A/N: This one is a little longer because I just didn't know how to split it up in two. I thought I'd update again because I don't know if I'll be able to in the next few days. I'm not home the entire Wednesday and I'm also a little sick so... I'll see what I can do. Hope you enjoy :)


Pale fingers gently brush over her brow and then over her cheek, trailing across her tan jawbone, down the expanse of her neck. Tori shivers but doesn't wake up, only cuddling herself deeper into the thin blanket enveloping her body. A light smile is tugging at the corner of her lips and Jade wonders if she's dreaming right now. Sighing, Jade retracts her hand from Tori's body and lets herself plop back down onto her back. Her eyes roam over the white ceiling, the beam of sunlight coming through the crack of the blinds slightly illuminating the room.

It's been three weeks. Three freaking weeks and the police still doesn't have a clue where Aiden is. How is that even possible? Jade didn't think her brother would be that hard to track down. He couldn't still be in L.A. otherwise the police would surely have already found him… right? Jade tightly closes her eyes and takes a deep breath. She was so tired. Ever since Aiden's on the loose she wasn't able to sleep through the nights. Every few hours she would wake up, thinking she heard a noise or that Tori wasn't lying next to her. Not to mention the near heart attack she gets when she realizes that Tori really isn't lying beside her and shoots up from her bed, only then realizing that she was sitting in her own bed and Tori was at her own house, probably sound asleep. Every time Jade resists the urge to pick up her phone and dial Tori's number, only to really make sure that she was safe. But she refrains herself, every time, knowing that the police guards standing in front of the Vega household are keeping Tori safe.

Tori shifts beside her and throws her arm over Jade's waist, pulling herself closer to snuggle into Jade's shoulder. She sighs and Jade presses a kiss to Tori's forehead before nestling her nose into her hair. Tori was handling the entire situation incredibly well, way better than Jade. She isn't scared. Sometimes Jade even thinks that Tori completely forgot about Aiden after her ankle had healed. She smiled and laughed and just lived the same way she did before the incident with her brother. It unnerved Jade at times, seeing Tori being so careless. They still didn't catch Aiden, it is still dangerous for Tori.

"You are awake."

Tori's breath tickles her ear and Jade turns towards Tori, her brown eyes drowsily staring up at her. "Oh, thanks for telling me Catherine Obvious."

"Stop," Tori whines and pokes her finger into Jade's side, her lips forming a pout. She props up onto her elbow, leaning forward to press her lips against Jade's cheek. She runs a hand through her brown hair and yawns before shooting Jade an accusing look. "Why aren't you asleep?"

"Well, your obnoxious loud snoring woke me up," Jade smirks at the gasp coming out of Tori's mouth, "I just couldn't fall back asleep. Kept me up." Tori sits up completely and grabs her pillow, flinging it at Jade's face. "I do not snore!"

"Yes you do."

"No, I don't you little liar!" Jade laughs and sits up too, raising an eyebrow at the brunette. "How would you know? You're asleep, you can't hear the sounds you make."

"I don't make any sounds. It's just something you know about yourself. And I know I don't snore." She smirks as Jade rolls her eyes, sticking her tongue out at the black haired girl. Jade looks down and Tori loses her smirk, tilting her head. "No seriously now," she softly says, shifting closer to Jade, "why are you awake?"

Tori knew Jade didn't sleep nearly enough in the last few weeks and that really worried her. When they go to bed together, Jade always falls asleep first and Tori really doesn't know when exactly she wakes up again. She never notices, she herself being always in a relatively deep sleep. Jade shrugs her shoulders, her eyes still down in her lap. "I couldn't sleep anymore." Tori almost rolls her eyes at Jade's usual answer whenever Tori asked about the lack of sleep she gets. "Jade, you don't have to be scared. There are two guards outside and they keep me safe. You don't have anything to worry about."

Jade looks up and lifts her shoulders in a shrug. "Yeah. I know."

Tori sighs and crawls over to her girlfriend, wrapping her arms around her side and pressing a kiss to her shoulder before she rests her head on it. "I'm worried about you."

"You don't have to be. I'm fine."

"Yeah? Well, I know that's a lie," Tori tightens her arms around Jade when she feels her tense, "I don't want you dying of sleep deprivation."

"You can't die of sleep deprivation."

"You're such a smart ass."

