When Jade woke up, an all too familiar burning in her eyes was the first thing that registered in her brain. She groaned when a tiny sliver of light streaming through the tiny crack in the curtains hit her face and quickly rolled away to the other side of the bed, to the much darker and safer side, trying hard to ignore the splitting headache that was steadily pulsing through her brain. Her entire body ached, even though Jade was almost hundred percent sure that she didn't do anything other than watch TV last night. But then she remembered Tori. And her face buried deeper into the soft pillow.

She had been more than surprised when she opened her door and found Tori standing on her doorstep, that ever so cheerful smile on her lips and brown, hopeful eyes staring at her. Jade had let her in, not really because she had wanted her be there but thinking that it couldn't do much harm.

Boy, how wrong she had been.

As Jade probably should have expected, Tori wanted to drag her to Cat's party. She had met her friends. Jade's eyes fluttered open. The thought of Tori meeting her old friends had sent a feeling of unease through her body. Who knew what they had told her? It wasn't that Jade really cared what Tori thought about her because, really, she didn't care what anyone thought of her. But the fact that they could have told her everything about Amelia had made her stomach tie in knots. It had been so refreshing to spend her time with Tori, knowing that she didn't knew about her past, knowing that she didn't pity her or, even worse, wanted her to move on. Jade liked Tori not knowing about Amelia. So when Lia's name slipped from Tori's lips… the feeling of comfort she had around Tori was blown away in an instant and then… the thing Jade hated the most happened.

Tori wanted to tell her to move on, something that Jade just wasn't able to do. If only people would just understand that, her life would be much easier.

Releasing something between a sigh and a groan Jade sat up, rubbed her red eyes and carefully pushed the heavy blanket from her body before slowly getting to her feet. Her throat felt raw from all the crying and sobbing she did after Tori had left and she winced as she walked by the window, the annoying stream of light shining directly into her eyes. The sound of her phone ringing stopped her just as she was about to step into the bathroom. She rolled her eyes because she knew exactly who it would be. Nevertheless, Jade walked into the living room, only to find her suspicion confirmed as she saw Cat's name flash across the screen.

"Morning," Jade languidly greeted her best friend, her voice low and slightly hoarse.

"Good Morning, Jade! Happy New Year!"

Jade made a sound in the back of her throat, then grudgingly wished the same to Cat. "You didn't pick up your phone yesterday… or answered my texts," Cat slowly said, a hint of worry in her voice, "Was everything okay?"

Jade sighed irritably and sank onto her couch. "Of course I was okay," she lied convincingly, "It was New Years Eve. The phone lines probably collapsed or… were overloaded or whatever."

"Hm. Yeah, that could be." She paused, probably contemplating if she could believe Jade or not. "Well, anyways, we missed you yesterday. All of us."

"Uh huh." Jade leaned back and closed her eyes, already knowing what kind of speech would come now and already knowing to block out every word that would come out of Cat's mouth. But when Cat quietly called her name again, her eyes reopened. "What?"

"I'm really serious. We all missed you and… I mean… being alone on New Year's Eve, that's not very nice."

Releasing a curt laugh, Jade sat up straight and glared at the black screen of the TV. "Oh, don't you worry. I wasn't completely alone. I had some company. Tori."

"…Tori? So that's why she just disappeared? She was with you?"

"Yep. We had such a lovely chat."

Not really knowing how to take Jade's words and cold, sarcastic tone, Cat cleared her throat uncomfortably. "Really? Um… What happened?"

"Why did you tell her about Amelia?"

It was a simple enough question but Jade had to wait a pretty long time before she got an answer. There was a sharp intake of breath and a long pause before Cat's voice sounded through the line again. "I… I don't… I mean, she deserved to know."

Jade frowned and shook her head. "She deserved to know? Why's that, huh? She's Robbie's friend, not… I don't know," Jade waved her hand in the air as she searched for something fitting to say. "My potential future girlfriend."

The long silence that stretched over the line and the continuous shuffling that sounded in Jade's ears made her eyes widen and her mouth fall open. "Oh my God," she quietly mumbled and shook her head, "That was your plan all along. You… you wanted me to spend time with Tori so… so that me and her could…"

"Jade, no, I didn't-"

"No," Jade interrupted her sharply, her eyes narrowing, "Don't you dare lie to me, Cat."

A pause again, then, a long tired breath. "Tori… seemed to be… perfect for you and… I just wanted the best for you, Jade."

"I can't believe you would do something like that," Jade pushed out bitterly and heard Cat call her name one last time before she had enough of the redhead and disconnected the call. Tears welled up, anger and sadness flooded her entire being and Jade's hand squeezed her ringing and vibrating phone before letting it fall to the couch. She should have seen it all along, the way Cat always pushed her to do things with Tori and how happy she had gotten when she realized that the two of them got along. It wasn't because Tori was Robbie's best friend that she wanted them to click. It was because Cat wanted them to get together.

The tears that she so desperately tried to keep in managed to spill over, staining her cheeks and burying old tears under new ones. Jade didn't want to cry, she hated to cry and she hated that she now cried over Cat, who was supposed to be her best friend, who was supposed to be there for her and understand her. And she hated even more that part of the tears that fell from her eyes… were for Tori.

The doorbell suddenly sounded in her ears like an echo and Jade closed her eyes, her mouth opening to release a gush of air before taking in a shaky breath. Again, the doorbell rung through the apartment and Jade opened her eyes and got up, slowly shuffling towards the door to buzz, whoever it was, in. Wiping her eyes and cheeks, Jade waited until she heard footsteps walking up outside in the hall before taking a deep breath and opening the door.

