Disclaimer: I do not own iCarly.

Warning: Contains depictions of consensual f/f sex.

A/N: The first two chapters of this story are rated T; the third chapter is rated M for sex and language. I've written it so that it still makes sense if you stop reading at the end of chapter two; readers uncomfortable with M rated fics should finish there. Those who want to find out how Carly and Sam's night ended can read on for all the Cam yummygoodness in full, naked detail, so to speak. This story is set during their junior year in high school.

1. Wendy.

"Dude, you just need to butch-up and tell her how you feel already!" Wendy sighed and shook her head in exasperation as she looked over Sam's shoulder at what the blonde was drawing in her sketchbook.

It was the last class for the day, and Ridgeway High's junior art class had been let loose on the school playground with their sketchbooks. Their assignment: to draw outdoor scenes and landscapes based on what they saw around them in real life. Their art teacher, Ms Rossi, a largish woman whose lank greasy hair and wandering eye lent her a somewhat... distinctive appearance, had told the class that, given the relative scarcity of fine days in Seattle, they should feel privileged to be able to get out of the classroom and work outside. She had also made it clear, just before the students disappeared to the four corners of the school grounds, that their work would be assessed. So now Sam and Wendy were sitting side-by-side on a wooden bench, basking in the afternoon sunshine, and sketching some flowering bushes that sat in a landscaped garden-bed in front of them.

Sam's problem, reflected Wendy, wasn't the upcoming assessment - Sam was actually a decent drawer, and art was one of the few classes that she wasn't flunking. No, Sam's problem was much more serious than that - it had to do with a certain pretty brunette, namely one Carly Shay, who, over the last few months, had come to increasingly dominate the topic of conversation between herself and her friend. And, judging by the peeks that Wendy had been able to sneak of Sam's last few sketches, was also increasingly occupying Sam's thoughts - for in every single one of the landscapes that Sam had drawn as they had been wandering around the school yard and its gardens, the figure of a slender dark-haired girl had managed to insert itself into the picture. This wasn't a problem in itself - Ms Rossi had said that it was okay to include people or animals in the landscapes. Rather, it was indicative of the actual problem, which was that Sam Puckett was head-over-heels in love with her best friend Carly Shay. And too chicken-shit to do anything about it. Despite the fact that Wendy - and anyone with eyes, for that matter - could see that Carly almost certainly felt the same way.

Sam looked up from where she was putting the finishing touches on the figure of a girl - who, with her slender figure, high cheekbones, full-lipped mouth, and midnight-black hair, looked suspiciously like Carly - standing beside the bushes, dressed in an elegant flowing gown, and holding a flower to her nose in one dainty hand. The blonde glanced sideways at Wendy in annoyance. "I already told you! I'm not saying anything to her. It's too risky! What if she freaks out?"

"Give her more credit than that!" answered Wendy. "She's not gonna freak out! And I honestly think she feels the same. The way she acts around you - the touches, the hugs, the fact that she'd go to the ends of the earth for you..."

"We've always been like that with each other!"

"My point exactly! You two are made for each other."

Sam closed her sketchbook and laid it on the bench off to one side. "She's never given me any indication that she likes girls."

"Oh, and you've been so open about your attraction!" teased the redhead. When Sam didn't say anything, Wendy continued. "Maybe she's just scared, like you."

Sam let out an exasperated sigh and leaned forward, chin in her hands. "I don't know. I've thought of that. And I've thought about telling her, I really have. But it never seems like the right time..."

"Well don't wait for too long! Any day now Carly's gonna wake up and realise that she's totally hot. And then she's gonna realise that she can have any guy that she wants, and it wont be long before she's ditching you for some hunky overachiever. And then all those drawings that you're so fond of are gonna be all you have left of her."

"Aaargh!" Sam let out a frustrated groan, raking her fingers through her wild hair. "I know dude! I worry about that every day! But I have a lot to lose if I screw it up, ya know."

"Whatevs girl." Wendy sighed and rolled her eyes, having heard it all before. "You know I got your back, whatever you decide to do," Wendy assured, as she began adding to her drawing a hummingbird that had just darted into view in front of them, and was now busily visiting flower after brightly-coloured flower, in search of sugary-sweet liquid snacks.

The end-of-class bell tolled faintly over the PA system, and made Sam jump.

"Crap! I have to get home and grab my stuff for tonight, before I head over to Carly's for the show." It was Friday, and therefore iCarly night. "Later, Red... And thanks." Sam quickly gathered her stuff and hurried off.

"Later," Wendy called absently. Her mom was picking her up from school today, and usually got there a couple minutes after the final bell, so she was in no particular rush. The redhead completed her drawing, putting the finishing touches on the hummingbird just in time before it flew off in search of other nectary flowers to sip from.

Wendy closed her sketchbook and started gathering her things. Glancing beside her, she saw Sam's sketchbook sitting on the bench. The blonde must have forgotten it in her rush. Shaking her head at the ditziness of girls in love, she picked it up and took it with her. She'd stash it in her locker and give it to Sam on Monday.

As she walked back to the locker area, she began idly flipping through the pages of Sam's work, more out of curiosity than anything else. After a few steps, she stopped still. "Oh boy!" Wendy muttered to herself. "It's worse than I thought."

On almost every single page there was some reference to Carly, even if it was just a passing one. Although Sam never labelled the drawings with names, for someone who knew them, it was obvious who the figures were. Most of the drawings of people were either drawings of Carly, or drawings of Sam and Carly together. Sometimes they were in casual, day-to-day situations; other times the figures existed in romantic, fairy-tale-like landscapes. Drawings of other places were inevitably sketches of locations related to or significant to Carly - Bushwell Plaza, the iCarly studio, Ridgeway High, the Groovy Smoothie... Sure, Sam had drawings in her sketchbook of other things - other friends, random animals, food (Wendy wasn't sure if the last two were synonymous in Sam's mind); but the underlying theme was pretty apparent - Carly Shay was one of the most important things in Sam Puckett's life. Sam had even found a way to incorporate her beloved brunette muse into the comic strips the class had done a while back!

As Wendy continued on her way to the lockers, she wondered if there was anything she could do for her love-struck, overly-timid friend. (Overly-timid! Hard to believe that term could apply to Sam Puckett! But it certainly seemed to be the case when it came to the blonde discussing her feelings for her best friend.) Maybe she would have another talk to her on Monday when she handed the book back.

Or... Wendy stopped dead again, face breaking out in a devious smile as a plan began to form, I can drop the book in to Carly's on the way home, and 'casually suggest' that she look at it! It was brilliant! Wendy could claim that she was worried Sam might need the book over the weekend, and that she knew Sam would be at Carly's place this evening. Wendy had to drive past Carly's apartment building to get home anyway, whereas Sam's place was in the opposite direction, so it made sense that way; and Wendy's mom wouldn't mind waiting while the redhead dropped the book off at Carly's. Once Carly saw how much Sam adored her, the two friends might finally be able to acknowledge the romantic feelings growing between them. And if, by some chance it turned out Wendy had misread how Carly felt (but honestly, Wendy couldn't even remember the last time that had happened - she had always had an exceptional talent for reading people), then it would be easy for Sam to come up with an excuse, by claiming that she drew Carly so often out of laziness - since Carly was the person whose appearance Sam was most familiar with, it was just easy to draw her all the time.

Happy that she was able to help her friends, impressed (as usual) by her own clever deviousness, and a little guilty that she had probably made her mom wait whilst she formulated her plans, the smiling redhead hurried on her way to the school gates, Sam's sketchbook clutched firmly under one arm.