"Just stating the truth," she sighs and turns her head to rest her forehead against Tori's head, "I just want this to end. I want you to be safe again, without stupid guards following you around."

"I know. And I will be. You know my dad does everything to find Aiden."

Jade nods, her eyes falling shut as both girls grow silent. Tori's calm breathing is all she can hear, the gentle caress of Tori's fingers on her arm all she can feel and she's almost fallen asleep when a loud bang sounds from outside Tori's room. Jade jerks up from Tori's embrace, completely awake again as her heart beats unbelievingly fast.

"It's just Trina, baby."

The shrill voice of the older Vega sister yelling for her mom confirms her statement and Jade's rigid body relaxes back into Tori's. She closes her eyes and takes a deep breath, her racing heartbeat steadily slowing down. "Come on," Tori whispers, slowly leaning back and taking Jade with her, "go back to sleep. Everything's fine." Tori's fingers gently massage her scalp, threading through thick black hair, and Jade closes her eyes. But as soon as she closes them, she sees light blue eyes staring back at her, Aiden's voice sounding in her head with such malice that she snaps her eyes back open, sitting up and running a hand through her hair.

"I'm not tired anymore."

"Jade-"

"Come on, let's get breakfast. I'm starving."

Jade shoots a smile at Tori and quickly exits the room, not giving Tori a chance to argue. Tori just sighs and shakes her head before she slowly climbs out of bed too and follows Jade down the stairs.

Tori watches as Jade munches on her waffles and smiles up at her mother, who's pouring her a fresh cup of coffee. "Thanks Mrs. Vega."

Mrs. Vega smiles and turns away, walking into the kitchen to put the pot of coffee away. Tori bites her lip, still looking at Jade. If she didn't know better, she would think Jade was completely okay, other for the tiredness flashing on her face. But Tori knew that Jade was far from okay and she could understand her. Her brother is a killer, he wanted to kill her girlfriend and maybe he still wants to. And Jade doesn't even know the reason. Not that it would make things better. Tori knows Jade blames herself for putting her in such a dangerous position and no matter what Tori said to her, it just didn't help.

"You know, I hate it when people stare at me while I'm eating."

Tori furrows her eyebrows and confusedly shakes her head at the pointed look Jade is giving her. "Huh?"

"Stop staring at me."

The brunette blinks and sits up straight, a frown on her face as she looks down at her plate. "Yeah. Sorry." She takes her fork into her hand and lightly pushes her waffles around, earning herself a confused look from Jade. "Stop playing with your food, Tor."

Tori smiles and shakes her head but still doesn't look up from her plate. "You sound like you're my mother."

"Well, I am your mother and I say Jade's right," Tori's mom says as she takes a seat at the table, placing her own plate of food in front of her. Tori rolls her eyes but smiles nevertheless, finally digging into her waffles. It's silent for a while, all three women eating in silence with only the sound of the radio playing in the background. As Mrs. Vega takes a sip from her coffee, she looks between Jade and Tori with a smile on her face. "So, do you two have any plans for today?"

Jade shrugs her shoulders and places her fork and knife onto her empty plate before leaning back in her chair. "No, not really." On the other side of the table, Tori frowns, swallowing her food before speaking up. "Well, actually I thought we could go to the park today, have a picnic maybe. Or… I don't know, we could call up the others and go to the beach." She raises hopeful eyebrows at Jade and smiles but Jade only frowns.

"Oh. Yeah, we could do that," she nods and her eyes find the table. She doesn't really like for Tori to go out while Aiden's still out there somewhere. But nothing could happen to her if she would go with her. And taking the others with them would be even safer. Jade looks back up from the table and smiles at Tori, receiving a happy smile back, before she turns to Mrs. Vega. "Does the police have any clue yet?"

Mrs. Vega shakes her head regretfully. "No, they don't." Jade nods and averts her eyes, Mrs. Vega reaching out to touch her arm. "But don't worry, sweetie. They do everything they can to find him. Just enjoy yourself. You don't need to worry about anything bad happening." Jade nods and Mrs. Vega smiles and gives her arm one last squeeze before she resumes eating her breakfast. Jade sighs and slowly gets up from the table. "Well, I'm going to take a shower then."

