Trifecta

Disclaimer: I don't own iCarly

A/N: Two things-1, I'm driving tomorrow and will not be able to update, so this gets put up tonight before I head to bed. 2-this is the third part that was "oneshot" before the story evolved into well, a story, so I'll give it to you now. Investigating Nevel. I want to hear no griping about the early update, it's for you guys-and I will be grouchy after a long drive. Lol I'm kidding, just enjoy.

Chapter 3 (Watching the Detectives)

Freddie stopped on the sidewalk leading up to Nevel Papperman's home. He was on the phone with Carly, a shock to him since she was the one who called. "I was just worried about you and Sam, that's all." Carly's voice was slow and soft, like she was about to go to sleep. It made sense considering how late at night it was for her. "Sam told me you said we don't talk much anymore, so I thought I'd call. I heard about Nora…A few weeks ago."

"Yeah, I was on vacation with Mom, so she went after Sam." He turned to the right, gazing down the empty street. "You don't have to call and talk to me if you don't want to, you know."

"It isn't like Sam put me up to it. I just don't want you to think I hate you or anything like that." There was a pause. Freddie looked to the sidewalk and closed his eyes as his heart began to pound. "So Sam tells me she thinks you've got a crush on her now."

"I still like her, yeah. I want her back…Don't know if she wants me back." He walked to the stone bench in Nevel's yard and took a seat. "I mean I know it wasn't fair to you or her what I did, but it was years ago. Still you two-"

Carly laughed once and Freddie lifted his head. "We girls tend to hold onto things for a long time, Freddie. Especially if it's something that hurts us." He pressed his lips together and exhaled slowly. "Do you really know what you want, though? That's the question. I don't want her to be hurt again."

"I'm not going to hurt her. I just-"

"Freddie, why did you break up with her?" His breath faltered and he squinted his eyes trying to remember. "I know it was years ago, but why did you break up?" He shrugged and glanced off, unable to reply. "Tell me Freddie. I want to hear it from your mouth. It was because of me, wasn't it?"

"Something you said."

"Essentially because of me, the person that you had been obsessed with for many years before finally dating Sam-and obviously she knew that because she was there for it all." He winced and moved his hand up to his forehead. "Any other reason for you two to break up, she might have understood a little better. The fact that I influenced your breakup is the problem."

"It was mutual at the time-"

"No it wasn't." He whined at her sharpened tone. "I don't care what a girl tells you-someone like Sam agreeing and acting like she's 'okay' with you breaking up is lying through their teeth. She didn't want to break up, certainly not because of something I may have done or said. Nobody in a relationship is going to let an outside person be the reason they split up!"

"I know, I know, I just-"

"Then you go and kiss her after breaking up with her. Not just kiss, but full on making out. You wonder why she's been dodging your come-ons for the last two years? She's afraid to get involved with you again. Doesn't want to be hurt because you decide she's not what you're wanting after all."

"It's not like that now."

"Freddie. It shouldn't have been like that before. I will give you the benefit of the doubt, and if you two ever do get back together, I'll be happy for you. However, if you hurt her, I'll personally hop on the next flight out of Italy…and I'll gut you myself." His blood ran cold and he cleared his throat.

"I won't hurt her." He was serious, but so was she. It was amazing that Carly was still so protective of Sam, and he respected her for it. "I care for her, Carly. She's the one I want, no one else."

"I know you've said that about me for so long, and she knows the same. I just hope you won't change your mind."

"I won't!"

"I'll hold you to it. I need to get some sleep, so goodnight and good luck-whatever you decide to do."

When she hung up, he pulled the phone from his ear and looked down at it with a heavy sigh. "Why is it nobody has faith in me anymore?" Freddie shoved the phone into his pocket and walked towards Nevel's door, struggling mentally to push down the conversation he'd just had.

Once he rang the doorbell, the wooden door before him opened and Nevel was looking back at him with a polite smile. "Hello Benson, decided to take yourself off my lawn, have you?"

"Yeah actually, I just wanted to ask you something." He peered in over Nevel's shoulder and saw Mrs. Papperman sitting on the couch with her absent eyes gazing at the wall. "Hey, what's wrong with your mother?"

"Mother?" Nevel looked over his shoulder and waved his hand in the air. "Oh nothing, she's been like that for days now. I think it's just depression, or sickness." Freddie wrinkled his nose and studied the woman's neck, where a square device was glinting in the sunlight. "We can't have her sending me away now, can we?"

"Has anyone ever told you…you are one creepy little man."

"Yes." Nevel scratched his forehead and closed his eyes. "Now is there something you want? You said you've got questions, what about? I'm guessing you've been a rather inquisitive fellow lately, now haven't you?"

"Er, yeah, it's just that I was hanging with Gibby a little while ago and he said he was talking to you before. I was wondering what about, because he wouldn't tell me." His eyes darted to another object in the room behind Nevel, it was large and metallic, and placed on the coffee table in front of the couch. "Hey what's that?"

