Okay, so I know this is a horribly cliché song, especially considering who the artist is, but it's so damn cute I couldn't resist. I hope you don't mind :)

Today Was a Fairytale

But can you feel this magic in the air?
It must have been the way you kissed me
Fell in love when I saw you standing there
It must have been the way
Today was a fairytale

I fingered the binding of the worn spiral notebook. I had tried my best not to criticize Mom when she gave it to me on my seventeenth birthday, the same day she'd started the diary more than twenty years again. At the time, my parents still hadn't gotten me car, and a used notebook was least among my wish list items. But now, as I slowly approached eighteen, I was reading an entry a day, savoring every word, not wanting to waste them.

The pages reminded me of my mother. Don't get me wrong, she was still alive and well, but the girl in these pages had long since evolved into a slightly more mature woman, even though she possessed telltale factors of the girl in this book. The way the pages were smudged with bacon grease, the telltale scrawl of her handwriting, even the way she goaded the boy she had a secret crush on for all those years…

When I had gotten home from school, she told me to get my homework done early. The way she said it, I knew I had a special entry in store. There had only been a few truly special entries so far: her college acceptance letter, days within my own, the day her grandmother died and she had to face mortality, and even the day her best friends went out, along with the day a week later that they broke up for good.

I had put my calculus away already and stretched across the bed, staring into my mirror for a moment, splitting my features between my parents. The long curly blonde hair was hers, the chocolate brown eyes his, and the smirk they blamed on each other.

I tried to focus on the task at hand, but I could hear my twin brother's music pumping through the thin walls. Through the pages of the diary, I knew how my mother felt about her own twin sister, my Aunt Melanie, but I still couldn't believe she'd had it as bad as I did.

I threw the notebook on my bed and went to my brother's door, pounding over the noise. He leaned out through a crack and smirked. This smirk was always attributed to my mother in her early years.

"Yes?" he asked, knowing the reason for my annoyance, just wanting to make it harder on me.

"Scott, if you don't quiet down, I'm telling dad," I threatened, and he tried not to laugh.

"Dad said I couldn't distract you while you were doing homework. All you're doing is reading that stupid notebook mom gave you," he said, adding. "I got a guitar, you got a used notebook. I guess we know who their favorite is."

There was no way I could explain to him what that notebook was and what it meant, so I simply said, "Fine, I'll tell mom then."

His lips went into a flat line, and he rolled his eyes, but he disappeared into his room, and the loud music dimmed, "Happy?"

I answered him by going back to my own room, closing and locking the door behind me. I hated being interrupted in the middle of an entry. It broke the connection. I turned on my playlist of my parent's favorite songs from when they were my age, and readjusted myself on the bed.

I took a deep breath before opening the notebook to the page bookmarked with a worn Post-it note. The first thing that drew my attention was the little heart scribbles in the margins. Now, the diary had opened me up to a side of my mother few knew existed, but even I had never seen something like this. I started to read:

Saturday, April 17th, 2010

Dear Diary,

Today was a fairytale. (This line was written in loopy cursive, totally out of character for my mother. It caught me off guard. I reread the line before continuing.) I don't even know how it happened. Looking back on the last few hours, it feels like months, years, since I last wrote in this damned thing. So much has changed since then, it's amazing. But I really should start at the beginning, shouldn't I? One day, I know I'll want to remember this day, moment for moment, and hell, maybe someone else might want to too. A daughter perhaps? One with a spiffy name like…Cassandra. Yeah, I like that. (I smiled a secret smile. If only she knew.) Anyway…

It started normally. One of those crappy days that I was spending sitting on the couch watching Girly Cow reruns. Looking back, it will be sad how many days I spent like this, but it makes the days like today so much more worthwhile right? I had no plans for the whole day, until Freddie called and informed me that he was calling an emergency rehearsal. I couldn't think of an emergency good enough to call an emergency rehearsal, because we'd never had one before, but I went along with it, like I usually do. He gave me explicit instructions on what to wear, which surprised me, but not enough to think too much about it, and told me he would pick me up at six.

Now usually, hearing that line, "pick you up at six" from him, would make my heart flutter, but today, I really didn't feel like rehearsal. I felt like a pint of Rocky Road with gummy bears, but my friends had other things in store. Now I got to spend my whole night taking direction from Carly, who took her "job" way too seriously.

I got off the couch to take a shower, before going to my closet and literally digging the dress he'd told me to wear out of the back of my closet. It was a sundress that I had stolen from Mel, not because I'd wanted it mind you, but because it was her favorite and it would bug the hell out of her not being able to find it. I also managed to find a pair of matching flats, and I put on makeup, because otherwise the rest of the outfit looked ridiculous. Then I looked at the mirror and realized my hair looked like crap. It's like that kid's book, "If You Give A Mouse A Cookie;" as soon as I started, I had to finish it. I tried to assemble my messy hair into something normal-looking, but I just wasn't having a good hair day. I made due with what I had, which wasn't much.

