The Runaway

Disclaimer: Don't own Victorious, or FOP

A/N:

Chapter 11 (Sinjin's Arrival)

Trina made her way downtown, in pursuit of this mystery man Vicky was talking about. The closer she got, the more anxious she became. He was supposedly at some booth or stand on the street, selling coffee and hot chocolate. It was frigid outside, so she had the jacket wrapped tightly around her body. If it was Sinjin, what would he say? Hell, what would he think about her still having his once favorite jacket? She was a bit bashful in that respect, considering she'd never sent it back to him, but she'd been afraid of being traced at the time.

A blast of cold air struck her and sent a shiver down her spine, "Go figure, he thinks of the perfect time to sell hot chocolate and coffee." She wasn't sure what the temperature was, but if she had to guess, she'd say below forty. Who wouldn't by hot chocolate and coffee in the freezing cold weather like this? Sinjin always was smart at manipulating things to work in his favor. Perhaps that was why he was always the tech guy for the sound and video equipment at Hollywood Arts.

When she arrived, she saw people lining up at an empty booth. It had a sign that was informing them he had to run to the motel and grab some more supplies. She groaned and rolled her eyes, pushing her hands into her pockets. "Just my luck, he's not even here. I don't want to sit in this cold waiting on a guy I don't even know for sure is Sinjin." Patience, never a virtue in the past, and still not a virtue. Then, what if it was Sinjin? What would she say? How would she react? She was nervous as hell. She missed him to death, so the possibility of him being here was making her heart beat like crazy. She whined and looked off to her right. "I'll come back later. He's probably brewing his stuff at the motel. What motel would he be at, I wonder?"

She rose to her toes and looked over the crowd, humming as she eyed the surrounding buildings. There was one motel farther in the distance, one close by, and a third that was off to the east. She contemplated the possibility off checking each one out on the off chance she could catch him. She wasn't desperate, though. Her eyes gazed longingly at the booth for several seconds before she sighed in defeat and began walking off, cutting through a short alley to get back to Vicky's house.

"Timing sucks sometimes. It's freezing and damn…"

"So you're cold." She stopped moving and slowly looked over her shoulder. Chester was leaning against the wall, a small sandwich in his hand. He was wearing his typical cop uniform. "Even with that jacket." She spun around, immediately her body was going on the defensive.

"You know I don't trust you worth a damn, right?"

"Why? I'm the town cop." He pushed off the wall with his foot and pushed his hands into his pocket. "Anyway, I heard through the grapevine that you're not seeing Timmy anymore." She took a slight step back and tucked her lip under her teeth, narrowing her eyes and breathing out a warning growl. Where had he heard that? Trixie? She wouldn't put it past her. "Timmy's hot girlfriend, single."

"Yeah. You know how many other girls there are in this town, Chester? Preferably ones that don't know martial arts or have an older sister who can easily kick someone's ass." He rolled his eyes and lifted his hands up, taking another step forward.

"I just wanted to talk, ask what happened. No big deal." She took a step backwards, glancing off to the side. Perhaps she shouldn't have taken the shortcut. Now, the question remained, where was AJ? Chester wagged his finger in the air, chuckling slightly. "You know what? I remember now. Several months ago some guy kept calling my office about you. I didn't piece that together, I forgot all about those calls. It was some other cop. I don't even remember the info."

Who the hell was calling? Another cop? Her dad, maybe? If he didn't remember the info, then it would do her no good. "Oh?" Her hands tensed and her heel struck a stone step. She winced slightly and looked back, sidestepping to the right. "Why am I not surprised? You're a worthless cop anyway, can't get anything done. All you do is sleep on the job and eat your little peanut butter sandwiches."

"Excuse me? Have more respect for an officer of the law!"

"That's kind of hard to do…" She smirked as Chester narrowed his eyes. "Sorry, my sister's kind of rubbing off on me."

"You little…you think you're so high and mighty because you dated Turner-"

"Actually no, I don't."

"Well I'm an officer of the law, a working man."

"Your point? Because if you're thinking of asking me out now that I'm single, don't. Save your breath, I'm done with relationships. At least for a while. I need to work on my own personal stuff."

"Oh? Maybe I can help?" He grabbed her arm, his eyes going wild. She looked down at his hand, her body tensing fast.

"Don't touch me." She pulled back and quickly slammed a closed fist into him. He screamed out and she turned around, tripping over another stone step. Suddenly Chester's arms grabbed around her waist, stopping her from falling. She screamed out and froze at the smell of alcohol. "Oh god, you've been drinking…"

"I may be a little drunk."

"Oh god…" She screamed out, flashing back to Seth and his friends. Her legs flailed as Chester pulled her back, grunting and ordering her to shut up. "Let me go." He swung her with force and she flew onto the ground, grunting as her arm hit the pavement. She pushed herself up on her elbows, her hair was falling in front of her face and her body was shaking.

"Excuse me," Someone's voice echoed in her ears, causing her to take pause and to hold her breath. Silence filled the air, broken seconds later by the sound of a fist crashing into flesh. Chester screamed out about his jaw, cursing the person who'd just punched him. It sounded like Sinjin. Was it him? It sounded just like him, only a tad deeper.

"Asshole! That's assaulting a police officer!"

"Oh? Well let's see, I know this girl's father and he's a cop, so I know my way around the law. If you want to arrest me for assault, my friend and I will be more than willing to give our testimony, I'm sure."

