The Greatest Secret

Disclaimer: Nope, don't own iCarly

A/N:

Chapter 136 (The Sweet, yet Bitter Day)

Sam sat in the waiting room with Morris, Maggie, Greg, and Annie, currently waiting for Melanie to be released from questioning. She wasn't under arrest, the police had only wanted to generate a statement from her. The family was going to take her to Brian and Madeline's farm, where the entire Puckett-Daniels clan was going to have a get together, a celebration of sorts for Melanie. After all, everyone wanted to see her. Sam just hoped it wouldn't be too overwhelming for her.

It wasn't long before Melanie and Marissa came walking around the corner. Sam looked over and smiled happily as her sister waved. "I guess I'm ready to learn about our wacky family." She looked around and frowned slightly. "Where's your fiancé? It feels so weird to say that, but Ms. Benson explained it to me a little more." Sam walked over to her and placed her arm around her shoulders, grinning brightly.

"Well, Freddie's going to be at the farm, everyone's going to be there." She saw a show of confusion, so she decided to elaborate. "Well, everyone in the family decided they should get together and meet you all at once, if that's not too much." Melanie pulled her lips back in thought. "If it's too much I can call them and let them know a different time would be better?"

"No, no, it's okay. I want to meet them, I'm just a bit nervous." Sam nodded and pat her back gently. She could tell her of a time when she would really be nervous about the Puckett clan, but nowadays, they were all changed in their ways. "By the way, I was talking to Ms. Benson and she asked me where I wanted to stay, so I said I wanted to stay with my sister. That being you, I guess I'll be staying with you as Ms. Benson as my legal guardian?"

"Yes, that's right. Mom made her the legal guardian, so yeah…right now, however, I'm staying with Uncle Morris and Aunt Maggie." Melanie nodded and looked to her Aunt and Uncle with a nervous smile, were they from her mother's side or her father's side? Sam took this moment to take initiative and introduce her to the four relatives that were already there. "So, this is Uncle Morris, he's really nice once you get to know him!"

"Cool." Melanie watched as Sam introduced her to Aunt Maggie, then moved over to Greg. Since the family reunion, Greg had developed a goatee and was thinking seriously about proposing to the girlfriend he had. Annie change much and was still celebrating singlehood at just 26 years of age, unlike her older brother.

"This is Greg and Annie, two of our cousins. You'll meet the others when we get to the farm. In my opinion, and don't tell anyone I said this, but these two are my favorites." Greg and Annie grinned as Melanie smiled and nodded her head. Sam really did have a great respect for the two, especially since they were the most clear-minded of the Puckett clan at the family reunion and kept everything in order. "Without these four, I think it's safe to say I wouldn't have seen any redemption for them."

"Redemption?"

"Er…" She turned her attention to Melanie as Morris closed his eyes and chuckled. "Well years ago our family might have had a few criminals in it and-"

Melanie interrupted with a flat voice and narrow eyes, she jerked her thumb to the holding room and tilted her head. "Like that one?"

"Yeah…maybe not as bad." Melanie's eyebrows lifted up as Marissa started walking ahead of the group. They followed her, the two girls hung back while Annie and Greg formed the middle. Morris stayed behind Marissa and in front of the kids while Maggie ran up to Marissa.

"What's going to happen to Lucy?" Marissa's jaw locked and shoulders flattened down. She did, at least, feel a sense of triumph now that she'd booked the woman. However, there was that sense of guilt, a void, because she knew Sarah would never have known her daughter and Melanie would never know about her mother. Unless the family had something planned, she didn't see how Melanie ever would.

"Lucy confessed in the end, despite the Lawyer's pleadings for her to remain silent." Her voice was firm and quiet, she just needed to be direct and to the point. Maggie's eyebrows rose sharply, she took this to mean never questioning Marissa's capability of questioning subjects. "She will be in a holding cell, prison basically, until trial." Maggie nodded and looked back to Morris who appeared stunned, both of them assumed Lucy might fight harder than that, but who were they to ponder? They never knew the woman, and they were glad for that.

"Did the crazy act fall through?"

"Pretty much, woman's not a mental case. I've always been able to see through someone's insanity defense, so she just got the poor luck of the draw that I'm the one that questioned her."