He picked me up on time, of which I wasn't surprised. If there was anything Freddie was, it was punctual. And hot. He was sort of hot in a nerdy way…Anyway! When he saw me, his eyes sort of, well, glistened, but that sounds really pussy-like, you know, like sparkly vampires and such, but they did, and I blushed, which I honestly didn't realize was possible. He really didn't look all that bad either. He was looking less nerdy today, with a thin gray cotton t-shirt and dark skinny jeans, but not those emasculating ones, the hot ones. His hair looked like he'd run his fingers through it four thousand times on the way over, but it still managed to look like it was done on purpose. Sometimes I hated how effortless it was for him to be…amazing.

"Uh, you look great," he told me, or something along those lines. He sounded as nervous as I felt, which I didn't understand. He was simply driving me from Point A to Point B, right? Wrong.

Almost as soon as we were in the car, I realized that plans had changed. We were headed in a completely different direction than his apartment building. I was tempted to call Carly and figure out what was up, but a stronger part of me just wanted to be surprised.

"Did you eat?" he asked softly, and when I said no, he immediately pulled into a restaurant. It all seemed too planned, and when I rolled my eyes at him he reminded me that I was always hungry, and he was simply planning ahead. That being said, he had pulled into some really awesome Italian place, when I could have done with hamburgers and fries, which he knew. See, too planned.

As soon as we got through the doors, I couldn't help but hum the notes to "Bella Notte." I almost expected there to be two dogs set up with a plate of spaghetti in a corner. He looked at me and smirked when he noticed what I was doing, and I felt myself blush again. I stopped humming, and smacked his shoulder to reprimand him for making me blush. As he had been doing more and more lately, he took it like a man. I'm starting to wonder if I can hurt him at all anymore. He's getting…buff. Scary thought.

I could have sworn I saw money exchanged with the host, and sure enough, we were put in a secluded corner, away from the loud children and businessmen. I wasn't about to get my hopes up, but it was starting to look like a…but like I said, I didn't want to get my hopes up.

He ordered for me without being asked, and managed to do so without offending me. I mean, I probably would have eaten anything off the menu, but he knew exactly what I wanted. Was I that predictable, or was he simply paying attention? But why would he care? I shook the thought again.

When I asked him what happened to the emergency rehearsal, he told me not to worry about it, and I decided that I wouldn't. I'd wanted this for months, whatever THIS was. Just me, him, a private setting, and, well, the food helped. The latter distracted me for a while, but I couldn't help but noticed the way he kept looking up at me, as if expecting me to get fed up and leave. But I couldn't do that to him. Though his motives were unclear, he was obviously putting a lot of effort towards…something.

When the food was done and he'd paid for the bill, another sign I duly noted, because for once he'd done so without complaint or even offering me half, I took the chance to ask him what was going on. It went something like this:

"Freddie, why are we here?"

"You said you were hungry," he said, nudging the question.

"No, you asked me if I was hungry," I clarified, knowing there was a difference.

"Isn't that the same thing?" he tried.

"You know it's not," I said quietly, reaching across the table to touch his hand. He looked up at me, and it seemed like he couldn't sit still anymore.

"Let's go," he said, and, I think, without realizing it, he led me out with his hand on my lower back, which sent tingles flying up my spine.

When we got outside, it seemed like he couldn't get away fast enough, and he was muttering under his breath. I was trying to figure out what I had said or done to set him off. I wasn't about to let him leave like this. I had the feeling being in the car meant silence, and I couldn't be silent anymore.

"Freddie, is this a date?" I asked from a few feet away.

He stopped in his tracks and turned and scoffed nervously, "A date? Where would you get that idea?"

His nervous chuckles subsided, and we were left with the silence of an empty parking lot. I was supposed to be the strong one, the fearless one. I had to do something.

"You know, Fredward, you didn't have to trick me into going out with you. The old-fashioned way would have worked just fine," I said, and found the power to take a step forward. He just stared, shocked at what I was doing. Hell, I was shocked at what I was doing.

"Try it," I said, putting one hand on his chest, pressing it lightly, hoping the pressure would egg him on. "Just repeat after me, 'Sam, will you go out with me?'"

He hesitated, and for a moment, I thought he would chicken out, but he smiled, "Sam—"

But that's all I needed, and I cut him off with the gentle pressure of my lips. He reacted, slowly at first, but eventually started kissing me back with just as much fervor. (Yuck, the line between Freddie and Sam, and Dad and Mom is starting to blur. Please say she keeps this PG.) But we did pull back. You always have to pull back right. I mean, it's totally possible there are two people that suffocated because they refused to break a kiss, but even I'm not that stupid. And then the stupidest thing happened. We both started laughing, uncontrollably. I couldn't even figure out why, we just kept laughing. (Now this sounds like Mom and Dad)

Now really, this is where the fairytale should end. Fade to black. Roll credits. But Freddie had outdone himself.

