So it's been a month. I know. There really shouldn't be any excuses expect that last days of school were busy and that I got addicted to the show Kyle XY. Anyone seen it? It's soooo good.

Anyways, here is chapter three! Sorry, it's kind of long. Song of the chapter is Union J's Carry You

Chapter Three: Carry You

-We'll take each step together, 'til you come back to center,
you know that I know the real you-

"Where are we going?" Cat asked as she followed Robbie out of Hollywood Arts. Outside, the sky was gray and the sun hid behind the clouds. Cat had only been inside the school for only a half hour, but according to the world around her, since it had been sunny when she had entered the high school, she had been in there for much longer.

"Tori's house. It's only about ten minutes from here," Robbie replied. He walked to his own car, a red truck that must have been around about ten years old. It was parked right next to Cat's car. As Robbie continued speaking, she leaned over and bucked Nevaeh into the backseat. "We used to hang out at Tori's house all the time, she lived in the nicest house out of all of us and we could all fit on the couch."

Cat never asked, but she assumed Tori was Tori Vega, the girl Sam told her about and whose Slap page had been the one Cat spent all night looking for. Once upon a time Cat really did know her, she was more than just a tiny icon on a social media website. She wished that one day she could remember all the memories she once had of Tori Vega, both the good and the bad.

"I'll just follow you down there, okay?" Cat said after she finished securing Nevaeh's car seat. Robbie nodded and got into his truck. Cat climbed into her own car and started it up. Robbie took a second to pull out of the parking lot, but when he did he started driving north and Cat followed. She grabbed her phone from her pocket as she drove and dialed Sam's number. It might be the only opportunity she has to check up on her friend the entire night.

"Hey Cat," Sam answered on the third ring. Cat could hear the sound of a boy's voice in the background, asking who it was and Sam's voice replying with, "My old roommate Cat."

"Who are you with?" Cat asked, hearing the boy speak again in the background but unable to make out what he said.

"One of my old friends, Freddie. He's helping me unpack. So what's up with you?"

Sam had mentioned Freddie millions of time in the past few months, so she knew who he was. Freddie had been on iCarly with her and both had been in a short-lived relationship.

"I am just trying to remember," she replied, which was the truth. She didn't want to get to into detail about where she was and what she was doing, because something inside her told her it wasn't a good idea. "I can't talk for long, but how's Seattle?"

"It's home." Sam said. Cat pictured her at her old house, watching television, eating of course, because that was the only home she could imagine Sam having. "It's great to be home."

Cat wondered what that felt like, being home. Was it a constant feeling of did it bounce all around depending on the moon of the household. She wondered what her was like as if it was in a small apartment in San Diego or some house somewhere in a suburb of Los Angeles. How close to her home was she?

"I'm picking up my mom from jail on the 26th or 27th," Sam continued speaking, breaking Cat from her thoughts. Still, she only listened somewhat, enough to know what Sam was talking about, but not enough to know every detail she mentioned. "I'm going to do everything I can to keep her from being put in their once again. Trying to get her into some group counseling and obeying her patrol, you know that kind of stuff."

"That's great," Cat said, "Think she can do it?"

"I hope so. My twin sister, Melanie-I don't think I've ever mentioned her to you-well, she's flying out from wherever she goes to school to help me for the semester. And even though she's a little crazy, I'm going to need her help."

"She can't be that crazy" Cat said, "I bet people have crazier siblings."

"Like who? You?"

"Who knows?" Cat shrugged, even though she knew Sam couldn't see it, "Maybe I have a crazy brother."

Sam laughed on the other end, and Cat laughed too. She never really thought about having siblings, but chances are she has brothers or sisters, living life without knowing what happened to their sister.

In front of her, Robbie's truck pulled into a house's driveway and Cat pulled in behind him. This is Tori's house, she thought, I have been here before.

"I have to go," she said into the phone and ended the call before any goodbyes were given. She stared at the house for as long as she could before Robbie tapped on her window and motioned for her to exit her car. And just like that, she didn't want to get out, but instead drive back to that little apartment in San Diego that wasn't quite home and never look back on her short trip to Los Angeles, but it was too late now. She stepped out of the car and opened the back door to grab Nevaeh and the diaper bag. The baby was still sound asleep, looking like a tiny angel.

