Chapter 36

Fade Into You

Robbie

So much has changed since we all moved in with the Vega's. My sister has been taken out of my parent's home and my father has been arrested and charged with Child Neglect, Sexual Abuse, and False Imprisonment. When the cops went to the house they found my sister tied up in a trunk in her closet. My mother was also charged with Child Endangerment.

I was so scared that I would never see my sister again, but Cat and Sam took the classes to become foster parents. The courts saw that they both have had an outstanding babysitting business. The court did have a problem with their ages until my sister's lawyer argued that both of them are emancipated and have been living on their own for over two years. Plus, they have not had any outstanding bills and their business is in the black. The judge found both of the girls outstanding and thought it would be a good pairing. He was very impressed with Cat living on her own and finishing high school with straight A's plus holding down a full time job. He placed Robin with Sam and Cat right after she was removed, so she did not have to stay in a state home for any time. I was so surprised that it was Sam's idea for Robin to come live with them. She even started looking for a second job just so it looked better in court.

Sam found a house close to UCLA where Cat and I are going to be going and it is not that far from Robin's school. I just can't believe she has made all this happen for us and in the name of family.

Jade

The night that Robbie told us about his sister and the way she was found brought a tremendous amount of emotion to the gang. There was a lot of tears and yelling, mostly from me and Trina. But it was Sam that was the one that made all of us take a step back. She right away pulled out Cat's laptop and started looking up what she had to do to become a foster parent. She started to ask David questions about the program and how fast she and Cat could receive a child and if they could pick the child they wanted. She asked if he could go to the court to and vouch for them so they could get Robin. I looked around and saw that everyone was looking as if the world had just tipped on its axis. I have to say, I have always liked Sam, but that night she had made her way into this family headlong. She really came through for them and still is. Robbie just told us this morning that Sam had found a house for them close to the college and Robin's school. She has really become the head of that household and I for one am really proud of her.

"Jade, you have a really big crate here," David told me as he walked in the house.

"Okay. Who is it from? I didn't order anything," I told him, utterly confused. We had not left the house today, so how did we miss the package delivery? I started toward the door when his voice turned me back to him.

"Your mother, I think. At least the letter is." He handed the letter over to me. My eyes narrowed in my old suspicious reflex, but I blinked them away. Of course David had not opened the letter. Besides my name and the Vega's address, the only thing printed on the envelope was the word "MOM" in her usual envelope only block print. I slid my finger under the flap and used my fingernail like a letter opener, slicing the top of the envelope open with one swift flick. I blew a gentle puff of air and the envelope flared wide, allowing me to pull out the tri-folded stationary out. My mother's wavy script filled the top half of the page.

'Dear Jade,

I sold the house. I have sent your stuff. I am inclosing a check for half the house payment and your inheritance. I hope you have a good life, and hope to hear from you soon.

Your Mother'

"You have to be shitting me." I cannot believe she just did this to me. I thought my dad was the asshole of the family, and now here she is, doing what he would. My hand starts to curl, ready to crumple up the letter. That's when I heard her voice.

"Jade baby, what is it?" Tori asked from the kitchen. I loosen my grip on the note and I walked over to her. I hand her the letter that just told me that I no longer mattered to the West family.

She read it and then tossed it over her shoulder in the direction of her mother and took me into her arms. "Dad, can you and Beck bring Jade's stuff in, please?" She never took her arms off of me. I saw Holly bend down, snag the letter, and scan it.

"Oh Jade, I am so sorry," Holly said as she too wrapped her arms around me.

Trina was next to scoop up the letter and look at it. "What the hell?" she said as she rubbed her baby bump.

I pulled away from the other Vega women and took the checks out of the envelope and chuckled. "Well, I'm rich and homeless…yay me," I said as I looked at the checks again. Tori slapped my arm and I received a dirty look from Holly. I twitched one eyebrow up at them. Holly stepped closer to me and switched on the Mom-Voice.

