"Okay, so we'll meet at the diner here." Beck pointed to the food joint on his map. "Were Cat, Tori, and Robbie will wait for me and Andre to come back from this guy's house."

"No." Cat interrupted. "No, I'm coming with you."

"Cat…" Robbie said gently. "It's going to be dangerous." But Cat gave him such a fierce death glare (one that she happened to pick up from Jade) that everyone in the room backed off.

"I don't understand why we can't just go to the cops." Tori mused.

"I already did." Beck replied. "They didn't believe me. Told me to get over it, and get myself a good therapist."

"My brother has a good therapist!" Cat exclaimed. Robbie absently whispered something in her ear, and Cat stopped talking.

"Okay. So Cat and Andre will distract the guys while I take a look around the house. I'll need at least ten minutes, so make it good." Beck said, trying to get back on subject.

"How do we distract him?"

"You guys are actors. It shouldn't be too hard." Beck said, sounding like Jade. Cat and Andre looked at each other and shrugged.

They made plans until it was late, and then Cat and Andre practiced distracting a neighbor, which they succeeded at brilliantly. Robbie and Cat soon had to leave, promising to be on time the next day. As soon as they left, Tori turned to Beck.

"Divorced? You and Jade divorced?" She asked.

"Yes." Beck said and sunk into a chair with his head in his hands. "The day I got the final papers was the day you all came over with her diary." Tori and Andre looked at each other, shocked. "I tried to stall it, I did, I did. That's why it took two years. I demanded to see her, said I wouldn't sign; I wouldn't go through with it until I saw her. But I never did. I talked to her on the phone, but I never saw her. Even after she died, her lawyer said that she wanted our marriage annulled. We divorced."

Tori and Andre were truly at a loss for words. They comforted Beck best they could, but even a five year old could've told they were lying. Eventually Beck insisted they go home, and ushered them out the door.

"See you tomorrow." He called as Andre and Tori climbed into Andre's car. The young man waved from the door until his two friends had backed out of the driveway. Then he slammed the door and turned off the porch light. He quietly retreated to his sleep, to his dreams, to the only way he could see Jade again.

Maybe if he was lucky, he would dream of her as he loved her: laughing, scowling, sarcastic, beautiful, his.

But that night, he was not lucky. He dreamt of the worst possible thing he could. He dreamt of the truth.

(break)

Even from the outside looking in, it was disgustingly sunny. Sickeningly, nauseatingly bright. The kind of day when the beach seemed like the only logical place to be. It was repulsively warm too. The type of temperature where the only thing to do was lay around in front of a fan and complain how hot it is. In short, not the kind of day for a funeral.

Her coffin was black, simple, plain. Nothing remarkable about its smoothed corners or rounded cover. Her headstone was plain as well, simply stating the name and dates of birth and date.

Everyone was sweating, in their black attire. Everyone was crying. Tori was crying, small sad tears into Andre's jacket, and Andre not bothering to hide the tears on his face. Cat was sobbing, big broken sounds that nearly broke the heart Robbie. Jade's entourage of agents cried too, but mostly because they were thinking of all the profit that died with Jade.

Of course Beck was crying, from his place outside the cemetery.

He was not allowed to the funeral. The same lawyer who was insisting upon Jade's desire for divorce said that Jade had not wanted Beck at her funeral. The lawyer pushed the case, and Beck would be given thousands of dollars of fines and years in prison if he entered the cemetery and defied a dead woman's will.

So he mourned Jade from the outside, his publicist patting his shoulder once before heading off to distract the press. And Beck stood alone.

Many people came to speak about Jade, all them total and complete liars. Her managers, agents, prep team, coworkers all talked about how lovely, and kind, and sweet Jade had always, always, always been to them. They all lied. Jade had been a pain in the ass to them, every single day. She refused to conform to them, to their shallow attempts to mold her into another washed-out Hollywood wanna-be. She remained strong willed and herself and eventually they let her do what she wished, riding in her wake of success as she became one of the best and most victorious actresses.

Tori spoke one of the few speeches that actually vaguely touched Beck. Cat tried, again and again to speak, finally just breaking down and saying simply:

"I miss her."

More and more people took the stand after Cat finished, each trying to top the other their shallowly sad speeches contrasting and not fitting in with the sun-drenched atmosphere. Beck sat on the dirt in the outside parking lot where he watching from, not caring that his stylist would kill him for ruining his god-knows-how-much dollar suit.

Finally everyone shut up, and the box was placed carefully in the ground. Beck clutched at the soil around him as everyone allowed in the funeral threw dirt over the coffin containing Jade West's body. They people, all now dripping in perspiration, walked slowly out to their fancy cars, already moving on.

And then Beck saw him. Him, clutching a coffee cup that Beck highly doubted contained coffee, and staggering forward with some slinky blonde woman one side and a curvaceous brunette with sultry eyes in the other.

"How dare you?" Beck screamed at Jade's father. "How dare you come to her funeral?"

"Sheee was my daughter." He slurred, obviously drunk. "An' besidessss… at least I was allowed in!" HE began laughing manically, the two women giggling dryly along with him.

Beck punched him.

I'm so sorry this took so long! And sorry this chapter is so sad... My excuse this time is that my friend introduced me to Tumblr and I got totally addicted. And I started reading Avenger's fandom along with many others so I got a little distracted from my writing...

Anyways, as always, please reveiw!