AN: Hey. I'm back with another story. :) This is an anonymous request which I've been writing for a few months now, and I'm so happy to post it for you all to read. I've spent countless hours re-reading it all and editing and adding new ideas, so I hope you all like it. It's around seven or eight chapters long and will be posted at least twice a week (but no promises to that). Reviews and critism is most welcome. :) x

Disclaimer: I do not own iCarly or Sam And Cat. I don't own any of the characters. x

Just like any normal day, Sam was sat on her bed cross-legged, laughing as she was talking on the phone to her boyfriend, Freddie. "That's crazy, Freddie!"

Sam laughed, taking a sip of her iced tea. "I can't just drop everything, as much as I want to, and go to Seattle to spend the weekend with you."

"But we haven't seen each other in, at least, two months," Freddie whined on the other end of the phone. "And it's a long weekend too, meaning we could spend three days together."

"Look, baby," she sighed, her laughter dying down. "Yes, I'd love to see you again; my lips are actually starving. But seriously, I can't leave Cat alone...remember what happened last time?"

He thought for a moment.

"Cat almost set the apartment on fire!" Sam answered for him, rolling her eyes. She swore, her boyfriend's memory was just getting worse and worse as they got older - he didn't remember her favourite smoothie flavour the other day.

"Okay, even though I can't actually remember what happened," Freddie said with a chuckle. "I know, for a fact, she didn't come close to setting the place on fire."

"Yeah, but you know what I mean," she shrugged. "Disaster would definitely strike if I wasn't here, dude."

"Probably," he agreed.

"You know that if I could come to see you, I would," she reminded him heavily. "And hey, you could probably come in the summer. I'll get Cat to go to her friend's house for the weekend or something."

"Maybe," he sighed. "I was just looking forward to seeing you. Plus, my mother's working out of town this weekend so we'd have an empty apartment-Wait, what about Carly?"

"Huh? What about her?" Sam frowned.

"Couldn't she babysit for you?" Freddie asked, now very hopeful. "I mean, it sorta gets her out of the way, too, doesn't it?"

"I guess," she nodded. "And by the way, it's petsit, not babysit."

"Huh?"

"Nothing," she said quickly. "So, uh, I'll call Carly then. Good idea, Frednub."

"Alright, so I'll hopefully see you this weekend then, yeah?" Freddie smiled.

"Looks like it," Sam sighed happily. "I can't believe we get to see each other again after so long. Anyway, I better call Carly or this weekend will never happen."

"Good point," he agreed. "Bye, Princess Puckett. Love you."

"Love you too." Sam rolled her eyes, though she couldn't help but beam. She hung up the phone and scrolled through her contacts until she found Carly's number.

The girls hadn't kept in touch much since Carly had moved to Italy. It was only until she had moved back to Seattle to attend a local community college that Sam started reaching out more. She thought maybe it would stop any current suspicions of why both Carly's best friends were ignoring her, and wouldn't give Carly any hints towards the fact the two were dating. Her thoughts weren't straight, and neither were her intentions. Her explanations and reasonings made no sense whatsoever at the time but she was grateful now, since she, one, had her best friend back, and two, had a secret relationship that nobody else could touch.

Sam pressed the phone to her ear, grinning. But what was she gonna tell Carly? She couldn't tell her that she was going to be spending the weekend with Freddie, or that would completely ruin the secret part of their relationship.

"Hey, Sam," Carly said in her usual happy voice. "What's up?"

No time to think of anything now, Puckett, Sam thought to herself. You're going have to make something up on the spot-

"Uh, Sam? Hello? Are you there?"

"Oh, hey, Carls," Sam greeted after another moment silence. She had no idea what to say. For once in her life, she felt slightly guilty about lying to her best friend, even though that was what her and Freddie had been doing for a whole nine months. "Sorry about that. I was just thinking about something."

"Ah, okay," Carly nodded. "So what's up?"

"Are you busy this weekend?" Sam asked quickly. "Look, I know it's short notice but-"

"Did your mum get arrested again?" Carly said immediately, frowning. It was a reflex. Sam called when her mum had been arrested every single time, even when she was in Italy, so she was used to it. She knew that Sam was probably calling to rant. "Do you need to bail her out again?"

"Uh...yeah," Sam agreed. Technically she wasn't lying if Carly was the one who brought it up first.

Carly just gave me the perfect excuse without even knowing it!

"And I can't really leave Cat alone by herself," Sam continued, hearing a sudden smash coming from the lounge room.

"What was that noise?" Carly asked, suddenly on full alert. "And hey, I could always stay with Cat for you."

Man, she's literally reading my mind!

"Aww, thanks, Carls," Sam said, a smile creeping onto her lips. Maybe that weekend would work out after all. "And that's why you're my best friend. Could you come by Thursday?"

"Well-"

"Thanks so much - you're the best!" Sam said, hanging up the phone before Carly could change her mind.

She sent Freddie a quick message:
Baby, I'll be at your apartment Thursday night. Asking Carly was probably the best idea you've ever had. Love you. x

Sam then chuckled as she headed out the room and wasn't surprised when she walked into the lounge room to see a smashed vase on the floor beside the sofa. Her smile quickly faded.

Cat squeaked from her place on the floor behind the kitchen counter. She crept her head around.

Sam sighed. "And Freddie thought you weren't disastrous," she mumbled darkly before looking through the kitchen cupboards and grabbing a dust pan and brush.

….

Thursday came around and Sam was busy packing a suitcase in her bedroom while on the phone to Freddie when the door bell went off. She expected Cat to answer it like usual but then she realised that her redheaded friend was still at school.

