AN: Hey everyone. So, I just played the mean joke on all of you about Andre dying, when it was actually a nightmare Tori had. Again, sorry about that, if you didn't particularly favor that. :( But anyhow, let's pick up right where we left off, shall we?

Once again, I'd like to thank all of my readers and reviewers. Particularly, I wish to thank itscalledkarma, SADAndLoved, jazzy2297, and imawesome519 for continuing to review. Thanks, you four. :)

But hey, I know there are a lot more people who continuously follow this story than just a few. And I've seen several guest reviews, or reviews from people who are indeed followers, but they only comment once ever. May I please ask that some of my other readers show me that they're still there? Most of you haven't ever reviewed, and I'd like to hear from some of you. Thanks.

itscalledkarma: You took the words right out of my mouth there (regarding the show being cancelled, and Tori & Andre as a pairing). Excellent to see someone agrees with me. I mean, no offence to Bori shippers or anything, but that pairing is seriously too cliché. Just about in EVERY romance story, the protagonist falls for the one who everyone else thinks is the most attractive, know what I mean? I hate how Beck is supposed to be Andre's replacement. If the show ends and Beck & Tori end up together, I will not be the happiest. I mean, I'll like the show no matter what. But I honestly think Tori and Andre ought to be AT LEAST on good FRIENDSHIP terms in the end, not like how they are now. Anyways, you asked for more, you got more. Hope you like this chapter! Oh, and don't worry, I'm not gonna scare you again here. ;)

Secret Identity: Thanks man. :) And, yeah, I have heard of that show too. But honestly, I just want this show to stay. I don't have a problem with introducing new shows, but I hate how it's replacing a really good, popular one. I mean, look at iCarly – on season 6 and it's still going. I don't HATE iCarly or anything, I'm just saying.

SADAndLoved: You just found out that I was evil at times? :) lol, but anyways, that's why you read everything thoroughly, right? Because, like you said, you ALMOST clicked off, until you found out I was just messing with you. But, yeah, if you didn't like my scare, I apologize. :( Glad you still like the story though. Well, here's the next chapter.

jazzy2297: Wow, really? I didn't know out of all writers, I could make people emotional like that. But if you say so. Actually, I've gotten comments like that from my friends too, who said this story was filled with emotion. But I thought they were just being nice. Anyways, thanks. Knowing that I could do that just made my day, not that I'm spiteful, and like making people cry, lol. I'm not THAT evil :). Well, here's the update you wanted. Have fun!

imawesome519: lol, you just figured out now that I'm a guy? It like, says so the first thing on my profile, after the "About me" heading – Gender: Male. But no worries about the stereotyping thing and mistaking me as a girl, at least you know now. I can see where it comes from though – a lot of people will assume romance stories are written by girls. I didn't think I could do it at first, until I tried it. I didn't even know people would like this story at first. But, since people obviously do, and I like writing it as much as you like reading it, it lives on. Anyways, here you go! :)

BingleBongle: Thanks. But yeah, if you do look below, I got the idea from another story. The scene is still written by me and I did NOT copy in any way, shape or form, but I'd just like to specify, so no one accuses me of plagiarism.

**I'D LIKE TO GIVE SOME CREDIT TO Trim59, AND HIS STORY, ROSES. THAT STORY WAS WHERE I GOT THE INSPIRATION TO WRITE THAT NIGHTMARE SCENE FROM. I WROTE THE SCENE, BUT I GOT THE IDEA FROM CHAPTER 11 OF THAT STORY. IT'S A FANTASTIC TANDRE STORY, BY THE WAY – FILLED WITH EMOTIONS AND ALL. I THINK YOU SHOULD ALL CHECK IT OUT.**

And just in case any other may not have known – yes, I am in fact a guy, not a girl, lol. But not to worry – I can see why people would assume that. The number of male authors who write for Victorious (especially the romance stories) are relatively low, as I can tell, but I'm proud to be one of them. :D

Disclaimer: Victorious ain't mine. Oh, and I am NOT associated with Trim59's story Roses in any way, shape, or form besides it being one of my favorite stories. I also did NOT plagiarize from him, or his story. I got the idea from the story, but I did NOT copy his work. I know how much I'd hate it if someone copied mine, or took credit they didn't deserve from it.

