So here we are, the final chapter of this story. As ever thanks to everybody for reading and, especially, reviewing. Please enjoy the finalé of iMiss Freddie.

I took the rest of that week off school to finish recovering from my sickness. Every evening without fail Freddie would call by, Rachel in tow, with a fresh supply of homework, picked up my completed work to return the next day, they filled me in on the latest gossip from around school and we just hung and chatted. I was leaving the apartment more frequently and for longer periods and by Friday I felt up to returning to school the following week. I gave them the good news, Freddie looked happy, Rachel rather less so, though she seemed to be hiding it well from her boyfriend. I also noticed that every time they left, and Freddie would give me an affectionate but innocent forehed kiss (which I really liked but tried to hide just how much), Rachel's face would get a little... not exactly darker but she was looking more than a little downcast, almost troubled.

Sam had also been showing up on an evening (surprise huh?) usually timing her arrival to coincide with the couple's departure (either that or she was downstairs pigging out after asking Spencer if Rachel and Freddie were upstairs with me). She'd finally dropped most of the Freddie talk – it looked like I'd convinced her that I was done chasing him – so we stuck to how I was (improving), how much trouble she was getting into at school (plenty) and whether there were any hot guys on the scene for her (not at the moment, nobody she had her eye on – though I dropped a couple of none too subtle hints that she should pursue Brad for real: she laughed and suggested that I sort out my own romantic life before trying to involve myself in hers). I managed to persuade her to spend some time doing homework with me those evenings too; even when I'm sick I have to cajole her into getting her grades up – I really worry about what she's going to do after we graduate.

Finally Monday morning came around, Freddie came over bright and early and we headed for school.

"Hey Freddie" I greeted him in the 8th floor corridor.

"Hey Carls, how are you?"

"I'm good, thanks. Rachel's not with you?"

"No, she went home straight after school. She's been a bit distant all week really" he added, sounding puzzled.

"She was looking a bit down when you guys left my room on an evening while I was sick last week" I told him.

"Really? She never said anything." Oh Freddie, you boys are SO blind!

It was Friday evening, around 5. I'd been back at school for a week. I had stayed true to my self-imposed exile from Freddie – I wasn't avoiding him but I wasn't actively looking for him either, though he did find me around school surprisingly often between classes (particularly in between consecutive classes that we didn't share). Sometimes his girlfriend was with him but usually he was alone, just seemingly wanting to check up on me and make sure that I was ok after my illness. It seems the more I try to keep away from him the more he comes to me. While I love being around him, it hurts at the same time; such a strange and difficult contradiction.

Later on, around 8 p.m., I heard a knock on the Bensons' front door. I snuck a peek through the spyhole to see Rachel waiting for admittance to her boyfriend's home. I was both surprised, seeing her show up after deciding not to hang with him earlier in the evening, and disappointed, another late-night visit seemingly confirming to me that their relationship had indeed moved on.

About an hour after I saw Rachel enter Freddie's home there was a knock on my door. I looked through the spyhole and there she was, standing in front of me, Rachel. She looked a little dishevelled and there were traces of tear stains on her cheeks. I was shocked at the sight and slightly nervous of her but invited her in.

"I won't stay long" she said without preamble, along with a slight quaver in her voice. "I just needed to tell you: you win."

"Huh?"

"I went over there to break up with Freddie, and I did. You have his heart, not me. I know that now."

"WHAT?" I was absolutely stunned at her words. "What brought this on?"

"His reaction to you being sick: the worry in his face, in his voice, how concerned he's been, how distracted he was around me. He tried to suppress it, he tried to concentrate on me but I could tell his mind was elsewhere. He denied it, even tonight, and he insisted he didn't want us to break up, but the truth is there for anyone who cares to look – and I had to look" she finished sadly.

A thought struck me in the midst of my confusion. "But I thought you had his heart, his… everything. I thought you were over there because you two were… y'know"

"He said that?" she asked in surprise.

"No" I said, "but I saw you go over there late at night a couple of weeks ago and I assumed…"

"Oh" she said, "no, my parents were away that night. I didn't want to be alone and Freddie couldn't stay at mine because his mom would freak if he wasn't home when she arrived. He's given you his heart; one day he'll give you that as well."

