Paternal Bonds

Disclaimer: I don't own iCarly. I keep it simple.

A/N: Thoughts in "Italics" and regular speech in "Regular font." Only applied if in quotes.

A/N: By the way, everybody is 26 in this story, except Spencer who would be older. I doubt he'll be mentioned much. Please read this regardless of their age. It will all make sense, I promise. They have to be this old in the story.

Chapter 7 (Father and Son)

"Hey pop," Freddie said with a chuckle and then a frown. "What are you doing here?"

"I wanted some food. I saw you here chatting with this person, so I thought I'd listen in," Henry Benson stated. He pointed over to Angie who was eating her ice cream. "Cute child over there, you thinking of adoption?"

"No, Dad…"

"Why?"

"Because that's Sam's daughter, not mine." Angie finished her cone and ran over to Freddie.

"Hey, I'm done," Angie said with a smile. "Thank you for the ice cream." Freddie smiled and hugged her.

"I'm glad you enjoyed it." Henry rubbed his chin and looked at the two.

"Seems like she's close enough to be yours," Henry stated. Henry looked up to see the clerk trying to walk away. "Hold it right there, hey, I'm on patrol also. Anyway, I think we'll have some questions for you down in the station." Henry walked over to the man and cuffed him while reading him his rights. "Now, I'm going to contact those at the station, and they're going to swing by and pick you up. I'll see you in questioning sir."

"Aw man!" The man said quickly.

"I hope you can repeat to them what you have told to my son just now. If there's any more information, we'd be happy to hear it!" The man rolled his eyes and only a few minutes later did the police arrive.

-NEW SCENE-

Freddie and Henry were sitting at a table, Henry had given Angie a video game console that she was now absorbed in. Freddie smiled as he watched her play, Henry sighed and shook his head. "You know we haven't even found her yet," Henry said quietly. Freddie frowned, of course nobody knew where Sam was and now it seemed that Sam was being held captive somewhere.

"Still, we should find her."

"We don't know if she's even alive, what are you going to do with Angie after that?" Freddie paled lightly, he hadn't thought about that, he was confident that Sam was alive somewhere. "Freddie, don't make the same mistake I did."

"I'm not you dad…I won't quit. I'm not afraid of commitment, I'm not afraid to raise a child." Freddie turned his head and stared at his father with slight anger. "You left us, I will never leave my child."

"I realize what I had done was wrong, but you must understand…"

"If we ever find Sam, then Angie is going with her."

"Would you marry Sam? I mean, for a girl that was kidnapped and put through so many traumas, Angie seems very close to you. If you act like her dad and then wind up leaving her behind…"

"Dad, I love Sam, I still do. If she's out there, I'm going to find her and when I do, I intend to take her as my wife. I'll take care of Angie until then, if Sam doesn't want to marry, then it's up to her."

"So what if she doesn't? Will you still leave Angie behind, will you visit her at all?" Freddie crossed his arms and looked at Angie. "What if you never find Sam? What if Sam died in the last two years? Surely you won't put Angie up for adoption?"

"I said I'm not like you," Freddie said as he glanced to Henry. "When I think the mother's gone, I'm not going to break down and take the kid to an adoption center. I'm not weak. That's what got you divorced from mom to begin with. She wakes up from her coma and finds out that you tried to send me to an adoption center, you were stopped by Grandma, thank god." Henry's face took a solemn look and he let out a sigh.

"I'll confess, yes, I was weak then…I'm not saying that's what you'll do. I was scared at that time, I thought I would die if I lost her."

"And so you prepared for that, but you didn't die." Freddie narrowed his eyes and leaned back in the seat. Henry sighed and looked out the window.

"Moving on to another thing. It looks like this nut job won't be any help concerning Sam. He states that she could be anywhere in the country, I sent an investigation team to that area you mentioned."

"God, I hope it's not true…I pray there isn't any body found." Henry frowned and nodded his head.

"It doesn't seem very likely. It also seems that Angie doesn't know anything about an older sibling. Has she mentioned one to you?"

"Well if it's true, the sibling died five years ago and Sam hasn't seen it since it was probably three. That leaves another two year gap, she probably suspects it is dead, as well as Angie now."

"You do realize that if that child was born ten years ago, that means she was pregnant when she left..."

"I know, I just can't believe that it would have happened then." Freddie blinked and stared at his father. "Though I never..." Freddie looked over at Angie and back to Henry. "I never got Sam pregnant, I'm still clean..." Henry crossed his arms and chuckled, that was fine by him. "I think it could mean she's been held captive by someone for ten long years."

"That would actually make sense and explain why we could never find her. If this whack job that we just arrested knows about Sam and knows that Sam's mom was supposedly murdered…we can assume she knows that her mother has died. She's going to have serious trust issues and personally I think only you are going to be the one who can help her overcome it all."

"Yeah…Dad, I want you to beef up the investigation, I want you to all try harder to find Sam."

"Look, we've been looking for ten years, you've got to take a hold of reality, there's that possibility-"

"There is a kid here who needs her mother! I hope you're not thinking of giving up, and on another kid. I want you to search and keep searching for her until you find a body that proves where she is and what happened to her. Do you understand me, father?"

