Story: iLove You (all chapters)

iLove You

--

Oblivious

--

    “Sam, are you holding it?” Carly asked, pausing in her hammering for a moment to steady herself on the wobbling ladder.

    “Um yeah, you asked me to hold it so I'm holding it,” came the blonde's lazy drawl.

    “Are you sure because it feels a little...”

    “Oh sweet, a quarter!” Sam exclaimed, taking the only hand she actually was using to steady the ladder off to collect her shiny new prize.

    “SAM!” Carly shrieked as the ladder toppled, sending her crashing down on top of the other girl.  “Oh yeah, thanks for holding the ladder steady, Sam,” she groaned, shifting around to see if anything was broken.  Silence.  “Sam?”  Still nothing.  “Oh my god, Sam are you okay?!” Carly shouted, lifting off the girl and frantically rolling her over and tapping at her cheeks, tears springing to her eyes when there was no response.  She pressed her ear to the girl's chest and chewed at her lip nervously as she rose up into a mounted CPR position.  “You're gonna be okay, Sammie...” she whispered as she started with the rhythmic presses on the girl's sternum.  Once the cycle was finished she leaned down and breathed the first breath into the blonde's lips, upon the second one however, something hard shot against the back of her throat.  Gagging, she lifted off of the coughing girl with tears in her eyes and spit the slimy quarter onto Sam's chest.

    “What... are the odds,” Sam gasped, smiling in spite of her heaving gasps, “that we'd both swallow the same quarter?”  Carly brought a trembling hand up to cover her mouth, renewed tears flowing down her cheeks.

    “Stupid... so stupid!” she wailed, collapsing onto the girl and sobbing into her chest.  “Don't you ever scare me like that again!”  The normally gruff blonde sniffed back her own tears.

     “I'm sorry Carly,” she whispered, stroking the girl's hair with one hand  while pocketing the quarter with the other.

--

    “Hey there everyone, I'm Sam!”

    “And I'm Carly!  And you're watching.. well, you get the idea.  Today we're going to start off with some more of our...”  

    “Wait!” Sam interrupted.  “Before we start with the usual craziness you've come to love I have an announcement to make.”  Carly looked at Sam who only smiled and then Freddy who only shrugged.  “My Co-Host and absolute best friend in the whole world, the ever wonderful, ever beautiful Carly... saved my life this morning.  I would just like to pause the fun for a moment to tell her,” Sam turned and wrapped her arms around Carly's neck, placing a gentle kiss on her cheek as she did so, “thank you Carly.”  The dark haired girl went stiff in the embrace.

      “Soft...” was about all her mind could dredge up through her shock.

    “And with that out of the way we move on to our first Zany Dance Video of the night!” Sam called out, pulling away from the still stunned girl to move over to the side monitor.  Freddy, just as stunned as Carly, kept the camera trained on the dark haired girl's shocked, yet thoughtful, face.  “Hello guys, we still kinda have a show to do over here!”  Carly shook her head and, grinning like an idiot, stumbled over to the monitor to finish the broadcast.

--

    “Wow, Sam, where did that come from?!” Freddy all but shouted the second he cut the feed.

    “There's no need to be jealous, my mom did force me to take two years of polka dancing... lousy drunk.”  Carly frowned,  every mention of Sam's mother left a bad taste in her mouth.

    “No, not that!  The hugging and the cheek kissing and the... actually acting like a girl.  That's so weird coming from you!”  The girl in question furrowed her brow.

    “Hey, I have my moments just as much as the next girl, right Carly?!”

    “Umm...”

    “See!  Carly knows I... hey!”  Sam spun on the now nervous girl and glared at her.  “What do you mean 'umm'?!  I do lots of girly things!”  Carly began to fidget under the oddly pleading look that had taken over the blonde's face.

    “Yeah of course you do Sam... you.. well... your hair always looks really good!” She blurted out awkwardly, realizing how stupid it sounded just a little too late.  The look that shot across the blonde's face hit Carly like a hard slap.

