The Greatest Secret

Disclaimer: Nope, don't own iCarly

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

Chapter 119 (Reunion: Arian's Approval)

Arian walked up to the stage and cleared his throat, catching everyone's attention. The room had been filled with talking, everyone wondering about the secrets that had been revealed. No one seemed to be able to hold a calm presence. Everyone looked to Arian and waited for what he was going to say to them. "Okay, it seems we've had some unexpected announcements," Arian said in a calm and gentle voice. "Vera has gone off with her son, be sure to let them rest easy. I thought you might appreciate another relaxing presentation from Freddie's bride-to-be, Sam Puckett."

"Let's hope this doesn't cause any riots," Sam thought as she slowly stood from the seat she had taken. She looked over at her family and saw them all staring at her with supportive faces. It was great that they were so supportive of her, she couldn't say she ever expected any of it. "They do sure know how to surprise me…" She swallowed her nervous feeling and moved to the stage. She wasn't bothered with everyone watching her, she knew there was nothing to worry about.

She closed her eyes and exhaled slowly, she was preparing herself for the presentation. She then opened her eyes and connected with the ones watching and waiting. She looked at her family, smiled, then looked back toward the audience. "Hey, I guess you liked my last presentation…Grandpa Davidson wanted me to give another and tell you about my roots, so that's what I'm going to do. I'm kind of winging this, so bear with me…" She felt like she wasn't going to have much trouble, she did research her family while learning about Freddie's.

"Well, where to begin…" She did worry a bit about how their family would react to some of the history, but for the most part, she was confident that absolutely nothing bad could happen. "I can trace both my mom and dad's side to men and women born in the late eighteen hundreds. These men and women, they're not anything special like your family, they didn't come from another land…they were in this country the whole time. I'm kind of envious now that I think about it." Sam chuckled nervously and rubbed the back of her neck, humor seemed to do the job when wanting to lighten things up.

Sue stood up from her seat and called out to Sam, she smiled and crossed her arms over. "Actually your great, great grandmother…my grandmother, Lilly Isley immigrated to this country from Ireland." Sam's eyebrows rose at her grandmother's words, she didn't actually know that. "I just thought I should contribute some information for you." Sam smiled and nodded, thankful for her grandma's contribution to the presentation.

"Thanks grandma, I love you."

"Love you too sweetie! We all do!" Sam chuckled and watched as Sue sat down. She closed her eyes and breathed out. She knew the crowd of people were probably wondering what was going on, despite knowing that Sue was her grandmother.

"That was my mom's mother. You wouldn't believe how surprised and nervous I was when I knew my family was going to be here…" The Pucketts all frowned and shifted their glances into various directions. Sam merely smiled at the scene and shrugged her shoulders. "Yet now that they've come, I can say that I wouldn't have had it any other way. I love my family, and I'm proud to be a member of it." Her family then seemed to brighten, each smiling with joy.

"Now, moving on…I think you'll find my family has a bit of a history as well. They're definitely not as extensive, but they are filled with entertaining facts. "How could I not appreciate that? Anyway, the first member I want to tell you about is…" Sam tapped her chin and looked at her great grandfather, she smiled and took another breath. "My great grandfather, Carl Fields…He's 101 years old."

"I'm still going strong!" Carl called out from his seat. "Now ask your husband's grandpa to get his aunt to go out with me!"

"You're not my type!" Era called out with a smirk. "You'd have better luck if I knew you more." Sam laughed as Carl grinned widely. It seemed everyone else in the room found the exchange to be a bit humorous, they were definitely eager for her to continue.

"Right…He was in World War two and he has a lot of great stories! In fact, if you have time, ask him to tell you one of his experiences. I love him, he's one of the most exciting and nicest people I know!" Sam always thought it was true that when people grew older, they became like a treasure trove of experiences. Carl was just that, filled with so many good things that one just could not get enough of. "He's the last of my great grandparents that would be still among the living…"

"The next is hard to talk about, I didn't know much about him…Reggie Puckett married the daughter of Carl, Alice Fields. He had a sister named Rose, she got married and had a child, but I won't get much into them since I don't really know anything about them…" She much preferred to stick with her direct family anyway, so Reggie it was. She sighed and moved her eyes toward the side. "This is where the bad history of the family starts…they had three children, triplets. Then Grandpa Reggie left grandma for another woman. He cheated on her…" It was clear that Sam's relatives didn't like remembering that, they each had cringed a bit when she said it.

