Disclaimer: Victorious and all of its associated copyrights are not my property and I stake no claim to them.

A/N: I had to rewrite most of this, so it took a little longer than usual, but here it is! I hope you guys enjoy, and the next chapter will be out very soon.


It was a four days after Mikey's birthday when things started to get worse.

I was lounging in the living room reading a book, while Cat was working on her laptop, and Mikey was watching cartoons. Jade and Randy had been having lots of "private" conversations for a few days, but especially that day. It was getting late and was already dark outside when there was a knock on the front door. Jade rushed in from the kitchen and went outside without hesitation. It was only about thirty seconds until she came back inside and went back to the kitchen, where Randy was.

I glanced at Cat, who seemed confused as well. "What that was about?"

She shrugged, "Hell if I know."

It seemed calm for a day or so after that, but Jade still didn't talk to anyone but Randy much at all. She seemed dismissive of most everyone else and generally in a sour mood. I was starting to get scared, worried in spite of myself that she was beginning to regret letting me back into her life. As much as I tried to ignore it and continue with my life, it became glaringly obvious that there wasn't much else to my life, so there wasn't a whole lot to distract me. I'd talked to Cat about it quite a bit, and we were both stumped.

One night, after a full day of the same old sour mood, I was lying in bed reading when she came in the room. I watched as she got ready for bed. I picked my phone up off of the nightstand and sent a text to Cat.

Still in a bad mood...think I should talk to her?

A minute or so later, her reply came through.

Go for it. Nothing will change if you don't. I asked Beck, he's got no idea

I put my book and phone down and stood up. By the look on her face, I could see she was lost in her own thoughts. I just hoped the same tactics I used years ago to calm her down still worked. I hesitated until she seemed to stop and think about something. I grabbed her arm and pulled her into a hug. She resisted at first, but quickly relaxed into the hug.

"Do you wanna tell me what's been bothering you or would you like me to continue worrying?"

She sighed. I realized then that even her sigh sounded exhausted. "I didn't mean to make you worry."

I stood back a little, "I had it stuck in my mind that you were regretting being in a relationship with me again or something."

It was then that a perfect storm of several factors collided to make it so there was nothing I could do to stop all of my worries and fears tumbling out at once, and her neither having the words nor the strength to stop me herself.

"I know this is a situation you never wanted to be in. I never wanted to put you in this position. When Cat first came to me and told me that she essentially had a way for me to reunite with someone I loved so much, you don't understand how badly I wanted to tell her no. I wanted to forget she ever told me, stop talking to her, and stay away from you. I didn't want to put you through this, you never deserved any of it. I still have these thoughts in my head that things would be so much better if I was back in my shitty apartment with bruises on my skin and heroin in my veins. You'd be here, taking care of your brother who needs you, and working on the dreams you've always had. I didn't want you in the middle of this. I knew it would happen but I still couldn't stay away from you. It was stupid, and I was such an idiot, but Cat's words gave me a taste of what I had tried so hard to forget, and I couldn't control myself. I'm so sorry, Jade. I never wanted to do this to you."

She was caught off guard, and to be completely honest, I was too. From the look on her face, it took her a few seconds to even process everything that had just come out of my mouth. She ran her fingers through her hair and almost laughed as she held up a hand, "Okay, let's get one thing straight right now. If you had gone through with what you originally wanted to and just declined Cat's offer, I would have found out about you anyway, and I would have tracked you down myself. Alright? This isn't all on you. I'm a fucking idiot in this situation too, but at least we can be idiots together, hey?" Jade shook her head and gestured with her hands as she spoke, "Listen, this whole thing is a big fucking mistake, okay? It's stupid as all hell for me to get into this kind of situation when I have so much to lose."

I rubbed my eyes to try to keep the tears away, "I know this is stupid. I know it's a mistake, but I just hope the mistake is worth it."

