Disclaimer: Victorious and its characters are the property of Schneider's Bakery and Nickelodeon. This story is for entertainment purposes only and no money exchanged hands. No copyright infringement is intended. The original characters, situations, and story are the property of the author. No profit is intended or wanted for this story.
Tori walked into her home, hoping to hide a couple of unwrapped gifts before her other half made an appearance. Creeping in from the front entry hall, she saw said half in the living room napping.
Slowly toeing off her boots, Tori was smiling happily. On the plush maroon sofa, Jade was napping under a red comforter (with white stripes, giving it a Christmasy look). Sharing part of the sofa, and using Jade's buried arm as a pillow, was Goldie.
Quickly, Tori pulled up her phone and took a picture. As well as the love of her life and their dog, she was able to capture part of the tree they had decorated the night before as well as the peaceful expression on Jade's beautiful face.
Goldie raised her head and looked back, woofing softly at Tori. Shushing the golden retriever, Tori resumed her trek upstairs to her private room, a mini-studio. Goldie jumped off the sofa to follow, Jade muttering and turning to face the back of the sofa.
"Hi, Goldie..." Tori smiled as the golden retriever nudged her with her tail wagging eagerly. "Aw, did Goldie miss me?" Kneeling down, she began to comb her fingers through the soft fur. Using baby talk, she spoke to their dog, "Yes, I think she did. Oh yes she did. And I missed you. Now, where should Mama hide Mommy's gifts?"
Opening the door to a small crawlspace behind the closet, where the roof sloped down on the upper floor, Tori quickly deposited the two packages there with the other three. Closing the door, she backed out of the closet into Goldie's nose.
"EEK!" she squealed. "Goldie! Don't do that!"
The dog whimpered and laid on the floor.
"Oh, Goldie... I'm sorry baby. C'mere..." The dog got up and slowly stepped up until she was within reach of Tori's hand. "You surprised me, baby. I'm not mad."
In another few moments, Tori heard the alarm from Jade's phone – she always set it if she napped. "Mommy'll be awake. Wanna go have some fun?"
With a happy woof, Goldie followed Tori out of her room and raced down the stairs. As Tori reached the bottom and entered the living room, she heard, "Huuummmpphh! Get off me, you big moose!"
As Tori came up to the back of the sofa, she saw Goldie lying alongside Jade but, instead of napping, she was happily licking Mommy's face while Mommy was unsuccessfully trying to stop the dog. Which was difficult as her arms were trapped under the comforter. Still, Jade's head was rocking back and forth so fast, her brown hair occasionally covered her irritated expression.
"Help me, Vega!" Instead, Tori pulled a small baggie out of one of her shopping bags - real mistletoe from a local florist.
Holding the sprig of mistletoe over Jade and Goldie, Tori started to giggle as she said, "Aah, is oo gettin' some woofy lovin'? Is oo getting woofy kisses?"
"Me is gonna pound oo if oo doesn't get woofy off me!"
Gently pushing Goldie away and still holding the mistletoe above them, Tori leaned over the couch, stroked some brunette tresses to the side, and softly kissed her woman. The dog ran around the couch and slammed into Tori's butt and, with her center-of-gravity being off, sending the singer over the sofa onto Jade.
"HEY!" they yelled simultaneously. Looking up, Goldie was standing with her paws on the back of the sofa and a happy look on her furry face.
Jade humped her body once, sending Tori to the floor. Sitting up and throwing the hair back from her face, Tori declared, "Well!"
"Get me out of this straightjacket! I'm dying!"
Even as she got up to help Jade, Tori said, "You're not dying."
"I'm dying to pee! After that lummox then you landing on me, crushing my bladder while doing so, I now have to pee! So either get me out of this or we'll need a new couch!"
With that extra incentive, Tori got her girl free and laughed as Jade raced back to the half-bath near the kitchen. Goldie, thinking it was more play, chased her, happily barking at Jade.
Returning to the front of the house, the dog trotting along with her, Jade asked, "Remind me why we have this big, goofy lummox around?"
Tori just smiled.
Several months before, they came back from dinner at the Vega home. Tori said, "Dad seemed to like your idea of the Black Dahlia story. He really does like your work. Even the gory stuff."
"Yeah, then Holly had to burst my bubble by telling me that had already been done on an old episode of Hunter."
"Alright then, we'll look for that on-line and see how close it is to yours."
Jade's story was the Dahlia murder had remained unsolved for so many decades because the killer was injured in a car accident and in a coma all that time. Coming out of the coma, he planned to resume his killing spree but needed help which came in the shape of a young nurse who turned out to be just as bat-shit crazy as the old killer. Jade added, "Sort of like a really old Joker and Harley Quinn."
"Anyway, Mom's description of the episode didn't sound that close to yours."
As Tori parked her new Lexus, courtesy of her latest gold record, in their circular driveway, she heard a low whining sound. "Jade, can you hand me the flashlight in the glove compartment?"