Upon Awakening

Tori's POV:

For the next moment or two, I took several deep breaths as I sat up in the hospital bed, trying to calm myself and recover from the horrendous nightmare I just had – one that I'll probably never forget.

Just then, the door to the room opened, and in walked a nurse. She looked at me with concern in her eyes.

"Are you okay, honey?" she asked me.

I looked at her. "Yeah, I just had a nightmare," I replied, "but I'm fine."

She looked at me with a skeptical look. "Well, if you're sure…"

I nodded. "Yeah, I'm sure. I've got a question though. Where am I exactly? And how did I get in here?

"You know Dr. Reed?" she asked. I nodded again. "He saw you asleep in that hall when he was leaving, recognized who you were, and requested that you be brought into this spare room, thinking you would be more comfortable. Don't worry, we've notified your parents. They'll come pick you up in the morning for school."

"Thank you," I said, slowly nodding. What I had really hoped for was that all of yesterday's events were also a nightmare, and that I was here for some other reason – any other reason at all. But clearly that wasn't the case, if Dr. Reed found me in that hall.

The nurse nodded. "Well, I'll be nearby in the room across. Give me a shout if you need anything."

"Hold on," I called out, making the nurse stop in her tracks. "Did you catch that girl?"

"You mean the tall brunette you were chasing? The one with our stolen blood bags?" she asked.

I nodded. "She's responsible for Andre's blood mix-up."

The nurse sighed. "No, I'm afraid not. We nearly did, but she's a really tricky girl. No one has the slightest idea of where she could be."

My heart sank at those words. So she could be anywhere as of now?

"On a brighter note, Andre's operations are all complete, and he will surely be fine. His right kidney just needs about two weeks according to the doctor, and it should be healed. He can leave twenty-four hours after he wakes up, which should be sometime in the afternoon, when the anesthetics wear out. His concussion symptoms aren't the thing stopping him from waking up anymore; he's recovered from that."

I gave a small, unconvincing smile. Even though Andre's progress was indeed, reassuring, there was nothing reassuring about the fact that his most severe injury – his right kidney – was caused by me.

"Well, again, I'll be across if you need me, dear," the nurse said, as her departing words.

I sat at the edge of the bed, thinking. Thoughts about Andre and Kyra crossed my mind simultaneously. Andre and Kyra – definitely not a good combination. That bitch of a girl didn't even deserve a boyfriend if she was gonna kill him when she didn't get her way. But how the heck did she get away that easily? Heck, she didn't look tired at all after that intense chase from me – she wasn't even breathing heavily! Were my legs really that weak? And was my endurance really that low?

I tried to stop thinking about Kyra, which was far easier said than done. Thinking about her made me think about Andre. It's not that I didn't love him anymore (I still did, and always will), nor was it I wasn't worried about him anymore (I was still worried sick), but the new thought about him that I hadn't been thinking about so much up till now was what his reaction was going to be when he woke up. But that wasn't even my main concern. I wasn't worried about what he would say or even do to me, so much as to how I would make it up to him, or if I even get to. Whatever it would be, I can't say I would blame him if he didn't want me to have a second chance, and I probably deserved every single thing that was thrown at me. After all, what kind of person thinks of her best friend that badly? Well, okay, Andre didn't believe me at first that time when I supposedly whacked Jade with a cane during our stage fight scene, but at least he didn't almost cost someone their life. But this, this was just plain horrible. And right around when I admitted that I loved (not liked, but loved) him too.

