A Place To Call Home

By PD31
Disclaimer: I still don't own iCarly, Victorious, any of the episodes or any of the characters.
Rating: T
Pairings: Established Bade (Beck/Jade), future Caddie (Cat/Freddie). Friendships include Cade, Jedi and Seddie.
Summary: Sequel to iSwitch Schools. After completing their freshman year the gang are back at Hollywood Arts for the new school year. New friends will arrive and new challenges will confront them.

AN: Hello everyone and welcome to the next phase in the lives of our heroes at Hollywood Arts. I hope that you all enjoy this part of the story, which will, during the school year, catch up with the start of Victorious (just as the series itself is, before its time, ending). I will be rejigging the order of some of the episodes to suit the story but hopefully you will all enjoy that when I get to it.


Chapter 1

Benson Residence, Hollywood Hills, Los Angeles

Thursday, 27th August 2009

It was around seven p.m. on a lovely August day in Los Angeles. Mother and son sat in front of the television in their living room in the Benson family home. The tranquil peace, however, was about to be broken by an unexpected knock on the door.

"Oh, who is that calling so late?" Marissa Benson wondered aloud.

"I'll have a look," her son Freddie volunteered, rolling his eyes slightly at his mother's definition of "late" as he rose to answer the summons.

He was surprised to see a girl with dirty blonde hair wearing a yellow T-shirt, grey shorts and a cheeky, mischievous smile stood in front of him.

"'Sup Fredward?" Samantha Puckett asked in a light tone.

"Sam!" he exclaimed and eagerly drew his friend into a big hug. She had to briefly suppress her natural urge to slug someone for doing that to her but having done so she readily returned his embrace. "What are you doing here?" he asked when he released her.

"I'm here to see you, you nub!" she laughed and gave his arm a surprisingly gentle punch. He gave her an I know THAT expression and she just grinned at him, enjoying the chance to tease and goad him the way she used to when they lived in Seattle, though without the underlying malevolence that she had always possessed back in those days.

"I'll tell you if I can have ice cream," she offered.

Freddie looked back inside. "Mom, I'm going for ice cream with Sam."

"But it's so late Freddie!" she complained.

"Mom, it's barely seven," he complained before adding in a steelier voice, "I'm going for ice cream, I won't be too late." He turned to the teenage girl. "Let me just grab my wallet." He dashed up to his room, picked up his money, returned downstairs, slipped on some shoes and turned to the door, where his friend and mother seemed to be engaged in a stare-off. "Let's go Sam," he suggested and, leading her by the arm, set off down the driveway. "Bye mom," he called back.

"Wow, look at you all grown up and standing up to your mom," she said with a blend of teasing and… was that pride in her voice towards him?

"Yeah, that's something I learned from Lindsey," he explained. Not the only thing I learned from her, he thought a little grimly.

"She still doesn't like me," the blonde said conversationally as they headed down the road to the local Freezie Queen.

"You know it's nothing personal; she doesn't like too many people – and she really doesn't like my girlfriend," he reassured her.

"Yeah but she never liked me in Seattle either, and coming out of jail… I can see why she doesn't want little Freddiekins hanging around with me," she teased, tickling his midriff through his shirt. He tried to swat her hands away with his own, drawing a laugh from the little blonde as he did.

Freddie held open the door to the ice cream parlour and the girl made her way through it; he followed her and they sat at a free table, waiting for a server to come over.

"I tried to call you all summer," he told her after they had ordered.

"Uh," the dirty-blonde grimaced as she reminisced, "my mom stole my phone and gave it to some hobo in exchange for a bottle of wine."

"Well I'm getting a new one soon, you could have my old one," he offered.

"This one?" she smirked as she waved his G5 at him.

Freddie felt in the pocket of his shorts; discovering it was empty he closed his brown eyes and blew a long breath out of his nose. Sam slid the phone across the table to him.

"I'm not that girl anymore," she insisted before grinning, "but it's still fun to mess with you now and again."

