Hello dear readers. I hope you've been doing well. I've been busy writing even though I'm really behind in this last update. I'm hoping for a number of updates around Halloween, so if updates for the rest of the month are slow, you know why.
Guest: Thank you. The dream was a little insight into Tori while Freddie was being his usual self.
Jeremy Shane: Here's the more.
Where do I get all this info about post-Victorious? Logic. Setting aside Victoria Justice's opinion on Bade that I agree with, they probably broke up not long after the series for the simple reason that nothing was solved in their relationship when getting back together, he never actually loved her as a girlfriend from his own mouth and Beck only got back with Jade because Tori turned him down twice. That's a little fact that likes getting brushed under by a lot of people. Beck would eventually get irritated for the exact same reasons that led to the first break up and it would end again, especially since she was clearly his second choice months after the breakup and a week earlier was still trying to convince Tori in trying to give him a chance (after realizing trashing Jade to Tori wasn't going to work).
Sam & Cat is AU from their parent shows for a number of reasons: S&C Sam is two years younger than iCarly Sam and still in school, S&C obviously didn't know each other in the Pilot despite Dan saying otherwise, (Dan has a history of saying things about his shows where what is actually on screen clearly contradicts him such as trying to say that iParty with Victorious is somehow compatible with S&C Pilot) and Cat is still in school along with her bibble backstory being completely different than what it was established in Victorious' 'Tori Goes Platinum' episode.
darck ben: Thanks. Favorite episode… I think it would be the Doctor Who episode that reintroduced Sarah Jane Smith.
Agent-M-0167: Thanks. Tension builds until a point that it will snap and that's the emotional payoff.
The e-mail was in her school e-mail address, who could it have possibly been from?
They are in a unique position so it is awkward in either of them trying to purse anything due to my extrapolation of their upbringing.
Illusorygentleman: I think my story has mad the point for the reader to draw their own conclusions about Moose. Thanks and I'm looking forward to your next chapter.
Fanfic-Reader-88: I thought Tori had a reasonable level of freaking out after her dream.
Jade was willing to tease Tori a little bit since that is still their relationship from the end of the series even though it really shouldn't be that way if Dan hadn't hit the reset button every time their relationship advanced. However, as TGP shows, Jade can care about Tori.
Why was it such an issue for the guys around the fundraiser? Well in combination with their behavior in Cell Block that happened very close to it, my opinion is that they just don't respect the girls and a little annoyed that the girls didn't put them first and bruised their male egos. If it had been the other way around, I don't think the girls would have cared with the possible exception of Cat in regards to Robbie. Tori has never been the jealous type as she's not interested in them other than Beck and already put her own 'no touch' sign on him for herself; during the breakup, Jade was shown not to care who Beck tried to date while they were apart other than the girls that she clearly saw as the ones that he wish he could have pursued if not tied down to Jade at the moment which she turned out to be right about.
As Three Girls and a Moose showed, she had put her feelings for Beck aside along time ago, possibly as early as a few weeks into the series for the simple fact that she helped Jade get back with Beck in 'Jade Dumps Beck' instead of jumping on him in an instant. It also might be a moot point if they had kissed the first time on the couch because she still chose not to say yes to him.
You'll have to wait and see what the message is about.
Challenge King: Jade not getting some kind of record deal after interacting with Mason and most likely Shawn would be ridiculous based on the level of talent. Since this story is continuing from Victorious and not S&C, Cat is sweet and nice, but the first season clearly showed that it is mostly an act and she still has a little bit of a mean streak in her. Beck's behavior isn't going to endure him to Freddie because it's not much different than what he saw all the other loser guys he's seen beat him out for girls. What is the e-mail? You'll have to find out.
Twilight Warrior 627: It's up in the air about how Beck would feel about Tori possibly getting into a relationship after she turned him down (twice) months ago and he's with the girl of his second choice. The message? We'll see.
PD31 updated 'A Place to Call Home', so you should check it out.
Rating: T Language
Chapter 11
UCLA Campus
Los Angeles, CA
Friday, October 5, 2012
Tori, Jade and Cat exited the advance music class with a relieved sense of the relaxation for the weekend. Jade was planning to pour herself into writing her music, Cat had a babysitting gig for Saturday and Tori planned just to relax and go home to spend some time with her parents. She thought about inviting Freddie to come along so he wouldn't be lonely in the apartment for most of the weekend and was going to check to see if he had any definite plans.
