A/N: I'm back! I have decided that this will be a slow burn, I'm not going to lock myself in a box in terms of covering these five weeks. Sometimes a chapter may only cover part of a day and sometimes it will span multiple days. It will shift as needed. Anyway, I'm definitely continuing the slow burn for right now.


Carly was first to wake the next morning, Freddie was a side sleeper so he always rolled to his back as he stirred. Yes, watching Freddie wake up filled Carly with joy and satisfaction.

"Hi," He chuckles but he is not fully awake yet greeting her with a relaxed grin while he rubs the sleep out of his eyes.

"Hi!" Carly felt rebellious, she sounded like a teenager again, as though sharing her bed with Freddie now and being juvenile about it somehow took the both of them back in time to when they were teens. She voices what she is feeling. "Does it feel like we're 13 again?" Carly blushes because she feels silly for asking.

Freddie sat up with a pensive look. "Well, with my mom and Sam being at their worst at the time, and then having to deal with having a crush on the girl who didn't like me back, I would rather forget 13."

The mood becomes more serious now and Carly knows the weight behind the end of Freddie's comment.

She meets his eyes. "I would give up icarly if it meant that I could tell young Carly what she just couldn't see back then." She hopes he knows that especially now.

"You don't owe me explanations, Carly." He was clearly moved.

She was overcome with emotion, her voice weighty and quiet. "You have to know that I always cared about you, I just thought that it was a crush you would grow out of. You were so casual about loving me and being my second husband that it never occurred to me that you meant it—not until…"

"I saved your life." He finished for her gently.

Carly was getting increasingly nervous now, though she didn't know why. "You were right that I fell in love with you for the wrong reasons, but you showed me a side of you that I hadn't seen before and the one thing I'm sure of is that after that day you became more than just my best friend. I swear, it was real. I know that what I felt wasn't just friendship. It could never be just friendship again and I was ready to find out what more there was. But then…" She stopped, trying not to let her face betray her, it didn't work.

Freddie knew exactly where he had screwed up all those years ago. He sighed regretfully. "I told you we shouldn't be together just because I saved your life and it confused you. When I said we were still the same people we'd always been I didn't realize that, for you, I wasn't the same Freddie. That cute but unfiltered kid who followed you around like a puppy."

Carly let her head fall into his chest, melancholy. "I should have done or said more to convince you, but you gave me an out and I took it because it was easier than trying to be your girlfriend so maybe I wasn't ready I don't really know."

"I should have let you find out, it would have been better for both of us. I regretted that break up immediately Carly." He said squeezing her tightly. "The only thing I regret more than dating Sam is letting her get inside my head about you."

"I hate Sam for that," Carly said harshly.

Freddie chuckled, "Nobody says I hate you sounding like a wounded puppy and means it."

"Alright fine, I don't hate her but I don't know why I ever cared so much about not talking to her for so long." Carly said flatly.

"Because you are an empathetic person Carly." He seemed to be remembering something. "When we were kids before Icarly, one day I disappeared from my bed in the middle of the night. Even though he ran off and I hated him so much for abandoning me, I was still missing him and Mom just didn't understand that."

Carly took Freddie's hand, locking their fingers together, and had begun to recall the memory from her point of view. "A noise woke me and I kept hearing it. The more I listened it sounded like it was coming from the fire escape, and when I looked I eventually found you sitting alone, crying." She said sympathetically.

He continued quietly. "I didn't even know you were there until you sat down next to me. You didn't say anything, not a word, you just smiled and pulled me into a hug until I stopped crying." Freddie looked at Carly with adoration and warmth. "I don't know how you knew exactly what was wrong but you did and when I finally stopped crying you brought me into your apartment." Rising emotions made Freddie's voice shake slightly. "You slept with me the rest of the night, just sitting on the couch and I snuck back home before my mom was awake the next morning, nobody else ever knew anything had happened, just us." He sighed collecting himself. "That's where my crush came from, but I was far too bothersome afterward for you to take it seriously, still it meant everything to me, what you did and I'm glad I can finally tell that."

