The Greatest Secret
Disclaimer: Nope, don't own iCarly
A/N:
Chapter 134 (Twins Meet)
The next day, Sam walked into the store with Valerie in tow, she wanted to see if maybe they could catch the girl in the store. That was assuming she was even there. "Valerie, have I ever mentioned how tired I am of secrets?" Valerie nodded her reply as they walked towards Ned, who was manning his aisle with dignity, but still shuddering at every police officer he saw. Sam let out a slight laugh and pointed her thumb towards him. "Carl and Gunsmoke really messed with him yesterday."
"Yeah, you told me about that. Did anyone say anything about you being there?"
"No, I was kind of dressed up. I know Marissa and Aunt Maggie don't want me to get involved right now, but…I can't help myself." She might get in trouble, but so what. They'd understand her reasoning of the subject, wouldn't they? "Okay, let's see if the nerd's seen any sign of my sister." They walked towards Ned and he glanced their way briskly before looking back to his customer. He stopped himself and did a double take, staring at Sam with wide eyes. "Hey Ned, how's it going? Got a question for you, if you got a moment of your time."
"Whoa, Melanie?" Sam paused, taking in the name. Melanie, such a beautiful name. She breathed it in and curled her lips into a smile as Ned eyed her up and down. "Weren't you just…you just came by here…I'm sure of it!" Sam shook her head as Ned threw his hands to his head in confusion. He pointed at her and his customers started eyeing him with distaste. "I'm positive! You were also wearing a purple miniskirt and red top." Sam looked down at her body and shrugged, she had on regular jeans and a blue sweater with a wolf on the front.
"Nope, I believe you have me mistaken for someone else. Now, that someone, is someone I'd like to see." Evidently Melanie was in the store, now she just needed to know which way she went. Melanie. She couldn't stop saying that name over and over in her head. "So, girl who looks like me, probably wearing a ponytail and wearing what you described…Which way did she go?" Ned was baffled and unresponsive. He slowly lifted his arm up and pointed down an aisle
"S-She went that way…with Kyle…"
"Kyle? Who is Kyle?"
"My coworker…they're close…."
"Okay thanks, don't need you anymore!" She started walking forward, then stopped in front of Aisle ten. Her arms began to tremble and her eyes started to water. Valerie stepped next to her and pulled the backpack from her back.
"You okay, Sam? Are you going to be able to do this?"
"I'm scared."
"It's okay to be afraid of this. We can turn back now if you want, I still have to call up Miss Ray and tell her that I'm accepting the apprenticeship."
"Want to do that now?"
"And waste any time trying to find your sister? It can wait, Rachael doesn't even leave for another few days."
"Okay…If we search aisle by aisle, that might take a while."
"Hmm…" Valerie tapped her chin and stared off to the right, then to the left. There were not many aisles and they were not very long. Chances were, if they split off there and circled around on the other side of the aisles, they might find Melanie a lot quicker. "Here's an idea, you run to the right and I run to the left, we look down the aisles as we pass them, then when we reach the ends of both sides, we run along the side and come out on the other side where all the meats and dairy would be."
"Yeah…yeah that sounds good." Valerie grinned and pat Sam on the back.
"What would you do without me?"
"Go insane?" Valerie laughed and pointed off in the direction Sam should run. She nodded and the girls took off, eyeing each aisle until they came to the end. Once at the end, they ran down the section between the side walls and last aisles, coming out at where the meats and dairies were. They started moving towards each other and stopped in the middle of the shop where the employee entrance opened up. It was the one place they hadn't spotted. "You don't think…"
"It never hurts to check. I haven't seen her anywhere."
"Me either…" Sam swallowed hard and faced the employee entrance. Her body tightened and sweat dripped along her arms. "Ned did say she went off with Kyle…If we go in there, will we get in trouble?" Then again, if they did get in trouble, it might be worth it. "L-Let's go in, then."
Inside the employee entrance, Melanie was against the wall with Kyle kissing her neck. He had a muscular build, light brown hair going down to his chin and a goatee. She could feel his strong green eyes upon her body and shivered as she pressed her hands against the wall. "Kyle, what if Mom were to find out what I'm doing…she'd never let me come here again." Kyle pulled away from her and met her eyes with a strong smile.
