Downward Spiral

Disclaimer: Don't own Victorious

A/N:

Chapter 36 (Side-Tracked)

Jade's left cheek swelled and flattened with the smacking of her lips. Her fingertips tapped her folded arms and her eyes focused in on Beck. "Even now I'm still surprised." Beck looked up from his desk and tilted his head to the right. "I didn't know what to think when Trina told the tale, and I still don't."

"About what? My being involved in stuff like parkour? I've always had strong legs, Jade. You know that. Andre was a boxer, I was a runner."

"I guess I never paid any attention to stuff like that." Her heart sagged and she dropped her eyes. Beck flashed a toothy grin and rolled his eyes.

"Now you admit it."

Rachel started to raise her hand, but before Jade could call on her, another girl two seats behind the girl spoke up. "You guys should date again!" The girl chimed. Rachel's hand flew to her forehead and Beck raised his eyebrows. Jade fixated her gaze onto the girl and started to hum.

She had light, cherry-red hair and bright blue eyes. Her skin was a note above pale and she was fairly short. The girl's hair was up in a bun and held together by two long white crayons, similarly to Chinese chopsticks. "I'm sorry?"

Beck waved his hand through the air, muttering while Rachel lowered her hand. "Sorry about that," Rachel responded, "Meet my eccentric best friend of two years." Rachel extended her hand to the girl and blinked several times. "Who happens to have a hording problem, collecting white colored crayons since childhood." The girl shrugged.

"They're unique, Rachel."

"They're not unique, they're in like every single crayon box, Mae." Rachel leaned back slowly and closed her eyes.

"So?" Mae's eyes lit up and Jade could see the girl was shading a sheet of dark paper with a crayon. "My full name's Kitty Mae Sha…" Her last name was mumbled and her eyes refocused on the project before her. "Anyway, like I was saying-"

Rachel cleared her throat, rolling her eyes. "Don't think my aunt would be too happy about that." Mae's lips formed an oval and Jade looked over her shoulders at Beck. He raised his hands up and chuckled.

"You're married?" Jade felt a disheartened sensation in her chest and turned away dejected. She wasn't sure why it troubled her, but she should have figured he'd moved on with his life. "Wow. Does she know I'm lecturing in your class?"

"Yep." Beck crossed his arms and a snarky grin formed at his lips. "You would be amazed how much a woman can trust the man she loves, Jade. It doesn't bother her in the slightest, but then again…She lives in the now. I live in the now, even Trina's life is in the present. You're the one still lecturing about the past. It doesn't surprise me she doesn't ask you about every classroom and school you go to."

"Well, she doesn't want to relieve her entire teenage years, so no, she doesn't ask. When I got her permission, she said 'yes', but under the instruction that I not tell her every single time I lecture."

"You didn't tell her you were lecturing for my class today, then?"

"I did not. I phoned her, told her I was giving a lecture."

"What did she say?"

"That it was 'great', and not to disturb her at work or before dinner."

Rachel hummed lightly and the skin around her eyes started to tense. She hadn't said much more during the lecture, and Jade was starting to wonder just how much she and how much Beck knew about Trina now. If anything.

"Uncle Beck, did you and Trina ever make peace with each other?" Jade raised her eyebrows suddenly and Beck nodded his head.

"It took a long time, but yeah we've been on good terms."

"Good. I hope so, anyway."

"I don't recall this," Jade remarked. Beck looked up at her, shrugging nonchalantly.

"You wouldn't."

"What? Did the two of you ever date?"

Rachel shook her head and Beck huffed angrily. "Tch, a question like that coming from you? Why doesn't that faze me?" Hurt, she crossed her arms and narrowed her eyes. "No. Do you seriously think she would ever have possibly gone out with me after all that we put her through?"

Mae raised her hand, speaking above the others. The other students, including Scott and John rolled their eyes at what seemed to be a distraction from the lecture, if nothing else. "Why don't you ever forgive her, Professor Oliver?"

"I've forgiven her, but there's still some personal stuff in the back that really isn't a huge concern." He shrugged. "Hell, I even became a police officer, thinking it would make this woman happy."

"Really?" Jade did a double take, opening her mouth in an oval. "I knew you went to help out at a police department."

"I was a police officer. I was on the force for a little over ten years before becoming an adjunct professor. I work in the correctional facility downtown now. You were just too busy to notice."

"Kind of like my dad's girlfriend," Rachel replied with a quiet tone of voice. Jade and Beck glanced over, and the man shook his head. "She's not as bad about being a workaholic, and Dad says for her, family comes first no matter what, but she's always busy with work. I guess I am too, that's why neither of us have met before tonight."

