Against All Odds
Disclaimer: I don't own iCarly
A/N: You're going to enjoy this. Trust me, I know these things. The alternative title was Against the World, couldn't decide which to go by. Enjoy! Oh and yes, I will throw Sam/Freddie bits in here on multiple occasions that I get that opportunity.
Chapter 1 (Baby)
A young girl, twelve years of age, sat in a smoke filled booth calling out for her mother, her one and only lifeline. Her nostrils were burning and her ears felt like they were going to fall off. Why had her mother done this? Why had her mother brought her to her work and not her arcade? What was this place? Her spine chilled as the hollering and whooping of the crowd burst in her sensitive ears.
"Mama!" The music seemed to send its loathsome vibrations throughout her body. She screeched and poked her small brown head up above the booth where she saw several women walking around with hardly anything covering them. "Why are they dressed all naked? Why are you all naked! I want mama!" Her voice could barely be heard over the roars of the disgusting, filthy looking men in the place. She wanted to go to the local arcade. She put her hands on the top of the bar and stood in the chair, bouncing up and down, hoping to get someone to notice her. "Mama, I want to go to the arcade! Mama, let me go to the arcade! I don't want to be here anymore, I can't breathe! Where are you? Mama!"
A baby's cry shot through her head and twenty nine year old Sasha 'Striker' Rodriquez. She wasn't Hispanic at all, but it was her mother's maiden name. She preferred Striker, the name she gave herself as she grew up in the arcade on Main Street. Her eyes flew open and she slowly stood up from her red couch, covered with stains from only God knew where. Her home was small, practically a two room shack, if anything, and it was empty. Minus a few essentials that came with the apartment, the couch, and the baby's crib, she had run out of money. Whatever money she made off of that which she sold, she used it to attempt to pay off a debt that was from a mistake she regretted making from day one.
"I'm coming Blake, don't cry…" Her voice was dry and her movements were slow. She walked to the other side of the room where the crib was and reached in, pulling out a two year old baby. He had brown hair and the features of his father. She often thought about the father of her child, she actually broke up with him after only dating for a couple weeks. She found him immature and a bit irresponsible, once she realized she was pregnant; there was no going back to him. She didn't think he'd be all that great of a father, but that was probably her mistake.
She moved Blake to her chest and pat his back with gentle, but firm pats. Her eyes moved to her front door, the large oak door was open, revealing her screen door, covered with eviction notices. Her lips curled to a frown as Blake continued to cry. "I know baby, mommy lost her job…" She'd been trying to get a job, but in between worrying about money and dealing with her son, she just hadn't been able to cut it. It seemed that the only jobs she could do were the ones that were off limits in her mind. "Don't worry, mommy's not going to work in a strip club or any other type of seedy work…but I have an idea…"
Her eyes turned to a picture frame that sat on the armrest of the couch, inside was a picture of Blake's father. Sure, she deemed him irresponsible when they met nearly three years ago, but maybe now was the time for him to step up to the plate. She just couldn't raise this baby on her own and she wasn't about to work as a stripper. Her mother died a stripper, having developed cancer from all that smoke. Sasha had just been twenty years old.
Her heart tightened as she gazed out the screen door, she was already supposed to have been gone. The landlord agreed not to report to her creditors because of the baby, but he wasn't going to extend her time any longer. It had been extended about five days so far, she had to be out now. Her car was gone, she had hardly a dime to her name anymore. She was waiting on the taxi cab to pick her up and take her to the bus station. Fortunately she could hear a car engine pulling up to the house.
Her heart lifted as she set her son in the baby carrier and strapped him in. Blake looked up at her with wide eyes and a grin on his face. She cooed at him and blew on his nose, causing him to giggle. Blake loved his carrier and was always excited whenever she put him in, only because he knew it meant he'd be going somewhere and he loved the gentle rocking motion. Most times it would put him to sleep, a great relief to Sasha whenever she was tired.
Suddenly her intuition started telling her to pay attention, something was wrong. She moved her hand up to her face and tucked her hair behind her ear. The sound of the engine was not that of a taxicab. Rather, it sounded of a high, constant rumbling sound, or a growing roar. A Porsche! Her eyes widened and her heart began racing as she turned her head towards the door. There it was, a silver Porsche GT3. It belonged to the thugs of Maurice Clayton, the loan shark that let her borrow money in hopes to pay off some bills and her rent.