"So what are you doing here, Sam?" he asked after their mutual chuckles subsided.

"Well I got kicked out of Ridgeway for… what put me in juvie," she admitted with a hint of sadness, shame, regret and remorse, "and no school in Seattle would take me after I got out so I was home-schooled by my mom for the last few months; can you believe that?"

"I can't believe you learnt much that they'd teach you in a regular school," Freddie half-admitted and half-laughed at the thought of Pam Puckett teaching her daughter anything that would be useful in later life.

"Like you go to a regular school?" she challenged lightly.

"Very true," he conceded.

She nodded grimly as she continued her story. "Then mom hooked up with her latest loser and they decided that we were moving down here, so here I am… though," and Freddie's brief look of delight fell as quickly as it had grown, "loser guy wants to wind up in Vegas so I guess we're headed there in a few days." Then, changing the subject, she asked, "So where are all your buds? Where's lover-girl? I wanna meet that girl and see what's wrong with her! I was only kidding," she added quickly and in a surprisingly apologetic tone as his face dropped.

"Lindsey's just been on vacation with her family," he explained, "Mom and I were away before they went, she came back a few days ago and she's been… distant towards me ever since, even more so than before the holidays. Thank you," he looked to the server who deposited their ice creams and gave the late-teenage girl a smile. "I'm worried, Sam," he admitted in a hollow whisper.

She gave him a sympathetic look and a wan smile. "Well it's never good at the time but if she decides that she wants things to be over between you then I guess you have no choice but to accept it, take a little time and then move on." Then she brightened, "I mean it's not like most kids our age get into life-long relationships is it?"

"No," he conceded, "but it's just got that extra significance with…" his voice dropped even lower and he bowed his head, she could barely hear his next words as he spoke them to the table, "with her being my first and all." Sam was surprised that his voice sounded as if it was, for some reason, filled with shame.

She gave him a confused look. "But you dated Valerie and… and Cat."

"I did," he confirmed.

Still bewildered, the blonde tried again. "I thought you kissed Valerie and Cat."

"I did," he tried to emphasise that there was more to it than she was thinking.

She gaped as realisation suddenly dawned. "You slept with her?" she yelped.

"Shhh!" he implored, looking around and thankful that nobody turned to eavesdrop on their conversation.

"Sorry Freddie, but you seriously slept with her?" Sam's eyes bulged with astonishment. "Dude, you're like fifteen!"

"Thank you Sam, I was there on my last birthday," he replied flippantly.

"I… I… wow dude, I never expected you to get laid before I did," cutting through her amazement she sounded almost impressed.

"How do you think I feel?" he asked grimly.

"Were you… were you… you know… safe?" she asked.

"Yes," he sighed, "she thought of that. She thought of everything… except how it would affect me."

"What do you mean?" Sam was confused again.

"You said it yourself, Sam, I'm fifteen years old; I'm still a boy. I wasn't ready for that to happen! But she wanted it so she got me a little drunk back at her place after the Prom we went to and the next morning, there I was in her bed and she was ready to go again and wasn't going to take no for an answer." Sam narrowed her eyes at this detail; Freddie, who was glancing off into space while he composed his thoughts, didn't notice this. "I freaked out over the whole thing for weeks afterwards and now I don't know what's going on with her at all. My head's just…" he shrugged, "all over the place at the moment."

"You got drunk and laid? Wow Freddie, you've grown up since Seattle!" Her tone turned from impressed to sympathetic as she continued, "So how do you feel now?" with a note of caution in her question; the cogs were turning in the streetwise girl's brain; Freddie may not have been willing to use "the R word" but it sure sounded like it to her, especially the morning after.

"I'm ok, I guess," he shrugged a little helplessly. "It took me a while to process what had happened but I guess all I can do now is put it down to experience; it's not like I can get it back is it?"

