Author Note: Goeie dag, mense! That's Afrikaans for 'good day, people!', which is my second language aside from English. Isn't Afrikaans positively romantical?
I hope you all liked the previous chapter when Robbie finally has a semi-normal conversation with Cat at school, which led to lots of smoochy-smoochering and what-not :-P
I really appreciate all of the reviews and feedback you guys have given me for this story so far, you rock :-D
What will happen now with Cat and Robbie's story? Will love follow them in their reality? Or will more tragedy befall them?
Read on, por favor. If you want to. I'm not the fanfic police or something weird. Do you. Treat yoself.
Disclaimer: I do not own Victorious or the zany characters in this hilarious show. If I did, Robbie would've kept taking his shirt off in random situations. Because that sh*t was hilarious and intriguing - Matt Bennett has the potential for developing major abs :-P
Despite kissing him at school where anyone with eyeballs could see, Robbie still needed to convince Cat a little more about going out with him as the weeks ensued.
So they took it slow and Robbie purposely left Rex with Tori of all people while he took Cat out on dates to her all her favourite places in Los Angeles.
One of their first and memorable dates took place in an unusual location. After that vivid dream he'd had, Robbie desperately wanted to visit Northridge and try to track down the old farm that Great Pappy Shapiro had purchased more than a hundred years ago.
Cat got Rat to lend them his car for the afternoon and Robbie drove them to Northridge without experiencing any mechanical issues, including anything to do with the faulty drop top.
However, Robbie stared aghast at the old farm which was now derelict, graffitied and crawling with an assortment of rats the size of raccoons and creepy men in clown costumes who asked the two teenagers for a ride to Venice Beach. It hadn't taken much for both Cat and Robbie to scream bloody murder before sprinting back to Rat's car and gunning it till they were safely out of Northridge.
Robbie made it up to Cat by taking her to a pet store later that day to play with some of the puppies who hadn't been adopted yet, making a mental not to take Cat on another date in Northridge.
Even after that disturbing experience in Northridge, Cat had no more hesitation about holding Robbie's hand in public, feeding him scoops of ice cream with pink sprinkles outside the Asphalt Café and calling him her 'boyfriend'.
It took a while for all of their friends to get used to the idea of the two of them dating, especially in a situation where neither money nor candy had changed hands. But Tori and Beck were the most instrumental with getting everyone around them to see and acknowledge that Robbie and Cat did complement each other in a way that no one had bothered to give serious consideration to. For one, Robbie helped Cat to focus better on her studies and not to spend her money too frivolously at the Sky Store or on Tap It. For another, Cat helped Robbie to be less clumsy with breaking expensive dinnerware at restaurants or killing the beloved pets of scary dictators with two eye-patches.
Once Andre realized that it wasn't a joke and they had serious, romantic feelings for each other, he not only accepted Robbie and Cat's relationship, but often helped Robbie in the years to come to prepare sweet and romantic gifts for his girlfriend on their anniversaries.
Rex had his doubts, but kept most of his nasty words to himself. He made some progress with Cat when he stopped calling her 'dumber than a fish' and switched to calling her 'only kinda basic'.
Jade honestly didn't care either way whether Robbie or Cat dated or broke up.
Two more years slid by and Cat and Robbie graduated from Hollywood Arts, still going strong as a couple. Robbie perfected his and Rex's stand-up comedy and finally got noticed by one Jeff Dunham, who complimented the scrawny boy of Jewish descent on his outstanding ventriloquism skills. Robbie poured his heart and soul into acting and music classes at UCLA during college before he finally took his comedy show comprising ventriloquism and making parody songs across the US and the world eventually.
Cat went to UCLA too and dabbled in many different things during her time there. She honed her makeup skills and costume making, her uncanny gift for guessing people's dimensions sharpened into a fine tool by then. She got lots of jobs after college working on costumes and makeup for several critically acclaimed movies, including a horror movie which Jade directed and wrote the screenplay for, which won numerous awards at Cannes five years later. To everyone's surprise, Cat even got a successful patent for an innovative bra with internal pockets and compartments for everything you could possibly store, including candy when you felt peckish.
She and Rat grew even closer over the years and often engaged in a few secret scientific experiments and projects which Robbie was never privy to.
Still, Cat and Robbie managed to make time for each other in-between their busy schedules.
So it wasn't really a surprise when Robbie finally got down on one knee during a romantic dinner at Maestros (after ordering a giant bowl of caviar which he was able to pay for) and asked Cat to marry him.
Cat said yes and promptly ate the rest of Robbie's caviar in her excitement about getting married.
For the longest time, Robbie had worried that his Nana would give him grief about being with Cat, just like in the past. She certainly said her piece time and time again while they dated, but unlike before, Cat held her tongue like her name's sake and won the old woman over with a lot of time and patience.
Nana Shapiro lived for a few more years after her grandson's wedding. But during the wedding reception when Cat had tossed the bouquet, the elderly woman pulled Robbie aside with happy tears in her eyes and said:
"She really is your B'shert after all, Bubbeleh."
