It's a long time coming for an update and it is a little shorter than a usual update, but narratively speaking, I needed to split it after finishing most of it. I hope you enjoy it anyway.

Also, for those who saw Killer Tuna Jump… remember that it is AU to Victorious and iCarly and it may or may not have an impact in character traits for some of them. I was happy to see that Jade found Freddie hot

Stella: I wasn't running out for it, life got in the way of writing. I hope you enjoy this update.

Kari Winters: Thank you and I have finally updated. I hope you enjoy it.

KoiChoco: Tori always had a dark streak to her under the surface that if she ever unleashed, it wouldn't be pretty. How could she not be interested in such a good guy, or one trying to get back to the one he would like to be again?

pbow: Tori is doing a balancing act and it may just collapse on top of her head, but if it does, someone might just be there anyway to dig her out from the rubble.

darck ben: I try and thanks for the offer.

Agent-M-0167: Tori has a dark streak that would surprise people. Let's just hope for Lindsey's sake that she doesn't cross a line with our Tori.

What do you think the school is sending her?

Just talk out their problems and hook up? Where would the fun be in that? They both have secrets and demons to deal with.

Challenge King: Tori has claws for the guy she's starting to see as her man and finally addressed Cat's actions from 'Driving Tori Crazy' and how that could affect their friendship. Sam asking for help was more out of pragmatism than anything else as she apparently doesn't have that skill set.

Carly not coming back is one of Freddie's demons and now one of Sam's to deal with. Unlike the AU S&C, she can't just brush off the fact that a temporary leaving of Carly turned into a long term thing without any consultation on it.

Freddie is trying to be who he was before the Seddie Arc and it is a struggle for him and that means being there for Tori. In reality, I'm trying to repair the damage Dan did to him for a simple ratings stunt.

Fanfic-Reader-88: I don't assume Cat is dumb at all. I truly believe in the Victorious universe it is simply a defense mechanism she created during the course of the show and not a mental illness it now is confirmed in S&C. Whether she says anything or not depends if you believe she would play Judas on Tori.

You can only push a person so far before they break and Freddie broke and had enough with Freddie. Unlike Dan, I don't have to keep the status quo for my characters in the deluded idea that I would lose viewers by having them mature.

Mrs. Vega's infidelity had to come out at some point, it just happened to come up now when both girls were out of the house.

The text? Spoiler.

Illusorygentleman: Thanks and finally it is done.

PD31 updated 'Here's to Us' and illusorygentleman has updated 'Schneider's Island'.

Also, if you get a chance, take a look at another story I'm working on: 'The Dark Dame'. It is a fusion fic of Batman and Victorious/iCarly and as the title suggests, 'The Bat' is not a man, but another 'dark' character from Victorious (I obviously mean figuratively). Plus I wrote a oneshot in my Jedi Trilogy that is my take on 'Killer Tuna Jump'.

Rating: T Adult Situations/Themes

Chapter 12

Apartment 316
Venice/Barry Apartments
11811 Venice Boulevard
Los Angeles, CA
Saturday, October 6, 2012

Freddie finished buttoning his dark blue and white plaid shirt then reached over and picked up his charging PearPhone and unplugged it from the outlet resting on the nightstand next to his bed. He slipped the pear shaped device into his jean pocket before picking up his light brown jacket off his desk chair and slipping into the arms and over his shoulders since it was turning a little chilly outside.

He flicked the light switch off in his room and exited to wait for the lovely brunette in the living room. He didn't wait long as she stepped out from the hallway and into the living room to immediately capture Freddie's attention. Her hair was curled and lovingly fell over her black leather jacket covered shoulders and upper chest. The rest of her outfit consisted of a black tank top very similar to his athletic shirts with the word printed in white cursive over her bust 'Winnipesexy', slightly pulled up wrinkled over her abdomen to leave a little sliver of her tanned midriff between the hem of the shirt and the waist band of her skinny blue jeans.

