Hello everyone! Sorry for the delay, but I had some last minute changes I wanted for this chapter that put it off and of course other things life likes to throw at me. Hopefully I have some other updates coming down the pipeline over the course of the month.

KoiChoco: Freddie and Tori's relationship is a building block one to get them to the point of being a couple and I thought I had an interesting twist on the girl taking the guy home to meet the parents even though they aren't together. I think you'll appreciate length and quality of this chapter makes up from my usual chapter a week.

Jeremy Shane: Here is more and thank you.

darck ben: I simply can't start another story as I have so much on my plate now that I'm trying to finish up. This as one of my regular stories, trying to wrap up 'A Coffee and a Smoothie' by Sunday, trying to finally wrap up another one of my old stories, get another chapter of Galaxy Wars out by the end of the next week and hopefully start back on 'iWould Have Pounded Him Silly' in a reasonable manner.

theking: Well I have 'A Coffee and a Smoothie' wrapping up and Galaxy Wars has the obvious Jade/Freddie undertones going for it, but another straight Jade and Freddie story is probably a good month away after I finish two stories that are near completion. That story will either be a story set after 'We Love Each Other' (still working things out with it before I can seriously write on it) or a separate universe with a ah… lowercase 's' supernatural twist to their story (as if their story in the trilogy wasn't twisted enough for meta-commentary on the shows).

illusorygentleman: I'm glad you did too. I hope you will enjoy this chapter too.

TenorSax93: Thanks and here it is.

Fanfic-Reader-88: Unless of course she saw Freddie as an easy meal ticket in assuming he was going to make it big later on and that is the point of nannies to raise kids.

What Tori should have done and what she did do are two separate things. Guilt is driving Tori's decision making as in her mind she was responsible for what happened in taking him to the party in the first place and not wanting him to be traumatized for nearly being raped.

I see Mrs. Vega keeping her husband on a leash and manipulative enough to keep him in the dark over the fact that she's screwing his partner. She likes Freddie for some particular reason and she's not going to let a little thing like her husband get in the way of her daughter hooking up with Freddie.

Marissa would flip if she found out that 'Tori' was a girl instead of a guy and say that her boy was living in sin living with a girl outside of marriage. This is the woman who thought 'Oh my God' was nearly taking the Lord's name in vain.

Twilight Warrior 627: Tori can get pretty fierce when she gets pissed off as she did with Trina during 'Freak the Freak Out' and Jade… I think that might be a little of my Jedi coming out, but this time in a friendship manner. It is a very good question of when Freddie will learn the truth. We will see.

Challenge King: Tori wants to suppress her guilt for what she sees as her fault and Freddie has had the personality from the series, especially his reaction to finding out the truth with Steven back in iParty with Victorious, that he doesn't like guys trying to get away with stuff with his female friends and thinks violence is a perfectly valid solution to the problem. Too bad in that episode (for obvious plot purposes) Carly's brain decided to take a vacation from reality with her blatantly absurd statement of Steven somehow being able to pound Freddie silly or it would have been a fun fight to watch. Steven wouldn't have been able to do that with a baseball bat and a few freedie swings on Freddie. Freddie's always been physically attracted to Tori since he first laid eyes on her in iPwV and Tori… well if you follow PD31's assertion, she's had eyes on him since the party later in the episode. Mrs. Vega simply wants her daughter to snag a decent guy and sees Freddie as that guy.

Boris Yeltsin: I guess Freddie has that charm about him that isn't muddled by the Seattle curse… and the fact that Mrs. Vega isn't going to allow her husband to give Freddie any undue hassle in regards to their daughter.

Since my last update, a few people have updated their stories that you might want to check out: illusorygentleman has updated his 'Learning Curves' story. It's still M kiddies, so don't read it if you're not old enough—I'm not one of your parents and you're responsible for what you read. PD31 has updated 'A Place to Call Home' and has some nice Sibling!Jedi going on. Fanfic-Reader-88 has jumped into the fire with his story 'The Tech Whiz And The Former Grunch', a Freddie/Trina pairing and that is M-rated too, so same warning about reader discretion being advised (oh, and I'm partially putting the blame on him for messing up my writing schedule to read it, so thank him by reading it and reviewing).

Rating: T Adult Content


Chapter 9

Apartment 316
Venice/Barry Apartments
11811 Venice Boulevard
Los Angeles, CA
Saturday, September 29, 2012

The doorbell rang about three in the afternoon and this time Freddie decided to answer the door. He and Tori were sitting on the couch with PearPad in hand and laptop on the coffee table in front of them as Tori studied and Freddie got a head start on a computer programming assignment.

He pulled himself away from his laptop and got up from his seat on the couch and headed for the door. He briefly looked into the peephole then quickly opened the door. He smiled to the pale girl and her long haired boyfriend. "Hey," he directed his greeting slightly more towards Jade.

Jade gave him what looked like a small concerned expression and cautiously greeted him, "Hey, you okay?"

He smiled to her in reassurance. "I'm good. I'm on my own two feet and everything is working now. I'm just glad it was me instead of Tori—or you—or we would be taking shifts to sit next to her or you at the hospital."

The dark haired teenager glanced around Freddie's shoulder to see Tori looking back at her from her turned position on the couch. In a simple eye look, Tori conveyed that she had taken Jade's advice on the cover story and Jade agreed she's stick to it.

Beck knotted his brow about the possibility of Tori being the one drugged. He looked to his girlfriend with a confused expression for an explanation. She opened her eyes wide and ever so slightly shook her head to keep him from verbally asking for the explanation in the discrepancy in what she told him and what Freddie understood the events of last night.

