Disclaimer: iCarly and it's characters are not mine, I'm just using them for a little bit. All rights go to Dan Schneider and Nickelodeon.

Sam laid back down until her head rested on the pillow of her bed. Well, formerly Nona's bed. But now it's hers. Sam ran her hands back and forth against the royal blue satin sheets, a comforting habit she had picked up recently. She loved the way the cool satin felt against her skin as she climbed into bed after a hard day of chasing wild little brats from sunrise to sunset.

Sam enjoyed her place here in L.A. Her big bed (it could probably fit at least 5 people), her satin sheets, the blue and yellow splashes of paint that she added to the walls, plus the posters of favorite bands and movies that were added to the walls to make it even more her own.

It was a nice feeling being able to have her own place. To afford her own place. To be able to buy satin sheets and posters if she wanted. She didn't have this type of luxury back home. Who knew it paid off this much to have a job?

As much as she hated working when she tried her hand at it years ago in Seattle, she actually is somewhat enjoying herself here. Taking care of these bratty L.A. kids with their rich parents who pay well. Sam loves them. Loves their money. And loves teaching them.

Nothing more gratifying than knocking a Cali brat down off of their little pedestal. Because if it doesn't happen now, then it never will and then everyone will be left to deal with these spoiled little princes and princesses and they'll grow up even more wretched then they already are.

Someone needs to humble them, and Sam feels like that is her real job. And she feels like she's doing something for all of society. And she likes it.

With her tough love approach and Cat's…just a lot of love approach, they really do make the perfect team.

Sam rolls over onto her side and is greeted by the framed picture of her, Carly, and Freddie arms wrapped around each other and smiling. It was taken last year. Sam still remembers the day it was taken. Remembers the iCarly webisode they were preparing for.

Sam closes her eyes and mentally tells herself to calm the fuck down. She can't force herself to go to sleep and her legs won't stop moving back and forth under the covers.

She wants to pretend that this isn't her nerves acting up, but…that's exactly what it is.

That night, after her and Cat finally got those little twins from hell out of the apartment, Sam went straight to her room claiming she was extremely tired and needed to lay down. Cat didn't question her, she never does.

Sam then proceeded to browse through all of the photos Carly sent her (Nico was extremely sexy) and then she wrote out her reply.

She told Carly about all the quirky kids that stumble into her and Cat's life and how it is living in sunny California. She talks about their apartment and Cat (she also very subtlety implies that while Cat is very sweet, Carly is the only sweet best friend/sister Sam needs). She then talks about every single one of Carly's pictures from the scary cool fish to Nico (once again…extremely sexy).

She goes on about how much she misses Carly and wishes that they could be having crazy fun adventures.

At the very end she also briefly states that she agrees with Carly about the whole Freddie situation and how she is prepared to improve things between them.

Which is why after Sam sends her email off to Carly she stares at her phone for 45 minutes trying to figure out what to say to her best friend who she, quite literally, ditched for 5 months.

Sam eventually gets aggravated that this is even a problem in the first place and quickly types out a "Hey" and sends it before she has time to rethink it.

That was 30 minutes ago. It's now 12:37 and she's kind of freaking out.

Is he even awake? It's after midnight, I'm sure he's probably tucked all into his bed with his stupid socks and he probably has Star Trek playing on his computer. He probably turned his phone off. Actually his mom probably turned it off. Yeah, there's no way that nub is awake right now. He probably has to get 8 hours of sleep every night.

Or.

Maybe he just doesn't want to text me back?

Sam groaned and shoved her face into her pillow. Why was this even a big deal? So they haven't talked in awhile? She's known him before she knew what a menstruation cycle was. Why does this have to be a big thing?

Probably because you saw him kiss another girl and then you skipped states, a voice in the back of her head retorts.

Sam groans again. This was a dumb idea-

Ding.

Sam cracks open an eye to her phone that's lying beside her. The phone is lit up, indicating she received a text. She waits a few more minutes before reaching over and snapping the phone and pulling it close to her face to read.

From: Freddork (12:43):

hey

Sam almost groaned out loud again. Really? It took you almost 40 minutes to say…"hey"?

Then Sam quickly stopped that train of thought because it took her five months to say it first. And the fact that he even replied at all was nothing short of a miracle in the first place.

Alright Sammy. You committed to this. Now what?

A million things ran through Sam's mind. She could apologize, she could tell him where she was, maybe she could ask him…

Or not.

