The Greatest Secret

Disclaimer: Nope, don't own iCarly

A/N:

Chapter 165 (Christmas Vacation Begins)

The next morning Sam awoke to her sister practically pushing her out of the bed. Her eyes shot open and she yelped, squirmed, and fell out of the bed. Melanie chuckled as she slowly rubbed her head and rose to her feet. "Why Mel, why do it?" She wasn't exactly aware of what time it was, so she checked the clock It was 8:45, she had less than an hour to get ready! "Aw crap, you should have woken me up sooner!"

"We tried, but you're a very sound sleeper." She sighed and quickly ran for her bathroom. Melanie was already clean, dressed, and ready to go. Uncle Morris and Aunt Maggie probably were as well. She did not want to be the reason they were late getting on the road. She quickly grabbed her tooth brush, then ran for the bathroom cabinets and tore through the towels, pulling out a fuzzy white towel. Melanie poked her head in the bathroom and watched her fumble around for a bit. "Sam, chill, there's plenty of time. I'll grab some clothes for you for today. Is everything else packed?"

"Yeah, everything's packed, and no there isn't plenty of time. I don't want to be late!" Melanie sighed and moved back into the bedroom as Sam tore off her nightgown and turned the water on hot. She threw the towel onto the sink and leapt into the shower. First things first, she needed to brush her teeth. She could do that in a moment, though. Thinking fast, she grabbed the conditioner and lathered it into her hair, it would be best to let it sit for a while. As she did that, she quickly brushed her teeth and rinsed with the shower water.

After her shower, she dried herself off and found clean clothes on the counter for her. A pair of jeans and a purple t-shirt that had a small flower design along the bottom. She smiled and dressed as fast as she could. Melanie poked her head in and cleared her throat. "Sam! It's 9:15! Freddie and the others are here already."

"What? I thought it was only 9! What about my bags?"

"Don't worry, everything's in the car, we're just waiting on you. I even remembered to put your camera in your seat for you."

"Thanks Mel."

"Is there anything else you'll need?" Sam tapped her chin and shook her head, other than her purse, there was nothing. She'd packed everything in her suitcases. "All right then, let's get out, Uncle Morris and Aunt Maggie want to get going soon. I'm really excited, are you?"

"Hell yes! We get to see all our family and we're going to have a great Christmas!" The two girls held each other's hands and squealed for joy. When they settled, they looked to see Kyle and Freddie, both leaning on opposite sides of the door frame and smirking at the two.

"You guys sure you're not overly excited?" Freddie joked. Same rolled her eyes and smiled as she and Melanie walked to their respective boyfriends. They threw their arms around their necks and leaned up to kiss their lips as tenderly as they could. Freddie put his hands on Sam's waist and smiled at her as she leaned back and looked into his eyes. "Careful, you might make me overly excited." She giggled and tapped his lips. It was the point, she wanted him excited. "You know, I don't think I've ever seen you so happy and carefree. Reason?" Sam pressed her lips together and looked off to the side to see Carly walking towards them, smiling at her.

"I don't know. I feel kind of boundless now. Free, if that makes sense." He followed her gaze and chuckled.

"Yeah, I think I can understand that." She could practically dance for joy, a weight removed from her shoulders, honestly a perfect Christmas present. Freddie lifted his hand and brushed his fingers gently through her hair. "So, any resolutions for next year?"

"Only for it to be even more perfect than this year."

"Well, we'll see if I can make that happen." She grinned as he moved his hand down and gently caressed her cheek. She blushed lightly as he gently kissed her forehead. "You look beautiful, Sam." Her blush increased and Melanie glanced over at her with a smile. Carly crossed her arms and cleared her throat.

"Hey Freddie, I hope you don't mind, but I'd like to talk to your fiancé if I am so allowed." He chuckled and Sam quickly pushed off from him, turning to Carly with a grin. Carly smiled and hugged her. "I hope you have a fun time with your family! I'm going to miss you."

"You too, call me every day and let me know how it's going. Also, if Freddie starts getting out of line, let me know and I'll put him back in line." Freddie closed his eyes and replied with a soft, skeptical chuckle. To which Sam merely smirked.

"I'll be sure to do that. You know him better than I do, so you can probably keep him in line more."