Carly was moved and flattered now. "Wow, even back then I didn't think about it, you needed me and I was there… like always, Freddie."

"Well that's how being Carly and Freddie has always been." He smiled and they kissed. "Since I stayed over I'll make breakfast while you get dressed." He said cheerfully.

"Hang on, you shouldn't have to wear your suit clothes again." Carly gets up and rummages through her doors until she finds her roomy clothes, all her sweatshirts and sweatpants have enough room in them to fit Freddie's large arms and legs.

Carly gestures to the open dresser drawer. "Take your pick of my sweats, they are big on me so they should fit you perfectly." She smiles.

"Are you sure? You'll just have to wash them later? I err sweat more than I'd like to admit." He says shyly almost apologizing in advance.

Carly looks at him dismissively. "It'll dry, besides I like the idea of you in my clothes, why would I wash your smell out of any of my clothes." She says it boldly and without hesitation.

It's a very serious flirtatious comment, and she enjoys the way his face shifts from shy to shocked and then just a little smug. Carly, smirks grabs her own set of clothes to wear and heads into the bathroom to change.

As Freddie watches her walk away, he allows himself to do something that he's never done before and his eyes drift to her butt and stare.

Freddie is oblivious to the mirror on the door but Carly isn't. She spots his eyes on her butt and gets satisfaction from it, sure that he has spent years having to suppress his physical attraction to her.

Carly turns around at the bathroom door, deciding to take another opportunity to make sure he knows that things have permanently changed between them. "You know, my shower door is the kind that casts a silhouette." She says matter of fact before disappearing into the bathroom, leaving him to realize the implication of her words.

Freddie convinces himself he misheard her. "There is no way she just invited me to watch her while she— " But then he realizes that was exactly what she just did. As he hears the water running he also realizes that her bathroom door is wide open, granted she's behind glass and it's just her silhouette but still she is making it so easy for him to watch her while she takes a shower.

Freddie seriously considers doing just that. The problem is that he doesn't trust that he would be able to settle for just her silhouette. No, he wouldn't be able stop himself from joining her in there if he got that close. So, Freddie forces himself to get dressed and leaves the room for the kitchen to make breakfast.

Carly knew that Freddie wouldn't actually watch her shower, even only behind silhouetted glass, not because he didn't want to but because he just wasn't the type to invade someone's privacy. Still, the point was that Carly wanted him to realize that they didn't have to hide or suppress their feelings anymore, even lustful feelings. Something that was admittedly still very new for her but she knew that liked to think about Freddie that way now that they were together as a couple and she wanted him to feel comfortable doing things like stare at her butt when she walked away and not feel like he was doing something wrong or something she didn't want him to do. It was a heavy reminder for Carly that she had denied Freddie romantically for a very long time and as she continued to shower she knew that it was a mistake that she had to correct and was determined to do just that no matter how long it took.

They were partway through a typical breakfast of eggs, toast, bacon, etc when Carly broke the sound of eating with a sudden observation about Freddie. "Your arms are so much bigger than I remember them being as kids."

"Well, I am one of the legendary Fencing Benson's. I guess it gave me some muscle." He reminded her proudly.

"I didn't forget about that I just assumed that you played regular sports at some point." She said.

"You've seen my horrible coordination, Carly. I have to be extra careful about which sports I play or I look like an idiot." Freddie laughed sheepishly.

"I've been out of shape since ninth grade," Carly admitted.

"You don't look out of shape, I mean have you looked at body recently." He said rhetorically.

Carly smiled and said without any pretense. "No, but you have. Most recently my butt."

Freddie coughed forcibly, "I uh," He clearly didn't expect Carly's response. "I'm sorry, I just sort of noticed it." He blushed. "I didn't know you had eyes in the back of your head."

"I saw your reflection in the bathroom mirror that hangs on the door." Carly explained. "You didn't notice because you were so nervous that you checked out my butt."