"He'll take something in return" I said shyly. She smirked softly.

"So him being worried over a friend being sick; that's reason enough for you to break up with him? I thought you loved him." I said to her.

"I do" she said quietly, blinking rapidly.

"Then why do this? What happened over there?" I pressed, bewildered.

Rachel knocked on the Bensons' door. Freddie opened it, his eyebrows raising at his girlfriend's surprise visit.

"Rachel, hi" he said, leaning in for a kiss and unable to hide his surprise and slight feeling of hurt when she pulls away.

"We need to talk Freddie" she said, voice trembling. Before he could respond she took his hand and led him to the couch in the Living Room.

"You love her" she said simply after they sat, looking straight into his eyes. He returned her gaze steadily, but with a hint of confusion on his face.

"Carly?" he asked. She nodded.

"All this time that she'd been ill it's become obvious. I know you care about me Freddie, and I know you like being around me, but she's the one that has your heart." Freddie tried to interrupt but she cut him off. "Let me finish, please. I want you to be happy, Freddie, that's all I wanted for you. I really hoped, and for a while I thought, that we could make each other happy - and we do - but seeing you look at her, it's obvious that you'd be settling for second best if you stayed with me. You're a good man, Freddie: you're noble and loyal to a fault. Most guys, hearing the girl of their dreams was in love with them, they'd kick their current squeeze to the kerb in a heartbeat. You won't do that so I have to make the choice to let you be happy with her. I hope we can still be friends, still be around each other at school and I love fencing with you, but as a couple: we're done Freddie" she finished as the tears rolled down her cheeks.

Freddie sat in shock for a moment before reaching out and pulling the ginger girl close to him, tears coursing down his own face, spilling off his jaw and onto her shirt where they mingled with her own.

The former couple sat in silence, holding each other, letting out the tears and sadness from the break-up until eventually Rachel stood up.

"I'd better go" she whispered. "Be happy Freddie. I'll see you at school."

Freddie nodded sadly then allowed himself a small smile.

"Next time we fence I'm taking the safeties off now we're not dating!" he challenged, causing her to smile in return.

"Bring it on Benson!" she growled humorously.

Rachel then let herself out of apartment 8-D, took a couple of steadying, composing breaths, wiped the tears from her face with her sleeve and stepped across to the door of 8-C and rapped on it with her knuckles.

"I had to end it because he won't." she explained sadly. "Even though he loves you more and would be happier with you, he isn't going to leave me for you; it's not in his nature, he'd never hurt me like that; he'll just carry on denying his true feelings for my sake. I won't let him do that. I love him enough to let him go, to give him his shot at being truly happy and I realised that I'm not the person that can do that." I was stunned to hear this, and amazed that she had come to the same decision, and for the same reason, as I had. "I do have one thing to say though" she continued, "I did this for him, to make him happy. If you hurt him – in ANY way – I will hurt you worse." She looked straight into my eyes, sincerity etched within them.

I returned her stare, equally truthful.

"If I ever hurt him, I hope you make good on that promise" I told her.

We were both completely at a loss for what to say on the subject so I looked to the door and commented

"So… I guess I should go over there."

"Not tonight" she said, to my surprise. "Give him the night to process. He'll still be there in the morning." I nodded slowly in agreement.

"So, what now for you?" I asked. "You and Freddie have been inseparable since you came to Ridgeway."

"We'll still see each other in class" she said with a sigh. "Maybe we won't work together in science – that could be tough and you might want rid of Sam as a partner" she smiled mischievously and I giggled "and we'll still fence, perhaps not as often as we have been doing but we will: and who knows? Maybe we won't go easy on each other in future." We were both laughing now. "I'll be fine in time" then she turned serious "and I'll be watching and waiting in case you screw it up and break his heart."

"I'm not going to" I insisted, putting every ounce of feeling and passion I could into it. She nodded tersely.

"Well, I should go" she said. "Take care of him Carly. I'll see you at school."

I stepped up to her and hugged her. She flinched a little before giving me a quick squeeze in return, then we let go and she left my apartment.

