The door opens to reveal Robbie sticking his head inside, awkwardly smiling at Jade. "Hey Jade. I've uh…" His eyes flick to Cat for a short moment before settling back on Jade. "I did what you wanted me to do and I think I... found someone."
She doesn't really know who exactly she expected to come through the door after Robbie stepped in. Tori. Tori's parents. Maybe even Trina. But when Jade's eyes take in the small frame of Angela, Tori's nurse, she feels her heart plummeting to her stomach. "Jade," she says with a smile and steps closer to the bed, "It's nice to see you again. How are you feeling?"
Jade can't help but be a little surprised that Angela still seems to remember her but the disappointment of not seeing any of the Vegas overpowers that. "I'm fine."
"I overheard this young man asking about the Vegas. I thought I might be able to help you." Jade nods, then snaps her eyes to Cat, who confusedly watches the scene in front of her.
"Cat, get out."
Jade's sharp words cause the redhead to turn her head towards her, her brows drawn together in utter confusion. "What?"
"Go home. Thanks for all that stuff. But I need to talk to the nurse in private now."
"Oh." Cat just nods and slowly gets up. "Okay. I'll see you later."
She hesitates for a moment before shooting Jade a small smile and instead of hugging her and risking of hurting her best friend again, Cat simply takes Jade's hand in hers and gives it a tight squeeze. Jade watches her walk out of the door, then moves her gaze to Robbie who's still standing by the door, rocking back and forth on his heels with his hands clasped together in front of him. "Robbie…" He looks at Jade completely oblivious and Jade raises a single eyebrow at him. His eyes widen comically as he realizes what Jade wants from him.
"Oh! Oh! You want me to go too?" Jade shoots him a sarcastic smile and Robbie quickly nods. "Alright. I'm gone. Bye!" He waves and disappears out of the door, leaving Jade and Angela by themselves.
"So?" Jade quickly turns towards Angela, who takes a seat on the side of Jade's bed. The woman raises her eyebrows but Jade doesn't let her any room to question her. "Is Tori still here? Is she still in a coma? Her parents didn't take her off life support, did they? I mean… they didn't, right?" Her mouth snaps shut and she shakes her head at the flood of question that shot out of her mouth. When Angela looks down at her hands however, Jade's eyes widen. "Tori… Is she dead?"
The nurse looks up and when she sees the horrified look on Jade's face she quickly reaches for the young girl's hand. Tears start to form in Jade's eyes, although she really tried to hold them back. "She's not dead, Jade."
Time seems to stand still as Jade replays Angela's words in her head, over and over again. She's not dead. A deep breath rushes out of her mouth in relief and Jade ignores the ache in her ribcage. "She's not dead?"
"No, honey. She's not."
Jade smiles but the relief she's feeling quickly turns into puzzlement, her smile dropping and her eyebrows furrowing. "But… but I saw her and the next moment she… disappeared and I thought she was-" Realizing what she just said and seeing the confused look on Angela's face, Jade stops talking. "I mean, I… her parents didn't take her off life support?"
Angela shakes her head and sighs. "No. They wanted to. There wasn't any hope anymore. At least that's what the doctors said." She rolls her eyes and leans towards Jade, her voice lowering. "To be completely honest, I think Tori's doctor was just getting tired of looking after her. I mean, if there really was no hope anymore, why did she wake up?" She shakes her head and sits up straight again, completely unaware of the way Jade's mouth fell open and her eyes widened. "But what do I know."
"Wait, wait, wait." Angela snaps her eyes to Jade, waiting for her to continue. But Jade just stares at her suspiciously, blinking rapidly. "You want to tell me that… I mean if… Tori woke up?"
A smile breaks out on the nurse's face and she nods her head. "Yes, she did. It was so sudden and her sister and mother were with her. So much for 'there's no hope anymore'."
So that's the reason why she just disappeared. Tori got back into her body. She finally did it. But if she woke up… where was she now? "So, she woke up. That means… she's fine. Is she still here?"
Angela shakes her head. "No. She was admitted to a rehabilitation center because of her leg and to strengthen her muscles in general. She didn't move for over a year, she has to get used to it again."
"Right. Of course." Jade's mind takes her back to the last time she saw Tori, the way her body became almost transparent in front of her eyes and wonders if Tori remembered her when she woke up. If she did, she should have known that she was in an accident, right? "Did Tori… did she say anything?"
The confusion on the older woman's face is obvious. "What do you mean?"
Jade sighs and shrugs her shoulders. "I don't know, did she say… anything? Maybe about me?"
"Oh," Angela nods with furrowed eyebrows as she thinks about Jade's question, "No, I don't think she did."
Jade nods, sucks her lip in and leans back. After everything they've went through together, the least Tori could have done is make sure she's okay. She knew that Jade had been in an accident, she had seen her lying there with pain radiating from every part of her body and she didn't think it was necessary to see if she's fine?
"Well, I have to go back to work now, Jade," Angela slowly says but Jade doesn't react, not even looking at the older woman. Pressing her lips together, Angela tries to think of something to say, anything to soothe the young girl's disappointment. But she doesn't really know why she's that upset about Tori so she settles for simply saying goodbye and leaving Jade alone in her room.
