Author's Note: I know I'm late with a Valentine's Day themed story, but I was not going to settle for a half finished story, so here it is anyway. I'll let the story tell you where and when it is set (as in which universe I've written this pairing before). I hope you enjoy.
Not so Typical Valentine's Day
By OneHorseShay
Disclaimer: Don't Own, Don't Sue. For God sake, don't sue.
Pairings: Jade/Freddie (Jedi), Tori/Beck (Bori)
Rating: T Some Language
Summary: Just a slice of Jade and Freddie's lives during a Valentine's Day with a not so typical way to celebrate.
Jade was curled up into her usual little ball as she peacefully slept on the left side of the king size bed. However, that was to be interrupted as there was a sudden swift in the mattress on the right side of the bed as if someone had just jumped on it. It wasn't enough of a shift to belong to a grown person, perhaps a large dog, but that was out of the question as there were no dogs in the house, so that left only a few possibilities.
She clenched her eyes shut as she was disturbed from her sleep by the action, but thought it was her imagination. She tried to loll back to sleep, but the shift on the other side of the bed happened again and started becoming a bounce.
She finally opened her eyes and relaxed from her tight ball. She brushed out of her face her natural brunette colored hair that went just a few inches past her shoulders and squinted her eyes as she looked to the digital radio/clock resting on the dresser. She saw the display in blue electronic digits: 9:42 AM, MO 2/14/22.
She groaned at being woken up and closed her eyes as she rolled on to her back. It was too early to get up after last night's Grammy Awards even if she had skipped the after parties and went to bed at a pretty reasonable hour. The thought of killing whoever was stupid enough to wake her up crossed her mind, but fortunately for the culprit, he or she had indirectly woke her up so she wasn't jumping on the person in a fit of rage.
Jade suddenly sucked in a sharp breath as she felt a weight on her abdomen. Her eyes shot open and immediately stared into a pair of equally blue eyes.
The soft voice from the owner of the eyes called out in a playful tone, "Happy Auntie Cat's Day mommy."
The pale twenty-seven year old's annoyance from being woken up immediately vanished and she smiled at the little girl straddling her stomach. Her eyes were a slightly sharper blue color than Jade's, but she had the same pale skin color (so much so that her grandmother had repeatedly insisted on the girl wearing sun block anytime she went out) and matching, natural brunette hair. The child was dressed in a blue sundress that reflected her father's sensibility more than her own darker outlook of style.
Jade smiled at the pale, blue eye girl and softly rested her hands on her thighs. She sat up and pulled the child into a hug. "Happy Valentine's Day to you too baby girl," she whispered in return into her ear then pulled back enough to softly kiss the four year old on the nose.
The girl giggled from the affection as the brunette playfully questioned, "What are you still doing here? Shouldn't you be with Auntie Cat, especially on her day?"
The child happily announced, "Daddy said I was going to spend the entire day with you and I was going to skip preschool with Auntie Cat today."
She raised her left eyebrow and questioned with a surprised tone, "Oh did he?"
The child eagerly nodded her head and answered, "She's spending the day with Uncle Robbie and Daddy said I'm part of your Valentine's Day present."
She softly tickled her stomach and whispered in a conspiratorial manner, "You are a very good present every day of the year." The little girl laughed from the action and the brunette whispered again, "So you're my surprise? Does Mommy get breakfast in bed? You and your daddy fixed me some on our anniversary."
Sapphire softly bit her bottom lip and shook her head then let out a giggle, "Nope. We have a surprise for you. Daddy wanted me to wake you up so you could come downstairs."
The pale twenty-something softly laughed, "Oh? You have a surprise for me?"
The light brunette child eagerly nodded. "Daddy's downstairs."
"Oh is he?" She narrowed her eyes on her child and whispered, "Did you two plan something diabolical for me?"
The child giggled and gave her an expression that said she wasn't going to say another word. She may not have fully understood what diabolical meant, but she understood sneaky and plan.
Jade held back a smirk at seeing once again that Sapphire was daddy's little girl while being mischievously quiet when necessary just like her. She picked up her daughter and slid out of the California king-size bed. Last night had been a chilly one, so she had dressed in a blue long sleeve shirt and dark sweatpants and didn't need to get dressed before heading out of the bedroom.
She carried her daughter down the hallway and carefully walked down the easy spiraling staircase, especially while carrying the most precious thing in the world to her.
