Disclaimer: The show Victorious, its characters and other associated copyrights are property of someone else and not me.

The Bet

Chapter 37 – Hold me.

Tori's POV

It's been three weeks since that night at Crush. Where old Jade suddenly reappeared after seeing me with Kevin. It's nice having old Jade back, but I did forget she could be a handful at times. Before she would rarely disagree with me, now she does. She makes acid comments and insults again, though they are rarely directed at me. Of course, if I do something to annoy her she will let me know. I've learned to push back in subtle and not so subtle ways when I think she's out of line. I can either say "Jade stop that." In a crisp clear tone which normally does the trick. That's the direct approach. If I want to be more subtle, I'll remain quiet but refrain from touching her and will say little.

But that said, she's a wonderful girlfriend and I think she's more wonderful each and every day. We've bickered a few times but have had no major arguments. She's very affectionate in a quiet way. She's not the overly romantic type but when she does things of that nature, they really mean a lot. When we are alone, she is much more open and direct with me. There is the private Jade and the public Jade. We still haven't gone very far physically yet. I'm happy to let our relationship develop slowly, that and there is something else.

But though she's back, I get the feeling she's not totally back. Every once in a while I'll catch a pained expression out of the corner of my eye, usually when I do something nice for her. The first few times I dismissed it. Eventually I began to suspect that there was something still wrong. Of course, I had nothing to go on. But there is still a tiny bit of distance between us and we just aren't closing the gap.

Eventually I did find out. It was a Saturday afternoon and I was rather bored. I was not scheduled to work this day and had no plans with Jade. She had learned about a horror story writing contest and wanted to enter. The problem is, that she learned about it 3 days before the deadline to send in the 40,000 word story. So with my blessing, I let her alone for a few days so she could concentrate on write and edit her story. I took the opportunity to pick up a few extra hours at the pizza place.

It was Saturday and I knew Jade had been up all last night putting the finishing touches to her story. She needed to get it postmarked by noon today.

Around 11:30 AM I got a text.

From Jade: Just got my story, postmarked and in the mail. Thank you for your patience. I'm dead tired and will sleep the rest of the day. I'll call you later.

I quickly replied back.

From Tori: I hope you win, sweet dreams.

I spent the afternoon doing some chores around the house and watched "It happened one Night" with Clark Gable and Claudette Colbert which happened to be on cable. I like old fashioned romantic comedies and that one was one of the best.

About 5 in the afternoon, I remembered that though I had done my chores, I forgot to take out the kitchen trash to the garage. So I pulled the bag out, went outside to the garage and returned. But when I got back to the house and turned the door knob I realized I had forgot to unlock it on my way out.

A sense of panic set it as I realized I was now locked out of my house with only the clothes on my back. My purse, keys and phone were all up in my room. Making it even worse, was the knowledge that no one was home and the distant rumbling of thunder told me it was soon going to rain.

"Oh Chiz" I said as I looked up to see the darkening sky.

I went around to my bedroom window, but then remembered that I never unlocked the window this morning. All the other windows were shut and locked so I was most certainly locked out.

I had two choices, I could sit in the garage and wait for someone to come home or grab my bike and go somewhere. It hadn't started to rain yet, so I decided to ride my bike to Jade's house. She was my girlfriend and actually the closest to my house of my friends. I know she's probably sleeping but at least I could wait in comfort. I'll just sit quietly in her room while she naps.

I made it about 2/3 of the way there when the sky opened up and the rain started to pour. By the time I arrived at Jade's I was drenched

I rang the bell and within a minute Jade's mom answered. She appeared to be dressed as if she was going out for the evening. Me and her met for the first time last week and had a very long talk. I apologized for my actions and she told me that if Jade is willing to trust me than she would give me the benefit of the doubt. Though I can tell, she's still a bit wary of me.

She looked at me with surprise as I was wet and cold. I had only been wearing shorts and a t shirt when I went to take out the trash. "Tori, you're soaking wet. Please come in."

I walked and she shut the door behind me. "Thank you."

"What happened?"

I looked down and realized to my embarrassment, that I was dripping water on Mrs. West's hard wood floor ."I accidently locked myself out of my house. I thought I could come over and wait for someone to come home. But I didn't make it before the rain started."