And then there were his parents. I mean, yeah, they didn't kick me out of his room during visiting time and knew who I was and all, but it would be a plain miracle if they allowed me to remain friends with him, let alone date him. I wouldn't be surprised if they would rather that he dates Jade instead. But again, whatever they would say to me or even do to me was the least of my worries. Heck, I'm surprised they didn't sue me, Beck, or Cat yet. I guess I should consider myself pretty lucky this time. But if we weren't all his best friends, I don't think Andre's parents would have hesitated booting us out, and suing us in court.

Thinking about Andre's parents then led to think about my parents. About how disappointed they would be – or, rather, how disappointed they are. Since our parents were also friends with each other and liked to update each other, there is no way my parents do not know about what just happened. My parents also knew who everyone in our group, including Andre, was, since they'd been to my house so many times. So, since my parents could understand the details, knowing everyone and all, no way would they be patting me on the back. The fact that Andre was practically like their son, having been over so many times certainly didn't help matters. That evening after our performance, I had even talked to them about my little (okay, huge) crush on Andre, and my parents were extremely sympathetic about it, instantly stating their approval of me dating him and all. This was like, the first time ever my dad didn't use his "I'm a cop" threat on a guy me or Trina was interested in. They were just happy I had found someone who they knew wasn't bad in any way shape or form, and someone my dad never had to threaten. But lord knows what they think now.

Way to go, Tori, I mentally berated myself.

Falling back onto the bed, I closed my eyes. As much as I was still worried over all those things, I was extremely tired. So many things had happened in so little time, and it was too much to take. I would worry about all those thoughts later.

Jade's POV:

"Psst! Psst! Jade!"

I looked over at Cat. "What?" I whispered back, still slightly annoyed from this morning. I had spent the night at Cat's last night, and specifically told her to wake me up early enough so we could drop by the hospital before school. But once again, I learned the hard way that my best friend tends to forget things really easily. Not only did she not wake me in time, but she kept me up for half the night telling me about her and Robbie getting together. And as happy as I was for them, I didn't want to hear about it like seventy times over and over. I would have spent the night at Beck's if that had been an option. But he got grounded for yesterday, and so he couldn't have people over. And though Robbie and his parents happily offered to have me stay over at their place, I for some reason felt uncomfortable about the idea. Now, all I could do was regret not accepting that offer. Besides, after being with him and knowing him better, we had become pretty close friends. And at least Robbie wasn't the type of person to forget things that easily, or keep me awake till 1:00 in the morning. I was so tired that I'll bet I would fall asleep next period, during history class.

"Where's Tori?"

"Oh, probably still at that hospital, crying over what she messed up this time while trying to be Little Miss Perfect." I couldn't help but roll my eyes as I said the last statement. So far it was 9:30 a.m. – an hour and a half into school – and still no sign of Vega. Here we were, sitting in Sikowitz's class, the only class we all had together, and there were only four of us here. One was obviously still in the hospital, and the other, well, where could she be but be moping over something she ironically helped cause?

Now, I'm still worried about Andre too, and won't be completely reassured until I see him awake. And I wasn't exactly comfortable with the thought that Vega, who helped cause all this, was there by herself. But, as much as I didn't want Andre to get hurt by her again, I guess having Vega there was better than having no one.

Funny thing is, if she was there, I'd expect her to update us on what's happening. But no, not a single text to any of us yet. And we've all checked our phones like, six times each. Was she so worked up that she couldn't even stop crying for a second to update us? I mean, come on. It almost made me worry if something happened to her. Almost. And I couldn't help but wonder if she caught that girl she was chasing after, whoever she was. Why she was chasing after someone none of the rest of us knew was beyond us.

Tori's POV:

I awoke to a beeping sound that happened in constant intervals. Looking at the clock on the wall, I saw that it was 10:00 a.m., which meant school had started two hours ago. Great, so I overslept, and no one woke me. Hearing sniffling, I looked to my right. I saw my mom sitting there, crying. I was just about to sit up, when my eyes landed on my chest. Attached were two electrodes with wires running to a monitor that sat right beside the bed, with a red line that zigzagged up and down, accompanied by those beeps, signaling heartbeats. So I knew my heart was beating. Great. But why was I attached to one of these things?

