The Price of Desire

Disclaimer: I do not own Victorious

A/N:

Chapter 13 (A Family Reunited)

Trina and the others made their way into a lens crafters shop within the mall, a place with a large number of people, making it easy to avoid any possible detection by gang members. Though, she wasn't really worried about that. They'd all gotten cleaned up and their wounds medicated thanks to her family doctor. They had to go to the hospital and see Dr. Richards, her family doctor. Dr. Richards had been a longtime family friend of the Vegas, he'd been there since before Holly gave birth to Trina herself. When they found him, he was happy to help after they informed him of the situation.

Dr. Richards had retired months ago, but was still willing to help anyone he needed to. When they took Robbie in, he suggested they take Robbie to the hospital, but they said they were not interested in doing that yet. They first wanted to find his family. The kind doctor had agreed to help them if they returned to him, but he informed them that he'd rather then not do it too often, meaning, the minimal wounds the better. Trina could dig that.

Robbie was wearing a cheap pair of temporary glasses that helped his vision a little. Jason had given him some of his own clothes, though he was a few inches taller than Robbie was. Robbie was now wearing a green t-shirt with some old mud stains and baggy brown sweatpants, good for temporary wear. His temporary glasses resembled old granny glasses, wide and round with a thick rim. Needless to say, he'd be glad to get some actual glasses, and Trina was fine with buying them!

He hadn't said much since being rescued, just staring off into space. Trina figured he'd talk when he was ready to. Right now, her primary concern was his safety and getting him home to his family, who had taken her advice and fled town. "Okay Robbie, look around for a pair. I think you may have to have an eye exam done though. Usually…"

"Would one of you go in with me?" His voice was flat and filled with concerned. She nodded and pat his shoulder, she understood he didn't want to be alone with someone he didn't know. After all, he didn't want to be abducted again.

"I'll send Sikowitz in with you. Sikowitz?" The teacher gave a brisk nod and walked with Robbie towards one of the people working at the desks. Trina took a deep breath and looked from Christy to Jason, they were patiently waiting for their next move. "All right guys, maybe we eat at the food court?"

"Yeah that'll work," Christy replied. Plenty of options at the food court, and ample time to relax. "What are you going to do about Robbie's family? Who knows where they are right now…"

"I'll call them and see if they feel like coming here or us going to them." A food court was a generally safe place to meet up, especially the mall they were at. This wasn't a very well known mall and off on the outskirts of town, nowhere near where any of the gang sectors were located. It was about halfway between the Vega home and the safe place that Robbie's family had found, nearly two hours from Las Angeles. Meaning, they were only about an hour away from the mall. "Either way, it's safe. That is my main concern."

"Of course. You might ask them if they have spare glasses for him, usually people give two pairs…"

"True, it would save us some time and money." Trina pulled her phone from her purse and started scrolling down her contacts. "All right, go talk to Robbie and Sikowitz about that if you don't mind, I've found Rachel Shapiro." His sister would be so happy to hear her brother was safe. Christy nodded and hurried over to Robbie and Sikowitz. Jason smiled from the wall he was leaning against. Trina met his eyes and smiled back at him. She flung her hair over her shoulder and put her phone to her ear. Soon Rachel answered, her voice was rushed and hopeful.

"Trina? Please tell me you have good news. How's my brother?"

"Mentally? Really broken up, but he's safe." Rachel gasped and Trina waited as the girl started sobbing. Those tears of joy were long awaited. She smiled slightly as the sister continued to tear up.

"Safe…he's safe…W-where is he?"

"We're at the Grand Central Mall, just an hour away from you. He's been medicated and we're fixing to have lunch. Do you have another pair of glasses for him?"

"Yes. Does he need them?"

"Yeah, we were about to get him a new pair, but if you have a second…"

"We do." The girl breathed in and cried out for her mom and dad. "Robbie's safe! Mom! Dad! Get the car started, Trina found Robbie!" She listened as the family started hollering and exclaiming happily, this was music to her ears. "C-Can we talk to him?"

"When you get here, sure, I'm not too sure he's very talkative right now."

"I understand."

"We'll be in the food court."

"Okay, we'll be there in an hour! Thank you so much." She smiled and clicked off the phone. When she glanced over, Robbie was walking up to her with the others. She turned to him and folded her arms across her chest.

"Your family will be here in an hour, they have your second pair of glasses, so I guess we can just have our lunch." The group made their way towards the food court in silence. She looked over to Robbie and gave him a subtle smirk. "I bet you'll be happy to get your glasses back."

"Yeah."

"Hey, I'm sorry about Rex." Robbie bowed his head and shrugged his shoulders. She was genuinely sorry about the loss of his puppet, no matter how weird it was, that thing was a part of his life. "If you don't mind me asking, what did Rex mean to you?" He looked away and Trina slowly nodded, understanding that he didn't want to talk. "Okay."