She waited 10 minutes (why text him back immediately when he made her wait like 40 minutes?) and then replied with a simple: "What's up?"

Okay, maybe not the most noble of conversation pieces but wow she was not ready for anything more meaningful then this. If she was being unfair (maybe she was being unfair) oh well. Wouldn't be the first time.

This time the text came back within five minutes.

From: Freddork (1:06):

Uh…just kind of sitting in my room I guess. What's up with you?

Sam closed her eyes and shook her head at the relief that filled when he replied. Maybe things could be normal between us?

To: Freddork (1:08):

Lol well I could have figured that Freddly. Wouldn't expect you to be doing much else on a Friday night :P

Sam grinned when she got his reply

From: Freddork (1:10):

Yeah, well since you're texting me I'm guessing you are just as boring as I am. Actually, you prob ingested too much ham and you cant move your bloated butt from your bed.

To: Freddork (1:13):

Cool man, we can't have one conversation without you thinking about my butt. Get your head out of the gutter, Fredderson.

Sam fell asleep with a smile on her face and clutching her phone to her chest.

"Boop."

Sam gave a small grunt and rubbed at her nose.

"Ah ha ha…boop."

Alright. Definitely not a dream and definitely someone was poking her nose. Sam's eyelids shot open and her hand snapped out to grab at whatever was touching her nose.

"Ahhh! Sam! I was just trying to wake you up and then you had to go all crazy and grabby…ow."

It was Cat.

Sam sighed and let go of Cat's finger. Cat let out a little whine and frowned down at Sam.

"Now get out of bed, sleepyhead! Jake and Chyna are coming over soon." Cat gave Sam another little nudge with her hand and climbed off of her bed. Sam was reminded how much she needed to fix that lock on her door.

"Oh, and you have a text from a Freddork."

This woke Sam up. She sat up and glared at the back of Cat's head.

"Did you go through my phone?! Boundaries, Valentine!" Sam launched a pillow at her as Cat walked out of her room. It missed and hit the wall beside the door.

Cat giggled from the hallway. "I didn't go through your phone, it was just there on the screen!"

"Ugh," Sam groaned to the empty room.

She smiled despite herself and opened the message on her phone.

Well, actually multiple messages.

From: Freddork (1:16):

Lol you wish.

From: Freddork (1:30):

No comebacks, huh Puckett? Guess I win this round.

From: Freddork (1:33):

Am I allowed to ask how you're doing?

From: Freddork (2:22):

Okay, well. You fell asleep…I think. Hope to hear from you soon.

Guilt filled Sam up and then washed over her in waves. She threw her phone to the edge of the bed and laid back until her head touched the pillow.

Too much. Wow, this is too much. Ugh, I suck. He sucks too. We both suck.

"Sam! Sam! Are you getting out of bed? I need some help with these paffles!"

Sam sighed and yelled, "I don't want to help you with your waffle/pancake concoction!"

"Yes you do!" she yelled back in a sing-songy voice.

Well, it'll give me something to do.

Sam got out of bed, one limb at a time, and then trudged her way to the kitchen. Cat was already standing by the sink, fully dressed in a light pink dress and nude flats. Her (almost-pink) red hair was curled at the end and it bounced lightly as she turned around.

"Here, stir this, please," Cat commanded as she pushed the bowl of batter into Sam's hands. She bounced past Sam to the stove. Sam begrudgingly started to stir the batter.

"So what's got you all grumpy this morning?"

Sam's head shot up and she looked to Cat, whose back was still turned away from her.

"Grumpy? Who said I'm grumpy?"

Cat reached over to plug the waffle-maker into the outlet by the stove and said, "Well, maybe not grumpy. Weird. Down. Off. Any other words for Not-Sam-like."

Sam propped the bowl of batter on her hip and walked over to Cat. "How am I Not-Sam-like?"

Cat looked over at her while she scrambled the eggs over the stove top.

"Well, for starters, you're not wearing any pants."

Sam looked down.

Huh.

Sure enough, her big T-shirt stopped just above her knees. No pants.

"And," Cat continued, "you had a pretty violent wake-up. You only complained once about helping with breakfast, and you're doing the whole shifty-eye thing you do when something's on your mind."

Sam stared at Cat's profile in shock. Cat reached over to sprinkle some salt into the almost-ready scrambled eggs.