As the three made their way out of the building, Jade motioned with her head over to the familiar blonde walking in the opposite direction to another classroom. Lindsey's nose was slightly discolored in a yellow tone, even after a week after the party and wore a frown as if she was in a funk for the entire week.
Tori looked at her with a dark expression as she walked past the fellow former Hollywood Arts students. The brunette looked to see Lindsey approaching past them and the brunette's blood immediately started figuratively boiling at seeing their former Hollywood Arts classmate. She immediately turned and started following the blonde.
Cat called out in worry, "Tori?"
The brunette ignored her and continued to chase down the blonde until she turned off to a corner to take one of the stairwells up. Lindsey slipped inside the door and she was about to take the first step, when she felt someone grip her shoulders and spin her around and pushed her to against a wall. "What the Hel—"
She stopped when her eyes shot open at seeing the furious expression on Tori's face and swallowed nervously.
Jade looked on in surprise and Cat with a little fear as they caught up with their friend.
Tori hissed out with a look of outrage hatred on her face, "Let's get something straight: what you tried at the party didn't happen."
Lindsey look of fear turned into one of confusion. "What?"
"What you tried to do didn't happen. You will keep your mouth shut about it if you see Freddie then you will get away from him as quickly as you can."
She blinked as the gears in her head turned, trying to catch up with being ambushed. "He doesn't remember?"
"No and it better stay that way."
The blonde continued to look on the future music sensation with tribulation and mild shock. "You didn't tell him the truth?"
"I didn't want to tell him that you nearly raped him."
She snapped out of her nervousness and retorted with a harsh and a bit of desperation in his voice, "You can't prove that."
"I don't want to and I don't need to. Jade and I know the truth, so if you ever try to touch him again…"
The blonde challenged, finding some courage to retort against what she saw as an undeserving upstart, "You'll do what?"
Tori hissed out in a dark voice, "I'll get… creative—that's what we artists do. He's mine so you keep your dirty claws off of him." She turned and hurried out of the stairwell before some random students could finish walking down the steps to catch them.
Jade chuckled as she took a few steps backwards while eyeing her former schoolmate, "You should listen to her… I almost got scared of her." She turned to catch up with the furious brunette with Cat quickly and awkwardly waving backwards.
Lindsey slightly shuddered as other students started entering the stairwell and others walking down them.
In Route to Nozu
Cat timidly asked from the backseat of Jade's car, "So no one slipped anything in your drink? Lindsey slipped something into Freddie's drink to…"
Tori frowned and looked out to the passenger window.
Jade answered for the irritated brunette, "Yes Cat. Lindsey tried something."
Cat looked back and forth between them by the rearview mirror and asked, "Then why does Freddie think someone tried to spike Tori's drink?"
The brunette blew out a breath and answered, "Because I told him it was my drink."
"And it was my idea," Jade quickly followed up.
"Why?"
"Because I didn't want him to know that it nearly happened to him. I didn't want to traumatize him with the fact that she nearly raped him and have him look at everyone with suspicion…" She softly shook her head. "I didn't want him to doubt the trust he put in me for taking him to the party because I was the one that trusted Lindsey."
Cat knotted her brow. "So you're trying to protect his trust in you by lying to him?"
Jade cocked her head to the side and answered, "She's got us there Tori."
The brunette turned a sharp gaze to the pale driver and sharply retorted, "It was your idea."
"Yeah, to stop you from having to face telling him. When I left that night, you didn't look like you were any shape to handle telling him the truth."
Cat quietly pointed out, "You have to tell him. You can't keep it a secret forever. He has a right to know."
Tori's shoulders slumped as Cat was right. She had to tell him not just because he had a right to know, but before he did anything rash to Ryder. Fortunately the former tech-producer had not run into him or purposely sought him out, but she had doubted that he had just 'forgotten' about the lady using teenager. Time was not on her side if she was going to tell him before he found out if she wasn't going to tell him.
She turned in her seat and gave her redhead friend a stern look. "You're right, but I have to tell you. You cannot tell Freddie or Sam, especially Sam. He can't know what almost happened to him."
The redhead glanced to the rearview mirror to look at Jade then whispered, "Okay, I won't. I promise."