"As for those three children, two of them may have had bad pasts, and I hope you can overlook it." The Davidsons each shifted themselves a bit while waiting for her to continue, they were each wondering what her family's 'bad past' was all about. "My Uncle Buzz was a bit of a kleptomaniac…" Buzz winced and Garth patted him on the shoulder. Sam saw the action and let one chuckle slip. "I believe he was arrested a few times for taking things that were not his…however, he's been working on that. Really he only gets that way when he's really nervous." Buzz rubbed his arm as Sam smiled, she was going to say just how amazed and proud she was that he had done so well today. "You know, it impresses me, Uncle Buzz…" He lifted his eyes up to her and waited for her next words. "I couldn't be prouder of you today. You were so nervous, and yet…you've done so well not to fidget or start swiping anything at all."

"I try!" Buzz said with a bright smile.

"Love you Uncle Buzz…" She wasn't sure, but she thought she heard someone making an aww sound. She didn't mind, anyone who saw how she had acted with her family would probably be surprised by the things she was saying. "Uncle Buzz has one son…his wife died a while ago, so his son lives with and takes care of him. My cousin Garth, he wants to be a singer one day. I'll support that any day!" Next she had to tell a little about her uncle Morris, he was actually her favorite uncle. It seemed that no one was bothered by the fact that Buzz had been arrested, so everything was going well so far.

"Uncle Morris. Well, he has had some anger issues, but I know he's been working on that. His wife, Maggie, is really sweet to him and helps to soothe those angered emotions. They have two children, Greg and Annie, they're awesome! Annie's an artist who works at a tattoo shop, but it's only so she can get started. She's moving on to better things. Greg is going to try and become a musician. He hopes also to teach music."

"I'm almost done with my degree!" Greg stated from his chair. Annie playfully slapped his arm, she didn't want him to interrupt anything. Sam smiled and nodded her head.

"Before I talk about Dad, I want to talk about my mom's family." Hugh and Sue leaned back in their chairs and waited, hoping Sam would have some good things to say about them. Of course, she did, why wouldn't she? "My grandpa, Hugh, and Grandmother, Sue, are some of the greatest grandparents I could ask for. Sure, Hugh tends to laze around a lot, but he does have moments where he will seem like the perfect grandfather! Just like today…" That statement caused Hugh to nearly jump in the air. Sue placed her hand on his and smiled, tears were dripping down her face. She was so happy, words could not express just how truly great she felt. "Grandma's really wise too, she's the one who helped me out a lot with family history. She's got a big heart and a lot of kindness to give around, so what more could I ask for in a grandmother? I don't know, I don't think there's anything more I could ask for."

"Now they had three children, my mother was the middle. Her older brother is my Uncle Brian, but I don't know much about him." Sam never really saw much of Brian or his wife, she saw Leon more than them. Of course, she had more memories with her Aunt Violet. "Their son Leon managed to make it here today, he's a great person. I've seen him during Christmas visits and sometimes in the summer. His family lives in another state…Whenever I see them, I tend to have a lot of fun. Uncle Brian and Aunt Madeline don't really do much with me though…"

"Moving on to my mom's younger sister, my Aunt Violet…she's one of the nicest aunts that I could ask for! My cousin, her daughter, Venus is really fun to play with as well. All throughout my childhood, I remember playing with them. Aunt Violet would read storybooks to us and tell these great jokes…" Violet and Venus both smiled at the positive mention, no one really suspected that Sam would say anything bad about them, but they did wonder if Sam actually had anything good to say about them. Now it seems Sam did have good things to say about everyone after all. "I'd like to move on to my mom and dad now…"

Sam closed her eyes and took another deep breath, she still felt a lot of pain when talking about her mom. She had been so close to the woman and was only ten when she died. It was heartbreaking. "My mom was a great lady, she was even best friends with Emily throughout her childhood. I think that's how I came to live with Emily…Dad had also been a great man, even though I didn't know a lot about him." She'd been too young when he died, way too young to remember.

"I always remember from what my mom told me about him, he had been a kind, caring and gentle man. Apparently nicer than his brothers." Sam smirked as Buzz and Morris rolled their eyes. They smiled and crossed their arms. They were both glad that their brother had such good qualities, he always had the biggest heart of the three. Sam paused and wiped a stray tear from her eyes. "When I was only four, my father, David Puckett was shot by someone…I was standing right there." Sam was sure she heard a large gasp, but she wasn't going to focus on it. She shook her head and smiled, deciding to continue on with her mom.

