Author's Note: No, you're not hallucinating. Yes, you read the title of the story right. Yes, I'm actually updating! XD

Okay, first of all, please don't hate me for taking so long to post this XD I don't even know what to say, really. A few weeks ago I saw the date of the last update (06/24/2012) and I could barely believe it's really been over two years. And for that, I'm truly sorry. 2013 was a very bad year for me personally, and 2014 started the same way, but things are better now.

So, yeah, I'm very sorry for the long wait, but it's finally here! :D And I really hope this beautifully long and Seddie-filled epilogue makes up for the long wait and brightens your day! ;D

Disclaimer: I don't own iCarly!

Enjoy! ;)

Epilogue

Normal POV

"Are we there yet?" Sam whined for the tenth time in the last half hour.

Freddie chuckled at her. "Not quite," he told her, clearly amused by his girlfriend's complaining.

They had been walking for barely ten minutes now, and Sam was already complaining that she was tired, even though that surely wasn't the reason why she was being so whiny, and Freddie was very much aware of that.

Even though this was a pretty special day for both of them—it was their one year anniversary, after all—Sam and Freddie had both decided to pretend that there was nothing special about it at all. It was like they wanted to test each other somehow, to see if their relationship meant as much to the other as it meant to themselves, and so far, neither one of the pair had said a word about it. They had both had the same idea, though, which had so far led them both to acting like there was actually nothing special going on during the whole day, although they both knew there was.

Unlike Sam, however, Freddie had made some plans for this day without his girlfriend knowing about it. And about two hours earlier that same day, Freddie had invited her to go somewhere with him without giving her any kind of explanation or even telling her where they would be going to begin with. During the whole car ride that had followed, Sam just wouldn't stop demanding that Freddie told her where he was taking her, but he stood his ground and refused to say a single word about this mysterious place.

When he'd parked his car, Sam frowned at him, waiting for his explanation, but he still refused to talk as he got out of the car and waited for her to do the same. When she was standing next to him, he told her to simply follow him, since they weren't 'quite there yet'.

And that was when Sam realized the place he had taken her to.

The park.

Sam questioned her boyfriend about it, but just like all the previous times the blonde had asked him about their location, Freddie simply told her that they weren't quite there yet and that she would understand soon.

He led the way through the park, Sam complaining about him making her walk during the whole time, until Freddie suddenly told her to stop.

"Close your eyes," he told her with a small smile tugging the corner of his lips upwards.

She hesitated for a moment, frowning lightly at him, but she ended up doing what he said. "Okay, eyes closed," she said as she covered both her eyes with her hands.

"No peeking," Freddie told her, before he rested both his hands on his girlfriend's shoulders and began leading her as she took a few steps forward.

Sam had absolutely no idea where Freddie was taking her, but she gave up on trying to convince him to tell her before they actually got there, since he surely wasn't willing to do that. It wasn't like they could be that far from this mysterious place, anyway, and seeing as she had gotten here without knowing, she might as well just wait a few more minutes or so to finally find out where they were going, maybe even less than that.

They walked for barely a few seconds, before Freddie finally told her to stop and let go of her shoulders. He was silent for a moment, and Sam clearly heard him taking in a deep breath, before he finally broke the silence.

"Okay," he said, sounding slightly nervous, though Sam could honestly not understand why, "You can open your eyes now."

Sam hesitated for a moment, briefly wondering what the reason for the sudden change in Freddie's voice could possibly be, before she finally uncovered her eyes and let them scan her surroundings.

At first, she couldn't understand why Freddie had taken her to that place, since she had no idea where they were for a long moment. Not too long after that, however, she finally understood everything as her mind, as well as Freddie's, was suddenly flooded with memories from about ten years before.

It was a beautiful sunny day in August.

It was summer, which meant that the park was pretty much packed with people, especially youth. There were kids running around with their dogs or with their friends, people walking or jogging around with ear pods stuffed in their ears, couples snuggled together as they watched everything going on around them and even some people that found serenity as they read a book under a tree's shadow.