She nodded in grim understanding of his comment. He continued,

"Things got a little strained between Lindsey and me after I came back from Seattle at Spring Break; she seemed to be getting a bit… jealous I guess of my friendships with you, Cat, Jade, and Carly." He noted the blonde's smile dropped for a second and a slightly pained look crept across her face at the mention of her brunette former best friend. "Whether that motivated her I don't know. But we're still together and were getting back on track before term ended and early on during the summer."

"Have you… have you done it again?"

"Not since that morning," he admitted, "we've not had that sort of privacy since."

"Would you if she wanted a repeat?"

He turned to his plate and busied himself in his ice cream while he contemplated his response; the blonde hoodlum waited with unusual patience for him to formulate his reply.

"I've thought a lot about it over the last few weeks," he began slowly, "and… if she told me she had the place to herself and wanted me over now? I think I'd go." He nodded. "I guess it's a part of our relationship now."

She smiled her understanding but, wanting a more comfortable topic of conversation, she changed the subject; they began talking about his classes and his other friends. Eventually they were done so Freddie paid for their treats and they left.

"And here's to you, Mrs Robinson," Sam began singing as they walked. Freddie glared at her so she turned to him with an innocent smile. "What? My mom's a big fan of that movie."

"Well we both know you'll never be a graduate," he teased back at her and gave her a playful shove to the shoulder. The two friends shared another laugh as they continued their walk back to his home.

"Hey, will you be around tomorrow?" he asked. "A group of us are heading to the beach; you could meet my friends."

"Meet some people who like you… hmm," she grinned as she made a show of mulling it over. "I really wish I could but my mom's already made plans for us for tomorrow. Now was pretty much the only time I could see you; I snuck out while she and loser boy were drunk and pulling a you-and-Lindsey," she pulled a disgusted face at the thought of her mother in that sort of a situation.

"Do you have to keep going on about it?" he complained.

The girl reached for his cheek and pinched it before tugging it playfully with a broad smile on her face. "Aw, how cute that after all these years you still ask me that!" She let him go and her voice turned serious. "I'll call when we wind up somewhere for more than one night," she told him and stood on tiptoes so she could kiss his cheek, a gesture that surprised the brown-haired boy. He pulled her into a hug and she eagerly wrapped her arms around him; part of her suddenly felt like she wished he would never let go. It's strange, the blonde mused, after all this time to feel like I'm wanted by someone, even as a friend…especially as a friend.

The two had arrived at his front door. Freddie tried it, only to find that it was locked.

"I don't have my key and mom's probably gone to bed if she's locked up," he lamented. "She's gonna be wazzed off when I get her up to let me in."

"Step aside, mama's got this one." Sam gently nudged him out of the way and bent down by the lock, having withdrawn a paperclip from her pocket.

"See?" she asked when the lock clicked open a few seconds later. "Child's play."

"I need to learn that; it could come in useful," he commented. Sam gave him a conspiratorial grin.

Five minutes later Freddie could easily pick the lock himself.

Valentine Residence, Hollywood Hills, Los Angeles

Cat was lying on her bed with her pearphone pressed to her ear as she and Jade chatted. The red velvet-haired girl was glad to be home again after a busy summer. The family had been up to Idaho at the start of the month to take her brother to what she called the "Special Hospital" where he was secure and could receive treatment for his "issues". After spending a few days up there getting him settled she and her parents had been to Cancun for some much-needed relaxation time. She had missed her friends over the last few weeks, particularly Freddie who had gone away earlier and not returned until she was about to leave, so she hadn't seen the brown-haired boy all summer; it was something she was eager to correct the next day.

The bubbly girl talked animatedly about her adventures over the past few weeks and her gothic best friend listened as attentively as she could to her long-winded tales, adding some comments from her own summer (most of which had been spent in Beck's company when her actor boyfriend hadn't been visiting family in Canada). Jade and her mother hadn't been away this summer but were hoping to do so for a little while over Christmas this year instead.

"So are we still on for the beach tomorrow?" Cat asked in a hopeful tone.

"Yes, Beck and I are going to be there," the brunette confirmed. "André, Eli and Robbie are all still away somewhere though; I don't know where. We'll meet you and Freddie at the bus stop – you are still heading to his place before we go right?"

