The Greatest Secret

Disclaimer: Nope, don't own iCarly

A/N: I post this early for ONE reason, and that reason is this: This chapter was originally part of the last chapter, however it ran long, so I thought I'd break it for you and give it to you the next day.

Chapter 152 (Auditions: D2, Trusts and Truces, Griffin)

"He did what?" Sam's shout echoed through the house as she jumped from the couch. Jonah winced and started rocking Aaron a bit more in his lap, the poor baby had been sleeping just a moment ago. Freddie had called them both over to the house to talk to them, he was going over the top in his anger and needed someone to help calm him down. "She never even told me she had been dating back then…I can't believe she dated an asshole like that!"

"As far as I heard, they dated for a week or so. He basically got what he wanted." It wasn't so farfetched an idea to believe that this Steven guy had been lying about any kind of relative being in Seattle. "Now I'm telling you two in confidence because Carly doesn't even know that I know." Jonah and Sam slowly nodded and narrowed their eyes angrily as they bowed their heads, they wanted to beat the shit out of this guy. "It's been a year, she may have coped since then, she may not have, I don't know. What I do know is she hasn't told anyone other than Griffin, so we'll just have to respect that."

"You know something I found that really works?" He lifted his eyes to Sam, who slowly took her seat on the sofa. "Putting butter in a sock and smacking someone with it. Cold butter, I call it a butter sock." He moved his head back in surprise, he'd never heard of this before. She smiled innocently and shrugged her shoulders. "I thought of it a while back for if I ever ran into Tyrone and needed to get out. People don't expect butter, so when it hits someone, it would surprise them, stun them, catch them off guard…leaving ample time to run." Jonah turned his head to stare at her for a minute and Freddie lifted his eyebrows up, chuckling to himself. The butter sock did seem pretty entertaining, to say the least. "It is also not so painful and can be a less violent way of dealing with people. My secondary is always the mace I carry in my purse."

"I can see it working. As for that ex boyfriend of Carly's, I was thinking something worse than butter or mace. Though we'd need a reason to hunt down that guy…" What was more a reason than knocking up someone's sister and running away? It was enough to turn a man's blood cold, enough to darken their world and teach them the value and meaning of hate.

"Well we have to focus on the band right now," Jonah interjected. He was right, priorities were priorities for a reason. They couldn't just ignore the auditions, they couldn't ignore the gig. "Well, I'm guessing since Griffin's dating your sister and he's on the list of drummers-"

"I don't want Griffin as our drummer, and Carly doesn't even know we know, so she wouldn't expect us to make him the drummer." He leaned forward and tapped his fingertips together in front of himself. "I only wanted Griffin so I could ask him some questions, to find out more about him. Now that I know a bit about him, I have some things I want to say to him…" The only question was how and when. He closed his eyes and scowled as he thought about Steven, a deep part of him made him want to kill that bastard. "Ever learn from history?"

"Yeah, why?"

"Cause for some reason I feel like this happened before…" Sam and Jonah raised their eyebrows as Freddie opened his eyes and stared directly ahead of him. "This burning hatred for the guy that got my sister pregnant…granted she had that miscarriage…"

"I don't know, I'm sure it's happened at some time in history many times." Freddie shrugged and heard an engine drive by the house. The other two glanced over at the door and waited, they knew it was Carly being dropped off by Griffin.

"She's about three hours late to being home…" It was seven when the auditions ended, it was now ten thirty, nearly eleven. Sam smirked at him and as he felt a protective feeling coming over him. His eyes darted over to her and he let out a gruff grunting sound. "What is it?"

"You. I think it's cute. You're becoming a protective brother." The thought didn't faze him much, but he still never imagined himself a protective brother. In some ways he was a protective older brother. "I think I like this side of you." He smiled briefly and turned his head to the door, pressing his cheek to his hand. He was curious to see what excuse Carly would have for being home so late. When the door opened, Carly stopped and stared into the living room, her face was frozen in shock, she hadn't anticipated Sam and Jonah being there.

"Hey Carly, where have you been so late? Sam, Jonah and I were just discussing the band." Carly slowly nodded and closed the door behind her. Sam could see some redness to her face and frowned. She stood up and walked over to Carly, giving her a quick, semi abrupt hug. "We were getting a bit worried."

"Oh, I see." Carly hugged Sam back and took a step back, smiling warily. "I got a bit caught up with some stuff. I went to see T-Bo at the smoothie shop, then decided to walk around. I guess I forgot to call home…where's mom and dad?" Freddie pointed his index finger to the hallway and breathed some air out of his nose.

