Happy 2014, everyone!

I hope all of you are having a great year, and are looking forward to some My List of Firsts to help you kick off the new year haha. FanFiction was silly for several days and wouldn't let me edit my story, but now I can, so here you go!

Again, thank you for all of your support, and I hope you like this chapter (I think it has a very exciting bit!). Please let me know what you think by leaving a review. :)

Chapter 29: My First Broken Bone

Waiting rooms are stupid.

I don't know why anyone would ever disagree. Hospital waiting rooms are the stupidest of all. Who just leaves a bunch of injured and dying people together in a room?

Every now and then someone would be called, but for the amount of people in here, no one was really being helped. Carly had already finished and handed in my paperwork a while ago. I don't know why everyone always needs more forms. I was lucky, considering the fact that my writing hand wasn't the injured one, but it was still hard to function, especially when I couldn't hit anyone for being ridiculously slow.

I must have passed out or something because I woke up in the car, confused and in pain. Carly explained to me that we were headed to the hospital, and Freddie reminded me of the fact that I had slipped.

I remembered everything, so my brain wasn't impaired, which was a good thing. But it was also a bad thing, because that meant I remembered everything. Being stuck in the closet, saying dumb things, the deep talk with Carly, going to talk to Freddie, and wiping out. Classy as always.

The only boy in our group came and plopped in the open seat next to me. I didn't look over, but I did shift in my seat a bit to acknowledge his existence. So giving of me, I know.

"I think she's the most stressed out of all of us."

Looking up to where he was gesturing, I saw Carly pacing around, a panicky look on her face. We watched as she walked back to the desk and began speaking and moving her arms in distress.

"Can you not get someone here faster? There are people in serious pain over there!" When she glanced over, Freddie and I looked away, acting as though we didn't know the girl who was starting to get stares from everyone in the room.

It was hard not to laugh, but the pain in my arm was distracting. Soon enough, I was told I could go back into a room and Freddie grabbed Carly to take her out of her craze and back to where I was going.

Several x-rays, instances of Freddie excusing himself, and a lot of waiting time later, I finally got to find out if anything was wrong. Well, I knew something was wrong, but I wasn't a health expert, so I couldn't pinpoint what it was.

The thing was, I never ended up in hospitals. I just sent people to them. This wasn't how things were supposed to work.

"Miss Puckett?"

"That's me." Doctors were slow. I think they just like to draw out the drama to make it look like they do something cool with their lives instead of just taking people's blood pressure.

"We've received the results of your x-ray, and it turns out that you broken your wrist. We're going to get you some painkillers and a cast. For now, the nurse is going to give you a splint. I'll be back in a jiffy."

I rolled my eyes. In a jiffy. Who does this man think he is - Gibby? He left and I let out a groan as the nurse fixed the splint. Carly was beside me and she gave my arm a squeeze of reassurance. "You'll be fine, Sam. It shouldn't take too long."

"I'm more focused on the fact that between this and the time you took me to the doctor, I've gotten more health care this year than I have in the rest of my years combined."

I could tell she was trying her best not to smile, and it was pretty amusing. She always tried to be there for me and be caring and it was great, though it was also great when she loosened up a little.

The door opened and I looked up, expecting the doctor, but seeing Freddie instead.

"They done waving your bruised arm around?"

"Well let's see," I picked it up and waved it, but it was in a splint, so there wasn't much to see. The nurse had left the room, but Nurse Carly freaked out.

"Be careful, Sam! You don't want to make it worse!"

"Well it already hurts, so I don't care about it that much."

"Please just be gentle with it."

"Whatever you say, Mrs. Shay."

"She's right, Sam. The more you move it, you could-"

"Oh, be quiet, Benson," I rolled my eyes, slouching on the doctor's table. "Carly's always right, but that doesn't mean she's not spoiling my fun."

He held his hands up in surrender. It was odd how complacent he was being. I remember Carly saying I was complacent when she bought me hamburgers since I was trying to beat up some guy once. I think the term applies here.

Freddie was just being so, well, non-Freddieish. Normally he defended himself at least a little. Maybe he felt bad for the fact that I injured myself in his apartment. He was right to feel bad, and even if it wasn't really his fault, we could place the blame on him.

But I was feeling snappy and he wasn't making his usual lame attempts at one-upping me. It was confusing, and I hate being confused.

Before I could think about it any more, the doctor returned and got to work on my cast, explaining what he was doing as he went along. I paid no attention. It was boring to the point of making me not super hungry.

"How are you doing?" Carly's eyes were filled with curious concern, and I realized I had flinched.

"Fine." And I was fine. It was just itchy. And weird. And tight. And I didn't like it.

"Does it feel warm or gooey or anything?"

"Shut up, Benson, or I'll break your arm and you can find out yourself."

