Against All Odds

Disclaimer: I don't own iCarly

A/N:

Chapter 48 (Christmas Celebration)

Christmas day arrived and the entire house was lit up with caroling. In the living room, the entire family was singing karaoke while Spencer watched, with Blake sitting next to him. He was amused, but didn't feel confident enough to sing. Carly and Sasha were up front with Jessica, Ken, Michael, Travis, and Aunt Regina. Of course Rebecca and Carly were working on the Christmas dinner, along with Jeannie and Nat. Standing next to Michael was the waitress from the diner that Spencer oh-so-graciously helped him ask out. She turned out to be a nice, smart, and respectable girl. Raquel wasn't concerned with Michael's political family either, nor was she uncomfortable with it.

Spencer put his arm around his son's shoulders and leaned down, chuckling. "Someday son, you will be a part of this. I can see it now, your mother will involve you." Blake looked up at him, slightly confused. He laughed and poked a finger towards him.

"You're funny, Daddy."

"Yes well I'm glad someone appreciates my humor." He smiled and looked back to Sasha, who was singing as well as she could from that carol book. She wasn't the best singer, but at least she wasn't singing off key. Michael, was singing off key. "By the way, your uncle Michael, he can't sing." Blake went back to the stuffed bear in his hands and started cuddling it. Spencer felt the pride inside and rubbed his son's head, realizing that Blake really wasn't paying attention. "You'll understand when you're older, I suppose."

In the far corner, near the fireplace that everyone was standing in front of, was a nine foot tall Christmas tree, reaching up to the ceiling. It was decorated with ornaments, glitter, and many presents beneath the tree. This was their happiest Christmas, and nothing could bring it down now, not even his sperm donor of a father. He saw Nat poke his head from the kitchen, then smirked at him. "Hey Nat, in a minute we're going to start putting on some Nat King Cole tunes!" Much to his amusement, Nat's eyes went wide and his face paled considerably. He shot back into the kitchen, screaming. Spencer laughed and clapped his hands until he caught Jeannie glaring at him from around the corner. It was such a cold stare that chills and tiny bumps started forming along his arms. "Okay! Sorry about that. Won't do it again."

"You better not, or you'll get the least amount of food." After the scolding, she returned to the kitchen and Spencer took a big sigh of relief. He definitely didn't want a small helping of the Christmas Turkey.

Once the caroling stopped, Travis went for the kitchen and Sasha plopped down onto the sofa next to Blake. Her lips grew into a wide grin and her hand connected with his behind Blake. "Spencer, Erin's going to be coming up tomorrow. I'm so excited to finally see her again. So nervous."

"I can imagine, but I bet you two will have loads of fun catching up." He knew they'd been talking over the phone constantly for the past couple of days, so he had a good prediction for the meeting. "I'm glad you're happy. You've earned every bit of happiness that you could have." She smiled into his eyes and reached over, pecking him on the lips.

"It's all thanks to you and your family. When's the court date with your family against your father, again?"

"A month or two, the military's already pretty serious about kicking him out after Regina and mom put forward all that information on his behavior. I think he's catching wind of it." He couldn't imagine the man being very happy about it at all. After all, the woman he despised so much was winning and taking him out. He was amazed by his family's capability of getting things done, of freeing him and themselves from the chains and shackles that bound them "First Grandpa comes and gets rid of Mr. Clayton, then Michael takes care of getting Nevel off our backs, Mom found me a job, Aunt Regina and Uncle Ken are helping you with college, and now they're all getting the justice against Dad…I love these people more than you could ever know."

"I know, they're great…If I knew there could be anyone like them around, I think I would have tried to get in touch with them sooner. Anyway, I have something I want to talk to you about, something I want to do after today's excitement has gone down a bit." He lifted his eyebrows, curious, and studied her for a moment. He became concerned when he saw her bite her lip and twiddle her thumbs in her lap. What was the problem? "I uh…I found my dad."

His jaw dropped, he stammered on his speechlessness and cleared his throat when she looked away. "What? What do you mean you found him?" Didn't she already have his number? Then again, she really hadn't talked to him since Blake was born, and he easily could have changed his number in the last two years.

"Since I last talked to him, he moved. Of course you know he's got a wife and three kids, right?" She looked up at him with a sad, hopeful smile. "Well, he's become a college dean up in Tennessee, and I was hoping maybe you and I could talk to him after everything's quieted down. You know…not to ask for help or anything, cause I know he won't fork any support over at all, but just to tell him that I'm getting married. Maybe he'll want to see his grandson."

