Disclaimer: I don't own Victorious or it's characters. I just borrow them for a while.

Disclaimer 2: This is the last chapter. Sorry.

:}

After that Saturday, the one where Tori's family started to come back together, things worked out just a bit better for all of them. David took the family on a couple of their weekend getaways, trying to bond again, rediscover themselves as a family. They had fun, visited a water park, and in general allowed themselves to enjoy being with each other. While the Vega family didn't bond to the point of old sitcom families, they did get back to the place where Tori or Trina could go to their parents for advice or help. And they got to the point where Tori agreed to keep them updated as to where she was going, at least until eighteen. The biggest change was they now made it a point to tell each other that they loved one another regularly. It helped. A lot.

David had previously shifted to Public Relations, so he could spend more time with Holly. Gary followed him into the less glamorous but much safer position. They still had badges and guns, but mostly worked behind desks. They were still tangentially attached to Major Crimes, however, so they'd occasionally work a case. But now that David knew Gary's relation to Holly, his partner became a more frequent guest at the Vega home. David even introduced Gary to some of Holly's friends. The attempted setups weren't as welcome as they could be, but it was more normal then most of what the Vega family had been used to. And it gave them another member of the family to talk to when tings went wrong. Gary was now part of the family, in all it's healthy dysfunction.

Jade's family was a bit more screwed up, despite the progress that her father and mother had made. Her Shapiro grandparents accepted her existence, but never truly embraced her. It was as if this kind of open secret happened all the time among different affluent communities, with rules about who was family and who was just the product of an indiscretion. Jade and Mark were left as outsiders among that community. But neither were Jewish either. Susan had deliberately raised them spiritual without specific beliefs. Jade had drifter towards the Universal Unitarians, while Mark would have his time with various groups finding his way. Religion was left as a topic for philosophical discussions, and Jade was able to talk to Edith or her father about their families. It made holidays less awkward.

Jade's home life, however, got a lot better. As her father stopped trying to win his parents approval, he discovered what it meant to be a father. Edith discovered a reason to stay in the family, now that Susan had gone from the other woman to her ally in keeping the house under control. Jade suspected they'd tried a few things in the bedroom, but not only were her parents not willing to talk about it, she would have paid not to have to hear. But they were working as a unit now, and kept their disagreements and fights to themselves. Jade wondered what kind of family therapy was helping that "couple" work through their problems. Again, she really didn't want to know.

Even Robbie was doing better. He and Cat still danced that dance of will they won't they, but now they had Jade stuck in the middle. Tori found it hard to keep her girlfriend calm when those two were fighting. It got even harder when they were in heavy flirt mode, since Cat didn't want to ruin their friendship. Trina had been brought in to try and work things out, but only said "They're not ready yet."

"Not to sound too much like Cat," Jade said, "But what's that supposed to mean?"

"It means that Cat is aware of how pretty she is, and how much she wants to be with Robbie. But she never had a good example of Ex's remaining friends." Trina explained. "Even when You and Beck were on that first long break, Cat wasn't sure how to be both an ex and a friend. She didn't, and doesn't, want to risk her friendship when things go south. Now more then ever, since you're Robbie's sister."

"Thats pessimistic, even for me." Jade replied. "How does she know things won't work out?"

"She doesn't." Trina said. "She's so afraid of wanting it too much, that if she did try, with his history, she's afraid of being the one who wanted it more. That conflicts with her feelings that she's hotter then he is, so she should have a pretty boy."

"Thats so screwed up." Jade admitted.

"And that's why their not ready." Trina concluded. "When they are, they will have a chance, maybe. But Robbie needs to show he's into her more then just how he was into me, back when we shared that stage kiss. The same one he only let go of because Cat gave him a stage kiss. He really needed one from Andre."

"Why not Beck?" Jade asked.

"Cause Beck hits that small part of him that wouldn't mind being with a guy." Trina replied. "I got that from a few things they did on together the slap."

"So, how do we get Andre to kiss Robbie?" Jade asked, this time including Tori in the discussion. The Latina had just been there, listening in.