With only silence surrounding her and the sun already setting outside of her window, Jade finds herself thinking about reasons why Tori didn't say anything or why she didn't make sure she's still alive. She was in an accident for god's sake, she could have died. Didn't that occur to the brunette? Was Jade only a useful tool for Tori, which she quickly discarded when she got back into her body? Probably, Jade thinks as she lets out a shallow laugh at how stupid she has been this entire time. She fell in love with someone who wasn't even the slightest bit interested in her, who just used her to get her life back.
With that thought swimming around in her head, Jade lays down, chiding herself for being so naïve.
x.X.x
Tori stuffs her hands into the pockets of her jacket, smiling at a young man passing her in the little park behind the rehabilitation center Tori called her home for over a week now, and approaches a bench. She sits down and the smile on her face completely drops. Images of blue, almost grayish eyes take a hold of her brain again, almost taunting her. She keeps seeing this girl with black hair, green streaks running through her hair lightening up the otherwise dark exterior of the pale girl. She keeps popping up in her head but Tori has no clue why. She doesn't know her, at least… she thinks she doesn't. Her dreams consist of only her, of these eyes, of her voice. And every time Tori wakes up she gets the feeling that this girl isn't just a figment of her imagination. No, she knows her but she can't even remember what her name was or from where she knew her.
Tori sighs and stretches her legs out in front of her, tipping her head back and closing her eyes. "Maybe it has something to do with the accident," she mumbles to herself as suddenly, a shadow blocks the sun from her face. Snapping her eyes open, she sees Trina standing behind her, her arms crossed and a single eyebrow raised. "What has to do with the accident?"
"Trina. What are you doing here?" The older Vega smirks and rounds the bench, leaning down to give her sister a hug before sitting down beside her. "Visiting my baby sister. How are you doing?"
"Fine." She smiles and pats her right leg. "Therapy's going well. It's almost as good as new."
"Uh huh," Trina mutters unbelievingly, "Don't get ahead of yourself, sis. It's going to take a while until it's completely fine again." Tori nods, looking down at the ground. "So what has to do with the accident?"
Tori's head snaps up, her eyes looking into the face of a curious Trina. She has to take a moment to figure out what her sister meant, then she smiles and shakes her head. "Oh, that. Nothing. I was just thinking and," she frowns and shrugs her shoulders, "you know."
"Hm. No, I don't know. I never know what's going on in that little head of yours." Tori rolls her eyes but a smile stays on her lips. "But you know you can talk to me, right?" Trina's voice is soft and Tori turns her head towards her, her sister looking at her with clear concern. "If something's bothering you, you can talk to me. I'm here for you."
Tori smiles gratefully and reaches for Trina's hand, giving it a light squeeze. "Thanks, but don't worry. Nothing's bothering me. Promise."
Still a little wary, Trina nods slowly, then shrugs her shoulders and leans back on the bench. "Well, if you say so." There's silence for a little while – a rare thing when you are with Trina. After a couple of minutes, Trina frowns and turns towards Tori. "Hey, by the way: Does this girl... Jade even know you woke up?"
Jade.
The name sends a shiver through Tori's entire body, her mind going into overdrive.
"Are you a freaking stalker?"
Tori squeezes her eyes, memories of Jade taking over her and rushing through her brain all at once.
"Okay! I'll help you! But only because I want you to leave me alone."
Help her? Help her with what?
"What? I just wanted to see if I could touch you."
Touch me. She couldn't touch me. Her hand went right through my arm.
Her hand squeezes Trina's hand, her brain almost exploding with every image, every sound that Tori remembers. She doesn't hear Trina's confused voice, asking her what's wrong, the only sound she hears is Jade's voice.
"God, Tori, are you really that dense? You heard what I told your father! I care about you! I may hate that and believe me, I officially declare myself insane for falling for a ghost, especially for such a whiny one like you, but that doesn't change the fact that I really do care about you!"
She fell in love with her.
"I can't let go of her. Not yet."
Tori's eyes snap open, a gasp rushing out of her mouth. Jade. How could she forget who she was?
"Tori! Tori, what's wrong, you're scaring me!"
Tori slowly turns her head towards Trina, her older sister's face crumpled with worry and fear. Her eyes flick down to her hand, still tightly clutching Trina's, and she lessens her grip a bit, looking back up at her worried sister. "I'm… I'm sorry, I was just… it's not… I almost didn't know who…"
"Do you need a doctor? Are you in pain?"
"No," Tori shakes her head, "No, I'm fine. I'm sorry, I'm totally fine. It's just… Jade."
Trina narrows her eyes at her little sister. "What is with her?"
Tori's eyes widen, her head snapping over to Trina. "She was in an accident! She was… I don't know if she's okay!"
"What? How do you know she was in an accident?"
Trina is startled when Tori jumps up from the bench, her wide brown eyes looking at her full of fear. "I need to know if she's okay," she says, completely ignoring Trina's question and instead pulling at her sister's hand, "Come on. We have to call dad."