    “Gee, thanks,” Sam said, shooting both of them a sour look before brushing past Carly on the way to the door.

    “Sam wait!” Carly shouted just as the girl turned the knob, the blonde paused for a second then opened the door.  “Sam I'm sorry!” she shouted just as the door slammed shut behind the girl.  “What was I supposed to say to her, Freddy?”

    “I dunno Carly, but you're gonna have a chance to try.”  He pointed at the couch.  “She left her backpack.”

--

    Standing outside of the barely hinged door of Sam's rundown apartment, Carly was nervous.  Not for the usual reasons like fear of the bad neighborhood or walking into one of her mother's drunken rampages, no, this time Carly was scared of the only good thing that ever came out of this building.  “Sam...”  Clutching the straps of the backpack tight she took a deep breath and knocked on the door, which eased backwards into the apartment upon contact, the latch on the doorknob apparently broken.  From the doorway she could see the raggedy blonde form of Sam's mother passed out on the couch and let out a relieved breath as she quietly stepped into the filthy apartment.  Quickly skirting passed the snoring form in the living room she made her way down the hall to Sam's door and lightly tapped on it.

    “Leave me alone!” came the blonde's hitching voice.

    “Sam, it's Carly, can I come in?”  There was such a long pause that Carly had started to give up hope when the reassuring rattle of a chain being pulled away came from the other side of the door which swung open to reveal the already retreating form of the other girl.  Carly chewed her lip nervously as she stepped into Sam's room, the usual feeling of relief that accompanied stepping into the somewhat well kept room compared the battered state of the rest of the apartment wasn't there to comfort her.

    “What do you want?” Sam asked miserably from where she'd thrown herself on the bed.  The sadness in her best friends voice cut through Carly like a knife.

    “You, umm... you forgot your backpack at my place,” Carly said in a much too urgent voice and felt like slapping herself as she slipped off the bag and set it on the floor.

    “That it?” Sam asked flatly, rolling over and facing the wall.

    “I'm sorry...” Carly whispered.

    “What?”

    “I said I'm sorry!” Carly wailed, running over to the bedside and throwing an arm around the other girl.  “It was such a stressful day!  Seeing you like that... knowing you weren't breathing... and then you start acting all sweet to me... and then you...”

    “I'm sorry I flipped out on you,” Sam said quietly, bringing the teary eyed girl to a halt as she laced her fingers with the hand that was wrapped around her chest.  “It's hard sometimes, Carly... you of all people should know how hard it was for me growing up.  I had to... I had to act different to protect myself.  It's made me different then other girls and there's not really anything I can do to change that... believe me, I've tried.  That's why it hurts when you and Freddy... you especially... treat me like I'm so different.”

    “I'm so sorry Sammie, I've never tried to hurt you on purpose.”  The blonde smiled and tugged on Carly's arm as she rolled over to pull the girl into the bed next to her so she could snuggle against her chest.

    “I know you wouldn't, you've always tried to protect me.  That's why I feel so safe with you... that's why it hurts so much when it's you that makes me feel like something is wrong with me.”  The blonde rolled Carly onto her back and threw a leg over her so she was sitting on the girl's hips.  “You wouldn't hate me for being... different, right?”  Sam's voice had taken on a sort of hazy quality that, combined with a look in her eyes that the girl had never seen, had Carly swallowing over a lump in her throat.

    “Of course not, Sammie.”  The blonde smiled.

    “You almost never call me Sammie any more, I've missed it,”  Sam whispered, slowly closing the distance between their faces.

    “Is she going to...”  “Sam...”  Carly's eyes locked on the descending lips and felt her own purse slightly in response as her eyes slowly slid closed.  She waited for several agonizing seconds but no contact came.  Puzzled, she opened her eyes to see the blonde grinning down at her before she lazily lifted off the girl and stepped off the bed, Carly lay in stunned shock.  “Oh my god I thought she was going to kiss me!” she thought frantically before an even scarier thought shot through her mind causing her to sit bolt upright.  “Oh my god why did I close my eyes and wait for it!  Oh this is bad, this is bad!”

