Against All Odds

Disclaimer: I don't own iCarly

A/N:

Chapter 40 (Home)

A tall woman with curly brown hair gracing the top of her shoulders stared out at a large body of water. Her deep brown eyes darted anxiously over the still water while the wind blew her hair over her aging face. She was wearing an olive green, long sleeved, v-neck wool shirt, and deep blue denim jeans. Her arms were folded over her chest and her lips were pulled back and faint jowl lines formed at the corners. Her forehead crease was covered by her curled bangs. "Why aren't they here yet, Ken?"

"Relax Jessica." She looked over to her brother, who was calmly fishing a few feet from her. They only ever fished for sport, always throwing the fish back into the lake. Ken looked over at her with a subtle smile. He didn't have many age marks, hidden by his silver stubble. His graying hair was short, neatly trimmed, but his bangs fell in front of his light blue eyes. He was wearing a white t-shirt and brown pants. "Last time they called, they were only an hour away. They'll be here soon enough. Stop worrying about everything, you're starting to look older than you actually are." She swallowed hard and moved her hand up to her heart, closing her fingers into her palm.

"Right, Right, I should just stop worrying." Hell, the whole damn time they were on the road, she was afraid that Robert might have gotten Tyrone or someone to follow them. She wouldn't have trusted Ulysses if he wasn't one of Socko's friends, and she did trust Socko because he was Spencer's closest friend. "Mom and dad are back in the house?"

"Yeah, Dad's still trying to get the rest of the fishing lines set up." Jessica looked towards the dock to her left, there was a white motor boat swaying gently beside it. The boat wasn't big, but it wasn't small either, it was large enough that someone could stand up and place their hands on the front guardrails to avoid falling off the boat. Four, maybe five people could sit in the boat and fish. "He's been wanting to take Spencer out fishing, probably hoping for a chance to give him passion." Jessica smiled and brushed her hair back. She recalled the vivid memory of sailing out on the lake with Ken and Travis when they were children. It was the same thing his father always loved doing, and thus the love of fishing had been carried through the generations.

"Are any fish biting today?" Ken's line twitched and he started reeling it in. Jessica lifted her eyebrows and watched him pulling the entire fishing rod, he'd caught a big one apparently. "So one's getting away from you."

"Nope, I'll reel him in sooner or later! Grab the net, sis!" She nodded and reached down beside her, picking up the small fishing net. Ken started to back up, hoping to pull the fish closer to shore. "Hurry Jessie!" She moved closer to the shore and watched the water, she could see where the fish was due to the swirls in the water, but it was a ways out.

"Not close enough to shore. Pull him in a bit more."

"I'm almost out of line here." The fish was so big that it was actually pulling Ken back, almost a game of tug of war. She couldn't help but to wonder, how many fishing rods were at the bottom of this lake? She squatted down and raised the net, narrowing her eyes upon the swirls of water where the fish was swimming like mad. "This thing is troublesome enough that I wouldn't mind catching it to eat!" She laughed and quickly swung the net through the water. She brought it out and frowned, it was empty.

"Missed…" She looked back and saw Ken clenching his teeth and slowly moving backwards, using all his strength to fight the fish. She turned her eyes back to the fish and grinned as it pulled closer to shore. "Just a little more, Ken!" This lake was so large that the chances of catching a fish this big was difficult. Most of the fish in this eastern part of the lake were actually medium sized. "What do you think he's doing on this side? The larger fish are usually on the west aren't they?"

"Yeah, something like that." His voice strained as he continued his struggle. The tip of the rod was high above his head. Why wasn't this fish at least letting go of the hook? Usually once they've eaten the bait, they went on their merry way. Jessica looked back and eyed the trees that surrounded them. They had a usual path marked by yellow ribbons, their designated path that the family always took to and from the lake. She was almost certain she was hearing something coming from the forest of trees. "Jessie? How's the fish? Close enough yet?"

"Uh…sorry…" She looked back and frowned, the fish was out of range for the net. "No." Ken groaned and tried yet another step backwards. Jessica glanced over once more and froze, her heart stopped and her eyes widened, she saw a group of people making their way through the trees! She recognized Travis, her mother, and then, almost too good to be true, Spencer!

First Rebecca stepped out of the forest, her curly grey hair stood out in the sea of green and brown. Then, in almost a single file line, Spencer came trotting into view with Sasha, Carly, Blake, Michael, and Regina. She dropped her net and cupped her hands over her mouth, grinning widely. Ken was still focused on the fish. Regina smirked and leaned in towards him. "Hey honey, I'm home." His eyes widened with surprise and he relaxed his body, much to his displeasure. The moment he relaxed, the fish tore ahead, flinging him towards the ground. He let out a loud shout and released the fishing rod. He lifted his head and spit out the blades of grass. Jessica didn't even notice the fishing rod flying past her and into the lake. Warrior fish one, human zilch.