I really don't give her enough credit, Sam thinks. She sees a lot more than she lets on.

A soft ding sounded from their left and Cat perked up.

"Yay! The waffle-maker is all toasty and ready for action! Are you done stirring?"

Cat looked at Sam and reached for the bowl of batter. Sam handed it over to her and stuttered, "Uh—yeah".

Sam took a couple steps back to allow Cat to pour the batter into the machine. Once she had spooned out all of contents of the bowl, she handed both the bowl and the spoon back to Sam. Sam padded over to the sink.

"So. What's a Freddork?"

Sam paused for only a moment before she turned the sink on.

"It's a friend. Well, a nickname for a friend. Freddie."

"Freddie? The camera guy for iCarly?"

Sam watched as water filled the batter-lined bowl.

"Well, more tech guy then just camera, but…yeah."

"I didn't know you guys were friends. You don't talk about him much."

Sam turned around and Cat was holding a plate with scrambled eggs and a paffle on it. She smiled warmly at her as Sam took it. Sam took her plate and went to sit on one of the bar stools at the breakfast nook. Cat followed her and rested her head on her hands with her elbows propped up on the counter.

"So. Tell me about him. You only talk about Carly, I want to hear more about your Seattle life!"

Sam scrunched her nose as she shoveled eggs into her mouth.

Cat sighed in exasperation. "Oh come on!" she yelled throwing her arms out. "Your life is all mysterious with all these hints of a dark past and I'm like Sherlock Holmes trying to deduce you. Throw me a bone here!"

Sam looked at her and smirked at her dramatics. She reminded her a lot of Carly sometimes.

"Well. We've known each other forever. Like. Shit, I can hardly remember the first time we actually met."

- 10 years ago -

Sam hates school. Sam hates school almost as much as she hates shots. Or spiders. Sam really hates spiders. She also really hates first days.

The first day of third grade was like all of the other first days of the previous grades.

Really boring. And stupid.

And long. When the bell rang for recess, Sam almost collapsed in relief.

"Alright boys and girls, walk in a nice line!" Mrs. Whatsherface said.

Everyone got up and ran screaming for the door. Mrs. Teacher moved to stop them, but then gave up and sat back down in her chair.

Sam smirked and blew a bubble in her gum before rising from her desk. Sam Puckett doesn't rush for anything.

Wendy walked over to her side and then both girls headed for the door.

"Sam Puckett, you have a French fry in your hair! That's so gross!"

Sam stopped and threw a glare towards the little brunette girl standing with her two evil sidekicks. They all giggled to each other.

"Rebecca Berkowitz you suck eggs. I know you suck eggs because your breath always smells like eggs. You're so gross."

Rebecca and her gang of dumb butts stopped laughing immediately and her mouth popped open in surprise.

Sam blew another bubble with her gum, and then spit it in Rebecca's direction. It landed on her shoe.

Wendy threw her head back and laughed loudly and Sam smirked and crossed her arms in front of her chest. Rebecca looked at her shoe and then gave out a small cry and rushed for the bathroom with her posse following close behind.

Sam rolled her eyes and continued to the door to the playground.

"Rebecca Berkowitz. She's so stupid," Wendy muttered.

Sam grunted in agreement.

Rebecca Berkowitz was seriously the worst.

"Hurry," Wendy said tugging a little on Sam's sleeve, "there's a newbie. We're going to miss out!"

A grin crept its way to Sam's face. "No way, really? A third grader?"

Wendy giggled as they pushed open the door. "Yeah! Some nerdy boy. He's real little."

Perfect.

"Looks like they already started!" Wendy said as they saw a group of kids circled around something up the hill beside the swings.

Wendy and Sam walked towards them. Sam started rubbing her hands in preparation for the fresh meat that had to be put in his place.

There's an order to things around here, ya know.

But she froze in place when she heard what they were saying.

"I heard that you don't even have a daddy."

"You don't have a daddy? That's so weird! You're weird."

"No wonder you're so little."

"Did your daddy leave you because you were too little?"

"No, he left because he was such a dork! Look at those glasses!"

Everyone laughed. Before Sam knew what she was doing, she had pushed through the group of kids and was now standing directly above the new kid.

He was small. Really small. Like tiny. He was curled up in a little ball on the ground and some mulch was sticking to his blue sweater.