The pale girl looked back to the former tech-producer and continued in a pleasant voice, "I'm sorry it was you, but… it was a good thing that you were there."

"Yeah… far better me than either one of you girls or Cat for that matter." He motioned for them to step inside. He shut the door behind them and offered, "We were just doing some study. Do you want to join us? We were looking over Doctor Queen's class between me typing on some programming homework."

Jade turned him and frowned at the mere mentioning of her name. "I don't even want to hear her name."

Beck knotted his brow and questioned in genuine curiosity, "Why?"

The lovely future actress rolled her eyes and commented in a slightly impatient tone, "You didn't notice how she as checking you two out?"

Tori frowned as Jade had been correct in observing that the brunette had noticed the professor eyeing the pair and was not at all happy with the attention towards Freddie.

Beck rolled his eyes and softly admonished her, "Jade, no, not this again. I thought we had finally put this behind us months ago."

The short haired brunette crossed her arms under her chest and frowned at her boyfriend. They hadn't put anything behind them months ago when they got back together and still had the same problems they had when they broke up. He had come crawling back to her (after Tori had turned him down at least once and suspected twice with her refusing their night out as a date) and she was willing to accept him at the time without any guarantee that he would change. It was only through the combination of being so close to graduating and the busyness of all that entailed along with getting ready for college over the summer and their respective tolerance meters of each others behaviors resetting from the separation that had stopped them really falling back into their old routine.

She got some unexpected support when Freddie asked in a surprised manner, "You saw it too? I thought it was just my imagination."

Tori's ears perked up at his words and Beck looked to Freddie with evident surprise.

Freddie continued to Beck with a jovial tone, "She was checking us out. She's a very lovely woman, but it was a little creepy with the age difference of what? Fifteen years? And the fact that she's our professor."

Beck stuffed his hands in his pockets and glanced away in annoyance while Jade smirked in seeing that she wasn't just imagining things.

Freddie continued with a lighthearted hassling of the inspiring actor, "But fortunately you have Jade here to protect you from the ladies that want a piece of you—I learned the hard way how dangerous of girls wanting a piece of you at a Webicon one year. They nearly tore my clothes off—okay I'll admit the very first time was kind of enjoyable getting that kind of attention. I'll just have to make do."

Jade waved a hand towards Tori and grinning with a mischievous look in her eyes. "I'm sure Tori would be happy to take the job of protecting you from all the ladies that would want to take advantage of you."

He chuckled while turning to look at the slightly blushing girl. "She's already done that once—" He looked back to Jade and finished, "—and you too." He laughed, "I mean, no girl tried to take advantage of me since someone was trying to drug Tori, not me."

Tori felt a knot in her stomach at seeing him so readily accept her lie to him. She had a creeping feeling that she was going to pay for lying to him sometime in the future.

Jade was caught off guard for a moment from the vote of confidence and responded with on a partially successful nonchalant respond, "Yeah, well… you're welcome." She continued to attempt to cover herself by shrugging a shoulder and lazily went back to the original offer, "I could work in some studying."

Beck nodded his head back and suggested, "Sounds like a good idea. Freddie and I can go check on his car and see what we need in the meantime."

Freddie acknowledged with a nod of his head. "Let me get some shoes on." He turned and headed to his room.

Once he rounded the corner, Beck quickly looked to Tori and asked with confusion written all over his face, "Freddie thinks—"

Tori got up from her seat and walked to the couple to cut him off with a sharp hiss, "Yes and we're going to keep it that way."

He didn't get to respond as Freddie stepped right back out of his room with his untied shoes on his feet. He walked over to the dining room table and had a seat in one of the seats to tie his shoes. He looked up from tying them and continued, "I have no idea how long it will take us because I'm not a car expert. Depending on how long it takes, maybe we can order in some pizza for an early dinner?"

Tori happily agreed, "Sounds like a good plan: a study dinner." She looked to the couple and Jade shrugged a shoulder not having a problem with it.

Freddie walked over to the refrigerator and opened it to take an assessment of the contents. He looked over his shoulder from looking inside the refrigerator. "Does anyone want something to drink?"

Beck raised a hand to answer, "I'll take a water." He had long softened on his stance on not on drinking water from mountain springs.

Jade waved him off and stated, "I'm fine for right now."

Freddie grabbed a bottle out of the refrigerator and closed it behind him then handed him a bottle of Crystal Waters. The pair headed their way out the door to go down to the underground parking lot. The more muscular teenager waved back at the girls. "We'll be back in a little while."

Tori smiled and waved back, more specifically waved at Freddie as he pulled the door shut behind him (and making it a point to lock the handle lock). She turned and headed back to her spot on the couch with Jade plopping down beside her to see if the brunette was really studying.

The shorter and darker haired girl saw that the PearPad apparently was displaying the PearBook (an electronic copy of the novel, not the laptop by the same name) of their assigned novel, but noticed how little Tori had apparently read on it. She didn't know when the girl had started reading this afternoon, but she had a feeling that Tori had focused her attention on the boy next to her more than the reading so far in their 'study time'.

Tori felt Jade's eyes on her and decided to stop the scrutiny. She turned to Jade and quickly rattled off, "Freddie doesn't really remember the end of the night, so he believes me about it was my drink that was drugged, but…"

Jade frowned and narrowed her eyes. "But what?"