Tori smiles and watches her girlfriend leave, also getting up from the table to start calling their friends. "Tori, wait a moment," Mrs. Vega speaks up and stands up, approaching her daughter. Shooting a quick look behind Tori to make sure Jade wasn't in earshot anymore, she turns her attention fully on Tori. "I didn't want to say something while Jade was still here. I know this whole situation upsets her the most," she sighs and Tori frowns.

"Why? What's wrong?"

"Well… you know your dad and his colleagues are doing everything they possibly can to find Aiden." She pauses and takes in Tori's curious expression before slowly continuing. "But… they really don't know what to do anymore. It's like Aiden has fallen off the face of the earth."

Tori's eyes widen. "S-So what are you saying? That they'll stop looking for him?"

"No! No, of course not! But you know… your dad's boss is aware that it is still dangerous for you but he… he needs all his people and he thinks that… that it's safe enough for you now because he doesn't think Aiden will come back for you, so… he decided that you don't need protection anymore."

"So… the guards won't be here anymore?" Tori furrows her eyebrows as she takes in her mother's hesitant nod. She doesn't really know how she feels about this. Sure she had been annoyed at times, having two police officers follow her every move but Tori knew that it was just for her own good. They had only made sure she was safe. "Oh." It's all that comes out of Tori's mouth as she looks down, a frown on her face. Tori's mom presses her lips together and patiently waits for a reaction from Tori.

She focuses her eyes back on her mother and slowly nods her head. "Okay. That's fine, I mean… as long as Aiden is still out there I'm just not going to… go out by myself. Then nothing can happen, right?"

Her mother gives her a reassuring smile. "Right."

Tori smiles, then makes her way upstairs, her stomach slowly starting to feel queasy.

Jade lifts her hand to hide her wide yawn as she watches Tori, Cat and Robbie splashing each other with water. She smiles when she hears Tori's surprised laugh as Andre picks her up from behind and throws her into the water. A warm shoulder bumps into her own and Jade turns her head to the right to see Beck sitting down next to her.

"How you doin'?"

His sing song voice makes her roll her eyes but she can't help the smile appearing on her lips. "Peachy, with a side of rainbows and unicorns."

Beck lets out a deep chuckle and nudges Jade's arm with a water bottle, the dark haired girl gladly grabbing the cool water from his hands. Beck watches as she takes a large gulp, closing her eyes as she lets the liquid swirl in her mouth for a few seconds before she swallows it. She sighs as she puts the cap back on and runs a hand through her hair. "It's so hot today."

Beck nods and leans back, resting his weight on his hands. He looks in the direction of his friends still loudly playing in the water, his eyes squinting to block out the brightness of the sun reflecting on the water. Without looking away, he starts to speak to Jade. "So, Tori told me you weren't sleeping."

Jade's eyes snap over to her ex-boyfriend, her eyebrows furrowing together. He still isn't looking at her and Jade watches him closely. "Why would she tell you that?"

Beck glances over at her. "Why not? Isn't it true?"

"No, it's not."

Beck sighs and gets into an upright sitting position, looking over at Jade. "So you're saying Tori's lying?" He lifts his eyebrows in disbelief and Jade rolls her eyes and turns away from him.

"Look Jade," he tilts his head, trying to catch Jade's eyes, "Tori is just worried about you. And knowing you don't sleep anymore worries me too." A loud scoff hinders him from saying anything else and Jade's angry eyes turn over to him, but the tiredness on her face doesn't leave Beck any room to feel intimidated. "Don't make this so dramatic. I do sleep. I admit, not very much but it's still enough. So start worrying about someone else."

She draws her knees up and wraps her arms around them, muttering a quiet "Idiot" and looking back at the ocean in front of her. Both, Beck and Jade are silent for a while, with Jade staring straight ahead and Beck shooting glances at Jade ever so often. "I know it's hard for you," Beck quietly breaks the silence, looking at Jade, "not just that Tori's in danger. But also that you lost your brother."

Beck watches as Jade swallows harshly, biting her teeth together. He licks his lips and continues. "It's okay, you know. That you're sad about that. I know he was different around you. And it's okay to miss him."

"Who says I miss him?" But as much as she wants to convince Beck that she, in fact, doesn't miss Aiden, her quiet and weak voice betrays her and she feels Beck shifting closer. "Tell me you don't," he challenges as he looks into Jade's eyes. She blinks and shakes her head, averting her eyes. She takes a deep breath and looks at her hands. "It feels wrong to miss him."

