Disclaimer: The show Victorious, its characters and other associated copyrights are property of someone else and not me.
You promised me forever
Chapter 14 – Learning to crawl
No One's POV
"Where's Jade?"
Andre rubbed the back of his neck. He knew he needed to reassure Tori that Jade was not planning to leave her, but wasn't sure about updating Tori on Jade's condition.
He looked to the door, and wondered if instead he should get a the doctor to let them know Tori was awake.
"Where's Jade?" Tori asked again, her voice slightly more strong.
Tori must have sensed something was off by the pensive look on Andre's face, so with a bit more determination she asked again more of her strength.
"Where's Jade?" She said, at a voice almost up to normal speaking tones.
"She's OK, she's resting" he quickly blurted out.
Tori knew something was wrong. She knew Andre well enough, to know when he was being evasive.
"Something's wrong? Isn't it?" She said quietly but with determination. She began to worry.
"I better get a doctor." Andre said.
"Andre tell me! What's wrong with Jade?" A very worried Tori said with almost a shout, using every ounce of her strength.
Andre desperately tried to think of what to say.
"She's under sedation in her hospital room. She's fine?" He said nervously, hoping not to upset Tori.
The look of worry on Tori's face greatly intensified.
"What happened to my Jade?" Tori said almost shouting. The act of nearly shouting, looked like a tremendous effort on Tori's part.
Andre had to tell now. He couldn't hide it anymore.
"Tori, she loves you. As I said, she wasn't leaving you. When she found out you tried to kill yourself, and you were holding things back for her she had a small nervous breakdown. She just didn't handle it well. She seemed to blame herself. Not to mention she has a cracked rib, courtesy of your sister."
Tori's eyes opened as wide as they could be.
"What!" She said with a very animated whisper, her reserves of strength depleted.
"Before you tried to kill yourself, you had left a message for Trina saying Jade was leaving you. At the hospital, Jade was already coming unglued she was attacked by your very enraged sister. Trina quickly made very short work of Jade, cracking one of her ribs in the process. Jade had a mental breakdown at that point and has been under sedation ever since."
Tori quickly started to cry. "Oh god!" she said weakly. She horrible about the pain she caused Jade.
Andre stood up and in a very animated fashion tried to reassure her.
"She's going to be fine. You're going to be fine. We all figured out what led to this situation, and we all will help you and Jade get back on track. I'm sorry you had to find out this way. Just rest and you should be able to see Jade in the morning."
Tori, still upset nodded and decided to trust Andre.
"Look, I think a doctor needs to check you. I'll get one."
Andre went out to the nurse's station, to inform them that Tori was awake and speaking. The nurse on duty, said she would contact the doctor immediately.
He then ran to the conference room, which they had set up as their unofficial waiting area.
"Tori's awake and speaking. I think she's going to be ok." Andre said as she excitedly dashed into the room.
Robbie, Cat, Mandy and Beck all stood up and let out a cheer.
"She seems OK?" Beck asked.
Andre nodded. "Yeah, I told her right away that Jade wasn't leaving her. She understood me. She then asked were Jade was."
"What did you tell her?" Mandy said with suspicion.
Andre flushed red with embarrassment. "I'm sorry, she just got it out of me. "
"Is she upset?" Cat asked.
Andre nodded.
"I thought we were going to tell her that later. Not right away." Robbie said.
Beck grunted in annoyance and took Mandy's hand. "Let's see how Tori's doing."
"I'll go let Lori know and see Jade if she's awake. " Cat said heading out the door.
"I'll call Tori's parents." Robbie said pulling out his pear phone.
Cat hurried down the hallway to the other side of the hospital, where Jade's room was.
A few minutes later she quietly entered Jade's room.
It was a normal looking hospital room. It had two beds; one was occupied by Jade and the other empty. It was mostly dark except for the twinkle of the city lights and a small lamp in the corner. Sitting in a chair next to that lamp was Lori, and she was reading a magazine.
She looked up as Cat walked up to her.
"Any news?" she said expectantly.
Cat nodded with a smile. "Andre said that she woke up. He told her Jade wasn't leaving her, and she understood. Unfortunately he told her about Jade's condition. She got a bit upset."
Lori made a low growling noise, sounding like she was very displeased. Cat couldn't help thinking that Jade made almost the same sound she was unhappy about something.
"I'm very happy she's awake, but I wish Andre had waited with the news of Jade's condition. She doesn't need that stress." Lori said.
Cat looked at the darkened part of the room, where she could dimly make out the figure of Jade sleeping in the bed.
"How's Jade?"
"She's still sleeping."
Lori got up from her chair. "Could you please stay with Jade? I'm going to go check on Tori, and call my wife with the good news."
"Kay Kay" Cat said plopping into the chair.
Jade slept quietly for a while as Cat watched her, but soon started to have a nightmare.
Jade found herself back in the car, outside Ryder Daniels house again. That night she followed Tori, and found out he was blackmailing her for sex. That night she wanted to put a stop to it right away. Jade knew that if she burst in, Ryder would have the advantage. He could have had her arrested for breaking and entering. He even could have shot her, if he possessed a firearm.
So like in the dream she simply sat and waited. But this time, she started to hear screams coming from Ryder's house. It was Tori.
One after another, bloodcurdling screams of terror came from Ryder's house.
"Help me Jade! Please help me! He's going to kill me!"
