The Greatest Secret
Disclaimer: Nope, don't own iCarly
A/N:
Chapter 170 (Home Movies)
Melanie opened her eyes the next morning and smiled as the sunlight shone down upon her. It was the 22nd of December and slowly, but surely, Christmas was coming! She sat up in her bed and looked around, Sam wasn't in the room, she must have gotten up earlier. With a yawn, she stood from the bed and walked to the window. Her tentative hand rested upon the cool window as her eyes gazed out at the snowfall. She'd dreamt that she was out there, playing with her mom. She and Sam were children. Such a pleasant dream, so why couldn't it be real? A tear left her eye and she quickly brushed it away. She had to buck up, she couldn't let this ruin her joy.
She hurried to take a shower and get dressed, once done, she hurried out of the room. She placed her hands on the railing and looked down into the living room. She smiled as she saw everyone huddling around the couch. Susan and Hugh were on the corner cushion, he had his arm around her shoulder and she was resting her head on his shoulder. Morris and Maggie were in the same position on Hugh's side. Brian and Madeline were on Susan's side and were cuddled up as well. On the outer cushions of the sectional, Violet and Buzz were seated. On both sides of the couch, recliners had been pulled up to make some extra room. Greg and Annie were sitting in the recliners. Leon and Venus were sitting on the ground, up against the feet of the couch on both outer sides, leaving the center area for Sam and Melanie. The coffee table had been moved away as well. Sam was hooking something up on the television, it looked like a DVD player. She glanced up and grinned. "Melanie! Come down here! We have something for you! Hurry!"
"Okay, okay. How come no one woke me up?" She hurried down the steps and made her way into the living room just as Sam sat back against the couch. As she got closer, she saw a rack full of DVDs next to Sam. Beside her was a DVD player. "So, what's all this?" Sam grinned at her and motioned her over. She hesitated for a split second, then moved next to Sam. "Okay, so what's going on?"
"Home movies," Susan said with a smile. Melanie furrowed her brow as she swallowed. "A few years ago we compiled all the family home movies over the years and put them onto DVDs. Sam suggested yesterday that we watch some."
"Really?" She turned a bewildered gaze to Sam, who nodded with grace.
"Particularly the ones of mom…I thought you should really see her and know her." She gasped and turned back to the television as Sam flipped it on. Her hands started to sweat and she bit her lip nervously. She was scared, but excited at the same time. "It'll probably be a day thing, so I hope you're ready to really meet mom. This is our Christmas present to you."
"I…You're serious?"
"Yep. You deserve it."
Brian reached forward and pat Melanie on the shoulder, comforting her. Her lips moved upwards as she saw the start of the home movies. There were three children huddled around the couch where a much younger Susan was holding a small baby in her hands. Melanie smiled and could almost instantly pinpoint the children, but they were just guesses.
"August 5th, 1970, we just got a new arrival!" Hugh's voice shot over the camera and Susan lifted her head up anxiously. She was still weary from the labor. "Violet Daniels was born on the 2nd, mother and baby just came home!" The camera zoomed in on Susan, who was giving him the glare of death.
"Honey, not now! I'm exhausted! For the record Hugh, the next time you decide to stick that thing in me, you better have protection."
The family laughed and Susan put her hand to her lips, blushing like crazy. Violet looked over to her mom with an astonished look, she never knew her mother could talk like that. "Really mom?"
"In my defense, I just went through thirty hours of labor with you.'
"Uh huh." Venus laughed and nudged her mother.
"You make such an adorable baby!"
"Moving on before my sweet wife decides to castrate me. The camera moved to the twelve year old boy in the group. He was rubbing his ear and staring at the camera. "Hey Brian, how do you feel about your baby sister?"
"I'm still the only boy!" Brian crossed his arms over and a small three year old girl with blonde hair walked over and playfully pushed Brian. "Hey, cut it out Sarah."
"No, bu-bu is happy about Violet. Tell the truth!" The other girl, four year old brunette with short hair, stepped next to Sarah and pointed at Brian.
"Yeah!" Brian rolled his eyes and sighed.
"Fine, I love my new baby sister." Hugh laughed as Susan watched her three children with love and pride.
"Sarah Pam Daniels, my wonderful three year old daughter, and Lucy Henrietta Daniels, our four year old. They're adorable standing up to their older brother and getting the truth out of him."
