Author's Note: Nothing to say.

Disclaimer: I don't own anything but the plot and Mr. and Mrs. Squarepants' first names. You can't sue me.

WoRdLiFeCeNa4: Well, all I can say is that I told you no one would ever guess. Thanks for the realism comment. A talking sponge is just FULL of realism. Lol. I'm glad you like Spongette. I hope you write the story! P.S. You're still wrong. Thanks for reviewing!

A. Nonymous: I knew you would like the reappearance of Rick. Later in this chapter, you'll understand what he meant by inconvenience. I'm not really sure why I picked Sand Mountain. I just thought it might be a nice little twist. Well of course she had sorrow; she's in love with him! Didn't I write that? Maybe people didn't take that as serious as I meant it to be… The reason why I didn't cliff hang it was because I thought that letting you readers know who the boss was, but not why, was a better ending. Thanks for reviewing!

venusgal100: Thanks for reviewing!

SpongeFan SquareFiction: Lol. What indeed? Don't worry, everything will be explained in this chapter.

Chapter 7: Questions Answered

"No, it can't be… …Dad?"

"Shocking, isn't it?" replied Ichabod Squarepants. He had a small smile on his face.

"Dad…why…how?" stuttered Spongebob. He was in a slight phase of shock.

"I guess I do owe you an explanation, don't I? I'm sure you have many questions you would like answered."

"How is this possible? None of the facts add up to you…"

"That's where you're wrong. Almost all of the facts add to me. How did you think that Flats knew where you lived? Or who your friends were?"

"But, he just wanted to beat me up… never would I think he'd be working for someone like you."

"That's what so dang irritating about you. You're just too darn naive for your own good. Anyways, it's not just Flats who has been working for me. Over the years I have had assassins trying to get to you."

"But who? I've never had any trouble until two months ago…"

"Actually, you've had trouble almost ever since you started working at the Krusty Krab."

"What? I don't understand…"

"No, I didn't think you would. Do you remember the day when you got hired at the Krusty Krab?"

Spongebob remembered as if it was yesterday. He even remembered which store he bought his hydro dynamic spatula at…

"Yes," Spongebob replied.

"Well, that day, I had a spy there to see if you had gotten the job or not. It was one of the anchovies. Do you remember?"

"Yes, but why would you want to know if I had the job?"

"My dear boy, don't you use your common sense! I had to know every move you were making! It took ages until I could finally pull off my plan! You don't think I could waltz into your house one day and reveal myself!"

Ichabod took many deep breaths. "Anyway, as I was saying, I had to know if you got the job or not because I already had an assassin working for me there. I believe you know him quite well. He goes by the name of Sheldon. J. Plankton."

"But, Plankton is just after the Krabby Patty formula. He never tried to take me anywhere..."

"Ahh, but there you're mistaken. Don't you remember that day when Plankton had you working for him? He was going to bring you to me, but unfortunately you managed to get away."

"But that still doesn't make sense. Why would you already have Plankton working for you at the Krusty Krab if you didn't even know I had the job?"

"Well the original plan was that Plankton would get the formula, and then we would split the outcome fifty-fifty. However, after all of his failed attempts over the years, I realised that it wasn't going to work, so I changed his assignment."

"But…It did work," corrected Spongebob. "Plankton did get the formula that one time…"

"Yes, that was different. It was just by a stroke of luck that he found that secret plan of his. He told me he would keep all of the glory to himself because I had doubted him. I have to admit, I did start to get worried when he started to give those helmets away… However, he was foiled once again, and soon he was crawling back to me, asking to still work. I was revolted by it, but I kept him because his little shenanigan proved useful. You see, he provided another assistant. Dennis. I believe you know him."

"All of a sudden, something in Spongebob's mind fell into place. He remembered what one of the assassins said that day when he woke from his unconsciousness…

"I was working for tiny! You know he is no good at plans! ..."

"Dennis proved very helpful when I needed him. I was considering making him my head assassin, however there was another. I think you know who he is."