"Jade West, I never want to hear you say you're homeless again. Do you hear me, young lady?" Holly said with gusto.

"I'm not a West, I never was. I'm a nobody," I muttered as I started to walk to the stairs.

I felt a strong hand on my arm and I stopped and turned around to look into David's eyes. "You are not a nobody. You are part of the Rebel Alliance and a traitor! Take her away! No, wait, wait, that's Star Wars." David's eyes twinkled with amusement for a moment, and then he put on his serious face. "You are a Vega, and you are part of this family, do you understand me?" I couldn't hold it back. I throw my arms around him and cried into his shoulder even as I laugh at his tired Star Wars joke.

"I love you, dad," I manage to whimper out through my tears.

I guess everything she said in therapy was just for show. She did only come that one time. Tori and I sat in our room talking about what it meant for me to have all of this money. I knew that one thing will happen very soon now that I can afford it. I was going to get Tori and I a place to live and then ask her to marry me, but I just couldn't decide in what order.

Tori

I could not believe that Jade's mother had done that to her after everything we had been through. I just wanted to find her and let her know that she was the worst person in the world. But then something hit me. What if she was looking at it as Jade is going to be nineteen and is going to be going to college? She is her last child at home. So why would she need such a big house for just her? Okay, that is the nice way to look at it, but why wouldn't she tell Jade about selling the house?

"What are you thinking about so hard, Tori?" Jade asked me as we lay in bed.

"That your mother should have given you all of the money for the house. You were the one that lived in it the longest. And ran it, paid all the bills. You cleaned it and made sure everything was just right with it. So you should have gotten all of the money," I said, with feeling.

"No dear, I got just enough from it. It sold for $2,600,000.00 and I received half, which was $1,300,000.00. So I got just enough. Plus I got my inheritance, so we have plenty of money, dear." Jade's voice was drowsy.

"Jade, I'm not worried about the amount. I'm not a damn gold digger. I don't have to be, I have an inheritance too, that I get when I turn nineteen, so please don't think I'm pissed about the amount. I'm pissed because she hurt you." I was getting upset that she could even think I would ever want her money. I don't care about that shit.

Jade propped herself up on one elbow so she could look at me. "I never thought you were a gold digger, baby. I was just…I'm pissed about the way she did this as well. I mean, she just up and sold my home without telling me. What if it didn't work out between us? Where the hell would I go now?" She was almost in tears. I rolled onto my side, and slipped one arm under her, flopping the other over her. Jade sighed and nestled into the crook of my shoulder, and for a moment we were both silent.

"I don't know." I finally answered. "You could go to Aruba. I mean, you could go just about anywhere with what you got. But don't think it won't work between us. If it was going to fall apart, then it would have by now. I mean, with me losing my mind and you not losing your mind to keep me from losing my mind…it was kind of crazy there for a while."

"God, Tori, I love you."

Beck

In the last three months, I have moved in with my best friend, who is dating my ex, and I started dating her sister. And now I'm going to be a father. Yep, I really know how to go from bad to worse in a really short time. When Trina told me that I was going to be a father, I wanted to die, but when we told David I was sure I was going to die. Then we had to tell the rest of the gang, and that is when the shit hit the fan, and came back and smacked me in the face. Jade didn't take it too well that I was dating Trina, but when she found out that she was going to have my baby, she all but cut my manhood off. Tori was just as pissed, but I think it was more because of how Jade reacted to the news. I just couldn't get them to understand that I love Trina and I was going to love this baby, no matter what.

We all had just come home from the Senor Moon Light Jam at school, but I had a bomb shell to drop on this family and I hoped they could handle it. "So, I'm glad everyone had a great time tonight, but I have something to say." I looked around at everyone and saw that they all had that look of you better not do anything stupid on their faces. Well, too late. "Trina and I have been talking a lot about this and we have come to the decision that is best for us and the baby." I turned to David and he walked out of the room. He is the only one that knows about what I'm about to say.