Brian laughed as Madeline pinched him on the arm and smirked. The other relatives looked at him curiously while Violet raised her eyebrows at him. "All through the years, those two girls constantly ganged up on me."
"I'm just a little concerned you wanted me to be a boy, Brian."
"Hey, I was twelve years old and I wanted a brother to play ball with in the park, not girls that I was going to end up playing dolly." Violet laughed as Leon gave his dad a fist bump. "Yes I was happy about you though. Doesn't mean I didn't want a little brother. I guess at that point of time Mom decided to nix the possibility of anymore children."
"Oh please, you got one, even if he wasn't biologically your brother."
"I will say David was a good best friend to have." Sam looked up and her eyebrows rose in surprise, she didn't know that her dad knew Uncle Brian as a kid. At least now she know how her mom and dad met.
Melanie tuned out her relatives in a way, her eyes focused on her mom. As the home movie went along, she had an almost empty feeling in her stomach. As time went on, more home movies came and she learned more and more about them. She heard Leon laugh and point at the screen. "Hey look, it's Mom!" Melanie gasped and curled up on the couch, covering her eyes.
"I remember this! I can't look!"
Twenty year old Brian laughed with his best friends David Puckett and Madeline Penta. Madeline and David were both eighteen. Madeline had her arms crossed and was looking at the eleven year old Sarah and Lucy, both of whom were grinning mischievously. In her hair was whipped cream. "Lucy, why is my hair covered with whipped cream?"
"Because I put a pack of whipped cream on the door you just opened. My assistant here will take full credit in her action." Sarah chuckled nervously and quickly ran behind David. Madeline raised her eyebrow and tapped her foot on the ground.
"Lucy, do you know how long it'll take to get this out of my hair? I have a date tonight!"
"Is it with Brian?" Madeline and Brian both blushed and looked at each other. Lucy smirked as Madeline shook her head.
"No, it's the football quarterback. I actually got him to recognize me."
"That's why the whipped cream." Lucy clapped her hands together and walked out the door. With a sigh, Madeline followed after her, then slipped on a puddle of melted ice cream. She screamed and crashed hard on the floor. "Oh sorry! I spilled the ice cream earlier!"
"Madeline!" Brian hurried over to Madeline and helped her sit up. She moaned and rubbed her forehead while the cameraman, David, set down the camera on the table and hurried over to help the two. Sarah smacked her forehead and Lucy grinned innocently.
"Lucy, that was a bad thing!"
"I know, but I want Madeline to date Brian! Not a football person. They're mean people."
Melanie shook her head and closed her eyes, she wasn't sure how she felt about Lucy. She was innocent as a child it seemed, but at the same time, she definitely didn't need to be so cruel. Madeline sighed and Brian kissed her cheek as she smiled and folded her arms. "I missed that date with the quarterback and spent all night with Brian. That's when I realized he was the one for me." Maggie looked over with a smile and held her hand over her heart.
"Aw, so sweet!"
"Thank you Aunt Lucy!" Leon commented with a laugh. Brian gently kicked Leon in the leg and chuckled. "What? It's true. I wouldn't even be alive if it weren't for that prank right there. Am I right, or am I right?"
"You're right, you're right!" Brian laughed and Melanie slowly looked over, bewildered. "We found out the Quarterback was seeing other girls at the same time and just wanted to make out. So, in essence, Lucy did do a good thing there."
"Do you think she knew?" Sam's eyebrow was up with curiosity. Brian shrugged and Madeline tapped her chin with thought.
"It's possible, I remember catching her around the school sometimes. It was so long ago that I can hardly remember."
As time went on, they eventually came to Sarah's 'Sweet Sixteen' birthday party. Melanie was confused about Lucy, she always seemed like a good sister, not a bad one. Sure she was opinionated, but growing up she didn't seem like the type to want to take someone's kid away. In this video, it was Hugh filming.
"Okay, everyone can sing happy birthday!" Lucy called out while standing up from her seat. They were at a round table, with Sarah at the head. Next to Sarah was Marissa, her best friend. She didn't look too happy, despite it being her best friend's birthday. "And Emily, that means you too!" Marissa frowned and flicked her eyes to Lucy, glaring at her. Lucy cleared her throat and sighed. "If you want, that is. It's up to you."
"Thanks."
"Geez." Sarah laughed once and took Marissa's hand.
