Author's Note: *raises white flag* I come in peace! XD

I'm really sorry for the late update! I've just been extremely busy lately =/

Disclaimer: I don't own iCarly! *sighs sadly*

Enjoy! ;)

Chapter 9

Normal POV

Freddie looked up abruptly, and when his eyes met Sam's, he froze, clearly surprised to see her standing there in the middle of the hallway holding his jacket.

Sam's heart was racing inside her chest as she tried to make herself calm down so she could say something, but she felt as if she had suddenly lost the ability to speak.

They stared at each other for a long silent moment, until Sam finally broke the silence.

"Uh, I… I guess this is yours," Sam said, taking a few hesitant steps toward Freddie to hand him his jacket.

"Uh, yeah… Thank you," Freddie said, hesitantly taking the jacket from her. "Uh… what… what are you doing here?" he couldn't stop himself from asking.

"I… I need to talk to you," Sam said after a brief moment of hesitation, doing her best not to chicken out of what she was there to do.

Freddie eyed her curiously for a moment. "What about?" he asked, and Sam noticed that he was a bit tense. Actually, he was extremely tense, but why wouldn't he be tense about talking to the girl whom he'd confessed his love to just a few hours ago when she shows up again and says that she needs to talk to him? Yeah, he had his reasons to be tense.

"Uh… I think you know what it is about," Sam said, regretting it instantly when she noticed Freddie shifting his weight uncomfortably from one leg to the other - a clear sign that he was suddenly feeling nervous. He didn't say anything though, so Sam decided to go on. She took a deep breath in an effort to calm herself down, but it was suddenly extremely difficult for her to look at Freddie in the eye.

"Freddie, I…" She thought it was ridiculous that she was looking down, so she gathered up all the courage she had in her and looked at him straight in the eye, and she instantly got lost in those dark brown eyes of his. She had never really noticed how beautiful they were.

"Sam?" Freddie's voice brought Sam back to reality abruptly.

"Oh, sorry, I was just…" She made a brief pause, trying to organize her thoughts. "I was just saying that I thought about everything you said, and about some other things, and I came to the conclusion that… that I…" She couldn't make herself finish that for some reason. Instead, she leaned in quickly and pressed her lips against his lightly, resting either one of her hands on each of his shoulders as she pulled him closer to her.

Freddie was clearly surprised at first, but soon enough, the shock seemed to have worn off, and he eagerly responded to the kiss. But as soon as it started, it was over, because Sam quickly pulled away from him. But even though the kiss was short, as soon as their lips had made contact, Sam knew that she would never regret what she was about to do, and that she was for sure making the right decision.

"That even though I can't say it back, I do feel something for you, and I think we should give this a chance," she said finally, and then waited for Freddie's reaction.

Freddie stared at her for a long moment, shock clear in his features, before he finally found his voice and was able to speak again. "Are you serious? I mean, you really mean that?" Freddie asked, and Sam noticed that he was still pretty hesitant.

Sam nodded in response, and Freddie could see in her eyes that she wasn't lying.

He smiled brightly at her, and she smiled back. And in the next moment, Sam leaned in one more time, but this time, the kiss lasted way longer than the previous one, and it was even more passionate.

Their lips moved in complete synchrony and with no hesitation. Freddie found himself suddenly addicted to the sweet taste of strawberry and fat cakes on Sam's lips, and he pulled her closer to him, never wanting to let her go. Sam wrapped her arms around Freddie's neck and pulled his face even closer to hers, as if no matter how close they already were, it just wasn't enough.

In that moment, nothing else in the world mattered to both of them. A dragon could have flown past the fire escape and set the building next to Bushwell Plaza on fire and they wouldn't even have noticed it. They were just too lost in each other to have a single care in the world.

And they both wished that moment could last forever.

Sam opened the Shays' front door slowly and walked inside as quietly as possible, trying not to make a sound. She didn't know how long she had stayed out there in the fire escape with Freddie, but she knew that it had been almost an hour. She felt like she was in some kind of dream state, because everything she was feeling while she was with him just seemed too good to be true.