"Then you wouldn't be allowed here, doesn't mean she'd forbid us from seeing each other."
"Yeah, that's true." She wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed his lips passionately. He grabbed her thighs and lifted her body up as she wrapped her legs around his waist. She tilted her head back and squealed as he started kissing down her neck. She moved her head forward and looked into his eyes. She wasn't usually like this, she was more reserved than this. "I was raised differently than this, Kyle. I really don't know…what's gotten into me…it's kind of embarrassing."
"Don't be embarrassed." He lifted his hand and brushed her bangs from her eyes. "Just let yourself go, I won't do anything you don't want me to."
"I know, it's not that, it's just…" She was usually more innocent, a lot calmer and more reserved. She felt like she was compensating for something, though. That was a feeling she had for the good majority of her life, like she'd never been complete. She'd talked to Kyle about this once before and he told her that she probably didn't have to worry too much, so she stopped worrying. "The other day when that man called my mother Lucy and she ran off, dragging me with her I might add, it really made me think…Mom has always kept me close. I mean, half the time, I'm not even supposed to be out alone, and I'm sixteen years old."
"It's time for you to break out of your mother's protective shell, Mel. She can't control you forever."
"I know, but she's got some pretty strict rules, if I don't follow them, then…I think it's safe to say things don't end well."
"Yeah…"
"Did I ever tell you about my dreams?" Kyle raised his eyebrow and started to let go of her, so they could sit together and talk, but she wouldn't let go of him. "I've had these recurring dreams for a few years, almost like…something wasn't as it seemed. I always put them off, especially since mom said they didn't mean anything, but now…I don't know. That man, the way he called mom 'Lucy', it just seemed…I don't know. One of my more common dreams, a woman with long blonde hair is yelling at mom, shouting at her. She's very angry with her. I think she's mom's sister or something. She calls her 'Lucy' all the time."
"Really?"
"Yeah…kind of like 'you took my child', or 'how could you, Lucy?' Whenever I tell mom about them, she tells me to ignore them." Melanie stared into Kyle's eyes and felt herself beginning to melt in his arms. Here they were, making out, and she was talking about her own issues. "Dear god, I shouldn't be going on about all this right now…"
"It's okay, I don't mind."
"No, I…you're a very good listener, Kyle."
"I pride myself over that." She bit her lip and leaned forward, kissing his lips once more, tasting the passion. He pressed forward, adding to the strength of the kiss. His radio started going off, Ned was trying to get in touch with him, but neither of the couple seemed interested. Kyle reached down and flipped off the radio, then moved Melanie to a square stack of boxes. She laid back against them as he began to kiss her body and run his hands down her arm. She moaned lightly as Goosebumps began forming at her skin.
Suddenly someone cleared their throat, jarring the two into reality. Melanie yelped and sat up a little too quickly, she put her hand to her head and moaned as her vision started to become discolored and circles started forming in front of her. Kyle swirled around and gripped the boxes, freezing in shock at what lay before his eyes.
"That woman is not your mother," Sam said in a firm voice. Valerie was blushing from embarrassment of having walked in on what they just did. Melanie closed her eyes and shook her head a couple times, regaining her vision. When she opened her eyes she stared in quiet shock.
"Who the…" Melanie moved from the boxes and walked over to Sam, lifting her hand up slowly and feeling of her hair. "You're…"
"I'm your twin, and if I were you, I wouldn't tell Aunt Lucy about this."
"Aunt Lu…" Melanie's lips parted slowly and she turned her eyes to Kyle for a brief second, then back to Sam. "She's not my mother? What do you mean?" Sam grabbed the backpack and pulled out a photo of their mother. She handed it to Melanie and watched as the girl stared at the picture, studying it carefully with a soft expression. "This looks like that woman…Kyle, this is that woman in my dreams…I don't understand…"
"That's our mother. Sarah Puckett. She died several years ago of a terminal illness." Melanie gasped and her eyes started to glaze over. She couldn't believe her ears. Her real mother was dead? It couldn't be! "Our dad is…also gone…"
"Oh my god…who are you staying with?"