"What?" Tori asked, now curious about what Jade and Trina had been discussing. She usually gave them space when they talked about personal stuff. Trina was getting better at being there for people, and Jade really appreciated it, giving them the basis for a friendship of sorts. "Dre kissing Robbie? Why?" Then she thought about it a second more. "On second thought, I don't want to know. Jade, I love you, but I'm not getting dragged into a scheme to embarrass my best friend."

"But it's to help Robbie." Jade said. "And Cat."

"Still don't want to know." Tori said as she sent her friend a warning text.

Andre (From Tori) – Beware of Jade, she has evil on her mind.

Tori (From Andre) – When doesn't she?

Andre (From Tori) – This one involves you helping Cat by kissing Robbie.

Tori (From Andre) – Please, for the sake of my lips, distract your girlfriend.

Tori smiled, and promised to do whatever she could. She doubted Jade was going to force her brother to kiss Andre anyways. Still, she'd warned the musician, just to be safe. Jade was known for her plots, after all.

It was a couple of weeks later Trina came running in to the house, practically giddy. "You'll never guess what happened?" The older girl asked.

Tori just shrugged. "Lets see, you went to UCLA with dad to check out the campus. I'm guessing you liked it, or dad ran into someone he knew. Am I close?"

"I met a guy." Trina said, her smile almost blinding.

"Okay, that was my second guess." Tori said. "Wait, with dad right there?"

"Well, not exactly." Trina admitted. "Dad was talking to a friend at the school. A retired cop who did campus security now. And while I was waiting in a coffee shop, which Jade would love, mind you. They have live music, and designer coffees. I think maybe we should go sometimes, and check it out. Plus, they're totally open about alternative lifestyles. The barista was wearing those vampire fangs. That kinda freaked me out, but no one else seemed to care, so I guess it's all right. I wonder where you get those? I mean, as long as she took them out before you two made out..."

"And what does any of that have to do with meeting a guy?" Tori asked, not liking the direction this was heading.

"I was getting there." Trina huffed. "Anyways, he walked up and asked me if I needed someone to show me around. Of course, thats when dad showed up, and the poor boy froze. I'll admit, if he wasn't cute, I'd have let him run, but I figured we could use someone who knew the campus to show us around."

"And dad didn't scare him off?" Tori asked.

"Not yet, but we haven't dealt with Jade yet." Trina said. "Anyways, his name is Andre,..."

"Andrew." Their father said. He'd walked into the house in the middle of Trina's explanation. "His name is Andrew. Please, for the love of Pete, stop calling him Andre."

"Whatever." Trina said, waving her father off. "Anyways, turns out Andre is from out of state, and he needs someone to show him around as much as I needed someone to show me the campus."

"Andrew is a year older that Trina, and from Idaho, but his parents came here from Mexico. He's one of those kids you hear about when the politicians are worried about anchor babies, but I think his parents were legal." David filled his youngest in, enjoying being a part of his daughters lives "What? I listen." he said in response to his youngest's confused look.

"Not important, dad." Trina said. "Andre is fascinated by his Mexican heritage, and wanted my help in exploring LA. I said yes, but only as an excuse to date. And he's cute."

"Andrew has some good manors, asked me if it was okay to date my daughter and everything." David added. "It's nice to have one of my children dating someone I can intimidate."

"Jade's not that bad." Tori leaped to her girlfriends defense. "Is she?"

"Nahh, she's a paper tiger." Trina said. "That can give lethal paper cuts. But it's okay, you've managed to get close. You know her heart. And that she really can't afford to be a gank any more. When you have money, you get sued for doing the kind of chiz she used to do."

"Assuming you get caught." Tori corrected. "So tell me more about your boy." Then Tori stopped herself. "Wait, you won't know." She tuned to face their father. "So, tell me more about Trina's boy."

"Funny." Trina said, rolling her eyes.

"Well, he does have the cutest brown eyes." The Vega patriarch did his best impersonation of his eldest as both his children settled in for what could well be an embarrassing ride.

It would be about a week before Trina worked through her impulse to call the boy Andre, something Tori did the first time they met as well. But the boy persevered. He'd come to California to study more then the local Mexican heritage. He wanted to know everything about the LA culture. By the time he'd tried to pick Trina up, he was drowning. To make things more uncomfortable, he wasn't into the party scene the way Tori and Trina had been, preferring a more straight edge life style. As a result, Trina didn't drink as much as she used to at parties, and found out what parts of the scene she liked, and what parts were made to look more fun through beer goggles. They also discovered, together, a world of things they could do together that didn't involve drinking.

