JADE POV (thoughts after reunion)

I didn't want to. Oh God, I didn't want to.

I didn't want to leave Beck. God knows I didn't.

But he made me. He said he'd kill them, he said he'd kill Robbie, Tori, Andre. And Cat.

He said he'd kill Beck.

I ignored him, telling him that he was crazy.

He said that if I changed my mind after the end of the night, to meet him at the strip bar at the end of the street.

And then the bomb went off. In a red pick-up truck that looked exactly like Beck's. Thank God it wasn't Beck's.

And so I went.

I didn't want to.


Beck moved as if a possessed man, stumbling to the phone and tripping over his own mess.

"Beck?" Tori asked, confused. But her friend did not reply. Quickly he thumbed through the phone book, but that was to slow.

"Tori, what's your dad's phone number." He said quickly, the word falling out of his mouth like a waterfall.

"523-9867, and why do you need it?"

But Beck did not hear because he was already dialing.

"Come on, come on." He muttered impatiently.

"Mr. Vega?" He said when the phone clicked on the other line.

"Hello, Beck. What can I do for you?"

"Can you tell me the name of the doctor who examined Jade's body?"

"Well, I'm sorry, but I don't have access to that inform-,"

"'Listen to me. This is very important. I need to know. If it is who I think I remember, than there may be a lead. Maybe Jade's not actually dead."

A sigh came from the other end of the line.

"Beck, I saw the body myself. You saw the body, you held the body. You would think that if anyone could tell that she was dead, it would be you. I'm sorry, but it is not possible that she survived."

Beck looked cold and moved his jaw stiffly.

"One more question then, Mr. Vega."

"Yes?"

"Is there anyone by the last name of Ruskin at your station?"

"No. There used to be, but he resigned."

"Can you get me his file?" Beck spoke these words with such desperation that Mr. Vega couldn't help but want to help.

"No." Mr. Vega said. "THose files are very confidential. I can't help you. The only way you could get that information is if you were to come to the station tomorrow morning at 7:00 to pick up more cleared evidence, and I went to go get coffee and you just happened to manage to pick up a copy of the file that I left on my desk. So you see, there's really nothing I can do."

Beck grinned.

"Thank you."

When Beck hung up, Andre confronted him.

"Man, what is going on?"

"Think about it, Andre. Think! The guy who found Jade: Geoffrey Ruskin. The doctor who examined Jade: Dr. Ruskin."

"So? It's a coincidence."

"I thought that too, until Cat mention Jade's ex-boyfriend: Alex Ruskin." Cat, Andre, Tori and Robbie all looked stunned.

"But.. why would they?" Cat asked.

"And what better motivation," Beck continued, "than jealousy? Jade's ex-boyfriend sees me and her at a party, obviously together."

"Obviously." Robbie muttered. Beck shot him a glare, and Robbie held his hands up in a surrender.

"From what Jade told me, she never really severed ties with her last boyfriend. To quote her, this guy's name was 'Alec , Alex, or whatever.'"

"Okay, but one things wrong." Andre said. "What about her body?"

"That, "Beck replied. "Is what I'm going to find out."

Soon Tori and Andre had to leave, and Cat and Robbie decided to stay over at Beck's for dinner.

"I'm worried." Tori said to Andre as he back their car out of the drive-way.

"Yeah?" Andre replied, glancing over his shoulder. "Why? Beck seems to be doing better."

Tori frowned. "For now. But what if this lead of his turns out to be nothing? What if he's getting his hopes up for nothing?"

Andre grabbed Tori's hand and squeezed it gently. "We'll just have to be there for him, Tori."

"I know." She replied, twirling the ends of her hair with her other hand. "But what if that's not enough?"


Beck woke up at 5 the next morning. For once he woke up smiling, because he was finally doing something to help Jade. He knew she could not be dead.

Jade could be cruel, but she was not cruel enough to make him live without her.

AN: Haha, you guys are so smart! You all made the connection between all the Ruskins :)

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