"Yeah, maybe…" He wasn't sure, the pit in his stomach told him otherwise. This was a man that had been so hard pressed against lending any support to his daughter, didn't even bother with her when her mother died, and didn't help when she told him about Blake once before. Hell, if he accepted and ever had a change of heart, he'd officially rise up to the level of being a better man than Robert shay was. "Whenever you're ready to make that call, I'll be right there to support you, okay?" She smiled and gave his hand a gentle squeeze.

"Thank you, Spencer. That means a lot." She put her head to his shoulder. Blake, realizing that there was some amount of cuddling going on, decided to join in, and cuddled up against Sasha. The two wrapped their arms around him as he released an enthused sigh.

After a few minutes, Travis came back into the living room with an announcement. "The turkey is in the oven! It's time to unwrap presents!" With that, Carly burst from the kitchen with her two friends, nearly bumping into Travis, who just laughed it off. Blake gazed wide-eyed and looked up to his mother for guidance. Sasha nodded subtly and kissed the top of his head as Carly waved to them.

"Blake! Come to Auntie Carly, I have something for you!" She was kneeling next to a large square box, covered with red and green dotted wrapping paper. Blake was going to receive the first present of the day. Sasha lifted him up and set him on the ground.

"Go ahead Blake, it's for you." They already explained to him the concept of Christmas, as it was actually his first Christmas celebration. Blake lifted his nervous eyes to Ken, who was holding up a video camera. Jessica walked up and took Blake's hand in hers. He tilted his head as the woman's lips turned up. She led him over to the present and knelt down beside him and Carly.

He studied his gift, it was almost as big as he was, if not bigger! He moved his arms around it and held on, almost hugging it. He glanced to Carly and Jessica for help, so they each tore one small part off for him. Seeing how to open it, he began tearing at the paper.

Spencer looked from Blake to Sasha, who had tears streaming down her face. It pleased him so much to see her in such an elated state, watching her son open his first real present. No. Watching their son. A tear came to his own eye as his heart burst with pride.

Blake, with the help of his Aunt and Grandmother, finally tore off the paper, revealing a large red, yellow, and blue toy box turned onto its side. Inside the box were several toys, all for him. Also inside, to the center, was a giant stuffed Dalmatian dog. Blake reached in and pulled the fluffy animal, which could possibly double as a pillow, and hugged it close. He let out a delighted squeal and held up the dog for his parents to see.

"Mommy, Daddy, I got toys!" Spencer looked at his mom, Grandma, and aunt, seeing them smiling innocently at him. He knew Blake had at least six or seven more gifts under that tree, all smaller than the toy box of course. He did ask them not to spoil Blake too much, but it was evident that they were going to spoil him anyway. Hell, they had ever right to do so this year.

After the presents and dinner, once everything settled down for the evening, Spence and Sasha met in their upstairs bedroom. Sasha was sitting on the edge of the bed, gripping her phone for dear life. She seemed more nervous than she was when she was calling up Erin. "Are you okay, Sasha?"

"I'll be fine…what's Blake up to?"

"He's downstairs playing with all the toys he got." He sat next to her and put his arm around her shoulders. "You don't have to call him right now, if you don't want to."

"I want to, it's just…I'm sure he's spending time with his family, and how would he feel about me calling him today? I mean…is it right?"

"Didn't you wait long enough?"

"He's happy with his family, treats them like a father should. Hell, to them, he's a better father than your dad is."

"Still doesn't say much." She chuckled vainly and slowly shook her head. Her body was trembling and her heart was pounding.

"I've done my research, he's always doing something with his family, he's got this lavish lifestyle and everything…I've talked to his wife one time before, she knows about his one night stand with a stripper and she's still with him, so…if they worked everything out, then clearly they would have done it by now."

"So you're afraid to call him, because?"

"I don't want to screw things up…I don't want to mess up whatever happiness he has with his family or with his career…" He felt a sense of irritation as he eyed the phone in her hands, he didn't think she deserved all this pain. Not after he was trying to do everything he could to make her happy, to take care of her. She already had the number up, she just needed to click the call button.

