After Cat Gets A New Roommate

Add'l note: Just another vignette in the After series. Also, a sort of consolation for the delay on the final part of "Violated" (still need a couple of tweeks…).

"Hey, Cat!" Tori greeted her red-headed friend.

"Hey Tori!" Cat bear-hugged the brunette, Tori's feet leaving the floor, as Jade came up.

"Put my girlfriend down! Three… Two…"

"Alright, alright. She's down, 'kay?" Cat said quickly, avoiding Jade's eyes.

"So, Cat, we're all going to Nozu after school. Wanna come?" Tori asked as she got her breath back.

"I can't. Got to get home."

Jade showed a spark of interest, "In trouble with Nona?"

"No. Nona's fine. Heh-heh-heh… Nonona… That was funny!" Cat laughed some more before falling silent.

"Sooo…" Jade prompted in a flat tone.

"So what?"

"Sowhydoyouhavetogohomerightaway?!" Jade said quickly in an irritated tone.

"Oh, my roommate and I babysit kids in our building."

"Caaat…" Jade growled.

Tori put her hand on her girlfriend's arm, stopping the tirade. "Cat, pretend this is the beginning of a play and we just came in. Okay?"

"'Kay 'kay," she replied.

"Now, you have a roommate?" Cat nodded eagerly. "And you're baby… Wait, let's start with the roommate." Cat nodded again.

"Yep. Nona moved to an elderly home and I got a roommate."

"An elderly home?" Jade asked. "She's not that old, Cat."

"Yeah, but she wanted to be with other elderlies," Cat explained. In a conspiratorial tone, she added, "I think Nona has a crush on one of the other elderlies."

"Elderlies?" Tori asked.

"Back to the story, Cat," Jade growled.

"Well then we took over Nona's babysitting business. Now we watch a bunch of kids every day after school until their parents get home."

"Uh-huh. Well, that's clear as mud." Jade smirked.

"Cat, you're underage! You can't live on your own!" Tori exclaimed.

"Well, we kinda worked that out. See, Nona is only a few blocks away with the other elderlies. If Family Circus…"

"Family Services?"

"Yeah, them. If they come by, I just…" Cat looked at the clock down the hall. "Oh! I'm so late! I gotta go!"

A red and pink flash darted out of the school, pausing only to unlock her pink bike.

"C'mon, Vega. We gotta check this chiz out," Jade stated, pulling Tori to her car.

As she was being dragged bodily out of the school, Tori asked, "Would it kill you to say please once in a while?"

"Yeah. It probably would."

Traffic towards Venice was heavy. It took Jade over an hour to get to the apartment complex where she had taken Cat to live with her Nona a few months before. Naturally, after being stuck in traffic, the raven-haired girl was not pleased.

Getting out from behind the wheel, Jade growled, "C'mon, Vega. The place off the courtyard to the right. It's the first door on the left."

"It's not that far. I won't get lost!"

"Yeah, well, never can tell…" Jade's cold smile was turned on Tori who smiled back sweetly. "Errr…"

Hammering on the door, Jade yelled, "CAT! OPEN UP!"

The door swung open and Cat fell back, holding her cheek. "Dang!"

"Cat, did you hit yourself with the door again?" a voice called from further in the apartment.

"Yes!" she replied. Then she hugged Jade, yelling "JADEY!"

"Don't. Call. Me. That!" Jade managed to get out in gasps.

"Cat, let Jade go so she can breathe," Tori said.

"Okay." She let go of Jade and bear hugged Tori again, "TORI!"

"Cat… I… Can't… Breathe…"

"Oh!"

As Tori caught her breath, she muttered to Jade, "Remember when she said she was pretty scrappy? I believe her."

Jade nodded then turned to Cat, "So what the hell is going on here, Cat? Babysitting? Where are the little carpet crawlers? And what's this about some wazzbag roommate?"

At that moment, Sam Puckett came out of the back room. "Everything seems okay back there. The rugrats didn't do too much damage that I can see…" Then, seeing Tori, she yelled, "Tori Vega!"

Tori again found herself in a hug but not nearly as suffocating as a Cat-hug. "Sam? What are you doing here?"

"Well, after iCarly ended, Carls headed off to Italy with her dad. So I hopped on my bike to see where the road takes me."

"And it brought you to Venice?" Tori asked.

"Yep."

"Jade, you remember Sam Puckett?"

"Not really. I watched iCarly but…"

"Remember the party at Kenan's house? When I found out what a dirtbag Steven was?"

"Yeah. And that awesome hot tub…"

"Well, that's where you would've met them." Both Jade and Sam had blank stares so Tori said, "Okay, Jade West, meet Sam Puckett. Sam, meet Jade."

They shook hands as Sam said, "Hey." Jade replied, "'Sup?"

"Sure you two don't remember? We all sang karaoke together and…"

Sam cut in, "I'm not sure Tori. We didn't have a lot of time after exposing Carson and then the singing before we hit the road back to Seattle. The only one I really remember was the dude with the puppet, Rex."

"Robbie! That's our friend Robbie!" Cat interjected gleefully.

"Yeah. What's the deal with him anyway?"

"How long you got?" Jade asked only half sarcastically.

"Well, I'm not going anywhere for a while."

"Yeah, Sam's my roommate!" Cat laughed.

"Sam's your…"

Tori's face went blank and a dream she had treasured from several months ago was suddenly slammed to the forefront of her brain. The dream where she and Jade were getting married. It was the best dream she ever had and strangely realistic as dreams go.

"Tori, are you alright?" Jade asked, concerned since Tori was usually a motor-mouth in situations like this.

"Yeah," Tori said after shaking her head to clear it. She looked at Sam and began to explain, "See, Jade and I are…"

"We're girlfriends." Jade cut in as Tori stopped and blushed. "Why do you always have trouble with that?"

