Can't let go, Won't let go

by jokerwrites

Summary: Cat has been distancing herself from her friends over the past few weeks. Now it's been five days since anyone but Jade has heard from her. So Andre decides to go check on her, but the problem is bigger than he thinks.

2. Chapter 2

Can't let go, won't let go

Chapter 2: It's a Beautiful Lie

Disclaimer: I do not own the rights to Victorious

Cat's point of view

I watched silently as Andre and my dad walked outside. Andre wants so badly to believe that he could help me, but he can't nor can Jade, but they're both here. I want to remove them from harms way, but instead I selfishly wrap my arms around Jade. I'm sorry so Jade. I didn't tell either of them my real problem because I couldn't admit it, it was easier to just end it. My mom simply sighed and stood up, "So what would you like for breakfast." She ask. It was one in the afternoon, Andre spent all morning talking me into coming home. "I'm not hungry," I respond. She looks at me, her voice is cracking as tears rolled down from her eyes. "How about I make you and your friends some pancakes," she says. Why is she trying to pretend that nothing happen? That act can't be for me or my brother, Logan. As soon as Jade and Andre leave it would start over again. "Why aren't you listening?" I scream. "I just don't know what to do. I know me and your father have been fighting lately. But everything I do, even if it turned out wrong, was for the good of this family," She says falling to her knees in tears. I let go of Jade and go to comfort her. It's not her fault she didn't ask for this none of us did. We knelt there crying for God knows how long before my dad came over and hugged us both. I flinch at his touch, oh God not did Jade and Andre see me, I hadn't even realized that him and Andre were back in the room. "I've decided that the medications may not be the best option. But that doesn't mean things are about go back to normal, I don't think that they can. But I do believe that it can be a lot better than it was." My dad said. "Yeah and if it's okay with your parents I'll spend the nights here for a little while," Jade said and my mom hesitantly shook her head in agreement. "And I'll pick you two up for school and drop it off in the afternoon," said Andre. "YOU DON'T NEED TO DO THAT!" I scream abruptly. "I promise, I will never try anything like that again." I tell them my voice now softer. Jade and Andre look at me confused. "You shouldn't have to change your lives because of me." I say tried to recover while I feel eyes staring like daggers into me. I ignore them. I must keep Andre and Jade safe. "I love you both so much. You know that right? But you don't have to do that." Them hug me, "We're going to do everything we can to help you." Jade says. "True Chiz." Andre adds. I feel safe in their arm, but the feeling of 'safe' never seems to last long.

It's now seven at night, my dad left an hour ago to 'collect his thoughts.' Andre lets out a sigh. "Well it's time to go face the music," he says standing up. "My mom hasn't seen me since 9:30 last night. I have a lot of explaining to do." He adds. I run up and hugged him tightly. This maybe the last time I get to do this. "Relax Little Red. I'll see you tomorrow I promise even if I had to sneak out," he says. "We called your parents after Jade called us. So hopefully you won't be in much trouble." My mom says. Andre held me tightly. "Remember our promise," he said. I nodded my head in agreement, and with that Andre leaves. I'm sorry I lied to you, Goodbye. I thought. Now I need to get Jade out before it's too late.

Jade's point of view

Cat has been trying get me to go home, but when I refused she insisted I at least go get a change of cloths. There something really bothering her. Even since Andre left, about two hours ago, she's been doing her best to push me out the door and I need to know why. I call Andre and ask him to come back. "Andre. Something's wrong." I tell him. "Is Cat okay?" He asked. "Maybe physically, but she acting really weird, even for Cat." I tell him. "I'm on my way." He responds. Cat grabs me by my hand and pulls me upstairs. "If you're going to stay we need to get ready for bed." She says rushing me up the stairs. At the top of the stair stood Logan, Cat's brother, he took one look at and asked 'what I was doing here.' A lot of people feared Logan because they thought he was crazy, but not me and Andre. We had know Logan for awhile, we knew he was crazy but he had a good heart and won't hurt anyone, except himself maybe by accident. "Cat tried to commit suicide and I'm here to make sure she stays safe." I tell him. "No Cat." Logan says hugging his little sister. Just then there is a loud crash from down stair. As I turn to go investigate, but Logan grabs me and Cat and pushes us into her room. "Lock the door and don't come out this time." He tells Cat shutting the door behind him. I can hear Logan running down the stairs as voices started to become more clear. "If you weren't so busy sleep with your rich boss you would have notice that your children are messed up." Mr. Valentine scream. "When I was working I still made time for the kids." He added. I look over and see Cat sitting on the floor with her knees up to her chest and her face buried in them. "Matthew, please just stop." Mrs. Valentine cries. I hear another loud crash. "Logan!" Mrs. Valentine scream. And with that I bolt out of Cat's room and head down stair. I don't know what I'm going to do, but I know I have to try and stop this. Once I'm down the stairs I look behind me and see that Cat has followed.