    “Something wrong?” Sam asked somewhat coyly.  Carly shook her head while searching frantically for an answer.

    “Oh!  I was just thinking you should come stay over at my place!” she blurted out without thinking. “What?!  No!  Bad idea after what just happened!”  Sam grinned.

    “Really?  I'd love to, you're the best, Carly!”  Sam shouted, flinging herself at the girl in a tackle hug.

    “Yeah, no problem, anything for my Sammie...”  “Oh crap, oh crap, oh crap, oh crap!”

--

    “Oh crap, oh crap, oh crap, oh crap!”

    “So where did you say Spencer was again?”

    “He fell asleep on a bus and woke up on a boat, he says he'll be flying in from Guadalajara Mexico around noon tomorrow.”

    “How is that even... oh yeah, it's Spencer.”  Despite her nerves being on full alert Carly shared a laugh with the blonde at her brother's antics.  The realization quickly returned that she was totally alone in a dark room with a girl that may or may not want to kiss her and she may or may not want to kiss back and set her right back to her jumpy, panicked state.  She was so high strung she squeaked and nearly jumped out of her skin when she felt something land next to her on the floor.  “Ack, sorry Carly, gotta pee!” Sam called out from above as she stepped over her and made her way off down the hall only to slam into something with a curse and a loud bang.

    “What happened?!” she called out to the darkness.

    “I banged my elbow on Freddy's stupid cart!  What's it still doing here anyways?”

    “He didn't have time to take it down after you left.  You didn't break anything did you?” Carly called out, grinning at the thought of the foul look on the blonde's face.

    “No, but I'm going to break something tomorrow when I get my hands on him...” Sam muttered darkly as she walked off to find the bathroom.  As the minutes passed she began to fidget as her worries consumed her.

    “What am I supposed to do?  I like Sam, I really do... but do I like her like that?  Wait, does she even like ME like that?  Maybe I only thought she was going to kiss me?  But the way she said she was different from other girls...” an image of Sam's lips slowly lowering towards hers crept through her mind sending all the blood in her body rushing to her cheeks.  “Oh boy, I'm in trouble, this is not good, this is definitely not...”

    “Carly!”

    “Sam!” Carly squeaked, sitting up so fast that she banged heads with the blonde that was leaning over her.  “Ow, what the heck are you doing?” she hissed, rubbing at her sore forehead.

    “Seeing if you were awake,” Sam said with an oddly girlish laugh despite holding her own forehead in pain.

    “Well yeah, who wouldn't be when they have some maniac shouting their name in their face!”  Carly shot back, also starting to laugh in spite of herself.  “This is more like it, just two friends hanging out, no worrying about whether or not they want to kiss each other...”

    “Did you want me to kiss you when we were on my bed?” Sam asked.

    “I think I did.” Carly answered before her mind could register the question.  “WHAT!?”

    “I knew it!  You really were going all swoony on me!  I thought you might have been just scared or something.  Dang it I should have just kissed you!”

    “I... well... Sam... how long have you wanted to... you know?”  Carly asked, blushing beet red.

      “I dunno,” Sam said, letting out a long breath, “We'd already been friends for most our lives but things started to change.  I saw how you were becoming so girly and sweet and I started to realize that because of how I had to grow up I'd probably never get to be like that.  At first I just wanted to be like you but as we kept getting older you kept getting more and more feminine, you started caring for me more and more.  After a while wanting to be like you kinda turned into wanting to be with you.  You're the only person in my whole life that's ever really cared for me Carly.  Seeing how worried you were after that accident this morning kind of pushed me to make a decision, up until then I was just going to be happy with what you were willing to share.”

    “Wow... Sam I...”  “She really is sweet...” Carly thought with a smile.

    “You don't have to say anything, I know you were probably just caught up in the...”

    “You can kiss me now if you want.”

    “...moment and..” Sam's words turned into a sputtering cough.  “What?”

    “I said you can kiss me now if you want.  Even though I kind of kissed you earlier it doesn't really count but I... I really think I want my first time to be with you.”

