And she was. It took time – and her family and friends.

A few nights – almost every night for the first couple of weeks – Trina woke the sobbing Latina up from terrible nightmares in which she would recount every detail of the attack.

A surprising confession from Jade and a number of deep, consequent conversations with the Goth soon became her second-best comfort.

Enough cupcakes from Cat over time to feed a small army was the way that the still mostly oblivious redhead helped her the most, making sure to deliver that little icing-topped ray of sunshine and a Cat smile whenever she saw that Tori needed it most.

A couple of study sessions with Robbie and Rex when she was feeling so down that she didn't go to school for a day or so always ended with her laughing, her blues long gone by the time the two left the Vega house.

Beck… Beck was just there for her in the same way that he had always been. He knew when her emotions were too close to the surface on any given day, and, depending on what she needed of her friends, would keep his distance from her, warning the others to do the same and thereby giving her the space that she needed to get it back together. If he saw that her friends were what she needed, then he would be there then, too, maybe with just a hug if that was all she needed to pick her back up. Sometimes he would even throw together a spur of the moment bash at her house or in his RV with the others if he saw that she needed a real, cheerful distraction.

Most of the time, though, Andre got the feeling that his best friend would just walk up to him, whisper the day's prescription for Tori into the musicians ear and leave it in his capable hands, trusting him to take good care of the girl that Andre had begun to call his own.

That privilege was one that Andre had just now started being able to exercise, but already, after having waited so long for it; he took full advantage of it. Although now – a couple of months after the attack – they had become a couple, things had been rough between them initially. The fact that they had kissed in the alley, right after it had happened, had, in a way, made her more frightened of him then of any others. It had taken him cornering her in the janitor's closet one afternoon and demanding to know what he had done wrong – thereby scaring her to death –for her to tell him what was going on in her head.

"Alright," Andre said in desperation, locking the door to the janitor closet and leaning against it for an extra measure. "Did I do something to you? Say something that you didn't like?"

Though he didn't want to show it, Andre was startled by the way that Tori cowered against the opposite wall, as far away from him as he could get. Though it had been three weeks since the incident by Maestro's, it suddenly struck him that this was going to turn out to be the worst move that he had ever made with Tori if this didn't work out just right.

"Did I offend you?" Andre asked again.

At last Tori shook her head rapidly.

"Then what's going on? Why are you avoiding me? I want to help here as much as anyone else does – maybe even more!"

"That's just it," Tori whispered, her voice barely audible as she slid down the wall until she was sitting on the floor.

"What are you talking about?" Andre asked, crouching down beside her.

"You want to help more than anyone else, and I know that you do, because you… you like me."

Andre cocked his head, remembering the kiss that they had shared, the "I love you"s that they had exchanged. "Don't you like me too?" he asked.

Tori thought for barely a second – more about should I tell him then do I like him Andre got a feeling – before she nodded her head slowly. "It's just… What I said to you in that alley? The… kiss? I meant it, but I think that it might have been a mistake; I'm not ready to get in a relationship yet – not with you, not with anyone – not after what's happened. But if I am," a small smile barely tilted the corners of her lips upward, but, more importantly, some of the dark emotions vanished from her eyes as she promised him, "I'll make sure that you're the first to know."

Andre had smiled back at her, knowing that for now he would have to take what he could get. "Then I'll wait for you."

And he had waited – for a surprisingly short amount of time. Two weeks later, he had been over at her house, practicing for a performance that they had to do for school when it had happened.

Andre was sitting at the piano, playing the music while Tori was sitting on the top of the piano singing. The song ended, and as it faded she looked at him, just like she had in Maestro's.

He saw the moment that thought had flashed through her eyes, and for a split, panic-filled second, he thought that she might run or burst into tears, or both, but she did neither. Instead she surprised him by sliding off of the piano, and coming to sit on the piano bench beside him. Andre hardly dared to breathe as Tori slid her hand into his and leaned her head over onto his shoulder.

Taking a deep breath, Tori said, just loud enough so that only the two of them could hear, "I'm ready."

"Are you sure?" he had managed to choke out, forcing himself not to get too excited yet as he kept his gaze fastened on their intertwined hands. "Because I'm in this for the long haul; if you want me to leave you later, somebody will have to drag me away kicking and screaming."

She nodded against his shoulder. "I'm sure."

He had looked over at her then, looking deeply into the wide, trusting brown eyes that stared back up at him, and he had seen a person that – though she was no longer perfect, no longer innocent by many of the words definitions – was ready to take another stab at it. She was ready to get back into this game called life and give it another shot. And she wanted him to be there with her as she did it.

He knew what was coming, but waited for her to make the first move, needing to know that it was okay before he tried something that might scare her away.

But she didn't look scared. She looked happy. And actually, genuinely peaceful for the first time in seven long weeks.

"I love you, Andre Harris," she whispered.

"I love you too," he rasped.

Only then did she sit up and kiss him – loving him, trusting him, just… his – and both of them smiled.

Well, that's the end of this story (although I do have ideas for a couple of sequels and another story in this universe, if you would like for me to write those)! Reviews make my day full of sunshine and spur me on in my writing! Thanks! My next project will be completing my Bones/NCIS/Criminal Minds crossover, "The Polygamy Project.":)