Again it was a night where I struggled to sleep, though for completely different reasons this time. I was stunned by her actions, her selflessness, what she was willing to do for the boy she loved. She was a better person by far than me but I wasn't going to let her sacrifice be in vain. Finally by 6 a.m. I could take it no more. I took a shower, did my hair and a touch of make-up, put on one of my nice-but-not-too-fancy figure-hugging dresses and, on the dot of 7 a.m. slipped across the hallway to knock softly on the Bensons' door. A few moments later a sleep-deprived looking Freddie answered, still in his nightwear. We locked eyes for a couple of seconds before both stepping forward, closing the gap between us and sharing a searing, passionate kiss. I put into that one kiss all of my emotions – the love I feel for him, the frustration at having wanted to do this for so long but not being able to, the desire to be close to him, to keep him, to never let him go: all of it and more in that single meeting of our lips. We reluctantly broke apart for air after… maybe half a minute? ... Freddie pulled me close to his body and rested his chin on the top of my head, making idle circles on my back with his right hand while his left held me in place (not that I wanted to move: I'd have stayed there forever with my arms around him given the chance). Eventually he pulled back but only so he could claim my lips again and slip his tongue into my mouth. I "fought back" with my own tongue and we made out in the doorway for a while before he took my hand, pulled me gently but firmly into his apartment, we headed over to his couch, I surprised him by taking the lead, pushing him down and then laid on top of him before we resumed kissing – until his mom woke up several minutes later, left her bedroom and interrupted us with a scream.

"Get off him!" she yelled, along with some confused babbling as to what was going on and what had happened to Rachel.

"Sorry" I said, breaking the kiss, lifting my head and looking at her, before turning back to Freddie. "But I'm never letting go of him again".

My lips then resumed the more enjoyable task of kissing her son, while she screamed like a deranged harpy.

One week later

We were in my room, I was laid on my bed reading and Freddie was laid on the ice-cream love-seat, having just finished moving the boats around on my table, when he suddenly started laughing softly.

"What's so funny?" I asked, looking up at him from my book.

"Nothing" he said lightly, but continued to chuckle.

"Don't make me pin you and force it out of you Benson" I growled, though with playfulness evident in my voice. He laughed even harder as I rose from the bed.

"Oh Carly" he said, "you haven't been able to pin me since we were thirteen!"

I narrowed my eyes and ran at him. He was starting to stand from the love-seat as I reached him. He was off-balance so I was able to knock him to the ground easily and landed on top of him. My advantage was short-lived though as he gripped my forearms – gently but firmly – and used his superior strength to ease me off him sufficiently to turn us over so that suddenly he was laid on top of me, my arms pinned to the floor. Not that I minded too much, the view was wonderful – his slightly flushed face mere inches from my own, both of us gazing into the other's eyes.

"Hi" I said, putting on a goofy smile and sweet voice.

"Hi" he replied, his own smile growing on his face.

I stopped struggling but tried to raise my head and bring my lips to his. He met me half-way and we shared a soft, sweet kiss. After we eventually broke the contact I asked him,

"So what WAS so funny?"

"Honestly?" he grinned. "Nothing – and this. I knew you'd take the bait and do this Carls, and I just wanted you in this position, so that I could do this" and he kissed me again.

I closed my eyes, melting into his kisses and his touch. Finally I had my boy back, and not just Freddie but Freddie, the love of my life. Now I resolved to spend the rest of my life making sure I keep him with me, make him happy – and I'll make sure I treat him right this time.

And we're done. Some of you will have liked the ending, some of you will have hated it. I hope, however, that you all enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it.

A HUGE thank you to all my loyal reviewers, particularly FFR88 and SirRay, whose continual input and insight chapter after chapter has been invaluable to me in writing this story.

As a lot of you know I'm still working on my Victorious x-over, Freddie Goes To Hollywood and one or two other projects. I am toying with the idea of a continuation of this dealing with the Creddie relationship (and maybe brewing a little Creddie "Special Lemonade") - think it's a good idea? Or a really bad one? Let me know, but for now this is PD31 signing off. Thanks again for reading.