I don't know if the doctor stopped talking in surprise or kept droning on and on about the chemical components of the liquid or whatever, and frankly, I don't care. I just wanted to get out of that place. It was too white and quiet and stiff.

Finally, the thing was stuck on there, and I was able to stop holding my arm up stupidly while it was slapped with weird fabrics.

"So, Miss Puckett," of course he wasn't done talking. "You will have to wear it for about for weeks." I grumbled unhappily. Why couldn't bones just heal magically? "You will have to wear your cast for about four weeks, if not several days less."

I groaned. This was so not my day. I could probably rip the thing off, but then I'd have to come back because Carly would never let me stay only partially healed. It was both a great and frustrating part of her good nature.

"These are your painkillers. The instructions for the amount and dosage are on the label. They should help a lot, especially during the first week. Other than that," he handed the bottle to Carly. Typical. Sometimes I felt as though she was my mom. Or, well, she was to me what a mom was supposed to be. Except she was much sillier and enthusiastic about going to Build-A-Bra. "Just be careful and try not to exert yourself too much. On your way out, stop at the desk and the receptionist will let you know when you should return for your next appointment."

"I have to come back?" This man is insane.

"Yes, we want to ensure that your arm is progressing through the healing process properly. You won't have to come back more than once or twice."

I glanced at Carly and knew better than to snap back at the guy, so I just grimaced and nodded and waited for him to leave. He did so, but Carly made sure to thank him before he got through the door.

"Four whole weeks." I let out a sound of despair and nearly flopped back onto the table, but reminded myself that I wanted to get out of here sooner rather than later.

"If it will make the time pass faster, I'll get you unlimited ham."

I turned my head around, my eyes widening in shock. That definitely wasn't expected. Not sure how to answer, I slid off the table and grabbed the door handle with my uninjured hand. "Don't make promises you can't keep."

With that, I swung open the door and headed into the hallway, making my way to the front of the building so I could get out of there. If it weren't for Carly, I would never have remembered to stop to figure out my next appointment.

I was distracted by thoughts of ham. And Freddie.

We entered Carly's apartment and it was strangely quiet.

"Does Spencer take naps now or something?"

"He's always taking naps, but no, he's actually not here because he got a job."

Freddie and I spun around to look at Carly in unison, incredibly shocked. Spencer had been commissioned for art pieces before, and had even enlisted our help, but he had never held down a real job.

"What is he doing?" Freddie was apparently able to find words before I was.

She shrugged, "it's kind of hard to explain because it's a rather, uh, unique position, but he's a consultant at some sort of food company. It's just a minor position, but I'm proud of him. I'm hoping it will last more than two hours."

"All I heard was food and then I started looking at your fridge."

"Go ahead and grab something. You were really good at the hospital today."

I laughed. She was being extra motherly today. When I got into the kitchen, I pulled out the trashcan and heard Carly asking me what I was doing from where she stood in the other room.

"Getting rid of all of this paperwork."

"You need to keep that."

"Why? It's not like I'll ever read it or remember where I left it."

"Just put it on the kitchen table. I'll keep it for you."

"Okay," I called. "Feel free to just add it to your Sam file."

"You say that like you don't think I have one."

Extracting a turkey leg from a container, I popped it in the microwave and then leaned over so I could see her through the doorway. "You have a Sam file?"

"Where else would you expect me to keep all of the things of yours I've been given by authority figures throughout the years?"

"True…" I eyed her curiously for a minute before moving back into the kitchen to grab a plate and wait for my turkey leg to finish.

We had discussed planning some new iCarly bits during the car ride home, and so once my snack was done, I plated it and then went into the other room, following my co-workers upstairs to the studio.

We'd been working for several hours straight (excluding the snack runs I'd taken downstairs) when Carly announced her need to use the 'little girl's room,' and hopped up from her beanbag chair.

I slid down a little more, flopping onto my back. This injury thing proved to be unhandy at times, especially when I couldn't pry myself up off of the mushy seats, and so I just let myself get even lazier, instead. It wasn't too bad.

There was silence and I didn't like it. Silence was only acceptable when Sam wanted it, and right now, I hadn't particularly been in the mood for no one to talk. Not that I needed to listen to Freddie nag me while Carly was gone, but it felt awkward to be quiet.

But I wasn't the one who changed the silence.

"Sam," his voice sounded hesitant. I just grunted to let him know I was at least paying a teeny bit of attention. "I- I think we should talk."

Well that was not at all what I had expected. I had thought he would turn his attention to one of the bits we were planning or ask whether it would make more sense for me to eat tuna fish or macaroni salad in one of them. But no. He wanted to 'talk.' Sometimes it really did seem like I was the man in our friendship or whatever this was. Or, almost all of the time, seeing as I'm the tough one. Not that he can't hold his own. Momma didn't miss the fact that little Fredward was no longer so little. This is where the roles switch and I seem dumb and girly again.

