Author's Note: My muse demanded that I write on this idea as I'm finishing up the next chapter of iWould Have Pounded Him Silly. I hope you enjoy the start of what I think will be a relative short story in comparison to my usual ones, but you never know.

iDon't Want to Wake Up
By OneHorseShay
Disclaimer: Don't own, don't sue. For God sakes, don't sue.
Rating: T for possible language, adult themes or violence.
Pairing(s): Eventually Creddie and established Creddie at the same time. Other pairings may be explored.
Summary: It was suppose to be a restful sleep when Carly returned that night from her granddad's, but an unexpected thunderstorm wakes her up into a very different world than the one she fell asleep.

Chapter 1

Shay Residence
Seattle, WA
Saturday, August 20, 2011

Carly snuggled her head into the pillow as the storm raged outside of her window. She brought her covers over her head as it thundered and the lightning flashed to illuminate the room while wind howled and rattled her window with rain drops splattering on the glass.

She didn't think it was going to rain tonight as when she went to bed there were barely any clouds in the night sky. She just wanted a peaceful night sleep in her own bed after spending the last week with her granddad, but Mother Nature obviously had other plans. She rolled to her side and saw the time displayed in red from her digital clock of 6:52 AM.

She let out a soft growl at getting up that early on a Saturday morning. She rolled on to her back to stare up at the ceiling. She doubted that she would get back to sleep anytime soon, so she decided to roll herself out of bed to go ahead and get up for at least a few hours. She figured she could always take a nap later in the day.

She took the first steps down from the platform for her bed and noticed Sam was snuggled up with a blanket sleeping on her couch ignoring the storm outside.

Carly's brow furled as she didn't remember Sam planning to stay the night. She only remember Spencer coming back after the three left her standing at the elevator entrance to go somewhere, apparently not caring she had returned. She brushed away her moment of confusion as she made her way out of the bedroom and down the hall towards the stairwell.

The brunette yawned as she scratched the side of her head and made her way down the stairs as she noticed the living room and kitchen lights already on at this hour of the morning. She figured that she wasn't the only Shay to have been wakened up by the storm.

She started as she finished wiping the sleep out of her eyes upon entering the kitchen, "Hey Spence—" The brunette stopped in mid-sentence and her tracks when she finally opened her eyes and saw the person at the counter by the coffeemaker was not Spencer, but a woman looking to be only in her early forties and standing at about Carly's own height with long with dark brown hair she guessed went just past her shoulders, but was pulled back in a messy ponytail and wearing oval glasses.

The other brunette smiled at her as she turned away from the coffeemaker with the coffee pot in one hand to pour into the mug resting on the counter. "Hey cupcake; did the storm wake you up too?" As she waited for an answer, she poured her coffee into the mug then put the pot back in its place so she could take a sip of the dark liquid. She mumbled and slightly shook her head after finishing her sip, "Spencer got the decaf again."

Carly blinked and her mouth opened and closed like a comical fish.

The older brunette looked up from the mug towards Carly and frowned slightly when she saw the shocked expression on the teenager's face. She sat the mug down on the counter to take a step towards the web-hostess.

Carly took a hesitant step back as her eyes remained locked on the figure in front of her. She spoke in a barely audible whisper, "You can't be real."

The older woman's brow furled as she asked with evident concern in her voice, "Sweetheart?"

Carly turned and dashed towards the stairs. She was halfway up them when the lady reached the bottom of the stairs and shouted up the stairs, "Carly?"

Carly threw open her bedroom door and shouted, "Sam! Sam, wake up!"

Sam growled out as she tightened her eyes closed and pulled her blanket tighter around her body. "What?"

The brunette was over at the couch in a dash and grabbed the blonde and shook her to get her attention. "Sam wake up."

She opened her eyes and stood up. "What?" she asked with a tone to show her annoyance of having to get up.

Carly followed her in standing. "I just saw my mom," Carly whispered out doubting her own sanity for a moment.

Sam rubbed the sleep out of her right eye and yawned, "Yeah, so."

Carly walked up to the blonde and grabbed her by the shoulders. "Sam, I just saw my mom."

The dirty blonde blinked for a moment then raised an eyebrow as she frowned in confusion. "And, so?"

Carly stared at her friend completely flabbergasted at her response.

There was a knock on the bedroom door which startled the brunette. "Carly?" Taylor Shay called out in concern for her daughter. Carly turned to look at the door then swung around behind Sam to use her as a shield.

"Kiddo, what are you freaking out for?" Sam snorted out with a laugh. She pulled away from Carly and headed for the door.

"Sam, wait!"

The older teenager ignored her apparently freaking out friend and opened the door to reveal the equally confused older brunette on the other side of the threshold to the room.

She gave a quick nod to Sam and entered to approach the pale teenager. She asked in a tone that could only be conveyed by a worried mother, "Carly? Are you alright?"

"Ah…"

Taylor wrapped her daughter in an embrace and gave her a kiss on her forehead. She whispered, "What's wrong sweetheart?"

Carly hesitantly wrapped arms around the woman that appeared to be her mother. She was real to the touch. Carly could hear the woman's heartbeat and feel the warmth of her body and the comfort of the arms wrapped around her shoulders and back.

She pulled away a few seconds later to cup her daughter's cheeks and looked into the brown frightened eyes. "Carlotta, whatever it is, you are home and safe and sound."

Before Carly could form a response, her lanky artist of a brother shouted as he reached the outside of Carly's room holding a baseball bat, "I heard shouting!"

Taylor dropped her hands from Carly's cheeks and rested them on the teenager's shoulders as she turned her head to look over her shoulder at her excited son. "It's okay Spencer. Everything is fine."

"Oh, okay…" he replied somewhat embarrassed as he lowered the bat and tried to hide it behind one of his legs.

Carly hesitantly looked to her brother then back to the eyes of the woman Carly was trying to comprehend on whether or not she was her mother. She just let her mouth start going as she couldn't think of anything really to say, "I ah… I guess I just had a really bad nightmare and ah… I guess I was still half a sleep."

Taylor nodded along with an understanding smile then started brushing some of Carly's hair with her fingers. "It's okay. I'll go ahead and fix us some breakfast and get you some real coffee. That'll wake you up. "

Carly swallowed nervously then answered, barely able to get out the last word, "Sure… thanks… mom."

She tilted her head to the side and gave a bashful smile. She looked back to her son and instructed with a kind voice, "Spencer, you have to go to that twenty-four hour place down the street and get us some real coffee."

The nearly thirty year old artist looked out the window to see that the bottom was still falling out with the thunder still rumbling. He rolled his eyes and answered in a defeated, yet playful voice, "Okay mom. I'll be right back." He turned hand headed out of the room to his room to get dressed.

"And pick up some extra bacon!" the blonde insisted if he was going to go out.

"Fine!" he shouted from down the hallway.

Taylor turned to look back at Carly and the pair inadvertently shared a smile at Sam's antics. She turned and gently put some pressure on Carly's shoulder to lead the brunette out of the room and back downstairs. "Look on the bright side of getting up this early: you'll be wide awake for when Freddie gets back."

"Get back from where?" crossed the teenager's mind. Carly didn't understand what her 'mother' meant by the comment, but she decided to remain quiet until she could figure out what was going on.

Author's Note: Special Guest Appearance by Tina Fey as Taylor Faye Shay. This interpretation of Taylor is different than my other presentations of the character. iSassmaster may or may not have a baring in this story. Thanks for reading.