For my friend and #1 fan, Jessica. Thanks for the idea. Hope I did it justice!

"How long do we have?" Sam asked with sad eyes as they stood in the elevator.

"An hour and thirty-eight minutes." Freddie replied, looking at his phone with one hand and holding hers with the other.

"If we're not breaking up until midnight, I guess we have time for a little more kissing." She smiled, wondering how good of an idea it really was to break up. "You know, just to kill time."

"Maybe a little more kissing." He agreed, running a hand down her back and stopping as her felt the back pocket of her jeans. He slid his hand into the pocket and curled his fingers slightly, causing her to giggle. "And then?"

"Freddie!"

"My mom's working late." The dark haired boy suggested with a smirk.

"Seriously? You couldn't have led with that?"

"Yep." He raised his eyebrows and nodded.

"And why are we still standing here? We should be in your bedroom. Mama needs a back rub."

The two entered apartment 8-D and soon were on his bed, kissing and holding each other just like always. Technically, they didn't part at midnight as planned, it was closer to one a.m. before Sam left the Benson's apartment, very slowly dragging herself out the door and heading for the elevator.

She didn't know where to go, it was awfully late to be heading into the neighborhood where she lived, but crashing at the Shay apartment wasn't in the cards and staying with Freddie, while normally fun, wasn't a good idea. Even if his mother wasn't home, they were no longer a couple after all.

The Bensons' door opened and for a second she thought Freddie was coming to get her. She wished he was coming to summon her return, to profess that their mutual breakup was a horrible mistake and to beg to be her boyfriend again.

"Sam!" He called toward the elevator, where she was standing, coming up almost beside her. She smiled but no one saw.

"What, Nub?" She half-teased, half beckoned.

"Call me. Or at least text when you get home. You know, that you made it alright."

"Yeah, yeah." She blew him off, and watched from the corner of her eye as he went back toward his apartment's door. The elevator doors opened and she stepped on board like she was going her own execution.

Sam walked the six blocks from Bushwell to her neighborhood in the cold Seattle night air. The only thing keeping her from crying was her determination to get home and go to bed. She barely made it to the last block before the rain began. Great, now she'd be wet and cold.

As she walked into the house, the smell of fresh cigarette smoke flooded her nostrils. That meant one thing, Pam was home and on a Saturday night. Wonders would never cease.

"Sammy!" Her mother's voice came from the front room. "Where the hell have you been? Your curfew is midnight."

Sam said nothing and started up the steps, trying to be stealthy.

"Samantha Joy Puckett!" Pam shouted and got up off the sofa. "Don't ignore me, girl. I know you're not deaf. Were you at Carly's? Why didn't you just stay? It's not a good idea to be lurking around this neighborhood in the wee hours of the morning."

"I - I, um, I was at Freddie's." Sam replied meekly from the eighth step, barely turning to see that her mother was at the foot of the stairwell. "I didn't realize what time it was." She tried to play stupid.

"You know I don't care if you spend the night with your boyfriend. Just let me know where you are, alright." Saturday night and Pam wasn't visibly drunk, despite the beer bottle in her left hand. And she said something remotely motherly. This was getting very weird.

"Sorry, Mom. I thought I'd be home on time or I would have texted. We, uh, we fell kind of asleep. Watching some dumb movie. It was boring, and I was tired. It won't happen again. I'm sorry."

"Uh-huh." Pam knew a half-baked excuse when she heard one and figured Sam was just covering for something else she had done. "Just be careful fooling around with that boy, alright. You don't want to end up a statistic like I did. You do use protection, don't you? I have supplies of you ever need anything."

"God, Mom. Do we seriously need to have this conversation now?" Sam was embarrassed to have this conversation. And at nearly 2 in the morning on the stairway, this couldn't get any more awkward.

"I'm just sayin'! If you ever need condoms or wanna get on the pill, don't be afraid to come to me." Sam's relationship with Freddie was by far the most time she'd ever had a boyfriend. As far as Pam knew, he was the only guy Sam had ever even liked, like that. She even began to wonder about her daughter's sexuality for a little while until this deal with the Benson kid reared its head and the teen committed herself to the mental ward.

"It's nothing to be ashamed of, Sam. You're growing up. Your sister's had boyfriends for a couple of years already. It's natural to be curious about sex and stuff. And that Freddie is decent looking, even if he is a mama's baby. You could do much worse than him, though. Just don't end up like I did. A kid, or in my case, kids on the way and a boyfriend heading off to college. At least get your diploma and find yourself a good job before you start popping out babies."

"We don't have to worry about that, Mom. Fr-freddie and I, um, we - we broke up." Sam said quietly and sat on the steps.

Pam looked at her daughter. Sam was just like her, tough as shoe leather, but when it came to affairs of the heart, as delicate as a rose. Or at least Pam used to be that way. Before life experience and an absentee father to twins hardened her.

"I'm sorry, kid." Pam offered. "When? Was it right after you did it with him? He didn't strike me as that type. I can have a talk with him."

