AN: Merry Christmas everyone; I hope you're all having a nice, relaxing break.
My thanks to SoraOblivion62, Ms Simmons, Challenge King, Darck Ben, Fanfiv-Reader-88, Martial Arts Student and Kyuubilord1 for their reviews of the last chapter.
One Horse Shay has updated his Dark Dame fic and Fan-fic-reader-88 has a new one-shot out as well.
Chapter 25
Vega residence,
Hollywood Hills, CA
Friday 26th August 2011
It had been a good week, Freddie concluded with a smile as he relaxed in bed. He'd been spending evenings with his mother, who was quietly optimistic of at least one job offer from the clinics she'd visited; she felt that all the interviews had gone pretty well and was quietly drawing up a list of pros and cons of each one, in case she had her pick of job opportunities. The days had been spent with a group who he was rapidly coming to count as his closest friends, something that surprised him when he stopped to think on the reasons for meeting them and the short length of time he'd actually known and been around them for. Comparing them to the people he'd associated with in Seattle… well, there really was no comparison with most of them; he was confident that, for example, none of them would kick him to the curb over a difference of opinion, as had happened with all of his clubs when he'd had the temerity to not find "Fred" funny.
Seattle inevitably took his thoughts to Carly; the brunette's familiar and smiling face filled his mind's eye the way it had so often over the years (and if he was in the mood to think about her more closely he'd come to the realisation that he no longer thought about her the way that he used to, placing her firmly and permanently in the friend category). Even that was something of an achievement and down to the events of the past few days; they'd been talking every day this week, distance proving little barrier as they attempted to put their friendship back together. Mostly they'd talked over video-link and the Yakima-based girl had seemed genuine in her talks and her acceptance of Tori as his girlfriend; certainly Freddie had grounds for optimism that things would be different, and better, if he did have to return to Seattle for any length of time, and if Carly had also returned home by then.
Tori; the brown-haired boy's smile widened. Of course the main reason for his happiness over the way the week was going was currently in bed with him, draped over him. He gently flexed his right arm to keep the blood circulating but trying not to disturb the girl sleeping on top of it, grimacing a little at the tingling sensation the limb was sending to his brain. He flexed his fingers a few more times, happiness increasing as he felt the feeling in the arm return to something like normal. His left hand started idly trailing up and down his girlfriend's bare back as he quietly sang a song to himself, barely able to believe how well his life was going.
There was only one possible black spot on the horizon: Sam. "I'm worried about her, Freddie," Carly had confided the previous day, "I haven't heard from her all week, Spencer says she hasn't been over, she's not answering her phone. Trying to track it like we did…" her face had flushed as she realised she was entering territory that had ultimately led them to this point, "well there's no signal."
"So her phone's either off or the battery died," he'd responded thoughtfully. "Nothing from her mother?" Carly shook her head; she'd tried contacting Pam to no avail. "Well, all I can suggest right now is that you keep trying and I'm sure you'll hear from her eventually." Carly had nodded her unenthusiastic agreement; she'd hoped that he would come up with some bright idea to track her again but couldn't really complain that he had nothing.
As things had been slightly better between the two of them, reaching what for them was akin to some kind of peace, before his latest trip to LA, he found himself wondering about what was going on with the blonde. He tucked the problem of her absence away in his subconscious and, slightly against his better judgement, he made a mental note, and a promise to Carly, to check up on her when he and his mother got home to Seattle.
Freddie was drawn from the past as he felt his girlfriend's body stirring. He heard her emit a contented sigh, followed by a soft yawn as she began to stretch her muscles; Tori looked up and smiled as her eyes met her lover's.
"Hey," she greeted him, wriggling up to kiss him.
"Good morning beautiful," he replied warmly between kisses, delighting at the way the compliment, as usual, made her blush. With Mrs Vega knowing about, and accepting, the sleeping arrangements (and, equally importantly, with Detective Vega leaving the house before anybody else got up), the couple had been able to start and end the day in this way all week. It was certainly something that they were both going to miss when the time came for him to head back to Seattle; even if and when he did move to LA it wasn't going to be something they could do with this degree of regularity, though both were more than willing to agree that anything was better than nothing.
