Disclaimer;

Victorious doesn't belong to me, unfortunately.

Warnings;

This fanfiction contains the lesbian pairing of Jade and Tori. It's rated M, and it's rated thusly for a reason. If you aren't cool with that, you'd probably be better off just not reading this.

Author's Note;

It's been five or six months. I have a pretty legitimate excuse, but really, I don't think anything more needs to be said but this: I've been sick, and only a little of the downtime I've managed to find has been spent writing. Most of it's been spent sleeping and trying to recover.

On another note, I keep getting surprised when I gain a follower for this or my other story posted on here. I haven't updated the other since December. Regardless, I'm thankful for everything, (as I've said many times before,) and I'm going to try to be better about this. No promises of consistency until I'm settled in for the fall semester, (which starts in two days,) but I'd really like to keep going until this is all finished.

Also, in the next chapter, I might do some "promoting" for myself. My English professor wants me to start putting myself out there, so I've decided to post one of my personal writing projects online. While that's not everyone's cup of tea, I think a couple of y'all might be interested. I'll just work things out, and I'll post links and whatnot in the next update's author's note.

This is a shorter chapter, but it's something of an "in-between" of sorts. Anyway, here's part ten, and I hope you all enjoy.

Can't Stop

Part Ten

She recalled her mother having said something very hurtful to her not two years earlier.

"The only reason people are gay is because they don't think they're good enough for the opposite sex."

Honestly, Jade could not think of anything more bigoted and disgusting having ever come from her own mother's mouth.

For some reason, as she leaned against the side of her car while filling up her car's tank, the whole situation replayed in her head - the time she had let her words slip, the time she realized that she got her sharp tongue and quick judgment from her mother's side of the family. She looked upward into nothing spectacular, as the pumps were covered by a large metal awning, and as the fingers of her left hand tapped against the side of her car, her mind kept repeating those words.

Why she was thinking of that time, she couldn't say for sure, but the feeling of disappointment and even hatred for her own mother that coursed through her at the memory seemed to divert her attention from the situation at hand.

The pump gave a loud click, and she removed the nozzle from the tank. When she'd arrived at Tori's house, her car was nearly halfway full, and as she looked to the pump for her total, she realized that she'd burned over thirty dollars by attempting to distract herself.

Jade preferred to drive beneath darker skies, but when she needed to escape, she'd decided that daylight would have to do.

After retrieving her receipt and double-checking that she'd closed the cap on her car, Jade settled into the driver's seat and buckled herself in. Absent-mindedly, she shoved her keys in the ignition, and as the engine turned, she looked to the clock on her dashboard. The girl figured she'd left the Vega home around three hours earlier, as the bright, digital letters read, "11:32."

She sat there for a moment to wonder how she'd managed to spend three hours of her time doing nothing but driving. When a large SUV pulled up behind her with a man waving at her to move along, she was tempted to flip him off, but something kept her from doing so. Instead, she lightly tapped the gas pedal, making her way toward the exit of the parking lot before she pulled out onto the road.

For not-hardly-noon on a Saturday, things seemed to be different from what she would have expected. While it was always bustling in LA, there were times of the day when it seemed a bit quieter. Lunch time, naturally, would be busy, but something felt as though it was stirring at an unnatural pace. The speed at which the people moved and the clip at which the cars buzzed down the street caused Jade to feel as though she was being pushed along even in the slow lane. While she was typically the type of driver to do the pushing, she had been determined to slow herself down and take some time to think.

On the roadways in the city, getting lost in thought probably wasn't the wisest idea. As she passed by the turnoff that lead to the road toward Wanko's Warehouse, she decided that it would be best to head home and not be all too slow about it. She was sure there was going to be a wreck at some point, as a middle-aged lady in a Buick had just zipped past her while talking on her phone and applying lipstick.

If she wanted to get home alive, that moment was the time to do it.

Almost immediately after she pulled off to a smaller street on the right, her phone began to vibrate. She looked to it, and on the large screen, it read, "New Message from Tori." Seeing as the last two messages had been from Andre and Cat, (and neither of these messages had she bothered to open,) she immediately felt a wave of relief come over her. If Tori was texting her, she couldn't have been too mad - and she couldn't have been in too much trouble.

