Disclaimer: Victorious is property of Nickelodeon and created by Dan Schneider.

A/N: Here it is, the final chapter, the one we've all been waiting for, the one where they kiss. There is an epilogue coming, which happens a few years in the future, and actually, I can probably stretch the epilogue into a sequel of some sort if I really tried. What do you guys think? Should I?

Chapter 8:

"Hi!" Cat said cheerfully when Jade opened the door. She was toting an overnight suitcase and already wearing her favourite pair of pajamas (pink with cupcakes of different coloured frostings).

"Hey." Jade said. She stepped aside and let the redhead inside. Cat's Nona was going to Idaho to visit Cat's parents and brother, she'll be gone Thursday through Saturday and be back some time on Sunday, so Cat was staying with Jade for a few days. Jade didn't know why Cat didn't ask to stay at Tori's, but she had a suspicion that it might be so she could try and cheer Jade up.

Jade had been feeling down since her break-up with Beck a couple weeks ago, and she couldn't help but be subdued at school, not her usual snarky self. The only time that she put any energy into anything was that first day after their break-up, at lunch, when, after she sat down with Tori, Cat and Robbie, she saw Beck come over with Andre, and she couldn't help but think of the things that Beck said about Cat and Robbie, and she said, coldly:

"Well, hi Beck, doing a little charity work today?"

Beck became embarrassed, he looked around and dragged Andre off to sit at another table.

And every time she saw Beck, it all comes up again, so she takes every swing at him she can, with the result that Beck had learned not to approach her, and now everyday at lunch, they sit at different tables, and their little group is, in effect broken in two. Surprisingly, most of their friends chose to hang out with her.

Tori standing by her was not a surprise, but it was a relief nonetheless, and Jade was grateful for Cat, who, for a few days, had tried to talk to both of them, but Beck apparently didn't want her fluttering and chattering around him all the time, and he made Cat run crying to Jade. Cat didn't understand why Beck was being so mean, but Jade thought that it was because of the opinions Beck let slip when they broke up, now that it was out there, Beck is less inhibited by trying to appear as a nice guy. Jade didn't tell Cat though, just like she didn't tell anyone what Beck said about Robbie and Cat being "social charity-cases," because she didn't want to hurt their feelings. But she did get into another shouting match with Beck over his treatment of Cat. As for Robbie, he just followed Cat like a lovesick puppy, and when he found out Beck made Cat cry, he got angry and actually shouted at Beck, then swore he would never talk to Beck again.

Andre was the only one who stuck with Beck. He was angry too at the way Beck treated Cat, but somehow, Beck managed to convince him that he was sorry, and now only Andre and Tori really talked across the divide, and from what Jade can tell, they never talked about Beck or Jade or the break up of their group.

"You know it's only eight o'clock right?" Jade asked. Cat nodded. "So why are you already in your pajamas?"

"'Cause it's a sleepover," Cat replied, taking out a few things from her overnight bag and stowing the rest under Jade's bed. "Not an awake-over, and what do we wear when we're sleeping?"

Jade rolled her eyes, she should never have asked.

"Have you done your homework?" Jade said instead.

Cat shook her head, "I still have some left to do."

"Then hurry up and finish it." Jade said and left Cat upstairs to finish her homework. Jade went downstairs and re-watched The Scissoring while she did. When the movie was over, Jade went back to her room and found that Cat had already finished her homework and was snooping through her stuff. When she came in. Cat was looking at the notebook where she wrote all her song ideas, and she was humming the tune to the song Jade wrote for Tori, which Jade finished a week back.

Jade didn't want anyone to hear that song, and she rushed at Cat, screaming, "No!" Cat saw her coming just as Jade fell upon her and got the journal out of her reach. Cat giggled. They wrestled on the bed for a while as Jade tried to take the notebook away from Cat, who was laughing like they were playing the best game in the world.

Jade finally got it away from her, she stuffed into her nightstand and said:

"Stop snooping through my stuff."

"It's a nice song, Jade," Cat said. "Who's it for? Is it for Tori?"

"No." Jade lied, getting off of Cat and sitting down on the bed beside her. "Why would you think it's for Tori? It's not for her. It's not for anyone." She paused, then said just to explain it, fearing that Cat would keep thinking the song was for Tori, "It came to me in a dream."

Cat turned onto her stomach, and said, "I had a dream once, and we were a family, you me and Tori. You were the dad, Tori was the mom, and I was your daughter, and we went on this trip to San Diego to see one of my favourite actresses."

"Mona Patterson?" Jade said.

Cat's eyes widened and she gasped, "How did you know? Did you have the same dream too?"

"No," Jade rolled her eyes, "'Cause it's not a dream, Cat. It really happened."

Cat looked even more surprised. "Are you and Tori my real parents?" She asked.

