They had agreed on dinner, somewhere not super fancy and that allowed families and children, but was not a fast food place. Still, Tori had put Sophie in a little dress and made sure her wispy little bangs were pinned back. Tori was determined to look like she had her life together.

Beck and Jade were already there when Tori, Sophie, and André pulled up to the restaurant. Cat and Robbie were on their way.

Tori had Sophie on her hip. Sophie was clutching her stuffed rabbit and had a pacifier in her mouth. When Tori pulled Sophie's diaper bag from the car, she realized exactly what she was doing.

"You okay?" André asked her.

Tori nodded.

"It'll be fine, Tor." he assured, rubbing his friend's arm.

Though she didn't feel so sure, Tori shut the door of the car and headed towards the front door of the restaurant. André was close behind.

There was a table for six and a high chair waiting for them, with two seats occupied. Jade had the look on her face she always had whem Beck was telling her something, absolutely smitten but trying to look uninterested. Tori smiled a bit. At least something was the same.

Beck was the first to notice them approaching and he almost tripped trying to get out of his chair to greet them.

He hugged André first and they exchanged small talk. Tori rocked back on her heels.

She was surprise when Jade stood and opened her arms to give Tori a hug.

"Hi Jade," Tori greeted timidly.

"Hey Vega. Long time, no see." Jade replied with a smile as she let go.

Beck pulled Tori in for a hug too and Andre reached around to hug Jade.

I'm glad you decided to come Tori. It's been a while." He said, looking genuinely happy to see her.

"Hi Beck. It's nice to see you."

"And this must be Sophie," Beck directed his attention to the toddler in Tori's arms. "It's nice to finally meet you, Sophie."

"Okay, I'll admit she's pretty damn cute." Jade said. "Hi Sophie."

André and Beck sent Jade a look for swearing in front of such a little kid, but Tori didn't notice. She was too focused on Sophie's curious expression. She was an easygoing child who loved people.

"Sophie, these are more of Mommy's friends."

"More friends?" Sophie questioned, her pacifier falling from her mouth, sounding a little disgusted. Luckily her pacifier was attached to a clip on her shirt. "Too many!"

"Hey, you!" Tori teased, poking Sophie's stomach, making her giggle.

The others laughed.

"Okay, silly girl, can you say hi to Beck and Jade?" Tori prompted.

"Hi," Sophie replied.

Jade's polite smile broadened into a real one when Sophie spoke. She even waved at the little girl.

Beck smiled too. "Well, I figured you might want to sit at the end so you're with Sophie, Tori. Hope you don't mind."

"Oh no, that's perfect, thanks." Tori made her way to the seat at the end across the table from Beck and Jade, figuring Cat and Robbie could sit next to each other when they arrived, but Jade caught her arm.

"You want me to sit next to André?" Jade asked teasingly.

"Hey!" he protested.

Tori grinned, suddenly feeling the confidence she had at sixteen. "If you wanted to sit with me, Jade, you could've just asked."

Jade scoffed and rolled her eyes and returned to her seat, but Tori sat beside her anyway, placing Sophie into the high chair.

Jade lightly bumped her arm into Tori's once she was sitting. "Thanks for showing up,"

Tori could only smile. However glad she was that her old friends still seemed to want her around, she still felt uncomfortable with it all. She was sitting beside a Broadway actress after all, that could make anyone feel useless.

André sat across from Beck, who was working under someone on some late night talk show and working on a script for a play. The boys immediately started comparing the differences in the world of television on each coast.

And there sat Tori, a waitress, beside her two year old who had found the crayons and kids' menu.

Tori sighed and turned her attention to Sophie, who was scribbling all over the paper menu with a blue crayon.

"Oh that's beautiful, Sophie!" Tori said, earning a smile from the toddler. It was really just scribbles over a coloring sheet, but Sophie hadn't really been interested in drawing or coloring until recently, and that made Tori nervous about her fine motor development, so she encouraged her whenever she even so much as picked up a crayon.

"What color are you using? Can you tell me?"

"Blue!" Sophie said proudly, waving the crayon in front of herself.

"That's right!"

Sophie dropped the blue crayon and picked up a different one. "Mommy, red."

"Yes, that one is red. Are you gonna use that one now?"

"Uh-huh," Sophie replied, looking back to her masterpiece.

Tori heard her friends talking. They were talking about normal young adult stuff. It felt hard to join in, like she was lost.

"What are you drawing, kid?" Jade asked Sophie suddenly.

Tori and Sophie both looked to Jade, surprised.

Jade tried again. "What's your picture of, Sophie?"

"Mommy," Sophie finally replied.

Jade glanced at Sophie's drawing and smirked at Tori. "I see the resemblance,"

Tori opened her mouth in mock-offense.

