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 15 (Valerie Helps Sam)
Valerie sat on a bed and held her hands together, she shook her head and wiped a tear from her eyes. She hadn't actually been with the group for the entire ten years, she was pulled in by Jeremy at the start and she left the group after Jonah did. It was only a few more years later when she was pulled back into the group. She didn't ever want any part of tormenting Sam and knew she wasn't evil. But she had to, if she got caught being nice, she didn't know what would happen to her. "Hector hasn't been here in a few days," Valerie thought as she slowly stood up.
"Sam hasn't had what I would call a decent meal…they force me to cook for them and they always make me cook them these big juicy meals. What about Sam? Why should she get such meager meals? It's not fair!" Valerie clenched her fists, she knew she needed to wait until Freddie arrived, Jonah said it was going to happen. Valerie walked out of the bedroom and looked down the hall, she knew that Nevel, Gibby and Jeremy were all still asleep, and Hector probably wouldn't be back before the end of the week. "I know this is against what Jonah told me to do, but Sam deserves a good meal, and I think since I'm a good chef, I should give her one!"
Valerie rushed to the kitchen and looked around, she smiled and tapped her chin. "What should I make…I know!" Valerie rushed to the cupboard and started fingering through the ingredients. "Canned Salmon, dry white wine, parsley, and corn-flour" Valerie grinned, it was perfect for an Alaska Baked Salmon. She put the ingredients on the counter and hurried to the refrigerator. "Frozen Broccoli, and Edam Cheese! Perfect! Sam will love this!" Valerie glanced around the freezer and smiled when she spotted frozen strawberries. "I can use those too…" Valerie preheated the oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit and put the gas mark on five. She then proceeded to prepare the food, in total it took her almost thirty minutes. Next she took two cups of frozen strawberries, a third cup of plain nonfat yogurt and a third cup of brown sugar. She rinsed the strawberries and placed them in a bowl, then she placed the yogurt in another bowl and the brown sugar in a separate bowl. "She has to love this, I know she will! The boys can eat a measly can of beans for all I care! Today, Sam is dining on gourmet cooking!"
Valerie placed the food on a cart and looked around to make sure nobody was around. She rushed the cart to the basement and took a ramp down to where Sam was being held. She knocked on Sam's cell door and smiled. "Sam! It's time to eat!"
"Oh dear god, not you," Sam said with a groan. Valerie frowned and looked down.
"I don't care what you say, I'm coming in." Valerie huffed and opened the door, she hated how there was practically no light whatsoever in the room.
"I smell food, have you come to eat in front of me, Valerie?"
"No, I will not be eating, this is all for you." Valerie sighed and shook her head. "God, they need a light in here. Can you see anything Sam?"
"What the hell do you care, Valerie?"
"No, you misunderstand me, I'm…I'm not on their side. I want you to be saved."
"Like hell! If you wanted that, you would have sent help for me years ago!"
"That's true, I would have, but that's if I knew where to send the help. I don't even know where this mansion is, none of us do, only Hector knows. God, that name, I hate that man. I hate him for what he did to you, I hate Nevel, Gibby and Jeremy for being so cruel. I'm sorry that I had to be cruel to you, but I never once hit you, did I?"
"…"
"Of course I didn't, I didn't want this for you. Right now, now that Hector isn't here, it's the best opportunity to do what's right. Jonah forbade me from acting out against anyone right now, for my own safety, but I don't care."
"If you act out…you should have listened to him." Sam scoffed and Valerie sighed. She tightened her hands on the cart and looked over at Sam.
"Freddie's coming! Everyone is!"
"Who is everyone?"
"Freddie, Carly, Jake, Jonah, Mr. and Mrs. Benson, Mrs. Puckett, Spencer and even Mrs. Briggs! They're all coming to rescue you. I spoke with them just this morning. Carly, Jonah, and Mrs. Briggs went to get Freddie's group out of the cell, I have every confidence they will be here soon. I know you don't trust me, I'm not asking you to trust me because of what I did by acting so cruel. But please…just eat this meal and believe me when I say you're going to be saved."
"…" Sam slowly stood up from where she was sitting against the wall, there was a little lighter in the room from outside. "What…what did you make?" Valerie smiled proudly and pointed to the food.
"Well I have Alaskan Baked Salmon and for desert, frozen strawberries. You can eat them by dipping them into the yogurt and then the brown sugar."
"The boys let you do this?"