    “N-Now?” Sam stuttered.

    “Right now,” Carly said, stifling a giggle.  “How cute, she's nervous now!”

    “Are... are you sure?”  Another image of Sam's lips closing in on her own

    “Will you get down here and kiss me already!”  The dull thump of Sam rolling off the futon and landing next to her almost made her laugh.  All humor quickly died as Sam slid her body over top of Carly's and rested with her arms on either side of the girl's face.  Carly looked up to see Sam's face illuminated by a streak of moonlight and reached up to run her fingers down the girl's cheek, settling one against her lips for a moment.  “Kiss me...” she whispered, slipping her arms around Sam's neck and pulling her down so their lips could press together.  Clumsily at first, they explored each others lips and, after a time, tongues as their bodies melted together in an embrace.

    “Oh my god...” Sam breathed as she pulled away to rest on her knees after several minutes of contact.

    “Oh my god...” Carly panted, tilting her head back and closing her eyes.  She took several deep breaths to try to calm herself only to have her eyes shoot open with sudden realization.  “Sam!” she squeaked.

    “What?” the blonde gasped, terrified and out of breath.

    “Hands!”

    “What do you mean... oh crap!” Sam shouted, noticing that her hands had slipped under Carly's shirt and were caressing the girl's bare sides.  “Oh my god I'm so sorry, Carly!  I didn't mean to, they just kinda moved on their own!”  She made to remove them but Carly grabbed her wrists.

    “Wait... it's okay.  It feels kinda nice...” Carly murmured, blushing up at the other girl.

    “Yeah?” Sam asked, suddenly shy again.

    “Yeah... um, Sammie?”

    “Yeah, Carly,” Sam breathed, swallowing hard and leaning down a little closer.

    “I think I want you to kiss me again...”  The blonde smiled and, happier and more content then she could ever remember being, leaned down to kiss the girl once more.

--

    So intoxicated by the intimate moment, so content were they in each others arms that neither girl noticed the blinking red light on the side of the camera...

iLove You: Chapter Two

--

Not so oblivious...

--

    Carly awoke to a bit of a surprise, staring down the front of Sam's tank top from where her head lay on the blonde's chest.  Memories of the night before flooded her mind which was quickly followed by blood flooding her cheeks.  It felt good laying like this, real good, and Sam's arm wrapped protectively around her only made it better.  Sighing with contentment she snuggled closer to the blonde and settled in.

    “Carly, you awake?” Sam asked, surprising Carly a little.

    “Yeah, just a minute ago.”  Carly felt the girl release a pent up breath.

    “Can I take that you're not pushing me away and making excuses as a good thing?” Sam asked.  Even though her tone held its usual dry humor, Carly could hear the underlying hint of fear in her voice.  Grinning and blushing all over again, Carly turned and gave the blonde a quick peck on the lips.

    “I learned something really, really interesting about myself last night... and I think I like it,” Carly answered, giving Sam a reassuring squeeze.  “So are we like... girlfriends now?  I'm not sure how this works.”

    “Only if you want us to be...” Sam said hesitantly, Carly giggled.

    “I seem to remember asking for more and more kisses and... touches last night,” Carly said, blushing at the last bit, “so really Sam, you don't need to be so worried.  I'm not going anywhere...” Carly trailed off as she leaned up to press their lips together in another brief kiss.  

    “Carly...” Sam whispered as they pulled away, preparing to dip in for a deeper kiss only to be interrupted by a loud knock on the door.

    “Hey Carly are you ready yet?!” Came Freddy's voice through the door followed by the sound of a key working the lock.  Both girl's eyes shot wide open as they scrambled apart, trying to put as much distance between each other as possible before the door swung open to reveal Freddy sipping away at a smoothie.  “You guys are still sleeping?  School starts in like fifteen minutes!”  Carly looked at the clock and screamed.

    “Sam!  Why didn't you wake me up?!” she squawked to the mischievously grinning blonde.

