A Best Friend's Greed

Disclaimer: I don't own iCarly, isn't it great? Now read!

A/N: They are 37 now, 16 years have passed

Chapter 39 (Aftermath)

A week later, the nation was roaring like wildfire at the attempt on the President's life. No one in the family, not even Rebecca, could go anywhere without running into the media. Freddie had given plenty of speeches, thanking the men of the secret service and Jake for saving his life. Sam was just thankful that Jonah wouldn't be a threat to any of them any longer. The family went through the hospital where Jake was and Rebecca was in charge of pushing through the reporters.

"Mr. President, how does it feel to have your leading bodyguard nearly die for you?" One reporter asked as he thrust the microphone into Freddie's face.

"Mr. President is it true that Jonah Brown once was your best friend!" Another reporter exclaimed.

"Mrs. Benson, tell us how it feels to go through such a troubling time in less than a month?"

"Angie, how does it feel to be the President's Daughter and have to see your own father nearly be assassinated?" Rebecca growled and glared at the reporters asking millions of questions.

"We don't have anything to say!" Rebecca proclaimed as she grabbed one reporter's microphone and smirked. "Here's what I have to say, we need to get to Mr. Krandle, and we'll answer all your questions after we make sure that Jake is okay. Is that enough for you?" Rebecca narrowed her eyes and the reporters all nodded and stepped out of the way. Freddie chuckled nervously as Rebecca led the group to Jake's hospital room. "Finally, we made it to the door!"

"Yeah, so let's go in," Valerie said while glancing back. "Before they come back…" Rebecca nodded and opened the door. Stephanie was sitting next to Jake's bed, she looked over and smiled as Freddie and Sam walked in with their kids. Rebecca quickly closed the door and leaned against it.

"Why are you standing there?" Aaron asked.

"Barricading the door might help," Rebecca said with a slight shrug. Freddie chuckled as he placed his hand on Sam's lower back and walked over to Jake. Jake sighed and looked up at Freddie with a smirk.

"Well, I didn't think they'd keep me here for a week," Jake said with a slight chuckle. "Usually it takes a day or two."

"You almost died, Jake!" Stephanie exclaimed while narrowing her eyes. Jake chuckled nervously and his wife let out a small sigh. She looked over at Freddie and shook her head. "Sometimes I have to ask why I love this idiot, but then, he did save your life."

"Yeah, I guess it takes a true friend to take a bullet for another," Freddie responded. Stephanie nodded and Sam let out a sigh as she remembered Valerie. She was sure Valerie would have done that for her, and maybe she did. She would have done the same for her of course. "By the way, Ryan's in the restroom. He's going to have to push through all the sharks out there."

"You know, sometimes I wonder why I didn't become a musician," Jake said while chuckling. "Then again, I liked law enforcement better, especially when I met Mr. Benson in person." Freddie nodded and crossed his arms over, he preferred having Jake as a bodyguard rather than a musician. "Oh Freddie, did you hear from Carly recently?"

"Yeah, she sent a message to us. She seemed frantic in her writing, wondering if Sam and I were okay and how our children were faring. My father even contacted us, saying how he wished he had been there instead." Jake laughed lightly and shook his head.

"Nah, the old man isn't getting any younger; he probably wouldn't last as long."

"You know Dad would beat you up if he heard you say that, right?" Jake chuckled nervously and nodded his head, but he didn't really care. "I don't know how many times I can thank you for protecting us…"

"Ah, it wasn't too hard." Jake smirked and Stephanie tapped the back of his head, Jake sighed and moved his hand behind his head. "What was that for?"

"What do you mean it wasn't that hard?" Stephanie asked while narrowing her eyes and glaring at Jake. "What was the doctor's report?"

"Ah nothing…"

"Seriously, how many wounds did you have?" Jake chuckled and glanced to the side, he hated making Stephanie worry.

"A bullet to the chest, the arm, the leg, and a knife wound on the abdomen and across the chest." Stephanie paled when she heard Jake's mutterings, she actually didn't know it had been that bad. She knew he'd been shot in the chest, but she didn't know how serious that had been.

"Was the chest shot the one that nearly killed you?" Jake nodded and Stephanie's lip trembled slightly. "How bad was that one?" Jake glanced to the side and his voice turned to a low whisper.

"It was mere inches away from my heart…I think it was more like one or two inches." Stephanie gasped and Freddie cringed slightly.

"You managed to get up after that?" Daniel asked while raising his eyebrow. He looked at Stephanie and smirked. "Hey, Mrs. Krandle, you have a tank for a husband!" Stephanie's mouth twitched slightly, she was still not completely amused.

"Well I couldn't just give up. I had a wife, a best friend, a best friend's wife, and several children that I needed to protect. I will say this, though. When I looked into Jonah's eyes, I saw something completely different than the monster that he'd become."

"What do you mean?" Freddie asked while raising his eyebrow. Jake's brow furrowed slightly and his hands closed up.

"I mean, it looked like he wanted to die. It looked like he knew exactly how bad and what he'd become, and it seemed like he hated himself. His eyes may have been bloodshot, but they were also pleading."

"You mean more like pleading for you to destroy him before he did something insane? Of course, that was exactly what he was doing…" Jake nodded and stared ahead at a wall.

"He had become enveloped by greed at such a young age, seeing his best friend having such a great life and so many great things. However, he must have hated what he'd become."

"You may have been doing him a favor," Angie stated as she crossed her arms over. "I hate that man. He tried to hurt Mom, he took me away, and he did so many violent things."