"Seems pretty insane what she did, though." Marissa frowned and looked back to Melanie with Maggie. She smiled sadly as she watched the girl laughing with her twin sister. Maybe those two would share some wonderful new memories with each other. "Taking her sister's newborn baby directly from the hospital, hiding from her family for sixteen years, it's all just disturbing that a woman can do something like that. I mean it's disturbing to think they could do it to a human being, but to their own flesh and blood…I know in our day, our family has done some crazy stuff, but no one would ever hurt their brother or sister."

"I know. Can you possibly imagine what the Daniels's are all going through? They always grew up seeing their side of Sam's family as the normal, 'not criminal' side." So, though I'm sure none of you would, try not to rub it in their faces, okay?"

"Yeah, I understand. Don't worry, we won't do that. Plus, we talked to Buzz, and he won't say a thing either. We just want to be there for them, we're all one big family, you know." She looked back at the twins and Sam waved at her, grinning brightly for a second before looking back at Melanie. "We all had to work together to show Sam that we were serious about her, and now we need to show Melanie that we're all coming together for her."

"That's admirable."

"You think Sam's telling Melanie who all she's going to meet?"

"Probably."

At the farm, Melanie was greeted first by Buzz and Garth. Sam grinned and ran up to them, dragging Melanie with her by the wrist. "This is Uncle Buzz and our cousin Garth. They're great people." Buzz quickly hugged Melanie, practically lifting her off the ground. She let out a laughing yelp and put her hands on his shoulders.

"Okay, okay, put me down!"

"I'm just happy to see my niece." Melanie laughed as he placed her back onto the ground. Marissa stepped out of her car with a smile and leaned against it.

"Hey now Buzz, be careful there, I'd like her in one piece when she moves in." Buzz looked over and grinned at her, happy to hear that she would get custody of the twin.

"So you are getting custody then?"

"Yeah, I have it written that it was Sarah's intention that I have custody." Melanie waved at Marissa and the woman waved back, smiling through her shades. "You go and have fun, I'm going to hang back here for a bit, I'm waiting on a call."

"Okay," Melanie said with enthusiasm. She was more than happy to meet her real family. Did she hate Lucy? No, she didn't hate the woman, she just pitied her. She pitied how desperate the woman had been. She followed Buzz, Garth and Sam inside. Marissa heard footsteps and glanced over to the side to see Freddie and Kyle walking towards the house. Freddie glanced up and grinned at his mom.

"Hey mom, it's about time you guys showed up."

"Yeah, sorry we were running a bit late, questioning took a bit more time when the lawyer showed up." She turned to face her son and lifted her eyebrows as she pondered why Freddie had been out of the house. "So what were you guys doing?"

"Well once Kyle met the family, he and I took a walk. He was interested in knowing a bit more about the whole process of how I was marrying Sam when I turn twenty…so, I thought I'd educate him on that while waiting for the girls."

"Oh. Well you know, I'm not too sure whether or not I'm going to do that with Melanie. I think I'm going to leave that decision up to her."

"All right, you may ask the Puckett's what they think. Family's close like that, don't you think?" Marissa paused briefly as the wind blew her hair slowly and silently.

"Yeah Freddie, family is close like that. Go enjoy your time in there." He nodded and hurried inside with Kyle. Marissa watched as they departed, then leaned forward against the hood with a heavy sigh. Family? Close? That was true, but she couldn't get all those secrets from the family reunion out of her head. Her Aunt Zamira, marrying the man that fathered Carly's birth mother, all of Zamira's children, killers, or practically all of them were. Then there was the mysterious circumstances in which Zamira's first husband died back in 1961, it looked like an accident, but when Marissa had gone over the files recently, it looked like something different. She'd found a lot of strange things when she investigated the past of her family, a lot of mysterious and unexplained circumstances that made her think someone was after them. She wanted to think Tyrone or Lionel Shay, but as Carlos said, Lionel was just a Friday the 13th serial killer.