"But it's not. He's your brother. He always will be your brother and you love him. That doesn't mean you love his… his… psychotic side. It just means that you love the side that he had for you. That he had for his family."

She looks back up then and slowly smiles. "Thank you. I think I… I needed to hear that."

Beck smiles and shrugs his shoulders. "Not a problem. But you know," he looks over at their friends, "Tori could help you too if you'd just… let her. If you would talk to her."

Jade follows Beck's eyes and watches Tori, smiling sadly. "I can't talk to her about Aiden. She wouldn't understand." Beck furrows his eyebrows and looks at Jade. "Sure she would."

"No, she wouldn't. But… I have you, right?" Jade's hopeful blue eyes search Beck's face and Beck can't help but smile and nod. "You do."

"Hey you guys! Everything good here?"

Tori's voice interrupts their peaceful moment and both heads turn towards the brunette. "Yeah, we're good," Jade smiles and Tori sits down in front of her, reaching for her towel. After drying her hair off a little, Tori chucks the towel back down next to Jade and smiles at her. "Don't you want to come in? The water's so nice."

"I don't go into the ocean."

Beck laughs beside them and Tori pouts at her girlfriend. "Not even for me?"

Jade smirks. "Especially not for you." Tori gasps, her hand raising to hover over her heart in mock hurt. Beck chuckles and gets up, patting Tori's head. "If Jade's not going in then I'm going." The girls watch him leave and Tori takes Beck's place, turning her full attention on Jade. Jade, feeling eyes on her, turns towards Tori. "What?"

Tori shrugs, her brown eyes intently looking into Jade's. "Nothing. I just like looking at you." Jade raises an amused eyebrow. Tori softly smiles and shifts closer, planting her lips on Jade's and pushing Jade back onto the big towel. "Easy there Tor," Jade mumbles against her lips but Tori only smiles and kisses her more.

"Vega," Jade whines and pulls back from the kiss, "you're wet, get off of me." Tori laughs and buries her head into Jade's neck, placing a kiss just under her ear before nuzzling the skin there. They lie there for a couple of moments before Tori lifts her head to look into Jade's eyes. The brunette raises her eyebrows and smirks. "You know what I want right now?"

"What?"

A big smile brightens up Tori's face and she quickly gets up, pulling Jade up with her. "Ice cream!"

"Today was fun."

Tori runs a hand through Jade's hair and takes in her quiet hum, telling her that she's agreeing with her. "Jade?"

"What?" Jade mumbles sleepily, shifting her head slightly to look into Tori's eyes. Tori smiles at her and tucks a strand of black hair away from her face. "Don't you want to get changed? Then we can go to bed." Jade hesitantly nods, not really wanting to move but lifting her head from Tori's chest nevertheless to let her girlfriend get up. She sits up too and runs a hand through her hair.

"Hey Tori?"

"Yeah?"

Jade hesitates for a second but then sighs. "Why did you tell Beck that I wasn't sleeping?"

Tori turns away from Jade's closet to face Jade, looking at her confusedly. "What do you mean? I was worried about you."

"What, and that means that you have to tell Beck about it?"

Tori's eyebrows crunch together when she hears Jade's snappy tone. "No, I just… we… it came up. He asked about you and I… I told him I was worried about you because you weren't sleeping very much." She pauses when Jade shakes her head and looks away. Taking a step closer, Tori eyes her carefully. "Why are you so angry with me about that?"

"I'm not angry!"

Her head snaps back to look at Tori and she sees Tori flinch a little. She realizes that her words came out louder than she had intended and she sighs, looking at her lap. She doesn't know why she's so irritated or why she brought this up in the first place. Maybe it's the lack of sleep she got, making her feel moody. She just feels like lashing out. Tori is right, she feels angry. Angry at the world, angry at Aiden, angry at herself for no apparent reason. She isn't angry at Tori, it doesn't really bother her that she talked to Beck about her. But she is here right now and Jade needs someone to blame for her anger.

"I'm sorry, just… just forget it."

She doesn't look up from her lap but out of the corner of her eye she sees Tori coming closer, crouching down in front of her. "Jade, what's wrong?"

"I said forget it."

"Jade, tell me what's bothering you."

Angry blue eyes snap up to look into concerned brown ones and the rational part of Jade's mind knows that she should just stop and bite her tongue now, that only stupid things would come out of her mouth if she'd keep talking, but the stupid, sleep deprived part of her brain urges her to continue. "I don't want to tell you anything! Just do us both a favor and forget about it."

