Against All Odds

Disclaimer: I don't own iCarly

A/N:

Chapter 34 (Giving the News)

Spencer walked into his home, first eyeing the surroundings, marking anything they could possibly need. The walls were rather bare, but there were still photos and important valuables lying throughout the house. A U-haul truck would truly be a good thing. So, if Socko's friend Ulysses were up for a drive, they could most definitely move anything they had to.

Sasha and Carly were on the couch, watching Blake play with a toy train. He smiled with joy and cleared his throat, grabbing the attention of all Three. Blake rose to his feet and called out to him, hurrying over to hug his leg. Happily, he reached down and lifted his son up. Sasha and Carly moved over to him, both clearly concerned about him. "Carly? You're off work already?"

"T-Bo gave me the rest of the day off. How are you holding up? We've been wondering where you were."

"I was hanging with Socko, then Mom and them called…" Carly smiled slightly and Sasha's eyebrows rose curiously. "What if I told you, all of this…all this struggling…can be over without relying on someone else's money, but taking help offered?" The girls gaped, both seeing where this conversation was heading. "I think I may have a job very soon, but there's one condition, and I'm doing this for all of you." Blake put his arms around his dad's neck and looked over to Sasha with a smile. Sasha smiled at her son, then looked to Spencer.

"Where's this job at? What are you talking about, what condition?"

"The condition is, we pack everything, take the sedan, and drive. Off to the 'sunshine state', stay with mom for a little bit until we can afford our own place." The girls gasped with delight and quickly moved towards him, hugging him. Blake squealed with joy at, once more, being part of a sandwich. He likely thought all this attention was about him, and in a way, it was. The girls backed up and Spencer took a deep breath, trying to recall what specific information was the most important. "Carly, you'll have to attend a high school there, we can transfer your transcripts and everything, no problem. Mom's also made it clear that, since you are her daughter, she will be paying for you to go to college."

"Really? Yes!" Carly bumped her fist into the air. Sasha clapped once and Spencer watched with a feeling of pride lifting into his heart. God he loved seeing them smile. After a second, Carly paused and gave him a quiet look. "Wait, what about T-Bo and the Groovy Smoothie?" Ah yes, that was important!

"Aunt Regina wants you to see if T-Bo has any connections in Florida. If so, can he get you a job transfer of some sort down there? It would be great for you to have the work experience going through school and college."

"I think he has a cousin there, actually. I'll ask him. What else?"

"Well, I think Aunt Regina and Michael are going to be flying down here to help with a few things." Carly jumped for joy, extremely happy that she'd get to see her aunt and cousin. He turned to Sasha and met her happy eyes. "For you, if you want to, there's a community college that Mom's suggested." He knew Sasha had wanted to be a teacher at some point of time, so maybe she'd jump for the opportunity.

"You think I should go to college?"

"If you want, I know you wanted to teach. You can go to college and get a degree in teaching." She smiled at him and Carly quickly nudged her, grinning brightly.

"That's a great idea, Sasha!"

"Yeah it is." She looked around the house and moved her fingertip to her lip. "So how are we going to move all this stuff?"

"That's the thing, Socko has another friend, Ulysses-" Both Carly and Sasha lifted their eyes skyward and sighed through a smile. He understood, and he was surprised too that Socko had yet another friend involved in some handy group. "Yeah, he owns a U-haul truck and can probably help us with the move. Like I said, I wanted to take the sedan so we can have a family trip right there. We can't really stop and enjoy the scenery, since the owner of this place wants to have a job interview with me."

"Right. Where's the job at?" Now this was what pleased him, and he hoped they'd be pleased too.

"I'll be a security guard at an art museum, making about thirteen to fourteen bucks an hour, starting pay. With benefits, might I add." Sasha put her hands to her mouth, covering up her ever widening grin.

"Spencer, that's great! I'm happy for you! Your mom found the job?"

"Sort of, they all kind of banded together there. All of this is for you guys, though. I want to make sure you know that." He leaned down and set Blake on the ground. Blake took the opportunity to rush towards the other side of the room with his toy. Spencer locked his eyes with Sasha and stepped close to her, putting his hand to her waist and giving her a soft, reassuring smile. "I'm extremely proud to be a father, and happy that we're going to have another child, and I don't want that child to be born into a bad life. I don't want Blake growing up in a bad life."

"He's been pretty happy lately, I'm impressed." Blake was branching out more and not being dependent on always being close to his mother or father. He was starting to trust people a little more, since James and Juanita were good people. "It's going to be interesting to see how he reacts to the rest of the family. He really took a liking to your grandpa."

"Yeah, I have a feeling he'll like the relatives. They're a fun bunch. Not your typical politician." He smirked playfully and flicked his eyes to Carly, who was watching almost absently. "I quote my cousin Michael, referencing Nevel, he wants to 'legally kick his ass'." The girls stared at him for a moment longer, both confused. "It means Nevel can't legally demand money for a successful site's failure after he bought it. Aunt Regina's a lawyer and Mike double majored in college, Law and Politics." Sasha's smile grew bright and Carly laughed gleefully.