"Cat. Just go to your neighbor's house till I tell you it's safe." I tell her. I turn to see Mr. Valentine walk over toward Logan who is sitting against the wall with a busted lip. Mrs. Valentine attempts to stand between her son and husband only to be slapped out of the way. I grab Mr. Valentine's arm to stop him from hitting Logan, he slaps me so hard that I slide half-way across the floor. The reality of my situation sets in, there is not way I can even contribute in a fights against this man. "STOP IT PLEASE! It's all my fault. Hit me all you like just please let Jade go." Cat screamed as she runs in front of me in an attempt to stop her father. I saw her open the door. Why didn't she leave like I told her to? Mr. Valentine grabs Cat by the throat, I'm paralyzed with fear. MOVE DAMNED IT! CAT NEEDS YOU! I screamed at myself. Thank God Andre came rushing through the open door and tackled Mr. Valentine. He seemed to throw Andre off with as much ease as he used to send me sliding across the floor, but Andre quickly rose to his foot. "Jade! You guys get out of here now!" Andre yelled at me. I didn't want to leave him alone to fight Mr. Valentine, I honestly didn't believe he could win, but I knew he won't survive if he had to worry about us during the fight. I dragged Cat outside as she frantically tried to reach Andre. Logan grabbed Mrs. Valentine and brought her outside. He did his best to hold on to his sister while I called 911. After telling the dispatcher what was wrong I dropped my phone as Cat had clawed loose from her brother and started running back towards the house. I grabbed her as scream Andre's name at the top of her lungs. I wasn't sure if he could hear her over the crashing sounds coming from the house. As sick as it may seem those sounds felt me with a little hope, as long as I could hear them I knew Andre was still fight. But the moment they stop means he's most likely die. If you would have called Beck too they may have stood a chance together. A slim one, but a chance none the less. I thought.

I did my best to push the thoughts out of my head as I comfort Cat. "He's going to be fine. Andre hasn't let us down yet." I tell Cat as she cries into my chest. The sounds of police sirens feel me with new found hope as the squad cars pull into the yard, but there is one loud crash as the house falls silent. All hope seems lost. The polices draw there weapons ready to enter the house when Mr. Valentine emerges. "Thank God you're here Officers. This crazy teen broke into my house and tried to hurt my family. I tried to…" Mr. Valentine says before I cut him off. "Liar! What did you to Andre?" I scream as I run toward him. I know he probably could have kill me, but at the time I did care. All the fear that was inside is replaced by pure rage. I have to be restrained by an Officer. "Hey! This kid's alive, but in really bad shape. His pulse is faint, but it's there. Get a bus out here immediately." I hear one Officer say to the other. As they try to help Andre the other Officers separate us and take witness statements. It does take long for Logan, Cat, and me to give our statements, but Mrs. Valentine just sits there and says nothing.

Rosemary Valentine point of view (Cat's Mom)

The Officer asked me for my statement. I didn't know what to say. I had endured the abuse in order to keep my family together, but after this I was sure that our family had been ripped apart. "What kind mother lets a man beat her children all most to death, then is willing to side with him when he tries to kill the person who saved their daughter's life? You disgust me!" Jade scream at me. Cat and Logan look at me with so much disappointment in their eyes. How could you have fail them. You thought you were being so strong when you stayed even through he slapped you around, but where was that strength when he start in on the children. Now someone else's child could die because of your inaction. "Mrs. Valentine I need you to tell me exactly what happen." The Officers says to me. My husband comes over and puts his hand on my shoulder and smiles. "Andre attacked my husband." I tell the Officer. "YOU LYING BITCH!" Jade screams. "Someone calm that kid down." The Officer shouts over to the two other Officers trying to restrain Jade. I continue to give my statement. "He attacked husband because he was choking our daughter and had already beaten me and my son." "YOU STUPID BITCH!" Matthew screams as he slaps me in the face. The police officers quickly subdue him. I run over to comfort Cat, but Jade shields her from me. "You could have done that from the very start. Don't think that doing the right now lessens any of the pain your inaction caused. Cat still tried to kill herself to escape that monster you shared a bed with. AND LOOK AT WITH HE DID TO ANDRE!" The tears flow down her face as she motion toward the EMS workers wheeling Andre to the ambulance. Boy has been beat almost beyond recognition. Oh God. What have I done. Before I even had a chance to respond Jade pulls Cat over to the ambulance, and both of them get in without looking back. "They're both just angry right now. Cat still loves you. You'll see she will be back as soon as Andre gets better." Logan says trying to comfort me. But what if he doesn't? Will she hate me for the rest of her life?

Tori's point of view

I was asleep in my bed when I heard my dad beating on my door. I quickly got up to answer. "Dad what's wrong it's like 10:30 at night." I tell him, "One of the Officers from my precinct call me about three kids who go to Hollywood Arts, since he knew both you and Trina go there and…" His voice trails off. "He said that there was..Um..a boy named Andre Harris and the he was beaten really badly. They had to rush him to County General." My dad said. "No. No. What kind of sick joke was he playing dad?" I ask as tears start to roll down my cheek. It has to be a different Andre Harris. I tell myself as I run back into my room to retrieve my phone to call Andre. My dad takes my hand. "Jade and Cat are at the hospital with him. Put on your shoes I'll drive you." My dad tells me. We take my dad's squad car and rush to the hospital with the lights flashing. It's bad. My dad doesn't take his squad unless he's going to work.

