AN: Hello everyone and welcome to the latest chapter of this story; I hope you have all had a good week. As always I'd like to start by thanking everyone for reading and, in particular, reviewing last time around; I appreciate all your feedback.

EnchantingNightmares – yes there was a little more Freddie/Jade interaction in that chapter, I'm glad you're enjoying their friendship.

Fanfic-Reader-88 – ah the complicated love lives of fifteen-year-olds eh?

Challenge King – yes Jade is perhaps over-compensating for what she found herself thinking and feeling about Freddie by focussing more on Beck. Freddie does need to deal with stuff and move on, but it's taking him time. Will it take him too long and cost him another shot at a certain red-head? Who knows.

OneHorseShay – yes Jade is in a bit of denial and as I said above maybe overcompensating by her focus on Beck (horror of horrors, a girl being attentive to her boyfriend!) Freddie has seen again an example of the girl's loyalty; it all depends on whether he's looking, particularly at another guy's girl. Mrs West probably wouldn't want to talk about Freddie; they've only met the once and, while they're friends and were in the play together, there's little reason for her to wonder about him at this time. Perhaps he is too desperate and building up too many walls to protect his heart but he may feel that's all he's got left after what he's experienced so far. Hopefully he can work through the pain and decide that some girls are worth risking the pain for.

Agent-M – toying with the idea of Jade? Maybe he'd consider it if Beck wasn't in the picture but I doubt, even if he was ready for something, that he'd make a move on a girl that was "taken".

Ok, on with the show.

Chapter 6

Swordplay Fencing Studio, 416 S Victory Blvd, Burbank, CA

Thursday, 12th November 2009.

Freddie stood leaning against one of the pillars on the main floor of the studio; the Seattle-born teen was watching as André and Beck practiced against one another, the two having just finished their first official lesson (they had been sparring and learning from their friend up until this point).

The two boys had both recently acquiesced to Freddie's urging them to start formal tuition; they had both recently landed part-time jobs at the Green Meadow mall so they now felt able to afford to take their shared hobby a little more seriously. André also had to finance his gym membership; he and Freddie still went once a week (they'd like to go more often but with Freddie working Mondays and Wednesdays, André working Fridays and their fencing on Thursdays that only left Tuesday evenings, plus they still had their school work to keep on top of). For his part the brown-haired teenager was loving his new job at the Pear Store, he too was earning reasonable money and able to enjoy a little more independence from his mother's prescriptions on what he can and can't spend cash on. Beck, despite not joining the other guys at the gym, had his own demands on his finances; Freddie joked with him about how much feeding Jade's coffee habit must be costing the Canadian-born actor, something his friend readily confirmed.

The subject of Jade had briefly been an awkward one for the two; Beck had privately felt a little troubled by how close his girlfriend and Freddie appeared to be. The play that had recently starred the pair had served as something of a tipping point for the taller teen's suspicions, having seen how they interacted on stage, the amount of time they had been together rehearsing and even before then, dating back to last term, he was now re-evaluating his opinion of what he had seen transpiring between them; originally he had jumped to the conclusion that Jade was being partly responsible for Freddie's low spirits at the back end of their freshman year but now, having seen them interact a little more, he wondered just how much worse his friend would feel had his girlfriend not been there to lend some emotional support – and just how unusual it seemed to him to think of Jade in terms of someone who would provide such support to somebody.

True to his usual self Beck had not broached the subject with anyone, preferring to jump to his own conclusions, but the fact that his girlfriend had been far more affectionate towards him in recent weeks was enough to convince him that all was well again in their relationship. Freddie and Jade still talked during breaks but only as part of the group. He felt that his fellow Los Angeles immigrant was still a little sombre compared to his "pre-Lindsey" self but put it down to the boy being single again – and seeing Cat still being in a relationship.

Their red-haired friend had been dating Martin for a few weeks now and was still talking happily about the time that she spent with him. In a quiet moment Jade had pulled the girl to one side and asked how serious it was between them; Cat replied that they hung out and had a lot of fun but, aside from a couple of stolen kisses at the end of their more recent dates, nothing much had happened between them so far, nor was she in a hurry for it to go any further just yet. Jade had relayed this news to Freddie rather excitedly, hoping that it would convince the boy that he still had a chance with their friend; the conversation hadn't gone exactly the way she had hoped.

