Fractured World

Disclaimer: Do not own Victorious or iCarly

A/N:


Chapter 12 (Home)

Ready to try and move forward with her life, and to be able to meet Courtney and Sinjin in Washington, Spencer and Lily returned to Seattle within a few short weeks after she'd said her goodbyes to Beck and Jade while agreeing to talk to them on Skype, and filling Ian in on all the details.

Carly, unfortunately, could not be there to help as she had to get back to Italy soon to deal with the university she was attending there and some QVC thing she was getting involved with . Her grandfather and great-grandfather were there to help with the move, so that was a plus, even if she wondered how well they would get along.

Approaching the door for the first time was nerve-wracking. She followed Spencer in silence down a hallway that was strangely familiar to her. This feeling she thought was because of iCarly, since she was sure she remembered seeing the hallway on the webshow at some time.

To the right, she saw a door open and held her breath as a man left the apartment. He was tall, had combed brown hair and was sporting a soul patch. There was something familiar to him as well, and that curiosity was answered the minute Spencer spoke.

"I see you're sporting new facial hair there, Freddie." Freddie ran his finger over the soul patch and started to chuckle. "Now tell me why it has to be a soul patch." He shrugged.

"I just think it looks hip." Freddie ran his hand through his hair and puffed his chest out. "Besides, I have a date tonight. I'm taking her to this Ethiopian restaurant I know downtown."

"Then I would advise getting rid of the soul patch, but hey, to each their own." Spencer shook his head and then motioned to Lily. "This is my daughter. Lily. That is the name she wants to use." Freddie nodded and waved at her. They'd already met before so there wasn't any real need for reintroduction, but she appreciated it especially for the reference of her name change.

"I'm glad., you made it out here. Do you guys need any help with the move?"

"Thanks, but I think we're okay." Spencer turned his gaze towards the elevator. "My dad and granddad are getting her things out of the car now." He then raised an eyebrow and turned back to Freddie. "Take things slow, okay?" Freddie ran his hand over the back of his neck and sighed.

"I know, I don't need the lecture."

"Well, you already had that one month long marriage a year ago that ended in disaster." Freddie dropped his shoulders and rolled his eyes. "Just don't rush into things. Good luck on your date."

"Thank you. I know to take it easy, we're agreeing to just one date right now anyway. She was married before also, her husband passed away a year ago so she's not rushing either." Spencer blinked twice and tilted his head as Freddie walked towards the elevator.

Lily watched and waited until Freddie was gone. "What's the problem?" She asked. Spencer ran his fingers over his chin and sighed.

"Just sounds familiar. Before we went to California we ran into a lady with a kid that had been in an accident. I remember her mentioning at some point her husband died a year ago; but it can't be the same person. I don't think."

She recognized the incident, another would-be victim of Holly's gang. "Freddie was married before?"

"Yeah, for like a month. It was one of those whirlwind romances with some girl he met in college and they decided to elope against everyone's better judgment." Spencer moved towards the door and pulled a set of keys from his pocket. "He thought he was in love. Turned out she was abusive and had mental issues, so Freddie's mom convinced him to get out of that."

"How?"

"She threatened to disown him and cut off funding for college." It seemed harsh, yet effective. "Mrs. Benson would never actually do that, but everyone knows he's more hooked on his mother than he'd let anyone believe." Spencer appeared to pause and glanced over his shoulder to the door behind him. "I think Sam was the only one to overlook Marissa's overprotectiveness of him; but she was just used to it."

Lily pulled her purse strap over her shoulder and approached the door, she tilted her head curious now that he mentioned Sam. "Sam? I knew they were friends."

"Yeah, the three of them. Freddie would up dating her for a bit, they fell really madly in love; but for some reason it didn't work out. I think what happened with the girl in college was he was trying to project his feelings for Sam onto someone else, didn't quite work out."

"Wow."