A sympathetic look formed on Mrs. West's face. "Well you can wait here as long as you like. Let me get you a towel." Mrs. West vanished for a moment and returned with a large green fluffy bath towel, which I dried off with.

"Thank you very much."

"I think Jade is still asleep. You can go up and see. I was actually about to leave. Some friends from out of town are here and Jade's father and I are going to spend the evening out with them. We won't be back until late. If you want to wait downstairs you may. Help yourself if you get hungry. Jade has some sweat pants in her dresser. I'm sure if you want to change into them you can do so. Did you need anything else before we left?"

"No. I'll be fine thank you."

Jade's father came down and said hello. I explained my situation again and he said that I should make myself at home. He was a quiet man who said very little but from what I understand he seemed to accept Jade's sexual orientation. A moment later they both left.

For a second I just stood listening to the rain as it continued to pour outside. I love the sound of rain.

I elected to wait downstairs in the TV room but I needed some sweats to change into. Not wanting to wake the sleeping Jade, I crept quietly into her room. The room was almost pitch dark except for the glow of a radio alarm clock next to the bed and few rays of light that managed to sneak past her heavy dark curtains. In the dim light I could see the figure of Jade sleeping.

But almost immediately I sensed something was wrong. Though asleep she stirred, moaned and mumbled. I quickly grabbed a pair of sweats and a t shirt from Jade's dresser as I carefully studied her.

"No….Tori…I'm sorry." I heard her suddenly say in her sleep.

Beginning to worry, I moved closer. "Please…I'm sorry." She mumbled.

"Do…anything Please. Tori."

It was then I realized that Jade had lied to me; she told me she wasn't having the guilt ridden nightmares anymore. Listening to her apparently plead for my forgiveness, quickly told me she still was.

"Ok…Tori for you…I'll cut my wrists."

"WHAT!" I said out loud, which didn't seem to wake Jade. I apparently asked her to kill herself in her dream.

What ever was going on in the dream it seemed to be getting worse as Jade seemed to toss and turn even more. All the while pleading for my forgiveness. Even in the dim light I could see a tortured expression on her face.

I couldn't take it anymore, seeing her suffer at the hands of my dream self.

"Jade wake up." I quickly said to her as I tried to sake her. "Please wake up."

Though I tired, I simply couldn't wake her. I felt a sense of desperation as I vainly tried to free her from the nightmare that gripped her. As I did, she reached, while still asleep, out and grabbed me and was swiftly pulled tightly into her arms. I could only guess that on some level she sensed I was there and pulled me in for comfort. It was when she held me, she finally started to calm down. I could have freed myself but I had no desire to. I would wait contently there until she woke up.

"It's alright baby." I whispered in a soothing voice to her.

As I lay there, realized I was on top of something soft. Reaching down I pulled out, much to my surprise, my teddy bear. The same one that Jade had won me at the carnival. But I thought I had thrown that away.

"Trina." I thought as I figured she must have rescued bear and given him to Jade. She must have been sleeping with him for comfort. To keep away the nightmares. Now I was doing that and more than happy to do so. Lying here I look at her lips and I can't pass it up. So I gave her tender kiss and content myself that I'm helping my Jade. The funniest thing is that as she sleeps, her soft snoring sounds much like the purring of a Cat. Oh my god, it's so cute.

NO One's POV

As Jade began to wake, she quickly realized something was different. It was of course that she realized she wasn't alone in bed.

Jade, startled by this revelation, released the body she was holding and jumped out of bed. The room was dark and she couldn't see who she was with.

"Jade..Jade. Calm down" A familiar voice called out from the bed.

It took a second for Jade to fully wake up and realize the voice belonged to Tori. "What are you doing here Vega? You startled me."

The light flipped on a moment later to reveal Tori, who was now sitting upright on Jade's bed. "Sit with me Jade. We have something to talk about." Jade could tell by the look on Tori's face she was a bit disappointed. However Jade quickly granted Tori's request and sat next to her.