"Carly's here," Sam told her boyfriend happily, heading out the bedroom. "Cat should be back from school soon, too. Man, I can't believe this weekend is actually happening! I'm so excited to see you again."

"So am I, baby," Freddie smiled. "I even went out and bought chocolate-covered strawberries."

"My favourite," Sam laughed. "Anyway, I've got to go because Carly's here. I'll call you once I'm off the plane, okay?"

"Okay."

Sam hung up the phone and opened the door to her best friend, who immediately pulled her into a hug. They hadn't seen each other in four months - that being when Sam was staying with Freddie but Carly turned up expectedly one afternoon, claiming she was moving back home. So unfortunately, Sam had to either crash at Carly's or go back to her house for the extra night she was there since going to Freddie's was no longer an option. But of course, she didn't let that stop her; she snuck out to the fire escape and climbed into his bedroom window early in the morning to spend the rest of the night, and then she went to Carly's house at a reasonable time with Freddie following a few minutes later to make it seem like they didn't go there together.

"Hey, Sam!" Carly beamed, breaking the hug. "I can't wait to spend some time with Cat."

"Yep, I bet she can't wait, too," Sam lied, remembering the previous night when Cat practically begged Sam to stay. "But it's more of looking after than hanging out with."

"Ah, well, that's okay," Carly said, shrugging her shoulders. "So where'd your mum get arrested this time?"

Sam furrowed her eyebrows together in confusion. "My mum got-" she suddenly stopped herself from talking, the lie catching up to her. Her face relaxed. "Oh, yeah! My mum got arrested! I remember now."

"Um, okay?" Carly chuckled. She didn't catch on to her best friend's weird behaviour. She put it down to anger towards having to drop everything to bail her mum out. "You're acting a little weird, but okay. So where's Cat?"

"She should be back from school any minute now."

Right on cue, Cat then stepped out of nowhere, smiling. "I'm back and-Oh...what's Carly doing here?"

"Nice to see you, too, Cat," Carly said, rolling her eyes. She hadn't seen the redhead in a while - it must've been at the barbeque last summer.

"Oh, um, I just thought Sam wasn't going away anymore," Cat said. She then turned to the blonde. "You said you were staying."

"Cat," Sam sighed. "I told you that so you'd go to sleep. And I've got to go, Cat. My mum's been arrested, and as her daughter, it's sorta my duty to bail her out."

"When will you be back?"

"I don't know," Sam sighed again, ruffling the redhead's hair. "Probably Monday evening at the latest."

"Oh...well, okay then," Cat pouted.

"You'll have a great time with me!" Carly said cheerfully. "We can watch movies and paint each others' nails and order pizza and-"

"I have a feeling you won't be doing any of that," Sam mumbled under her breath. "Anyway, guys, I'll go get my suitcase then I'll be off to the airport."

"Alright," Carly smiled, watching as the blonde went back into the bedroom. "So, Cat, do you want to do something fun?"

"No," Cat murmured, looking down at the ground. "I don't want Sam to go."

Carly put an arm around Cat's shoulders. "She'll be back. It's not like she's going forever."

"Alright, I'm going now," Sam said, walking back to the others with her suitcase in hand. "See you later, Carls, thanks again for this. Bye, Cat, be good for Carly."

The blonde began to walk away but quickly turned back. "Oh, Carly, I almost forgot. There's a list of instructions on the kitchen side. Bye now!"

"Instructions?" Carly questioned. "For wha-And she's gone..." She closed the front door but the second it shut, Cat began whimpering like a dog and fell to her knees.

"Aww, what's wrong, Cat?" Carly asked, sitting down on the floor.

Cat didn't answer. She continued whimpering, though.

After finally giving up on cheering Cat up, Carly got back to her feet and went into the kitchen to find the 'instructions' Sam had left her. She found a pink piece of paper on the side and unfolded it carefully before reading...

How To Look After Cat:
1. Take her on a walk twice a day.
2. Remember to give her her vitamins every day.
3. Feed her.
4. Bath her.
5. Play fetch while at the park.
6. She might need a bedtime story to get to sleep.

Carly looked up from the paper and laughed. "Is Sam playing a joke or something on me? Has she got Cat in on it? It sounds like these are instructions for looking after a dog."

Though, she then decided to no longer question the instructions and thought it best to follow them. She looked in the cupboard and found a bowl which had 'Cat' written on it. "Cat the Dog, seems kind of ironic," she said to herself, still laughing.

Cat, on four legs, turned around to look at Carly and began to bark.

"Oh geez," Carly said, beginning to freak slightly. She looked back at the paper. "Of course Sam didn't think to tell me what to do to stop Cat from barking." She got on her knees again and clicked her fingers, beckoning Cat over to her. "Good Cat...um, that sounds really weird. I guess I should say good dog instead."

Carly thought for a moment then looked at Cat. "Actually, I guess you can decide, Cat. Okay, so do you want me to call you cat or dog? Pass me your 'paw' for cat or put your 'paw' in the air for dog."

Cat immediately, without a second thought, gave Carly her hand. Though inside of making a cat noise, she decided to carry on barking.

"Yep," Carly sighed. "Of course she'd make it more complicated for me and decide to be called Cat the Dog." She stood up and went over to the cupboard. "Do you want to eat now? And could you please talk like a human?"

AN: I know it's quite an abrupt ending - I apologise for that. I wrote all the story and then split it up into chapters afterwards, so the endings may be slightly rushed and they all have an uneven amount of words. This chapter has just over two thousand words overall. :) I hope enjoyed it. Did you like it? Did you hate it? How will I know if you don't review? :) Reviews for me are like Sam and her ham. x