Young Fredward Benson, a small, skinny boy around the age of ten years old, was enjoying the day at the park with his mother, just like she insisted they did at least two times a week.

His mother was reading one of the parenting magazines she never seemed to let go of, while Fredward sat quietly by her side. He never even bothered asking her if he could go play with the other kids, since he knew from the previous time he'd asked her that exact same question that the answer would be without a single doubt no.

Marissa Benson insisted that running around like all the other kids did was just way too dangerous, and that what kids around Fredward's age should really be doing was exercising their minds, which was exactly why her son was stuck with solving an apparently endless Sudoku magazine by her side.

It wasn't like Fredward didn't like Sudoku; he actually liked it a lot, since he seemed to have some kind of gift to work with numbers—which his mother was extremely proud of, that much was obvious—but the problem was that he wanted to be able to play around with other kids for once instead of sitting under a tree for three hours trying to fit all the numbers of the puzzle in the correct spot.

That day went on differently from the others, though.

After about an hour of simply sitting under that tree, Fredward looked over to this side, where his mother had been sitting during that whole time, and he was shocked to realize that she was fast asleep, her eyes closed and her expression calmer than ever as her magazine laid forgotten on her chest. She had had to work three night shifts at the hospital that week, and that had apparently taken a lot of her, since she seemed to be so exhausted that she had actually fallen asleep when she was supposed to be taking care of her son at the park. And that, obviously, had never happened before.

For a moment, Fredward considered waking her up, but before he could do that, another thought crossed his mind. This was his chance—the only opportunity he'd ever get to go play with the other kids in the next, well… For his whole life, he assumed.

As silently as he could, Fredward got to his feet and walked away from that tree, eyeing his surroundings as if it that was the first time he was actually seeing all that. He was engulfed in a kind of freedom he'd never experienced before. His mother had never let him run around in such a big place like that, with the fluffy grass under his feet and blue sky over his head.

He eyed everything around him in complete awe, since for the first time, all that was actually accessible; he could actually walk up to one of the several groups of kids he had been watching for over an hour now and ask them if he could play with them.

And that was when something hit him in the head.

He was lying on the ground before he could even understand what was happening, the fluffy grass thankfully making his fall not as painful as he'd expected it to be.

"I'm so sorry!" a girl's voice said from just a few steps away from where he was lying on the ground, and when Freddward looked up, he spotted a brown haired girl running toward him. "My brother is just really bad at this game."

"Nah, it's okay," Freddie replied as he got back to his feet, before picking up the object that had hit him in the head just a few seconds before. It was a flying disc, although it had felt like a much bigger and heavier object when it had hit his head. "Here you go," he said as he handed her the disc.

"Thanks," the girl replied, smiling at him, causing Fredward to look down at the ground, unable to hold her gaze. It was the first time a girl was being nice to him, since all the other kids at school just loved to pick on him because of his mother and because he was very shy and just was overall not really good at making friends.

He somehow managed to smile at the girl, but he wasn't able to say a single word in response.

"Hey, Carls," another voice said from behind the girl, "What are you doing talking to that nub?"

Another girl was suddenly visible behind the first one, but instead of brown hair and eyes, this one was a blonde and had eyes of a crystal shade of blue.

"I was just apologizing," the first girl answered, shrugging her petit shoulders.

The blonde girl scoffed. "And who are you?" she asked, practically glaring at the boy with her piercing blue eyes.

"I'm Fredward," he replied, smiling lightly, in spite of the fact that he suddenly felt like running away from there as fast as he could because of the second girl's death glare.

The blonde girl burst out laughing. "What kind of name is that?"

"Sam! Stop being mean!" the brunette quickly reprehended her friend.

