A/n: If any of you read Mizufae's iCarly fanfiction, you'll probably remember a story of hers called "Cruise Control". I got *inspired* by her and I'm incorporating a few things from that story in this one-shot and a future full-length story. I'm not gonna outright rip her off (because that is called plagiarism and plagiarism is baaaaaaaad), but you'll see a few similarities here and there.

Also, I have never registered a car in the state of Washington so if I get any info wrong, my sincerest apologies.

This is one of many Seddie one-shots that coincide with my previous fic, iProm. These one-shots take place after iOMG and before iProm.

Approximate date: early February

This was the day Freddie had been waiting for since he was fifteen. He'd worked very hard all summer, and gladly took the opportunity to work Monday through Friday at the Pear Store after school. He'd saved up as much money as he could, and when he turned 18, he finally had enough money to buy his first car.

Freddie had kept Otto's phone number after they asked for help when Nevel won the non-existent "new car" on iCarly a few years ago. He'd gone down to Otto's dealership to check out which car he wanted, and how much it would cost. He stopped by the DMV and talked with someone about the process of registering a car in Seattle. He picked up the forms he needed, and had filled them out weeks ago. He'd kept all of this a secret from his mom, because he knew she wouldn't approve of him getting a used car. He didn't care if it was a used or a new car, he just wanted a car. He knew his mom would find out eventually, but he'd rather she find out after he bought the car. That way it was a done deal, and the most she could do would be to attack the car with several different types of cleansers.

He had it all planned out with Otto. The morning of his birthday, he woke up at 8 AM, got dressed, grabbed his DMV forms, and escaped from the apartment. Otto's dealership wasn't too far from the Bushwell Plaza. He made it just as Otto showed up to open the dealership early. Freddie wanted this done as quickly as possible so he could drive to Sam's and take her for a ride.

Otto waved him inside the tiny office. When Freddie was inside, Otto was looking for something in the file cabinet by his desk.

"You ready to sign for it?" Otto asked, his head still in the drawer.

"Yeah, I've been excited all week," Freddie said. "Once I pay and sign and everything, I have to get it registered."

Otto nodded as he pulled a few sheets of paper from the file cabinet. He found a clipboard, stuck the papers onto it, and found a pen. Freddie took them and quickly signed. He passed the clipboard back to Otto and reached into his pocket. All his DMV forms were folded in threes, the long way, so they wouldn't get crumpled. Hidden inside the forms was Freddie's checkbook and wallet. After he started working at the Pear Store, his mom took him to the bank to open a checking account of his own. She'd also taught him how to balance his checkbook and what to do when he got his bank statement in the mail.

Freddie opened his checkbook and used Otto's pen to write down the number, and sign his name. He ripped out the check and handed it to Otto.

Otto took the check. "Okay, I'll go stick this somewhere safe, and I'll take you out back." He quickly put it in the top drawer of his desk, then took out a wooden box and started looking through it. When he rifled through the box, its contents made a jangling noise. Otto took out a set of keys and got up from his desk.

Otto took Freddie to the back of the parking lot. Sandwiched between two newer cars was a red 1990 Toyota Corolla AE92. Otto held up the keys. "If you take care of her, she'll run for a very long time." He handed Freddie the keys.

"Thanks, Otto," Freddie said, opening the car door and getting inside. As he put the keys in the ignition, Otto said, "The gas tank's all full, by the way. Take care."

Freddie nodded and started the car. He pulled smoothly out from between the two cars, out of the parking lot, and into the street. He checked the time on the little clock above the radio. 9:12 AM. Next stop, check the DMV.

Fortunately, it looked like the DMV had just opened. The lines weren't ridiculous, but they were still there. They were a little long, but only because there were about three people working behind the counter. He rushed inside, pulling his forms out of his pocket, and smoothening them out. He picked the shortest line, which only had four other people on it. The guy all the way up front was having a few issues up with the guy behind the counter. Freddie reached into his pocket for his Pear Phone and headphones. He allowed himself to get lost in his music for a couple hours while people sorted out their business. When the last person in front of him left, the DMV was back to being packed as usual. Freddie took his headphones out and stepped up to the counter.