"Only with people who don't know," Tori said in a small voice. "I don't want a repeat of your dad's reaction to happen to you…to us again. You know I love you."

"Love you too." Jade smiled a genuine, Tori's-heart-melting smile.

Tori turned back to Sam, "See, a while after Kenan's party, we kinda got together."

"Yeah, we sure did," Jade agreed with a dirty chuckle. Tori punched her arm.

"Jade, remember you and I had a dream a while ago? Cat, I never told you, or anyone else for that matter. I didn't want to jinx it but Jade and I were getting married."

Jade smiled, "I remember. It was weird having the same dream at the same time…" Then she glanced at Sam and her face went blank. "I remember…"

The young lovers said, almost simultaneously, "Oh my gaaawd!"

Sam, growing more concerned by the second, asked, "What?"

Tori spoke up again, "Yeah. And I had the exact same dream again a while ago. It was a weird dream."

"Most dreams are," Sam replied.

"No. This was weird because it wasn't weird. See? It was so real. Even when I woke up, it all made sense and was so real. Not like most dreams that seem weird when you wake up. If you can even remember them."

Jade spoke up. "I had the same dream again too. A few weeks ago. Was your wedding dress from your grandmother? And mine was traditional white but with a large black sash?"

Tori nodded, "Yes. Exactly."

"How'd you talk me into wearing white?" the Goth asked.

"I don't know yet!" Tori exclaimed.

"Whatever. Ain't gonna happen Vega." Jade turned to her old friend, "And Cat was my maid of honor…"

"I AM! YAY! THANK YOU, JADE! I CAN'T WAIT!" Cat had her arms wrapped around Jade's neck as she bounced up and down.

"Cat… CAT!"

Suddenly meek, Cat stood back and looked at Jade with wide, innocent eyes. "Yes…?"

"It was a dream. It's not happening. Not yet."

Cat's face fell. "Oooh…"

Jade saw her now sad friend and added, "Cat, it hasn't happened yet. But it will. I know it. Just like I know Tori. And you'll be up there with me as my maid of honor."

"YAY! Promise?"

"Cross my heart, hope to die, stick a needle in my eye," Jade said solemnly. She turned back to Tori, "Was Beck up there too?"

"Yes, on your side. Trina was my maid of honor and Andre stood up with us on my side. Robbie was the usher."

"I don't remember that," Jade said. "But I remember my brother walking me down the aisle."

Now it was Tori's turn, "I don't remember that."

"You came in after me."

Sam was getting edgy. "Okay! You both got married in a really nice dream. What does this have to do about me? Why are you guys so freaked?"

"Was Sam there in your dream?" Tori nodded. "She was in some deep scarlet gown with pink highlights?" Tori nodded again. "And was she Cat's roommate?" Tori nodded again.

Jade nodded in agreement, "Yeah. And I knew you even though we didn't really meet until today."

"Whoa… That's some heavy chiz!" Sam said. "Guess you really will be Jade's maid of honor, roomie."

Cat sat on the couch with a big smile on her face. "I'll be the best maid of honor EVER! I swear Jade! We'll have a bachelor party and go to Las Vegas and…"

"Slow down Kitty Cat. We aren't even engaged yet," Tori interrupted.

Tori chuckled, "We haven't even finished high school yet, Cat. Don't rush us. We'll get there."

A small hopeful smile on her face, Tori looked at her love and asked, in a low voice, "We will, right?"

"Don't doubt me, Vega. Ever."

"Hey! You guys wanna go to Inside-Out Burger?!" Cat yelled.

"Cat, please use your inside voice," Jade requested.

Tori smiled, "I love Inside-Out Burger! They have the best fries!"

"And their shakes are real, with ice cream, not the semi-frozen yogurt crud you get at McRonald's." Sam added.

"And it's FREE!" Cat cried out.

"INSIDE VOICE!" Jade yelled. "And how're they free?"

"Free for life at the Inside-Out on Venice Way," Cat said in a chanting style.

The foursome left the apartment as Tori asked, "How're they free for life?"

"We saved the man's life! We gave him C3PO!" Cat declared.

Sam smirked and shook her head, "CPR. And it wasn't really the real thing but he was so grateful he declared free burgers for us for life. So, when we get there, just order the fries and shakes. We'll order extra burgers. And it's close enough, we could head down 17th Place to the beach if you want. I can't get enough of the sunsets here. So much less rain..."

The four were sitting on the edge of the beach, watching the last of the beach goers as they ate their free burgers. Even the fries and the shakes were free since the manager was there and still so happy the two girls saved him.

Tori glanced over at her friend. "So, Cat, I have to ask again. What are you going to do when Family Services shows up?"

Sam took the question, "Not a problem. I have a lot of experience with that. My psycho mom was almost never home. And when she was, half the time she was snockered to the gills. I had ways around all that. This is even easier. Just have to delay them while Cat runs to Elderly Acres to get her grandmother."

"Elderly Acres? That's the name of the place? Way to rub it in," Jade chuckled. "Almost as bad as having an old folks' home next to a cemetery…"

"Yeah, they call it that 'cause a lot of elderlies live there…" Cat stated.

Tori shook her head. "Um, Cat, they aren't called elderlies…"

After watching the sun set out over the Pacific, Jade and Tori left their friends. On the way back to the Vega house, Jade asked, "Uh, Tori. In your dream were Cat and Sam…"

"Yeah. But I couldn't tell them that."

"Yep. Let them figure it out on their own. Like we did."

Tori nodded, "But they do make a cute couple."

Jade agreed, "Almost as cute as us…"

"Aw, you said we're cute."

"No I didn't! I never say cute!"

"Liar!"

"Oh, you are so gonna get it when we get home, Vega!"

"Promises, promises…"