The brunette stopped to see that the dinning room table was spread out with breakfast for three, a very large breakfast with all the trimmings. The thought that he was fattening her up did cross her mind as she did drop a few pounds over her last tour she had hoped to avoid.
Freddie stood behind the chair at the end of the table and gave her a boyish grin as he playfully greeted her, "Good morning."
Jade grinned at her husband as she sat Sapphire on her feet then gave him a quick peck on the lips. "Morning." She looked over the table again and commented, "Going a little overboard?"
Freddie laughed out, "It's Valentine's Day and we do need to properly celebrate last night."
She gave him a smirk questioning such a need.
His grin grew larger as he rested his hands on her hips and explained, "Winning album of the year last night might be just a bit of a big deal worth celebrating and you called it a night fairly early on last night."
Jade blew out a tired breath and looked to him with a somber expression. "I haven't forgotten what happened with me overdoing it for my career and not taking care of myself." She looked to Sapphire already in a seat and eagerly digging into her pancakes and low sugar syrup. The child was eagerly kicked her legs back and forth as she enjoyed the breakfast she helped prepare. She finished with a whisper, "I have to look after myself."
He slightly frowned and nodded his head. He kissed her right cheek as she was still looking at their daughter. He whispered with a sympathetic tone, "That was a long time ago… there is a fine line between healthy concerns and… my mother, so don't deny yourself a little fun… like hopefully we'll have today."
She softly rolled her eyes at him letting him know she was partially going to relent to his point.
He softly laughed in being able to claim a partial victory then turned to the food on the table. "I fixed your favorites and…" He walked over to the kitchen counter to grab the pot from the one cup coffee maker and brought the beverage to his award winning artist of a wife. "…your favorite coffee: black with two sugars."
She cupped the drink and took a quick sip. She have expected him to slip in some fancy coffee that she had nearly gotten hooked on even before they started their relationship when he wanted to treat her to some variety, but it was black with two sugars. She smiled and gave him a quick peck on the cheek then took her seat at the head of the table.
The spot was obviously hers with a flower and a red envelope sitting behind the breakfast plate. Freddie took a seat to her right as she opened up the envelope. She was surprised once again as instead of a store bought card, it was one made out of red construction paper. She opened the card to see some childish coloring and gluing of cutouts from printed coloring sheets of Valentine themed pictures. She quickly read over the message in not so surprising neat handwriting from the preschooler about how much she and her father loved her. She could see some of Cat's handiwork just in being able to teach the particularly bright child (which Marissa insisted came from Benson side of the family) the ability to write while in her home-schooled preschool.
She leaned over and happily whispered to the pale child, "Thank you my little angel."
Sapphire laughed again as Jade tickled her stomach for a moment then they turned back to their respective breakfasts.
Jade innocently asked her husband and child, "So what do you have planned for today since we are going to be together for the day?"
Freddie softly laughed out, "I have a few ideas. They are not the traditional Valentine's Day things, but I hope you'll enjoy them nonetheless."
The pale young woman raised a questioning eyebrow to what her husband had in mind.
After the family finished their breakfast, Jade had gone upstairs to get dress. She had changed into some casual (but hopefully sexy to Freddie's eyes) wear of a burgundy athletic shirt almost identical to one she had during her senior year of high school, blue jeans and a black leather jacket. She had skipped out on her usual hair extensions in the hopes that the paparazzi would have a harder time spotting her, but put in her nose stud and eyebrow ring.
She reached the bottom steps to the stairs minutes later with Freddie and Sapphire waiting for her at the exit to the garage. The pair had slid on jackets for the morning until the day warmed up to a comfortable temperature later in the day.
The couple shared a quick kiss and the brunette child threw up her hands in attention for Jade to pick her up. She quickly complied with her daughter's nonverbal request and Freddie led them out to the three car garage. One of the spaces was filled with a black Audi Coupe while the other parking space was filled with a silver electric SUV.
Jade expected to stop at one of the vehicles, but Freddie walked past both to stop at the end of the garage to the last place where a tarp was covering the last vehicle. He pulled the cover off car to reveal the apparent mint conditioned Black '69 Dodge Charger. He turned and gave her a knowing smile as he commented, "She's noticeable being half a century old, but not so noticeable to worry about the paparazzi. Hopefully we'll have a quiet day without much problem and I think she deserves to get out."
