Author Notes: Happy Victorious anniversary everybody! Can you guys believe that eleven years ago today the show premiered, wow, isn't that crazy? Time sure does fly.

Anyway, truth be told, this chapter was inspired by a combination of a shadow act I saw online which was rather impressive and the fact that Victoria Justice supposedly fears the dark.

"You ready?" Danielle asked her little sister. "It's almost show time!"

"It's packed out there!" Tawny said happily. "All our stuffed animals came to see us act!"

"Yeah but the guests of honors haven't arrived yet!"

The twins had given all their toys their own "assigned seating" in their room right on front of an improvised cardboard stage for their "puppet show" but there were two chairs that remained empty which were assigned to their parents, written in two pieces of paper were the words "MOM" and "MAMA" in big bold cute backwards letters.

"They are coming, right?" Tawny asked unsurely. "We gave them those tickets and days ago."

"They said they would." Her sister replied firmly. "Our Moms would never lie to us."

"What if they don't make it because of traffic?"

"Traffic all the way from their room?" Danielle asked with a raised eyebrow. "Tell me that's a bad joke."

"But what if…"

"Tawny! Sis don't worry!" Her twin said. "Nothing will go wring tonight! Mom and Mama will be here for our show!"

"I hope so."

Meanwhile in their bedroom, Jade and Tori were getting ready; or rather the Thespian was while the Latina kept gushing at the handmade tickets their daughters had drawn for their "opening night."

"Vega you can look at that piece of paper later." Jade said with an eye roll. "We're going to be late!"

"Calm down baby." Tori said amused. "The show is just down the hall."

"It could be in Grauman's Chinese Theatre and that still doesn't mean I'm going to be late just because my wife is staring at a stupid ticker rather than getting ready!"

"Chizz, what got your panties in a bunch?"

"Right now? You!" Jade growled. "I swear Vega, that if we're late, they'll be hell to pay!"

This is when Tori grew curious but you know what they say, curiosity killed the cat, so for the time being, she decided to get ready by wearing her coziest pajamas.

After all, the invitation's dress code was "Pajamas only."

"So cute." She thought. "It's like a sleepover with our girls."

Several minutes later both women were in their nightwear, obviously neither was wearing a nightgown but choose to go with simple pants and shirts, Jade going all black while Tori going all purple, they also decided to wear some slippers, Tori loved it when Jade wore those bunny slippers she got her years ago as a playful reminder of her spouse's love for bunnies.

… It was a sight like no other and no one except Tori and their daughters would ever get to see Jade wear them.

"Took you long enough." Jade hissed. "Now move it! We're going to be late!" The thespian was about to go out the door had her wife not put an arm in front of her "Vega! What are you doing?!"

"I want to know what is up with you."

"What are you talking about?!" Jade shouted. "This is neither the time nor the place to play twenty questions; we're going to be late!"

"Jade like I told you before, it's literally down the hall." Tori said while crossing her arms. "We're going to make it to the girls show, don't you worry about that, but I want you to answer me one question before we go."

"Can't it wait till after the show?!"

"Oh No… And you know why?" The Latina asked rhetorically. "Because I know you like the palm of my hand! If I were to ask you this later tonight, you would avoid the subject altogether! You want to get out the door? Then you have to answer me one question."

"You play dirty, Vega." Jade said with narrowed eyes. "What's stopping me from shoving you out of my way?"

"The facts that you would never lay a hand on me and that our daughters are only a few feet away and we don't want to freak them out because of your impatience." Tori said seriously. "Now, are you going to make it easy on yourself?"

"Ugh… FINE!" The pale woman yelled. "Just be quick about it!"

"Why are you in a hurry?"

"That's your question, Vega?!" Jade snarled. "I been telling you for the past hour I don't want to miss our girls show!"

"I know but I have the feeling that there's a deeper reason for that." Tori said evenly. "Come on Jade, I seen you being late to your own opening nights!"

"That's different!" The Thespian said exasperatedly. "People expect me to be fashionably late! I been late to your own shows and you never seem to complain!"

"I'm not complaining now." Tori corrected seriously. "I'm just curious why this little homemade show our kids put together in two days is more important than your own performances."

