The Greatest Secret

Disclaimer: Nope, don't own iCarly

A/N:

Chapter 171 (Mitch is Back!)

Melanie lifted her head from her legs and looked around her room, she was overcome with a strange, almost whimsical feeling that she couldn't explain. It also felt as though someone else were in the room. "Is someone there? Hello?" She stood up and swallowed hard. A breeze moved the curtains beside the window, yet it was shut. It grabbed her attention though, she moved over and peered out. It was difficult to see with all the snowfall, but still it was like a gorgeous painting, one that Annie could do.

She wrapped her arms around herself and slowly turned around, pausing momentarily and staring at the bed. Her eyes widened as they fell upon a tiny bald, bearded man lying sideways with his hand on his head and elbow in the pillow. "Who are you?" How did he get in her room? The guy quickly sat up and pushed his hands in the air, chuckling nervously.

"Relax, I'm Mitch! The Christmas angel!" She raised her eyebrow and stared at him with growing skepticism. He closed his eyes and hopped off the bed. "You might not believe me, but I am. I'm here to earn my wings this year. Got to earn them each year, you know." She scoffed and turned around to ignore him, but he popped on the windowsill in sitting position. The act caused her to stagger back onto the bed. "Sorry, I hope I didn't scare you. See, I grant wishes. Last year I tried to help some guy learn a lesson or see what life would be like, but it didn't end too well for me. I did get my wings though!"

"Uh uh, I'm sure you did. I'm not too sure I trust you."

"Oh I'm trustworthy. Well, I mean, this year I was going to help the guy's best friend realize what life would be like if he'd never met his wife, but the guy seemed to think that I was using a similar scenario that was in a dream that his friend had in Christmas last year, didn't give me a chance." Melanie's eyebrow arched up and her face scrunched. "Anyway, if you'll let me, I can show you what life was like if, as you said, Aunt Lucy never took you." She sat up, still skeptical and unsure, but honestly she wouldn't mind a peek.

"You could do that?"

"Of course, would you like to see what life would be like milady?"

"I'm not sure…" She rubbed her arm and moved her eyes to the side. She didn't want to risk anything bad happening. Like he said, he took someone's lover away from them a year ago. "I wonder if it comes with a return policy." Mitch chuckled and rubbed the back of his neck. Melanie snapped her head to him and quickly moved to her feet. "Wait a minute, Mitch. I need to know-"

"Well…you see…" He snapped his fingers and the room begun spinning. The window became flurried with snow like a blizzard. Melanie screamed out and closed her eyes. Her stomach churned and bile begun to rise. She put her hand on her stomach and groaned as she started to fall over.

"Mitch! Stop this! Now!" Mitch chuckled once more as Melanie fell to the ground and caught herself. The seemingly spinning room ceased for once, but when she opened her eyes and adjusted her hazy vision, she noticed a dramatic change of scenery. The song Billionare was heard from the room over, it was the first thing she noticed. The walls around her were purple with some flame tint to them. The bed she was on was a very dark, almost black color. "Weird…I hate dark stuff."

"No you don't, you love dark stuff. At least here you do." She raised her eyebrow and brought her hand to her mouth, choking up on the colors. She heard a rapid knock at the door and looked up as it opened. Her eyes widened when she saw her father rushing into the room. "Oh, and you live with your dad."

"Melanie! Are you all right? I heard you scream."

"Daddy?" Her jaw fell as David reached down and helped her to her feet. "You're alive?" David raised an eyebrow as Mitch walked over to the nearest wall.

"Did you hit your head when you fell, dear? Yes I'm alive. Anyway, I ordered some chinese for tonight. Are you all right?"

"Yeah, I'm fine." She looked to Mitch for answers and waited as David walked out of the room. She hurried over to him and glared into his eyes, she really wasn't sure what was going on. "How is Dad still alive?"

"You weren't taken by your Aunt Lucy, so he never went on that hunting trip with Sam back in '98. Lewbert, the true target of the debt collector, was killed that day. Melanie's eyes widened and her heart started to pound inside of her. She couldn't believe her ears, herfatherwasalive! "Oh, and you're kind of, sort of, rich."

"I am?"

"Yeah, your dad invests in the stock market, knows how to spend his money, and works on coding for a computer company. He works at home. By the way, you live in Shoreline, WA with your dad. It's just you and your father."

"Why? What about Mom?"