Fredward was hurt at first, but that feeling lasted for barely a few seconds, as he suddenly got mad because of the girl's laughing. He had never felt like that before, so it was a rather foreign feeling for him, and so was what he did next. For some reason he could not quite explain, he felt like he should fight back this time. Maybe it was the fact that he felt freer than he had ever been, with what his little stunt of getting away from his mother. All he knew was that a wave of courage had shot through him in that moment, and for the first time in his life, Fredward felt as though he could actually defend himself from this girl, no matter just how threatening she might look to his eyes.

"What's so funny, Samantha?" he asked, hoping that he was right when he guessed that 'Sam' was short for 'Samantha'.

The girl's laughter stopped abruptly, and she suddenly grabbed the front of his shirt and yanked at it, bringing the boy's face close to hers. No one had ever talked back to her that way, so this was new to her. Other kids would usually just run away in fear, crying for their mothers, which was just another reason for her to pick on them.

The brown haired boy had just crossed a line, and she wasn't willing to let that go so easily. Deep down, though, she kind of liked his courage, even though she would never admit that out loud.

"What did you just say?" she hissed in his face, the look in her eyes truly deadly.

Fredward had momentarily lost his ability to speak as he stared at the blond girl right in front of him, his eyes wide with fear as he swallowed drily. "Nothing," he finally managed to let out, his voice about an octave higher than normal, cracking right in the middle of that single word, making his fear all the more evident.

"That didn't sound like nothing," she said, yanking at his shirt one more time.

That was it; Fredward was going to get beaten up by that girl right then and there, and he would never be allowed to leave his apartment for the rest of his life. He closed his eyes, trying to prepare himself for the first punch and silently hoping that it would be over soon.

But it never came.

"Sam! Carly!" a male voice reached the three kids' ears, "What's taking you two so long?"

Fredward opened his eyes at the sound, briefly wondering who that might be, though above all relieved that the sound had apparently saved him from the blow that had been about to be delivered to his face by the blond girl standing right before him, who happened to still have quite a strong grip on the front of his shirt. For a brief moment, Fredward wondered how he would explain the wrinkles that would for sure mark the piece of clothing to his mother, already dreading the fact that those marks would most likely give away his formerly secret walk through the park.

"It's my brother," the brunette girl, whose name seemed to be Carly, announced, as if reading Freddie's thoughts. "We'd better go back," she added, now directing her words to the blonde.

Sam moved her gaze back to the still clearly frightened boy, her glare still just as intense as a few seconds before. "We'll meet again," she said, before letting go of his shirt rather harshly, knocking the boy off his balance. Fortunately for Fredward, he managed to regain his balance before he could fall to the ground once more, which would most likely not be pleasant at all. Without another word and sending the boy one last death glare, Sam spun around, taking off in the direction the young man's voice had come from.

"It was nice meeting you," the brunette girl said after Sam was gone. "I'm Carly, by the way."

Fredward simply nodded in response, deciding not to say a word. Carly then walked away, going back to where her brother was. For a moment, Fredward simply lingered there, staring in the direction the two girls had walked off in, unsure of what to do next. He watched as they reached a very tall and skinny brown-haired man, who smiled widely at the pair. Soon enough, however, Fredward tore his gaze away from them, having decided to go back to where he'd left his mother, since he'd surely not get beaten up by a girl while playing Sudoku.

And when he got there, he was relieved to realize that his mother was still asleep, so he quietly sat down by her side, doing his best to try to smooth the fabric of his shirt to cover up his secret as he decided to just try and forget what had just happened, even though he knew he would most likely not be able to do that.

That day had changed both Sam and Freddie's lives in so many ways, and they didn't have a single clue about it back then. Firstly, it had been because of that day that Freddie had decided not to introduce himself as Fredward ever again, choosing Freddie over his full name. Also, it wasn't long after that when Carly's father had to leave her with Spencer in the apartment right across the hall from Freddie's, and that was how everything began—how Freddie began to hang out with both girls; how he began to get to know both of them better; how iCarly began. And of course, how Freddie and Sam had ended up where they were now.

