Professor Walker clapped his hands twice. "Ladies and gentlemen of The Raven and Crow Players! May I have your attention, please?"

Tori instinctively lifted her head and pulled away from the hand cupping the side of her face, causing Jade to swear under her breath as the eyeliner pencil narrowly missed her eye.

"Vega, stop moving!"

Tori winced apologetically. "Oops." She took a glance towards where Walker stood in the middle of the stage before turning back to face her now-irritated girlfriend. "Sorry."

Jade glared at her, but Tori knew that it wasn't genuine. "Don't let it happen again." She lifted the eyeliner and replaced her hand on Tori's jaw. "Eyes up."

Tori dutifully cast her gaze skyward as she heard Walker begin to speak again.

"We've spent the past few months toiling over every minute detail of this glorious show. Every single line, every single beat, every single moment has been rehearsed and practiced and if it isn't perfect yet, it never will be!"

Tori felt the pencil glide along her waterline and fought the urge to blink. Jade seemed to sense her discomfort, because the pencil dipped away for just a moment, allowing Tori the chance to quickly blink before it returned.

"Tonight is opening night, which means that it's our first opportunity to show the audience just how freaking amazing this company is! And I have no doubt in my mind that they are going to be blown away!"

"Man, he's really laying it on thick, isn't he?" Jade muttered, and Tori bit her lip so that she didn't laugh. The pencil dropped away from her right eye only to quickly reappear at her left.

"You've all put in a tremendous amount of work. Yes, all of you! Whether you're Guildenstern or Rozencrantz, or a Player, or even Hamlet herself-" Tori couldn't help but glance down at her girlfriend at that, smiling just a little at the faint blush on her cheeks. "-you've dedicated yourself to making this play the best that it possibly can be. And I am so, so incredibly proud of you all."

The pencil slid against her waterline again, the pressure causing her eyes to begin to water.

"So I want you to go out there and give that audience the best damn performance of Hamlet that they'll ever see!" He clapped again, and Tori could practically picture the ecstatic look on his face. "The doors open in five minutes. Curtain goes up in thirty. Everyone knows their places, everyone knows their cues, so finish up whatever last minute things you may be doing and get to where you need to be!"

Another two claps that echoed throughout the empty theater before being replaced by a silence that hung in the air for a few more seconds before the backstage chatter began again.

"I don't think I've ever heard him talk so much at once before," Tori mused, her eyes still cast towards the ceiling.

"Yeah, it was kinda weird, right?" Jade's hand dropped back down, coming to rest on Tori's knee. "Look at me?"

Tori looked back down, her eyes meeting Jade's. "How do I look?"

Jade's gaze left hers briefly so that she could scan her handiwork, returning a moment later with the accompaniment of a satisfied smile. "Stunning."

Tori felt herself blush. "All thanks to you, of course."

Jade's smile turned into a bit of a smirk as she looked away and put the cap back on the eyeliner pencil. "Well, I've seen you almost poke your eye out trying to hold this thing with that busted hand of yours." She stood up and held out a hand for Tori to take. "Couldn't let that happen, could I?"

"Guess not," Tori agreed, letting Jade pull her to her feet. She glanced around them quickly, making sure that no one was watching, before she leaned up and pressed a quick kiss to Jade's cheek. "Thanks, West."

Jade reached up and brushed the spot where Tori's lips had just been. "There better not be any lipstick on my cheek, Vega."

"Uh..."

Jade shot her a look. "Vega..."

Tori grinned. "Just kidding. You're fine."

"Ass."

"Hey, I gotta keep you on your toes," Tori joked as she pulled her hand out of Jade's. "Hey, I-"

"Hamlet! We need you over here for mic check!"

Jade turned her head and waved at the techie who had yelled for her. "Be there in a second!" She turned back to Tori with an apologetic look. "Duty calls."

Tori smiled despite the fact that all she wanted to do was kiss her again. "Go on. I'll see you before the show starts."

Jade returned her smile and leaned in to press her own kiss to Tori's cheek. "See you soon, babe."