Jessica was in too much shock to move, her heart began pounding and her eyes started to water. When she met Spencer's eyes, she was sure it was a hallucination. Ken slowly rose to his feet and pat down his clothes. "I told you they'd be here soon, Sis." She started to move forward, though her legs were trembling dangerously.

Spencer had his arm around Sasha's waist, Sasha was holding onto Blake and looking at Jessica with curious eyes. Carly had her hands over her mouth and tears were slowly rolling down her face. Michael and Regina moved towards Ken, who was looking at Spencer's family with misty eyes. He extended his arms and moved towards Spencer, hugging him.

"It's about time you got here, your mother has been worried sick. So have I, but I've had to keep her from going nuts." He meant it as a tease, but it didn't effect Jessica in any way. She was currently trying to overcome the almost dreamlike feeling inside of her. How long had it been since she last saw Spencer? Carly was a little older than three, almost four, when they were last together. She moved towards him, moving a shaky hand to grace his face.

The minute she touched his cheek, his skin sent a spark through her fingers and into her body. She gasped softly, confirming without a doubt that he was truly standing there before her. This was no illusion. She moved her eyes to Carly, tears streaked her face and finally a feeling of peace overtook her heart. "My babies…" She threw her arms around them, clenching her eyes shut and starting to sob. "You're home." She felt them hug her tight, both weeping silent tears. Sasha stood behind them, smiling through her own tears.

Jessica's legs went limp and she hung to her children's necks, still sobbing. It seemed hardly fair that she was the last one to see them, but it didn't matter. Everything that was important to her was here finally. She didn't want to lose them, not again, never again. Her eyes moved to Sasha and Blake, her heart shot up and she started to wipe her eyes. She didn't want to cry, she was hoping she'd avoid doing that, even though she figured it might be impossible.

"You must be Sasha, and this is Blake…I'm sorry, I didn't want to cry." She wiped her hands again and felt Ken rub her back, smiling reassuringly. Sasha shook her head and quickly wiped her own eyes.

"It's okay, expected. I'm so glad to finally meet you..." She looked to Blake and bent down, setting Blake on the ground. Blake looked up at her, confused. "This is your grandma, Blake. Your grandma and Great Uncle Ken." Ken gasped and laughed once.

"She gets grandma and I already have a 'Great' before my name? I feel old now." Blake turned his head to Jessica, gazing at her with silence.

"Gamma Jessie?" Jessica heaved a single sob and quickly nodded her head.

"Hi Blake, I'm glad to meet you…we spoke on the phone, I remember that."

"Granny!" Blake ran for her and wrapped his arms around her leg. She reached down and lifted him up. He was adorable, and so happy. She never dreamed she'd be able to hold her grandchild, and now that she had one to hold, it was truly a miracle. "Grandma, we saw the rock men!"

"Rock men?" She smiled as Blake waved his arms through the air.

"Big rock with four faces! Daddy said they were important men! Do you think the rock men are important?" She sniffed and her heart went aflutter. The ground beneath her vanished, turning to clouds. She was in heaven, certainly.

"Yes Blake, those four are very important."

"Who were they?"

"Presidents, Blake. The leaders of this nation, you'll understand when you grow." Blake grinned and moved his arms around her neck.

"Mommy and Daddy say we're moving here! I like it better here, I looks nicer. Does moving really mean we're not going anywhere else? I'm really tired of moving places."

"We won't be moving again for a while," Carly said while rubbing Blake's back. Blake looked to her with a bewildered gaze.

"You mean it? We're not going anywhere after this?" He looked to his parents with wide eyes. "Truth, mommy, daddy? We're here for sure?" Spencer nodded and Sasha gave him a reassuring smile.

"We're not leaving this place honey, no one can make us."

"Yay! I am so tired…can I go to bed, mommy?"

"Yes dear." Jessica handed Blake to his mother and looked towards her house through the large amount of trees.

"I have a toddler bed for him to sleep in if you think he's ready for it." A toddler bed was basically a small twin bed with rails on the sides. Sasha smiled at her and took a look at Blake, he was getting a bit big for that crib.

"He should be sleeping in a bed by now, the crib we have is going to have to go to our second child. You say everything's set up?"

"Yes, we started fixing up the house the second Spencer said he would come down here."

The house was an average two story, brown home, with a front porch that had a bench swing near the oak door. The first floor had peach colored carpeting and walls painted a light desert shade. The front door opened into a large living room with a fireplace, crème couch, simple television and a chess table nestled behind the couch. The living room had three doorways in it, the one at the north side, directly parallel with the front door, led into the kitchen. The doorway on the east side of the room, which was behind the couch facing the television and in front of the red loveseat that faced the fireplace, which sat a few paces to the right of the door, led into the first floor bathroom.

