AN: Hello everyone and welcome to the third chapter in their Spring Break week. Thanks as always to those who read and reviewed the last chapter, so Challenge King, Agent-M and pbow – my thanks to you all for your kind words and feedback.

Monday morning. It was nice not to have to get up for college, not that I wasn't enjoying life at UCLA – far from it, it was just that waking up in Tori's bed and in Tori's arms was much, much better. My girl surprised me a little by actually being awake before I was this morning and it was she who began a morning make-out session with a few gentle kisses as she sensed me beginning to stir.

"Hey Freddie," she murmured into my collar bone as she felt me pull her into a cuddle.

"Hi gorgeous," I responded, kissing the top of her head. This encouraged her to leave my neck alone and return to my lips.

"So you're feeling better today?" I guessed, given how she was starting the morning.

"Yeah, a lot better, thanks to you. What time are we meeting Beck and Jade?"

"Oh," I had to remind myself that we had arranged the appointments to look for houses for next year, "we need to be there at 9:30. So that's," I glanced over her shoulder at the bed-side clock, "about an hour."

Tori groaned and began to get out of bed. "You take the shower," she offered, "I'll fix us some breakfast and shower once you're done."

I guess she's right; it'll take us a while to get ready to go but I'd have liked to have had a little longer just being with my girl. I guess we need to schedule a little time together for during this week.

"Did you mean it?" she asked me over breakfast. "About me maybe spending more time at your place from now on," she elaborated.

"Of course I did. You're always welcome there any time, as far as I'm concerned."

"You don't think the university would have a problem?"

"Only if someone told them," I shrugged. "Like I say, none of the guys will mind if you're around a lot," I grinned at her and she smiled back, "the only problem is you getting back to Hollywood from UCLA on a morning."

She nodded, knowing how bad the rush hour traffic would be and the horrendous time in the morning she would have to leave in order to make it to school on time. "Maybe we can spend weekends there rather than here," she suggested, "it's more convenient for your work and downtown we can hit a few places on an evening."

"Sounds good to me. Did you call your dad yet?"

"No," she shook her head. "I need to and I'll probably call him today sometime. There's no time now as we have to see the others but later on I'll talk to him and see how he's doing."

"Maybe you could meet him for a coffee or something," I suggested. "I'm sure as much as he'd appreciate the call he'd love to actually see you – and Trina."

"Good idea; I'll suggest that. For now, though, we have houses to see."

She took my hand and we left the house for the short drive to Jade's house. Beck's car was already in the driveway when we got there so I assumed that it wouldn't be long before we were back on the road, although, to nobody's surprise, Jade was in the middle of a cup of coffee when she answered the door and let us in. I saw Beck leaning casually against the kitchen counter and went over to chat with him, realising a few moments later that the girls weren't with us.

"Any idea where they've gone?" I asked Jade's boyfriend.

"None whatsoever," he shrugged. "In the past that would have worried me, Jade off somewhere alone with Tori but now that she actually gets on with her… they're probably just talking."

I nodded; Tori had mentioned how concerned Jade was over what she was going through with her parents at the moment so it was natural that she'd want a quiet word with her to make sure that she was ok.

The two emerged a couple of minutes later; both were smiling and Jade's mug was empty. She quickly rectified that situation and offered us a cup (there was just about enough left in the pot so we both accepted) and we chatted while we drank as I went over the basics of the houses that we were going to see; mostly two-bedroomed, fairly small but enough for what we'd need and, crucially, affordable. This last point earned a few nods of approval, particularly from my girlfriend in the light of the uncertainty seeping into her life.

"I'll still need a part-time job," she complained, "maybe I can land some work as an extra or a backing singer or dancer over the summer; you know, try to get recognised and get my profile out there."

"It's what I'll be doing," Jade confirmed, "trying to get known is most of the battle. You already have a few people know you from your stunt girl performance," she smirked as she thought back on those few days; Tori suddenly became very interested in the table, "so you might have a foot in the door at least."

"How about you Beck?" I asked the actor.