"Shit!" She grabbed the carrier's handle and pulled it up, her eyes moved frantically around the room, trying desperately to find something. Her breathing heightened as she heard the car doors open and slam shut. She hated gambling, but in order to try and get some money to take care of Blake and to get rid of the bills and rent that she owed, she had to go to a casino and borrow money from the man. The money didn't seem to help her much as when she spent it, she got laid off from her job simply because she was too tired. How could they blame her for trying to raise her son!
She ran into the next room, the kitchen, and stopped when she heard one of the men knocking on the window. The man spoke with a deep, burly voice and his breath likely reeked of his cigar. That man was the bigger of the two, and by bigger, that mean taller and with a more muscular build. "Sasha, Mr. Clayton wants his money. Now I know you're not trying to run away from us."
"The hell I'm not." Thoughts raced through her mind as she grabbed the back door. She heard the men rustling at the front door, possibly trying to get in. She took one last look at the interior of her home and breathed in deep, there was no turning back now. She had to get out of here and fast. Closing her eyes and taking that brave step, she pushed the door open and rushed outside.
As she made her way to the front yard, she watched the two men enter her home. She moved her eyes to the street and frowned, where the hell was that taxi? Thinking fast, she rushed over to the car and bent behind it. She bowed her head and groaned. In the midst of her frustration, she saw a small pocketknife on the ground beneath the car, one of the thugs must have dropped it. She grabbed it in her hands and set Blake down on the ground, grinning as she eyed the car's tires.
As she glanced to her right, her prayers were answered and the taxicab was arriving. Knowing if she just hopped in, these guys might follow her, she decided to head them off at that pass. Thinking fast, she ran around the car, slashing the tires and pocketing the small pocketknife. Once done, she grabbed up Blake's carrier and ran to the taxi, stopping once she grabbed the door handle.
"Hey! Where the hell do you think you're going!" Her head turned to the door to see the thugs stepping out on the front porch. Once they began moving, she quickly entered the taxi.
"Drive! Now! Hurry!" The driver nodded and sped off just as the husky thug reached the taxi. He threw his hands up in frustration and quickly moved to the car. Sasha watched from the back window with satisfaction as they departed into the distance, the men wouldn't be able to catch her anytime soon.
She took another deep breath and looked to her son, her pride and joy. A smile graced her lips and she gently caressed her son's face and whispered her soft words to him. "Blake, there's only one person I can think of that might possibly be able to help. I don't know if we can rely on him, but…he'll have to do…I'll do whatever it takes to make sure you're taken care of, my love."
Spencer watched with boredom as Sam and Freddie cuddled on his living room couch. He normally would be distracting himself with something and ignoring them, but lately he just couldn't come up with anything to do. All of his art pieces were growing wearisome as he constantly had to take them apart, nobody was buying them! Whatever he did manage to sell, he only received about five hundred maximum on. Usually it took him anywhere from one to two weeks to finish a project for someone. Thank god his father was pretty much his financial rock. The studio apartment alone was 1200 in monthly rent, at least that's how it started when they found the place on apartments dot com. All the damage caused over the years brought the price up to 1600, and it didn't help that Carly and her friends pissed off Lewbert every chance they got.
He leaned forward against the counter, raising his eyebrow as the happy couple began making out. He cleared his throat and narrowed his eyes. "Hello, my couch!" Technically it was his father's, every dime he owned came from his father. Why? Well simply because his father still believed he was in law school. Fortunately he managed to convince his grandfather not to tell Mr. Shay this news, because he knew his dad well enough to know that he developed a mean arrogant streak from his father before him. If he found out about all the stuff that had gone wrong, he'd cut Spencer's funding in a heartbeat.
Sam and Freddie parted their lips and looked at Spencer with a hint of guilt. "Sorry Spencer, we got a bit caught up in the moment," Freddie replied. Spencer shrugged as Freddie rubbed his neck cautiously. "We do that a lot, get really caught up…" He chuckled at the statement, he knew well what that meant. It happened to him several times, albeit with one woman. He was devastated when she left, apparently while she loved how artsy he was, she didn't think he really was all that mature. After all, he was in his late twenties, dropped out of law school, and was solely dependent upon his father's money.