Tori spoke out in a hushed tone despite the fact that they were alone, "He thinks that Ryder spiked my drink and he wants to hurt him—really hurt him."

Jade took in a sharp breath. She wasn't expecting the former tech-producer to want to go all white knight for Tori. Actually if she thought about it, there was so little she knew of Freddie and was making assumptions about him from only their few days of interaction and occasional viewing of the web-show. She guessed that would be quickly rectified in the coming days and weeks of sharing classes and study sessions; however she had more pressing matters. "Why hasn't he gone looking for Ryder yet?"

"Because when he woke up this morning he could barely stand on his own two feet, but was going to go after him anyway. He didn't care, he just wanted to make Ryder hurt for what he thought he tried to do to me. I practically had to beg him not to go and bribed him with breakfast because he could barely walk. I might have convinced him that it wasn't Ryder for the moment and just to let it go, but I don't know how long that is going to last."

The pale girl continued to look on in mild surprise. "Wow, Freddie going all white knight for you? That's kind of impressive."

Tori glanced away and softly admitted, "Yeah, it is… I need to tell him the truth before he tries. What if he tries on campus? They might kick him out of school."

"Okay, but how do you think he would react to the news that it was Lindsey and she wanted to do that to him?"

"I don't know, but I can't let him just beat up Ryder."

"Even if he may deserve it?"

Tori cocked her head to the side and gave her an incredulous expression.

Jade laughed at getting underneath Tori's skin even with the seriousness of the discussion.


Freddie leaned against the fender of the Charger while Beck looked over the engine. Beck licked his lips then took a leap in what he thought Freddie understood last night, "Spiked drink? That was a chizzy way for the night to end."

The Seattle native shook his head and laughed it off while glancing over his shoulder to the taller teenager, "Tell me about it, but…" His voice dropped, "…better me being flat on my back instead of Tori—or Jade or Cat. Thank God we accidentally switched drinks."

The taller teenager took a soft breath while tightening a bolt. He cautious asked with a glance to his right, "Why do you think someone spiked Tori's drink?"

Freddie sipped his water then answered, "Yeah, she told me."

Beck had his head under the hood of the car and focusing on the engine to hide his surprised expression. His mouth gapped open like a fish for a few moments then forced idleness to his voice to ask, "Tori told you?"

"Yeah, who else is going to tell me?"

He nervously laughed out, "Yeah… if you think someone drugged her drink, who do you think did it?"

Freddie sipped his water again then idly commented while looking out, "I think it was that Ryder guy. The one that she sung about last year when she found out he was just using her, but Tori's not so sure."

Beck checked one of the connections to the battery and offhandedly asked, "What if… what if she wasn't the target?"

Freddie pushed off the fender and turned to curiously look at the taller teenager. "Not the target? It was her drink she said. The end of the part of the party is kind of fuzzy, but Ryder was the last person Tori was talking to just before I got woozy."

"Okay, say it was Ryder, but why? Why would he do something like that?"

He looked do him in mild disbelief. "Ah revenge? She did let the world know what he was like and he would want to take something from her. I can still see the video of her performance."

"Okay, I'm speculating that it was really him, but if I can prove that he did it, I'm going to leave him a mess."

Beck lifted from the engine to face Freddie and awkwardly laughed, "Tori will not be happy with that."

Freddie pursed his lips for a second and broke eye contact with Beck. "Probably not, but I can't let him think he can just get away with the attempt—he might try again."

"I doubt that he would get such a chance again. She'll be on the look out even more so now in someone trying to do something to her drink—you'll be keeping an eye out for something."

"Freddie?"

"Yeah?"

"Why do you care so much?"

He slightly frowned and answered in a surprising revelation, "Tori's… Tori's my friend and that's just the way I am with my friends."

Beck nodded along, but didn't discount the possibility that there may have been more to Freddie's motivation than sheer friendship. "How do you plan to figure it out?"

"I'm not sure yet. I doubt he would just admit to attempted rape and I can't just start asking about where he would get any. People might think I would want to do such a thing."

"Maybe you should just let it go then?"

The more muscular teenager crossed his arms over his chest and looked on in mild annoyance. "Would you just have let it go if it had been Jade's drink that had been spiked? Or worst that Tori and I had found her like the mess I was in before he or some other guy had a chance to do anything?"

Beck frowned with a sour expression, not used to being challenged in that manner. "No I wouldn't, but I wouldn't just assume it was someone just because of a thin connection."

"Thin connection?" Freddie raised his hand and counted off with two of his fingers. "He has motive and he had an opportunity. I saw him talking with Tori just before the night started getting hazy for me. I had to verbally chase him off."

"And how did you do that?" Beck asked and avoided actually challenging the Seattle native's assertions.

"When I introduced myself to him, I made it vague about whether or not I was Tori's boyfriend."

"Why?"

"I wanted him to know that Tori had someone looking out for her and that he shouldn't try to make another play on her."

Beck tried not to roll his eyes at seeing that he may be correct in thinking that Freddie could have more than platonic feelings for Tori. However, he didn't see a point in pointing out the possibility to Freddie, but instead motioned towards the driver's seat. "Why don't you give it a start and see how she turns over?"

Freddie slipped into the driver's seat and gave the engine a crank. The vehicle started right up and the engine made a healthy rumbling noise.

Beck laughed with a satisfied smirk, "Now she's purring, but I think there are a few parts that are on their last legs."

Freddie poked his head around the windshield and laughed, "So I shouldn't really get on the road and risk stalling out?"

"I wouldn't."