Without thinking twice about it, she picked up her Pearphone and unlocked the screen. As she opened the message, she looked up to the road briefly to make sure she wasn't about to maul some unsuspecting pedestrian.

The message read, "Where are you?"

Having stared at the words for only a moment too long, Jade looked up and swore as she nearly ran a stop sign. She'd not expected it for another fifty feet or so, and as she slammed on her brakes, she was thankful she'd only been going thirty-eight miles an hour. Sharply exhaling, she motioned for the two other cars sitting at the stop signs left and right of her at the intersection to go before her, allowing her the time to get Tori on the phone.

She held her phone to her ear as it began to ring on the other side of the line, and after looking in every possible direction around her, she resumed her progress, working eastbound.

"Hello?"

Finally.

"I'm near Wanko's Warehouse," Jade replied quickly. "Where are you?"

"Wait, what are you doing there?"

"I was just - I was just driving." She held back the anxiety that was beginning to creep on her as best as she could, talking as steadily as she could manage in her newly-heightened sense of care while on the road. "Seriously, though; where are you?"

"I'm at your house," Tori replied, sounding exasperated best. "I thought you would be here, and . . . I needed to get away from everybody."

"It's okay," Jade murmured quietly. "Just let yourself in; the spare key is wedged behind the bottom of the shutter."

"Which window?" the girl on the other end asked.

"The right."

There was a rustling sound over the connection, and Jade waited somewhat impatiently for the girl's voice to return. Only a few seconds passed before she could hear her again, and silently, she let out a sigh. She was glad she remembered to put the key there after having forgotten her own set a few weeks before.

"Found it," Tori confirmed. "When do you think you'll be home?"

"Fifteen minutes tops," Jade said.

It would take most people at least half an hour, but Jade knew she could cut that time in half by taking the smaller, less-crowded streets (and by setting her own speed limit for most of the way back to her home.)

x-x-x

Jade closed the door behind her and looked to the couch.

Tori sat there looking back at her, surprise showing on her face. She knew Jade was something of a reckless driver, but for her to have made it that far in less than the predicted fifteen minutes was an impressive feat for anyone. Jade moved to remove her shoes, and for a few seconds, they simply watched one another in silence, each thinking far too quickly for their words to possibly keep up with.

"You drive too fast," Tori said, breaking the silence.

Jade dropped her messenger bag to the ground beside the door and made her way to the couch. She stopped before the girl's knees and bent over, her face lingering over Tori's and her long, dark hair entrapping them in a strange veil of privacy. Their eyes settled on one another as they always did, and quietly, Tori sat up to close the rest of the distance between them.

One of Jade's hands settled on Tori's cheek as the other supported her weight on the back of the couch. Tori gripped for the girl's shoulders, pulling her toward her; she wanted to feel her closer, as the warmth that Jade's body exuded brought her comfort and a sense of security. At that moment, she felt as though she could really use that sensation.

It had been a strange and wild morning for the both of them, and while sex wasn't immediately on either of their minds, they did want to close whatever distance was left between them from their parting the few hours prior. By the way the brunette's lips worked against her own, Jade could sense that she was forgiven, if only for the time being. For that time being, however, she decided that she would simply enjoy the lack of anger that she had come to expect - the anger she felt could have been justified after her abrupt departure from the Vega household.

She pushed those thoughts and her prior expectations to the back of her mind as she allowed herself to give in to the comfort of the girl sitting beneath her. Jade moved so that her knees rested on the couch to the left and right of Tori's thighs, straddling her lap. Then, without much warning, she broke the kiss, wrapped her arms around the brunette's back and held her there, her face hidden in the crook of the girl's neck. Her lips were just shy of the hickey she'd left there what seemed like only the day before, and although she'd almost forgotten it was there in the first place, she could feel Tori stiffen against her. Jade gave a soft snort, and as she pressed herself closer, she found the scent of the girl's hair to be just as soothing as it had been the night before - perhaps even more so, as she had left earlier that morning with no knowledge of when she would see her next.

