The Greatest Secret

Disclaimer: Nope, don't own iCarly

A/N: As you know, thoughts are in italics and speech is in regular font.

A/N: Response to anon review: Seriously, why ask a question anonymously, I can't reply to it. Anyway, here's the answer. You ask why Carly wasn't there for the Fourth of July. It's not because her friends wouldn't have her there, it's because I didn't feel there was any need to include her in the chapter. I had no place to put her, and it would have gone against the plot for her to be there when Robert proposed to Emily. You can also always figure that she might have been convinced by Tyrone to spend the Fourth of July with him.

Chapter 106 (The Grandfather)

The next week, Robert woke up early to the ringing of the doorbell. He yawned and left the bedroom, then hurried to the front door. He opened the front door and saw an old man smiling at him. This man had silvery hair combed back, and a grey mustache that somewhat resembled a comb. Robert's eyes widened when he realized who the person was. Pity, while this man was well dressed, Robert was in his nightwear.

"I was told Emily Benson moved to this residence," The man said while deepening his smile. He recognized Robert easily, and it was no question as to why the fact that Emily lived with Robert was so amusing to him. "I called about a week ago to let her know I was coming, but I think she missed that call and I was unable to call her again for some time." Robert stuttered and blushed slightly, knowing he was probably at fault for that. "So, you're sleeping at noon? Need I ask for what purpose?" Robert rubbed the back of his neck and chuckled sheepishly.

"Well, I wasn't doing what you think I was with your daughter, I can assure you of that…Mr. Davidson…" The man laughed and patted Robert on the shoulder, he didn't care what Robert was doing with Emily. After all, he trusted the guy. "I must say, though…this is…this is a surprise." The man smirked and rubbed his chin, of course it was a surprise. After all, Emily had missed the call. "So, what brings you here, Arian?" Arian's eyes danced with amusement, he could tell just how embarrassed Robert seemed to be.

"Well I'm here to see my daughter, of course. I might suggest the idea of you getting yourself a better wardrobe though…" Robert's eyes widened and he glanced down at his clothes. He chuckled nervously and ran through the house and into his bedroom. Arian chuckled lightly and shook his head as he stepped in and closed the door. "Same old Robert Shay…When is he going to realize he doesn't have to fear me?" He moved to the couch and sat down. He could hear Emily shout out in surprise, possibly to Robert telling her that her father was here. He then heard Freddie's voice, and a final one. Only this voice was of a girl, one he did not recognize. "Hmm…Has she finally chosen a wife for Freddie?"

Arian waited about ten minutes and glanced over to see Robert, Emily, Freddie all hurry into the room. Sam didn't enter, she was a little nervous to be meeting Freddie's grandfather. Arian stood and smiled at Emily. He held his arms out and held his kindred smile. "What? No hug for your father?" Emily smiled back and quickly hugged him.

"Dad, this is…I honestly didn't expect you to come visit me," Emily said with a quiet voice.

"Yeah, I tried to call you last week." Emily's eye twitched slightly and she slowly turned her head toward Robert and glared. He chuckled nervously and rubbed the back of his head.

"Yeah…I must have missed the call…" Arian laughed lightly and looked toward Emily's hand. He spotted a sparkling ring and grinned.

"So, you've become engaged?" Emily drew a breath and grinned. She nodded and stepped back while holding her hand up.

"Yeah, Robert and I are finally going to get married!" This news pleased Arian. After all, he was the one that made that choice thirty years ago.

"That's great, I'm very happy for you Marissa." He always called her by her first name. He never did understand why she didn't like the name, it was a beautiful one. Emily cringed at her name and smiled politely at her father.

"So, what is it that brings you here? Can I assume it's not just because you felt like paying a visit?" Arian gave Emily a mock offended look and rested his hand on his chest.

"Aw, I'm hurt deeply…Can't a father just visit his daughter every now and then?"

"Yeah, but not if it's overseas and costs you quite a bit of money to get here…" Emily and Arian laughed and moved to the couch. Robert wanted to find Sam and hide wherever she was hiding. He was going to be a nervous wreck for some time. Arian had moved to India some time ago, it was so that he could be closer to his brother. Of course, his brother's child moved to America recently, so there wasn't much left to do in India. Although, he figured he was too old to move around again. Freddie walked over and sat next to his grandfather, he was happy to see the guy.

"Hey grandpa, it's been a while!" Freddie said while hugging Arian.