A creaking floorboard outside the bedroom caused them to pause for a moment. "It's only Trina," Tori breathed, relaxing and returning to the task of wishing her boyfriend a very pleasant morning.
"Good morning," the elder Vega sibling's face was full of mirth as the couple joined her at the breakfast table.
"Hi Treen," her 'baby sister' also wore a broad grin.
"Sleep well? Again?" she asked teasingly.
With a knowing glance towards Freddie, "Very," was the emphatic reply; Trina nodded, still smirking, given that she was pretty sure she knew exactly why her sister was so happy.
"Mom's gone to work," she informed them, "she'll be back in plenty of time to get dinner ready," she added with a telling glance towards Freddie, whose mother was due to join them for the meal this evening.
"Cool, we'll pick Freddie's mom up when she calls," Tori nodded.
"Anything planned for the rest of the day?" Trina asked before, almost immediately, an urgent and familiar knocking on the door told her the answer.
"I guess we're hanging with Cat again this morning," Freddie laughed, rising to open the door; he wasn't too shocked to see Jade was also standing there as they, Beck and often the others had been together almost all week, either hanging at someone's (usually Tori's) home or visiting malls or beaches. "Hey Cat," he beamed at the redhead, "Jade," he nodded at the raven-haired girl. "No Beck today?" he asked her as Cat slipped by, having briefly engulfed him in a hug and now seeking to do likewise to Tori.
"No, he's packing," she explained, "some last minute trip to Canada he and his family are taking before we go back to school."
"You weren't invited to go with them?" he asked with a little surprise, gesturing her indoors and stepping aside to admit her to the house.
"They… don't really like me," she replied delicately before briefly explaining the events of a past Thanksgiving which hadn't turned out too well and led directly to Beck being uninvited to Cancun the previous Spring Break (and their subsequent trip to Yerba).
Freddie winced at the mention of the Caribbean hell-hole they'd visited; he tried not to think of Tori locked up in a mixed prison and was thankful that clearly nothing too horrific had happened to her there.
Tori had heard the end of the conversation and seen the expression cross her boyfriend's face during the discussion; she slipped behind him and wrapped her arms around his waist, resting her chin on his shoulder. "It's all in the past," she murmured soothingly into his ear, feeling the tension leave his body as she hugged him.
The teens wore broad smiles as they headed out to the back of the Vega home for another day by the pool; Freddie definitely felt that he could get used to this life.
Seattle Police Station,
810 Virginia Street,
Seattle, WA
Smiles were in short supply for Sam. Her past behaviour towards some members of the force had led to them taking a literal stance on her right to a phone call; when she'd been unable to get through to Carly (the only number she knew by heart, knowing that her mother was out of town again) on the day of her arrest she'd rung off instead of leaving a message, preferring to take a few moments to compose her thoughts. She was thus surprised that she was not permitted to make a second call and was becoming increasingly frustrated with being holed up.
"Look," she growled when a couple of cops came by with a pitiful lunch, "don't you have to either charge me or release me by now?"
"Soon," one shrugged as he set the plate down on her table, making sure to stay out of her reach, while his buddy covered her with his taser.
"So, when do I get to see a lawyer?"
"You'll be assigned one if you're charged, unless you want to call one – oh that's right, you can't," he continued venomously; Sam's temper flared another notch and she tensed, ready to charge him. Seeing his buddy's finger tighten around the taser trigger stayed her for a moment and the two cops left the cell laughing as they locked her up behind them again.
The blonde picked up her meal and prepared to fling the plate at the door out of frustration, however the thought of food, however poor its quality, held too much appeal for her and she cleared the plate in an instant before smashing it against the door. Feeling briefly more satisfied as a result of the destruction, a smile ghosted over her face as she sat down before despair and frustration welled up inside her again.
