This is a rewrite of my unfinished fic "Dig Me Out"

I'm trying again!

I've watched ICarly for the first time and a lot stood out to me. Mostly what was not shown in the show. It was a silly pre-teen show so I wasn't expecting anything too serious but something that really got to me was the running joke about Sam's family life. I suppose you can make fun of it if at some point you deal with it but we know it was just for jokes. I didn't really like that.

I'll leave it a Gen for now but it might change.

Also, I want to let anyone know that I hate the creator of this show.

If you do read it, please let me know what you think?

CHAPTER 1 - The Beginning Of The End

"She's gonna die, isn't she?"

Carly noticed Sam's nonchalant demeanor but she knew her friend. Her body language was telling another story. Sam was all stiff, like she was holding herself so tight she wouldn't be able to move even if there was a fire right here, right now. Right in this hospital corridor.

"Just tell me," Sam insisted.

The nurse looked around one more time, probably looking for an adult. Someone responsible for the three teenagers standing in front of her. She looked about but couldn't find anyone else, so she went back to the blonde girl.

"The situation is very serious, honey."

Carly reasoned that if the nurse knew Sam, she would never speak to her in such a condescendingly sweet manner. Sam didn't do sweet.

"Sam -," Sam was getting impatient with the friendly nurse, and Carly could see it. She made an effort to soothe her, but she was unable to complete her sentence.

"Is she going to die?" Sam hissed.

The nurse seemed to understand that Sam needed the truth, even if the truth wasn't good news.

"It'd be very difficult for her to survive after this incident," she said calmly, "I'm sorry."

Carly heard Freddie first. For a moment, she had forgotten the boy was there. She was so focused on Sam, on trying to get in touch with Spencer, trying to talk to a nurse who'd actually know something that she just forgot he was there now when she heard his "oh my god" and the sound of a body colliding with a plastic chair, she remembered. Freddie was white as a ghost, Carly noticed. He had one of his hands on his mouth. His eyes were watering. Suddenly, she realized her eyes were stinging. She probably had teary eyes too. There was so much she wasn't noticing. Why was it again? Right, Sam. Sam was the one that mattered now. Not ghostly boys or stinging eyes. Just her friend in this hospital corridor looking stiff and solid. No tears in her eyes.

"It 's alright," she heard Sam's voice, now without any hint of emotion. Sam was so full of anger all the time. Why wasn't she angry now?

For the first time, she noticed her friend turn her head to look at them. noticing their white faces and teary eyes.

"People die everyday," she said, like that would make everything right.

The blonde's remark shouldn't have taken Carly by surprise, but it did.

"People die everyday but that's your mother, Sam."

"I know who she is," she acknowledged.

"Do you know somebody to call who is not a minor? " The nurse asked.

"What?" Sam whirled around to face the nurse, "No, when can I see my-"

Carly stepped in and said, "Spencer is coming—she does, my brother he is not a minor—He's on his way."

The nurse seemed relieved with that information even though she still seemed confused with how their family dynamic worked.

"Do you want to wait until -"

"Just take me to her." Angry Sam was back. For some reason, Carly believed this to be an encouraging sign. She was at least feeling something.

Although it was obvious that the nurse would rather wait for an adult, she appeared to realize that Sam wouldn't agree to it.

"Ok, then. Let's go, sweetie."

Carly started to say, "Do you want us to co-," but she was interrupted.

"No, I can do it myself," Sam responded, "Let's just go," she said to the nurse.

Carly saw them disappear through the door at the end of the corridor. What the hell had just happened? One minute they were rehearsing goofy skits in her attic turned studio and now they are in this cold hospital corridor talking about dying parents.

"Do you think Sam is going to be ok?" Freddie spoke softly.

"I don't know," she wanted to believe that she was the only one who truly knew Sam. She knew her so much that she also knew that Sam hid a lot. In the end, she knew that she didn't know Sam.

With this realization, she sat down on the uncomfortable plastic chair next to Freddie and sighed, "I don't think Sam knows either."

"What do we do now?" She heard Freddie ask.

Carly sensed that he was aware of the answer to that question. It was merely an attempt to start a conversation and lessen the tension. They would wait for Sam while seated in this white waiting area. Wait until her mom passes away after -

Carly couldn't even think of it. They were only vaguely informed of the circumstances behind Mrs. Puckett's admission to this hospital. But even the most abstract of ideas made her whole body tremble.

"I guess we'll wait."

"I don't understand how Sam is being so - so calm?"

Carly's head had been spinning since Sam had walked through the doors with the nurse to see her dying mother. She just couldn't make sense of it.

"I think she's just in shock. You know her Carly," Freddie uttered, "that's how Sam deals with things. By not dealing with it," he explained.