"Because I refuse to be like my dad!" Jade replied aggravated. "THERE! ARE YOU HAPPY NOW?!"

Of all the things her wife could've said, this was not the answer Tori was expecting.

"Say what now?"

"You heard me." Jade looked down, angry tears coming down her face. "You know what I would've given to have my dad at any of my shows? I always invited him but he never showed up! Except for that one time you helped me but that barely counts, sure, we made up but that hardly makes up for over twenty years of neglect, ever since I was little I made myself a promise that come hell or high water I would NEVER miss anything of importance in my own kids life! I want to give them what I never had growing up, love and attention."

Tori was silent for a few minutes.

"What? Nothing to say?" Jade sneered. "Of course not, I bet your parents went to see all your performances growing up; you down know the first thing about being…"

That's when her wife held her in her arms and gave her a big loving kiss in the lips, it was something so simply and yet it was enough for Jade to feel so many different emotions coming from her spouse.

"Just when I think I know you Jade, you keep surprising me." Tori said affectionately. "I knew I made the right decision all those years ago when I first became your friend."

"How so, Vega?"

"Well when we met, we didn't exactly started things on the right foot now did we?" The Latina asked rhetorically. "Everyone in school kept telling me to stay away from the Wicked Witch West and trust me for a time I thought it would have been the smart choice but I never been one to do things the easy way, the more you pushed, I pushed back, did you drive me nuts? More times than I can count, was it worth it? Oh totally! You didn't just give me your friendship in the end; you gave me your trust… And you don't give that to just anyone!"

Jade said nothing to that, mostly because she knew that was true.

"And look where we are now." Tori said happily. "Married with children, had I given up on Hollywood Arts on the first day, our lives would be so different and honestly? I can't imagine you out of the picture Jade… You been with me in all the good times and bad… You were my enemy… Then my Frenemy… My friend… My girlfriend and finally the love of my life…"

"Who would've thought that dumping coffee on you would be the start of something beautiful, Vega?" Jade snickered. "Not me, that's for sure."

"You were a gank then and can still be a gank now." Tori said half-jokingly. "But its moment when you show your vulnerability that I get to see a side no one else though you had and it's so rewarding to see it every day and even more so when our girls are involved, they're so lucky to have you for a mom."

"The girls… Oh crap!" Jade shouted. "Vega, we're going to be late! You can be mushy on your own time because I swear if we miss their show I'm going to kill you!"

"Ganky Jade is back." Tori thought with an eye roll. "Oh joy… But she's right, we're not missing this, if we do I know Jade and the girls won't forgive me and neither will I be able to forgive myself anytime soon."

"Let's move!"

"I got the tickets!"

Once they made it to the twins' room, Tori knocked three times, the door opened just a little bit for Danielle's eye to be seen.

"Oh yay! You made it!" The little girl cheered. "Tickets please!" Both women gave their daughter their passes, which she inspected much to her parents amusement. "They are real… Come on in and take your seats Mom and Mama!" Tawny said with poorly veiled excitement "And prepared to be amazed!"

Jade and Tori took their assigned seats in the sea of stuffed animals, Tawny's eyes widened happily as she waved her hand enthusiastically, something her parents returned in kind, she was now eagerly anticipating get the show started, Tawny got behind the cardboard stage as her sister got in front of it, she cleared her throat trying to sound like a professional hostess.

"Good night to everyone!" She said. "Thanks for coming to our show, it's gonna be fun! So sit back and laugh!"

Jade and Tori clapped, the Latina however couldn't help but notice that her wife was applauding like her like depended on it.

"Oh this will be good!" The Thespian said with a grin. "Don't you think so Vega?"

"Uh sure… Whatever you say, baby." Tori said mystified. "Cheerful Jade… I'm not sure I like that, that's usually my thing."

"Shh!" Jade puts a finger over her mouth. "It's starting!"

The curtains opened up and three puppets appeared, one was a princess, the second was a frog and the final one was a blue bunny.

"This is the story of the prince that became a frog!" Tawny said using a deep voice for the puppet bunny, making an exaggerated gasp to empathize how serious the situation was. "He was turn into a frog by a mean old witch that hated everyone and everything and the only thing that could break the spell was the kiss of a pretty princess but not just any kiss but one of true love!"

