He could've kissed her. She was leaning in for him to kiss her. That was the problem. She was leaning in. She was leaning.

"Well? Lean."

He put his hands on Carly's shoulders, gently stopping her from inching any closer.

Her eyes searched his face.

"Sorry," she said.

He smiled inwardly and outwardly for very different reasons as he said, "It's cool." Outwardly, he wanted to reassure his friend who had just made herself so vulnerable.

Inwardly, he was outside their school on a dark night.

"I can't, Carly," he said. "I'm still in love with Sam. I honestly don't know if we'll ever get back together, and I'm scared I'll never be happy if we don't. I'm scared of that. But I know I'll never be happy if I ever hurt her again. This would tear her apart and we both know it, just like we both know she'd find out."

Carly's eyes swirled up at him like smoke. "So you want to kiss me...its just that it would hurt Sam?"

As gently and quietly as he could, he said, "No. This isn't a case where I'm sacrificing my heart's desire to be some kind of a "white knight" for a girl I just feel sorry for. I don't want to kiss you because you're no longer my heart's desire. I. Want. Sam."

"You mean that?"

Freddie whirled to see Sam standing in the doorway. "Sam, I -" Carly began.

"I'll deal with you in a minute, Shay." Sam had not taken her eyes off Freddie's face since he'd turned around.

"Did you mean it?" She almost whispered.

He couldn't seem to find the words, so he merely nodded.

She walked fully into the room and approached him, placing her hands on his shoulders.

"Then give Mama some sugar, cuteness."

His face almost splitting in two from the smile he was now wearing, Freddie replied, "Lips, please" and she pressed hers against his.

His lips are warm...

When they broke they found their hands had found one another. She took his and wrapped herself up in his arms as she turned; leaned back against him, and they both looked at Carly.

Freddie tensed, wondering what this scene was going to do to their friend's last night in Seattle. Looking at Carly, though, he saw nothing but delight in her eyes as they danced from his face to Sam's and she said,

"It worked."

"I thought it would," Sam replied, pressing herself further against him before turning and wrapping her arms around his waist.

"Benson, I had to know before Carls left. I was sick thinking about how it might be for us afterwards, if everything was still so...open-ended. I honestly think I might've run away rather than live with that."

"So we came up with this," Carly said.

"I know it was pretty risky, but we were desperate."

"And pressed for time." Carly really didn't want to wreck this wonderful moment for her friends, but her dad was waiting. Sam understood. She reached her hands up, this time lacing her fingers on the back of Freddie's neck.

"And to answer your question earlier today, yes, I very much do want to get back together." She kissed him and left her face there even when she'd stopped. He opened his eyes and saw hers, clear and blue.

"Forgive us?" she said.

Knowing there was as much chance of his not forgiving her as of Bigfoot coming to see Carly off; knowing Sam knew it, too, he didn't even bother to go through the pretense of being mad.

"Forgive you for what? He asked, and kissed her again.

Then the three friends, two of whom were also lovers, each picked up one of Carly's bags to take downstairs where Spencer and Gibby were waiting. Sam hung back a little, waiting for Carly to be out of earshot, then murmured, "I made her promise not to tell them yet if things went well up here. I want tonight to be just about us."

"What do you have in mind?" His smile had grown, which seconds ago he would not have thought possible.

"Let me put it this way. When Carly leaves, if I were you, I would go back to my room, get into bed, and stay there."

Another thing Freddie would not've thought possible was that he was suddenly eager for his best friend to leave, but now he knew he would have to restrain himself from almost giving her the bum's rush.

END