The night before had been a given. Tori had promised to stay, and when she'd woken up in the early hours of the morning, that promise hadn't been broken. Months earlier, (perhaps even just weeks earlier,) Jade would never have admitted that the girl she was holding in that moment was of any use whatsoever, but when it came down to it, she found that the new brown-eyed girl was - what was she? Respectable? Reliable? Jade settled for the term "begrudgingly likeable."

Tori hadn't expected the girl to be as physical as she was, but the surprise was not an unwelcome one. She returned the gesture, placing a hand on the back of Jade's head to pull her closer to her, stroking her hair (and realizing that she hadn't brushed it since that morning, as evidenced by the knots and kinks that she very carefully avoided snagging her fingers in.)

They stayed like that for only a few moments longer before Jade pulled herself from Tori's lap. They sat next to each other, and as their eyes found each other's, Tori realized that the girl looked to be thoroughly embarrassed - or frustrated, or upset, or (more likely) a combination of all three.

There was a brief silence between them that enveloped them in a sense of cold stillness compared to the warmth of the affectionate moment they had just shared. While they both had been through this silence before, something about it felt different this time. Not too long before, it had felt natural for one to have nothing to say to the other, (particularly Jade to Tori,) but as they sat side-by-side on the sofa, just barely touching each other only by the proximity to one another, they found that the quiet between them felt utterly foreign.

Jade's lips formed the words that crossed her mind, but to the other girl's surprise (and perhaps even her own,) she bit back the words before they could escape her.

"Your sister's a prying bitch," she murmured instead, and while Tori humored her with a small smile, it was blatantly apparent that Jade had left her original thoughts unspoken.

"Try living with her," Tori replied, opting to agree with her statement rather than press the issue she was sure was being left untouched for the moment.

Another stillness fell upon them, and Jade immediately felt uncomfortable. She'd told herself more than a few times that she was remaking every single mistake she'd taken before with Cat - with Beck, even. She was allowing things to move more quickly than she could keep up with, and she explained to herself just how detrimental that would be to her and to everyone involved. Tori was in her personal space at that very moment, her thigh's pressed against Tori's and her fingers ghosting upon the exposed skin just below the hem of her shorts. Even before then, the girl been far past the line Jade had drawn for everyone else.

Don't touch me. Ever.

Those words had come from her more times than she cared to count, and they had been said to more people than she wanted to remember. Her personal space was just that - it was personal, and if she felt it was being invaded, she would speak up. And yet, even at their last trip to Nozu, she had allowed her to be near. No, it wasn't allowed: Jade had put herself outside of her personal boundaries, and by default, that had brought Tori closer.

Get away. Two simple words formed in her mind, repeating in her head like a record skipping on a track. Get away.

If things kept up at the pace they were moving, it wouldn't be long before she was in too deep to back out.

But as her eyes met Tori's once more, she mouthed a swear.

She knew completely that she was already in far above her head.

x-x-x

"So they didn't believe her?" Jade asked, a small smirk on her face.

"My mom wanted to," Tori admitted, but with a grin, she continued, "but Trina cracked when I reminded her she sees you at school every day."

"Why didn't I think of that?" Jade murmured quietly to herself. Her threats were never taken lightly, (especially when they were directed at Trina.) "Oh, right - your mom's a bitch, too."

The brunette gave a pitiful laugh, shaking her head as she smiled.

For some time, Tori had known that she did not approve of the way her mother went about her business. The way she treated both of her daughters was terrible enough, but the way she (poorly) snuck around behind her own husband's back made the situation even worse. However, that morning had finally done it - it was the last straw, and like a time bomb ticking away, the Vega house had finally exploded.

It had exploded so violently, in fact, that Tori had packed several days worth of clothes and personal items in a bag in case she needed to stay away from her own home. As far as she knew, her parents would be fighting for a while, and as long as her mother was under that roof, she was certain she didn't want to go back. While she hadn't asked Jade if she could stay with her, she was fairly certain it would be allowed, (if not absolutely welcomed to do so.) If not, she was sure she could find a place to crash with Cat or Andre, and if it came down to it, she always had Robbie or Beck.

