AN: Hello everyone and welcome to the latest portion of this little story. I hope you all enjoy it.

As ever my thanks go to all of you who read and, especially, reviewed the previous chapter. I'll take a moment to answer some of the points raised.

Challenge King - Freddie would be a great addition to HA IF Marissa gets a job in LA; that's still the big question regarding their planned move.

Fanfic-Reader-88 - if it happens is the operative part. Sam has undoubtedly been denied some of her rights but the show demonstrated that SPD didn't care about little things like that.

- I have toned Marissa down a bit; the alternative really is making her something of a villain of the piece, there isn't too much middle ground. As for Sam actually being punished for her actions, iChristmas showed that would be what happened if Carly wasn't around. We'll see how her stint in custody affects her.

Kyuubilord1 - the job part is a minor subplot really and these things do take time.

Darck Ben - I doubt there would be a sequel of any length as it could simply end up as a rehash of some of my other work, which I don't really want to do.

Martial Arts Student - thanks.

DemonOnigiri - thank you; I'm glad you're enjoying my stories.

OneHorseShay has been busily updating The Dark Dame recently.

Chapter 26

Vega residence, Hollywood Hills

Monday 29th August 2011

Tori woke in darkness, sighing as her eyes adjusted to her room; it felt strange to be back in her own bed and her own room and it felt somehow unfamiliar to her; it felt wrong to be in a bed alone after the week she'd spent sleeping with Freddie. The girl sighed, rolled over and tried to go back to sleep.

Apartment 8-D, Bushwell Plaza,

Seattle, WA

A thousand miles to the north, Freddie was also adjusting to life back in his own bed; he was sleeping more peacefully than his girlfriend, however, as it was easier for him as he had the whole back home feeling of returning to his own place and his own routine, although more and more he was beginning to feel that Seattle wasn't home anymore. I guess it's true, he had thought the previous night on arriving back at the apartment, home is wherever the ones you love are. The prospect of moving to California with his mother was certainly an exciting one for the teen, though any time he thought about Seattle, and the life he had led here, he did think of two girls in particular, who had been a fixture in his life for so long, and concluded that he actually would miss them – not something he thought he would be feeling just a few short weeks ago.

He had crossed the hallway and spoken with Spencer the previous evening, getting an update on the Sam situation and had also video-called Carly, talking with both Shays about how they planned on dealing with what had happened to the blonde. Spencer had engaged a lawyer who was hopeful of getting the blonde out on bail quickly; Carly expressed her hope that Freddie would be able to at least try and keep her in check until she herself got back (something that Spencer promised he was at least considering now that her attitude seemed to have improved; their grandfather was a little reluctant, as he was enjoying having her company (particularly with her improved attitude), but was forced to concede that it would be easier to keep her enrolled at Ridgeway than to make the Yakima move a permanent one – though both agreed she should stay another week or so, much to the brunette's consternation).

"When Sam comes back," she had argued emotively, "doesn't it make sense for the person that can best keep her in line to be around?"

Spencer could see the logic but in his mind he had Labor Day as the day for her to come back; his art had really been coming on well while he had the place to himself and privately he wanted another week or so to try and get a few things finished (and also to underscore the fact that his sister could no longer just expect to get her own way with no consequences from him). It had been unusually quiet in the Shay apartment, no Carly, Sam or Freddie had also led to a thankful lack of either Gibby or any of the other stragglers and hangers-on who tended to gravitate to the trio.

None of that was of much concern to the brown-haired teenager at the moment as his mother closing the apartment door on her way to work suddenly stirred him from his slumbers. He cracked open an eye, watching the early light of dawn trickle through the crack in his curtains. He had been enjoying a very pleasant dream (one that, perhaps unsurprisingly, featured Tori) and was in no hurry to face the day; he copied the actions of the girl of his dreams and went back to sleep.

Freddie woke again a couple of hours later, a little surprised that he'd been able to go back to sleep for so long. He glanced at his phone, eyes widening at the number of messages he'd received; he gave an exasperated smile as he saw how many were from Marissa before opening one from Tori and smiling more warmly at the simple "I miss you" that she'd sent him; he quickly fired a message back to her before replying to his mother. In the time that took Tori had sent him another message and he quickly replied to that, as part of it he let her know that he was going to take a shower. Her reply made him blush (she'd actually blushed herself as she wrote it) but the smile and thoughts it brought him sustained him while he freshened up before fixing himself breakfast.

