DISCLAIMER: I do not own Victorious or the likeness rights to Victoria Justice and the rest of the Victorious cast. But, I do bother Dan Schneider for the rights to the show on a weekly basis, so maybe he'll cave eventually! I can only hope, right?

Anywho, before I attempt this, I'd like to give a big thanks to those who have been reading my other story, Finally Falling, and reviewing it on a normal basis.

Also, I'd like to thank (for about the thousandth time) MaybeWolf and Jonathan 81 for turning me on to Rori and convincing me to try my hand at an entry into the ship. Enjoy!

Broken, Beat & Scarred

Chapter 1

[Tori's POV]

"So, I guess I'll call you later, right?" My date, Parker asked me. I'd attempted to have a nice date with a boy who seemed like a great guy until he stepped foot in my house. Then it all turned into how fast he could get my pants off and get me in bed with him. I had invited Parker over for dinner and a movie, and before dinner was over he was trying to get his hands under my shirt.

"Yeah, right! Get lost, you creepy little nub!" I said as I slammed the door in his face. I walked over to my couch and sulked down into one of the seats. It was always like this. There was always a guy waiting to use me for something, whether it be for a good grade or a good time. Sometimes I wasn't even enough. On more than one occasion there had either been another girl or I was, unknowingly, mind you, the other girl.

I was beginning to doubt men as a there something wrong with me? Do I just attract the wrong type of men? Do I give off mixed signals? Before I could question my existence any further, I noticed some sort of movement and/or activity in the bush on my patio. Confused, and a little scared, I grabbed one of my dad's golf clubs and walked outside.

"Who are you and why are you hiding in the bush on my patio?" I asked forcefully. There was no response, only more jittery movement. Startled, I began to swing at the bush like I was at the batter's plate in a baseball game.

"Ah! Ow, Tori! Ah Tori stop! It's me, Robbie!" The voice finally yelped from the bush. Realizing it was indeed Robbie Shapiro, I stopped swinging and began yelling.

"Robbie Shapiro, why are you hiding on my patio!" I shouted. Robbie was always doing creepy stuff like this. I can't count how many times I've caught this boy hiding on my patio. It was beginning to upset me, and scare me to an extent.

He stepped up out of the bush and walked towards me, head pointed down at the ground. His moppy hair-do was in the way of his face, blocking me from seeing it. "I- I..." He trailed off. Did I hit him so hard he couldn't form a coherent sentence, or was it the fact that he couldn't come up with a worthy excuse of why he was hiding in my bushes?

Tired of this awkward silence that surrounded us, I grabbed his face and lifted it towards mine, meeting my eyes with his. That's when I saw it, and it absolutely horrified me: His right eye was blacker than the night sky and his lower lip was fatter than my fist. His nose appeared to be broken and there was blood dripping from it. There was dry blood on his shirt and I could see slight bruises on his arms.

"Robbie, oh my..." I trailed off. I initially thought I caused this damage with my dad's driver, but then I noticed some of the blood was dry, and it wouldn't have had time to dry, plus, I only swung three times. "What happened to you?" I asked him.

He looked at me with pure fear in his eye. I don't think I was the subject of the fear, but I could tell something was not right. "It's nothing, Tori, really. M-My dad and I had a s-slight disagreement." He stuttered out.

Even if it was a large disagreement, nobody deserves to be beaten like this. I couldn't even imagine my dad touching me or my sister in any way but a loving, fatherly embrace. Anything else gave me chills that shivered straight up and down my spine.

"Robbie, nobody deserves to be touched like this, especially by a parent," I told him. "Come inside and tell me everything. We may need to take you to a hospital." I said while dragging him in the house. The word hospital must made him jump, because he broke the grip I had on him and began to walk the other way.

"Robbie, where are you going? Come back here!" I yelled as I ran back to stop him from running away. "You need to tell me what happened, why did your dad hit you this way?" I asked him. I'm now just concerned for him. I don't really care that he was in my bushes anymore, I just need to know why someone would do this to Robbie, especially his father.

I grabbed hold of his wrist once more, this time with all of the force my body had. Robbie fell to the ground, screaming in pain. "TORI! Let go of my wrist!" He yelled. It scared me to death. I guess his wrist was either broken or strained.

"Robbie..." I began. I couldn't believe what I was seeing. It broke my heart to endless bounds. How could anybody hurt Robbie? He's such a great friend. Robbie would do anything for his friends, for anybody really. It broke my heart seeing him in this condition. "You have to talk to me. Let's get you cleaned up and we'll talk, okay?" I asked him. He obliged my request by nodding.