"Worth it? If you weren't worth it, I never would've let you live with me in the first place. You're worth risking my life and career for, though as long as I have my way, which I usually do, I'll keep my life, career, and you. I'm sorry for being distant and just a general bitch lately, but my mind has been all over the place trying to figure things out and bring everything together." She continued on getting ready for bed as she told me, "Speaking of which, we're leaving after dinner tomorrow night."

I could swear I was getting whiplash just from our conversation. "What? Where are we going?"

"Nevada."

I ran my fingers through my hair and walked back over to the bed to lay down, "For what reason in particular?"

"Where's your sense of adventure?" She asked as she began to change clothes.

I shamelessly watched every move she made as I told her, "Kind of disappeared when I stopped being a drifter."

She walked back and forth from the bathroom to the closet in only a bra and panties, but I definitely wasn't complaining. "You were a drifter?"

I nodded and leaned back into the incredibly soft pillows, "Yeah. I only really moved back to LA about a year ago. I was all over the country, really." I closed my eyes, simply because I was becoming exhausted, as much as I wanted to continue to stare at her like a creep. "All the big cities. Spent most of my time on the east coast. Chicago, New York City, Brooklyn, Boston, Atlantic City, Jersey City, Miami..."

"What was your favorite?"

"New York, by far. Aspiring Broadway actors and singers, people from all walks of life. Shit, with all the diversity, abnormal is the new normal. You'd be surprised just how many big shots over there have a soft spot for drugs."

"I doubt it."

I chuckled, "It's true, what they say. That city never fuckin' sleeps. Everywhere you go, taxis, street performers, bright lights. Everywhere. Any time of day. Did you know that with all the restaurants and shit there that you can eat somewhere new every day and never visit the same place twice?"

"Sounds pretty cool. I've never actually been there."

"Doesn't your dad live there?"

"Yeah," she mumbled, "He's always come here to visit though."

I smiled as I remembered a particularly funny incident, "There was one time, I was out with a friend and we'd been bar hopping all night, ended up on the subway at like, four or five in the morning. No idea where we were or how to get back to our hotel. Asked three different police officers, nothing. Asked one homeless guy, told us exactly where we were and exactly where to go. That's where I learned a big life lesson, if you're ever lost in a big city, just ask the homeless people. They know their shit."

"I guess I never thought about that."

"The projects of New York were fuckin' crazy. Worse than Florence, if you could believe such a thing. Not as many gangs, but you can bet your ass anyone's ready to pop a cap in your ass, Marcellus Wallace style."

"Why'd you go there?"

I shrugged and slid under the blankets, "Well, when you don't really have a home, you go wherever the life is. I remember driving from Tampa to New Orleans in just one night with a couple people just cause we were all sick of the city."

"Seems like you had friends wherever you went."

"Not really. It's just sort of a mutual understanding between drifters that none of you really have a home, so you stick together. Things are always easier when you aren't alone."

"Did you ever keep in contact with any of them?"

"A few. I had the numbers of a couple, but I've lost them over the years. One came to LA with me when I moved back from Atlantic City."

"What happened to them?"

"I ended up giving her a hotshot and killing her."

She was silent for a few seconds before finally muttering, "Sorry."

I shook my head and rolled over onto my side to see her coming out of the bathroom. "You didn't know it was her."

"It still kind of sucks that it happened."

"Shit happens. Sooner or later Steven will pay for what he did to her."

She glanced over, "My guess is that it'll be sooner, rather than later."

I rested my head on my hand, "What makes you think that?"

"I've got a few tricks up my sleeve."

"But you're naked."

She looked down, "I've got underwear on, it's fine. Anyway, the sleeves are metaphorical. The plans, however, aren't."

"Can I ask what these plans are?"

"You ever heard the saying that two people can keep a secret if one of them is dead?"

I smiled, "Yes, often, actually. But I don't think that applies here because I'm fairly certain Randy knows your plan and I doubt you'll ever kill me."

