Warning: Multiple major character deaths occur in this story. This isn't just angst, this is Black Hole dark. Adults ONLY. You've been warned.

Disclaimer: I don't own the copyrights to the television show iCarly on Nickelodeon or especially any of the characters. I use them for my own wickedly evil stories with no expectations of compensation.

Author's Note: This is an angst ridden two-shot AU that shows what could've happen if Carly Shay rejected Fredward Benson one too many times. All of the characters are totally OOC here, but just live with it. I had to purge this from my mind to maintain my sanity. Freddie Benson has just committed suicide right in front of Carly Shay, but let's see who else I can kill off.

Xxxxxx

THE END

Part 2

Xxxxxx

A few minutes passed before the first Police Officer arrived on the overpass looking for some sign, a suicide note or whatever, explaining the reason why a person, now an unidentifiable lump of flesh on the road below, had jumped.

He didn't find a note or anything else that would immediately lead to the who, why or wherefore, but he did find a very distraught young woman curled up on the pavement crying her eyes out, almost to the point of hysteria.

The Police Officer immediately recognized the young lady. His two daughters loved the web show, iCarly, and he'd watched quite a a few episodes with his children over the years. (He enjoyed the wacky comedy himself but wouldn't admit it to anyone except his daughters and wife.)

He gently gathered up Carly and, because of her condition, took her to the hospital. In route he called police dispatch and they, in turn, called the Shay apartment.

Spencer answered the phone and, after hearing about what'd happened, immediately rushed to the hospital with Sam in tow. They'd been wondering why Carly had raced out of the apartment until they read the e-mail that she'd just received. When they realized what was going on, Sam ran upstairs to locate a few 'special items' while Spencer dashed across the hall to see if Freddie was still in his apartment. Sam was just picking the lock with the special items when Spencer got the call from the Police.

Carly was still being examined by the doctors, she hadn't said a word to anyone since being found and wouldn't stop crying, when the short blond girl and tall lanky artist arrived at the emergency room. They were immediately stopped by the Police and had to answer a few questions first.

When Spencer told the Officer about Freddie's note to Carly, they finally had a name to go along with the body, (What was left of it. The semi truck and double trailers had done a good job hindering the Police from identifying the 'jumper'.)

The Police tried to call Freddie's apartment but got no answer. Spencer told them that Mrs. Benson was probably at work right there in that very hospital. After some checking and a quick page over the intercom, Mrs. Benson arrived in the emergency room.

The Police Officer, as tactfully and as gently as he could, informed Nurse Benson of her son's actions and what they'd found at the scene. Spencer spoke up and told her, as best he could remember, about the e-mail from Freddie.

Marissa Benson stood silently for all of a minute absorbing the shocking news before she went, well, ballistic seemed to be the perfect word.

The redheaded nurse started off wailing about her poor dead son and how he must have suffered for years from infectious germs (they were real in her mind, at least) that drove him to take his own life. Then she cried about how her little Fredward wouldn't be able to carry on the famous family name with his fencing. She finally turned on Sam and Spencer, saying they had poisoned her little Freddie's mind and that the little tramp next door, Carly Shay, had probably played with his affections and dumped him unmercifully, driving Freddie to suicide.

A couple of very large hospital Orderlies suddenly entered the drama-filled hallway, either drawn by the disturbance or summoned by one of the onlookers. They were just preparing to pounce on the highly irate and possibly insane woman to restrain and subdue her but froze in astonishment when Sam charged Mrs. Benson, stopped short and started to verbally tear into the woman.

The dirty-blond firecracker of a girl started off by directing the blame back on Freddie's mother, saying that her constant nagging and babying of the poor boy was what drove him crazy, and that her insistence of weekly tick baths were the cause of his mental breakdown; Especially since there probably wasn't a single tick in the entire Seattle metropolitan area. Sam went on to berate Mrs. Benson with how she would always embarrass Freddie by showing up in the wrong play at the wrong time; An example being the time she'd arrived in the studio with a plastic bag of asparagus when they were live on the web, insisting Freddie finish eating his vegetables.