Robbie started walking up the driveway to the front door. Cat trailed him, joining up with him at the door.

"She doesn't know you're coming," Robbie said when she met up with him, "I just asked her if she could help me get the gang back together tonight and she said she would."

Cat nodded and shifted Nevaeh's car seat to the other arm. She wouldn't admit it out loud, but she would do anything just to turn back and never return. She felt like that way in the car, but here it was much stronger. Her stomach felt like it was about to eat itself and her head was beginning to pound. She knew she was just nervous, but being nervous wasn't something she could remember ever being before. In the past three months, Cat never really had the reason to be nervous, up until now. When Robbie rang the doorbell, she focused on Nevaeh to distract her. She watched her little hands opening and closing and her little eyelids trying to stay shut, both signs that she was slowly waking up. Cat almost didn't notice the front door swing open, so focusing on Nevaeh almost worked at a distraction, but not quite.

"Robbie," a voice said. Cat couldn't see the person who spoke, but she knew it had to be Tori. "It's so great to see you."

She didn't say anything to Cat, but since Cat stood to the side of the door and not in front of it, she wasn't surprised. Tori just didn't see her. Robbie realized this too and he looked at Cat, his eyes saying 'Stay quiet. Let's surprise her' Cat nodded and he smiled.

"It's great to see you too." Robbie replied. Cat wondered when the last time they had actually talked to each other was. Robbie had said graduation back when she was talking to him at the school, but there might have been a time after that they had muttered a quick hello to each other. Or maybe it had been before they graduated from Hollywood Arts, where they had exchanged only a few words in the hallway. And what about the last time they saw Cat? What had they said to her? And what did they say to them? Was it goodbye?

"I called Jade, Beck, and Andre; and even though it took Jade a lot of convincing, all of the agreed to come," Tori said. Cat recalled all those names from earlier, especially Andre, who was connected to the only thing she could remember. "They'll be here as soon as they can. I think this is great, you know we haven't hung out since the day before Cat disappeared. Remember that day? It was so much fun."

Robbie nodded his head; he did remember.

"I wished I knew that I wouldn't see her again after that, just so I could tell her goodbye and that she was a great friend."

After Tori spoke, Robbie stayed silent. Cat wasn't sure if this was her cue or not and she looked to Robbie for the answer, but he didn't even glance in her direction. She looked down at Nevaeh to see if her baby would be any help, but she still lay semi-awake and silent.

Finally, Cat stepped forward in front of the door, revealing herself to Tori. She watched Tori's expression change from one with a hint of sadness into shock. Her eyes began to form tears. If Cat had her memory, perhaps she would be acting the same after seeing her for the first time in two years. Perhaps she would be throwing her arms around Tori's neck and be apologizing over and over again for leaving. But instead, she stood still in front of the doorway and waved to Tori in a very awkward way.

"I found Cat," Robbie finally said and Cat felt like slapping him. He knew he could have made the entire thing less weird to Cat.

Tori took a step forward, stepping fully out of her house. Cat closed her eyes and prayed that Tori wouldn't try to hug her. It wasn't because Cat didn't want to be hugged but because she didn't actually know Tori anymore. A few years ago, she may have been best friends with her, but right now Tori was like everyone else in the world. A stranger. However, Tori must have sensed this and didn't move anymore that the step she had already made. Instead, she took a deep breath and said, "Something isn't right."

Cat glanced at the ground then back to the thing she had been trying to distract herself with all day, Nevaeh. She heard Tori gasp as she followed Cat's gaze, noticing the baby for the first time. It was difficult to figure out what to say next and Cat looked to Robbie for help. He got what Cat was trying to ask him, saying out loud, "There's more than just the baby, but let's wait for Cat to explain after everyone gets here."

Tori just stayed silent and invited them in.

OoOoOoO

For ten minutes, they sat on the couch in Tori's house in silence. Cat pretended to be texting someone, but she was really playing games on her phone. Robbie and Tori whispered to one another, to quiet for Cat to hear the full conversation, but she did catch words like Rex and puppet and gone, but they all just made no sense to her, so she let the silence drag on even longer instead of making small talk.