Vega residence,
Hollywood Hills, CA
"Where are you going?" Tori asked as she lazily opened one eye; one moment she was enjoying a relaxing spa with her boyfriend (trying to ignore Jade pretending to be turned into soup again across from them), the next he'd stood up as if he'd been stung by a wasp (she shuddered at the analogy, knowing of his severe bee allergy and wondering if a wasp would have a similar effect on the boy) and was clambering out of the tub.
"I just thought of something," he replied, turning to her as he stepped out onto the concrete patio. "Remember Carly said she can't get hold of Sam?" Tori nodded. "Well, we think her phone must be off or dead and she's worried… heck, I'm a little worried that nobody's heard of her in a few days."
"Why? She's been a gank to you for years," Jade pointed out irritably; she didn't like being disturbed in one of her rare forays into make-believe.
He sighed. "For all her faults and everything that's happened, I still care about her… a bit – especially with how long we've known one another, with things being better with me and Carly and…" he hesitated briefly before informing her of Sam enlisting his help in trying to stop Carly from getting back with Steven and the uneasy understanding that they'd seemed to arrive at; he had expected Tori to react at the mention of Steven's name but she hadn't batted an eyelid. "So if there's something I can do then I have to – I just… I have to," he concluded, not wanting to try and justify himself and his decisions to the gothic girl any longer; he left the spa and headed for the house.
"That's what you get for dating a nice guy," the raven-haired girl told her long-time rival lazily, "he can't help himself."
"I'll take him being him," she replied with a smile, getting out of the spa and making to follow her beau. "Trina, Freddie and I might be heading out for a bit."
"Might be?" Her sister raised her head from where she lay on the sun lounger.
"Yeah, he sped inside so I think we're going out."
"Maybe he just needed the bathroom," Cat suggested; Tori smiled patiently, appreciating the child-like girl hadn't been party to the earlier conversation.
"I don't think that's it Cat. You guys can stay though," she added hurriedly, "we'll be back soon I hope."
She headed inside, ignoring Trina's huff and complaints at her sister's friends being invited to stay given that she would be the one who had to keep an eye on them; Jade smiled at the permission to stay and tacked another 10 minutes onto the spa timer, closing her eyes and imagining the cackling witch stirring her cauldron.
"So what's the plan?" Tori asked as she towelled herself off in the living area; Freddie jumped a little as he turned around.
"Oh, I uh… was going to head to the Pear Store – the one we called into earlier in the week?"
Tori nodded, though she wore an expectant look, encouraging him to continue; they'd called in earlier in the week and he'd sounded them out informally about working there if he and Marissa did relocate.
"Well," he continued, "I figured I'd ask at the brilliance bar, see if they had anything or any ideas that might help me find the last location where Sam's phone was registered as being on," he explained, "might at least help us narrow the possibilities of where she could be."
"Ok, let's get changed and go," his girlfriend nodded.
"You don't have to come if you'd rather stay by the pool with your friends; I can go there on my own," he offered, not wanting her to miss out on time enjoying what was left of her summer vacation.
"I know, but I want to come along with you," she smiled.
"Let's get ready then," he returned the grin.
Pear Store,
189 The Grove Drive, West Hollywood
"Hello again Freddie and… Tori?" The store manager greeted them when they entered. The brunette confirmed her identity with a smile and a nod as Freddie succinctly explained why they were here. The manager frowned. "Well, I'm sure there's a way of doing that," he commented thoughtfully, "I don't know how to do it but hopefully somebody…" he trailed off, looking towards the corner of the store before beckoning and leading them over to the brilliance bar and introducing them to a couple of staff there.
A short brain-storming session later and they had managed to tie Sam's number to the handset serial number. Finally they weaved their magic and were able to get a hit.
"Here we go," Freddie narrowed his eyes as he read the address. "810 Virginia Street... wait, Seattle PD?"
"She got arrested?" Tori asked in mild surprise.
"It wouldn't be the first time," he shrugged in resignation. "At least it's something to go on," he added as he produced his own pear phone and headed for a quiet corner of the store.
"You calling Carly?" the brunette guessed.
"I will in a minute, I'm going to call Spencer first though – at least he can check and see if she's there, since he's in Seattle, while I talk to Carly and sit through the initial freak-out she'll have."
