The Greatest Secret
Disclaimer: Nope, don't own iCarly
A/N: This story details what it would be like if Sam and Freddie were secretly together during the series. Read it, I'm sure you'll enjoy it.
Chapter 52 (Freddie's Plan)
Almost a full week passed along and the girls were still fighting. Freddie was beginning to grow more irritable. He was currently devising a way to fix the fighting or else have another iCarly done with the two screaming at each other. Each night, Sam came home in tears and would immediately go into her room. She would often shout for Freddie not to go in and his mom would tell him that sometimes a girl needed to be alone. Sometimes he was able to talk to her and comfort her, though.
He had devised a plan, so now he just had to put it into action. The show was being done today and the plan involved it. He was going to have to teach them both that there was no sense in fighting. It involved putting their hairs in ponytails and tying them to ropes, pulling the ponytail of the girl that spoke out. Of course, he had a certain way to go about it.
He knew Carly was in the wrong, but she learned a little differently than Sam. Sam also needed to learn that she couldn't always have things her way. In order to teach these girls, he would discipline Sam but not yank Carly's ponytail. This would teach Sam that she can't always have things her way, plus it would make Carly feel guilty about the whole thing with Sam since she wasn't getting yanked and Sam was. In order to teach someone that you love, you have to discipline them, and that was how he was raised. So Sam would be the one disciplined, he didn't care about disciplining Carly.
He walked into Carly's apartment and headed up the stairs where he would wait for Carly and Sam to arrive. "I've had enough of this fighting, I've had enough of Sam crying every night, and I've had enough of Carly. There's no way in hell we'll ever tell Carly about our relationship, not until I'm sure that Carly can and will possibly handle the response maturely." Freddie narrowed his eyes and started typing on the laptop. "From what Spencer said, women like to be told they're right. Right now, the girls are not correct." He then heard the fighting sounds of Carly and Sam, they seemed to be fighting about what segment they were going to do on the show.
"Well I'm in charge of iCarly, so I say we're doing the Mexican jumping beans!" Carly exclaimed. Freddie lifted his eyes up and sighed as Sam protested.
"Sam needs to learn that there are times she should just remain silent…" He walked up to the girls and tapped his foot angrily. "Wrong, both of you!" Carly and Sam both looked at him and raised their eyebrows, neither girl liked it when he yelled at them. "Tonight, I'm in charge of the show." Sam and Carly both chuckled and rolled their eyes.
"You just go over there and do your stuff, tech boy," Sam said quickly, not really thinking. Freddie looked at her and raised his eyebrows, causing her to instantly silence and wince inwardly. "Sorry Freddie…I don't want to be mean to you, you know that." Carly shook her head, apparently she thought Freddie was joking.
"Yeah, you don't tell us how to do our show," Carly remarked. Sam looked at her and appeared ready to shout at Carly that she shouldn't talk to Freddie like that.
"You're going to do this how I want to, or you're going to find yourself a new tech producer." Carly gasped lightly and Sam looked over at her.
"He's bluffing," Sam said with a small smile. Of course he was on that, if Sam was involved in iCarly, he was never going to let her do it without him.
"I don't bluff." The girls looked at him with suspicion and he heaved a heavy sigh. "Okay, I was bluffing when I said I don't bluff, but I am serious about quitting!" He looked to Sam with a look that told her if he quit, she was quitting too. Carly looked defeated and gave a small sigh.
"Fine, what do you want us to do?" Carly asked.
"Go put your hair in a ponytail." That was an order, but maybe the girls missed it, because they started protesting and asking questions. "Get your hair in ponytails…now!" The girls winced and left the room to get their hair up in ponytails. When they returned, they saw two ropes hanging down, they had confused looks on their faces as Freddie tied the ropes to their hair. He started the camera and stepped in front of the girls, grinning at the camera, though anyone could tell he was annoyed as ever. "Hello people of Earth and beyond…this is a little show we like to call iCarly." He looked at the girls and they quietly introduced them, both of which seemed shy in the process. "Tonight we're going to shake it up a little bit."
