Summary: Four years after their high school graduation, they find themselves back at that summer house, where secrets threaten to shake their world as the three are pushed into the adult world that their summer haven cannot protect them from.

I do not own iCarly, or any of the places mentioned in this chapter.

The Last Summer

Prologue

It was a tradition that began just before their junior year of high school, when the three of them were just old enough to have their license. Their summer was spent at a quiet beach house, with a balcony that they spent many a day on, sometimes talking, sometimes in silence. It was serenely beautiful in its own way.

Their time at the house forced them to learn more about themselves than anything they had gone through together. It was frightening, and it was a breakeven point in their life. They all knew from that point, there was no turning back.

After the visit after their senior year, they began to drift apart. Not that they didn't think about each other, but the space between them- or rather, Sam and Freddie, had grown slightly awkward. Now, the three were standing on the brink of the next step of their life- the world of adulthood, something they were all afraid of- not that any of them would admit it.

Of course, she was the one who set it off.

"Hey Sam, hey Freddie. It's Carly. I'm at our house for the summer and I've stocked it up with food and stuff. There's ham too, of course. Will the two of you spend your summer here, with me?"

Somehow, it felt like they were always waiting on Sam, even as they were growing up. Even now, the two were standing side by side on the port, waiting for her ship to dock.

Carly and Freddie looked almost like brother and sister to the passerby, who spared them a glance. Yes, the latter had had a crush on the former, but he had been forced to realize he was in love with the idea of being in love with her- that the idea of perfection had prompted his feelings. That summer had forced the three of them to realize that graduation was coming upon them, and the illusion of their childhood innocence was disappearing on them.

And, without warning, that time had come they had gone their separate ways.

Freddie had gone down to Stanford for college- something his mother was incredibly proud of. Carly had stayed local to stay close to her brother and Sam, well, was Sam. She went as she put it, 'Where the wind took her', which ended up being further south of Freddie, in Santa Barbara. So theoretically, Sam should have been at their little Catalina island first, but she was Sam, after all.

Carly was undoubtedly the middle ground between Sam and Freddie. She had touched bases with the both of them, but she knew that the two had not talked since the end of their last trip to the island, dating four years since they had last communicated.

It really didn't make much sense to Carly. They were not that far apart- they were both in the same state, for goodness sakes, but clichéd as it was, there were still words and feelings left unsaid between them. Of course, they were Sam and Freddie, so she didn't try and interfere. Somehow, she just knew they would work out.

It wasn't that Sam and Freddie had parted ways on a bad note. Nor were they enemies. The two had grudgingly admitted there was something between them. It was different from the friendship between Carly and Freddie- it was no more nor less, but it was definitely different.

Finally, there was a glimpse of blonde curls coming closer on the ship. Sam was standing on the deck, decked in cut-off shorts and a tank top. From a distance, it looked like she had dramatically changed, but as she approached them, they noticed that her hair was still perfectly unkempt in that Sam way, still long and curly, and her shirt had a plate with a live pig on it with the words, "I love animals… they taste great."

If it was one thing that would always stay the same, it was Sam.

"Carly." The blonde acknowledged. "Fredhead."

"Sam, we're twenty-three. Do you really still have to call me names?"

"Oh, Fredward, of course I don't have to. It's a necessity." She grinned as she gave him her suitcases to carry to the car and looped her arm through Carly's in one fluid motion. "Now come on, Mama's got some ham waiting for her at the house."

Freddie snorted as Sam and Carly started to head off towards the direction of the parking lot. It was Sam's talent, to pretend that nothing had changed between any of them. It was just so simple, an almost second nature for her that he doubted she even realized it.

He sighed as he trailed after the girls.

If there was one thing that would always stay the same, it was Sam.

Though that wasn't always a bad thing.