Disclaimer; Don't own Victorious or it's characters
:}
Once Jade got home, she found Stan waiting for her and he had the results of the research he'd been doing for her. "Jade, just the girl I wanted to talk to. There aren't a lot of good properties that have the qualities you've described, even less in Venice. I have, however, managed to get in touch with a friend who is in the reselling game, and he can get you the home you want, if you have the cash. I've also made a list of homes in the area that meet your requirements. However, the houses you'll be looking at will be in pre-forclosure, since once the bank takes over, they're usually gone in hours."
Jade gave her manager a big hug. "How do I thank you?" She asked.
"Find what you're missing, and finish that story you've been working on." The ex cop said. "I've got the studio interested all ready. As soon as you're done, we go in for the final meeting, then pre-production."
"Don't worry, I'll be working on it most of this week." The writer said. "Ever have a talk with someone, and it doesn't make sense?"
"All the time, dear." Stan said. "This is Hollywood. No one makes sense."
Jade just smiled.
The next few days went by with far less drama then the previous week. Jade was by no means done with her emotional growth, and between working on her previous projects often wrote short stories to help work out her feelings. However, she also took time to take care of herself, since she was on a working vacation. 'Staycation, technically.' She reminded herself. After all, she was staying in her own home, enjoying the late winter LA weather while sitting in her jacuzzi. 'Good thing it's an indoor/outdoor Jacuzzi.' She thought as she watched the weather from the protection of a roof and (Thanks to a closed glass door) some climate control.
She'd cried twice more since the talk with Sikowitz. This time, it was just letting go of old hurts she hadn't thought about in years. When her mother was sick and her father made Jade take care of her, despite the Jade being only six years old. Or how her father emotionally abused her, while her mother sat back and watched. The worst of it, the physical and border line sexual abuse, she didn't have any tears left for those, just a deep unending hatred for the 'uncle' who'd done it, and the father who was fine in leaving his child in that mans care, over and over. 'I wasn't good enough.' She reminded herself.
Despite the thoughts that invaded her head, the goth was able to put some of it behind herself and take a good look at her life. 'The house, the cars, the pool, the industrial sized hot tub. I did okay.' She told herself. 'And I get to do a job I love, that challenges me, that leaves something behind for others to enjoy.' Those thoughts helped her feel so much better about herself. 'Maybe I'm not so bad after all.'
'Hell, I even have people who care about me.' The author mused, a smile forcing it's way onto her lips. 'My own quirky adopted family. Now if I can just get Cory to grow up a bit, accept some responsibility.' She quietly laughed at her joke, one she'd bet no one else outside her little social unit would even understand.
The work she'd done, the short stories, they was heavier then she liked to do, more drama then horror or suspense. They was her true nude scenes, where she exposed herself to the world, if only a little. 'Most of these stories will take months to flesh out, but that's for another time. Right now, get the ideas out on paper, feel those feelings someplace safe. This is going to win me another Oscar, but that doesn't mater nearly as much as it used to.'
By Friday, she'd managed to start almost a score of stories, as well as make some progress on her current script. There had also been a trip to the day spa with Marge and Cory, who could be such a girl sometimes. They weren't able to get Stanley to go. He was too much the old fashion police officer, tough and unwilling to just relax. But the others had fun, got wrapped and massaged and steamed and oiled. Jade wasn't sure what everything was for, but it was relaxing. They also bonded over the shared pampering. Then Cory hit on one of the masseuses, and reality stormed back into their little world.
The preparations were ready. Jade had sectioned off the part of the house where the kids would be allowed to play, as well as a (Admittedly new) day bed for them to sleep in if they needed to, complete with a trundle bed under it. She'd prepared food for them, macaroni and cheese being the most likely to please, but she'd made other stuff just in case. Now, dressed as casually as she could arrange, Jade was waiting for Cat to arrive to drop the kids off.
There was a buzz from the front gate. Her guest had arrived. "Cory, do you think I'll need car seats?" She asked again.
"I got em." He replied from his place next to the pool. "If you need me to install them, give me a ring. I'll be in my place, entertaining some young lovely I met the other day at the spa."
"Oh my chiz?" She said. "Can't I bring you anywhere?"
"Don't hate the player." He called back. "Besides, you've got kids waiting to drive you nuts."
Jade was suddenly nervous. She'd be alone with Sam and Jessie for hours. Anything could happen. 'I'm not maternal, I don't know what to do.' She fretted. 'Why did I tell Marge I had to do this on my own. What if I screw up? There are a lot of balconies in my house, lots of stairs. What if they hurt themselves, or get into my scissors collection. I can't just go out and replace them.'
But it was already far too late. She heard her bell, letting her know they were at the front door. Quickly she walked up and opened the door. "Cat, Robbie, come in. Let me..."