    “I was comfy,” she said suggestively, only to break into a fit of giggles at the deep blush that spread across Carly's face.  Freddy's smoothie promptly hit the floor.  Both girls turned to him to see him gaping in surprise.

    “Did... did Sam just... giggle?” he asked incredulously.

    “And what if I did, midget?” Sam threatened, Carly merely rolled her eyes and hauled Sam to her feet and towards the stairs.  “Hey, where you dragging me?  You know I don't like to be dragged!”

    “You're clothes stink so you're borrowing some of mine.  Not gonna have my gi... friend wearing smelly clothes!”  Carly shouted, not allowing the blonde to argue her way out of it.  Freddy shook his head as he picked up his smoothie and made his way over to the cart to take it down while he waited.

    “Hey, were you guys messing around with my cart?!” he shouted up the stairs.

    “Sam ran into it last night, why?” Carly shouted back from up the stairs.

    “The camera battery's dead... she must have knocked it loose or something...”  Frowning, he checked his system and saw that it was still connected to the server.  Disappointed with himself for being so careless he went through the process of updating the site with the new data, laughing at the sounds of Sam groaning about this or that from upstairs.  When finished, he checked the new numbers, his eyes going wide.  “Hey, last night's broadcast had a record number of hits!”

    “Really?!” Carly shouted as she came bounding down the stairs, Sam trailing miserably behind her in a pair of tight fitting, glitter covered, jeans and a purple shirt emblazoned with the words 'Cuter Then You!' across the front.  Freddy would have fallen over laughing if not for the icy death glare the girl was shooting him.

    “One word and you die,” Sam said menacingly, Freddy swallowed hard and nodded.

    “So what's the new record, like 400,000?”  Carly asked as she bustled about the kitchen making the two of them some cereal.

    “Try 700,000!”

    “Really?  That's weird, it wasn't even that good of a show...” Sam wondered as she sat down.

    “Maybe people just really liked seeing you act all sweet to me,” Carly suggested, delighting at the sight of Sam trying to hold back a blush, barely managing the task by focusing on wolfing down her cereal.

    “Who knows, might be a fluke, I'll run through the numbers and check the email and message boards at school... which we should have left for like five minutes ago!” Freddy shouted, causing the girls to go double time on their cereal.

    “Here, I'll get that,” Sam said, taking Carly's bowl over to the sink and rinsing it out with her own.  Freddy again stared in open mouth shock until Carly shot him a glare.

    “I take it the two of you made up big time,” he whispered when they were out of earshot.  Carly grinned from ear to ear.

    “You have no idea...”

--

    “Sorry we're late!” the girls shouted as they came bursting through the doors a full minute after the bell had rung.  An instant cacophony of whispers seemed to engulf the room upon their entrance.  Nervously, the two of them made their way to two open desks on the other side of the room, picking up bits and pieces of it along the way.  Most of the chatter seemed to be about their messy hair and Sam's clothes, which only left Carly even more confused.  The two shared a puzzled glance before the teacher stood from her desk and cleared her throat.

    “From the clamor I believe most of you are whispering about the same thing so I'm just going to make this very clear.  It is NOT to be discussed during my class, any and all mention of it will result in immediate detention, is that understood?”  A disappointed murmur of agreement passed through the class and she nodded, shooting a somewhat hopeful glance at the two of them.  Carly nodded, not quite understanding what was going on, before throwing a worried look at Sam who simply shrugged and settled into her usual slouched position for the rest of the class.  Carly could feel the stares of her classmates boring into the whole lesson and breathed a sigh of relief when the bell finally rang.

    “Carly, Sam, can I speak to you for a moment?”

    “Yeah, sure thing Mrs. Strauss,” Carly said nervously as they waited for the rest of the class to leave.  When they were finally alone the woman took a deep breath and looked back and forth between the two of them.

    “I honestly don't know whether to congratulate or chastise the two of you.  That was a very brave thing you did but... well, I wish you would have been more careful,” the woman said, wringing her hands together.  Suddenly it clicked in Carly's mind, they were worried about the accident.

