38iHave To Move On
Summary: When tragedy strikes the Benson household Freddie feels that Seattle is no longer home for him. Can help arrive from the unlikeliest of sources?
AN: Hello everyone and welcome to my new story. I would like to thank Challenge King for being the inspiration behind this particular one. In context of the shows' timelines this chapter begins approximately three weeks after iParty With Victorious. No other episodes of either show have taken place as it will be slightly non-linear (you'll see if you stick with it).
Disclaimer: I still don't own iCarly, Victorious, any of the episodes or any of the characters.
Lake View Cemetery
Seattle, WA
Friday July 1, 2011
The tears coursed down Fredward "Freddie" Benson's cheeks; they had barely stopped since he had been given the news. Had it not been for the brunette who had dropped everything and rushed to his side as soon as she heard the news and had barely left it since, he wasn't sure how he would have survived the last couple of days. She had been the only thing keeping him even remotely together; words, he knew, could never express his gratitude to her for her actions and just her presence, her being there for him. She was there now, of course, still by his side as he stared at the coffin containing his mother's lifeless body as it was lowered into the freshly-dug hole. She looked to her right and her heart broke anew; feeling completely at a loss for anything else to do she pulled him into a tight hug and held him as any last vestige of his resolve broke. She stood and patted his back awkwardly as she looked around at the small gathering; she knew many of them, of course, as they had flown up from Los Angeles to be with their new-found friend in his hour of need. The lack of a certain blonde's presence became all the more evident as she turned to look at the knot of people who were his friends from school and from his other interests in Seattle. Her absence drew a new frown of disgust from the brunette before she turned her attention back to the weeping boy in her arms as the priest approached them.
"Are you ready, Freddie?" he asked softly, placing a hand gently on the brown-haired teen's arm.
Freddie wiped his eyes on his shirt sleeves and nodded at the elderly man, taking in a number of rasping breaths as he did. He looked to the girl who had become his rock over the past few days. She gave him a wan smile in an attempt to reassure him and squeezed his hand. He tried to smile back at her but his jaw just tightened; he squeezed her hand softly instead.
With great reluctance the pretty brunette let go of his hand; he followed the priest to the side of the grave with her barely a pace behind him. He gathered up a handful of earth with his right hand and looked down at the coffin.
"Goodbye mom," he whispered, put the index and middle fingers of his left hand together, kissed them and waved the hand towards his mother. He then released the earth and watched as it descended to land on top of her coffin.
The girl followed in kind, dropping her own mound of earth into the grave and slipped her hand gently into his. They watched as a line of mourners did likewise; each and every one went up to Freddie afterwards. She had to release his hand, with great reluctance, as most of the girls pulled him into a consoling hug, as did some of the boys – although others settled for a quick hand on his shoulders or a shake of his hand. She smiled at the sight; the situation meant that any jealousy that she may have felt over seeing the boy who, before the tragedy struck, had come to mean a great deal to her being hugged by so many girls (and a few in particular that she could mention) simply wasn't there. This didn't stop her, of course, from taking his hand again once the line had passed. She gave it another soft squeeze and hugged his arm with her free arm. He pulled her close and wrapped his own free arm around her back as his tears started to flow again.
Feeling helpless again, she had no idea how to react. She was content to hold him tight and let him cry out his tears against her chest.
"I'm here for you, Freddie," she whispered.
"We all are," Cat added in a soft, low voice of her own.
Finally he regained something of his composure. He drew back from her so that he could give the red haired girl a grateful nod before he turned back to look into the soft, brown eyes of the girl who held him, the one who had been there for him in his hour of need and he gave her a grateful smile.
"Thank you, Trina, for everything," he whispered.
Trina Vega smiled back at him and pulled him close to her again.
AN: I hope you enjoyed this little prologue. Please fill in the little box underneath and let me know. It may be a while before I update because I still have a number of other projects I'm working on (particularly my Freddie/Cat story, iSwitch Schools, over in the Victorious section). Once I finish that particular story I intend to pick up this one.
