I'm back with a story based on the episode "Wok Star". I've had a great Victorious writing day - after publishing the latest chapter of "An Issue of Timing", I felt inspired to write this so I did. :D

Thanks to the reviewers on the last chapter. :) I've appreciated them very much and thank each of you for the time that you spent writing them.

Now, enjoy!

...

To Jade, one of the worst parts of incorporating Daisy Lee into her show was not just the fact that it was a significant deviation from her vision of the show. It was also about how confusing it was to Cat. From the very start of the show, Cat had known what to expect regarding the original plot. Jade had made that clear once she had received some important news.

"Now, Cat, I need you to focus and listen to me very carefully," Jade had said with exaggerated patience. She figured that she had bought her friend's loyalty for the evening by having her over for one of the incredibly rare sleepovers that she hosted willingly. Cat was thrilled and had eaten enough candy that she was completely content but not enough that she was bouncing off the walls with a sugar high. Now was the time to explain the importance of this show to Cat.

"Liiiiiistening," Cat sang in response, popping a pink jellybean into her mouth and giggling. Jade moved the jar of the chewy treats away from Cat, unwilling to share the focus of the moment with anything else.

"Are you still actually listening?" Jade checked. Cat nodded, her "serious" face sliding over her features.

"What is it?"

"So you know this play that I've been prepping..."

'Well Wishes'! It's my favourite! I like that I get to be the main character and do all the emotions and then at the end I'm not really all-the-way dead and..."

"I know the storyline, Cat. I wrote it. What I'm telling you about is the performance."

Cat shrugged. "It hasn't happened yet, so you probably can't tell me about it since you aren't a psychic. Please pass the jellybeans back this way!"

"Cat! My dad is coming to it!"

That sobered Cat a little and she frowned a little. "I don't like your dad."

"Cat!"

"He doesn't smile at me! He just frowns, and it's not nice frowns like yours."

"I don't frown nicely!"

"Yes, you do. I can tell the difference!" Cat crowed. She knew her friend and she knew what facial expressions were sincere and which were acting.

"Fine. Maybe ... sometimes I frown nicely," Jade conceded. "But this is about my dad coming. He's never done that and so it is critical that the play go off perfectly. So, we need to drill your parts non-stop. I'm trusting you, Caterina - there's no one else that I'd trust with such an important role in such an important show to me - at least besides Beck, and he can't do this role. But it also means that I'm going to be working lines with you all day and all night until the performance happens."

"Kay kay!"

Despite the happy-go-lucky response, Cat truly did commit to the role. She practiced constantly, even without Jade's prompting. She accessed true emotions for key parts of dialogue and her monologues were performed so skillfully that even an amped-up-critical Jade could not find any flaws.

That was until Mrs. Lee arrived, dragging her whispery, trying-to-be-bold daughter Daisy with her.

Suddenly there was an angel singing to Cat's character that if she just believed she could fly, something that completely befuddled Cat who now questioned if her character could indeed fly. Jade's short answer that she could not (with Tori's moderation attempts cutting off any incredibly "truthful" commentary on the sudden appearance of the stupid song) did not seem to satisfy the redhead who went back to her practice with a brain now busy considering why the song lyrics and script did not match.

Jade could sense disaster. All she could imagine was her best friend confusing lines and suddenly producing fairy wings and flapping around the stage. She knew that Cat was trying her best, but with Mrs. Lee's odd demands, balancing out the voices going into Cat's head was a bigger task that normal. Yet despite using Tori as a sort of emotional support animal during the process, there was no way that she would have switched the two girls. She still trusted Cat's acting more, mostly due to her tender loyalties. For better or worse, Cat was the main actor - the one who would bring her vision to life for her father to relentlessly critique.

Things did not start off well with Cat announcing she had dropped her bra in a toilet while getting dressed. Jade was too zoned out to answer, focused on her father's impending arrival, and she was glad that Tori "fixed" it by wringing out the bra and directing Cat to keep dressing. If Jade had been forced to help Cat, she likely would have ending up bursting out frantically, "Don't mess this up, Cat! You can't mess this up! Don't slip into your airheaded moments - do this right! Don't mess up!" She knew all too well that such a reaction would rattle Cat into useless oblivion.

Stay quiet. Don't scare the kid. She's going to do her best and you're going to love her no matter what. You know this. Just believe it too.

Still, with her father in the audience, Cat on the stage, and a cherubic and unsuspecting Daisy Lee in the air, Jade did not expect the show to go well, regardless of the name. So, when it went perfectly, ending with such pathos and tenderness that the audience ended with smiles and teary eyes, Jade was as surprised as her father likely was.

After Tori gave effusive praise and her father gave momentary approval, Jade's focus had to be on explaining away Daisy's aloft position to Mrs. Lee. But after everything was settled and she could slip away, she found her friend who immediately squealed.

"Jade! He came and I saw him talk to you and he wasn't as frowny as normal! I think he liked it! I liked it too. And look at the pretty flower I got..."

Cat's approval was suddenly worth so much more than her father's was. Jade took Cat's hands and squeezed them, speaking over her in a jumble of emotion. "Thank you, Cat. You did such an amazing job. I always love watching you, but tonight was incredibly special and you did it perfectly."

It was amazing how easy it was to praise someone else's art. So, so easy. And tonight, she would praise completely, rather than holding back and maintaining judgement through the reluctance with which she had learned to compliment.

"I'm proud of you, Cat. And you should be proud of yourself too."

Maybe Cat was good practice for changing generational patterns.

Jade did not even stiffen for a second when Cat, thrilled with the praise, threw her arms around Jade for a celebratory hug. Jade wanted the hug just as much as her friend did.

After the play ran all its shows, Cat got a short text: "Thanks for being my 'wok star' this week, Cat. I appreciate you just the way you are."

Unconditional support wasn't that hard either. Who knew?

...

I hope you enjoyed! I don't know when the next update will be - this is more of an "as I have good ideas that link in" story rather than a chapter-by-chapter one, but I do plan on doing the trapped in the RV episode next. :D