Okay, hello everyone. This chapter ran long again, so I have to cut it—again. I hope to have the next one out by tomorrow or Tuesday then updates are going to unfortunately slow up again, but rest assured that the story is heavily planned and outlined further. I'm just facing upcoming time constraints.

I did find it funny that no one said a word that Cat became a brunette, gone is her red velvet hair color.

TenorSax93: It is a useful plot to advance several of my plots. I hope you enjoy it.

Challenge King: Thanks and I hope you enjoy it.

Fanfic-Reader-88: I hope my telling of it is more insightful and useful even if it turns out not to be more entertaining. You might as well attempt to pull teeth than getting the real reason from Dusty. The beans will be spilled at the most dramatic moment as possible of course.

LillyTruscotMIleyCyrus: Thank you. I appreciate the praise. I didn't get a chance to check out your fic this weekend with all the writing, but hope to catch it in the next few days.

Twilight Warrior 627: It is based off a tween/teen comedy after all, so there is bound to be silliness popping up every now and again. Dusty evolved over the course of his appearances from someone to just further a plot of the mains to become Freddie's Sam as she is to Carly and are meant to mirror one another. Ian's mom… got to have some mystery in life.

xemtlenc: I'm using it to further my own plots for the characters and will have a twist on how it plays out. You may have touched on one aspect of a bigger picture when it comes to Dusty and Heather, but I won't spoil it for you. Ian does like Sam as she's a goofy girl. She did host a popular web-series at one point with tons of fans that loved her. Sam may have soften as a character as we know how she can be to kids around that age.

I have some plugs to make: PD31 has updated 'When Something Better Comes Along' and Fanfic-Reader-88 has a new one-shot involving Jade and André, but it isn't for the kiddies 'A Quick Snack Before Dinner'. It's M-rated. Be responsible for yourself.

Rating: T, Language

Chapter 18

Kerckhoff Coffee House
Kerckhoff Hall
308 Westwood Plaza
UCLA, Los Angeles, CA
Thursday, October 17, 2013

While Jade and Cat were working on their music at RPX records, Freddie was sitting in an out of the way table instead of his usual one so he could have a private webchat during his lunch break. "How are things going?"

Tori smiled on the screen and other side of the country. "It's just the second day, but it's going alright. Everyone is great and my costar is really cute—and tall, very tall. It might be a little hard to kiss him."

"Oh? You could get Beck a little jealous saying that." He bit his tongue not to reference that Beck was already doing that with Jon in the picture.

The brunette licked her lips then tightly smiled. Her voice carried with it a half joke, "That would be nice if Beck got a little jealous… Sometimes a girl needs to know she's really wanted."

"Well, when he gets to New York for his filming, he could get a club and drag you to his cave." He dropped his voice into a rough tone and suggested, "Me Beck, you Tori." He quickly followed up with a laugh.

Tori chuckled and ran her fingers through her hair on the right side, "That certainly would get my attention, but I don't think it would be good for my hair."

"You do have nice hair and it would be bad if it got messed up."

"Have you ever tried the caveman routine with Jade?"

Freddie thought about it for a few seconds to humor her then remembered a time. "Actually… there was this time I had the urge, but she was the one that dragged me into the Janitor's Closet to see what was up with me. She saw that I was kind of jittery."

Tori raised a curious and surprised eyebrow with such an admission as she couldn't imagine Freddie doing something so reckless. "Did you two in the closet…"

The sophomore shook his head and corrected, "No… we went to Vegas that weekend."

"Ooohhh…" Tori slowly spoke as it dawned on her around the time such an occurrence happened. Jade's near death experience certainly would cause the need to feel connected on both sides.

"You could always go to one of those bed and breakfast places that are around where Beck films. A weekend getaway could be the perfect recharge for both of you away from everything, unless… are you just going to push through with filming."

"No, I'll take breaks not to burn out. We'll see how Beck and my filming schedule go to see if we could do that. We'll be staying together when he gets here anyway, so… just don't tell Trina. She's not thrilled with the idea."

"Tori… you're putting me in tough position. I don't like getting between girls."

"I didn't say a word to you then."

Freddie blew out a short breath and licked his lips, willing to make that compromise. "Okay, you won't burn yourself out, but it's still more than a week until he gets there. What are you going to do in the meantime?"

"We are filming a little more during these next few days to catch up, but I'm going to got hang out with Amanda tomorrow night after we're done filming for the day."

Freddie raised an eyebrow. "Oh?"

"Yeah, you know she offered to show me around during my stay." She paused and assessed Freddie's expression then asked, "Is that a problem?"

Freddie shook his head. "No, of course not."

"Are you sure?"

Freddie snorted out a laugh, "Tori it's okay. You can hang out with anyone you want. When did you need my permission?"

Tori slightly tilted her head to the side and softly smiled. "This is different. This is your sister from your estranged father."

"Absentee father… What my father did has nothing to do with Amanda or Jon. Amanda and I had some good conversations. We started following each other on TwitFlash. I've already gotten a few messages and sent some back."

"After spending several hours on the plane ride over here, I've found that she seems like a sweet and nice girl… I can tell she's definitely a Benson," Tori finished with an upbeat tone and teasing smile.

Freddie held his tongue as Jade had questioned how much that was the case. He offhandedly answered, "I'm glad it was a pleasant trip for you with her."

"It was. I'm happy things are starting off well with her." She softly bit her lip for a second then asked, "How are things with you and Jon? Are they any better?"

"I haven't seen him. I actually have to go out of my way to see him. Jade saw him yesterday of course with classes."

"Did everything go fine?"

"Yeeaahh… Why?"

"I just didn't want any tension between them—or you. He's pretty set on his position about whether you're brothers or not and Jade is protective of you."

"Tori, it's the same as with Amanda, you want to be friends with them, that's your choice. And with Jade, she'll work out what she needs to work out with him. Whatever happens between them doesn't affect you. It'll be alright."

Tori remained silent for a second, contemplating whether his statement was accurate and everything would be alright. During that pause of contemplation, she noticed that Freddie glanced away from the screen.

"What?" she called out to grab his attention.

"Speaking of Jon, he just stepped in the coffeehouse."

"Wave him over?"

The computer science major knotted his brow and questioned, "Why?"

Tori half smirked and pointed out the obvious reason, "Because I want to talk to him?"

Freddie flicked his brow up and answered, "Okay." He lifted a hand to catch Jon's attention and motioned for him to walk over.

Jonathan had caught sight of Freddie from the corner of his eye as he approached the counter. He wasn't sure the etiquette if he should swing by and say hi or just acknowledge with a wave if Freddie noticed him. Now that he was seeing a distinctive wave of Freddie motioning to walk over to him, the question was answered.

It didn't prevent Jon from directing an uncertain expression on his face. He was hesitant to approach. He didn't want to risk any confrontation with Freddie that could upset Jade and, which he wouldn't consciously admit at the moment, Tori. However, he had picked up that Freddie was a pretty reasonable and levelheaded guy, things had went smoothly with speaking with Jade, the one known to be the more… 'vocal' of the pairing and if he ignored him, it could upset Jade and Tori.

Jonathan put on a diplomatic smile and approached his alleged half-brother. "Hey."