"Uh yeah, he texted me the deets a couple of days ago; I can't wait," she giggled.

Jade smiled patiently at her friend's excitement. "See you tomorrow Cat."

Friday, 28th August 2009.

Cat almost bounced her way to Freddie's house after breakfast; the little red-head greeted him with a hug and began talking excitedly about their planned trip to the beach. Freddie took her bag from her and carried it along with his own, containing his sunblock and beach towels, and the two walked to the bus stop where Jade and Beck were waiting to greet them.

"Hey, Lindsey not with you?" Beck asked, surprised by the blonde's absence.

"No, she said she couldn't make it today," Freddie shook his head as a new wave of unease over the state of his relationship began to wash over him. "Uh, a little over-dressed aren't you there Jade?" Unlike the others, clad in shorts and T-shirts, the gothic girl was dressed in a black, long-sleeved shirt and black jeans.

"I burn," she scowled, "I don't like to burn."

"I have sun-block," he offered, drawing a bottle from his bag and waving it at her, "I'm sure you can find a willing volunteer to rub some on you," he smiled at Beck.

"She threatened to break my hand if I tried," the long-haired Canadian told him.

"It was no threat," she whispered with a malevolent smile.

The bus arrived to carry the four teenagers to Venice Beach. They disembarked after the lengthy journey and hit the soft, warm, white sand. Freddie stretched his legs for a couple of minutes before finding a secluded spot to spread his beach towels. Jade did likewise with hers and Beck's and the two sat down while the tall actor went for ice creams; Cat, as usual, had rushed off to splash in the Pacific Ocean.

"You sure you're not too hot?" the tech producer asked her as the sun poured down on them.

"Do you think I'm too hot?" she replied in a coy tone, flashing him a wink before giving him a mischievous smile. "Will it make you happy if I strip off?" His face immediately flushed at the suggestion as he remembered again his night in his girlfriend's bed. "Hey, I was kidding," she apologised, correctly guessing exactly what he was thinking of as she saw his increasing discomfort, "I actually have good reason for keeping covered up right about now," she admitted in a whisper.

"Oh?"

She rolled up her right sleeve and proffered her forearm; he couldn't help but notice the new addition, a star-shaped tattoo on her inner forearm.

"You like it?"

He made something of a face. "It looks good but…" he debated his choice of wording as she raised her eyebrows wondering what he was about to say, "I think you have lovely skin to start with; I just don't get the urge to cover it with ink."

She turned from him and began watching Cat leaping boisterously around in the water as she pondered his words.

"Is there a story behind it?"

"Not really, I wanted a tattoo and went for a star."

A thought suddenly struck the young man, "I thought you had to be eighteen before you could get a tat?"

"Yeah, you're supposed to be eighteen before you do a lot of stuff in California," she retorted with a knowing look.

"Touché," he grumbled before nonchalantly stripping his shirt and beginning to apply sun-block, much to the delight of a group of teenage girls who had just arrived and decided to claim a patch of sand nearby.

Jade glared at the newcomers for a few seconds before turning back to her friend; she watched in amusement as he rolled onto his front and attempted to smear the oil over his back.

"Oh here," she sighed at his continued struggles and took the bottle from him, emptying some onto her hands before slapping them on his back. He relaxed into her touch and gave an involuntary shiver as she massaged his back with the cool liquid. She grinned uncomfortably, torn between enjoying his reaction and feeling that she was enjoying it too much.

"Your turn?" he smiled once she had finished as he turned to face her and took the bottle from her. The brunette was confronted with a view of his bare chest; she could see the effects of the gym membership André had given him for his birthday beginning to bear fruit.

"I told my boyfriend that I'd break his hand if he tried; what do you think I'd do to you?" she growled, meeting his eyes and trying determinedly to reclaim control over the situation.