"Mom was brilliant. She cared deeply for me, it was horrible when she was diagnosed with an illness, though. I know that she asked Mrs. Benson to care for me because she didn't trust her family…" Sam's family each held guilty looks on their faces, but back then Sarah had really made the right decision. Sam acknowledged that several times, even though it was hard for them to admit to it.

"Mom was right, my Uncles, my Aunts, they couldn't take care of me…not then at least." Sam tilted her head to the right and rubbed her chin, thinking about whether anything would be the same or not if she had lived with them. "Well I do know that if mom had to make the decision now, I think she might have trusted them more. I know I would."

"Your family seems like a very nice family right now," Arian said with a smile. Sam looked at him and returned the smile. With his approval, it was like the entire Davidson clan saying they accepted her and they accepted her family.

"Thank you, I'm glad. I'm happy that you can accept me and accept my family." She slowly turned her head to her relatives and held a soft and pleasant expression on her face. "I know that I can't control what family I was born to, and I wouldn't want to. I'm proud of my relatives, prouder today than any time before. I would never ask for any others." She faced Arian once more and looked toward his aunt and siblings that were still there. "That's it for my family history. I'm sure you said you accepted me, right? I love Freddie with all my heart, that will never change…"

"No one would want you to change, sweetie," Era said as she gave Sam a friendly hug. She stepped back and glanced over at Sam's family. Carl winked at her and she rolled her eyes. "Although, I wouldn't mind if you could get Carl to change his flirtatious ways." Sam laughed and Morris pushed Carl slightly, at least no one could say they were embarrassed by the display.

"You've got a family with quite a history," Zamira added. She crossed her arms and smiled, knowing that she was just about in the same boat. "Hey, so do I…I think Arian's daughter made the right choice in picking you for a bride of her son." Sam's smile grew and she turned to Besim. He smiled and slowly shook his head.

"I have no grievances to speak of," Besim stated. He was proud to call Sam a member of the family and to include her relatives in the grand family tree. "I think your family has a great heart, from what I've seen. There isn't a single problem to think of when involving them." Sam quickly turned to her family and saw that each of them had grins on their faces and tears in their eyes. Of course, most of the men were trying so hard not to show it.

"Samantha Puckett," Arian said in a quiet and yet deep voice. Sam turned to him and slowly nodded. This was the man that she wanted to please. Everything weighed on what he had to say since he was basically the Patriarch of the entire Davidson family. Everything she said about her family could influence Arian in some way. What if he didn't accept her anymore? What if he didn't like her family? That serious look on his face just hid everything.

"Yes sir?" Arian closed his eyes and chuckled at the formality, it was not needed. He smiled kindly and Sam calmed down a bit, but she was still approaching the situation with caution.

"I think I speak for my younger siblings and the entire Davidson family when I say…it's good having you in the family." Sam's lips formed a wide smile and she quickly hugged Arian, taking him by surprise.

"Thank you! It means everything that you accept me…" Arian laughed and patted Sam on the back, then took a step back.

"Yes well, I trust my daughter's judgment. Although, I think you knew I accepted you the day I came back to visit. There is no reason to be so nervous."

"Again, thank you…" Sam now felt everyone's eyes on her and started to blush, she hadn't been thinking and was now embarrassed by her actions. "Uh, yeah…I'm going to…go sit down now…" Arian smiled then whispered his next words.

"That might be best." Sam chuckled nervously and made her way over to her chair next to Freddie. She was trying her best to hold in a squeal, just as the entire Puckett clan was trying their best not to shout out and jump for joy. Freddie glanced over at Jonah and Valerie, the three chuckled at the sight and Freddie slowly embraced Sam with his arm.

"You did great up there, Sam," Freddie said in a soft voice. "I'm proud of you." Sam smiled and rested her head onto Freddie's shoulder, it felt so great to have Arian's approval. All nervous feelings she had from the start seemed to just disappear now. She felt even more like a member of Freddie's family, and that would become true when she finally married him.

The Reunion Arc is beginning to come to a close, heh. I hope you enjoyed this chapter, stick around for the next, you're going to love it.