"Can I help you?" the guy behind the counter said.

Freddie smoothed out his forms again. "Yeah, I want to register my car. I filled out all the forms already."

He passed the forms over the counter. The guy looked through everything, muttering to himself, going on the computer and typing in a few things here and there.

"Do you have your license?" the guy asked.

"Oh, yeah." Freddie quickly got his wallet out and took out his license. The guy took it and typed some more on the computer while Freddie got his checkbook out again.

"There's a fee for the registration, right?" Freddie asked.

The guy looked up from his computer. "Yeah, it's thirty dollars." He found a pen on his desk and handed it to Freddie. Freddie wrote down the number on the check and signed his name.

The guy behind the counter looked up again. "Okay, everything looks good here. Do you want to pick your license plate number?"

"Uh, no, that's okay." Freddie ripped out the check and passed it over.

The guy nodded as he took the check and typed some more on his computer. He pulled out two sheets of paper and a marker. He started writing on the two sheets of paper in large letters. When he was done, he pressed another key on the computer, then turned back to Freddie.

"These are your temporary license plates." He passed over the two sheets of paper he'd just written on. "Your real ones will come in the mail in a couple weeks. Same address on the forms, right?"

"Yeah, same address." Freddie nodded as he took the sheets of paper.

The guy turned around and took something out of the printer behind him. "Here's your registration, and here's your license." He passed Freddie back his liscence. "You need to have your registration renewed before the date shown on here." He pointed.

Freddie nodded again, putting his license back in his wallet, and tucking his checkbook and wallet back into his pocket. "Thanks so much."

"Have a good day."

Freddie raced back to his car, elated that he could now drive freely around Seattle. He took out the tags in the liscence plate holder that had Otto's dealership's name on it, and put in his temporary liscence plates. He put his registration up on the front windshield like he saw it on his mom's Prius. He checked the time on his phone. 11:52. He immediately drove to Sam's. He pulled up in front of her house, parked the car, took out his phone, and called her cell.

"Hey," she said when she picked up. Freddie heard music in the background and deduced that she was up in her room. Her bedroom window faced out to the street.

"Hey. Look out your window," he said.

He glanced up and waited for Sam's window to open. He saw her stick her head out the window with her phone still at her ear and glance down. Her face broke into an excited smile.

"You got it!" she said.

"Yeah, isn't it awesome? Come down, we're going for a drive."

"Be down in a few." Sam hung up, looked around her room, and found her shoes. As she pulled them on, she glanced at her night table, where she'd put Freddie's birthday present in an envelope. She and Carly already had the afternoon planned out at her place. Sam could convince him to "stop by" at some point. She stuck the envelope in the biggest pocket of her cargo pants and her phone in another. She came down the stairs, grabbed her coat, and was out the door.

She got a good look at Freddie's car. It was old, it was red, and it was rusty in places. But she saw Freddie's giant smile through the passenger side window and it made her laugh. She opened the passenger side door and climbed into the car. When she got in and shut the door, Freddie quickly glanced around the vicinity.

"Okay, I might be pushing it a little but does the car count as a public place?" he asked.

Sam paused. At this point, she was kicking herself every night for coming up with the "no PDA" rule. And now Freddie had just given her a loophole to that rule.

She shook her head. "Nah, I don't think it counts."

Right away, Freddie leaned in and kissed her hungrily. When they broke apart, they were both smiling. They really needed that. All their PDA-less dates left them wanting more after they said good-bye.

"This thing is probably older than both of us combined," she said, looking around.

"It's not. It's a 1990 Toyota," Freddie replied.

"Oh, there's no way this thing is from 1990," Sam argued, twisting to look at the back seat.

Freddie shrugged. "Otto said it was. Seatbelts, please."