"Honestly Jade, I'm really not sure about dating anyone right now; I'm still hurting."

"Do you seriously think that Cat would hurt you like that?" she sounded a little incredulous.

"No but…" she eyed him expectantly, wondering what the "but" would turn out to be, "she broke up with me once before; it didn't hurt anything like what Lindsey did but she did end things between us – and that led to Lindsey."

"You're blaming HER for what Lindsey did?" Jade asked in shock.

"No, not at all – that's all on the bitch," he spat, "but I don't think I want to put my heart out there again; I'm not ready to take that risk right now."

André removed his facemask. "Dang that was good," he declared. "The lesson definitely helped," he continued enthusiastically.

Beck nodded beside him as he removed his own mask. "Hey Freddie, you want to spar?" he called.

"Sure," the brown-eyed teenager grinned as he pushed himself off the pillar. He gathered up his epee and facemask and joined the actor on the matted area; André took his position watching, leaning casually against the same pillar as his friends touched swords and started their bout.

The long-haired actor was brimming with confidence after his lesson, maybe too much so as he approached the shorter teen. Freddie's greater experience and ability helped him to easily evade the other's moves before landing a touch with a lazy motion that struck home before Beck could organise his defences. This spurred the Canadian fifteen-year-old on to redouble his efforts; he took Freddie a little by surprise with his frenzied moves but the boy was equal to everything until his opponent suddenly slipped a little as he stretched before he groaned and clutched at his right knee as he fell to the ground.

"Are you ok man?" Freddie asked in concern, removing his mask and walking over to his prone friend as André hurried over to join them.

"No," Beck winced through his facemask, "my knee… when I slipped, argh," he groaned in pain.

"Ok, get him to my car," one of the instructors demanded the other two boys as he strode over to them and felt the injured knee with his hands. "I'll take him to the hospital to get it looked at properly. You guys want to come with him?"

Freddie nodded, though André said he needed to get home to be with his grandmother so he, with regret, left the studio after helping Freddie bundle Beck into the instructor's car.

Providence Saint Joseph Medical Centre, 501 S Buena Vista St, Burbank

The car had quickly traversed the short distance to the hospital and soon the injured teen was sat in reception while the instructor spoke to staff.

"How are you feeling?" Freddie asked the invalid.

"Oh I'm ok," Beck shrugged nonchalantly. "There's a bit of pain and I don't want to stand on it but I'll be fine." Then he winced, belying that statement as a stab of pain shot through his leg. He began to massage it in the hope of relieving some of the pain.

"I'm sorry," Freddie told him guiltily, looking at the floor.

"Hey it's not your fault dude," he was told. "I was feeling cocky from the lesson and I overdid it; it's one of those things," and he offered his hand, which his friend shook readily.

"Beck Oliver?" A doctor called; the long-haired boy looked at him and confirmed his identity. "I'm Doctor Levinson. This way please," he gestured with his arm and waited for the group to rise.

Freddie stood up and helped his friend along, supporting his weight to keep it off the injured knee; the instructor did likewise on the boy's other side and the three followed the medical professional to an examination room.

Two floors up from them Marissa Benson was taking a quick break on her shift; she had missed her official break, the perils of being one of the Head Nurses, so she took advantage of a lull in the workload to head for an area where the use of cell phones was permitted. She knew that Freddie would be home from his fencing lesson by now and wanted to check up on her son. She was surprised, and a little worried, when his phone went to voicemail, particularly as he so seldom switched the device off – and he was expecting her to call as she normally did when working nights. She tried him a second time, with the same result, before scurrying to her locker where she fished in her bag for the locator unit. She switched it on, only to be stunned by the pronouncement,

"Locating… Benson, Fredward. Benson, Fredward located. Zero point zero miles north west."

"He's here?" she gasped, mind racing as she set out in search of answers as to why her son was in the hospital; she had envisaged several horrendous scenarios before she even reached the staircase.

