A/N: I have a feeling this will be MUCH better than iHope… XD Anywho, this is a sequel to both iHave To Say Goodbye and iHope (read those first and you'll understand this better). I really don't feel like writing in that style for this fic, so I'm just gonna go with the way I normally write XD

Oh, oh, I don't wanna forget! My new beta reader, SeddieLUV, beta'd this ;) I'm gonna have her beta all my other stuff too, so unless I say differently, she'll have beta'd anything else I post from now on ;)

By the way, if you're as confused about Abby as Freddie is, that's good. I'm trying to write it that way XD

Warning: There is some rather frequent use of a minor profanity in this… Umm… I was in a weird mood… XD

Disclaimer: I may not own iCarly, but I do own the OCs in this story… One of which is a dog… XD

(Sam's POV)

I have really no clue how or why I got here, but I know I'm here; sitting in my ninth-floor apartment in a building just outside of Chicago, watching two-year-old Abby Nelson as she lies asleep in her crib, after what has been quite possibly the best and most life-changing day of my life.

I had finished up college last year, and I find myself thinking more and more about my old life in Seattle during my newly obtained free time.

I still talk to Carly, Spencer and Freddie sometimes, though lately, Freddie seems to be busy and can't talk. It makes me sad when I call him and wait as the phone rings; once, twice, and all the way up to eight times, before it sends me to voicemail. I never leave a message; it just depresses me too much.

So what was my solution to this? I bought a dog. And named him Freddie. That isn't obsession, is it? No, it can't possibly be…

Most days are pretty boring and drag along, only to be brightened by a five-month-old Bichon Frise puppy and a two-year-old blonde-haired girl.

Today was different though.

After Abby ate her lunch, she seemed to be tired, so I put her in the crib that was set up in the living room. Because I was bored and didn't want to wake Abby by turning the TV on, I was playing tug-of-war with Freddie.

Suddenly, there was a knock on the door, which I found peculiar, as I hadn't been expecting anyone.

Freddie ran to the door and started barking at it. Abby was woken up by his barking and began to cry. I first grabbed a dog biscuit and gave it to Freddie to make him stop barking, then quickly picked Abby up and carried her over towards the door so I could answer it.

When I pulled open the door, I got the slightest feeling that the world just might have stopped spinning for a mere second or two.

Standing there was someone I hadn't seen in almost three years. I was almost too shocked to say anything. He spoke first, saving me from having to figure out what to say.

"You left this in my car…" He explained as he held up something I had almost forgotten about – my purple jacket.

"Err… Thanks…" I mumbled as he handed me my jacket.

Abby squirmed in my arms, so I set her in her crib again, figuring she would most likely fall asleep since she was tired.

I turned back around to the man at my door.

"So… Uh… How've you been?" He asked lamely. That was when I snapped.

"'How've you been?'? That's the only thing you can say? Fredward Benson! Do you know how many times I've tried to call you in the past month? At least a few times a week! You never answer your phone!" I don't know what exactly had gone off inside of me, but whatever it was had made me shout all of this at a volume that was much higher than reasonable. I hadn't intended to, but because of my yelling, I had caused Abby to cry and Freddie to start barking… My dog that is…

All of this caused me to stress out, and I threw myself down on my couch and buried my face in a pillow.

After a minute, I heard Abby stop crying, so I looked up to see that Freddie was rocking her in his arms.

"What are you doing?" I glared at him, coming across as a lot more mean than I had intended.

He sensed something was wrong, so he gently laid Abby in her crib again and turned back to me, defending his face with his hands, as he shouted with his voice rising by the second, "Sorry! Don't hurt me! I was just trying to make your daughter stop crying! Please don't hurt me!"

I burst out laughing at his thinking that Abby was my daughter.

"What did I say now?" He blinked, staring at me like I was from outer space.

"Sh-she isn't m-my daughter, Fredweird!" I continued to laugh hysterically.

His facial expression may or may not have been fueling my laughing fit. It was a mixture of confusion, surprise and shock, and his eyebrows were scrunched up as he stared at me, surely because of the way I was acting.

"Then… Why do you have a little girl in your apartment? You didn't kidnap her, did you?" He glared at me, trying and failing to control his awkward expression.

It was then that I became dead-serious. I picked myself up off the couch and calmly walked over to Freddie, then slowly raised my hand, and slapped him with such a force that he stumbled backwards.

"OW! What the hell was that for?" He shouted as soon as my hand made contact with his face.

"You thought I kidnapped an innocent little girl! Tell me now, Benson; why would it ever cross your mind that I would kidnap an innocent little child?" My voice was so quiet and so serious that I was almost scared of myself.

"I… Sam, I'm sorry… I just… I don't even know why I said that…" I don't know weather it was the look in his eyes or the tone in his voice, but I could tell he was genuinely sorry and just couldn't find the right words.