And then she was gone and Tori was being called over by Mary-Ann, the costumer, who kept fretting over her dress. This was followed up by last minute touch-ups to her hair and mic packs being taped to her chest and she just let it all happen because it was second nature at that point. And all the while her mind kept wandering back to what she had waiting for Jade in her backpack.

"Six minutes until curtain!" came the call from the stage.

"You're good to go, Ophelia."

Tori smiled kindly at the boy in front of her who had just finished placing her mic. "Thanks so much!" He nodded and walked away with another mic pack in hand, headed towards Jimmy, who, Tori noted, was still frantically studying his script. She thought about going over to him to offer up some words of encouragement, but then she caught a flash of red out of the corner of her eye and couldn't help but turn to look at Jade.

"Damn," she whispered.

Her girlfriend had also apparently been caught by Mary-Ann because, even though she had already been decked out in the outfit she had spent all of tech week rehearsing in, there was a new jacket slung over her shoulders. It was black and leather and trimmed with gold and scarlet and if Tori hadn't already had to touch up her lipstick once she would have run over and kissed her right then and there.

But she didn't. And Jade didn't catch her staring, which she was thankful for because it gave her the opportunity to head over to where they had discarded their backpacks.

"Five minutes until curtain!"

She bent down and unzipped her bag, reaching inside for the gift that she had bought for her girlfriend earlier that day. She pulled it out and gave it a quick once-over and hoped for what felt like the hundredth time that it wasn't the exact wrong thing to have bought.

She shook her head and zipped her bag shut. To hell with second guessing, right?

"Four minutes and counting!"

She walked over to where Jade stood, waiting until she was finished talking to the actor playing Lucianus before stepping into view.

"You look amazing," she said, and Jade's brow quirked up almost-incredulously.

"Have you seen yourself? Mary-Ann sure knew what she was doing when she picked out that little number."

Tori blushed, like she found herself doing so often these days, and tightened her grip on what she held behind her back. "You're just complimenting me because you want to get lucky, later."

"Mhmm," Jade hummed. "Did it work?"

Tori shot her a look, but let it soften when she saw the playful glint in Jade's eyes. "Maybe."

Jade smirked and began to lean forward, but paused when she looked over Tori's shoulder. "Whatcha got there, Vega?"

"Three minutes and counting!"

Tori stepped back and tightened her grip on the plastic in her hand. "Oh, uh...well." She closed her eyes and took a deep breath, exhaling slowly before she re-opened them. Jade gave her a quizzical look but waited for her to continue. "It's opening night, and I know that I should probably give you these after the performance, but..."

She brought her arm around from behind her back, fingers still clenched tight around the base of the bouquet. "I know you think they're a waste of money, but I thought that you might like them anyway."

Jade stared at the carnations that Tori held in front of her; at the pinks and reds and whites that intermixed with each other in the bouquet before she slowly looked back up at her. "You...you bought me flowers?"

"Yeah." Tori held them out to her and prayed that she would take them. "I thought about getting you roses, but...I don't know, it didn't feel right, and- oomf!"

She was silenced by the sudden pressure of Jade's lips against hers and a hand wrapping around the one that she still had gripped around the stems.

"They're beautiful," Jade murmured against her mouth. "Thank you."

Tori started to respond but Jade was kissing her again and she had to work hard to ensure that she didn't let her hands wander up to Jade's hair because even though all she wanted to do was rake her fingers through it, she knew that she would be drawn and quartered by the stylist who had spent at least half an hour methodically pinning it up.

(She didn't even want to think about how smudged their lipstick was going to be)

"Two minutes and counting!"

Tori pulled back and let Jade gently take the bouquet from her hand. "I know that they'll eventually die, but..."

"You don't have to keep justifying them to me, Tori," Jade said. She lifted the bouquet to her nose and inhaled deeply, closing her eyes for just a moment before reopening them and meeting Tori's gaze. There was a softness in her eyes that calmed some of the butterflies in Tori's stomach. "I love them."

