I stretched as the sun shone over us as it made its descent. The heat made me less active then I used to be. If I were in San Diego, it would’ve been a good day to go for a bike ride along the forest trails. Yet here I was, lounging on Tori’s bed, caught in between naps.

“I could get used to this,” I yawned, leaning on Tori’s shoulder. I liked that we were always not too far away from one another. There was this invisible steel cord that attached us to the other. It was like a push and pull reflex. “I feel like a cat.”

Beside me, she chuckled and I could feel her laugh as her shoulders moved. “You aren’t a cat person, Tone,” she replied, leaning her head on top of mine. Some of her blonde curls fell in front of my face but I didn’t mind. It gave me a chance to work on some padawan braids.

“You say that now but just wait to see how well Jess’ cat and I get along,” I retorted playfully. Tori had finished working on the painting for the local restaurant that commissioned her and she received a generous check as a result of her hard work. She was really proud of the piece once she had completed it and showed it to me. I was so glad to see her immersing herself in one of her greatest passions. It inspired me to work harder for recording once we resumed that process again.

After depositing most of her payment into her account, she booked her flight to San Diego which was in two weeks’ time. I had booked mine right after she confirmed hers. To count down the days until we left, we had gone out to our rooftop getaway or other places in the city that was unfamiliar to the both of us. In between, we would just chill in her apartment watching old shows and movies that we loved as kids. I had finally gotten that sleepover I wanted with my best friend.

I wouldn’t have believed myself if I had gone back ten years ago and told myself that Tori was just as in love with me as I was with her. Every day I was learning something new about her. I was finding another trait or aspect of her to fall in love with. The way her eyebrows would crease in concentration as she painted, how she would absent-mindedly twirl a finger through her blonde hair, her face as the realisation hits when I point out that her fingertips were covered in paint, giving her locks of royal blue.

I lifted my head up, looking at her more clearly. “Are you okay?” I asked. She had made tremendous progress to overcome her anxiety the past few weeks. There were definitely moments where she’d rather stay at home than go out which I was totally okay with and understood but on the whole, she was improving so much. But today something felt a bit off about her. Tori seemed a bit distracted. It was a subtle action, and would have gone unnoticed if someone didn’t know her as well as I did.

She nodded slightly. “I’m fine, Tony,” she answered quietly.

“Really?” I asked again, placing a hand on her waist and tickling her. She squirmed a bit letting out a giggle which broke the serious look on her face that she had been wearing all day.

Tori nudged my shoulder as I joined in with her laughter. “I hate getting tickled,” she muttered.

“But you secretly love it, Holt,” I countered. “It’s your guilty pleasure.”

“Sure it is, Perry,” she replied, rolling her eyes.

I moved from sitting next to her so that I could face her properly. “Is everything okay?”

She sighed, grabbing her laptop from the side table. As she woke the screen, she answered, “I got an email from Tate.”

Back on our ‘date’, I had asked her about her family. There was so much regret on her face when she told me that she had almost completely lost touch with them.

“What...what did it say?” I asked cautiously. I really wanted her to reconnect with her family but I knew that it all had to be out of her will. Of course, I was willing to help her we she wanted me too, and then some.

She turned the laptop and handed it to me so I could read the email myself.

Hey Tori,
I hope you’re well. I can’t complain myself, life’s been pretty good for me too.
Alright, to be honest, I’ve been thinking about how to word it out but I’m just going to take a stab in the dark. As you probably know, this Saturday is Mom’s birthday at our parents’ house and it would be really great if you came to see her and Dad. To see me and my family too. All she really wants is to be able to see you again and not just get the occasional card or whatever. We’re all wondering how you’re getting on with life and so on. Plus, you haven’t seen your own nephew since he was one. Noah is growing up so fast every day and Bella and I want you to be a part of his life. Who else is going to teach him how to become an amazing artist, help him explore his creative imagination other than his incredibly talented aunt?
I know that things haven’t been the same for a really long time. But don’t forget that we’re here for you when you need us and always have been. And this could just be me but it feels like you never gave us the chance to let us understand how you felt back then which is what sort of drifted us apart. But I’m not blaming you, but myself for not reaching out when I should have. I’m your brother and I always will be so please, give us another shot. You’re family, and we shouldn’t have given up on each other so easily. I’m sorry I did.
As I said earlier, it would be amazing if you were able to pop over to see Mom and Dad on Saturday, even if it’s just for an hour. Imagine the smile Mom would make. They actually both miss you so much. We all do. We’re hoping to see you there and catch up.

Take it easy, sis.
Tate

I leaned back a bit. Setting down the laptop beside us on the bed. “Wow,” I breathed.

“Tell me about it,” she replied.

“What’s on your mind, Rabbit Girl?” I asked as her lips pulled up a bit at the inside joke we shared.