Tori stifled a giggle at Carly's anticipated reaction; instead she nodded her agreement with his logic as he placed his first call.
Shay residence,
Yakima, WA
"Hi Freddie, what's up?" Carly's voice was filled with what appeared to be genuine delight at the unexpected call.
"Carls? Listen, I'm at the Pear Store in Hollywood and I think I may know where Sam is," he began in ominous tones.
"Really? Where?" The brunette's already pale features drained further as her friend voiced his suspicions. "She's WHERE?" Shortly afterwards the blood started flowing again and Freddie's prediction came true as her panic materialised.
Seattle PD,
810 Virginia Street,
Seattle
"Yes, I'm here now, just going through the door," Spencer informed his sister, ringing off as he approached the disapproving sergeant at the front desk, who was looking pointedly at the Cell Phones not permitted sign. "Sorry," he chuckled nervously, "my little sister, I'm here about a friend of hers. She's probably not here," his nervous laugh intensified, "Sam Puckett?"
The change in the sergeant's expression confirmed the artist's worst fears.
"What do you mean I can't see her? Someone has to," Spencer argued.
"She can see a lawyer if you get her one, otherwise she'll be assigned representation."
"I went to law school for three days. Does that count?"
Unsurprisingly it didn't; an annoyed Spencer trudged from the station with some calls of his own to make.
Vega residence,
Hollywood Hills, CA
"I still can't believe she was arrested!" Tori said again as they entered the house; after visiting the store and making some calls they'd decided to spend a little alone time walking around the mall, mostly browsing though Tori did get a couple of tops that she thought looked quite nice (and Freddie agreed). A movie had looked appealing but there was nothing on that they wanted to see until later in the evening (when Marissa would be over for dinner). Tori suggested that they go tomorrow but noted that they might have to invite their friends to come along as well (they didn't dislike spending time with them but also enjoyed just being together alone every now and again).
"It's Sam, you get used to it; one of her main talents is for causing trouble," her boyfriend explained, "without Carly, or me I guess, it looks like her luck ran out – if that's where she actually is…. Oh," he pulled up as his phone pinged. Delving into the pocket of his shorts he withdrew it and checked the text. "And confirmed, Spencer just texted; Sam is in jail."
"Oh, so what's he doing about her?"
"I don't know. I'll call him later and see what he says. Oh, hi Mrs Vega," he greeted the matriarch as he looked up from his phone. Tori strode over to hug her mother and quickly filled her in on their day.
"Can I help with dinner?" he offered once discussion of the day lulled; she smiled and accepted his offer, both he and Tori began to assist while Trina remained ensconced on the couch.
"That'll be mom," Freddie noted as his phone began to ring, though it occurred to him as he quickly rinsed his hands and wiped them on a dish cloth that either of the Shay siblings could also be calling him regarding the Sam situation. It was Marissa, however, letting him know that her final interview was over; she sounded positive about it and rang off after informing him that she was going to freshen up while he came over to her. "I'd better go, if things are ok here?" he asked his hostess, who nodded and encouraged them to collect her. He then looked over to see that Tori had also washed her hands and was getting ready to go with him, leading to her mother turning to the elder sister.
"Trina, can you give me a hand with dinner?" she asked.
"Aww, I'm watching TV," she grumbled.
"Trina…"
The diva groaned theatrically but got up from the couch and went to help her mother while the teenage couple headed for the door.
Hollywood Hills Hotel,
1999 N Sycamore Rd
"Hey mom, so how do you think today's interview really went?"
"It was ok I think," Marissa smiled, looking and sounding more confident than her words suggested.
"Great, you could have your pick of jobs," Freddie enthused.
"Let's hope so," Tori nodded.
A happy trio made their way back to the Vega home.