"No. We actually agreed to break up before we, uh, the last time we um, did that." Sam shrugged, trying to play it tough. "I can handle it."

"I know you really loved him. And you were friends before you dated so it's gonna be hard to go back."

"Love." Sam argued. "I still love him. Not past tense, present. It's not something I can just shut off. He's my best friend, well aside from Carly. He's the first boy I kissed. The first . . . "

"I've been where you are and there's nothing I can say or do to make it better, Sam. What you need is to just go on up to your room and cry it out. You don't have to put up the hard front and I understand if you don't want anyone to see you like this. Just lock the door and cry till you can't cry any more. And when you feel like talking, come get me and we'll talk. Deal?"

Sam simply looked at her mother in disbelief. The woman who normally couldn't be bothered to even buy groceries was being nurturing. Was she suddenly tele-ported to a different dimension.

"I might not be the world's best mother, but you're still my little girl, Sammy and when you're ready to talk about it, I want you to come to me, alright?"

For the first time in years, Sam felt something other than contempt for the woman who gave birth to her. "OK, Mom. I will. But for now, I think I'd just rather be alone."

The middle aged woman went back to her perch and the cigarette left smoldering in the ashtray and Sam continued up the stairs.

She entered her dingy bedroom, flipped the light switch and took two steps forward. The one remaining light bulb in the shade-less fixture on her ceiling sizzled and went out. "Dammit." She cussed and flopped her bag down in the direction of her bed.

"Reeeowww." A one-eyed, three-legged, raggedy cat was startled awake, nearly knocked off the bed by the backpack.

"Sorry, boy." Sam sighed feeling her way through the mess on the floor in the dark and finding the switch for the lamp that sat on her bedside table.

The cat glared at her, as much for illuminating the room as for disturbing his rest. She kicked off her shoes and dropped all her weight onto the unmade bed, damp clothing and all, kicked the bag aside and stretched out.

She took her phone out of her back pocket and, as promised, sent Freddie a text. 'Made it home without getting murdered. Pam caught me sneaking in and we had to have a mother-daughter talk. Too bad there was no axe murderer. TTYL, nub.'

With that, she powered the phone down, laid it beside the lamp and reached down to pick up the cat, who protested the affection by squirming out of her grasp and taking up position beside her right hip. Sam dropped her upper body against the headboard and sighed. She knew her mother was right, what she needed was to simply let it out. At least the cat wouldn't judge her for her emotions.

The cat simply hoisted a leg into the air and began to loudly lick at his nether regions as Sam's feelings came to a head and her tears began to fall.

Sure, Sam had been upset before, but this was a hurt like very few others. There was the time her beloved daddy, or at least the man who portrayed their dad, left her and Melanie just before their 5th birthday. There was her grandpa's funeral. There was the day Melanie left home. Sure, each were traumatic in their own respect, but this was a whole new level of hurt. This was the first time she left a non-relative into her heart. Unfortunately, her heart was still shattered and she wondered if she'd ever be able to let anyone else in.

The next day was Sunday, thank goodness. That meant no school, no iCarly, no reason to leave her room. It also meant the same thing for Freddie. Bright and early, as usual, Marissa was home from work and attempted to wake Freddie for church. Even though it meant at least 50/50 odds of ending up in the urgent care clinic, he feigned sickness to avoid leaving his room.

He never came out and told her so, but Marissa knew he was dating Sam. She certainly had no love for the blonde delinquent that Freddie had been spending so much time with but he was growing up and dating girls was part of the deal. Sometimes those girls wouldn't meet her approval. Just as long as he didn't get too serious.

His mother was not stupid. Obviously, there was a problem with the girl, or rather, their relationship. A mother knows the signs and this sign was loud and clear - her little boy had his heart broken and there was literally nothing Marissa could do for him. It was times like this when she wished his father was still around. She gave the young man a pass to miss church and made excuses for him in front of their pastor.

By the time his mother returned from her Sunday ritual, Freddie had managed to shower and emerged from his room long enough to get himself something to eat. This was evident by the dirty dishes in the kitchen sink. At least he was eating, she'd deal with his lack of house keeping skills another time. She thought she might speak to Spencer to see if he knew anything about what had happened but talked herself out of it, figuring it best to not involve someone outside the family. The reminder of Sunday was quiet and uneventful in both the Benson and Puckett households.

Monday morning, Marissa was off to work long before it was time for school to begin. Freddie was not a rule breaker, but he was hurting bad, so against his nature, he decided to skip school. Even though he was pretty sure Sam would do the same thing and he wouldn't have to face her, he was certain that by now she would have told her best friend about the breakup. Carly would have more questions than he cared to answer. Add the fact that Carly had been leaving voice-mails and texting all day Sunday and he refused to have any contact for fear she wanted to 'talk', he was sure she knew about it.

He had watched through the peep hole when his brunette friend left for the day. His heart nearly stopped when Carly knocked on his apartment door as she left for school. He swore that she somehow knew he was watching her, even though he hid off to the side of the door and held his breath until she stopped knocking.