The soft tone and look in the redhead's eyes reminded her of the last time Cat had made a promise to her and a flash of irritation flooded her. "No, not good enough. I mean it Cat, don't you tell either of them. Let me handle this. This isn't like the Party Bus where I repeatedly told you not to tell anyone, you promised me that you wouldn't tell and you turned around and told everyone then said I didn't make it clear. If you tell either of them, you're not just breaking your word with me… you'll be breaking something more between us."
Jade blinked and her mouth became a thin line. She spared the quick look at the brunette singer next to her.
Cat gave her an oddly serious expression, "So you're telling me to do something?"
Tori turned back in her seat and crossed her arms under her chest. She glanced out to the passing scenery and muttered, "Yes, I'm telling you to let me handle my business and not just blab it out like a child."
The redhead frowned and looked into the rearview to catch Jade's mildly concerned expression.
Apartment 316
Venice/Barry Apartments
11811 Venice Boulevard
Los Angeles, CA
Friday, October 5, 2012
After lunch, Jade had dropped her off at Neutronium Records to spend the rest of the afternoon recording and it had flew by after recording a few songs and leaving the brunette nearly exhausted. She finally had to call it quits and headed back to her apartment with the company graciously offering to have one of their drivers take her home. The time was just after seven when a driver dropped her off at the apartment complex. After entering and checking her mailbox, she quickly made her way up to her apartment. She pulled her keys out and about to unlock the door while she glanced over her mail when she stopped to see the bottom envelope in her hand with the school's letterhead in gold print, specifically from student housing. She opened quickly opened it and pulled out the letter. She read over the letter and frowned at the message. She crumbled the paper and shoved it and the envelope into her purse while she finished unlocking the door.
She pushed it open and quickly closed it behind her after entering the apartment and greeted with a warm welcome by Freddie, "Hey, long day?"
She couldn't help but smile in return from the caring gaze he was giving her while getting up from his seat at the dinner table, his laptop open apparently doing some homework. She walked to him, less than a foot separating them as she dropped off her brown 'monster purse' as Jade called it on the dinning room table next to the computer. She warmly answered, "Yeah, but a very productive one. I was able to record a few more of my songs."
"That's good. Will I get a chance to hear them anytime soon?"
She teasingly smiled. "I don't know, but I could always sing you a few of them some time."
He boyishly smirked. "I'd like that treat."
She softly bit into her bottom lip and gave him a cute expression as the gears in her head turned about giving him such a treat in the near future. She glanced passed him and towards the laptop that obviously had his attention before she entered. She motioned towards the laptop and teased, "So what have you been up to this afternoon? Doing homework on a Friday night? You don't have anything else you could be doing?"
He turned his right shoulder to glance down at his PearBook. He snorted out a laugh, "I don't have friends to go out with except for you and the others… I don't want to be Jade and Beck's third wheel and I really don't know Cat all that well and Sam might tag along…"
"Oh," she answered with clear embarrassment on her face. She hadn't realized that he hadn't made a lot of friends since starting college. It had been a double edge sword in regards to her feelings of being a little disappointed in him not really visiting her in the theater, television and music department so he could stay acquainted with the other HA students he met at the party and make friends, but at the same time relieved that he hadn't ran into Lindsey. Then again, they had only finished a full week of college and they were still getting a routine going about people's schedules.
"But aren't you making friends in your computer classes?"
"It's only been about a week and a half and with guys like that, I would just be on the computer here anyway playing a World of Warlords or something similar online all night."
"Oh," she replied at seeing his point then laughed along with it.
"Since we've established why I'm still here, should you be getting ready to head home?"
"I am home—" She embarrassingly blushed when she realized her answer then corrected, "I mean. I needed to pick up a thing or two before I headed home and I had to see you…" She raised a hopeful eyebrow. "…wanted to double check to see if you wanted to come?"
He let out a soft breath. "I don't want to be an intrusion. You're to catch up with away from college, not taking some of it home, i.e. me."
She playfully rolled her eyes. "Oh come on, they wouldn't care if you came over with me. I think my mom likes you."
"Yeah, but I'm not sure how thrilled your dad would be with me just following you back home. It's not like he's all that overjoyed that we're sharing the apartment—that I'm staying here with his little girl."
She rolled her eyes. "That's just him being overprotective—"
"In thinking I might be something more than a roommate."
"But you are more than my roommate… you're my friend."
