The Greatest Secret

Disclaimer: Nope, don't own iCarly

A/N:

Chapter 186 (Reaching LA)

The day had come for Freddie and the band to fly to L.A. He and Carly had been on their own since the wedding, considering Marissa and Robert had left for their honeymoon that day. No one heard from Tyrone, although someone thought they saw him lurking about at the wedding. It was a total surprise that he hadn't done anything, if he was really there. Of course, Angeline was one to debunk that theory, saying it was impossible for him to be there.

On the plane, all couples were sitting together on the left side. Freddie and Sam were in the front two seats, with Sam sitting next to the window so she could look out. Behind them, Carly and Griffin were cuddled up together beneath a blanket that she brought along with her. She was in the window seat as well, with her head against his shoulder. Behind them sat Tasha and Gibby, Tasha also had the window seat, simply because it felt more comfortable there and Gibby didn't mind people hitting him with their luggage instead of her. Of course, Jonah was sitting directly in front of Sam and Freddie, using his laptop to talk to Valerie via the webcam. She was enthused about the wedding and hadn't had the chance to talk to all of them since then. So, this was her time to go on about how beautiful it all was.

While Sam, Valerie, and Jonah chatted, Freddie had his head turned to Griffin and Carly. His concern was that his sister would be okay in LA. She still hadn't said a word to him about going there. Sam was the one who told him that Carly was a bit messed up about the whole thing, but doing her best to ignore it and not to worry. "Carly, how are you feeling about this trip?" Carly moved her eyes to Freddie and shrugged her shoulders.

"How should I feel? I want this, I'm part of the band and I'm not going to let some stupid asshole keep me from participating. Besides, if we run into him, Griffin will take care of me. Right Griffin?" Griffin smiled as Carly wrapped her arms around his. Freddie nodded in return. As long as Carly was comfortable with going, that's what mattered. Since it seemed she was, there was no issue. "Besides, what could you do about it now, anyway? We're already on the plane and could land any time now. I can't imagine you could just go to the pilot or one of the stewards and tell them to turn the plane around."

"True. At least you're all right with this trip. We'll be meeting Gibby's uncle when we land." The man had driven to LA on his own, taking the instruments with him so that they could be there when the band arrived. So far, only Freddie and Jonah had seen the guy, considering they had to hand off the instruments to him. "So it's definitely no turning back then."

"Good." She crossed her arms and watched as Freddie turned back in the chair. He met Sam's eyes and moved his hand to hers. She smiled at him and gave his hand a gentle squeeze, then kissed his cheek and rubbed her head against his shoulder. He would obey the rules that Uncle Morris and Aunt Maggie laid down, along with Marissa. When the band got to LA, the women and the men were to be in separate hotel rooms and there would be no sexual activity to speak of.

Carly smiled at the two and looked over to Griffin, speaking quietly with him. "I'm so happy for them. It's just…it's amazing that they're together. After all these years, I just can't believe they've been together all this time, but they have. Do you think we could have kept a secret as long as they did?" He moved his head back and chuckled dryly, earning a curious look from his girlfriend. "What? You don't think we could have kept our relationship secret as long as they did?"

"Carly. Their relationship was only secret to a few people, to their entire family, it wasn't. You and I carried on a secret relationship from everyone, in which, someone was bound to find out." She pressed her lips together and hummed a thought. He was right, someone would have eventually figured it out. "In fact…" Griffin lifted up his hand and pointed at Freddie. "He found out on Thanksgiving." Her eyes popped out of her sockets as Freddie glanced back for a split second, smirking triumphantly. He was definitely proud to have figured out their secret. "I think he saw through the window. So right then, our secret was blown."

"Damn!" Thinking back on it, she laughed. It wasn't as though she was as discreet as she could have been about the relationship. She knew she could have done a better job of keeping it on the down low, but a part of her didn't want it to be a secret. "I guess we didn't keep it a secret quite as long as you kept those little plush toys." Freddie's eyebrow rose and Griffin paled considerably.

"You know I don't still have those, right? I mean, I always said a collection was worth a lot of money, and what do you know…someone bought them on Ebay for one hundred each." His lips curled into a grin as Carly's eyebrows rose in astonishment. "They're a bit as every moneymaker that I told you they were."