It was Neveah's sudden whimper that broke the silence. In her car seat, her eyes were wide open and staring at the ceiling of the unfamiliar place. Cat leaned over and unbuckled her from the seat. As she lifted her daughter up, a stench immediately came from her. Cat grabbed the diaper bag from off the floor and slipped it over her shoulders.

"Is there any place I can change her?" she asked.

Tori, who was watching Cat's every move now instead of quietly talking to Robbie, said, "You can use the bathroom,"

"Where is it?" Cat looked around the room, as if the toilet was right in the middle of the living room.

"Don't you remember?" Tori gave her a strange glance, like she was trying to say 'You haven't been gone that long.' Cat stared at the ground and slightly shook her head.

Robbie pointed at a door, answering Cat's question for Tori, "It's right there."

She muttered a quick thank you and walked in the direction of the bathroom, Nevaeh grasping onto the top of her arm. "You stink, 'Vaeh," Cat said to her and she smiles, as if she understood what Cat had said.

In the bathroom, she closed the door and laid Nevaeh down on the long counter, changing the infant out of her stinky diaper in what could be record breaking time. She did have to change her outfit from the yellow polka dotted bodysuit she had on into a blue and yellow one-piece decorated with cartoon daisies that Cat kept in the diaper bag as a backup in case of this situation, where the smell still lingered on Nevaeh's original outfit. After Nevaeh was clean once again, she didn't leave the bathroom. She wasn't really in the mood of going back out there into the living room and facing Tori and Robbie and the awkward silence. Instead, she took a seat on the tiled floor and sat Nevaeh down on her lap.

And she stayed there for almost ten minutes, using the toys she kept in the diaper bag to play with Nevaeh. Every time Cat held a toy out of her reach, the baby would squeal in anger, which made Cat giggle. And every time she managed to get a toy out of Cat's hands, she made a similar sound, only this time in happiness. However, she never knew what to do with it next and the toy would end up slipping away from her grasp and falling to the ground, making Nevaeh even angrier and Cat giggle even more.

Nevaeh was her own tiny person, reaching different milestones each day, constantly surprising Cat at what she could do at only fifteen weeks old. It was the moments like these, where Cat took a few minutes out of what was happening in her life, even when she was trying to hide from what was happening, and focused on Nevaeh that she realized how perfect she was. A perfect, little human being that had an entire future in front of her. For Cat, Nevaeh was the only thing keeping her going, the only thing she truly knew.

When she finally stood from off the floor and exited the bathroom, it wasn't really by choice, but because she could hear more voices coming from the living room. She made sure everything she had taken out of the bag was once again placed back into it. She threw the bag over her shoulder and centered Nevaeh on her hip and walked out of the bathroom like she was only in there for a few minutes.

Three were two more people on the couch next to Tori and Robbie, a girl with long black hair and a scowl on her face, like she didn't really want to be here and a boy with brown-black hair and a lot of it.

"Hi," said aloud, almost muttering, but loud enough for everyone's head to turn towards her. She took a seat next to Robbie, fortunate enough to have no one to the right of her. She leaned over and whispered to Robbie, "Is everyone here?"

He shook his head and whispered back, "No. Andre just needs to show up."

"Andre?"

"Locker dude."

"I knew that." Cat wasn't sure how she was going to remember these names and faces. She'd forgotten Andre's name after hearing it a dozen times.

Cat slumped in her chair to try to blend in with all the surroundings, but it was hard when the only pair of eyes not staring at her were her own. It was the black haired girl that made her uncomfortable, though. She sat on the other end of the couch, leaning forward, her hand-which rested on one of her knees-held her head. And her eyes were wide and almost scary, looking straight at Cat.

"Where have you been?" the girl asked.

Cat sunk down even more, but didn't answer.

"Why didn't you call us? Or text us? Or freaking tweet us for God's sake."

She stayed silent.

"Jade," the guy with a lot of hair said to her, "Relax. I'm sure Cat has a reason why."