"Actually the boys are still asleep, they can eat slop for all I care, I made this food for you and they won't be getting their greedy little hands on this food."
"You should eat too…"
"I refuse to eat. I will not eat this because it's too good for me…" Sam walked over to the food and slowly picked up a fork and a knife.
"You know, I could easily stab you with this knife and make my escape."
"Go ahead, I'd probably deserve it, I'd do it if I was in your shoes." Sam glanced at Valerie and then back to the food.
"No, I'm hungry, but I'd still consider it…this isn't poisoned is it?"
"Of course it isn't." Valerie smiled softly and watched Sam cut the food. "Sam, your daughter is alive." Sam raised her eyebrow as she moved the meat to her mouth. She slowly chewed the food and swallowed. "How is it?"
"It is very good. Did you say my daughter really is alive?"
"Yes, she was dropped off near Freddie's house. Someone working under Hector had no clue that Freddie's home was nearby, and the maid was driving down the street. Poor maid, nearly had a heart attack when the car went speeding by."
"So, Freddie has my baby?" Sam smiled and took another bite of the food.
"Yes, and I spoke with Carly a little while ago, she said the maid states Freddie acts like a real dad and has occasional slipups." Sam raised her eyebrow and Valerie chuckled. "Apparently he has a habit of calling Angie his daughter without even realizing it."
"Angie?" Sam thought for a moment and smiled. "That is a beautiful name, did Freddie think of it all himself?"
"I think he did. He even took the child out for ice cream, he was strict on not letting her eat more than two scoops." Sam smiled softly and ate another bite of meat.
"That's good, a six year old child shouldn't eat too much ice cream."
"I believe he's handled the being a dad part well. He took her to the park and they did a lot of fun things there, then there was the drawing, she seems to love to draw."
"So, Freddie makes a good daddy, did they even ask for him to be one?"
"No, he just did it himself. I think it started out with Angie being really quiet and mute, she was afraid of him at first, but she warmed up to him, I think that's what the maid said when I talked to her."
"You talked to his maid…he has a maid…"
"He's a multi-millionaire and he's an author. He's written several great books, I'd give you one of them to read but it's so damn dark in this place that there is just no way to read it. He still loves you, Sam…"
"He does…" Sam blushed lightly as she pushed another piece of meat into her mouth. "He doesn't despise me for leaving so abruptly like that?"
"I don't think he ever did hate you for it, the instant you left he wanted to know where you went. He and Carly both started looking for you but never knew where to start. Hector actually helped Freddie become as rich and powerful as he is today, though I think without Hector, he would have done so anyway. But over time, Hector figured Freddie would be a threat, so I guess he stayed close to Freddie so he wouldn't ever suspect. Ten years, Hector kept lying, deceiving, betraying and leading Freddie elsewhere. Ten years, I begged and prayed for release, I couldn't ever know where we were, I couldn't ever do anything but watch you suffer. I hated every bit of it. Ten years, Jonah tried to contact Carly somehow and just a couple weeks ago he finally managed to get to her. Then he told her that it was Hector, but Carly had a hard time believing it, so did Freddie but they suspected him. I'm guessing Freddie somehow figured out it was Hector and now he's out looking for you with more vigor than ever before."
"Jonah told you not to do anything, right?"
"Yes."
"Then why did you cook me this meal?"
"Because I thought you deserved it. After everything that's happened to you, you're finally going to be saved, this meal is the least I can do for you. I couldn't just sit and not do something for you. I believe they're coming for you today, you need your strength up so you can escape alive. Of course, Freddie's not going to allow any more harm to come to you." Sam smiled and finished the meal. She then started to eat the strawberries, she dipped a strawberry in the yogurt and then the brown sugar and took a bite of it. She let the juice flow onto her tongue and down her throat, she let out a soft moan of pleasure as the food went down her throat and into her stomach. Valerie smiled and wiped away a small tear.
"Thank you, Valerie…"
"Oh, it was nothing...Oh, keep the knife, you may need it." Sam nodded and Valerie put the knife in a bowl of water. She ran her fingers over the knife and cleaned it of the food, she then handed it to Sam and smiled. "Here, it's clean."
"Thanks." Sam put the knife in her pocket and Valerie pointed to a glass of orange juice.
"Drink, you should do that because you need to have something good in there." Sam nodded and picked up the glass, she moved it to her mouth and started to guzzle the juice down. "I have a pitcher of it if you need any more." Sam put the glass on the tray and wiped her mouth, she licked her lips and grinned.