"No, we're not doing this. You're going to get your closure with him whether it's good or bad. I don't want you torturing yourself over this man…" He took the phone. She gasped out and reached for it, but froze once he hit the call button. "I'm sorry, Sasha…you don't have to talk to him, I'll do that for you if you like…"

"Spencer…" He started to say something, but when he someone answered, he had to turn his attention to the person on the other line. It was a woman's voice, possibly the wife.

"Hello?"

"Hi, is this Maxwell Baxter's number?"

"Yes, this is Abby, his wife." He heard a clinking sound in the background, perhaps she was drinking hot chocolate. "Max is currently setting up a tent in the backyard, he should be back in a few minutes, is there anything I can help you with?"

"Yeah, I don't know if you know me, but I'm Spencer Shay-"

The woman's voice lit with recognition, stunning him into silence. "Oh, Carly Shay's brother? My children used to watch iCarly all the time." He slowly looked to Sasha, who started chuckling, as the phone was on speaker.

"You have children?"

"Yes, three. Todd, Monica, and Kevin. Twenty, Seventeen, Thirteen respectively. Though, my husband does have another child somewhere, but his stubborn pride keeps him from acknowledging her. I've told him time and time again…" As she rattled on, Spencer's jaw fell and Sasha's eyes started to water. Apparently Abby seemed to embrace the idea of a fourth, older child, more than the husband did. From what she was saying in her rant, the three kids would like to see Sasha too. "I'm sorry, I'm going on about something you probably don't want to hear. Why are you calling my husband?"

"Uh well…" He chuckled nervously and started rubbing his neck. He hadn't planned for this, Abby sounded much nicer than he was expecting her to be. He was planning for a fight. Sasha put her hand to her mouth and closed her eyes. "Actually, I wanted to talk about that fourth…Sasha…"

"Yes, Sasha Rodriguez, also known as Striker, right? She was on iCarly once, I think…Monica pointed it out a couple years ago."

"Right. She's my fiancé." He blurted it out so abruptly that Abby gasped in mid sentence. Now that it was finally out, he needed to tell her about some other things that were going on in Sasha's life. "We're not asking for money, and I'm sorry to bother you on Christmas Day…"

"I-It's okay, I'm just surprised you would call. How is she?"

"She's right next to me, a bit afraid to talk." Sasha smacked him on the arm and he flashed a smirk. "She, we want you all to be a part of the family. You see, Max is a grandfather now. We're getting married on May 10th…We have one two year old son, and a baby on the way."

"Oh my…how does Max not know this?" Spencer heard a young voice in the background, someone who couldn't be much older than thirteen or fourteen. "Oh Kevin sweetie, go get your father." He smiled slightly as the woman returned to the phone. "I am so sorry he's been so disconnected, he's just so damn stubborn and refuses to open up to anything."

"Yeah? I can see where Sasha gets it from." He smirked at her again and Sasha shot him a glare. She smirked and lifted her eyebrows, an expression that clearly told him he would not be sleeping in the bed with her tonight if he kept it up. "Okay moving on from that…what is he so afraid of?"

"I honestly-" He heard someone grabbing at the phone, then a deep voiced man started talking.

"Look here, I've said it before and I'll say it again, if you're looking for any kind of financial support, you'll have to look elsewhere. I had a one-time fling with a stripper before I ever met my wife, I've got three wonderful children, and I am a dean of a college. Don't call me again, I do not want people at the college finding out that I had a child with a stripper." Spencer narrowed his eyes and watched Sasha throw her hands into the air before storming out of the room. There it was, the fight he was expecting.

"Listen here, I'll have you know that your daughter is much more than that. She's smart, beautiful, strong, and she's doing the best she can to not only raise one child, but dealing with her second child. Now all we want is for you to show up at the damn wedding, we're not asking for money! The least you could do is not be an asshole, pardon my language…I don't think you're very deserving of respect."

"Wedding? So she's getting married?"

"Yes, and she doesn't even have her mother around to be happy for her." He heard Abby say something in the background, clearly she was upset with Max at this point. "After being kicked to the curb by my own father, going through hard times, the least you could do is not be one of the assholes that kicked us while we were down. I guess that's too much to ask for, isn't it?"

"Listen…"

"No, I'm done talking. I have to go talk to Sasha. I see she was right about you, there isn't a supportive bone in your body." He clicked off the phone and set it down, then took a deep breath to try and calm himself. Once ready, he got up and started walking out of the room to console Sasha. Needless to say, he wouldn't try contacting Max again.

So what we have discovered here is Sasha's birth father seems to be in denial. This is not a river in Egypt...