My eyes continued to wander, scanning for other unusual things that may have been present. My eyes widened as I saw my left arm. Sticking into it, were two needles that were at the ends of two plastic tubes. Following the tubes up, they led to a nearly empty bottle containing a yellowish fluid. So I was hooked to an I.V. unit. And on my left upper arm, I saw an X-shaped bandage. What happened to me? Was this all a well-designed joke?

"Mom?" I called out, while sitting up and rubbing my eyes top make sure I saw correctly. I did.

She looked up. "Oh, thank goodness you're awake!" my mom said, as she ran over, hugging me tightly. This just made me even more confused. "What happened?" I asked. "And where's Dad?"

Just as I asked that, the door opened, and in walked a doctor. I recognized him right away: Dr. Reed. When he saw me, he smiled.

"Good morning," I greeted, in the best manner I could.

"Good to see you awake," he said warmly. "We were worried if you would make it."

I furrowed my eyebrows. Worried if I would make it?

Dr. Reed continued. "Two hours ago, when I had just arrived, I came to wake you, since I knew you were sleeping in this room. But just as I walked in, I saw a tall, brunette girl, who happened to be the one responsible for the blood mix-up, injecting a syringe of stuff into your upper left arm while you were still asleep, which turned out to be highly toxic. So immediately, we got you hooked onto an I.V. unit with antibody solution. Now, this solution (indicates to the nearly-empty bottle) already took care of much of the poison. The rest, you'll pass out yourself. All in all, you're very lucky to have made it. And without any major damage either. What's damaged, a small amount of your kidney and liver tissue, will heal itself. All I request is to see you a week from now, so we can confirm that it is healing."

I tried to take it all in. So that bitch Kyra tried to kill me? That was it, next time I see her, she's gonna really get it. And maybe this time, Beck and Cat could help, but for a reason at least, unlike yesterday.

"Um, did you catch her then?" I asked, worried that she might be around. Who knew what she would do next?

Dr. Reed nodded. "Yes, finally, we have. Your father took her away to the police station just a while ago, and we got the slip of paper with the codes to the storage room back from her. She apparently stole them from the office when no one noticed. She's very tricky, and very clever, it appears. Too bad that intelligence went to waste, being possessed by such an ill-minded person." The doctor shook his head in disapproval. He gently pulled the needles out of my arm, and bandaged the area where they had pricked. Then, he removed the electrodes from my chest, and helped me up.

"Well, you're free to go. Your mom just needs to check you out. Just go right when you leave the room, and head to the office at the end of the hall. Your mom can sign the paperwork there, and I'll go bring you some breakfast."

As I walked down the hall with my mom, I couldn't help but wonder if she's even heard about what happened to Andre, or if she's heard the true story, still not giving me a stern lecture and all. Then again, I guess it could just be because she still hadn't gotten over the initial shock of me nearly getting poisoned to death. Either way, I braced myself for what was coming, because I knew that it wouldn't be good. What was mildly reassuring, however, was that the officer that arrested Kyra was my own dad, so he might be able to see that I was actually trying to help Andre afterwards by getting her caught. Maybe he would make the stern lecture easier to stomach then, seeing how I already learned from my mistake, which believe me, did I ever.

Sitting by Andre's bedside, I watched him. Dr. Reed had told us that the anesthetics they had given him would wear out any time now, and none of us wanted to miss seeing him wake up. It had already been a long day at school, where each minute was an hour, and all day, I was wondering if we'd get to see him wake up, or if we'd get to see him when he does. Knowing that we would get to see him wake up was mildly reassuring, since we all wanted to show him that we cared more than he thought, especially me. And so, I arrived here first thing after school, and was the only one in this room besides Andre, since everyone else had decided to go home first. I didn't wanna miss seeing him wake up though.

