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The Morning After
Chapter 10 – One of the Living
No One's POV
Quote – "Do you know who I was? Nobody. Except on the day after, I was still alive. This nobody had a chance to be somebody."
Tina Turner from the movie, Mad Max – Beyond Thunderdome.
Tori for a moment felt like she was floating.
But as her senses sharpened, she knew she was not. But still she felt warm and was lying on something soft.
"A cloud?" Thought Tori.
"I'm in bed?"
A female voice was suddenly heard, but it sounded a bit distant."
"Sera Docteur Roux, se il vous plaît rapport à la radiologie."
"Huh?"
Tori opened her eyes and the first thing she was light and then bright colors scattered about. Her eyes focused a bit more and Tori could see they were flowers. She counted no less than 15 different bouquets of flowers in sight.
Tori realized that she was in a bed in a room and there were lots of flowers in it. Looking down she could see her left arm was in a cast. That same arm had an IV running into it.
"About time you woke, up sis. They say I sleep all the time." Came an all too familiar and very welcome voice.
Looking to her side, Tori felt a rush of emotion when, she could see her sister Trina sitting next to the bed.
"Trina!" Tori exclaimed rather excitedly.
Trina leaned over and gave her sister a careful hug. "It's good to see you too, but lie still."
"Where am I?" Was Tori's first question.
"Toulon, France, You're in a hospital at the naval base there. You're safe." Said Trina with a smile " You gave us all a bit of a scare."
"Scare? The last thing I remember was getting in the helicopter and seeing Ryan Prescott."
"Yes, you lapsed into a coma right after you took off. Just in time too, the ship sank right after that."
"JADE! Where's Jade, Where's Daddy."
"Calm down. Everyone is fine." Trina then pulled her phone out and began to dial. "If I don't call her right away, Jade will have kittens. Just hold on."
Trina waited and after a moment Tori could distantly hear Jade's voice on the other side.
"Trina?"
"Jade, you're girl's awake."
"I'll be right there." Yelled Jade, before hanging up.
"Tori, she's been a total basket case since you fell into your coma. Been going nuts for days. I'm about ready to slap her."
A surprised look came to Tori's face."Days?"
"You were evacuated from the Poseidon, 6 days ago. Let me fill you in. The chopper took you, dad and the rest, to the French Aircraft Carrier,Charles De Gaulle. It was about 40 miles away. There you were taken right into surgery. I hate to say it, you didn't have a just concussion, you had a minor skull fracture. Pressure had started to build up on your brain. You got into surgery just in time. The doctor said another hour or so, you would have died. They relived the pressure and as soon as they could they flew you here. You got here about 3 days ago."
Tori was about to respond, when the door opened and in walked her mother.
"Mom!"
Holly Vega smiled as she rushed over and carefully hugged her daughter. "I was so worried about you and David. When I heard you both survived, both Trina and I cried."
A tear came to Tori's eye as she hugged her mother. "I thought I never would see any of you again."
"Well thank God you and your father made it out safe."
Trina got up. "Tori. I'll talk to you a bit later, I need to let the press know you're finally awake. The world has been waiting for days to know. Can't keep then waiting, especially that cute reporter from Le Monde."
Baffled, Tori then watched her sister briefly check herself in the mirror then leave the room.
"What was that?"
"Tori, a cruise ship capsized and sunk, with only 8 passengers surviving. It's worldwide news. Everyone is fascinated with the story of how your group managed to climb out facing dangers at every turn. The press is going nuts, there's a whole ton of them just outside the base covering the recovery efforts and trying to learn about you guys. Trina has appointed herself official spokesperson for the survivors. I think she did it as she likes the attention. But she's doing a good job."
Tori groaned. "Of course she likes the attention. Big news story?"
Here look at the paper."
Holly handed Tori a copy of the British, SUN newspaper from a few days ago, that was on a nearby table.
The huge headline read.
CRUISE SHIP CAPSIZES AND SINKS ,OVER 1300 DEAD!
The words 1300 hit a bit hard as Tori knew that the ship had some 800 passengers and about 500 crew.
Below that was a another big headline.
GROUP OF BRAVE PASSENGERS SAVE THEMSELVES BY CLIMBING TO SAFETY THROUGH THE CRIPPLED VESSEL.
Then tori looked at the picture and her jaw dropped. It was a picture, which Tori guessed was taken by one of the French navy guys. It showed Tori as she had just emerged from the hull of the Poseidon. She was filthy, covered in grime, dirt and grease, still had some blood on her, was bandaged up and her dress was in shreds.
