaded up high with bacon waiting for her at the table.

Sam ran towards the kitchen table, her pointer finger guiding her way to the food awaiting her like a St. Bernard looking for survivors after a snowy avalanche.

"Oh...my...god. Spence, this bacon is absolutely amazing."

"It's Canadian!" Spencer said, a goofy smile on his face. "Which really means it's just fancy sliced ham, but it's fancy sliced ham from another country!"

Sam quickly polished off the delicious bacon, and then nearly inhaled the Fruity Pebbles. After she was done and her dishes were washed, she plopped down on Carly's couch to begin what was sure to be hours upon hours of torture.

"Sam, DON'T MOVE. Spencer and I have to go get the dry erase board from the storage unit, and some other stuff for if you get distracted and try to skip out on us helping you." Carly said to the anxious, jittery blonde.

Sam really didn't want to know what Carly and the others would do to her if she tried to run before the educating began.

So she stayed like a good little girl on the comfy red couch, laying back so she could stretch out her petite frame and closing her eyes, hoping to take a small nap before Carly and Spencer returned.

Just as Sam had gotten good and comfrotable on the couch, Freddie walked in. He was almost as bad as she was about not knocking, but he at least gave a warning knock on the door before barging in, whereas Sam usually just came in like she owned the place.

Sam didn't even bother opening her eyes. She might have, if Freddie hadn't yelled his typical Spanish greeting. Once she knew it was Freddie, she didn't bother moving. Plus, it was easier for her to stick to her previous resolution when she couldn't see him.

Freddie set down the textbooks he brought with him on the edge of the Shays' coffee table, taking in Sam's appearance.

The penny tee she wore was nothing new. The unusually short shorts, however...

Sam hated looking girly, hated it with a passion. But the rest of them hated that she felt that way, because Sam really was beautiful but constantly disguised it with clothes that hid her beauty instead of flauting it. Freddie guessed that Sam couldn't find a pair of her own shorts, so she borrowed a pair of Carly's. They were basic black exercise shorts with a white stripe along the side, but they only covered about 40% of her legs.

Freddie wondered for what had to be the millionth time how Sam could eat so much but still stay so skinny. No, she wasn't as tiny as Carly, but Carly weighed maybe 100 pounds and it showed. It worked on Carly, who never really had that much of a figure.

But Sam...

Sam had curves in the places that mattered. It flattered her, because if she had Carly's body type then she would look like a little kid and it would be terrible on her.

It took everything that Freddie had to yank his eyes away from her body. If Sam opened her eyes for any reason and caught him staring at her like that, he'd probably be dismembered. He wanted so badly to cross the room and kiss her, but after her outburst the other day he knew that that wasn't what she would want. What he wanted more than to kiss her was to know what the chiz had happened in her brain to make her think that there wasn't even a remote possibility of them having a decent relationship, but that seemed like another taboo topic. So he guessed that she was going to go back to the way they were before, the violence and the teasing and the pranks and the arguments and the unbelievable, incredibly palpable romantic tension.

What Freddie could not do was not look at Sam. As long as her eyes were still closed, he was safe enough to look at her face, study how angelic she appeared when she wasn't planning something devious.

Sam's hair descended halfway down her back in golden curls, looking more like Rapunzel's wilder sister than Freddie would ever verbally admit. Her skin was unusually soft for someone that didn't believe in the various moisturizers and scrubs and facial masks that Carly so preferred. A fan of dark brown lashes rested lightly on the tops of her cheeks, and a handful of light brown freckles were scattered sparsely across her cheeks and nose.

Freddie went to analyze his favorite feature of Sam, her eyes, expecting to see the tan of her eyelids.

Instead, Sam's blue kaleidoscope eyes greeted him.

"Why exactly were you staring at me like some sort of pedo creeper?"

He had no good explanation that she would be satisfied with, so he threw caution to the wind and decided to tell her the truth. "Because you're beautiful."

Her face softened, and for the briefest second he could see past the steel walls that Sam constructed around her inner self, walls that protected her from getting hurt.

But the second passed, Sam's eyes hardened, and the walls rebuilt again.

"Freddork, listen up..."

"No, Sammie, YOU listen up. I don't know what the hell that chiz was the other day in my apartment. You tell me you love me and then we share those unbelievable kisses and fall asleep together and then I wake up from the greatest dream I've ever had just to have you tell me that you don't want to be with me?"

Sam's eyes grew wide. What Freddie said, especially about having the best dream of his life when they fell asleep on the couch together, that stuck with her. She'd also had the most amazing dream those few hours.

Her only problem was, she didn't know what to say to him, didn't know how to express to him her utter love for him and the desire she had for him to go out in the world and become everything he was meant to be, unencumbered by Sam.

"So THAT'S what happened? You guys don't tell me ANYTHING anymore." The sound of Carly's voice filled the apartment. She and Spencer were standing in front of the elevator with all the necessary teaching supplies they would need to tutor Sam.

"How long have you been there?" Sam and Freddie said at the exact same time. Sam glared at Freddie.

"Just long enough to hear what Freddie said."

"Alright, you teeners can discuss your romantic woes later. Sam needs to be educated!" proclaimed Spencer, setting up the dry erase board in front of the counter and moving the couch around to face the counter so that Sam couldn't be tempted to stare at the television.

Thus began what Sam knew would become a weekly occurence in the quartet's life. Although whether this was a good thing or a bad thing, Sam didn't know.

Oh...my...goodness. I have no idea where that came from. It's sooooo long! But I love it, i think I want to make all of my chapters that long now :)

I have an idea of writing a chapter for each of Sam and Freddie's dreams from when they were sleeping on the couch, but I'm not sure. Do you all want that?

Review please. If not, then no new chapters will be posted. If there has not been a new chapter posted when you are reading this, then I have not gotten a sufficient amount of reviews.

-Amy