Of course, earlier today, when I arrived at school finally, everyone asked me where I was. But to avoid attracting too much attention, I just answered saying I stayed at the hospital, and helped catch Kyra, who I had to tell everyone about. And even though I left out the nearly getting poisoned to death part, they bought my story. Besides, it wasn't really a lie. If I hadn't been there, who knew if Kyra would have wanted to stay behind? She even said so herself, that she had something in store for me if I kept chasing her. I was just glad she was out of the way now; I didn't feel safe with her around, being so evilly clever and all.

The room was dead silent, except for the sound of the clock ticking on the wall, the constant beeps of the heart monitor, and Andre's soft breaths. All that seemed to make things even more intimidating, as if having to wait for him to awaken wasn't enough. I looked at the clock. 4:15 p.m., and still no awakening. How long was this gonna take?

Standing up, I decided to see if the others were here yet. So I walked out of the room, towards the waiting area, and saw that everyone else was just arriving. I sighed. Were they really this slow at dropping their stuff off at home?

Andre's POV:

I slowly awoke, ready to pull myself together today, and help Jade and Robbie convince Beck, Cat, and Tori that I did no such thing as abuse Jade. For some reason, last night, I had a nightmare that during lunchtime at school, Beck, Cat, and Tori cornered me outside and beat me up really badly, while Jade and Robbie tried to stop them. I slightly shuddered at the thought of that nightmare. Not pleasant. Not pleasant at all. Certainly though, they wouldn't really do something like that to me? Certainly, they wouldn't think of me so low?

Sitting up, I looked around me. Where were Robbie and Jade? We were all supposed to be in my living room.

Then, realization dawned on me. This wasn't my living room at all. In fact, this wasn't anywhere in my house! But then, where was I? And why were my arms and legs wrapped in bandages, while I was hooked to a heart monitor?

Suddenly, realization hit me again. The hospital – I was in the hospital! But why? Did I get into a car accident or something? I didn't remember anything like that. The only other possible explanation would be that the dream of getting beaten up was real, and – Oh shit, so it really happened. My friends really did have the nerve to think that low of me. And it was bad enough to make me end up in the hospital? I mean, I knew it was bad, but was it really this bad?

As if in answer, a doctor walked into the room. He smiled warmly when he saw me.

"Andre! So glad to see you're all right. Looks like my team's efforts paid off."

I looked at him questioningly. "What happened to me?" I asked him.

The doctor shrugged. "I don't know the details. All I know is, you were beaten up pretty badly, and you arrived here. We've given you a blood transfusion, and performed an operation on your right kidney, which, by the way, is damaged, but healing, and bandaged up your many cuts and scratches. You also had a small brain concussion, so maybe you don't remember what happened. Anyhow, how are you feeling now?"

Great, so that nightmare was actually real. And I ended up here, in even worse condition than I thought. How long have I been out?

"Um, sore," I admitted. "How long have I been here?"

"Since yesterday afternoon. So, a little over twenty-four hours," he answered to my surprise. I had no idea I was out for that long.

I opened my mouth to say something, but was cut off before I could.

"ANDRE!" a chorus of voices called out.

I turned my head towards the shouts, and saw Beck, Jade, Cat, Tori, and Robbie running up to the bed, all surrounding me with hugs, which I really had no choice but to accept. After all, it was nice to be able to see them again, being awake and all.

After the hugs were over, I glazed over each of them. Jade merely smiled at me, and gave me a friendly wave. Robbie gave me some mods, and some "glad to see you" gestures. Cat, Tori, and Beck, however, looked at their feet, ashamed, guilty looks crossing their faces. And I could swear Tori had tears in her eyes.

"So Andre…" Tori began in a shaky voice, after a moment of awkward, uncomfortable silence.

AN: Yay, Andre's awake! But karma's a b!tch for Tori, Beck, and Cat – he remembers what happened. Oh no, will he forgive them? What's he gonna say to them? What's he gonna do to them? Wait and see. Oh yeah, another cliff-hanger. :)

So, like it? Review please!