Talk:Cam Relationship/@comment-4818278-20120306064718/@comment-4060828-20120306170325

Is it fair to say I think I love you after all that? ;)

You raised an interesting and pretty unique aspect of their relationship. Carly really does love Sam unconditionally and it's made even more potent when seen in light of Carly's relationships with boys she likes. The thing that has always struck me is that Carly is quick to reveal that she either finds Sam appealing or outright tells Sam she loves her. When Carly tells Sam she loves her, it never comes off as a forced but merely common knowledge between the two. It also never comes off really as a relationship "I love you" but more... it just is. Like breathing. Like Carly doesn't need to context "I love you" in a certain way or expand on her feelings/meanings behind the words to Sam.

Given Sam's home life and general life situation, it escalates how loving Carly is towards Sam to not only act as a surrogate mother but also act as her best friend and confidante. Carly manages to juggle each role seamlessly when around Sam and Sam, for her part, equally juggles being the "stubborn" daughter/best friend/confidante for Carly as well.

When thinking about their other relationships, they do have friends and romantic interests and blood relatives but that is really all they are contextually. For Sam, she has someone in Carly that she can completely trust to the fullest extent of her being. She has someone who will help develop and mature her in a way that she lacks from anybody else simply because that person wants to. For Carly, Sam allows her to let somebody open themselves and say, "I'm yours," in almost every meaning of the word. Sam is someone that Carly can provide a positive experience and impression upon without feeling like its work for nothing.

Finally, to echo your last paragraph, Carly basically gives Sam her own life to share. Sam treats the loft as a second home, shares iCarly with Carly as performers, and is treated as a member of Carly's family. Sam openly follows Carly in part as gratitude for what Carly has offered her, a glimpse/chance at a real life that doesn't revolve around what Sam is trying to escape from (usually). In iChristmas, Carly's life arguably improved without Sam and yet Carly didn't care at all because Sam wasn't where she was supposed to be in Carly's mind. Carly's love for Sam is parlayed into having Sam around her, physically and emotionally and mentally. When Sam is taken out, Carly herself can't cope with existing without that anchor (even with a substitute like Nevel).