"Bedroom, they're still up, just talking. They were worried too." Carly nodded and slowly walked down the hallway to the bedroom. The three watched in silence, anxiety growing within them. Freddie moved his hands to his knees and sighed as he leaned back in his chair. "Okay, who all is going to be at the auditions tomorrow? Jonah, I know you said you were staying home to take care of Aaron, right?"

"Right."

"Sam?"

"I'll be there." Freddie tapped his knees with his fingers and slowly stood up, he needed that audition to keep his mind busy. "Will you be all right till then? Cause I need to get home…"

"Yeah, I'll be fine." He smiled and hugged Sam, kissing her lightly on the lips. "I'll see you tomorrow, and do tell your Uncle nothing happened." His voice fell flat as Sam laughed, every time she was out late, Uncle Morris would ask her if anything happened between her and Freddie. Most of the time, he would be joking, so really there was nothing to worry about.

"Okay I'll tell him." She moved her hand to his and gazed into his eyes. He smiled at her and gave her hand a light squeeze. "Goodnight Freddie."

"Goodnight. I love you."

"I love you too." She pecked his lips and hurried out the door. He felt his legs go weak and sighed as he struggled to stay afoot. Jonah snickered mildly as Carly walked back into the living room. The two men looked over and saw her frowning a bit.

"Sam left already?"

"Yeah, she just left. I can run out and get her if you need her for anything."

"Oh…I was hoping to talk to her, but don't worry about it." She smiled lightly and started to turn around. Jonah met Freddie's eyes and he quickly cleared his throat, causing her to stop and look back at him. "Yeah Freddie?"

"Go on and talk to her, Carly." His voice was soft and caring, he wanted her to know that he valued her as a sister. He turned his eyes to the window and smiled. "Lights aren't on yet, so she hasn't left completely."

"I wouldn't want to bother her…"

"Trust me, you wouldn't be bothering her."

"Are you sure?" He nodded his head as she eyed him skeptically, but right now too much was on her mind to make her even think about why Freddie would know this about Sam. Instead, she hurried outside to find Sam sitting in the car. After a few minutes, Freddie received a text from Carly.

Gone driving with Sam. Tell Mom and Dad, I'm going to sleep over with her if it's okay with them.

The next evening, it was just Sam and Freddie at the auditions. Carly hadn't felt like showing up today, so she stayed home. This was also the first time Sam and Freddie had been able to see each other, both had been extremely busy with various things. "So what did you two talk about last night?"

"She confided in me what you told us…" Freddie's eyebrows rose and a sense of pride was birthed in his heart. "She said it felt good to have a friend to talk to. She didn't tell me about Griffin and I didn't ask. We talked about other things, but I didn't tell her about you…"

"I see. So she told you about Steven and the miscarriage?"

"Yeah, she said she'd coped with the miscarriage, even though she still thought about it from time to time. It still hurt her that Steven did that to her and she also said if she ever had the chance to confront him in L.A., she would." Freddie laughed slightly as Sam started to grin. "I told her that we should."

"Why?"

"Think about it. If Steven did that to Carly, then there's a chance he'd do it to that Tori girl, and any other girl he ran into." This rang true. Unless they actually had a change of heart, it was difficult to change a cheater. "But Freddie…she told me something else…"

"What?"

"That role play thing, of course she's aware that the whole thing with Jonah and with Valerie, those were fake…she said that the reason she'd been so abrupt with Jonah back then was because of what happened to her, it was a blow to her when she found out Jonah was actually not like that, but at the same time, she admired him for it. I think she really wants to be his friend now."

"Yeah, but that might take a while. I don't know…anyway, let's get these auditions out of the way."

"Right." Freddie stood up and silenced the talking audience, they'd spent the last fifteen minutes filing in and taking their seats.

"Okay! Today Jonah's taking care of his kid and Carly's not feeling too well. So it's just myself and Sam, although our tech up there will help with the judging process." Jeremy waved for a second before blowing his nose on a napkin. Freddie was thankful they never needed him on actual performances, he wouldn't be able to stand relying on a radio to crank out his tunes.

After several people went up to drum, he decided it was finally time to call up Griffin. When he did, the shocked boy stood from his seats and walked over to the drums. Sam put her hand over Freddie's and he gave her a brief smile. "Wish me luck." She nodded and watched as he stood up and walked to the stage. Griffin turned around and lifted up his eyebrows. "Hey Griffin."

"Freddie, I was kind of hoping to do this when-"

"Come with me for a minute." Griffin frowned and quickly followed him backstage. After a minute of nervousness under Freddie's gaze, the band leader finally spoke up. "Okay, look. The reason I wanted you here was so I could find out a little more about you."