The pale woman laughed out softly at seeing the car that really had become a part of the family even if it was just an inanimate object over the last eleven years. The child laughed out as she was excited for the opportunity to ride in the muscle car.
Jade caught her breath and commented as Freddie was pulling the car seat from the neighboring Audi, "Assuming they're not camped right outside the community and going to follow us?"
Freddie ignored her question for a few moments as he concentrated on securing the seat into the backseat. Once he double checked to make sure it was properly secured, he turned out from the car and answered with a laugh, "Oh, I called Sean; he's going to make some big exit to draw them off."
Jade shook her head. "He's just going to beg me to record with him…"
Freddie took Sapphire out of her arms and placed her in the seat while retorting, "A small price to pay if you want to… and make some spare change to help him out."
Jade crossed her arms under her chest and raised her pierced eyebrow and softly smirked to him.
Once the brunette child was safely secured in her seat and the couple in their seats, the Charger pulled out into the driveway with the garage door closing in front of them. A minute or so later, the Charger pulled out past the security gate with a quick wave from Freddie to Hank in the security booth without any paparazzi in sight.
About fifteen minutes later, Freddie pulled the muscle car into to the Green Meadow Mall parking lot. Jade was curious as to why they would go to the mall, but held her to tongue as to not try to spoil whatever surprise Freddie was planning to spring on her.
The small family quickly exited the vehicle with Jade throwing on a pair of sunglasses. The couple walked on either side of their child and held her hands as Freddie led them to the mall entrance then through the lightly occupied mall. It may have been Valentine's Day with the expected last minute shoppers (almost exclusively male), but it was also a Monday morning, so the crowd was relatively light. The surroundings and the various store displays of course were covered with various reds, pinks and white for Valentine's Day decoration.
The decorations drew the child's attention, but she continued with her parents as she remembered her daddy's plan for her mommy. They finally stopped in front of the box office of the built in movie theater of the mall and Freddie quickly requested tickets for the first matinee of the day for the new Pixar movie (which Sapphire had already seen twice, but neither time with her mother). She gave her husband a curious glance and coyly questioned, "You're taking me to a kid's movie for a Valentine's date?"
He softly laughed, "Would you whether I had taken you to a romantic comedy? We could have just stayed home and popped in one of Tori's films if you wanted to see one."
She narrowed her eyes on him as a corner of her mouth lifted indicating that she was only partially amused by his joke.
Her expression just caused him to laugh louder then to look down at Sapphire and commented with a jovial tone, "I didn't say that I planned it alone."
Jade looked down at her daughter who looked back up to her with a mischievous grin that she had learned that she could use to get her mother to do nearly anything.
After a quick trip to the concession stand (and Jade dodging recognition from anyone), they took seats in the general middle of the stadium seating with Jade on the child's left and Freddie on her right.
Jade barely paid attention to the previews of other children films being released in the coming weeks and months and when the film started going, she thought it was a silly movie even one in which she saw Freddie's name in part of the opening production credits. However she didn't care as Sapphire was enjoying it immensely and she couldn't be happier at seeing the smile on her daughter's face while watching the characters on screen. A small, playful smile formed on her lips as she realized that sharing this family moment of watching a movie with her daughter meant more to her than any grand romantic Valentine's Day gesture from her husband, especially after missing so many over the last few months from touring. She softly kissed the crown of her head then looked back towards the movie.
About ninety minutes or so, the trio exited the theater and Jade curiously asked her husband, "So what's next?"
"Back home actually; we are having lunch at home with some visitors who are quiet eager to properly catch up with us."
The brunette raised a curious eyebrow.
Soon the family was home in the Beverly Park gated community and Freddie was preparing a light lunch for them and the guests whose identities he refused to tell Jade. The music sensation wanted to help, but the engineer insisted that he wanted to treat her for the day. She had reluctantly relented and soon forgot about it as she took a seat on the couch with Sapphire to play some educational game on a PearPad.
The pale child would laugh out as she got one of the math problems correct. She definitely had her father's intelligence when it came to numbers. Jade pressed her nose to the left side of her daughter's crown and sucked in a soft breath and held her tight in her lap as she tried to hold back the tears of missing these times. She softly whispered out, "I love you my baby girl."
"I love you too Mommy," she echoed as she kept her attention to the colorful pear shaped tablet.
About half an hour later, the door bell rang and Freddie quickly made his way out of the kitchen and towards the door before Jade could beat him to it.