Cat liked the guy almost instantly. He was calm and cool and Cat felt like he wouldn't press her for answers she couldn't deliver. He seemed like the opposite of the girl-Jade, that was what her name was-who spoke like she didn't care but forceful at the same time. Cat wasn't sure how that was possible, but Jade managed to do it.

Jade looked towards the guy and then back at Cat. Cat looked away, but she could still hear Jade's words, "So Cat, what's the reason? What was so damn important that you packed your bags and left without even a goodbye?"

"I don't know," she answered quietly. There was no reply, so Cat didn't know if Jade didn't hear here and was still waiting for an answere or if she didn't did hear her and just didn't want to continue the conversation. Whatever it was, Cat wouldn't know because she didn't look at Jade to see.

"Is she your daughter?" Cat heard the other guy say, referring to Nevaeh who was sitting on her lap. Changing the subject was what Cat needed, and she turned her head to look at the guy, blocking out Jade sitting next to him. He took this as a yes and continued speaking, "What is her name? How old is she?"

"Nevaeh. Her name is Nevaeh. And she's three months old; fifteen weeks. So almost four months, actually."

Nevaeh cooed loudly, like she knew they were talking about her.

"You like talking about her, don't you?" the guy asked.

Cat was confused about what he said at first, but then she realized that talking about Nevaeh, she spoke in a tone other than a mutter. She wrapped her arms around the infant's tiny body and nodded, "Yeah. I do. She's the only thing I really know."

"But you don't know what freaking happened to you?" Jade asked. Cat glanced at her for only a second, giving her the meanest glimpse that she could. Jade just laughed and Cat just looked away. She heard Jade speak once again, in a confused tone this time, as if she was trying to piece everything together, "Do you know anything?"

"No," Cat said.

"What's my name? My full name?"

"I don't know."

"Jadelyn Marie West."

"You don't look like a Jadelyn."

The other guy, Cat searched her mind for the names Robbie had mentioned earlier for his name and decided that he must be Beck, spoke up, asking, "Do you have amnesia?" and Cat just nodded her head to answer, "What all can you remember?"

"When I woke up in the hospital, all I could remember was my name and my roommate."

"And not us?" Jade's voice grew louder after every syllable. "We're your best friends and you don't remember us?"

"I'm sorry, but I don't."

"This is what wasn't right," Tori's entered the conversation. Cat almost forgotten that she and Robbie were even here. "I'm just another stranger to you. The years of sleepover and pranks and you being your ditzy self are just gone. Wasted. How can you not remember?"

"How could she leave?" Jade said, and the room was silent.

Tori busted into tears, and Jade looked like she was about to do the same. Cat looked around the house, blocking out all the other words that were being thrown around. She spotted a door at the back of the open kitchen, and she held Nevaeh tightly, standing up and walking towards the door, saying aloud. "I need some air."

Once outside, almost instantly she felt much better. Inside, it was almost like all those people were cramming her with questions and stares and wonders. She looked through the glass door to see if anyone followed her, but they were all still on the couch. Cat took a seat on one of the chairs on the small patio. Up above her, the sky was still gray and gloomy. Just like me, she thought.

Nevaeh, who leaned on Cat's chest and looked over her shoulder, started making some unrecognizable sound. Soon, the sound of the door opening and then slamming shut followed. She thought no one had followed her, but she turned her head and saw Robbie standing there. "Are you okay Cat?"

"No," she told him the truth, because even if she lied and told him that she was fine, he would know she was lying. "How can I be? People are upset about something that isn't my fault. I came to L.A. hoping to regain m memory and all I can remember is some stupid locker. And I-"

"Stop. Don't look at all those things and get depressed. Just have patience, your mind will heal itself over time." He sounded like he has watched too much Dr. Phil.

"How? They are already gone, I don't think they are going to come back."

He walked over and sat on a chair adjacent to hers, "We are here to help, Cat. I'm here to help. I can help you get everything back."

"There's a reason why they are gone, though. Something happened, something dramatic, that made them go away. Maybe they should just stay hidden. Besides, you can't be any help because I'm going home."

She was talking about the San Diego apartment. They one where she started forming new memories with Nevaeh and Sam, the one where all her little belongings were, the one that was hers.

"Cat," Robbie looked her straight in the eyes, "You are already there."