Chapter inspired by the song Sleep Paralysis by Gabriel Bruce.

Chapter One/Chaos

You wouldn't believe
the things that I have seen
I wouldn't expect you to
you've never been asleep

Glass shattered everywhere as the vehicle made impact with the other. The airbags deployed, but they only cushioned the crash, not prevent it. The car turned quickly on its axis as the greater force pushed it to, making it flip upside down until the hood of the car firmly landed on the road.

Silence took over the scene. And eerie, mourning silence, for the couple in the car lay dead.

...

"Alright guys wrap it up, and take five." Sam spoke through the microphone that projected into the studio beyond the thick glass. The music through the large headphones abruptly stopped, and Sam turned back to her co-worker Molly. "I think they need a little work on their pitch, it's too low, maybe if you turn it higher through the main chorus it'd have more of a pop feel to it, ya know?" Molly gave her input as Sam debated it with one headphone on her ear listening to the just recorded track. The blond nodded after a moment. "Yeah, yeah, I see what you mean, I'll have them work on it after their break." Sam agreed.

Suddenly her cell phone rang, giving her something else to do, rather than play around with the equipment and snack on the occasional FatCake during the break. She slide her office chair over to the other side of the booth where her bag lay, and answered it. "Hello?" She asked the caller, she had noticed it was a private number and had no idea who was calling. "Yes, t-this is she."

There was a couple minutes of silence, and Molly, who was leaning against the wall, looked towards Sam with a questionable expression on her face. Sam's face dropped, and she frowned in confusion at the information that was being thrown to her. But she stayed still, not knowing what to say or do. "I-I'm sorry... what?" Her heartbeat pounded against her chest, and she hoped that what she was hearing was some sort of mistake.

Another round of silence took over before she spoke once more, letting the caller explain the in process. "Yes-yes I'll be there soon." Her eye's remained wide in disbelief as she shakily hung the phone up.

...

"What's going on?! I demand to know why I am rushing here and not to the hospital!" Sam nearly shouted as Officer Buckley, the man in charge of the case, met her in the hallway of the Police Department. He shot her a sympathetic glance and escorted her to a private room in the back.

Sam sat firmly in her chair, an annoyed, worried look was modeled into her face. "Okay I'm here now, tell me whats going on! W-where are my friends?" She demanded fiercely. Officer Buckley swallowed and sat at the table opposite of her. This was going to be hard.

...

"So the c-car, the car flipped over?" She asked, her voice merely a whisper, and she used small yet noticeably painful hand gestures to fully understand. Her eyes were stained, her body trembling with cold hard fear.

"Yes... I-I'm sorry ma'am-" The officer wanted to continue but was cut off by Sam quickly. "T-They had a daughter, was she in..?" Her voice began to uncontrollably quiver. "Sh-she wasn't in the car right?" The last part of her sentence could barely be heard.

The officer shook his head in better spirits, this was the only positive thing he could to tell her. "No ma'am."

In that moment Sam deeply exhaled a breath she didn't realize she was holding and closed her eyes in relief. Even as her heart raced violently inside her tightened chest, she was somewhat relieved. The little girl wasn't in that car.

...

Sam was calm; she was unbelievably calm and collected right until she walked out that door; from that moment she broke down. An ongoing wave of tears flooded her eyes, and her cheeks turned red. Her heart thrashed, trying to fill the gaping hole in her heart that those police officers had created. Had what that man said about Carly and Adam being... -be really true?

No, I couldn't have been.

I just talked to them like two hours ago. This was crazy talk-all these people-they're insane. Th-there's no way this- She quickly thought trying to make sense of the situation. Sam clutched her bag in comfort, but she couldn't shake this dreadful feel of being so utterly alone; that is, until she looked up and saw him standing here. One of her oldest friends walking down the same hall she just had.

As soon as his eye's landed on her his face fell, his skin turned a few shades whiter, and she, she just tried not to look so vulnerable.

He made his way to her quickly, but for the both of them, it wasn't quickly enough. "Hey." He sniffed, stopping right in front of her. She took a look at him. He hadn't changed that much since the last time she'd seen him a couple months ago, they were happy then. But this time it wasn't a smile that formed his face, it was a scared, worried frown. His eyes were red and glassy; he even looked a bit dazed, as if this was a dream of some sort. Maybe that's the way I look too. Sam thought.