"Aww." Tori cooed. "Isn't that cute Jade?"

"It would be better if the story had another princess instead of a prince turned into a frog." The Thespian whispered. "Don't you think so Vega?"

"Just enjoy the show baby."

"Doing just that Tor." Jade smirked. "Good thing I charged my phone before coming here."

"Be sure to send me a copy of that recording later."

Twenty minutes into the twins performance, it began to rain not that the family paid much attention to the weather.

… That is until the lights went out and the deafening sound of thunder crashed down, halting everything to a terrifying scream from the twins.

"MOM!"

"MAMA!"

Tawny and Danielle ran from the cardboard stage, right into the waiting arms of their parents who tried to comfort their frightened children.

BOOM!

"Make it stop Mom!" Tawny says between claps of thunder. "It's scary!"

"I don't like rain at night!" Danielle cried out at the same time. "The lights are gone!"

"Don't worry girls; I'll keep the darkness at bay." Jade said as she quickly turned the flashlight in her phone, to lessen her daughters' fears.

BOOM!

"MAKE THE THUNDER GO AWAY!"

"That's it… I'm adding rain to the things I hate list." Jade thought darkly as it was raining cats and dogs. "This sucks, Danielle and Tawny put too much effort into this show and it was cut short because of the weather."

Tori shushed gently, trying to calm the twins hiccupping cries, all the while Jade tried to think of a solution to get their daughters' attention away from the seemingly endless pouring.

"Think West… Think!" Jade thought desperately. "Come on Goddamn it! THINK!"

In her frustration, she put her phone down, not really caring at the moment where it landed, the light emitting from the device was still on, which was being directed at a wall and more importantly it was focusing in the area of the discarded puppets on the floor, Jade gave it a quick glance only for her to notice the shadow from the bunny, she rubbed her chin, already cooking up an idea.

"It just might work."

With a plan at hand, Jade grabbed her phone and a teddy bear, putting both objects in a table, the toy bear held the phone in its hands, directing the light towards the opposite side of the room, away from the window to make sure Danielle and Tawny would not look outside.

"Hey girls!" The Thespian said "Look what I can do!"

Danielle and Tawny slowly moved from Tori's embrace, the playful voice from Jade made them look in curious wonderment, they saw their mom making some weird movements with her hands.

"Bet you can't tell what animal is this?" Jade asked teasingly as she began making howling noises.

The twins looked at the shadow their mother made, amazed by what they were seeing.

"That's a dog!"

"That's a wolf!"

"Point one for Danielle!" Jade said. "Oh and how about this one?"

The former Goth once more made some movements with her fingers and began to trumpet.

"That's an elephant!"

"Point one for Tawny!" She smirked. "How about this one?"

Once more she made hand movements.

"A rabbit!"

"Wrong!" Jade teased. "It's a bunny!"

"No fair mom!" Tawny pointed. "I want to try!"

"Then by all means, come over here and make something and this time I'll guess what is it."

"Ok! I will!" The little girl sat on the opposite side of her mom and made a crudely shadow of a butterfly.

"Umm let me guess." Jade said pretending to try. "Is that a bat?"

"Not even close mom!"

"I wanna try! I wanna try!" Danielle shouted. "I got a good one!"

In no time the twins forgot all about the thunderstorm that was raging outside, all that mattered now was the shadow puppet game the whole family took part in.

Tori shed some tears of joy as she recorded her wife and children having the time of their lives.

"How I love that woman."

"Vega! Put the phone down and join in the fun!"

"Even if she is a bit bossy."

Like I said at the beginning, this chapter was partly inspired by shadow puppetry, sadly I couldn't describe the hand movements so instead I took the easy route, after all I wanted to show that despite Jade usually being depicted as the scary or sometimes strict parent she can still show her tender side, and let me tell you, I had this idea for a very long time since we all know Tori is known as the caring mother, however I believe that the chat they had early in the chapter made Jade a bit more vulnerable and thus more of her maternal instincts came out, after all she doesn't want to be cold and distant like her dad was during her childhood, she wants to be better.

So, what did you guys thought of this chapter? Constructive Criticism is always appreciated.

Invader Johnny Signing Off,