"Tyrone and his gang couldn't be behind all of the attacks on our family, could he?" Her brow furrowed as she gently tapped her foot on the ground. She hadn't been able to fathom how Zamira's daughter, Amy, could have killed her own sister in law and niece, but now that she'd arrested Lucy on taking her daughter's baby, it wasn't hard to see. Then the woman's son, George, confessed to killing his wife in a drunken rage back in 1979, then making it look like a drowning. To date, the woman's oldest daughter, Megan and son Dennis were the only two of her relatives either not in prison or dead! Then again, her granddaughter April, and April's daughter Kelly were doing pretty well for themselves. Then Zamira's daughter Terry had been abused all these years by her husband, so he was finally in jail. At least she was safe. Either way it made her think, were the majority of mysterious happenings caused by the family and not some age old, unexplained hatred between the Shay family and the Davidson family?

Thinking to herself, and doing the unthinkable, she pulled out the phone and dialed Tyrone's number. When he picked up, she blurted out her thought process. "What the hell started the whole damn thing?"

"Davidson? What are you going on about?"

"I'm talking about this hatred you have for us. What is it all about?" Tyrone paused as Marissa narrowed her eyes. "You know the police now has a rap sheet of all the crimes your gang has pulled on us. All the way from Uncle Agim's boat sinking back in 2000, Jake's murder last year, my hospitalization, and so many other things. Like the fire that almost wiped out Dad and his siblings back in 1950!"

"Whoa, back up there Emily. I may be a prick, but I had nothing to do with you ending up hospitalized. Neither did the people I work with. My son thought I did, you think I did, but we had nothing to do with that. Also, what about 1950? I was born in '37, what the hell could I have done when I was thirteen?"

"I don't know, it's either you or that Lionel relative of yours." Tyrone quieted and let out a sound of confusion as Marissa smacked her forehead. She had forgotten that he didn't even know about Lionel.

"Look. Leave it alone. Okay?"

"Not until you do…You couldn't stop at taking Spencer away from me, couldn't stop at trying to figure out who my son's marrying, couldn't stop at trying to kill me, but it's all ending soon enough. Got that? The next time I find you, Tyrone, I will have a warrant out for your arrest!"

"Come on, you got what you want! You're marrying my son and you've got your son back! What more do you want?"

"You to end the ignorance…"

"Give me a break. Look, I don't support what you do-"

"What I do? It's my family's culture. I'm following a tradition. You did it yourself when you decided to put Robert with that bitch!"

"Okay, I admit, that was a mistake. Other than that, I'm not going to stop what I believe is the right thing. You might have my granddaughter fooled, or in the process of, but it isn't stopping a damned thing. Is there anything else you'd like to accuse me of?"

"Yeah, you know anything about Zamira's husband, Clint? Clint Wilson? He died under mysterious circumstances back in '61."

"No. I don't know shit about your Uncle's death, nor do I care. All I think you Davidson's should do is go back to India."

"Yeah, well that's what Uncle Agim was trying to do, but did that stop you? No, you still hired your gang members to hijack his boat and sink it!"

"Seriously? I'm getting tired of that accusation. I did not sanction that man's death! Hell, the gang member that did it died there too and I don't even know who found the woman that managed to survive, so don't blame me this time Marissa." She rolled her eyes and was about to make a snide remark when her radio flared up. She groaned and grabbed at it.

"Hold on Tyrone." She opened her car door and set the phone down in the cup holder, forgetting to hang up. She grabbed the radio from her seat and quickly answered it. "What is it?"

"Deputy Benson! We have a problem."

"What? Spit it out."

"It…it's your aunt, we got a call to her house." Suddenly a pit began to form in her stomach, she had a bad feeling about what the man's next words were going to be. "You need to get down to her house…or what's left of it…"

"What?"

"It's a mess, ma'am."

"Shit, I'm on my way!" She leapt into her car and clenched her teeth together as she slammed on the gas. Her engine roared loudly as her car shot onto the nearby freeway. It wasn't ten minutes that she was at Zamira's house. Her eyes widened as she saw Firetrucks parked along the street, shooting water at a blackened and destroyed home. Air escaped her lungs as she held back a scream and jumped out of the car. The first thing she saw were paramedics carrying Zamira's unconscious body into the back of an ambulance. "What the hell happened here?" Sergeant Carl walked up to her, frowning as his heart broke.

"We got a call in for an explosion. We've identified the bodies…" Bodies? Her blood ran cold and her hands began to tremble. "Your Aunt is alive, by some miracle, but she's comatose. She was in the kitchen, where the explosion took place. That was the most devastated room in the house. There were four people in the kitchen, including your aunt."