She didn't greet him. She just wrapped her arms around him, quickly closing any gap between them and stayed silent. She didn't notice but her body was trembling with fear. He held her tight in that moment.

Freddie embraced the blond back and let her submit in his protective arms. And after a few moments he felt Sam's sobs tremble through his body. Sam almost never cried, and it was in that moment, he knew that everything had changed.

...

Sam and Freddie both looked at the little girl sleeping peacefully before them in her crib, she oblivious to the fact that her parents had just been in a fatal car accident, she was oblivious to the fact that she was living in a cruel harsh world. Sam couldn't take her eyes of the baby. She had chocolate loose short curls, just like her mother, and when she opened her eyes, piercing hazel eyes like her father.

"So what are we gonna do?" Freddie whispered softly. Sam continue to gaze at the baby till she met Freddie's eyes, she then gulped and unsteadily spoke. "I-I have no idea." Freddie's arm found its self wrapped around her back as she leaned into him for a couple of seconds; this was not a romantic gesture, it was a desperate, vulnerable one, one that they both needed.

...

The man in the black suite with sharp features stared directly across from them. His glasses increased his appearance by making him look intelligence and his platinum watch made him look professional.

"Now, as you know, I've come here to discuss the legal matters, including, the house, Adam's company, Carly's company, and of course, Emma."

Sam and Freddie sat directly across from him, in the large dinning room table of Adam and Carly's home. This was too much to handle for the both of them in the course of twenty-four hours. They were both tried, confused, and overly distraught... and to them, it almost felt as if the legal officials had no respect to let them to mourn, to let them process everything.

"All assets of ALLCOM will now all be handed down to the co-owner, which is Mr. Benson here." Mr. Montgomery started, sliding Freddie a piece of paper. "All you need to do is sign here, allowing us to hand all profits and settlements in your name."

"Shay Couture, as it's written in Ms. Shay's formal will, will be handed to-" "Look--right now we don't care about the companies-we want to know what's going to happen to Emma." Sam cut him off in a pissed tone. Freddie nodded in agreement, glancing to the blond before looking Mr. Montgomery straight in the eye.

The man eyed the pair for a little while in confusion, debating in his mind whether what had just come out of their mouth had been a joke or not, but one look at their tired, worn out, worried faces he instantly knew that a joke would be out of the question. He took off his glass's and rubbed his eyes before he set them down, trying to formulate a good way to putting what he wanted to say in words. And after a moment, that seemed like an eternity to the two, he looked back up them and joined his hands together.

"Did Carly and Adam ever mention who they decided would take care of Emma in the unlikely event that they both should die?"

The question hung in the air. Both mumbled out a "No." in a perplexed matter.

"Well," The lawyer chuckled slightly, he was a bit nervous about what he was going to reveal. "they named... you." He simply ended. This got the attention of the two, as now they both seemed awake and alert, almost as they'd both snapped out of their respective trance's.

"I'm sorry-what?" Freddie quickly demanded an explanation. Mr. Montgomery was about to speak up, but Sam cut him. She was utterly baffled she had to shut her yes and remember how to breathe for a moment. "Yeah... what? -They named us... together?" She clenched her teeth together in confusion. "This is child Mr. Montgomery! This is child that is not even from our making!" Sam shouted, referring to Freddie as she brought her hand up and pointed at him with her thumb, her elbow never leaving the surface of the dinning table.

"-Yes, I understand this is a lot to put on you like this but-"

"H-hold on a minute, isn't there some other kind of arrangement?" Freddie asked, and seeing how distressed Sam had gotten, he grabbed her hand under the table in an attempt to calm her down. There was no way he and Sam could raise a child together-they couldn't even be in the same room for more than a couple minutes without displaying some sort of childish bicker. This was not going to work out. What were Carly and Adam thinking?! He thought to himself.

Sam placed her free hand in her head, trying to clear her mind enough to think properly. "Yes, of course there is... there is Carly's older brother, Spencer," He read off the will in front of him.

