There's a time jump from last chapter to this. This one takes place a week before school starts back up. Also, I decided to throw in some of Mrs. Benson's over-protectiveness that we see in the show and made Cat a little OOC. I made her more serious from time to time, and we see a moment of that in this chapter.

Around 9:30 a.m., Freddie wakes up by his alarm, stretching before shutting it off. Cat invited him to a cook-out at the Vega house. The Vega's recently got a new jacuzzi, so Tori decided to have the gang over for burgers and the usual cook-out food and what-not. After he rolls out of bed, he heads into the bathroom to shower, change, and brush his teeth. After stepping out, he hears his mother call for him.

"Yeah mom?"

"I have to head in early today. They're short staffed and need the help. Will you be okay for the day?"

"Yeah mom. I have the cook-out with Cat and her friends in a couple of hours. If you need me, call."

"Promise me you won't be the one using the grill."

"Mom!" Freddie says with a sigh. "Will you relax? Mr. Vega's a cop. He's the one cooking. He offered as a back to school treat for everyone."

"Okay. He knows what he's doing right?"

"Of course he knows what he's doing." Freddie says, sighing again. "Cat'll be here by around 10:30 to pick me up, so I only have about a half hour. Go to work mom, you don't have to worry."

"Okay, but if anything happens, have Mr. Vega call me." Mrs. Benson says, giving Freddie a quick hug before rushing out the door.

'Now she's worried?' He thinks to himself as the door closes. 'I've been around LA multiple times already and she hasn't worried then.' As he thinks to himself, his phone rings, he answers it without checking the caller I.D.

"Hello?"

"Hey Freddie." Freddie freezes when he hears the female voice on the other end. "How's LA?"

"Carly? I didn't expect to hear from you."

"Yeah, I know. I want to apologize for how I acted when you told us the news. I over-reacted."

"No, you didn't. You and Sam were right. I should have fought, but I couldn't for some reason."

"I'm really sorry. I was just upset that you essentially left us with little notice. We just felt like you abandoned us and iCarly."

"I would never willingly do that, I just didn't have a choice." He says with a sigh. "How are things on your end?" He asks, changing the subject.

"Well, Sam's still Sam, same with everyone else. Spencer made a sculpture out of old Groovie Smoothie cups and T-Bo now has it set up behind the register." Carly says with a laugh. "How about you?"

"Okay I guess. Remember those kids we met when Steven was two-timing you?" He asks, growling slightly when he says 'Steven'.

"The kids from Hollywood Arts? What about them?"

"Well, Cat, the little redhead we met, her mom and mine work at the hospital where my mom got her job offer, so Cat and I have been hanging out. She's been showing me around LA, and I started hanging out with her and her friends."

"That's cool. Any news?" She asks curiously.

"Not really. Mom goes to work early and comes back around 7 or 8. Our apartment has poor wifi, but I got a wireless router a week ago." He says, shrugging his shoulders. "I have to admit, I'm surprised you called."

"I know. It's just, we were friends since the beginning of iCarly, and when you left, I was upset." She says, sounding upset still.

"Have you ever wondered what would have happened to us if we never did iCarly?" Freddie asks suddenly, sitting on the couch.

"What do you mean?"

"We became close because of iCarly, but before that, we weren't exactly friends. We talked a few times and worked on homework and projects, but were never friends. iCarly is why we hung out so much, and I was just wondering that if we never started iCarly, would we be friends?" He asks, sighing.

"I don't know." She answers in a quiet tone. "I really don't."

"Carly! Time to go!" Freddie hears faintly on the other end of the line.

"Who was that?" He asks her.

"Spencer. We're going to lunch with T-Bo at Gibby's restaurant. I'll talk to you later Freddie."

"See ya. Tell everyone I say hi."

"I will. Bye."

"Bye." He says, hanging up his PearPhone and pocketing it. 'How different would everything be if it wasn't for iCarly?' He asks himself, leaning against the couch. Almost ten minutes later, there's a knock on the door, so Freddie gets up to answer it.

"Hey Freddie!" Cat says, giving him a rib-crushing hug.