"Do you really want me to go there?" he laughed before setting the bottle down, slipping his sunglasses back on and lying on his back. Jade grinned at the flirtatious banter they had shared, reflecting on how she wished Beck would act like that a little more often. She watched him for a second too long before pushing her book to one side and copying his pose while she waited for her boyfriend to return.

As it turned out she wouldn't have long to wait; Beck was making his return and watched in something close to amazement as his girlfriend willingly rubbed sunblock into their friend and seemed to be enjoying his company. He pushed the uncomfortable thoughts forming from his mind, rationalising that Jade was dating him and that Freddie had a girlfriend (though unlike Jade he didn't know just how far their relationship had gone) and made his way over to the pair, four ice creams in his hands.

"Thanks," Freddie accepted the treat, as did Jade. Beck sat down next to his girlfriend and began to eat, setting Cat's down in what little shade they had in an attempt to keep it cool for when the girl returned from the sea.

Freddie caught the red-haired girl looking in their direction and waved, motioning her to come over and pointing to his ice cream. She waved back and began rushing from the water and almost sprinting up the beach. The girl dropped her sandals at the foot of her towel and removed her T-shirt and shorts to display a pale blue bikini, much to Freddie's admiration as she flopped down next to him on her towel. He took her ice cream from Beck and handed it to her; she squealed slightly as she took a mouthful of the cold sweet.

"Do you have any more sunblock?" the excited girl asked the tech producer after they had finished; she was beginning to feel the effects of the sun on her bare skin.

"Yeah, right here," he produced a bottle. "Beck?" he turned to the actor, "you need any?"

The Canadian nodded the affirmative and Freddie tossed him another bottle. He followed Freddie's lead in removing his shirt, earning the group even more admiration from the knot of girls sat close by.

"Freddie, can you help me with this?" Cat asked sweetly, giving him a look with puppy dog eyes. He smiled and began to do for the girl what Jade had earlier done for him. She smiled into her towel at the feeling of his firm hands gently kneading her back, giggling as he clumsily withdrew them any time he got uncomfortably close to her skimpy costume.

It didn't take long for the young girl to get bored again with just sunbathing on the beach. "Yay, let's go swimming," she urged the others. Jade, overdressed as she was, understandably declined. Freddie, wearing trunks under his shorts, simply removed the outer garment and let the girl innocently take his hand and lead him to the cool water.

"You can go with them if you want," Jade told Beck.

"Nah, I'll stay with you – unless you want to get rid of me," he half-joked. The girl's retort was swallowed down as a couple of the nearby group of girls walked past, waving at the bare-chested actor. Jade actually growled at them as they did and their pace quickened appreciably. "You didn't have to do that," he sighed.

"Why not with how they were acting?" she snapped back.

"Do you trust me that little?" he argued. "I had no problem watching you giving a half-naked Freddie a massage earlier, you shouldn't feel threatened when girls wave at me." He knew it was something of a half-truth and exaggeration but was keen to emphasise the point to her.

"Freddie's a friend – of both of us. Do you really think he's going to make a play for me when he's got a girlfriend and a thing for Cat?" she raised her voice. He raised his to match.

"I've got a girlfriend; I'm not looking for another one." He bit his tongue and prevented himself from threatening not yet anyway. Instead he leant over and gave her a quick, chaste kiss.

Slightly mollified but still not entirely happy, the girl picked up her book and found where she had left off. He sighed and lay back to soak up the sun a little more. Jade cast a surreptitious look over the top of the document at the sight of her friends seemingly having a good time together a few yards away; she smiled at the sight.

The two certainly were enjoying their afternoon. Freddie attempted a little "serious" swimming to begin with but had to give up when the red-head caught his leg when he came near her in the shallower waters close to the shore. He struggled a little before she let him go with a cry of "Water fight!" and began laughing and splashing at him. He closed his eyes and mouth just in time as he received a faceful of sea water. He wiped his eyes with his hands before grinning wickedly at her.