"there is Adam's mother Josephine, and his sister Emily. " He ended. Sam inhaled deeply and turned her head toward Freddie, searching for his approval. He thought about it then nodded. "Okay, let's try them." She exhaled. It wasn't like she didn't want-or love Emma, but having a child is hard, it means sacrificing the things you love most, all for that one little person. It meant long hours at work and long hours at home. She loved Emma, but she just didn't know if she was mother material.

Plus she and Freddie almost never got along, though the tragedy threw them closer together the past twenty-four hours, they both knew it wasn't going to last-that they would quickly get tired of each other and then the real trouble would begin. Sam grew up in that sort of environment, it was unhealthily and damaging, not that she hadn't turned out okay, but it was hard, and she didn't want that for Emma.

"I don't even think we have the financial status to raise a child together." Freddie falsely imputed. Mr. Montgomery raised an eyebrow.

"Mr. Benson, you've just been handed down a multi-million dollar company," The lawyer put his glasses back on and continued to read from the will. "as well as the house and-"

"W-wait a minute-hold on... you're telling me, that we're supposed to live together... here, in their house?" Freddie in bewilderment. Sam just looked at the lawyer in a bemused state.

Mr. Montgomery nodded. "Yes, exactly."

...

"What are we gonna?" Sam mumbled she was leaning onto the island counter in the kitchen watching Freddie play with Emma in his arms. She was so dreadfully confused in that moment it was beyond measurable. She just wanted to do the right thing, but she had her suspicion that there was no right thing, not in this case.

"I don't know..." He replied softly as he bent down and grabbed a toy off the floor.

Sam took a sip of her coffee and sighed. She had the biggest migraine imaginable. "I don't think I'm suited to be a mother." She exhaled subconsciously. This quickly caught Freddie's attention. "You're kidding right?" He asked not dropping her gaze. Sam shot him an annoyed look, and continued. "I mean seriously... me? A mother? Me, in charge of another being Freddie, think about it."

"Sam, you're exaggerating it. We both know that deep inside your cold and hard exterior there's something good." He let out a slight smilie as he made the joke in attempt to lighten the mood. But when he saw Sam was not as amused as he was he quickly continued. "You'll be fine, I know you will -you've been taking care of yourself for almost your whole life."

Sam moaned in the pure annoyance that he was right. "I don't want to think about this anymore... I'm exhausted." Freddie nodded, setting Emma down in her play crib and then walking on the other side of the island counter to face Sam.

"Look Sam, I don't know what to think-most of the time I just feel like screaming my head off. But that won't solve anything, and neither will doing nothing about it-"

"Freddie this isn't a normal problem! This isn't the type of problem that when you resolve it, goes away... it'll always be there! It's in the form of a freaking kid! It's not something you can just solve." She shouted in anger, trying to make him understand, that this isn't for a while. This was for the rest of their lives.

Freddie looked up at her with those big brown eyes and agreed. "I know... I know it isn't, but tell me this... after we hand Emma in the care of someone else, how do you think we'll feel? How do you think we'll be able to move on?" His voice was soft, filled with sorrow and remorse. "I-I don't know if I can just walk away from something like this... it's not that easy for me." He explained.

Sam's face dropped, disbelief ran through her veins, and in that moment she was almost disgusted in the person who stood before her. "Oh! Do you think this is easy for me!?" She nearly screamed, tears throated to escape her eyes as she used extreme hand gestures to explain her frustration. "Do you think that sitting here, deciding whether or not to take in my dead best friend's kid is a joy ride?!"

Freddie shut his eyes trying to get a sense of clarity in that moment. He had just heard Emma being to cry in the background-she was probably frightened from Sam's screams. But he ignore them for a second and continued to calm himself. He had no intention of making her upset, it was not what he had meant. "No-no of course not." He was more relaxed as he spoke this time, not wanted to distress Sam any more. And when he opened his eyes Emma's cried had stopped and Sam was not in sight.

Freddie turned around and found the blond holding the baby tightly in her arms. He made sure they were both okay before he began once more. "Look, they loved Emma more than anything in this entire world! And out of everyone Sam, they picked us," He fought. "just think about that."

It took Sam a moment before she said anything else. "I get it, I really get it Freddie. But just think about it for a second. If it's best for Emma, we can't just put our feelings ahead of what's best for her. Let's just... let's just talk to Spencer and everyone else first." The tension in the room quickly dropped.