But Trina helped Andrew work through the parts of the LA culture, and the whole California attitude that most Californians don't have, so he could decide that he liked the city. Strangely, the biggest area of contention between the two was what Andrew called Spanish. Both Trina and Tori spoke a version of Puert Recan Spanish, with heavy LA influences, while he spoke more of a Mexican Spanish, influenced both by the region his parents came from and what the locals in Boise had adapted as part of their slang. It would be something the two would have to agree to disagree about, while Jade, who spoke American tourist Spanish, would never understand why they were arguing.

"I mean, it's all Spanish, right?" Jade asked. "It's not like there's a different English running about, just different slang."

"I refer you to the play My Fair lady." Tori said, smirking. "Americans are weird. We actually care less about the enunciation of our language then almost anyone else on earth. The British can be absolute snobs about how English is spoken."

"I thought that was just the French?" Jade said. "Wait, my dad said the French of the countryside are fairly chill about their language, as long as you try, so maybe you're right?" Jade was confused, but let the whole thing slide. "Not my fight."

The first time Trina introduced Andrew to Jade, two things happened. First, the goth addressed the poor boy as Andre. But unlike the Vega sisters, who'd gotten so used to Andre as a name they had to reprogram themselves, Jade was just pushing the poor boys buttons. The second was the way he managed to impress everyone with his highly developed sense of self preservation.

It was Tori's first chance to get a good look at the boy. He was tall, like their father, standing in at over six feet. That caused him to tower over Trina, but they still looked adorable together. He had a thinner build, more of a swimmers body. His hair was dark brown, while his eyes were a lighter brown. His skin was lighter, making him pass for white. Overall, he was the kind of guy Trina always wanted, Hot. He was also sweet, and terrified of the strong women who surrounded him.

"No offense, but somehow you come across as the kind who'd do something drastic, but only if you absolutely felt you had too." Andrew addressed Jade. "But despite that, you have the vibe of a psycho killer."

"And she works very hard to have that feeling." Trina added.

"Damn straight." The goth smirked. "I'm harmless. That is, as long as you don't do anything to hurt my girlfriend. You know, the sister to the girl you're dating." Jade growled the last part, and was rewarded with the boy sliding just a bit back and away from her.

"JADE!" Tori scolded her. "Behave, or I'm inviting your whole family to the movies."

"Thats a threat?" Trina asked.

"Imagine going to the movies with two moms." Tori said, smiling. "And her dad, as much as he's trying to make things better, he still won't see horror films. You know, I believe he'd be interested in a romance movie, given who he manages. Maybe a rom com."

"You wouldn't." Jade glared at her lover.

"But I learned form my girlfriend, the girl I love, that you can't make empty threats." Tori said, feeling confident. "You have to be ready to carry them out. Like how you know multiple places within fifteen miles where you could bury a body and they'd never find it."

"Please say she's kidding." Andrew begged his girlfriend.

Trina gave her best reassuring smile. "I'm sure, by now, she's shown dad most of them. But she might have kept one or two for herself, just in case she needed one in the future. She's hyper jealous and protective of what she considers hers."

"Not helping." Andrew said. But he had to smile at how Tori and Jade bickered. No malice, just playful. He relaxed, confident that Trina would protect him. "How did things get so turned around'?" He whispered to himself. All the girls decided to pretend they hadn't heard, and let him be.

A few weeks later, and Tori was sitting with her parents, and Jade, as well as members of her extended family including Gary. 'Or uncle Gary now.' Tori thought, marveling at how everything had changed so much in just a few months. But it was bitter sweet. Glancing around at her family, even Jade, as they sat in the Blackbox theater, waiting for the seniors to take their last walk across the stage, reminded her that everything was still changing. In a few minutes, Trina would graduate. Then it was off to UCLA where she planned to duel major in Psychology and Theater, while also studying Andrew. A tear slid down her face. 'Boy had better be worth it.' She once again thought.