"I forgive you…" I sighed quietly. I don't usually forgive someone this quickly, and when I do, I don't actually tell them that I did, but this situation was just so serious that I felt I had to let him know he was forgiven.

There was an awkward silence for a while until Freddie interrupted it, "So… Who is she? Is she like, your niece or something?" He knew now that Melanie was real. He found out back in high school when she was at Carly's but I wasn't, and he came over and thought that Mel was me, and… Well, that's a completely different story. But yeah, he knew she was real now.

"Nope." I smirked, figuring I'd annoy him by not telling him just who Abby was yet.

"Then… She must be… I have no idea. Sam, will you just tell me?" He pleaded.

I pretended to think for a moment, and then grinned, "Maybe, but only on one condition."

"What condition?" He asked wearily. Smart boy, he should be afraid of Mama when she's being all sneaky.

"You have to tell me something." I explained, the same mischievous grin playing on my lips.

"Sounds easy enough." He shrugged. Ah, stupid Freddie, not asking for more details…

"So it's a deal?" I asked, raising an eyebrow questioningly.

"It's a deal." He put his hand out to shake mine. Hasn't he learned this already?

I spit in my hand then grabbed his and shook it with just a bit more force than necessary, smirking as I did so. The look on his face was priceless, even though this had happened many a time before. Besides, it wasn't like we hadn't had our fair share of spit-swapping… If you know what I mean.

"Okay, now that your DNA is all over my hand, what is it that you wanted me to tell you?" He asked, wiping his hand on his shirt.

"Oh, nothing much," I smirked, pausing for a moment just to bug him before I finally asked, "Why didn't you stop me?"

His face portrayed a look of pure bewilderment as he asked, "Stop you from what?"

"Leaving," I explained simply.

The expression on his face was one that I hadn't seen in years and had missed so much; love.

He sighed, "Sam, you're going to think this is cheesy as hell, and it really is, but it's true. They say if you love someone, you're supposed to let them go." He paused for a moment, then continued, "For a while before you left, you seemed lost. It seemed like maybe if you got away from it all, you'd be able to collect your thoughts. So I knew the right thing to do was to let you go. And I didn't stop you. Now, you seem to have everything together."

I'll admit it. Even though that was indeed cheesy as hell, it was so sweet that a single tear fell from my eye. Just the one though! I'm not like Carly who starts sobbing over a chick flick!

But Freddie saw that tear, and he pulled me into a hug, which I only accepted for about a second.

I flopped down on my couch and motioned for Freddie to sit next to me. After he sat down, I heard whimpering by my feet. I looked down and saw my puppy sitting at my feet, sad because he was too small to jump onto the couch. I picked him up and set him in my lap.

"So… Who is the little girl?" Freddie asked suddenly. Right; we made a deal.

"Abby," I smirked, knowing that wasn't the answer he was looking for.

"And… Why is she in your apartment?"

"I'm babysitting her while her parents are at work." I shrugged, giving up at annoying Freddie.

He looked shocked, but decided to be smart and not say anything about that and instead changed the subject, "So… What's this little guy's name?" he asked, motioning to the dog in my lap.

"Freddie," I laughed, wondering how much that would bug him.

"What?" He asked, obviously not getting it.

"My dog. His name is Freddie." I smirked.

He first mumbled an "Oh," and then took a second to soak everything in before asking, "Wait, he's named after me?"

I responded with a sarcastic, "No; he's named after one of the other twenty Freddie's I know."

Apparently Freddie was being Mr. Even-Though-I'm-Smart-I-Still-Don't-Understand-Anything today, because he sadly sighed, "Oh."

I laughed at this, then playfully shoved him and smiled, "Of course he's named after you, Fudgeface!"

It was then that I realized he sounded disappointed when he thought that I had named my dog after a different Freddie.

I began to drift off into thought, That couldn't mean…

"Sam? Sam? Yoo-hoo?" Freddie was snapping his fingers in front of my face, interrupting my daze.

"You still like me." I smirked.

I decided then that Freddie wasn't being Mr. Even-Though-I'm-Smart-I-Still-Don't-Understand-Anything today. He was being Mr. I'm-Cheesy-As-Hell today. Why was I so sure of this? Because of his response.

"What reason would I have not to?"

I sighed, and then looked him straight in the eye, "Freddie, as far as either of us was concerned, we weren't going to see each other again… Like, ever…" I whispered that last part. It wasn't that I wanted it to be that way… It was just the way it was.

The funny thing in all of this; we had never officially broken up. Sure, each of us had just sort of assumed that the other would realize that they could date other people, considering the fact that neither of us had believed we'd meet again. But despite all of this, it had never been declared that we were over. And now, I was confused as hell as to weather or not we were still together. I mean, he came to my apartment to give me the jacket that I had left in his car… Three years ago! But that could've just been common courtesy, right? Well… That does seem a bit far-fetched for common courtesy…

I was suddenly derailed from my train of thought as Freddie waved his hands in front of my face and said, "Sam? Hello? Hello-o?"