Freddie clapped a hand to the back of his head as he heard the now-too-familiar echo in there. Fortunately he had just deposited Beck in a chair where a nurse was attending to him (and very happy to do so; she was smiling flirtatiously at the teenager, who grinned back). Ordinarily this would have concerned Freddie, knowing of course that Beck was Jade's boyfriend, but he had his own troubles to contend with at this moment. He intended to speak to the doctor about it only to be surprised when he was approached by the medic instead.

"Could you turn your phone off please? The transmitter will interfere with some of the instruments when we do the MRI."

"It is off," he said in mounting confusion. "I switched it off when we parked up."

"Well you have something giving off a signal," the doctor complained.

"I don't know what that could be," he shook his head dismissing the idea before deciding that he really did need to mention it, no matter how crazy it sounded. "Doctor…" he deliberated on his words; talking about 'voices in his head' didn't seem like a good way to phrase it, "just before you came over I kind of heard something, almost like an echo – I couldn't make out exactly what it said but it's something that has happened a couple of times before over the last year. And now you say I'm transmitting some signal even without my phone on. It sounds crazy but… could they be connected?"

"I have no idea," Doctor Levinson admitted, "but if you want to leave all your valuables here," he handed the boy a box, "I can take you for an X-ray and we can have a look?"

The star fencer nodded and followed him to one of the hospital's X-ray rooms.

"Stand there please," the nurse gestured to the wall. Freddie stood where he was told and let the machine do its thing. "The results will be ready in a few minutes," she told him. He thanked her and followed the doctor back to check on Beck, who was having the MRI scan on his knee when they returned to the room; the nurse from before still smiling at him from her vantage point at the machine's control panel.

The nurse they had left bustled in a few minutes later holding a couple of items; she handed them to the doctor who looked hard at them and then turned to his patient.

"There's something there in the back of your head, it looks like a small metal object. Very possibly that is what was transmitting then. He scratched his chin thoughtfully.

"The last two times it's happened my mom has shown up soon after," the boy began slowly, "some kind of locator chip?" he speculated in horror.

"It's possible," Levinson shrugged, "such a device isn't unheard of – they're used more in animals because it would be a dubious practice to put one in a human."

Freddie shook his head in disgust. "Can you get it out?" he asked.

"Tonight?" He sighed; his schedule wasn't too busy this evening. "Well I guess we can prep you while Beck is being looked at and we should be able to. I'd like to keep you here overnight for observation with doing a procedure involving the head, would that be a problem?"

"No, not at all; I've nothing to go home for," he lamented bitterly.

"Ok then, go with the nurse please."

An increasingly frantic Marissa was rushing from room to room looking for any sign of her son; she had intended to try the locator again to see if he was still in the hospital but was panicked when the machine suddenly sent out a distress signal and flatly refused to track him afterwards.

"Something's happened to the chip," she complained in a low mutter, unaware that the X-ray that found it had damaged it with the radiation and drawing confused looks from her co-workers as she scampered around the building.

Finally, having failed to spot the boy and needing to return to work soon, she asked the receptionist, "Has a boy called Freddie Benson been admitted tonight. I'm his mother," she told the girl, who she knew by sight.

"Uh," the girl answered; she wasn't supposed to divulge the information without proof but the imposing figure of Head Nurse Benson scared her, and most of the other staff if truth be known, and she didn't want to get on the woman's wrong side. "Let me check," she said as she scanned the in-patient list. "No Bensons admitted tonight, no."

"Any teenage boys?"

The younger employee eyed her reluctantly but acquiesced. "Seven. Beck Oliver, Steve –"

"Beck?" Marissa interrupted. "He's one of Freddie's friends, that's where he'll be. Which room?"

"Doctor Levinson took him and two others; one was a boy his age and the other was an older guy. They went to Room 107."

"Thank you," Mrs Benson called distractedly as she bustled off to find her baby boy.

The reddish-brown-haired woman barged through the door to room 107 much to the surprise of its denizens.

"Nurse Benson?" Doctor Levinson looked up at the newcomer. "What can we do for you?"

"I'm looking for my son; he came in with this young man," she gestured to Beck. "Have you seen him?"