"No crying." Jade whispered in her ear. Tori had to admit, the goths breath still sent shivers down her spine.

"But it's the end of an era." Tori whispered back. "Next year, we won't have Trina sitting with us, following us on our various random adventures. God I miss her already..." The hanky once again rose to meet her face.

"She's going to UCLA." David said. "I had to pressure her just to get her to move out of the house. She'll be by regularly, to do her laundry and visit. Mostly to do laundry. Plus she still works for the Spanish Language channel."

"I thought her show got canceled." Holley asked.

"Well, there were only so many ways kids in mouse costumes could accost a lady in a cheese boob costume." Jade whispered. "But hey put her in another show. Just as much respect and exposure."

"Please, thats my sister." Tori snapped, never raising her voice above a whisper.

"Tori, it's gonna be okay." Jade told her. "Once she gets more experience as a psycho, I'll talk to my dad about getting her a place on one of the Spanish language talk shows as the resident shrink."

"Psycho?" Tori asked. Her parents strangely quiet.

"Isn't that what they call people who study psychology?" The goth asked, looking, surprisingly, almost believably innocent.

"Only behind their backs." David muttered.

"Hay!" Holly almost yelled. The whole auditorium looked at her, and she sank back down a bit. "I'm a profiler. Is that what they call me?"

"Never to your face." Jade said, and managed to get a descent glare from both Vega women.

"Can we keep it together?" David asked. "Trina' graduating today." There was a commotion at the entrance.

"Did I miss it?" Andrew asked the room as he rushed into the theater. Tori tried not to be too embarrassed as her father waved his phone to get the mans attention.

"At least modern technology's made filming the proceedings less obvious." Holly muttered.

"Or you could just use the schools feed." Jade spoke up, again. "This is a performing arts school. We have camera men filming the whole thing. Sikowitz is directing. They rehearsed and everything. You can use your phones, or rely on professional grade recordings, cut to your specification. Really." Tori glanced up at the catwalks, where Andre and Beck were working with the crew. Robbie had taken command of the boards, since Sinjin wouldn't be available for this production.

The group quieted down as the ceremony commenced. First were the traditional boring speeches, spiced up by turning them into a couple of dramatic readings and a musical number. Then came the commencement address. Principal Eikner had come back from his Polynesian lifestyle to give the commencement speech. Then the valedictorian, Sinjin, gave his speech. It was mercifully quick. Weird, but quick. Then they started walking down the aisle. Tori gripped Jade's hand, watching as each student walked in their cap and gown. As with everything else about this school, they were encouraged to personalize their gowns. A rainbow of colors and strange designs, many with things hanging off them, walked past the stage as all one hundred and fifty seniors took their turn in the spotlight at Hollywood Arts for the final time.

"Do you regret the graduation present you're giving her?" Tori asked Jade.

"It was my fathers idea." Jade said. "I still wanted it to be just the two of us in that little bungalow in Hawaii. But he found a mansion we could rent, with enough bedrooms for all three families. It just made sense."

Tori smiled. "At least we'll be sharing a room." Tori whispered in Jade's ear. The families had given up on trying to keep them from sleeping together, seemingly from before they ever did, and were thankful that neither could get pregnant.

The final address was being given, then the graduates threw their caps. Several found their way to interesting places as the various special effects the graduates had planned went off. "They no longer allow any kind of sparklers in the hats." Tori told her parents. "Not since they had to extinguish the graduation that one year."

Jade kissed her adorkable girlfriend, and moved to join the family in congratulating Trina on making it out of Hollywood arts.

:}

Well, thats it. They have their Hawaiian vacation to look forward to, then summer, then school in the fall. I'll leave it to you to decide how things go from here. Just, they've made a lot of progress, and I think things will work out fine.

Please feel free to let me know how you felt about the end. Also, what'd ya think about Andre, I mean Andrew, or how they met, or anything about that. Or Jade's stabilized family life. Anything at all catch your attention? How about the graduation, one of the most produced shows of the year, since every student wants to go out with a show. Just, let me know.

Review.

Also, is it wrong for me to laugh at my own work? I thought the whole thing with Tori asking her father about Andrew was kinda funny.