At the thought of staying with Beck, Tori could have sworn her heart came to a sudden and jarring halt. If Jade had heard those thoughts running through her head, she knew there would have been trouble.

Beck's trailer would certainly not be the first option on her list of places to stay.

"So what's with the bag?" Jade asked, which only credited the fear that Jade actually harbored the ability to read into the minds of other people.

Tori shifted so that she could pull her duffle bag off the floor, placing it on the couch beside her. It was heavy, but more of the weight was due to her laptop and one of her textbooks rather than the clothes she'd stuffed inside with them.

"I can't go back; not yet," the brunette muttered uneasily.

"You need a place to stay."

The words came more as a statement than a question, and when Tori returned her gaze to the girl sitting next to her still, she was met with an unreadable expression. The look of it disgruntled her slightly, causing her to feel even more insecure about the whole situation than she had only a few moments before. She placed her hands in her lap, and quietly, she heaved a sigh.

"I didn't want to just come out and ask to stay here," she began, speaking more quickly than she felt was appropriate. "I just. . . I needed to get out, and I needed to make sure you were okay, and -"

"Relax, Tori."

The brown-eyed girl quieted herself, and as she brought her eyes back up to meet Jade's, she tried and failed to recall how many times she'd been told to simply relax within the past two weeks alone.

"I would rather have you here," Jade said in a tone so quiet that her words were nearly indistinguishable.

Her home was a spacious place - a large living area, several corridors barren of any homeliness, and three empty rooms that stowed old, unused belongings. It was lonely enough with her mother there, but without the sound of the treadmill or the television from the room down downstairs, and without the company of her mother mixing herself a drink in the kitchen while Jade ate her dinner, the house felt even more barren. While her mother's presence was not something she would call a comfort, being left alone with only her thoughts to keep her company was something she could deem only a punishment.

Tori watched as Jade bit her lower lip to silence herself. She wanted to say everything that was crossing her mind, and with the girl before her already causing her to feel more comfortable even in the confines of a house that she could never truly call home, she felt as though she was growing vulnerable. Not even two months earlier, she would have told Tori to get out - and if she had been the girl's last resort, then she would have had her sleep on the couch instead of telling her that there was a guest room, (and she certainly wouldn't have allowed her in her own bed.)

Things had changed so quickly, and the words, 'You're moving too fast,' had crossed her mind so often in the past few weeks that she'd begun to try ignoring the thought completely. Her head was beginning to let go of that reason, but still, she fought with herself. Things had ended so poorly with the last two people - the only two people before Tori - that she felt herself growing self-conscious about every move she made. With every step she took forward with the girl, her mind told her that it was in the wrong direction, or the pace was much too quick, or she was going to simply tread on unstable ground. The insecurities building within her would finally be unleashed, and she would lash out at Tori, and what they had between them would come to a complete stop.

And Tori would drift away just like the others had.

As though she could sense the struggle that was raging inside the girl's head, Tori gave a soft, pitiful looking smile. She'd known for a while now that Jade had impulses that were much more severe than anyone else she'd ever come across, but after the night before - after seeing what had become of two best friends - she realized that Jade had depth so much more complicated than she could have imagined only a few months previously.

Jade's eyes were on the floor, and though she looked as if she had nothing more to say, Tori did nothing to pry. She didn't want any toes to be stepped on or any wounds to be reopened, so as calmly as she could bring herself to do so, she moved to place a hand on the girl's shoulder and a warm kiss on the side of her cheek.

Into her ear, she murmured the words, "Thank you."

The anxiety and the stress that had been building within Jade's mind hadn't come to a complete halt, but the simple gesture had been enough to calm her significantly. While the shift of emotions should have rattled her, she couldn't bring herself to think any more on the fears and the insecurities that had dominated her entire train of thought not a minute before.

For once, Jade felt something close to 'optimism,' and as long as the girl beside her stayed close to her she decided that she'd do what she could to hang on to the feeling of warmth spreading through her heart and her head.

She turned her head and gently pressed her lips to the side of Tori's mouth.