AN: Hello everyone and welcome to the latest part of this story. I hope you are all well. My thanks to the two reviewers for the last chapter.
Challenge King – yes, Freddie showed that he really does love Tori. She just might need that reassurance before too long given what she suspects is happening at home.
Agent-M – here is the next chapter, covering the start of Spring Break. I originally planned to do the whole week in one but I think it would be a bit too big and unwieldy so here's part 1 instead.
Boy did I sleep well last night, which is strange because I usually find it difficult to sleep in a strange bed. It must have something to do with my sleeping companion; there's no better feeling than waking up in Freddie's arms, feeling his strong, muscular arm gently encircling me, smelling the faint traces of his aftershave from yesterday, his breath tickling my skin. Actually scratch that… his lips gently kissing and nibbling at my neck, that's a great feeling too – and certainly feels pretty damn good first thing on a morning.
Either my squirming or my involuntary sigh must have told him that he'd woken me up; he moved his lips from my neck to my mouth, giving me a chaste kiss before pulling back and whispering "Good morning, beautiful". Had I been standing my legs would have turned to jelly at his words.
Instead I settled for, "Good morning Freddie." Then, realising what day it was, "How does it feel not being at work for once on a Saturday morning?" The store on campus was closed with so many kids being away for Spring Break and he had been told he wasn't needed at any of the other stores this week either, which would give us the chance for a nice, leisurely morning before we had to collect the Seattle girls from their flight down.
"When it means I get to spend more time lying here with you – fantastic," he insisted, draping an arm over my bare midriff while his other continued to be wrapped around my back. I rolled over slightly to move even closer to him and we enjoyed a little silent cuddling, playfully stealing kisses from one another on a regular basis.
We spent a very pleasant time like that, neither of us really knew how long, before a glance at Freddie's bedside clock revealed that we needed to start getting ready in order to be on time to meet our guests. I hit the shower while Freddie prepared breakfast, we ate together then I helped to pack up his things while he showered; we knew that it would take us at least an hour to get to the airport, as we'd need to drop his things off at my house first (there wouldn't be enough room in my car for his bag as well as Sam, Carly and their things) so we left UCLA around 90 minutes before their flight was due to land, figuring that with how long it would take them to disembark and get through baggage claim we would have almost two hours – plenty of time. I waited in the car while he dashed up to my room with his bag; when he hadn't returned five minutes later I sighed, switched the engine off and went looking for him, assuming that my sister Trina had somehow waylaid and detained him. The sight that greeted me when I entered the house told me just how wrong I was.
I could hear raised voices as I reached the closed door; opening it I heard my dad yelling, mom was shouting back across the living area while Trina stood in tears and Freddie, minus his luggage, was trying to console her. My parents looked at me and were momentarily silenced.
"What's going on?" I asked tentatively.
"What's going on, sweetie," dad was still furious but softened his tone briefly as he used his pet name for me, "is that I'm out of here. It turns out that our marriage vows didn't mean a damn thing to your mother and that my partner is a back-stabbing bastard." He seized a suitcase that had been hidden from my view behind the couch and marched past me to the door. "I'll see you soon, kiddo," he said softly as he passed me, planting a quick kiss on my cheek as I stood there immobilised by the shock of the scene and the next second he was gone.
"So it's true then?" I challenged my mom in a flat tone. "The text messages, you giggling whenever you received any from him, you are cheating on dad?"
"Tori, I…" she began.
"Save it," I snapped before turning to my boy, still holding my sobbing sister. "Freddie, we've got to get to the airport."
He nodded, gave Trina one more gentle, supportive hug and followed me out of the door and back to my car. From the corner of my eye I saw Trina dash upstairs leaving mom alone in the kitchen.
"Are you ok to drive?" he asked gently and cautiously as I closed my eyes and let out a huge sigh of frustration.
"That's what you care about?" I snarled, immediately regretting the tone I'd taken with him.
"No," he replied patiently, before I could apologise, tenderly resting his hand on my forearm and encouraging me to meet his gaze, something I was unable to do so I just stared at his hand, "but I'm not going to ask if you're ok when it's blindingly obvious that you're not, nor should you be right now."
Somewhat mollified I met his eyes, moved anew by the gentle compassion within them. He continued, "If you don't feel that you're in a fit state to drive then let me?"
I shook my head. "Thanks for the offer but I'll be fine." He nodded, declining to challenge me. "I'm sorry for snapping," I whispered shamefully. He just told me that it was ok. Why does he have to be so damn understanding all the time?