Sam quickly buckled up. "Where are we going anyway?"

He glanced at the clock again. 12:03. "Lunch. What are you in the mood for?" He put the car in drive and pulled back into the street.

"Burgers," Sam said right away.

Freddie smiled. "You knew what you wanted for lunch when you woke up this morning, didn't you?"

"Yup."

He took a right on Silverstone Street, and drove a little down the road before he turned left to the Inside Out Burger a few stores away from the Jiffy Mart. Freddie parked the car and gestured for Sam to follow him as he unbuckled his seatbelt and opened the door on the driver's side. Sam followed him inside the restaurant.

Inside Out Burger was a colorful place. The tables, the tiles on the walls and floor, and the kiddie jungle gym were all different shades of red, blue, green, purple, and yellow. While they were on line, Freddie took off his coat. Sam was looking wistfully at the jungle gym through the giant plexiglass wall that separated the jungle gym from the restaurant. She watched two girls swing on the multi-colored monkey bars and drop into the pit of plastic multi-colored balls underneath them.

"I miss being able to go on the jungle gym," she said.

"Why can't you go on it anymore?" Freddie asked as they moved forward one space.

"It's too small for me now. They really should make those bigger so everyone can enjoy them."

He smiled. "They should. Some people are still kids at heart."

"Exactly!" Sam said. "I would get the kiddie meal just so I'd get the little toy, but those kiddie meals are too small for me, too. I'd need like five of them. And I don't really know what I'd do with five toys."

Freddie grinned as the two of them moved up another space on line. He loved Sam's eager smile and her ability to let everything go and just feel free. Sometimes he was jealous of her for that. He wished he could let everything go once in a while.

Sam noticed the way he was looking at her. He always looked at her the same way, and that same look seemed to make Sam's heart start pounding a little faster. They were in one of those moments when they wanted to hold hands, hug, anything. Sure, the "no PDA" rule had is benefits, but it had its disadvantages, too.

They reached the front of the line. The cashier said, "Welcome to Inside Out Burger, home of the Inside Out Burger, can I take your order?"

Sam looked up above the cashier's head and studied it for a while. "Hmmmm, can I get a triple-decker with no onions, large fries, and a Peppy Cola?"

"And, I'll have a double-decker, large fries, and a Wahoo Punch," Freddie added.

The cashier pushed a few buttons here and there. "To stay or to go?"

Sam looked at Freddie. "I'm guessing no food in the brand new car?" she asked.

He nodded. "For the first few months at least. To stay," Freddie said to the cashier.

The cashier pushed a few more buttons. "Thirteen oh-nine."

Sam got her "I'm not paying" look ready, but found she didn't need it. Freddie had reached into his pocket and taken out his wallet. She guessed that all those times he paid for food when they'd gone out just turned into a habit when they were together.

Sam grabbed some ketchup packets while Freddie paid. When their food showed up, they found a small table to sit down and have lunch.

Sam shedded her coat and plucked out a French fry. "So, did you hear back from schools yet?"

"No, not yet. I think it's still a little early." Freddie opened his Wahoo Punch.

"Yeah, but you applied early decision, I thought you were gonna hear back by now."

Freddie shrugged. "Carly applied early decision to the University of Fresno, and she hasn't heard anything either. If Carly hears from schools before me, then I know it's bad news."

Sam nodded and took a bite of her burger. "Okay. Say you got into every school you applied to. Where would you go?"

Freddie paused. "I don't know."

Sam looked puzzled. "I thought your top choice was UC, Berkeley. Did you change your mind?"

"I might not get into Berkeley, though. Anything can happen. Or not happen."

"Oh, shut up." Sam threw a French fry at his head. "What possible reason would Berkeley have to say no to you and your straight A's? That's like picking Washington State as a 'safety school'." Sam made air quotes. "Oh, wait... you did make Washington State your safety school." She gave him a look.

"Well, better to be safe than sorry." He squeezed out some ketchup on his fries.