I helped him off the ground, put his arm around my shoulder and supported him into my house. Once inside, I helped him into the downstairs bathroom. I got him a towel and gave him some of my dad's clothes and instructed him to clean himself up.

"I'm right outside here if you need me, okay Robbie? Don't hesitate to call for help. I'm here for you." I told him. As I turned around to leave the room, Robbie stopped me.

"Tori?" He whispered.

I turned around and smiled at him. "Yeah, Robbie?"

"Thanks for everything. You're such a great friend." He said. It brought a tear to my eye. Here Robbie was, bloody and bruised, and he compliments me? He's always caring about others.

"Not as great as you are." I said with a large smile plastered on my face, and with that, I was outside in the hallway. I had to process what had just happened. I had to figure out what to do. Do I call the police? Do I tell somebody? I just wanted Robbie to know that he was safe.

It took some time, but about half an hour late Robbie comes out into my living room wearing my dad's pajamas. Even though he was cleaned up and there was no blood on him anymore, his eyes were black and the right one was swollen, almost to the point where it was completely shut.

His nose was so large it had to have been broken, his lips were big and I could see cuts on them. There were also numerous bruises on his arms, and I'm sure there were more bruises under his clothes, which I couldn't see.

"Hey, you're out..." I said to him with sympathy and sadness in my voice. I've never really been in this position before. Of course, I'd never hesitate to help out my friends, but I've really never been put in a predicament such as the one that has presented itself before me tonight.

I walked over to him and helped him to my couch. He sat down slowly, as to not put his body through more shock, and relaxed. "Are you hungry, Robbie? I have some leftovers and you're more than welcome to eat them." I offered to the poor broken boy sitting on my couch.

He didn't say anything, he simply nodded and closed his eyes. I was hoping he didn't have a concussion. Those were very rough injuries, and one of the main symptoms was tiring easily. "Robbie don't go to sleep on me, I need you stay with me, okay?" I instructed with firmness yet concern in my voice.

"Don't worry, Tori. I'm fine. I'm not going to sleep." He said with a tinge of reassurance and a ton of pain in his voice. I finally came back with his food, the dinner I'd originally planned to have with that gankbag Parker. Sherwood was full of morons. I gave him the plate that contained lemon roasted chicken with mashed potatoes and broccoli.

Robbie began to sit up and then yelped out of pain. Deciding I didn't want my friend to yelp in pain anymore, I decided I was going to give him some pain medicine that was left over from Trina's wisdom tooth operation. "Robbie, are you allergic to any medications?" I asked him, hoping that Vicodin wasn't one of them.

"Just penicillin, that's it." He told me with some confusion in his voice. "Why do you need to know?" He pushed. I wasn't a doctor, but I could tell that he was hurting, and since I didn't want to take him to a hospital without knowing the full story, nor did I want hear to him agony anymore, I decided that Vicodin was the way to go.

"No reason, just hang on a second." I said as I ran upstairs to my bathroom and opened the medicine cabinet. Ibuprofen? No, that's not strong enough. Benadryl? No, he doesn't have allergies. Midol? Nope, he's not a women. Aha! Vicodin, and it doesn't expire for another six months. I took one out of the bottle and returned it to it's proper place and exited my bathroom.

Back downstairs, Robbie seemed to be enjoying his chicken and potatoes, considering he was stuffing his face. "Alright, Robbie, we're going to turn your frown upside down, and you won't hurt again tonight." I told him my usual enthusiastic tone.

"How are we going to that?" He asked me very vulnerably. You could not only see him suffering, but you could hear it too, his voice sounding like something darkening and despairing. I don't condone the illegal use of narcotics and other drugs, but I can't stand to see him in pain anymore.

"Take this, Robbie. It'll make you feel better so we can talk about what happened." I instructed, sounding more like a mother hen than a friend. I held the pill out for Robbie to inspect, while he slowly, and reluctantly took the pill from my hand. He put it in his mouth and washed it down with the tea I gave him to drink with his dinner.

Taking my place next to my damaged friend on my red couch, I now needed to know the truth. "Okay, Robbie. What happened to you? Start at the beginning, please." I must've sounded like I was begging him to tell me, and honestly, I probably would've had Robbie hesitated in telling me what was up. Robbie put his fork down and stared at his plate.