A smile broke out on Sam's lips as she eyed her surroundings in awe. Just a few steps away from them, she could see the exact same place Freddie had been standing right before the flying disc had hit him in the back of his head, which was also the place where the two had actually seen each other for the first time. Of course, the spot was slightly different; many trees had been planted there over the years, growing to isolate the place from the rest of the park just slightly, creating some sort of clearing.

The clearing was deserted, which surprised Sam to say the least, and she briefly wondered what Freddie had done to make it that way. This portion of the park was not the most visited, sure, but it wasn't normal for literally no one to be around there, either.

And right in the middle of the clearing they now found themselves in, something caught Sam's eye.

There was a big cloth, as well as a picnic basket, placed right in the center of it, which could only mean one thing.

Sam turned to Freddie, her smile even brighter than before as she eyed Freddie's own smile. "You remembered," she whispered, realization suddenly dawning upon her. She had thought that he had forgotten about their anniversary, but now she could see that he had actually planned this all along. "I mean, I thought you'd forgotten, because you didn't say a word about our anniversary all day, but you didn't."

"How could I?" Freddie replied, smiling even more widely now that he knew Sam hadn't forgotten what day it was as well.

Sam began walking toward the picnic basket, the smile still playing on her lips. "How did you do all this?" she asked, turning to him once again. "I mean, I don't think I've ever seen this place so empty."

"Well," Freddie began, looking down, "I kind of paid the guard of this area to tell people that they were trying to get rid of a nest of wasps around here, and well, I guess many people are afraid of wasps."

Sam chuckled at that, now moving her attention to the basket right in front of her. "And what do we have here?" she asked curiously.

Freddie stuffed his hands inside his jeans pocket, looking down for a moment, as if unsure how to respond to that. "Well, I wanted today to be special, so I…" Freddie let his voice hang in the air for a moment as he watched his girlfriend kneel down right in front of the picnic basket. She wasted no time to open it and peer inside, carefully examining its contents.

"Fried chicken, large ham sandwiches, ribs, fat cakes, spaghetti tacos…" Sam said the name of each item she found inside the basket, eyeing each one of them hungrily as she felt her mouth beginning to water. All her favorite foods were in there, a fact that didn't fail to bring a smile to her lips. "All my favorite foods are in here," she said, finally managing to make herself tear her eyes away from her own personal heaven, which lay right in front of her, within arm's reach, to look up at her boyfriend, who she just then realized was smiling at her clear enthusiasm.

"Yep," Freddie replied, kneeling down right beside her.

That was when a small brown package caught Sam's eyes, and she briefly wondered what might be inside of it. She quickly fetched the bag and was about to look inside when Freddie's voice reached her ears once again.

"You're probably not gonna like that one, though," he told her, briefly looking at the bag she was holding.

Sam frowned at him. "Why not?" she asked, peering inside the small package anyway, and the moment she caught sight of what was in it, she instantly understood what Freddie meant.

Inside the package, there was a small plate containing something Sam couldn't entirely define. There were several white little cubes on the plate, all of them covered in some kind of green-ish liquid that made them look unbelievably gross.

"Okay, what in ham's name is this?" Sam asked, looking up at Freddie, who was watching her with a slightly amused expression on his face.

"Well," he began, slowly taking the package away from her before she tossed it somewhere. He laid it beside the basket, before focusing his attention back on the blond girl. "When I told Carly that I wanted to do something special for you, she offered to help me, so she gave me a hand with the fried chicken and the ribs—"

Sam didn't let him finish. "Wait, you made those?" she asked in disbelief.

"Carly coached me all the time, but I did practically all the work," Freddie admitted, shrugging lightly. "Carly also wanted to have a little contribution, though, so I let her make the sandwiches. She ended up telling Spencer about my plans, and he offered to make the spaghetti tacos."

"That still doesn't explain what those things are doing here," she said, pointing at the brown package.

"Spencer accidentally told my mother about everything, and she insisted that I let her give her own contribution, so I ended up have to bring this," Freddie explained, sending a brief glance over to the small package, doing his best not to shudder as he remembered seeing his mother preparing what she had described as a healthy treat.

