Against All Odds

Disclaimer: I don't own iCarly

A/N:

Chapter 12 (Help from Friends)

Spencer awoke two hours later with a loud yawn. He opened his eyes and looked around, hoping he hadn't slept too long, he really wanted to get that sculpture done. Moving his hand around the bed, he noticed Sasha wasn't with him. Where could she have gone? Could she have run off on him? No, he had more faith in her than that. There was a bit of noise outside that seemed to be drawing him from the room. He carefully rose from the bed and rubbed his face, moaning slightly. He would give anything for all this to be a really bad dream. How the hell was he going to take care of Sasha, Blake, and Carly as he promised now? Without any money, it was going to be a living nightmare! His eyes drifted to the back of his sockets and his body fell against the mattress with a plopping noise.

After struggling to get out of bed for five minutes, he finally rolled out of the room. Two hours was a nice timeframe for a nap, but it didn't help him to deal with the dreariness that came from it. He rubbed his eyes and saw what looked like his sculpture, nearly finished. His eyebrows shot up and he rushed towards it, adrenaline spiked inside as he examined the sculpture. It was beautifully colored with a reddish-orange tint, the snout was made of a bottle that was glued to the face, though the entire body appeared to be done in a type of paper mache. He ran his hand over the smooth backside and smiled with pride when he felt the soft cotton fibers on the animal, apparently its fur. All the work was coming together, the beautiful paint, the décor, everything made it stand out and look like a real dog. He was amazed they even made the body feel like a dog. "He's awake!" Carly's voice bit into his ears and he quickly snapped his head up to see Carly rushing down the stairs. Trailing behind her were Sam, Freddie, Marissa, Pam, and Sasha. Sasha was holding onto Blake and smiling cheerfully at Spencer.

"Guys? What is this? The sculpture…" He was beginning to see what happened, as they were all covered with paint and glue. They must have worked tirelessly on the project. He pointed his hand to the sculpture and stood straight, meeting their eyes. "This looks better than how I was doing it." Carly nodded her head and rushed next to him, hugging him close. He hugged her back and turned his eyes up to Sasha's. "Someone explain, please?"

"Oh!" Carly bounced back and knelt beside the sculpture. "When you and Sasha went into the bedroom, I started talking to Sam, Freddie, and their parents. I managed to convince them to help us with the sculpture. Then Sasha came out after about an hour-" He saw a smirk flash on her face and flushed when he realized what she might be thinking. "It was cute how you two were cuddled up together, by the way." Sasha's cheeks shot red and Spencer nervously rubbed the back of his hair. "Anyway, when she came out, she decided to help out. We also each took turns taking care of Blake. It's been nonstop working on the sculpture for the last two hours, we only just took a break from work. What do you think?"

"I think it's beautiful! I'd be happy to show it to the buyer tomorrow, but I'd have to say you guys did most of the work." Marissa cleared her throat and moved forward, she had an exausted smile on her face and her hair was a mess of colors.

"I really don't think that would be necessary. I need to take a shower." He chuckled to himself and rubbed his chin. There was a sinking suspicion that Marissa was the difficult one to convince. Either way, he was grateful for her. He quickly hugged her, making her shout out in shock. "Spencer! I have paint on me, do you want to get that messy?" Pam laughed and walked over to them, letting Spencer pull her into the grateful hug as well.

"Thank you Ms. Benson, and you too Ms. Puckett." Tears stung his eyes as he moved from the silent women and hugged Sam and Freddie. "Also you two. All of you." He really wanted to finish the sculpture himself, but it was practically done as it was, he didn't see a whole lot more that needed to be done. "You two can go home now, if you would like, thank you for helping out." The two mothers gave a quick nod and Marissa hurried out of the door. Pam moved to the couch and sat on a towel that had been spread out. Spencer took a deep breath and looked around the room, the couch was the one thing that had been moved to the way it should have been, everything else was still a mess. Pam looked up and lifted her shoulders. He could see the pity in her eyes and for the first time, it actually stung, simply because he knew the reason she pitied him. He really had to make whatever money he got from the buyer last.

"I came here with Sam, so I'm just going to wait until she's ready to go home, if that's okay with you."

"Yeah that's fine, Ms. Puckett. Thank you." He turned his gaze to the door and felt a pang in his chest. "Freddie's mom had to get cleaned up?" Pam followed his gaze and looked back with a mildly vague smile.