"Hi, someone wanted to speak with you."

"Who?"

Freddie slightly turned the laptop while Jon partially rounded the table to Freddie's right. Jon flashed a smile at seeing Tori's face on the screen. She returned one just as easily and greeted him, "Hey, I had a minute to chat and Freddie said you just walked in, so I thought I'd say hi."

Jonathan grabbed a neighboring chair and placed it next to Freddie to have a seat. "Well it's good to see you. How are things going in New York?"

"Fine. I've settled in and filming is getting back on schedule. Amanda and I are still on for going to show me around Friday night, so I can experience the city through her eyes. How are you doing?" She motioned her eyes back and forth to the Bensons, making it clear she was talking to both of them.

The Benson brothers spared glances towards one another before Jonathan cracked a smile and answered, "I'm glad to hear. Amanda will enjoy it. I don't have any complaints. Classes are fine."

"If you need any help, I'm sure Freddie and Jade will be more than happy to help you."

Freddie and Jonathan responded with awkward expressions and passed looks to one another.

Tori was about to tease further, but a voice calling out her name could be heard somewhere in the background. Tori looked over her shoulder at the sound then back at the screen. "Sorry fellas, but they need me back on set."

Freddie naturally answered, "It's alright. I'll talk to you later. Look good."

Jonathan joined, "Break a leg… or someone else's."

The younger Benson's joke brought a laugh to Tori and he couldn't help but be captivated by it.

"Bye Bensons and behave." She winked at them before cutting the connection.

Jonathan awkwardly smiled and offered, "I think she was trying to be funny with that farewell."

Freddie chuckled, "Tori can be a tease without realizing it… then there are the times where she knows exactly what she's doing."

Jonathan wore a hesitant expression, wondering if during the phone call he received from his sister when she and Tori made it back to New York that Tori wasn't unintentionally flirting with him. He got up from his seat and spoke, "Well, I need to grab something before getting back to class."

"Okay, it was good to see you. I'll see you around."

The younger Benson half smirked and replied, "Later, Freddie."

Freddie watched his young brother head off to grab a quick bit, but before he was a few steps away, he called out, "Hey."

Jonathan turned and answered, "Yeah?"

"I got a free seat here."

"Thanks, but I don't have much time before my next class… tomorrow's good for me."

"Okay, I'll see you."

West Residence
Thursday, October 17, 2013

Colonel Shay arrived back to the West Residence after a long day at the West L.A. VA Medical Center helping out wherever you could be of some use and as he pulled into the garage on his old motorcycle, something that he had kept in storage since Spencer's birth, he could see that he had beaten everyone home with the lack of other vehicles in the garage. The garage door closed as he stepped off his bike and pulled off his helmet. He unlocked the door with the spare key Ruby had given him then stepped inside. He hung up his keys then sat his helmet on the kitchen island and draped his leather jacket on the back of a kitchen chair.

Shay took a seat on the couch and just let his thoughts occupy him as they had done almost exclusively since Dusty's words at dinner two nights ago. It had caused him to be a little distant from Ruby, but they were thoughts he had to process on his own. The more he thought on the words, the more he found himself pulled in a certain direction, one he never expected.

The former flyer took a deep breath then slowly let it out, not really consciously thinking on what he was saying, "I'm not much into praying, but Miss Anna, your son seems to still be under the impression that I'm the next President of the United States. You mentioned it to me when Jadelyn graduated and she saw the same in her little trip to that… odd future." He licked his lips and asked, "Is it true?"

He heard a fluttering sound behind him, causing him to turn to face the lovely and familiar redheaded archangel that he had met at Jade, Freddie and their friends' graduation.

She warmly smile and greeted him, "I still do believe. You'd make a very good president."

Shay wore a stoic expression as he got up and cautiously asked, "Miss… Anna? I assume it wouldn't be Mrs. Hale?"

"No, Dean and I never got married. Marriage can't exactly work out for us. Interpretations of my name include Anael and Hanael, spelt –ael and –iel, but Anna is just fine."

"Alright Miss Anna, so Heaven wants me to be President?"

"Do you want to run for President?"

Shay grinned and remarked, "You're answering my question with a question."

"I guess I am, but I'm on Team Freewill, so our wants are limited and my son has his opinion, but it's of course your choice."

"It's not about choice. We have this little thing called elections in this country."

Anna cryptically answered, "For now…"

Shay narrowed his gaze on her, certainly not liking what could be prophetic news. "Is your right? Is it just his opinion?"

The lovely redhead slightly tilted her head and asked with her lips slightly turned into a smile, "Are you asking me what the future holds?"

"I guess so."

"Sorry Colonel, no free peaks, but I think you trust your instincts and experience about what the future holds if things keep going they way the are."

Shay put on a slight scrawl, believing that he just had his confirmation. He wondered if she and the rest of her kind operated under certain rules as another group of beings.

The redhead smiled and slightly shook her head as if answering his question.

"Mind reading?"

She sweetly answered, "Not intentionally."

"As I said, we have elections, so just wanting it isn't going to be enough."

"I don't know. You have that Tea Party support going for you."

"That's funny since I'm a Democrat."

The redheaded angel held back a laugh and eyeing him in such a way that suggested that he wasn't being entirely truthful.

Shay half-sneered as he admitted, "Okay, Kennedy, LBJ… Reagan Democrat, but it doesn't matter; it won't be enough. You need money—a lot of money, the kind that makes you a puppet to the ones that gave it to you and you need support from the top."

"Details. If you want it, we'll make it happen. Heck, I can get Hell to back you too. You won't have any unexpected surprises if someone tries to sell their soul to win it."

The Colonel found it laughable that she could get Heaven and Hell to back him, but not entirely surprising. "You'll make it happen?"

Anna grinned and extended her hands. "There have been plenty of leaders put in their positions through divine providence. We tell them who to elect as Pope each time. You'd just be another in the long list."

"What about that freewill you just talked about?"

"You just have to inspire the right people, not force them to do anything. A few dramatic appearances to the right groups and they will fall over themselves to support you. There are of course other things we can do to help."

"So you're willing to play on one's faith?"

"How is it playing when we're simply answering their prayers for guidance?"

"There are plenty of prayers you don't answer."

"No we don't… we can't answer them all and we can't hold humanity's hand. I know that's little comfort with what you've experienced, but as my brother Castiel profoundly asked, 'which would you rather have: paradise or freedom?' I know how you would answer."

Shay just eyed her for a few seconds then asked, "What do you think? You personally? You have to know something about people since you were willing to have a child with one of us."

"I think you're a good man." She grinned. "You remind me a lot of Dean."

If she had anything close to the same body language as a human then her comparing him to the father of her child was a compliment. "How do you know that? You've read my mind or something?"

"I've observed you off and on and I've talked to Taylor a number of times along with your mother and your father-in-law. I think they are the best sources to understand."

The combat veteran was rarely astonished after everything he had experienced, but this was one of those times. "You've talked with them?"

"It's Heaven. I can speak to anyone there. I've ah… spent that last two Mother's Days with Taylor. She's a very nice woman."

He cautiously questioned, "So she's happy? My mother's happy?"