He glanced away in mild embarrassment then commented, "Thanks, I appreciate it, but that's not what I meant."
"I know… but I guess I should grab my stuff then head out. I'll see you Sunday afternoon and if something comes up, just call or stop by." She beamed him a smile then turned to head for her room.
He retook his seat and attempted to start back on his programming, but she walked back to the table to pick up her forgotten purse then gave him a peck on the cheek before heading back to her room. He blinked as he watched her go to her room.
Working on homework to distract him from it being the usual time that he had filmed iCarly for about the last five years had failed, but her kiss was plenty of distraction for the rest of the night after she left with a warm farewell and beautiful smile directed at him.
Apartment 316
Venice/Barry Apartments
11811 Venice Boulevard
Los Angeles, CA
Saturday, October 6, 2012
Freddie read over his programming code after having finished it late Friday evening after Tori had gone to bed—being too wind up to go to bed after their kiss—but wanted to double check over it with fresh eyes before sending in the assignment. He was near the end of finishing reading the code when there was a loud and frantic knock at the door. He blew out a breath then got up from his seat in his room and headed out of his bedroom. He reached the front door and peaked through the peephole and sighed out.
Sam shouted on the other side of the door, "Come on Freddie, open up. Cat called Tori and I know you're in there."
Freddie rolled his eyes and opened the door, but stood in the doorway to make sure she wouldn't slip inside. He answered with tired patience, "What?"
The blonde snorted out a breath from her nose and frowned. "I need your help."
The former fellow Seattleite laughed, "You want my help?"
"Yes."
Freddie softly chuckled then answered with a deadpanned tone, "No." He proceeded to close the door in her face, but
Sam got her hand up to stop it from slamming it in his face.
She gave him a cold look, but he returned with one just as equally cold. "Let go of the door Sam or I'm going to shove it closed, lock it and if you attempt to break in, I will call the cops to have you arrested for breaking and entering."
She quickly retorted, "If you don't want to help me then help Cat. She is Tori and Jade's friend and I know you care about them—maybe even more…"
Freddie spat out the accusation, "What did you drag her into? Just because Carly may not be here to bail you out of trouble doesn't mean I'm going to pick up the slack."
The blonde held up her hands to somewhat attempt to calm him down. "Nothing. I haven't dragged her into anything. Someone's writing all these bad and bullchizz reviews about mine and Cat's babysitting service. I just need you to track down who's doing it. It already cost us a client today."
Freddie couldn't seem to work up caring that the blonde lost out on some money. If anything, someone canceling on her was the first sign that the parent had some sense in not entrusting the safety of their child to her. However, for the time being this was the source for extra income for Cat until hit it big like Tori and Jade.
He needlessly asked, "And this is how Cat makes extra money right now?"
"Yes," she answered in a somewhat submissive voice in the hopes of luring him to help.
"Do you steal it from her?"
She gave him a dark glare and hissed out, "I don't appreciate the accusation."
"I don't give a damn what you appreciate. You will steal from anyone if it suits you. I did the math one time remember? You owe me and Carly thousands of dollars that you got and turned around and blew it on a trampoline… and I'm not counting how you janked me over about your website that created for you then you turned around and sold without giving me a dime, so yeah, I believe you'd rob her blind in an instant. Are you stealing from her?"
"I am not stealing from her. She's my frie—"
He raised hands and cut her off, "I don't want to hear your bullchizz about Cat's your friend."
She ignored him and reiterated, "Cat is my friend."
He snorted out dismissively, "Yeah and Nickelodeon has good programming after canceling Victoria Justice's show. Carly is your only friend and you're using Cat for a place to stay."
Sam turned her head away in disgust and rolled her eyes. She crossed her arms under her chest and asked, "Are you going to help me or not?"
"I'm not going to help you, but I will help Cat." He turned back into the apartment to head for his room.
"For Tori?"
He paused in mid-step then whispered over his shoulder, "My motivation is none of your damn business."
Bots Restaurant
Venice, CA
Sam and Freddie entered the establishment and approached the grandmother, granddaughter and future hustler as the three were ordering their lunches in the booth seating. Sam slid in beside Nona sitting on one side and while Freddie slid next to Cat on the other side.
The redhead beamed a smile to Freddie and greeted him, "Hi." She motioned to the tween sitting beside her. "This is Dice…" She motioned to the older lady, "This is my Nona."