"Can't wait," Sam said in a very shy voice. She was actually not sure what Freddie was going to do, but she could tell he was mad. Freddie looked back and then toward the camera.
"You see, Carly and Sam are in a big fight and both girls think they are right."
"I am right!" Carly defended. Sam rolled her eyes and looked over at her.
"You are wrong," Sam quipped. "Freddie agrees with me, right? Of course he does, he's my boyfriend." Freddie sighed and remained calm, confident this was going to end the fight.
"You see? Well, the fight is going to end tonight because you, the fans of iCarly are going to decide who is right by voting online, after the show." Carly and Sam stared at Freddie with slacked jaws, they didn't fathom him coming up with a plan like this.
"So what does this have to do with tying up our ponytails?" Carly asked impatiently. Freddie rolled his eyes and growled slightly, causing her to slightly jump back.
"I'm getting to that. Each girl gives her side of the story, but, if the other girl interrupts, insults, or yells…her ponytail gets yanked." Carly and Sam both stared at him with wide eyes as he stepped behind them.
"This is ridiculous."
"I'm not doing this," Sam said while twisting her face slightly. Freddie grabbed the handles and pulled on both girls, giving Carly the harder tug. The girls screamed out and Freddie looked toward the Camera.
"Very good, now the first to talk shall be Carly." Sam pressed the boo button on her remote and Freddie sighed as he pulled on her ponytail. "Do not insult someone when it is their time to give their side. Hear them out. Now drop the remote." Sam quickly obliged and Freddie looked over to Carly. "Carly, you may begin."
"It started when I bought Sam a T-shirt that I spent two weeks to make," Carly said while looking at the camera, feeling that she was in the right. "Then Sam traded it for tickets to a concert." Freddie knew the ultimate tug of Carly's hair would be when she found out that he got the t-shirt back from Rodney.
"You said you wanted to go to the concert!" Freddie pulled Sam's hair and she yelped out.
"It's Carly's turn!" Sam started to protest, but Freddie sighed and pulled on her hair with each protest. He hated to do it because he knew it hurt, but she needed to learn to wait her turn.
"Oh alright…"
"I worked so hard on that shirt," Carly said in a sad voice. "Then she went to the concert without me." Freddie raised his eyebrow and sighed, she hadn't wanted to go with Sam to the concert.
"But…" Freddie held up the rope and Sam quickly silenced, letting Carly continue.
"She hasn't even apologized for it, either." Freddie knew that Sam was very prideful at times and could be hurt easily, she wanted to apologize, but couldn't.
"Yeah, very nice," Freddie stated as he turned to look at Sam. "Now Sam, you may give your side of the story."
"Finally," Sam said with a slow sigh. "Well first off, she said the shirt was no big deal, so I kind of traded it for tickets to Cuttlefish, her favorite band." Freddie nodded and looked toward the camera.
"Let the record show that Carly is fond of Cuttlefish."
"Well, the tickets were something that she really wanted to do, and it was something we could both do together-"
"I would have gone if you had just apologized!" Carly exclaimed. Freddie wanted to pull her rope, but decided to let Sam have that joy. He figured that Sam would pull harder.
"Uh, she just interrupted, yank her ponytail!"
"Nah, I'm going to allow it."
"Why!" Freddie looked into Sam's eyes, it wasn't Carly that he cared to discipline. Both girls were acting like spoiled brats, but Carly seemed like a bigger one in this case.
"Simple, because I love y-her!" He almost slipped up there, but fortunately he caught himself. It would make matters worse if he didn't.
"Nice save." Sam grunted and quickly pushed Freddie to the side, she grabbed Carly's rope and began pulling excessively. Carly shrieked and looked at Sam.