Freddie turned off the engine then slipped out of the car and shut the door behind him. "Well, tell me what you think I should get replaced and I'll check around. I might be able to order any of them online." He pulled out his PearPhone and brought up an app to type up a quick list of parts that Beck started listing.

After he finished typing the last part, he slipped his phone back in his pocket and asked, "So was your night better than mine? Did you get the part?"

The longer haired teenager blew out a breath. "I don't know yet. I had an extended audition with some of the other parts they cast. I'm not sure how thrilled Jade's going to be as the two other leads are some very beautiful girls. I think that they'll probably do the expected triangle with the characters. I met the guy I'm competing with and he seems like a nice guy—he's from Canada too, so we had something to talk about. The resemblance is kind of creepy."

"Why would Jade be concerned that your co-stars would be pretty?"

"Well Jade has always been a little sensitive to girls around me. She's seen always seen any girl that even looks at me as a potential threat to our relationship. I could never believe how jealous she could get. I thought we had gotten over it when we got back together, but you saw how she reacted with Doctor Queen."

Freddie raised an eyebrow and tried to hold back a laugh as to not embarrass his friend too much. He couldn't comment on Beck's assessment on Jade being potentially too possessive of him, but he could comment on the second thought. He let out a friendly laugh to avoid trying to embarrass him and tried to reasonably point out, "I can't speak about your relationship with Jade with how she views other girls, but in regards to Doctor Queen, she's right: the woman was clearly checking us out. I think she has the right to be concerned about one of our professors eyeing us like that. If she makes a move on one of us, we obvious spur her advances, she messes with our grades and if we complain, she tries to say we tried to sexually harass her. It could be a real problem."

Beck struggled with something that was between a frown and a smile at seeing his point as he couldn't just dismiss out of hand Freddie's point. He didn't see things through the filter that Beck believed Jade saw things and he didn't want to alienate Freddie in attempting such a thing. The inspiring actor decided a more diplomatic approach, "I guess I didn't see it, but I'll keep an eye out for it if it happens again."

Freddie laughed, "I guess that's the only thing we can do."

Apartment 316

The purple hair extensions girl shook her head in mild disgust while reading from the novel from Freddie's PearPad that she had 'borrowed' from Freddie's room. "I don't like this professor."

Tori smirked while looking at her PearPad. "Because she's making eyes at Beck?"

Jade looked away from the novel and sharply retorted, "As if you appreciate her making those same eyes on Freddie?"

"It's not the same, Freddie's not my boyfriend. I'm just a little weirded out that she could be looking at him that way."

She softly muttered under her breath, "Not yet…" She continued in a louder voice, "He may not be your boyfriend, but don't tell me you don't have a little possessiveness of him since you two are living together."

Tori opened her eyes wide and pointed out in a curt tone, "I am not possessive of him. I'm just watching out for my friend. She's our professor and it's not right for her to be doing that. What if she tries something, he of course turns her down and then she tries to mess with his grade as punishment?"

"Then we'll deal with it like we deal with everything else. Just because she's a professor doesn't mean she's invincible and I'm betting she doesn't have tenure… and I'll make her sorry for a very long time."

Tori blew out a breath as she was partially reassured that Jade was so willing and confident about turning her meanness on the doctor if she tried to cross any lines other than using her boy—her friend as eye candy.

Jade continued on as apparently she wanted to turn the conversation to a more pleasant topic, "So how did the rest of your morning go? Is he really bounced back from whatever Lindsey drugged him with?"

The brunette smiled, welcoming the change in topic. "Yeah. After breakfast he decided to go to the exercise room and workout. He wanted to burn and sweet off whatever was in his system. I tried to talk him out of it, but that was pointless, so my only other option was to go with him."

Jade raised a teasing eyebrow that filtered into her voice, "So you watched him work out?"

"Yes. I had to make sure he wouldn't just fall over during the middle of it. He could barely stand on his feet before we had breakfast and he was hardheaded enough to go anyway."

"Was it a pleasant sight?"

Tori narrowed her gaze on her frenemy and slightly shook her head.

Jade responded in an innocent tone, "What? He looks pretty built, like Moose."

The brunette responded without thinking, "And then some…"

The highlighted girl suppressed a laugh at hearing the slip up. She continued with her innocent tone, "So you got back and everything's been fine so far with him."

"Yeah and we were about to eat lunch when my parents finally came back from New York and made a surprise visit… and thought Freddie and I were stepping out of the shower together."

"Were you?"

"JADE?!"

The purple highlighted girl let out a hearty laugh at seeing the horrified reaction of the girl she had felt such annoyance through the last two years of high school. As wrong as it may seem, she couldn't help but feel a little satisfaction at Tori reacting in such a way over a guy. It vaguely reminded her of when she was uncomfortable with Cat dating her ex, Danny.

"We did not get out of the shower together—we were not in the shower together!"

"Why were you two stepping out of… separate… showers?"

"We just came back from working out."

Jade asked in a pretty casual manner, "We? So he saw you working out too?"

"Yes, he saw me working out. After he was done with his workout—or I cut it short because I thought he was going to hurt himself, he joined me on the treadmill. We got back all hot and sweaty, so we had to go hit the showers or we'd stink up the entire apartment and it wouldn't have been that pleasant to eat lunch that way."

"From the workout?"

Tori slowly answered as she kept a close eye on Jade, trying to figure out what she was implying, "Yes, from the work out…" The singer frowned at the continuing smirk on Jade's face and was only prevented from saying something from the doorbell ringing.

