The Greatest Secret

Disclaimer: Nope, don't own iCarly

A/N:

Chapter 181 (Marissa's Struggle)

Freddie sat at the kitchen table with Robert. He was reading the morning paper and sipping a cup of coffee. The morning paper was talking about the awesome return of the band at the Groovy Smoothie, then it also spoke of the murders that happened outside. Nevel survived the murders by some miracle, he said he had to lay down in a puddle of blood and pretend to be dead until the man left. The description he gave police of the man was well built, fuzzed hair, piercing brown eyes, bushy eyebrows, and a man in his mid to late thirties, maybe early forties.

He took a sip of his coffee and set the paper down. His stomach churned inside him as he recalled the events of the prior night. He may not remember them very much at all, but everything about what Nora said, he did recall. It was sickening to think that there were men out there like Bana, like Lionel. He'd not given the journals to his mother just yet, he wasn't sure how to bring them up. They were great evidence, great history, but they didn't state where either men were located. "Is mom still asleep?"

"I believe she and Carly are out on the back patio." He nodded his thanks and got up from the table. He brushed his fingertips along the table and started on his way towards the back. As he took a deep breath, he continued to think about how to bring up all the crap that Nora told them. Carly had been traumatized by it all, as she'd been up almost all night, tossing and turning. There was a chance she already told Marissa, but he doubted that.

He stepped next to the glass sliding doors and gazed outside at Carly and Marissa sitting in the iron patio chairs, chatting on as the day passed. Christmas Eve, he didn't want to make Christmas into a bad time, but some things were important. With Bana around, the entire family could easily wind up dead, so this wasn't just something they could easily avoid. His muscles tensed up and he slowly opened the door and stepped out into the cool breeze. His sister and mother looked back to him with a smile and an eagerness to see him. "Hey Freddie!" Carly chimed her voice and stood up to greet him. "Did you have a good sleep?"

"Yeah, how about you, Carly?"

"About as good a sleep as I can have…" She frowned and Marissa rose up to her feet. It was clear they'd already been talking about some depressing subject matter. "Did you see the paper this morning?"

"Yeah, at least Nevel's okay." It was hard to believe the person had the gusto to make it through an attack like that. He did not wish ill towards him at all, it wouldn't be right if he thought anything of something like that. "Anyway, Mom, last night we were given something that you need to see…" Marissa furrowed her brow and the color in Carly's face drained. He took a deep breath and folded his arms over. "Carly, you don't have to be here for this if you don't want to."

"No. I need to be. It's just…" She stopped herself short and turned her head away, trying to shake the thoughts of what she'd read. After talking to Nora last night, she and Freddie had sat down and read through everything in those journals. It was a lot to take in, and it frightened them to a great deal. "Mom, Nevel was trying to take the band last night, but we were saved by someone...Her name was Nora, and she was trying to get in contact with us, or you, I'm not sure."

"Nora? Did she know what Nevel was doing?"

"No. She had some other stuff…come on…" The two siblings led Marissa inside. Freddie hurried off and returned a moment later with all the journals. "Nora gave us those, they deal with Lionel and…Bana Shay." Marissa's eyebrows rose sharply as she carefully took the books from Freddie.

"She's gone through hell to get these to you, Mom." The woman lifted her eyes to Freddie and slowly nodded her head. She'd be happy to oblige and look the journals over, if it detailed whom Lionel and this Bana person was, then it would help her to have evidence against them. "I wasn't sure if I should give it to you on Christmas Eve, but it's a matter of life and death, and…Bana was behind the attack on Aunt Zamira. He and his father, grandfather, and so on…were behind everything that happened…" She paused shortly and glanced down at the journals, her eyes were filling with curiosity. "If anything, Tyrone…is just a misguided old fool, but we're not dealing with him…" Marissa put her fingers to her chin and took a deep breath, her hands shook slightly as she eyed the old looking, dusty books.

"I see. I'll look at these. If this Nora went through a lot of work to get these to me, then they're worth a study."

"Right. Another thing…the person who attacked Nevel, last night…"

"Yes?"

"Nora said it was that Bana guy…" Marissa's eyebrows rose up and she drew in a sharp breath of surprise. "We were that close to death. All of us." He saw her tense up, fearing that her own children were that close to danger. Her hands loosened and quickly grasped at the journals that were beginning to slip. Freddie took a deep breath and Carly walked over to her mom, hugging her. "It's okay, we're fine now. Let's just try to have a good Christmas celebration tomorrow. I mean, it should be awesome!"

"True, but I'm going to check these journals tonight."

"All right mom." He met her eyes and caught a glimpse of concern. It didn't surprise him that she might be worried for them, this was the second time he got attacked. She needed some time to think, he was sure about that. He moved his eyes over to Carly, who was glancing around anxiously, clearly trying to forget the trauma. "Hey Carly, you want to run by some of tonight's music?" Her eyes lit up and she hastened to her room where the piano was. Freddie laughed and smiled, though his mom remained quiet.

"I'll have the security around the Groovy Smoothie beefed up tonight, I'm not letting you and Carly end up in any danger."

"Understood, Mom, understood." She smiled and hugged him tight, not wanting to let him go.