"Anyway, I'd be surprised if this date he's going on is the same woman we met before. Usually when he dates a girl, she's an attractive blonde, usually with a tougher personality. Gwen is definitely not a blonde, and also not Sam."

"Maybe he's moved on."

"Well, he had a thing for my sister when he was younger and he's moved on from that. So, anything's possible." Lily hummed, trying to imagine how that must have been. After all, the only insight she had into any of that was watching the earlier portions of Carly's webshow. "The only big different is Carly never truly returned his feelings but Sam did."

Learning about what Sam had gone through and just realizing how difficult her upbringing was, she didn't have difficulty understanding why the relationship didn't continue. "Sam was separated from her real family too, grew up in hell and went to find her real dad, I'm guessing that wasn't long after the relationship she had with Freddie?"

"Not long at all."

"Well, that explains it." She was grateful for the distraction of conversation. The nervousness of seeing where her new home would be was starting to subside; if only a little.

"Anyway, you ready to head inside?" He opened the door and Lily started towards the apartment, anxious to see what it was like. Carly already mentioned that she'd likely take her old bedroom, which made things a bit strange yet intriguing.

This apartment was one she'd seen many times on the iCarly webshow, both before and after discovering that Carly was related to her. At first, it was just another person's home, nothing too special or unique. Now, there was a feeling in the air as she entered that she couldn't quite explain.

She placed the suitcases down and looked around, the apartment was fairly small but had a nice homey appearance. Far different from the house she'd grown up in.

Carefully she approached the sofa and ran her fingers along the soft leather while passing behind it. Gazing at the stairs nearby, she spotted a robot made of sheet metal and lightbulbs. Curiosity hit her and she approached it, looking it up and down.

"That's one of my newer projects," Spencer said from the kitchen, "I need to stop wiring my work up with electricity. They always seem to catch fire." Startled for a second, she took a step back and chuckled nervously. "Only when I turn them on though."

"Well, then I'm not touching that thing. It looks nice though."

"Thank you." Spencer opened the refrigerator. "Are you hungry? I can cook something up real quick." She smiled and nodded, just as her stomach started to growl as though reacting to his suggestion.

"I could go for something, sure." She appreciated his thinking of her for food, especially given how many times growing up that the Vegas wouldn't even bother. Most of the time she had to make her own meals, and that didn't consist of much as she wasn't taught to cook. "What are you going to make?"

"Well, it depends. What're you in the mood for?" Shrugging, she made her way to the kitchen. "Carly and her friends used to love the spaghetti tacos I made for them growing up, that's a fun little meal." She was curious now, though it seemed like an easy and simple dish to make.

"So, spaghetti in a taco shell?"

"Pretty much."

"Cool." He smiled and grabbed a mason jar from the fridge. She didn't see a label but was confident that it was pasta sauce. "What brand is that?" Spencer turned around and lifted the jar up, his eyebrows rose and he shook his head.

"No branding, I make my own spaghetti sauce. You okay with a meatier pasta sauce?" She licked her lips and nodded, watching him set the container on the counter. "I do buy pasta noodles though, I like making my own noodles when I have spare time, but it's a lot of work for so little time."

"Fair enough." The front door opened and Steven walked in with George, the pair appeared as though they'd gathered all of the stuff she had. "Hi Grandpa Shay." The two men peered past the suitcases in their arms and looked at one another.

"Which one of us is she referring to?"

Spencer placed a plastic bag of what looked like homemade tortilla bread onto the counter and laughed as he spread his hands out on the countertop. "If anything, it works for both of you. Unless you'd like to be elevated to 'great-granddad', Granddad." A smirk played on George's face and Steven quickly called out.

"No, that'll give your granddad a big head. Grandpa Shay is just fine."

Lily sat on the couch and spread her arms out on top of the sofa. "I'll work on some more affectionate grandparent names." She ran her finger across her chin and squinted at the ceiling. "How does Popet sound?" George made a gagging noise and Steven began to grin.