"It's Heaven; of course they are happy and safe. Taylor regularly hangs out with the greats of the Renaissance. She's had very lively discussions with Leonardo and Michelangelo. She's still painting."

"She was an art history major… it's good she actually gets to meet the greats. Does she… does she miss us?"

"There aren't those feelings in Heaven, just… anticipation, but no rush to see you there. She wants you and her children to live long lives and be happy."

Shay cleared his throat then focused on the topic at hand, "You think I'm a good man even after all I've done, but you didn't answer my question."

"I told you, it doesn't matter what I want. Do you want it though?"

"Want? Not particularly, but… your son's right. Things are getting bad and… I don't see it changing anytime soon with who's in office or the likely whoever comes after him."

"So is that a yes?"

"It's a maybe. I have my children and Ruby and I are getting married—even you said so yourself. I have their feelings to consider."

"I did. You have time. Just let us know when you decide. We're just a prayer away."

Anna was gone between the next blink of his eyes.

Shay took a deep breath then slowly let it out.

West Residence
Thursday, October 17, 2013

Later that afternoon after the rest of the family arrived at the West home, Jade knocked on Freddie's open door, catching her fiancé in the middle of his work. He turned his attention to her and cracked a soft smile. "Hey."

"Hey," she answered while slowly strutting towards him. "It looks like I'm not the only one that has been having dreams that could be turning into reality."

"Oh? What did I dream about that's coming true?"

"Dice won a bet of killer tuna and he's going to have someone jump over them."

Freddie's face fell and uttered, "What?"

Jade sat across his lap and wrapped her arms behind his neck. "Yep. It looks like your dream was prophetic."

The handsome teenager rested his hands on her jean covered legs and answered, "Then if it is, he's going to back out and Sam's going to jump it then things are going spiral out of control."

"So does that mean you're aren't going to go see her jump?"

Freddie laughed and barely got out, "Oh no, I am not going to go anywhere near those fish."

"Really? Cat's already going to get tickets set aside for us."

"You're kidding?"

"Nope, she asked if I would go and when she said that Ian was allowed to go because his mommy-dearest thought he would be fine with them, she misunderstood me saying yes. If Ian is going to be anywhere near those fish after what you said they were like, I'm going to be there to protect him."

Freddie sighed and reluctantly replied, "I guess I'm going with you then." The computer science major's eyes widened as something mentally hit him. "Oh chizz."

"What?"

"Cat's going to go nuts with Sam wanting to jump it after the guy cancels on them."

"Yeah, but wasn't that more to do with the fact that they were using us to one up one another? The way you made it sound they were involved with one another, so they were so jealous when we dragged into it."

Freddie shook his head and muttered, "Maybe, but don't be surprised if they start fighting anyway and we get dragged into it."

"You could go ahead and tell them what's going to happen."

"I doubt that would solve anything. Sam would just disregard it as nonsense. Cat… she would believe it and be more demanding that Sam wouldn't jump because she nearly got hurt taking her place.

"We could point out that you and Robbie—the other you and Robbie got hurt."

"You really think Sam, even after all this time would care if I got hurt?"

"No, but if Robbie got hurt, it might get her not to do it because that would really get Cat upset with her. Sam pushes, but even she has her limits about how far she will go with upsetting Cat."

Freddie shook his head. "All this speculation. We don't know that he's going to cancel. He could decide that he's not afraid and jump the tuna."

"When has anything gone the way it was supposed to with us?"

Freddie dropped his head and sighed, "You know, sometimes I really hate it when you're right."

Jade grinned and placed a chaste kiss on his lips. "So do I."

Cat Valentine/Sam Puckett Residence
Apartment 22
Venice, CA
Friday, October 18, 2013

The time was late afternoon on Friday, the weekend really starting for everyone in the apartment and enjoying it each in their own way. Jade and Cat were at the kitchen table, working on their lyrics, doubling for Jade in her music composition class. If Mister West or his second wife showed up, she could legitimately tell them that she was working with Cat on their classes.

Ian was sitting on the couch with Freddie, having come over with Jade after class, and the pair was playing an educational video game. Sam was sitting next to Ian, bored out of her mind watching them play their game and munching on some chips.

The door flew opened and Dice walked into the apartment in a panic, "Okay, listen to this!"

Sam lazily answered, barely taking her attention away from the television, "Ohhhh, lemme guess, Dice. You got a big problem, don't ya? I betcha ya got a big problem."

"Yeah. I got a biiiiig problem. Wanna know why? 'Cuz I won twelve hundred pounds of tuna fish in a poker game. I can't sell 'em and the Dirty Skipper won't jump 'em with his motorcycle even though I sold two hundred tickets."

Jade looked up from her pad and turned to look at Freddie just as he looked away from the television at her. He had an obvious 'I told you so' expression.

Sam squinted and got up from her seat at the end of the couch. She held up a hand to cut him off before he really got started, "Whoo, you texted me and said the Dirty Skipper was gonna jump the tuna."

Dice explained in an exacerbated tone, "Well he was 'til he went online and found out dangerous Kansas razor-back tuna fish are. I'm in major trouble here."

The blonde reassured him with a confident smile, "No, you're not. 'Cuz I'm gonna jump the tuna."

The tween shouted for joy, "Yes."

Cat jumped up from her seat at the kitchen table and practically flew to the living to stand beside her roommate. Her eyes nearly popped out and shouted, "You promised me you wouldn't!"

Sam looked to her roommate in mild astonishment at her reaction. "Calm down Cat. It's alright. You're blowing this waaayyy out of proportions."

Jade cautiously suggested to Sam, the one time she wasn't trying to antagonize the blonde, "You should listen to Cat on this one."

The blonde turned an annoyed gaze to the singer that had walked up beside Cat.

Freddie spoke behind same and tried to calmly add, "Yeah, I had a dream about this. It didn't turn out well. You didn't make the jump. Actually, Robbie and I were watching from the lift recording it and fell in the tank… and then we got stuck in the hospital. Robbie started torturing me with his song 'I Think You're Swell'."

Cat raised an eyebrow, confused about such a thing could happen.

Sam stared at Freddie with a dumbfounded expression then started chuckling.

"It's not funny," Freddie snapped at her.

The dirty blonde started laughing louder. "Yeah, it kind of is."

"Yeah, you thought it was funny in my dream too… and you stole eighty bucks."

The blonde smirked and asked, "Can I have eighty dollars?"

Jade snapped, "Why not actually earn your money?"

Sam directed an annoyed stare at Jade then countered their arguments, "I don't care what crazy dream he had about this jump. I'm going to do it and make it. All of you are blowing this way out of proportion."

"I had this dream back in January."

The former Seattle troublemaker directed a questioning gaze towards her former punching bag.

He continued unfazed, "Maybe we are, but maybe at some point in your life you don't put yourself in front of your friends. Cat is asking you, practically begging you not to do this and what do you do? Forget about her and do it anyway."

Dice threw up his hands and shouted, "If someone doesn't jump, I'm going to lose a lot of money."

Freddie gave the middle school kid a barely patient look. "Maybe you shouldn't have been in an illegal poker game or maybe never accepted them in the first place. Sam and Cat shouldn't have to suffer from stupid decision.