"Impressive…"

"I know, right? Now tell me you love me." He put his arm around her shoulder and she let out a giggle.

"I love you." Thinking fast, she reached over and kissed him passionately. Freddie slowly shook his head and turned around while Gibby groaned. It wasn't easy being behind a couple when they start making out.

After they landed and grabbed their luggage, they found Gibby's uncle standing next to the band's crème colored van with their band's name and logo on the sides. The name had flames growing from the letters while the logo was of a flaming bowling ball.

Everyone besides Jonah and Freddie expected Gibby's uncle to be a bit on the overweight side, but they were surprised to see an average sized, well toned, tanned man with a white cowboy hat covering his sandy brown hair. He was wearing shades and had a goatee. If they didn't know any better, they'd think he was Chad Kroeger from Nickelback waiting for them. Gibby walked up to him and turned to the others. "Guys, this is Uncle Dan." Dan smiled and the girls swooned lightly, causing their boyfriends to raise eyebrows at them. The man removed his shades, revealing piercing green eyes.

"I'm glad to meet all of you finally." He had a thick Australian accent, which surprised the others. Gibby didn't have an Australian accent, so they hadn't possibly expected Dan to have one. "I've put all your equipment in the back. Now…don't you all have a tech guy? Where is he at?" Jeremy was going to come in on another flight. Freddie sighed and folded his arms over.

"Something came up today, so Jeremy decided he'd fly in tomorrow, if at all possible."

"Okay, not a problem then. Now, I have told you all the location of the battle of the bands, correct?" The group nodded and started heading towards the car. It was surprising that while this would be a nationally acclaimed thing, it was taking place at some high school.

"Hollywood Arts, right?"

"Yes. Anyway, I've booked our rooms at the Sheraton Pasadena hotel. Women on one side of the hallway, men on the other side. Since we'll have to get up early each morning, I say ten is a good time to get some sleep. So at that time, you're to go to your room."

"Sounds like a plan."

"All right then, let's get to the school and get you guys registered." Everyone hurried into the car, a tight fit, but doable. Maybe one day, if they ever had the time, they'd upgrade to a bus.

They were very excited about everything. Once they piled into the van and got on the road, they were informed that the hotel was allowing the band to practice their music without worry.

After they were set up in their rooms, they were all ready to relax and were down in the hotel's hot tub. Carly was in the pool section, swimming away. She preferred that to the hot tub, which was a bit crowded now. Dan was up in his hotel room, getting some sleep. They needed rest before they went to sign up.

"Hey Jonah, how's the wife doing?" Freddie asked with a subtle smirk. "You were talking to her the entire way here." Jonah yawned and slowly lifted his head from the pavement. He'd been suffering a case of jet lag for a while.

"She's fine. She and her mentor won the challenge that the channel was laying out for the mentors and their apprentices."

"Cool, I'm happy for her. What did she say about this week for us?"

"Wished us the best of luck and confessed to being the one to tell her mom and dad to keep watch over Aaron. She didn't want the baby to be on the plane just yet." That was the sad fact, but Valerie was most likely in the right for her opinion there. Aaron could have his first plane flight in a few years. "I heard Dan say a local band is originating from Hollywood Arts. A group of kids, am I right?" They looked over to Gibby, whose arm was around Tasha's shoulders. He stared at the bubbles, thinking, and nodded his head.

"Yep, that's right. They're going to be good competition. Some guy named Andre is on the piano, Beck on the guitar, Robbie on drums, a girl named Jade is also on the guitar, but vocals. Lead vocals is a girl named Tori Vega." Freddie hummed and Sam began to pale. She gave Freddie a sharp nudge in the side, causing him to grunt.

"Ouch! Why, Sam?"

"Tori Vega, that's the name of the other woman! The one Steven was cheating on Carly with…" He raised an eyebrow up while the others slowly looked over to the pool, seeing Carly climbing out on the ladder. This was going to be an interesting week.

And so begins the battle of the bands. Oh, and by the way, someone will have a big secret revealed to them here, the final secret.