He slightly smiled at seeing how she was sexy and cute at the same time. Also more importantly, she had a momentary peaceful expression on her face. He found his voice and softly chuckled, "You ready to go?"

She nodded and flashed him a smile. "Yeah, I'm ready to take you out for the night."

He chuckled and asked, "Any particular place in mind?"

"I do have a place in mind and I hope you'll like it."

Karaoke Dokie
Los Angeles, CA
Saturday, October 6, 2012

Tori outwardly displayed a happy façade as she led him by the hand through the entrance of the eighteen and under club. Once they were a few feet into the establishment, she wrapped her arm around his arm, whether it was through some need to have him physically close to her in some weird form of security blanket or to make sure every other girl they would encounter know that he was with her. She turned her face to lean so close that their cheeks were nearly touching to whisper, "It has great food and entertainment and they did some remodeling over the summer. They added a dance floor. I'm really excited to see since this'll be the last year I get to come here."

"Great food? I could use some because lunch from Bots is gone and as much as I enjoyed going to Nozu with Jade, there wasn't much there that was really appetizing to me. We shared some soup. I wouldn't mind another good hamburger and fries if they have them."

Her smile slightly faded as she felt a slight pang in her chest at hearing that bit of news that he just didn't share lunch with Jade when they went out together to get his car, but he had literally shared the soup together. Her mind instantly filled with the image of Jade and he sitting side by side, so close that their legs or at least knees would touch as they took turns dipping their spoons into the soup.

Her mind further put a picture together that Freddie was sitting on Jade's right and to make things easier for them not to bump into each other, Jade would use her left hand to eat, leaving each other's hand free and needing a pace to rest. Jade would rest her hand on Freddie's knee and while Tori couldn't remember exactly what Jade wore that day, she imagined it was one of her short skirts and leggings she was found of wearing and that Freddie would rest his on her legging covered knee then he could easily travel further up Jade's leg…

She shook her head to stop and clear her imagination from going any further while she tightened her arm around his arm. She forced a laugh, "I'm glad to hear you like some normal food and yes, they do have some great burgers and fires. The guys got sick one time of us girls repeatedly going to Nozu for nearly a week straight and wanted to come here for a hamburger."

She purposely omitted the fact it was because she had the hots for Beck's friend from Canada. She wasn't sure why, but didn't see the need to add that bit of information when she recalled it.

She led him further inside and saw a free table fortunately close to the stage where someone with some relative talent was singing. She quickly led them to it and the pair took a seat next to each other so they could easily watch the stage. A larger smile formed on the brunette's face without her realizing it as they invaded each other's personal space sitting so close together.

A waitress was close at hand to take their orders. Tori ordered something light as she had every intention of taking advantage of the dance floor and taking Freddie along for the ride while he ordered a hamburger and fries along with Tori's suggestion of buffalo nuggets.

The waitress quickly brought their drinks and the teens started idly chatting with Tori beginning after taking a sip from her straw, "So how did your day go? Did Cat ever get a hold of you? She called me before…" Her smile faded and she took a soft breath before facing a smile back on her face and continuing, "…wanting to know where you were. She wanted your help with something, but she didn't explain why."

He chuckled, trying to relieve the underlining tension he could see Tori holding then replied, "Sam stopped by and filled me in on what they wanted my help for—more like demanded that I help them."

Tori shook her head and took a quick bite from one of her carrots from the complimentary side dish before mumbling, "Is she always that rude? Just demanding stuff?"

"Yes, yes she is. She never had any real discipline when growing up. Carly…" He closed his mouth and made a slight face as if he had just eaten something unpleasant and she was about to tell him he didn't have to continue, but he was quicker by finishing, "…Carly kept her more out of trouble then trying to help her be civilized and Spencer in hindsight just didn't care or couldn't. Discipline was never one of his strong suits."

He took a quick sip from the rim of his glass in an attempt to hide his expression in Tori's eyes. She felt a little guilty with inadvertently dragging out his feelings in regards to Sam, so she quickly attempted to get the conversation back on track by focusing on the other person that he didn't have conflicted feelings with, "So what did Cat need help with?"