"Where else did you apply to again?"

"Stanford, CalTech, and Seattle Tech."

"Seattle Tech should've been your safety school." Sam grabbed a few ketchup packets for herself.

"Well, what about you? Where did you apply?"

Sam didn't answer right away. She took another bite of her burger and stared at the inside of it, right where she'd bitten off. She and Freddie didn't usually talk about school unless they were trashing Ms. Briggs and Mr. Howard. "Washington State and Seattle Community College." She paused for a second. "You know, when me and my mom went to therapy last week she said that she was worried I wouldn't get into a real college."

"She doesn't think Seattle Community College qualifies as a real college?"

"I don't know. Maybe." She drank some more soda. "Can we change the subject? This is depressing."

Freddie glanced down at his ketchup-covered fries. He watched Sam steal one from under his nose. He glanced out in the parking lot at his new car.

"You know," Freddie said, eating a few fries, "one of these days I'm gonna get in my car and just drive. Drive and not worry about anything anymore. I could use the distraction."

Sam looked at him. "So do it. Oh, wait, that's right, you're still a Mama's boy and you don't want to do anything that might break her heart."

To Sam's confusion, Freddie grinned. "You wanna know something?"

"What?"

"My mom has no idea I bought the car."

Sam raised her eyebrows. "Really?"

He nodded. "I sneaked out of the apartment to get to Otto's dealership. I bought the car and had it registered by the DMV all in a matter of..." He thought back for a second. "Four hours? Yeah, four hours."

"Wow. I'm impressed. When are you gonna tell her?"

"Tonight, maybe. The one thing the car's missing is insurance. I need to take care of that tonight."

Sam rolled up the wrapper that her burger came in and tossed it basketball-style into the garbage. "Where would you go?"

"Hmm?" He drank some Wahoo Punch.

"If you could just go drive and not care about anything else, where would you go?"

"No idea. Somewhere sunny, probably, like California." He glanced out the window at the gray Seattle sky.

Sam nodded. "Sometimes I wouldn't mind getting away from all these clouds."

Freddie knew Sam was hinting that she wanted to go on this hypothetical trip with him. But at that point, that's all it was: a hypothetical trip. These things required careful planning on Freddie's part. Plus, the idea of going on a road trip with just Sam was enough to give his mom a stroke.

After their nutritious-ish lunch, Sam and Freddie went to the mall. Freddie had left his phone charger at work the day before so he had to run quickly into the back room in the Pear Store and get it. Sam then dragged him to the video game section at Screens R Us and they dueled each other in Violin God. Usually when they played Band God at Carly's, Sam was on drums, but she was very good on other instruments, too. She wouldn't sing though. Carly and Freddie had tried to get her to sing when they played together, but she had always said no.

After a few songs on Violin God, they checked out the marquee at the movie theater to see what was playing. There was nothing really interesting. One or two chick flicks, a few pointless sequels and remakes, a horror movie whose trailer didn't look remotely scary, and an adaptation of a book series that had been completely miscast.

"I still can't believe Amber Tate is playing Sally Hughes in White Water Games," Freddie said, looking at the poster next to the entrance to the movie theater. "That was one of the first big book series I loved. She's nothing like Sally."

"Because she's a spoiled brat?" Sam asked.

"And she's too young. Morgan White should be playing Sally."

"And Amber should be on one of those kiddie shows on the Dingo Channel. That's where bratty child actors belong." Sam took her phone out and checked the time. 3:12. "Do you wanna stop by Carly's?" she asked.

He nodded. "Sure." They started walking off to the mall parking lot.

"What would you think if they made a movie of the Street Wars video game?" Sam asked as they were passing Screens R Us again.

Freddie looked at Sam, horrified. "Never. They wouldn't dare."

Sam smiled at his reaction. "You never know. I heard they made a Spiderman musical."

"Yeah, I heard that, too. I was hoping it would be too dangerous to actually open, because of all those accidents and people getting hurt, but no such luck."