"Yes it has! In fact, I think it's been about…six years?" Freddie chuckled and shook his head.

"Nah, we're talking eight years."

"Eight?! I must be losing my memory! Which of my grandkids are you, again?" Freddie laughed and Emily smiled slightly at the sight. She shifted her eyes to Robert and smirked, she could tell he was looking around for an escape route.

"Don't even think about it Robert," Emily said as she crossed her arms. Robert froze and gave a sheepish chuckle. "I'm going to drag Sam in here in a moment…" She saw half of Sam's head peek around a doorway then shoot back into hiding, Sam was way too nervous to come out. Normally she wasn't shy, but this was Freddie's grandpa. This was the man that would probably judge Emily's pick. She couldn't even begin to imagine what Arian might say about her. Arian patted Freddie's back and leaned back in the couch.

"So tell me, has your mom chosen your bride yet?" Emily looked over and nodded, deciding she'd answer for him.

"Yes I have. Sam, come out here!" Sam paled and leaned against the wall she was hiding on. She honestly did not want to go. There was no way, not even Freddie could drag her out there. Speaking of the devil, Freddie stepped into the room and smirked at her. She was shaking and her teeth were hitting each other slightly.

"No way Freddie," Sam said in a nervous and shaky voice. "That's your grandfather out there, that's THE relative. He's probably the highest and most respected relative! I'm not ready!"

"What are you afraid of, Sam?" Sam shook her head and stared straight ahead at the opposite wall.

"There's no way…no way. What if I say something wrong? What if I do something to embarrass myself in front of him! What if he doesn't like me!" She wanted so much to be liked by Freddie's family. She knew Sasha accepted her, Lisa accepted her, Spencer and Robert accepted her, but that was mostly the extent of the family. She had met Emily's direct sister before, and the woman liked her well enough, it seemed. She hadn't actually met everyone in Freddie's family, not quite yet. Most of his relatives lived in other places, like India. In three years, she'd expressed nervousness and discontentment whenever it came to meeting them.

"We've talked about this before, eventually you have to meet my family." She knew that, but it didn't change the fact that she was still scared as hell. She wanted everyone to accept her. She was in the same boat as Robert, he hadn't met all the relatives either. Not only that, but she thought they would be mad at the fact that she signaled Amanda Becker to Carly. Amanda Becker was the daughter of Emily's cousin. She was the daughter of Jasmine Jade Davidson Becker, wife of Allan Becker and the second daughter of Besim Davidson, younger brother of Arian Davidson.

"Yeah, but that's going to be one at a time, right?"

"Actually I wanted to talk about that," A voice said. Sam's eyes widened and she glanced over to see Arian with his hand on the door frame and a smile on his face. He was looking directly at her. Sam froze and held her breath for a moment, closing her eyes in the process. "There's no reason to be afraid, I'm not that scary."

"Yeah, that's easy for you to say…you're not the one that has to worry about being accepted and everything!" Sam's eyes flew open and she breathed slowly for a moment. She was contemplating his words. "And what do you mean you wanted to talk about that!" Arian chuckled and slowly shook his head while Freddie took Sam's hand and tried to soothe her. He looked into her eyes and smiled softly.

"Sam, it's okay," Freddie said with a gentle voice. "My grandpa's nice. Hell, he's like the polar opposite of Tyrone!" Sam chuckled once and Arian snickered. He knew Tyrone well, and it was true, he was the polar opposite of the man. "Where Tyrone's a stubborn asshole and all around harsh bastard, my grandpa's a calm and very kind person. You shouldn't have a problem at all." Sam slowly exhaled and gave a tiny smile as she gazed into Freddie's soft eyes. Arian rubbed his chin and watched the two, even from first impressions, he really could see a good chemistry between the two. They had a good effect on each other, he had a knack for seeing things like that.

"Okay Freddie, I'll give meeting him a try if you say there's nothing to fear."

"There's nothing to fear, Sam." Sam smiled and Freddie gently squeezed her hand. He led her out into the main room and sat with her on the couch. Arian moved into the living room as Robert tried to flee the area. Emily grabbed the back of his shirt and laughed once, she couldn't believe Robert was still scared of her father.

"Come on Robert, I liked you before and I still like you right now," Arian said while patting his soon to be son in law on the back. Robert paused and raised his eyebrow, he wasn't sure how true that statement was.