When he'd seen her in the kitchen earlier that same day, he had guessed the white cubes were tofu, but after she was done with the food, he wasn't so sure anymore. He feared what that might be, and he didn't even want to get started on the green thing she had spread over the cubes.

It still surprised Freddie how his mother had grown to actually like Sam. Of course, she had been utterly shocked when she'd found out about their relationship, and she'd even tried to talk Freddie into breaking up with Sam, but she soon seemed to realize that was actually completely pointless. Freddie loved Sam, and Marissa had somehow learned to accept that over the past few months.

"Yeah, I'd like to keep a distance from that one," Sam said, eyeing the package for a second. Before she could say anything else, though, the sound of her stomach growling suddenly filled the air, and it was just then that she realized she was starving. "Well," she said, "Let's get down to business, shall we?"

Freddie chuckled at that, smiling as he watched Sam beginning to run her eyes over every single thing there was inside the basket, trying to decide what to eat first.

Sam sighed contently as she rested her head on Freddie's shoulder.

She had eaten a lot more than she probably should have, but everything in that basket was absolutely delicious—well, except for the white cubes Freddie's mother had sent, wich both of them had carefully avoided—and Sam certainly couldn't let any of that food go to waste, could she?

Freddie smiled down at his girlfriend, genuinely happy that she was happy, and that he had actually managed to make that day special without being too cliché or dorky.

"Thank you," Sam whispered, smiling back at Freddie, who, instead of responding with words, chose to simply plant a soft kiss on her forehead, before wrapping an arm around her waist to pull her closer to him.

At the feeling of Freddie's warmth engulfing her, Sam could not help but let out yet another sigh, snuggling even closer to him.

She had honestly never felt so happy in her whole life. When she had first woken up that morning, she had thought that this would be just another normal day, for she had not expected Freddie to even remember that it was their anniversary. Just now she realized just how foolish of her it had been to even think that.

As Sam thought back at the last twelve months, she found herself realizing that same feeling of happiness, which had at first been so foreign to her, had somehow become something constant in her life, and the reason for that was sitting right beside her—Freddie.

Sam had never been the one to believe in all those cheesy things girls just never got tired of seeing in movies or reading in books—how some guy made the main girl feel like she was on the clouds and how she would get butterflies in her stomach whenever they kissed, but much to her shock, she had found herself truly experiencing all those things, as crazy and impossible as that might sound, even inside her own head.

The truth was that when she'd first agreed to give her and Freddie a chance, Sam had not been entirely sure of what the future held for them. Sure, she knew that she felt something for him, but the depth of those feelings had been a complete mystery to her back then, and she had no idea where those might lead her.

But as the weeks passed, Sam began to realize that maybe those feelings might be a lot stronger than she had once thought them to be, which only served to make her grow even more confused than she already was. But really, how could it be any different?

The weeks passed, and Sam found herself getting to know one side of Freddie she had never even dreamt existed. He was such a gentleman with her that it was even cheesy sometimes, but for some reason, Sam caught herself actually liking it. He was also so sweet and tender with her it was almost unbelievable, considering it was nothing like anything she had ever experienced before. Of course, she hadn't been in many relationships throughout her life, but she had been in enough to know that Freddie was certainly not like any other guy.

And in no time at all, Sam found herself longing for Freddie's presence whenever she wasn't with him, for during those times, she felt like there was something missing. Every second she spent with Freddie made her feel happier than she'd ever been before in her life, as cheesy as that might sound.

It had been just a matter of time until Sam managed to put two and two together and finally realized what all that truly meant. That knowledge had been with her for a long time, but just now she could really understand it. She felt as though she had been ignoring something that had been right in front of her face for years, but that had now become the most obvious thing in the world in her mind. She just couldn't believe how blind she had been not to see it before.

"I love you," Sam whispered, the words escaping her lips effortlessly. They sounded so right in her ears that she couldn't help but allow a small smile to form on her lips as she now, more than ever, was aware of the truth in them.

