This is love to me

Chapter five: The long road to hell

With T-bo far ahead of the group, and the vast majority of the passengers and luggage in the camper behind them, Sam and Freddie were alone in Freddie's van. Gotham was not far off, and the sun had set. Freddie's headlights cut a clear enough path for them to get around, and the y chased away the darkness as they hurtled towards an even darker place.

They hadn't been alone together much, not since that night, when everything changed. Or, more accurately, the night everything seemed to change, for the changes they believed that they underwent were nothing. They certainly still cared for eachother, as friends if nothing else, but their relationship went back to being largely the same as it was before they had fallen in love. Sam still ripped on Freddie often, and Freddie was still technical producer of the show Sam ran with Carly.

The duo should've been able to just sit in silence without it being awkward, as they had done it with ease before, however, this silent ride was an uncomfortable one for both parties. Each detected that there was something that the other one wanted to say, but they weren't quite sure, how to best articulate their numerous thoughts. And so the silence loomed, as cold and desolate as ice. Just as if it was ice, Freddie decided to try and break it.

"So," Freddie began with a sigh as he turned the wheel to follow T-Bo through the exit "this Jerome Valeska guy."

"Yeah," Sam casually responded to Freddie's opener, still gazing out the passenger window to avoid any eye contact "what about him?"

"I was just thinking," Freddie said glancing over "he seems tough."

"He is." Sam said, adjusting her seatbelt to sit more upright, still not looking at Freddie "Jerome Valeska is... well, deranged."

"We've dealt with crazy before." Freddie said, glancing over "remember Norah?"

"Norah was different." Sam said with a yawn and a stretch "Norah kept us around as prisoners because she needed us. Jerome would kill his own friends and family without hesitation."

"So, he's unfeeling?" Freddie asked "No, I'm mistaken. Amusement. He finds it funny, all of the lives he ruins, hilarious even."

There was the ice, again. Neither liked it. Especially since they were just warming up to eachother. Sam broke it then.

"Well, don't you worry about Jerome Valeska, nub." Sam said with a smirk, glancing over at Freddie, who now had his eyes fixed to the road ahead. "His beautiful eyes" Sam thought but didn't say. "I have a plan for him."

"The sock full of butter?" Freddie asked, chuckling at the mental picture of Sam clubbing the madman with her signature weapon.

"Same in principle, different tool." Sam answered, unbuckling herself and turning around in her seat.

Sam began rummaging around in the back where her duffel bag was, opening it up and pulling something out. Freddie couldn't help himself but to take a quick glance at her ass while she was searching around in the backseat. It was just so perfect, and it was right there. He remembered a time where he had put his hands on her there, but he had to quickly turn away when Sam sat back down. She was holding a black sock, it was bulging and seemed heavy.

"Behold!" Sam announced as if this was a grand event "The scrap sock! A thick woolen sock filled with a paraphanelia of metallic and glass objects and trinkets that I've gathered."

"Such as?" Freddie asked, glancing over at Sam. Freddie smiled as he made eye contact with her.  Sam was shy and she quickly darted her eyes back to her sock.

"Bits off beer bottles, pop tops, coins..." Sam began. But as they reached a red light, the car stopped. Sam trailed off.

It was such a perfect moment. The dark of night, illuminated by the red glow of a traffic light where the highway went into Gothams famous Arkham bridge. Sam could see the left side of Freddie's face illuminated in red, he looked so beautiful. And Freddie thought the same of Sam's right side, which seemed to glow in the night. Sam reached up and felt Freddie's cheek, stubble of the days he hadn't shaved. It felt pleasantly rough. Freddie took her hand in his.

Freddie smiled tenderly at her, and suddenly both became afraid. Of eachother, of their surroundings, of their own thoughts and feelings. And at the same time, Freddie and Sam felt so protective of each other. They realized how much danger they were in, where they were, how many people in Gotham city would try to hurt either of them for a cheap thrill. The most frightening realization of all, however, came when they realized that they wouldn't let Gotham hurt them.

The ICarly caravan arrived at the Wayne hotel in around 35 minutes.

The hotel was a prestigious building, designed by architect extraordinaire  Xander Wilde, the hotel was a towering structure with huge pointed arches and flying buttresses arising from them inside the front entry. For such a fine hotel, however, the rooms weren't that expensive, primarily due to the fact that in Gotham city, few people came by for anything other than business. Business that was seldom pleasant since it was Gotham city. At a rate of $250.00 a night, and with a special deal that Freddie had found that cut %30 percent off of their stay, it was  very affordable.

Spencer booked a room for himself, T-Bo, and Sam's Mom. The kids were all booked to be in a separate room. Until Freddie chimed in.

"Me and Sam would, uhh..." Freddie trailed off a bit when Spencer gave him a quizzical look. "We'd like to book a room to ourselves. And I'll pay for it on my own."

"Very well," Spencer said nodding his head. Spencer handed Carly and Gibby their room key and took the key to the adults suite. "Me and the grown up's will discuss our current situation and schedule in detail with each other."

"Why did you do this?" Sam asked Freddie when they were alone in their room.

It was a fairly small room, on the north side of the building. Freddie had tried to book a single bed but Sam insisted on a double. They had a pretty nice view of Gotham, the fog rolling in obscuring the neon lights and the sights of the city. It was as if celestial hodies had drifted down from the farthest reaches and the most distant rings of outer space, to fall and die like Lucifer amongst the skyscrapers.

"I figured we should have our own room," Freddie said " I think we need to talk."

"Not that, damn it!" Sam replied, turning away from the window to face Freddie, who sat on the bed facing her.

"Damn you benson, we're in Gotham! The city of monsters. People come into Gotham and they either never leave or don't get out the same as they went in. I care about you, and I couldn't with myself if you were killed by a Riddle man, or a mobster, or one of these psychotic abominations like Jerome Fucking Valeska! So why are we here, Freddie? Why did we need to come here, to the most dangerous place on earth?

Freddie tried to say something intelligent, anything at all really, but he just ended up opening and closing his mouth a few times. She was right, after all. Even he knew was it was insane and he'd probably lose his mind of somebody like Jervis Tetch, or Johnathon Crane, or god forbid this Jerome Valeska character hurt her.and just when he was about to just call himself crazy, Freddie finally found the words that he knew that to say to her.

"In all honesty," Freddie said. He stood up and walked towards Sam a bit, so he would have to turn his head down just slighltly to make eye contact with her. He took her chin in his hand gently and he softened his expression "I thought it was pretty abnormal of me to do something like this."

Sam was taken aback. She remembered that night on the elevator. She had told Freddie that maybe, one day, if he became more abnormal, or she became more normal, they might working all out between the two of them and have a relationship. Well both had happened, and here they were, alone together in a room to themselves again.

"Oh Freddie," Sam moaned, taking his hand down. "I fucking hate you sometimes, but not these times." Freddie was shocked, but his shock turned to excitement when Sam moved her hands down and then up under his Tee-shirt "This is one of those other times." Sam said in a low voice as she leaned in and kissed him, deeply and with passion. 

They were on the bed then. Freddie's shirt was the first thing to go, followed by Sams. They considered going for each others pants as well, but they decided against it for now. After all, the night was still young, and they had plenty of time to enjoy it, and that meant that they would have plenty of time to enjoy each other as well, before dawn arrived to chase away the dimness of the city and the darkness of their desires.