"Huh?"

"I know you're dating my sister." Griffin started to pale and Freddie put his hand upon his shoulder. "Found out when you showed up on thanksgiving. Not quite as discreet as you and Carly were likely hoping for, but that's fine. I respect that. You don't need to let her know that I know, okay?"

"Okay…"

"Can I trust you? I mean, you are dating my sister. Hopefully you would be trustworthy. At least by my standards, I need to know you would never do anything to hurt her."

"Yes! And no, I would never hurt her."

"Good, because if you did…I would find you. You don't want to know what I would do if you were to ever hurt her." Griffin slowly nodded his head and closed his eyes.

"I guess you're not interested in me drumming then, huh?"

"Honestly? I have someone else in mind. I think that it would be a bit much to have you as the drummer, and a bit odd right now…considering Carly's in a secret relationship with you. Trust me, having you so close to her brother would be an issue for her." Griffin furrowed his brow as Freddie pat him on the back. He wanted to tell Griffin that he understood the whole thing about secrecy, that he and Sam were in one themselves, but he wasn't sure if he should. At most, Carly probably told Griffin that he was in a relationship. "However, do drum, I still would like to see how well you can play." Freddie smiled as Griffin nodded politely.

"I'll do that."

"Great." Griffin folded his arms over his chest as Freddie started to walk away.

"Hey, what about you?" He stopped and glanced back momentarily, what was Griffin about to say? Griffin walked up to Freddie and met his eyes. "I haven't told Carly this because I figure there's a reason she doesn't know, just like there's a reason you don't know about me…"

"Oh?"

"I know you and Sam are together." The words hit him hard as he stared back in surprise. How had Griffin found out? Weren't they careful? He lifted his finger up and shook away the baffled expression.

"You think-"

"I know. I found out a few months ago actually." Stunned, he turned around and crossed his arms, eager to hear more. Griffin sighed and kept their eyes locked together. "It was around the time of your reunion that I found out. I followed because I was curious about something Carly said regarding you and Sam together. I was there when you all talked about her being related, and…" Griffin's hands closed up as Freddie felt a drop of sweat go down his neck. If Griffin had been there, then he obviously heard about Lionel. "That serial killer, going after all the Shays…do you think he'll hurt Carly?"

"No. We're not going to let anything happen to her. Tyrone either, even if he is a bastard."

"Yeah, but he's just misguided…you know it isn't his fault, he's just stubborn and got his head shoved up his ass because of some fight he and Arian had all those years ago." Freddie pressed his lips together and slowly nodded, he knew a little about all that, but not much. "I understand he can't be trusted, though. I know Carly is also a bit overly temperamental and yeah, she might be upset about you and Sam not telling her you were together. I can understand the worry that she might get pissed and tell her granddad, he is just about the only person she's ever had that deep connection to, but only because he made it that way…"

"So he is manipulative."

"Yeah…but should you and Sam ever come out with your secret, I'll try to keep her calm. Okay?" Freddie thought on this for a minute, weighing the calm feeling he had from hearing those words. It was truly a relief to know Carly would have someone on her side. He smiled slightly and lowered his arms.

"You're a good man, Griffin. I trust you. Make sure she stays happy, don't do anything to hurt her. We may go a long way. Though eventually you two are going to have to come out as well…especially since Mom and Robert are going to want to find a mate for her…"

"Oh yeah…I guess that would be something…"

"Yeah. Well, get out there and play some drums. I'll send you off and call up the next drummer."

"Got it."

"Oh, and everything we just said…it's just between me and you."

"Right."

Within minutes Freddie was back at the booth and Griffin was on the drums. He was doing all right, but not the best. He was missing a lot of notes on In the Air Tonight. Though, he was the first person so far to even make it to that point. Once done, Freddie stood up and clapped a couple times. "Great job Griffin."

"Thanks Freddie."

"I've got my notes and I'll let you know what the final decision is."

"Sounds good to me." Griffin stood and waved at him, smiling as he started walking off the stage. Freddie watched him walk out the door and slowly turned his eyes to the next person on the drummer's list. "Gary Wolf…you're up next…"

Okay, so Griffin has known about Sam and Freddie all this time, amazing! Now Griffin and Freddie know of each other and are friendly, so it's good news, especially for Griffin. If he keeps up the good work, he could be considered for Carly's potential groom. Of course, that means Carly has to come out and open about their relationship. If not, Robert and Marissa won't know to consider Griffin.