Jade knotted her pale brow and looked to the door. "They can't be back already."

Tori got up from her seat and walked around the coffee table as she didn't want to step over Jade's extended legs propped up on the table. The brunette looked through the peephole then opened the door to reveal Sam and Cat. She smiled to the redhead and happily greeted, "Hey Cat." She passed a patient stare at Sam.

Cat waved and eagerly greeted her friend. "Hiiii, we wanted to check on Freddie."

The brunette looked to the blonde in mild disbelief, seriously doubting that Sam wanted to do such a thing with how reluctant Freddie wanted to talk about his time in Seattle.

Sam blew out a breath and rolled her eyes. "Okay, Cat wanted to check on him."

Tori asked in mild outrage, "He was your friend for years—his girlfriend for a few weeks—and you don't want to bother checking on him? You saw that we had to carry him out. You didn't offer to help."

The blonde narrowed her eyes. "I don't need a lecture from you."

Jade cracked as she walked up behind and to the side of Tori, "You need one from somebody."

Sam turned her attention to the pale girl and snapped, "Watch it Snow White before I pull those hair extensions out."

Jade took a step forward and hissed, "Why don't you try blondie?"

Cat threw her hands up and shouted with a little hurt in her voice, "Stop! I am not going to have you two fighting."

Sam pointed in mild disgust towards Tori. "She started it."

Jade warned coldly, "And I'll finish it."

The three girls fell into a staring contest that quickly irritated the blonde. She was used to people fearing her, a reputation hard earned in Seattle and over her web-broadcasts, but here it was doing her very little good. She debated to say to Hell with Cat's feelings and put these two in their place the hard way.

Her redheaded roommate cut off any further thought, "Stop right now! We came here to check on Freddie, not for everyone to start fighting about past mistakes."

The three turned to see the quickly worked up redhead becoming quite distraught at seeing her friends about to blow up at one another. The former Hollywood Arts students could see that their petite friend had truly bonded with Sam, at least on her part, so the antagonistic trio agreed with a series of eye contacts to set aside the argument for the time being for Cat's sake despite the fact that Tori wanted to point out that Sam apparently didn't feel any remorse for such mistakes.

The long haired brunette put on a pleasant smile she didn't entirely feel and nodded her head back and offered to Cat, "We were going to get some studying in; do you want to join us?"

The redhead played with the end of some strains of her hair and answered with a somewhat fretful voice, "I don't have my book or notes."

"We have electronic copies of the book and I'm sure Freddie wouldn't mind you using his PearPad."

Jade half-joked and held up the Pad, "I've stolen it for the last half hour."

Sam idly remarked, "You go do that red and—" She motioned to Tori, "—I think I'll raid your frig."

Freddie called out from behind the roommates, "No you will not. We're not the Shays and we're not feeding you. You want to sponge off Cat, that's her business, but I'm not spending money on you and I'm not letting you steal from Tori."

The quartet turned to see that Freddie and Beck had returned.

Sam smirked and teased in a baby voice, "You're back on your feet? Did little bitty Freddie get knocked out from the bad drinky winky?"

He frowned and cocked his head to the side. He retorted in a flat tone, "Would you be making it a joke if it had been Cat's drink and you found her after…" He cut himself off when he glanced over to Cat and saw the others giving him looks that said they wished for him to stop. "…well that would assume you actually care about her."

The redhead quickly retorted, "Sam's my friend!"

Freddie answered in a dry, but with an underlining tone of regret and sympathy, "You'll have to forgive me Cat if I have my doubts that she feels the same way about you. She's only had one friend in her life and that is Carly."

The former web-celebrity snapped back, "Hey! Don't try to sabotage my friendship."

Freddie gave her back a cold stare and answered back in an equally cold voice that lacked the passion of anger one would expect, "You mean like you've tried to sabotage everything I've ever cared about? My relationship with Carly, my college plans, my job at the Pear Store? Those are the big things and I could start making a list of other things, but those alone prove my point. I just wonder when you'll start sabotaging Cat's plans, auditions or anything she wants to do."

Freddie took a step and coldly eyed his one time girlfriend. "This isn't about you Sam. As much as you think the world should revolve around you, it doesn't. I'm bringing this up for her protection because I know you. I know you and I know what you're capable of doing and that is bringing pain and suffering to anyone that you don't like simply because you can."

Sam bit her tongue to prevent herself from lashing out at him as she really couldn't deny his statement. She had just recently messed with Dice, a kid that lived in the same apartment complex that Cat would regularly buy odd and useless things from, during a texting competition and her response to him was that she didn't have a heart, just an empty dark place. She also didn't want to admit such a thing in front of Jade or the rest of Cat's friends as they would probably start giving her grief. She decided to do something she was loathed to do and just weeks earlier would never have occurred to her: run away.

Sam snorted out in disgust then offered to her roommate, "I think I'll pick you up in a little bit. Have a good time with your friends."

Cat frowned and answered in a quiet voice, "Okay."

The blonde turned and quickly exited the apartment. Tori was more than happy the shut and lock the door behind her.

The redhead gave Freddie a slightly annoyed expression and commented with a surprisingly sharp tone from her, "You don't have to be so mean to her."

Freddie looked to the cute redhead with a sympathetic expression. "Cat, I would be meaner to you if I wasn't honest with you about what she was capable of doing—and I think it was far meaner of her just hopping on her motorcycle and taking off after graduation without leaving me a word where she was going or letting me know if she was even alive while on her road trip before finding you. I'd need a couple of years before I would catch up to her meanness towards me."