"Who would they believe?"

"Good question. Whose word would they take? The lazy town cop with alcohol in his system, claiming assault? Or the guy who punched him? Well let's look at it this way. This is my friend, she's been missing for ten months now and presumed dead." Trina's eyes widened and she slowly looked up, gasping softly as she saw him. Sinjin. He had his arms crossed and his eyes were shielded by his dark shades. "The man that just 'assaulted' you is a good friend of the girl whom you just attempted to assault. So one, I was defending her. Two…" He took a deep breath and lifted a hand, pointing two fingers out and smirking subtly at the nervous officer. "You just attempted to assault a girl that you just admitted knowing her as having been missing and you never reported it. People have been searching for her, calling your office. So perhaps you want to make a case out of this, I suppose adding to the fact that you just savagely attacked a woman who has been presumed dead for ten months, you can also add being investigated for possible kidnapping in the process."

"Kidnapping?"

"Why yes. I told you, she disappeared. I found her after all these months being attacked by you. So, exactly who are they going to believe again?" Chester began to stutter. Trina slowly smiled at Sinjin, mentally thanking him for his clever brilliance. "The cop that assaulted the missing, possibly kidnapped woman, or the known friend who punched you in the jaw and got the better of you?"

"Son of a…"

Light reflected in Sinjin's shades as his smug smirk increased, "Walk away now. I forget all of this." Chester did not hesitate to take Sinjin up on that, shouting as he ran off, stumbling over something on the ground just before turning the corner. Trina watched Sinjin turn around and pick something up off the ground, then he extended a hand to her. She slowly put her hand into his, letting him help her to her feet. She took a closer look at the item in his hand, and of course, it was a thermos. "Coffee? I made it myself, my special brew."

"T-Thanks…" After taking a moment to sip the drink and finally collect herself to properly react to his presence, she set the cup down on the top of a closed dumpster. The coffee was marvelous, but she expected no less. Ecstatic to see him again after all these months, she threw her arms around his neck, squealing in delight. "Sinji!" She took a quick step back and grabbed her coffee cup. "I don't have to pay for this do I?"

"Nah, it's on the house." She turned her gaze to a large carrying case on the ground beside him, there were many thermos containers inside, some silver and some red. He followed her gaze and cleared his throat. "The silver metal is the coffee, the red is the hot chocolate. I've been making my own cocoa powder as I always do, and I discovered these amazing coffee beans in Arizona. I roast them very slowly and make sure to get the coffee just right. They say I do a better job with the coffee than Keurig, so you wouldn't believe how many times I'm told I should open a business. My heart's still just in being a teacher one day."

This was great to hear, but the question that was now on her mind as she sipped some more of the sweet and flavorful coffee was how in the world Sinjin was here. "Sinjin. How did you find me? Why are you here? Also…you look different than I remember."

"Well I've been doing a lot of traveling. Trying to find you." He'd been looking for her for all this time? It was amazing to hear, and they had a lot to catch up on.

"Well, you found me…"

"I wasn't giving up on you." He picked up the pack and began walking, Trina followed quickly after. Was he mad at her? He didn't sound angry. She sipped the coffee and smiled as it began to warm her body and soul. He was always amazing at making comfort drinks and comfort food, but he had to be, his little sister was often sick growing up. "I can't believe you've been here all this time. Mr. Vega called here for two months after you left, and that prick right there, told him you weren't here!" She winced and closed her eyes, not one to go to Chester's defense.

"In his defense…I wasn't here for about three months. I didn't get enough courage to come until the whole Magnate oil incident…which almost got me killed in the first place…" She muttered the last part under her breath. Sinjin stopped and glanced over his shoulder, raising an eyebrow at her.

"What was that last bit?" She cleared her throat and chuckled nervously.

"Oh we have a lot to catch up on. Did I mention I missed you?"

"Yeah…I notice you still have my favorite jacket."

"It's kept me very warm."

"Good, I'm glad. I'm guessing it doesn't matter if I say it now, but you can keep the jacket if you like." Trina hugged the coat and laughed as the cold wind blew through her hair. The coffee was already warming her, forming almost a heated shield against the cold. "After I sell my last batch of these, would you mind sitting down with me and talking with me? I do have a few questions, obviously…"

"I know…" She bowed her head and sighed, "And yeah. I'll do that. I'm sorry, Sinjin."

"I don't need apologies, Trina. I understand why you left, I just don't understand why you couldn't talk to me. I spent all these months trying to find you."

"Yeah, funny thing, I still have your phone number…" She ran her hand through her hair, glancing away nervously as a dull sensation shook inside her chest. Sinjin looked over at her, his lips tightening against each other and his shoulders dropping slightly. "Um, maybe you'd like to see my sister? Vicky?"

"That woman scares me."

"I'm guessing she had something to do with you finding me…"

"Something like that, yes. I have no problems meeting her, but I still really want some answers from you."

"And I'll answer anything you want. We have a lot to talk about, I know." This wasn't going to be easy. She missed having him as her go-to guy, and now she was about to spill all of the last ten months onto him. She had to be honest with him, he was a good friend and she felt like she betrayed him by leaving him behind. So this was the least she could do.

Go Sinji, go sinji, go sinji. Well, it was an intense chapter, and we learn how inept the police force in Dimmsdale is. Though, with all the tragedies Dimmsdale has been through throughout all the years, their police force likely wouldn't be that great. Well what are your thoughts on the reunion and all?