"No."

"No?"

I sat up, groaning impatiently when I only had one hand to push myself up and the beanbag kept trying to get me to not move.

"No. I do not want to sit here and listen to you tell me how you hate me. I might enjoy getting on your case and threatening to break your arm, but I refuse to stay here and listen to you go on about all of my horrible qualities that explain why you undoubtedly hate me so much."

I let out a sigh and sank down into my chair again.

"Sam, I don't-" Looking over, I could see he looked hesitant, but I wasn't in a pleased mood. I knew he could never like me back. That didn't mean I wanted to have some stupid talk about it.

Before he could go on, Carly walked in, and suddenly words started flowing from my mouth as if they were what Freddie and I had been discussing the whole time. "So if we did do that thing you mentioned, then we wouldn't need Gibby for the other part."

"Did you guys come up with something?" she plopped down into her seat, looking at both of us curiously.

I shrugged. "Nothing good. We need your brains, kid. The show is named after you."

She chuckled, shaking her head, and began asking some questions. I was glad Freddie started answering because all I could focus on was how many secrets it seemed like I was keeping from Carly lately, and I hated it.

As the time passed, we were all getting more and more exhausted, especially since it was getting late and Carly and I hadn't slept until like 3am this morning and later in the day we'd all had to run to the hospital and there had been all sorts of chaos. The door opened downstairs and we heard Spencer yell up to his little sister.

"Carly!"

"Yes?" She got up and stuck her head out of the doorway so he could hear her better.

"I lasted a whole eight hours!"

"I'm so proud of you!" The funny thing was, by her tone, I could tell she meant it. And of course she did. Spencer and Carly had a unique sibling relationship since he was also her guardian, but it was always clear that they meant a lot to one another. Not that I was sure when I started thinking such lame things, but it was good to see that not all families had to be whacky and messed up.

Standing up, I walked over to her and gave her a little shove through the doorway, laughing, "go congratulate the boy. I may have eaten all of your turkey legs, but there must be something to reward him. I suspect even a Carly hug would work in this situation."

She turned back to me with a smile. "You're right!" With that, she bolted down the stairs, and by the time Freddie and I got there, our best friend was tightly wound in her brother's arms.

The hours kept ticking by, and it was pitch black by the time I finally convinced myself I should leave. It's not like my mom would notice if I wasn't home for a week, but I didn't want to overstay my welcome at the Shay household, even if Carly reassured me I never could. I was just glad that Carly and Spencer ended up having ice cream in their freezer, because eating the leftover sugar-, flour-, and flavor-free cake Mrs. Benson had made to celebrate Spencer's accomplishment sounded awful.

Freddie said he should head out, too, and so after a round of hugs from the two who let us hang in their kitchen, we made our way out at last.

I was on my way to round the corner when I heard Freddie's voice.

"Sam-"

I turned around; he was standing in front of his door, his key in the lock, but he seemed to have stopped and distracted himself with whatever he wanted to tell me.

"What, Frednub?"

"I just wanted to finish saying what I was going to before Carly came back."

I rolled my eyes and made an annoyed sound. "I don't want to hear about how much you dislike me. I already told you that."

"That wasn't what I was going to say. I don't hate you, Sam."

Well this was unexpected. Maybe I already knew he didn't hate me, since he was surprisingly nice at times, but I didn't see any sort of confession coming from the nerd.

"So then what were you going to say?"

"Just that I don't hate you and I wish you didn't think I did."

"Ah, okay. Well, I got the message. Goodnight."

I went to turn away but his voice interrupted me yet again.

"Wait, Sam-"

"Yes?" I turned around, a curious yet unimpressed look on my face.

"Do… I… Are you…" There was a lot of awkward mumbling and he ran his hand through the hair on the back of his head. But when he looked at me, even though I could tell he was nervous, he did that little thing with his eyebrows. I could count on one hand the number of times I'd seen him do it, the most notable being after I had told him I was still going to mess with him when he asked if I would pull back a little bit and then again after we kissed. It confused me and made my stomach feel all funny once more.

"Spit it out, Benson. I don't have all night." That wasn't true, since I had no reason to get home, but I didn't want to stand here listen to him splutter words for an hour.

Clearing his throat, Freddie seemed to snap to attention and straightened up. Dropping his hand from the key in the door, he took a step closer to me. Though I was thoroughly unprepared for what was coming next, and when the words came from his mouth, I felt my jaw slacken and my eyes grow wide in shock. It's also very possible my heart stopped beating.

"I was wondering if you would want to go out with me sometime. Like, on a date."

SURPRISE!

I really hope all of you liked it. Let me know! I have more chapters to go write, and I would very much appreciate your encouragement, as I always do.

Have a great first week of January. xD