"Great!" Carly cheered. "Maybe Mike can deal with Nevel, then! I can't wait to get out of here. I want to see Mom so badly." Carly rushed forward and hugged him once more, squeezing tightly. She looked up at him, her cheekbones high as heaven and redder than a rose. "What made you decide to do this? Seriously, we've wanted this since it became an option!" Yeah, he had noticed that, and he really couldn't make up for the stupidity of his prior actions.

"Well Socko put it in perspective for me. He also shattered my laptop…" Carly laughed and Sasha's eyebrows lifted into the air. He shrugged his shoulders and closed his eyes. "Yeah, I have important stuff on a flash drive. I think he got a little pissed that I was letting things get so bad, so, this is it."

"Dad can't spy on you anymore, in other words?"

"Yeah. I don't know what they have planned for when we get there. I think they're going to try and do something with Dad. He can't control us anymore, he can't." Sasha moved to the table and looked down at it, running her fingers along the surface as though for the final time. She took a breath and moved her gaze towards him.

"Isn't there like a bunch of evidence against your dad or something?" What could really be done to the man? At most, if he came after any of them, they could likely arrest him for something. "He bribed a federal judge…not only that, but the judge actually allowed it." He was pretty sure Aunt Regina had discovered some sort of proof of that, along with every single threat he made against Jessica and her family.

"The threats he made against mom, the things that kept her from being able to come to Seattle for us, she's managed to save it all." The Carlson family may have been building a case against him for all these years. Perhaps they were also waiting for Carly to be old enough to decide for herself legally, meaning, Robert couldn't try to take her away from the Carlson's. "The other day I talked to Grandpa, he seemed like he already had something in mind, but Regina's the one going about all of this without dirty politics."

"Grandpa Travis…he seems powerful."

"He is, a lot of people could be intimidated or terrified of him. He's a good man, but if you rub him the wrong way, he does have tricks of his own." It did make him wonder, maybe there were something more to how that loan shark problem had been fixed. "He doesn't like for anyone to mess with his family."

"Do you think they would try to get your dad kicked out of the military?"

"Would they try?" He chuckled softly and carefully ran his hand through his hair. Oh what a question that was. No, no they wouldn't try. They would remove him from the military. "If word gets out that Dad not only abused his ex wife, threatened her into staying away from her own children for thirteen years, and bribed a federal judge into granting him custody…He would be ruined. His life, in shambles. He wouldn't have the military backing him any longer." Sasha folded her arms at her waist and pulled the corner of her lip back in thought.

"So if they build this case against him and get him revoked from the military, what's to keep him from coming after them?"

"Nothing, but then there's nothing supporting him. He becomes nothing more than what he is, a thug. A monster…Mom probably knows he would go after her, but she's strong."

"She's a politician!" Carly interjected with admiration and enthusiasm. "Of course she's strong! She wouldn't let him hurt her, he wouldn't get close to her."

"True, and if he did, he would be arrested." He looked to Sasha and felt his pride rising higher. His lips curved up as he looked to Blake, now sitting next to the doorway towards the kitchen, bouncing his toy up and down. Things really would be looking up soon, or at least, he hoped so. He promised them he'd take care of them, that he'd show responsibility, and that's exactly what he was going to do. "Well, we may as well see what we want to take with us. Carly?"

"Yeah?"

"Take the car down to the Groovy Smoothie, ask T-Bo about that cousin of his. Then I'd like you to spend some time with Sam, Freddie and Gibby too. They should know about this move."

"Right…I'll get right to that." She gave him a look of admiration and closed her eyes. "I love you Spencer. You don't know how happy I am right now…Thank you." He smiled back at her and watched as she made her way out the door. His heart was starting to swell, this was the first time in a while that he felt like he was doing something right for once!

He felt a warm sensation on his cheek and saw Sasha gazing into his eyes, her hand caressed his left cheek and her expression was so relaxing and endearing. "Spencer Shay, if ever there was a time you made me feel so proud, so happy to be with you…I've stood by your side, and I knew when I said 'yes', and I know even more now, I made the right choice…to place my love and my trust in you…" His eyes danced into hers and his heart began to pound. Anymore and his heart was certain to burst.

"I'm glad, I couldn't ask for a better woman than you at my side through all of this." She smiled at him and lifted onto her toes, kissing his lips with a soft tenderness. He leaned forward into the kiss and sighed once she pulled away. Every time she kissed him, it was like she was putting a spell on him. "I love you."

"I love you." She wrapped her arms around him and squeezed him tight. After a minute, she released her hold and lowered her hand into his. "Come on, let's go through the house and start picking out what we need and what we don't need…"

"I was thinking of selling or donating what we don't need to goodwill."

"That works." She turned around and moved his arm up to his shoulder. He reached forward and kissed the back of her neck, then watched with satisfaction as her body shuddered from the kiss. She looked back, smiling at him, then led him through the house. They could start in the back room and work their way towards the living room.

I do believe Sasha and Carly would be dancing right about now, or better yet, the entire family in Florida.