"Same thing really, trying to get a few jobs as an extra here and there, pitching scripts to producers. If nothing comes of it then I'll look for something else part-time once I start college; I'm sure there'll be plenty of vacancies in LA."

"And speaking of LA," I drained my mug, "we should probably make a move before long now the rush hour traffic should have died down."

"Right, let's go see where we're living next year," Beck agreed. I saw the two girls' eyes meet and a flash of uneasiness traverse across their faces; they may get on a lot better but living together would be an entirely new experience for Tori and Jade. Of course there would be arguments and disagreements, hopefully they just wouldn't get too serious.

"Are you sure you're ok with this?" I asked my girl in a low voice as we slid into the back seat of Beck's car. "We could look for a smaller place just for us if you've got doubts about living with them."

By them I obviously meant Jade, and Tori knew it, but she did her best to reassure me. "No, I'm sure it'll be fine," she insisted. "I've survived nearly eighteen years with Trina so I'm sure I can cope with Beck and Jade."

Nice diplomacy there Tori in listing them both.

"Ok, we're here," Beck called as his Satnav informed us that we'd reached the first place we were going to be looking at. It was one that I'd already expressed an interest in; we could just about walk to campus but it was a more logical drive or bus journey as it would be a little over a half-hour to walk it. Having enquired about it I had been in touch with the building's owner and he was due to meet us here in a few minutes so we quickly looked around the outside while we waited.

The soft squeak of brakes alerted us to the arrival of another car; I headed back around the front and saw a guy getting out of the car. I waved to him and he smiled.

"Hi Freddie," he said, guessing correctly that I was the person who had been asking about the place. "And these are?" he looked over my shoulder at the three others who had followed me back to the front.

"Hopefully they're my housemates for next year," I explained, "that's Beck, Jade and," I smiled, "my girlfriend Tori."

"Nice to meet you all," he said. "Obviously with people living here, even if they're away on Spring Break, we can't be here too long. I did warn them that I'd be showing some people around so hopefully it's not in too bad shape."

I nodded and fell into step behind him, taking Tori's hand as she caught up with me, the other two just behind us.

The "viewing" didn't take long; a quick look at the kitchen and living area. Two bathrooms (one an en suite), "that will help cut down on arguments," I muttered to Beck, he grinned happily in agreement and the two bedrooms – doubtless we'd fight over which one we each claimed but I was confident that it would work itself out. It was a pretty nice place, rather small but then you can only expect so much for students' budgets; at least as we'd be splitting the rent four ways it would be more affordable for us than for a lot of kids.

"What do you think?" I asked Tori as we returned to the front door; the owner was giving us a few moments to talk it over before he left.

"I like it. It's worth seeing the other places first but yeah, it's not a bad place at all."

"I agree," Jade chimed in. "Let's check out the others but be ready to give this guy a call and say we'll take it. Heck, maybe we can get it for the next three or four years rather than just one."

"Yeah, we might want to live together for a bit first before making it that long," Beck reasoned. Jade looked at him and he continued with a shrug, "Just in case there do turn out to be any problems."

"I agree," I said. "We can see the other places, if none of them are any better then we can sign up for a year and maybe at Christmas, if it's all going well, we can talk about extending."

The girls agreed and we thanked the guy for showing us around, informing him that we hoped to get back to him with a decision by the end of the day.

"Where next?" Jade asked.

"Uh, the next one's a couple of blocks that way," I gestured in the appropriate direction.

We piled back into Beck's car and spent the next hour or so looking at places. Sadly we couldn't get inside any of them so we just had to snoop as best as we could without drawing any attention to ourselves. Mid-day was approaching by the time we'd had a look at the last one so we went in search of a café to get something to eat.

"I really should call my dad," Tori commented as we looked at the menu for one place.

"Ok, we'll be inside. You know what you want?" I asked, knowing that she'd need a bit of space for this conversation.

She did and told me what to order for her so the three of us sat inside, ordered and I kept a watchful eye on my girl as she paced back and forth outside, clearly deep in conversation with her father.

Tori joined us just as the waitress was bringing our plates over; she was smiling and seemed genuinely happy about how things had gone.