Jade laughed.

Soon enough, Cat and Robbie showed up and everyone ordered food. The conversation kept up. It was lively and fun and there was an honest attempt to keep Sophie involved and Tori included, which was nice, but Tori couldn't help but feel like she was only being included for politeness.

Tori got macaroni and cheese for Sophie, but Sophie was still relatively new and clumsy to using silverware and Tori was all but ignoring her food in order to make sure Sophie was getting more food in her mouth than down the front of her little purple unicorn dress.

"Mommy, out please!" Sophie held out her arms towards Tori. She was getting antsy in that high chair, Tori couldn't blame her.

"In a minute, Soph." Tori promised, shoving a french fry into her mouth.

"Mommy!" Sophie whined.

Tori sighed, looking down at her plate and went to pull her daughter into her lap.

"Can I take her?"

Tori looked to Cat, who was sitting across from her, looking sweet as ever with a small smile.

"Cat, you don't have to-"

"It's fine, really. I'm not really that hungry and you haven't really eaten anything. I can even try to get her to eat some more, if you want."

Tori contemplated it for a moment. She looked at Sophie who was wriggling and reaching still. "Is it okay if Cat holds you for a while?"

Sophie looked to Cat, who smiled at her. Sophie nodded.

Cat rached over and pulled Sophie from the high chair and settled her on her lap.

"There we go," Cat said with a soft giggle.

Sophie grabbed at Cat's hair. "Red crayon!"

Cat laughed. "You're so cute!"

After a little while, Robbie took Sophie from Cat. Sophie was a little uneasy at first as she really didn't know that many men and even less had ever held her, but Robbie made her laugh immediately and she was sold.

Sophie was content in Robbie's arms and was soon just as comfortable in André's. By that time, Tori was done eating, but everyone seemed to really enjoy passing Sophie around and no one would pass her back to Tori. And Tori was participating in adult conversation.

Sophie's attention was drawn to the window. It was just getting dark enough for people to turn their headlights on as they were driving, and she was mesmerized watching them pass.

"Oh, I want one." Cat said quietly, watching Sophie.

"A car?" asked Tori, confused. Cat had a car.

"No, silly. A baby."

To his credit, Robbie did not drop his glass of water onto himself or choke, so that was good news, but the look on his face made André, Tori, Jade, and Beck laugh.

"Not right now!" Cat assured, shoving Robbie's shoulder.

Robbie flashed a double thumbs up as he composed himself.

It was Beck's turn to take Sophie next and she was all smiles by then from all the attention she was getting.

Beck bounced Sophie on his knee and moved her arms as he talked, making her giggle. Jade kept looking over at Sophie.

Tori thought at first that she was glaring, but when Sophie was moved to her lap, Jade was so loving and gentle with her that Tori almost fell out of her seat.

Jade rocked a little and Sophie had her full, undivided attention.

"I see the unicorn on your dress. Do you like unicorns?" Jade asked Sophie.

Sophie nodded. "You?"

"You know, kid, I'm not really a unicorn sort of person. Do you like any other animals?"

"Kitty!" Sophie said. "Meow! Doggie! Woof!"

"I like cats too. Beck likes dogs."

Tori smiled at the unexpected sight.

Sophie started to drift off in Jade's arms. Tori looked at her phone. "I should go pretty soon,"

"Aw, yeah." André said, looking at Sophie.

"I was gonna ask if you guys wanted to go out after, but, yeah, Sophie." Beck said.

"You guys should go." Tori said. "I've gotta get Sophie to bed."

"If you wanna come, André, we can always take you and drop you back off at your place." Robbie offered. He had ridden with Tori and Sophie.

André looked to Tori, who nodded. He always wanted to help Tori out, but she could handle everything herself. Sophie was her kid anyway.

"Alright, cool." André agreed.

Jade slowly passed Sophie to Tori's arms.

"It was nice to see you, Tori!" Beck said.

"Yeah, you guys too." Tori replied with a smile as she stood up. "You guys will all be her for a while, right?"

Beck, Jade, Cat, and Robbie nodded.

"We should hang out again."

"Absolutely!" Robbie said, just as Cat said "Yes!"

"Answer your phone then," Jade said with a smirk.

"Will do," Tori said. "Bye guys! Say 'bye' Sophie."

Sophie gave a sleepy wave.

"Drive safe," Beck said.

"Yeah. I'll see you at home." André added. "Night,"

Everyone else chimed in with good nights.

"Night," Tori replied before turning and heading out to her car. She carefully buckled Sophie into her car seat and getting into the driver's seat.

She drove away from the restaurant, down roads she had known all her life.

She glanced at Sophie's reflection in her mirror. The little girl was fast asleep. Tori smiled, but deep down the slightest bit of resentment sat.