6.
Jade's blackened eyes flutter open, slowly taking in her surroundings. Her heart monitor beeps steadily beside her as she lies beneath the starched white sheets of a hospital bed. Beck, Valerie, and Tori stand around her with relieved smiles. Beck's face is bruise free and his hair is neatly styled like she finally remembers.
"I thought you'd never wake up!" Valerie exclaims.
Jade tries to sit up and groans in pain. "What?" she huffs out. "What happened?"
"Robbie attacked you," Valerie answered simply
Beck wraps his arm around his sister's shoulder. "If Valerie hadn't been there and knocked him out," he continues, "You would have been a goner."
Jade raises an eyebrow. "How did you know I was in trouble?"
Valerie smirks. "I knew he was a bad guy," she explains. "I heard about him from Beck a few times before and I looked him up. He had this big criminal record and he'd been suspected of murder twice. Before…everything happened, I contacted him when I found out he was back in LA and told him to stay away from my brother and his family.
"Like Tori, I had a feeling he could have been behind the murder, but I didn't want to say anything if I didn't know for sure." She rubs her arm and looks away nervously. "I called him again after I left you at the strip club and told him you'd be on the lookout."
"You what?" Jade griped. She flinched in pain and fell back on the bed. "He could have killed me! You could go to jail for tampering with an investigation!"
"But he didn't," Valerie reminds, trying to sound optimistic. "I made sure to follow you two in case anything happened. By the time I was able to get into his house, though, you were already down. I'm really sorry about that, but I helped and here you are a week later!"
"A week?" Jade cries; her heart monitor starts to beep excessively. "Has the case really been solved though?"
Tori nods. "The trial was two days ago," she states. "They brought in all the evidence as well as Valerie's statement and they've locked him away for life; he won't be able to hurt anyone ever again."
"The judge only gave me community service for what I did," Valerie adds, "So it all works out!"
Jade sighs in relief, her heartrate calming, and Beck places his hand on one of hers. "Thank you for everything," he breathed with a small smile. "You sure found a good way to come back to us."
"What can I say?" she smirked, putting her hand on his. "I went to an art school for four years. You learn how to make a dramatic entrance."