After several minutes, the group had their food and were seated at a round table in the far corner of the food-court. Trina had a salad, Jason was eating a cool wrap from the chicken place, Christy was eating orange chicken with some sushi from the Japanese restaurant, Sikowitz had a tray of spaghetti, while Robbie had a simple hamburger. He expressed his desire to just have a hamburger and fries with a soda, he didn't need much, just something to remind him that he was safe.

After staring at his sandwich, he spoke his first real words. "He was my family." Trina raised an eyebrow and glanced over from her salad. Christy had her fork in midair while the others continued to eat, listening eagerly. "Mom and Dad were always busy with work or some new volunteer project somewhere and Rachel's constantly spending time with her friends at school. Fifteen years old, so I shouldn't be surprised she doesn't want to hang with her older brother. I had no friends, so Rex was it…" Trina set her fork down easy on her plate and gave him a reassuring look.

"Your family is really concerned about you. They told me they'll do anything to see you again. They're going to get help for you and I think they're going to try and be there for you more." He replied with a wary smile and slowly wiped a tear from his eye. "Don't fret, Robbie…you're in good hands now."

"What about the others? I was separated from them not long after they took us. I've been in that cage all this time. Rex…gone…Did you find anyone else?" Her heart sank. She slowly stabbed her salad and brought her fork to her lips. He lifted his eyes to her. She swallowed and leaned back in her chair, sighing.

"We're doing the best we can, I'm not resting until I have found everyone, and I will find them. Right now, you're only the first person…" Robbie swallowed hard and slowly picked up his hamburger. "Everyone's just glad you're safe."

"Sinjin. He's involved…"

"Yeah, I know, he actually tried to kill me." Robbie's head moved back and he gave her a questioning look. "Yeah I took him out, he was a bumbling idiot. You remember when I took out you, Beck, and Andre all at once?" She smirked and Robbie's lips curled up at the memory.

"Yeah…the girls ditched us for that karaoke place."

"Exactly. My best asset is my martial arts. Christy and Jason, my best friends, are also extremely good fighters." He bit into his hamburger and clenched his eyes shut, moaning with pleasure as he swallowed his bite whole. His eyes opened and turned to Sikowitz.

"And Mr. Sikowitz?"

"Oh he's a master martial artist. Or well, would be, if not for some traitor years and years ago. He's been teaching us a thing or two, so he's helpful to have along."

"That's good. Trina? Thanks…you guys got me out of there…I don't know what's going on with the others, so I'm sorry I can't be of any help."

"It's okay, you don't need to worry about all that."

"Right…"

After some amount of time passed, Trina spotted a girl walking through the mall doors. Her curly brown hair rested above her shoulders and her expression was hopeful, as though searching. A tall man and woman came in after her, followed soon by an elderly couple. Trina grinned and slowly stood from the table. She waved in the air, grabbing the girl's attention. The others looked over and Robbie's eyes filled with tears.

"Robbie!" Rachel exclaimed, her voice full of sheer joy and wonder. Mrs. Shapiro put her hand to her chest and even the father was shedding tears. Robbie rose and slowly moved forward as his sister ran towards him. With a sudden impact, she embraced her brother and started to sob. "Thank god…I was so scared…"

"Rachel…" He hugged her and smiled as his parents and grandparents hurried over to him. They started hugging him and inspecting him for any wounds. Perhaps this was the most attention he'd received from them, but surely neither they or he would take for granted what they had. Maria Shapiro started sobbing as she kissed her son's head.

"My baby's back to me. My precious son." He hugged them tight, his hands clenching onto his mother's shirt. He was not letting go anytime soon. Rachel reached into her purse and pulled out a second pair of glasses for Robbie. Gingerly she replaced the temporary glasses with the new ones.

Trina bowed her head and put her hand to her chest, her heart was beating with rapid succession. Her eyes started to water and her mind returned to her own family. She wanted so badly to be with them. She choked back any tears and looked to her own group. "Come on guys, he's safe, we…have work to do." She started walking off and they followed her, there was nothing more that needed to be said to the Shapiro clan.

"Wait!" Rachel called out and Trina stopped moving. She glanced over her shoulder at the girl. Her eyes were glazed over. The family was looking up, Robbie still being held in their arms. "I-Is there anything you want? I mean, you brought my brother back, how do we thank you?"

"Be happy. Take care of Robbie, he'll need you now more than ever." Rachel sniffed and quickly nodded her head. "Aside from being a family and being happy, there's nothing I need from you"

"Then. From the bottom of our hearts…thank you…thank you so much." She smiled at Rachel, then continued walking, closing her eyes and breathing in. Jason and Christy, on either side of her, placed their hands on her shoulders and smiled for feeling of pure joy. There was not a dry eye there. It would seem, they were doing good work. Next up, the space age barber. No matter, Mercury's was way too overrated anyway.

I just wanted to get these three chapters out of the way for you all, a little treat to you from me.