"One minute and counting! Get to your places, people!"

"You have to go," Tori said, and Jade shook her head.

"I have a little time. Horatio talks a lot before I have to be on stage." She slipped her unoccupied hand into Tori's own before tilting the bouquet towards her. "Will you make sure these get put somewhere safe?"

Tori nodded. "Of course."

"Showtime, people!" A stagehand brushed against her back and gave her a dirty look. "You two need to move like, right now, or else you'll get in the way of the curtain."

"Roger that, Dickhead," Jade muttered, just loud enough for Tori to hear, and she giggled as Jade pulled them both further backstage. The stagehand shot them another look before he started to pull on the ropes, drawing the curtain aside. The dull roar of the waiting crowd fell silent almost immediately, and Tori swallowed hard at the realization that it was really happening. Months and months of work, of sleepless nights and memorization and countless repetitions, and it was finally happening.

"Who's there?" she heard a voice call, and they both turned to see the actor playing Bernardo stride onto the stage.

"There's a lot of people out there," Jade remarked, looking over Tori's shoulder and out into the audience.

"They're all here to see you shine."

Jade looked back at her with an amused smirk. "That's a little corny even for you, Vega."

Tori grinned and lifted her left shoulder in a small half-shrug. "Yeah, but it's true. They've come to see Hamlet, which means they've come for you."

Jade scoffed. "At least half of that audience is here because of some bullshit out-of-class attendance requirement and you know it."

"Yeah, but the other half is here because they want to see good theater. And you're going to blow them out of the water."

Jade cocked a brow and gave her a scrutinizing look. "You know, you don't have to like, shower me in compliments, right? I'm still going to have sex with you later, regardless."

Tori slapped her arm playfully. "Gank."

Jade smiled, that smile that Tori knew was only for her. "Your gank."

"Hamlet! You need to get in position for your cue!" a passing crew member whispered as they walked by.

"Alright, I'll be right there," Jade replied. She waited until they had left before she turned back to Tori with that same smile. She pressed the bouquet into Tori's hand, waiting until she was sure that Tori had a good grip on the stems before she withdrew her hand. "I'll see you out there, Ophelia."

Tori leaned forward and kissed her again, being careful not to crush the flowers between them. "Knock 'em dead, Hamlet."

"Seriously, West, you need to be in position!" came another strained whisper, and Tori could practically feel Jade roll her eyes before she let herself be pulled away. She waved at Tori over her shoulder before she turned around and found where she needed to be in order to meet her cue.

"Where we shall find him most conveniently," Marcellus called from onstage, and Jade glanced back at her and flashed her another beaming grin before she stepped onto the stage.

Tori watched as she stayed off to the side, letting Tyler and Jimmy command the bulk of the attention as they ran through their lines.

"But now, my cousin Hamlet, and my daughter-" Tyler said, and Tori held her breath.

"A little more than kin, and less than kind," Jade muttered, just loud enough for the audience to hear. Tori exhaled slowly and gripped the bouquet a little tighter.

And as Jade continued speaking, continued performing, Tori realized that she was in love with her.

She was in love with the way that she was able to command the attention of an entire room with just a few words. She was in love with the way that she made her feel like she was special, like that she was the only one who mattered, just with a glance and a smile. She was in love with the way that her eyes would catch the light like the sun on the waves, and the gentle way she would bring her back down to Earth whenever the darkness became too much, and the way that she would sometimes sing to herself when she thought Tori wasn't paying attention.

She was in love with everything that Jade West was and wasn't.

She was in love, she was in love, she was in love.

She had always expected that such a realization would hit her like a freight train; that it would come in out of nowhere and take her by surprise with its intensity. But all she felt was warm.

"I shall in all my best obey you, madam," she heard Jade say, and even though the words were directed towards Gertrude, Tori saw the subtle wink that her girlfriend threw her way before she turned back to the audience. It was such a simple act, nothing that she hadn't done a million times before, but it pulled at Tori's heart in a way that was altogether new.

She was in love with Jade West.

And that was the truth.