"Freddie's your son?" The doctor asked in surprise. "Yes, he went to be prepped for surgery," he continued casually, knowing that it would get under the paranoid woman's skin; the nurses in the room grinned behind their hands as Marissa's look morphed into one of abject horror.

"Surgery? What happened to him?" she screeched at Beck and the boys' instructor before turning back to the medical staff. "How can he be having surgery without being admitted?"

"We found an object, some sort of chip by the looks of it, in his head when we x-rayed him," the doctor explained with a note of deep disapproval, silencing the head nurse in an instant. "Freddie asked me to remove it so he's having the surgery tonight."

"Where is he?" she demanded before her pager beeped. She glanced at it in annoyance at the summons.

"I think you're presence is required elsewhere," Doctor Levinson told her and turned back to Beck's scan pointedly. Marissa glowered for a moment before storming out of the room vowing that this wasn't over.

The local anaesthetic had Freddie a little disoriented while the surgery was being performed; soon however his head was chip-free again and he was sat up in a bed flicking through one of the well-thumbed and somewhat out-of-date magazines scattered around the hospital.

"Hey." He looked up to see Beck hovering in the doorway on crutches. "Some night huh? You bring me here because I injured my knee and you end up being the one having to stay overnight."

"I can't believe my mom chipped me!" the short, brown-haired teen snarled. "I knew she was overprotective but seriously?" He shook his head in disgust before spying the object of his ire through the gap between Beck and the door. Marissa looked in their direction and, spotting Beck, walked over to them, quickly registering the sight of her son in one of the beds.

"Freddie!" she cried, pushing past Beck and almost knocking him over as she rushed to her son's bedside. She was surprised by the dark look he wore on his face as she approached.

"Mom," he said emotionlessly.

"I was so worried when I found out you were here," she began, in the hopes of placating him.

"Well you don't need to worry anymore," he said, then continued in a terse tone to answer to her confused look, "I've had the chip removed – yes I know all about that, I can't believe you'd do something like that to me, keeping tabs on me night and day – and I'm moving out." The nurse gasped and Beck looked on in surprise. "Yes," Freddie concluded, "once I'm out of here tomorrow I'll pack my things and I'm going."

"Don't be so silly, where will you go?" she demanded of her son.

"Wherever it is I won't have to worry about whatever crazy stunts you are going to pull on me next."

"Freddie!"

"I mean it mom, tomorrow I'll be gone. Now, the doctor says I need to get some rest." And with that he slid down to lie in the bed and rolled onto his side with his back to his mother.

Marissa stuttered for a few moments before turning and leaving the room. Beck, meanwhile, hobbled over to his friend's side.

"Where are you going to go?" he asked.

"I don't know," the boy admitted, "but now I'm working I can find somewhere cheap to crash for a while."

"How about my place?" his fellow immigrant offered.

"Your place?" Freddie asked in surprise before chuckling softly. "Dude thanks for the offer but you live in an RV; there's not going to be enough room for me to move in is there?"

"No, I mean mom and dad's house," his long-haired friend clarified. Freddie looked at him in amazement. "I'll ask them but I'm sure that they'll be cool with it; I don't want to be there because I don't want to have to live by their rules but…" he tailed off awkwardly; Freddie smiled at his discomfort, thinking that he was reading his friend's mind.

"But even with their rules they won't be as crazy as my mom," he supplied.

"Something like that," Beck grinned.

"Well sure, if they're cool with it then I'll move there," he enthused.

"There you both are," their instructor said thankfully, having found them. "I know you're going to be staying here Freddie but Beck, I'll give you a ride home. We need to leave now though."

"Ok," he acknowledged before turning back to the boy in the bed. "See you later man," he waved to Freddie, who returned the gesture.

Oliver residence, Hollywood Hills

Beck's return coincided with his one of his mother's concerned glances through the window of the living area; she had expected her only child to return a few hours ago and he was not answering his cell. Her concern heightened considerably as she saw him emerge from an unfamiliar car holding crutches and a large bulk around his knee visible through his jeans. Mrs Oliver rushed to the front door and down the driveway to where her son's fencing instructor was helping him gingerly from the car and supporting him until he got his balance right.

"Beckett? What happened?" she called in dismay.

