The Greatest Secret

Disclaimer: Nope, don't own iCarly

A/N:

Chapter 143 (Concerns)

Freddie and Sam sat in a booth at Sherry's Kitchen, it was her day off but she still enjoyed going there on dates. They had a private booth so no one could see them. She turned her eyes to the television on the wall to her right and smiled, it was set on the Food Channel for them. Rachael Ray and Valerie were on, it was Valerie's first time being on the show and she did not betray her nervousness. "She doesn't look nervous at all, does she, Sam?"

"Nope, I'm proud of her." Sam turned her eyes to Freddie's and smiled as she lifted her glass up and sipped it. She'd talked to Valerie just a day ago, it had been a week since the Food Fight with Ricky Flame. Valerie told her she was extremely nervous and would start out helping Rachael on the show, Sam told her to just act naturally. "She's not all that camera shy, so I'm impressed. You know they're going to go onto Chopped soon? Their appearance should come onto TV in a couple days." Freddie's eyebrows rose as he started stirring his spaghetti noodles.

"I still think that's going to be fun to see, Chopped has never done something like that before. It's always four single contestants." Still they were looking forward to the show, it had promise. Sam moved a bite of her veal to her lips and glanced up as she heard Valerie ask Rachael a question about the spices, she was proud that her friend wasn't afraid to ask questions. It was all a learning process, so it couldn't get any better than that.

"I'm still going to miss her." She took a deep breath and returned her gaze to Freddie for a second, watching him as he ate his food. She put her elbow on the table and rested her cheek against her hand as she drifted her eyes through the tiny slits in the brown wall that surrounded them. To her, it represented that same wall that surrounded them for years, that oh so secret wall. Now that Valerie was gone, she would hardly have anyone to really talk to about Freddie. She moved her eyes to her food and poked at it for a second. Freddie looked to her and set his hand on the table.

"What's wrong?"

"Nothing really…" She closed her eyes and old memories came flooding to her mind. Their first kiss, in the studio while looking for those baby ducks. All the role plays, the danger of being caught while they made out on Carly and Spencer's couch, it was all so thrilling back then. Now, why now it just seemed lackluster to her.

"Sam." His voice was firm and he was gazing at her knowingly, he'd always been able to tell when she was feeling down about something. "Something is on your mind, do you want to talk about it?" She took a deep breath and slowly nodded her head. She felt a pit inside her as she thought of all the times running from Tyrone and the fear of being torn from Freddie.

"I don't get it, why we have to continue to keep our relationship secret from everyone. I mean sure, Tyrone is a problem, a big problem, but by now if he can't learn to accept us…then that's his problem. He could either deal with it or not." Freddie pressed his lips together as Sam leaned back into her chair and folded her arms over. She wanted to kick Tyrone where it hurt, she wanted to go up to him and tell him it didn't matter what he thought. "We have a right to love who we love, right? I mean, who is he to say anything otherwise? It's not fair, it isn't right and it isn't like it's any of his business! Why should we be afraid of him?"

"I know what you're saying and I agree, but he really is a risk. I don't want anything to happen to you."

"I know. It's just…it's like how Sasha had been so long ago with Spencer…" Her mind went back to when they found Sasha and realized that Spencer had already been dating her. They'd had a secret relationship as well, but never told anybody about it. "Sasha hated it, and I think Spencer did too, that's why he kissed her. In order to bring it out into the open…Are we going to run from Tyrone forever?"

"You've never brought this up before. Why not?" She watched him wipe his mouth with the napkin and turned her eyes back to her food. She circled her fork in her sauce and shook her head as her inner anxious feelings started to rise up inside her. It was a struggle just to push them down. Freddie was mistaken, she'd brought them up before, just never with him. How was she to do that anyway? She never wanted to burden him. "Besides, we're not strictly secret. Both our families know about our relationship, our two best friends know it. We're not all that secret at all."

"I know, it's just…" Her head lifted and her fork slipped into the veal. "I've talked about this before with Valerie several times. I never wanted to bother you with it because I didn't know how you'd feel about it." She knew he'd be fine with talking about it, they should always be able to talk about these things.

"I agree, I'm tired of it too, and no we can't always run from Tyrone." She sniffed once as he moved his hand over hers and gave it a light squeeze. Her chest rose as the warm contact of his hand gave her some comfort. "I promise you, one day, we won't have to be so secret anymore. Believe me, I can feel a positive coming soon enough." She blinked and stared down at the table with questions running through her mind. "You know things will work out, I'll make sure of that." Her eyes darted over to him and her fingers slid into her palm.