"I shouldn't have done it." He said apologetically.

"I liked it." She said without hesitation.

"You like that I was staring at your butt?" He pushed his plate away. "I should stop eating before I choke from the shock of knowing that Carly Shay likes it when I look at her butt." He said in disbelief.

"Freddie, " They laughed. After a minute of silence, Carly abandoned her plate too, then she turned to him serious but subdued. "I'm going to fix it, Freddie."

"Fix what?" He asked, one of the rare times that he had no idea at all what she was talking about.

Carly frowned, "You still think of me as your best friend first and your girlfriend second, I'm going to keep trying until it's the other way around and that starts today." She sounded determined. "Now, let's move over to the couch."

Carly led Freddie over to the couch and immediately started making out with him, talking in between the kissing. "I want you to touch and kiss me—anywhere you've always wanted—I am your girlfriend now Freddie Benson." She stopped abruptly. "That means that nothing is off limits, except bondage and torture because that's just a total different sort of weird that I'm not going to be into, ever." She shivered at the mere thought.

Freddie chuckled. "You didn't strike me as the fifty shades of grey type, anyway which is good because I'm not either. I'm the loving, romantic type." He told her softly.

"I know that, my knees buckled because you are so wonderful to me." Carly assured him. "I just don't want that loving, romantic guy that made my knees buckle the same guy who has always been my best friend thinking he can't lust after me as my boyfriend. I know you spent years and years suppressing your feelings for me, but my point is you don't have to do that anymore, Freddie." She said seriously, "and I don't want you to ever again."

"I'll get there, every time I make progress I go backwards, I keep hearing the same voice in my head I heard for years and I haven't gotten used to this new normal yet." He admitted nervously.

"Like I said, I want to help change that, and I meant it." Carly got up, locked her apartment door and straddled herself on Freddie's lap. "Do whatever you want and we'll go from there." She encouraged softly.

Freddie was quickly anxious. "Carly this is going to sound so strange coming from a man with two ex-wives but I can't just end 16 years of suppressing my feelings and urges in one couch make-out session." He raised his hands. "See, my hands…they won't stop shaking…"

It was true, his nervous system was being true to its name. Carly took both his hands in her own, they were visibly shaking. "Am I pushing you too hard?" She asked sympathetically.

"No, but when it comes to this sort of stuff it's always been you that takes the lead and at least for now, I need that. I know it's stupid but I'm terrified that I'll have no restraint." He said looking at her sheepishly.

Carly's heart melted into goo. He had so much unexpressed passion that he was terrified of how far he would go if he finally stopped suppressing it. It was just like Freddie Benson to be worried about entering even the smallest step of a sexual relationship because he feared his own passion with her. As usual everything he did was for her sake.

"I trust you completely, Freddie and that means I trust you with my body too, even if you don't trust yourself right now, I do," Carly said.

"So you're shower door this morning, you were really okay with only that separating us." Freddie asked carefully.

"I knew you wouldn't actually watch me from behind my shower door, but it was important to me that you know you could." Carly said seriously.

"I didn't think you were ready for that kind of, you know, frisky stuff." Freddie was more intrigued than nervous now.

"I mean, not that I'm ready to have intercourse sex yet. I mean you were married twice and I've never done more than kiss and fail at dating. I'm just saying I don't want you thinking it's wrong to think frisky thoughts about me and my body." She sounded both shy and energetic as she finished, blushing.

"First, why do you assume it's not my first time. My ex-wives are ex-wives for a reason Carly." He looked at her with meaningful eyes.

Carly slowly understood. "Oh… but I thought..."

He could hear the genuine curiosity in her voice. "I tried, but I couldn't do that to either of them or myself. I think that might be a big reason why they divorced me."

"Why would they hold that against you?" Carly asked sympathetically.

Freddie shrugged. "They didn't, not because of that anyway." At Carly's still puzzled expression, he continued. "My heart Carly. I couldn't give them my heart." He said plainly, but look on his face said 'sorry not sorry'.