Tori directed a sympathetic expression to Freddie, due to his bitterness and hurt from Sam, and Cat for her painful realization that her friend wasn't the person she thought she was. Jade looked on in greater annoyance at the situation of how big a threat Sam could potentially pose to her redheaded friend.

Freddie idly remarked while heading back to his seat in front of his computer, "I think I'll wrap up my computer programming."


Jade and Beck were on the loveseat sharing a Pearpad to continue to read the novel between bites of their pizza. Cat was happily sitting past the coffee table and watching television after being able to speed read several chapters of the book and needing a break. Tori and Freddie were sitting together on the couch with her studying for another class while he wrapped up his computer assignment and sparing a few glances to survey how the late afternoon turned out.

Tori slightly nudged Freddie's shoulder and softly asked with a teasing smile, "What?"

"I've missed this… it's peaceful and nice and… inviting, like I belong again or really belong for the first time.

"You didn't feel like you belonged with Carly and Sam and your friends back in Seattle?"

He put on a somber expression and answered, "For me, the term 'friend' has meant always been an afterthought even behind one's enemies. 'Friend' has meant being on the end of repeated physical, emotional and mental abuse and between that the sabotaging of one's plans. 'Friend' has meant being falsely accused of going after another guy's girlfriend then having the same guy swoop in and sabotage my chances with a girl and suddenly saying that he wasn't exclusive with said girlfriend." He turned his head to look her straight in the eyes and whisper, "With friends like that… who needs enemies?"

She returned with a sorrowful expression, slipped her hand into his hand to lace their fingers then rested her head on his shoulder. She commented in barely above a whisper, "I guess I'm going to have to give you the proper definition of what it means to be a friend."

Jade looked away from the PearPad and noticed the gesture from her former rival. A corner of her mouth lifted, intrigued by Tori's action towards the former tech-producer.

Unbeknownst to them, Cat had been able to hear every word from Freddie despite looking like she was paying attention to the television.


About an hour later, the door knocked and Tori called out, "I got it." She hopped out of her seat to answer the door. She opened it to see Sam wearing an impatient expression.

The blonde dryly commented, "I'm here for Cat."

Cat jumped up from her seat and ran to her roommate. She eagerly gave the former Seattle girl a hug, obviously happy to see her new friend.

Sam put on a sour expression, leaned slightly back and stated in a mildly disgusted voice, "Not a hugger, not a hugger."

Freddie offhandedly remarked, "You wouldn't tell that to Carly."

The blonde outright glared at him.

He shook his head and stated in a flat voice, "Blame me for what you do. Nothing's changed."

She continued to hold her glare, but Tori interrupted any potential argument by warmly smiling to her redheaded friend. "We'll see you on Monday."

Cat waved and laughed, "Okay, byeee!"

Sam dryly commented before any of them could make in disparaging comment, "I'll drive safely." The girls turned and left the apartment, Tori glad in not having to see Sam anymore as the girl was starting to become an irritate under her skin despite having spent so little time in the other girl's presence, but sad to see Cat leave.

Jade spoke up as she got up from her seat, "I guess it's about time for us to go too. I think I'm all studied out."

Beck followed her example as Freddie called out, "Are we still on for lunch on Tuesday?"

The lovely pale teenager took Beck by the hand while they headed for the door then threw her hand back and answered, "Yeah, we can try one of the places on campus none of us have tried yet."

Beck waved back as well with his charming smile and the couple exited the apartment.

Freddie looked to Tori and softly laughed, "It looks like it's just us again."

She smiled back, not having a problem with that at all.


The roommates finally retired from studying, having gone over all their classes and enjoyed kicking back and watching television or goofing off on-line. A number of times Tori would find her head relaxing against Freddie's shoulder. He would occasionally pass her a smile, trying to get used to the fact that she seemed so comfortable with being physically close to him. Carly wasn't particularly comfortable in such a manner on a regular basis even if she had eased up on willing to hug him over the years.

The pair continued relaxing in such a manner and sharing lighter meal and maybe another spare slice of pizza then separated for a while so Tori could call Trina and Freddie could check up on his mother.

The pair reunited back in the living room for some non-physical gaming time on Tori's Wii then Freddie spent some time introducing her to World of Warlords. She had found it a little silly and geeky from the reputation with geeks, but she was a good sport about showing her the MMORPG. She had even created her own character as a particular sexy elf to Freddie's eyes on his account to use if the mood ever hit her to play, but of course wouldn't say out loud about his opinion on the character.

After some more gaming time then watching a late evening movie, the pair decided to turn in for the night, Freddie in particular in wanting a drug free good night sleep. Freddie went about to secure the glass doors of the balcony (as if someone was going to scale the building to get inside that way) then crossed the living room and the foyer to double check the front door lock and deadbolt.

Tori laughed out behind him, "Is that going to be your routine every night?"

He turned to see the smiling brunette, having changed into her night clothes hours ago before they watched the movie. She was free of any makeup and in her pajamas—which consisted of female fitted dark athletic shirt (which he wasn't sure she was actually wearing anything underneath it) and a pair of old Hollywood Arts gym shorts that practically showed off her entire legs. In his eyes, she was so naturally beautiful with her brown eyes, lightly tanned skin and soft brown hair framing her face and resting over her shoulders and over her chest. A part of him wanted to tell her, but he knew it wasn't appropriate to tell her such a thing while they still were roommates. He making a pass at her right now would be wrong and just prove Mister Vega's concerns correct.