"We're going to catch these people. Got that?"

"Yeah, I know you will. I'm not too concerned." He stepped back and pushed his hands into his pockets. "I'm just going to focus on the band right now…Everyone's a little freaked out, so I want to make sure everyone's going to be on track for tonight's performance." He wanted them to shine and not to let the events of the prior night eat them up. If they did, then there was no hope left. They had to push through the drama and the death threats.

"You guys will do fine."

"Thanks Mom. I love you."

"Love you too, kiddo." She smiled and rubbed his hair before walking off to her study. His face grew red and he threw his hand through his hair, trying to straighten it back. Thank god Sam didn't just see that. Chuckling to himself, he shook his head and hurried off to the bedroom to practice for tonight.

Marissa and Robert made their way through the hospital, saying nothing at all, only thinking about what they read in those books. She had called him into her study to read with her, so he did absorb some of the shock. However, there was absolutely nothing that could have prepared them for the history they discovered.

She remembered hearing something about her great grandfather's brother being banished, but she never knew the story behind it. If that was the reason for the whole hatred between the Shays and the Davidsons, it seemed to be a pathetic one. She flattened her lips and narrowed her eyes. Did Bana even know what really happened? More than one hundred years ago had passed, why was this still going on?

Robert paused in the middle of the hallway and looked back to Marissa. She stopped and stared at the expression on his face, it was mixed with turmoil. "I just simply can't believe it…I want to believe my father is the worst."

"I know, Robert." Her eyebrows rose sadly as she placed a soft hand on his chest. Tears started to brim her eyes and his face twisted with concern.

"Why are you crying?"

"I'm…I'm not…" She wiped her eyes and shook her head. Robert smiled and shook his head. Even thirty years later, she still acted too tough for tears. "I'm just really having a hard time taking this all in. Aunt Zamira died because of something my great grandfather's brother did. Little Kelly has to live with her one surviving Uncle because of something that happened a century ago!" Her hands clenched tightly and anger flashed in her eyes. "An innocent boy is hospitalized because of this…someone not even involved! Why? It isn't fair!" She brought her hands up to hit Robert's chest, but he took her wrists and held them in a firm, yet gentle, grip. She lifted her eyes to him and a solitary tear ran down her cheek. Her heart thrashed about in her chest and her lungs felt ready to explode. She closed her eyes tightly and shook her head violently.

"It isn't fair. It isn't right. That's why you're a police officer, Marissa." His soft voice pierced into her and calmed her spastic nerves. Her eyes opened halfway and met his. "Take a deep breath…relax…"

"I…" Her chest rose as she drew in a powerful breath of air and closed her eyes. "I'm sorry, it's just…"

"You're an officer because you put away the people who do the things like this. Justice is fair, you're fair, that's your job, to be fair and to make sure things happen as such." She swallowed and took another breath, calming her nerves a bit more.

"You're right…let's see if Nevel will tell us anything…"

"Okay. I'm right here."

"Good." She took his hand and rested her head on his shoulder as they continued on their way to Nevel's room. They were going as people wanting to know a bit more, but if Marissa could manage to get some good information to use in her investigations, she would definitely put it towards her police work.

When they entered Nevel's room, the boy looked up from his bed with a frown. He moaned and closed his eyes, his body was in too much pain to complain about anything. His right cheek had a bandage, his arms were wrapped up, and his neck had bruising, as though several blood vessels burst inside him."I have a gash in my chest…or I did…" He winced and moaned. "Why am I alive? Why did I survive?" Marissa frowned and slowly walked next to him, then gently placed her hand on his arm.

"It is a miracle that you survived…"

"Yeah. Right." He scoffed and turned his eyes to the side. The lack of soul and life was depressing, but not something that she hadn't seen in the eyes of many victims. He'd been through so much, practically torn apart, and was still managing to stay beyond the reach of death, it was enough to scare anyone. "I don't do anything useful. I yell, I'm violently angry, I cuss out my own mother, I try to ruin other people…why would I deserve to be alive?"

"Maybe someone has a plan for you."

"Spare me." He turned his eyes to her and narrowed them. "I gave up on God a long time ago. When my father left us, my grandma lost her mind, and my mother stopped being a mother…what god would put me through that?"

"I'm very sorry that you've had a rough life, but the fact that you're alive is important. Besides, you can be of great help…" He raised his eyebrow and sighed quietly.

"It hurts to breathe, you know."

"I know, but that pain will go away. I just need to know…what was it that happened last night? What did you see?"

"What did I see? Big muscular man with a scar on his cheek and chin slashing my bodyguards." Marissa felt a chill run down her spine and slowly looked to Robert. Picturing Bana wasn't easy for her, but she needed to know everything.

"Your bodyguards may have saved your life, Nevel."

"Yeah…" He sniffed and closed his eyes. Marissa watched as his hands slowly clenched up and the anger started welling up on his face. "If I tell you everything that happened. Will it help you put that man away?"

"Yes. Greatly."

"Okay…"

So Nevel, in all his pain, miraculously surviving, is of some help. Start of an investigation I suppose, what do you make of the chapter?