Freddie opened the door to reveal Victoria 'Tori' Oliver, who looked as lovely as ever with her long curly brunette hair even if there were slight bags under her eyes that her makeup couldn't cover up with someone standing so close to her. She wasn't alone as there was a small boy a few months older than Sapphire next to her and they were holding hands. He had her mother's dark hair and shared his parents' tanned skin.
"Hey Tori," he cheerfully greeted the slim woman and pulled her into a quick hug. Tori patted his back then pulled away so Freddie could kneel down and laugh to the child, "Hey little Tory."
The small boy laughed out and hugged the muscular young man. "Hi Uncle Freddie."
Jade and Sapphire quickly caught up to the patriarch of the home at the front door. Tori shared a quick and happy hug with fellow brunette.
The shorter haired brunette took a step back and softly laughed, "You look good." She playfully picked at her, "Almost as good as last night Miss Song of the Year."
Tori smirked as she replied with a dry tone, "Thanks."
"Auntie Tori!" Sapphire shouted and reached up for her to pick her up. The long haired brunette bent down and scooped up the child into her arms. The child gave Tori a tight hug then Tori shifted her to rest against her right hip to quickly give the girl a kiss on the left cheek. "Hello sweetheart."
The pale woman looked over Tori's shoulder, expecting more company, but quickly knotted her brow when she saw the lack of Beck behind her. She quickly looked back to her unfortunate musical rival and questioned with a concerned voice, "Where's Beck?"
Freddie joined his wife with a curious glance to the longer haired brunette and commented, "Yeah, we missed him last night at the show, not that it wasn't great to see André. I think you wore him well on your arm."
Tori forced a smile and answered, "He's still not feeling well… he didn't want to spoil our day by having to look after him and maybe picking up whatever he has."
Jade nodded her head as she accepted the explanation for appearance's sake, but every instinct screamed that Tori was lying. However, before there was anymore questioning on the matter, Tory tugged on the hem of his mother's shirt. Tori looked down to her child and realized what he wanted. She sat Sapphire back on her feet, much to the disappointment of the sweet child, and Tory pulled a flower from behind his back and held it up to the blue eye girl. "Happy Valentine's Day."
She let out a giggle and took the flower. Victor followed up by giving her a quick peck on her cheek and caused the girl to let out another laugh.
Jade held back a smirk from the gesture while Freddie's face fell in horror. He whispered out, "Oh my God, he's just like Beck."
Tori's smile at seeing her son's gesture to the pale child faded to a ghost of itself, but fortunately didn't turn into an outright frown.
The engineer laughed out, "I don't care if he's four; I will pop him in his little behind if he breaks her heart."
Tori whispered out with a hint of sadness lingering in her voice as the children dashed off for Sapphire to show Tory something, "Don't worry… he's not a heartbreaker like his father."
Freddie slightly frowned at hearing the tone in her voice. Jade remained quiet, but her concern she felt with Tori's initial lie shot through the roof. However, this wasn't the moment to confront the brunette, so Jade asked her husband, "So is lunch ready?"
The former tech-producer smiled as he answered, "Yes it is." He looked over his shoulder and called out, "Sapphire, Tory, come back, it's lunch time."
During lunch, Jade and Tori had caught up with Jade telling a few interesting stories about her partial encore tour from last year's summer tour she had just wrapped up about two weeks ago while Tori filled her in on her finishing up filming her latest movie after her short tour with André and Beck's last few weeks when he was oversees filming on location. Freddie brought a sense of relieving humor when he pointed out that his time consisted of splitting his time being stuck in a computer laboratory and working from home. He had kept silent for the time being on his dangerous game of trying to spin-off Pixar away from the Dingo Company and back to the Pear Company if not a company in its own right that he of course would be CEO.
The day had warmed up to a comfortable temperature as they had expected, so the former rivals sat on the back deck and watched the pair the children play in the backyard after lunch before they would put them down for an afternoon nap.
Jade would pass a glance every now and then over to what she observed as her distracted friend.
Tori apparently could feel the eyes on her on those occasions and finally commented with a soft whispered while watching Tory, "I'm going to file for divorce."
Jade took in a sharp breath and started blinking as her brain tried to comprehend the words her friend had just spoken. She sat in silence for a few moments as they continued to watch their respective child play. The shorter brunette whispered in complete and utter disbelief, "What?"