"But you married them." She said rhetorically.

Freddie sighed. "That's not the same as giving someone your heart, and my heart was—is yours, Carly, it always has been even when I tried to deny it." He said calmly.

"It's happening again." She told him vaguely.

"Hmm?" He asked.

"Whenever I think I understand how you feel about me, you tell me something that reminds me I don't have a clue."

"I didn't help you much at all." He said dismissively.

"But, no matter who you married you kept waiting for me to feel the same." She said affectionately.

"I couldn't let you go. I would've waited for you forever, Carly." He said earnestly.

Carly started to feel moisture pull at her eyes. "You always protect me, Freddie, even when it makes things hard or painful for you. I'm not going to take that for granted now that we're together."

"I hope you're not feeling guilty, Carly." He asked with concern at the tears that had begun falling silently down her face.

Carly shook her head her emotions taking over completely now, though she was still proud she wasn't crying. "No, but I finally understand why I couldn't face my feelings for you when we were kids." Carly put her arms around Freddie's neck whispering, "Never in my whole life has a guy cared so much about me that he wants to protect me from his passion." She took an emotional breath." Trying to measure up to your feelings, feels that deep…scared me."

He touched her cheek with one hand. Freddie's voice was quiet but breaking with emotion now too. "You're still braver than me."

"Says the man who jumped in front of a taco truck to save my life." She gently reminded him. "It took me 16 years to understand my feelings for you." Carly lamented her foolish past. "So I understand how hard it is to let your feelings enter a place they haven't been…" Carly decided to lighten the mood now talking flirtatious and seductive and silly. "Freddie, in your case the place is sex, intercourse, intercourse sex and seeing and touching me…before and after intercourse sex."

"Wow…" Freddie was amazed. "I never thought I would hear the words intercourse, sex and intercourse sex so many times in one sentence, but only you could get me to relax by turning a heavy conversation into something that makes me laugh, you're frisky Carly Shay." He grinned, then his next words were matter of fact. "But thank you, because you're right, Carly. I'm not even good at kissing you."

Carly looked at him preposterously. "Freddie, now you're just being silly. I'd tell you if you were a bad kisser."

"Yeah but in the 16 years we were caught between friends and a romantic relationship, do you know how many times I took it upon myself to kiss you? Or tell you I wanted to be your boyfriend? Zero…"

"But you were always saying you loved me."

"And stalking you through a peephole.

"But you stopped doing that."

"Yeah, but I was still in denial all the time."

"Our dance."

"You were looking into my eyes with so much love, and I didn't kiss you." He said lamenting his cowardice.

"But you saved my life!" She insisted.

"Yeah, and you kissed me, that entire time, and I ended it because I was picky." He continued bluntly. "And then I date Sam…Afterwards I ask you, out of the blue if it's too late for you to love me, and deny it when you try to clarify, and last but certainly not least, when I knew that you moving to another country for at least a year, I didn't take you into my arms and kiss you the way I have wanted to kiss you since the day I saved your life."

"We have a complicated past but I'm not scared of being with you anymore, you never have to be unsure of how I feel about you ever again, I will do anything you ask me to do." Her words were no longer reserved, they were intense and quite possibly obsessed. "Tell me. Tell me something that you have always wanted?" She challenged him.

"Your neck, I want to kiss your neck." The first two words came out nervously but the full sentence was more relaxed and confident.

"I would love for you to kiss my neck." She said eagerly, "And do more than that, but don't tell me what alright."

"How will I know if you like something?" He asked nervous.

"I'll tell you." She placed her hands on his chest, his heart was beating fast. She smiled, her voice somehow intense and gentle all at once. "But, if you're going to insist that your bad at acting on your feelings then your are not allowed to talk unless you're reacting to something I do."

"You want to do things…to me." He asked her uncertainly, hoping she wouldn't be hurt by his disbelief.