What was really surprising was the fact that Sam's verbal tirade was peppered with invectives that would probably make Satan blush, let alone the proverbial plumber or sailor. Sam hardly ever swore. But the blue verbage spewing from her mouth was quite impressive and made Spencer wonder where she learned such language, (maybe her mother, Pamela Puckett?) and if Carly might've also been exposed to it.

The Hospital Orderlies finally gained their wits about them and acted. One grabbed Sam in a full-nelson headlock. The blond hellion continued to kick and scream at the woman while the Orderly held tight and dragged her out of the building. The other pounced on Mrs. Benson, easily threw her over one shoulder and carried her away in the opposite direction.

The scene quickly settled down and a few minutes later the doctor came out and spoke with Spencer. The Physician pulled no punches and explained to the lanky artist that his sister, although she hadn't spoken a single word during the entire examination, appeared to be suffering from a total mental collapse. He highly suggested that Carly be kept in the hospital for a few days for observation and under a suicide watch. (She was so disturbed over her friend's death that he feared she might also try to take her own life.) He also told Spencer that he would be bringing in a Psychiatrist to confirm his diagnosis.

The E.R. doctor allowed Spencer to visit for only a few minutes. The lanky artist didn't get a rise out of his sister no matter what he said or did. Seeing no improvement, the doctor sent Spencer home to pass the word on to whomever would need to know about Carly's condition, like the school and their parents, and that she'd be confined to the hospital for at least a few days.

Spencer realized that he needed to tell his father about Carly and Freddie so the Police Officer drove him home to make the call. After getting a copy of Freddie's e-mail that'd been sent to Carly, the Officer left.

Spencer tentatively picked up the phone, worried about what his father would say when he heard the news. Unfortunately Spencer forgot that Florence Italy was ten hours ahead of Seattle and woke his dad up at around 3:30 A.M.

Colonel Steven Shay was mad with his son at first, having been awoken out of a deep sleep. But after Spencer explained the events to him, the Colonel said Spencer was correct in calling him right away and that he'd immediately apply for an Emergency Family Leave of Absence and would be home as soon as possible.

Sam had stormed into the apartment, still highly chizzed off about Mrs. Benson just as Spencer was making the telephone call and stayed only until he hung up the receiver. Then she raced back out of the apartment without saying a word, even angrier than before.

Spencer was about to chase after the highly irate blond when Gibby arrived via the freight elevator. After passing on a brief recap of the previous events, they both left to split up and search for Sam, fearing the worst for what the highly volatile blond would do.

Unbeknownst to either of them, Samantha Puckett had run home and tore the place apart, finally locating the handgun that her mother had. (It was a gift from a gunsmith that she had once dated. He had given it to Pam for home security.) Sam concealed it in her waistband, under her shirt, before heading out to vent her anger on the one person she knew was responsible for the whole mess.

The enraged blond was able to sneak into the hospital, locate where Mrs. Benson was being held and make her way up to the room.

Unfortunately for the young blond girl on a mission, Mrs. Benson had been sedated so Sam couldn't holler at the woman. That only stoked Sam's wrath even more, so she placed the barrel against Marissa Benson's head and fired.

Her anger spent for the moment, Sam dropped the gun and swiftly left the room never to be seen or heard from again. (One rumor had her fleeing to Canada and becoming a Mountie while another swore she moved to Las Vegas and became a showgirl during the day and a high-priced hooker by night.)

Meanwhile, Gibby was frantically searching for his blond friend. Unfortunately, he didn't watch where he was going when he was only a block away from Bushwell Plaza and stepped out into the crosswalk. He was promptly struck down and killed by, you guessed it, a taco truck.

Ironically, it was the same street corner where Freddie had pushed Carly out of the way and was injured a few years prior.

Spencer had decided to check the hospital, thinking Sam would want to see how her friend was doing. When he arrived, he discovered that Sam had been there and had somehow gotten away leaving the deceased Mrs. Marissa Benson being carted off to the morgue.

Spencer didn't know what to do. His father wouldn't be home until late tomorrow morning at the earliest, Carly was practically comatose, Sam was missing and wanted for murder, and both Freddie and Mrs. Benson were dead.