Jade tried to move her hands, but her they were stuck to the steering wheel. She tried to get out of the seat, but was stuck to it. Trying to move her feet, they were stuck to the floor.
"Jade, where are you? Jade I need you!" the desperate voice of Tori cried.
As Jade struggled to free herself, she saw someone walk by the car. Jade looked to see that it was actually a double of her. This copy of Jade was walking down the sidewalk with a film camera, shooting footage. Jade watched with horror as her double walked by Ryder's house, seeming to not be able to hear the ear piercing screams coming from it. Jade watched, as her double walk by the house and just kept going, eventually disappearing in the dark.
Jade began to panic as the screams got louder and louder. The cries for help became more desperate and panic stricken.
Across the room Cat noticed that Jade seemed to be tossing and turning as if in a nightmare. She quickly went to the Goth's bedside.
The harder Jade in her dream tried to move, the more stuck she became. As she tried to move, the screams increased in volume until they were deafening. She could hear Tori being murdered and could do nothing about it. Jade desperately wanted to help her lover, but was helpless.
Abruptly Tori was silenced in mid scream.
"Jade please help me, I need your…"
With a start, Jade woke up, sat up in bed and screamed in terror.
The Goths eyes were wide open with terror, her hands trembling.
"Oh god she's dead, she's dead, she's dead." Jade said bursting into tears.
Cat jumped on the bed and held Jade.
"Jade, Jade, Jade. You're having a nightmare." The red haired girl said reassuringly, to the frightened Goth.
Jade just sat there for a second, shaking like a leaf.
"Sh..Sh..Sh..It's Ok Jade." Cat said putting her arms around Jade.
Jade just put her head on cat's shoulder and cried.
"It's my fault! I should have protected her. I failed. I killed her. I killed her." The still somewhat disorientated Goth said between uncontrollable sobs.
"No Jade, Tori's OK. She's alright, she woke up a short time ago" Cat said quickly in an attempt to sooth Jades shattered nerves.
At this point Mandy arrived in the room noting that Jade was awake and upset.
"What wrong sis?" Said Mandy as she hurried to the bedside.
"She had a nightmare. I think it involved Tori getting hurt. She's very upset." Cat said as rubbed Jade's back in an attempt to calm her down.
"Cat, why don't you get a nurse. I think Jade may need something to help her calm down and sleep."
"Kay Kay" Cat said as she let go of Jade and got off the bed.
Mandy took Cat's place, and wrapped her arms around her step sister.
"It's ok Jade, Tori is ok. I just spoke with her. She's going to be fine."
Jade continued to sob and remained quite upset.
A few moments later a nurse entered. She was holding a small tray.
"She woke up from a night mare, she's very upset." Mandy told the nurse.
The nurse pulled a syringe from the tray. "The doctor said that she may need something to help her sleep."
The nurse prepared the syringe prepared to inject Jade. "Miss West, This will help you relax and sleep."
"It's ok, Jade you need to rest. Tori is ok. I swear to god. She's very tired and has gone back to sleep. You can see her in the morning."
Jade nodded and let the nurse inject her. Soon Jade started to calm down and quickly fell back to sleep.
The next morning Tori awoke in a bed. Last she remembered she was in the chamber but now she was in bed in a hospital room. She felt very weak and tired. Not to mention a lingering headache.
She then heard a noise coming from across the room. Looking over she realized the sound was coming from Jade, who was sleeping in the room's other bed.
"Jade" Tori said weakly still having problems talking.
Watching Jade for a moment, Tori realized Jade was moaning and violently tossing in bed.
"She's having a nightmare." Tori quickly thought.
"I need to wake her up." Tori said to herself.
She tried to call out Jade's name again but her voice was too weak to wake her up.
Desperate to wake Jade up, Tori started to get out of bed. Her muscles ached and she just didn't have much strength. She got out of bed slowly, but when she tried to walk her legs gave out and she fell to the floor.
"Oww" Tori said quietly as she hit the cold tiled floor. She tried to get back up but was having problems doing it.
Jade's bed was only about 8 feet away, so Tori started to slowly crawl across the floor. She could have hit the nurse call button, but it simply never occurred to her. Her mind was solely focused on getting to Jade.
Tori very slowly and with some difficulty crawled across the floor. The doctor had examined her last night after she awoke. He told her she was doing extremely well. He did say that the carbon monoxide was a shock to her system, and she would remain weak for several days. It would take a few days as well, before the last traces of the gas had been expelled from her system.
Tori using every ounce of her strength, worked her way across the floor. She felt responsible for Jade's condition. Her parents arrived before she had gone back to sleep the previous night. She tried to apologize to them but they told her they understood what happened.
Still Tori felt extremely guilty and embarrassed about the whole thing. After about 2 minutes she managed to crawl up to Jade's bed. She could tell the Goth was in the grips of a full blown nightmare. Jade violently tossed and turned, plus she moaned as if in terrible distress. Tori was very determined to help Jade.
Next to the bed, there was one of those rolling trays that can be moved across the bed so a patient could eat. Putting one hand on the bed and the other on the rolling tray Tori tried to pull herself up.
She was halfway up, when the tray started to roll and then tipped over. The tray hit the ground with a loud crash. Tori landed on the on the tile floor, right next to it.
A bit of drama and a minor cliffhanger. I hope you like it. As you might have guessed, both Tori and Jade feel responsible and carry a lot of guilt. They will have to work through those issues together.