"But I…I hurt Emily," Robert replied while looking to the ground. He felt Arian should hate him for turning away from Emily so long ago. He deserved Arian hating him. "You should want to shun me…"

"Why the hell would I do that? I know you're a good man, you were only afraid of what that father of yours would do." Robert looked up and into Arian's eyes, he saw how serious the older man was. It seemed that Arian's once jubilant face was now very stern and serious. "I don't want to hear any more talk of me not liking you because of what your father forced you to do. I chose you for Emily because I felt you were the best match for her. You were headstrong, you knew what you wanted in life and you weren't going to let anything get in the way of it, and you and Emily were so close."

"Yeah, but then I let dad get in the way…"

"Well is he stopping you now?" Robert shook his head and frowned.

"I would never let him interfere." Arian smiled kindly at him and patted him on the back, he was proud to call Robert his son in law.

"Then, my son, my observations of you still stand firm. I always liked you better than that other man I selected for Emily." Robert blinked and chuckled nervously, now he felt like he'd just been put on a pedestal. Was this meeting really about him? He stepped behind the couch and placed his hands on Sam's shoulders, much to her surprise.

"I think you're really here about her, right?" Robert's face was red now, so he figured it'd be best to get the conversation off of him.

"Hey!" Sam cried out. She sighed and crossed her arms as the others laughed. Arian rubbed his chin and looked to Sam, she was smiling shyly and squeezing on Freddie's hand. She couldn't help but to be nervous about meeting this man.

"I trust my daughter's judgment," Arian said while giving a quick nod. "However, I would like to know how long you two have been together and why I was never informed of this…" Emily cleared her throat and stood up from her seat. She hadn't been able to tell him since it cost a lot for long distance, and telling him might start something up with Tyrone.

"I chose her for Freddie on September 27th 2008…We've had a few issues, though," Emily said while rubbing the back of her head. Arian raised his eyebrow as she stared into his eyes. "You remember Tyrone, of course…he wants to find Freddie's wife and take her away, hoping to 'save' her." At the mention of Tyrone's involvement, Arian's face grew hard. He couldn't say he liked Tyrone at all, especially not concerning the problems Tyrone caused his family. Sam saw this and raised her eyebrows up, she wondered just how bad the relationship was between Tyrone and Arian.

"I see…and how close is he to doing so?"

"I'd say there's nothing to worry about," Freddie said with a quick smile. "After all, Spencer finally learned who his real mom was…" This was pleasing for Arian to hear, he had always wanted Spencer and Emily to come back together. "So the only hold he's got on us is through Carly, his granddaughter…but we're trying to find ways to fix that…"

"Good. I suppose you should know about my youngest brother, Agim and his family…" The others all nodded and looked at Arian as he sat down in a reclining chair. He had four siblings, Zamira, Besim, Vera, and Agim. Agim was deceased. "Agim lost both his children to the hands of Tyrone's little gangs…in 1980, his daughter, Tricia would see her death only a week after her seventeenth birthday." Sam's jaw fell slightly and Arian crossed his arms. "One of Tyrone's gang members had killed her…of course, that gang member was never seen again…"

"Oh my god, he's responsible for another death?!" Sam said in a quick voice. Arian raised his eyebrow and Sam looked toward the floor. She frowned and narrowed her eyes. "A little over a year ago, our friend Jake was shot and killed by a gang leader who wanted to please Tyrone…he was really aiming for our best friend, Jonah, but he never got him and killed Jake instead." Arian frowned and closed his eyes, he felt truly sorry for this loss. Jake most likely had nothing to do with any of the circumstances. How horrible it must have been to lose your life and not know the full reason behind it.

"I'm terribly sorry for your loss."

"It was hard on us all…but please, continue…" Arian nodded and took a slow sigh.

"In the year 2000, eleven years ago as you know, Agim's son was choosing a bride for his son. Tyrone learned of this and rounded up all of his family. Agim, his son Adam, daughter in law Helen, and grandson Jack were put aboard one of Tyrone's personal ships…this ship was led by some of his men…he promised them once they made it to India where they should be, some of his men would find them and help them out." Sam swallowed and Robert listened with widening eyes, no one was enjoying where this was going.

"W-What else happened?" Arian closed his eyes and exhaled sharply, it was a hard memory. They learned about it from the sole survivor of the ship, and that was Helen. Helen made it a few more months before taking her own life.

"Before reaching shore, the captain came to them and said they were all going to die. He said that Tyrone knew nothing about the plans, and he did not know that his men placed bombs inside the ship. It was mayhem after that…Adam's wife, Helen, was the only one to make it off of that ship alive."