"Well, yeah, he's been helping me get everything ready. But you're right, I'd never kill you." She slid into bed next to me and pulled me into her arms. "I'd never even hurt you. Everything will be okay."

I laid my head on her shoulder, "How do you know?"

"If there's one thing I've learned, it's that you have to change your entire arsenal depending on the opponent you're facing. A lot of the time, in my fights, it all comes down to being stronger and faster. Sometimes, I just have to wear them down, other times, I have to outsmart them. In the case of Steven, I just have to be faster, smarter, and have more patience than he does. Think of me as a predator lying in wait for my prey."

I smiled a bit, "I still find it amusing that there was a time when you denied the resemblance you had to a panther."

"The idea grew on me."

"You just accepted the truth."

She just grunted.


I was pretty certain that Mikey was the happiest he'd ever been in his life as he was surrounded by eight playful dogs. The smile on his face was contagious to anyone who looked at him. Cat and I both tried to focus more on him, rather than the battle plans going on in the kitchen. Neither of us could really keep up with the terminology anyway. We just sat on the railing of the deck, sipped beers, and watched this adorable little kid play with a bunch of dogs.

"You know," Cat held the bottle in her lap, "As happy as this kid seems, I find it a little funny that the entire reason these dogs are here is to guard this house like it's fuckin' Fort Knox."

I jerked my thumb back toward the house, "With the fifteen professional fighters inside, it seems like it's a little higher security than that."

"Do you have any idea what they're actually planning?"

I shrugged, "All Jade told me is that we're making a straight trip to Nevada. Henderson, I think."

"Isn't that like a few miles outside of Vegas?" I nodded. "So their plan is to beat the drug lord with prostitutes and casinos?"

"That could be what they're planning, for all I know. I guess I'm just trusting that with all this insanity, Jade knows what she's getting into."

She ran her fingers through her hair, "Beck mentioned something about Steven tracking Jade. Like, on purpose. I wonder if she's trying to lead him out into the sticks to beat him to a bloody pulp. Maybe wrestle a bear while she's out there just for giggles."

I laughed, "I could see her doing that. Though to be honest, I can't see Steven running into that sort of situation by himself, or even doing it himself at all."

"It's kind of scary when you stop to realize this is kind of the final showdown. Someone's going down tonight, I guess it's just a matter of who."

I nodded and looked beyond the yard to the city, where we could see the sun starting to set in the distance, "I'm blind as a fuckin' bat in this situation, I just hope Jade can see well enough for the both of us."

"Just got to remember, she makes a career out of predicting her opponents moves."

"Scares the shit out me sometimes," I muttered around the rim of my beer.

The door opened behind us, and Jade called out, "Come on, babe, we've got to head out."

Cat got up with me and hugged me, "Promise me you won't die."

"I fuckin' hope not," I laughed.

I walked toward Jade to see she just had an amused smile on her face. "You're the only person I know who would smile in a situation like this."

"I can still appreciate you being cute, can't I?" She teased. "It doesn't really matter anyway, I can already taste victory."

"You're pretty confident in this plan of yours, aren't you?" I asked as I walked inside.

Jade smirked, "I'd say at this point, the odds are 80-20. So yeah, I'm pretty confident."

I grabbed another beer out of the fridge and wove my way through the several very large men toward the garage. As we got in the car, I told her, "I've honestly never felt that short, but my god."

She laughed and started up the car, "Those guys make me seem short, and I'm not short."

"You're not that tall, I only have to stand on my tippy-toes to kiss you."

"Thank god we can put that step ladder away," she deadpanned.

It was beginning to get pretty dark outside when we got out of the neighborhood. "So were you ever going on telling me what your plan was? Or was I just going to be along for the ride and hope for the best?"