"She passed away in the same year as before, she aquired the same illness. Hey, I'm just an angel, there are certain things that even I can't change." Melanie's jaw fell and her legs started to quiver. This was devastating news, she couldn't believe that er mother was actually still gone! "Don't worry, you knew her and loved her well, she was a great mother to you and loved you dearly for as long as she lived and breathed. As for living in Shoreline, your dad relocated here, things got a bit…odd…in Seattle. What with all the stuff going on…" Melanie shook her head and grunted while pushing her hands in through the air.

"Wait, back up a bit. You're saying 'you' as if I'm the only child. That, and what is going on in Seattle?" Mitch groaned and started to rub his beard. The act threw her off and struck her with worrry and grave concern. "Where's my sister? Or am I just misreading you?"

"Sam? She is…she is alive and well." She put her hand to her chest and sighed with relief.

"That's good. For a second there, I thought maybe you were going to say-"

"She just lives in Seattle and doesn't know who you are." Her blood instantly ran cold as her eyes widened and her hands quickly found Mitch's shirt collar. He yelled out and quickly backed up. "Hey, watch the merchandise! Don't manhandle me like the last guy."

"Where…is Sam? Where is my sister?"

Mitch mumbled and wiped his hands on his jacket. "You weren't specific. You only asked if Lucy didn't take you." The words tattered and abused her heart, knocking her off her feet and onto the bed. She started to shake as Mitch slowly rubbed the back of his neck. "Yeah, Lucy had the option of the baby on the right, the baby on the left. In your timeline she took the left, which was you, but this time she went for the right. Such a simple decision on her part…" Melanie swallowed and thought back to the home movies she'd seen. Simple decision? Was that really all it was for Lucy? A simple little choice between right or left?

"No…" She closed her hand up and slowly shook her head. "I don't believe it was a 'simple' decision. I think she suffered from that guilt. But if Sam's in Seattle, then…I want to go there."

"Er, you might not want to go to Seattle, actually." She narrowed her eyes and gently tapped her foot on the floor. Her heart was going a mile a minute and her mind was spinning out of control. Why was Mitch so adament against Seattle? "Besides, if you're looking for Freddie, Carly, Robert, Spencer, Marissa…you're not going to find them."

"What do you mean?"

"Well see, this sort of ties in to the guy I dealt with before. It seems Sam's rather important. So…Freddie has never met her because Lucy took her instead."

"Show me…"

"Really?"

"Show me the differences!"

"Yikes! No need to yell…" He sighed and clapped his hands together. Once again the room began to spin and throw her off balance. She screamed out and closed her eyes for a minute, opening them up to a horrible scene. They were at Ridgeway High School, the halls and lockers had been coated with graffiti.

"W-Who did this?"

"Freddie. He's a bit of a bully these days." Melanie looked to the side when she heard someone shout. That was when she spotted Freddie shoving Gibby against a locker, his fist clenched around Gibby's shirt and free hand ready to strike him down. After a moment of struggling, Gibby handed him some money.

She was frozen in shock at what she was seeing. This was impossible, prepostorous! Mitch tugged at his collar and closed his eyes. It was at that time that she began noticing his nervousness. Putting it all together, she wondered if he'd seen this timeline before, but with someone else. He seemed terrified of Freddie. "Let me guess, you did this with Freddie?" The midget angel looked up and chuckled again as she turned to him, narrowing her eyes. "Well. Answer me. Who am I? Why is Freddie messed up? What's going on!"

"Well, there are some changes to the timeline. See, Freddie's question…well he didn't actually ask it, but it was if he never met Sam. So in his thing, you were still taken by Lucy. This time, Sam was. So one difference is Sam is with Lucy, your dad's still alive, and one more difference that wasn't quite around last year. See, last time, Jonah was in juvenile because he'd been framed by Carly planting a bomb under his car-"

"Repeat that?"

"Oh, Carly was really against Freddie and blamed him for her father's death. See, someone put anthrax in an envelope addressed to Marissa, Tyrone had a heart attack, and Robert killed himself. Well, that still happened since Sam wasn't around to accidently drop the letter in water…" Melanie's eyes widened fearfully as Mitch continued with his speech. "The car bomb killed Spencer, unintentionally, Carly and Freddie had been warring ever since. So, one more difference regarding this timeline and the effect of Sam never meeting Freddie. Not sure how this ties into it all, but in regards to family, and a year has passed since…Back then Freddie's aunt hand been offering to take him in, but he kept refusing. Eventually they made their presence and the family's presence in Seattle known to certain people, and well, let's just say…Freddie's the last Davidson left alive."

Well this is just great. Mitch has managed to turn the world upside down again. Poor Melanie, well, I wonder what Mitch's lesson is going to be, this time.