Tori let out another sigh, running her slim fingers through her curls. “Like, of course I’d want to see them. There are days where I miss them so much but...but I feel like because I walked out on them, they don’t want to see me or would be too hurt to. I know they’re family but I can’t shake out that feeling, you know?”

I nodded empathetically, placing my hand on hers. “What else?”

“Tate’s right. I guess I never really let him or my parents understand what was going on. Like we were fine up until I started university. I guess that was when my anxiety relapsed and I just pushed them out completely. And my nephew, Noah, I doubt he’d recognise me either.”

There was an undoubted sadness she had. It was like she was orphaned herself. She lost her parents and her parents lost their only daughter. My thumb traced the back of her hand. “Do you want to go?” I asked. “Of course, there’s no pressure on you to go. Tate did say it would be great if you did, but your family will also understand that you may not be ready either. And I could come with you if you wanted me to, for like support and stuff.”

Despite the heavy atmosphere, she managed to pull a small smile. “Of course I want you there with me, Tony,” she responded, placing her other hand over mine, clasping them together. “You have to stop thinking that I want to get rid of you after five minutes of being together,” she chuckled. “Be more realistic. Maybe after an hour,” she continued with a sly face.

I shook my head at her mischief, leaning over to kiss her forehead. “Well with that aside,” I said, shuffling closer to her. “The people we love always have a way of coming back to us. And I promise you that your parents are going to be over the moon if you came to see them.”

She exhaled deeply and gave me another hopeful smile. The sun hit her just right, giving her a glow. My mom used to tell me that everyone had an angel that was sent to save them. Seeing Tori, illuminated by the sun’s touch, made me so grateful that mine was here right in front of me.

Tori took the laptop and placed it on her laps. “I better reply to Tate then,” she murmured as I gave her an assuring smile. Everything was going to work out, and I hoped that she thought so too.




I was startled a bit to wake up to an empty bed. Most of the time I was the one who woke up first, and when it was the latter she’d still be in bed. What startled me even more was that it was still early in the morning. It was just a few minutes after three in the morning.

I got up groggily, placing a hand on my head to ease the head rush. After exiting the bedroom, the rest of the apartment was dark apart from the light spilling out from the slightly opened door leading to Tori’s studio. Soft music poured from the room as I opened it fully.

Tori was sitting at an easel, biting her lips. She looked up and straightened up a bit when she saw me. I blinked to let myself adjust to the brightness.

“Hey,” I yawned, rubbing my hands. “Is everything alright?”

“Did I wake you?” she asked quietly.

I shook my head. “Don’t worry about it.” I walked closer to her, draping my arms over her from behind. The canvas was blank and I could sense that she had been looking at it for a while now. “Couldn’t sleep?”

I felt her nod as she held on to my arms. “You could say that,” she replied. “I have an artist’s blank.”

I couldn’t help but chuckle. “It’s artist’s block, doofus,” I said, resting my chin on the top of her head. “What’s on your mind? Do you have another freelance project to work on?”

“Nope. This is one that I’ve been thinking of since I replied to Tate. I’m thinking of making a painting for my mom for her birthday but I have no idea what of, though.” Her shoulders dropped a bit. “And artist’s blank, artist’s block. Same thing basically.”

The tips of her hair brushed the tops of my arms. “I’m sure your mom will love anything you make her, Tor.”

“I know, but I really want to make this special for her. She and Dad were like my biggest fans and they’d proudly hang up anything that I had painted or drawn during high school. I wonder if some are still up there.”

“Is that how you got into art? Through your mom, I mean?” I saw where Tori was coming from. My mom was really supportive of me when I was learning how to play guitar. Even though we had a few rough patches, like me deciding not to go to college, she always came through and was there for me.

“She’s part of it... my main influence was her older sister, my Aunt Lisa. She and my mom were best friends.”

“Were?”

“She passed away when I was seven. It’s okay, you didn’t know,” she added, patting my forearm as I was about to unwrap myself from her to apologise. “Aunt Lisa was a free spirit and travelled everywhere. There were beads in her hair and she’d wear really loose clothing like those paisley skirts or gypsy pants. She also had a few tribal tattoos that she got on her travels. One for every place she went. She was also really into finding Zen within herself so she’d often go meditating and do yoga. Mom would join her too.”

I could hear the smile as Tori spoke of her aunt. “She seemed like an awesome person.”

“She was,” Tori mused. “Wait a minute. I have a picture of us somewhere.” She got out of her chair and went to the desk in the corner of the room, opening one of the drawers. She fished the contents a bit until she pulled out a small photo album. She flipped through a couple of pictures. “Here,” she said, holding the album out for me to take. The photo showed a young Tori in between two women.