He politely smiled to the older lady. "Ah Mrs. Valentine… ah Dice."
The tween laughed, "Sam and now Freddie from iCarly. Can I get some of your hair?"
"What?"
The blonde quickly explained, "He likes selling the celebrity hair. He sold some of mine."
"Yeah, I know I could sell your hair really quick. The ladies love you."
He snorted out a chuckle, "I learned that the hard way at a WebiCon… but no for right now. If I shorten it up again, I'll save you some."
The tween looked placated while Cat stated the obvious, "So Sam found you?"
He looked to Cat and Dice to explain, "Yeah, Sam dropped by to ask for my help and knowing how you babysit for extra cash, I tracked down the IP Address of those negative reviews."
Cat giggled, "I pee."
Dice laughed along with her, "Better than 'I poop'."
Freddie had to laugh at the childish joke from the odd innocence displayed by Cat. "Anyway, I found that all of them came from one person—a rival babysitting service."
Dice quickly asked with a slightly high pitched tone, "And they're putting up bad reviews to sabotage you guys?"
Sam nodded with a smirk.
Cat slightly frowned. "Well, we have to find out where this babysitter guy lives and get them to stop saying nasty things about us."
Sam smugly answered, "You mean, 5677 Barfield Drive?"
Cat shook her head, "No, we need his address."
The blonde squinted her eyes and looked to Freddie, who looked equally confused, but patiently replied, "Cat, that is an address."
"Oh."
Sam with a shake of her head and got out of her seat and took Cat by the hand. "Come with me."
She started pulling on her roommate, not bothering to give Freddie a real chance to get out of his seat, but was able to recover on his feet before falling out of it.
"Why?" the redhead asked curiously as she complied with the request.
"Revenge," she answered as she started walking the petite teenager out with her.
Freddie quickly caught up with the roommates.
Sam turned and raised a suspicious eyebrow as Freddie caught the door behind them. "Ah, where are you going?"
"I'm coming with you."
The former delinquent smirked while asking in a soft laugh of disbelief, "You want to come with us?"
Freddie flatly stated, "Someone has to watch out for Cat. She means a lot to Tori and Jade."
Sam gave him a slightly annoyed expression as she countered, "I'm watching out for her."
"Do you honestly believe that I'm going to trust you?"
She shook her head and asked with a mildly disbelieving expression. "What happened to you?"
He cocked his head to the side and looked on with an unnerving look in his eyes. "I had who I thought were my friends take off and abandon me."
Sam snapped harshly, "Carly didn't abandon you; she just went to stay with her father. Get over moping about you losing out on your final chance with her."
He looked her dead in the eyes and whispered, "She kissed me before she left—really kissed me and she was supposed to come back in the fall… but she's in Italy for college."
The blonde's face fell from the revelation as Freddie walked past her and out of the restaurant.
Cat asked in heavy concern, "Sam?"
The troublemaker shook her head and put on a stoic expression before pulling her along out of the establishment.
5677 Barfield Drive
Venice, CA
Saturday, October 6, 2012
The door opened to reveal three teenagers, two of possible Hispanic descent (Grant and Richard) and an African-American (George). Sam and Cat barged inside with Freddie quickly following her with Sam randomly calling out, "Ceiling inspectors!"
Cat quickly followed, "Here to check your ceilings."
The tall teenager squinted his eyes in confusion. "Ceiling inspectors?"
The petit redhead pointed up. "Oh, there's the ceiling."
Sam nonchalantly commented, "The overhead kind. Put a checkmark by that."
"Checkmark by that."
George asked with a perplexed expression, "Okay, who are you guys?"
The blonde snapped, "We're Sam and Cat—"
Cat picked up, "Of Sam and Cat's super rocking fun time babysitting service."
The blonde dryly pointed out, "She picked the name."
She put on a soft smile. "It's a great name."
Sam reiterated, "She picked the name."
The redhead continued in a slightly irritated tone, "We know you're 'Angry Parent'."
"We read your fake reviews."
Cat shouted, "We never lost a child's thumb."
Sam continued in an angry tone, "That's right, but you boys might lose something."
George politely, but with a hint of menace in his voice stated, "I'm going to have to ask you three to leave."
The former juvenile delinquent sharply retorted, "You going to admit you trashed us all over Snortch?"