"You're not the rope keeper!" Carly quickly grabbed Sam's rope and pulled on it with great force. Freddie's eyes widened and he quickly stood up, he wanted this to stop, but it seemed to be getting out of control. After some time of shouting for them to stop, he finally gave up and ended the show and undid his ponytails. "Thank you, Fr-"
"Keep quiet!" Freddie snapped at her. She stepped back and Sam looked over. He looked at Sam and gave a soft sigh as his featured grew softer. "I'm sorry I even did this. No, wait, I'm not sorry. Let's just go downstairs and count the votes." He grabbed his laptop and the girls looked toward the ground, not wanting to say anything more that might anger Freddie. They slowly followed him as he walked down the stairs. Once down, they sat on the couch and remained silent as Freddie moved to get a drink of water. He looked over and saw the girls rubbing their heads, he sighed and moved over to the chair. He opened his laptop and looked at the three choices he had put in the poll, the third choice had the most.
"My hair feels like it was yanked by a vacuum cleaner," Carly said as she brushed her hair. Sam shifted her eyes toward Freddie and then to the floor.
"Mine feels like it was yanked by a Freddie," she replied. Carly rolled her eyes and looked at Freddie with impatience.
"Would you please just hurry up and count up the votes?" Freddie shrugged and looked toward the computer.
"Okay, now before I start, will you promise to accept the decision, loser apologizes?" Carly and Sam both nodded their heads and Freddie looked over at Sam. "Okay, Sam…number of viewers that think you are right…six hundred and ninety three." Carly looked displeased and quickly looked over at Freddie, not impressing him any.
"And how many votes did I get?"
"Seven hundred and five…"
"Hah!" Sam shrank back and Carly laughed once at her. "It looks like I-"
"Wait!" Freddie narrowed his eyes and Carly looked over. He wasn't pleased with how Carly was treating his girlfriend at the moment. "I put up a third option for them to vote for." Carly and Sam responded with surprised gasps as Freddie read his options out. "The first says Carly's right, the second says Sam's right, and the third says Carly and Sam are both acting dumb and should just make up and be friends again."
"…how many people voted for that one?"
"Two hundred fifty three thousand seven hundred and nineteen…" Sam chuckled and smirked, sometimes she loved that brain of his. Of course, who was she kidding? She loved his brain all the time. He and the viewers were right, she and Carly shouldn't fight over something so stupid. She looked toward Carly and gave a small smile, Carly returned it. "Our fans don't like it when best friends fight, and neither do I." Sam was touched and quickly wiped a tear from her eye. Carly looked over and frowned.
"Aw Sam, you're crying," Carly said with a sad voice. She was sorry for the fight as well, it was really dumb for them to fight over a silly thing.
"No I'm not…it's just, Freddie's such a dork that it makes me emotional sometimes." Freddie opened his mouth but then closed it into a smile.
"I'm sorry…" Sam closed her eyes and shook her head.
"I'm sorry." The girls then gave each other a hug and Freddie smiled softly. Soon Spencer came out and got excited about the hug, he was happy that Carly and Sam seemed to be done fighting. He told them to follow him to the kitchen where he would feed his fish. All the while he was giving the demonstration, Freddie couldn't help but think. If Carly got upset this easily over something that could be fixed, then what would happen when the day came that she had to learn about Sam's relationship with him. That day wouldn't come, that was what went through his mind. He was sure that one day, Tyrone might take her away or Carly might leave and they wouldn't ever tell her. Yet, if they had to, they were sure she would dislike them. Not just for the fact that she had a crush on him, but because of the arranged marriage.
He watched as Carly picked up the fishbowl and Sam asked if she was taking the fish back to the pet store. Freddie then remembered the shirt, he smirked and looked to the girls. "Sit down and close your eyes," he said.
"What? Why?" The girls asked while sitting on the couch.
"Close them." The girls closed their eyes and Freddie moved toward the bookshelf and reached behind it, grabbing the shirt that he had hidden back there. He pulled it out and walked over to the girls, holding it in front of them. "Okay girls, open them." Sam and Carly opened their eyes and gasped when they saw the shirt, they were shocked and confused at how Freddie managed to get the shirt. "I had a little talk with Rodney and he agreed on a deal that seemed fair enough in giving me the shirt." He unfolded the shirt and smiled. "See, no marks or anything on it. Oh, and I had it cleaned since Rodney's stench had been on it." He folded up the shirt and tossed it to Sam's lap.