I shook my head as I came out of my trance. I don't know what had taken over my brain, but obviously something had right in that instant that I was snapped out of my thoughts, because I asked suddenly, "What are you doing in Chicago? Or more specifically, how did you find my apartment? I haven't given my address to anyone yet since I moved here, only about half a year ago… Not even to Carly or Spencer!"

"Well, let's see, where do I start?" He mused with his index finger on his chin and his eyes looking up as if in thought, then decided to continue with, "Well, I had to move for work, and it was right near here, so I figured that this entirely random apartment building I had found had good rates, so I got myself an apartment here; on the third floor. I hadn't answered my phone often in the last month because I was so busy with moving all my stuff; just in case you tried to call me and I didn't pick up. Anyway, a while after I moved in here, I was in the laundry room when I saw a girl who looked awfully familiar, though I only saw the back of her head as she was hurrying out. Even though I figured it was a bit far-fetched, I decided to ask my neighbor across the hall if they knew of a Sam Puckett who lived here. When they said they did and I explained why I was asking if you were here, they told my which apartment you lived in. And… I think that answers all your questions."

I don't know what it was, but something just caused me to throw my arms around him and pull him into a hug.

As though he could read my mind, he whispered, "I missed you, too," then accepted the hug, despite the fact that it must have seemed odd coming from me.

When we broke out of the hug after a few seconds, I was surprised to feel a tear pooling up in my eye. I quickly turned away from Freddie so he wouldn't notice that I was nearly crying.

Luckily, he didn't notice, and instead asked the question I was afraid to ask him.

"So… What's the story with… Us?" He asked awkwardly, motioning to both me and himself as he said 'us.'

This was a touchy subject, and I don't have a doubt in my mind that he realized this. However, it had to be dealt with. I was a little afraid to respond, but managed to let out an awkwardly mumbled, "I dunno," in response to Freddie's question. I guess it was then that he snapped.

He sprung up from the couch and went into lecture mode, ranting, "'I dunno'? That's all you can think of? Sam, please! I can't tell you how much I've missed you since you left! And some miracle brought us back together, and now all you can say to explain what's going on between us is 'I dunno'?"

I jumped up and stood in front of him, looking him directly in the eyes, which was difficult due to the height difference between us. I yelled right back at him, "Yes, that's the only thing I can think of to say! What did you expect me to say?"

"I…" he tried to shout in response, but couldn't think of anything to finish his sentence and stopped after one word, so I yelled at him again.

"See! You can't even come up with anything! Yet you keep yelling at me 'cause I ca-"

This certainly wasn't the first time he cut me off with a kiss. It, in fact, seemed that more often than not, one of us would kiss the other, for the most part just, to shut them up. It was even one of the things Carly had always pointed out that was uniquely 'us.'

I surprised myself as I found that I was kissing him back. The next thing either of us knew, our tongues were in a battle for dominance.

When the shock of everything hit me, I abruptly pulled back and muttered, more to myself than to Freddie, "What the hell just happened…?"

Freddie's mumbling was probably more awkward than the silence it filled, "Um…"

I had no idea of what to say next, so I just stared at Freddie.

When he realized I wasn't going to say anything, he leaned close to me, and just when I thought he was going to kiss me again, he smirked suggestively, "You don't have a boyfriend, do you?"

I decided to have some fun with him, and snickered, "I dunno, there's this one guy I was kinda hoping would ask me out…"

Being the oblivious idiot that he was, Freddie pulled away awkwardly, sighing, "Oh…"

I laughed lightly at his stupidity, but when I saw the hurt on his face, I stopped laughing and lightly jabbed him in the side with my elbow, then gave him a serious look as I said, "I meant you."

When he smiled, I decided that it really had been a bad idea to be separated from him. I had missed that smile too much.

I'm not quite sure why I sat there like an idiot instead of kissing that smile off his face, but I didn't realize that I had just been staring at his lips until he poked me in the stomach playfully and grinned, "You're clearly too shocked, so I'll do this for you…"

And that was when he kissed me, and I knew everything would be alright.

So after all that hullabaloo was settled, Freddie had gone back to his apartment and I was left to care for Abby until her mom came to pick her up.

No matter what I did, I couldn't get the smile that was on my face to go away, so when Mrs. Nelson showed up to get Abby, she seemed to be confused as to why I was so happy, but she didn't bother asking.

And that night, for the first time in three years, I went to bed with a smile on my face.

A/N: I'm kinda marginal about the ending, but the rest I'm happy with :3 I've been working on this for like two and a half months now DX Oh well, it's finally finished and you guys can read it :D Pretty please leave a review telling me your thoughts of this story; it would make me super happy. Seriously ;)

I also have a quick TOTALLY off-topic announcement! XD I made a FictionPress account a few weeks ago, and I've got a few things posted and… I have no reviews, favs, followers, or anything :( Can you guys please go check out the stuff I have posted? I've got the same penname there ;)