"Oh my…" The men decided to send Helen off of the ship, and she swam to shore. It wasn't that far away. She had broke down into tears on the shore and cried for hours, the memory of watching her family blow up with the ship was just too hellish for her to bear.

"One of Tyrone's men found Helen and brought her to my brother's home. Besim still lives in India, and I lived there to take care of him. We were shocked when we saw Helen, and we were even more appalled by her grisly tale. It was only three months later…" Arian's body tensed up and his eyes narrowed. "She received a call from Tyrone, he wanted to apologize for the loss of her family…then he said that they probably deserved it. No wife or mother should ever have to hear that…the grief and the pain became too much for her, and she ended her life."

"That bastard," Freddie said while clenching his fists. He couldn't believe that Tyrone would be responsible for such a thing. He'd lost a whole side of his family that he probably never even met. An uncle, a cousin, a great uncle, they were all people that he might have loved to meet, and now he never would. "Whatever happened to Agim's wife?"

"She passed on in 97'. She was only fifty four. She developed pneumonia and chose not to go to the doctor for it…"

"I see…and what about your brother, he's still in India?"

"Yes…as is my sister, Vera."

"They never moved to America?"

"No, they moved from America to India. The problem was they were afraid of Tyrone and his family, so they moved over there. Vera lives with her son, Carlos…her husband died early on in a factory accident and Carlos never married. My sister chose not to arrange his marriage, since he had expressed desire to not marry. Besim actually moved back to America about a year ago, he moved in with his daughter Jasmine and her husband Allan. His older daughter, Tricia, had passed on a few years ago. Her husband Richard and son Quincy, live a few miles from here as well. Zamira lives somewhere in the states with all of her children…"

"So you live in India by yourself now?" Robert asked while raising his eyebrow. If it could be said how much he despised his father at that very moment, then he would have stated it. However, there were no words that could possibly explain the amount of rage and resentment held for his father.

"Yes, but I am considering the possibility of returning here. Besides, if I do, then I can easily scare off Tyrone."

"That may be a good thing," Sam said while sighing nervously. Arian looked over at her and saw that she was shaking once more. She felt guilty and was worried that Tyrone would make the same thing happen to Besim's family that he did for Agim's family. "Amanda Becker, isn't that one of Freddie's cousins?"

"Yeah," Freddie said with a quick nod. "As I told you before, she's my second cousin…the daughter of mom's cousin Jasmine."

"Okay, I kind of accidently told my best friend Carly that Amanda was Freddie's bride." Arian raised his eyebrow and Sam slowly stood up, she was ready to defend herself. "Here's the thing, I was losing it. I was sick and tired of Carly always wanting to date Freddie, and so I thought telling her he had a bride who would never let him go, which is true, would be a good thing! In the process, I described Amanda to her, and we all know that she's the sweet girl at our school! I didn't mean to describe her and I didn't even know Amanda was possibly related to Freddie in any way, I barely ever talk to her! I mean-"

"It's okay, calm down," Emily said with a soft voice. She knew how upset Sam was, and she wanted to reassure her that it would be just fine. "Amanda's still on vacation with her family, anyway…plus, Tyrone won't do anything damaging to her…I don't think." Arian frowned and rubbed his chin, he had come because Jasmine and Allan had chosen Amanda's husband already.

"I came because the family wants a get together," Arian said while closing his eyes. Everyone looked over at him as he crossed his arms over. "They want to meet the chosen spouses and everyone else in the family, a reunion of sorts. There are a few people who want to announce chosen spouses, you're one that will have to do that, Emily…you need to announce Sam to the family." Emily nodded and Sam started to pale, she couldn't believe that was going to happen. Freddie sighed and shook his head, he'd just have to tell her it'd be fine. "Jasmine and Allan are also going to announce the future husband of Amanda…that's something we won't want Tyrone finding out." Arian turned to Sam and gave her a reassuring smile. "You have nothing to worry about, you didn't know at the time, I'm sure…if Carly tells Tyrone, then we'll figure something out. For now, he probably doesn't know Amanda's true relation, and if he figures out, then…" Everyone thought for a moment and imagined the ship to India and the demise of Agim's family. They all frowned and remained in silence for a few moments.

"Crap."

Well, Freddie's grandfather. I hope you liked this chapter. Next chapter begins the Reunion Arc!