"I-I can't believe you would do this," Sam said in a quiet but shaky voice. She had to keep from crying and needed to resist the urge to kiss Freddie out of appreciation. Carly was happy as well, she didn't think the shirt would be returned so easily.
"Why fight over something that you can probably fix? Why fight over something you have no control over? Sam may not have meant to get rid of the shirt for all we know, but Rodney is a tricky person. Believe me, he will think twice before conning you girls out again."
"Thank you, Freddie," Carly said as she stood up. "I'm so happy that I could just kiss you!" Sam raised her eyebrow and looked up, Freddie sighed and walked toward the door.
"I need to get home, sorry I can't stay. I would just love to make out with you, Carly." Carly groaned lightly and Sam looked over, smiling as she watched Freddie exit.
"I really didn't mean to give it away," Sam said while hugging the shirt close to her chest. She smiled and looked at Carly. "I don't know what I was thinking. I was just so excited and wanted to get you those tickets. Rodney wanted the shirt and I didn't want to give it away right off the bat, but he knows his way with words…plus, he said some things..."
"What did he say?" Sam shrugged and stood up, it wasn't anything she wanted to tell anyone. She didn't even want to tell Freddie, for fear that he would get mad at Rodney. "Sam?"
"He said…" Sam looked toward the ground and closed her hands. "He said if I wanted the tickets or not, he wanted the shirt. He said that he would remove it with his own hands if he had to, that he was going to press me up against the lockers and force a kiss. He said he always wondered how it'd feel to have that control over a girl…I had no choice but to give him the shirt." Carly gasped and quickly gave Sam a hug.
"Oh my god, I didn't know! That jerk! I'm so sorry!" Sam closed her eyes and felt a tear fall down her cheek. Sam heard Carly's door slam shut and her eyes widened, it hadn't been closed all the way and there was no way the wind did it. That meant Freddie had just heard that.
"Oh no…"
"What is it?" Carly kept her hands on Sam's arms and gave her a concerned look.
"Carly, I have to go!" Sam quickly turned around and fled.
"Sam!" Sam ignored Carly and rushed out the door, closing the door and hurrying into Freddie's apartment. She looked out the peephole and saw Carly rush out her door and down the hall. She sighed and turned around to see Freddie moving some papers on a table.
"Freddie." She walked over to Freddie and wrapped her arms around his arm, he frowned and looked at her.
"Why didn't you tell me?" Freddie asked as he turned to her. His anger was rising, but it wasn't at all directed toward Sam. "I could have done something!"
"That's why I couldn't tell you." Freddie raised his eyebrow and Sam buried her face into his arm. "If I told you, you would have gotten mad."
"Yeah, but for a good reason…"
"I'm not going to tell you that there is no reason to get mad, because anger would be justified. Yet, if you had gone to Rodney for that, we would have been found out. Our secret would be shot and Rodney…knowing him he would have made us have to pay something to get him not to go public with the secret. I didn't want that to happen, I knew it was more important than the shirt." Freddie turned toward her and wrapped his arms around her, giving comfort into her. "I'm sorry I kept something like that from you."
"It's okay now, don't worry anymore." Freddie kissed her forehead and she buried her head into his chest. Emily peeked her head out of the hallway and raised her eyebrow. "Rodney is a bastard for what he said, but don't worry. Next time, I do want you to tell me, though."
"I will Freddie, I promise. I was so scared then, I didn't know what to think…I don't think he'll do that again, though."
"No, he won't ever do that again. Believe me, he will never threaten to do something like that again. I promise." Sam sobbed once and Freddie continued to hold her close. Freddie shifted his eyes to the table and saw that Jonah had just sent him a text message. He frowned and looked to Sam. "Never again, Rodney…"
Hope you liked the chapter, seems there was something more to Rodney then what met the eyes. It also seems that Freddie's planning something, I wonder what. Well stick around for the next chapter, you're sure to enjoy. Drop a review!