He sat his glass on the table and put on a more upbeat expression. "A rival babysitting service started putting up fake bad reviews and they—Sam—wanted to find out who was doing it. It turned out that it was a group of guys that lived in L.A. Sam wanted to go over to get revenge on them and I went along with them to make sure she wouldn't get Cat in trouble."

Tori quickly rested her hand on Freddie's forearm. "Thank you for looking out for her."

"You're welcome."

The pair shared a small smile then Tori continued before taking a sip from her straw, "So what happened?"

He rattled off, somewhat in a bored manner, "We went over there, we confronted them, they threatened Sam and Cat about telling them to walk out while they still could, I told him that he would have real fight on his hands if he put his hands on Cat then he punched me in the face."

Tori almost did a spit take when taking a sip of her drink. She brought the back of her hand to her lips to wipe away any stray liquid then softly laughed, "Sorry."

Freddie reached over to the table to his right and snatched an unused napkin then turned back to Tori. He lifted up his hand and started wiping off any of her drink she had missed on her lips and chin without a second thought with a humorous smirk on his face.

She softly whispered with a bashful tone, "Thanks."

He suddenly felt the need to clear his throat and look away, feeling a little heat on his cheeks as he thought he may have just crossed a line.

She softly patted him on the forearm and lightly asked in mild disbelief, "So he punched you in the face? Are you alright?" She gently took his chin and slightly turned his head back and forth to exam his cheek and jaw as she hadn't noticed any bruises after he got back.

He chuckled at her attention and delicately took her hand and pulled it away from his face and gently held on to it. "I'm fine. All he did was nearly break his hand on my face. I'm oddly built very tough. I guess it was God's way for making up for all the physical abuse from Sam's hands and others."

Tori's face fell and her stomach felt like it had dropped out from her in him bringing up the fact that he had suffered at Sam's hands then remained silent and just stared at him, unable to form coherent words as she felt her blood was starting to boil.

Freddie noticed her silence and turned his head to meet her eyes. He lazily shrugged a shoulder. "It's alright. The past is the past."

The brunette kept her concern gaze on him for nearly a minute before she blew out a tension relieving breath then mumbled without realizing it just before she took a sip from her drink, "Yeah, just like when Jade slapped you and kind of hurt herself."

"What?"

She sat her drink down and shook her head and mumbled, "When we found you, she tried slapping you to wake you up. All she did was leave her hand stinging… so what happened next? After he hit you?"

"We got them to take the fake posts down."

She knotted her brow. "They just agreed to that?"

"Showing they couldn't hurt me and as threatening Sam can be, they relented… and I threatened to take them down myself then start posting negative views about them while making it look like multiple people wrote the comments. I am pretty good with computers after all."

She purposely reiterated his physical aspects then clearly joked, "I guess seeing you take a punch to the face without it doing anything helped with the convincing… and remind me never to get you made. You might delete all my pictures or future papers off my computer."

The playful expression on the slim brunette caused him to softly chuckle.

In a lighthearted tone he asked, "So do you ever sing here?"

"I've sung one time as a way of getting even with the daughter of the owner. Jade and Cat had a duet and clearly won and got the audience on their side after the owner gave the wining trophy to her daughter. So out of spite, his daughter Hayley banned them from ever singing again."

Freddie muttered in disgust before taking a sip of his drink, "Well that was janked up."

As Tori was recalling the story, she suddenly realized the favoritism of Lindsey and Tara and felt a sudden rush of anger in her chest. She took several calming breaths to try to dispel the thought of her and enjoying her very handsome company.

He raised a curious eyebrow at seeing the sudden annoyed expression on her face. He hurriedly asked to allow Tori to get through her story, "How did you get back at them by singing? Wouldn't they just do the same thing to you as they did to them?"