"Mom's best friend, she was made our legal guardian when we were inside Mom's womb. When mom started to get sick, she confirmed exactly what she wanted her best friend to do, how she wanted her to take care of me. That man that you saw the other day? He's our uncle. Uncle Brian, mom's oldest sibling. Aunt Lucy 'vanished' just a month or two before our birth, everyone assumed she was dead. Then the doctor then…he handed you to her and told our mom you were dead."
"I…I can't…" This wasn't fathomable, none of it made any sense. Sam took some other paperwork from the backpack and handed it to Melanie. She explained some of it as Melanie thumbed through the papers, shaking like a leaf in the violent wind.
"These are some medical records, certifications, legal statements. There's some other material on our family as a whole in there. I don't know what Aunt Lucy has kept from you, but she's in a lot of trouble…Now Ms. Benson's after her, that's our legal guardian, but also one of Seattle's Deputy Police Chiefs. Have you ever seen iCarly?"
"iCarly? What's that?"
"It was a webshow online about a year back…"
"N-No, Mo…" She eyed the birth certificate and tears started rolling down her cheeks. The mother and father listed were Sarah and David Puckett. "Aunt Lucy…never let me use the internet."
"I see."
"What happened to Dad?"
"He was…murdered…" Melanie's eyes widened as she tightened her grip on the papers. Her throat tightened and her chest strained for air. She continued to lose herself in the papers, trying desperately to take in this load of information."He died in 1999, mom passed away in 2005." Sam pointed to Kyle and smiled lightly. "That your boyfriend?" Melanie was quickly pulled into reality and lifted her head up.
"Huh?" She looked back to Kyle, who moved next to her. "Yeah, Kyle's my boyfriend. Mo-" She stopped herself and shook her head. "I'm sorry-" Sam placed her hand on Melanie's arm and smiled into her eyes, she was already growing so attached to her, it was hard to explain.
"It's okay, take some time to take it in, okay?"
"Yeah…well she doesn't know I'm seeing him. I've been seeing him ever since we started coming to this store a year ago."
"Cool. You should meet my boyfriend. Well, fiancé. I think you'd like him, he's a good guy, you'd get along."
"Probably…Um, I'm sorry about what you just walked in on…" Sam laughed and waved her hand in the air dismissively as Melanie's cheeks turned hot pink.
"It's okay, don't worry about it. Nothing I haven't seen, or done, before." Melanie raised her eyebrow as Valerie rolled her eyes and pat Sam on the shoulder.
"You wouldn't believe the number of times my husband and I have walked in on Sam and her fiancé making out. I swear they have a penchant for this kind of stuff."
"Oh. Well I guess I know why I've been doing that so much then." Sam blushed as Melanie laughed. She stopped herself for a minute and tilted her head to the side. "I don't understand, though. You say fiancé like you're going to be getting married. You're only sixteen."
"Yeah, well you see, before Mom passed away, she wanted me to participate in Ms. Benson's culture. It's about arranged marriage. She chose someone I was dating and we had the choice of whether or not we wanted each other as the spouse. We accepted, but for some pressing matters, we've had to keep our relationship secret."
"Oh, okay…"
"Yeah, the culture calls for us to marry when we're twenty and to date until then. This here, this is Valerie, my best friend…She's seventeen and is married because she and her boyfriend, who are very deeply in love, had a son together. Valerie's about to go on an apprenticeship, she's going to become a big time chef."
"Oh cool! So…you don't want me to talk about this? What's going to happen?"
"Well, Ms. Benson's already investigating…Aunt Lucy's in a lot of trouble. I think the doctor admitted to have accepted a bribe or something."
"Give me time to process, okay? I'm…I'm glad you found me though, I don't know what I would have done if…" She was speechless, unsure of the words she wanted to say. They were stuck in her throat. "Can we hang out a bit? I'd love to get to know you…Besides, I think Kyle needs to get back to work soon." Kyle chuckled sheepishly and rubbed his neck.
"Of course!" As they walked out of the area, Valerie dialed up Rachael to inform her she was going to go onto the apprenticeship. Sam and Melanie watched happily as she did so. Melanie kissed Kyle goodbye and started heading out of the store with the two girls. This seemed like the beginning of a beautiful bond.
I think I may throw in a few mini arcs dealing with certain things that are happening on the show that aren't influenced by iCarly. Not sure, but we'll see. Maybe Sasha can get Spencer to join a book club XD