Tori repeated with a hollow tone, "I'm going to divorce Beck. I can't… I can't do this anymore."
Jade shook her head in disbelief and uttered, "What anymore? How has it got to the point of wanting to divorce him?"
Tori snapped her head and glared at her.
Jade was the last person that Tori could intimidate with the history the pair shared, so the pale woman pressed on, "I'm not asking you to justify anything Tori nor would I, just… could you fill me in with what's going on that got to this point? I'm sorry I haven't been around to notice things."
Tori swallowed down a lump forming in her throat then softly answered, "You couldn't have; you've been touring for five out of the last eight months."
Jade frowned at her sore point. She had toured for almost the entire summer including into early September with a truncated tour in November and January. She hated herself being away from Sapphire that long and the daily web-chats while on tour didn't cut it for her. The only relief she felt during that time was the exhilaration of performing for her fans and knowing that with every sold out show she performed, she was further financially providing for her daughter to never lack for any material need.
The pale singer finally nodded in accepting her point then asked, "Well I'm here now, so what's the problem? Or problems?"
Tori took a deep breath and looked back to Tory and Sapphire playing on the swing/play set. "I don't know why, maybe it's the stresses of balancing our careers with Tory, but… the problems you had with him in high school have started up. He doesn't listen to me anymore and… he's letting his female fans get too close for my taste, being too friendly." She chuckled out with a sadly as she looked up at the clear sky, "Then when he gets back he has the nerve to…"
Jade slightly frowned and her stomach sank with the various possibilities going through her head. "The nerve to do what?"
She looked back the pale singer near the point of tears and whispered, "When you were out touring and Beck was filming his back to back movies with the second one with its overseas location shoots… he accused me of cheating on him with Freddie."
Jade's first reaction was to laugh at the absurdity of the statement, but then she saw the seriousness of the other woman's expression. She responded with a mixture of disgust and anger, "He what?"
Tori blew out a tired breath and continued, "I didn't go through the whole tour with André, so I was home at the beginning of August just as he was going off to film. He was gone, you were gone, and there were plenty of times where," she motioned her head to the children, "they can be a handful and we each just needed some help at times. Cat has her own life outside of doing preschool with them in the mornings and I just can't ask Trina to drop everything she's doing so I can have some me ti—"
Jade gave her a confused expression as she knew where there was leading and interrupted, "Wait, Beck's taking the times when you and Freddie shared some parenting duties while we were gone as something more to it? What does he think?" She nodded her head to their children then finished her question, "While they were asleep during sleepovers instead of one of you just getting the night off, you and Freddie were having sex in the next room?"
Tori looked down towards the manicured kept yard and remained silent.
The pale woman sucked in a breath and looked away in any direction other than Tori's and especially not Sapphire's direction. She didn't want either to see the hateful look forming on her face. The musician took several calming breaths then whispered out, "If Freddie hears even a whisper of this, he's going to kick Beck's ass. You know it—he knows it, so why would he say such a thing? How could he possibly reach that conclusion?"
Tori shook her head. "Trina already wants to do that, but… you have to admit it can look bad from a certain point of view. We were at each others places all the time and the four of us were out together so much that the paparazzi started following us around. I'm surprised you didn't see the stories and pictures in TMZ or TwitFlash. I lost count how many times I spent the night here after a grueling day of filming and Tory was already asle—"
Jade raised her right pointer finger, cutting off the longer haired brunette. Her tone was a chilly one that could rival anything she had spoken when they were in high school as she spoke, "I know he's your husband and you love him, but don't make excuses for him with me, especially when it involves him accusing my husband of infidelity. Freddie and I have been through Hell and back, life and death and I am not going to put up with Beck attempting to sow any kind of doubt between us because he suddenly wants to think he's back in high school in regards with your marriage. Am I going to have to slap him upside his head to snap him out of his delusions?"
Tori shook her head and muttered out, "At this point, it's the only thing I have left short of divorce. I can't live like this Jade. I can't have a husband that blows off my concerns and what I say then accuses me of cheating on him… I don't know what he's done all over Europe. For all I know… he could have been with any number of girls while he was gone: one of his hot co-stars or maybe one of those European supermodels or maybe with Carl—I know I'm sounding paranoid, but…"
She closed her eyes to hold back the tears she could feel coming from the stinging in the back of her eyes. Her voice broke as she whispered out, "We haven't made love since he got back."