"OH my god, this is like the worst picture of me ever. This was in the paper." Tori said, looking rather horrified.
Holly cringed slightly. "Tori dear, I'm afraid that picture was on the front page of every major newspaper in the world, just the other day. You're famous. "
Slinking down further beneath the covers, Tori groaned. "Famous for resembling a drowned rat! I look horrible!"
Tori knew that having a slight ego moment was wrong considering the circumstances, but couldn't help herself.
"No, Tori. Everyone is just captivated with your story. How you and Jade fought and found each other and got engaged right there on the sinking ship! It's like the love story of the year. Oh congratulations by the way."
Tori's jaw dropped open even further. Now the whole world now knew both her and Jade's business. "Who told them that?"
"Trina. You put her in front of about 100 reporters and she just talks. The press and the public love Trina. She's got over 1,200,000 followers on twitter now."
"She used to have like 9."
"You're doing well too, you've got over 800,000 last I checked."
Tori frowned. "She's got more than me!"
Holly pointed to the bouquets' of flowers about the room. "Look at all the flowers you got. Some of them are from some of the people whose songs you sung. They were all pleased as punch, their music could help you through that terrible ordeal. One of them, though, is from some central African dictator; he wants you to be one of his wives. I don't think you should respond to that one. That one royally pissed Jade off."
Tori glanced at a bouquet of roses on the night stand. A card propped up against it, read.
"Get well Tori, let's do lunch and hang out… Taylor S"
"Oh, yourvideos on youtube the ones where you sing. A bunch of record people saw them and you've gotten lots of record deal offers. Trina is looking them over carefully."
Tori found herself getting a bit sick as, this was getting to be a bit too much. "Trina?"
"She appointed herself your agent as well. We're letting her do this for now, to keep her happy. We'll find you a proper agent soon enough. She'll be too busy with the new modeling career soon enough anyway. Thanks to her new found fame, she's the new face of Vara cosmetics."
Tori closed her eyes and tried to push the insanity out of her mind. "I don't even want to know about that. Where there any other survivors other than our group and Ryan?"
Holly's face grew serious. "No. The death toll is 1322. After the ship sank, they recovered some debris and a few bodies, but nothing else. That person, Bob, they've been talking about him in the press. They're calling him a hero."
Tori nodded sadly. "Yes he was."
"No, he really was a hero. He was one of the first navy seals, winner of 2 Navy Crosses, silver star, 2 purple hearts and a boatload of commendations."
Tori, though she knew him briefly, thought he was a nice and rather humble man. Tori also knew that was his coolness that kept the group from panicking, more than once.
"How is everyone back home taking it?"
Holly sighed. "Hard, but they've been leaning on each other for support. Sikowitz is being lauded as a hero, along with your Ryder and your father."
"How did you get here?"
"Kyra's father flew us, Jade's parents, Robbie's Parents, Ryan's parents and Andre's grandmother out here as soon as he heard you all survived. The state department got us the passports and visa's we needed almost overnight."
Tori scoffed. "Kyra."
Kyra's parents, took her home as soon as they could. She left 3 days ago. Your father told me what happened. Your dad and the others decided to simply let what happened on the ship stay on the ship. She barely said a word after you guys were rescued anyway." May and Ryan went home yesterday. Andre and Robbie won't leave until they hear you're ok. But I think they're staying a bit longer as one of the local 5 star hotels is letting them and their family's stay for free. People around here have been quite generous. Gave you all clothes and things you needed. I don't think we've paid for one meal in this town yet. Your father keeps trying to pay, but they won't let him."
Tori sensed that her mom wasn't telling her something. "And Jade?"
Holly bit her lip.
That made Tori worry. "Trina said she's been a basket case, is she Ok?"
"Physically, she's fine. In fact all the others only had a few cuts and bruises. You were the only one with any serious injuries."
"But?"
"From the moment you were rescued, she refused to leave your side. She wouldn't even leave to eat. We had to bring her food with her. The few times she was coaxed away from you, she'd get horribly nervous after only a few minutes. She'd just come right back. I spoke to one of the doctors and she said, Jade is showing signs of post traumatic stress disorder. I know she's not sleeping much. She sleeps on the chair or with you. I had to get permission for her to sleep next to you. Today is the first day she left the hospital and that was only after I got her some pills to help her with the anxiety. Everyone of the survivors has been effected to one degree or the other, but Jade seems to be the worst off."
"My poor Jade."