It was after noon when he decided it was time to go across the hall and talk to Spencer. The artist was as close to a male role model as he had in his life and for the major part, gave halfway decent advice. For a man who had the worst luck with women, Spencer did seem to know a lot about the fairer sex. A lot more than any of Freddie's teenage friends, at least.

He stepped out into the hall and closer to door 8-C. Just as he raised his hand to knock, Spencer ripped the door back and nearly ran into him.

"Sorry, Freddo. I've gotta get over to Groovy Smoothie. T-Bo's freezer is on the fritz and he's giving away stuff so it doesn't spoil."

"Oh, uh, OK." Freddie stammered and turned to go back into his own home. "We can talk later."

He touched the door knob and it wouldn't turn. "Darn it!"

With all the additional locks, chains, dead-bolts and biometric security devices, he had forgotten to unlock the apartment's original lock - the one on the doorknob.

He sighed. At least Lewbert would have a master key to fit this lock, unlike his mother's other security devices. Otherwise, he'd be crawling in from the fire escape. Wearing his 'lounging around the apartment like a bum' clothes, Freddie was embarrassed to be seen by anyone, but he had no choice. The young man headed downstairs to ask for the spare key.

He approached Lewbert's desk and startled the doorman who was playing a game on his phone. "Gaaah!"

"Um, excuse me, Lewbert."

"Oh, it's just you. That blonde girl isn't sneaking up on me, is she?" Lewbert looked around, out of paranoia.

"No. Just me." Freddie smirked at the mention of Sam.

"I've already told your mother, we are not having two fire drills a week."

Freddie shook his head. "Uh, I'm not here for that. I was just wondering if you'd have a key that would fit our door lock. I went across the hall to Spencer's and I accidentally locked myself out."

"Yeah, sure kid. Whatever." Lewbert pulled open a drawer and removed a ring of keys. Freddie held out his hand but the doorman refused. "I can't just give you the keys to the whole building. Let's go." He plopped a sign on the desk that said 'will return in ten minutes' and walked toward the lift. "Shouldn't you be in school?"

"I wasn't feeling well." Freddie said and made a fake cough.

"Uh-huh." Lewbert grunted. "So where are those two trouble making girls? Are they 'sick' too?"

"Um, I guess school. I haven't really talked to them today."

"Funny. I haven't seen you more than six feet from the short blonde one in a month." Lewbert smirked. "Does your mother know you're dating her?"

"No. And she doesn't need to. Because I'm not anymore." Freddie answered as they got on the elevator.

"Oh. Sorry. For what it's worth, you could do better." The doorman sneered.

"I wonder about that." Freddie replied quietly. "I really wonder about that."

"Wait. She wasn't just a puppy love crush, you really had something for her? I can't see it, she's obnoxious, but whatever."

The elevator stopped and the doors opened on the eighth floor. "I still do."

"So why'd she dump you?"

"It was mutual, actually."

"Aw, man. Then that really sucks. You can never get back together again then."

"What? Why?" The young man asked as they walked toward the apartment.

"Well, you two both obviously agreed to part if it was mutual. If she dumped you, you could try to convince her to go out with you again. But if it was mutual, you would have had to changed her mind right then and there, but instead you agreed. If you didn't fight for her before you both ended it - phew, there's no going back now. No chance to win her back. Ever."

Freddie's heart sank and the doorman saw him deflate. "Hey, look at it this way, now you can go after the Shay girl. It's not all bad. She's more your type anyway. Kind of a spoiled little brat, but she's just a kid."

"I don't want to go after Carly." He huffed. "Carly's like a sister, I don't feel that way about her." Freddie argued while Lewbert unlocked the door for him. "You want to come in? I can get you a cup of coffee to take back with you."

Lewbert nodded. "If you really felt that way about the other one, why did you agree to break up then?"

"Because we - how do I say this? Sam and I, we're about as compatible as oil and water, wait no gasoline and matches, that's more like it. When we were together we made everyone around us miserable and the longer we tried to force it, the more it was gonna hurt when we finally broke up."

"You've got it bad, kid." Lewbert shook his head. "You really need to talk to that girl and tell her how you feel if you ever want there to be a chance."

"Why? She's got such weird habits and ways. And she's not gonna change for me. And I - I'm too uptight. I worry about stuff like what people think about me, and my grades and stuff that she makes fun of me for. And all she worries about is eating an-and stealing stuff. Neither of us can change who we are. We drove our friends crazy by being together. No one around us was happy, even if we were. Now everyone else can be happy, and we'll just be miserable."

"People don't have to change for a successful relationship. Neither of them. All you have to do is love each other. The rest will work itself out and screw what anyone else thinks."

Freddie was surprised at Lewbert's sudden intellect. "Thanks, Lewbert." He handed him a cup with coffee.

"Yeh. Anytime. I'll bring the cup back up after bit."

Freddie took the remainder of the day to contemplate what he had been told and reflect on hos own feelings before his mother returned home.

Alright, so there's the start of it. Lots of girl talk coming in the next chapter.