    “Well there wasn't really much to think about, Sam just means so much to me.  I think any true friend would have done the same.”  The woman smiled awkwardly.

    “Well, I don't know about that but... just try to be careful about what you put on the show.  Not everybody is going to be so accepting and I think you're a little young for such... experiences.  If you ever need to... talk to someone about it, you can always come to me, okay girls?” the woman offered.

    “Yeah, okay... we'll try to be more careful and we'll do that,” Sam said, easing towards the door.  “Uh, thanks for worrying, but we really need to go!” she said, grabbing Carly by the arm and dragging her out of the class.  “Wow, that was weird!  What was with everybody staring at us?  It was just...” she stopped short when she noticed the normally packed and noisy hallway was dead silent and all eyes were on them.

    “Sam...” Carly whispered nervously, easing closer to the blonde who let out an irritated growl.

    “Okay, what's with all the staring and the whispering?!  Yeah, I'm wearing Carly's clothes, what's the big freaking deal?!  You!” she shouted, pointing at small girl who just happened to be closest.

    “Umm... I'm happy for you!” the girl squeaked before running off down the hall.  Sam spun around looking for another target but the bell rang, giving everyone an excuse to flee.

    “Uh, where the heck is Freddy?  Maybe he can figure this out...”

--

    As it was, the two had no luck finding Freddy between classes and had to settle with the stares, whispers, and even glares from their classmates for the next three periods.  Even the teachers all gave some variation of the 'no talking about it' speech.  Carly was really starting to panic and Sam was close to exploding by the time lunch came along and the two of them spotted Freddy who was frantically waving them into the computer lab.

    “Okay, what the heck is going on, nerd linger!  You've been avoiding us all day so I know you know something!  Why is everyone treating us like we sat in dog crap or something?!” Sam shouted, finding herself somewhat surprised when Freddy didn't flinch away.

    “Did you do it on purpose?” he asked calmly.

    “Did I do what on purpose?!”

    “The camera, did you do that on purpose?”

    “Bang my elbow on it in the dark, yeah I try to do it every night!” Sam said sarcastically.  “What the heck are you talking about?”

    “So you didn't start the feed on purpose?”

    “No I didn't start the damn feed on...” her jaw went slack for a moment.  “S-Start the... you mean I...”  Freddy turned to a nearby computer, brought up the web browser and hit play.  A night vision shot of the two of them sharing a heated kiss began rolling, Sam's hands were clearly buried under Carly's shirt and caressing her bare back.  Freddy hit stop.

    “Oh my god!” Carly shrieked, clapping both her hands to her mouth as she backed up against the wall.  “No... not good... not good!  Everybody... they all saw...”  Murmuring quietly to herself, she slid down the wall and buried her face in her hands.

    “Carly!” Sam shouted, dropping to her knees and throwing her arms around the girl's shoulders.  “Oh Carly I'm so sorry!  I'm such an idiot!” Sam cried out, her own tears spilling onto the girl's shoulders.  “I didn't do this on purpose, I swear to you Carly...”  Carly slowly lowered her hands and looked up into the blonde's teary eyes.

    “Sammy... what do we do... they all know... you saw how they looked at us!”

    “I-I don't know.  Maybe... maybe it's not as bad as we think,” Sam said with false hope in her voice.  Freddy cleared his throat.

    “I need to show you two something,” he said nervously.

    “We're kinda already dealing with something here!” Carly shrieked, surprising Sam with the sudden outburst.

    “It might help... just come over here.”  Sam helped Carly to her feet and settled her girlfriend into a nearby chair, leaning over the back to look at whatever Freddy had for them.

    “This is the iCarly fan mail page that you two see when you log in,” Freddy explained.  Sam glanced down the list of topics and saw not a single one of them so much as mentioned the kissing.

    “Wait, you mean nobody even wrote in about it?  See, Carly, maybe it really isn't so bad!” Sam announced triumphantly.  Carly sniffed and looked up at her hopefully.

    “And this,” Freddy said, logging out and back in as himself, “is what I see when I log in...”  Sam's heart fell as she read down the list again.  The words gay, lesbian, fag, and dyke appearing in almost every other one.