What did shock everyone, including Cat's parents, was when Robbie and Cat made an announcement during the rehearsal dinner that they would be moving to Northridge soon after the honeymoon. Over the years, Robbie had done many comedy shows in Northridge and earned a huge following of fans there. He reached out to members of Congress and even began pouring more and more of his own personal money into the community. It wasn't long before state laws were passed in California to replace the dingy and dilapidated residences, school and community centre and upgrade their facilities into valuable real estate other people were willing to invest in too.
Hardly anyone in Los Angeles dared to believe that Northridge could ever look so nice. There were still a few rough streets and corners in Northridge, but Cat and Robbie built themselves a lovely farm-styled house in wine country which was inspired by Great Pappy Shapiro's sketches of his old farm, but with modern amenities for them to enjoy.
They'd taken many of their eccentric and whimsical passions and made what many people around them called profitable sources of income amidst their loving relationship.
After being married for close to four years, they finally started having children: first, they had two boys (neither of which was ever christened Tug) and then two twin girls who gave Pat and Mat quite the runaround whenever it was their turn to babysit.
Robbie had no idea that he could ever be so happy.
He thought he was destined to be awkward and miserable, never finding his true passion or his true love. But Cat and the strangest dream of his entire existence had changed all of that.
Robbie loved Cat and their four children fiercely and kept strong relationships with his friends and family over the years.
He and Cat were incredibly happy, right until the last moment they shared together.
It had been a difficult year when Cat had celebrated her 60th birthday and then been diagnosed with stage 4 cancer shortly afterwards.
Still, Robbie, their children, grandchildren and their friends rallied around Cat throughout that time. For her part, Cat remained happy and positive till the very end, letting her young grandchildren lie in bed with her on her lucid days while she invented many a tale to make them smile and laugh.
Rat (who was close to 70 years old now) came to visit Cat too and they would often have private conversations together, whispering frantically in secretive fashion.
When it was time to say goodbye, Robbie and Cat held each other's wrinkled hands mottled with purple liver spots. Cat was sitting up in bed and Robbie sat beside her, sobbing uncontrollably.
"Don't be sad, Robbie…" Cat murmured, smiling happily at her husband while caressing his cheek.
Even though her hair had turned silvery white just 10 years before, Robbie still thought of Cat Valentine as his red-haired beauty who had stolen his heart some 40 years ago.
"I can't help it, Cat. Who's going to tell me my jokes are still funny and that Rex will finally stop saying so many mean things to me?" Robbie asked through the tremors of his own tears.
"You can stop him by taking your hand out of his butt," Cat teased, which made Robbie laugh hard.
"We will see each other again, my darling, I promise. Rat and I have been working on something big all these years and I think it's finally time to test it out." Cat revealed to her husband, her left cheek dimpling as she smiled secretively.
"What do you mean, Cat? What have you and Rat been working on?" Robbie asked in alarm.
"He will explain everything to you when you're ready to hear it. And whatever you do, don't get Rat psychologically tested once you hear what he has to say. Because I can promise you one thing: it will sound 'banana bread' crazy." Cat promised.
"Darling, I know my hearing isn't what it used to be, but you're still not making any sense." Robbie said in a feeble voice.
"When did I ever make any real sense before, Robbie?" Cat demanded with slight impatience.
They were almost out of time and she didn't want to waste these precious few minutes talking in riddles with the man she loved.
"I know it's hard for you, but try and trust me, my love. Everything will make sense very soon." Cat reassured her husband, her soft brown eyes looking clear and determined in the moment despite the harsh, rattling breaths coming out of her cracked lips.
"I trust you with my life," Robbie said without hesitation, leaning forward and kissing Cat's wrinkled hand.
"Whenever you feel sad or lonely, you can always find me in your dreams." Cat said, winking on the last part despite her exhaustion.
Something clicked in Robbie's head when she said that.
"Wait…what did you just say?"
"Goodbye, my darling. I'll love you forever."
"Wait, Cat!"
Cat said a silent prayer, silvery tears falling down her wan cheeks as she smiled lovingly up at Robbie. His heart shattered in his chest when her last breath left her body, her eyes sliding into place while her radiant smile remained forever frozen on her face.
This life had been her most beautiful dream yet.
Author Note: Ok, so this was a bit of a filler chapter, but hopefully a mostly fluffy one for Cabbie :-)
I hope you guys weren't too bummed about Cat dying at the end of this chapter. Death is kind of a big theme in this story in case you hadn't noticed :-P
I'm not like obsessed with death or anything. I'm not Edgar Allen Poe in disguise with a raven on my shoulder chanting 'Death is all around us...' at regular intervals.
I would love to chant 'Ariana is all around me' instead. That could be a Billboard hit right there - think about it.
Yip, Ariana can just 'hit me' with her 'genie's bottle' any day of the week. It will be a music mash-up of the romantical kind.
Ta-do! I mean...Tootles!