"To you-for you-with you. I mean you are my super hot boyfriend so…" Carly leaned down to kiss Freddie, but pulled back with a smile, her eyes regarding him with encouragement.

She was waiting for him to act, to follow through, the one thing he had always been terrible at when it came to his feelings for her, she had gotten them here, together, boyfriend and girlfriend… But lovers that had to be his choice, she was clearly already there. Already, willing to do anything except cross into explicit sexual territory, which was good because he was having enough trouble sexualizing his best friend and her body without the added pressure that literally having sex with her. He closed his eyes making sure not to get ahead of himself…

Carly was watching Freddie, everything in her wanted to maul him, but she only waited. Carly knew that if they were going to be lovers if they were going to explore each other in all the ways lovers did then he needed to act on those impulses. Inside she was a fragile mix of desperation and devotion, very thankful that his eyes were closed because she wasn't sure how long she could keep the emotion off her face, and then she felt Freddie's mouth against her neck and she savored each one. She savored feeling and hearing the sound of him kissing part of her body that was not her mouth, which made her heart warm and calm in her chest.

"That feels good." She said softly, encouraging him while a hum of approval and satisfaction escaped her lips, in response to Freddie's kisses on her neck.

It probably seemed so stupid to most people. Harper would tease Carly for sharing a bed and doing nothing but quite literally sleeping together, just as she would that they treated exploring each other's bodies while attempting to make out like it was a serious and meaningful thing to both of them and she didn't care if anyone understood how wonderfully overwhelming it was that Freddie Benson kissing her neck. Soon all thought left her brain and Carly reciprocated with kisses of her own on his neck, much more confidently.

"You have…the softest lips, Carly. Did I…ever tell you that?" He told her in a breathy whisper.

"No, but I would love to keep hearing you say the things that you've always liked about me," Carly said in between more neck kisses as she transitioned from right to left.

Freddie was still kissing her but now he moved taking interest in her collar bone "I like your dark brown eyes and how much looking into them makes me happy, because even after all these years, I know that you have a look that is just for me."

"Oh," She paused, intrigued. "Tell me more?" She pleaded innocently.

The truth was Carly loved hearing Freddie talk about her and all the thoughts and feelings that he stuffed down for so many years.

Freddie paused too, mesmerized by nostalgia. "Sometimes it's like I'm the only one that exists in your whole world, and you want to kiss me." Then he confessed a long-held secret. "It's a look you've had since we were kids. Just for me, and I would always hope that you would never stop looking at me like I was your whole world and memorized it every time because I never knew when you would feel that way again. I think that look is the only reason I didn't get super jealous all the time you fixed on some tall dumb guy in high school."

"I had a type back then, still do according to Spencer." She said embarrassed. "But I'm certain now as a mature adult, the only guy I want to look at is the one that has been right in front of me for the last 16 years." Carly's voice was gentle yet adamant, devotion all over her face.

There it was again that look in her eyes that was only for him, an intense affection that could not be defined as just one thing and in that moment Freddie fully understood the meaning of a soulmate.

"I want you to know how much I want you, but I think we've established that I am a coward when it comes to romance and you, Carly." He told her anxiously.

"Well I'm not good at putting my feelings for you into words, Freddie, so I'm a coward too."

He laughed. "We're both cowards."

Carly giggled. "At least we're in this together."

"Right now it's too overwhelming for me, I think it would be easier if we took turns."

"You want to take turns?" She asked blankly.

He explained, seeing her confusion. "Yeah, you know. Kissing, touching each other, and in your case telling me what you want."

Carly eyes lit up and she smiled. "I get it now. You want to practice so we don't get overwhelmed by all the new, and might I add very hot, boyfriend-girlfriend stuff that we want to say and do with each other."

"At least until I can return the favor for you without getting overwhelmed." He blushed nervously.

"How do we decide who goes first?" She asked tilting her head thoughtfully.

He locked eyes with her. "Um, I'm seriously worried that I won't be able to stop myself from…well, let's just say 16 years of burying all of my—more than friend feelings and thoughts about you, especially as we've gotten older hasn't been easy…" He trailed off hoping that she would understand what he meant without having to be so blunt about his passion for her.