"Plus, it has a really dumb title: Spiderman: Turn Off the Dark."

"I really hope it tanks. It's a disgrace to comic book superheroes."

They found Freddie's car on the second parking level. While Freddie started the car and pulled out of his parking spot, Sam quickly texted Carly, telling her they were on their way. The Crown Ridge Mall was on the other side of downtown Seattle, so it wouldn't take too long to drive to Carly's. Sam could imagine Carly's face when she saw Sam's text, all of a sudden rushing around to put finishing touches around the apartment and preparing all the guests for Freddie's arrival.

The Bushwell Plaza had a two-level parking garage. It usually had about 15 free parking spaces for visitors. As Freddie found an empty spot, he made a mental note to talk to Lewbert about getting his own parking spot. He knew it cost money, but he kind of needed it. While Freddie parked, Sam texted Carly again, saying they had just parked and were on their way up.

When they got up to the eighth floor of the Bushwell Plaza, Freddie reached for Sam's hand. Knowing there was a large group of people waiting inside Carly's apartment, she quickly put both hands in her pockets. Freddie looked at her, confused.

"What, I can't hold your hand here anymore?" he asked.

Sam smiled a little, which confused Freddie even more. Wordlessly, she reached Carly's apartment, still smiling. Freddie followed her to the door.

"What did you do, Sam?" Freddie asked in a sort of accusatory voice.

Sam gave him a look. "Why do you always have to jump to the conclusion that I did something bad?" She shook her head and knocked on the door five times. Without waiting for someone to let her in, she opened the door, grabbed Freddie by his shoulders, and pushed him into Carly's apartment.

"SURPRISE!" chorused around the room. Carly emerged from behind the counter and hugged Freddie. He was still reeling in surprise, staring around at everyone in Carly's apartment. He saw Wendy and Shawn near where Carly had been behind the counter, and Gibby by Spencer's Bottle Bot, punching the air over and over.

Freddie turned to Sam. "Did you help with this?" he asked.

She nodded and gave him a quick hug.

Carly hurried past her and shut the door. She turned to the rest of the party. "It's party time!"

"Fiesta!" Freddie shouted. He took off his coat and hung it on the rack by the door. Sam tossed her own coat on the rack. It hung on the edge of one of the pegs before falling on the floor. She waved it aside as if to say, "I'll pick it up later."

Carly turned on some music while Freddie made his way to the kitchen. There were bowls of chips and bottles of soda on the kitchen table, and plates of various hors d'œuvres around the apartment. Carly had made the hors d'œuvres with Spencer, like mini-grilled cheese sandwiches, some chilled shrimp, and pizza bread Carly made from a recipe she found online.

Sam was, of course, hogging the pizza bread. "This is the best pepperoni ever!" She turned to Carly. "Did you get this at Ora Che è Italiano?"

Carly nodded. "Just like you recommended. How do you pronounce that again?"

"Oh-ra keh eh ee-tahl-ee-ano," Sam said slowly.

"Oh-ra kuh- ugh, I can't get it right."

"Because your mom doesn't date Italian guys by the bushel." She took another piece of pizza bread.

Carly looked at Sam. "By the bushel?"

"I don't know, I've been sucked into the pepperoni." She smiled as she took another bite.

Freddie was pouring himself some soda and talking to three girls from school. Sam recognized them as they were always flirting with Freddie in the hallways and at lunch. Freddie was politely talking to them, but Sam could tell he wanted to get away.

Carly nudged her. "Doesn't it bother you?" She jerked her head in Freddie's direction.

Sam shrugged. "Not really. Should it?"

"Well, it would bother me if the guy I was secretly dating was talking to girls who kept flirting with him because they still think he's single."

"Yeah, but he always turns them down. See that chick in the green shirt?" Sam pointed over at her.

Carly looked over and found the green shirt girl. "Emma? What about her?"