Dinner was a fairly jovial affair; Freddie had warned his hosts of his mother's eating habits and, while the food wasn't quite what she would have selected, it was home cooked and she thankfully elected not to make a scene (particularly as pre-dinner conversation had centred on Mrs Vega offering to start looking into potential accommodation for the Bensons in the event of them moving). Marissa was also aware of the quiet but assertive power radiating from her son's girlfriend's parents; without saying a word it was clear that they wouldn't take any crap from anyone. So it was that Marissa ate what was put before her (mollified that Freddie had been involved in making it, which she decided to infer meant that he had prepared it to her exacting specifications). She did cast a number of disapproving glances around at the amount of conversation that took place over dinner (particularly the trivial stuff regarding people's days, which she always felt should be saved for away from the table and meal) but joined in when questions were asked of her, relaxing a little more as the evening wore on.
"So you guys are heading back on Sunday?" Trina prompted, feeling a pang of regret as her sister's face fell at the thought of Freddie leaving again.
"Yes, Sunday afternoon," Marissa confirmed, "so we have tomorrow for me to maybe see a little more of Los Angeles?"
"I'm sure we can see a few of the sights," Freddie confirmed; his girlfriend nodding eagerly at his shoulder.
"Trina? Will you be going with them?" her father asked hopefully; she looked at the other three and saw acceptance in their eyes so she answered in the affirmative. The Vega parents shared a quick smile at the thought of having a little time to themselves during the day, no work, no kids, just them.
Sunday 28th August 2011
Marissa had checked out of the hotel early on Sunday; Tori and Freddie had brought her over to the Vegas' again for lunch before they would make their way to the airport.
"You could just leave your stuff here," Tori half-joked, eyeing her man hopefully as he announced he was going to collect his things.
"Not really," Mr Vega countered; despite the mirth in her eyes Mrs Vega reluctantly nodded in support of her husband.
"Well with a bit of luck we'll be seeing you soon anyway," Marissa replied.
"What sort of time scale are you looking at?" the Vega matriarch asked her counterpart.
"It depends on the clinics, obviously," Marissa began after a moment's thought. "My notice period would be two weeks so if I got an offer in about a week then that's obviously three to four weeks – hopefully long enough for us to find something here, either temporary or more permanent." Mrs Vega nodded, making a mental note to start making informal enquiries as soon as she could. "After the offer, if I get one, then it's a case of looking at schools for Freddie and getting him enrolled somewhere. If that takes longer then you could maybe stay with Spencer for however long it took?" she looked to her son, knowing that he wanted to get to LA as soon as he could but the practicalities had to be considered.
"I'd have thought you'd go to school with Tori," Mrs Vega observed.
"That would be ideal," he confirmed, "but it's a performing arts school – would they accept me?"
"With your skills and work on iCarly?" Trina interjected in a tone that implied she was shocked at his self-doubt, "they'd be crazy not to accept you."
"Then again we know a lot of the teachers are crazy," Tori sniggered, "but you're right; they should be desperate to enrol you."
"I guess I need to contact them about enrolling then," Freddie grinned.
"I'll talk to the Head and a couple of others once we start again," Tori gushed, "set things going at this end too."
"If I get a job offer," Marissa sounded a note of caution; she was confident but didn't want to take anything for granted.
"Yes, well, you should probably get going if you want to make your flight," Mr Vega noted; Marissa checked her watch and agreed.
"Ok, let's go." Freddie said his goodbyes, hoping to see them soon. Tori would be driving them and, while both knew it would be a tearful farewell at the terminal, they were hoping that this time it would only be a short separation.
Los Angeles Airport,
1 World Way, Los Angeles
"So this is it again," Tori stood on the kerb next to Freddie's bag; Marissa stood a couple of feet away giving them at least a little privacy.
"Yep, goodbye for now," he agreed.
"I'll see you soon and I'll talk to the school as soon as I can," she promised.
"I'll be back before you can even miss me," he joked; both knew they would be missing one another before he passed through security.
Tori just laughed, wiping away a couple of stray tears before pulling him into a kiss.
"Goodbye Freddie," she choked.
"Hey, it's goodbye for now," he replied with a confident smile, gently brushing away her tears with his thumb (though a few were leaking from his own eyes). "See you soon Tori," he countered, kissing her again before reluctantly following his mother through security and to their flight home.
AN: Thanks for reading. Liked it? Hated it? Feel free to add a review and let me know. PD.