"How many people…how many people were-" Her voice broke and she Zamira's thirteen year old great granddaughter, Kelly, curled up on the curb. A blanket was wrapped around her shoulders, her arms around her knees, she was bloody and sobbing. All noise around her silenced as Marissa broke into a run for the girl. "Kelly!"

Kelly looked up slowly, her cheeks stained with tears. Marissa knelt beside her and she spoke quietly. "The…I was in the backyard…The wall…the wall fell on me. The Paramedics said I shouldn't be alive. I should have died with mommy and daddy…"

"Mom and d…no…" Marissa's heart jumped as she looked towards the house. It was completely open, in the kitchen her stomach lurched as her eyes met a grisly sight. She saw Zamira's granddaughter, April laying on the kitchen tile, almost totally charred. Zamira's daughter Megan, had a part of the kitchen table's leg through her chest. She cupped her hand over her mouth and tears started running down her cheeks. Carl walked up to her and gently placed his hand on her shoulder. "I-I should be used to this, but…"

"It's your own family, it would be hard for anyone."

"Is…Is Tim?" Timothy, April's wife, wasn't visible anywhere. Carl pointed to a stretcher and Marissa followed his gesture.

"He's covered in severe burns, he's not expected to live out the day." Carl pointed to a body on the grass a few feet away, it was Zamira's son, Dennis. Glass was all around him. "He is deceased as well, his body was thrown by the explosion. Your cousin, Terry, and your cousin Amy's husband Sonny, were also found in the house. They…didn't make it…"

"Oh god!" Marissa ran to a tree and moved behind it, grasping her stomach violently and vomiting up. She fell to her knees and began to sob, pounding the ground ferociously. She knew this wasn't Lionel Shay. She'd researched all the Shays that had died every ten years on Friday the 13th, none of them were this violent, with the exception of Keyton Shay and Devlin Shay. This wasn't Lionel's MO, she could tell.

Suddenly she felt a hand upon her shoulder, she jumped up quickly and found herself staring into Tyrone's eyes. Not now, she couldn't handle this right now. "N-No, not you, not you!" She shoved him back, emotions flaring up inside of her. She knew this couldn't have been his fault, the sadness in his eyes was too great. "Get away, you bastard!"

"Emily, I'm so sorry…"

"Like you care."

"I do, I never wanted anyone to die. Mark my words, this was not my work, or my gang…"

"I know, just…" She turned her eyes to Kelly and frowned, clenching her fists into balls. "You'd better leave that poor girl alone, you hear me Tyrone? You leave her alone…God, it's times like these I'm thankful that Robert and Carly aren't pure—blooded Shays." She furrowed her brow and shook her head, she knew this meant that when Lionel decided to come after either Tyrone or Carly in 2013, he'd likely go after Tyrone. With Tyrone being the result of Devlin Shay's assault on Drita back in 1936, it made him a pureblooded Shay. She knew she should arrest him now, but she wasn't under the right mental state. She needed to gather herself though, because if she didn't, people might start wondering just how fit she was.

"I'm sorry."

"Just leave, Tyrone…just…" She turned to the devastation and ran her hand through her hair. She was glad Sam and Freddie were having fun with the Puckett family right now, they didn't need this bad news. She pressed her lips together and closed her eyes. "I have to take care of this…" She knew asking Tyrone to leave her family might be too much, that he probably never would. "Now…besides Kelly and Zamira…the only ones left out of my cousins are all in jail. God why are you Shays so miserable?"

"What makes you think it was one of us? I'm the only damned Shay there is, Emily, and I did not do this."

"Well unless you got proof of it, then we're going to have to assume, because guess who the one threatening my family all the time is? Don't go anywhere…" She narrowed her eyes and walked towards the officers nearby, knowing full well Tyrone wasn't going to stay put. He could be a fugitive for all she cared. He could go right on and get murdered by the cousin he never knew for all she cared. She just wanted two things, two know why the hell this feud between families ever begun and for this feud to end!

What a way to really go on with GS, with a bang. Not necessarily my original plan, but I AM going en route of my original plan. there's going to be several mentions and possible appearances of people who appeared on the show AFTER the "iKiss" episode (which was where I cut off). You'll never guess who appears next chapter, but she'll reveal a "missing link" that will explain just how severe things really are.