Taking Jade's hand Tori began to speak. "Jade, for starters I got locked out of my house. I decided to come out here and wait until either my sister or parents got home. But it began to rain as I rode my bike over so I got a bit wet. Your mother let me in. I was going to let you sleep and wait downstairs. But when I came up here to borrow a pair of sweats I found you were having a nightmare." Tori then paused as hurt and sad look came to her face.

"Jade, why didn't you tell me you are still having night mares? The one you were having, it seemed like I was telling you to kill yourself." Tori then became visibly upset, as tears appeared in her eyes.

"I tried to wake you. But you wouldn't, you grabbed and held onto me for dear life. Only then did you calm down. Jade why didn't you tell me? You're supposed to tell me things like that. I'm your girlfriend. You're supposed to trust me. But you don't." Through the tears, Jade could detect a hint of bitterness.

Jade suddenly felt beyond terrible, as the guilt that normally sat deep in her soul roared to the surfaced. Jade opened her mouth as to speak but it remained open as she suddenly burst into tears.

"I do trust you Tori. I do. I just didn't want to cause you anymore grief. I'm responsible for too much of yours as is. That's why I never told you the nightmares continued. It's…" Jade let out a rather painful sounding sob. "It's just the closer I get to you the worse I feel about all I've done to you."

Tori closed her eyes for an instant and as she did a whole series of images of Jade being mean to her flashed through her mind. While those hurt, she could see the honest remorse in her eyes. At the same time she felt her own guilt.

"Jade, I'm made mistakes. I've done…" Tori started to say before Jade cut her off.

"I HURT YOU! I'M AFRAID I'M STILL GOING TO HURT YOU!" Jade wailed now, beside herself with grief.

"Jade calm down."

"No, Tori. I can't get past all the pain I caused you. You saved me and I still caused you pain. What…"

Jade never got to finish her sentence as Tori slapped her in the face.

"Don't you think I hurt you. I was the one that played the cruel prank that drove you over the edge. I was the one that was about to slash the tires on your car. You didn't know that didn't you. The only thing that stopped me, was the fact someone was walking their dog and it scared me away. I was the one that wouldn't even listen to your apology. I fucked up several times and on several levels and I don't want to see you torture yourself for being human." Tori said with an unusual amount of determination in her voice.

Jade looked into Tori's eyes stunned beyond belief at Tori's outburst.

Tori got to within an inch of Jade's face. "Let me tell you one more thing Jade. I'm scared about what will happen between us. I'm scared it won't work. I'm scared that I'll get hurt. I'm even scared I'll hurt you. I know you feel bad about things you did. The thing is that I'm not going to let any of those things get in our way. Because, Jade West I love you and i mean it. Deny it all you want, but you are wonderful, tender, caring and in my opinion the most beautiful person in the world."

Jade's mouth slowly opened as her mind processed what she had just heard. While her mind debated the words, she could already hear her heart began so sing.

She couldn't wait one second longer, to say the words on her lips. "I love you too Tori." Jade then threw her arms around Tori and held her tight. She didn't want to let go, ever. This woman she held was so wonderful that she loved her in spite of all the things she did.

After a moment the pair broke and they wiped each other's tears away.

"Jade honey. I know it won't be easy. We are very different people and we'll annoy each other and fight. But I will fight for us. I want you to stop feeling guilty. If it helps, you can make it up by making me feel beautiful and loved. Because I plan to do the same for you.

Jade nodded. "Thank you baby."

Tori thought for a moment. "You seemed to sleep better when I was with you. I know we haven't gone very far yet, but if it will help, you can sleep with me until the nightmares pass. I'll keep you and your dreams safe in my arms. Would you like that sweetie."

Jade leaned her forehead up against Tori's. "Yes Please." She said softly.

Tori smiled, flipped of the light and began to slip under the covers. "OK, then. You still look a bit tired. Come and lie with me."

Without a single word Jade slipped under the covers and placed herself in Tori's arms. No sooner as the Goth settled in her arms, did she realize that Jade had fallen asleep.

"I love you Jade." Tori whispered before she drifted off herself.

Just to let everyone know, the story will soon be wrapping up. I'm not exactly sure how many chapters left there are but we are nearing the end.

The pair has admitted their love for each other and are determined to press on with their relationship.