Carly could see it in Freddie's eyes and all over his face, bubbling up from deep within, no longer buried and clawing its way free. Lust, lust for her that the friend part of his brain was fighting against.

She knew him well enough to know that unless she made it clear through her words that he was allowed to claim and explore her body for himself, Freddie would never cross that line.

Carly encouraged him, but did so casually, as if the two of them were discussing ideas for the next icarly episode. "Like what, I want to know something specific."

"Specific to now, or from back in high school?" He asked, unsure of her goal.

Carly got an idea, an exercise in helping Freddie let go of the inhibitions that he carefully constructed around her during high school. "You can do anything involving kissing me and touching me in any romantic moment from high school? What would do?"

Freddie shrugged. "I never thought about it." But he suddenly wouldn't look her in the eye, his gaze deliberately focused on her right eyebrow which was lifted skeptically.

"Liar, liar, pants on fire!" She said triumphantly.

"Carly!" He was torn between amusement and exasperation. "What are you doing to me!"

"Come on, how would you change any of our moments from back then?" She asked, Carly was admittedly curious about what selfish Freddie would have said and done.

"What moment are you talking about in this alternate scenario?" He asked, hoping she would choose so he didn't have to choose.

"Our dance at the Groovy Smoothie after the horrible night we had at the school dance." She said automatically.

"You answered that very fast." He said eying her suspiciously.

"Yeah, I did." Carly readily admitted. "Now no more stalling." She said eagerly.

Freddie sighed and then closed his eyes for a few seconds as if placing himself back in that moment. When he spoke again, his voice had a selfishness that Carly rarely heard. "I would've told you how beautiful you look, that you smelled nice—like watermelon and flowers— "

"You remember the way I smelled?" She said blushing at him.

He was massaging her arms now. "I remember our dance perfectly: Your arms around my neck—just like right now. Your head on my shoulder—that's why I noticed the smell of your hair. I still thank god I didn't sniff it, it would have ruined the moment. You were so content in my arms and I remember thinking that this was exactly what dating someone is supposed to be like."

"Me too, I didn't want the song to end," Carly told him with an earnest smile. "So after our dance?" She said waiting patiently for Freddie to complete this alternative scenario where he acted on his thoughts and feelings.

"Right, so after we finished dancing, and walked back to the Bushwell, in the hallway before we said goodnight…" He faltered.

"You can say it, you have to start letting yourself go there, stop suppressing it, Freddie." Carly was not going to let him think platonically anymore, even hypothetically. "Whatever you wanted, you can tell me. No guilt, no judgment. I promise."

"It's just— "

Carly cut him off. "Stop thinking about me based on our friendship, be selfish, be the guy who always wanted me to be his girlfriend! What did the selfish part of your brain want to do before our night was over? Forget about being a gentleman." She was blunt yet encouraging.

He continued without hesitation. "I would have told you that I'm the perfect guy for you, and I would've kissed you again only I wouldn't hold back. You would be so weak it would make your knees buckle, but I would hold you until the shock wore off and then hope that it would unlock the secret yearning lying dormant deep in your heart."

Carly smiled approvingly at him. "I knew that you had it in you to be selfish with me."

"It was hypothetical," Freddie said dismissively. "I could never actually be that selfish with you."

"Then I'll just have to be selfish enough for the both of us, for instance, taking full advantage of the couch." She said wearing a mischievous smile.

Carly started making out with Freddie, slowly pushing him so they could lie down on the couch. For years Carly heard that guys wanted to be in control at any level of intimacy, but it was already clear to her that Freddie had no such interest, she couldn't help wondering if he had been the same with his ex-wives. Did giving up control apply exclusively to her? All this went through Carly's head while making out with Freddie.

It wasn't long before the noise of the apartment door could be heard opening, stopped only because whoever was on the other side of the door realized that it was locked.