"It's okay Emily, try to have fun. I know it's hard to think about you know who and you know what, and I'm here for you whenever you need me…but today, try to put all that behind and have fun. Okay? Will you try?" Marissa smiled and slowly nodded her head.
"For you? Yeah, I'll give it a try." Thirteen year old Violet came running in, wielding a pair of streamers in her hands. She laughed happily and started circling the table.
"Happy birthday sis! Happy birthday!" Brian and Madeline, seated at the other end of the table, smiled at the scene. Susan laughed and had to step to the side in order to avoid being run into.
"Okay Violet, settle down dear, it's time for the birthday girl to blow out the candles."
"Okay mommy! Whee!" Violet squealed and dropped the streamers as she ran for an empty chair. Lucy smiled and cleared her throat.
"All right everyone, time to sing!" Sarah blushed as Marissa and her family all stood up. "Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you, happy birthday dear Sarah! Happy birthday to you!" Sarah breathed in and blew out all the candles.
A tear ran down Melanie's cheek as she watched her mother enjoying her party, though she was also watching the background. It was there she saw the first sign of trouble. No one had noticed Lucy receiving something from the mail, nobody noticed her sitting down in a corner, crying hard about something.
As the video went on, there was a part that the camera was clearly forgotten and left on. The family all stared at the video in shock as Lucy and Sarah argued, Lucy was yelling and ranting while Sarah tried to console her. Eventually, she managed to do so and was talking to her on the couch. Everyone else was in another part of the house.
"This is what I'm going on about, Sarah." Lucy handed Sarah the slip of paper from earlier and the girl's eyes widened.
"Oh my god, you were pregnant?"
"It was just an accident. My boyfriend broke up with me! That's the eighth boyfriend in two years!"
"This says you miscarried and-"
"I can never have children, Sarah. Ever. I'm always so busy trying to make everyone else's life better, that…" Lucy brought her hands to her eyes and sobbed while Sarah rubbed her back. "Nevermind, just…go on and live your perfect life.
"Lucy, my life's not perfect…no one's is."
"Give me a break! Brian has a great girlfriend and a great life, Violet's the apple of the family, you're Miss Does-Everything-Right, and I'm…what am I? I screw everything up! I can't even have a steady relationship because…I don't know! All guys ever want to do is have sex, and the one time I give in, the guy leaves me! And no, I didn't miscarry, I just missed my period, that's all. I thought I was pregnant, but the doctors said I'd never have children."
"Lucy…I'm so sorry…"
"Sarah!" Violet came running into the room and grabbed Sarah's wrist, smiling happily. "Sarah come play! I want to do each other's hair!" Sarah hesitated briefly and gave Lucy an apologetic look.
"I'm sorry Lucy, we'll talk about this later, okay? Tell mom and dad?"
Susan gasped and tears ran down her eyes. Hugh swallowed and slowly shook her head. "Lucy never told us a thing, but if she felt like she wasn't getting enough attention…we would have gladly given her some attention. We tried to treat all our children equally."
They shook it off and continued on with the home movies. They ran through high school graduations, Sarah's prom, then her first date with David. Melanie was noticing as the home movies went on, Lucy seemed to become more and more depressed. Violet's life was going so well, as was Brian's. Sarah was a happy Aunt when it came to Leon, as was Violet, but Lucy could hardly touch him.
When they came to 1993, the whole family was gathered around Violet, who was holding her newborn baby. Violet smirked at Venus and tilted her head. "Now who makes an adorable baby?" Venus blushed and closed her eyes.
"Oh hush, Mom."
Sarah swooned over Venus as David had his arm around her shoulders. "David, when we get married, we're going to have a beautiful baby, right?"
"Of course we are. You know, I'm a triplet, so there's a good chance of us having twins, or more." Sarah gasped and her cheeks rose joyously.
"I hope so! I'd love to have twins!" Lucy sat in the corner of the room and raised her eyebrow. Marissa was there as well, smiling as Violet and her husband held their baby. She looked back to Lucy, then to the camera. She made a motion to Lucy and mouthed 'nuts' at the cameraman. Sarah moved over to Violet and smiled. "Can I hold her?"
"Of course you can, sis."
"Thanks!" Sarah picked up Venus and squealed as she turned to David. "She's so light! She's a perfect baby."
"You'll have one eventually, baby." Brian cleared his throat from behind the camera and David looked over with a wry smile.