Sam raised a hand palm up to Freddie and snapped, "Hey, lay off him. How many stupid things did we do at his age?"

"Nothing that would have gotten anyone seriously hurt and besides, don't you think since we're older and wiser we should make sure he doesn't make the kind of goofy mistakes we did?"

The blonde pointed out, "We had Spencer."

"Spencer is barely an adult and how many times did he really step up for the job?"

The former coworkers exchanged glares with one another.

Cat was the one to surprise them all and snapped, "Y'know what? If you're not going to listen to Freddie about what happened, go jump your stupid motorcycle over the tuna fish."

Freddie looked past Sam and suggested, "Cat, you don't mean that."

Cat shouted in frustration before storming off, "Yes I do and I don't care what happens to you!" She turned and stomped off towards her room.

"Sam—"

Sam waved him off dismissively, "Why don't you go check on your sister's twin?"

Freddie bit his tongue only because of Ian's presence instead of verbally cutting her down.

The former juvenile delinquent looked back to Dice and continued, "Dude I'll jump the tuna, but my bike's too heavy. You find me a dirt bike. Ah Four stroke one fifty."

Dice eagerly agreed, "You've got it." He dashed out the door before anyone could argue with him.

Freddie shook his head in disappointment and Jade looked at Sam as if she was dumbest person she had ever seen.

Sam clenched her jaw tightly, holding back her tongue with what she wanted to say about their directed looks. She decided best to remain silent with Ian standing there. She didn't want him to hear any inappropriate words or really put up with anything Jade would try to do to her in retaliation for having him hear such words. The blonde walked past Jade and towards the glass doors to the patio.

Ian looked up to his sister and took her hand. "Is Sam going to get hurt?"

Jade looked to the child and was frozen for a moment, unsure how to answer him. Her brother had established a fondness for the troublemaking blonde and seeing her get hurt could really bother him. She sighed and decided to be honest with him, "I don't know."

Several minutes later and blocks from their shared apartment, Sam was sitting on her favorite bench watching people walk down the opposite sidewalk. The activity was as tedious as one expected as she enjoyed watching people trip over a raised corner of the sidewalk that the city hadn't gotten around to fixing. She had seen a number of funny tumbles that would brighten her mood. However, the blonde didn't get to enjoy her relaxing spot as she heard a familiar fluttering of air to her right. She turned her head and rolled her eyes at seeing Dusty casually standing with his hands in his jacket pockets. She muttered in mild disgust, "Why are you here?"

Dusty shrugged his right shoulder and lazily answered, "Cat called and told me what happened."

"Why did she call you?"

He took a seat next to her, leaning forward and resting his forearms on his knees before answering, "She wanted me to stop you from making that jump."

Sam raised an eyebrow. "'Stop me'?"

"Yes."

"How did she want you to do that?"

"She was actually quite vague on how to do that, just wanting me to make it happen."

She snorted out definitely, "And how are you going to do that?"

"You know I have my… ways… but they probably would be counter productive and I didn't actually agree to stop you, just talk to you."

"Talk to me? I already had a talk with Freddie."

Dusty snorted out and rolled his eyes, "As if those conversations ever go well between the two of you."

"Do ours ever go well?"

"I'd like to think we've had some reasonable conversations have balanced out our more heated confrontations in the past."

"She's making too big a deal out of it. It's just a twenty-five foot jump. I can make that easy, no problem."

"I know. Depending on the angle of the ramp, you just have to hit thirty miles per hour. It should be a piece of cake for you."

"See, why can't Cat see that?"

"Because she loves you and doesn't want you doing something that is inherently dangerous. She doesn't want you to get hurt."

"I won't get hurt."

A silence fell between the pair for several seconds before Dusty suggested, "You could always tell her the truth and ease her worry."

Sam turned her head and gave him a questioning look. "The 'truth'?"

Dusty raised an eyebrow and clarified, "Yeah, tell her why it's alright for you to jump over the 'killer tuna'. Why she wouldn't have to worry about seeing you in the hospital or worst."

Sam cocked her head to the side and took her a second to realize what he meant. She licked her bottom lip and retorted, "Oh, the truth? The same truth that you won't tell Heather?"

Dusty set his jaw tightly. He calmly answered, "I didn't realize you had that kind of relationship with her. So Puckentine is real and not just some rumor by her fans? I wonder how Robbie will react to finding out that Cat's seeing you on the side or… does he know and cool with it?" He smirked as he emotionally dug further, "Or do you have threesomes and just call it cool?"

The blonde in turn quickly replaced her smug expression on her face with a look of outrage. "That's not funny."

"Your cheap shot wasn't funny either."

"Ergg," she groaned in disgust while looking away from him. "I promised that I would make the jump for Dice and I'm not backing out."

"Why is this promise so important?"

"Because I don't want to let a friend down." She glanced to the pavement and muttered, "I've let enough down in my life."

"So Sam Puckett has finally decided to take a turn in her life?"

"Whatever."

"Yet, in trying to help Dice, you're alienating Cat. You're stuck between a rock and a hard place. I guess you know how Freddie's felt like a couple of times."

The blonde glared at him as if he had just hurled an insult at her. She clenched her jaw and resisted the urge to hit him.

Dusty sighed, "Okay, you don't want to tell her… you still don't want to face the truth—"

"Like you've been doing a fantastic job dealing with the news," the blonde headed half-demon remarked in a dismissive tone.

"I'm attempting to and I'm probably screwing up dealing with it, but you're just sticking your head in the sand and pretending it's not true. If you're not ready for that then you have to ask yourself, what matters to you more? Your promise to Dice or your relationship with Cat?"

Sam glanced back to the sidewalk to contemplate his words and to watch someone about to fall, but after hitting the tip of his shoe against the raised piece of slab, it looked like an invisible hand grabbed him to help him steady himself on his feet. He looked around to see what happened, but then continued on his way, still confused about what happened.

The blonde looked over her shoulder to see that Dusty was holding two fingers up of his right hand.

"I hate you," she hissed, not for preventing some entertainment of the guy falling, but having her think on the question.

Dusty grinned as he dropped his hand to lace his fingers again while leaning forward. "Now don't get pouty just because I'm slapping you in the face with reality."

"I ought to slap you."

"Go right ahead and see where it gets you. I've been punched by beings far stronger than you recently."

Sam rolled her eyes and pushed down her frustration.

Dusty continued, "How about this? Why don't you tell Cat why you really want to make this jump for Dice? Just be honest that you don't want to let him down and explain in detail why you'll be alright."

The former troublemaker curiously eyed him, this time not wholeheartedly disregarding his words and just thought on them. She remained quiet for what seemed like minutes before she uttered, "I'll think about it."

The Southern teenager shook his head thinking she was almost as stubborn as him.

Benson Residence
Manhattan, NYC
Friday, October 18, 2013

Amanda had been anxious for most of the day. She could barely focus on class during the day and nearly forgot that she had to cheer at that evening's school football game. Fortunately she was able to focus enough to lead the cheer team and the team one their game. After the game, she skipped out on her friends and the rest of her cheer team to head home and get ready for her evening with Tori. Some of them thought that she was hooking up with her on-again/off-again boyfriend and she let them think such a thing. The last thing she needed was them to swamp the starlet and spoil their evening.

