Author's Note: Helloo, fellow iCarly fans! Yes, I'm back again and I've written a new story. But if you want someone to blame, it's all Carl Rahl's fault ; ) He gave me a cool idea for a short Creddie story, which is what this is down below. So I hope you all like this and send me lots of reviews because they keep me flying high :D

Disclaimer: I do not own iCarly in any way whatsoever. If I did, the series would never end ;D

"Sam, if I've told you once, I've told you a thousand times, quit touching my equipment!" Freddie yelled angrily.

"Ooh, Carly, better look out. Fredturd's about to bust a cap in my ass any minute," Sam taunted airily.

"Knock it off, Sam." Carly quipped impatiently.

The iCarly trio had just finished rehearsal for the next upcoming episode that Wednesday afternoon. The general mood had been irritable no thanks to Sam and Freddie's usual bickering. But Carly, who usually took it in her stride, was feeling particularly petulant because of her two best friends' petty quarrels. It felt like Sam was going out of her way to purposely antagonise Freddie today, not that this was unusual behaviour for Sam. But Carly was especially annoyed since she had made a point of having a chat with Sam not too long ago and explicitly told her to lay off of Freddie.

"Maybe you don't care about what I do for the web-show or even care about me as a friend. But that equipment is really expensive, Sam, and I don't want you wrecking it!" Freddie fumed irately.

"Geez, let your tightey-whiteys breathe a little, Fredweird. Even with the 1% chance of your equipment breaking, you've got a bunch of over-eager nerds in AV Club just waiting with bated breath to fix it again." Sam replied with a dismissive wave of her hand as she exited the iCarly studio through the glass-panelled door.

"Those over-eager nerds just happen to be friends of mine, Sam." Freddie spat indignantly, following closely behind the blonde-haired teenage girl.

"Guys, can't you give it a rest?" Carly demanded wearily, feeling a sudden headache coming on.

The three of them had reached the stairway which led back down to the Shay's living room at this point, lingering a little on the wooden landing.

"Friends…lame excuses for human beings. What's the difference?" Sam questioned casually.

"Sam!" Carly exclaimed reproachfully.

"At least I have friends! If not for Carly, no one at school would even give you the time of day!" Freddie snapped callously.

Sam bristled up considerably at this particular insult.

"I'll gladly give you the time of day with two hits, Freddie: my fist hitting you and you hitting the floor." Sam shot back maliciously.

"Cut it out, Sam!" Carly warned, coming to stand between her two best friends.

Something about having to come to Freddie's defence made Carly even more irritable. It wasn't that she enjoyed Sam's put-downs any more than Sam did. But the irrationality of her sudden desire to protect Freddie was making Carly's head spin worse than ever.

Freddie acquiesced and stepped around Carly so that his back faced the stairs below him and Sam stood in front of him.

"You're lucky Carly's around," Sam gloated in a mirthful tone.

"I don't need Carly to fight my battles, Sam. And I certainly don't need to hit you to get my point across," Freddie responded in a dignified voice, straightening the collar on his golf shirt ever so slightly.

"Maybe not. But how do you feel about getting pushed down the stairs for old times' sake then?" Sam questioned with a malevolent grin.

Before Carly could stop her or reprimand her, Sam moved forward and pushed with all of her might against Freddie's chest, sending him careening backwards. Carly's eyes widened in horror as Freddie's arms flailed beside him in a hapless attempt to stop himself from falling.

Then it all happened in a space of a few stilted seconds.

One moment, Carly was behind Sam, watching as Freddie made his descent downstairs. The next moment, Carly felt herself reaching out blindly through space and time, the force of her movement sending her pelting forward into the unknown. She could feel the cold wind of the air conditioner in the apartment sweeping across her face as she tried desperately to balance herself while keeping Sam and Freddie in place too. The movement took all three of them by surprise and suddenly the three teenagers went crashing over the railing on the wooden stairs.

Carly was floating between her two best friends, her arm reaching out to grab Freddie around the waist in a protective manoeuvre as he flew directly towards Spencer's tall and green sculpture made out of sharp metal he had had scrounged up from the junkyard. Their bodies began twisting and turning in midair as they glided forward. Suddenly Sam was on Carly's left, and Carly's elbow angled out instinctively, knocking Sam off course, causing her back to hit the foot of the sculpture instead, but far away from the sharp bits of metal.

This left her and Freddie to careen off to the right. Freddie slammed into the back of the yellow leather sofa and slumped forward as Carly let go of him and rolled a few inches away, near the three wooden stairs, which led into the living room, the kitchen off to the left.

Then all three of them slipped into unconsciousness. Sam lay slumped against the statue, a bleeding gash on her forehead. Freddie was laying slumped half against the sofa and half against the floor, a crimson stain forming on the leather behind his head. Carly was the only one lying completely on the floor, a cut and some bruises forming against her cheek resting against the cold wood, her fingers just millimetres away from Freddie's on the ground.

All in all, the action of falling down the stairs had taken approximately three seconds.

But Carly's actions had somehow expanded the time to last close to a minute long.

Author's Note: Ok, how ticked are you that the chapter is really this short? I didn't lie when I said this would be a short story. But just so we're clear, this isn't a oneshot, no no no no. There will be more chapters after this, so please let me know what you think of this initial chapter. Ok, now I gotta go take a bath. Pip pip, cheerio!