"Flats," replied Spongebob.

"Precisely. He was another great assassin. Do you remember the time Mrs. Puff passed you when you weren't ready?"

"Yes," replied Spongebob, curious what this had to do with the situation at hand.

"Well you may not know it, but that was the day I found out which boating school you were going to. Coincidently, that was the same day that I had enrolled Flats. I couldn't believe my luck when he told me that it was your boating school that he was going to enter. He was my first real attempt to get to you; however, it didn't work out quite as I had planned. Although, he did seem eager to try again, so I allowed him a second attempt. He failed a second time."

"But why did you want him as head if he kept on failing?" asked Spongebob.

"He showed an iron will, and I like that characteristic. Anyway, I could see I wouldn't be able to get to you by just one assassin alone, so I formed a plan that would almost guarantee you would end up here. And low and behold, it appears I was right!"

"What was your plan?" Spongebob inquired.

"It was quite simple, really. Plankton had to create a distraction at your work. Then, while everyone was attending to the matter at hand, Dennis would enter the restaurant through the back and take you."

"But there was something else..." said Spongebob, remembering the night where he had seen Flats while jellyfishing.

"True, true," replied Ichabod. "You see, Flats and Dennis started to fight about whom deserved the job as the head assassin... Fiery competition began to emerge."

Spongebob remembered the two silhouettes fighting the first time he awoke inside the headquarters. It was Flats and Dennis fighting...

"I think they wanted to impress me, so they attempted to complete my plan alone. Little did they know that it was teamwork that would make my plan succeed."

"But didn't they ask why it was me that they had to come after?"

"Yes, I think that they did start to get suspicious after a while. They never knew that I was related to you, so many questions began to arise. However, it was nothing of major importance. My plan was working, and I was going to achieve my goal."

"But how were you able to pull this off? Surly, someone must have suspected…"

"All too true. For you see, someone did suspect, and when they found out the truth, they were determined to get in the way…"

Ichabod Squarepants had a dark look in his eyes that was lined with sadness. Spongebob couldn't fully understand the feeling.

"Who was it?"

Ichabod sighed, as if he had regret he was about to do something, yet happy about it at the same time.

"It was your mother."

Spongebob was shocked again at this information. From a logical point of view it made perfect sense. After all, she did live with him. Yet, it seemed like the most outrageous idea Spongebob had ever heard of.

"What did you do to her?"

This time, Ichabod had a full face of regret. Spongebob could tell the worst was coming.

"Let's just say she had a… tragic accident."

Flashback

Ichabod entered the house door. He would have never stayed out so late if it wasn't for the special circumstances. However, despite the activities at hand, he regretted he was coming home at this time of night. Lucy would be suspicious. Not like she wasn't enough already. Ichabod was praying that Mrs. Squarepants would be asleep. He moved quietly upstairs, hoping against hope that he would be let off the hook. He reached the top step, and then inched along the hallway to the main bedroom. He opened the closed door slowly. His heart almost leaped with joy as he saw his wife lying on the bed, asleep. He entered the bedroom and laid the case he was carrying on the dresser. He then took out his night clothes, and walked to the bathroom ready to go to bed after the stressful evening he had encountered with his job.

He entered the bathroom and closed the door. However, by the relief of seeing his wife asleep, he forgot to stay quite, and he shut the door noisily. Mrs. Squarepants woke up, but Ichabod did not realise his mistake.

Five minutes later he emerged from the bathroom. Mrs. Squarepants was standing at the door.

"Where have you been?" she demanded. "This is the third time this week, and I'm growing suspicious! Where have you been?"

Ichabod realised all too late the mistake he had made. He would have to think of a good cover story, but what was he going to say? He was rapidly running out of excuses…

"Well? What are you hiding from me?"

"Well, you see there was just this bar…" started Ichabod. He knew it wasn't likely that she was going to believe this story, but it was worth a shot.