However, the feeling unfortunately was slowly replaced with disappointment as the evening passed and she hadn't heard from Tori. She was ready to give up and change when she heard the doorbell ring. She jumped off her bed and headed to the door to answer it before her parents got off the couch.

Amanda reached the door and took a second to look through the peephole, seeing her expected guest. She let out a relieving laugh then opened the door.

Tori was standing on the other side of the threshold to the high end apartment. She turned on playful, but quite tired smile. It was understandable since it was just after ten and she had an early morning call time. Her voice matched her tired appearance, "Hey Amanda."

"Hey Tori," the redhead quickly answered and motioned for her to step inside.

The brunette musical sensation stepped inside and slightly turned to Amanda after crossing into the foyer and the shorter girl shut and locked the door behind them. "I'm sorry I'm so late, but filming ran over. We're trying to play a little catch up for the two days I missed."

"It's okay. I wasn't expecting you to show up with it being so late."

"I said I would be here and I didn't want to disappoint you."

Amanda's smile grew a little bigger, glad that Jon was right about what Jade had told him about Tori's dedication to commitments.

Tori glanced around the upscale penthouse, thoroughly impressed. "I'm not intruding then am I?"

The dark redhead shook her head. "No, no. It's Friday. It's not like I have anywhere to be tomorrow. Do you have filming tomorrow?"

Tori smiled in relief while answering, "No. We were able to make up the time I missed."

"Then neither of us has to worry about tomorrow, but couldn't they just add a few days to the production? You were in a major car accident."

The brunette shook her head. "I didn't want them to push things back because of me."

Amanda wanted to reassure her that the accident wasn't her fault, but she was sure that the rest of her friends already did such a thing and she was probably sick of being told.

Fortunately, she didn't have to remark as Tori asked, "Where do you want to go? You were going to be the tour guide."

The dark redhead shook her head. "You look exhausted; we don't have to go out."

"But I promised we'd hang out tonight—"

"And we can. Since it's so late and you look like you're about to drop, would you like to just stay in? I could order us some pizza and find something on Webflix."

Tori let out a sigh and barely took a moment to think on her suggestion before answering, "That sounds like a fantastic way to spend the rest of the evening."

Amanda smiled at the acceptance of her suggestion and Tori slipped off her leather jacket, the one that she accidentally took with her from the set. The young Benson took the jacket for her then led her further into the apartment.

They quickly met up with the husband and wife of the home as they got up from the couch. They were in casually nightwear for the evening. Mister Benson put on a bright and friendly smile as he greeted her, "Hello Miss Vega, I'm glad to see you're doing alright. We didn't get a chance to meet when I was in L.A. I didn't want to disturb you."

Tori returned the smile and answered, "Thank you. I was quite fortunate. I appreciate the visit even though I wasn't up for it at the time."

Mister Benson politely nodded with a smile.

The second Mrs. Benson offered her hand to the singer and greeted her, "Hello, Miss Vega."

Tori took a moment to examine the matriarch of the home. She was a lovely woman perhaps in her late thirties with fair skin and long dark brown hair put in a pony tail. She was a few inches taller than Tori, but her husband still nearly towered over her. The singer took her hand and answered without hesitation, "Hello Mrs. Benson."

Tori's smile tightened after realizing what she said and felt a nervous feeling, something that the married couple immediately picked up. The brunette quickly explained in an apologetic manner, "I'm sorry. I'm just used to referring to someone else as Mrs. Benson."

Mister Benson's smile strained at the mention of his ex-wife.

However, the current Mrs. Benson didn't show any signs of being upset with the statement. "It's perfectly alright my dear. I'm aware of the situation with ah… Fredward at the moment. You can call me Prudence—Prue for short."

"Thank you Mrs. Prue. I hope you can understand the… kind of trap I'm in."

"Yes, I'm sure it must be awkward being in such a position. It's my understanding that you're quite close with him."

Tori readily agreed, "Freddie is a very dear friend of mine, one of my best friends. I wouldn't want to know what it would be like without him."

"I'm sure that Amanda will be thrilled with everything you can share with her about him."

Amanda took Tori's wrist and gently pulled on her arm. "Let me show you my room and I can order us some pizza. You'll love local New York pizza."

Mrs. Prue happily watched them go while her husband wore a concerned expression.

Tori quickly agreed to avoid anymore tension and possible alienation with the parents and followed the shorter teenager. They arrived at Amanda's room and it was an impressive one to the musician's eyes. It was fairly large room considering they were in an apartment, even one as extravagant as the one in this building.

Most of the room was decorated with light spring colors. She looked like she had at least a queen sized bed and an impressive television and entertainment center against one side of the wall. There were a number of cheer awards on one shelf and there was a section off to the side of sci-fi memorabilia.

The duel singer/actress let out a laugh while motioning towards the spot, "Just like Freddie's room."

Amanda lips parted and jaw slacked in surprise then questioned, "It is?"

"Yeah, he's got a section where he hangs up his sci-fi memorabilia and some of his action figures—Galaxy Wars I believe."

"He told me some of the things he had collected over the years. I'm kind of jealous of a few of his things."

The brunette smirked at hearing the similarity between the siblings, just confirming in her mind the truth. She walked to the girl's vanity table and noticed a few pictures. She instantly recognized Jonathan of course in a picture with Amanda. She raised an eyebrow at seeing apparently Sam, Gibby and Katie, the younger sister of the lead singer to Big Time Rush. Apparently it was true that Sam had her own doppelganger and it looked like it was true for a few others. In one picture that caught her attention was one of Amanda and a young African-American teenager with his arm around her shoulders and her resting her hand on his stomach.

She picked up the picture to show it to Amanda and asked, "Who is this?"

Amanda bashfully admitted, "That is Ben."

"Ben?" Tori playfully teased as she would do with any of her female friends.

"My kinda boyfriend."

"Kinda?"

Amanda embarrassingly smiled and answered, "It's… complicated."

"Most relationships are," Tori softly laughed in return.

"Is yours with Beck?"

Tori lifted a corner of her mouth and knotted her brow.

The shorter teenager instantly thought she had pried too much. "I'm sorry. That was too private."

"No, it's fine. We're happy, but like all couples, we have our ups and downs. Don't get too hung up on it in your relationship with Ben and think it has to be perfect. I don't know of any perfect relationship."

Amanda gave a slight nod then remarked, "Freddie and Jade seemed to be great together—if you believe what's reported in the news."

The brunette laughed, "Oh have they had their obstacles to get where they are now. Knowing them individually, you wouldn't expect them to be together, but they just complement each other so well and it helps that they love each other so much."

The Benson sister reluctantly admitted, "I haven't told Ben that though."

"Don't feel pressure to say it if you're not ready. I know it took months for Jade and Freddie to say that to each other with their histories of relationships. You have to be honest with your own feelings before you can be honest with them to someone else…"

Tori momentarily looked lost in her thoughts about her feelings with a certain longed hair actor.

Amanda noticed, but decided to leave her guest in her thoughts and walked over to her desk to pick up her laptop then walked to her flat screen television. She plugged the laptop to the television and brought up her Webflix account. "Do you have anything in mind?"