Jade blushed, "No, not that part." She said, a little annoyed. "Only the part where we went to San Diego. Remember? You thought she was dead because of an article talking about her joining The Dead?"

"Oh, yeah." Cat said. She seemed disappointed. "Too bad, you and Tori would make a cute couple, you'd make great parents too."

Jade wanted to smile, Cat's brain didn't work like other people's, and most days that meant she saw the world as full of pretty rainbows and she can be cheered up by rope and extension cords. But sometimes, it meant that she made connections that other people didn't, like the time when they were all fighting over Moose, and Tori secretly invited him over, Jade had believed her when Tori said that Moose wasn't there, but Cat saw the signs and figured out that Tori was lying. Now it seemed, Cat saw something of her feelings for Tori, Jade just hoped she wasn't obvious enough for anyone else to have noticed.

"As if that could ever happen." Jade scoffed. I'm not good enough for her, Jade thought. All I can hope for is to be her friend. And if I really love her, and she found that she really does, I'll let her be with someone who can make her happy, and if she's with me, it'll be nothing but pain, we're bickering all the time when we're friends, how the hell are we not going to fight all the time if we get together? No, it's best if just stay friends.

Even if she likes you too? A little voice inside her head asked.

Jade hesitated, Even if she likes me too, She finally replied. Besides, we don't really know that she likes me, Trina could have been lying. Jade didn't really believe that though. Trina had grabbed her a few days ago, dragging her aside during lunch, Jade was about to punch her in the face for grabbing her like that, but Trina said:

"So you and Beck are really broken up now?"

Jade scoffed, "Yes. If you want him, go ahead, he's all yours, I hope you have many fat children together." She said sarcastically.

"That's not what I want to know." Trina said. Jade was surprised, what else could she want when she started the conversation by asking about her and Beck?

"I want to know what's going on between you and my sister." Trina said. She seemed to be actually serious for once instead of being the usual drama queen.

"What do you mean? Nothing's going on." Jade said.

"You know she's in love with you right?" Trina asked.

Jade felt her whole world shifting, her heart began to race and all she wanted to do at that moment is just go and find Tori and kiss her. Then she saw Trina looking at her, waiting for an answer, and a nasty thought came into her head: what if Trina was just trying to mess with her?

That calmed Jade down, and she said: "No, I didn't know that. We're just friends."

"If you're not interested, then you need to let her know, give her some sort of closure?"

Trina kept surprising Jade today, she was actually being a real person. Trina started to walk away, then said, "If you ask me, I think it's good that you're not interested, 'cause I don't think you're good enough for her, Tori deserves so much better than what you can give her."

That hit Jade like a truck, and knocked out of her all the elation she felt when she found out Tori liked her.

Jade didn't say anything afterwards when she joined Tori and the others for lunch, she took some time to think about what to do with this information. She thought a lot about what Trina said, the part about her not being good enough for Tori, which brought back to Jade's mind Beck's words when they broke up. Jade found that she didn't want to go through that again, to have someone she loved discover the darkness inside her. So when she got home that night, she wrote a letter to Tori, with all the reasons why they shouldn't be together, but she didn't give it to her yet. Trina was right, Tori needed to know how they stood, but Jade was scared to be so vulnerable, scared to show her doubts and insecurities to someone else, even if that person was Tori. That letter now sat in the drawer of her nightstand, Jade took it out and stared at Tori's name on the envelope, conflicted over whether to give it to her.

"What's that?" Cat asked.

"It's nothing." Jade said, coming out of her reverie. She put the letter back into its drawer and changed out of her day clothes.

"I'm tired," she told Cat. "So I'm going to go to sleep."

She wasn't really tired, she was just sad and a little depressed, so it wasn't difficult for her to fall asleep.


Tori found the letter Friday at lunch when she went to put her things back into her locker, it was slipped in there some time over the course of the morning. It was handwritten, with only her name on the front of the envelope. She thought she recognized the handwriting, but she couldn't be sure. She tucked it away into her bag so she could read it later. She didn't want to read it in public in case she was right in her suspicions of who it was from, but the letter distracted her for the rest of the day. She kept thinking, if it's really from Jade, what could she say in a letter that she couldn't say to her in person?

Tori has never been so relieved that the school day was over as she was that day, and she got home as quickly as she could and went up to her room and opened the letter.

Dear Tori, it said,

Trina told me today that you were in love with me. I don't know if it's true, I can't think of a reason why Trina would think that's funny if it's not, or why she would try to trick me like that, but it's not out of the realm of possibility. I hope it's true though, because it would mean that I'm not a complete wreck.

I wanted you to know that I think you are beautiful, inside and out. You are beautiful, talented, brave, and nice to everyone, even me, even when I don't deserve it. You are the most amazing person I know. Having you in my life is a blessing, and it's an honour to be able to call myself your friend.