The one Tori’s left was her mom. Tori resembled her so much. Her mom had that heart shaped face Tori inherited and the same starry eyes. She had a big smile, that type of smile that made you feel safe and loved. Truly the smile of a mother. The other woman, Tori’s Aunt Lisa, had similar features. Her face was more oval shaped and her blonde hair was darker. A few freckles were sprinkled on her face and the strap of her tank top exposed an intricate pattern of ink. They were sitting together in a field of sunflowers.

I gave her a smile as I handed back the photo album. “No wonder you love sunflowers so much.”

She shrugged. “I guess Aunt Lisa and my mom’s love of them rubbed off on me. My grandparents owned a field full of them. They lived in a farm. Anyway, Aunt Lisa often came to babysit me and Tate when our parents were at work during the summer holidays. She did a lot of freelance work as well to cover her travel costs and stuff. A lot of her work was really abstract. She’d let us paint the whole day and get messy, to express ourselves with colours. Tate and I loved it and that’s what really got me to start liking art and stuff. She even gave me some of her paint and brushes.”

Tori began twirling her hair with her finger and luckily there was no paint on her fingertips. She was deep in thought. “Then after one of her trips she became really sick. I think it was a tumour or something. I wasn’t that old to completely understand. I remember us visiting her in hospital one day and I asked her where all her hair had gone and she told me that it would grow back one day, just like the sunflowers.” She paused a bit, shaking her head slowly. “The flowers did come back, but her hair didn’t. She passed away a few days later. My mom was devastated and I don’t think I’ve ever seen her so upset.”

“Maybe a week or so after her cremation, Aunt Lisa wanted her ashes spread over the Grand Canyon, I was missing her a lot so I drew some sunflowers and ended up painting it. But I knew my mom was missing her even more so I gave the picture to her. She started crying and I thought I had made her even more upset but instead she was smiling, like she knew that Aunt Lisa wasn’t really gone. I told Mom that she became a flower and that made everything seem a bit better. So I guess that’s why I like sunflowers even more now. They inspire me, just like Aunt Lisa did.”

I opened my arms for a hug and she easily eased into them. It amazed me how we fit together so simply. The artist and her canvas. She brought the colour in my life. “She’d be so proud of you,” I murmured.

“Thank you,” she replied, letting out a deep breath. “Talking with you is so easy.” She went rigid in my arms. “Wait,” she added, looking up at me with her excited eyes.

“An idea?” I asked, excited about her getting excited.

She nodded. “I hope it’ll work though.”

I pushed some hair back behind her ear. “Whatever it is, I’m sure that your mom is going to love it. Knowing you, you’re going to want to start working on it right away, right?”

She nodded again. “Go back to bed,” she said, cupping my face with her hands, moving her thumbs in small circles. “I’m going to just sketch it out first on the canvas before I forget it.”

The sketch turned into a complete painting over a couple of hours. When I woke up again, she was placing the final touches of her mom’s gift--a painting based on the picture she had shown me earlier. Tori’s fingers were streaked in yellow and orange and I could picture what she would’ve looked like at the end of the day spent with her aunt.

When she came to show me, she was beaming with pride of her latest creation. However, that sleepy daze soon took over and I was tucking her into bed. Her eyes flickered a bit as her cheek met her pillow. I bent down, pressing a kiss on the side of her head.

“Sleep now, my angel,” I whispered before watching her dream.





We parked in front of a small house within the suburbs. The car ride across the city started out excited and hopeful until we came nearer. Tori grew more nervous and quiet.

“Hey,” I whispered, linking my fingers through hers and giving her hand a small, supportive squeeze. “It’s gonna be alright.”

She breathed out and nodded a bit. “You’re right. I don’t know why I’m nervous when I shouldn’t be.”

“It’s understandable. Just keep your chin up, yeah?”

Tori nodded and squeezed my fingers back. “Do I look okay?” she asked as an afterthought. She had trouble deciding what to wear before settling on a lavender sundress.

“When I see your face—”

“Okay, I’ll take that as a yes,” she interrupted, chuckling a bit. The other day she had heard our cover of ‘Just The Way You Are’. Though it wasn’t one of our original songs, she seemed to like it a lot.

After a few more deep breaths, we got out of her car and took out the painting from the backseat. As we headed to the front door, I could feel myself get nervous too. I had no doubt believing that her family would be stoked to see Tori again. Me on the other hand, that was something else. Maybe I should start taking my own advice when I say that everything will turn alright.

We got to the front door and stood in front of it. The painting was leaned against the wall while Tori stood to the side, out of sight if someone opened the door.

“Is it okay if you knock?” she asked.

I complied with her request. We both held in our breath as the doorknob turned.

A man answered the door. Behind his glasses were hazel eyes and his dark hair was growing grey. He was quite tall, with a semi broad build. He actually reminded me of a detective from those crime drama TV shows. “Can I help you?” he asked, politely. He was sizing me up, his eyes glancing over the array of tattoos on my arms and neck.