The question brought Tori out of her thoughts and answered, "Not really."

"Hey, we could catch up on the first season of Beck's show?"

Tori's stomach did a flip-flop as her mind flashed to watching Beck act out with his very attractive co-stars that included being quite intimate with one of them. She quickly made the excuse, "Thanks, but I think that would just make me miss him more until he gets here."

Amanda apparently didn't notice and quickly agreed, "Sure, I'll find something else." She looked to the laptop screen and asked, "What about a comedy? Or since it's close to Halloween, something scary?"

After a few minutes of debate and getting the movie, a compromise between comedy and Halloween—Fun Size, started, Amanda picked up her phone and called up a local pizza place. She placed the call then the pair hopped on the bed and Tori idly commented after settling, "It's kind of like a sleepover with Cat."

"Cat? The redhead that looks just like me?"

"Yeah."

"She's ah…"

"She's sweet and nice," Tori picked up without a second thought.

"I was going to say fake."

Tori's brow shot up and gave her an unbelieving expression.

Amanda made another embarrassing face, kicking herself with voicing her honest opinion. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to sound rude, but it seems like a front to me. That she's trying to hide something."

Tori tightened her smile. "I'm not sure I want to talk about that."

"Is something wrong?"

"No, ah… her ex, a mutual friend of ours, says that she puts up that front to protect herself and we just humor her. I guess you're seeing what he saw."

The half-sister of one of her best friends nodded and answered, "Okay, but I'm sorry if I'm being rude or sounding like I'm bashing your friend."

"No, it's good to be honest. You're not bashing her. You wouldn't believe how many people say what they want me to hear. It's always refreshing."

"Thanks," Amanda sighed relieved that she hadn't upset her guest.

The pair turned their attention to the movie and shared laughs through out. Fortunately, the pizza arrived in no time and paused the movie only long enough for Amanda to bring it back to the room. The started it right back up and dug into the pizza and resumed their movie watching.

Tori felt an overwhelming sense of tension leave her as she was enjoying the movie and company. Her companion for the night may not have been Cat, but sense of familiarity was comforting enough.

As the movie's credits started rolling and Amanda noticing the time, she suggested, "You mentioned earlier that you have sleepovers with Cat, so you could stay here for the night if you wanted."

The famous brunette cracked another smile, something that had been on her face most of the night, and answered, "You know what, that sounds like a great idea—as long as it's alright with your parents."

"It'll be fine." Amanda slipped off the bed without further discussion on that point and commented, "You may be taller, but I'm sure I have something that you can wear." She reached her drawers and opened one to search for some of her older clothes. She pulled out a large t-shirt then a pair of old gym sweatpants. She walked over to hand it to her guest and said, "You can change and I'll let my parents know you're staying."

The redhead exited her room and walked back to the living room. Her parents were snuggled up with each other on the couch. Her mother lifted her head off her husband's shoulder and asked, "What is it honey?"

"Since it's so late, Tori's going to spend the night."

Tori assumed the redhead would phrase it as a question, but she was clearly one to speak her mind and one that usually got her way. If Tori had overheard her, she actually reminded her of Jade in some respects.

Mister Benson looked like he was about to object, but his wife smiled and offered, "Oh, that's fine."

Amanda turned and headed for her room for the night with an audible shutting of her door.

Mrs. Prue started on her way to her bedroom ready to call it a night, but Mister Benson stopped her with a gentle grip of her waist to turn her to face him. He softly questioned, "Is that wise for her to stay tonight?"

"What's the problem with her staying the night?

Leonard lowered his voice, "She's that boy's friend and I don't like how enthusiastic Amanda in trying to establish a relationship with him. Her being here is just an avenue for Mandy to be a part of his life."

The dark headed matriarch of the family cut him off with a curt tone, "Leonard enough. You're going to have to face the fact that he's probably your son."

"So I made a mistake? I was wrong to believe she cheated on me with another man? An eleven month pregnancy? I was supposed to believe that nonsense?"

"Yes, you probably did make the mistake. As ludicrous as it sounds, he's probably yours."

The handsome gentleman squared his jaw and retorted, "And if I hadn't, we would have never met and wouldn't have had Jonathan and Amanda."

She couldn't deny his obvious point, "No we wouldn't, but you can't compound the mistake of denying him when your daughter won't do such a thing."

Leonard countered, "He hasn't attempted to reach out to me once since we met."

The brunette middle-aged woman crossed her arms under her chest. "With what you probably said about his mother and what she's probably said about you over the years, I'm not surprised. It's up to you whether or not you want to have any kind of relationship with him in the future, but for right now, if Amanda wants to establish a sibling relationship with him, you shouldn't—you won't—interfere. If it turns out that he could be poisoning her feelings towards you then we'll step in, but if not, you could risk her getting upset with you. I've picked up the hints of tension between her and Jonny because he's taking your side. We don't want that blowing up between them or us."

Leonard took a deep breath and held his tongue. Prudence could be just as stubborn as he—it was one of the things that appealed to him about her. He finally spoke, "Okay, I won't say anything. I won't say a word to Amanda."

Prudence smiled and lovingly patted her husband on the chest then kissed him on the cheek. "Good, now I'm ready for bed. You can stay in here or…" A grin formed on her face as she finished, "…we can forget about the rest of the world in a very productive manner."

The handsome Benson patriarch ran his tongue on the inside of his lip and shook his head. He certainly wasn't going to turn down some 'quality time' with his wife. He turned off the television and got up from the couch and she took his hand to lead him to their bedroom.

Over the course of the next two hours, the teenagers finished watching another movie and the last slice either of them were going to eat for the night, unaware that had been happening on the other side of the apartment. Tori looked like she was about to doze off, but before she went off into dreamland, Amanda pointed, "I just need to make a quick video chat before bed."

"Oh it's fine."

Amanda quickly got up to disconnect her laptop from the television and brought it back to the bed. She brought her up PearChat and sent a video request. Several seconds passed by before it was acknowledged and accepted. Jonathan's face appeared on the screen and immediately smiled at his sister's appearance. "Hey Jon."

The dark redhead shifted the laptop on her lap to allow for them to be within the frame of the camera.

Tori waved and greeted the teenager three thousand miles away. "Hey!"

Jonathan smiled in return at seeing the very lovely brunette. "Hey, I thought you two would be out tonight."

His sister quickly explained, "Tori's filming ran late, so we decided that we'd just stay in and now it's turned into a sleepover."

The second Benson son softly bit his tongue, surprised that as much concern he had with Freddie staying for a visit in their home, it was Tori to be the first one to spend the night. He continued in a good natured tone towards Tori, "I hope you've been getting a royal treatment."

Amanda answered for her guest, "Oh yeah, we had Totonno's and we're watching movies on my big screen."

Tori was eager to agree, "The pizza was fantastic. You get the best pizza in New York."

"Oh yes it is. You certainly were treated with that. I hope you enjoy the rest of the sleepover…" Jonathan slightly squinted and remarked, "Don't let her go in my room though."

Tori laughed, "I haven't been to your apartment yet, so I don't think it would be fair for me to see your room here."

"Well, when you get back, I'll give you a tour of my place. I think that's only fair since I've gotten to see so much of your place."