"You need to convince her to see one of the doctors here. She won't. She refuses to at all. All she does is sit her and hold your hand. Me, your father, Trina, Robbie and Andre all offered to sit with you so Jade could get out and get something to eat or just get some air. But she's afraid that if she's so much as takes her eyes off you, something will happen to you."
"I will. How is dad doing?"
"He's coping or at least trying to. Out of the group of 34 students he was chaperoning, only 6 are still alive. He's shouldering a lot of guilt. Not that anyone is blaming him. He's a huge hero, but between you and me, he feels less than deserving. The police department has given him a month off with pay, to recover. That and there's talk of him getting promoted. The last few days, he's been dealing with the press, the maritime authority, the state department, the school, parents. "
Tori and her mother spent some time talking about how everyone was handling things. Holly said that Robbie is dealing with Cat's loss and the fact that Cat had agreed to a real date when the cruise is finished. She said he's been spending some time, on the dock just looking out over the sea.
She said, Andre seems to be handling things the best, but nonetheless is very saddened by the whole thing. They were talking about May and Ryan, when Tori heard the sound someone's boots running down the hallway.
As she expected, an out of breath Jade burst into the room a second later. She was wearing black boots, black tights a black skirt and a black top with a black leather Jacket. Besides looking utterly beautiful, Tori could see a wounded fearful look in Jade's eyes. She was holding a bag which she placed on a table, along with her jacket.
"Hi Jade." Said Holly, she just woke up.
Jade just rushed over and gave Tori a hug then fumed. "HOW DARE YOU FALL INTO A COMA, NEARLY DIE AND SCARE ME HALF TO DEATH! YOU ARE SO ON MY SHITLIST, VEGA!"
Tori looked to her mom. "Can you give us some time? Jade and I need to talk."
Holly nodded and got up. "You're father and I will be around later, if they'll let us, we'll wheel you around the hospital. It's very nice."
After her mother left, Tori turned to the furious looking Jade and patted the bed on her right side. Then Tori, in a soft but weary voice said. "Jade I'm not in the mood for theatrics. Just lay here with me and let me hold you."
For a moment Jade just stood there, as the expression of anger seemed to melt off her face, revealing one of grief and fear. Jade walked around the bed, pulled off her boots and carefully crawled under the covers with Tori.
As Tori fully expected, Jade promptly burst into tears. She didn't even say anything; Jade just buried her face in Tori's chest and sobbed uncontrollably. Seeing Jade fall apart, brought Tori to tears about 3 seconds later.
Tori put her arms around Jade and for 5 full minutes they both cried in each other's arms, not one of them saying a word. For both of them, it was a release of happiness, grief, regret and deep sorrow.
After they both stopped crying, the pair just lay there. Still no words were said. Jade just lay head on Tori's chest and Tori affectionately ran her fingers through Jade's hair. It was something she knew that Jade liked.
"Why won't you see the doctor Jade?" Said Tori, after several minutes of silence.
Jade sighed, said nothing and just held on tighter.
Deciding to not press the issue right off, Tori resumed playing with Jade's hair. After about 10 minutes, Tori spoke again.
"You'll have to answer me eventually."
Again Jade sighed, but said nothing.
10 more minutes past.
"Jade look at me."
Jade lifted her head, revealing her bloodshot eyes. Tori could read those eyes well and knew that Jade wasn't just scared, she was terrified.
Tori didn't want to be serious, but knew it was needed. "You needed pills just to you could leave the hospital and be away from me. You haven't been sleeping; you won't talk to doctor or anyone else. They say you're suffering from post-traumatic stress."
"I'm fine. I just was worried about you. That's all." Jade said defensively.
Tori's sudden angry outburst in response, surprised herself. Her own emotions were so raw, she hadn't expected it. It just burst forth. "BULLSHIT. DON'T YOU DARE LIE TO ME! YOU'RE GONG TO BE MY WIFE. THAT MEANS MORE THAN LOVE IT MEANS COMMUNCIATION JADE. YOU'RE NOT FINE, I'M NOT FINE, NONE OF US ARE FINE. IF YOU CAN'T TALK TO ME, WE MIGHT AS WELL JUST HAVE GONE DOWN WITH THAT SHIP!"
Jade's mouth parted as her eyes opened in shock. Her expression quickly morphing to anger, Jade got out of bed and she started to walk to the door. She got to the door, gripped the handle and just froze.
Feeling horribly guilty about her outburst, Tori tried to defuse the situation with humor. "You're going to look silly, walking around with no shoes. "
Jade closed her eyes and leaned her head against the door.
"I'm sorry I snapped at you Jade. I don't know where that came from."