Jade looked on in shock at that revelation and had a hard time fathoming such a thing. After all the weeks she and Freddie had been apart during the summer and separations of November and January, they had spent the third or fourth day after she gotten back each time (since the day and the next one was spent with Sapphire) making love for practically the entire day as they needed to physically reconnect.
The pale singer palmed her forehead for a moment the whispered, "I'm sorry."
Tori bowed her head and whispered out in regret, "I am too. We're just another celebrity couple that couldn't keep it together."
Jade immediately leaned over and pulled the brunette into a hug. She whispered to her in a comforting tone, "We are not some glory hound, airhead-ed, twitter whore celebrities we have to deal with everyday; don't compare yourself to any of them."
The shorter haired brunette pulled away and softly spoke in a reassuring tone as she held the other girls shoulders, "I know it hurts right now, but that doesn't mean it's gotten to the point of divorce. We've all had our ups and downs and you can get through this… we just have to get Beck's head screwed on straight. Just look at me and Freddie and all we've been through."
The first tear ran down between Tori's nose and famous cheek bones as she painfully whispered, "My parents were together for twenty years and they failed… you and Freddie had angels on your side. What do I have?"
Jade's lips became thin as she closed her mouth for a second then softly answered, "You have us just like you were there for us. Anna didn't make us do anything. It was always up to us just like it will be up for you and Beck… we can just give him a swift kick and hope it gets his head out of his butt."
The longer brunette shook her head and whispered, "I can't see how right now."
"You don't have to see it. You just need to know that you can make it through whatever life throws at you. That's how we make it work."
Tori cracked a soft smile and nodded her head as she responded, "You would know, wouldn't you?"
Jade raised her right eyebrow and questioned, "Is that an agreement Vega?"
The longer brunette let out a soft laugh and answered, "I'll let you know." She looked to the playing children and commented, "I think they've played enough. They're going to need their naps or they will get cranky."
Jade raised her brow as she agreed, "Oh you don't know how true that is. She takes right after me."
The mothers got up from their seats and headed for their children.
The doorbell rang and Freddie was quick to make his way to the door. He let out a soft laugh at seeing the pair at his doorstep. He turned and shouted into the house, "Look who decided to visit!"
He turned and André and he share a quick manly hug. The patriarch turned to Trina and they shared a quick hug with the older Vega sister leaving a kiss on his cheek.
"So what are you two doing here?" he asked as Jade, Tori and Tory walked up from behind.
The songsmith looked to Tori as soon as she came into view and gave her a bright smile. "I'm here to take this very lovely lady out for a Valentine's Night dinner."
Trina picked up her nephew and the child gave a tight and eager hug to his favorite aunt (since she spoiled him rotten every chance she got). She continued for the songsmith, "And I'm here to take my favorite nephew for a fun sleepover so you can enjoy your night." She looked to Tory and whispered in a conspiratorial manner, "We're going to eat ice cream and stay up past bedtime."
Tori's eyes went wide and she quickly disregarded that option, "Oh no he isn't."
Trina stuck her tongue out at her younger sister then looked to André. "Keep her out all night long." She looked back to Tory and whispered with a grin, "Then we can stay up."
The child laughed out in joy with his mother closing her eyes and palming her forehead as she knew that arguing with her sister was a losing proposition especially if André was conspiring with her.
The songsmith offered his hand Tori and suggested, "I'm going to take you out shopping, let you get all dolled up and have a fantastic time. Just because Beck's sick, doesn't mean he doesn't want you to have a blast."
Tori's smile faltered only for the briefest of seconds then fixed it without André noticing, but Trina and Jade saw it. She took her long time friend's hand and he immediately started pulling her out the double doors without so much as a goodbye. Trina laughed and turned to the couple. She laughed out, "Happy Valentine's Day. Gotta go, André's my ride."
Jade cracked a soft smile. "Happy Valentine's Day Trina."
She turned to go with Tory waving goodbye.
"See you later little guy," Freddie called out.
Jade rested her head on Freddie's left shoulder for a moment and the couple watched as they headed out.
The afternoon and evening wounded down with the family of three just enjoying their shared company after Sapphire's nap by watching whatever movies she wanted to watch and catch up in playing games with her mother that she hadn't had a change to play since just after Christmas.