Freddie sighed and held on a sad little smile. He looked up at her from the floor. "And you said you can't be a good mother." He smirked his famous smirk.

Sam rolled her eyes and swallowed and there was a small moment of silence before any of them spoke.

"Uh-the funeral is Friday." Sam whispered softly as she placed the now calm baby back in the pen then made her way back to the kitchen island. This was very unsettling for her-for the both of them... everything was happening so fast, too fast. One minute she gets a call telling her, her best friends are dead, the other, they're handing her a kid. She couldn't believe it was only last night when she got that call.

Freddie nodded. "I know..."

...

"Freddie! Freddie wake up!" Sam shouted at him. He stirred in his sleep grumpily. In the background he could hear screaming and crying. "Emma woke up! I-I don't know what to do!" Sam panicked. Freddie exhaled in exhaustion but slightly smiled and got out of bed without anymore hesitation. "Sam, look, it's not a big deal... all you have to do is pick her up and rock her back to sleep." He explained knowing the true reasons for her hesitance towards Emma.

They both walked up the stairs, Sam following Freddie as a baby cub would follow its mother. They creeped down the hall to Emma's room. Upstairs, the crying was even louder, and twice as annoying.

Freddie opened the door and soothingly spoke. "Emma, hey... it's okay... shh..." He whispered. Sam watched in awe as Freddie scooped her in his arms and gently cradled her. "Since when do you know so much about babies?" Sam asked in confusion; she was honestly impressed by his paternal instincts. He's so good with her. She uncontrollably thought.

Freddie shrugged. "I've lived with an over protecting, and overbearing mother for basically all my life, some of it rubs on... that and, well, common sense really." He smirked. Sam rolled her eyes in utter annoyance at this explanation before they rested back on Emma.

"Mah-mah..." Emma whimpered, now half asleep. Sam's eyes popped as her ear's process what had just slipped between the eight month old's lips. Her hands began to tremble and her eyes watered, she couldn't help it. She was instantaneously too overwhelmed and before she knew it, she was out of the room.

"Sam-!" Freddie nearly shouted after her in confusion, but she was already gone. This was exactly what she was afraid of, and he knew. But there was no turning back now, at least not tonight. She had been scared off.

After a few minutes Emma was asleep in his arms, and he set her back down in her crib, closing the door lightly behind him as he walked out.

He found Sam in the kitchen with an ice cream bucket and a bottle of Tylenol. "Are the headaches backs?" Freddie smirked, joking, as he sat down next to her. She was having a hard time opening the bottle so Freddie gently took it out of her hands and opened it without a problem. "You ask that like they ever stopped." She said bitterly, rubbing the sides of her head in annoyance.

It was probably her frustration with the little orange bottle that kept her from opening it. That thing was too child-proof.

"What's wrong Sam?" Freddie spoke as he took two blue pills out of the bottle and handed them to her. The blond gladly took round pills and swallowed them without any water. "What isn't wrong Freddie?" She mumbled miserably as she took a spoonful of ice cream and shoved it down her throat.

Freddie sighed in sorrow, but didn't say anything. "You know what sucks?" She asked through a mouthful of ice cream. She didn't wait for him to reply, she just went out with it. "Molly called me earlier telling me that out latest band completed their album... and the first person I thought to call was Carly..." Her voice broke when she said Carly.

Freddie's heart sank deep. "Only, I couldn't..." Sam carried on. "I couldn't because she's dead... she's dead Freddie, and she's not coming back..." Tears rained down her face in misery. She just couldn't handle it any longer-she was keeping everything inside for so long.

When Sam Puckett cries in front of you, you know one of the two things, that she trusts you... and that something is defiantly wrong. Freddie's stomach turned in a nasty way, he hated it when she cried-he hated watching her like this. This wasn't that Sam he knew, the Sam he grew up with... because the Sam that he knew would never cry in front of him.

But he still wrapped his arm around her and let her lean into him for support. As she cried the spoon in her hand fell onto the counter making a loud clanging noise. "Oh god-!" She choked out. He then quickly tightened his grip on her before turning her around and engulfing her into a hug. Seeing her like this only brought tears to his eyes.

He hated seeing her like this.

...