Freddie tensed up abruptly by her side, clearly surprised by what his girlfriend had just said, and she knew very well why. He leaned away from her slowly, just so he could look at her in the eye, and as soon as Sam was able to get a clear view of her boyfriend's face, she could clearly see disbelief taking over his features.

"Did you just…?" Freddie seemed unable to finish that, though there was actually no need for him to do so.

Sam nodded lightly in response, smiling at his surprise. She hadn't expected any other reaction from him, really. "One year ago, I told you that I needed time to figure some things out," she began, her voice just as low as a whisper, though her voice was still firm and determined, making it obvious just how sure she was of everything she was saying. "I wasn't sure what exactly I felt for you, but this past year was truly the best one of my entire life, and all thanks to you." She made a short pause, trying to organize her thoughts in order to be able to put them into words. "And the more time I spent with you, the more I realized something that I just refused to admit, even to myself."

Freddie remained silent, holding on to every word that left the blonde's mouth, and Sam could clearly see the expectation in his eyes.

She smiled lightly at him once more as she lifted her right hand slowly, just so she could place it lightly against his left cheek, caressing his skin softly with her thumb. "I love you, Freddie," she whispered once more. "I love you."

Freddie smiled brightly at Sam, his happiness suddenly becoming evident as it took over his features in just a matter of seconds, which was truly one of the most endearing sights Sam's eyes had ever captured. That had been precisely what Freddie had been wishing to hear for about two years now, and in that moment, he had no words to describe how happy actually hearing them made him.

He had been aware that Sam was not entirely sure about what exactly she felt for him, and due to that doubt, he could not be sure if they would even have a future together at all. He had once feared that Sam would at some point realize that she didn't love him back, and he was sure he definitely would not be able to handle that.

Freddie truly loved Sam; he had already told her that various times over the course of the past twelve months, and that had been a solid fact in his mind for almost two years now. Losing her like that would cripple him, he was sure of it.

But now, he felt a wave of pure relief and happiness wash over his entire body as he heard Sam say the words he had once feared he'd never hear from her. She loved him. Sam loved him.

That thought echoed inside his mind repeatedly, though it took quite a while for its meaning to actually sink in, and when the shock finally wore off, he still had not found his voice to speak again. He knew he would not be able to say anything coherent at the moment, so he allowed his body to act on its own as he pulled Sam to him, brushing his lips softly over hers.

Freddie soon pulled away, only to rest his forehead lightly against Sam's so he could look deep into her eyes as he whispered, "I love you too." He caressed her cheek softly with his thumb just like she had done to him earlier, smiling as he added, "But you knew that already."

Sam smiled back at him. "Yeah, I did," she said, and they both chuckled.

The couple simply stared at each other for a moment, crystal blue meeting deep, chocotale brown in an intense, longing stare that spoke more than a thousand words ever would, as if a wordless declaration of love. It wasn't long, however, until they both leaned forward once again, capturing each other's lips in yet another passionate kiss, both of them wishing that moment could last forever.

THE END

Author's Note: *sheds a tear* I really loved writing this story, and it's really sad for me to see it over, but I just loved this ending; it was really amazing to write it. I just really love writing fluff, I suppose XD I hope you all enjoyed it, and that I at least managed to make you smile with all the Seddieness =)

I would like to thank you all for sticking around with me for so long, especially considering my slow updates. Thank you all so much for following, favoriting, reviewing or simply reading this story, it truly means the world to me! :D

And for all those of you who read any of my other Seddie stories (A Chance For Romance; iCamp, Legends and Vampires; and Darkness Times), don't worry, the updates are on their way. I will never leave a story unfinished, and I'll do my best to at least try to keep the updates regular from now on. ;)

Well, I guess there's not much left for me to say here. Thank you all once again :D

And now, I officially declare iSpeed Date Seddie Style...

COMPLETE.

xxiCarlyFanxx