"Hello little sister," Aiden smiled and took the last two strides before he gathered Jade in a quick hug, "Happy New Year."

"Please stop saying that," Jade mumbled into his chest, closing her eyes as she breathed in the always comforting scent of her brother. She felt him tense for a short moment, then he pulled away and held her by an arm length. His brows furrowed and he looked at her worriedly. "Is something wrong?"

Pictures of Cat and Tori and Amelia rushed through her brain all at once, the disappointment she felt for Cat, the anger that was directed at Tori and the ever present pain of not being with Amelia piled up and up and up until she didn't think she could take it anymore. Her face crumpled, tears started to fall again. "I'm just… not okay," she almost whimpered and released a sob.

And just like always, the arms of the only person who was always, always there for her, tightly enveloped her and pushed her back inside the apartment. With words of comfort being mumbled into her ear, the sound of Aiden's voice soothing her if only just a little bit, Jade let loose and broke down, letting tears of frustration and anger fall.

She hadn't meant to hurt her so bad.

Actually, she hadn't meant to hurt her at all.

But of course her big mouth got in the way and the name of Jade's dead fiancée – a shiver ran down Tori's spine every time she thought of the blonde woman like that. Dead fiancée. – just rolled off her tongue before she could even attempt to stop it. She had seen the anger in her eyes, hell, it radiated off her body in steady waves but then it vanished as quickly as it came and turned into genuine and raw hurt.

It turned into pain.

Tori shook her head and put her cup down, her hand supporting her tired head in its palm. How awful must it be, to feel almost nothing but pain, every day of your life? It sent a sharp twinge through Tori's heart knowing that Jade probably knew exactly how that felt and it hurt her even more to know that, because of her, the raven-haired woman now felt even worse than before. Tori had heard the sobs through the thick wood of Jade's apartment door, getting louder and more painful with every minute that passed by. After about an hour of just sitting in the hallway, her head against the door, Tori had contemplated to knock again, to apologize, comfort her, do anything to stop her pain. But Jade would have thrown her out in a heartbeat, if she had even bothered to open the door at all.

But with her cold coffee standing in front of her and the annoying voice of the radio host driving her out of her mind with his stupid New Year's resolutions, Tori felt guilt swamping up her brain. She should have at least tried, maybe Jade would have opened up. But she would do that now, right now, Tori decided and pushed herself to her feet, turning off the radio and grabbing her keys and jacket before storming out of the door.

It wasn't a long drive from her home to Jade's – she practically lived around the corner – and the streets were surprisingly empty, which caused Tori to arrive at Jade's place in less than ten minutes. Taking a deep breath, Tori got out of her car and tried to encourage herself for what she was sure would be a tough time, trying to apologize to Jade. If she had learned anything about Jade in the past three months, it was that she could be pretty stubborn, especially if she was in a bad mood, and Tori talking about Amelia in the way she did yesterday probably didn't really put Jade in a very happy place right now. Tori smiled at an old lady who was so nice to hold the door to the apartment building open for her and quickly took the two flights of stairs that would lead her to Jade.

Reaching the top, Tori stopped abruptly, her eyebrows shooting up and mouth opening in surprise when a dark haired man stepped out of Jade's apartment. His bright blue eyes fell on her as he quietly closed the door behind him, his dark eyebrows rising too.

"Oh, hey. You're Jade's brother, aren't you?" The handsome man Tori already saw on a couple of pictures in Jade's living room took a step closer to her and smiled lightly. "Yeah, I am. What gave me away? Eyes? Hair? The strong preference for dark clothing?"

Tori chuckled and readjusted the bag on her shoulder, nodding her head. "Yeah, pretty much." His smile widened as he nodded, his eyes looking at the floor for a short moment before they snapped back up and the smile dampened a little when he heard Tori introduce herself. "I'm Tori. Is Jade home?"

Aiden sucked in a breath through his teeth before clamping his bottom lip in between them, craning his neck to look at Jade's door. "Yeah," he dragged out and turned back to Tori, "she's home. But… I don't really think… she wants to see anyone today."

"I-I know but… it's important."

Tori watched him nod slowly and release a sigh. "Listen, Tori… I don't want to act up as the big and protective brother but…" He paused and furrowed his eyebrows. "She told me about you and… about yesterday and she was really… upset. Now I know that you didn't mean to harm her but, you know it's… it's just really hard for her. Still."

"I know that and that's why I'm here. I want to apologize. I want her to know that I didn't want to hurt her, I really didn't."

His face showed uncertainty as he looked at Tori for a long time, his lips pressed together and his forehead creased. After what felt like an eternity he blew a long breath through his nose, shook his head and looked to the floor. "Well, if you wanna try your luck," he said with a sigh and stepped aside, his hand motioning towards the door, "I can't guarantee that she'll open the door."

Then, he sent her one last smile before walking past her. Only when she heard the door downstairs close, did Tori take a deep breath and slowly stepped closer, her hand lifting and knuckles hitting the door in three quick knocks. There was no sign of anyone opening the door and Tori got ready to knock again when she faintly heard soft footsteps inside the apartment. They stopped right in front of the door and Tori sucked in a deep breath when the door swung open.


A/N: Nothing really important but: A couple of days ago I found a roleplay account with Dianna Agron as the face claim and Amelia as her first name. I just wanted to clear up that I didn't want to 'steal' anyones character or anything. I just love the name Amelia since 'The Princess Diaries' and I mean... who doesn't love Dianna Agron? I felt the need to clear that up. Feel free to ignore.