"Yes. Don't worry about how she's acting, I understand the whole loan shark thing. She doesn't." Spencer pressed his lips together and turned to Sasha. So, the reason for Marissa's apprehension was due to their sudden poverty and the loan shark. Sasha bowed her head while Carly quickly moved to the sculpture with Sam and Freddie. "If you don't mind me asking, how much money did you borrow from this guy?" Spencer raised an eyebrow and Sasha took a deep breath. In all this haste, he'd forgotten to ask, they needed to know how much was at stake. He was curious to see if Pam knew anything about loan sharks, but he was afraid to ask, due to a fear of offending the woman. Sasha moved over to the couch and sat down, rocking Blake gently in her arms.

"The highest degree I've made was High School, I've only had some college." That wasn't a surprise, he'd already known that from the lifestyle she had growing up. After her mother's death, there really wasn't enough money to even attend college. "I've gone from job to job, but for some reason it never sticks, right?" Pam nodded and leaned back as Sasha looked to Blake.

"I had that same problem when I was younger. Still do, just a little, but I work at the same hospital Marissa works at. In this economy, it's really hard to get a job, and then keeping it is even harder, so don't feel bad about that." Spencer took a seat next to Sasha and brought a gentle hand over hers. She gave him a smile and closed her eyes.

"Thanks. When I got pregnant, I actually was working at this burger joint. I became a shift manager just last year, but after a while I was let off. I was taking too much time trying to take care of Blake."

"You didn't have a babysitter?"

"No, just my neighbors, and I still wasn't keen on them. Either way, rent was piling up, bills were coming in, and I was running low on money. So I went into this casino…found Mr. Clayton, and borrowed enough money to help pay it off for a while. Ten grand..."

"You took a big risk there, Sasha. They'll never leave you alone until it's paid off, then there's the interest that they put on you." Spencer felt her tense and looked over to see a tear run down her cheek. He lifted up a finger and brushed it away. "Don't feel so bad, a a lot of people don't understand until it's too late. A friend of mine was dealing with one, but they managed to pay off their debt completely…It sounds like you were dealing with a lot at the time, judgment is usually the first thing to go in a panic, I'm just glad you and Blake made it here. I know Spencer's happy about it, it's easy to see." Spencer's cheeks turned red and Sasha looked up at him with a grin. "Will you try to get a job as well?" Sasha cleared her throat and started speaking hurriedly.

"I can, but I really want to stay and take care of Blake, there are certain things he needs done that I know how to do, and then there's the fact that-"

"The fact that you don't want anyone else babying him too much, right?" Sasha paused and waited. Pam looked to Sam and breathed out slowly. "I was the same way with Sam and Melanie, still am, actually. I couldn't stand to be away from my children for more than an hour or else I'd go nuts with worry. Would the babysitter pay attention, would they know that Sam was allergic to peanuts and couldn't eat anything with nuts in it, or that Melanie had an overactive bladder?" Spencer raised an eyebrow and heard Sam cough. "I had a bad case of 'mommy syndrome', as I call it." She laughed once and Sasha's lips curled into a smile. "Actually I remember seeing the psychologist about it at the hospital I worked at, Marissa was seeing the guy for the same basic issue."

"And she still has it badly," Spencer commented. A smirk played at his lips. Freddie looked up with nervous eyes and quickly returned them to the sculpture.

"Yeah she does, but believe me, I understand how it can be. Being a single mother can be a real challenge, so I'm proud of you for heading back to Spencer here. For Blake's sake, if anything, try to make it work. Let him get a job first, bring the money home, and then after that, if you feel ready to go to work-"

"But then we'd need a babysitter, wouldn't we?" Pam paused and smiled at her, nodding slowly. "I don't know, after my neighbors were supposed to watch him, I've stopped letting other people do it…" Spencer's brow furrowed and he eyed his son with growing concern. "They would smoke with him in the room, they'd have parties, or sometimes even just watch television and ignore him all day…I remember once they let him cry in the bedroom while turning up the television, I can't leave him with someone else!" Pam's jaw fell. Anger spiked inside Spencer and he gently brushed some hair from his son's forehead.

"How could you let them do that, Sasha?"

"I had no choice, Spencer…no one else would watch him."

"I understand." He wasn't angry at her, he was angry at the neighbors for neglecting an innocent child. "I'd like to string them up, but I understand. Just where were you living all this time, then?"

"Not the best neighborhood. It was a bit run down, but it wasn't horrible. Could have been better, the landlord was nice." Spencer closed his eyes and leaned back, sighing. He tried to imagine how Sasha's life was like, but he just couldn't picture her in such a bad state, but if she said she was, then most likely she was. Often, she never wanted to ask for help, but at least she knew when she couldn't go any further. "Speaking of landlords…" She turned to Spencer and slowly stood up from the couch. He opened his eyes to her. "I called Socko while you were asleep, told him he and Lenny should head over…is that okay?"