"Oliver, you better not do anything stupid. She needs you right now, and if you hurt her, I swear I will…"

"I know Jade. You will cut me up in little pieces and scatter me out as chum," I tell her, matching her rising anger with a solid deadpan. Sometimes it defuses her, sometimes it provokes spine ripping-out fury. This time, it shuts her up, so yay me.

"I think he has heard that before, dear," Tori said before she turned to me. "But I will take my father's gun and shoot your manhood off if necessary," Tori said point blank. She had her new dead eyes look that she perfected when she was at the edge of sanity. This freaks me out a little.

"Right, understood…nothing stupid…I'm all about Trina here." I put my hands up in the air and back away. David comes back in with a big envelope in his hands. I take it from him gratefully. It's a good distraction, because I see both of them looking at the envelope. "Okay, now, I'm really scared to say what I have to say. But I have taken a part on a TV show that films in Senoia, Georgia. So I will not be returning to school. I love Hollywood Arts but to work full time and take my last few classes on set is just better than waiting." I looked at all my family and hoped that they understood. "Do you guys understand?"

"No, Beck. We don't understand. You getting a job working in the dream job that we all go to school for, so that one day we can have that very same thing? No, that is something that us that go to Hollywood Arts, a Performances Arts School, would never understand," Robbie said from the couch he was sitting on. I swear, that boy drips sarcasm these days like it's nobody's business.

"Dammit, Robbie! How many times do I have to tell you to put that puppet away?" Holly snaps at him. She really, really hated that wooden bastard.

"Um…mom…yeah. Rex hasn't been out for over two months," Trina pointed out.

"Oh, sorry," Holly waved it off. She had the good grace to look slightly embarrassed, but we could see that she really wasn't.

"Hey, way to go there, Oliver. Is it a new show?" Jade asked, leaning forward to prop her elbows on her knees. She rested her chin in one of her hands while she watched me. I grin, knowing that she's going to freak out.

"No, it has been on for a while." I paused for effect, watching all the little ways in which Jade squirmed when she was excited. It was a bit fun to tease her so much. Finally, I continue, "In fact, you watch it," and I watch as her eyes light up.

"Oh. Oh hell no, you son of a bitch!" Jade yells at me as she leapt to her feet. She grabs my shoulders and bounces like Cat on a bibble bender.

"Yep, she really is a bitch," I say with a dopey grin, only to get slapped on the back of the head by Holly. "Sorry, mom."

"What show is it?" Tori asks, also rising from the couch and stepping closer to me and Jade. Jade lets me go and whirls on Tori, grabbing her by her shoulders and shaking her.

"THE WALKING DEAD!" Jade cries out, her face bathed in joy. Tori squawked in amazement, and both of them had a girly freak out. Jade because zombies, Tori cause it's a major part. Both of them turned back to face me but were interrupted by a voice behind us.

"Is Trina going with you?" Holly asked as she took her oldest into her arms. Trina sighed and shook her head while I answered mom.

"No, she will stay here so she can be close to her doctors, and go to school," I tell them. "But I do have something I want to say about all of this." I turn to Trina and get down on one knee, pulling out a little black box. The gasps rang out around us and Trina's tan skin suddenly seemed pale. "Trina, you have been one of my closest friends for a very long time, even through the worst times of my life. I have loved you both from afar and up close. You are the smartest, the most talented, and the most beautiful person, inside and out. You have shown me that I can be a better person, and that I will be a good father for it. Will you make me yet more of a better person by becoming my wife?"

Trina held her mother close to her as I spoke, but then she unfolded from her mom's embrace and came to me. She knelt down with tears in her eyes, and said so quietly I nearly missed it, "Yes, Beck. I will be your wife." I put the ring on her finger and looked at David. He was smiling as tears ran down his face.