"You know, I know you two are in love, but could you not talk mush to my sister while in my presence? It's still kind of weird to me." Marissa laughed and Sarah blushed as David slowly shook his head in embarrassment.
"Well it was!" Brian stated matter-of-factly. The others laughed and pat him on the shoulder. They knew he was just a protective older brother, that was perhaps the best explanation that could be provided. Madeline kissed his cheek and smirked.
"You know, you were always so cute when you get all huffy and defensive."
"Yeah, yeah…"
Violet huffed and folded her arms over. The others looked to her and frowned, knowing exactly what she was upset about. Lucy's confession to Marissa, she stated the reason she abducted Melanie was out of guilt, obsession, and envy, that her sisters had such perfect lives and she didn't. She confessed to the brief affair with Travis, Violet's husband, in which she ended when Violet became pregnant. She confessed to feeling that pang of envy when she learned Sarah was getting her wish and having twins. She knew what she'd done was wrong, but once she took Melanie, once the doctors did their thing, she felt she'd crossed the point of no return.
"It's hard seeing Travis…I'm sorry Violet." She lifted her hand and shook her head. Venus glanced at her and frowned, she felt her mother's pain. Travis died in 1998 due to lung cancer. He never told anyone about the affair.
"It's fine Brian, I don't think of the asshole who screwed my sister behind my back." They nodded and continued watching the home movies, passing through Sarah's wedding. Marissa had been the Matron of Honor, which was expected. Lucy had gone missing some time after that, around the time of Sarah's conception and announcement that she was having twins.
The day of her labor was a bittersweet one at best, her face was streamed with tears and she was cuddling Sam close to her. David was standing next to her and Morris was recording the video. "I wasn't able to hold my other…why? Why wasn't I allowed? I don't understand this hospital, I don't understand the doctor."
"It's okay Sarah, it's okay." David hugged her close and kissed Sam's forehead. "Samantha is a trooper just like her mother, huh?" Marissa was on the other side of the bed and was staring out the window at the doctor. She flattened her lips and looked back to Sarah.
"There's something about the doctor I'm not sure about…and I'm a police officer, I make it my duty to detect things."
"Emily, please…" Sarah closed her eyes and Marissa slowly exhaled. "I don't want to think about what happened, I don't want to think about that doctor. Just…"
"I'll leave it alone, if it makes you feel better."
"Thank you…" Sam's arms moved around and she cried as she looked around the room. "Look at her, she's trying to find her sister isn't she?" Sarah sobbed lightly and wrapped the baby's blanket around her. "It's okay Samantha, it's okay. Don't worry about Mommy. Mommy's here. Mommy's here…"
Not a dry eye was in the room. Melanie felt like running off and crying. She was comforted by Sam's hand gently squeezing hers. She was able to sit through more home movies. She was distraught when they reached 1998, the year that David was shot and killed during a hunting expedition. She always enjoyed seeing him in the videos. It was heartbreaking, almost like someone she'd known all her life had just got pulled away from her.
The home movies came to an end around 2002. When they ended and the family turned off the television, the family was silent. Melanie slowly smiled and stood up, wiping her eyes. She had a number of emotions inside her. Joy, love, sorrow, fear, anxiety. She just wasn't sure what to think. What she did know was that she needed to see those videos. Sam stood up with her and Melanie hugged her close. "Thank you everyone. Thank you. I'm going to…I'm going to go get some rest, okay?"
"Okay Mel. We'll be right out here if you need anything. Uncle Morris is going to teach us to play pool later if you're interested." She wanted to play, but that would be later. She smiled and wiped her eyes again. "I think Uncle Buzz is going to join us too." Buzz nodded his head and smiled.
"Yep, I'll be joining. Morris and I are the unbeatable team." Melanie chuckled and hugged her two Uncles.
"Thank you. If I'm not out in a couple hours, feel free to wake me. I wouldn't miss pool for the world." They nodded and waved her off as she started up the stairs and back into her bedroom, shutting the door. Once there, she took a deep breath and climbed onto the bed, where everything crashed around her. She pulled her knees to her chest and sobbed lightly, the pain of missing her mother was greater than she'd ever imagined. She loved that woman, though she never knew her. "I wish she never took me from Mommy…" She sniffed and closed her eyes tightly, unaware of the invisible eyes that were watching her closely.
Heh, you know what's coming. Ol' Mitch is here!