He had thick, messy brown hair and really big brown eyes. They popped out from his face like a bug because of the thick-framed glasses he was wearing. His face was red and blotchy and tears were running down his nose, which was dusted lightly with freckles.

Sam frowned in sympathy. This kid really asked for it.

"Oh yeah, Puckett! Let him have it!"

"That's Sam Puckett. She's going to tear him apart."

The boy must have heard them talking about her because he flinched when she dropped down on her knees in front of him. She reached out and pulled a leaf from his hair.

He stared at her in awe.

"You okay, kid? Hey, don't cry. I don't have a daddy either and look how great I am," she shot him a big grin to further prove her point.

He gave a half snort of what might have been laughter and then lifted his arm to his nose to wipe some snot away with his sleeve.

Sam scrunched her eyebrows together as she took him in. He didn't say anything; he just kept staring at her.

"Look, all the kids here are really dumb. Really. I'm smarter than all of them. So, you better listen to me. When they say mean stuff just don't listen to them and pretend that you're smarter and better than they are. It's really easy for me because I really am smarter and better than they are," Sam shot him another grin, "but if you try really hard then it can be easy for you, too."

The kid tilted his head and looked up at her with his too-wide eyes. Sam blushed and looked above his head, uncomfortable with his blatant staring.

"Jeez, kid, and lose those glasses. You look like a weenie."

The kid frowned and looked down. Sam chewed on the inside of her cheek.

"Hey," she said softly. The kid looked back up at her. "Really, no one will mess with you when they realize you don't care. So…stop caring about what people think. 'Cause people don't know nothing."

The kid blinked once. Twice. Then gave her a smile.

"Sam," a high-pitched laugh sounded behind her, "do you like the new kid?"

Sam ground her teeth and balled her hands into fists.

Rebecca stinkin' Berkowitz.

"Sam likes the new kid!" she sang. "Sam likes the new kid!"

A couple more kids joined her and Sam could hear more laughter bubbling up from above her. Her eyebrows scrunched together and she slowly pushed up from the ground. A chorus of "Sam likes the new kid!" now surrounded her. She turned away from the boy and planted her feet directly in front of Rebecca who had stopped chanting and stood with her hands on her hips and a smirk on her face. Wendy was standing in the back looking slightly worried and her mouth shut tight.

Sam took a deep breath and let a sweet smile spread across her face.

A hint of confusion flickered in Rebecca's eyes.

"Yeah, well. Maybe I do," Sam said.

Then she reared back, and threw her first across Rebecca's face. The kids stopped singing immediately and all gasped at once. Rebecca screamed and hit the ground, both hands reaching for her nose.

Then all the kids started screaming, "FIGHT! FIGHT! FIGHT!"

And Rebecca was sobbing and looking down at her now blood covered hands.

"But at least I don't have a messed up nose, potato face!" Sam yelled down at the crying girl.

Teachers were on her in 8 seconds flat.

"Rebecca Berkowitz you suck the BIGGEST EGGS! She started it! You'll never take me alive!" Sam yelled as she was being dragged by two teachers back inside.

All the kids were so distracted by Rebecca and the teachers dragging Sam Puckett kicking and screaming back into the school, that they completely forgot about the tiny boy sitting on the ground.

Sam didn't learn until next year that his name was Fredward Benson and that he lived across the hall from her new best friend Carly Shay.

First days of school were always stupid.

But the first day of third grade definitely wasn't boring.

"Wow, I'm pretty sure I even knew him before I met Carly."

Cat blinked. "Woooow, that's a long time! And you didn't even tell me about him! Why?"

Sam speared some more eggs. "I don't know. We didn't exactly leave on good terms."

"Oh. That's sad. What happened?"

Sam chewed and swallowed. "Its…complicated."

"Complicated? How is-,"

Before Cat could finish her question, her phone started buzzing. She picked it up and gave out a little squeak.

"Oh my goodness, I am so late for school!" She took off from behind the counter and ran to the living room.

"Bye Sam, don't set anything on fire!" Cat yelled as she grabbed her backpack from the couch and launched herself out of the front door.

"I won't make any promises," Sam said after Cat had already slammed the door shut behind her.

Sam pushed around the remaining eggs on her plate. She smiled to herself remembering freckles on noses and too-wide brown eyes.

The next chapter! Yay!

The first Seddie flashback (baby Sam and Freddie are my weakness).

Hope you enjoyed! Drop a review! :)

Lucy