    “Gee Freddy, thanks a lot!  You wanna give us paper cuts and rub salt in them too?!” Sam shouted, glaring daggers at the boy as Carly started crying again.

    “It's not what you think!  This is a list of fan mail we got for the first ever iCarly... and the second...” he clicked over to a page that looked much the same, “and the third... and it just keeps going.  The fans have been... speculating about the two of you since the very beginning.”

    “You mean this whole time...” Sam choked on the words.  Carly went limp in the chair.

    “So everybody thinks we're... but why haven't they said anything in person?” Carly asked quietly, Freddy turned away.

    “There's sort of a wager going on to see if you'd admit it on your own or not.  I kind of helped spread it around so people wouldn't bother you.  I thought if you two knew... you wouldn't want to do the show anymore.  I never imagined you really would be...”

    “We aren't!” Carly shouted suddenly, cringing as she felt Sam's hands go stiff on her shoulders.  “I mean... we weren't.  Last night was... it all happened so fast and... oh I don't know!  This is all so much so fast and... oh my god...” Carly's voice dropped to a whisper.  “My parents watch the show whenever they can... grandpa too... and Spencer, what if he saw it!  Oh no... this isn't good... this isn't good!”  Carly stood suddenly and bolted from the room before Sam could get her arms around her.

    “Carly wait!”  Sam shouted after recovering from the initial shock, running after the terrified girl.  Carly was practically running blind, bumping into several people as she sprinted through the halls, not caring where she ended up.  “Carly, please stop and talk to me!” Sam pleaded to the running figure but received no response.  Sam's eyes widened in horror upon realizing where the girl's feet were taking her.  “Carly don't go that way, that's the...” too late Carly came to her senses and realized that she had just burst right into the middle of the crowded cafeteria, hundreds of eyes instantly turned on her.  She stood trembling, unable to speak, unable to even breath under the prying eyes of the mob.

    “Carly...”  The whispered word hit her like a hammer and she cringed.  “Please listen to me, Carly...”  These words had a sort of calming affect and her pulse began to slow.

    “Sammy, I... I'm scared...” she said, voice wavering with every word.

    “I know,” Sam said quietly, easing a little closer to the terrified girl, “so am I... but I'm not really worried.”

    “Why not?” Carly could barely breath the words, it felt like the stares were sucking all of the air from her lungs.

    “Because we're gonna get through this together, just like we always have,” Sam whispered, stepping forward and wrapping her arms around Carly.

    “People... they'll hate us,” Carly said, her voice somewhat stronger as if reassured from the contact.

    “Only the stupid ones,” Sam said with a weak laugh, feeling the tension drain slightly from the other girl.  “The smart ones will just be jealous.”

    “Sammy...”

    “We've been through the worst times of our lives together Carly... we'll get passed all of this too... together... if you'll have me that is.  I'm kinda lazy and a little perverted but I think I'm not too bad of a catch.  Who knows, maybe some of your perfection will rub off on me?”  This got a small giggle from the girl which unfortunately died off into a sigh.

    “I don't know Sammy...”

    “Neither do I, all I know is that I want to be with you no matter what happens... I love you Carly.”

    “Oh Sam!” Carly cried out, whirling around in the embrace to plant her lips on the stunned blonde's.  Her own eyes widened in shock as she realized exactly what she was doing and where she was doing it.  Without warning a thunderous mixture of cheers and shouts went up from the mass of students surrounding them.  Pulling away from each other the two of them stared in open mouthed shock as a wave of their classmates seemed to crash in around them.  Carly would remember that some of them were casting them dirty looks, some offering their congratulations, some of them even exchanging money with disappointment or glee on their faces.  Most of all however, she'd remember that Sam's hand never left hers the entire time.

--

    “Are you two ready?” Freddy asked as he readied the camera, both girls seated on the futon nodded.  “We're good to go in three... two... one...”

    “Hey everybody, this is my girlfriend, Sam!” Carly said with a bright smile, motioning to Sam.