"Yeah that's fine, it saves me the trouble. What did Socko say when he heard you?"

"He wasn't sure it was me, when I told him, he was surprised and wanted to know what I was doing here."

"You tell him about Blake?"

"Yes." He could only imagine the jokes that would come from Socko now, but anything would be worth it. He saw Sasha laugh and smiled at her, pride welled up inside and he rose to his feet. "He said he needs to sign you up for the sex education course at his cousin's school." Spencer laughed. The others shook their heads and moved away from the sculpture.

"You can add anything you want to this," Carly stated. Spencer nodded and moved over to the object, he was thinking long and hard on what he could add. A stench shot into his nose and his eyes shot over to Blake. Sasha gasped and Carly hurried over to her. "Ooh, could you show me how to change the diaper?"

"Sure, let's go to the bathroom for that." He shook his head and chuckled as the two hurried off. Sam and Freddie began picking up around the house while Pam continued to lounge on the couch.

Within a few hours, the house was looking better, and the sculpture was finished. All he had to do was make sure nothing touched the sculpture, and everything would be perfect. He scratched his head and looked up when the doorbell rang. He rushed over and answered it.

"Spence!" Socko exclaimed happily. He surprised Spencer with a friendly hug and flashed a toothy grin. "Now where's my new godson?"

"Uh, I don't think-" Socko clapped his hands together and laughed. Sasha watched from the kitchen and shook her head. Blake was upstairs with Carly.

"Anyway, what's been going on? Your lady said you needed a new place, so I brought Lenny." A burly man, just a hair shorter than Spencer, trotted into the room. He had a cheery smile and a handlebar mustache that connected with his blonde beard. Lenny extended a hairy hand, then with his other hand, lifted his black cowboy hat in a welcoming gesture.

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Spencer."

"You too," Spencer shook Lenny's hand and smiled politely. He expected to feel a warm, calloused hand, but the man's hand was almost cold as ice, it shocked him. "And yes, Socko, we need a place…" Lenny pulled his hand back and Spencer carefully pushed his hand into his pocket, trying to warm it up. Socko rubbed his chin, then tucked his hands into the pockets of his white hood jacket.

"So what happened? The old man tossing you out?"

"Pretty much." He rubbed his neck and exhaled. He was still trying to get over his father doing all but disowning him. "Dad figured out I've been lying to him, then took everything. I guess he paid off whatever I owed Lewbert-"

"Ah the man downstairs."

"Yeah."

"I told you, making deals with the devil never ends well!" Spencer laughed once more, the most he'd actually felt like laughing since everything went bad. Sasha smiled and began slicing a loaf of bread, she was trying to make some garlic bread with spaghetti for dinner.

"Wrong man downstairs, but close enough."

"Uh huh." Socko pat Spencer's shoulder and started walking to the counter. Spencer followed him and leaned against the counter, struggling to come up with anything at all that wouldn't be bad news. "So Lewbert's kicking you out?"

"I have a week to find a new place and be out of here. That's it, no more time. I have a buyer coming tomorrow for that sculpture over there." He pointed at the sculpture and watched the two men look over at it. "At least someone still has a heart, but that's it, I don't have any other buyers."

"Yeah that is a predicament."

"He should pay a couple hundred, so it's not so bad. I'm not sure what we can afford, however."

"I can find you a good place," Lenny commented. The man was walking around the sculpture and looking up to meet Spencer's eyes. "I can find a place for literally nothing. It might have to be fixed up, but it would be enough to hold you and your family until you find something better. Rent would be cheap, but it would still present itself. I have to have a rent for any house being occupied, even ones that aren't very good."

"You'd do that for us?"

"Yes, just start getting all your important stuff together and I'll have a place ready for you. I'll even help you fix it up, I have the money to do so, but that's about it. What do you say?" Spencer met Sasha's gaze and frowned, they had no choice. She slowly nodded her head and moved her hand to his, giving it a gentle squeeze of approval.

"Okay then, I guess we have a deal. There's really no other choice."

"I understand, and I'll do my best for you." His fingers were crossed that Lenny and Socko would come through for them, but he had a feeling that whatever house they could find wouldn't be close to the level of 'good' he would have liked.

Some advice from Ms. Puckett, some help from their friends with the sculpture, Socko and Lenny are going to search for a place, a little does go a long way. Let's see what happens