I have no memory of the journey that took us to the airport; it's fortunate that I've had to drive the route a few times before so I could almost do it on autopilot. We found a parking spot and exited my car. Freddie took my hand gently and I allowed him to lead the way, my mind still a daze. We stopped in front of the giant monitors and scanned the arrivals for the inbound flight from Seattle.
"There we are," Freddie pointed to a particular flight, "it's just landed so we likely have half an hour or so before their bags come through. Let's wait by the carousels?"
I nodded distractedly and he led me over so that we were as close to the baggage claim area as we could be. I was still staring off vacantly when I felt a kiss on the back of my hand; I hadn't realised Freddie had raised it to his lips until then.
"I can't pretend that I know what you're going through," he said in a soft, gentle voice, "I've no memory of my dad, he was gone before I was old enough to really remember anything; mom never talks about him. But if you need to talk, or vent or scream or – anything at all, I'm here."
"Thanks Freddie," I smiled, planting a little peck on his lips before we were interrupted by a loud "Freddie! Tori!" and turned to see an excited brunette sprinting towards us while a blonde shook her head a few yards behind.
"Carls! It's great to see you!" Freddie laughed, wrapping his left arm around her when she jumped at him; his right hand remained entwined with my left so I placed my right arm behind Carly to complete the group hug. I think he managed a cheek-kiss for the girl too as he welcomed her to LA.
"Hey nub," Sam greeted him with a smile; my man rolled his eyes at the oft-used insult from his one-time nemesis. We released Carly and Sam hugged Freddie, before giving me a brief, terse squeeze and a slightly sullen "Tori"; clearly she's still not my biggest fan even if everything is resolved between the two of them. Carly gave me a wary look but with all the other chizz going on I really don't have the emotional energy to deal with any issues Sam may have.
"Your bags arrived already?" my man asked in surprise. Carly shook her head.
"Not yet but we saw you so we came over to say hi; we'll head back and pick them up now." The two girls headed back to the carousel and we followed them, surprised when Carly proceeded to recover three large suitcases from the contraption. Sam, in contrast, had one medium-sized bag.
"Uh, are you here for a week or moving in Carls?" Freddie teased lightly as he eyed the pile of luggage the brunette had brought with her. She lightly swatted his arm as she pulled a slightly irritated face but Sam piped up,
"I said the exact same thing. Nobody needs that much stuff for one week Carls."
She glared at her best friend for a moment while Freddie picked up two of her bags and began to drag them behind him. Sam took hers and Carly's other bag and we began to leave the area.
"Let me take one?" I asked, placing my right hand gently on the handle so it slightly overlapped his own. He acquiesced, allowing me to take one of them, Carly took Sam's smaller case from her and it was a far more balanced quartet that left the airport heading for my car. Somehow we managed to get all of their stuff, and them, into my car, laughing a little at how tricky it was to fit everything in. It momentarily distracted me from my troubles but I knew that we would have to revisit them before we got home, if only to explain the tensions that would inevitably be present, unlike my father.
Freddie presumably was thinking the same thing as I could feel him eyeing me cautiously at various points during the drive back home. Carly clearly sensed that all was not well as I could see some concern in her eyes whenever I caught sight of her in the rear-view mirror. Sam, meanwhile, seemed oblivious to the tension in the car, preferring to focus her attention on the various restaurants that we drove past and asking if we had tried any of them. We hadn't been to too many of them but Freddie rattled off a list of some of our favourites; to my mild surprise he included the Italian place we visited on that fateful January night when he had been beaten up protecting me from the pack of would-be rapists, though he did comment that it would be one that we should drive to in future. This lightened the mood a little as Carly and I both laughed involuntarily (and perhaps inappropriately). Sam was a little confused until her best friend explained the significance to her.
We arrived at home with the elephant in the room still not addressed. With no more time to put it off I stood with my hand on the trunk of the car as the two girls waited to retrieve their baggage.
"Guys, there's something you need to know." I glanced at Freddie and he smiled supportively. "My mom and dad, they're having… difficulties. Dad moved out – this morning, so it's going to be tense in there."
Carly looked crestfallen at the news; Sam barely batted an eyelid.
The downstairs area was completely deserted as we our group made our way inside.
"You'll be sharing the guest room again if that's ok," I mentioned casually, trying to distract myself from the impending collapse of my family.