"You promise?" He tilted his head and released her hand, gesturing her over to his side of the booth.

"Come over here."

"Okay." Carefully she moved from her booth to his and leaned back into his chest as he wrapped his strong arms around her. She moved her hand to his forearm and closed her eyes.

"I know you're worried about how things are turning out. Valerie's in New York, we can't talk to Carly about us because we don't yet know if she'll tell her grandpa, be it out of resentment or just not really understanding the severity of the situation. Sure Tyrone's got a gang out there that seems to come around and threaten to scare us apart, but no matter what, we'll always be together. You're strong, you're capable, I'm not letting a thing happen to you, so secret or not, I know there's nothing to worry about."

Sam smirked lightly and leaned her head back on his chest, turning her eyes up at him as she kissed his chin. "Don't make promises you can't keep." He looked down and smirked at her.

"Oh you don't think I can keep that one?"

"I think you need to kiss me." She turned herself over and met his eyes with a light smile. He chuckled and shrugged in return.

"Okay fine." In a quick move, he placed his hands on her waist and pressed her against the chair, causing her to gasp out in surprise. "At least this time I won't get in trouble with your uncle."

"Oh really, you think so?" She wrapped her arms around his neck and stared back at him with a smug grin. "You better make this good then, or else I'm going to tell Uncle Morris how you made out with me in a public place." Freddie wagged his eyebrows and leaned in close, grazing the tip of his nose against hers.

"I'll take my chances." His breath fell upon her lips, prompting her to separate them and breathe in his warm air. She sighed as his hands slid down her waist and his lips graced hers with gentle passion. Her eyes fluttered shut as his body pressed down against her and he kept his arms delicately around her. She arched her back and moaned lightly as she kissed him back with a longing for escape from her daily worries.

Her hands slid up his neck and grasped small tufts of his hair as her head tilted back and his lips moved to her neck. She released a guttural moan as he scraped his teeth down her neck, sending seductive shivers throughout her body. "F-Freddie really?" Her body started to heat up as he started kissing her shoulder, the sensation was wondrous and the thrill of doing this in a restaurant was just enormous, but risky as hell. "What if our waitress comes back."

"Then she'll go away."

"Freddie." He was moving down her sternum, slowly and sensually. She moaned lightly and quickly cupped her hand to her mouth, hoping to avoid disturbing anyone nearby. So this was what the private booth was for, although it wouldn't be good for her boss to find out. "I work here you know, I don't want to get fired for PDA. Valerie would be a bit disappointed at that."

"True." He rose up to meet her lips and kissed them roughly, pressing her hard against the cushion as he did so. She moaned into his lips and felt him rubbing against her. She pulled back briefly as he started to suckle her neck. Her eyes fluttered shut as she rocked her hips in motion with his.

"C-Careful, don't leave too large of a hickey…"

"Oh my, whatever will your Uncle Morris and Aunt Maggie think?"

"Ooh you asshole." She moaned once more as Freddie smirked and sucked harder, biting down gently on her neck. Her eyes shot open and she quickly turned her head to Freddie as he pulled his lips away from her. She breathed in heavily and stared at him as he leaned back, looking smug as ever.

"All done, I'd say I left a nice little mark." He brushed his finger over the bruising flesh on her neck, which stung her for a brief second. She yelped and her hand flew to her neck. "Sorry."

"It's fine, but damn…" She pushed him back semi aggressively and positioned herself to lay back on his chest, a position she adored. She took his wrist and moved his arm around her shoulder, smiling as she did so. "There. I like this."

"Yeah, so do I." He leaned forward and grabbed her plate, pulling over to his side. She smiled at him and rolled her head onto his shoulder. "So, how do you feel now?"

"You talk a good talk, you may think you have the lips of a god, but it doesn't change a thing." She wasn't all that distracted from her prior concerns and was still wanting to figure a way that it could be okay to come out and talk about their relationship, at least to Carly. She sighed and gingerly reached over to her silverware, grabbing it and forking a bite of her veal. "You still have Jonah to talk to. If I do something stupid or tensions become rough, you got him to vent to. My best friend just went to New York and I'll probably only see her once a month, if I'm lucky!" She felt the hum in his chest when he sounded it off, it vibrated and gave her a bit of a tingling feeling that she wanted to get out of her body.

"Well you're definitely not planning to replace Valerie I hope."

"Of course not, I'm just saying…Carly's a close friend too."

"She does deserve to know about us."