At a stoplight, she pulled her phone out of her pocket and set it up on the windshield holder. After she'd started some music, she took off her watch, changed the display screen on it, and handed it to me. It just seemed to show a small map, with a dot for where we were, and a dot just south of downtown. I glanced at her, "What's this supposed to mean?"

She pointed at where we were, then at the other dot, "This is us. This watch has a tracker in it, and Steven's tracking us."

"Have you lost your goddamn mind?"

"No. Well, not yet anyway. See, he's tracking us, and I'm tracking him, but he doesn't know that."

I scratched my head, "So...what does this mean?"

"I...employed…someone close to him to put a tracker in something he kept with him all the time, while also giving him something to track me, and tipping him off that we were leaving town – alone. The tip only got to him about 20 minutes ago, which means he didn't have time to scrounge together a decent army to follow us without risking losing the trail. At best, he's got two or three lackeys with him. I'm tracking him to make sure he follows, while also making sure he'll be right behind us every step of the way."

I knew from experience that the only thing that would change a man's loyalty in the gang was the offer of money or power. In the case of money, lots of it. Even though she'd explained most of her plan, it still left more questions than answers. "I don't even know what to ask at this point. I'm still confused as fuck."

She smirked and put the watch back on, "All your questions will be answered by the end of the night. For now, just relax, we've got a long drive ahead."

I did as she said and relaxed, and soon enough, fell asleep. By the time I woke up, it was pitch black outside, and we seemed to be driving on a deserted road, the only lights coming from Jade's headlights. She had one hand on the wheel, the other using her phone, and she seemed to pay little to no attention to the road. I stretched and yawned, "Where are we?"

"Last sign I saw was Sloan, so we're pretty close now."

"Damn, I was asleep a long time," I mumbled.

She just sort of grinned, "You're cute when you sleep."

I couldn't help but blush. "Can I ask you something?"

"Other than what you just asked?" I frowned. "Go ahead."

I stretched my arms out again, "When you gave Mikey the puppy, Randy told me that the reason you did was because you were hoping he'd do the same for him as Cujo did for you. What did he mean?"

She put her phone down and looked out at the road ahead. "Just before I got Cujo, I ran into a lot of trouble. I wasn't doing very well mentally, and it got bad enough that Randy eventually broke down and called my dad, begging him to help."

I bit my lip as I remembered a conversation we had some number of weeks ago. I had made a spur of the moment comment about how she didn't understand addiction. "You told me you understood addiction more than I knew. That had something to do with it, didn't it?"

"I had gone to a psychiatrist about a year and a half after my mom died, mostly because Randy had pulled enough strings to make it so I couldn't train anywhere until I did. Long story short, the doc gave me a couple different medications that I eventually ended up abusing pretty badly. There was one that completely shut down all of my emotions for a while, and another I'd take before bed for sleep, but it wasn't long until I figured out that it made me higher than a fuckin' kite, and I was addicted within only two or three days."

She paused and took a deep breath before continuing. "I managed to hide it enough to keep getting refills from the doctor. He was careless, and didn't realize that the one was only supposed to be short term, and I ended up taking it for almost two years, abusing it the entire time. Randy noticed the change in my mood first. I stopped caring, I was out of it, I actually showed up to the gym high one morning, though I was pretty good at hiding it that time, claiming I was just feeling sick. Once I turned 21, I began drinking. It got worse and worse over the next few months, increasingly bad as I began mixing the alcohol with these medicines. I think the final straw for Randy was when I was especially sloppy during training one day, so he picked up my water bottle and sniffed it and realized I'd filled it with alcohol. He didn't say anything, but that night, while off my face on those medications, I walked to his room. To be completely honest, I don't remember why I did it, and it was almost like I couldn't do anything, like someone was manipulating my body for me. I looked at him and I told him, I still remember the exact words, I said, "Randy, I think I've lost my mind. I need help. I'm scared. Don't let me die. I don't want to die." He looked at me, just fuckin' baffled, and finally asked me what I was talking about, but I just turned around and walked back to my room."