"I know where it is," Carly nodded, smiling at me and heading up with Sam's case; the blonde followed with the bag she was carrying. The two of us brought up the rear and we soon had the girls ensconced in their room, Freddie and I leaving them to get settled in.
I glanced at Trina's door; it was closed and she had hung her "Do Not Disturb" sign on it. Looks like she's brooding alone over the morning's events. My boy gently took my hand and led me back downstairs; we sat on the couch just cuddling quietly while we waited for the others to show up.
"How could this happen Freddie?" I asked in a small, fearful voice. "How could mom really do this to my dad and tear my whole family apart?"
"I don't know," he whispered helplessly, "I really don't."
My thoughts and concerns were momentarily disturbed when my phone rang. I pulled it from my pocket and checked the caller ID.
"Hey Jade," I answered, trying to put some pep into my voice.
"Hey," she returned. "We were just wondering if you and Freddie wanted to meet up for lunch today."
"Uh…" I glanced at him, "we'd have to bring a couple of others along as well. Carly and Sam have just shown up."
"Sure, bring them too," my mean friend encouraged.
The two girls arrived at the top of the stairs around this point so I glanced from them to Freddie.
"Jade wants to know if we want to meet her and Beck, just the two of you?" I asked into the phone, "for lunch." Jade responded that currently it was just them but that she'd invite the others as well since our Seattle-based friends were in town.
"Well Sam will be hungry," Freddie jibed lightly. The blonde smiled menacingly but didn't contradict him, "so sure. It'll be good to see the others. Carls?"
"Sounds like a great idea," the web star agreed.
"Nozu?" I guessed into the phone, nodding as Jade confirmed the location. Freddie rolled his eyes slightly; I guess I still need to work on him when it comes to sushi.
"We're meeting in half an hour," I told the group.
Lunch was an interesting affair. Cat was almost bouncing off the walls at the sight of the two girls, and Freddie. Beck and Jade seemed happy enough to see them; they and Freddie discussed plans for housing for next year when we're at college. Freddie gave them a list of addresses that he'd found and suggested that we visit some of them this week (or at least scope out the places if the kids there at the moment are away for Spring Break) to see if there were any that we liked the look of. The couple were in agreement and decided we should do it Monday morning and get it out of the way, not least because Beck would be leaving on Tuesday, visiting relatives in Canada for the rest of the week, something that would cause Jade to suggest that she would have to make plans with Cat, though I said that she was always welcome to hang with us whenever she wanted to. Cat and André volunteered to take Carly and Sam to the mall that morning so that they wouldn't be alone at my house (or worse, there with Trina). Carly seemed particularly grateful for this as she was showing a lot of concern for the burgeoning situation. I could see from the look on her face that she'd want to talk about it at some point, while I appreciated her concern I really didn't want to talk or think about it too much. Jade, too, could tell that something was off with me (Cat was too excited to notice) and, between courses, she headed to the bathroom, making it clear that I should join her.
"What's the matter?" she began without preamble once we had made sure that the room was otherwise deserted. "Come on Tori," she encouraged at my reticence, "you've been quiet and distracted all day and you tried to fake the happy voice when you answered the phone earlier. What's up?" She folded her arms across her chest and stood between me and the door, giving me a piercing stare.
I was helpless against that look and told her everything that had happened. She could sympathise (and indeed she did) having lived through the break-up of her own parents' marriage and tried to reassure me that I'd get through it somehow. I was grateful for her words but unwilling, just yet, to give voice to my biggest fear over the whole thing – my belief in forever had been at least shaken, if not totally destroyed.
After eating we decided to take Carly and Sam on a little trip around Hollywood, contenting ourselves to do all the "tourist" things today (such as the walk of fame, pointing out some of the houses of the rich and famous etc.) Carly enjoyed it and Sam was suitably interested to not wander off and try to find some trouble to get into. As I really didn't want to go home any time soon I suggested that we all go for a coffee and a sandwich late in the afternoon; Jade championed the coffee idea so we hit the local Jet Brew and had a light meal there.
"Do you guys have plans for tonight?" Freddie glanced around the table at my friends, all of whom shook their heads. Beck did say that he and Jade would be spending time together before he headed north but they would be happy to hang out with us all as well.
"What did you have in mind?" Carly asked.
"It's been a while since we were at Karaoke Dokie," he suggested. There was a general murmur of agreement, though it would mean that we all had to head back to our homes and get changed, something that I'd rather not have to do. Correctly reading my expression Freddie asked if anyone had any other ideas but the seed had been planted and the gang wanted Karaoke. We arranged to meet there around 8 (it was 6:30 now) so there was nothing else for it but to head home.