“Captain Holt?” I queried. Tori had told me that a few years after the Perez investigation, her dad had become chief of the Phoenix police department.

“Yes. Listen, right now I’m not on duty but if you have an emergency or something to report that’s missing et cetera, go to the Phoenix police department in town and it will be processed as soon as possible,” he explained.

“No, sir,” I replied. “I’m not here to report a crime or anything. More like… you’ve had something that’s been missing for a while and I’m here to return it.” Well, her, to be precise.

Tori’s dad raised an eyebrow. “Excuse me?”

At the corner of my eye, I could see Tori shake her head, giving me a look that said ‘you tried’.

“Dad?” she said, stepping into his view shyly. Tori wrung her hands together nervously as she waited for him to respond.

The change in his face was astounding. For a split second, he seemed younger than he was. His stoic face softened as if he didn’t have to live with knowing the vile and gruesome things he’d seen as a detective were real.

“Tori?” he asked. He was in awe. I wonder how long it really was since he heard her speak.

Another face popped from behind the door belonging to a little boy with brown hair and the exact hazel eyes of Captain Holt. Tori’s nephew, Noah. He hugged his leg. “Grandpa, who’s that?” he asked.

Her dad broke into a smile. “Noah, why don’t you tell your grandma that Aunt Tori is here?” he asked, ruffling his hair a bit.

Noah waved at Tori a little bit before running off. Her dad stepped out onto the porch.

Tori blushed a bit, smiling that type of face you did when you tried to hold back tears. I couldn’t even begin to imagine what she was feeling. Overwhelmed, scared, happy and everything in between. “Hi, Dad,” she said quietly before he trapped her into an embrace.

“I always knew you’d come back one day,” he murmured, releasing her from the hug but not completely letting go. He used his thumb to wipe away a tear. “You’re so beautiful,” he mused which mad her smile through the tears.

“James?” a new voice came from behind him. “What’s going on?”

Her dad turned to face his wife so that she could see Tori. She cried out in surprise, covering her mouth as tears began to fill her eyes as well. As she processed the reality of the situation, she came over to give Tori one of the tightest hugs.

“I’m sorry, Mom,” Tori apologised as she clung to her. “I’m sorry I took so long.”

Her mom backed up a bit, shaking her head. Her blonde hair was beginning to fade to white but her eyes were still just as blue and starry as Tori’s were. “No sweetie, you’re here now,” she replied. She stroked Tori’s hair, her face. “You’re home,” she said, before smiling and hugging her again.

I stood proudly as I surveyed the scene a couple of feet back. A few moments after having that tight embrace with her parents, Noah reappeared with his parents who were just as ecstatic, especially Tate. Tori was glowing again. She was finally surrounded by family, surrounded by those she loved, and who loved her.

As she was getting reacquainted with Noah, her father had stepped back and headed towards me. He placed a hand on my shoulder, patting it comfortingly. “I don’t know how to thank you for bringing my daughter home. It’s been so long since we’ve seen her.”

I returned his comment with a smile. “There’s no need to thank me, sir. She came here out of her own free will. I’m just here of the moral support.”

He chuckled, his laugh reaching his eyes. “Call me James. And you are?”

“Tony,” I answered. “Nice to finally meet you,” I greeted, holding out my hand for him to shake, which he did.

“Tony?” Tori’s mom chimed. She turned to Tori. “Your old friend, Tony?” she asked her which Tori answered with a nod.

She walked over to me, giving me an unexpected hug. “Thank you for looking after our Tori,” she whispered my ear. I wasn’t sure how much she knew about me but that didn’t matter. I would’ve watched over Tori whether she knew or not.

Tori caught my eyes as Noah showing her one of his toys. She smiled at the sight of her mother squeezing the crap out of me, but I didn’t mind it one bit. It made me miss my mom and my family back in San Diego. At least Tori was finally back with hers. She mouthed three simple words. I love you.

My angel, my girl from Phoenix, was finally home.

Notes

i gots to chill man like this update was really fast (but yay for you guys haha)
hope you all are splendid :)
i apologise for any mistakes and stuff. and how i couldn't be bothered finding any other tony + dog pictures so here is a pic of him in his storm trooper outfit

lol wait this is a gif hahaha
on an unrelated not im still on that buzz of lily collins and jamie campbell bower getting back together. i won't go into much detail but they're so cute together i caNT DEaL
but on a related note, there is more to come on this. like i think this chapter was just so you could learn more about tori as a character and ofc her reuniting with her fam :') claire is going to blow your mind with the next chapter i am sure of it (like what tony's doing to vic in the gif above lol) plus im sorry that this was 85% dialogue. that's all i could do.
have a solid one. hope you liked this chapter. pls tell us if you did or are just liking this story in general. we'd love to hear from you x