Having nothing better to do and knowing he probably wouldn't be able to sleep, Spencer went home and started working on a sculpture. He was so deeply wrapped up in thought on his way back that he didn't notice the traffic accident only a block away from the apartment building that took the life of another of the kids he thought of as family. Spencer worked well into the wee hours of the morning when he finally collapsed on the living room couch in total exhaustion.

Spencer never woke up when the smoke detector went off after the sculpture caught on fire, like always, from his faulty wiring job.

The Seattle Fire Department found Spencer on the couch when they arrived, dead from smoke inhalation.

Xxxxxx

Colonel Shay arrived at Bushwell Plaza around noon the next day. He was exhausted from the twelve hour flight but was anxious to see Spencer and visit his daughter.

He was stopped in the hallway by a Police Officer and told he couldn't enter the apartment since it was now a crime scene.

After the Colonel identified himself as the owner of the apartment, he received the bad new.

All of it.

He already knew about Freddie and his daughter's condition but was shocked when told about Spencer's death and Mrs. Benson's murder by Sam. (The Police had identified Mrs. Benson's murderer by the fingerprints left at the scene (matched to the blond's juvenile records) and those on the gun, not to mention the hospital surveillance video showing the blond girl entering the room just before the shooting occurred.)

Since there was nothing he could do at the apartment, Colonel Shay told the Officer to lock up when they were done with the investigation and went to the hospital. There he met with the Psychiatrist who had just finished his exam and was informed of Carly's condition. The Doctor confirmed his colleague's diagnosis, that Carly was suffering from a total mental collapse more than likely brought on by her friend's suicide, and that there wasn't much they could do to bring her out of it.

Only time would eventually bring here out of her catatonic state and then she would require months, if not years, of psychiatric therapy before she would be anywhere close to being fully functional again.

It was finally decided that Carly would accompany her father back to Italy where she would be watched over and treated at the airbase hospital where Colonel Shay was stationed.

The Colonel immediately went to work emptying the apartment and terminating the lease. It took him four day to sell the unneeded furniture and other items and to pack up the rest, the first two of those days he'd had to deal with the media since his daughter and Sam were celebrities on the internet. The news media was in a frenzy over the entire iCarly crew's sufferings: one suicide, one murder, one fatal traffic accident and one mental breakdown. They finally left the Colonel alone when they realized he wasn't going to talk about the incidents, and a few burly Air Force personnel had arrived from the local base to retain order, and made it quite clear that nothing would be gained by staying. (And that a few news vans just might get damaged or maybe even some bones would be broken if they didn't leave. Air Force personnel look out for their own, don't you know.)

Xxxxxx

"In five, four, three, two..." Freddie Benson counted down, then pointed at the two exuberant girls who were happily bouncing about in the large room colorfully decorated in a mismatched, hodge-podge style. The blond and brunette teens jovially introduced themselves.

Carly Shay finally smiled for the first time in weeks as the scene played out in her mind, remembering one of the web shows she, Sam and Freddie had done a few months earlier. She was sitting in a lounge chair, dressed in her pajamas, robe and slippers, on the hospital patio that overlooked the Italian countryside and hadn't said a single solitary word since talking to her tech producer on the overpass a few weeks ago. The doctors were deeply concerned by her silent suffering.

But Carly wasn't concerned.

Carly knew Freddie would casually ask her out on a date after the show playing out in her head was over, and this time she didn't mind him doing so.

This time, Carly Shay would say yes.

They would date for a few years while going to college together and eventually get married and have two children; Samantha and Fredward Jr.

At least in her mind.

Carly Shay was happy once more and didn't mind that the fantasy wasn't real. She could retreat into her memories and live there for the rest of her life, safe and secure in Freddie's loving arms.

She was with Freddie and she was happy and that was all that mattered now.

Xxxxxx

Lambaste me if you want, I told you at the beginning that this would be as dark as a Black Hole. I needed to write this to get it off my mind and save my sanity. (What little I still have left.)

But fear not. I have another story in the works. It's an iCarly/Victorious crossover with a wry little twist stemming from the game of Boomba. I have 14 chapters written so far and don't know where to end it, but I think it's good and worth the wait.

-30-