"I guess we'll have to make a date for it."

Jonathan attempted his best to keep his surprise off his face with the loaded word 'date' in her statement. "I look forward to it. You just have to give me the heads up before you visit so I can clean up since I'm a bachelor on my own."

Amanda teased, "Your place was at tight as a ship. You don't have to clean up anything."

Tori joined in the soft laughter at the expense of Jonathan, who rolled his eyes at their silliness.

The brunette continued, "How have you been since we talked?"

"Fine, ah… I had lunch with Freddie today."

Amanda eagerly asked, "How was it?"

The other two could hear the hopefulness in her voice, almost desperate for a positive answer. Jonathan didn't disappoint her by answering, "It was fine. He helped me out a little on one of my classes and we just chatted on how things were going. Neither one of us are having any real problems with our classes."

"I told you that he would help you if you needed it."

"I didn't have any doubt that Freddie's a good guy, it's just…" He didn't have to finish the statement, especially with Amanda's disapproving gaze upon him. He wanted to cut off this conversation before he got on the bad side of his sister and Tori, so he politely suggested, "You know… I appreciate the call Amanda, but I wasn't expecting one tonight with your plans with Tori and I'm know it's getting real late on that side of the country and sure you two would like to get back to what's left of the rest of your night."

Amanda looked disappointed that her brother was cutting the conversation short and about to object, but Jonathan grinned and happily bid farewell, "I'll talk to you later. Love you sis."

"No, we're good. We don't have any place to be tomorrow. I'm not going to interrupt you two talking."

Jonathan looked hesitant, but there was just something in Tori's eyes that prevented him from arguing. "Okay… our conversation was kind of standoffish for the most part—I know on my part. I know I don't have to worry about offending Jade, but… I don't want to cause problems with him that could cause problems between Jade and you."

Tori laughed at his discomfort. "Jon, we've been through this, but I guess it's my fault for making things clear. When I told you about not wanting problems, I didn't mean you had to avoid Freddie. It takes a lot to offend Freddie. Unless you start saying some four letter words about Jade or his mother, you two are going to be fine."

Amanda followed up, "You're worrying too much. You can't avoid our brother."

The second Benson son sighed then patiently smiled. "Thanks, I'll try to keep that in mind. So Mandy, anything at school happening?"

"Nothing much. We won the game tonight. Darren still terrifying everyone, Savannah is still acting her heart out, Griffin is being… you know Griffin."

"Yeah, I know Griffin. How about Ben?"

Amanda tightened her smile. "Ben is… you know Ben."

"Yeah… still string his heart along."

"Jon," she nearly shouted at him with a high pitched voice.

The older brother laughed, "I'm just saying. You need to stop giving him mixed signals. He's either your boyfriend or not."

The dark redhead hastily pointed out, "Oh, look at the time. You're right, it is getting late for us."

Jonathan smirked at his baby sister. "It was good to see you tonight Tori. Good luck with the rest of your filming. I'm looking forward to seeing it."

"Thanks."

"Bye sis."

"Bye Jon. Love you."

Jon grinned so much like Freddie to Tori's eyes as he tapped a button on his laptop and the video chat ended.

Amanda wore a bittersweet smile as the video closed out.

Tori remarked almost rhetorically, but quite sympathetic, "You miss him."

"Yeah, sure, we can get on each other's nerves like brothers and sisters do, but… he's always been here and I'm still getting used to him not being here. I don't see him in school and now he's not here for dinner or the weekend."

"I know the feeling. I think that's one of the big reasons that Trina and I moved in together. With our parents separating then divorcing, it felt like our family was tearing itself apart. We clung to each other tighter and decided that we weren't ready to live separately."

"You have a big house, so you can avoid stepping on each other's toes."

"Sure, but sometimes she tries to put her foot down as my big sister.

"How?"

"It usually involves her getting on to me about Beck staying late and attempting to stay overnight at times."

"Does she not like Beck?"

Tori sighed and glanced towards the ceiling as she gathered her thoughts. She licked her lips and answered, "She still has concerns about him after all this time. She doesn't want a repeat of what happened between him and Jade with me… and I think she's terrified that he'll get me pregnant to always be a part of his life."

"That's… really thinking the worst of him."

"I think so too, but it hasn't gotten that bad between us. We haven't had any real arguments over her concerns."

Amanda slightly blushed as she asked, "Is that really all that a big of concern?"

Tori refrained from mentioning the possible 'future' that Jade had 'seen' early the previous year where it was revealed that Tori was pregnant by Beck before they were married.

"No. We've all grown over the last few years. Beck doesn't intend… to repeat the same mistakes he did with Jade."

The Benson sister narrowed her gaze on Tori just slightly and thought that it could be her imagination at hearing that Tori wasn't entirely confident in such an assessment. A stray thought crossed Amanda's mind that Tori could be with someone that wouldn't give her such doubts. She was so caught up in her train of thought that she almost missed Tori saying, "I have no intention of having a baby anytime soon."

"Right, you're just nineteen, right?"

Tori nodded and smirked. "Yeah, I have a few years before I'm ready to be a mom—I want that one day, but not anytime soon."

Amanda was curious about one other thing, but was concerned that she would offend her. "Is it strange being with your friend's ex-boyfriend?"

"I think it would if it happened soon after they broke up, but we didn't start until almost a year after they broke up and Jade was well into her relationship with Freddie. I was kind of concern with it, but Freddie reminded me that people move on and we don't get a say on who gets to date who after a relationship ends."

"Isn't it kind of self-serving for Freddie? If Beck's moved on with you, he can't really threaten Freddie's relationship with Jade."

Tori shook her head. "Nope, Beck was never really a threat to them after they got together. Freddie actually tried to help them get back together before Jade realized she wanted to move on and with Freddie."

"Really?"

"Yeah. He encouraged her and arranged for them to spend the afternoon together after we got back from Yerba—after he arranged for us to get rescued—then tried to ditch out on a celebratory dinner so they could spend more time together to try to patch things up. Freddie didn't take advantage of the situation."

"Wow… that's…"

"That's pretty much Freddie, trying to do the right thing even if it means falling on his sword. We've moved on and we're happy."

"That's just… it's just kind of hard to believe."

"It wasn't easy for any of us, but we made it. All those feelings you'd expect: jealousy, anger, regret, confusion, loyalty… we all dealt with them in our own way."

Silence fell between the girls as Amanda contemplated Tori's words. However, after about a minute, the silence was too much for Tori in rehashing in her mind everything that happened for them to arrive at this point. Tori licked her lips and suggested with a grin, "You called one of your brothers, how about I call the other?"

Amanda raised a curious eyebrow and in that moment, the brunette musician slid the laptop onto her lap then logged into her own account. She brought up her PearChat and looked at her contact list. She sent her video request and almost immediately it was accepted. The video chat window opened and showed Freddie's face and shoulders. It looked he was sitting up in bed with jus a grey T-shirt. He snorted out and grinned at not just seeing Tori, but Amanda next to her. "Hey Tori, hey Amanda. This is a surprise."

"Hey Freddie," Amanda happily greeted her lost brother.

Tori followed up with slight caution, "What's going on? We didn't interrupt your evening did we?"

