Disclaimer: iDon't own iCarly. In addition, the author of this story highly recommends that you read iHit the Open Road, to which this is the sequel.

It was the general air of restlessness that slowly pulled Carly Shay to consciousness so early Saturday morning. Though she couldn't quite register much at the moment, her body could definitely tell that it was early…way too early to be awake on the weekend. When she groggily turned to view the clock on the other side of the bed she released a guttural groan of annoyance: the time read 7:21 a.m. Given that she was up late last night, she had hoped - no, expected - to sleep in to compensate. She knew, however, that there was no going back to sleep once she was up.

Then she came to realize (slowly) that she had a perfect view of the clock on the nightstand on the other side of the bed. This meant that the usual mass that interrupted her view, which happened to come in the form of a brown-haired, brown-eyed fiancé, wasn't there. Curious, she sat up and looked around the room for any sign of him. Instantly, she noticed the lounge chair in the corner of the room, which was occupied by her opened, seemingly half-packed duffel bag.

"Weird," she thought. She definitely didn't leave her duffel bag out. Actually, she can't even recall the last time she used it. A sudden commotion caused her to look to her left, where she noticed the light from the walk-in closet illuminating the floor. Within seconds, her smiling fiancé revealed himself by exiting the closet, holding a small stack of jeans and making his way to the duffel bag in the corner of the room. Freddie Benson deposited the jeans into the bag without so much as a glance towards the bed.

"Freddie, what are you doing?" Carly asked, her voice slightly froggy from being used for the first time that day.

Freddie quickly turned towards the sound of Carly's voice and grinned at the sight of her. She could only imagine how she looked to him: a sleep-disheveled mess with an expression of utter confusion. Freddie always did tell her how cute she looked when she was confused. She figured she must look downright adorable to him right about now.

"Good morning, baby," Freddie greeted in a low, excited tone as he approached her side of the bed and gave her a soft kiss on her lips. "Sorry, didn't mean to wake you.'

"Babe, what are you doing and why are you doing it so early in the morning on a Saturday?" she asked, pushing herself upright. "And just why exactly are you packing my bag? Are you kicking me out? I knew my snoring was bad, but - "

"Oh, ha ha," he responded sarcastically, giving a strand of her hair a gentle pull in retaliation while she giggled. "The snoring I can handle. The kung fu-style kicking in your sleep, on the other hand…"

"Freddie!" she exclaimed with a giggle, prompting him to laugh softly. "Seriously, what's going on?"

Freddie's laughter faded as he knitted his eyebrows in apparent confusion. "Wait, you've seriously forgotten already? How is that even possible? We just talked about it last night!"

When Carly didn't answer immediately, he sat at the edge of the bed and gave her a small, almost pitying smile. "I'll give you a hint," he teased just before leaning over and placing a gentle kiss at her temple. Then he moved a little closer to her ear.

"Dum, dum, da-dum," he hummed in a low tone, in tune to the wedding march.

Suddenly, Carly remembered exactly what he was referring to. Just the night before, Freddie had attempted to convince her that they should elope after witnessing how stressed the wedding planning was making her. He'd made number of good points, including how the wedding should just be about them and their closest friends and family, and she had agreed that the plans for their big day had spun slightly out-of-control (such as a guest list of 130 that was growing by the day). In addition, Carly couldn't help but get slightly swept away in the romance of it all: running off to some private location, exchanging vows in an intimate ceremony, creating memories meant for just the two of them to share…

But that's exactly what she was last night when she had conceded to this outrageous idea to elope: swept away. Swept away in the moment, the impromptu romance, in Freddie's loving words…the entire idea was outlandish and kind of unreasonable. Could they really expect their friends to just drop everything and meet them at some out-of-reach location, just like that? She didn't think it was likely.

"Freddie," she began, cautiously, "I had only agreed to the idea last night because I thought that after you'd slept on it, you would've realized how crazy of an idea it was. There's no way we can just stop everything we're doing and run off like that."

"Yeah, because we've never done that before," Freddie countered sarcastically with a slick smile. She couldn't help but smile back as she thought of the road trip that had changed the both of them forever. Though it began as a trip to across the country to see Gibby and Sam (as well as a much needed vacation for Carly), it ended with them finally coming to grips with their feelings for each other. It had been almost four years and at times she would still catch herself reliving some of the moments of that trip: their late-night moment on fire escape of Bushwell Plaza, the long drives, their first kiss, the slow dance in the bar that lead to them finally admitting their love for one another…

"Okay, but that was different," Carly pointed out gently. "That was a casual college trip. This is our wedding! We've already put so much time and money into it -"

"-Both of which, I already told you, I don't mind losing."