Jade ran her fingers through her hair. "He called my dad the next morning. Just before I was about to take the medication again, my dad called me. To this day I'm pretty sure the only people who actually know what he said to me that night is him and I. His words really got to me, and after I got off the phone with him, I took all of the medication I had and gave it to Randy. He got rid of it all, and there was a period of about six to eight months where we had no alcohol in the house, and he kept the few medications we had left in a locked box. The withdrawal I had from those drugs kicked my fucking ass. I was in so much pain, couldn't sleep, couldn't function for at least a week, but it didn't really calm down completely until about three weeks later. I'll tell you, insomnia is one of the worst things a professional fighter can face in terms of health. Because of all that shit, I nearly lost two fights. I think the only thing that actually kept me on top was my mind – being able to predict and outsmart my opponents. Obviously broken bones, torn ligaments, shit like that is worse, but mentally? Insomnia fucking breaks you down."

"You don't have to tell me that. Insomnia and I have been very well acquainted throughout the years."

She reached over and took my hand, rubbing the back of it with her thumb. "For a while I still had urges to get back on the medications, especially during the withdrawal period. Randy eventually started giving me another medication, limit of twice a day, and only as long as the withdrawal continued. It worked wonders, and if you're curious, it's what we gave you, too. But he always told me to call my dad if the urges got bad, because he and I both knew one conversation with my dad would make them go away. After I started to get better, Nate came to visit and brought this tiny little pit bull puppy. He told me he was the last of his litter, and nobody wanted him because he was so small and weak. He said that the puppy needed help, and so did I. I helped that little puppy get through the hard times in his life, and he helped me through mine. I don't think I'd be where I am now without him. I know Mikey is having a hard time, losing both of his parents, and I'm just hoping Ace will help him through everything like Cujo did for me."

"I didn't realize that's where he came from. I just thought you got him from Nate just as company."

"No, Nate just wanted to help me. Cujo turned out just fine, and so did I, so I guess everything worked out the way it was supposed to."

The deserted street faded into the city as we passed Paradise and approached Henderson. From the map on my phone, I could see Jade was heading toward a wooded area only about five minutes away. It was just past midnight now. I glanced at Jade's watch to see the other dot just behind us. Jade sped up and stopped in an empty parking lot on the edge of the woods. We were in the middle of nowhere, the only light from a single streetlight a few yards away, and surrounded by woods on all sides. She turned the car off and looked at me intensely, "I need you to listen to me. Whatever you do, stay behind me. No matter what, okay?"

"Why?" I couldn't help but ask.

"Because if this goes south, I need to make sure you're okay. Please, trust me."

My confidence was crumbling, but it didn't seem like hers was. "I'm scared, Jade."

She leaned over and kissed me, hard. "I love you."

I followed her out of the car where she stopped just behind it and looked toward the way we came in. Just a few seconds later, a car pulled in. It came to a stop between us and the woods, and three men got out. Steven was one of them.

They slammed the car doors shut and gave us shit-eating grins. Steven was the first to speak as he leaned on the side of the car and crossed his arms, "So this was your plan all along, huh West? Just run away? You're an idiot if you think I'd let you get away just like that. I guess you never thought I'd track you this far, did you?"

I found it a bit strange that he didn't comment on how odd it was that Jade would just stop in a random dimly lit parking lot, but I couldn't really tell what either one of them were really thinking. All three of them pulled out guns. All three were aimed directly at Jade. Even still, there wasn't a single hint of emotion on Jade's face. She was calm, silent. Her head still high, her eyes still on Steven's. She didn't move a single muscle as she stared him down. I figured she'd either made peace with the fact she was going to die, or she didn't expect him to pull the trigger. It didn't deter him any, and he had his finger on the trigger anyway, as did the other two.

Three guns cocked simultaneously as Steven said, "Game's over, West. You lost. I'm the champion now."