He walked in absentmindedly and looked to the technical object, curious as to whether it was a computer of some sort. "Don't touch that!" Nevel barked. Freddie jerked back and turned to him. "I call that a Shocker 2000. I invented it to stop any car engine within a five mile radius."

"Wha-" He furrowed his brow and studied Nevel's proud expression. His blood ran cold as a similar energy drifted off the man that had been around Gibby. "Why would you invent something like that?"

"Bored." Nevel walked to the object and crouched down. He swept his fingers along the polished surface and grinned. "Besides, you never know when you might have to go on a high speed pursuit and stop an armed robber before he shoots out your tire." As Nevel's eyes slid into Freddie's, he felt all the air evaporate from his lungs as a sharp sensation struck him in the stomach.

"Ouch." He moved his hand to his abdomen and closed his eyes. "Low blow."

"Oh I'm sorry." Nevel's hand moved up to his mouth and he rose up. "That's how your father died when you were just a boy, wasn't it?"

"I'm not sure who's been more of a dick today. You, or Gibby."

"Well, maybe if you didn't just barge into peoples' homes and start touching their stuff, then they wouldn't be harsh now would they?" Nevel crossed his arms and circled Freddie, studying him closely. "As for what Gibby and I were doing, it was a simple chat between friends. Nothing of importance to you."

"I don't know. Something just feels off lately, like how you knew almost exactly where to find Nora when she and Cat were looking around for her."

"Lucky guess, but I am studying for my junior real estate license."

"Even still you wouldn't be that accurate." Nevel took a deep breath and narrowed his eyes. After several seconds, he huffed and turned away.

"Why are you pursuing this? Isn't the crazed woman now in prison? Are you trying to relive your father's memory? Careful how you choose to walk your father's path, that ended in tragedy if I am not mistaken."

"I'm not trying to be my father."

"It wasn't even his case to work, Freddie." Freddie's breathing grew still as Nevel walked around him. His eyes followed while his body remained paralyzed. "Your father was just following a trail because he was suspicious, am I right? Skeptical the police had done their job right-but he overstepped his bounds as a private detective."

"He was right, though."

"And look what it cost him." Nevel leaned inwards and lowered his voice to a whisper as he set his head beside Freddie's. Freddie flicked his gaze to the window and clamped his lips together. "He died pursuing the man, did he not? Left behind a broken wife who had the misfortune of working the shift at the emergency room when he was carried in, and left behind a small seven year old boy that loved his father so much he thought he could carry on daddy's legacy."

Bile crept up his throat and his eyes burned from the water forming at his eyelids. "That's enough, Nevel."

"And now!" Nevel walked in front of him and smirked. "Now your mother's lost her mind and obsessed over you for so long, afraid to lose you, but you're growing up. You'll leave her one day, and she knows you won't come back, she pushed you away without meaning to."

"That is not true!" He was dodging Freddie's initial question, attempting at his best to get under his skin, but he was succeeding. Freddie's ears burned and his teeth ground together as Nevel leaned back and spread his arms out.

"Quit chasing a phantom, Freddie. You spend so much time trying to be your father that you have no time to be yourself. Trail the same path and you may end up in an early grave just as he."

"I should punch you right now." Freddie's eyes narrowed further and a growl seeped from his lips. "Right in front of your own trancelike mother. God have mercy on you, for whatever you've done to your mom."

"I'm only giving you advice to make your life better." Nevel stepped beside him and scoffed once. "As for that blonde. Samantha Puckett…" Freddie closed his hands and tightened his muscles as Nevel slowly turned his head to him. "You should stop worrying about her so much, you have no future with her. About as much as you had with the Shay girl."

"Fuck you."

"Why? The more you push, the more she pushes you away. Have you ever thought that maybe she does not trust you? After all, you seem like a man that could very easily cheat on someone he ends up with."

"But I won't. That's beside the point anyway, it isn't your business!"

"Then don't come into my house and expect me not to speak my mind. I am but a simple observer of things. Nothing more." Nevel opened his front door back up and motioned outside. "Now if you are done 'investigating' me, I'd like you to leave now."

"Fine." Freddie stopped in the doorway and swallowed down the bile that had risen to the top of his throat. He looked back at Nevel and narrowed his eyes further. "I hate you."

"Goodbye, Benson. It's been real fun, but the fun is only just beginning." A sudden rush of air swept past him and the door slamming echoed behind him. Freddie was jolted forward, feeling a soreness in his back. He glanced back at the door and rubbed his lower back, groaning at the pain.

And that was Nevel, ouch. So he's invented a jammer, and has been fiddling with mind control technology. Wonder what he's planning. Well, give your thoughts folks, I'll try to have the next chapter for you in a couple of days.