The door on the west side led into the semi large master bedroom with grey carpeting and brown walls. There was a window to the far end of the room, which faced the foot of Jessica's queen sized bed. The bed had four pillars reaching up to a iron bar that framed the bed, crème curtains fell from the bars and cloaked the bed. There was a television in between the bed and window, a brown dresser with a mirror on the right side. To the left was a door that led into the master bathroom.

On the other side of the fireplace was an archway that led into a small hot dog shaped hallway with two bedrooms on both ends. The bedroom on the right end of the hallway had a toddler bed, shaped like a racecar, propped up next to the wall. The walls of the bedroom had been painted a blue color that matched the light blue carpeting. There was enough space in the room for a crib on the other side, next to the door. In the back wall, there was a window with a large vertical dresser in front of. The room to the left side of the hallway was the room designated for Carly, with light purple, almost pink stripped wallpaper, peach carpeting, and a full size bed that had a pink bed gown with matching pink bed sheets.

In the living room corner closest to the front door and the hallway arch sat a brown metal staircase that spiraled onto the second floor. The second floor had a pool table, a balcony overlooking the kitchen, with brown maple rails. It had brown carpeting that spanned the entire level. The pool table was closer to the rail, which had three black stools along the edge of the balcony. The wall to the left of the table had a rack of pool sticks with the triangles, balls, and chalk. In front of the pool table was a brown leather couch that faced a flat screen television on the wall. To the right of the table was a door that lead into a large bedroom.

The bedroom had a large queen sized bed with pearl white covers, a lacy design ran along the edges of the comforter, and the bed posts towered into the air. There was a window against the wall opposite the door. At the foot of the bed was a large open space that eventually met up with the top floor bathroom. There was a marble countertop, the same yellow marble countertop that matched the kitchen counters and other bathroom counters. It had one sink in it and a door beside leading to the toilet and the bathtub. On the other side of the bathroom counter was a door leading into a large, empty closet.

Now the kitchen was a simple looking kitchen with a long island in the middle of the room. This island had the kitchen sink, a coffee maker, and a microwave. For someone washing their hands, their back would be towards the silver stove and oven set, which had two counters on either side of them. On the other side of the island was a simple maple table that stretched out into an oval shape which fit six people. Next to the stove counters was a sliding glass door that opened into the back patio. The patio was covered by a canopy and had one stone table in the middle of the square patio. Two either side of the glass door sat two wooden chairs, one rocking, and one four legged chair. This patio overlooked the very forest of trees that surrounded the house on all sides and led out to the large lake.

It was clear, though, that Jessica preferred the simpler life. She was the last person to take advantage of money and live in a giant Victorian mansion. To be honest, she hated Victorian mansions and giant homes.

Once Spencer and the others saw this house, they were stunned into silence. It may not be something that had to be owned by someone with a lot of money, someone from a middle class family could own it, but it still looked wealthy. Carly loved her bedroom and was thrilled that Blake was just down the hall from her. Spencer and Sasha definitely claimed the upstairs bedroom, they loved that there was actually a nice gaming console right up there in front of the television.

It was a pity that this was only temporary, at least until Spencer was able to buy his own house. It would probably be within a year or two.

"Well," Spencer said as he stood before his new bed. Sasha was lying down on the bed and rolling from side to side, getting comfortable. "I think Michael, Uncle Ken and I are going to help move things into the house. What are you going to do?"

"Attempt to not fall asleep," Sasha replied. She sat up and looked over as Jessica walked into the room. Jessica put her hand to the doorframe and smiled at the two.

"Mom, Regina and I are about to start cooking dinner if you'd like to help, Sasha. You can sleep if you want, though. We're making cube steak parmesan with chicken puffs and honey-glazed fries." She could see both Spencer and Sasha starting to water at the mouth, just imagining the meal, and smiled happily at the reaction. Sasha immediately moved from the bed and met her eyes with a wide grin.

"I want to help."

"Okay, come with me. I think Carly's gone to nap for a little bit herself. Blake's in the living room with mom, they're cuddled up on the couch." The toddler definitely was enjoying the attention. "So while the guys are unpacking, let's go rally up the troops and get dinner started."

"You have a very beautiful house, Ms. Carlson." Jessica blushed and hugged Sasha, grateful for the compliment.

"Thank you, and you can call me Jessie if you'd like."

"Okay." They made their way down the stairs and stopped to see Rebecca snoring on the couch in front of the fireplace. Blake was lying down on his back, his head was in her lap and his feet were on the other side of the couch. It was such an adorable sight, so perhaps, it was better not to wake them. Jessica glanced back as Sasha kissed Spencer's cheek and whispered into his ear. "This definitely feels like home."

What a sweet chapter, don't you agree? Hope you liked it.