Nodding in reply, Jade looked at her slideshow and started thinking about what Rachel had said before regarding her father's girlfriend. She'd only seen pictures of the woman.

Mae spoke up again, stealing the attention in the room. This time, John silenced her with a growling tone. "Would you shut up, Kitty? Some of us want to learn. Nobody cares about our teachers' personal lives." Beck chuckled and Mae hissed at the student.

"I care. I mean it's obvious you can see the tension."

Ryan's hand went up and his eyes narrowed. "I'm with John on this one, Mae." The other students murmured their agreements. "If anything, we're more interested in learning more about Trina. I know Rachel is."

"I don't mind being just a little sidetracked," Rachel said with a laugh. "Relieves the stress just a bit. I'm not sure where I'd be without Mae." Mae puffed up and grinned in triumph.

"Thank you, Rachel."

"But seriously Mae, you are kind of distracting us at an annoying time…" With an instant, the girl sulked and crossed her arms.

"Hmph."

Jade stifled a chuckle and turned to Beck. "It is interesting to hear how angry Trina was at you. She moved on though? Forgave you?"

"Eventually." Beck smiled partially and started to laugh. "As angry as she was, you'd think I did something to her in another life or something. I deserved a good deal of her ire back then."

"You became friends with her, then? When? I don't recall even her talking about that."

"After she was done with probation. After David's death." Jade pursed her lips and nodded, recalling the news story over the man's demise. She didn't recall a good deal of what happened, and had been far too focused on her work. Perhaps it was true, she'd become a workaholic too obsessed with work.

She had no children and considered work her marriage. She knew about Trina's focus on work, and how it helped her, but she also knew there were other circumstances that kept the woman from being too overly work-obsessed.

"Maybe I have become a workaholic, then. I never really considered it." She crossed her arms and sighed. "I know that created a gap in our relationship as well back in college. I'm sorry, Beck…"

Beck shrugged. "It's fine. The world keeps turning no matter what, all we can do is move forward with it."

Mae applauded, startling everyone in the room. "That's all I was saying needed to happen." Beck's forehead wrinkled and Jade moved her hands to her hips.

The crayon collector was right, and so was Beck. It was time to move on. As a criminologist, her job was much more than lecturing on the past-and her case study had grown old for some time. "Maybe this will be the last I lecture on Trina."

Beck leaned to the side, perching his head on his fingertips. "Even if you didn't decide on that, she might actually make it so after today." Jade raised an eyebrow and jerked her head back.

"Why?"

He closed his eyes and shook his head, chuckling softly. "No reason, Jade." He leaned upright, folding his hands on the center of his desk and looking up at the slideshow. "You know. I was one of the first people that knew Trina had a child and gave it up. I even knew who adopted that baby."

Rachel's eyes lit up with surprise and she spoke up in a hurry. "Really? You knew?" Jade was just as shocked. If Beck had known, then did this mean Jason himself knew about Trina?

"I was the one that helped her land a successful job with a good friend of mine. A lot of strings that got pulled, I pulled." Beck tightened his lips together and breathed out slow. "I did a lot to make up for some of the hell and nightmare we put her through." His gaze drifted to his niece and his voice lowered. "Even trying to reunite her with certain people…"

Jade was bewildered and pleased to see how much Beck had done. Perhaps if she were younger, all of this would have troubled her on a deeper level, but being older and wiser she respected him for it.

Scott raised his hand and Beck called on him. "I'm sorry, but did I hear someone say David was dead?" Beck nodded.

"Yes. David Vega was murdered some years down the line. We'll get to that, and I'll lecture a bit over that, since it's a continuation of the case study…some information that Jade here may not have available."

She folded her arms once more. "And what else might I not have?" Beck ran his hand over the back of his neck and heaved forth a heavy sigh.

"There's a good deal you don't realize or know. Your case study is great, but it ends when Trina's probation ends. That is not the final end, there's so much more that needs to be said."

"I…see." She liked having control of things; it was something that she'd always considered a value of hers in life, since she was a teenager. Being in control, being the dominant force in power. Nowadays she'd learned the value of being a team with someone, she learned how important it was to not be the sole person in control. "Then when I can't say any more about her, I'll turn my lecture over to you, Beck."

"Thank you."

"I'd be honored and eager to learn what else you have to add."

So we have a potential closure in the present day of the Beck-Jade drama. There's a bit more where they may be concerned, but remember that present time only consists of a few hours where any kind of friendship building and reconnecting between the two would take a lot of time. What are your thoughts of everything in this chapter?