But I'm afraid a friend is all I should ever be to you. I am not good for you. I'm afraid if we were together, I would bring you nothing but pain. I'm mean, and anti-social and just a bitch in general, I would say sarcastic things at the wrong times and drive away your family and friends, and you'll get tired of my jealousy of everyone who comes near you, just like Beck did. You'll realize that I'm not lovable, not by my parents, not by Beck and not by you. And I don't think I can change, and in the end, I would just break your heart, even if I don't want to. You would be much happier without me, so find someone else, a girl, a guy, someone who can make you happy, someone who appreciates you and knows what a treasure they have in you. Find someone who deserves you, and forget everything about me that could make you want to be more than friends. Pretend that we could never be anything more than friends, because just being friends is enough for me.

It was signed Jade. Tori went over the letter again, and grew angry and frustrated at Jade and at herself. She had been waiting for Jade to get over whatever happened in that break-up, feeling like it's not tactful to ask her out so soon, plus, to be honest, she was plain scared of Jade rejecting her if she did ask her out. But this letter changed everything, she had to let Jade know that she wasn't scared of Jade breaking her heart. She was afraid of rejection, sure, and of Jade laughing in her face at her feelings, but she wasn't scared of entering into a relationship with Jade, and she wasn't scared to face the problems that can come with it. So she took the letter, grabbed her coat and went to Jade's to confront her about it.

Jade opened the door when Tori knocked, she had apparently been watching TV with Cat. Tori burst through the door like Jade usually did at her house and slammed the door shut, then grabbed Jade by the wrist and dragged her upstairs to her room. Tori closed the door to Jade's room and waved the letter in Jade's face, saying:

"Is this what you really think? That you're not lovable?"

"How did you get that?" Jade asked.

"What do you mean? You put it in my locker."

"No, I didn't, I haven't decided whether I was going to give it to you yet." Jade said, looking hurt and scared.

"Somebody must have done it."

They both took a moment to think who might have done it, and realization came on Jade's face, "CAT!" She yelled.

Cat came running.

"Whatie?" She asked, all innocent.

"Did you take this letter and put it in Tori's locker?" Jade asked.

Cat nodded, "I thought you wanted her to have it, it had her name on it."

Jade sighed.

"Look, it doesn't matter whether Cat put it there, is this what you really think of yourself? That you're a b— and you're unlovable?" Tori asked. She didn't say the b-word out loud for Cat's benefit.

"It's true though," Jade said loudly. "I'm mean and sarcastic and I push away everyone who tries to get close. Even Beck knows that, he said…"

Jade stopped, she looked heartbroken when she mentioned her breakup with Beck, and Tori just knew that Beck said nothing good. "What did Beck say?" Tori asked.

Jade took a deep breath and told her everything about the breakup, and the more she said, the angrier Tori became at Beck.

"Beck's an asshole if he said that, and he doesn't know you at all!" Tori exploded as Jade finished telling the story.

"You are an amazing person, Jade West, never doubt that. And this letter is the most ridiculous thing I've ever read. I like that you're sarcastic, I like the pranks you play, I like how you can be both sweet and mean at the same time. And I like you just the way you are. And you know what?"

"What?" Jade asked.

"I am in love with you." Tori said, she stepped up to Jade and put her hands around Jade's neck, "And I've noticed, that of all the reasons that you gave me saying why we shouldn't be together, you never said that you weren't in love with me." Then Tori leaned in and kissed Jade. Jade was surprisingly gentle when she kissed her back, her lips were soft, warm and wet. She felt Jade put her hands on her waist and pull her closer so that they were pressed against each other, and Tori's heart sped up. She opened her mouth to try and take a breath, but that only invited Jade's tongue into her mouth. Tori felt faint, she had imagined this moment for so long, ever since she figured out her feelings, and probably for a long time before, but what she imagined could never match the reality, and she didn't want it to end.

A soft, happy squealing sound took them out of their moment, they pulled apart simultaneously and Tori turned her head, ready to yell at whoever interrupted them. It was only Cat, bouncing up and down on her feet, squealing in delight and clapping softly for them. Tori found that she couldn't be angry at the redhead who seemed so happy for them to be together, so she smiled and found herself blushing at her and Jade's display of affection in front of Cat.

"Yay!" Cat squealed, "Does this mean you guys are dating now?"

"What do you think?" Tori asked Jade, still very aware that she was in Jade's arms "Are we dating now?"

Jade let out a melodramatic sigh, "I guess, if you're so desperate to be with me…" She joked.

Tori slapped Jade's arm, Jade laughed and said, "Yes, we are officially dating now." Then Jade kissed her again.