Rationally, she got it. It was classic Sam behavior and in any circumstance she'd get it. But right now? It just seemed so out of place.

"Well, this is just too big for her to ignore."

"She won't - not for much longer," the boy started, "we just have to - we just have to wait. And then be here for when it finally hits her."

They didn't give Freddie enough credit. He was a really sensible friend. Carly was glad Sam had him as well. She suddenly remembered someone else Sam had.

"Did someone call Melanie?"

"Sam did. Send her a message, I guess. She said she wasn't coming," Freddie explained.

"What?"

Freddie shrugged, "I guess they are twins after all."

"What is this family?," she mumbled to herself.

Before they had a chance to speculate as to what exactly was wrong with the Pucketts, Spencer burst into the waiting area.

"Hey, where is Sam?"

"With her mom. She said she wanted to go alone."

"Let me see if I can find them."

Before she could tell him that Sam would probably prefer to be alone, he had already left. They watched Spencer leave through the same doors that Sam and the nurse had just passed through a few moments earlier.

Carly was relieved that Spencer was there. Yes, he was usually silly and acted as if he was as young as her but she knew that when it mattered she could count on him. Maybe Sam wouldn't want him to be there at first, but Carly knew that it was good that Sam had him too.

Carly didn't know how much time had passed but eventually they had returned. Spencer, looking shocked, the nurse looking apologetic and Sam, face blank of emotions - eyes completely dry.

She didn't ask what had happened cause she could feel it. There was some talking - something about Sam's uncle coming over and Spencer waiting for him. Something about calling them a cab and you guys should go to sleep, everyone's tired. She wouldn't be able to explain the chronological order of events if someone asked her. She had flashes of hugs, tears, cab drivers, doormen, a cold empty apartment. She woke up the next day with no recollection of how she had changed clothes and how she had ended up laying in bed next to her best friend.

Sam's long blonde hair was in her face, but despite the other girl's a lack of motion she could sense that she was awake as well. Carly first thought she might be silently crying but Sam was too still. She decided to test the waters.

"Hey."

Sam continued in silence, never moving an inch. Carly was about to give up when she heard her friend whisper.

"Melanie didn't want to come."

She still had her hair in her face to Carly so she couldn't see her expression.

"Freddie told me."

Carly didn't think she was actually listening.

She continued, seemingly oblivious to her friend's comment, "If I were her—if I were in a fancy boarding school, I wouldn't come either."

"You don't know that, Sam. Maybe you would."

"No, I wouldn't," she tried to say firmly but Carly noticed her voice was trembling.

"I wonder if it were me," Sam continued cautiously, "would Melanie have come back?

"Of course she would've, Sam"

Carly was good at comforting people. It was one of her strong suits, one she was very proud of. But at this particular time, she wished she could do more to comfort her friend.

Carly knew Sam wasn't very fond of comforting in general. She was glad the blonde girl was talking at all at this point.

"Would mom have come?" Sam whispered a moment later.

It was easy, sometimes even too easy, to forget that Sam was just like them - just a child with needs and emotions. She would do that often, she realized. It's just Sam being Sam, there's nothing deep about it. How many times had she thought that? How many times did she feel that Sam's little remarks regarding her family life were a little too weird? A little too wrong. How often had she simply shrugged it off because hey, it's just Sam.

She couldn't help but to feel guilty. Was her friend that good at hiding her true feelings or was Carly just a bad friend? Would she have been able to help Sam sooner?

Perhaps it was all of these things at once.

She had failed Sam.

Maybe they all had failed Sam.

Carly could think about it all day long but would it help her friend now? What was done was done and the only thing she could do now was try and comfort her friend.

With that in mind she made an effort to confidently respond to her friend's nervous question.

"She would have, Sam. Your mom loved you."

For the first time since she had woken up she saw Sam moving. Not because she was comforted though.

She was actually laughing.

"You don't know that, cupcakes. You're just trying to make me feel better."

Trying a different approach, Carly scooted to where Sam was laying, their bodies now touching. She felt Sam stiff right away as she wrapped one of her arms around the blonde's body.

"Maybe I am. Is this ok?"

Sam didn't answer right away but Carly felt her body relaxing.

"I just want you to feel better, ok?"

"Yeah," Sam sighed, "that's ok."

She felt Sam's hand squeezing hers and she squeezed back. Maybe she didn't know exactly what to say to make her friend feel better. Maybe there was nothing she could ever say that would make this situation any easier. Still, Carly knew she could be there for Sam. Now, more than ever.

Note: Hey! My Melanie is going to be 100% OOC. Just giving a heads up

Also, they're around 14/15 here if youre wondering