Grant, bearing a resemblance to Robert De Niro, had gotten up with Richard from a table at the far wall to the living room to stand next to their friend and took a step to the three while crossing his arms over his chest. "What if we did?"
Cat stated with a somewhat hurtful tone, "Well then you're mean and to become nice, you need to go on Snortch and delete your filthy lies about us."
Richard snorted out, "Okay, we'll put that on our schedule."
Grant dryly remarked, "Right after never."
"As long as it's on the schedule," she softly laughed and batted her eyes at them.
As they had talked, the blonde noticed behind her a door with several heavy locks. She motioned towards the door that had several locks built into it. "Hey, what's with all the locks on this door?"
George snapped with an irritated filled voice, "That's none of your business."
Cat innocently asked, "What's behind that door?
Richard snapped, "Nothin'."
The blonde motioned towards the door. "Then open it."
Grant retorted, "No."
Cat bashfully asked, "Why not?"
He rapidly answered, "'Cause it's locked."
The blonde asked in a bored tone, "Why is it locked?"
Richard snapped out with a motion of his hand towards the door, "'Cause we don't want you in there."
Sam thumbed over her shoulder and retorted, "You said there's nothing in there."
Grant motioned dismissively at Sam. "There ain't."
Cat slightly bowed her head. "Then open the door."
Richard shouted back, "No."
The redhead slightly frowned. "Why not?"
George hissed out in irritation, "'Cause it's locked."
Sam shrugged. "Why's it locked?"
George shouted, "Just get outta here!"
Richard added, "Yeah!"
Freddie rubbed the back of his neck of his at his head snapping back and forth in watching the rapid exchange like a tennis match.
Grant pointed at the girls and finished with a dark tone, "Yeah, while you can still walk out."
A dark expression formed on Freddie's face as a spark of anger ignited inside him. He took a step in front of Grant and whispered coldly, "Try to put your hands on either of them… and you will have a fight on your hands."
Cat noticed a baby in a play seat and called out, "You can't fight in front of a baby. It's against the babysitter's code."
Freddie held his stare on Grant and whispered, "I'm not a babysitter."
They stared for a few more seconds and Grant flinched first with a wide right hook towards Freddie's face. He allowed the fist to collide with his face, which caused him to slightly jerk his head to the side while Grant grabbed his balled hand and screamed in pain, "What the JANK!?"
He looked back at Freddie to see the former tech-producer turned his head back to look with a bored expression at the Robert De Niro look alike.
The baby started crying at the shouting and Cat quickly picked up the baby and gently rocked him in her arms trying to settle him. She whispered into his ear, "Shhh… it's okay."
Freddie dryly commented, "Ow…"
Grant looked on disbelief as he continued gripping his hand while the others looked just as perplexed. "What the jank are you?"
Freddie shrugged a shoulder as his response then answered, "You can't really hurt me and Sam…" He motioned back to the blonde. "…Sam will break you without any hesitation, so… you need to take those comments down and apologize to them for threatening them—well mostly Cat, I don't care what you say about Sam."
The African-American teenager swallowed nervously and croaked out, "We're not taking the reviews down."
Freddie looked past Grant and dryly answered, "Fine, I'll do it myself."
Richard defiantly challenged, "You can't do that!"
"Of course I can take them down… just as easily as I can put up the same bullchizz about your service, but do it from different IP addresses so you couldn't link it to just one person."
George snapped, "You wouldn't."
Freddie motioned to Grant. "He just threatened Cat and punched me in the face, why wouldn't I? Get them down in the next hour or I get creative on-line."
The three looked at each other nervously as Freddie looked over his shoulder. "I think it's time to leave."
Sam looked at him with an irritated expression. "I wanted to beat them with my buttersock."
"Fine then, Cat and I will wait outside, but when the cops come to arrest you, I'm not bailing you out of jail and I'm not letting you make Cat do it either."
The blonde frowned at her ex. "Fine, we'll do it your way."
"Is that you agreeing with me?"
"No."
Freddie snorted out, "Doesn't matter… you're listening to me…" He looked passed the blonde to the locked door and his thoughts started going down a dark path with the fact that they were babysitters.
"Sam."
"What?"
He motioned his head towards the door. "If you want to have some fun, kick the door down."
"What?"