"I guess you say it started when I was ten." He told me. "I had a great life. My dad was the greatest guy ever, and my mom was just as perfect. I loved them so much. He's the guy that got me into ventriloquism, and he got me Rex when I was five." He continued, as his voice sounded heavier than I've ever heard it.

"You see, my dad was in the army, and when I was around ten he was deployed to Afghanistan." He said as picked his fork back up and continued to eat, I'm guessing the drugs are beginning to take effect, because his body language is looking more relaxed than it's been since he's been here.

"How did you take it?" I asked him in a truly concerning tone of voice. "You know, how did you cope with not having your dad around?" I see the distance in his facial expressions, his body language. I don't want to press, but I have to in order to get the whole story.

"I took it pretty well. It was hard at first, but I had Rex, so I knew I'd be okay. It's my mom who couldn't cope." He says, with sadness being the distinguishing emotion in the room right now. "She didn't want my dad to join in the first place, but after 9/11, he said it was his duty as an American." He was now just staring at the wall, replaying these horrifying memories over and over again.

"That's really brave of your dad to do, that's a really selfless act." I reply back, trying to do anything to cheer Robbie up, to keep his off of these horrific childhood memories he's undeservingly been apart of.

He doesn't say or do anything for a while, just staring at the walls with the this look of regret in his eyes and holding his fork in one hand. I put my hand on his knee and he jumped out of surprise. I had to reassure him I was here and I wasn't going to hurt him.

"Come on, Robbie, you can tell me anything." I firmed my grip on him knee, letting him know that his friend Tori was here and wasn't going anywhere. "This is behind closed doors, and nobody is going to know except for me. What happened?" I continued to press on.

He nodded at me and continued. "My mom started drinking after my dad left. It was rough, seeing her passed out on the floor or on the couch. Some nights, she wouldn't even come home." He said as he picked up his utensil and started to eat his food again.

As my heart starts to break, everything was starting to come together. Why he acts the way he does. Why he treats Rex more like a brother than a puppet. I notice everything now, all of the hints he's dropped, yet I've failed to notice.

His dad ignores him. His mom screams in her sleep. His mom moves out, yet gives him 'another chance'. Robbie Shapiro was this way because his parents made him this way. Deep down, he was probably this amazing guy, yet everybody took him for granted because they thought they had a reason to, because he acts weird.

"Is that why you and Rex are so close? Is it because he's the only who hasn't abandoned you?" I asked. I must've guessed correctly, because he began to nod. He finally cleared his plate of all food and sat the empty remnants of his dinner on my coffee table.

As I stood up to take the empty plate to the sink, I noticed Robbie was looking more relaxed than he's been since I discovered him about an hour go. I'm guessing now that the score is Vicodin 1, Robbie 0. "Is that medicine helping you at all, Robbie?" I asked as I walked back into the living room and sat down beside him on my couch.

"Yeah, thanks for that. Really Tori. You're beyond amazing." Robbie complimented. I blushed, but I really wanted to get back to the horrible, horrible subject at hand. I needed to know more.

"Thanks, Robbie, really, but can you tell me what happened after that?" I asked him, grabbing his hand and entwining my fingers with his own. It's weird, because holding his hands didn't feel odd. It didn't feel wrong. It felt the exact opposite of that. It kind of felt like our hands were made for each other.

Robbie must've gotten strength from that, because he cleared his throat and continued with his heart breaking story. "Well, my dad came home when I was thirteen, but he wasn't my dad." He continued to stare at our hands that were interlinked with each other. "He was different. He started drinking too, but instead of just passing out, he would hit me."

I couldn't believe what I was hearing. What kind of parents were they, why would they want to hit their child? If my heart wasn't broken before, it's in a million pieces now. "Robbie, I'm so sorry they did that to you. What about your grandmother? Did she not step in and help?" I asked.

Robbie did nothing but drop his head and shake it slowly. "No. She said her son had a hard time over in the Middle East, and we needed to give him his space." He sounded embarrassed and he was trying to avoid eye contact with me.

"It's never been bad though. It's usually a bruised rib here, a sprained wrist here. It wasn't anything I couldn't really handle." He pressed. I had to object here. It was one thing to be abused by a parent, it was another to try and defend said parent.

"Robbie, I don't really care how bad things were. A parent should never hit you, NEVER." I told him, with a course of anger surging through my voice and my veins. Of course, I had gotten a spanking here or there when I was younger, but my parents never, EVER, "hit" me or my sister.