After an early dinner, Sapphire was dressed for bed and was cuddled on to Jade's right side on her big girl bed as the mother read from the storybook. Jade couldn't describe how much she missed doing this in person as she had done it a few times over PearChat, but it wasn't the same experience.
After only a few minutes of reading, Sapphire lolled off to sleep from the exhausted day she had with her parents. Jade closed the book then whispered, "Goodnight my little angel." She left a soft kiss on her forehead then slipped out of bed and tucked her in to make sure she kept the winter chill off.
Jade made her way down the hall back to the master bedroom and found Freddie sitting on his side of the bed with his PearBook in his lap. She blew out a soft breath as she figured that he was getting a little work in as she spent much needed time with her daughter and he had taken the day off.
She took a seat on the left side of her bed with her right leg folded with her left leg hanging off of the edge.
He closed and sat his PearBook off to the nightstand on his right then asked with a playful smile, "How was your Valentine's Day?"
She leaned over and wrapped her arms around the back of his neck and pulled him into a deep kiss. He quickly returned it and wrapped his arms around to the small of her back. She pulled away a few seconds later and sniffled to try to keep the tears back. She looked him in the eyes and answered with a hushed tone, "It was fantastic."
He rubbed up and down her back and replied, "I'm happy to hear. I thought this was better than any flowers, jewelry or candy I could give you… not saying I still don't have a few tricks up my sleeves."
She raised her pierced eyebrow as he pulled away from her and reached over to the drawer to the right side of the bed. He pulled it open and pulled out a black velvet box. He handed it to her with a knowing smile.
She gave him a questioning expression then opened it to reveal a silver sheers pendant, similar to the one he gave her Christmas of twenty-eleven, but had a sapphire setting in the center. She broke into an elated smile as he explained, "I thought you needed a new one. I love the one I gave you all those Christmases ago, but it is starting to look a little worn and I thought it could use a different gem setting."
The pale superstar pulled him into another hug and smiled into his shoulder. She kissed him on the cheek then whispered, "I love you."
"I love you too my angel."
The couple eventually turned to just rest together and enjoying each other's embrace with the flat screen playing some random channel that neither were really paying attention. They may not have been the most comfortable as they were both still dressed casual as they were when they went out, but neither cared.
The peacefulness was not to last as Jade felt she needed to tell him about Tori's situation. She couldn't afford him hearing about it from someone else with her already knowing, despite the warning she had given Tori. She lifted her head off of his shoulder and gave her husband a sorrowful expression as she whispered, "Tori wants to divorce Beck."
Freddie blinked and his jaw slacked with sheer dumbfounded. He closed his mouth and took a moment to process what she had spoken then muttered, "Where did that come from?"
She sat up from him and shrugged her bare shoulder and looked away from him. "They're having problems…"
"What problems? She was gone for weeks then he's been gone for weeks. What could possibly be going on that Tori would think divorcing him would be an answer from that? Especially after her own parents' divorce."
"According to Tori, he's starting to act the same way he did when we were dating and…"
Freddie furled his brow in concerned as he cautiously questioned, "And what?"
Jade took a deep breath then answer with a reluctant tone, "Beck accused her of cheating on her after she got back from her tour and while he was off filming."
Freddie shouted in disbelief, "With whom?" He snorted out a laugh and continued a levity in his voice of treating the accusation as a bad joke, "Besides this being Tori, on a practically manner, when did she have time for an affair? She had the same schedule everyday and I knew where she was every second of it."
He started motioning with his hands as he rattled off the schedule, "Get up, take Tory to Cat's, go to the studio for a few hours, pick up Tory and Sapphy during her lunch break, drop them off here after I got done with my half-day, go back to filming, come here after filming at some point, crash here if filming ran late… which became half the time near the end of filming… then start over."
He motioned a hand in the direction of downstairs. "To save what little time she had, she started recording stuff in the studio here a couple of nights… I lost count how many times I had to beg her to take a night for herself and let me watch them when she got done early with filming. Sapphy and I had to plop down on her couch one night and refuse to move until she got dressed and head out to have a good time."
Jade lowered her eyes and blew out a worried filled breath as she knew exactly how this conversation was going to turn. "He thinks she had an affair with you."
The engineer's brow knotted for a moment as if he hadn't heard her correctly. When he saw her sorrowful expression on her face, he clenched his jaw tightly then hissed out, "That son-of-a-bitch. I'm going to break him." Freddie got up from the bed and started pacing about the bedroom in frustration with his fists clenching then relaxing.