"It's just a few locks. Knock the door down… like you should have done when we were at Nora's the last time and not left it to T-Bo. They're babysitters and have that many locks on a door…"
She glanced at the rival babysitting service them back at the door. "It's a pull door, I would probably kick through it."
"Then distribute the hit to take out the locks and hinges."
George called out, "Wait, she's going to do what?"
She shook her head and looked back to the door. She raised her hands with her palms out then jammed her palms beside the locks and near the middle hinge. She indented the wood from the impact and the doorframe with the locks splintered away and the screws to the hinges ripped out, sending the door forward and down the dark stairs.
Other than Freddie, the others blinked and were left agape in disbelief from the show of strength.
Freddie stated in mild dread, "Let's see what's down there."
George found his voice and shouted, "You can't go down there!"
Freddie turned slightly and looked at the three. "Try and stop us."
None of them took him up on his offer.
Sam led the way down stairs, picking up the door and setting it off the side to clear the way down for Cat to follow (still holding the baby) with Freddie behind her. They stopped at the bottom of the basement. It looked like a typical storage area with a surprisingly amount of free space, but what caught the three's attention was the far wall.
The former tech-producer looked at the far wall with dozens of various small toys stuck to two clear tracks of carpet running up the wall. "What is this?"
Sam put on a look of disgust, apparently recognizing the arrangement. "It's toddler crawling and it makes me sick."
He looked to her with a perplexed expression. "What?"
"They have toddlers race up the wall and bet one which one will win."
He looked to her as if she was completely insane—instead of just a little insane he had always suspected. "Babies aren't Spiderman, how exactly do they do that?"
"I don't know. Something with the carpet being adhesive or them hanging on to the toys, I just know it works."
The three teenagers followed them down and didn't look all too pleased at being caught.
Sam shouted back to them, "Toddler crawling? This is what you're hiding? You guys are sick."
Grant shook his head and approached Sam while spitting out, "Enough, time for you to leave cupcake."
As soon as he was in reach, Sam grabbed him by the back of his head and shoved her right hand pinky finger up his nose.
He yelped in pain and shock at being caught so off guard by the hot blonde.
She hissed out, "Now, you're going to end your little toddler crawling ring—it has to be a ring to make any money off of it—or I'm going to keep pushing until I find where your brain would be if you had one."
"Okay! Okay! We'll stop!"
She pulled her finger out of his nose and shoved him away. He softly rubbed his nose as she demanded, "Okay, now you losers get up there and delete all those negative comments about us."
Richard started, "Hey, you can't make us—"
Sam held up her pinky and gave them a stern look.
The three started back up the stairs while Freddie shook his head in mild amusement. "I'm going to go make sure they do it."
A few minutes later, the trio was walking out and heading back to Sam motorcycle and Freddie's car.
The redhead brightly smiled and spoke with a soft giggle, "Thanks for helping us Freddie."
He idly glanced over to Sam and answered, "You're wel—" He was cut off with the surprise of her kissing his cheek.
She let out another giggle at seeing his bashful expression.
Sam frowned and spoke up, "Well I'm hunger. Let's go back to Bots and get lunch."
Cat took him by the hand and asked, "Do you want to come back with us?"
Sam looked oddly at her roommate for inviting her former boyfriend.
He passed Sam a glance then shrugged a shoulder while answering, "Yeah, I could use some lunch."
Apartment 316
Venice/Barry Apartments
11811 Venice Boulevard
Los Angeles, CA
Saturday, October 6, 2012
After swinging back by Bots to have a surprisingly pleasant lunch even with Sam, Freddie returned back to the apartment with the intent to finally wrap up his computer assignment. He unlocked the door and entered, quickly closing the door behind him without a second thought. He was about to drop back into his seat at the dinning room table where he left his computer, but noticed the back of Tori's head as she sat on the couch.
He knotted his brow, a little confused and surprised that she was back. "Hey Tori, what are you doing…" He stopped when he finished rounding the couch and saw her bloodshot eyes and dark bags under them when she looked up at him while she held her legs to her chest and arms around her shine.
He immediately knelt down in front of her and asked, "Tori?"
She just looked at him without any verbal acknowledgement.
He stood back up and took a seat next to her and quickly asked, "What happened?"