His question actually helped her move along in just telling a story and not thinking of all the other intricacies of the current situation with Freddie and Lindsey. Tori wickedly smiled, "I dressed up to look horrible and fooled them with my appearance. Jade had the idea to challenge them to sing off where she could prove that any random patron could beat them in a singing competition where only the audience determined the winner…"

"And you were the ringer they just happened to chose?"

Tori softly bit her bottom lip in a uselessly held back grin and nodded along. "Exactly."

He idly commented in return, "I would have enjoyed watching you sing."

"Maybe next time, but I ah… had another idea after we eat."

"Okay," he answered to go along with whatever she had in mind just as their food arrived.

For the next half hour the pair enjoyed their meal and idly chatted about the least important things they could think up. Freddie mostly listened as to let Tori speak about whatever she wanted that would make her happy. She'd recall some of the good times at Hollywood Arts in such a way that it pricked at him in wishing he had been there to enjoy those good times. In a neat trick, he was able to pay attention to her stories while at the same time imagining how things would have been if he had been at Hollywood Arts during his senior year after meeting up with them for the party.

The pair finally finished their respective meals and enjoyed their silence of watching another performer before Tori directed a wicked smile to Freddie.

He raised a curious eyebrow just as she wrapped her fingers around his wrist and stood up. She gave him a gentle tug to get him on his feet as she turned to head in the direction of the bar. He quickly complied in being led by the lovely brunette. She threw her hair off her shoulder and gave him a sly look over her left shoulder as she moved her grip from his wrist to lace her fingers between his fingers when they passed the threshold between the karaoke part of the restaurant and the dancing area then start to pull him towards the dance floor.

She weaved her way through several dancers until she found a spot near the center of the dance floor then turned back to him. She regretfully let go of his hand to lift her arms up and rest her forearms on his shoulders. His hands naturally fell to rest on her hips. He stated in a charming manner, "I'm usually a slow dancer, not a club dancer…"

She lifted a hand off his arm and playfully tapped his nose with a fingertip and whispered, "Never too late to learn."

He chuckled at her playful gesture and asked, "So what do I do?"

"Loosely hang on to me…" She finished in a sly manner, "…but don't let me go…"

He put on such a charming grin that it could make Beck proud before he whispered, "I have no intention of letting you go…"

Tori could read a lot of different meanings into that statement, but she held off on thinking any further and bent her knees and started to sway to the music, especially her hips while he hung on to her. She reassuringly smiled to him that it was okay to do more than just stand there and quickly started laughing as he started getting into music and sway and move his body with the beat.

"That's it. You're getting the hang of it."

"I guess it's being in good company."

She laughed out just as she ran her fingers through her hair and hold her palm against the side/crown of her head and closed her eyes, swaying her head and shoulders as she felt the music start to infuse with her body.

Freddie suppressed clearing his throat as seeing the mixed race Latino sexily swayed in his arms and softly biting her bottom lip. It was a provocative sight, but not dirty or unseemly.

She eventually turned in his grasp and rested her back against him, slowing down her swaying with the music. His right hand left her hip and instinctively brushed over her abdomen and his fingers slipped under the hem of the shirt to graze her smooth, taut abs.

She lulled her head back on his shoulder as she felt the warm and gentle hand on her abs. Her mind flashed back to her erotic dream where they were in this position. The dream had brought on a torrent of different emotions where fear and embarrassment were dominating feelings, but now for some reason she felt it was natural to be in his arms like this.

His fingertips started grazing the sliver of skin to pull away, but before he could fully pull his hand away, she grabbed his wrist and held his hand in place while she swayed with the music against him.

He looked like his eyes were about to pop out of their sockets when she lifted her left arm up and cupped around the back of his head and she slightly turned her head resting back on his shoulder to meet his eyes with a smirked playing on her lips and a sly look in her eyes.

"Your hand's fine where it's at." She reiterated her point by slightly grinding back against him, her tight bottom in line with his pelvis.

He swallowed down a knot of nervousness that suddenly formed in his throat and he turned his gaze downward. Ironically enough in trying to avoid the longing look in her eyes, he glanced down to look right down for a nice eyeful of her cleavage and the soft swell of the top of her breasts.