"Could just call him 'old man'." George then proceeded to reach up and bump Steven on the back of the head. The younger Shay laughed as he bent over and set the suitcases down. "How many people can say they became great grandparents in their sixties?"

"In these days, son, that's unfortunately more common than it was when Spencer was a boy." Lily studied her father, watching him as he brought a large pot from the cabinets underneath the stove. George then approached the kitchen. "Where's your neighbor, I would have thought he'd be over here chatting you up now that you're home with your daughter."

Spencer turned the water faucet on with a sigh. "I think he may be on a date with that lady he pulled out of a car wreck. Pure speculation." George huffed and folded his arms across his chest.

"That didn't work out last time he did that."

Raising an eyebrow, Lily looked to Steven for answers but he simply shrugged and waved a hand in the air. "Pops, don't be judgmental over the boy you barely know." George spun around and uncrossed his arms.

"Am I the only one that remembers how obsessed he was with Carly?"

"He's grown out of that," Spencer replied with a dull tone in his voice. "Thank god. Only time Carly ever took an interest in him and it was just because he saved her from getting hit by a car…kid's never had much luck with women."

"Says the man who is still single after twenty years." George whipped out his hand. "No offense meant, I'm just saying you've never moved on and probably aren't the leading authority on relationships."

Spencer made a clicking sound with his tongue and proceeded to turn the stovetop on high heat for the water.

Steven moved his hands to his hips and bowed his head. "Care to point out that Carly doesn't seem to have the best of luck either?" He began to chuckle as Lily looked between the trio. "My wife walked out on us, Sasha's still too fresh of a topic to remark about, and Pops? Don't get me started on mom." George groaned and reached for his face. Steven looked to Lily and she raised her eyebrows at him, curious and a little confused. "Our family might be cursed, Lily. You and Ian doing okay so far? Taking it slow?"

"Yeah, we're pretty great."

"Good. Beware the Shay family curse."

She leaned her head back, opening her lips partially before Spencer called out in what sounded like an annoyed tone. "Dad, there is no family curse. Please do not fill my daughter's head with nonsense."

"Oh, I'm only trying to bring a little bit of humor into the day."

George was tapping a knuckle to the bridge of his nose. "Seems like I'm not the annoying one this time, Son." Lily shook her head and couldn't help but to smile. "Anyway, speaking of Mr. Dennison." Lily looked up and waited as George sat on the other end of the couch. "I do apologize if I made you and Ian uncomfortable when we first met. Do you know if and when he plans to be up here?"

"It should be soon. The university is expediting his admission, evidently he has some really good test scores. He wants to be up here before Courtney and Sinjin as well."

"That's good to hear. Have you given much thought towards college?"

"Right now? I don't know." She wanted to go to college before everything blew up; but now she wasn't even sure what she wanted to do with her life anymore so college wasn't on the forefront of her mind. "I think I need a bit more time to figure things out."

"Understood. You know, neither your father or grandfather went to college." She raised an eyebrow and looked to her grandfather standing nearby. Spencer was a given but she would've thought Steven had gone.

"I enlisted when I was young," Steven remarked, "So Pops is right, I didn't go the traditional route. Your father, on the other hand…" Steven's eyes narrowed and Lily heard Spencer chuckle. "I thought he had finally gone to college after a while. I would've understood if he told me up front that he found something he liked better."

Spencer laughed. "Yeah it was a mistake, but I was too nervous how you might react. Not everything requires a college degree, and these days you can still have a good life without one."

"It's just easier to find high paying work with a degree."

Spencer snapped his fingers and scoffed. "I bet you I become a millionaire in five years as an artist."

"That, I would like to see."

George got up from the couch, laughing as he did. "Spencer, you become a millionaire by 2020 and your father might finally stop fussing over you." Spencer raised an eyebrow at the men, saying nothing before slowly turning around.

Lily reclined on the couch and let out a content sigh. She couldn't help but to be amused, but if nothing else, it helped take the off a bit of the edge to a brand new home.


Thoughts?