"Well, he can't hurt anyone six feet underground," Daniel stated.

"Yeah…" Angie saw Daniel with a smirk on his face and she let out a chuckle. She knew Daniel was thinking of ways to lighten the mood in the room. Rebecca let out a sigh as she felt the door starting to shake.

"These people are knocking like crazy out there," Rebecca said while frowning. "I'm wondering if they're more of a threat than Jonah was." Freddie chuckled and slowly shook his head.

"I think Jonah was bad enough. If the only thing we have to worry about now is a bunch of crazy reporters, then we have nothing to worry about," Freddie replied.

"Didn't Jonah have fewer wounds than Mr. Krandle?" Aaron asked while tilting his head to the side. "One to the head and then the stomach…" Freddie blinked and shifted his eyes over to his son; he was baffled by how interested Aaron was in these types of things.

"That's not information you really need to know." Aaron chuckled and shrugged his shoulders, looking as innocent as he could be. Angie crossed her arms and raised her eyebrow, despite how weird they were, she still loved her family.

"Jade sent me a letter the other day, and called me afterwards," Angie said while letting out a small sigh. "She was frantic as well, screaming and asking if I was okay and how everyone else was."

"Yeah, that's understandable," Freddie said in a quiet voice. "Mr. Williams called also, he said he was sorry for what was going on and was glad that Jake was still among the living. He also said he was 'thankful that bastard' wouldn't be causing anyone else anymore damage." Sam smiled and rested her head on Freddie's shoulder, she closed her eyes and a tear fell down her cheek.

"I was so scared that night," Sam said in a shaky voice. "I was afraid that it was Jonah, and I didn't know what was going to happen if it was. I kept thinking that I was going to lose you, Freddie." Freddie smiled and gave Sam a kiss on the forehead, comforting her, since she had been taking it hard for the past week. She still had some nightmares that Jonah was going to return, and she kept waking up, fearing that Freddie wasn't by her side.

"Well I'm not going anywhere for a long time, Sam. I promise you, there isn't anyone that's going to take me away from you."

"Do you ever regret befriending him?" Freddie blinked as Sam lifted her gaze to his. He thought for a moment and looked over at Jake and back to Sam.

"No, because when I befriended Jonah, it was a time when he needed help. I would have felt bad had I just let that kid pick on him when we were five. I'm sorry that he let his greed consume him, and that he did all the things that he did, breaking the trust we had in him. However, I'm not sorry that I helped him out. Who knows what would have happened if I hadn't befriended him. Maybe he never would have had a friend, or maybe some other guy would have made friends with him."

"It's possible someone else who didn't have a clue might have befriended him," Jake said while leaning his head against the pillow. "And who knows if that person would not have survived like you did." Jake closed his eyes and smiled for a moment, then he opened his eyes and looked at Sam. "To you, I'll make this promise, as long as I'm alive, I won't let anybody take Freddie from you."

"Thanks Jake," Sam said with a small chuckle. Jake sighed and crossed his arms over, he really wanted to get out of the bed.

"As your best friend and bodyguard, Freddie, I won't let any threat take you out of this world before it takes me. One best friend let his greed consume him, and I'll be the best friend that keeps his other friend safe."

"Yeah, whatever," Freddie said while smirking and rolling his eyes. "Just do us all a favor, and don't die on us." Freddie pointed over at Stephanie and Jake looked at her, he saw fear in her eyes. He knew of everyone, she was probably the one that got hit the hardest by what happened.

"I don't want to lose you, Jake," Stephanie said in a shaky voice. "I love you…"

"I won't leave you. All I have to do is get out of this hospital, and I'm going to be by your side forever." Stephanie chuckled lightly and kissed Jake's forehead.

"Good, because you should know this, I'm pregnant." Jake's mouth opened slightly and Freddie's mouth formed an O shape. "So if you even think about dying in the next nine months to eighteen years, then you are going to be in a hell of trouble!"

"Ooh, she's got you there, Jake," Freddie said as he patted his friend's shoulder. "She's got a good point also, and sadly, I'm going to have to side with her." Jake blinked and Daniel chuckled.

"I think we're all on her side, Mr. Krandle," Daniel said with a snicker.

"Yeah, I figured," Jake said with a playful scoff. "Some friends you guys are!" The group laughed and all started to give Jake a hug. Freddie patted his shoulder and grinned.

"Hey, maybe one day I'll end up saving your life," Freddie said with a smirk etched onto his face. He looked up at the clock and frowned. "It looks like visitation hours are over, so we'll see you when you get out of here." Freddie turned his head to Rebecca and she slowly opened the door. They saw Ryan standing in the doorway with wide eyes; Angie chuckled and walked over to him.

"Where have you been?" Angie asked.

"I've been banging on the door for the past twenty minutes," Ryan stated. "Something was blocking the door, and I couldn't shout louder than the reporters…"

"Oops, my bad," Rebecca said while giving off a subtle smirk. "Well, I guess you can see your Dad in the next minute…" Ryan sighed and walked into the room. Rebecca looked over at Freddie and Sam with a smirk on her face. "Well Mom, Dad, I hope you're ready for one more run through the reporters."

"Yeah, it's no trouble," Freddie said as he placed his arm around Sam's waist and smirked. "A reporter's prodding isn't as bad as a best friend's greed."

So Jonah wanted to die...hm. The end of this story! Thanks to all of you who reviewed it. Now, I must rest. Check out my other stories, and enjoy!