    “And this is my girlfriend, Carly!” Sam said, repeating the action.  “Welcoming you to what is going to be the shortest and most serious iCarly web cast yet.”

    “Why so short you ask?  Because pretty much all we're going to do is ask you a question.  We know that a lot of you are probably concerned, even outraged by what you saw last night...” Carly said, wavering slightly.

    “We wanted to apologize, especially to any of you parents out there.  It really was an accident that the camera was turned on but what happened after that wasn't,” Sam said, blushing slightly.  Carly took over again.

    “We never meant to, nor will we ever broadcast anything like that ever again so please don't flood our mail and message boards with threats or requests or anything like that.  This is a show for teenagers and it always will be... but...” she trailed off, unsure of how to proceed.  Sam smiled and slipped her hand into Carly's, lacing their fingers together.

    “Carly and I have decided that we're going to be together and little bits of that are probably gonna make it into the show...” with that she leaned over and kissed Carly's cheek, instantly setting them ablaze from blushing.

    “T-This brings us to the question we wanted to ask all of you,” Carly said, stammering awkwardly from embarrassment.  “Knowing what you now know... do you still want to watch, iCarly?  If you do, then we'll see you tomorrow at the usual time with a full length episode.”

    “And if you don't you can go eat a crap sandwich without the bread for all we care!” Sam said with a nasty grin, only to yelp as Carly pinched her leg.

    “Be nice!” she hissed before turning and smiling sweetly at the camera.  “If you don't, then we ask that you simply leave us with our thanks for supporting the show for as long as you have.  Think about what we've said and hopefully we'll see you tomorrow!” Carly finished.

    “And we're out!  That seems like it went about as good as it could have,” Freddy offered as he made sure everything was disconnected and shut down.

    “I hope so,” Carly murmured.  Sam grinned and leaned over to fall into the girl's lap.

    “Who cares?  So long as I have my Carly I'm not gonna complain,” Sam said, closing her eyes and humming as Carly began running her fingers through her hair.

    “I don't think I'll ever get used to girly Sam,” Freddy said with a shudder as he packed up the last of his equipment.  “So what are you two got planned for the rest of the day?”

    “Oh... this and that,” Carly murmured, brushing her fingers across Sam's cheek.

    “I really need to get some guy friends,” Freddy muttered as he wheeled his cart out the door.

    “Hey Carly, Spencer's flight was delayed... right?”  Sam asked smoothly, reaching over to trail her fingertips across Carly's stomach, feeling the girl go rigid beneath her.

    “Y-Yeah?” Carly breathed, swallowing hard over the lump that had formed in her throat.

    “Well, I was wondering if we could go upstairs... lay out together on your bed...” she rolled over and kissed Carly's belly through her shirt.

    “Sam, I don't think we.. ah...” Carly gasped.

    “...and read some stories from that site I was telling you about,” she finished, grinning up at the dreamy look on Carly's face.

     “Mmm yeah, okay let's do it... I mean...” Carly shook her head to clear it, glaring down at the beaming girl.  “You're evil, you do realize that?”

    “I plan on basing the next few years of our lives on it,” Sam said, raising off Carly's lap and stealing a kiss on the way up.

    “What was that site called again?” Carly asked, holding her hands out for Sam to help her up with.  Sam pulled her up and right into a deep kiss, her arms snaking around the girl's back and up under her shirt to caress the bare skin underneath.  “I really hope you're a patient girl in the long run,” Carly gasped after the kiss was broken, “because when you touch my bare skin like that...” she shivered in Sam's arms.

    “The site's called Deviant Hearts,” Sam said, turning and walking towards the stairs, almost giggling at the way her hips seemed to sway on their own.  “And don't you worry Carly,” she whispered huskily as she paused and glanced back over her shoulder, “there's so much more we can do before we get into all of that...” she trailed off suggestively before slinking her way up the stairs.

    “Well,” Carly whispered to herself, pausing for moment to steady her wobbly legs before she followed after the girl, “hopefully you don't keep me waiting for too long though...”