"Hey Cat." He says in a strained voice. "Can you let me go? I can't breathe."

"Oh, sorry." She says with a giggle, releasing him. "Are you okay?" She asks, tilting her head to the side.

"Yeah, just thinking about something." He says as he follows Cat out, closing the door and locking it behind him.

"About what?"

"Just how different my life would be if iCarly never started."

"Why are you thinking about that?" She asks as she pushes the button for the elevator.

"Carly called while I was waiting, and we got to talking. iCarly came up and I started wondering if Carly, Sam, and I would be friends if iCarly never happened." He says as he pushes the button for the lobby.

"What'd you come up with?" She asks as the elevator doors close.

"That we probably wouldn't and I never would have met you or your friends at the party."

"How so?"

"We became close friends from working on iCarly all the time, and because of iCarly, Steven asked out Carly. No iCarly, no meeting you. Guys. You guys." He says, correcting himself in case Cat thought something else.

"Okay?" She says, slightly raising her brow in a questioning manner. "Well, even though it ended, at least you can say the iCarly gave a lot of good memories to a lot of people." She says with a smile as the doors open, Freddie leading the way out of the elevator and towards Cat's car.

Freddie agrees as they get into Cat's car, closing the doors and turning the radio on as they pull out of the parking lot. A pop song plays over the speakers, one Freddie's never heard before but recognizes the voices.

"What song is this?" He asks curiously.

"Oh, Jade and I did a duet a couple of years ago at Karaoke Dokie. The DJ recorded the song and gave it to us on cds. I put that song and every other song me and my friends sang on my PearPod. This one is called 'Give It Up'. Do you like it?"

"Yeah." He says with a smile. "I knew you had an amazing voice from when we sang at the party, but hearing you and Jade harmonize is awesome."

"Thanks. Tori and Jade did a duet too. Want to hear that one next?"

"Sure."

"KK." She says, and a couple of minutes later when the song ends, she hands her PearPod to him and asks him to look up 'Take A Hint', which he does, and at the end of the song, says that they sound awesome together too. "I know right? I knew since they did the play that they would make such a cute couple."

"What play? What does the song have to do with a play?" He asks curiously.

"Oh, Sikowitz had them act as husband and wife for a play, but they weren't good together, so he had them go out on a date to get a feel for each other. Afterwards, when they did the play, they seemed so good together."

"When was this play?"

"A few months or so after we met. Why?"

"Because I could have sworn that Jade was dating that model looking guy."

"Oh, she was at the time. They broke up like a month after the party, then got together again a few months after the play, then broke up again at the end of school last year." She says in a quick breath.

"When did Tori and Jade get together?"

"Two months after Jade and Beck broke up. Beck wasn't mad. Apparently, the break-up was mutual, and Beck broke up with her because he knew she liked Tori and that Tori liked her."

"That was nice of him." Freddie says to himself, but louder than he intended because Cat nods in agreement. "So, who's all going to be at the cook-out?"

"Just the usual gang. And Trina."

"Wait, Trina's not a part of the group?"

"Not a lot of people like her. In fact, I think Tori and I are the only ones that do. The others kind of tolerate her for Tori's sake."

"I'm guessing Jade doesn't because I saw some glares between them when we first hung out at the beginning of summer."

"Yeah, they hate each other." She says like it's no big deal. "We're here." She says, pulling into the Vega driveway.

"Is there anything that's coming in?" Freddie asks as they go to climb out of the car.

"Nope. Everything's already here."

"Okay. Lead the way." He says, following Cat up to the door.

A bit of a cliffhanger. This chapter was originally going to contain the cook-out, but I left that out to have that be the entire next chapter. Chapters may become longer, if anyone wants them to be.

Thank you for reading and for your reviews. I'm going on vacation to Puerto Rico for a couple of weeks to visit family, and I don't know if they have internet, so I may not be able to update until after. Also, my grandma and cousins are apparently staying at my house with me and my mom for a week after, so I don't know how often I can get out to the library to update, but I'll try to at least once.

Blessed Be.