Serendipity (Book 2)

Faded Pictures by mickeygirl101

FanFiction.net

Faded Pictures by mickeygirl101

TV » iCarly
Rated: T
Language: English
Genre: Romance & Angst
Characters: Sam P., Freddie B.
Words: 3,376
Published: Apr 7, 2009

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Joe Puckett was an angel. At least everyone in his congregation thought so. He attended church every Sunday and returned home with his gorgeous wife and handsome sons to a beautiful four bedroom home. He ran his own little grocer's market on the corner of Welsh and Sparrow Street, and he arrived promptly at 6:30 in the morning and closed his store when the last shopper left. Every night he helped his children with whatever homework they needed help with and always helped his wife with the dishes. He never missed a parent teacher conference and coached his sons' little league teams. And every night, Joe Puckett would say four prayers: one for his wife, two for his sons, and one for the little girl he'd left behind.

He'd been 18 when he'd met Pam. He was the son of a prominent business man, while she was the daughter of an absentee father and an alcoholic mother. He could still remember what his parents said, "Stay away from her, she's nothing but trouble". He'd ignored them. Two months later, she's pregnant and he's running off, leaving her nothing but a forwarding address. 9 months later she'd sent him baby pictures. He'd burned all but one, a picture of his newborn child, a baby girl by the name of Samantha, and her mother. Samantha already had a full head of blond hair, but he didn't focus on that. Instead he stared at her mother. Bright blonde hair, lovely brown eyes, and an irreplaceable smile on her face. He'd hidden this picture inside of his bible, which he then continued to hide under a loose floorboard in his store.

Every year, once a year, he'd get another picture. He would look at the picture for a few hours before placing it inside the hidden bible. Whenever he felt a rush of guilt about leaving them behind, he would open up the bible, its aged pages sensitive under his touch, and look at the fading pictures. He'd often felt the urge to send something back to them. Money, pictures, an explanation. Instead, he placed the pictures back in the bible and stored them once again.

His wife never knew, or at least that's what she let on. She'd often asked him about his life before he moved here. He'd shrug and answer, "The same as everyone else's," and return back to his store for his somewhat nostalgic ritual. One night, while her husband was sleeping, she snuck out of the house and drove down to the store. She searched for an hour before she'd found the floorboard. Tentatively, she'd pried it open. She'd found the aged bible with the faded pictures, and she found herself staring for hours as well. The baby girl in the pictures was angelic, bright blond hair and shining blue eyes. She had her mother's hair and her father's eyes. She'd wanted to confront him. Tell her husband she'd found proof of his infidelity, but the girl in the picture was much older than their marriage. So she'd kept her mouth shut and continued to pretend like she didn't know what was going. However, every year the new picture would come, and she'd steal the envelope and send 300 dollars she'd spent the whole year saving up to the return address. Her sister, the only person she'd ever told about her husband's secret, told her she was a fool. She'd reply, "It could have been me sending baby pictures, couldn't it?" Her sister had shut up about it after that.

His two sons really were oblivious to the fact they had a half sister. When he was little, the oldest one, Sutton, could remember asking his mother for a baby sister when she was pregnant. His father had asked him quietly, "What's wrong with a baby brother?" Sutton shook his head and answered that sisters were supposed to be nicer. Joe would then mumble something about forgetting to lock up and rush of to the store. Sutton had been disappointed when his baby brother, Michael, had been born. His mother told him that he should love Michael anyway because there were babies out there that weren't loved at all. His father rushed off to the store again. It turned out Michael wasn't as bad as Sutton thought he'd be. However, in the back of his mind he couldn't shake the feeling that he still wanted a sister.