When we had calmed down, he admitted that he hadn't thought it would work at all, let alone in Phase One, so we happily moved on to Phase Two. I held his hand as he drove to another surprise location. The whole way, I couldn't shake the buzz of what we'd just done. All those years of being friends and we had finally done something worthwhile. He hadn't saved my life (Carly) or done it on a personal dare (Mel) or even "just to do it." We'd done something, simply because it worked. Because it was…magical.

And the magic just continued as his plan unfolded. When we arrived at the beach, I fully expected Ariel to pop out and start belting "Part of Your World." That was the way my night had been going. Instead, I was met with Freddie's own personal "mood mix," which included love songs from virtually every artist I'd ever even mentioned in conversation, along with a few that must have been his favorites. He opened his passenger seat door and helped me out, leaving the doors open so we could hear the music.

He realized that the night air was chilly and handed me his hoodie, which I zipped up to my neck, the hood up. For such a beautiful night, there was no on e around, likely because of the chill. We only walked a few yards since the car was running, but the view from this end of the beach was amazing, with the light of the moon reflecting on the Sound. I wanted to shoot him it was so beautiful.

I flipped the hood off my head, and opened my mouth to criticize how perfect everything was, but I caught him smiling as he looked at the top of my head. I tried to flatten it, and asked him what it was. He answered that it was just a little hood-hair and I swore, knowing that my bad hair day had gotten worse on what is, for now, the best day of my life.

But he stared at me and pushed my hair back from my face, and he called me beautiful. He called me beautiful. I'm still wrapping my head around it to be honest. After he said it, he bent down and gave me a short kiss on the lips, before pressing his lips to my forehead.

I could hear that line from the end of The Princess Bride, about the top five kisses of all time, repeating in my head. And I felt like Buttercup. I felt like a princess.

"This can't be real," I admitted, chuckling. "I'm going to set this book down, and when I pick it up again, I'll be Rumplestiltskin instead of Cinderella."

"Don't you get it Sam? We're making our own fairytale," he said, smiling, and I felt like I was going to cry from sheer joy.

"My own personal Prince Charming, huh?" I taunted. "Or would that be Prince Nubs-a lot?"

"Complete with Galaxy War sheets," he promised, and he laughed, before going serious.

He took my hand in his and lifted it to his lips, brushing them across my knuckles, and a smile tugged at his lips as he whispered my old nickname, "Princess Puckett, I am your liege."

And in that moment, his brown eyes staring into mine, his lips hovering above my knuckles, the sound of his stupid love playlist in the background…I knew I loved him. I didn't tell him then. That could be saved for another day. But I'm almost sure. I think I'm in love with Freddie Benson. Happy ending much?

Yours truly, Princess Puckett XXOO (for you know who…)

I touched my cheek and realized that I was crying. I'd never known how it happened. They'd always just said they met on iCarly. The line where they'd fallen in love had always been fuzzy, but now, it was all clear, and it was amazing. Better than any fairytale I'd ever read.

I looked at the clock, and suddenly realized how my mother had felt all those years ago. Only fifteen minutes had passed. It was barely ten thirty at night. I grabbed the notebook and went to the main part of the house, ignoring the fact that Scott's music was turned up again.

I found my mother on her way back into the living room from he kitchen, where dad was watching The Princess Bride on TV. She looked at me, and I could tell she knew. I ran toward her and hugged her, and she just laughed.

She took my by the waist and led me into the living room, where dad looked up from his laptop, slowly putting it on the floor when he saw my swollen eyes.

"Cassie, what's up?" he asked, and for a second, I saw what mom saw. That sweet, sensitive guy, Freddie, was my dad.

"Oh you big love monkey!" I said, wrapping him in my arms, shocking him a little bit. By now, mom was sitting down on the couch, just smirking.

He looked over at her, "What did you do?"

"I just outed the big 'love monkey'," she answered, pointed to the book still in my grasp.

He just looked at me, and as if I was helping, I squealed, "Aww! You guys were so cute!"

He just sighed, "One thing Cass, just don't tell Scott."

"Don't tell Scott what?" he said, poking his head into the room after scavenging for food in the kitchen. Another unofficial Benson family meeting was in progress. I pointed out the last section of mom's entry to him, and he laughed mercilessly.

"Oh Dad…" was all he got out before he erupted in laughter.

As he and dad argued about a situation that happened long before we were born, I sat down next to my mom. She turned to me, never taking her eyes off dad.

"You know, it really was magical," she reminisced.

"I know Mom," I promised her, tapping the worn cover. "I know."

That was different. The tenses and points of view, even the alignment switchin' up…it was a challenge. But I think it was worth it. I liked it. I hope you did too. Please review :D