"Oh it's on Valentine," he mock-growled and scooped two big handfuls of water and throwing them at her. She laughed as he drenched her and began returning the assault with one of her own. Several swimmers shook their heads in amusement and mild amazement at the sight of two teenagers acting like far younger children but the two didn't care and continued to have a good time.

"I surrender, I surrender," she shrieked eventually, raising her hands in supplication and starting to laugh again. Freddie waded over to her and gave his defeated 'foe' a friendly hug; she returned it and wrapped her arms behind his back, resisting the urge to move them to behind his neck. "You want to go back to the others?"

"I think I'll swim a little more first," he noted.

"'kay 'kay, I'll see you back there." She gave into temptation and gave him a little peck on the cheek as she let him go and headed up the beach. He watched her go and smiled at her retreating back, confusion beginning to well up inside him again as his feelings churned inside his heart. He forced himself to turn away and started to swim again.

An amused and happy Jade had watched their interplay from afar; she particularly enjoyed Cat giving him a little kiss at the end and catching him watch her departure. She smiled as the delighted, excited girl bounced back up the beach to join them.

"I see you two had a good time," she smirked playfully.

"We did," she agreed. "I really enjoyed it."

"I think he did too," she gave a sly grin.

"It's just a shame Lindsey is still around," the child-like teen blurted out before gasping and covering her mouth with her hand. She looked around to see if Freddie had magically arrived within earshot, which he hadn't, but the girl still looked unhappy about what she had just said. "I shouldn't say that about his girlfriend; she makes him happy."

Not recently she hasn't, Jade thought, making a determined effort to respect the boy's confidence and not betray his trust. She toyed with what she could disclose, thinking that some simple observations couldn't hurt. "They haven't looked all that close or happy lately though, have they? Most of the last half of the term there seemed to be some issues between them."

Cat scratched her chin thoughtfully and gave a small nod. "I did notice that things weren't too good – especially after the Prom," she bowed her head sadly, both thinking on Freddie's unhappiness and reminding herself that she didn't get to go, "but he seemed happier at the end of the year. I just want him to be happy."

"Wouldn't you rather he was happy with you?" Jade pressed.

"Don't try anything," Beck interjected sternly.

"I wasn't going to," she countered irritably, turning to face him, "but Cat still likes Freddie and I'm hoping that one day they can try again. If he and Lindsey were to split – not that I'm looking to cause it – then there's nothing wrong with encouraging Cat to make a move is there?"

"I guess not," he conceded.

"Hey guys," Freddie panted as he re-joined them a few minutes later. He gathered his towel and began to dry himself off. "What's the time?"

"Just after four," Jade replied.

"We need to get going soon then, traffic's going to be bad and we need to be back before it gets too late – otherwise… well, you all know my mom."

"Oh yeah." "We know her." "I don't know how you manage," his friends answered.

After quickly packing up the gang caught the next available bus and headed back across the city. They reached their stop and Beck and Jade headed off in the direction of her house; the brunette shot a grin at her friend as they left the two of them alone.

"Fun day huh?" Freddie asked her.

"It was; I really enjoyed it. It was fun hanging out with you again; we haven't done that in a while."

"Not without studying and learning lines anyway," he laughed, thinking back on the time they'd spent together at the back end of the last school year.

"Hopefully we can have some more study dates for you to help me with my science this year," she suggested, a little unintended emphasis on the word dates.

"I think that can be arranged," he smiled at her. "Walk you home?"

"No, I'm good; you need to get back before your mom complains too much," she laughed.

"I guess so," he agreed, "traffic was even worse than I thought it would be. Maybe get together tomorrow? The mall?" he suggested.

"Sounds great, text me in the morning and we'll fix something up. Goodnight Freddie," she leaned in and gave him another kiss on the cheek.

"Goodnight Cat."


AN: I hope you all enjoyed this little chapter to open up the story. I will likely return to my usual update pattern from iSwitch Schools, i.e. sometime on Thursday evening or Friday morning and hope to have Chapter 2 up this week. Until then, please use the box below to drop a review and let me know what you thought of it.

Thanks for reading and, in advance, for the review. PD