Freddie gently placed Sam on the bed in the empty guest room where he slept. She had slept on the couch the night before, demanding Freddie to take the spare room because she couldn't sleep. And Freddie, not wanting to upset her even further did as told.

They had moved to the couch earlier, because the wicker on stools at the island counter was getting uncomfortable and she had fallen asleep in his arms on the couch.

After he laid the cover over her, he debated whether to lay down next to her as well, but quickly decided against it, knowing Sam will probably return to herself by the morning and kill him before he has the chance to wake up, let alone explain.

So, not wanting to be alone for the night he made himself comfortable on the big sofa chair in the corner of the room, dragging a spare blanket from the closet onto himself.

He knew he wouldn't be able to sleep tonight. It was already two in the morning, and his mind was too awake to sleep for at least a half hour. He didn't want to be wake, because his mind wandered off places... to painful memories and agonizing what if's.

He often wondered if Carly and Adam were here, what they'd be doing. They would most likely be sleeping, or rocking Emma to sleep right now, admiring their little girl, and showering her with tons of toys... at least Carly would. He smiled to himself thinking about that.

His eyes wandered around the room and caught a glimpse of a photo of Carly, her belly was giant and she was smiling; Adam was most likely taking the picture. He remembered her rocky pregnancy, and how Adam was always so worked up over her.

He remembered their wedding day about four years ago; when Carly's dad surprised her by showing up, after emailing her that he couldn't make it. He remembered how Spencer cried when he and his father walked her down the aisle, and how happy Carly and Adam were.

He remembered walking down the isle next to Sam, she was Carly's maid of honor, and he was the Best Man. He remembered how touching Sam's speech was, showing off her best qualities. She quoted Shakespeare which was strange to Freddie because last time she ever mention him, she was asking him if Shakespeare was that weird creepy clown in Revenge of the Circus.

(flashback to wedding day)

"As you all know, I'm not the best speaker, so I thought I'd borrow a few little words from Shakespeare. "Love is not love which alters when it alteration finds." ...When life gets hard, when things change, love remains the same. I look at Adam and Carly and somehow I feel safer. I don't know if I can explain that, but they give me hope." Sam smiled at the newlyweds.

"And the funny thing is... I'm afraid to say it out loud, because maybe if life finds out, it'll try to beat it out of them. And that would be such a shame, because we all can use a little hope sometimes, you know?" She exhaled, and continued reading from her small note card.

"...That feeling that everything is gonna be okay, and that there's gonna be someone there to help make sure of that... So here's to Adam and Carly..." She rose her glass, and everyone followed. "here's to hope... and here's to a love that will not alter."

(flashback end)

He suddenly couldn't believe they were really gone. That they were not coming back.

Everything just left like utter chaos.

Across the sea
we're both fixed in a dream
there's an island just like this
a person just like me

...

Hey! So, this is my new story! It's based on the movie Life As We Know It (2010) Um I don't own iCarly or Life As We Know It, all rights and characters belong to their original owners blah blah blah... (By the way, the quote in bold throughout the chapter is a quote fromthe Vow, and Sam's speech is fromOne Tree Hill, I take no credit!)

Now for the important stuff! iCarly is over and I'am terribly sad. Period. I don't really like the way they ended it, like only Carly leaving and stuff. I think we kinda deserved more. Like maybe everyone should've left for college or something... You know, moved on... But don't get me wrong I still loved iGoodbye! I sobbed and my mom came home and was shaken scared because I was sobbing so much she thought someone had died or something terrible had happened... (true story by the way, she got mad at me. But after that, she understood and laughed at me:P) Ahhh crazy me...

Anyway I'm thinking this story is going to be about twenty chapters or so, if not more or less -you get it. I recently watched the movie again (Life As We Know It) and was like OMG this would be an awesome plot for iCarly! So there I am. By the way this is kinda a Prologue chapter, I will have the second chapter up by the the first of January!-or maybe earlier! Think of this as kinda a LONG trailer chapter. AND Please, oh god pleaseReview! I love them! Plus I want to see what you guys think of the story! And if I should continue! If I'm not happy with the reviews, idk if I'll continue :(

Thanks for reading and sorry about this super long a/n note at the end, I promise I won't do this anymore.

REVIEW! It'll make me smile :)

-C