He quickly looked back up to meet her eyes, their lips just centimeters apart.

She slightly tilted her head up, ready for her lips to meet his lips, but he pulled back from her and quickly spun her around to face him. He quickly took her right hip in one hand while his other took her other hand to lace his fingers, bringing the pair face to face.

Any disappointment she felt from the change in position was quickly forgotten with a laugh as he started swaying with her in upbeat moves of a slow dance. They braced their foreheads against each other and smiled to one another, tuning out the rest of the world.

Apartment 316
Venice/Barry Apartments
11811 Venice Boulevard
Los Angeles, CA
Saturday, October 6, 2012

The pair laughed almost in a drunken stupor, but it was entirely out of happiness instead of alcohol as Freddie unlocked the door and pushed it open. They had their arms looped together as they entered together then Freddie pushed back to close the door behind them. He slightly turned to lock the door then turned back to face his friend and roommate just in time for her to gently press her lips against his lips in a chaste kiss. She pulled back and beamed him a smile. "I had a nice time."

The brown eyed teenager snapped out of his near hysterical laughter and cleared his throat. His cheek partially flushed just as he whispered, "I had a nice time too."

She wrinkled her nose and softly giggled. She turned away and released his arm to head for the kitchen. "You want a snack or something to drink? I need something to drink, especially after all that dancing."

"No, I'm fine. I think I'll just crash for a bit and grab something later if I need it."

She pulled a glass from the cabinet and quickly brought it under the faucet to fill with water. "Okay," she answered just before taking a gulp of water. "I'm going to go take a quick shower. I got a little sweaty while dancing."

He could certainly agree as he had noticed a little perspiration on her forehead and a little flush of her cheeks near the end of the night along with a hint of moisture on her upper exposed chest from the athletic shirt. It had to his shame caught his attention similar to after their workout session.

He nodded his head while she kept her warm smile on him while finishing her glass of water then turned to head back to her bathroom. Once she was out of sight, his jaw slightly slacked and blew out a soft breath before he turned to retire to his room for the night because he desperately needed to get out of his jeans as they had been tight in the front for most of the night being pressed against such a lovely body.

About three-quarters of an hour later, Freddie was lying in the center of his bed with his back braced against the headboard with his pillows and his laptop resting on his sheet covered lap, having changed into another athletic shirt and boxers. He was idly double checking over some programming and keeping an ear open in case Tori needed anything, but so far it looked as if her spirits had been lifted for the evening so mission accomplished for him.

However he was surprised when Tori stopped at his open doorway, resting a palm against each side of the frame and putting most of her weight on her right leg as her left leg lazily bent in front.

Tori had changed into her nightwear of a fitting tank top nightshirt—that he could clearly see she didn't have an undergarment on underneath—and a pair of pajama shorts.

He closed his laptop and set it on the nightstand then softly asked, "Hey?"

She answered in such a soft spoken voice, he barely heard her, "Hey."

The roommates stared at one another for a few seconds, each apparently at a lost of what to say to the other. Tori broke the stalemate and walked towards him, around the foot of the bed to slip under the sheet to his right.

Her voice broke the silence, but just barely with how softly she spoke, "Hi."

"Hey," he answered with a timid tone.

"Freddie, I…" She looked away and rested the side of her head against his shoulder, losing her nerve to speak.

He kissed the crown of her head and gently rubbed his hand up and down her upper arm. "I'm so sorry."

She lifted her head and peered into his soft chocolate eyes.

He paused in looking at her and remained silent as he could tell that she was searching for something in his eyes and perhaps in her own mind. The pause was short as she apparently found what she was looking for and cupped his cheek and pressed her lips against his lips. The kiss starting like the one she gave him when the arrived back at the apartment of being quite chaste until she deepened it and slightly parted her mouth then ran the tip of her tongue over his top lip.