"No, Jade and I are just relaxing, but I'm surprised to hear from you."

Jade leaned over onto Freddie's right shoulder and continued, "Aren't you supposed to be out seeing the city? Hi Amanda."

"Hi Jade."

Tori answered Freddie's question, "I got done too late with filming and Amanda suggested that we just stay in for the evening."

Amanda joked, "Yeah, I'm surprised she hasn't fallen asleep yet."

The pale singer on the other side of the connection retorted, "Trust me, with some of the awards shows we've had to attend, we've come up with ways to stay awake."

Tori laughed at recalling a number they had gone to that required them to get creative not to be bored out of their minds. She picked up, "Any news since the last time we talked? You know whatever you haven't put on TwitFlash."

Jade sarcastically answered, "Yeah, Sam wants to jump a giant tank filled with vicious tuna tomorrow and Cat is freaking out. They're having a little spat about it."

Tori knotted her brow and uttered, "What?"

Freddie continued with a sigh, "Dice won a poker hand, but instead of the guy paying him 'the tuna', he literally paid him in tuna."

Amanda asked what she thought was the obvious question, "Why doesn't he just sell them?"

Jade jumped back into the conversation, "Because no one eats them. Supposedly they taste awful and the only way to actually make any money is for them to pull off this stunt. The original guy backed out, but Sam's still insistent to go through with it."

"Where's Cat right now?"

"She's still at her place. I offered her to crash here, but she didn't want to leave. I think she thinks if she pouts enough, Sam will listen to her."

"Lost cause there. Sam's too stubborn."

The brunette in NYC questioned, "Has anyone thought about calling Carly?"

Jade sighed, "I thought about it—if we can get a hold of her, but I think that would make things worst."

"How?"

"If Sam listened to Carly—and that's not even a guarantee anymore—but not Cat, what does that make their friendship?"

Tori shook her head and stated the obvious to them, "But it's not a secret how close Carly and Sam are. They're practically sisters."

"Yeah, but over the last year, Cat thinks they've become really close. They do live together after all. It might break Cat's heart about how much Sam sees their friendship differently."

The brunette rubbed her forehead, feeling a slight headache about to come on, and asked, "If Sam goes through with it, will you be there?"

Jade answered, her voice carrying with it her irritation over the entire situation, "They were going to take Ian to see the original guy, so I'm not sure if that is still on. Ian wouldn't want Sam to get hurt either."

Freddie tiredly remarked, "Too bad that Sam isn't thinking on that either."

Jade picked up, "If Ian goes, I'll be there and we'll just deal with the chizz between Cat and Sam."

"Okay, I know whatever happens, Cat'll be fine with you there and Sam…"

"She'll do whatever she wants," Freddie remarked with bitterness lingering in his voice.

"I'm just saying that I'm not going to worry and you shouldn't either. I have faith in both of you to make sure everything is okay."

Jade raised her voice in the same nineteen forties star that she used to mock Tori and spoke, "Did you hear that my dear? Tori has faith in us."

Tori rolled her eyes and Amanda let out a giggle at hearing such a ridiculous impression. "I haven't heard that voice in a while."

"I haven't needed it."

The old rivals shared a smile before Tori remarked, "I'm sure you two love birds would like to enjoy the rest of your evening. We just wanted to say hi before bed."

Freddie answered, "We appreciate the call. You have a good night and we'll talk later."

"Later," the actress answered and was about to click off by habit, forgetting for the moment she wasn't alone and not using her own computer.

The dark redhead voice, "Bye Freddie."

Freddie softly smiled to his sister and waved, "Bye Amanda."

Tori ended the video chat and Amanda took the laptop over to her desk then plugged it up to charge for the night. Amanda led Tori to the bathroom and the pair went through their respective evening routines.

Amanda took her side of the bed and flicked off the lamp then pair settled in for the night. They looked up at the ceiling and were prepared to doze off to sleep, but something was bothering Amanda to prevent her from falling to sleep. The dark redhead quietly asked, "You said you have to deal with people that won't be honest with you. I can imagine that a lot of people would do that so they could to try to take advantage of you."

"Yes, it's true. It's one of the downsides of being successful in Hollywood. It's sad to be so fake."

"So I was wondering, if you don't mind me asking, if that's the case why are you so nice to me and here?"

"You seem genuine and… I feel safe because… you're a Benson. You're Freddie's sister and I guess I see those things in you that I see in Freddie. I know that I'll be alright."

"You and him are really close?"

"Very,"

The dark redhead paused, licking her lips then continuing, "Freddie's worried that I could do that. I could just be getting close to him to take advantage of Jade, him… you."

"He's being pragmatic. There are plenty of people that like to take advantage of us. I had family I never heard of try to get close to me. The same with Freddie's family and Jade's family. Freddie loves Jade and he loves me. He looks out for us, tries to protect us. We're—"

"He loves you? What do you mean?"

Tori softly smiled and slightly rolled to see Amanda's profile. "We're a lot alike, so we became close when he moved to L.A. We're the least like the others in the sense of the craziness that happens around us, so we were naturally drawn together. He's been my friend, my shoulder when I needed it—his shoulder during the dark times…" She snorted out with a sweet smile, "My champion… I wouldn't have preformed on the PMAs without him… He's kind of like my…"

"What?"

"…brother… he loves me and I love him."

Tori's description of her relationship with Freddie disturbed the redhead and felt a sense of envy. She muttered, "I hope we can get that close—Freddie and me, I mean. It's like I was missing something in my life that I didn't even know I was missing and now… he's still so far away."

"I think it's going to be okay. It's just going to take some time for Freddie. You know it's just as big a bombshell on you as him finding out you have sibling."

Amanda nodded back against her pillow in understanding. They were all dealing with the news each in their own way: Jonathan and her father in denial, her mother quietly neutral, she mixed with regret/sadness/joy and Freddie… open, but cautious. She didn't want to think about that too much as for the moment, she couldn't see them being a family anytime in the near future.

"When you described him, it almost sounded like you were describing a boyfriend and not a brother."

Tori let out a soft giggle. "I won't deny that Freddie has a lot of qualities that appeal to girls. He's quite the catch and Jade's lucky to have him, but we're not that way. In another life…"

Amanda softly nudged Tori with her elbow and remarked, "Yeah, in another life. If you didn't have a boyfriend, I'd remind you that he does have a brother…" She followed up with a teasing laugh.

The brunette forced a smile and joined with half-hearted laughing.

The Benson daughter calmed her laughter then wished, "Goodnight Tori."

Tori distractedly answered, "Goodnight Amanda."

The brunette remained staring at the ceiling for several more minutes as the redhead's words bounced around in her head before the sheer exhaustion of the day dragged her into sleep.

Author's Note: Benson brother's thawing? Shay for President? I do find it funny that his opponent announced she was going to run for President on the day I post this chapter (the scene was written before the announcement). Some insight into the Benson family and Tori's thoughts? I hope you enjoyed the chapter and someone is jumping some tuna next chapter. Until then, take care, OneHorseShay.

Special Guest Star Julie McNiven as Anna
Special Guest Star Emily Deschanel as Prudence Benson
Special Guest Star David Boreanaz as Leonard Benson