At the attempt to open the door, Carly went still. "Go away Harper." She called out grumpily, just barely pulling her lips away from her man to do so.

"Good late morning to you and Freddie too," Harper said impatiently. "Now, stop getting frisky and let me in, I've got a hangover that includes a splitting headache…"

Carly mentally swore, before sighing. "Of course."

"I'm not about to get frisky unless we're alone so you might as well let her in, okay." He said quietly.

"Alright but in the meantime selfish and naughty thoughts about me are very much encouraged, and I want to know them the next time we're alone." She whispered lustfully, grinning at him. Then turned her head in the direction of the door. "Coming Harper." Against her better judgment Carly got up and unlocked the door for her roommate.

"You really do come home at the worst times, we just started making out." She whispered impatiently.

"Just started," Harper looked dumbfounded. "Carly it's almost 11 am and I've been gone since last night. If I were you— "

"Not a word!" Carly hissed.

"Fine, I'll find out the details after my headache is gone," Harper said hello to Freddie and without another word went to sleep off her hangover in her room.

"Does that happen a lot?" Freddie asked.

"Harper drunk? At least once every few weeks, she likes her alcohol." Carly said chuckling.

Freddie embraced Carly. "Well, I should get home to check on Milicent." He kissed her softly. After a silence, he looked into her eyes. "Can I ask you a question that might be a little awkward to answer?"

"What?" She asked.

"How come it's so much easier for you to think about us in a sexual relationship?" He sounded envious. "I'm trying to wrap my brain around us like that but it's been a struggle not to default back to our friendship. It's annoying because I know I want to be with you, I've never doubted that Carly." He said seriously.

Carly considered the question seriously. "For me, the idea of us in that kind of relationship isn't what scared me, Freddie. What scared me was the thought that I was too late and because of that, once I knew that I was still yours, all my fear just disappeared, but I don't care how slow you want to go as long as you trust me to help you along the way."

"Of course I do." He said automatically.

"Then don't worry Freddie, all you need is to get used sexy Carly and everything else will become normal for you too and since I am, in fact Carly, I can definitely help with that."

"You've given this a lot of thought." He said with intrigue.

Carly made no effort to hide her excitement. "Yes I have, so tonight come back over—I'll make sure Harper is gone for the rest of the week, even if she has to stay at Spencers—and we'll continue this passion project." She gave him a long, lustful look, punctuated by a deep kiss.

"Then…I guess…I'll see you later." Freddie said in a breathy whisper. "Do you want your clothes back." He asked, a little dazed.

"You should keep them, I don't think it's a good idea for you to return home in boxers and a t-shirt. Millicent might start wanting to know things that she's too young to know." She said seriously. "I'll keep your suit clothes since they are kind of still on my bedroom floor anyway."

"Hey Carly, I appreciate you being patient with me while I work out my intimacy issues." He said gently.

"You waited 16 years for me to be ready to be your girlfriend. I'm in no rush when it comes to intercourse sex, I just want to make sure you to feel like you can lower your inhibitions with me." She said earnestly.

"Thank you, it means a lot." He said calmly.

As Carly watched Freddie leave she knew with absolute certainty that she would do anything for Freddie Benson and that included taking things slow with him. Still as he walked away, she checked out his butt, just one of the many now noticeable things about Freddie that made her hot and brought a smile to her face.


A/N I believe that it is important for Freddie and Carly to unpack all the things that they never told each other about their feelings. I went back and forth on if they were virgins, ultimately settled on yes. Freddie, may have two ex-wives but I just don't buy that he would be able to give himself to anyone other than Carly, not on that level. For Carly, the reasoning was much simpler, this is a woman whose idea of intimacy is curling up on the couch in a blanket and watching Law and Order, for me that says that she hasn't gone past first base with any other guy. Not to mention she seems to refer to the deed as 'intercourse sex' it all says virgins to me.

Anyway that's where my thoughts are at, I got an idea for an AU so it might be a little while before the next update to this story.