Jade watched for a few seconds as she watched him let his irritation roll off of him. She started with a soft tone, "Freddie—"
He stopped in his tracks and looked to her with a cold stare. He hissed out through clenched teeth, "Dusty can always fix whatever I break. Maybe he should take some of those teen magazine pictures missing a few of his front teeth?"
The musician slightly frowned and looked away for a moment before replying, "That's not the point; the point is would it help anything between Tori and him?"
"It would remind him not to make baseless accusations against his wife. A good knock up side of his head would grab his attention. He's the one to talk about questioning someone's faithfulness the way he lets his female costars hang on him. That's nothing compared to the stories from high school."
The short haired brunette nodded her head in at least acknowledging he may have a point, but she questioned nevertheless, "You could be right, but I think Trina's already called dibs on that."
Freddie rolled his eyes and blew out an annoyed breath.
Jade raised her hands and pointed out, "They have to work it out, but we'll be here to help them out. We just got to wait and see."
Freddie shook his head as he retook his seat on the bed. "You mean help pick up the pieces?"
The pale beauty slightly bowed her head and regretfully answered, "If it comes down to it."
Her brown eye boy smirked and motioned out the door. "There's always the spare bedroom Tori can take up for as long as she needs. I know that would thrill Beck."
Jade knew it was a cheap shot against Beck, but after finding out from Tori what he accused her husband of doing, she wasn't going to complain. No matter what Tori and Beck worked out, at some point she was going to have a talk with Beck about making such an accusation against her husband. In the meantime, she suggested, "Let's worry about that tomorrow. I just needed to let you know it now, but it's Valentine's Day and we're together."
He took several breaths to calm down then replied, "You're right. Let tomorrow take care of itself and let's enjoy the moments we have right now, but there is something I would like to know?"
"What's that?"
"Why didn't you want to make a big deal out of last night? You won a Grammy… another one, but this one was for your album; was it really about just wanting to take care of yourself?"
She softly bit her bottom lip and looked down on the bed.
Freddie patiently waited as she gathered her thoughts then finally answered, "It wasn't the real recognition that I wanted in winning last night."
"What was it?"
Jade smirked. "I will admit that it is nice to show that I have nothing left to prove… I wasn't a one or two album hit wonder and that I don't have to play a 'role' for people to like my music, but what it means to me… it shows that I'm not pressured to go on tour again anytime soon. I might do a few surprise shows with Tori and André, but… no touring. Going on tour would interfere with my plan for this summer."
He happily questioned, "What's that? You're going to do some acting? I know you haven't been happy having to put acting on hold for this last year. You want get back into writing some screenplays? Produce something?"
She gave him a playful smirk and shook her head. "No, something more important."
Freddie raised an eyebrow. His voice was laced with surprise as he asked, "That would be?"
"My plan for this summer was for me to be…" She looked up to meet his eyes and finished with a whisper, "…pregnant."
Freddie blinked, completely flabbergasted over her plan. He asked with an obviously surprised tone, "You want… you want to have another child?"
Jade nodded then cautiously asked, "Were we going to stop at just one?"
He nervously laughed out, "I always thought it was really up to you. I mean, you're the one that would be doing all the work to bring him or her into the world." He swallowed down at least some of his nervousness as he finished, "I would like to have a son…"
His blue eye girl looked him straight in the eyes and whispered with unwavering conviction, "I want another baby."
Freddie nodded his head as he cracked a soft smile. He leaned over and playfully smirked, "When do you want to get started?"
She seductively smiled to him as she leaned towards him, their lips only centimeters apart. "Well… I thought I'd stop my pills tomorrow, cut out the coffee and really pick up on getting my diet completely back on the right track, so it would take a few days to really get started, but… I wouldn't mind getting some practice time in tonight if you were up to it?"
He gave her his boyish grin and answered, "Don't worry; me being stuck behind a desk has not stopped me staying in shape, so… I can go as long as you need me to go."
He cupped her cheek and pulled her into a kiss as his left thumb slipped under the strap of the burgundy athletic shirt and her bra and pulled it over her shoulder.
Author's Note: I hope you enjoyed my late Valentine's Day present. If you're still wondering if this takes place in my 'We Love Each Other' timeline or my 'Because Fate Said So' timeline… that's up to you to decide. Thanks for reading and don't be shy with reviews.