"And the only reason we don't tell her?" She watched him reach his strong arm around and grab a bite of his own meal. He brought it to his lips and swallowed as she shifted her body weight to cuddle a bit closer to him. She felt more comfortable the closer she was.

"Because we don't know how she'll react?" He nodded slowly and Sam shrugged her shoulders lightly. "I don't understand, she seems to be handling things just fine now. Isn't she?"'

"One thing at a time, Sam…She's still dealing with the news of the family she never really had. She's taking in a lot of stuff."

"True. Won't she get mad that we kept it this long?"

"Probably, but you know…she's dating a guy who rides a motorcycle and it's apparently a secret relationship." Sam's eyes widened and her blood started rushing at a faster rate. This was a shock to her, how come Carly didn't tell her? Then again, she wasn't upset, she was just stunned.

"Oh my god, really? Since when!" She turned her eyes to Freddie, hoping he'd have an answer for her. He chuckled nervously and shrugged his shoulders.

"I have no clue, honestly. As far as I know, she's been with him a while. I only found out cause he snuck over on Thanksgiving." She raised her eyebrow as Freddie's lips curled into a small smirk. "And yes, that was my inspiration for sneaking over to your place that day."

"Go figure." Her eyes dropped and her lips tugged back into a frown, she was actually happy about the memory, but it was still the furthest thing from her mind. Freddie tilted his head and gave her a look of concern as she slowly shook her head, trying to get rid of the nagging emotions inside. "I'm sorry, it's just…I miss Valerie. I didn't think it'd be this difficult."

"I know baby. I know." He slowly rubbed her arm as she turned her gaze to the television. She smiled as she watched Valerie running to the spice cabinet and grabbing some basil for Rachael.

"I hope she learns everything she can possibly learn."

"I think she will. She's smart. In the meantime, how about you and I finish our meal and get home. Or at least, get you home."

"Yeah, I think that would be great. Any idea what we're doing for Christmas? I mean it's coming up soon. I know I want to spend it with you, but I know that Carly's going to be there too. Not only that, I want to spend it with my family also."

"Hmm, you're right, Christmas is going to be different this year. Last year it worked out, but this time…Who knows." Sam swallowed hard as she grabbed her drink and brought it to her lips, stopping momentarily and tapping the glass on her lower lip in thought.

"I've never spent Christmas with my family."

"Let me correct you there."

"Huh?" She turned her head and stared at his raised index finger. What was there to correct? She'd never spent a Christmas with them, that was the truth.

"You've never spent a single holiday with them, save Thanksgiving this year. Maybe this Christmas you should be with them."

"But…But I want to be with you." She threw in a small whine and pouted her lip out, causing Freddie to laugh. She loved his laugh, it always had a specific richness that made her spine tingle whenever she heard it. Her lips curled up into a smile as he gently kissed her forehead.

"I know I want to spend it with you too. I think we're going to have to share you with your family this year, but be with them. Okay?" She moved her eyes to the side and gently bit her lip. She knew he was right, she really wanted to spend it with them as well. She could probably see him this year too, but for the most part, it would be better for her to remain with Uncle Morris and Aunt Maggie. Not only that, but it would throw off Carly's suspicion that there might be something more going on.

"Okay I will, but I still want to see you this year."

"You will."

"Do you think Valerie's coming home for Christmas?" There was actually a very small chance that she would, because she'd just gone up to New York. Next year and every year following, she would, but just not this year.

"I don't think so, she's got responsibilities."

"Yeah, I guess…" It was okay, though. They all still had some time to really think about the upcoming holiday. With that, another thought came to her mind. What about Zamira? Her heart dropped and her eyes fell, she really prayed that Zamira would wake up for the holidays, but she knew it was going to be hard on the woman to deal with her entire family dying off. "This is going to be one hell of a Christmas, Freddie. Or better yet, it's been a hell of a year."

"Yeah, yeah it has…"

Guess what guys, the Audition arc's coming pretty soon. What is that? Oh it's going to be the much hyped arc where Jonah and Freddie get the band started again! The only thing is, they'll need a drummer. Prepare to see some familiar faces and by the way, take a guess here: Try to guess what important person from the show is going to soon take a very important role in this story.

Oh, and yes, I'm making things happen in this story, giving a nod to episodes and characters that happened in the iCarly seasons, latter half of season 2 closer to present. Does this mean that Victorious will ever come into play here? Hmm, we'll have to see. Got a big thing involving Carly coming up that nobody saw coming!

Oh, and next chapter should be hilarious for you. Freddie gets to learn how to crack walnuts the old fashioned way, along with Kyle. Stick around!