As he was finishing breakfast and sipping his coffee he heard an unfamiliar knocking on the front door. Intrigued he crossed the apartment and glanced through the peephole; he did a double take as he attempted to reconcile the person on the other side of the door with the demure knock she'd given before opening it.

"Sam?" he asked in surprise.

"Yeah," she confirmed, swallowing down a sarcastic retort, "can I come in?"

Again he was caught by surprise, more used to her just barging past him and entering whenever she liked. "Sure," he confirmed, taking a step back and opening the door a little wider.

She muttered her thanks and entered the Benson home, allowing Freddie to reflect that her behaviour was, if anything, even more extremely unusual than it had been when she'd had a thing for him at the start of the summer.

"Carly says you were the one to figure out where I was, which led to me getting out of there so thanks," she told him awkwardly; he shrugged.

"You're welcome."

"So you know what I've been doing recently," she observed dryly, "how about you? How was LA?"

Freddie thought back on his week, a warm smile adorned his face, filling the blonde with a trepidation that his story did nothing to dispel.

"So you're leaving for good?" she asked when he concluded his tales.

"If mom gets a job down there then yes," he confirmed.

"What does Carly think of this?" Sam asked with a smirk.

"She seems surprisingly calm about it," he noted, sniggering at Sam's exaggerated double take. "Yeah I thought she'd freak more as well – especially with how she was before Spencer sent her to Yakima. Looks like the time away from here has been good for her." Seeing Sam's shoulders slump at the observation he added in a soft voice, "I wish it had been better for you as well."

"Yes well," she shrugged awkwardly. They sat in silence for a few moments as she looked off into space. "Sat in a cell for days on end… it gave me a lot of time to think on things – and even longer to get angry, to find reasons to blame everyone else for what happened. With cops armed with tasers and worse I didn't even have a target for my anger." She shrugged again as he tried to swallow down an inappropriate laugh. "I guess ultimately I realised that I have to blame me for what happened."

Above all else this amazed Freddie; it had been a long time since he'd heard the blonde take responsibility for anything – and even then there sincerity had been at best dubiously questionable.

"I've got one year of school left, Freddie, and what do I have to show for it?" she asked in a shaky voice. "Carly was gone, you were gone – and will be gone," she glanced at him; he smiled but didn't comment, "anyway," she pressed on, "I guess it suddenly hit me that I need to do something if I'm going to even graduate, never mind graduate well enough to try and do something with my life."

"Carly will be back," he assured her, "she'll be home next week."

Sam nodded. "She said as much when I spoke to her earlier but still, being alone… and alone," she thought back on the time in her cell, "I guess it's given me a bit of a new perspective on things. I'm still me," she flashed a mischievous grin at him, "I'm not going to change too much but I need to… I dunno, reign in, I guess, some of the stuff I've been doing over the years and work harder."

Freddie was quiet as he processed the girl's epiphany. While he didn't want to discourage her he was forced to smirk as a thought struck him. "Good luck convincing Briggs and Howard that you've had a change of heart."

Sam pondered this for a second before her grin widened. "Yeah, you're right, I'll just carry on tormenting people," she laughed. Freddie bit his tongue, unsure of whether or not she was joking and not exactly in a hurry to find out. "So, you gonna sit in here all day?" she asked him.

"I guess I could hit the gym or something," he retorted, enjoying the almost pained look that crossed her face. "Looks like that wasn't what you had in mind," he chuckled.

"Not exactly. I was thinking you could buy me a smoothie and we could just hang somewhere." It was her turn to laugh as Freddie rolled his eyes, though he agreed and the two headed for the Groovy Smoothie.

Groovy Smoothie

"Y'know," Sam commented idly as she stirred her Blueberry Blast, "if things had turned out differently we could have come here on a date." She raised an eyebrow at her friend's rapidly greying complexion and asked, with more than a trace of hurt, "the very thought of it is that bad for you?"