"Man, I thought you and Jade would be first," Robbie said as he got up from the couch. He slapped me on the shoulder as he walked past us and patted Trina, then proceeded into the kitchen to get a drink of water.

"Yeah, so did I. But I really don't think that will ever happen," Tori called over to him as she walked over to her sister and threw a big hug around her.

Jade

'Man, I thought you and Jade would be first,' Robbie said. 'Yeah, so did I. But I really don't think that will ever happen,' Tori said.

What the fuck? She hasn't even given me a chance! I mean, I was just thinking about it last night. Well, I can't do it now. Not after pretty boy went and did it. I mean, she would think I was just doing it because she said she didn't think I would ever ask her. Like she was challenging me. Fuck this, I'm going to say my congrats and go upstairs.

I was trying to get some sleep when Tori came in so she can take a nap. A lot has changed over the last three months, but some has stayed the same. Like Tori and I still get very tired and take a lot of naps. It has to do with all the meds and the things we have to do to deal with the stress every day. One of the things we do to deal with the stress is take naps. The other is sex. I wouldn't say in the beginning we made love a lot, but now we do. Tori was scared that we would base our relationship only on sex and I can see where she was coming from on that, but after a while we found that we needed to be together in more ways than just saying we were dating.

"Hey baby, you okay?" Tori asked, pulling me out of my thoughts.

"Yeah, I guess. I was just thinking."

"About what?" she asked as she took her shirt off and started undoing her pants.

"About us, I guess," I replied. I sure don't feel like arguing, I'm just sad. It must show because Tori didn't bristle up like a porcupine.

"You guess? You don't know?" Her voice was light, playful. She's not wanting to fight too, so good for that. She kicked her pants off and walked over to the door, closing it and throwing the lock so no one can come in and bother us. With this many people living under one roof, you have to lock the door if you want to get any sleep.

"No. I mean, yes. I know. I was just a little hurt that you said that I was never going to ask you. We never really talked about that before. I mean, we talked about what kind of wedding you wanted, but that was it." And then it hit me. Trina, of course, would want a grand wedding, but Tori had said that she wanted a small wedding. Just the family. So I will take everyone on a vacation, and plan a wedding get away. Everyone can have their vacation, and we can have our honeymoon.

"Tori, do you still want a small wedding?" I asked.

"Yes. I don't want a lot of stress. I just want the family. And I suppose you should be there, too," she said with a wicked smile as she crawled across the bed to me, wrapping her arms around me. Her hot body pressed against my cool skin, inflaming the nerves where she touched me.

"Do you want to go somewhere really nice for our honeymoon?" I am finding it harder to concentrate on my questions as she squirmed against me.

"Yes, somewhere like, I don't know, maybe a beach somewhere." She moved up a little and started to kiss my neck.

"Who would be in the wedding party?" I asked as she moved up to my ear and started to kiss behind it. Now I'm really tingling all over but I just want to get these details now.

"I don't know. Cat, Sam, Robin," she said as her hand moved to my shoulder and she started to pull my bra strap down.

"Would you like to have…have other friends there?" I asked as she reached inside my bra and cupped my breast.

"Sure," she said as she kissed down my neck. Damn her and that naughty tongue of hers. Each light touch of her lips had a flick of her skilled tongue hidden in the middle.

"Mmm…would you…like…to…um…have it on the…b-beach?" I stammered as she pulled my bra up and took my breast into her mouth.

"Un-uh," she moaned around my breast. Little lights spark behind my eyes as that tongue is joined by teasing nips of her teeth. My right hand spasms against the bed sheet as the left slid behind her head, burrowing into the silken cascade of hair spilling down over her neck. She moaned into my nipple again as I push her face into my breast.

