I'm sorry it's so short, but it'll have to do for tonight. I'm a bit... occupied at the moment.

By the way, I actually hate nines. So maybe that has something to do with it. I dunno.


I shuddered.

I was back in the pink butterfly room again, left alone with Cat, which was good in a way. I didn't spend much time with her at all compared to Jade or even Beck. If my initial hypothesis is correct, Cat, being the only one truly in character, will be the hardest to get information out of. I had to be very careful with her. Beck was the weakest link, Jade was softening up... maybe. Cat was practically titanium.

It's about four-thirty-two now, and Cat and I were to play until dinner was ready at six. We had a choice of simple finger foods or baby food or both. I went with whatever finger food was available and Cat, as hardcore as she was, took the baby food. With enthusiasm.

Oh my God.

Her little red pacifier, the one she seemed so attached to, was hanging around her neck by a piece of yarn now. She sat with her legs splayed wide apart, holding a stuffed dog and cat respectively in each hand and made them talk and move about in the space in front of her. I sat in a corner and cleared the area around me so I could sit comfortably and think about my next move while at the same time watching Cat play. She just seemed so happy and natural. It's no wonder she's always in character.

"Torwi?" she said suddenly, looking up from her little game.

"Yeah, Cat?" I asked, "What's up?"

For a second, Cat frowned at me and didn't answer. I knew exactly why. But Jade wasn't listening. There was no way. No freaking way. She was downstairs, cooking with Beck, or at the very least watching him cook if she didn't take the kitchen over. Did Jade even know how to cook? I digress, and Cat's expression of disapproval quickly vanished, replaced instead with another smile as she scooted a little closer to me and handed me the dog.

"You be Mommy, kay?" she asked, fluttering her eyes at me, "And I be Daddy!"

I gave a nervous chuckle as I bit my lip and took the dog, "You're really into this baby thing, huh, Cat?"

There came another frown and I had to wonder what I said wrong this time. I was waiting for a 'What's that supposed to mean?!' or even a 'You're so mean to me!' to give me even the slightest hint of correcting myself.

"Mommy not talk wike dat," she pouted, pushing the toy cat's face closer to the dog, "Try 'gain!"

I rolled my eyes and sighed. This was getting old. We've already established that I am not going to conform, and that includes going along on games with Cat.

"Cat," I began patiently, "Can you please do me a favor and break character for a second? Please? I really need your help."

She sighed and put down the cat in her hand. This must be hard for her in ways I can't and don't ever want to know, but she was probably the most important person in this game right now that could help me. She might not break character for me anymore the next time I'm alone with her. I had to seize each opportunity that came.

I handed her back the dog, "I'm sorry, Cat, really..."

"Why are you making it so hard on yourself?" she murmured, ignoring the stuffed dog and fiddling with the pacifier around her neck, "Jade and I thought maybe inviting you here would let you relax a little, but you're more stressed out than before..."

Inviting? Kidnapping, knocking me out and changing my clothes while I was knocked out was her idea of inviting me? If that was Cat's definition of inviting someone, I'd hate to see what her parties were like.

"What's wrong with saying, 'Hey, Tori, I want you to try this thing out with me' like a normal person?"

"Because once you found out what it was, you would've said no!" Damn. She got me there. "Especially if Jade had asked you to come! And because Beck and Jade broke up you don't want to spend time alone with Beck, so doing it like this seemed to be the best way to handle it!"

I face-palmed. I was so predictable that kidnapping me was the only logical choice. Honestly. "Then why didn't you ask Robbie or Andre to do it? I'm sure Robbie would've said yes to you, Cat. It'd save you all the trouble."

"Ew, no!" Cat cried, shuddering a little, "Jade wouldn't want to change Robbie's diaper – he has boy parts! Same with Andre... and Robbie's scared of Jade, remember?"

Oh yeah... "Well–"

"And Beck doesn't want to do it... they're his friends, you know?"

"Well... yeah..." I sighed. With that logic, I was the best choice. It didn't seem at all weird for girls to see things because we didn't make it awkward by saying 'No homo'. Jade just... did it regardless of what was said.

Cat got on her stomach and began to play with her binky, "Don't believe everything Jade tells you," she said softly, like she was talking to the item around her neck, "You know she's a good actress, Tori, and so is Beck. They're the most serious actors in the whole world and they'll do anything to get the reaction they want."

I nodded. They were also the best example of a battle couple. Of our group of friends aside from Andre, they also kept each other grounded. Maybe that's why Cat chose Jade to be Mommy and Beck just came with the package. She was used to their antics and wanted the familiarity Jade and Beck together provided.

"So what am I really doing here?" I don't know why I asked that – it just slipped out before I thought it through.

But Cat was done with questions. She had put her pacifier back in her mouth and was getting back into her role as a little baby. Great.


I promise it'll be longer tomorrow.