"Right. Also, if Tyrone comes around, try and remember that he is your grandpa, but you don't have to tell him anything you don't want to. Okay?" Carly nodded her head and breathed in fearlessly. Freddie put his hand on Sam's lower back and she quickly looked to him. "Hi."

"Love, I think you should get outside now." Sam pursed her lips together as she heard a car horn, signaling impatience in waiting for the two girls.

"Oh yeah! We have to go! Come on Mel!" She took Melanie's wrist and ran for the door, Carly and the men followed after them. When they made it out, they saw Marissa talking to Maggie while Morris was in the car, tapping his index finger on the top of the steering wheel. Robert was leaning against the driver's side window and asking Morris a question about the trip. Marissa turned to the girls and smiled as she handed them both a brown bag.

"I thought I'd make you guys a sandwich for the trip. There's also a brownie in there."

"Thank you!" The two girls quickly hugged Marissa and took their bags from her.

After a few minutes of saying their goodbyes, the family was on their way. Morris was in the front with his GPS hanging from the rearview mirror. He had a military cap on his head and was concentrating hard on the road. Maggie had a book in her lap, but was waving at Marissa, Robert, Carly, Freddie, and Kyle, as were the girls, who were in the backseat and looking out the back window. Sam took her camera and flashed a shot of the four before they turned the corner. Morris looked into the rearview mirror and smiled at his nieces.

"Okay girls, sit back and buckle up, we have a long drive ahead of us." Sam and Melanie nodded and quickly sat in their seats, pulling their seat belts over. Melanie was behind Morris and Sam was behind Maggie. They were driving in a brown, four door Nissan Murano, 2009. It left ample room in the backseat for all their luggage. "Let's try to avoid singing show tunes for the next hour to two hours, shall we?" The girls smirked as Maggie looked back over the seat. She winked at them and started moving her hand in a conductor fashion. "Oh no…" With that, everyone began singing 99 Bottles on the Wall and Bingo was his name, among other songs, for the next fifteen minutes. Even Morris joined in after a while.

When things quieted down, Maggie was calling up Hugh and Susan Daniels to let them know they were on their way. The sisters thought it was nice that their family on their father's side and the family on their mother's side were so close, not many families were like that. Although, there weren't very many people on either branch, so they could all meet up whenever they liked. "Maggie, don't forget to call up Greg and Annie, they said they were leaving around ten, right?" Maggie finished her call with the grandparents and nodded her head.

"Yes. Greg's bringing along his girlfriend. She didn't want to wake up too early, so he's leaving later. Annie's meeting up with Buzz and Garth, then they're going to go get Carl." The whole family wanted to do something for Carl's next birthday, as he'd be 102 in 2012, but that was a moment for another time. "Melanie, do you know Carl?" Melanie looked up at Maggie and shook her head.

"Only a little, isn't he our great grandpa?"

"Yeah, he was your grandmother's father, your grandmother being David, Buzz, and Morris's mother." Melanie smiled heartily, but frowned after a second. Sam looked over at her with concern and tilted her head, she and Melanie talked about their family a lot, but she never really thought about how the girl must have felt over never knowing her family. Maggie looked back to Melanie and frowned. "What's wrong, sweetie?"

"Nothing, it's just…I can't believe what Aunt Lucy did, I…I never knew my family. I try not to hate anyone and I don't want to hate her, but…I never even got to have a memory of my mother." Sam's heart sank and she reached over to hug Melanie close. Maggie reached back and took Melanie's hand, smiling kindly at her.

"I know it is hard dear. I can't imagine what you must be going through, and I know it's not a lot of comfort to you to hear that, but...The important thing is that you are here now. What do you want to know about your family that you don't already know? I know we've never been the perfect family in the past, at least not for Sam."

"Yeah, Sam told me about that, and why Mom made Marissa the legal guardian. She says that you guys have really come through and I think you're great people." Morris and Maggie smiled and Sam leaned back slightly. "Just…what is everyone like? I mean, I know I met them all once, but I feel like I never really got to know everyone."