"Oh…Tori…do you want…oh…fuck it." I flip her over and reach around her and take her bra off, throwing it somewhere in the room. Kissing down her neck, my own tongue repaying the teasing hers had given me, down to her breast. I take one into my mouth and suck on it, loving the sound that comes from her. She takes my hand and pushes it down to her waist band. I know she doesn't want to take things slow, this time, and I'm more than willing to oblige her. I slide my hand across her smooth stomach, under her panties, and slip my fingers into her. She is so wet, my fingers slide right in. She lets out a low moan, slowly tossing her head back and forth, and arching her back, lifting her ass off the bed and giving me better access to her. I know now that Tori had been worked up for a while. I take my hand out of her underwear and stand up by the bed. I slide her soaked through panties off her body and toss them…somewhere, to join her bra. I slide my own off, too, and I lose my bra. I crawl back on the bed, using my strong hands to spread her legs. For a moment I behold the beautiful sight of my lover fully aroused and waiting for me. Finally, I slid my fingers back inside her and start a slow rhythm. She takes my hand and tries to make me go faster, but I slap her away. She whimpers as I slowly pump into her.

"Please, Jade…please go faster," she begs and moans as I twist my fingers to the side. The soft, wet sound my fingers make sends a thrill tingling through me, and I know that I'm dripping too. I shiver but manage to control it while I keep the slow rhythm into her.

"No, I want you to wait, baby…don't close your eyes, look at me," I tell her as I move so I'm right above her. I can feel every thrust into her I make with my hand against my own center. "Oh god, baby, please look in to my eyes," I ask her. She opens her eyes and I pull my fingers out. She lets out a little gasping moan, and I sigh pleasantly as I press my center against her center. Her eye widen as I start to grind down onto her.

"Oh god, Jade…Jade, please. Faster." I don't want this to end too quickly, but the more she begs, the more I can't hold back. I start to move faster against her, and I feel her hands go to my ass, helping. She pulled me down as hard as she could with each thrust of my hips, and sparks of orgasm were…right…there…

"Tori, baby, you are…" I stop and drop between her legs. Thrusting my tongue deep into her, I press my thumb on her clit. Her body convulses, and I feel the muscle walls clamp down on my tongue. Her orgasm triggers mine, and I gasp into her clit as it washes over me. Tori is less subtle about it.

"Oh! Fuck! Jade!" she screams as she cums. I move back up to her and started to kiss her neck. She clawed my back as a second orgasm rocks her body. I shift in her arms and kiss her, letting her taste herself with every kiss. She stops scratching my back and I think she's about to fall limp like usual, but she surprised me by sliding one leg up between mine, moving that leg back and forth, rubbing sweet tension on my hypersensitive clit, and it's moments before I'm collapsing next to her, my own second orgasm leaving me limp and worn out. Several moments pass before we move again, gasping in sweet pleasure.

Finally, I pull back and look deep into her eyes. I could still see the same love that I saw on the day she told me she had feeling for me, all those months ago. I could still see the desire that she had the very first time I laid her down on my bed and made love to her. I could see more in those beautiful eyes that gazed back at me. I could see the strong woman that I feel in love with that has helped me find my way out of the darkness that I lived in. I knew, looking into her eyes, I would never see that darkness again. She was my light and her love is my strength. "Marry me?" I asked without thinking.

Tori blinked her eyes. "What? Jade, what are you saying? Are you insane?" She looked like she was going to laugh. But then I saw tears building. I knew she wasn't going to laugh. I took a deep breath and dove in.

"Tori, I love you. You are my life, my soul, my everything. I love falling asleep next to you every night, and waking up next to you every morning. You are the light to my darkness, and I want you to be the brightest thing I see for the rest of my life." I sat up, holding her closer to me. "I knew a life without you by my side, and I never want to know that life again."

"Jade, I may not have been by your side in the way I am now, but I have always been here for you. I have been right here waiting for the day for you to tell me that you love me, and here waiting for you to ask me to share your life with you. I cannot say I will love you with all my heart and soul, because they already belong to you. Yes, I will marry you."