"Relax mom, I just hurt my knee a little while sparring with Freddie tonight after my lesson. I overdid it; it was my fault and I'll be on these for a couple of weeks."

"Come inside," she demanded as the instructor retreated, unwilling to embroil himself in this debate, "I know you want your space but I'm not having you living in that trailer while you're on those things."

"Mom," he complained but was overpowered and outnumbered as his dad joined them in the driveway and, agreeing with his wife, also insisted that he come inside.

Mrs Oliver was soon plying the boy with hot drinks and questions as she sought to ascertain the extent of the damage. It didn't take long, however, for him to deflect attention onto his friend by telling the story of his MRI.

"… and the doctor told Freddie to turn his phone off, but it was off; turns out it was detecting some sort of tracking chip his mom had had implanted in his head!"

"What?" the Oliver parents gasped. "What kind of parent does that to their kid?" Mrs Oliver wondered aloud.

"I don't know but Freddie's had enough; you remember the story from his birthday right?"

The parents nodded, recalling their son's tale from the events of that evening and Mrs Benson's general attitude.

"Anyway," Beck continued, "he told her he's moving out. How would you feel about maybe letting him stay here for a while? He has a job and he'd be happy to pay some rent."

"Well he could take your RV now that you're back here for a bit," Mr Oliver suggested, "if that's ok with you, and then we'll see how it goes by the time you're off those things."

"I guess," Beck said weakly, a little less certain about giving up his own little private place, though he had to concede that he wouldn't be using it any time soon. "I'll let him know tomorrow."

Asphalt Café, Hollywood Arts High School, Los Angeles

Friday, 13th November 2009.

"She chipped him?" Jade asked incredulously as her boyfriend recounted the previous evening's entertainment for them. She shook her head and took a draught of her coffee, momentarily stopping rubbing his wounded knee sympathetically; Beck was privately a little disappointed at the curtailing of her affectionate gesture. The gothic girl had been expecting a phone call from the Canadian-born actor after the boys' fencing session and had been concerned when she didn't hear from him. He had called this morning, explaining that he was getting a ride in and out of school with his father for the next few weeks due to his injury (a strained knee; it wouldn't require surgery, just a lot of rest).

"Why would she do something like that?" Cat wondered aloud.

"Man, that woman's a nut," Rex supplied, much to Robbie's embarrassment.

"Rex!" he gasped, however none of the other teens seemed particularly scandalised by the puppet's description of their friend's mother.

"I'm just sorry I missed all the fun," André contributed. "So is Freddie going to be in school today?"

"He should be; he was being discharged first thing and heading here." The long-haired boy kept to himself for now the fact that he had fixed things up with his parents for Freddie to move into their home.

"Well he's going to be late for first period," Eli commented with a shrug as the bell peeled. The group left their table and headed for class.

"So how was everyone else's evening," Beck enquired as he limped into school. Understandably the sight of him on crutches, along with André's comment before he had arrived that the teen had been injured while fencing, had led to him, and latterly Freddie, being the main topics of conversation for the gang before school began this morning.

"I spoke to Martin last night," Cat volunteered with a shy grin. "We're going to see a movie tonight."

Behind the red velvet-haired teen's back Jade frowned slightly at this little bit of information. Her expression darkened further as she remembered Freddie's words from their recent chat: it's all on the bitch. That he thought of Lindsey like that, even if Jade personally thought it was quite an apt description of the blonde junior, troubled her as it implied to her that he was no closer to coming to terms with their relationship, break-up and what had happened to him after the Prom. How long is he going to need? She wondered. Maybe he needs to speak to someone…

"So you start your new job and now you won't be able to do it?" the gothic girl teased her boy as they sat in class together, seeking distraction from her concerns over her "mission" to reunite Freddie and Cat.

"I need to call them, thanks for reminding me. Hopefully we can arrange something where I can still work but just sit there rather than walking around the place, otherwise you're right." He was working in one of the Mall Food Court stands so he was hoping that they would let him sit at the cash register and work from there; it was something he would suggest when he called his employer.

"How long are you on crutches for?" Eli asked.