"Everything ok then?" I asked.

"Yeah he's fine. It's difficult on the force but he's been assigned a new partner; they've stuck Gary in a desk job for now so he doesn't have to see him during the day. He's obviously upset about everything but sounded really happy to hear from me and I'm meeting him for dinner tonight."

"That'll be nice for you both," Jade observed.

"And Freddie hopefully," my girl smiled, "he said you can come too."

"Sure," I shrugged, slightly surprised as I assumed that he would want to spend the time with his daughter – or daughters. "Is Trina coming along too?" I asked her.

"No, he said to suggest that she see him tomorrow night so he gets to spend a couple of evenings with us, not just the one."

"Makes sense I guess," Beck commented as Jade nodded by his shoulder. She wore that tell-tale gleam in her eye which implied that she wanted to say something derogatory about the elder Vega sister but was biting her tongue due to the severity of the situation. From the stories I've heard this isn't something that the Jade of a year ago would have done for Tori.

"So, what do we want to do about housing?" Tori asked, seemingly eager to change the subject.

"I say we go for the first one," was Jade's suggestion; it was one that we were all happy to agree to.

"I'll call the guy."

Half an hour later we met back at the house and contracts were signed. Beck could head happily for Canada with mission accomplished and we could all look forward now to at least knowing where we'd be living next year. I'd have to clear out of my current place a couple of weeks before moving in there but Tori said I could leave anything I wanted there (as I'd likely be staying with her for the interim anyway), while Beck and Jade also offered to house any of my stuff that I needed to find a temporary home for.

We got back to Jade's house and wished our Canadian friend a good and safe trip; Jade assured us that she would keep herself amused for the rest of the week, probably hanging with Cat for a bit, though we did invite her to come along with us for whatever we had planned with Carly and Sam. Hopefully we'll see her at some point during the rest of the week, but it's up to her really. The couple wanted to spend a little time together before he left so we left them alone.

"What do you want to do now?" I asked my brown-haired girl as we got into her car.

"We could see what the others are doing and maybe hang with them for a while," she suggested.

"Sure, I'll call Carly and see where they are."

André, Cat and Robbie had taken the girls to Anaheim and Dingoland, something that slightly annoyed me when I realised that I had yet to go there myself. "I'd have gone with them one day this week if I'd known," I complained to Tori. She patted my arm and made a sympathetic face, promising to take me there one day if I really wanted to go. "I'm sure we can find a day over the summer when we're not busy," she assured me.

Bereft of much else to do we headed back to the Vega home to get ready for meeting her dad, and to give Trina the news that we had spoken to and would be seeing him. It galvanised her into giving her dad a call as well; they finalised arrangements for the following night and it was a far happier Trina who sat with us after talking to him.

We sat around just watching TV and lazing away the afternoon along with Trina until my friends returned. Carly, as usual, bounced through the door in a great mood; Sam dragged her feet a little as if the whole day had pained her.

"Hey girls, did you have a good time?" I asked. Carly nodded, Sam grunted.

"She did," my brunette best friend assured me, giving the blonde a playful shove in her back, "she's just cranky because she had to walk around the place; you know how lazy she is. How are you guys?"

"He's sulking because he wanted to go to Dingoland," my girl teased, pulling me close to her by looping her arm over my shoulders. Carly giggled and made an insincere "Aww" sound as she came over to join us on the couch, sitting on my other side from Tori, while Sam cast us a quick glance and went to raid the fridge.

"Did you look at the houses that you wanted to?" Carly enquired, remembering the reason why we hadn't been with them today.

"Better than that, we signed up for next year; the four of us will be house-mates," Tori declared excitedly. I noticed Trina shoot a partly surprised and perhaps slightly disappointed look in our direction; thinking about it for a moment I guess it's obvious that, given the circumstances, she doesn't really want to be separated from her sister at this time.

"We get the place over the summer so it's going to be a few months yet before we move in," I observed idly, casting a surreptitious look at my girl's older sister; this little titbit of news mollified her slightly. "Hopefully Tori and Jade will get by without killing one another," I turned to my girl with a smile; she frowned for a moment before giggling. After we shared a few moments of laughter my girl leaned in for a kiss.