"What happened tonight? Why did you come here?" I asked him, my voice sprinkled with an angry momma bear/concerned mother hen tone.

"Rex was badmouthing him, calling him things like a bad father and an alcoholic, and he pretty much lost it. I probably deserved it though. He just started swinging, kicking, and yelling. He killed Rex. He set him on fire. I ran away before he could set me on fire, though. He threatened to do it, too." Robbie said, tears beginning to fall down his flawed face.

"I came here because I just really needed a place to hide. Your patio is a perfect place for that. I'm so sorry I invaded your privacy though. I didn't even snoop on your date. I just wanted to hide." I not even mad at the fact Robbie was on my porch, I'm mad at his pathetic parents.

"Robbie, you're absolutely fine. I can't stay mad at you. And you don't deserve anything of the sort. Don't even talk like that. What you do deserve are parents who love you for the great person you are. As for the date, you didn't really miss much, he was just another jerk who wanted to get me upstairs, if you know what I mean." I confessed to him, my hand still intertwined with his. "It kind of seems like I'm the gank magnet, you know?"

"Tori, you're NOT a gank magnet, you're amazing. You're my little blood angel. You're beautiful, smart, and you're more talented than I'll ever be. Scratch that, everybody's more talented than I'll ever be." He said with complete and utter dejection in his voice.

"Robert Matthew Shapiro, you are one of the most talented people I know. You're so smart and you're such a great friend. Remember who tutored me for my Theatre Tech exam? That's right, it was YOU. Remember who helped connect my PearPhone GX to those Volvo batteries? You. You're special Robbie, and I'm honored to know you. Quit putting yourself down, because hearing it hurts me too. " I lectured to him.

He smiled and we hugged for for what seemed like an hour, before I finally broke apart. "Okay, Robbie. One's things for sure. You aren't living there anymore. From now on, consider yourself a member of the Vega household." I firmly told him.

"Really? I don't think I'm on your parents' favorite persons list. Are you sure they'll let me stay?" He asked me. It's true that my parents weren't fond of Robbie. He ruined their date night while we were method acting with Sikowitz and he wanted to feel my dad's throbbing nose, but after they find out why he acts the way he does, they won't have a problem.

"They will after we talk to them and tell them you're story. We'll have to tell them too, but Robbie, we also have to get you out of that house. You know that right?" He nodded and looked at me with such a vulnerability you would've thought those eyes belonged to baby.

"Let's get you up to the guest room right now, and we'll talk to my mom and dad on Sunday when they get back from Santa Barbara." I said, finally pulling my hand from his hand so I could get him up the stairs and into the guest bed.

Once inside the guest room, I laid Robbie into the bed, slowly as to not hurt his body anymore than it already has been. I got him everything he might need during the night and I told him goodnight.

"Alright, Robbie. If you need anything at all, my room is next door, and don't you even hesitate to ask me for a favor if you need it." I told him with an all out concerning tone in my voice. I was also going check on him a few times during the night, just to make sure he doesn't have any major internal injuries.

"Tori, you're the greatest, really. I can't believe you'd go through all of this just for me. Thank you, thank you so much." He kept reiterating the thank you part, like he's not worthy of compassion. I guess that's what having horrible parents will do for you. I guess the Vicodin is also in full effect, because he's slurring his speech. It won't be long before the pain medication knocks him out.

"It's no problem Robbie, I'm just glad you're safe. You're gonna be safe from now on, you know that? Tori isn't gonna let anybody hurt you anymore. You go to sleep now, and I'll see you in the morning, okay? I said as I kissed him on the cheek. I cut the lights off and closed the door behind me.

I know what I had to do now, and that was to get Robbie away from those horrible people. It was going to be over my dead body before they got near him again, period.

And there it is, people! The first chapter of Broken, Beat & Scarred. I hope you all like this, because I'm having a blast thinking of ideas for the story. If you have any ideas or anything, PM me! I'm always here.

DISCLAIMER #2: I DO NOT condone the unsupervised use of narcotic drugs, but in a situation like this, I would've done the same thing. I DO NOT support the abuse of children, and if anybody out there is suffering from such, just know there's always someone there for you and there's always a way out. Finally, I'm not trying to bash the United States Army or Soldiers who've been deployed. I'm a huge supporter of the troops, however, I do know that things like this can happen when someone is deployed. I'm just trying to make my story as believable as possible. Thanks for reading!