"The doc thought anything from two weeks to a month, then take it easy for another month or two – gentle exercise, nothing too strenuous," he shook his head; he'd just started his fencing lessons and now he'd be missing out on them for until the New Year at the earliest, something he lamented about to André; the songsmith was equally disappointed, both for his friend and the fact that he was losing a sparring partner at a similar level to himself.

Freddie was absent from first period but arrived midway through his second class, dance, which he shared with Eli. He gave a hurried apology to the teacher, explaining (in ways of the truth, nothing but the truth but not the whole truth) that he had spent the night in hospital following an accident at the fencing studio. The teacher accepted the explanation and gave him details of what the class were doing; he found a partner (one group had had to form a three when the others had paired off) and got to work, though his mind was still on recent events.

He had, in fact, not come to school direct from the hospital but had called in at home first, thankfully avoiding Marissa when he did. He quickly packed his clothes and some other essentials (including his laptop computer and other techie stuff that was "essential" to him) before heading to school; a trip that took longer than usual as he was weighed down with so much stuff. He had placed the valuables in his locker and left his case of clothing in the computer lab, trusting both that nobody would want to steal it and also that his friends on The Slap, who he knew between them would be in the room all day, would keep an eye on it for him (he had texted a few of them to let them know he was leaving stuff in there).

Eli had the chance to catch up with him in the changing rooms after their lesson.

"Hey," the sandy-blond greeted his friend. "Beck told us what happened; you're really moving out?"

"Yes," the tech producer confirmed, "I need to speak to Beck to finalise all the details but I've got all my stuff here so I don't need to go back – at least not until I'm sure mom's not going to be around so that I can get the rest of my things.

"Well good luck dude," the other said, touching his forearm briefly in a show of support. Freddie nodded and smiled to his friend as they left.

"Hey, you're here!" Cat greeted her friend exuberantly as he and Eli arrived in the Asphalt Café for lunch, swamping the brown-haired boy in a tight hug. "How are you since they cut your head open and pulled the chip your mom put in there out?" she asked descriptively.

"I'm wazzed off," he admitted. "I still can't believe she'd do that to me."

"And you had no idea at all?" Jade added.

"It's not exactly the thing you expect your mother to do, is it?" he asked her; the girl nodded her acknowledgement of his point. "And yet… a couple of times I'd heard this like… echo in my head, then she'd shown up – remember when she stormed into the fencing studio?" he turned to André with this question; the songsmith nodded. "Then there was the day we were at the mall a few weeks ago," he indicated to Cat; the redhead recalled that his mother had called and shown up a little unexpectedly, "so when I heard it again in the hospital I began to wonder what it was all about and then the doctor did an x-ray and here we are." He shook his head again.

"And you really moved out?" Cat enquired.

"Yeah, all my important stuff is here ready to be moved to my new home."

"About that," Beck piped up; Jade turned to her boyfriend with a quizzical expression as their friend feared the worst. "My mom has insisted that I move back in so she can 'mother' me," he air-quoted the word and pulled an annoyed face, "so they suggest that you take my RV instead." He wore an expression that suggested he wasn't entirely comfortable with the proposal, something the other boy picked up on immediately.

"You'd rather I didn't?" he guessed, trying to keep his tone even.

"Go for it," the long-haired actor forced himself to say. In truth he was uncomfortable giving up his little piece of freedom, though he could force himself to see his mother's point and reasoning; living alone would be tricky while he was on crutches and he could see the need to give his parents peace of mind that he was ok.

"Thanks man. Hopefully you'll be off those things soon and you can get your place back."

"So I'll see your parents a bit more often when I'm over then?" Jade asked as she walked hand-in-hand with her boyfriend on the way back into school.

"Is that a problem?" he asked, slightly hurt.

"No," she answered awkwardly, "it's just that… I get the feeling that they don't really like me."

"They don't hate you," he tried to reassure her; he failed to do so given that he had switched the focus of their feelings in such a way. She turned to look away from him to hide her frown, feeling that these next few weeks could provide another little test for the couple.

"Do you need some help moving your stuff?" André asked as he and Freddie made a brief stop at their lockers; Cat hovered by the former iCarly's elbow as the two were in the same science class and she wanted to walk to class with him.