But eventually, they had to go back to their respective lives. Freddie knew his mother would be out there soon looking for him, and he knew that it probably wouldn't be a good idea for her to catch the two of them snuggled together out there in the fire escape. They half-heartedly parted ways, each one going into a different apartment, but not before sharing a goodnight kiss while they were still a few steps away from the front doors, afraid that either Carly or Mrs. Benson could be looking through their peepholes.

Sam was hoping that Carly had already gone to bed when she walked inside, since she'd rather tell her best friend the big news that she and Freddie were dating the next day, with Freddie himself by her side, but in the moment she was inside, she heard the sound of someone running down the stairs, and she suddenly knew that she probably wouldn't be able to put it off until the next day.

"Sam! Finally! Spencer went to look for you, but when he came back, he just said that he had found you, but he wouldn't tell me what happened! I'm sorry for being so paranoid! I just, I don't know, I just don't like not knowing things, but if you guys-" Sam cut her off by pressing her hand over Carly's mouth.

"Carly, it's okay. There's no need to apologize," Sam told her best friend, and Carly sighed when Sam pulled her hand back.

"Good," she said, sounding relieved, and it was clear that she was dying to ask Sam about where she had been since the moment she left the apartment earlier that night, but she was holding it back.

"Listen," Sam started. "Freddie and I have something to tell you, but he'll probably want to be there when we tell you, so do you think you can wait until tomorrow?" Sam asked, and she saw her friend's eyes instantly brightening up when she heard the word 'tomorrow'.

"Yep, I think I can," she said, smiling. Sam knew that she actually wanted to know it right then and there, but she'd have to wait.

It wasn't like the wait would be really long anyway.

Freddie calmly walked through the big doors of Ridgeway High School on Monday, a smile on his face. He and Sam had been dating for three days now, and since the moment they told Carly about it, she wouldn't stop talking about how cute they looked together. It was awesome that she had taken it so well when they told her and that she didn't get all paranoid thinking that they had been dating behind her back after they explained everything to her. Spencer seemed like he could throw a party to celebrate it when they told him, and according to him, he had won some bet with Socko about them. Spencer had thought that they'd get together less than a six months after Carly found out that they had kissed, but Socko had said that it would take over a year.

As Freddie walked through the main hall, he noticed that a lot of people were staring at him, and some whispered something to their friends as he walked by. He ignored them as he walked toward his locker, right after noticing that neither Sam nor Carly had arrived at school yet.

When he got to his locker, Gibby came out of nowhere and was suddenly standing right next to him.

"Hey, Gib," Freddie greeted his friend as he got his Chemistry book out of his locker and stuffed it inside his backpack.

"Hey, Freddie!" Gibby greeted him back. "So, how did you do it?" he asked quickly, but Freddie had no idea what he was talking about.

"Uh... what did I do?" Freddie asked, but instead of answering, Gibby simply chuckled.

"Alright, alright, if you don't wanna tell me your secret, that's fine," he said, and then patted a confused Freddie on the back, before walking away without another word.

And that wasn't the only weird thing that happened. Soon after that, one of his friends from the AV Club, Collin, came rushing toward Freddie, who was now closing the door of his locker shut.

"So, is it true?" Collin asked.

"What?" Freddie asked, still not getting what people were talking about. But before anything else could be said, a familiar voice called from behind Freddie.

"Hey, dork."

Freddie didn't need to turn around to know who had approached them and had just wrapped her arms around Freddie's neck.

"Hey, yourself," he replied smiling, turning around slightly so he could give Sam a quick peck on the lips, before turning back to Collin, who was staring at the couple with wide eyes and his mouth hanging open.

"I'd… better… get… going," Collin said, and then began walk away hurriedly, but before he was out of earshot, they both heard him exclaim 'it's true!' to a group of students that had been staring at them for a while. And that was exactly when realization dawned upon Freddie.

"Uh… should I have understood what just happened?" Sam asked, frowning slightly as she stared at the spot where Collin had just vanished in the end of the hallway.

"Well, I guess Carly made sure everyone knew we are dating," Freddie said, and Sam chuckled.

"I think I should have seen that coming," she said, and gave him another peck on the lips.

