Here's the update I've been sitting on. I wanted to wait until Rade week was over until I updated. Now, we finally get to see what happened to Robbie. Rex's departure will continue to play a big part I think. Please thank MaybeWolf for helping me so much with this story. And now presenting a chapter I think you'll all enjoy, chapter 9.

That night, Tori found herself standing outside Robbie's house for the second time that week. Hopefully, he was home. Otherwise, she had gone through the trouble of acquiring his gift for nothing. Ringing the doorbell, Tori wondered why she hadn't been to Robbie's house more often. Her questions were quickly answered when a shrill voice pierced through the door.

"Who is it?" The voice asked almost hysterically.

"It's Tori. Is Robbie here?" Tori answered, hoping the old lady remembered her.

"Tori, darling! How are you? You should visit more often. I like you much better than that red headed girl." The old lady said as she opened the door.

Shaking her head slightly, Tori wondered why she had gotten on such bad footing with Cat. "Hey Mrs. Shapiro. How's your feet?"

"Much better thanks." Tori heard Robbie's grandmother say as she headed back to the living room. Stepping into Robbie's room, Tori quickly located the curly haired boy laying on his bed. For a moment, Tori found herself getting lost in the melody of "The Departure" by Michael Nyman. Hearing the mournful melody only confirmed her suspicion that Rex was indeed gone for good. Unsure of how to approach the situation, Tori just walked over to Robbie's bed and sat down next to him. Suddenly aware that someone else was in the room, Robbie snapped out of his reverie and back into the real world.

"What are you doing here?" Robbie asked, still recovering from his surprise.

"You weren't in school today. I got worried, so I came over to see why." Tori explained, placing a hand on his shoulder.

"You didn't have to do that." Robbie said quietly.

"No, but I wanted to. You want to tell me what happened today?" Tori asked hoping Robbie would open up a little. Robbie finally sat up right next to her on her right side so their shoulders were touching, giving Tori hope that perhaps he would begin talking. For a long time, Robbie said nothing, almost as if he were waiting for something, or someone. When no response came, he sighed realizing that it was just him and Tori in the room.

"When I said goodbye to Rex, I couldn't believe what was happening. I guess I'm still adjusting to not having Rex around, and I kind of wanted to deal with it myself." Robbie finally said, avoiding Tori's concerned gaze.

"Do you want me to go?" Tori asked little uncertainly. Tori got up hesitantly. She couldn't help but suddenly feel as if she was intruding. "If you want, I'll..."

"Please stay," Robbie interrupted. Robbie had unknowingly grabbed her right hand in his moment of panic. If hearing the desperation in his voice wasn't enough, feeling it wrap around her wrist certainly was, yet none of that could even compare to the look in his eyes. The fear of abandonment overtook Robbie so completely and quickly, Tori could literally feel the pain radiating up her arm from him.

"Wow, you hands are really strong." Tori noted as she placed her left hand on top of Robbie's, trying to ease the extraordinarily tight grip he had on her. Realizing for the first time what he was doing, Robbie released her hand immediately, and a panic of a different sort started to burst it's way into his head.

"Are you okay? I'm so sorry. I didn't hurt you did I?" Robbie's words flowed from his mouth faster than he could process them. Even though it was unintentional, the thought that he had hurt one of his friends, made him feel even worse. He immediately started closing up, clutching his arms close to his chest, because he was afraid he would hurt her again.

"It's okay Robbie, I'm fine. No harm, no foul." Tori stated retaking her seat on his left, as she draped her right arm over his back and rested her hand on his shoulder. The panicked concern evident on his face just made Tori even more careful about keeping Robbie from seeing the growing mark on her wrist. To her dismay, Robbie was a lot more persistent than she thought.

"Are you sure? I thought I was grabbing your wrist pretty hard." Robbie said voicing his concerns. Realizing that it would take something major to ease Robbie's concerns, Tori decided to take matters into her own hands.