"I honestly can't imagine us functioning that way," he told her, "there's just… there's been too much chizz between us over the years and…" he sighed, "I'm sorry but I just don't feel anything like that for you. We're friends – and it looks like that's for real after everything that's gone on," she nodded as she understood what he meant, comparing them sat here civilly to some of their past interactions; she still wondered on exactly what she was feeling for the brown-haired boy opposite, not that it really mattered – as his next words confirmed, "but I love Tori and I hope that it's forever."

"You think it will be?" she asked in surprise; she was used to him spouting that sort of sappy guff about him and Carly but it seemed different, more serious, more genuine, to hear him say it about the Angelena.

"I hope so, and I can see it lasting."

"Then I'm happy for you," she admitted.

"Thanks," he gave her a genuine smile, one that caused her to roll her eyes.

"Ok, enough of this…" she trailed off as she looked over his shoulder at the door opening; a frown grew on her face as Steven and some of his friends entered the establishment.

Freddie saw Sam tense and the change of her expression; he glanced over his shoulder. "Oh, look who it is," he called, loud enough to interrupt the newcomers' conversation and draw their attention to him and Sam. "Going to take another photo to send to my girlfriend along with another lame-ass bull-chizz claim?" he goaded.

"I wouldn't waste my time," the cheater spat back.

"You did a few weeks ago," he reminded him.

Steven glanced around him; his latest Seattle-girlfriend was nowhere to be seen which emboldened him. "That was just so that I could get into Carly's pants," he leered. "Where is she, anyway?"

"Sam," Freddie said warningly, placing a restraining hand on the blonde's wrist as she got angrily to her feet. She easily shrugged him off, staring at Steven in a way that would terrify braver men than him. "SAM," Freddie repeated authoritatively, standing up himself and seizing her wrist again.

"Let go of me, Freddie," she demanded in a threatening tone.

"You're out on bail," he reminded her quietly, noticing that Steven's 'friends' were now giving the three of them quite a bit of room and even T-Bo had opted to postpone his attempts to sell fruits on sticks and was not-quite-cowering behind the counter watching the interplay unfold. "You can't just go round slugging people, no matter how much they deserve it," he shot a disgusted glance at Steven, barely controlling his own hatred and anger at what Steven had insinuated about Carly.

"I don't care, Freddie, I'm going to pound him into the floor," the blonde struggled against him; it was taking every ounce of strength he had to restrain her.

"Sam, you can't," Freddie yanked her backwards; she stumbled a little and he took full advantage, pushing her back into her chair before turning to face the laughing teen. "But I can," he added casually, taking a step towards him, which only made Steven laugh harder.

"You?" he asked. "Give me a break," and he gave the shorter boy a firm shove. Freddie, however, barely flinched from it before unloading a single, savage right hook squarely onto his jaw. The impact caused Steven to pirouette as his arms flailed wildly; to Freddie's delight his head struck a neighbouring table on his way to the floor.

Freddie turned his attention to Steven's friends; none of them seemed particularly willing to intervene, instead they quietly edged their way towards the counter. Freddie tracked them with his gaze before locking eyes briefly with the proprietor. "Sorry about that Teebs," he told the dreadlocked man.

"No problem," he replied, relieved that he wasn't caught up in the live show, "the guy pushed you first, a man can defend himself. Just don't take it any further while he's out cold on the ground, huh?"

"I won't," Freddie smiled before turning to a very impressed-looking Sam (in truth the blonde had found that the feelings she'd developed earlier in the summer had just come flooding back with a vengeance). "I think we should go," he told her in a low voice, picking up the rest of his drink and heading for the exit. She was back on her feet within seconds, making sure to step on Steven's hand as she left; she paused on the threshold and returned to the establishment, stepping on his hand again, enjoying the satisfying cracking sound she heard, as she picked up a half-finished drink somebody had left on another table, before leaving the restaurant with her friend.

Apartment 8-C, Bushwell Plaza

"I swear, Carls," the blonde enthused over the web chat, "if he was single I'd have ripped his clothes off there and then."

The two had parted company earlier; Freddie had decided that after the excitement of the morning he would go to the gym and picked up his equipment after depositing Sam at Chez Shay. The blonde's mind was in a whirl at what she'd witnessed from him, defending Carly's honour the way he had along with meeting out some much-needed retribution to the cheater.