After rummaging for a few minutes and comments like "How do you have all this junk in here already?", Jade pulled out the small Maglite.
In the bushes between the driveway and the street, Tori saw a small, light-colored object. It was the source of the whining. Kneeling down, she identified it. "It's a puppy! Jade, it's a puppy!"
"Yeah? Well, better leave it. Momma pooch may be nearby and wouldn't like you messing with her kid."
"I don't think so. Poor thing looks scared and cold. Come here, little sweetie. I'm Tori and that's Jade. Come on out. We'll give you something to eat and warm you up."
In a low voice Tori could barely hear, Jade muttered, "Great! Feed it and we'll never be rid of the mutt."
"Jade, can you grab some ham from the fridge for me?"
"How 'bout some of your mom's leftover chicken?" Holly broiled enough chicken to feed three households and insisted they take some home.
"Oh! Great idea! Gimme!" Tori reached behind her, wiggling her fingers.
The small piece of chicken was wolfed down by the small animal. Tori held the second piece closer to her and coaxed the pup out a bit.
"Careful, it might be rabid," Jade warned.
"Hush!"
In a few minutes, the small dog was in Tori's arms, licking the chicken taste from her fingers, causing the superstar to giggle like a schoolgirl.
In the house, Jade got a box from the garage, dumping the contents on the floor ("It's only Tori's old school stuff. And she owes me for this…inconvenience."), and brought it into the small room between the garage and the kitchen, often called the mudroom. Then she got some old towels to fill the box.
Meanwhile, Tori had filled a bowl about halfway with water. The puppy stood shivering on the kitchen island even as it lapped up the water but the tremors were subsiding as the little thing warmed up. Tori smiled at the small furry and then at Jade's actions that belied the former goth's words.
That night, the little puppy was kept in the small mudroom. Part of the night was punctuated by weak howling. Tori wanted to go to the small animal but Jade stopped her. "If you do that, the mutt will need you every night. It has to learn to be by itself."
"Yeah, I guess you're right but he sounds so sad..."
"Go to sleep, you goof," Jade said, kissing Tori lightly.
When Tori woke up, she found herself alone in bed. "Jade?"
She found her gal downstairs asleep on the sofa with the little furball curled up alongside her.
Once Jade woke up, all she said was, "Never speak of this!"
Later in the morning, they took the pup to Petmergency to be checked out. They found out from Doctor Schneider that the little dog was a girl and less than eight weeks old. He said, "I think she's healthy but I'll know better when the blood work comes back later today. I'd like to keep her until then, just in case."
"Okay. But if she's alright, can we take her?" Jade glared at Tori who ignored the look. After the scene earlier, she knew the pup had a home with them.
"I don't see why not. She seems to like both of you," he replied, eyeing the little dog leaning forward to lick Jade's hand.
They drove to a nearby diner for a late breakfast. While waiting for their order, Tori asked, "What should we name her?"
"Pain-in-the-Ass?"
"Jade..."
"Alright. How 'bout... Hmmm... Golden Girl?"
"I like it but maybe shorter? Goldie?"
"Alright. And, if anyone asks, you named her."
Tori chuckled and held Jade's hand until their food arrived.
Back at the vet's office, Doctor Schneider told them, "Her blood work came back clean. We gave her a nutritional shot, her first vaccinations and a bath. Unless you plan to have her breed, I suggest you have her spayed soon. But not for a few weeks. Let her get stronger and grow a little more."
"Okay, we'll make an appointment later," Tori replied.
"Have you decided on a name?"
"Yeah, Vega demanded we name her Goldie."
"Jade..."
"Doc, what kind of dog is it?" Tori threw a look at Jade, "I mean she. What kind of dog is she?"
"She's a golden retriever. Now, I can't say she's pure-blooded since we have no idea of her parentage but…"
"Don't care."
"What my fiancé is trying to say is we'll love her regardless of her background."
And so Goldie became a member of the Vega-West household. Much as she was loathe to admit it, Jade did love the dog and Goldie loved Jade – much more demonstrably. And Tori loved her girls too.
In the end, there was plenty of love to go around.
Cuddling on the sofa under the white-striped, red blanket, Tori started to kiss Jade's ear. Before long, they were ignoring the movie on cable, Christmas in Connecticut, as they were in a full-blown makeout session.
Jade got up and pulled Tori to the stairs and up to their bedroom. At the door, she stopped and looked at Goldie. "Stay!"
The faithful dog lay in front of the closed door, ignoring the very familiar sounds of passion from within.
Two hours later, Jade grabbed the leash. Yelling into the kitchen, she called, "I'm taking the mutt for a walk! I'll give you plenty of time to wrap the presents in your crawlspace!"
The door slammed shut as Tori ran out, "How did you...? Dammit!"
Note: Inspired by a picture posted by Elizabeth Gillies on Facebook. I also used that for the story icon.