That was the moment she realized something was off. She saw Sam and Jessie, but they weren't with their mother or their father. Instead, Tori Vega was standing with the children. "Say Hi to aunt Jade." She told the little ones.
"Hi." Sam said. Jessica echoed her big brother a moment later. Then, at Tori's gentile nudging, both children reluctantly walked forward into the house.
"I was expecting Robbie or Cat." Jade said, trying to regain her composure. Surprise didn't go with her top.
"Yea, well, you have me." It was as much a challenge as a statement. "I brought the car, and their child seats, cause I doubt you'd have any if something came up." Tori hadn't entered the building. "So, is it safe for me to enter?" Her voice now was hesitant, soft, not the semi-harsh of just a moment ago.
"Enter at your own risk." The writer shot back. "I've got to herd the kids into the living room."
"I hope you're not expecting them to just sit there." Tori said, racing after the actress. "They'll need some kind of stimulation."
"Close the door." Came the goths reply. Tori skidded to a stop, and raced back to shut and lock the door. Then the teacher hustled back to the living room where Jade was talking to the little ones. "Did you bring the special potty?" She asked.
"Yea, I've got it in the car." The Latina said, momentarily embarrassed about forgetting that one important object. "Cat must have briefed you about that."
"Nope." Jade said, allowing the p to pop. "Sam here told me they were trying to potty train Jessie, and we'd need it. He's going to be a good brother. A great one if I can get Trina to show him some of those self defense moves she used to study." Jade glazed over her adventure in potty training when she'd visited Robbie and Cat.
"Why?" Tori asked.
"Cause I doubt Robbie will be able to intimidate anyone, let alone the guys who come after Jessie here." Jade said, almost casually. "Kids, we can spend some time before dinner watching TV, but not too much. If you brought toys, now would be a good time to break them out. The living room is safe, has a nice view, and hopefully we'll be able to have fun tonight. And for the record, you can try me, see how bad things can get, or you can accept that doing things my way will be easier, and we can get along."
The kids just nodded. Jade wasn't sure what it meant, but she was ready for any thing. 'If they want the fight, let it be a lesson for them. If not, then let things be fun.' She decided.
At that moment, the writer really wanted to talk to Tori, but the kids needed a lot of attention. More then just the supervision they needed at their parents place. Then again, Jade's mansion was huge, and they wanted to explore. Rooms, buildings, they wanted to see everything. Finally, just before Dinner, the actress gave in. "Tori, can you finish dinner while I show these monsters the house?"
"Only if I get the tour once they've gone to sleep." Tori replied.
"Don't you have to get them home?" The writer asked.
"Not tonight. We're watching them until we go to do that day trip you promised Robbie." The teacher said. "I'll run out to the store later, get us some breakfast foods."
"Don't bother, I've got stuff. Pancakes, eggs and ham. I hope that's good enough." Jade told her, gathering the kids to herself.
"I was hoping for the right cereals. Then again, so were they." Tori said as Jade started leading the kids out of the kitchen.
The tour took longer then intended, and the kids found Tori waiting for them with dinner. Still, the house was large and amazing, covering a fair part of it's one acre lot. Both Sam and Tori wanted to visit during the summer, take advantage of that amazing pool. Jessie, for her part, wanted to play in the water NOW. Jade had carried her away from the jacuzzi, the only large, threatening body of water since the pool was now covered. But the girl let everyone know what she wanted, and when.
Tori, all this time, was watching, often out the window. She watched the frustration build as the thespian tried to keep the kids on task, showing off her home but not letting them get into anything expensive, dangerous, or inappropriate. That included the unobstructed window through which her groundskeeper seemed to be playing doctor to a half undressed woman. Jade moved them along to the next thing to see while Tori marveled at how her old bully seemed to have mellowed. Jade looked more embarrassed then angry. Even the way she knocked on the window to get them to close the curtain lacked her usual force. Tori tried, but couldn't see one crack, either in Jade's self control or the window.
Eventually, they returned to the house, and Tori put in a CD Robbie had recorded of stuff the kids liked. Both adults settled in for some light conversation to help avoid losing IQ points to the child level entertainment.
"So, I guess you have some questions for me?" Tori asked, still a bit defensive.
"How about why are you here?" Jade asked. "I mean, I thought you didn't want to see me ever again."
"I'll admit I didn't think you coming into my life was a good thing. Still don't. But I talked to Cat, who said you'd gotten her contact information from Beck, and when I talked to him, he said you were having a crisis of some sort and just wanted to talk to us." Tori explained.
"Something like that." Jade told her. "Of course, you could have gotten the same chiz from your sister. Speaking of Trina, did she put you up to this? I get the feeling she'd like her hubby to move on from short run Spanish language shows, and I must look like an opportunity to her."