"I hope you guys are careful." He spun around his counter and started to walk over to the two. "I can tell you, you'll get caught up in that moment and then what? One thing will lead to another and boom you're stuck in bed without a condom on!" The two friends started to turn red and Spencer heard a chortling sound behind him. Gibby had been at the kitchen table and was probably now spewing chunks of chicken all over the floor. He narrowed his eyes and lowered his arms. "It's not meant to be funny. You have to be responsible. I mean seriously! Don't think you're an exception just because you're young."
Freddie smirked at Sam and put his arm around her shoulders, then lifted his head up to Spencer. "Okay Spencer, you mind if I ask you a personal question?" He paused for a brief second, unsure if he should worry about what personal question Freddie might ask him. After a second, he shrugged his shoulders and Freddie shifted his body back a bit while Sam rested her head upon his shoulder. "Have you ever had sex? I mean you're almost thirty…"
He froze, blown away by the question. Had he ever had sex? Would he be a laughingstock if he said no? Then again, that would be lying and he hated to lie. His panic sensors were flaring as the statement caught him severely off guard."Wha-" He searched Freddie's eyes and let out a soft sigh as Freddie repeated the question. Sam playfully smacked him and told him he was being inappropriate. "Okay…yes I've had sex before, but we were careful and responsible."
"Oh? No problems whatsoever?" Freddie's lips curled into a grin and he leaned forward. Spencer could see the excitement and curiosity inside the boy. "Who was she? What happened to her? Why aren't you together?"
"She uh…well, she didn't think I was all that mature. So we broke up. I mean, we dated for like…almost a month, got kind of close."
"Kind of? You must have been in love if you guys were, you know, doing it."
"Yeah…" He rubbed the back of his neck and felt his cheeks start turning a deep shade of red. They were starting to love each other, she said it to him first. He felt it, but was always afraid to say it. "She asked a big question, but we were kind of joking around. She said if it ever came down to it, would I get a real job and I…" He clicked his tongue as he watched both Sam and Freddie's faces twist in concern. "I said I probably wouldn't because 'my art could pay everything'. Of course, it probably couldn't, but what the hell right?"
Carly's voice hit him from behind and he turned his head to see her leaning against the stairwells, listening to the story with intensity and a laughing smile on her face. "Let me guess. Big fight started?" He closed his eyes and lifted his hand up defensively, sighing heavily.
"I know, I know, I was being stupid. Yes, she asked me why that was, I didn't really have a good answer and things just kind of escalated from there. She said we were through because she wanted out of a relationship, someone who was reliable. Someone she could depend on."
"And you were obviously not that person." Her nonchalant answer struck him where it hurt. He winced painfully and glanced helplessly at his little sister as she walked towards the kitchen.
"Don't you have homework to finish?"
"Yeah, then I came downstairs to get a snack, heard you talking, and decided it was more interesting."
"Go figure." What was this, roast Spencer hour? He rolled his eyes and crossed his arms. A swift knock was heard at the door and he sprung to action, talking as he walked towards the front door. "Anyway, I was talking about responsibility. You guys are young, you probably don't understand just how important it is to be responsible."
"We are responsible and we know better than to have sex," Sam remarked with a flat tone. Freddie nodded and folded his arms over. "You act like you're the most responsible person on the planet."
"I wouldn't say that, but I will say I do know how to be responsible and play it safe when it comes to sex in a relationship. If you're not careful, you could wind up with a-" As he grasped the doorknob and pulled the door open, his stunned eyes fell upon Sasha. What the hell was she doing here? He never imagined she'd be back here! What was that sound, though? A sound of joyous laughter was coming beside Sasha. His eyes drifted down and he froze. A two year old infant child, and it looked old enough to have been conceived around the time he and Sasha were dating. "-Baby…"
I wasn't trying to make it completely suspicious or surprising that Spencer was the father, so I wouldn't worry about it being "obvious" he was the father XD. Anyway, ouch, just as he's talking to Sam and Freddie about responsibility, this happens. Here we go, looks like Spencer's going to have to try to be the responsible one. Things are bound to go wrong pretty soon. Let me know what you thought, did you like how Sasha escaped from the thugs? How about Spencer's little responsibility lecture. Looks like we'll be seeing his full reaction to Sasha's return next chapter.