"Guys, not in public!" Trina whined; from the corner of my eye I could see Sam nodding slightly as she balanced whatever she had just taken from the Vegas' fridge. Tori ignored them both and kissed me again.

"Did the others not want to come in with you?" I asked the girls when the thought occurred that they had returned alone. Carly answered,

"Cat had to get home so André gave her a ride. He said he'd come by in the morning and we'd hang out for a while and see what else we wanted to do."

"Maybe it's a good thing," Tori piped up, "because we," she removed her arm from around my shoulders and took my hand as she stood, pulling me to my feet as well, "have to get ready to see my dad."

The two of us waved to the girls and headed upstairs; around fifteen minutes later we had changed into slightly smarter clothes (though still jeans and T-shirts but not the shorts and T's that we'd worn during the day) and were ready to go again.

"Give him my love," called Trina sincerely as we passed through the living area, "and tell him I'll see him tomorrow."

"I will," Tori promised, nodding at her older sister. I waved casually to the girls and followed my girlfriend out of the door.

Mr Vega had arranged to meet us at The Garden of Taxco on Harper; we arrived a little early, owing to light traffic, to be informed that he wasn't yet here so we sat in the waiting area and ordered sodas, which we nursed while we waited. He arrived soon after; as he walked through the door Tori leapt to her feet.

"Dad," she cried, starting towards him. He turned and the two embraced warmly.

"It's great to see you, sweetie," he said. He looked past his daughter and in my direction as I stood and made my way over to join them.

"How are you Freddie?" he asked, shaking my hand, while keeping his left wrapped around his youngest daughter. "We didn't really get to talk when you came over on Saturday."

"I'm fine, sir, thank you. I hope you're well."

He shrugged and answered, predictably, that he was as good as could be expected given the circumstances. We were shown to our table, Mr Vega ordered a beer and refills for our sodas, and we perused the menu while engaging in a little small talk, most of which was Tori urging her dad to tell us how his work was going. He did while we ordered and worked through our appetisers. As the entrees arrived he asked what was going on in our lives.

"We've found a house for next year," Tori told him excitedly.

"So my little girl's really leaving home?" he asked in a slightly cautious tone. My girlfriend nodded.

"I'll take care of her, sir, you know I will," I promised him.

"I do know that, Freddie, but I'll still worry about her," he explained. "How's your mother?" he turned back to his daughter.

"I've not seen much of her," my girl admitted, "I don't really want to at the moment."

"Tori," he said softly, "it's not my intention to have you hate your mother or anything…"

"I know," she insisted, "but I don't like what she's done, that she's brought things to where they are now and I really don't have anything nice to say to her." She returned to her enchiladas with an air of finality about that part of the discussion. Her dad and I traded a look before returning to our own dinners.

"What are you doing for the rest of the evening?" Tori asked as her dad paid the check and we prepared to leave.

"Just me and the TV in my hotel room," he shrugged.

"Want some company?" she offered.

"You kids have better things to be doing than babysitting me," he protested.

"I want to spend time with you," Tori glanced at me and I nodded, happy to give her dad a bit of support at this time.

"Ok, there's a hotel bar, we could have a couple of drinks down there and see how late you two want to stay," he proposed in defeat, leading the way to the cars.

"Thank you," Tori squeezed my hand as she followed her dad's car back towards his hotel. "I appreciate you coming along so I can spend a bit more time with him."

"He's your dad, you want to be with him and it sucks that he'd be alone," I reasoned. "Besides, it's not like we really had any other plans for tonight."

"No, I wonder how my sister's getting on with Carly and Sam," she added thoughtfully as we pulled into the hotel car park.

"I'm sure there'll be some stories to tell when we ask them," I laughed, "but for now, let's have a nice evening with your dad."

AN: I hope you all enjoyed this little update. Exactly how Tori and Jade co-exist as housemates is something that I can't wait to look at, but that's quite a way in the future yet. Please don't be shy about dropping me a review and letting me know what you thought of this. PD.