"She keeps asking Freddie out hoping one day he'll say yes, but he never does. We've been a thing for like six months. I don't really worry about him ditching me for some useless chick."

A flicker of annoyance passed over Carly's face. "Emma's not useless."

"No, but trying to date a guy who already has a girlfriend is kinda useless."

"Yeah, but she doesn't know that."

Suddenly, the song on the Shay's stereo changed. Gibby looked quickly at the stereo and yelled, "Oh yeah, this is my song!" He pulled off his shirt and started dancing around the living room. He got closer and closer to Sam and Carly. Sam took that as her cue to leave and went to the kitchen table for some soda.

Freddie looked a little relieved when Sam came over. He was hoping she'd come rescue him from the girls he was talking to, because he couldn't think of a way to leave without being rude.

"Hola," he said to Sam as she reached over for a plastic cup. "So, how long did you plan this with Carly?"

"Couple weeks." Sam grabbed the giant bottle of Peppy Cola and saw the other girls' faces. They each had a look of yearning, as if they wished they had helped out with the party, too.

She went on, talking as she poured her soda. "Remember on Monday when Carly and I said we were going shopping after school and you asked what for? We had stuff to buy for tonight, but we said we were shopping for 'feminine stuff' so you wouldn't ask anymore questions." She laughed a little and drank some of her soda.

He smiled. "So 'feminine stuff' is code for 'surprise birthday party'? I'll remember that for the future."

Sam laughed again and punched him in the shoulder. The other girls looked a little alarmed. Emma in the green shirt actually said, "Why do you always hit him, Sam?"

Sam raised her eyebrows and gave Emma an "are you serious?" look. Freddie just shrugged. "I don't really mind. It doesn't hurt anymore."

"Don't make me take that as a challenge, Benson," Sam said, pointing right at his face. She walked away with her cup to get some shrimp.

Freddie watched her walk away, a little disappointed. He thought she was gonna drag him off somewhere away from Emma and her friends. They were nice and all, but he was sick of them batting their eyelashes at him all the time.

Carly came over to refill her drink. As she poured more Diet Dr. Fozz in her cup, she said, "So Freddie, Sam told me you got a car this morning."

The girls' faces lit up, as if Freddie somehow magically became more attractive because he had a car.

"Yeah," he replied. "After the party, I have to break the news to my mom and get insurance for it."

Carly's eyes widened. "You bought it behind your mom's back?"

He suddenly got an idea and nodded. "I parked it downstairs. Wanna see it?"

"Sure." Carly put down her cup. "Where's Spencer? I just saw him."

Carly looked around and found Spencer in the middle of the living room. He had moved the coffee table off to the side and was dancing with Gibby to the music from the stereo. They had drawn a crowd around them, with everyone chanting, "Go Spencer, go Gibby! Go Spencer, go Gibby!"

"Spencer, Freddie and I are going down to the parking garage, can you keep an eye on things up here?" Carly asked over the music.

"Yeah, sure," Spencer shouted back.

"I'm coming, too," Sam said, appearing at Freddie's shoulder. "Gibby says he's been learning gymnastics on the Internet, and although I know he'll totally fail at it, it's not worth watching."

Glad to have a reason to leave Emma and her friends, Freddie waved at them and took Carly and Sam down to the parking garage.

Carly looked at the red car Freddie was gesturing at. She looked at it for a while and seemed to be afraid to say what she thought of it.

"Well, it's, um... it's..." she started to say.

"Ancient?" Sam supplied.

"Sam," Carly said, giving her a look.

"Well, she's not wrong," Freddie said fairly. "It's older than all three of us."

"Combined?" Carly asked.

"Nah. It's not that old, it's a 1990 Toyota."

Carly looked back at the car. "This is from 1990? No way."

"I know, that's what I said," Sam said.

Carly turned back to Freddie. "So, you bought the car," she began.

"And got it registered," he added.

"And got it registered," Carly repeated, "without your mom even knowing?"