When we arrive at the hospital the lady at the information desk isn't much help, until my dad reveals that he is both a family friend of Andre, Cat, and Jade; and a cop. "The two young ladies sustained minor bruises, but are otherwise okay. However, the young man was severely beaten and has yet to regain consciousness. He's in room 322." She tells us. I tear down the hall racing to the nearest elevator. When it takes too long to arrive I decide to run up the stairs. I emerge from the stairwell on the third floor to find another information desk. "Where's room 322?" I asked frantically. "It's to the right." The nurse tells me. I rushed down the hall to find the room door open. It's not as bad as they're making it out to be. It just can't be. I think to myself. I was wrong. I entered the room and see a battered Andre hooked up to a breathing machine. The scene is so surreal that I don't even notice Jade and Cat sitting on both sides of the bed. "Tori?" Jade says in a soft voice. "What are you doing here?" She continues. Her voice has no malice only concern. This is not Jade, at least not any Jade I know. "What am I doing here? What are you doing here? What happened to Andre?" I yell. Jade gets up and rushes towards me. Under normal circumstances I would be afraid, but right now I don't care. But to my disbelief she brings me into a hug. "Tori. We need to be strong for them." She whispers to me then motions over towards Andre and Cat. Cat hasn't even realize that I'm in the room. I feel my legs giving way, but Jade won't let me fall. "It's going to be okay. Don't worry I got you." Jade tells me as she helps me walk over to Andre's side. I see Cat holding Andre's hand I can tell she's praying. I put my hand on her shoulder doing my best to be strong like Jade said. At first she doesn't move, after a few moments she turns and looks up at me. "Tori. I'm so sorry. This is all my fault." Cat tells me. "Not it's not! You didn't do this to him." Jade tells her.

A few moments later Andre's parents arrive. The doctors instruct us to leave as only family was supposed be allowed in the room. However, this didn't stop Cat who just sits in the chair next to Andre's bed refusing to let go of his hand. Me and Jade go and stand next to my dad as he is speaking to one of the responding Officers. "From what Mrs. Valentine told us, her husband was laid off four months ago from his security job. Mr. Valentine then started drinking heavily and proceeded to physically abuse her. About two months ago he started physically abusing the children. Last night they had filed a missing persons report after finding a suicide letter from their daughter. According to Mrs. Valentine, the boy in there…" "His name is Andre. Andre Harris." My dad said correcting the officer. "Yes, Detective Vega. I'm sorry. According to Mrs. Valentine, Andre stopped her daughter's suicide attempt and brought her back home this afternoon. Mr. Valentine then went out drinking and upon returning home proceeded to physically assault everyone in the house. Andre had already left the Valentine household two hours prior to Mr. Valentine returning, but he returned and attempted to stop Mr. Valentine's rampage, and unfortunately you can see the result." The officer tells my dad. "Why did he come back?" I asked. "I called him." Jade said. "Cat tried to get me to leave and I was afraid that she might try to hurt herself again. So I called Andre to come back and help." Jade manages to force the words out through her tears. "If he hadn't come back…" She continues. "You all could have died and I don't think my baby would ever be able to live with himself if he allowed that to happen." Mrs. Harris tells Jade and hugged her tightly. She was right. Andre was the type of person who always put the needs of his family and friends ahead of his own.

Me and Jade are just sitting the waiting room. "Is this why you won't tells us what was going on with Cat?" I ask her. "No. I didn't know about the abuse. Cat told me that her parents were fighting a lot, but I never thought it was physical. Her parents had put her on some medicine that made her feel like zombie and she didn't want you all to see her like that." She responds. "But now that I think about it, Mr. Valentine may have wanted her on the medicine so he could calm that she was mentally unbalanced if she ever went to the cops." She added. My dad comes in and tells us 'it's time to go.' "But what about Andre." I ask. "Unfortunately there is nothing you can do for him by staying here all night. Besides you won't be able see him again until visiting hours. They're only allowing three people to stay in the room and right now that's his parents and Cat." He tells us. "Jade I called your parents to let them know that I'll be dropping you off." He adds. The ride home was a quiet one. We dropped Jade off and find ourselves back at home a short time after that. I want to believe this was all a bad dream and that when I wake up everything would be back to the way it was, but I know better. "I know this has to be tough on you, but know that we have the person responsible for this and we're going to make sure that he doesn't hurt anybody else." My dad tells me then kisses my forehead. I walk up stairs and just lay in my bed, I don't know how much time passes before finally fall asleep.

Arthur's notes: So there it is. Andre is most likely in a coma. I going to try and included a POV for all main characters in the upcoming chapters.

And thanks LizzieH22