Trina was sat on the couch watching TV; she hugged a cushion in front of her and rested her chin on it, barely sparing us a glance as we entered the house.
"Hey Trina, how are you?" Carly asked brightly. My older sister just glared at her and our guest's face fell.
"Hey there's no need to be rude," I chided Trina. Carly insisted it was ok but I was annoyed at my sister's behaviour; yes we're going through a lot of chizz here but she could at least show some manners.
Trina continued to ignore us, returning her focus to some weird show on the Spanish Language Channel while we headed upstairs to get ready for our evening out. We left around 7:30 for Los Feliz with barely another word spoken to my big sis.
"We could have invited her," Carly commented as I pulled the car out of the driveway.
"Two problems," I explained. "Trina in that mood, not much company and… we're going to a karaoke bar; people are going to be singing. You do not want Trina in a place like that."
Carly traded a glance with her blonde friend; clearly she thought I was being mean to my older sister. "Help me out here," I implored my boyfriend.
"Carls, she's right," he conceded reluctantly. "Trina really is not as good a singer as she likes to think she is. It's best that she doesn't go to Karaoke Dokie."
When we got to the club we saw that Beck and Jade had already claimed a couple of tables; Jade's death glare was helping to keep anyone at bay who might be tempted to try and acquire one of the tables they had put together so that we could easily fit our group around them. The rest arrived soon after and the night was soon in full swing. Like last time Carly was keen to sing and this time she prised Sam away from the menu for long enough for her to sing as well. Pretty much everyone in the club took a turn but tonight there was to be no "winner", s was simply a fun night that everyone in the place seemed to enjoy (probably because Hayley and Tara were absent, as was Joey Ferguson – maybe they're all away for Spring Break as well). Of course that didn't stop Jade from claiming "victory" and allowing me, her, Carly and Cat to have a good natured argument over who had sung the best. Dragging our friends into it didn't help; Freddie shocked nobody by voting for me, Sam backed Carly, Beck said Jade was the best and Robbie picked Cat. This left André in an unenviable position of the casting vote; he earned the ire of all us girls by voting for himself and declining to comment when pressed to narrow it down to the rest of us.
Despite enjoying the evening my fears were still just under the surface and returned in full force as we got ready for bed; neither Trina nor my mom had been up when we got home so we just said goodnight to the two girls before going about our evening routines. We got into bed and Freddie just held me close; he didn't try to put any moves on or anything, just keeping me in his arms, stroking my hair and giving me his encouraging smile.
"I'm scared, Freddie," I whispered. He nodded in understanding before I clarified, "not about mom and dad – at least not just about them," something that confused him. "They're my parents; they're supposed to be together forever. If they can't then…" I trailed off and just looked at him; his face fell a little as he comprehended my fears.
"I'm not sure what to tell you Tori," he admitted softly. "I don't know that I can take away your fears, but I can promise you one thing. I love you and you're all that I want."
I looked at him, determined to challenge his claim. "You're in college, you must get offers."
"Kinda," he admitted with a small smirk, which did little to improve my mood. "Earlier this week I was playing pool in a bar with my friend; he told me that a blonde by the bar was checking me out. I'll confess that I didn't notice her at all but he told me that if she'd been checking him out like that then he'd have left with her. He was surprised when I dismissed the idea and asked me 'what if my girlfriend would never know?'"
"And your answer?" I was filling ever more with trepidation.
"I would know, and that's what matters. You're the one I love," he planted a little kiss on my nose, "you're the one I want." His lips moved to mine and we kissed quickly and softly. "I can't promise forever, but if I have my way then that's what it will be," he finished with a warm smile.
"I love you too Freddie," I whispered through tears as happiness at his words mingled with the pain of the day finally catching up with me. I was still afraid, both of my parents' marriage breaking down and my belief in forever being challenged and as we kissed again and fell asleep in one another's arms I found myself desperately wishing that I could believe him.
AN: I'm leaving it there for this chapter, otherwise it will get a bit too big a bit too quickly. I hope to have the next instalment for you by Monday. In the meantime you can sate your Teddie fix by checking out my future one-shot, A Valentine's Tori or Subject87's And All That Was, both of which reside here in the iCarly/Victorious cross-over section of the site, and also One Horse Shay's iGuess We're Roomies over in the Victorious section. If you liked this chapter, or didn't like it, then please let me know via a review; I really do appreciate any and all feedback. PD