"Robbie, I'm fine," Tori assured, using her left hand to loosen up Robbie's tightly clenched arms around his chest. Robbie stared at Tori's hand resting on his arms. He felt ridiculous for making Tori try to comfort him, when he was the one who had hurt her. When Robbie continued to avoid eye contact, Tori moved her right arm from his back to his neck, wrapping around it and pushed his chin up so his head was facing her. "Robbie look at me. You don't need to worry about me." Moving in, Tori hugged Robbie closely and whispered in his ear, "I'm fine. I promise."

When she pulled back and looked at Robbie, she could see that she had finally put Robbie's mind at rest. Glad that her goal of distracting Robbie from inquiring about her injuries further, Tori could feel a smile slowly spread on her face. Ruffling her friend's hair a little, she asked, "So are you going to tell me what happened today, or am I going to have to threaten to leave again?"

With no other choices available to him, Robbie started to recount what had happened that day. "I couldn't really sleep last night. All night I was worrying about what will happen to Rex. By the time I woke up at 5:30, I had no idea what to do. All morning, I was trying to figure some way to keep him without my grandparent's knowledge. I couldn't think of anything, so unless I wanted to throw him into the trash, I'd have to give him over to this local theatre as a prop. I didn't want to because I thought Rex would get bored, but with no choices left, he decided it was our only choice. I was mortified when I saw them put him in a box in the attic, but there was nothing more I could do."

Hearing Robbie finish his story, Tori knew she needed to cheer him up. Reaching into her purse, Tori pulled out a DVD she thought Robbie would appreciate. When Robbie saw what she was holding in her hands, a look of curiosity crossed his face.

"What's that?" Robbie asked uncertainly. For some reason, he felt like he recognized it, but just couldn't place where he'd seen it before.

"It's something I had to scrounge out of the depths of hell itself." Tori answered with an air of satisfaction. "C'mon let's watch it on your laptop."

"What is it?" Robbie asked, reaching for his laptop.

"I haven't actually seen it yet." Holding it in his hands, Robbie knew he definitely recognized it. With no more patience to try to remember where he had seen it before, he popped the DVD into the laptop and let the auto play run, only to feel his blood run cold as the video popped up. Next to him, Robbie could hear Tori's squeal of excitement as their eyes fell upon a 12 year old Robbie. How Tori had gotten her hands on his audition tape was the least of his problems. Finally realizing what was about to come, Robbie tried to stop the video before he died of embarrassment, which if memory serves, would not take very long.

"Please don't stop," Tori begged. "I really want to see this." Unable to resist her pleading eyes and pouting lips, Robbie had no choice but to let the S.S. Sinking Ship continue. Dragging his eyes back to the screen, he felt a groan slip through his lips as Tori started commenting how "cute" he looked as a young Robbie sat down with a brand new Rex. With every second that passed, Robbie wanted more and more to dive under the blankets to hide his embarrassment. He was actually considering it for a while until Tori wrapped her arm around his, effectively keeping him in place. After hearing her laughter ring through his room, he didn't think he could hide from her even if he tried. By the end, Robbie even found himself laughing along with Tori. It was astounding, looking back at a young Robbie and Rex, and realizing how much they've changed.

"How did you get that?" Robbie asked when his horrendous audition was over.

"I may or may not have bribed Lane with some of my premium hand lotion." Tori said jokingly. "I just wanted you to have something to remember Rex by."

"Wow, thanks Tori. You didn't have to do that," Robbie said, astounded that Tori would go through so much trouble just for him.

"I know. It's just with everything that's happening, I wanted to do something nice for you. You're a good friend, Robbie. You're always there to help us when we need you. I'm just trying to return the favor." Robbie's dumbfounded look was all it took to let Tori know that her message had gotten through. Tori was about to ask to watch Robbie's audition video again, when she realized what time it already was. "I'm sorry Robbie, but I have to get home before curfew." Walking toward the door, she asked, "Will I see you in school tomorrow?"

"Yeah, I'll be there." Robbie couldn't believe how quickly time had passed. "Thanks for coming."

"No problem," Tori said as she turned around to hug Robbie one last time. "See ya."

I hope you all enjoyed reading that chapter as much as I enjoyed writing it. Unfortunately, the next chapter won't be nearly as fluffy as this one. Please feel free to leave a review.