He closed his eyes and parted his mouth to give her entrance at the same time he was deepening the kiss. Somehow the laptop got moved off of his lap and to the side of the bed while she straddled his lap. Her other hand cupped his other cheek to hold him in place to focus on his mouth while his hands rested on her hips.

He groaned into her mouth as he felt her start to grind against his pelvis as she had occasionally done with her tight rear, but this was an entirely new sensation against his loins and reawakening him. She mewed back as friction of the inner lining of her shorts rubbing against her intimate area, just three layers of fabric separating them.

The muscular teenager's strong hands moved from her hips to across her bottom, kneading the soft flesh through her thin pajama shorts and slightly pulling her against him, aiding her movements.

Their tongues battled for dominance and fought for breath as neither seemed to have any desire to break their kisses, only lulling their heads side to side to switch the angles in which the were kissing and sucking in gasps of breath when their open mouths broke.

One of her hands finally slid from his face and down his cotton covered chest until she reached his lower and taut abs, hoping to relieve the heat building between them. Her fingertips danced across the edge of the elastic material of his boxers then dipped just the tip of her pointer and middle finger under the band.

Freddie's eyes shot open when he felt her nail delicately scraping across him and pulled away. He blew out a sharp breath and quickly stated, "Tori, we have to slow down."

She blinked and a tear rolled across her cheek as she was snapped back into reality. She hurriedly jumped off his lap and scooted towards the foot of the bed while he crossed his legs and pulled the sheet over his lap in mild embarrassment.

She quickly whispered, "I'm sorry, it's just…" She looked down at the bed and shook her head. "I have a really nice and hot guy right here that's treated me better than all the other guys I dated in high school put together and I just wanted to forget about what happened and enjoy the moment and…" She trailed off as she bowed her head and let the tears fall.

He scooted towards her a bit and lifted his hand up and thumbed over her cheek to brush the tear away. "It's okay Tori. It's going to be okay."

She regretfully pulled away from his touch and shouted, thick with emotion that bordered on sob, "How? My mom cheated on my dad… they were my rock Freddie. If they can break, what can I ever trust? How could this ever work out?"

He remained quiet on the point she had made the assumption that they had something—something in the future, but let it go to respond to her primary argument, "I don't… I don't know, but I know you have to. If you don't, you'll just be cold and carrying this knot of anger in you and you'll…" He slumped his shoulders and finished with a tired tone, "…you'll become like me."

She furled her brow and silently waited for him to continue.

"I've been hurt and I know how it feels to have your foundation kicked from out from under you. I lost the girl of my dreams—twice… the girl that I loved since I was eleven years old and she failed me. I gave another girl that I thought was my friend a chance and she failed me too… but if I just gave up and decided never to trust anyone again or believe that things could still be good in the future for me… I'd remain what I am: a guy who can barely look himself in the mirror in the morning instead of the guy trying to crawl out of the hole I'm in."

She raised a hand and placed it over his heart and whispered, "You really are messed up inside aren't you? They really did a number on you."

He gently took her hand and answered, "My demons are not the issue right now. I only brought that up in saying I haven't given up and neither should you… you can't let this shake your beliefs and hold up to know what you know to be true."

She bowed her head and to Freddie's eyes, she was contemplating his words.

She closed her eyes and crawled back to snuggled her head in the right crook of his neck, throwing her arm over his muscular abdomen. She muttered in a poignant, yet grateful tone, "Thank you Freddie."

He took a soft breath and cracked the softest of smiles in knowing that he had helped her at least a little then realized as she was becoming comfortable that she was going to spend the night in the bed with him. An overwhelming sense of tribulation went through him about the idea, but decided to ignore it. He pulled her a little tighter to him and rested his hand on her hip then kissed her forehead and whispered in return, "You're welcome." He pulled the sheet up with his free hand to allow her to slip back under it then reached over to his laptop and rested it next to him on the bed and quickly pulling up PearTunes to find some relaxing music to help Tori sleep while he continued his work with one hand.

Author's Note: I hope the next update won't take as long and beat the average of an update per month for this story, but real life and other writing sometimes gets in the way. Take care.