Jade, head still against the door, started to speak, her voice shaking. "I can't even go to the bathroom without worrying something might happen to you. I go down the hall to the vending machine to get some coffee and by the time I come back, I'm on the verge of a panic attack. Even with the pills I nearly fell apart today, leaving the hospital. I had to make Trina promise to stay with you every moment. I'm a total wreck Tori. A total wreck. I just felt like I had to be strong for you. I…."
"Come back to bed Jade, Please." Tori said, interrupting Jade. As bad as Tori already felt, it really busted her up to see her girlfriend so obviously traumatized.
Jade turned around and again crawled into bed with Tori and hugged her with a whimper.
"I'm sorry Tori, I lied."
A tear ran down Tori's cheek. "Jade, I love you and it kills me to see you like this. Please see the doctor. I'll go with you. I'm ok now, but give me some time and I'll probably fall apart eventually. I lost friends too. I thought you were dead and all I wanted to do was die."
"I gave up the movie part."
Tori was shocked to say the least. "What? Jade, Why?"
"Look at me, I'm in pieces, I can't be away from you for more than 5 minutes, without suffering a panic attack. Anyway. I almost lost you because of that damn movie. I'm not going to be part of a project that nearly cost me the best thing that ever happened to me."
Tori put her arm around Jade and wanted very much to put both, but since her left arm and shoulder were in a cast, that was impossible. She held the broken Goth as tight as she could. She wasn't even sure what to say.
All she could think of was, "I love you Jade."
"I love you too, will you go to the doctor with me?"
"To the doctor, to the bottom of the ocean, where ever you go. I'll be there."
It was then Tori realized that surviving was the easy part. Now they had to live. Try and live with their collective baggage and make their relationship work. But Tori knew she'd be damned if she failed. She suspected that Jade felt much the same way.
The pair held each other for a short time, when Tori thought of something.
"Where did you go anyway?"
Jade suddenly smiled and got up off the bed. "Tori, though horribly annoying as it is, being part of the love story of the year has its uses. They heard, everyone heard about how you described your dream wedding to me. So you could stay alive."
Jade then walked over to the bag and put it on the table next to the bed. "People out there want to make it happen. My dad is getting all kinds of calls from cake decorators, wedding planners, you name it, all offering their services for free. Of course they want publicity. That said, I was getting you this."
Jade then pulled out from the bag, a purple ring box.
Upon seeing the box, Tori's eyes practically bugged out. "Is that?"
Jade opened the box to reveal not one but two identical diamond engagement rings. Tori was quick to notice the size of the single diamond on each of them. Each sparkled with a gleaming fire and could be best described as huge.
Tori's jaw simply fell open.
"The local jeweler, begged me over the phone to be a part of our romance. She even engraved them. Each is 2 full carets. I wanted you to be happy so I accepted. Here look."
Jade handed tori a ring and inside was ingraved. "T+J 4 ever"
"Can I put it on you Tori." Jade said with a mixture of pride and nervousness.
All Tori could do is nod and without further ado, Jade slipped the ring on Tori's finger. Tori then took the other ring and happily placed it on Jades"
"Baby, you'll have your dream wedding. "
Tori hugged Jade. "I don't' care about the wedding, just please get help. Never be afraid to talk to me. I'm there. OK."
"I will. You still want the wedding, Right?"
Tori smirked. "We'll we can't let down our public now can't we."
Jade reached in the bag. "I got one more thing Tori."
From the bag, Jade extracted a framed 8X10 photo and handed it to Tori.
Tori felt a rush of emotion, as she looked at the picture in her hand. It was the group photo of them that Akers took just before the whole world went to hell. Beck, Cat, Andre, Robbie, Jade and Tori, all dressed in their finest and smiling. It was beautiful and sad all at the same time. In fact, Tori found herself more moved by the photo, than the ring.
"Your phone was ruined, but the memory card was salvageable. Oh before you worry, we have Steven's phone. It's safe. Your mom suggested that we not mention that to the press. She was sure it was hard enough without press bothering her." When you get better, we can see her and give the phone.
Tori looked at the picture, which was very bittersweet. They all had a wonderful time, but none suspected, it would last time they would all be together.
Tori gazed at the picture a few moments more, then put it down and gently pulled Jade into bed. She didn't want to talk, or argue or do anything.
Anything other, than hold the woman she loved, which happened to be exactly what Jade wanted to do.
One more chapter to wrap things up after this. See how everyone adjusted to life after the disaster.
Thanks to Invader Johnny.
The chapter title is from the song of the same name from the, Mad Max – Beyond Thunderdome, soundtrack.