Freddie nodded his head and softly smiled. "I guess so until one of us moves out. You did tell your parents that I being here made you feel safe at night, so I don't want to you think you misplaced that trust."

She felt a slight prick at her heart at him casually mentioning their time living together was a temporary situation. However, she covered it with a laugh, "Freddie, you being here is enough. The only way I would be safer is if I was sleeping in your arms at night." Her face instantly put on a shocked expression and drained a little when she realized what she had uttered. She nervously laughed, "I mean you have a real physical presence about you that would make anyone feel safe if you were holding them—" She put up an embarrassed smile and finished, "I'm going to stop talking now."

He bowed his head and softly let out a laugh. "Something else we have in common."

"What's that?"

"Getting tongue tied."

They shared a quick laugh then he continued, "I appreciate the sentiment. I guess I could be one big teddy bear." He laughed and thumbed over his shoulder, "I'm going to try to get a good night sleep in my bed."

She wrapped her arms across her abdomen and embarrassingly commented, "Sorry we dumped you on the couch, but you were just too heavy for us to get you to your bed."

He softly laughed then reassured her, "It's okay. I wouldn't want you two to hurt yourselves. It could have been worst; Sam would have just left me on the floor—maybe even had just left me in the bathroom or on that bed." He shook his head. "That's what I meant in the exercise room: I remember being on a bed hovering over me and I heard Jade's voice in the background, but I couldn't have been. You found me in the bathroom, not on a bed. That stuff really messed up my memory of what happened."

Tori's face instantly became impassive. "Right, we found you in the bathroom."

He shook his head not noticing her expression. He hesitantly rested a hand on her shoulder, unsure even after the hug if she would approve of such physical contact. "Thanks again for pulling me out of there and just not leaving me on the bathroom floor."

She rolled her eyes and softly giggled. "You don't have to thank me."

"Well, goodnight Tori," he bid farewell and turned to head into his room.

She sweetly smiled. "Goodnight Freddie."

She walked past his room to retreat to her room then after crossing the threshold inside, she stopped just short of closing the door all the way before heading to her bed.

Apartment 316
Venice/Barry Apartments
11811 Venice Boulevard
Los Angeles, CA
Sunday, September 30, 2012

Tori stood beside the sink and poured herself some cereal then a little milk. She felt fantastic after a good night sleep and recalling the fun afternoon (minus her interaction with Sam) after the going through their morning ordeal and surprise visit from her parents. She went about putting away the cereal box and milk then walked back to her bowl of cereal as Freddie walked into the living room and headed for her in his athletic shirt and boxers. He wore a bright smile and happily greeted her, "Morning."

She looked up and smiled back to Freddie approaching from her right and slipping behind her and glanced over her shoulder to happily reply, "Good morning."

He stopped behind her and wrapped his arms around her and crossed them to rest his hands on the opposite hip and rested his chin on her right shoulder. His right hand pulled away from her hip and slipped under the hem of her shirt and rest directly on her smooth abdomen.

Tori took in a sharp breath from the unexpected contact and stunned into silence, but the contact wasn't exactly unwelcome.

He pressed his lips on her left shoulder then rested his chin back on her shoulder to softly ask, "Did you have a good night sleep?"

Her voice was caught in her throat for a few seconds as his 'kiss' sent a shiver through her. She finally uttered in what she hoped was a casual tone as she avoided his obvious invasion of her personal space, "Yeah, I ah… I ah slept fine. Did you?"

His breath tickled across her jaw line as he answered, "Yep, I slept fantastic, but…"

"What?"

"It took me a little while to get to sleep even though I was kind of tired and eager for a good night sleep."

All thoughts and the implications of him wrapping his arms around her were forgotten and she asked in a worried tone, "What kept you up? Was I snoring? Trina always said I snored, but I never believed her. I should have closed my door last night. I'm sorry."

"Shhh…" he attempted to calm her then placed a kiss under her right ear. "You have nothing to apologize for."

She closed her eyes and this time visibly shivered against him.

He smiled against her end of her jaw line under her ear and continued, "I was just thinking on what you said last night before we went to bed. That's what kept me up."

She took several calming breaths as she felt her heartbeat start to rise and become a little warm.

"What specifically?" she tried to ask in a calm voice even if she wanted to melt into his embrace, her breakfast easily forgotten.

"That the only way you could feel safer while you were staying her was if you were sleeping in my arms."

She felt her cheeks heat up even further and the blush forming. "I'm sorry. That was so inappropriate for me to say—"

"Like me holding you like this? Am I crossing a line here or do you feel safe?"

She turned her head and their respective noses almost bumped when she met his eyes. "I feel safe."

He gave her a bright, warming smile and playfully whispered, "I'm glad. I want you to feel safe while I'm here… you're safe in my arms Tori… you're safe with me. I wouldn't let Ryder or any other guy hurt you. You deserved to be loved, not taken advantage of and as self-serving as this sounds because you are such a beautiful girl, if it would really make you feel safer staying here, you could sleep in my arms every night."

Her mind instantly shouted for her to take him up on the offer if it was going to feel like this in his strong, warm and safe arms every night. She stuttered out, "L-l-like you were my… teddy bear?"

His minty breath from his laugh tickled her nose and her upper lip. "If that's what you need me to be… or anything else you need me to be… roommate… study partner… protector… fake boyfriend…"

She closed her eyes and let herself completely relax into his arms to the point that he may have been holding her up with a hand resting on the one over her abdomen and the other one resting on her right hip. She breathed out to add to his list, "…real boyfriend…"

He tenderly pulled the strap of her tank top to the side and started kissing from the crook of her neck and across to her shoulder. The surprise was interrupted with a fingertip starting to play with her bellybutton and elicited a soft giggle past her lips. He whispered, "I can be that too… and I'd perform all the duties that would entail whenever you need them."