"Yeah, son, I understand." Henry smiled softly and his phone began to ring, he answered it and listened to the voice.

"Sir, we found a body and we ran some DNA tests on some hair that was still attached." Henry frowned and looked at Freddie who frowned in response.

"Tell me, what you found out."

"Well, it's a five year old male and judging by the maggots, he's been there a few years. I'd say the boy would be celebrating his ninth birthday not too long ago. It appears he died of starvation, perhaps he was wandering around for some time, or he just died on the spot."

"You ran DNA tests, do you know…who the mother is?"

"Yeah, that guy we brought in was telling no lie when he said that was the son of Samantha Puckett." Henry hung up the phone and set it on the table, a grim line formed his mouth and he looked at Freddie.

"What is it?" Freddie asked, he despised the answer he suspected that he would hear.

"The boy found is in fact the son of Sam Puckett." Freddie sighed and rubbed his forehead, why that was painful for him to hear, he didn't know. He couldn't believe someone took Sam and impregnated her and then killed her baby. "You're lucky that your maid found Angie when she did."

"Yes."

"Mankind, they are all sinners. Then the innocent little angels are caught up in the evils of man, they have no business being there." Henry looked over at Angie who was still wrapped up in her game. "If there was any way to change the outcome of the situation, I know I'd do it in a single heartbeat. I'll do anything and everything in my power to find her, Freddie. I promise you."

"Thank you, Dad."

"You know, Angie doesn't know her grandparents, does she?"

"I would think not, dad." Freddie narrowed his eyes and smiled. "You want to be a grandfather so badly, don't you?"

"Can you blame me?" Henry grinned widely and Freddie smirked.

"Hey dad, do you know where Hector Puckett is?"

"Why?"

"Well he's my editor, I know he's picking my novels up somewhere."

"Right, well the kind old lady that lives at the address you send your manuscript to tells the police that he swings by on the rare occasions because he has no home."

"I wonder why that is…As successful as he is these days."

"I had the investigator ask that question before, I thought I explained all this to you?" Freddie shrugged, it had been quite some time since he had been interested in finding out if the place he was sending his manuscripts to was really where Hector lived. "Anyway, the lady says whenever she gets a manuscript, he swings around, and that's the only time she ever sees him."

"Well, as my editor, he's coming by for a visit tomorrow, you could drill him for questions then."

"Why should I? It's not like he's committed any major crime."

"Yeah, that's true, unless you count not wanting people to know where you live, a crime."

"Yeah, and what about that friend of yours, Jake whatever his last name is? His residency is secret as well, is it not?" (A/N: I seriously don't know if Jake has a last name from the show or not.)

"Yeah, pretty much. But I'd suspect any pervert like him would keep his place of living well hidden. The idiot surfs the web for stuff he really shouldn't be looking at, it started as research for a class and that was several years ago!" Henry crossed his arms and chuckled as Freddie rolled his eyes.

"Yeah, well you can't arrest someone based on what they look at, constitutional rights and whatnot."

"I'll admit that he is no criminal."

"I'm amazed that the guy's one of your best friends, personally. For one thing, you didn't like him in school and he's your polar opposite right now."

"Well, we became best friends, probably over the fact that Sam left and Carly became…well…another one of those shallow Hollywood actors."

"Yeah, at least Spencer became a lawyer and still is a damn good artist." Freddie looked over at Angie for a moment and back to Henry.

"You want to be a grandfather? How about I talk to Angie about spending tomorrow with you, for some odd reason she doesn't like Hector, she ripped up a picture of him once before."

"You ask her why she doesn't like him."

"I did, but she says nothing when it comes to him."

"Okay, well yeah, I'd love to spend some time with her!" Freddie nodded and looked at Angie, her game beeped and she squealed.

"I won!" Angie said with joy.

"That's very good, Angie," Freddie said as he hugged her.

"Thanks!"

"Hey, Angie, can I ask you a question?"

"Yeah," Angie said with a smile.

"Tomorrow, my editor is coming for a visit, would you mind hanging out with my father?" Angie looked over at Henry and thought for a moment.

"Sure, he's a police officer, they're good, right?"

"Yes. Yes, they are very good. He is my dad and he can be trusted."

"Is he your 'dad' or is he your 'father?'" Henry raised his eyebrow and Freddie chuckled as he rubbed Angie's head.

"He's definitely what I would consider a dad, he's more of a dad now than he was many years ago."

"Then if you trust him, I trust him."

"I'm glad." Freddie hugged Angie and she hugged him back.

"He's helping to find mom, right?"

"Yes, and I promise you, we will find your mother." Freddie ran his hand through Angie's hair and gently gave her an almost fatherly kiss on the forehead. Henry crossed his arms and smirked, if Freddie said he wasn't starting to get fatherly, he was denying it.

There you go, another chapter hot out of the oven! Seems most of my stories have Jake becoming Freddie's best friend lol. You will be seeing him very soon, though you may not like the circumstances of how Freddie learns about who really has Sam and Jake will be the one letting him know, that's the only clue you'll get. Seems I can't help but make Angie cute in every chapter, but hey, it's a little girl, of course she's cute.