"I know, I know, but still. We can't just forget about all of that and go away last minute. Furthermore, we can't assume that all of our friends will be perfectly fine with that."

"And not all of them will be," Freddie agreed, "but some of them, those that are most important, won't mind. Sam, Gibby, and Spencer, for instance, will agree to go because they know how important this is to us. That's all that matters at the end of the day, right? That the ones closest to us will be by our side when we need them? They wouldn't miss it for any amount of distance."

Carly sighed loudly and laid back down on the pillow, shielding her eyes from the sunlight that was emerging from the side window. She loved Freddie, but sometimes he could be so stubborn.

"Baaaaaaaabe," she groaned, "I was hoping you would take some time to sleep on this whole idea and realize how crazy it is."

"But that's just the problem, Carls. After you agreed to elope last night, I never really slept."

He crawled over her body and laid next to her. Then he reached over and pulled her so that she was facing him and settled a hand on her hip before resuming his explanation. "I tried to get some rest, but all I could think about was how today could be the day that Carly Shay becomes my wife. I'd been dreaming of this very moment since we were eleven! The more I thought about it, the more excited I got and all I could do to keep myself sane was pack. So that's what I've been doing since about 4 a.m."

It was one of the sweetest things she'd ever heard and it only confirmed just why she was so in love with this man. Freddie never hesitated to tell (as well as show) her how much he loved her. She would honestly do anything for him, but nothing about this fell within reason and though she was more than eager to become 'Mrs. Carly Benson,' she was convinced that he just needed to be brought back to sanity. Someone had to remain the voice of reason.

"Freddie, you know I want nothing more than to become your wife," she started as she stroked the masculine arm that was wrapped around her waist, "I just don't want anything about this to be rushed. We don't know where we're going and even if we did, it's not like we'd be able to get married today without a license or at least a little bit of preparation. This is our one chance. I want us to do this right."

"And what's your definition of 'right?'" Freddie pushed.

"Y'know, the dress, the flowers, the pastor, all of our friends and family surrounding us, the church, you in a handsome tux," she rattled on while a small, dreamy smile played on her face. "I think we deserve at least that much."

"And I can agree that you deserve all that and more," Freddie reasoned, "but I don't need any of that and you know that."

"And I may not need it, either, but I want it."

Carly was being truthful when she said that she wanted all of the fanfare that came with a wedding, but there was a nagging, distant voice in the deep recesses of her mind that kept reminding her that she didn't need it, that if she were being truly honest and willing to give up this incessant need for everything to be 'just perfect,' then just maybe she could hop in the car and fly down the highway to some unknown city and just tie the knot in some crazy, utterly romantic fashion. She wished she could be as carefree as Freddie when it came to all of this, but there was just something stopping her.

By the look on Freddie's face, however, he didn't seem as convinced.

With a slight squint of his eyes, he probed, "How sure are you that you want all of that stuff, Carly? And I mean really want it?"

She couldn't bring herself to tell an outright lie and say that she was entirely positive, so all she could do was avert her eyes just slightly and reply, "About eighty-five percent."

There were a few beats of silence before Freddie revealed yet another smirk.

"I like those odds, Shay," he purred cryptically.

Carly gave him a questioning look, along with a half-smile. "And what exactly do you mean by that?"

He simply shook his head and leaned forward to give her a kiss on the tip of her nose, knowing that that was her favorite gesture.

"Not important," he replied. "If you truly want all of that - the dress, tux, the guests, all of it - then that's what we'll have. I'll go unpack."

And with that, he lifted himself up and off the bed, walked over to the duffel bag, grabbed it and headed towards the closet. From an outside perspective the issue had appeared to be settled, but Carly knew much better.

After all: if fourteen years of knowing Freddie Benson has taught her anything it was that he is, if nothing else, persistent.

A/N: First of all, thank you so much to anyone who has shown support to me throughout the past couple of months, since I've started writing! Your continued kind words, constructive criticism, and love has truly inspired me to continue writing and (hopefully) improving!

I'd also like to extend an additional thank you to those who read iHit the Open Road! I still get reviews for that story and it totally warms my heart. It was your outpouring of support and suggestions that I continue the story with a sequel that resulted in me actually following through. It took me a while to come up with something that would be worthy of following up that story and (I think) I just may have it. Trust me, it took a while to think of anything and for a long time I was convinced that it wouldn't happen. Hopefully, I don't disappoint.

And to anyone who is reading my work for the first time, thank you for taking the time to read it! I hope you like it and I hope you won't hesitate to review!

This will definitely be a multi-chapter story. I'm not sure how long it'll be just yet. I wanted to get the first chapter out before I locked myself away into wedding mode (19 days away!).

Again, thank you all, please review (if you wish), and have a wonderful night!

Hollaatchyagirl,

Phunky