She turned her head to look at him with bloodshot eyes and after what felt like a lifetime, she took a breath and answered, "My mother… my mom cheated on my father with his partner… for the last several months. My dad found out this morning… there was a huge fight and he left—he didn't take any of his stuff—he just walked out and didn't say when he'd be back." She sniffled then continued, "I couldn't stay… I couldn't be in the same roof as her…"
She pulled a hand away from her shins and brought the back of her hand to her nose. "I kinda… I kind of suspected that my mom and dad's partner were just a little too close. There were these odd phrases when referring to one another then I caught my mother secretively texting a couple of times during the last few weeks of school. I didn't want to put the pieces together… I didn't…"
She closed her eyes and let her forehead fall against her knees.
He pulled her into a hug and just held her with a kiss to her temple just before she broke down and started crying again. "I'm sorry Tori, I'm so sorry."
She lifted her head and looked back at him. "How could she do that Freddie? How could do that to him—to us?"
He looked back lost, unable to find any comforting words but letting his mouth go on autopilot, "I don't know Tori. I just don't know why she would do such a thing. I don't understand how anyone would chea… " He trailed off at seeing that his words were not helping.
He bowed his head and away to look at the coffee table as he tried to gather some thoughts. Tori rested her head back on his shoulder when he finally asked something productive, "Does Trina know?"
She lifted her head and blinked before letting a sob out, "No… oh my God Freddie. How am I going to tell her?"
He blew out a breath and gently rubbed her back then answered, "You'll find a way… your mom or dad will probably tell her first."
She snorted out and shook her head in mild disgust, "As if either of them would care enough to tell her."
"Then I guess it falls on you… she's your sister and should find out from someone that loves her."
The emotionally exhausted brunette blew out a breath and started wiping the tears from under her eyes. She sat up straight and took a deep breath. She pulled out of his embrace and stood up then quickly headed for her room. He heard her shut the door behind and turned his attention towards the television. It was a useless distraction as even from the living room; he could hear her starting to cry then a few shouts then silence for minutes.
He heard the door of her room finally open then she walked out of the hallway back into the living room. She silently retook her seat on the couch and slipped back into his one arm embrace and rested her head on his shoulder. He looked to her in concern, but she remained silent, obviously not wanting to talk to him about her conversation with her sister. He respected that and looked back to the television.
The rest of the afternoon tortuously passed for the brunette as her heart ached with Freddie's warm embrace around her as they sat on the couch, only separating at times for one to use the bathroom or get something to drink. He had gotten her the pink lemonade she loved and turned on Celebrities Underwater in a vain attempt to lift her spirits.
The time approached early evening and he had run out of ideas to try to help her besides just holding her until an idea struck him. They were still on the couch together watching television when turned his head to partially meet her eyes and state, "Let's just go out somewhere that'll help you take your mind off of it for awhile. Anywhere you want to go."
"Freddie—"
"You can't do anything right now to help and all you doing is hurting. You need just a little break from hurting, even if it's just for a few hours."
She bowed her head and timidly whispered, "I won't be the best of company for a date night."
He ignored her term for them going out by themselves, chalking it up to her mind being a jumble. He reassuringly smiled. "I'm with you, so I'll have fantastic company. So pick yourself up, get a shower and pretty yourself up then we'll go out and have some fun."
She looked up to meet his eyes and his warm, reassuring smile warmed her heart and pulled some of the cracks of her heart a little closer back together. Her voice was barely above a breath with a hint of a playful look in her eyes, "Okay… I'll 'pretty myself up'."
He softly chuckled, "Hey, don't read into me thinking you aren't always pretty by me saying that—just up your usual hotness for a hours."
She snorted out a laugh, a genuine laugh for the first time since part of her life had collapsed on her head. "I won't."
She pulled from his grasp and headed back to her room. She looked over her shoulder and gave him a thankful smile before disappearing down the hallway towards her room.
Author's Note: I hope you enjoyed this chapter. I did incorporate a little of an S&C episode into this, but the show is not entirely canon for this story for a number of reasons and will probably be used only for mining ideas that could advance the mains' plots. Freddie still has his super-durability and if it increased at the same level as Sam's super strength was shown in last week's S&C episode, then he is literally Superman (maybe Wonder Woman due to the question of piercing) at this point as she now has the ability to lift tons now. Poor Tori, just the first thing of her life being kicked out from under her. We'll see what the next shoe will fall for her. Hopefully the next update won't take as long.