"Okay, lets get one thing straight." Tori snapped back, anger burning through her walls for that moment. "Maybe Trina wants you to do something with Tom, but he's a sweet man who'd never take advantage of someone. No, I'm here because you're back in Beck's life, and I want to make sure there none of your usual carnage left over when your done."
"My carnage?" Jade shot back. 'Take a breath, Cat's kids are here.' She reminded herself. The goths hands motioned outward and down as she got control of her anger. "If I recall, I stepped back, let you and Beck have the gang, Hollywood Arts, everything, back when you started dating." The look in Tori's eyes spoke of insult and rage. "Maybe 'let you' is the wrong word. I didn't leave any carnage, I just left." Jade quickly added.
"First off, you didn't let anyone do..." Tori stopped herself. "Wait, what did you just say?"
"I said, I let go without a fight. No fight, no carnage." The blackhead emphasized. 'It would be so much easier to just yell at her.' She thought. But today, she didn't have the drive.
"Oh." Tori deflated. It was more then the anger dissipating. It was like she lost her place, and had to go through the whole thought process to find it again. Seconds passed, then "Okay then. Maybe you did that, but it's not like you didn't leave carnage."
'"Oh good, you found your place." Jade said dryly.
"And you didn't think for a moment that people would miss you?" Tori tore into her, ignoring her last comment. "Cat wanted you at her wedding. I had to wear the ugly brides maids outfit her mother tortured her friends with back at that wedding, and let me tell you the years didn't bring it any closer into fashion."
"Bet it went with Cat's gown." Jade tried.
"Not even close. You see, her family rented the gown. That right, they rented it. So they handed down the bride's maids dresses." Tori looked furious. "There are pictures of me in that dress. I'll never live that down."
"And what did you expect me to do about it?" Jade asked, not giving another inch.
"You were supposed to wear the maid of honors outfit, look worse then anyone else." Tori said. "Instead, I wore the monstrosity of honor. It's your fault for disappearing like that."
"I graduated with the class, thank you very much." Jade informed Tori. She felt herself wanting to get angry, get into this fight, but today, for the kids, it was better to let things work themselves out. 'For now.'
"I know, highest scoring shrugger in the school." The Latina said sardonically.
"You noticed?" The director asked, shocked. Tori seemed to be the first.
"Of course I did. I did, Beck did, everyone noticed." The singer shot back. "Maybe no one remembered, cause that wasn't you. But we noticed."
"You sure didn't look like you noticed." Jade said, her voice kissed with a drop of hurt. "Or maybe you did, and were enjoying my absence."
"We still had fun." The teacher said. "But that didn't mean we didn't miss you. Beck and I, we often talked about how we could bring you back to the table. It was, well..." Her voice drifted off again.
"You were dating, and it would have been awkward." The writer finished for her.
"Yea, about that..." Tori again let her voice fade.
"According to Pearpedia, your gay now." Jade furnished. "Is that what broke you two up?"
"Yea." Tori was looking at the floor, the kids, out the window and anywhere else but at her host. "I used to tell myself I just needed one decent guy, someone who would treat me right. It turns out, when I was with Beck, I figured out really quickly that I'd been in denial, and guys weren't really my thing. We broke up just before graduation."
"I heard..." Jade started.
"It doesn't matter what you heard." Tori cut her off. "We were done a week before graduation. But even then, we couldn't figure out how to talk to you. You had that show, the one you never once mentioned in front of anyone at school. And we, we just assumed things would work out. I mean, that's what they used to do, right?"
"So, you're a lesbian, and Mason found out and canceled your contract?" Jade asked, changing the subject. "Cause if that's the case, I might need to drop by and let him know we're in the twenty first century now."
"He didn't want out, I did." Tori confessed. "I didn't like the life style. Always on the road, never in one place long enough to have any kind of relationship with anyone but the band. Besides, I wanted my education. Took my share of the first album, went to school, and became a teacher. Got credentialed out of San Francisco State, then started doing my career there."
"And Spanish language albums?" Jade asked.
"Man, you do your research." Tori said. "Yea, I still make music. And the Spanish language market is a little easier. I do videos, the occasional live performance, but mostly I just make music. But it's not my life, it's an aside. Make more money..."
"So you had this life in Frisco, what happened?" The writer asked, staying on her topics.
:}
Okay, left it in the middle. Scream all you want, I doubt I'll hear anything. That is, unless you're in Cali, then I might. But thats besides the point. Thoughts, guesses as to why she left, or anything else, just leave a review. On lucky reviewer will stir a deep thought in me, or maybe this will be the one to cause me to chuckle. Either way, I'm looking forward to it.
Finally got them in the same place, and no screaming. Jade wants to scream, cause the old her would have valued the fight, but she's thinking of cat and Robbie's kids. Any guess on how that'll turn out…
I have no idea if it's easier in the Spanish music market, but for the purpose of this story, it is.