"I should be ok, but thanks for the offer," he assured him. "Maybe if I move some more stuff in a day or two I might need a hand; if so I can let you know. I'll see how I settle over the weekend."

The talented musician nodded; Freddie sighed as his phone's ring tone played. He pulled it from his pocket, spied the caller's ID, declined the phone and stowed the device back in his jeans.

"My mom," he answered Cat's questioning look. "I really don't want to talk to her, especially as she's likely realised that I've taken a lot of my stuff."

"So she'll know you're really moving out?" the cupcake-loving girl supplied unnecessarily; he nodded.

"Yes, she'll have figured it out so I need to keep where I'm going to from her until I'm settled, otherwise she'll try and force me home again."

"What if she just comes here?" the girl wondered as they waved goodbye to their friend, who was in a different class.

"I don't know," he admitted, "but it likely ends in a shouting match between us somewhere in the school. It won't be pretty."

The girl nodded uncomfortably and took his hand gently to show her support. The two shared a warm smile and Freddie briefly squeezed his friend's hand as they continued their walk through the school; he was surprised at just how natural it felt to be holding the red-head's hand again after so long. Half-way to class, however, a thought suddenly occurred to the boy and he released the girl's hand as suddenly as if it had started to burn him.

"I'm sorry," he mumbled, not quite meeting Cat's eyes, nor taking in her surprised and slightly hurt look. "You're with Martin so I shouldn't have…" he trailed off awkwardly.

"It's ok Freddie," she reassured him, "it felt nice." She took it again. "See?" she said, smiling at him.

"You don't think it's a… a betrayal?" he choked out. "You and he are dating so to be holding hands with another guy…" again he felt unable to complete a sentence.

"No," she said simply, "but if it really bothers you then," she reluctantly dropped his hand, "let's just get to class."

They shared another little smile and walked to their lesson in a comfortable silence.

Freddie's fears about his mother's intrusion turned out to be unfounded; to his relief Marissa didn't show up at school, doubtless fearing a public confrontation that would risk exposing the reality of what she did to a wide audience, maybe including her son's teachers. The boy left along with Beck and Jade; the couple were going to spend the evening together at the Oliver home as it would be difficult for them to go anywhere in Beck's current condition. The trio met Mrs Oliver in the parking lot and Jade helped Freddie to load his things into the matriarch's car's trunk before they got in; Freddie was in the front passenger seat to allow the couple to sit together in the back – and to let Beck's mom "interview" the new lodger.

She asked a number of probing questions about his reasons, still slightly dubious of the existence of the chip (though she believed her son). A quick glance at the back of the boy's head (a patch of hair had been shaved prior to the minor operation) and the scar and stitches visible were more than enough to dispel her doubts. A peppercorn rent was agreed upon by them; Freddie would have been happy to pay more but was thankful for the low figure as it meant he could begin driving lessons now that he had his permit. The thought that him driving a car would further horrify Marissa was an amusing one for the boy.

"Here we are," Beck announced after Jade helped him out of the car and he opened the door to his RV. "Make yourself at home," he invited his friend graciously as he looked around. "Oh, you've moved all my stuff already?"

"Yes, your father and I moved everything that you'd packed up; well we knew you couldn't do it at the moment," his mother noted. He nodded and stepped to the side as Freddie hauled a bag into the trailer and set it down.

"Ok, we'll leave you to settle in," Mrs Oliver told the newcomer. "Dinner's in about an hour, we'll see you then?"

"You will. Thank you Mrs Oliver," he smiled as the lady retreated, followed by the young couple.

"We'll see you soon," Jade said; Beck waved before hobbling towards the main house supported by his girlfriend. Freddie moved his other things into his new home and began to unpack; settling back on the bed once he had finished.

"Casa del Freddo," he muttered with a smile as he looked around the place and surveyed his newfound freedom. He picked up his pear phone and dialled his best friend.

"Hey Sam, you'll never guess what's been happening here," he began, happiness to be talking to the blonde mingled with the weariness of the events of recent days.

Thanks for reading; please don't be shy about reviewing and I hope to see you all again soon for the next chapter. PD.