"Steven really said that about me?" the brunette asked quietly, a couple of tears rolling down her cheek. "Why would he say that?"

"Because he's a jerk," Sam replied obviously. "I know you and he didn't…" despite her earlier comment about Freddie she suddenly felt awkward discussing the subject with the naïve and innocent brunette.

"Of course not," she replied hotly, tears evaporating as she felt insulted that anyone would even insinuate it. "I can't believe Freddie put him down like that; he's so nerdy!"

Sam laughed at the comment. "Girl, you need to open your eyes; you've seen how much he works out these days – and I know he was swimming and stuff every day he was in LA. He may be a nerd but that doesn't mean he's a wimp these days. Steven learned that the very hard way," she finished with a broad smile.

Carly was feeling uncomfortable at being called out and having the error of her ways shown her like this; she sought to turn the tables on the blonde. "So," she smiled coyly, "you like Freddie again?"

When Sam didn't immediately respond, the brunette continued, "You want me to try and hook you two up?" This got an immediate reaction as Sam's head shot up and she fixed Carly with a stare. "Kidding! Kidding!" she added hurriedly.

The blonde rolled her eyes and shook her head, enjoying the sound of her best friend's laughter; it was a welcome sound after the events of both the day and the summer as a whole.

Vision Quest Sport and Fitness,

808 2nd Avenue

"Hey, dude, long time, no see," Freddie's gym partner, Andy, who he had gotten to know quite well from working out together earlier in the summer, greeted him as he spied him walking towards the treadmill. Freddie waved his acknowledgement and set his bag down next to his friend's, stepping up to the nearest machine to him and punching in the instructions. "How've you been?" the other boy panted; a glance at his machine told Freddie that he was almost done with his spell.

"Really good, thanks," Freddie replied, using his breath and the time the machine took to accelerate to speed to briefly go over what had been going on recently; the news that he was hoping to move away caused his friend to stumble a little as he lost his rhythm.

"No way, you're leaving Seattle?" he asked, having hopped off the machine, now watching as the belt continued to spin.

"Probably," Freddie confirmed, breathing a little more heavily as he got into his routine, "if mom gets a job I'll be down there with my girl," a broad smile swept up his face at the thought. "She's contacting her school about getting me in there, which would be awesome."

Andy nodded as he wiped the sweat off his neck with a towel; slinging it over his shoulder he headed for the weights room as Freddie cranked up the speed of his treadmill.

The workout had been good for him; actually getting into a fist fight, however short, had shaken Freddie a little as he usually tried to avoid confrontation and fights (he had to laugh at the thought of marrying that attitude with hanging with Sam for years). He was also hopeful that the incident wouldn't garner further attention, either reprisals from Steven and his chums at a later date or interest from the police; the latter he felt was less likely as there enough witnesses around that could corroborate any claims he made that the other guy had started it, both verbally and physically.

Finally, after a long and taxing workout, he found himself in the sauna, finally able to relax as his muscles ached from his exertions. He had worked the confrontation out of his system and felt far happier in himself, mood improving all the time as the dry heat eased his sore muscles.

Apartment 8-C, Bushwell Plaza

With his mother still at work, Freddie called in on his neighbour; he wasn't surprised to see Sam sprawled on the couch watching TV. Spencer, still at work on his latest would-be masterpiece, was surprised at the jovial way Sam greeted him. The two high-fiving as Freddie walked past her staggered the artist, though he felt normal service was resumed as she demanded a slice of pizza as he helped himself to a bottle of water from the fridge. He decided to take a pizza slice for himself as well, joining the blonde on the couch and laughing along with the show she was watching, full of embarrassing videos of people injuring themselves and failing at stunts.

"Would have been cool if he'd pulled it off," he commented after one particularly painful-looking fail.

"Yeah but this was way funnier," Sam argued; Freddie could only shrug his agreement.

An hour or so later, having given up on work and joined the constantly sniggering duo in front of the TV, Spencer responded to an urgent knocking on the front door; opening it revealed Mrs Benson.

"Great news Freddie," she exclaimed without preamble, brushing past the artist into his home, "I've been offered a job in LA."

AN: Thanks for reading. PD