"Oh," said Lucy in a mock tone. "Is that where these came from?" Mrs. Squarepants held up a lot of papers with writing all over them. Mr. Squarepants felt like he had swallowed a rock. Those were the papers from his case. He was using them for plotting tonight… "Well?" asked Mrs. Squarepants, in a dangerous tone. "Tell me the truth!"

Ichabod had no choice. Lucy had all of the evidence against him.

"Read the papers... They are what I've been doing."

Lucy's eyes widened with shock and surprise as she read the papers. "No, Ichabod. You can't be serious..."

"You asked me to give you the truth..."

Lucy started to walk backwards away from her husband, eyeing him as if he was a mad man. "No, Ichabod. Our son... Ichabod, no."

Ichabod started to walk towards his wife. She backed away from him, fear now showing in her eyes...

"You knew that we should have done it a long time ago... It wasn't normal, what happened. He's not normal..." Ichabod took two more strides towards Lucy. She backed away in fear. "Lucy, I know you don't want to do it, but it's the only way..." He was getting closer to his wife. He had an insane glint in his eyes.

"You're mad!" screamed Lucy at the top of her voice. She turned her back on her husband and tried to run. However, she had nowhere to run to. She didn't realise that in all of her backing away, she had reached the top of the staircase.

"Lucy, listen to reason," Ichabod said. His voice was completely calm, as if he and his wife were discussing the weather instead of critical acts.

"Reason!" yelled Lucy, turning to face her husband. "You're insane! There's nothing reasonable about murder!"

"It's not murder!" argued Ichabod. "It's doing what is meant to be done! It's not normal for him to be living!"

"NORMAL!" shrieked Lucy at the top of her voice. "NOTHING YOU'RE SAYING IS NORMAL!" Persuaded by her fear, she turned and ran; the stairs forgotten. She tripped on the top step and tumbled down. Ichabod remained where he stood. He looked down at the motionless picture of his wife, lying at the foot of the stairs. He slowly descended, not taking his cold stare off of the now bloody image of his wife.

Lucy opened her eyes, and looked towards her husband. "Ichabod," she croaked. "Why?" She closed her eyes and laid motionless. Ichabod bent down and took her pulse. He could fell small, gentle beats, but they were steadily growing fainter and slower. His wife would be dead soon.

Ichabod straightened himself. He knew that he would have to go back to headquarters. If anyone knew that he was in the house at the time of the accident, then accusations would surly arise. He quickly made his way back upstairs, and put on his day clothes. He reached for his briefcase, and then realised that his now dead wife would still have his papers. He snatched his briefcase and made his way downstairs. He found the papers still clutched in the hand of his now dead wife. He pried them away. A bloody handprint from Lucy remained on the white, but Ichabod didn't have time to fret about that now. He had to leave. He stuffed the papers into his case and then he was off...

Back to Present Day

"What happened to her?" Spongebob wanted to know.

"That's not important now... What is important is that I finish what needs to be done." Ichabod started to sink back into the shadows.

Spongebob immediately realised something was wrong. His father's voice was different... Spongebob was puzzled by his behaviour. A sense of danger suddenly filled the air. "What are you doing? What needs to be done?" asked Spongebob panicky, realising that his father's eyes had grown cold and emotionless.

Ichabod stayed in the shadows, inching slightly closer to Spongebob with every word. "You're not normal..." he said, his voice ragged with madness. "You're different...square."

Spongebob was starting to panic. His father was mad. The voice in the shadows was pure insanity. Spongebob's fear overtook him. His father's voice was no longer soft. It was serious in a playful way; not making sense. "What... What are you doing?"

"You're not normal. You're square. My wife shouldn't have had you. You're different... meant to cause evil..."

Now Spongebob knew that his father was insane. He was saying things that didn't make sense. Ichabod stood one foot away from his son. He then emerged into the light.

Spongebob gasped in horror as he saw his mad father raise a shining knife. He couldn't move. Fear glued him to his chair.

"You shouldn't have come into this world," said Ichabod.

Spongebob then looked up in horror as he saw a long, sharp knife come down towards his chest.