Sam then spotted Carly walking slowly toward her locked. Noticing that she hadn't spotted them yet, Sam gestured in her direction with her head, telling Freddie to turn around, and when he did, he instantly caught sight of Carly. He looked back at Sam, who simply winked at him and started walking toward the brunette girl. Freddie hesitantly followed her, not really knowing what she'd do next. Sam could be really unpredictable sometimes.

When Carly saw Sam and Freddie approaching her, she let out a low yelp.

"Hey, Sam! Hey, Freddie! How are you two doing? I mean, I bet you two are fine, I'm fine too, I mean, apart from that History test I have today. I couldn't really study for it. Well, what do you think the cafeteria will have for lunch today? I don't really think they'll have something good, but I mean, they never have! And what about that new-" Carly started rambling uncontrollably, just like she always did when she was nervous about something.

Noticing that, Sam quickly cut her off. "Carly," she said in a serious tone, and Carly immediately shut up. Sam was looking at Carly with her best angry look, which made Carly look exactly like a small pray as it stared at its predator with fear all over its face.

"Okay, I'm sorry! I was talking to Wendy on the phone last night, and it kind of slipped!" Carly's tone was completely terrified as she mentally prepared herself for what was about to come, fearing what her friends would say to her. She hadn't meant to tell Wendy about Sam and Freddie; it had been completely unintentional. She had panicked as soon as the words had left her mouth, since she knew that Wendy was the queen of gossip, and when she knew something, the whole school did too, but there was no way to take back what she had said.

Sam stared at her for a long moment, until she suddenly started laughing. Carly stared at her friend with a confused expression on her face, frowning.

"Why are you laughing?" Carly asked, sounding confused.

"You looked so afraid! I was just kidding, Carls," Sam said, sounding completely amused.

"Uh… that wasn't funny, you know," Carly said, crossing her arms over her chest.

"Yes, it was," Sam said, still laughing a bit, and Freddie couldn't help but smile at the two girls' little exchange.

"So… you guys are not mad at me for telling everyone that you're dating?" Carly asked, still a bit suspicious, eyeing both of them with a hint of nervousness in her eyes.

"Of course not, Carly," Freddie said.

"Yeah, I mean, everyone would know about it later anyway," Sam said, shrugging lightly, and then started opening her locker by entering her combination.

They hung out by their lockers for a few minutes until the bell rang, signaling that the first class of the day was about to start.

"We'd better hurry, Sam. We have English with Ms. Briggs now in the first period," Carly said as she started walking toward the stairs that led to the second floor.

"Ugh, do we really have to see her face today?" Sam whined.

"Yes, and if we don't hurry, we'll be late!" Carly said, but Sam didn't move from where she was standing.

"You know what, Carls? I'll just… If someone asks for me, just tell them that I wasn't feeling well and went home," Sam said, winking at her friend, who simply rolled her eyes at the blonde and walked away hurriedly.

Sam then turned to Freddie and started playing with his hair while she spoke.

"So… what do you say about… not going to the first period?" she asked, smirking at him.

Freddie hesitated for a moment before responding. "Uh, well…" he started, but Sam gave him her best puppy dog look, and Freddie's heart seemed to melt at the sight. He had always been a perfect student, but now he thought that maybe it wouldn't be so bad if he missed the first class of the day to hang out with his girlfriend. Well, actually, that didn't sound bad at all… at least the last part didn't.

"Alright," Freddie said finally, giving in with a hint of a smile forming on the corner of his lips.

Sam smiled brightly at him before brushing her lips over his lightly. But before Freddie could deepen the kiss, she quickly pulled away and ran up to the two big Ridgeway front doors. She paused by the doors and turned around to wink at Freddie – a clear sign that she wanted him to follow her - before walking out the doors and disappearing from sight.

Freddie stared at the point where the blonde had vanished for a brief moment, before going after her with a huge smile on his face.

Author's Note: I just love this chapter... =P

As you can notice, this is kinda the last chapter, BUT I'm working on an epilogue, so the story is not exactly over yet ;P

Thank you so much for reading! =)

I love reviews ;)

xxiCarlyFanxx