"Yup. Then, I picked Sam up at her house and we hung out for a few hours before we came here."

"I destroyed him at Violin God when we played at Screens R Us at the mall," Sam said, folding her arms in front of her chest.

"Oh, you did not, you only beat me by one percent," Freddie said.

Carly checked the time on her phone. "Should we go back upstairs?" she asked Sam and Freddie.

They both nodded and followed Carly back inside the plaza and up the stairs.

Freddie nudged Sam with his elbow. "You know, when you came over to get soda, I thought you were gonna drag me away from Emma and her friends."

Sam raised her eyebrows a little, pondering what he said. "Nah. You're 18 now, you can handle yourself."

"I didn't know how to get away though, especially without being a jerk."

"Well, sometimes you gotta do it."

"What, act like a jerk?"

"Well, not a total jerk. It doesn't suit you. Just say, 'bye and bless all that sail in ya' and off you go."

Freddie hesitated.

"Come on, man up. You're 18 and you have a car now. Plus, those girls are so starry-eyed, I don't even think they'd notice. They'd just think, 'oh, he is so edgy and mysterious, with his car and his muscles and the way he blew us off.'"

Freddie had a weird look on his face. "Girls are weird."

"Yup."

So the results of Gibby's gymnastics he learned online were a few crushed plastic and Spencer freaking out when Gibby almost knocked over the Bottle Bot doing cartwheels. Most people took Spencer's freak out about Gibby almost knocking over the Bottle Bot as a sign that they should leave, even though there were roughly forty-five minutes left of the party. Sam regretted going downstairs with Carly and Freddie, because seeing Spencer freak out was more entertaining than most reruns of Girly Cow. She regretted leaving even more when she saw that the rest of the pizza bread was gone.

When people started leaving, Spencer angrily got his nail gun and fastened his Bottle Bot to the floor. Carly went to calm him down, and Sam had noticed the shrimp wasn't finished yet. As she grabbed the plate from the counter, Emma and her friends walked up to Freddie, each holding an envelope.

"We have to go, Freddie," Emma said, speaking for the group, "but we just wanted to wish you a happy birthday and give you these." They each handed over their envelopes.

"Oh, thanks. That's really nice," he said.

"No problem." Emma smiled brightly and mouthed, "call me" as she and her friends left.

"What's that?" Sam asked, walking over with her plate of shrimp.

"I don't know," he said, sitting on the couch. "I'm kinda afraid to open it. It could be Photoshopped pictures of both of us in weird positions."

Spencer put his nail gun down and called it a night. Carly came over to the couch. "What are those?" Carly asked Freddie.

"No idea. Emma and her friends gave them to me before they left." He opened one of the envelopes and took out a card. It had a picture of a pig riding a motorcycle. Freddie opened it and took something out of it. "Oh. Pear Tunes card."

"For how much?" Sam asked.

"Twenty bucks."

"What does the card say?" Carly asked.

Freddie read it out loud, "'The years sure do fly by. I hope you're enjoying the ride. Oink, oink. Happy birthday.'" He looked at the signature at the bottom of the card. "It's from Kayleigh."

Carly giggled. "'Oink, oink'?"

"I want bacon," Sam said suddenly. She got up to put the empty plate of shrimp back where she found it.

Freddie smiled at Sam as he put aside Kayleigh's card and picked up the next one. He opened the envelope and took out a card with a cat wearing a birthday hat and balloons on the front. He read aloud, "'I know you enjoy celebrating on your birthday, but...'" He opened the card and saw six cats all dressed up and wearing different hats. "'Please try to keep your friends under control.' And then she wrote, 'Especially that Sam lol.'"

Sam raised her eyebrows and came back from the counter. "Who gave you that one?"

Freddie looked down at the signature. "Sophie. And she also got me a Pear Tunes card." He set it down with Kayleigh's card. "That leaves Emma's." He opened the last envelope, took out the card, and read it out loud.

"Happy Birthday!"

He looked at Sam. She laughed a little to herself.