"I could use a little more, thanks." Valerie smiled and refilled the glass, Sam then put it to her mouth and let the precious essence flow down her throat once more.
"Heh, I should make some slop for the boys, just in spite!" Valerie laughed lightly and Sam shrugged.
"If you want to, go ahead."
"Actually, this was absolutely forbidden by Jonah because of the danger of the situation, but I want to run you through the mansion and get you out of here."
"Jonah's right, that is dangerous, especially if we run into the guys."
"Right, well Hector isn't here and you have a knife, it should be safe." Sam shrugged and ate another strawberry. She closed her eyes and sighed, she was definitely enjoying all the food. Soon a hand cupped over Valerie's mouth and Sam's eyes grew wide.
"What do you think you're doing?" Nevel asked. "You should be cooking for us."
"Yeah, you're not betraying us, are you?" Jeremy asked. Valerie growled and bit Nevel's hand.
"Damn it!" Nevel placed a hand on his wrist and Valerie glared at him.
"I was never with you to begin with!" Valerie exclaimed. "So I can't betray you, I've had it up to here with your treatment of Sam!"
"You bitch!" Nevel slapped Valerie hard across the face and knocked her to the ground. Sam's eyes grew wide and she stepped back as Valerie slowly got back up, blood was trickling from her mouth.
"You don't help the captive," Gibby said with narrow eyes. "You never help her, you understand?"
"Shut up bastard!" Valerie exclaimed. Gibby growled and punched Valerie in the abdomen.
"We're going to teach you a lesson, big time," Nevel said with narrow eyes. Valerie shook and stepped back as the three men stepped forward. Jeremy slammed her against the wall and she let out a loud groan.
"What are you going to do?" Valerie's eyes were wide with fear and Jeremy smirked.
"The 'no touching' rule Hector made only applies to Sam," Jeremy said with a devious voice. Nevel and Gibby chuckled and they removed the tray of food from the room, leaving only Jeremy with the girls. Valerie gasped as Jeremy closed in on her.
"Leave her alone!" Sam exclaimed as her hand tightened around the handle of the knife. She lifted the knife on the air and brought it down against Jeremy's back.
"Crap!" Jeremy released Valerie and turned to Sam. "You bitch, you'll pay for that!" Jeremy slapped Sam and knocked her to the ground, he then glanced at Valerie who was sitting on the floor with a terrified look on her face.
"Jonah…hurry," Valerie muttered under her breath.
"You're not supposed to get brave, either one of you." Jeremy quickly grabbed Valerie's arm. "Come on, you're going to be locked up in another room."
"No!" Valerie screamed as Jonah pulled Valerie out of the room, Sam winced as the door slammed shut and locked. Sam's lip quivered as she sat in a stony position.
"Freddie, please hurry," Sam said quietly. What nobody knew was the plane Freddie was on was drawing ever near to the mansion.
There's the chapter, Ouch, well Valerie disobeyed Jonah's orders to wait till they arrived...The others are heading to the place, finally! Hope you enjoyed the chapter. Now if you will, look below V.
-THE RECIPES!-
I thought I'd post the recipes for the food that Valerie made.
Alaska Bake
418 g Canned pink Alaska salmon
430 g Frozen broccoli
-- cooked and drained
150 ml Dry white wine
2 tb Freshly chopped parsley
15 g Cornflour
175 g Gruyere or Edam cheese
-- thinly sliced
Pre-heat the oven to 190C, 375F, Gas mark 5.
Drain the can of salmon and make the juice up to 150ml
/ 1/4 pint with water for fish stock. Break the salmon
into large chunks and arrange it with the broccoli in
a single or 4 individual ovenproof dishes. Put the
fish stock, wine, parsley and cornflower into a
saucepan and blend until smooth. Heat gently, stirring
all the time until the sauce thickens. Pour over the
salmon and broccoli.
Arrange the slices of cheese over the top of the dish
and bake for 20 minutes or until the cheese has
melted. Serve immediately.
Serves 4. Approx. 395 kcals per serving
Brown Sugar Strawberries
2 cups fresh strawberries
1/3 cup plain nonfat yogurt
1/3 cup loosely packed brown sugar
Rinse and dry strawberries but do not hull. Place strawberries in serving
bowl. Place yogurt and brown sugar in 2 separate bowls. To eat, dip
strawberries into yogurt and then into brown sugar.