"Well okay. I'll start with your great grandfather, Francis Puckett. He had two children, Reggie and Rose. Rose had one child, Todd. Todd has a son that was born back in 1990, so he's five years older than you. They're actually doing their own thing this Christmas." She understood, it was okay though, considering Todd was only Morris's cousin. "Reggie had three triplets. Your father, Morris, and Buzz…." Melanie nodded as Maggie tapped her chin and Morris looked started speeding up to get on the freeway. "Buzz has one son, Garth. He's 23. Morris and I have two children, Greg and Annie…Greg is 30 now, Annie is 26."

"No cousins under 20, huh?" She chuckled lightly and Maggie laughed at the sarcastic tone. Sam smiled and decided to give a quick run through of their mother's side.

"Depends on which side you're looking at. Dad's side, no, but on mom's side we have one." Melanie raised her eyebrows up and listened eagerly to her sister. "Grandma and Grandpa Daniels, that's who we're going to visit. They had four children, though I used to think just three…"

"Yeah, Aunt Lucy…"

"She was the second born, I think. Uncle Brian is the oldest. Mom's the next, and then Aunt Violet, all right?" Melanie nodded and leaned back, smiling as she started thinking about everyone in the family. "Uncle Brian is married to Aunt Madeline, they have one kid. Our cousin, Leon, he's actually 25. Aunt Violet's a widow and has one child, Venus, and she is 18 years old."

"They're all going to be at the house too?"

"Yes. Also don't forget Aunt Blanche on dad's side, she's Uncle Todd's wife. I can guarantee you, in the next couple of weeks, you're going to really feel good about them. They'll all make you feel like family."

"Yeah, except you forgot someone Maggie," Morris said with a quiet voice. He moved over to the fast lane and Maggie's brow furrowed for a moment. After a second or two, her lips formed a circle and she slowly shook her head. "Mom and Dad had one kid before us." Sam lifted her eyebrows and smacked her forehead, how could she have forgotten? Even at the reunion they didn't talk about him. Hell, no one talked about him, he was so taboo! Melanie looked amongst her family with growing curiosity. "He was the real reason your mother didn't want you girls with all of us." Sam slowly nodded and took a deep breath.

"Uncle Carmine. He's in prison right now for murder, isn't he?"

"Yeah, actually I don't think it was intentional murder. He was playing with fireworks as he did all his life, they went off, burned someone's house down. The occupants didn't make it out in time." Melanie gasped and Sam felt a pang in her chest. The whole reason no one talked about him, though, was he was basically crazed. All his life, Carmine loved fire and loved setting fires. He almost got all of his brothers killed when they were young, he would sometimes try to burn them as they grew up. "Once we turned eighteen and could leave home, we all agreed to never speak of Carmine again."

"So I got a crazy uncle on my dad's side and a crazy aunt on my mom's side, we're a dysfunctional family." Melanie shrugged and smiled as Morris chuckled. "I couldn't be happier to have a dysfunctional family."

"Yeah, who wants a perfect family, right?" Melanie laughed and Sam gazed out the window with a smile on her face. "Anyway, everyone is happy that you're here, regardless of the circumstances. You are a part of the family and there's nobody who would ever want to change that. You're a Puckett, we Pucketts stand strong and along with the Daniels family, we're all just one big happy, slightly dysfunctional, family." Melanie grinned happily and closed her eyes, she was perfectly content with them. Sure it hurt that it took sixteen years to know them, but at least she had from now to the rest of her life.

Sam pointed her camera at Melanie and tapped her foot gently as she rested her finger on the snap button. Melanie looked over and gasped in surprise as Sam snapped a picture. Melanie laughed and Sam snapped another photo. "Okay come on Mel, pose!

"Okay." Melanie put her hand behind her head and winked. Sam laughed and snapped another picture.

As they continued on their journey, they found themselves out of any cities and driving through forests and then mountains. Sam was snapping photos at every tidbit of scenery that she could. The road trip was great in the sense that they played many car games, they sang some road tunes, joked around and just had an all around great time. Melanie was comforted that she would get to know the members of the family who were alive. At least that consisted of two grandparents, one great grandfather, several aunts and uncles, and several cousins. That was considered lucky, for the most part. Most people didn't even have that. Not only that, most people didn't have a whole family, rather, a mother's side and a father's side that remained separate. Unlike hers, they were just all one big family, part of a great big portrait.

Over the years, Melanie had only ever spent Christmas with Lucy, no others. Now, she was ready for the best Christmas of her life.

So Christmas begins, hope you've enjoyed this chapter.