Freddie opened the card. He opened his mouth to read it out loud, but then stared at the words inside the card, and just closed it.

"What? Read it," Carly said.

"I don't think I should," Freddie said, shaking his head a little.

Sam took the card from his hands, opened it and read it herself. She stared at what Emma had written, just like Freddie had. "Okay, I didn't even pay attention in health class and I know that's not how that works." She gave it back to Freddie.

"Well, at least she gave me a Pear Tunes card, too," Freddie said, taking it out of the card. "That makes 60 bucks worth of music."

"Pear Tunes is pretty much the generic gift that's good for anyone," Sam noted, leaning against the back of the couch.

Freddie gathered up the Pear Tunes he got and put them in his pocket. Carly went behind the counter and came back with an envelope of her own. She handed it to Freddie. "Happy birthday." She sat down next to him.

He took the envelope from her and shook it. "Is it... gas money?"

Carly laughed. Freddie grinned as he opened the envelope and took out Carly's card. It had a stenciled out picture of a cat on it. He read it out loud, "I'm on your... birf-day card, wishing you a happy... birf-day."

Sam laughed. "I love LOLcats."

Freddie was laughing, too. He opened the card and found two things inside it. One was a 20$ gift card and the other was a gift certificate for 30% off any video game purchase, both for Screens R Us.

"Wow," Freddie said, taking out the gift card and certificate.

"Yeah, I heard that they're coming out with a new Street Wars game," Carly said.

"Mhm, it comes out next week. I've been counting the days on my calendar." He laughed a little as he closed the card. "Thanks, Carly."

He gave Carly a hug, and set her present aside. Sam sat down on his other side, and pulled the envelope out of her pocket.

"Happy birthday," she said, handing it to him.

Freddie smiled as he took it from her. He slit the envelope open and took out a card. It had a holographic picture of a dancing robot on it. He read aloud, "According to my calculations, you're another year older."

Before he opened the card, Sam asked, "Did you read that in a robot voice in your head?"

"Yeah," he said, laughing a little. He opened the card and found passes inside it. He took them out of the card and took a better look at them. "Passes to the Seattle Technology Museum?" He looked at Sam.

She nodded."My cousin took me last month. I was expecting to be bored out of my mind, but it was pretty neat. We got to do a lot of hands-on stuff for TV production and video game design. I don't know if you've ever been, but now you can go in for free."

"No, I've never been, but I always wanted to go." He was smiling widely. "This is awesome! Thanks, Sam."

He kissed her and pulled her into a hug. Carly looked at both of them for a minute, smiling, then got up.

"I need to get all this cleaned up," she said, grabbing a plastic garbage bag from the bottom cupboard under the sink. She took cups here and there and put them in the garbage bag.

Freddie started getting up from the couch, but Carly saw him and said, "No, sit down. I'm not gonna make you help me clean up on your birthday. Sam, come help."

Sam groaned loudly. "But I'm sooooooo lazy!" She rested her head on Freddie's shoulder. He absently started playing with one of her blonde curls.

"Why do you keep doing that?" Sam asked. She didn't sound irritated, just sort of amused.

"Doing what?"

"Whenever I put my head on your shoulder, you always play with my hair."

"I don't know. Maybe your hair is magical and it hypnotizes me."

She laughed a little. "You're a dork."

She'd called him a dork too much for it to mean anything anymore. "Yeah, well." He kissed the top of her head.

I based the Seattle Technology Museum off the Sony Wonder Technology Lab in New York City. If you've never been, I highly recommend it. It's a lot of fun.

Also, good for anyone that got the reference from one of Dan Schneider's other shows.

R&R!

PS, if Mizufae is reading this, please hurry and finish up "Cruise Control". I really wanna know what happens next. :)

ONE LAST THING, I SWEAR - I'm leaving for a two week-long vacation on Friday, so I'll be MIA for a while. The first chapter of my next story will be posted the day after I get back, July 14th.