After pulling the strap to the end of her shoulder, his right hand started sliding down her abdomen, down past her navel and his fingertip slid just under the waistband of her shorts.

She closed her eyes and shivered again then whimpered out in a longing tone, "Freddie…"

He brought up his left hand off her hip and over her chest and to tenderly take her chin and turn her head to meet his eyes while his other hand stopped its movement down her abdomen. Tori opened her eye and their matching brown eyes met. He just studied her eyes and face then whispered, "Do you really believe that you're safe in my arms? Can I show you?"

He waited for her to respond until she gave a gentle nod of her head. "I'm safe in your arms… completely safe in your arms with anything."

A part of her was surprised that she would grant him such a thing to touch her intimately, but the rest shouted that part down and was overjoyed from the tenderness he was showing her and the pleasure she was sure was about to come.

His hand slid completely under the waistband of her shorts and fingers grazed down her most intimate area.

She closed her eyes and softly bit her bottom lip from his delicate touch thinking she was going to tense up from the foreign contact, but instead felt completely at ease. She rested her right hand over his right hand inside her shorts and whispered, "Freddie…"

He softly instructed her with a whisper into her ear, "Guide my fingers Tori."

She lined her fingers parallel with his fingers and started putting the faintest of pressures on them to signal how she wanted him to touch her. "Please…"

He kissed her temple and picked up the pace of his gentle ministration of his fingers guided by her fingers to show him exactly what to do then whispered, "You're so beautiful Tori. I wish I had told you that last year during my visit—I wish we hadn't let our lives get in our way and stayed in contact. We would have found a way to make it work until we got right here."

She nodded along to his words in agreement then turned her head and suddenly felt the gentle pressure of his lips against her lips. She instantly deepened the kiss and opened her mouth at the first sign of his tongue swiping over her lips for permission. Her kissing became more intense in time with her hips starting to sway more and more towards his guided and delicate, but speeding up touch.

He pulled his mouth away from her lips and whispered, "Tori, you're safe with me. You're safe with me."

She closed her eyes and surrendered to the sensation he was giving her. She sucked in a breath through her teeth then started chanting and becoming louder with each word as her legs clamped around Freddie's hand, "Freddie, Freddie, Freddie!"

He urgently whispered into her ear, "Tori, Tori, Tori… Tori! Tori! Tori! Are you alright?!"

Tori's eyes shot open as she heard his shouting and a loud banging on her bedroom door.

"Tori!" Freddie shouted in desperation as he continued to bang on the door.

She sucked in another deep breath and started blinking from the natural sunlight shining into her bedroom. She quickly looked around and realized that she was in her bed instead of the kitchen. She looked over and saw on her digital clock that it was displaying that it was Tuesday morning, October 2, 2012 instead of Sunday.

She looked down and her eyes nearly bulged out of their sockets where her right hand had slipped during her dream. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath as she pulled her hand from under the waistband of her shorts and away from her crotch. She soft bit her bottom lip to suppress the pleasurable wince from escaping her mouth as her fingers slid across her intimate area. Once her hand was free from under her shorts, she clenched her right hand into a tight fist (along with her eyes in embarrassment) as to not touch anything with that appendage.

"Freddie—" she choked out then quickly shut her mouth. She closed her eyes and cleared her throat. She opened her eyes and looked to the door as she answered with a strained voice, "I'm okay. I'll be out in a few minutes—just don't come in. Co—could you fix me some breakfast please?"

There was some hesitation on the other end of the door then a worriedly asked question, "Sure, not a problem, but are you okay?"

She answered in barely above a whisper, her face become further red in embarrassment that she tried to keep out of her voice, "I'm fine. I'm fine, I just… I need a few minutes."

There was another silence on the other side of the door. "Okay… Are you sure you're alright in there? I… I can call Jade or Cat if…"

Her voice was still thick with emotion that she knew wouldn't reassure him but she hoped he would still honor her request not to come inside, "I'm fine, I just… I had a bad dream. I need to wake up and gather myself in private, okay?"

She could hear his concern lacing his voice even through the door, "Okay, I'll be in the kitchen if you need anything, just yell for me."

Her cheeks were already flushed and that statement just sent them into a deeper shade of red as the rest of her face, neck and upper chest already felt hot. "I—I will."

Once she was sure he was away from the door, she threw back the sheets and sat on the edge of the bed. She stood up and felt her legs pretty wobbly as they were trying to shake off the tingling sensation.

She opened her door and quickly slipped into her bathroom, making sure she was behind the protruding dividing wall into the hallway. She turned on the shower to the cold water then pulled her athletic shirt up and over her head and threw it on the counter followed by her sleeping shorts. She swallowed down her embarrassment at seeing a considerable damp spot on the crotch of her shorts.

She turned and quickly slipped into the shower, the near ice water waking her up and chilling her down from her heated feeling, but comforted her in trying to clear her mind of the boy just a few yards down the hallway.


Author's Note: I can hear the screams of frustration of me pulling that ending for the chapter, but I hope you realize what Tori is going to realize from that dream. Hopefully the next chapter will be up next Thursday and that will be my normal updating date, but I can't make any promises. Also, hopefully other stuff will get posted in the meantime for you to enjoy.