Tori touches her knee, still confused about Jade's behavior but wanting to calm her down. "Calm down. What got you so mad right now?"

Jade pushes out a harsh breath and swiftly gets up from the bed to pace around her room, Tori still crouched on the floor but turning around to watch her girlfriend. "I'm not mad! I'm irritated. With everything. And with you."

Tori's eyebrows shoot up and her eyes widen. "Me?"

Stop Jade, just stop it now! "No," Jade sighs, closing her eyes, "No. I don't know what's wrong with me right now, Tori. Please can we just… go to sleep now?"

"No. No, we can't," Tori says and quickly gets up, striding over to Jade, "Come on, talk to me. I'm here."

She doesn't want to talk. Jade knows if she would keep talking, she would regret what would come out of her mouth. She probably would hurt Tori and she really doesn't want that. Jade groans and throws her head back. "God, why do you always have to be so annoyingly persistent?" Tori doesn't answer her and before Jade can stop herself she mumbles "That's what got us into this mess in the first place."

Tori's eyes widen at the words that leave Jade's mouth. Jade's head is turned away from her, her arms protectively wrapped around herself. "You- You blame me? What… Are you serious?"

Jade looks back at Tori, immediately regretting the words. Of course she didn't think that, it just… tumbled out of her mouth before she could stop it. She opens her mouth but Tori beats her to it. "So let me get this straight now, Jade… You think it's my fault that your psycho of a brother tried to kill me? Is that what you're saying?"

"No Tori, please-"

"Wow Jade, I really feel the love." Tori scoffs and quickly grabs her phone and bag before ripping the door open and walking out. Jade's eyes widen and she calls out her name, running after her girlfriend. She almost trips and falls down the stairs but quickly steadies herself, seeing her mother standing in the entryway of the living room, a cup in her hand, looking confusedly at the scene unfolding.

"Tori, Jade, what's go-"

"Bye Ms. West. Change of plans, I'm not staying here tonight. Have a good night."

"Tori, don't be stupid, just wait a second!"

Tori yanks open the front door and storms out, throwing it shut behind her, causing for Jade to almost break her nose. Jade silently curses, but quickly follows Tori who swiftly walks down the street. "Tori! Would you just stop and listen to me?"

"No. I just want to go home."

Jade finally manages to catch up with her and walks next to Tori, matching her fast pace. "I didn't mean what I said. It just came out of my mouth before I could stop it! I was mad!"

Tori scoffs but doesn't slow her pace. "Yeah, I know. At me."

"No, not at you! At… myself. At Aiden, but not at you." Jade tries to grab her arm but Tori quickly yanks it out of her grasp. "Tor, please stop. I'm so sorry. See? You got me to apologize. That's an achievement, don't you think?" Tori makes a face and keeps walking. "God, just listen to me! I always thought I'm the gank in our relationship!"

Tori abruptly halts and narrows her eyes at Jade. "I just want to go home." The two girls stare at each other for a moment before Jade steps closer. "Okay. That's fine, I can drive you. Let's get back."

"I don't need you to drive me. I can walk."

Jade raises her eyebrows at Tori. "I'm not letting you walk. It's dark and it takes a while to get to your house. It's dangerous."

Tori looks down, shuffling her feet on the floor and slowly nods her head. It is dangerous, she knows that, and she really wouldn't like to walk all the way home alone. In the dark. Without any protection. She sighs and looks back up. "Okay. You're right."Jade smiles and reaches out to grab Tori's hand. "I know. I'm almost always right."

Tori looks back down to hide her smile, trying her hardest to stay mad at her girlfriend. But seeing her smile always turns her weak and it's not different now, either. Jade steps closer and Tori feels Jade's lips press against the side of her head. "And are you still mad at me?" Jade murmurs against Tori's hair and Tori sighs, giving Jade's hand a tight squeeze.

"Not so much anymore," she mumbles, "You have this stupid effect on me."

Jade chuckles and slightly turns her head to place a kiss on Tori's cheekbone. "Oh? What kind of effect?"

Tori takes in a breath, getting ready to respond, but quiet footsteps approaching divert Jade's attention. She turns her head, the smile on her face dropping, her heart stopping and mind freezing.

"Aiden."